This screenshot demotivational poster is highly, highly, highly Anti-Kagome, Anti-Sango, Anti-Miroku, Anti-Shippou, but somewhat Pro-Kirara, totally Pro-Inuyasha, Pro-Sesshoumaru, Pro-Ayame, and Pro-Rin among many other things I can come up with to assuage the bitter taste I have been experiencing for years with Inuyasha's perniciously atrocious excuse of friends. So, sit back, relax, and revel in how much I have come to really abhor, loathe, and hate Kagome, Sango, Miroku, and Shippou but have really pitied, if not, empathized severely with Inuyasha.
Hindsight is certainly cruel when it comes to my overall experience watching and taking in everything about Inuyasha beginning as a pre-teen of 11 years old until now as 28-year-old adult. Even when I was still very young up until my teen years, I have always rooted for Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha, Ayame, Shuran, Hakkaku, Ginta, Shunran, Dai, Roku, Kai, Rin, Shiori, Kanna, Shinta, Souten, Buyo, and Kirara because they were far more worthy of making a nice team, if not, family of their own. Something that Kagome, Sango, Miroku, Shippou, and even Kaede failed at when it came to their experiences with Inuyasha.
With each passing time of my life being pretty devout to Inuyasha despite its undeniable flaws, I found myself caring less and less and less for Inuyasha's miserable excuses of companions and I cared a whole lot more for Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha, Ayame, Kohaku, Shintaro, Souta, Rin, Shiori, and Kanna. I did not care for Kagome's whole foibles for her upcoming exams or missed days. I did not care for Miroku's whole existence of being this perverted playboy of a monk. I did not care for Sango's bleeping emotional baggage. I even did not care for Shippou and his status as the tagalong kid. Ergo, my passion for Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha, and Ayame was really consistent. However, I had absolutely zero passion for Kagome, Sango, Miroku, and Shippou because I felt nothing for them. Totosai, Myoga, and Hachiemon were entertaining, but they did not leave any significance in my perception of them. I went from having love-hate sentiments for Kouga to full on hating that loser wolf yokai and the less said about him the better. At least, with Naraku, Hiten, and Bankotsu, I really loved to hate them because they were able to challenge Inuyasha's perception of his strength and he proved them wrong.
When watching and re-watching Inuyasha as a whole, all I could over obtain from the "Inu-Gang" was that were united for one solitary reason and that was to annihilate Naraku. On the surface, each of the members of the "Inu-Gang", I cannot believe I am saying that as you will find out later, had their own reasons for doing so.
Miroku wanted to cease the family curse of the wind tunnel from encroaching his prospects of marrying and starting a family, even though he was a monk of extremely dubious virtue, as this did happen to his late father. Ergo, his Wind Tunnel may have been cursed, but he still found ample situations to use it in battle.
Sango had to experience the death of her kin and her own brother due to Naraku's manipulation. He even went out of his way to give Kohaku another shot at life serving him after messing with his mind of what he has done to his clan. Because of this, Sango wanted to bring back Kohaku into her life, as he was her only family.
Inuyasha had it much worse. Fifty years ago, he and Kikyou shared a very special bond together, as she was one of the very first humans in Inuyasha's age group to show any type of positivity to him. They even learned to accept each other. It all changed when Naraku disguised himself as the other in order to betray each other into fighting one another. This act of treachery and manipulation from Naraku was what spurred the story of Inuyasha's and Kikyou's tragic backstory and the whole insanity revolving around the Shikon Jewel, as it did provide infinite power to anyone who possessed it.
Shippou may not have been directly involved with Naraku, but he wanted to avenge his father's death at the hands of Hiten and Manten. After Inuyasha finished Hiten and Manten off, he stuck around with Inuyasha, Kagome, and the rest. Other than that, he was a bratty half-pint who could have grown stronger on his own merits. However, he ended up being nothing more than a smart-aleck who used his mouth to try to save himself and failing miserably.
Kagome. Well, she just ended up jumping to the whole bandwagon of destroying Naraku because she was Kikyou's descendant. That is all. She was there because she started the whole accidental shattering of the Shikon Jewel and did not take responsibility for her action at all and getting it all out on poor Inuyasha but not improving herself as a combatant.
However, this is where I cannot see any warmth, companionship or trust in this particular "group" because Inuyasha was still full of emotional baggage and the rest were just getting in on his case without fully comprehending the gravity of what he has been through as a hanyou. He did not even seem to find time to be at ease with them and appreciate them much further because of how they were just connected via their mission to annihilate Naraku and/or making jokes on Inuyasha at his expense.
I would even go out of my way to say that a lot of the opening and ending songs from the original series to the movies to The Final Act have been flat out lying to me about how close Inuyasha's friendship is with Miroku, Sango, Kagome, Shippou, and Kirara. Do not misunderstand me, as I do love those songs, especially "Dearest" sung by Ayumi Hamasaki, "Itazura no Kiss", and even my personal favorite "Fukai Mori" sung by Do as Infinity which had Sesshoumaru then Jaken at his father's tomb, Ryukotsusei's burial place, and even traveling to the moon. At least the songs' messages state that no matter how many adversities Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru, Jaken, Miroku, Sango, Kagome, Shippou, and Kirara face, they are closely connected by fate and are drawn together in their mission to seek out the Shikon Jewel shards and defeat Naraku. Those songs may have manipulated my feelings, but I could still see beyond the sentimentalism and realize something really frigid about the "Inu-Gang's friendship".
In fact, I am still gnashing my teeth in anger at Episodes 43, 52, 67, 88, 109, and 160 among others of the first series because of how Miroku, Sango, and Shippou would always side with Kagome because she has been hurt by Inuyasha for the umpteenth time with his on-and-off relationship with Kikyou. What was even the point of counting on "friends" such as Miroku, Sango, Kagome, and Shippou if they ended up taking Kagome's side and not fully listening to Inuyasha's side of the story? What was even the point of Sango saying that she wanted to stay by Inuyasha's side when she ended up attempting to "sit" him for how he "treated" Kagome? Why on Earth would Kagome be such a prick to "sit" Inuyasha twenty times when he did as he was told to keep Kikyou safe? Why on Earth would Miroku, Sango, and Kagome find it hilarious to have Inuyasha's hand stuck to a huge boulder initiated by The Three Sprites of The Monkey God? How was it that they have not gotten into their thick skulls that Inuyasha still has not had proper closure with Kikyou until she officially transcended the flesh? How do Miroku, Sango, Kagome, and Shippou think their sheer existence would be able to help Inuyasha feel at one with them? To this day, I am still befuddled as to why Inuyasha did not just up and left them for good.
One other instance of this "group" not staying fully united was in the second movie. After supposedly destroying Naraku, it seemed like the occasions have become more chilled-out with Sango repairing what was left of the demon slayers' village, Miroku paying respects to his late father alongside Hachiemon, Inuyasha still wanting to become a full yokai, and Kagome trying to get back to her studies. Ergo, it would seem that if Naraku were to have died, they would have gone the Samurai Champloo route and just split with some good memories of their time together.
Speaking of Samurai Champloo, I bring this other anime to the fray because unlike the constant bickering I have seen in the "Inu-Gang", Jin, Mugen, and Fuu were still able to work together exceptionally well because they understood each other and valued each others' lives. Even with Jin and Mugen going at it at each other, there was still a sense of respect pervasive among the both of them. Fuu even did her part in maintaing positivity despite her preppy nature being a bit peevish to Mugen's liking.
Do you want another work by Shinichiro Watanabe that does so well on the interpersonal relationship department? I give you Cowboy Bebop. Yes, The Bebop Crew consisting of gunman Jet Black, laid-back martial artist Spike Spiegel, femme fatale with a tragic past Faye Valentine, androgynous kid genius Ed, and the lovable mascot Ein make a strong team because of how much empathy there is going on in them. They totally get each other and truly understand what makes each other tick while gathering bounties.
Even Dragonball and Dragonball Z, which are the two series Inuyasha is often compared to, handle interpersonal relationships a whole lot better than what the "Inu-Gang" could endeavor to accomplish. For all the flack I can give especially to Dragonball Z for not letting women do as much of the men as the men do, something that Inuyasha, Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece managed to do with varying results, I can at least salute DBZ for creating some very memorable friendships involving Goku's close friendship with Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, Bulma, and Yajirobe, his friendly rivalry with Piccolo which did start off as antagonistic, and even his epic rivalry with Vegeta which sought both Goku and him to join forces.
I could even go out of my way and say that the likes of YuYu Hakusho, Sailor Moon, Saber Marionette J, Detective School Q, Ghost Stories, and Flame of Recca offer really superb, excellent, and tight friendships that are guaranteed to last throughout the ages, at least to extremely varying degrees.
Do you want Western counterparts that can do healthy friendships to the nines? Look no further than Justice League, The Avengers, Teen Titans, and Avatar: The Last Airbender. These shows display how strong the groups' bonds really are and that trust is not anything to deny in the slightest.
I know I am going extremely off-tangent here, but when you have other anime series, let alone, animated series whose friendships are far healthier and more beneficial than the one the "Inu-Gang" could dish out, you fail miserably, terribly, and awfully. I could also attribute this to Rumiko Takahashi as a writer, as she cannot write healthy relationships for crap. Often times, the characters would find themselves in extremely unhealthy patterns and get themselves into various disagreements with each other which cannot be easily solved.
Another factor that contributes to this "group's" sheer failure is that Inuyasha would be the one to do all of the fighting and Miroku, Sango, Kagome, and Shippou would just do little to nothing at all. For the most part, instead of uniting in their efforts to help out Inuyasha, they just sit around like a bunch of sports commentators despite them having, you know, skills they could endeavor to use to their advantage.
The only one I can see have a semblance of a friendship with Inuyasha is Kirara or Kilala the nekomata. This was mainly attributed to how much they understood each other on a deep level and they were able to somehow help each other out.
At this moment, the bitter taste of Inuyasha's lame excuses of friends is still there. However, I have some personal solutions which would assuage the bitterness I feel for them.
First of all, I would take Inuyasha far, far away from Miroku, Sango, Kagome, and Shippou once and for all, as he deserves better friends than those losers. My antidote would be that he might as well find himself with Sesshoumaru, Shuran, Hakkaku, Ginta, Ayame, and Shunran to have a much healthier relationship with his older brother, his true friends, the true love of his life, and his pesky little sister from another mother. They make a much better team than what the so-called Inu-Gang had to offer.
Secondly, I would take Kirara away from that incompetent slayer Sango and let her have a nice life with Buyo. Since Kagome does not even deserve her cat, let alone, the entire Higurashi family, I would say that Buyo and Kirara need to have quality time together as a lovely feline couple and roll with it.
Finally, I might as well just give Miroku, Sango, Kagome, and Shippou the slip and condemn them to a life of complete sadomasochism by being Kaede's servants for the rest of their natural lives! Or I could just send the plague to kill off Miroku, Sango, Kagome, Shippou, and Kaede for good and for all.
In conclusion, my hatred for Miroku, Sango, and Kagome and my dislike for Shippou could no longer be ignored. These creatures were never genuine friends to Inuyasha in the slightest and there was no wonder why I could not care for Miroku, Sango, Kagome, and Shippou in the slightest. They were extremely futile in battle, despite their various skills, and they proved themselves to be horrible friends to Inuyasha. As for Inuyasha, he truly deserved better, and I am not going to apologize for keeping him with Sesshoumaru, Shuran, Hakkaku, Ginta, Ayame, and Shunran in my AU headcanon because there is the potential for a much healthier relationship with those people than those useless pieces of feces in the forms of Miroku, Sango, Kagome, and Shippou. This is the final nail on their coffin, as they get the boot to get the Hell out of Inuyasha's life for good and for all!
I hope you all enjoyed my evisceration centered on Miroku, Sango, Kagome, and Shippou and what pernicious they played as part of the "Inu-Gang". I will see you in the next submission. Take care and stay safe, everybody.
Inuyasha, Kagome, Sango, Miroku, Shippou, and Kirara from Inuyasha belong to Rumiko Takahashi and Sunrise.
