The Sage of Togenkyo kidnaps and shrinks Inuyasha. He feeds shrunken victims to a demon tree that makes human-faced fruit. Yum.
Original Air Date: 21 Jan 2002, Streamed on: Hulu
Kagome is going home, and Sango is leaving to repair her giant boomerang. Surprisingly, Miroku is excited that they are leaving, clearly ready for some bro time with Shippo and Inuyasha.
An interlude gives us a first look at Tokajin the Sage of Togenkyo, using a magical gourd to shrink and capture his “apprentice”.
Shippo finds a human-faced fruit in the river. Everyone is shockingly calm about it as Miroku explains that they come from a demon tree that is fed humans as nourishment. They head upstream because the number of human-faced fruits in this river is too damn high! Kagome sticks around, so bro time will have to wait.
Tokajin picks a fruit and eats it, yearning for a Fruit of Longevity. Inuyasha confronts him, noting that he smells like dead men. Our hero attacks, but the sage’s belly catches Tetsusaiga’s blade and deflects it! Inuyasha tries the backlash wave, but Tokajin effortlessly defuses it!
The sage shrinks Inuyasha and captures him, while the others stumble into Tokajin’s home and find a miniature village. There they find other shrunken victims of the sage, and soon they too shrink and fall into the village.
Tokajin finds their fallen shards and reveals that he already has a shard in his belly!
Inuyasha, now human because it’s that time of the month again, remains trapped until Tetsusaiga’s sheath summons it. The sword punctures the gourd, and when Tokajin removes it, Inuyasha escapes.
Tokajin, now with three jewel shards, turns to stone and attacks human Inuyasha with a belly flop.
Episode Score Card:
- Iron Reaver Soul Stealers: 1
- Wind Scars: 0
- Backlash Waves: 1
- Wind Tunnels: 0
- Swarms of Naraku’s Bees: 0
- Jewel Shards Recovered: -2. C’mon, now. This is embarrassing.
Did you miss it?
Shippo turns into a balloon again, but this time to help Miroku and Kagome instead of scaring kids.