Inu-Yasha is a half-human, half-demon that eventually works with Kagome to help find and collect all the shards of the Shikon Jewel. He wants the Shikon Jewel so that he can use it to make himself a full demon. Unfortunately, his brother, Sesshoumaru, keeps getting in his way.

Inu-Yasha holds his father's grave in the small dot (a black pearl) in his right eye. (Note that in the US version of the manga, the pages were all flipped for reading left-to-right, thus making the black pearl appear in his left eye.) His sword is called Tetsusaiga, which was made from his father's left fang. Inu-Yasha sometimes acts like a jerk to Kagome, but it's only because he is hiding his own insecurities and bad memories. He really does care for her.

Incidently, his name does not mean "female dog-demon" like many people believe. Rumiko Takahashi explained in an interview that the meaning of his name broke down as dog (inu) and forest spirit (yasha).





Inu-Yasha is forced to wear a mystic necklace around his neck (courtesy of Kaede). He can't take it off or break it, and it's keyed to Kagome so that every time she yells "Sit!" ["Osuwari!"], Inu-Yasha is forcefully pulled downward. Timely "Sit!" commands have left him with headaches, backaches, and other forms of general misery.

It's pretty well known that on a new moon, Inu-Yasha assumes a full human form where his hair becomes black hair, his eyes brown (violet in the manga), and his Tetsusaiga will no longer transform for him. But few realize that the opposite is true: that under the right conditions Inu-Yasha can assume a full youkai form. This is because of Tetsusaiga. Since it can supposedly only be held by someone with human blood, it acts as a restraint against Inu-Yasha assuming his youkai form. But when Tetsusaiga is broken by Goshinki, that form comes uncorkedand to see Inu-Yasha in that rampaging form is absolutely scary.




Inuyasha is the main character along with Kagome, and is the namesake of the series. His name translates into "Dog Demon", and is one of two sons of the Lord Inuyoukai. Inuyasha is a demi-youkai, meaning he is half-demon and half-human. His brother, on the other hand, is full youkai and despises his brother for being a half-breed.

Because of his bloodline, Inuyasha inherited the powers of a demon and some of his fathers characteristics, including his eyes, fangs, claws, dog ears, and hair. He also has the ability to heal incredibly fast in his demon state. He is as strong as most full-youkai, but he does have weaknesses due to his human heritage. On the night of a new moon, his demon powers vanish and he becomes human.

Fifty years ago, Inuyasha was in love with the priestess Kikyou who was the guardian of the Shikon Jewel [Shikon no Tama]. An evil demon known as Naraku turned them against each other, and Kikyou pined Inuyasha to a tree with a sacred arrow. She died then after.

In his quest for the Shikon Jewel, Inuyasha meets Shippo, Miroku, and Sango. Everyone but Kagome has reason to hate Naraku.

Sango's village consists of a large group of Youkai (demon) exterminators led by Sango's father. The best Taijiya (including Sango) were called to a castle to exterminate a spider demon. The lord of the manor (who turns out to be Naraku in disguise) takes control of Sango's brother, Kohaku. Kohaku kills all of the other Taijiya, but is killed by archers before he can kill Sango. Sango is wounded by the archers because they think she's going insane.

Naraku takes care of Sango and, when she is healthy enough to fight, tells her that Inu-Yasha destroyed her village. Naraku lends her a shard of the Shikon Jewel to keep her from feeling pain. When Sango finds Inu-Yasha, he convinces her that Naraku betrayed her, and the shard of the Shikon Jewel falls out of her back. Kagome helps her recover and she joins the group to get revenge on Naraku. She seems to have feelings for Miroku, and eventually reveals that her village is where the Shikon no Tama was created.

Sango's weapon of choice is a Hiraikotsu (giant boomerang), and she has a trained youkai named Kilala (Kirara in the Japanese version) which Myouga the flea now lives on.

I'm told Sango's name means "coral" in Japanese.

Sango is a very pretty teenage taiji (youkai exterminator) who lives in the village of the Taijiya with her younger brother, Kohaku, and her father who is also the head of the village. This very village consists of powerful humans that have learned to master the techniques of youkai extermination and frequently helps others remove youkai from their villages.

Sango is skilled with two basic weapons, a katana, and her most noted weapon, the massive boomerang, Hiraikotsu, which is made of the bones of youkai that have been killed. She also uses assorted weapons such as gas bombs, hand-to-hand combat, and the help of her pet youkai, Kirara, who is a flying fire cat-like creature.

Being the daughter of the village leader, she learned the trade along with her father, who wanted nothing more than for Sango to live strongly in life. Sango was more than happy to take up the job. One day, the best taiji are called to a castle to help exterminate a spider youkai that appears every night to attack the castle.

Using powers of deception, the demon possesses Sango's younger brother, Kohaku, and causes the boy to kill his own father and all the rest of the taiji. Sango tries to stop him and realizes all too late that he's being controlled, and ends up getting hit in the back with Kohaku's scythe weapon. The guards of the castle think that Kohaku has gone insane and shoot him full of arrows, and then right before he dies, he comes back to his senses and cries to his sister who tries to crawl over to him. Thinking she's insane too, they shoot her full of arrows and she appears to die.

After being buried, Sango pulls herself through out of the ground and Naraku takes her in and cares for her. He then uses more deception against her and tells her sadly that her village was attacked by youkai and everyone was killed. Furious and nearly dead from pain, Sango asks who the person that did this was, and he tells her, "The hanyou, Inuyasha". Driven by her hatred for Inuyasha, she heads back to her village with Naraku's servant and nearly dies from the pain of trying to fulfill her last mission: kill Inuyasha. Baboon Naraku offers her a Shikon shard and tells her that he'll lend it to her so she can kill Inuyasha. She takes it and wears it in her back thus removing her pain. She's still bleeding heavily, but she can no longer feel pain.

She finds Inuyasha and attacks him, but Inuyasha convinces her that Naraku is the one who betrayed her, and she collapses after the Shikon shard falls out of her back. Kagome helps her recover, and she decides to join their group to seek revenge for the deaths of her family and entire village.

As she travels with the group, she and Miroku start to develop a relationship. She's the one who reveals the secret of the creation of the Shikon no Tama to the group, since her village is where the jewel itself originated from.