InuYasha (universe)

The InuYasha (犬夜叉 Inuyasha) universe refers to the Super Smash Flash series' collection of characters and properties that hail from Weekly Shōnen Sunday's manga and anime series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. The series follows a Hanyō (半妖, Half-Demon) called InuYasha; Kagome Higurashi, a time-traveling high school student; Miroku, a lecherous monk; Shippō, a Yōko (妖狐, Demox Fox); Sango, a demon slayer and her nekomata (猫股, Monster Cat) Kilala during the Sengoku period as they seek to find all the fragments of the Shikon no Tama (四魂の玉, Jewel of Four Souls) and to keep them out of the hands of evildoers, especially Naraku.

Franchise description
Written by Rumiko Takahashi, InuYasha premiered in Japan in Shōnen Sunday on November 13, 1996 and concluded June 18, 2008. The chapters were published by Shogakukan in 56 collected volumes, with the first volume released in May 1997, and the last released in February 2009.

The story begins with a flashback to Feudal Japan, when the half-demon InuYasha raids a human village to steal the Jewel of Four Souls, a magical jewel that enhances its wielder's powers and can grant a single wish. InuYasha hopes to use the gem to turn himself into a full-blooded demon, but is soon stopped when Kikyō, the young miko of the village, shoots him with a sacred arrow, sealing him onto the sacred tree Goshinboku in the nearby forest. Mortally wounded, Kikyō tells her younger sister, Kaede, to burn the jewel with her body to prevent it from falling into the hands of evil. The story then shifts to modern Tokyo, where a junior high school girl named Kagome Higurashi lives on the grounds of her family's hereditary Shinto shrine. When she goes into the wellhouse to retrieve her cat, Buyo, a centipede demon bursts out of the enshrined Bone Eater's Well and pulls her through it. Kagome emerges into a strange wilderness, initially unaware that she has traveled back through time to the Sengoku period of Japan, fifty years after Kikyō's death. Other than the Bone Eater's Well itself, the only familiar landmark is Goshinboku. She finds InuYasha still sealed onto the tree in an enchanted sleep, and a group of hostile peasants who drag her back to their village. Their old priestess, Kaede, recognizes Kagome as the reincarnation of her sister Kikyō; when the centipede demon returns, Kaede realizes that the Jewel of Four Souls has also been reborn in Kagome's body. Kagome frees InuYasha so he can kill the centipede demon, but after defeating it, InuYasha again tries to take the Jewel for himself. Kaede thwarts him by placing a magical rosary around his neck, allowing Kagome to subdue him with a simple command. The Jewel of Four Souls attracts more demons, and the jewel is shattered into numerous shards that disperse across Japan. Even the individual shards are capable of granting great power, and are eagerly sought by humans and demons alike. Kagome and InuYasha set out to collect the shards and restore the Jewel of Four Souls. Along the way, they befriend Shippō, a small Yōko; Miroku, a cursed monk; and Sango, a demon-slayer with a tragic past. The group encounters many friends and foes during the adventure, including InuYasha's older half-brother Sesshōmaru; Kikyō, partially resurrected with a fragment of Kagome's soul; Naraku, a powerful collective demon who manipulated the initial conflict between Kikyō and InuYasha; and a wolf demon named Kōga, who is InuYasha's dedicated rival in both love and war.

Viz Media licensed the series for an English translated release in North America. Initially, Viz released it in monthly American comic book format, each issue containing two or three chapters from the original manga, but eventually abandoned this system in favor of trade paperbacks with the same chapter divisions as the Japanese volumes. Viz released its first trade paperback volume in March 1998. At the time, American manga reprints were normally "flipped" to conform to the American convention of reading books from left to right by mirroring the original artwork; among other effects, this caused right-handed characters to appear left-handed. Viz later stopped flipping its new manga releases, although InuYasha was already well into printing by the time this change was made. Reprints of older volumes have not been "reflipped" to match the newer ones.

Viz Media also issues a separate series of "ani-manga" volumes which are derived from full-color screenshots of the anime episodes. These volumes are slightly smaller than the regular manga volumes, are oriented in the Japanese tradition of right to left, feature new covers with higher quality pages, and a higher price point versus the regular volumes. Each ani-manga volume is arranged into chapters that correspond to the anime episodes rather than the manga. InuYasha is also licensed for regional language releases in Brazil by Editora JBC, Italy by Star Comics, France by Kana, Finland, Germany, Norway, and Poland by Egmont, Spain by Glénat, Indonesia by Elex Media Komputindo, Mexico by Editorial Vid, Israel by Aruts Hayeladim, Vietnam by NXB Trẻ and South Korea by Haksan Publishing.

Based on the first 36 volumes of the manga series, the InuYasha anime adaptation produced by Sunrise premiered in Japan on Animax on October 16, 2000 and ran for 167 episodes until its conclusion on September 13, 2004. It also aired Animax's English-language networks in South Asia and East Asia and it was broadcast on Yomiuri TV and Nippon Television. The anime is licensed for release in North America by Viz Media. The English dub of the series was broadcast on Cartoon Network as part of its Adult Swim programming block from August 31, 2002 through October 27, 2006, with episodes continuing to air in reruns. The series aired on Canada on YTV's Bionix programming block from September 5, 2003 through December 1, 2006, with reruns continuing to run until October 12, 2007. Viz also released the episodes for viewing online through the video viewing site, Hulu. The series has also been broadcast in numerous countries around the world.

In Super Smash Flash
The InuYasha franchise makes a very small appearance in Super Smash Flash, being represented only by one unlockable character.

Character

 * InuYasha: The titular character and one of the main protagonists of the series along Kagome. Born to a dog demon father and human mother, InuYasha is a Hanyō who initially wants to use the powers of the Shikon Jewel to become a full demon. After falling in love with Kikyō, the miko who guards the Jewel, he changes his mind and wants to become human so he can live with her, but Naraku manipulates both of them into believing they have been betrayed by one another. Kikyō is fatally wounded, but before she dies, she shoots an arrow through InuYasha to seal him onto a sacred tree. InuYasha remains in suspended animation for fifty years until Kagome Higurashi, Kikyō's reincarnation, pulls out the arrow and frees him. After the Shikon Jewel shatters, InuYasha and Kagome travel together to retrieve its shards. At first, he is hostile and uncooperative, but as the series follows, InuYasha grows to trust her as a friend and they eventually fall in love with each other. He also forms strong friendships with the other companions they gain. As a fighter, InuYasha mainly uses the Tessaiga, a sword made from one of his father's fangs; and his claws to attack his opponents.

In Super Smash Flash 2
The franchise makes no return into Super Smash Flash 2, no characters and no stages see the light in this sequel, the reason for this is unknown.