InuYasha
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Akitoki Hōjō (北条ほうじょう秋時あきとき, "Autumn Season (first name), North Line (family name)") is the husband of Suzaku whose name he requested to be changed into "Kagome Hōjō" due to the weirdly scary association Akitoki bears towards this name since his encounter with one of Hoshiyomi's Ninja Yōkai servants of the same name. He is also an ancestor of Kagome's classmate Hōjō, who harbors a crush on Kagome. Akitoki also falls in love with Kagome Higurashi though his feelings go unrequited.

History[]

The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass[]

Hōjō first appeared looking for Mt. Fuji to dispose of the Celestial Robe before Kaguya can gain custody of it. On his way there, he gets lost and chances upon seeing Kagome, Sango, and Shippō bathing in the spring. Commenting on how the girls look like "celestial maidens," he is caught by Miroku but escapes, and the girls punish Miroku for peeping.

He meets with the group again as he is about to be robbed while trying to cross a bridge, and the group saves him. He travels with them and Shippō, recognizing him from the hot spring incident, blackmails him into becoming his servant.

Kaguya arrives and pins Inuyasha to a tree, reflecting Kagome's sacred arrow at him. Kagome leaps in front of the arrow to protect him, and Hōjō throws the Celestial Robe in the arrow's path. It does not prevent the arrow from striking Kagome, but it does soften the blow, allowing Kagome to survive.

Along with the others, Hōjō goes to rescue Kagome from Kaguya but is frozen in time by Kaguya's spell and freed after her defeat.

The Naginata of Kenkon[]

He is traveling to dispose of a sword that has brought nothing but trouble upon his family.[1] He meets Inuyasha when Inuyasha saves him from bandits. It soon becomes clear that he has had a crush on Kagome since first meeting her.

Due to finding her name on her classmate Hōjō's family tree, Kagome begins to wonder if maybe she is to end up marrying Akitoki. Also, due to a comment Inuyasha makes about demons and humans just not understanding each other, Kagome further ponders if she really does end up marrying Akitoki rather than Inuyasha.

When Kagome is held hostage by Hoshiyomi, Akitoki jumps in and gives a speech about how weakness is what enables humans to understand each other and how love never fades in humans and mortals.[2]

Later, he confesses his love for Kagome and that he loved her with all his strength; saying how she was different and special from anyone else he had ever met and he would go as far as to die to save her. He jumps in to save Kagome and ends up getting hurt less than she did.

After seeing Kagome and Inuyasha together, he secretly leaves Kagome and the others while they are all arguing near a river. In the end while traveling, he meets his future wife, Suzaku. Akitoki asks her to change her name to Kagome, which is why the name "Kagome" is present in Hōjō's family tree.[2]

Personality[]

Like Hōjō, Akitoki is a very health conscious person. He is also very clumsy, to the point that people wonder how he can survive in the Feudal Era, much like Amari Nobunaga. He is shown to very determined and selfless, judging by the fact that he carried the burden of the Ken blade in order to get it purified instead of simply throwing it away like Inuyasha suggested, as he didn't wish for another family to suffer misfortune like his own did.

Relationships[]

Kagome Higurashi

Akitoki fell in love with Kagome the moment he saw her, believing her to be a celestial being from heaven. Kagome, in turn, was more than willing to help him bring the Ken blade to the Furai shrine and tried to convince Inuyasha that he was being too hard on him. He declared his love for Kagome after attempting to grab the Naginata of Kenkon from Hoshiyomi, but after seeing how Inuyasha and Kagome put their lives on the line for each other and worked together to defeat Hoshiyomi, Akitoki realized that Kagome was really in love with Inuyasha. Unlike the possessive Kōga, however, he did not get jealous and humbly accepted that his feelings would never be returned. His feelings were so great that he convinced his future wife to change her name to Kagome, though this was partially because her birth name was Suzaku and he had already been the victim of another Suzaku.

Trivia[]

  • Akitoki's surname and the pattern on his clothes could possibly hint he belongs or is related to the later Hōjō clan, which controlled most of the Kanto region at its peak, including Musashi province where Kaede's village is located.
  • Akitoki would not be the first character in the series to be related to a real clan of ancient Japan. As Nobunaga a character who bears many similarities with him is related to the Takeda clan. As well as Kuranosuke Takeda a leader of the Takeda castle.
  • Akitoki is unique in that he first appears in a movie while made his first appearance in the anime series in a later released episode and yet is an entirely original character who did not appear in the manga drawn by Rumiko Takahashi.
  • Unlike Hōjō, who is a side character that only appears during the brief scenes that Kagome spends time in her own era, Akitoki receives far more substantive screen time and character development than his modern counterpart, although Akitoki is not an original character from the manga. He appears not only in the second movie, InuYasha the Movie 2: The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass, but also episodes 137 - 140. He is the only character to simultaneously be both anime and movie-exclusive.

Media appearances[]

References[]

  1. InuYasha anime; Episode 137
  2. 2.0 2.1 InuYasha anime; Episode 140
InuYasha the Movie 2: The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass
Locations: Mount Fuji  •  Dream Castle  •  Forest of Illusion (Shrine of the Mirror of Life)
Five Lakes of Mount Fuji: Lake Kawaguchi  •  Lake Motosu  •  Lake Sai  •  Lake Shōji  •  Lake Yamanaka
Princess Kaguya
Allies: Kagura (formerly)  •  Kanna (formerly)  •  Orochi
Enemies: Miyatsu  •  Naraku  •  Inuyasha  •  Kagome Higurashi  •  Miroku  •  Sango  •  Shippō  •  Kirara  •  Akitoki Hōjō  •  Kohaku
Equipment: Celestial Robe  •  Mirror of Life
Five Items: Jeweled Branch of Hōrai  •  Swallow's Cowrie Shell  •  Jewel of the Dragon's Neck  •  Stone Begging Bowl of Buddha  •  Robe of the Fire-Rat
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