InuYasha

[DoxieMoxie]

  I finally found a use for this one.

[Death_is_coming]

6/10

[MafiaFlood]

INORITE

That's why I luffses him

[ben0119]

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sohadow_swordsman wrote:

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studster1011 wrote:
I am a complete ignoramus when it comes to manga. I honestly know nothing about volumes ect.

What does he have to smile about in the manga that he doesn't in the anime?

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Here are some examples. Not all of them are smiles, but he shows some type of emotion on his face. It's very different from the anime.

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Okay, I have to comment on this.  I like that he got more emotional facial expressions in the manga, and that he apparently isn't the unfeeling, cold bastard we always thought of him as, but... his appearance there is all but disturbing.  He looks so feminine and... even child-like.  It really is off-putting.  Hell, there's been Sailor Moon villains that appeared more manly than that!

However, I actually have what I think is a manga color page, that shows the various characters, and I guess that was the point where Takahashi actually started emulating the anime's art style, and Sesshomaru looks much better for it, in my opinion.

[DoxieMoxie]

When we first see Sesshomaru in the manga, he looks to be nearly the same age as Inuyasha, even though we know that he has aged during the 50 years that Inuyasha was "dead".  As Takahashi's style changed, Sesshomaru's appearance settled down to be somewhat like a 19-20 year old. 

I think he looked much older than that in the anime.  Sunrise made him look about the same age as Lord Kagewaki, who was supposed to be 26 years old when Naraku took over his body.

[ben0119]

I always thought Sesshomaru reminded me a bit of an elf.  The ears, obviously, and also the whole young in appearance but centuries of wisdom thing, or at least, experience.  And I'd say he looks more in his 30s, at least.  In any case, the look is just more mature and more manly, even if he could still be confused for a woman, it's not as bad as that early manga appearance.  He looks even younger and more child-like than Inuyasha with that early look.

[doxiedachsie]

I think Takahashi did that to match his behavior at the time, which was definitely petty and childish.

[ben0119]

That sounds as good as an excuse as any. Really though, I doubt that much thought was put into it, but I'm glad his character design was revised later, at least.

[DoxieMoxie]

Takahashi seems to have started out making all the young characters look like they were just barely in their teens.

[ben0119]

Seemed that way.  I have a few of the volumes so I've read a bit of the manga, but I still haven't gotten to my series long marathon yet.  I keep getting distracted by other stuff.  

I can't remember if Sesshomaru is in any of the ones I have.  But, he definitely looks even more effeminate and child-like in that first appearance than he does in other parts I remember seeing him in.  So, that was even more shocking than the first time I saw his manga look, which I guess was from a later appearance (though he looked way different than the anime there, as well).

[DoxieMoxie]

Someone did a retrospective on youtube, I think, that showed Sesshomaru's look changing throughout the series.  His fluff got longer and shorter, and sometimes even split in two at the end; and his face changed as well.

Much of it was Takahashi's style changing over the years; but some of it was probably conscious decisions about the look she wanted him to have at the time.  Maybe it was part of his demon ability to control his appearance?

[ben0119]

I might have to look that up.  And yeah, I can see it more having to do with style, although that fluff thing definitely doesn't have a definite shape... Especially when he flies off and stuff.  We can say it has to do with his demon ability if we want a canon explanation, I guess. I think it just has to do with artist's evolving style, though.  That sort of thing is noticeable in lots of long-running series.

[DoxieMoxie]

Takahashi did change him up on nearly every appearance and the anime followed suit to a certain degree, although I do have to credit them with maintaining consistency over his facial appearance.

[ben0119]

Probably because Sesshomaru's appearances were pretty sparse and a lot of stuff happened between them.  So, maybe her art style evolved by the time he would appear, each time.  I didn't think he looked any different during his various anime appearances, though.

I did notice that the movies seemed to use an art style that's a bit closer to the manga?  Also, red blood!  Woot.

[DoxieMoxie]

The manga was about 4 years in when the anime was started.  The means they had a head start on her evolving style.  But the real answer is that the animators set a character design and stuck to it in order to make the animations look uniform.  The nature of animation requires a uniform design that all the animation artists adhere to.

Since a different animation group worked on the movies, they were free to use a different character design and the director there opted to make the look closer to the manga.

[ben0119]

That makes plenty of sense.  

Anyway, I'm glad they changed Sesshomaru's character design, or at least used the one closer to whatever his latest appearance would have been.  Can you imagine that deep voice coming out of that childish looking Sesshomaru?  Plus, he just looks better that way.  

[DoxieMoxie]

I guess it's no worse than that deep voice coming out of a very girlish looking Naraku. 

[ben0119]

I'll try this again since I just got post-blocked and logged out by Lithium maintenance that lasted like 2 seconds, apparently...

Naraku doesn't look girly!  At least, no more girly than Sesshomaru.  And, in the manga pages I've seen with him in them, he doesn't look that much different from his anime counterpart.

[DoxieMoxie]

That's sort of my point.  They both look girly (facially & hair-wise); but they are the tallest and most deep-voiced characters in the series.  Since the Japanese animators traditionally use deep voices for imposing characters, the entire extreme beauty and height thing may have some symbolic meaning, like Medieval angels were always depicted with feminine faces although most were obviously male, and often warriors to boot.

[ben0119]

Hmm, maybe so.  I'm not sure if there's any special meaning behind it, but it could be.  You're talking about those old paintings of Angels, right?  I never thought about it, but I guess they are kind of pretty boy-ish, haha.

To add to that, it's also worth noting that other characters around them, Kagawaki's attendants, for example, were either pretty ugly or unremarkable looking.  That may or may not be intentional, to distinguish them even more.  Only the main cast gets to be attractive, hahaha.

In any case, I'm glad the character designs were changed (sorry if I'm beating a dead horse).  In the manga, Sesshomaru looks even more feminine, and Inuyasha looks like a tomboy! X_X I just don't know how that voice could have worked with that original design for Sesshomaru.  Now that I think about it, it seems like Sesshomaru also got his height increased and some broadness added to his frame, in addition to making his face more mature and less feminine.

[DoxieMoxie]

The facial change was to emphasize his innate cruelty, according to the companion art books that were published in the early 2000's.  The overall character proportion change (head to body ratio) was to make them look more believable when animated, as opposed to looking like children, or chibi characters.  The height differential probably came from that, or from the desire to portray him as an imposing figure befitting his status as the perfect demon. 

Naraku's height came from the fact that he adapted his form from a castle lord, who would inherited the position.  The better nutrition received as a child would have helped him grow to extremely tall.  The 6'2" he commanded was unusual.

Also, these are probably conventions used in anime to portray sub-text, like eye size and shape.

[ben0119]

I find that a bit hard to believe over just a typical evolving of art style.  Having someone's face change completely would be pretty unusual, and you'd think she'd want him to look as cruel as possible right from the get-go.  I can understand making him have better proportion for the anime, and yeah, his height makes him much more imposing, as he should be.

Yeah, but, even someone who is well-fed and healthy, that is a pretty big height for a Japanese person to grow to.  I'm not sure why you'd include that he good nutrition, as it would be unusual for any Japanese person to get that tall, though I suppose if they had that in their genes, it might not show if you didn't get enough to eat, and we already know that that can greatly stunt growth.  You hear about malnourished children being much smaller than they should be for their age.  It's very sad.

Well, I figured a bit of that was in play, as well.  If you notice, Sesshomaru, Naraku, and Kikyo all have the more narrow, more serious eyes.  That's probably to show it's a big deal if one of them shows up.  Though, that kinda' messes with the whole "Kagome looks just like Kikyo" thing, as we've previously discussed, although Kagome might look more like Kikyo, if she were to make her eyes do a similar expression.  Kagome's eyes almost never narrow like that, though.  I can only think of a few times where she really is serious or actually mad, and her eyes got narrower.

[DoxieMoxie]

Sumo wrestlers have a centuries-long history of being incredibly tall, for the Japanese.  They are also some of the only people in the country who get to eat tons of protein as they are growing up and afterward.  That proves the genes are there.

The son of a lord, even in the feudal era, would have access to a higher protein regimen than normal peasants, and can be expected to grow taller.  The fact that Lord Kagawaki, whose body he stole, was tall and thin means that he was served high protein foods more often; but he did not eat large enough quantities to grow to the proportions of a sumo wrestler.

Also, it may be a nod to the fact that he was physically the oldest member of the cast.  Kagawaki was supposed to be 26 years old.  Compare that to Sesshomaru, Kikyou, and Miroku at 19 and Sango at 17 before we get down to Inuyasha and Kagome, who were 15.  Kagome had just turned 15 the day the adventure starts and Inuyasha was somewhere further on, but not quite 16 yet.

[ben0119]

Well, that the potential is there, anyway.  I'd still say it's pretty unusual.  But yeah, without sufficient food, you won't get the chance to get that tall at all!

Lol, well, of course he didn't eat enough to get that fat.  Those Sumo wrestlers do that on purpose.  And, who knows if maybe even there weren't exercise regimens for the wealthy at the time.  Actually, they probably weren't.  I'd imagine servants did everything for them.  In any case, Kagawaki was a tall, fit man.  Lol,  how funny would it have been if he was fat, and Naraku was a fat guy the whole rest of the series.

Now that I think about it, not only do we never see Onigumo's face, but Naraku doesn't really have a face of his own.  We tend to think that was his face, but it was really just Kagawaki's form that he took and decided to keep.

I'm not sure how you even know how old Kagawaki is, but I suppose that would play into things.  People always used to say that Inuyasha was a little older than Kagome, like 17, and there were even threads saying he could get in trouble, because of age of consent, and such.  Though, you've been saying he's effectively fifteen, but I'm not sure it's ever been stated anywhere.  I think someone said Inu was 17 along with everyone else's offical-sounding ages, that were correct, so I took his as that being right too, I guess.  But, we've been over this before, already, I think.

Also, that's pretty weird.  I just checked that thread where someone asked why Kikyo and Kagome don't look the same, and you said almost the same thing I just said here.  That it has a lot more to do with their expressions!  Man, I really want to hunt for one of Kagome's serious/mad/etc expressions, now.  I bet she would look just like Kikyo, then!

[DoxieMoxie]

Caslte lords were expected to be warriors and generals, in order to defend the lands they controlled.  That means they got some pretty serious martial arts training.  That was enough to keep them fit.

That was the whole point about Onigumo, and by extension Naraku.  Neither one had a shape or face of their own, just that scar for identification.  Onigumo's was destroyed, hence Muso's penchant for stealing the faces of others; and Naraku was an amorphous, composite demon who changed "its" shape constantly, until he stole the form of Kagawaki. 

Takahashi gave Kagawaki's age independently as 26 in one of the background books that was published and repeatedly said that Inuyasha was "the equivalent" of a 15 year old in development and mindset the same way.  However, in the feudal era, that would make him officially an adult.  Kagome remarked that people grew up much faster then, several times.