The cast who does the voices for all of the characters served their roles exceptionally well and the music was boisterous and exciteable, as it is in the show.
One of my issues with the movie is its pacing. The events leading up to the end battle felt choppy and inconsistent. But that's probably because we have an hour and half to kill instead of the usual 22 minutes. We needed Kirara to be possessed by the two women so we could see major fights happening later on. I loved to see Kirara step out to be more of a power player in this movie than the usual fighting sidekick that she's usually portrayed as in the show. We get to see the same thing with Sango and Miroku. Usually sentenced to being semi-background characters forced to deal with squabbling teammates and Kagome threatening to go back to her own world every other episode. (Seriously girl, it gets old) they typically don't have much substance to work with within 22 minutes. But here we see them champion without Inuyasha to save the day with his sword or Kagome with her arrows. We see Miroku's dexterity with his staff and powers and Sango utilize her Hiraikotsu with much more precision and deft than she normally allows. Sango is my favorite character in the series so if you're a fan of Sango as well, this movie will shine her in a very positive light.
Without mentioning any spoilers our main protagonists, Inuyasha and Kagome, begin to create the infamous meme of yearning for one another by constantly yelling each other's names into the universe. The title "Affections Touching Across Time" really hits home as they do the infamous:
"INUYASHAAAAAA!!"
"KAGOMEEEEE!!"
bit nearly the whole way through. It's to ease you into, literally, into the rest of the series, lol.
The storyline itself was really intriguing. It's good to know that other powerful demons exist besides Naruku, Inuyasha and Sesshomaru's father, and Ryukotse. The antagonist originates from what the characters call, "The Continent", which, I assume, is probably the continent of Asia. Sometimes we ask ourselves which anime world we wouldn't like to go to and most people think of Attack on Titan or some grizzly dystopian future. But I certainly wouldn't want to be caught wandering around Japan in the feudal era as a human. I'd hate to always be in fear of having my soul stolen or to become prey to a high or low-level demon. The antagonist in this film, for example, gets most of his regenerative powers from thousands upon thousands of innocent souls; from low level creatures to innocent villagers in the nearest town.
Speaking of souls, one element that I could have absolutely done without is the presence of Kikyo. I didn't see a reason for her involvement in the story, especially since the antagonist's beef was literally with Inuyasha. He had arisen and the first thing on his mind was the act of revenge. The same with Sesshomaru. Although, Inuyasha and Sessomaru share the same father, the antagonist has a vendetta with the one who holds the Tetsusaiga.
Like I said, it wasn't a BAD movie, per se. But the pacing of the story, unusable characters, and LOTS of romantic fluff in grave moments of despair and urgency don't make a movie with a solid foundation. It's just something you watch so you can movie onto the next series of episodes.
