From the back cover:
A fierce battle rages in the borderland lying between the world of the living and the afterlife. A mysterious force is attacking Inuyasha and preventing him from obtaining the last Shikon shard. This force claims to be acting on behalf of the will of the shard itself! Inuyasha also faces the dreaded Naraku, who will stop at nothing to obtain the shard. When all hope seems lost, Inuyasha receives help from a surprising force—his half-brother!

Review:
This volume is good, but the confrontation over the final shard is initially kind of dull. Then Sesshoumaru gets into the game and once everyone begins to contribute, it becomes more interesting.

The pattern of Sango and Miroku with their own mission to accomplish continues, to my enjoyment, and ends on a great cliffhanger with her encountering her brother, Kohaku, formerly under Naraku’s control but now in possession of his memories again and simply biding his time while maintaining the appearance of minionhood.

I also enjoy seeing the internal power plays within Naraku’s camp. His “team” is finally shaping up to have as much interpersonal dynamics as the good guys, and it’s very welcome. I’ve really enjoyed my InuThon; it’s going to be a long wait ’til July for the next volume.

From the back cover:
Kagome faces a difficult decision—only she can help Kikyo heal from Naraku’s miasma. Will the love triangle between Kagome, Inuyasha, and Kikyo stop her from doing the right thing?! Kohaku comes under Naraku’s power and is ordered to steal the infant Hakudoshi. Will Kohaku be able to resist? While Inuyasha and his comrades watch, Naraku shows up at the demon bird’s nest for a showdown. A series of disturbing events is about to unfold, and a path to the borderland will be revealed!

Review:
This “last shard” arc is quite enjoyable. Not only is there the whole fun taking a path to the otherworld part, it also seems to be providing many more opportunities for the supporting characters to do things. Miroku and Sango are feeling like more important members of the cast now, which I appreciate. There even seems to be a slight evolution in the relationship between Inuyasha and Kikyo, which is also good.

I’m annoyed by the blurb on the back of the book, though. It makes it seem as if Kagome hesitated before healing Kikyo, when she did no such thing. She even makes a remark about it being insulting that someone would even consider she’d let her die for some Inuyasha-related reason.

One thing I particularly like about Takahashi is the way she paces the flow of action across a page. There’s one brief bit, where a lady is sneaking away in the background over several panels, glancing back over her shoulder and all that, that really struck me. It seems sort of cinematic somehow, and just so perfectly done that, though simple, it’s impressive. Some people can just draw pretty pictures, but Takahashi excels in using them to tell a story and set a mood.

From the back cover:
The search for the final shard of the Shikon Jewel leads Inuyasha and the gang to a mountain fortress. But the gate is guarded by two giant statues and a force that will only allow the dead to enter! Meanwhile, while seeking a path to the underworld, Naraku teams up with demon Abi Hime, who hunts the blood of innocent villagers to heal her mother. Inuyasha and friends step in to stop them when they find that Kikyo may be involved!

Review:
The coolness I was anticipating from the conclusion of the previous volume didn’t really pan out, as the journey to the gate was brief and no part of the dangerous Land of Fire was actually glimpsed. Inuyasha fought some statues. Ooh.

Most of the volume was centered on demonic birds who were ravaging nearby villages. This tied in with the main plot only slightly, and was more about a mysterious holy lady with the power to penetrate Hakudoshi’s barrier with a single arrow and whether she was Kikyo. Wow. I am so surprised Kikyo didn’t die. Takahashi, you fooled me again with your totally unpredictable storytelling ways.

This volume wasn’t bad by any stretch, but it was a bit of a let down. It ended with a fairly angsty cliffhanger, though, so I’m glad to have the next one on hand.

From the back cover:
Evil Kagura and demonic baby Hakudoshi are searching for the border between the afterworld and this world, where it is said that the last Shikon Jewel shard lies. Inuyasha and the others are also doing everything they can to recover the last shard. Could it be that Inuyasha and Kagome have been to this border before?!

Review:
So far, this arc with Hakudoshi is shaping up to be a lot more interesting than the Band of Seven storyline. It’s not that Hakudoshi himself is anything particularly special, but the fact that this is supposedly a race to retrieve the last of the shikon shards makes the stakes much higher. The volume ends with the team learning how to pass the border and I have good hopes for the story ahead.

Something else of great significance happens in this volume, and it surprised me a good deal. Before the Hakudoshi plot really ramps up, the gang hears a legend about a group of ogre women and goes to investigate. Sango and Miroku take the center stage for these chapters and much coolness ensues, including a battle between them (when Sango comes under a demon’s control) and some revelations that I never thought would actually be made. Granted, it doesn’t seem to’ve made much difference in the ensuing chapters, but it’s a step.

From the back cover:
Inuyasha and the others are trapped inside Mount Hakurei with yet another newly reassembled Naraku. Meanwhile, Naraku reveals to Kikyo that his true purpose in hiding inside Mount Hakurei is to perfect an emotionless new form that could attack and even kill Kikyo without hesitation. Having finally divorced himself from Onigumo’s heart, will Naraku succeed in killing Kikyo? Inuyasha is troubled by a premonition of doom but arrives too late, finding only Kikyo’s broken bow!

Review:
Some things actually happened in this volume that surprised me, like Naraku cutting Kikyo down in battle and the explicit statement that only a few shikon shards remain uncollected. Things that failed to surprise me include the fact that Kikyo’s body was never found—I am entirely sure she will crop up again down the line—and that the chapter entitled “Inuyasha’s True Feelings” completely failed to reveal any such thing.

I liked the chapters involving Naraku’s plan to use Kagome to find the shards for him, especially since it prompted exploration of her feelings concerning Inuyasha and his lingering connection to Kikyo. I was also happy to see a brief segment occurring in the real world; seeing Inuyasha in that environment is always fun.

In all, I enjoyed the volume and its rare statement of a concrete fact, though it’s too bad I can no longer have faith in people truly being dead or things like that; it really dampens the impact of any kind of plot twist in that vein.