Inuyasha Watch Order: The Series, the Films, The Final Act

Inuyasha on screen is one long TV series, four theatrical films, three released while it was on air and the fourth three months after it ended, a 26-episode sequel series made five years after it stopped, and a spinoff about the next generation. Watch the 167-episode TV series, with the films at the points they were released or after it; then The Final Act; then, only if you want more, Yashahime. The one thing not to do is stop at episode 167 and assume the story is over.

The TV series: 167 episodes, and no ending

Anime News Network’s encyclopedia entry lists the original series as 167 episodes, broadcast in Japan from October 16, 2000 to September 13, 2004, animated by Sunrise. In the United States it ran on Adult Swim from August 31, 2002 to October 27, 2006, per the same entry. Watch it in broadcast order. ANN’s episode list also shows that episodes 147 and 148, The Tragic Love Song of Destiny, aired together as a one-hour broadcast on April 19, 2004; ANN files that hour separately as a special, but it is simply two episodes of the series and belongs in sequence.

The series does not finish the story. Reviewing The Final Act for ANN, Theron Martin wrote that the original ended “abruptly, without resolving any of the major long-term (or even immediate!) plot lines.” His review is the plainest account of why a second series exists at all.

The four films

All four films were made while the TV series was running or just after it, and ANN lists each as a sequel of the one before:

1. Affections Touching Across Time, released in Japan on December 22, 2001. ANN’s synopsis opens with Inuyasha having “mastered the ultimate attack of the Tetsusaiga,” and the episode that introduces that attack, “The Backlash Wave: Tetsusaiga’s Ultimate Technique,” is episode 54, which aired on December 10, 2001. Watch it after episode 54 or later. 2. The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass, December 21, 2002, when the series had reached episode 95. ANN’s synopsis says it opens with Naraku destroyed and the group splitting up. The TV series never reaches that point, so treat this film as a side story rather than a chapter. 3. Swords of an Honorable Ruler, December 20, 2003. ANN’s synopsis centers on Inuyasha’s parents and a sword sealed for 700 years. 4. Fire on the Mystic Island, December 23, 2004, three months after the TV series ended.

The simplest rule is release order: each film after the TV episodes that had aired by its premiere, and the fourth after episode 167. A viewer who would rather not interrupt the series can watch all four after episode 167, before The Final Act; the sequel picks up from the series, not from the films.

The Final Act: the ending

Inuyasha: The Final Act is 26 episodes, broadcast in Japan from October 3, 2009 to March 29, 2010, again by Sunrise. When it was announced, ANN reported that it would cover volumes 36 to 56 of Rumiko Takahashi’s manga, “the final 21 compiled book volumes,” and that the original staff and cast would return. Martin’s review describes it as “picking up right where the first series left off,” so it follows episode 167 directly.

In North America, ANN reported that Viz Media would begin simulcasting it on October 3, 2009. A later ANN report says Viz streamed it as it aired in Japan, released an English-dubbed version in 2012 and that Adult Swim’s Toonami broadcast it from 2014 to 2015.

Yashahime: a sequel, last

Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon began in Japan on October 3, 2020, with 24 episodes, and The Second Act followed on October 2, 2021 with 24 more; ANN’s episode lists carry 24 titles for each. Sunrise animated both, and ANN lists Viz Media as a licensor of both. It is a sequel set a generation on, following three young women, two of them half-demon twins, and Viz’s own description names their fathers in its first line. That premise gives away how the original ends, which is the reason to watch it last and not as an entry point. ANN files it as a spinoff, and it continues the world rather than the story of Inuyasha and Kagome.

What can be skipped

Kuroi Tessaiga, a 30-minute special, was screened at a Rumiko Takahashi exhibition on July 30, 2008. ANN’s Final Act episode list notes that its episode 15 was shown at the exhibit as “Kuroi Tessaiga,” and the special’s own entry says it was later edited and incorporated into The Final Act as that episode, so a viewer of The Final Act has already seen it.

The order, in one place

1. Inuyasha, episodes 1 to 167 (2000–04), with films 1 to 3 at their release points if you like. 2. Film 4, Fire on the Mystic Island (2004), or all four films here. 3. Inuyasha: The Final Act, 26 episodes (2009–10). 4. Optional: Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon and The Second Act, 48 episodes (from 2020).

After watching

The lines this site has checked from the TV series and The Final Act are collected in the best Inuyasha quotes and on the Inuyasha quotes page. Which English track to choose, including The Final Act’s recast Kagome, is in Inuyasha: sub or dub? For the folklore behind the demons, see what yokai means.