Follow This Order to Best Enjoy 'InuYasha'

Some of the best nostalgia comes from shows we used to watch as kids, and so many of us loved the anime InuYasha. The manga first came out in the late 1990s and the anime was released a couple of years later in 2000. Even though the show only ran until 2004, it has a huge following that still loves it to this day.

While the InuYasha anime only ran for four years, a few different movies were released during the time it was still on the air. So, what order should you watch the InuYasha movies in, and are the films canon? Keep reading for answers and to learn about a new manga from InuYasha's creator.

Of course, when you watch the InuYasha anime, you can be sure that the seasons go in order. But over the years, there were also four movies made for InuYasha: Affections Touching Across Time, The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass, Swords of an Honorable Ruler, and Fire on the Mystic Island. According to Anime-Planet, fans should watch the first movie after Episode 54 of the anime. The second movie takes place after Episode 95.

Then, the third movie should be watched after Episode 136, and the final movie is set after the anime is over but before The Final Act, which is the title of the final episodes of the InuYasha anime.

Even though you can watch the movies in a particular order, they aren't canon. In fact, the closest the movies get to canon is in Swords of an Honorable Ruler. In the film, we get to see some backstory about InuYasha's dad, but that's pretty much it. While the rest of the movies aren't canon, they're all good and feature some compelling fight scenes.

The creator of InuYasha, Rumiko Takahashi, has just released a new manga called Mao. In Mao, you'll definitely see some similarities to InuYasha in the beginning, but it stands on its own as a great read. They both have to do with the main characters finding themselves in a completely different era of time.

Mao follows a schoolgirl from 2019 named Nanoka. After entering a portal to the past, she is saved from a demon by a guy with an impressive sword who turns out to be the titular character, Mao. Sounds a lot like InuYasha, doesn't it?

But the two manga differ in a few ways. Mao is 100 percent human, not a half-demon like InuYasha. And eventually, Nanoka finds out that she's an "ayakashi," or a type of spirit that typically appears above water. In the manga, we also see that Mao is in search of a demon named Byoki in order to get rid of a curse.

InuYasha's sword is seen as a gift but Mao has the complete opposite. His sword hurts everyone who touches it besides him. Think of it like Asta's sword in Black Clover.

It was reported back in 2020 that Mao was getting its own anime, according to Comic Book. But a release date has not yet been confirmed.

In the meantime, can watch InuYasha on HBO Max and Netflix. Mao, the manga, will be released on Sept. 14, 2021.