Free as the Wind


In Memoriam to Kagura from Inu Yasha.

As if to be an even sadder follow-up to my previous Inu Yasha post, I just read the latest issue of the IY manga and found out that the chapter was the last for my favorite character in the series. Kagura the wind-user was a beautiful and bitchy demon created by the series main villain Naraku to serve his evil cause. But unlike many of the other 'detachments', Kagura had her own mind and yearned nothing more than to be free of her master's control. She's not a clean character- from the first moment she appeared, the fickle wind-demoness has shed blood, sometimes with pleasure, and has given Inu Yasha and friends quite a bit of trouble throughout the many, many chapters of the manga that she was present in.
But somewhere along the way, she showed her depth of character and you just had to sympathize with her plight, to somehow gain her freedom from a master who can kill her in an instant. In the end, she became a sympathetic character, giving what little help she can to the heroes, by saving the life of Kohaku and revealing the nature of Naraku's weakness. And for that, Naraku gave her the freedom she longed for... along with poison to make sure she does not live long enough to enjoy it.
In the end though, she passed in probably the best way a villain in manga or anime could ask for- a bittersweet and memorable death, fading away to find her true liberty in the wind.

"I am the wind. The Free Wind." - Kagura, Inu Yasha 374