Just Another Reader

It actually works out better for me to read two at a time. At least for these first three sets of two, each book starts and finishes an arc, starts a second arc that is finished in the second book, and then one final arc which finishes up by the end of the second volume.

It did get a bit long so behind the jump again.

The first arc for these two features one of the creepiest demons. I actually recognized him from the anime, but he's so much creepier in the manga. As I have mentioned before, the manga does have more nudity and violence than was adapted for the anime. It's never gratuitous, but I notice it. The important part of this story (other than creeping me out) is we learn that since Inuyasha is a half demon, he will turn into a full human at certain times. For him, it's on the night of the new moon. Which happens to be the same time they are being attacked by the aforementioned demon.

The second storyline features the return of Kikyo.  When Kagome first appears in the feudal era, many people, including Inuyasha, mistake her for the dead miko who died protecting the Shikon no Tama. It's been assumed at this point, though not confirmed, that Kagome is her reincarnation.  When a demon steals Kikyo's bones and remakes her body, the demon realizes the soul has already been reborn and captures Kagome

Prior to this, Kagome has started to realize that there was a bit more to the story of when Kikyo hit Inuyasha with an arrow to bind him to the tree which we saw at the beginning of the story. When Kikyo gets the soul back from Kagome we see that Inuyasha tried many times to steal the jewel and Kikyo kept it away from him.  She offers him the chance to become full human instead of the wish to become a full demon which he has been planning to wish for. A wish to become full human would purify the gem and have it disappear from the world and she would be free to be her own person instead of just its protector.

But before they could make this wish, Kikyo is attacked by someone who looks like Inuyasha who steals the jewel, she binds Inuyasha to the tree and then died from her wounds.  Inuyasha claims he did not steal the jewel, although this has always confused me and I'm going to dive a bit more into this. I do know more than has been revealed, but even with all that I'm confused.

At the beginning of the series we see Inuyasha steal the jewel and an injured Kikyo shoot him with the arrow to bind him to the tree. We don't see the Inuyasha at the tree with the jewel, but Kikyo takes it from the ground. In the anime we see Inuyasha steal the jewel from a temple and then drop it after getting hit by the arrow.  In the manga, he just has the jewel. 

But in this storyline:

1) Kikyo is attacked by someone who looks like Inuyasha who steals the jewel and fatally injures her

2) Inuyasha says he is bound to the tree by Kikyo but did not take the jewel

The way it's presented and talked about later, Inuyasha believes that someone impersonated him. But it doesn't make sense with that first scene. If there was someone taking their place, Inuyasha would not have had the jewel and could not have been bound.

I've assumed that the first part is right, a fake Inuyasha attacked real Kikyo and stole the jewel. Real Kikyo then bound Real Inuyasha to the tree. But why would real Inuyasha seemingly have the jewel?

Anyway, I will investigate this further after I finish the series.

EDIT: Okay, so after writing this and watching a few anime episodes I think I figured out what happened. I left my initial thoughts above

1) Inuyasha and Kikyo agree to wish for Inuyasha to become full human to purify the gem and set her free

2) Kikyo gets attacked by someone looking like Inuyasha who takes the gem from her and tells her he lied

3) Someone disguised as Kikyo attacks Inuyasha and says she lied. This person does not bind Inuyasha to the tree (one issue I had earlier)

4) Inuyasha says in the anime (and I didn't remember reading this in the manga) that then he was upset so he stole the gem. In the anime it shows him stealing it from the shrine.

5) Real Kikyo binds Real Inuyasha to the tree. She takes back the gem and dies from her wounds from #2

There is still one plot hole, if the gem was stolen from Kikyo, how did Inuyasha steal it from the temple? But otherwise, I'm calling this solved.

The revived Kikyo is still determined that Inuyasha betrayed her and her revenge keeps her going, even after most of soul returns to Kagome. Her hatred does keep the shell of Kikyo going.

The final arc deals with the fourth member of core Inuyasha group, Miroku, the lecherous monk. He does have some abilities, but his main power is his right hand. Normally it is covered and bound with prayer beads, but if he removes them there's basically a black hole which sucks in everything. He and Inuyasha initially don't get along, but he joins the group by the end of the volume. He explains that his hand was cursed by a demon Naraku and is born in each male of his line. The hole will eventually consume him.

As a result he asks each woman he meets to bear his child. As I said before, he is a lecherous monk, but he also does it to so that his line will continue since he knows he will have a short life. He tries it on Kagome, but she turns him down.

Naraku is a pretty big part of the storyline but it's not till over 50 chapters that we get his name. For now we only have his name and the tale Miroku tells of how he can shapeshift and apparently killed a powerful priestess many years ago. Sound familiar?