Inu-Yasha Seshoumaru is Cool!!!!!!

I like sesshoumaru for a few reasons
1 he's really calm about almost everything.
***this is a spoiler and i dont know the spoiler tag thingy***
the only time i've ever seen him get mad is when rin was kidnapped by naraku
**** end spoiler****
2 he's one of the most beautiful males i've ever seen.
3 not to be mean but did you just discover that sesshoumaru is cool or somthing?
4 he turns into the big dog demon.

 

While we're on the topic of Sesshomaru, has anybody heard anything about his mother? (ex. who she was, seen pics of her, anything?) I don't think she's ever mentioned, but I'll be waiting for somebody to prove me wrong!

 

hmm, i got this little idea from a fanfiction that the stripes on sesshoumaru's face is from his father and the moon on his forehead is from his mother. hey, maybe his mother is one of the sailor scouts from sailormoon? heh, j/k. the thing is though, i remember seeing strips on sesshoumaru's father *pics of him from the third movie* but i can't remember if he had a moon on his forehead too...just curious.

 

I have to fess up here and admit that I'm a big Shessy fan, too. I think the thing that really intrigues me about him is his voice!! Ok, the credit for that goes to the actor who does his voice in the dubbed version, but it amazes me that, no matter what's happening, even when he's annoyed, his voice really doesn't change much. The tone stays, calm, cool, seemingly detached, and seemingly without emotion. His facial expressions are the same; almost non-existant. How often have we seen him smile? About anything? Of course, we know that he isn't totally detached and does have emotions due to his connection with Rin. (Anybody seen that black and white drawing called "Smile"? It's up on Kazaa, but I've seen it on a website as well. That's why that pic's so funny, all you have to do is look at his eyes!!)

I think that's why Inuyasha is as.... er.... quick to fly off the handle as he is, because he's supposed to have mass amounts of human emotions that Shessy doesn't. But, I find Shessy's facade, (and that's what it is) really fasinating. It does mark him as "other" or "non-human", but he's also not totally evil, either. He doesn't like his brother and therefore uses cold reason to torment Inuyasha and try to get what he wants. He's almost like a Vulcan only he's not delibrately repressing his emotions, he just doesn't have the same emotions as a human, or half-human, would.

And, yes, he's good looking, but, isn't part of it the fact that, in many other anime or other animated series, a character with Shessy's white hair and yellow eyes be a GOOD GUY? Here we have a character who looks like an angel, but who's so distant that he's capable of acting like a devil. A total reversal of the normal black/white binary, the good "white hats" vrs. the bad "black hats". That, in and of itself is really interesting and wonderfully cool. Look at Disney's "The Lion King". All the bad characters had darker colouration than the good ones.

(Mind you, I don't agree with the "all the bad characters were voiced by minorities" bit, because, since when did Jermey Irons become a visable minority, and when did James Earl Jones become white??)

We, as a culture, link white with purity and light, so it's wonderful to see two characters, Inuyasha is included in this, who take that cultural notion and turn it upside down. The disruption of a binary like black/white is often played with in literature, but it's not so often that you see it played with in animation.

OK, end of rant. I'll shut up now. Hehehe! :catgirl: :catgirl: :catgirl:

 

wow, i must say, that's one hell of post talking about Sesshoumaru... just one thing to ask...you said you love his dubbed voice. have you heard his Japanese voice though? i'm more of a fan to the Japanese voices than the english, now those voices i like!!! it just worries me that for some characters *like Bankotsu* who has a very...umm....hot voice shall i say in the Jap., might get a really crappy one in the dubbed. well, i can hope for the best for poor banky when he makes it to television sets outside of Japan.

 

He's cool. I like how he looks.

 

Hey Hey Hey

Hey...I was playing the Inuyasha game on my PS2 yesterday, and I just found it odd I could beat Seshoumaru with Kagome....

But yeah...the boy Seshoumaru is cool. I like his outfit, and especially the big fur on his shoulder, as well *** the hexagon pattern on the front of his kimono.

But..and I ask this, as I'm not a huge Inuyasha fan.. do Seshoumaru and Naraku fight?

And how does Sesho win?

 

Well, no, not in the sense that there's a huge showdown between Sesshomaru and Naraku where they strike a pose in the forest and come at each other like some version of a WWF wrestling match.

But they certainly don't like each other. Naraku wanted to use Sesshomaru to help destroy Inuyasha, so he bestowed a new arm upon Sesshomaru (one that could control Tetsusaiga). The plan backfired, however, and Sesshomaru ended up the loser, as Naraku had tricked him.

While Sesshomaru isn't hurrying around seeking Naraku's destruction, I don't think he'd hesitate to kill him if the chance was given.

 

Actually, I haven't heard his original voice, shame on me!! I know what you mean about original voices vrs the dubbed ones, though! The avatar on my posts is from Gatchaman (an edited version was shown in N. America as Battle of the Planets) and I must tell you, this character's voice in the original is AMAZING!!!!! Deep, husky, and very, very sexy! :blush2: No dubbing has ever done it justice! So, part of what I wrote may not apply when I go back (which I'm sure I'll do sooner or later) to the original. But, some anime music videos that I've downloaded use subtitles in the video, and from the way it looks he does seem to be more expressive.

His face does remain very passive, though, so maybe there's an interesting contrast between Shessy's voice and his face. Can anyone who's seen both comment on this? Methinks I need to do a comparison.....!!!

 

Yea, i just got the InuYasha video game too...i can't wait for fall 2004, cause another game is coming out for ps2, and it's 3d, and translated too yea, it is a bit odd having the characters who are suppose to be friends kick and punch each other...*sob* when i first played, Miroku was one of my first characters i had to fight against, i was playing as sango and it hurt me so much because i DIDN'T WANT TO FIGHT HIM!!! he's so cool that he's a monk! ha, sorry for my babbling.

Yes, Sesshourmaru and Naraku fight at some point.


DevoVamp, i must congratulate on how well you back up your reason as to why you like Sesshoumaru so much. i can't find the words to say that about my favorite characters. i would say something like "yep, Bankotsu is cool, and has better hair than you" or something dumb like that.

oh yea, you also said that you haven't heard his Jap. voice. if i meet up with you at the anime north convention i'll give you some Jap. episodes on a disc with him in it.

For Sesshoumaru's looks, he doesn't seem to have much, if any, emotion shown on his face...he just looks calm, or unless really bored. i would be too, hanging out with that Jaken thing. i find that his both eng/jap voices are calm and deep....go with the look i guess, since he looks so calm.

 

You mean besides the sickenigly massive fanbase consisting of countless numbers of idiots drooling over such a cliche character-type with the stone-solid mind-set of "OMG he izz so hawt waht a bishie!!1!!11!One1!!!!1!eleven!1!!!1!!"?

Probably most straight guys, at least for that reason (of them being sexy. Example; my brother likes Brad Pitt whom many people would find sexy, however he likes him not for that reason; just 'cause Brad's been in some kick-*** movies, IE Se7en, Fight Club, Kalifornia, Interview With A Vampire, etc).

Bu-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-ut, that's just my opinion.

As... most of you can guess, I don't like Sesshoumaru or however you spell it.

 

As soon as I saw Amon had posted on a "Sesshomaru is Cool" thread, I braced myself for the worst. Actually, it wasn't as awful as I'd originally pictured.

Well I haven't posted any opinions in awhile, so I'll step up to the plate. Honestly, I think he has a cool fighting style, and I personally enjoy his apathetic demeanor. But really, he somewhat bores me. Maybe it's just his dubbed voice, though realistically his voice is probably one of the best (in Inuyasha, not of all time).

Do I think he's hot? He's an animated character. Do I think the Pink Panther is hot? Fred Flinstone? Even the steriod-inflicted characters of DBZ (sorry to fans)? No, not really.

But all in all, he's all right.

 

Fangirls don't "surround", might I say. I meant like he doesn't have a party of like five or so people with him, and the comrades he does have are not overly irritating. Like I personally cannot stand Shippou. He's cute, but his voice and he himself are annoying to me. But really, must we mock others because of a minority opinion? I'd say yes.

Do you really think I was addressing the straight guys in that response? I mean, come on. I'm not that "malnourished in the mind". Besides, if a guy is so good looking, usually other guys admire them. It's natural to envy and admire. We all do it.

And to top it all off, Amon, what do you have against Sesshoumaru? I gave my first ten reasons for why I do like him, now how about we share why we don't like him as well...?

 

Not Sesshoumaru singled out, I just don't like Inu-Yasha as a whole. The entire series, characters and all, are cliched and over-rated not to mention the entire series is as repetitive as Dragon Ball Z. At least if you're going to perform something cliched one could do a good job of such, but that's all just my opinion. Also several of your opinions of why to like him were, for the most part, the same so you probably had closer to 5 reasons. Unless you want to be anal-retentive, then be my guest.

Also I find it humorous how, in reply to my comment about most straight guys not finding Sesshoumaru "sexy" covered the two opposite bases however you made yourself seem sure that you knew you were right in BOTH cases, when it's quite obvious that's not the case considering you had to post arguments for both sides.

Also, taking in to account of your "arguments", I would think that men, yes, would admit that a certain male is admirable and good-looking but they probably wouldn't call them "sexy" as "sexy" is an adjective to denote a sexual attraction. I hope this has been educational for you.

 

I wouldn't go so far as to explain Sesshoumaru's demeanor entirely in terms of his demon blood. It's possible, sure. But if anything, aggressive and highly impulsive demons seem to be the general rule in the Inuyasha universe.

Granted, there are a number of demons who are very collected - generally to more humanoid ones. Offhand, my guess would be that Sesshoumaru has more capacity to control his nature than Inuyasha does; he's also older and more mature, and was not subject to a childhood filled with rejection and feeling out-of-place.

Ah, but you're referring to Western cultures. ~_^ In many Eastern cultures, white is associated with death. Either way, though, this only adds another dimension to the choice of Sesshoumaru's color scheme. White is also a very cold and sterile color, one which can be quite emotionless.

Honestly, when I read some of the Inuyasha manga many years ago - when it was just being released in the US - I did find Sesshoumaru very aesthetically pleasing. The trouble is that I fail to find him engaging on multiple levels, which is a prerequisite for favorite characters. I suppose I've seen his type of silent, semi-emotionless, controlled persona done many times before, and in better ways. *shrug* I'm also not especially passionate about the series in general.

 

Ah, of course, Shessy's age is something I hadn't conisdered, and you're probably quite right in saying that his age is a factor. But, I think that he would likely pride himself on controlling "messy" human emmotions. That would mark him as "other" and very certainly not human. Since he seems to see humans as lesser beings, the last thing that he'd want is to be anything like them.

As for the black/white binary thing, you're right again. I was thinking of western cultures. And I should have remembered that white was linked with death, but I thought that was in China. Nevertheless, since most of the people on this list seem to be from the west, and since we're viewing it with westeren eyes, that binary flip is really interesting. Espically since it's not done in western cultures. Now, as more and more people get into anime, and as we become more understanding of the culture that produces it, maybe binary flips like that won't be so facinating to us; we'll be more used to it. The InuYasha series seems to be more aware of linking white to death (I'm thinking suddenly of Kana and her mirror) but I've also seen other anime were the good characters had blonde or white hair. On the other hand, no one has more dark hair than Naraku! Maybe it's a case of the two cultures feeding off of and influencing each other.

Anyway, I still find the whole thing interesting. It makes me wonder if Shessy had to, could he adopt a human facade and pretend to be more emmotive than he is in order to "pass" as human? Or, would he over compensate and come across as being very strange and alien anyway? Heaven knows, he'd need a better helper than Jaken! Let's face it, no matter what, Jaken would stand out like a sore thumb!

PS: Thanks for the compliment, Wing_Goddess!
I love analyzing things like this; it's fun to me! Gads, I really don't have a life, do I? Hehehehe!!! Kidding!

 

Undoubtedly. He probably sees overly emotional behavior as wasteful and foolish. After all, how many times have we seen him play on someone else's anger to make them slip up in combat?

Western cultures also tend to rely more heavily on creating a strong line between good and evil - which, I think, is why the classic color scheme is factored into so many cartoons, comics, and movies. Actually, there are cases where the color scheme is flipped - though I can only think of very obscure references at the moment. XD

Or simply personal choice on Rumiko Takahashi's part. It's entirely possible that we're reading way too much into all this. XD After all, Inuyasha himself has white hair.

And did you forget Naraku's white baboon skin? ~_^ Think on that symbolism for a while.

In the end, I think Sesshoumaru's predominantly white color scheme has more to do with making him look pristine and orderly than anything else. He looks unnaturally clean, distanced from the earthiness of darker tones. It's just another way of emphasizing his detached air.

Eh, he could pull it off. There are plenty of normal humans who, for whatever reason, are very reserved.

 

actually, I am anal-retentive. well, you really don't know me well, but I do have many many problems like the such. hey man, you're entitled to your opinions as I am mine. I'm not going to bash you because you don't agree with me. I have a very odd way of thinking, most people don't agree with me on things. I don't really care, but I do admire you for expressing your thoughts with a positive attitude. you earned a few approval points in my book.

 

Hey, I'm back again!! Real life keeps getting in the way of my obessions, drat!!! Anyway, Dilandau, I hadn't actually forgotten about the baboon skin, but wasn't sure what to make of it. (I've always thought it looked more like a wolf pelt than a baboon, but maybe that's me.)
But, then I was watching a documentery "Japan: Secerets of a Hidden Empire" and they talked about the tradition of ritual suicide, where the doomed man slits his belly open. It mentioned that before the man does this, he puts on a white kimono.
And then I thought, maybe that's the point of baboon pelt. Onigomo, while still human, sacrificed himself (read: killed himself) to the demons in order to become Naraku. OK, this isn't the honourable ritual suicide, but he did kill himself by passively allowing the demons to do it for him. So, maybe the baboon pelt recalls the ritual white kimono normally worn. Naraku would likely consider his human death, if not honourable, certainly necessary in order to achive his goals, so he wears the white pelt/kimono as a symbol of his strength and as a reminder of his "honourable" death.

I probably haven't thought this through quite to the conclusion yet, but how's that for a start?
:anime:

 

This has all been utterly fascinating, but you know, it's very possible that Rumiko only decorated her characters that way to match some sort of color scheme.

I agree with Dilandau in the respect that Sesshomaru's white costume is probably more to give him the appearance of a distant apathetic then anything.