Inuyasha the Movie 4: Fire on the Mystic Island

The island of Houraijima appears once in fifty years. It surfaces again and there are children living on it; all of them half demons, all kept inside an order. Four warriors rule the island and draw their power from the children. Kagome notices the island has appeared. Inuyasha has been there before; there was a fire fifty years ago and he remembers what happened that day. The group crosses to the island. There is a girl there and she knows Inuyasha. Toshiya Shinohara directs. Kappei Yamaguchi, Satsuki Yukino, Koji Tsujitani and Houko Kuwashima are among the voices. It is a Japanese production. The source is Rumiko Takahashi's manga; this is the fourth and last feature made from it. The narrative builds a story independent of the series but assumes the viewer knows the characters. The matter it treats is being of mixed kind; the half demon children are shut out by both sides and Inuyasha is in the same position. The film does not touch the main line of the series and things reset afterwards. The animation is more detailed than the television version and the fights are held long. The narrative gives weight to the child characters and builds its feeling there. Its limit is accessibility; the context is missing for anyone who has not watched the series and the narrative is conventional. Who it is for: viewers who follow InuYasha and like Japanese animation. Who it is not for: it needs context, it is conventional, and the ending resets.