Mix fairy-tale with fantasy, legend with reality. This is a dark fairy-tale, beautiful and compelling right from the explosive start.<br /><br />Inu Yasha, a creature that is half man, half dog-demon, attempts to steal an enchanted jewel from a shrine, to change himself into a full-blooded demon. However, the priestess sworn to protect the jewel fires an arrow into his heart, and nails him to a tree. The priestess dies from her wounds, and Inu Yasha falls into an enchanted sleep. 50 years later, the soul of the priestess returns to the forest, reborn in the body of Kagome, a girl from modern-day Tokyo who has fallen through time into the era of myth and legend. Inside her, the jewel has been reborn along with the soul of the priestess. Her precense awaken the dog-demon from his long imprisonment, and along with him awaken his long-alseep desires for the jewel. However, by the power of Kagome's arrow, the jewel is broken and its shards scattered across the lands. Each shard holds the power to make evil hearts stronger, and bestow misery upon the land. Kagome and Inu Yasha reluctantly set out together, to collect the shards and make the jewel complete again. "Inu Yasha" is the story of that journey.<br /><br />What captured me about this series was Inu Yasha himself. His character is dark, evil, and mean, plus he behaves an animal. The makers have really managed to capture his animal side, and this (along with great, charismatic voice-acting), gives him a precense seldom seen in animated shows. In the beginning, he is betrayed, hostile and alone, but as the show moves on, he developes greatly, by slowly but surely warming up and gaining kindness in his demonic eyes. The reason for this is Kagome, a brave heroine that far exceeds your standard shrieky-maiden-anime-chick.<br /><br />There is some humor to this show too. It's nicely done, it doesn't steal time from the story, and it fits where it is placed. But don't expect this to be some light comedy-show like Ranma: Inu Yasha is a deep and dark fairy tale that deals seriously with questions like the want for strenght, the want for life, the want for revenge, and the slim line between love and hatred. All within one huge story-arc with many meaningful subplots.<br /><br />As for the enemies, they not only display great strenght and cruelty, but some of them are also allowed to develope as characters, which is extremely rare for bad-guys. The action is very cool, skillfully done and overall fantastic. Inu Yasha, the one who does most the fighting, fights to kill and doesn't hold back. A lot of blood and some really nasty scenes in some episodes.<br /><br />The animation is magnificent, as well as the soundtrack. I have only seen the subbed version, but I can highly recommend it about any dub. There is no way any translation could outdo the original cast.<br /><br />This is the best anime I have EVER seen. It's original and powerful with a lot of depth, in a world where fairy-tale has merged with fantasy. Plus, Inu Yasha's dog-ears are super-kawaii... ^_^<br /><br />Don't miss it!<br /><br />/Auryn