Anime: Eiga Inuyasha: Toki o Koeru Omoi

This is the first Inu Yasha movie, taking place after the hero has learned the counterattack technique. The scenario takes advantage of the best hooks of the show, such as the romance amongst the heroes and the tragedy of their pasts. It is also offers an interesting “what if” scenario where Inu Yasha is sealed on the tree again and Kagome is trapped on the present. Effectively it is a summary of whatever has happened so far, as well as a showdown of all that befalling on them at the same time. Heck, even the villains are very threatening, as they can manipulate the techniques of their enemies for their own benefit. Plus they are supposed to be amongst the most powerful of all demons, as not even Inu Yasha’s father was able to defeat them.

The above premise, combined with far better production values than the tv series are enough to create a very interesting filler mission. Sadly, just like the core story the movie suffers from the usual cop-out resolutions. No matter how tragic a situation seems to be, the power of love will be proven triumphant in the end, breaking the evil spell that brainwashes you to be a mindless slave and strands you in a different time. And no matter how powerful a villain is supposed to be, the hero’s magic sword will always be able to reflect back his attacks, empowered further with its own wind scar technique. So it is quite lame to see how all the villains were eventually beaten by their own powers, despite their specialty literally being counterattacking.

Thus the movie plays out like a fairy tale of the cheesiest kind and despite the grave situations in it, it is still reusing the same tired recycled stuff we were already getting in the tv series. And guess what, most of what you see here is actually what happens in the canon finale as well. That alone proves how narrowed its possible developments had become.

But hey, the movie was made to keep the fans of the show happy by giving them what they already knew and expected, and to hook newer viewers by throwing all the cool stuff the show has. Very successful entertaining-wise but hardly tries to offer something you won’t get by watching the main series.

The first Inuyasha movie takes place sometime after episode 55ish in the series though it is a complete side plot which is introduced and resolved.
Though it was nice to see an improvement in the animation, I didn't find the plot sequence or character development exciting at all.
Overall, it was lackluster in general.

I wouldn't recommend this unless you are an absolute Inuyasha lover.

Animation:
There are noticeable differences between the anime and movie but the overall quality in the movie is slightly higher, though still not as crisp as current animes. FX is also improved.

Sound:
Similar to the TV series in mood and quality. VAs also carry over from the series. The major plus here is the Affections Across Time theme which is just gorgeous.

Story:
The plot sequence is very VERY linear and the ending very predictable. There are very few plot twists and the magnitude of the twists are minor compared to other series.

Basically, a moth demon from China awakens and uses Inu to gain an enormous amount of power. Will Inu + Kagome be able to counter this new threat?

Character:
What confused me was that a lot of characters made brief cameo appearances (Sess) without really contributing much to the storyline.

As for character development, you see a bit of the Kagome/Kikyo/Inu triangle and a bit of the relationship between Inu and Kagome but nothing more than what's in the TV series. The other known characters are pretty much static and don't really have any development whatsoever.

What I really disliked were the villains. They are completely stereotypical and predictable in what they do. Compared to the later Inu movies, they are completely inferior in quality.

Value:
I don't consider this a very serious series so I guess the movie isn't that serious either. It was not a great movie but it wasn't completely horrible either. Pretty much as enjoyable as most of the series minus the villains.

Very much like any episode or series of episodes of Inuyasha, this movie is entirely too predictable and simple. A bit of romance, an enemy who wishes to get Testsuaiga and get revenge on Inuyasha's father by killing Inuyasha, etc. All is typical of the Inuyasha storylines from the series.

The characters are also superficial and go through no development; these are the same characters from start to finish. The villians are boring and unoriginal.

The animation is good; the budget is very high in this anime. Backgrounds are detailed and fight scenes are fluid, with a liberal use of bright colors. The soundtrack is, as typical of Inuyasha, very well done.

I would only reccomend this anime if you are a big Inuyasha fan. Even the casual Inuyasha fan will probably be a bit bored by the unoriginal nature of the storyline.

This is pretty much what I expected from the first Inuyasha movie.

It had all the main characters cropping up somewhere, an introductory start explaining what the story is about, and the overall familiar tone of the series.

The visuals were pretty nice. They were stepped up noticably from the series - everything appeared sharper with better effects, but as a stand-alone I've seen better. The character detail was still simplistic, and the fluidity of animation varied from scene to scene, but overall, the composition was good and the style was decent. The action scenes were also a little vairied - sometimes looking stunning and sometimes lacking.

The sound once again trumps over the rest of the aspects. The music is SO atmospheric and suitably eerie that it makes the movie feel better than it actually is. The sound effects were great, voice acting ok, but the opening/closing themes were a bit dire.

The story was typical for Inuyasha. It fit in well with the series and had all the common qualities. Nothing bad for the series, but nothing particularly great for a movie. I watched this movie about 4 years after retiring from the series and instantly remembered the feel of the series and what Inuyasha was all about. I also remembered partly why I gave up the series (after 80 episodes) was because of the repetitive nature of the plot - which continues here.

The characters are a bit below average here. Watching this movie made me realise how much I've begun to get more and more irritated by them. They aren't terrible, but it's just so predictable to watch them and their same old routines. As usual, the focus of Inuyasha and Kagome's relationship danced around the topic of love, but never stepped into it. The villians of the movie had some tradtional Inuyasha-villian powers, with whatever silly motives drive them.

Overall replay value is zero. I don't see how I'd ever watch this again. In the end I got a sub-par impression of the movie, and it reminds me why I'm not bothering to continue the series again. If I had enjoyed the series more (if it had been a 49 episode series rather than a hundred and whatever), I think I would have enjoyed the movie more. Unfortunately, that isn't the case. However, if you LIKE Inuyasha, you'll like the movie.