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I have recently written an sort of,"essay" I suppose you could call it,on Kikyou and Kagome.

More specifically,it is about people who bash either character and why the more common reasons for hating the characters just don't make sense.

I plan on posting it in the TV Anime subform of the A/M/C since Inu Yasha is a popular anime on North American channels.

However,before I do,I was wondering if it would be okay to post the essay here first.

I would like to know everybody's opinions on the essay,and whether I need to change a few things or not.

I want the essay to be the best I can get it before I post it in the TV Anime subforum,because that can be a scary place sometimes(almost as scary as the Chatterbox. gonk )

If the members of this guild wouldn't mind reading the essay,then I will post it in this thread,rather than starting up a new thread for it.

Well,I suppose it might be a little biased, considering that I am a fan of both characters. I'm sorry that I haven't posted it until just now. I had to get up early this morning, so I went to bed when midnight hit around here.

I hope the internet disconnection isn't permanent, and that you're back on soon.

Anyway, here is the essay:

I know there are already a large amount of Inu Yasha-related threads around here(the TV Anime subforum), so forgive me for adding to the list.
However, there is something that I feel I must discuss, and it seems to be prevailant in the Inu Yasha fandom.

Whenever I see threads concerning Kikyou or Kagome, there always seems to be at least one or two users bashing the specific character mentioned in the thread. While I understand that people dislike Kikyou or Kagome, I don't understand why some of them feel the need to bash either character.

Kikyou and Kagome are both fictional characters created by Rumiko Takahashi. Neither of them exist in real life, so why waste your energy hating them? Wouldn't it be much more productive to channel that energy elsewhere and put it to good use, rather than letting it go to waste like that?

Of course, I understand that people will continue to hate either character regardless, so asking them to stop is probably a waste of my energy. Instead, I ask that you hold off insulting these characters.

Insulting characters really serves no purpose, other than to waste precious oxygen, and possibly make yourself look like a moron depending on how you express the insults. After all, it's not like the character will ever hear them.

Now that I have that out of the way, let me comment on the nature of the insults, and why they really make no sense.

Kagome

The most common insults I see concerning Kagome are as follows:

She's a slut, she's whiney, she is two-(or even three-)timing Inuyasha, she never does anything in battle, etc.

1) When, exactly, has Kagome ever displayed any "slutty" behaviour? The most she's ever done was give Inuyasha a kiss. How is that slutty?
And for those people who would point out her outfit as proof: her outfit is a typical Japanese school-girl uniform. If she's a slut for wearing it, then so are all the other girls in her school.(And, in fact, so is almost every other girl in the anime fandom)

"Well why doesn't she just change out of them?" You say.

Maybe she just finds her school uniform comfortable and prefers to wear it when she time travels. What's that you say? Not a good enough reason? Okay then, what about this?
Perhaps Kagome is eager to get back to the Feudal era to help out Inuyasha and the others. Maybe she just doesn't want to waste the time it would take to change, when she could be using that time to hunt down new shards of the Shikon Jewel.

2) She may complain a lot,but think about her situation. She was a typical,modern day teenager. The only problems she had to worry about were passing entrance exams to get into high school and typical teenage-girl stuff.
Then one day she finds herself in Feudal Japan facing demons and other dangers. I don't know about the rest of you,but I'd be pretty upset myself if it happened to me. Heck,Kagome's handling herself quite well given the situation.

3) In order to two-time or three-time Inuyasha, she would have to actually be his girlfriend in the first place. She is not, so how can she be cheating on him? Especially since nothing even happens between her and Kouga, or her and Hojo.
Where do people get this idea from?

4) Finally, Kagome isn't the best fighter in the group, but she still does her fair share in battle. She helps out when she can, and does quite well in fact.
If you're going to get on somebody's case for not helping out in battle, then get on Shippou's case. He's the one that rarely does anything.

Kikyou

Sure, she's not exactly the warmest person around, and does want Inuyasha to die, and has helped Naraku out, but there are very good reasons for this.

1) If it seemed like I was betrayed by the one I loved and died from wounds I recieved from "him", then revived by a witch who wanted to use my powers for her own gain, I'd be pretty cold and seemingly heartless myself.

Kikyou, however,isn't as cold as she seems, and is certainly not heartless. She does still care for people. In the village she temporarily stayed in after her revival she helped people heal and even treated the children of the village almost as if they were her own.
Also, when she met another person who was revived in the same way as she, Kikyou gave the girl some souls so that she could survive. She could have simply let the girl die, but helped her instead, knowing that there was still some purpose left in the girl's life.

2) Kikyou may want Inuyasha to die, but that's because she wishes to die herself, and because of the love she still holds for him, she wants Inuyasha to join her so that they can be together in the afterlife for the rest of eternity.

They can no longer be together in life, so she wishes them to be together in death.

Kikyou herself wishes to die because she knows she doesn't really belong in this existance. She knows that her time has come and gone, and that she shouldn't really be alive.
She can't let herself die yet though, because she still has things she must do.

Think about ghosts for a minute. They are said to exist because people still have some unfinished business on Earth, so their souls can't find eternal rest and peace until that business is done.
Kikyou is just like these ghosts. Until her business is complete, she cannot allow herself rest.

3) I can't quite remember why she helped Naraku, so I'll explain it to the best of my recollection.

I believe she gave him the Shikon Jewel piece she stole from Kagome because she wants Naraku to become a full demon.
I think she wants him to be a full demon because it would be easier for her to send him to Hell as a full demon than as a half demon.
She could've just helped him to make it easier to destroy him later on.

Wouldn't you help your enemy if it meant you'd have an easier time destroying him later on?



In conclusion, at least think about your reasons for disliking a character first, and try to see things from their side before resorting to flinging insults directed at the character.
Both characters are vital to the existance of the anime, and Inu Yasha just wouldn't be the same great show it is without either of them.

And if you must insult a character, please don't resort to mindless bashing. Most the reasons I have seen people give as justification for bashing either character have been pretty silly and easily shot down because they have no factual basis.
Try to logically think of why you don't like the character and try to see if there is any basis in the anime for your reasons before you post them on Gaia.

And remember, the characters are the way they are because of their creator, Rumiko Takahashi. She's the one who made them that way.
So if you don't like the way they act, please write a complaint letter to her, rather than resorting to bashing them.

Thanks for the advice on the commas. I was taught to include a space after periods, but nobody ever mentioned commas, so I'm still not used to doing it yet. sweatdrop

I hope my thread stays in TVA. Of course, even if it is well-written to start with, if people turn it into a spam or off-topic chat thread, then I might just lose it anyway. *sigh*

I know what you mean. TVA scares me sometimes. gonk

*Goes to edit essay*

Editing complete! smile

That's the general problem with well-written threads...At times it'll go off-topic...alot. sweatdrop

One more thing, if people b***h at you for making another Inuyasha thread and try to force you to find another...Just ignore it.

It's not something like "OMG! DO U LYK INUSYAHSA!!!!????".

I just wonder how the hell I've survived being a mod in TVA. xp

I haven't been able to read your essay until now (darn boring part time job), but today's my day off, so I hope you don't mind some up front honest criticism (some people think I'm a real b***h when I'm honest, so be warned).

First of all, I have a feeling that the replies you get will consist of "Your totally wrong.... blah blah blah" to "Geez yet another Kikyou/Kagome thread" and maybe a few post and run people who will ignore your post and flame anyway. Maybe you could think about what kind of replies you expect and then edit your first post accordingly. After all, a thread will attract replies of all sorts, people aren't just going to read the first post and leave it at that.



This is a risky point to make. I'm pretty sure everyone is well aware that the characters are fictional. After all, if it's wrong to hate a character, is it wrong to love them? I believe that some characters are designed to be hated or loved, but protagonist Kikyou (in my opinion) does not fall under Rumiko Takahashi's list of "characters that the readers should hate".



Another point you could mention is that sometimes characters are designed to reflect what is popular. For example, when 'Inuyasha' was first written, loose socks were popular, so is it no suprise that Kagome wears them? Also, 'Inuyasha' was published in 'Shonen Sunday', who's main target audience are boys (yes, I know girls also read it) so it's no wonder that Kagome is attractive and wears a short skirt. Also, characters often wear the same thing throughout a series for easy recognition.

As for you Kikyou section, there are a few things I don't fully agree with (see http://www.geocities.com/shikonnotamashii/HvD.html for my views on Kikyou and the things she does). Overall, some of the comments regarding Kikyou might need to be re-worded as I have a feeling that the way you've written some things might spark the haters into bashing your comments.

I have a suggestion, perhaps you could put more detail into your explanations of why people shouldn't hate Kagome and Kikyou, and then use headings to summarise what your point is because some people have such a short attention span and fail to read long posts. My apologies if I have been too harsh.

I wasn't very harsh on your essay because it wasn't needed. One time, I made a frank review of someone's art club magazine, and they stopped talking to me for a long time, but we made up eventually.

If you want to reference to my site, that's okay, although I plan to revise some parts later on and some bits are still incomplete.

Do you have a link to the thread you posted in TV Anime? It would be interesting to see what sort of replies it got. It would be wise to wait a while before posting another 'stop the flames' type of thread because people might assume that if they read one, they've read them all.

I likes it. *claps* ^-^

Anyway, I'm not sure but I think I have an idea why Kikyou gave Naraku the jewel shard.

*cough, cough* She gave him the shard and then once she left she said, "Gather all the shards, Naraku. When you have, I will send you to hell." Maybe she plans to have him collect the shards for her and when he has, she'll destroy the jewel and send him to hell.

But let's keep in mind I'm not sure. confused