InuYasha the Movie: The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass

InuYasha the Movie: The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass (映画犬夜叉　鏡の中の夢幻城) is the second movie of the InuYasha movie series. It was released in Japan on December 21, 2002 (between episodes 95 & 96), and in the United States on December 28, 2004. In this film, the character designs are virtually identical to the Rumiko Takahashi versions, from the original manga (rather than using the Yoshihito Hishinuma designs, from the TV anime).

Plot
The story begins after the defeat of Naraku by InuYasha, Kagome Higurashi, and their friends. There is some doubt whether Naraku is truly dead until it is revealed that the void in Miroku's hand is gone and Kagura's heart is in her body again. Kagome, Sango, and Shippo relax in a hot spring. Akitoki Hojo (an ancestor of Hojo from Kagome's school) shows up, confused as to how to get to Mt. Fuji. He notices the three bathing, thinking that they are celestial maidens, but is caught by Miroku. Sango then notices Miroku and manages to throw a huge boulder on him. InuYasha hears the noise and comes running, Tetsusaiga drawn. However, Kagome, who is really afraid that InuYasha will see her naked once again, orders him to sit, who promptly falls on the three. As Akitoki crawls away, contemplating his luck, InuYasha and Kagome are once again in a fierce debate. Hojo whispers, "Thank goodness I was spared" and sneaks away. The group disbands with InuYasha, Kagome and Shippo off to pursue the remaining shards of the Shikon Jewel.

Miroku returned to his master, and Sango returned to her village to search for Kohaku.

Kagome briefly returns to her time period to catch up in school and learns about "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter".

Kagura and Kanna, the two surviving incarnations of Naraku, are restless now that Naraku is dead. They find a mirror in a shrine and awaken Kaguya, Princess of the Heavens. In exchange for freeing her, Kaguya promises to give Kagura her freedom. Kagura and Kanna set out to recover five items that will free Kaguya from her mirror.

Kohaku has returned to Sango's village without any memory as to who he is. Miroku's master, Mushin, presents him with a task that is to be given to the surviving descendant who defeats Naraku. Miroku is to destroy a yōkai who threatens to cast the world into eternal night. The first sign of the yōkai's appearance in fifty years is a full moon shining for many nights.

Kagome returns to InuYasha's time and with Shippō they find the remaining shards of the jewel. InuYasha detects Naraku's presence and runs into Kagura instead. Kagura easily rips the sleeve from InuYasha's kimono. She and Kanna are about to leave when the moon appears and a poem is said. Kaguya appears and uses her powers to use the dark desires of InuYasha's heart against him. Kagura unleashes her "Dance of the Dragon", Inuyasha uses his Backlash Wave but is stopped by Kanna who uses the mirror to return the attack. Kagome manages to stop Kaguya from inflicting major damage to InuYasha and the demons leave, with Kaguya noting Kagome has a strange aura about her that does not agree with the flow of time.

InuYasha and company pursue Kaguya and run into Akitoki Hōjō, who is supposed to drop a family heirloom (a hagoromo robe) into Mount Fuji. He joins them, partly because he has a crush on Kagome and partly because he is being blackmailed by Shippo. Meanwhile, Kikyo investigates Naraku's death and has come across a slaughtered village where a dying girl gives her the Stone Bowl of Buddha.

Miroku (with his tanuki servant, Hachi) journeys to his grandfather's grave to find the yōkai he is supposed to destroy. He hears the legend of Kaguya. Miroku's grandfather, a powerful priest in the series, defeated Kaguya and sealed her into a mirror but was unable to kill her due to her beauty and his own lecherous ways. Kaguya's hagoromo was entrusted to the family with instructions to dispose of it should Kaguya be freed. Kagura arrives in Sango's village and attacks Kohaku, taking off with the Cowrie shell that was in Kohaku's possession. After Kikyo surrenders the Stone Bowl to Kagura, she and Kanna free her from the mirror. Kaguya tries to find her hagoromo and meets InuYasha and Kagome. After pinning InuYasha to a tree, Kagome fires an arrow to kill Kaguya, but she absorbs it and fires it at InuYasha. Kagome then jumps in front of the arrow and Akitoki throws the hagoromo in front of the arrow but Kagome gets hit. Inuyasha thinks Kagome is dead and threatens revenge. Then Kaguya takes Kagome and tells InuYasha to follow if he desires.

Kaguya, whose power has vastly increased now she has her robe, prepares to freeze time into eternal night. InuYasha meets up with Miroku and Sango again and they prepare to rescue Kagome and stop Kaguya. InuYasha then reclaims his piece of the robe of the fire rat that Kaguya had stolen. It is then revealed that Kaguya was in fact a demon who absorbed the real tennyo (celestial maiden) and had taken on her beauty and power in order to gain immortality. Kaguya tries to turn Inuyasha into a full demon but his voice woke Kagome up and she attempts to stop the transformation by hugging him, saying " I love you as a half demon, Inuyasha!" Because of that, InuYasha sees Kagome (in his mind) running toward him. As InuYasha tries to attack her, Kagome says "I love you. I love you as a half demon." This stops InuYasha from attacking. However, it doesn't work completely, to awake InuYasha's human spirit, Kagome kisses him. Kaguya orders InuYasha to kill Kagome. During their embrace, Kagome mentally asks InuYasha, "InuYasha, you want to be with me, don't you"? While she thinks this, a tear rolls down Kagome's cheek. It works, as InuYasha and Kagome kiss, Kaguya's mirror cracks, returning InuYasha to his half demon form. InuYasha returns the kiss and tells Kagome in a hug that he will remain as a half demon a bit longer for her. As they battle Naraku reappears revealing that he had purposely faked his death to absorb Kaguya. However, Naraku during this point in the series was still a half demon and thus wasn't able to battle her on equal terms. Naraku then escapes with Kohaku, Kagura, and Kanna. Kagome then combines her power with that of Miroku as she launches a piece of his staff in the form of an arrow and destroys Kaguya's mirror. InuYasha then manages to destroy Kaguya's physical form using his backlash wave (Bakuryuha). Kaguya shows up again in the form of a black cloud and attempts to absorb Kagome in an effort to gain a new body. However, she is killed by Miroku's Wind Tunnel attack; fulfilling Miroku's grandfather's dying wish. After the credits, Miroku causes Sango to slap him in the face once again while trying to kiss her. Miroku's excuse is that Kagome and InuYasha were being intimate. InuYasha and Kagome both turn deep shades of crimson upon hearing this. In the end Akitoki Hōjō throws Kaguya's hagoromo into a volcano to stop any other beings from ever using its power.

Cast

 * InuYasha - Kappei Yamaguchi/Richard Ian Cox
 * Kagome Higurashi - Satsuki Yukino/Moneca Stori
 * Miroku - Koji Tsujitani/Kirby Morrow
 * Sango - Hōko Kuwashima/Kelly Sheridan
 * Shippo - Kumiko Watanabe/Jillian Michaels
 * Kagura - Izumi Ōgami/Janyse Jaud
 * Myōga - Kenichi Ogata/Paul Dobson
 * Naraku - Toshiyuki Morikawa/Paul Dobson
 * Sota Higurashi - Akiko Nakagawa/Saffron Henderson
 * Kagome and Sota's Grandfather - Katsumi Suzuki/French Tickner
 * Kagome and Sota's Mother - Asako Dodo/Cathy Weseluck
 * Kaede - Hisako Kyoda/Pam Hyatt
 * Kanna - Yukana/Janyse Jaud
 * Kikyo - Noriko Hidaka/Willow Johnson
 * Hachi - Toshihiko Nakajima/Terry Klassen
 * Kohaku - Akiko Yajima/Danny McKinnon
 * Kaguya - Mieko Harada/Nicole Oliver
 * Mushin - Yuzuru Fujimoto/Alec Willows
 * Hojo - Yuji Ueda/Matt Smith
 * Ayumi - Nami Okamoto/Cathy Weseluck
 * Eri - Yuki Masuda/Saffron Henderson
 * Yuka - Kaori Shimizu/Jillian Michaels

Credits

 * Directior
 * Toshiya Shinohara


 * Script
 * Katsuyuki Sumisawa


 * Music
 * Kaoru Wada


 * Original Concept
 * Rumiko Takahashi


 * Art Director
 * Tsutomu Ishigaki


 * Director of Photography
 * Hirofumi Yagi


 * Producers
 * Masuo Ueda, Michihiko Suwa, Mikihiro Iwata


 * Theme Song
 * "Yura Yura" (ゆらゆら)
 * Lyrics by: Kaori Mochida
 * Composed by: Kunio Tako
 * Arranged by: Yasuo Otani, Masafumi Nakao, and Ichiro Ito
 * Performed by: Every Little Thing


 * Insertion Song
 * "Ai no Uta" (愛の謳)
 * Lyrics by: Kaori Mochida
 * Composed by: Kunio Tako
 * Arranged by: Akira Murata
 * Performed by: Every Little Thing