InuYasha
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Tetsusaiga, the Phantom Sword is the sixth episode of the InuYasha anime.

Synopsis[]

  1. Inuyasha's "mother" is revealed to be the Mu-on'na in disguise and has trapped him in an illusion.
  2. After the Mu-on'na fails to find out where Tōga's tomb is, she tries to absorb Inuyasha and almost succeeds only for Kagome to free him.
  3. Sesshōmaru is able to locate Tōga's tomb, which is in a Black Pearl behind Inuyasha's right eye.
  4. The treasure Sesshōmaru had spoke of is a sword forged from the fang of Tōga, the Tessaiga.
  5. Neither Sesshōmaru nor Inuyasha are able to pull out the sword; however Kagome does.

Summary[]

Kagome is still paralyzed. Inuyasha's mother tells him that she has to go back to the netherworld. She takes a flower and tosses it into the pond they were by, and the flower breaks into petals. She tells him to look into the water. He sees himself as a kid chasing after his ball across a bridge. He then runs into his mother's arms. They are seen sitting together at the edge of a pond, and his mother hugs him tightly, reminding him that was how she used to embrace him when he was little. 

Inuyasha's "Mother," who is actually just an illusion of his mother, keeps him in an illusion and opens her kimono, beginning to absorb Inuyasha into her body. Jaken comes out of nowhere and quickly hits her and tells the false mother not to do so until they find out where his father's tomb is. Jaken tells her to ask Inuyasha where his father's grave is. Inuyasha is pushed into the "water" (something that it is merely an illusion) and he says that he sees a black pearl to the right. Jaken doesn't know what he's talking about, and says to look deeper. The Unmother then says if she goes any deeper than Inuyasha's soul will be shattered, but Jaken says he doesn't care as long as they ascertain the information they need.

Kagome is woken up by Myōga, who sucks her blood and she realizes that she is able to move. As the Unmother searches Inuyasha's soul for the location of the tomb, Kagome finds Jaken and strikes him, sending him flying into the water. She then takes the Staff of Two Heads before she chases after the Unmother. While running away with him, the Unmother begins to absorb Inuyasha and almost succeeds with only an arm remaining. Myōga tells Kagome that the woman is the Unmother, who feeds on the souls of lost children. Kagome sees the reflection in the water and they see the Unmother holding Inuyasha when he was a kid. She splashes the reflection, causing the Unmother to release Inuyasha. Sesshōmaru appears and tells them that he knows where the tomb is located.

Sesshomaru is taking out Inuyasha’s right eye

As Inuyasha attacks Sesshōmaru, Sesshōmaru grabs his neck and stabs two fingers into Inuyasha's right eye, drawing out a small black pearl. Inuyasha attacks Sesshōmaru again, but he dodges and attacks Inuyasha. Just when he is about to strike him, the Unmother blocks Sesshōmaru's attack and takes the fatal blow instead. Myōga comments that even though she has no children, she has the heart of a mother and wanted to protect Inuyasha. Sesshōmaru tells Jaken to come to him and Jaken gives him the Staff of Two Heads. He places the staff's bottom onto the pearl, and the face of the old man on the staff laughs, opening a portal to the netherworld. Sesshōmaru and Jaken enter the portal with Inuyasha, Kagome, and Myōga quickly following behind.

InuyashaSeesTessaiga

They enter into the netherworld, which turns out to be a demon lord's grave. Skeletal vultures circle the humongous skeleton in armor which happens to be Inuyasha's father. Inside the skeleton, Sesshōmaru and Jaken have found what they've been looking for: the Tessaiga, a sword that was made from the fang belonging to Inuyasha and Sesshōmaru's father. When Sesshōmaru grabs the hilt of the sword, he isn't able to pull it out, and realizes that his father put up a barrier. Inuyasha, Kagome and Myōga find him and Myōga tells Inyasha to get the sword, revealing it was always intended that he inherit the sword after his father passed, which should be proof enough for him to be able to get it out.

Inuyasha doesn't think he should bother taking the sword due to its rusty appearance, remarking that it couldn't even cut wet paper. Myōga insists he pull it out, but Inuyasha cockily says his father can keep "the rusty piece of junk" and attempts to battle his brother again, but fails. Myōga says he cannot fight unarmed and must get the sword. This time, Kagome encourages him to "get the dumb sword," and says that if he can't hit Sesshōmaru's body then he can at least hurt his ego, convincing Inuyasha to attempt pulling out the sword. When Inuyasha tries, there is no barrier around the Tessaiga stopping him like it did Sesshomaru, but he isn't able to pull it out either despite his best strength.

Sesshōmaru loses his patience and attacks Inuyasha while Kagome fights Jaken, having gotten annoyed with him. After getting distracted, Sesshōmaru gets a hold of Inuyasha and is prepared to strike him. Jaken overwhelms Kagome when he knocks his staff into her gut and she places her hand on the sword's handle to steady herself. Sesshōmaru prepares his poison claws to kill Inuyasha and just when he is about to kill him, Kagome notices and calls out Inuyasha's name and unintentionally yanks out the sword, shocking everyone including herself. The episode ends with Kagome baffled that she successfully removed the sword.

Characters in Order of Appearance[]

Music[]

  • Opening Theme — CHANGE THE WORLD — TV OST Vol. 1
  • Episode 5 recap — Dilemma (Kyūchi) — TV OST Vol. 1
  • Kagome’s mother fixes the bicycle — Kagome and InuYasha — TV OST Vol. 1
  • Inuyasha remembers himself as a child, talks with "mother" — Demon Brother Sesshōmaru (Yōkei Sesshōmaru) — TV OST Vol. 1
  • Fake mother hugs Inuyasha, he realizes she is fake — The Hidden Well to the Sengoku Era (Kakushi Ido kara Sengoku Jidai e) — TV OST Vol. 1
  • Fake mother absorbs Inuyasha into her chest — Evil Spirits Desiring the Shikon no Tama (Shikon no Tama o Nerau Chimimōryō) — TV OST Vol. 1
  • Sesshōmaru grabs Inuyasha’s neck, retrieves Black Pearl from his eye, opens the entrance to the Netherworld — Attack (Shūgeki) — TV OST Vol. 1
  • Sesshōmaru finds the Tessaiga, he cannot wield it — Demon Charm (Yōen) — TV OST Vol. 1
  • Inuyasha fights Sesshōmaru, he cannot wield Tessaiga either — Fight to the Death (Shitō) — TV OST Vol. 1
  • Sesshōmaru beats up and tries poisoning Inuyasha — Fang Sword, Tessaiga (Kiba no Ken Tessaiga) — TV OST Vol. 1
  • Kagome pulls out the sword — Sign of Unrest (Fuon na Kehai) — TV OST Vol. 1
  • Ending Theme — My Will — TV OST Vol. 1

Quotes[]

  • Sesshōmaru: (After extracting the black pearl) "No wonder searching for it was useless. 'Seeing yet never seeing. Protected yet never known to its protector,' Our father's tomb hidden inside a black pearl deep within your eye. 
  • Inuyasha: "And all for something like that!? You pretended she was my mother!"
  • Sesshomaru:"You're not amused?"
  • Inuyasha: "No I'm not—" (lunging to attack Sesshōmaru) "—YOU BASTARD!!"
  • Sesshōmaru: (in regards to Inuyasha's noisy entrance) "This is our father's resting place. Be more respectful!"
    Inuyasha: "Who are you to talk?! You're the one trying to rob his grave! Show some respect by leaving!"
  • Inuyasha: (To Sesshōmaru) "Good thing you're in a grave! Cause you're gonna die!"

Notes[]

  • The portal everyone goes through to get to Tōga's grave has the same graphics as the Bone-Eater's Well.
  • There are two animation errors. When Kagome first sees the reflection of the Unmother holding the young Inuyasha, her kimono is closed, but when Kagome splashes the water, the Unmother's chest is exposed. The second error is when Kagome is about to splash the water, most of Inuyasha's body is still outside of the Mu-onna, even though only his arm had not been absorbed.

Differences from the manga[]

  • The scenes of the villagers searching for Kagome and the conversation Kagome's mom and Sōta have about Kagome is exclusive to the anime.
  • When Inuyasha first peers into the water and sees his younger self, the anime extends the scene to include Inuyasha and his mother together. The anime also omits Inuyasha realizing, albeit too late, that his "mother" doesn't have a face, and attempting to escape from her. Instead, Inuyasha realizes it's not his mother while she's peering into his heart, but is unable to resist.
  • In the manga, Myōga tells Kagome about the Unmother while she is still holding Inuyasha's hair to prevent him from being absorbed. In the anime, Kagome lets go of Inuyasha's hair because she trips and then Myōga tells her about the Unmother.
  • In the manga, in order to extract the pearl, Sesshōmaru gouged out Inuyasha's eye, which slowly recovered over the next few chapters. In the anime, this was modified, and Sesshōmaru used a stream of energy to extract the pearl without damaging the eye itself, though the pupil did temporarily disappear.
  • Sesshōmaru doesn't use his light whip in the manga. Instead, he attacks Inuyasha and the Unmother with his bare hands. He then steps on her head to kill her.
  • Sesshōmaru threatens to kill Jaken if he loses the Staff of Two Heads again in the manga.
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