Timeline

Author	Comment
Inu	Timeline	Lead	[-]
Sesshomaru's Toadie Posts: 1 (06/16/08 08:31 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Tags : None Hey all! Here's another one of those long time lurker, first time poster types. Bare with me if needed... With Inu ending this week shock factor still setting in, it made me look back and reflect on the entire series. Inu was the first anime/manga I became a fan of, and now with it ending, it's forcing me to sorta go back through everything that's happened again, mentally taking it all in. With that, I ask a question about the story's timeline. Supposedly, our long tale begins on Kagome's 15th b-day, duh. Just before our recently concluded final battle, she spent her last days in I think 9th grade, making the entire timeline when all the events that were to happen in the manga and/or anime approximately one year. This is, unless I'm missing something major entirely possible... So I'm basically asking the informed people here if you believe that it's possible everything Kagome and Inu have gone through could've realistically happened in a year. Yeah yeah, I know, the story is supposed to be fictional and you're not supposed to think too hard about this kinda thing, blah blah, but I guess I'm different don't worry, I do this with all stuff I read. Think about it though, approximately 550 chapters in 365 days averages to about 1.5 chapters in a day Remind me, am I thinking too hard about all this? lol. Part of this also has me considering that, say the consensus is that this timeline is a bit too short, why didn't Takahashi age our characters a little more? Not doubting her opinion on the matter, she'd be one to know of anyone, I personally thought that if Takahashi had just extended the main timeline until Kagome graduated, instead of possibly cramming everything into a year, we could have this all-encompassing, totally unifying, and dynamic ending that could see Naraku being destroyed, Kagome graduating, Kagome not having school to interrupt any future plans with Inu, and an almost instant resolution to what era Kagome would live in supposing she will have a choice, which I think she will, with maybe, oh, a week's time in the story. That'd be a week for the record books... Part of this may also be my ignorance with how manga authors progress their stories and such. Again, Inu was the first manga I became a fan of, and, outside of a handful of others, is the only one I seriously keep up with (partly because it's the only one I know how and where to keep up with it, thanks to Rumic World). Do other authors tend to just not concern themselves with months or years going by in their stories as much, and just focus on a chronological series of events that happen, or is Takahashi an exception to the norm, or is just Inu an exception? Or, is there just some other view you have entirely? I'm still processing an opinion on this, and after I've mentally drained myself on it, I'll post it. I'd be interested to hear if others have been thinking similarily to me. And if you believe I need to seek mental help instead, you can let me know about that too. It wouldn't surprise me...
Ranma 101		#1	[-]
Naraku's Slave Posts: 70 (06/16/08 08:59 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	well out of all the manga i read (which is alot) hardly any of them actually keeps up with time like age and stuff. they mostly just focus on a series of events to keep readers reading the story. plus it would only be a waste of time to keep up with all of that stuff. so it's not just takahashi, it's just about every other mangaka out there. If it wasn't for my naturally wavy hair...
Tachihaki		#2	[-]
Onsen Mark's Favorite Pupil Posts: 20 (06/17/08 09:44 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Inu wrote: Do other authors tend to just not concern themselves with months or years going by in their stories as much, and just focus on a chronological series of events that happen, or is Takahashi an exception to the norm, or is just Inu an exception? Like you say, Most manga artists tend to keep time from "going by", but Motoei Shinzawa did not like this style and he got time to "go by" in his very famous "High School Kimen-gumi". Japanese Wikipedia discuss the time problem relating to "Kimen-gumi". 作者である新沢基栄は、『サザエさん』や『ドラえもん』の様にキャラクターが年を取らないという設定（サザエさん方式）を嫌って、『3年奇面組』のキャラクターに毎年きちんと年を取らせていた。当然、中学校を卒業させざるを得なくなってしまう。なんとかつじつまを合わせて奇面組と河川唯と宇留千絵を同じ学校に通わせることに成功。晴れて『ハイスクール!奇面組』として続けてゆくことになった。新沢は、奇面組が高校卒業した時点で、つまり3年間で完結させる予定でいた。人気があったため3年経過後も連載を続けるよう要求されるが、作者の方針として奇面組の大学生活を描く気が全く無かった為、苦肉の策として作者自身がタイムマシンに乗って1年前に戻ってもう一度3年生の頃の話を描く事になった。あくまで同じ年の違ったできごとを拾い出すという設定のため、キャラクターが年を取らない作品とは違い、同じ事件や行事は二度と登場しない。 I translate this, The author Motoei Shinzawa did not like the style refered to as "The Sazae-san system" that characters never got aged like "Sazae-san" and "Doraemon", and he got his characters from his manga "3-nen Kimengumi" to get aged every year. Inevitably he had to got their characters to graduate from junior highschool. He managed to make Kimen-gumi gangs, Yui Kawa and Chie Uru go to the same highschool and he could continue his manga with the new title of "Highschool Kimen-gumi". Shinzawa was going to end his story right after Kimen-gumi's graduation from their highschool, in other words he planed to complete the story in three years. Three years later, however, he was told to continue the serialization because of its popularity. Because he did not want to write college lives, he himself took a timemachine and went back to one year before and there he described another story in their twelfth grade. He tried to write different incidences happened in the same year and the same incidences or events never occur in his work like other manga stories in which characters never get aged. Last Edited By: Tachihaki 06/22/08 09:56 AM. Edited 4 times.
Yusaku Godai		#3	[-]
Posts: 3369 (06/17/08 11:23 AM) Long Suffering Ronin Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Hello Inu, welcome to the board (officially!). Its an interesting question that a lot of fans seem to have about Takahashi's series. As the others have pointed out, most shonen manga take place in a sort of "stasis" where characters stay the same age even though two or three Christmases might be depicted in the series. Here's a question that Takahashi was asked about her characters near the end of Urusei Yatsura... 58. Regarding your characters, do they ever have birthdays? Rumiko: No, none of them do. But all of the characters are hits and if they aged then it would be a jinx. If they aged they would have to move on, and I am trying to restrict that. Once they move out of the story, then they will have aged without realizing it. Later in the same article Takahashi was asked a similar question to the characters aging, and got a bit annoyed.... 85. Why do characters in Urusei Yatsura not grow older? Did they eat the flesh of a mermaid!? Rumiko: Because it's a mangaaaaa... I get this question all the time, and have answered it many times over, but THAT is the truth!! I think it would be really difficult to keep an accurate timeline when there are multiple chapters that take place in an hour realtime. But you asked if we thought that Inuyasha *could* fit into a year of "real time", and I would say, yes, absolutely. Because you have so many battles that take weeks to get published while only a few moments pass in the story, it makes the entire thing very possible. One way of judging the passage of time in the series is by studying the cycles of the moon, i.e. when Inuyasha becomes a human. That gives a good gauge of how much time has passed in the character's world. Takahashi actually told Maison Ikkoku's story in real time. I always found that to be very impressive, and because of all the references to holidays and festivals I was actually able to create a really exact, day-by-day timeline for that series in the same way that you're talking about for Inuyasha. It was really difficult to do and took me about five years, but it was kinda fun. haha It would be harder to do something that exact for Inuyasha though, simply because there are so few "reference points" like holidays to check against. But you could start with when the series began in Japan and mark that date as Kagome's birthday and then use the moon's to go from there and get a pretty general timeline. Great question! Webmaster Rumic World
haro		#4	[-]
Ryoko Mendo's Kuroko Posts: 598 (06/17/08 01:16 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Yes, yes it absolutely could have happened in a year. Keep in mind that often long spans of chapters often occur in just a day or few. For example, the entire Shichinin-tai/Hakureizan arc spanned just some days, and all of chapter 452-466 occurred from sunrise to sunset in one day. I did write out a pretty detailed timeline of the series and if anyone is interested I can post it here. I need to finish it and tweak some earlier stuff, but I do feel it is fairly accurate.
Dr Casey		#5	[-]
Dr. Tofu's Patient Posts: 325 (06/17/08 08:00 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Upload it, haro. I'd be interested in reading it.
Hooray		#6	[-]
Dr. Tofu's Patient Posts: 339 (06/17/08 08:50 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	1996 was a leap year, so there were 366 days not 365. Maybe that helps as far as fitting the series into one year I think it's possible. Some long story arcs took place over the course of a few days or even just one day. And I doubt there was all that much off-panel travel time for Inuyasha's group considering that they never seemed to stray terribly far from Kaede's village. It's not like they ever went as far as Kyushu or Hokkaido or whatever. In my own mind, Mt. Hakurei was probably the farthest away they ever went, though I couldn't say how far that might have been. If a timeline was ever put together, I would love to see it!
Inu		#7	[-]
Sesshomaru's Toadie Posts: 3 (06/17/08 11:47 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	1996 was a leap year, so there were 366 days not 365. Maybe that helps as far as fitting the series into one year Haha! Good point, I totally forgot about that. One way of judging the passage of time in the series is by studying the cycles of the moon, i.e. when Inuyasha becomes a human. That gives a good gauge of how much time has passed in the character's world. LOL, so I wasn't the only one thought of that! Yes, basically, that's the only way I found to sorta keep track of how long it was AFTER the story began that certain events were happening. I wonder if there were exactly 12 instances of Inu going human throughout the series also. Hmm.... After thinking more about it, I, apparently with the majority, thought that it was possible for everything up to the last chapter to happen within a year. It would just be one busy year, lol. I can't think of any instances where Takahashi stalled time for a bit text of "ONE WEEK LATER" coming to mind, so I think that helped the timeline stay on track. From another perspecitve though, it's kinda hilarious, at least to me, to think that it took ELEVEN years total to write about events that occurred in one year. Wouldn't it make sense if it only took one year to write about one year's worth of events? Lol, I dunno, maybe I should try and find out myself... AND, I am with others. I'd love to see a timeline of events made, but wow that would be a chore. Takahashi should pay someone if they ever took the time to do that...
ryogasgirl		#8	[-]
Dr. Tofu's Patient Posts: 182 (06/17/08 11:51 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Well, since she only wrote one manga a week, it doesn't surprise me that it took 12 years to write about one year. Now if she write a manga a day and each manga spanned the time of one day, yeah it would be a one year process, but her pencil would never stop moving and I think she would literally work herself to death!
haro		#9	[-]
Ryoko Mendo's Kuroko Posts: 602 (06/18/08 12:10 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I'm going back and revising some earlier things in it and then I'll post it! As for the new moons, that helped regulate the time but... I'm 100% sure there's one new moon we didn't see (there's no new moon between volume twenty-one and thirty-seven).
haro		#10	[-]
Ryoko Mendo's Kuroko Posts: 616 (07/01/08 12:01 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	All right, here's my timeline... THERE WILL BE SPOILERS IN THIS THREAD! Why does the timeline start in July? Because going back, it's the month that I feel makes the most sense. You can see why once it's sketched out. I do think it possible that the timeline is a month or so off though, making her birthday take place in early June. However, I do not believe it possible for it to have started any later than July or much earlier than June. 520 solidifies that it is late February or March of 1997, as that's when high school entrance exams occur. School in Japan is year 'round (they get breaks here and there, but not a long summer vacation like the U.S.). There are seven new moons, meaning it's been seven months minimum. Between volumes twenty-one and thirty-seven though, there were no new moons. Just counting nights and days, it's clearly more than a month between those chapters. However, stuff like the Shichinin-tai arc, which lasts several volumes, happens in just a few days. Chapters 234-286 (which goes through Kagome being targeted by Hakudoushi) could not have spanned much longer than a week's time. Because of situations like that, I would find it hard to believe that we missed more. Similar situations where a long span of chapters actually only covers a short period of time have occurred. For example, chapters 452 to 466 (Kikyou's death arc and Mt. Asuza) cover just one day, from dawn to dusk. So many arcs that last several chapters occur not just in less than a day, but only a few hours. Battles are much longer for us than them. Most of these events lasted no longer than a day. Another thing to remember is that due to InuYasha and Kirara, the group travels very quickly. The seasons are inconsistent in both eras. Kagome alternates between uniforms quickly, and we've seen zero sign of any particular weather in sengoku jidai. It rained... once. Kagome wears sun dresses for a brief period of time, but is back in sweaters just a volume or so later. It would seem that RT does not take weather into consideration much, and just puts her in whatever she feels like putting her in. Early July, 1996- -Kagome turns fifteen, and is transported to the sengoku jidai. -Jewel is shattered -Events of volumes 2-5 transpire. Late July 1996- -First New Moon- Spiderheads Late July to very Early August 1996- -Kikyou is resurrected. -Miroku is introduced and Naraku is first discussed. August 1996- -Events of volumes 6-8 occur. Naraku is first introduced, Kikyou returns, Sesshoumaru returns, Kagome is sent to her era by a worried InuYasha, Kikyou attempts to take IY into death. Late August 1996- -The fateful night in Togenkyou arc. New moon number two. Late August to Early September 1996- -Sango is introduced -Midoriko's cave is visited. -Kohaku is revived, although he doesn't come into play until later. September 1996- -A busy month. The many events, including several battles with Naraku and the introduction of Kouga, Kanna and Kagura occur as the events of volumes 10-16 transpire. Late September 1996- -Third new moon- Smack dab in the middle of the berserk IY arc. Late September to Early October 1996- -The heavy tessaiga arc continues, Toukijin is first used. October 1996- -Another busy month. Jurroumaru, Kagome's big 'decision' to stay by InuYasha's side, Gatenmaru, and IY finally overcoming his youkai blood by defeating Ryukosusei. Also, Kohaku attacks again and Kagome must fight Tsubaki. These events cover volumes 17-20. Late October 1996- -Fourth new moon. Kagura and Kouga find out IY's secret, and we find out Naraku's as well. Late October to Early November 1996- -Musou's arc November 1996- -The kidnapped Rin storyline. Naraku then flees to Hakurei-san. -Oni's head and other 'on the way to Hakurei-san arcs,' Kagome spends a few days in her era with InuYasha. One of the first times this really happens. -Shichinin-tai arc, covering volumes 24-28 in just a few days time. -Naraku is reborn and 'kills' Kikyou. Kagome is targeted by Hakudoushi. -Miroku proposes to Sango, Hakudoushi (child) is introduced, the final shard plot starts. Abi-hime is introduced. Late November 1996- -New moon. It would be the fifth one. This is the one we don't see, but I really think it had to have happened. I also really think we only missed one. I placed it here, but it could also easily be after Hijiri-sama. I think around here is most likely though. Late November to Early December 1996- -Hijiri-sama. Kikyou is reintroduced after Kagome heals her. December 1996- -Kohaku recovers his memory, The battle in Papa's grave, Abi-hime is killed, IY acquires kongousouha, Naraku attempts to draw out Kikyou with the youkai rats, Sango meets up with Kohaku, InuYasha meets Kagome's friends, Kouga comes back, Mouryoumaru/Gouryoumaru is introduced, Miroku deals with Shima, Kagome saves InuYasha at Ogre's Rock, Sango confronts Kohaku again, Kagura is charged with caring for Gouryou/Mouryou. Events of 32-37. Late December 1996- -Sixth new moon- InuYasha faces off against Mouryoumaru. Late December to Early January 1997- -Kagura is commanded to take out Kohaku but does not, resulting in Naraku finding her of no use. Sango finds out Kohaku has recovered his memories. Kagura dies in a field of flowers. January 1997- -The Inu-tachi visits Midoriko's village, Kikyou takes the remains of Midoriko's soul and acquires Kohaku, Kouga upgrades to Goraishi, IY fights Toushou and gets dragon-scaled tessaiga, IY takes out Kagome's sink, various dragon-scaled related fights, Byakuya is introduced, Kikyou and Kohaku's alliance comes to light, toukijin breaks, Sess gets meidouzangetsuha because of Kagura, IY promises to always be with Kagome. Events of 37-42. Late January 1997- -Seventh new moon- Nikosen, the hermit. Late January to Early February 1997- -Ginka and Kinka, Sess practices Meidou, IY goes to Yourei Taisei. February 1997- -Kouga returns and saves Shinta and Kai. Mouryoumaru is defeated, Naraku upgrades, Miroku is poisoned by shouki, they fight giant porcupines, Naraku takes back his heart, Spiderwebs are unleashed on InuYasha, Kagome, and Kikyou, Kagome fights her inner demons at Mt. Asuza and gains the bow, Kouga loses his shards, Kikyou dies in InuYasha's arms after teaming up with Kag to leave a speck of pure light in the jewel, Sess goes to hell via Sessmom, InuYasha and Kagome work to get over their grief via Kao, Kanna is killed. Events of 42-49. Late February 1997- -Eighth new moon. Bone youkai arc. Late February to Early March 1997- -Sango fights to bring back hiraikotsu, Miroku takes poison to remove the pain of using kazaana. March 1997- Sesshoumaru fights Shishinki and finds out about tenseiga's origins, Kagome and InuYasha get intimate in her era, Sango confronts Naraku and finds out about hiraikotsu's upgrade, much awkwardness between Sango and Kohaku, Sess tries to take out IY but relents once he sees IY is the true owner of tessaiga, Shippou arc, Kagome purifies Hitomiko and finds out about her powers being sealed, Sesshoumaru gains bakusaiga and his arm is returned, Kagome has her entrance exams. Late March to Early April 1997- Kohaku is revived, Kagome passes her entrance exams and graduates HS, the jewel is completed by Naraku, the group enters Naraku, Byakuya dies, Naraku is defeated, the well vanishes, Kagome's high school entrance ceremony (which she is not there for), the shikon no tama is purified. Early April- Three Days Later- Kagome returns to the modern world with InuYasha. Kagome and InuYasha are separated for three years. Late March of 2000-Kagome graduates high school and goes back to the sengoku jidai, Sango's third child is born, Kagome and InuYasha get married(?) Question mark because I'm unsure of the passage of time here. I don't know if they get married immediately or wait a while, but they're married by the time Kagome starts the "things have changed" monologue.
ryogasgirl		#11	[-]
Dr. Tofu's Patient Posts: 226 (07/01/08 08:24 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	The seasons are inconsistent in both eras. Kagome alternates between uniforms quickly, and we've seen zero sign of any particular weather in sengoku jidai. It rained... once. Kagome wears sun dresses for a brief period of time, but is back in sweaters just a volume or so later. It would seem that RT does not take weather into consideration much, and just puts her in whatever she feels like putting her in. That's one thing I've noticed as well. The Inu-gang must have experienced winter for at least a small amount of time, but no snow. They never complain about it being too cold either. And, like you said, only one occurance of rain in the sengoku jidai. But, whatever - it was a warm winter and we missed the days when it was raining. Similar situations where a long span of chapters actually only covers a short period of time have occurred. For example, chapters 452 to 466 (Kikyou's death arc and Mt. Asuza) cover just one day, from dawn to dusk. So many arcs that last several chapters occur not just in less than a day, but only a few hours. Battles are much longer for us than them. Most of these events lasted no longer than a day. Another thing to remember is that due to InuYasha and Kirara, the group travels very quickly. Sometimes it's difficult to grasp the fact that an arc I've been reading for months happened in only a few days, but you're right. The short time span of the series goes to emphasize the fact that this ragtag group became close very quickly. It is clearly Kagome's influence which makes it possible and, of course, their shared goal. Also, Sesshoumaru has lived for a long time - he has to be at least 70 years old. He's older than Inuyasha and he's been alive and active while Inuyasha was pinned to the tree. He changed more in the year of the Inuyasha series than he had in his entire life. He's been searching for Tessaiga so long, but he finally gave it up near the end of the series during the fight with Inu. And certainly Rin has changed the heart of this daiyoukai more than anyone. That's one thing that always strikes me when I think back on the timeline. Late November 1996- -New moon. It would be the fifth one. This is the one we don't see, but I really think it had to have happened. I also really think we only missed one. I placed it here, but it could also easily be after Hijiri-sama. I think around here is most likely though. Sure. I think it's certainly reasonable to add one in around here sometime. You put in alot of thought and time into this post and I don't have any reason to disagree with you, so good job! It really helps to put the whole series into perspective to think about the time in which it occurs.
childisfatheroftheman		#12	[-]
Onsen Mark's Favorite Pupil Posts: 81 (07/01/08 08:47 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	That's impressive! Thanks, Haro. And there's plenty of time in there for everything to have occured in one year.
luvIY		#13	[-]
Dr. Tofu's Patient Posts: 319 (07/05/08 02:28 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Wow, Haro, that's really impressive and so nicely thought out. The group sure didn't waste a lot of time picnicking around. I never really pay much attention to the timeline before, but I'm glad now that I do, I have this to guide me. So how long did it take you to put it together?
Inu		#14	[-]
Sesshomaru's Toadie Posts: 11 (07/20/08 01:37 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Excellent work! Well done haro! I figured some certain events certain new moons, weather transpirances, etc would have to be deemed as skipped over, and I think you covered all the grounds well. Maybe that list should be posted on the official Inu page on Rumic World? Lol, I know I can't be the only one who ever thought about this question and who would like to have seen a "calendar" of sorts like that at some point...

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