Inuyasha FanFiction is my life.

Hello. I wanted to ask one thing. Why is everyone, including Rumiko, saying that Inuyasha and Kikyo dated? Maybe I'm just TOO stupid and blind, because I only read the manga and didn't watch the anime, but I didn't see anything hint that they were dating... Eh, they hardly even knew each other. How long had they known each other before Naraku's trap? Or the moment where Kikyo asks him to become a human is date? I don’t understand, where is the love and trust that everyone constantly talks about? I saw something like affection for each other, but love...

Honestly when I first read the manga I thought Inuyasha and Kikyo were labeled as “exes” because it was the simplest way to explain their situation, even if it’s hard for me to see them as such since they had so few interactions pre-betrayal. I mean, even during their last conversation when Kikyo dies the only “happy memory” they have of their time “together” is still just them sitting 5ft apart while Kikyo talks about the jewel, which makes it pretty clear to me that they never really had the chance to start a romantic relationship. I think we’re supposed to feel bad that Naraku “prevented them from being happy together” but that falls flat to me when we learn that the jewel is the real villain and Kikyo’s plan to make Inuyasha human most likely would have gotten them both killed.

In the story itself tho I think it makes sense for most characters (Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Koga, Kagome, etc) to assume Inuyasha and Kikyo were “dating” before the betrayal, because they weren’t there to see it and Inuyasha never explained anything to them so they can only guess what his relationship with Kikyo was really like. Also Kagome not knowing anything about Inuyasha and Kikyo’s past is 90% of what drives the “love triangle”. Like in the Mt Azusa arc when she says “Inuyasha has a past with Kikyo that I can’t make him forget, I understand that!” she has no idea what this “past” is, and it’s one of the main sources of her insecurities. If she knew that Kikyo was jealous of how she healed Inuyasha’s heart, and how Inuyasha wasn’t open with Kikyo like he is with her, Kagome would be a lot less insecure and Rumiko wouldn’t have been able to drag out the love triangle drama for as long as she did. 

There might be some cultural differences to consider as well. If you remove Miroku groping Sango and his “bear my children” schtick, him and Sango did not have that many genuine romantic interactions before he proposed to her. From what I’ve heard romance is a lot more “subtle” in Japan, especially in a different time period. 

And finally If you haven’t seen the anime anon there’s a 1 hour long special episode that adds a lot of nonsensical “backstory” to Inuyasha and Kikyo that makes it seems like they had this long, hyper-romanticized relationship. Inuyasha gives her his mother’s rouge and Kikyo decides not to put the subjugation beads on him, which makes a lot of anime-only fans believe that they did trust each other and would have lived happily ever after if it weren’t for Naraku (which also isn’t true as I said before, since Kikyo’s plan to make Inuyasha use to jewel is the real reason why their relationship failed).  I mean, personally I’m not in the “Inuyasha didn’t actually love Kikyo he was just confused” camp, I think Inuyasha is someone who cares deeply and quickly about people who show him kindness and Kikyo was that for him so I do believe he loved her. I don’t believe Kikyo truly loved Inuyasha tho, but that’s a discussion for another day. 

I actually think the poetic moment of Inuyasha going to hell for Kagome was done on purpose. Inuyasha believing he doesn’t deserve to live at the beginning, and then deciding he wants to live so he ends up going to hell, is very on brand for RT. Just like RT’s puns, I’ve seen plot twists like that in some of RT’s earlier works like Ranma or Madison Ikkoku. Unfortunately, Inuyasha dragged on for so long these comparative moments lost their focus. A victim of its own success, if you will. Imagine if Inuyasha wasn’t a weekly monster-of-the-week and had proper breaks between arcs or seasons like modern webtoons.

I keep going back and forth between "Rumiko explicitly said that her works aren't deep so it's probably coincidental" and "that parallel/symbolism/subtext is way too good to not be done on purpose" lmao!

Honestly I think we as a fandom deserve a remaster (?) of the Inuyasha manga. You know how some people re-edit movies or tv shows so they make more sense? We should do that and also fix all the translation issues. I would cut 90% of the Moryomaru arc so the story can start wrapping up after the band of seven / Mt Hakurei arc. I volunteer to do the editing, I need someone to help me figure out the fixes for the narrative and tell me where I could upload that without getting into trouble, lol.