NoaIzumiAnime Review: Inuyasha, Fire on the Mystic Island
June 2nd 2009 03:33
When Inuyasha finds a half-demon girl on the run, he’s drawn back to an island where demons and humans live in harmony. Now it’s threatened by a group of powerful demons, and only Inuyasha and his friends can stand against them.
The fourth Inuyasha movie is a solid work, with an involved plot and plenty of action, but it is a little disappointing in a couple ways. This film came out a few months after the end of the series, and many fans were hoping against hope that the movie would wrap up a few of the plot threads that the series left open. Alas, this was not the case. Inuyasha: FMI is a straight-forward, monster-of-the-week, stand-alone story. No more, no less.
And while it is a pretty decent adventure, FMI is the weakest of the movies in terms of character development, which makes for a rather glaring missed opportunity. One theme of the series is the difficult time Inuyasha had growing up as a half-demon and an outcast among both demons and humans, and the island that he is now defending is inhabited by half-demon children who are in the same boat. This movie would have been a great chance to further delve into that part of Inuyasha’s past and that shaping of his personality, but it’s left by the wayside in favor of suspence, humor, and action sequences.
Sesshomaru and Kikyo are here too, although their inclusion is a little awkward. Like Inuyasha, they were drawn to the island because of events that happened fifty years ago, but their appearances feel like extended cameos, like they’re there just to be there. As she did in the second movie, Kikyo (who was with Inuyasha when he first came to the island) shows up inexplicably at just the right moment, helps Inuyasha, then just as suddenly disappears again. Sesshomaru doesn’t interact with Inuyasha or the gang at all, his story being almost completely independent of the main plot. In his character’s defense, however, he does look particularly bad-ass in this film.
That being said, the action sequences do not disappoint, and the villains are suitably menacing while having a few unexpected tricks up their sleeves, even if they do look suspiciously like the Band of Seven from the fifth season,.
As usual, there is some minimal explanation of who the characters are for anyone unfamiliar with the series (although I still advise watching at least a few episodes first), and there’s more movie during and after the closing credits. Interestingly, this is the only one of the Inuyasha films where Kagome never goes to her own time. (Foreshadowing of the manga ending, perhaps?)
Extras: Creators’ favorite scenes from the anime, line art gallery, clean opening and closing
Summary: Solid action/adventure with familiar characters, although it doesn’t contribute much to the Inuyasha series. Grade: B plus.
Age rating: 15 and up. A bit more mature than the other Inuyasha movies. People die by fire, including villagers and friendly demons. Nudity.
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