15 Best Anime Like InuYasha You Need to Watch
InuYasha is a manga by Rumiko Takahashi. It was published between November 1996 and June 2008 and was compiled into a total of 56 volumes. Between October 2000 and September 2004, an anime based on the manga was broadcast in Japan; it had 167 25-minute episodes.
Four anime films have also been released in Japan. A 26-episode sequel, titled Inuyasha: The Final Act, aired in Japan between October 2009 and March 2010. InuYasha is one of the most popular manga and anime series of the early 2000s and we have decided to focus on it because of that.
To honor the cultural importance of demon-themed InuYasha, we have decided to compose a list of the best anime series like InuYasha that every fan needs to see. The list is going to include a total of 15 different titles which resemble the InuYasha anime in one way or the other.
1. Demon Slayer
Original Run: April 6, 2019 – present
Number of Episodes: 44
In Taishō-era Japan, Tanjirō Kamado is the first child of a family of coal merchants whose father has died: to support the family, he sells charcoal in the village below the Mountain. Despite the difficulties of life, they manage to find little happiness in their daily lives. One day, due to rumors circulating about a man-eating demon hanging around after dark, he is forced to spend the night with a Good Samaritan in the village.
Only, everything changes on his return when he detects, thanks to his keen sense of smell, a strong smell of blood: he rushes home and finds his family massacred.
Nezuko, one of his little sisters, is the only survivor although unconscious, and Tanjirō, therefore, takes her with him, to try to bring her to a doctor who could perhaps save her: she however regains consciousness on the way and, having become a demon herself, attacks her brother but still ends up showing signs of human emotions and thoughts.
This is when a Demon Slayer by the name of Giyū Tomioka comes in, tasked with eliminating the demon rampant in the region. As he tries to kill Nezuko, Giyū realizes the singular behavior of the latter who, instead of trying to devour his brother, tries to intervene to prevent the Slayer from attacking Tanjirō.
On Giyū’s advice, Tanjirō goes to his master Sakonji Urokodaki to train to become a Demon Slayer, to begin his journey to try to find an antidote that can make his little sister human again (something which, of living memory and with current medical knowledge, is in the impossible state) while protecting the Humans from demons, as well as finding the demon responsible for the massacre of his family and the transformation of Nezuko in revenge.
2. Ranma ½
Original Run: April 15, 1989 – September 25, 1992
Number of Episodes: 161 (plus additional films and OVA episodes)
Ranma Saotome (16) is a young martial arts expert plagued by a singular curse: during training in China, he and his father fell into the Cursed Springs of Jusenkyo. Anyone who falls into one of these springs, as soon as he comes into contact with cold water, is destined to transform himself into the animal or person who drowned in it hundreds or thousands of years ago; to get back to your appearance you have to get wet with hot water.
Genma Saotome, Ranma’s father, falls into the spring where a giant panda drowned, while Ranma falls into the spring where a girl was drowned. Ranma also suffers from a debilitating cat phobia that makes him able to become, even if only mentally, a cat himself in behavior and movements (but not in appearance).
3. The Vision of Escaflowne
Release: April 2, 1996 – September 24, 1996
Number of Episodes: 26
Hitomi, a high school athletics champion, versed in the art of cartomancy, one day finds herself the victim of strange visions and loses consciousness in the middle of training. Shortly after, during another class, one of his visions materializes. A column of light forms, revealing before it a young man in armor.
This is Van Fanel, heir to the Kingdom of Fanelia. Before she has time to find out more, a dragon appears in front of the incredulous eyes of Hitomi and two of her friends present, Yukari and Amano.
4. Fushigi Yûgi
Original Run: April 6, 1995 – March 28, 1996
Number of Episodes: 52 (+ 13 OVA)
Miaka is under the stress of exams. One day, while accompanying Yui, her best friend, to the library, she finds a book called “The Writings of the Four Gods of Heaven and Earth”. But this book is magical, and the two young girls are sucked into it.
In the world of books, which resembles ancient China, she becomes the priestess of Suzaku, one of the four gods, protector of the South country, with the task of protecting the kingdom.
5. Kyo Kara Maoh!
Original Run: April 3, 2004 – February 19, 2009
Number of Episodes: 117 (+ 5 OVA)
Yūri Shibuya is an ordinary high school student. But, one day when he is attacked on his campus for having wanted to defend a comrade, he lands, via the toilet bowl, in a meadow, in the middle of a mysterious country. The young boy quickly discovers that he has been sucked into a kind of parallel world, more precisely, in a nation called the “Shinmakoku” and that he is even the king, the Maō.
And for Yūri, crazy stories begin in a world where flying skeletons serve as messengers, where sharks are vegetarians, and above all, where a slap takes the place of a marriage proposal, which he will realize after making the mistake of one. give one to a boy.
6. Full Metal Panic!
Original Run: January 8, 2002 – July 19, 2018
Number of Episodes: 61
The story begins on Earth in 2001. This is not the modern world as we know it. But rather a parallel world in which humanity has discovered what is called “Black Technology”. The analogy that exists between this term and that of black magic is not fortuitous. The population does not realize it, but the armament has reached a completely unimaginable technological level.
Only people of the previous generation are aware of the gap that has been crossed: mechs have appeared, military machines now have camouflage making them totally invisible, nuclear energy is outdated. As a result, the balance of the great powers has become very unstable, civil wars are propagating into violence, terrorism is developing at high speed, drug trafficking is multiplying.
The population is not aware of this, but chaos gradually sets in. To restore the balance, a para-military organization was founded, its name is Mithril. Benefiting from the latest discoveries in Black Technology and totally independent, she seeks to be the champion of justice. The story tells of an encounter between two characters against a science fiction background.
Chidori Kaname is a high school student. Smart, beautiful, responsible, she could be Miss Japan if she had a better character. She does not know it yet, but she is the target of terrorists interested in her “potential”. Sagara Sôsuke then intervenes, charged with two of his colleagues from Mithril to ensure the protection of Kaname. It’s up to him to pass himself off as a high school student, he who has never lived other than as a mercenary since his earliest childhood.
7. Kekkaishi
Original Run: October 16, 2006 – February 11, 2008
Number of Episodes: 52
On the Karasumori domain, a college has been built where two young Kekkaishi (masters of Kekkai, a kind of force field) who have been friends since childhood study. This domain, where Lord Karasumori lived 400 years ago, has the particularity of attracting entities and giving them new powers… Yoshimori and Tokine are the descendants of the exorcist who was called, a very long time ago, to fight the souls.
Yoshimori’s secret goal is to seal the Karasumori Domain forever to prevent further harm to the people he loves. Throughout the manga, Yoshimori will discover a strange and unsuspected link between him and the estate. As the story progresses, new characters will enter Yoshimori and Tokine’s fantastic adventure (like Gen Shishio, Kaguro, …)
8. Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan
Original Run: July 6, 2010 – December 20, 2011
Number of Episodes: 48 (+ 1 Special)
Rikuo Nura looks like any boy his age. But he’s only part human. He is, through his grandfather, a quarter yōkai; these supernatural beings who sometimes come to mingle with the world of men. He lives in a large mansion populated by countless spirits and strange creatures with his human mother and yōkai grandfather Nurarihyon, the grandmaster of the Nura clan, the most powerful yōkai clan in the Tōkyō (Edo) region.
Although his grandfather wants to make him his successor at the head of the clan, his human part prefers to live his quiet life as a human high school student while his yōkai part wants to form his own procession of the 100 demons under the banner of his “fear” (Hyakki Yakō) and take over the leadership of the Nura clan as the 3rd heir.
Until circumstances lead him to become aware of this demonic part in him and to protect those he loves, he will have to face his responsibilities as Nurarihyon’s grandson.
9. Bleach
Original Run: October 5, 2004 – present
Number of Episodes: 366
The 15-year-old high school student Ichigo Kurosaki has had the ability to see ghosts since childhood. One day he meets the shinigami Rukia Kuchiki who is hunting a hollow. Seriously injured during the fight, she is forced to transfer her powers to Ichigo to defeat the hollow in her stead. Until Rukia recovers, Ichigo must now do the work of a shinigami.
Rukia enrolls at Ichigo’s school and moves into his closet. Over time, the two become friends. Since Rukia Kuchiki has exceeded her stay in the human world, Rukia is forcibly returned to Soul Society by her stepbrother, the commander of the 6th Division of the Gotei 13, Byakuya Kuchiki, and his lieutenant, Renji Abarai, where all deceased souls, including the Shinigami reside.
Due to transferring her Shinigami powers to a human, which is a serious offense, she is sentenced to have her soul wiped out. Desperate to save Rukia, Ichigo allows himself to be trained by Kisuke Urahara, who runs a business that sells products for spiritual beings and is an exceptionally battle-hardened former commander of the 12th Division.
So, together with his friends and schoolmates Yasutora “Chad” Sado and Orihime Inoue, who also have special powers, and the Quincy Uryū Ishida, he sets out for Soul Society, where trying to save Rukia leads to confrontations with powerful Shinigami.
In the process, a plot planned by three captains of the Gotei 13 is uncovered that could have serious consequences, not only for Soul Society, but also for this world, whereby Karakura, the hometown of the main characters, is explicitly targeted by the conspiracy.
10. Tsubasa Chronicle
Original Run: April 9, 2005 – November 4, 2006
Number of Episodes: 52
Syaoran, adopted son of Fujitaka, an archaeologist, digs in the desert land of Clow, where he discovers mysterious remains. But when his childhood friend, whom he is in love with, Sakura, princess of the kingdom, approaches him, she seems to be sucked in by a strong magical power. Syaoran holds her back, but Sakura’s memories and soul fly away, scattered across dimensions, in the form of feathers.
Yukito, high priest of the kingdom, then transports Syaoran and Sakura to another dimension where lives Yūko, the witch of dimensions capable of granting any wish. Ready to do anything to save Sakura, whose memoryless body will not survive long, Syaoran accepts the price to pay, imposed by Yūko: he will be able to recover all the memories of his friend but their meeting and everything they have experienced together will disappear. from Sakura’s memory when she wakes up.
11. Ushio and Tora
Original Run: July 3, 2015 – June 24, 2016
Number of Episodes: 39 (+ 11 OVA)
One day Ushio discovers a monster in his basement, the very one who was “impaled” by one of his ancestors 500 years ago with the Spear of the Beast! Ushio, who had never believed in this story, finds that this discovery will cause problems because the monster will release negative energies which will cause specters to appear which attack everyone! Ushio no longer has a choice, he is forced to release this man-eating monster, in order to help him restore order.
12. The Twelve Kingdoms
Original Run: April 9, 2002 – August 30, 2003
Number of Episodes: 45
The story takes place in the parallel world of the Twelve Kingdoms, a series of islands divided into twelve kingdoms, whose society is comparable to that of ancient China. Each kingdom is ruled by a king or queen, chosen by the kirin, a sacred animal sent from Heaven, and assigned to a particular kingdom.
During major hurricane-like natural disasters, shoku, this world, and ours interact, and out-of-control exchanges between the two occur. And if the inhabitants of this world vaguely know the existence of ours, the reverse turns out to be inaccurate.
13. Rurouni Kenshin
Original Run: January 10, 1996 – September 8, 1998
Number of Episodes: 95
The story takes place in 1878 in Tokyo. Kenshin Himura, a former assassin nicknamed Battosaï, literally “master in the drawing of the sword”, during the time of the Tokugawa reign, hides a very heavy past. Become a wanderer since the establishment of the Meiji era, he travels the country equipped with his sword with an inverted blade, with the desire not to kill again.
14. Zenki
Original Run: January 9, 1995 – December 25, 1995
Number of Episodes: 51 (+ 1 OVA)
In ancient times, a demon named Karuma tried to destroy the world through his evil seeds. Ozunu Enno managed to control the evil seeds through Zenki, one of the demons, and the world returned to normal. Master Ozune then sealed Zenki inside a pillar to control his colossal thirst for violence and his savagery.
Thus, Zenki would be confined to the pillar indefinitely, awaiting the moment when some successor of Master Enno would break Bayula’s seal and summon him back to the fight. After 1,200 years of peace in the world, the seeds of evil reappear, once again unleashing attacks against the inhabitants of the city of Shikigami-Cho, where Chiaki Enno lives, a direct descendant of the Enno dynasty.
The reappearance of the seeds awakens Zenki and she is the only one capable of breaking Bayula’s seal that keeps him confined in the pillar, of controlling it and with it fighting the seeds of evil. Her tool to direct Zenki and make him a helpful companion is a bracelet that appears on her wrist when he is released. The characters that accompany Zenki and Cherry are her grandparents, also of the Ozune lineage.
15. Kamisama Kiss
Original Run: October 1, 2012 – March 30, 2015
Number of Episodes: 25 (+ 5 OVA)
Nanami Momozono’s father has a thing for gambling, which causes them to live in misery. One day, her father runs away from home and abandons her, leaving behind his debts. Unable to pay the rent, Nanami is evicted from her apartment. She then wanders the streets until she meets a strange man, who gives her his house after hearing her story.
He leaves after kissing her on the forehead. When she goes to the address he gave her, Nanami realizes that the house is actually a temple, where spirits live, including a boy with fox ears and a tail. She learns that by kissing her, the man made her the new god of the Earth and she will have to face many situations to keep her place as a divinity!
