Dear Papa

Talk to me. You know you want to.

For some reason the iframe code is being stripped when I upload the page, so for now, if you can't see the submission form you can access it <a href="..cgi-bin/papaform.cgi">here</a>.

This website is for entertainment purposes only. Please be aware that I have no counseling or psychiatric training and am therefore not qualified to give sound advice in most topics. I will still sometimes respond to such things, but please don't take me as the ultimate source of knowledge. I generally do not accept questions that are overly offensive or speculative outside of canon. I reserve the right not to post questions that I do not believe I can adequately answer.

Old site and archives
Webcam

Dear Papa,
I have a problem. I met a boy I really like and he likes me. But we're different religions. I'm Christian and he's Buddhist. A lot of my family except my mom and sister r conservative so they have a strick "Christian's only"policy. I like him a lot but I also love my family. I'm worried that if I did start a relationship with him they'll hate me. What do I do?
Sincerely,
Cheyenne

Dear Cheyenne,
Ah, the old "we'll love you as long as you turn out the way we want" schtick. They may be your family, but in the end they're not in charge of what you do with your life. If you think they're wrong, you shouldn't have to conform to their ideals just to appease them while leaving yourself miserable. If you two really like each other, then what other people think doesn't matter. If they really love you they'll support you in whatever fulfills you.

Dear Papa,

A few questions if you don't mind....

First, there seems to be a disagreement on Kagome's eye color. I was almost positive that they were brown and yet I see multiple fan works and hear that her eyes are of the deepest blue? How can two things so different be interchanged? Second, would you agree in the belief that your sons and Sesshomaru's mother are now the only living inu-youkai left (since you died and all)? I don't remember the manga saying otherwise, but then I'm not a scholar on the subject. Lastly, I love Memoirs.

Just felt the need the add that.

Here's a coupon to a free treat at Doggies-R-Us for your troubles. Hope mapquest gives you away there from the cloud place with flying skeletal birds.

Much love Inu-papa
Sincerely,
Yasha's Sis

Dear Yasha's (Adopted?) Sis,
Both are correct, actually. Kagome's eyes are brown in the anime, but blue-grey in the manga. So it just depends on which version the person is referencing.
My family was hardly the last of the dog youkai, we were simply the only ones who ever showed up in the series. It's not like we have yearly doggy pow-wows or something and keep tabs on each other, the others simply never bothered to show up for the story.

Dear Papa, Why has the violence and nudity toned down greatly over the years? Did soccer moms complained? Sincerely, Mirror Universe Byakuya

Dear ayukayB,
Nah, Takahashi just got older and people tend to get more conservative as they age. The Kagura boobage was the last nudity we saw in Takahashi manga. Though I wouldn't say the violence has toned down, the manga had that bone-collecting youkai ripping people's skeletons out of their still-living bodies through their mouths. But I think the violence mostly toned down because it got to the end of the series and without any side quests there were no more redshirts to blow away. Her current series, Kyoukai no Rinne, is actually extremely sanitary so far, with nary a peek at much of any skin and no blood aside from a few incidences for comic effect. It's clean humor, which I appreciate. It's also squishy.

Dear Papa,
Since you are japanese,is it hard to learn other languages?Liek..going from lines and dots and such things to mouch simpler letters?Was jsut wondering =]
Sincerely,
*wants to learn japanese*

Dear wanter of learning,
Lines and dots? You mean like Morse code? Learning grammar is the hard part of a language. Vocabulary is nothing but memorization. And I have to say that English is way harder to learn than Japanese because it's so irregular. Japanese is nice and consistent most of the time. It's friggin' phonetic, how awesome is that? English has words like "tough" and "through" and "cough" and "ought" which all contain the same pattern of four letters but they're pronounced differently in each word. Seriously, it's like spelling doesn't even matter in English, you people just throw together a random jumble of letters and decide "this is going to be pronounced like this today". And don't get me started on your conjugation. Good > Better > Best? Give > Gave > Given? Child > Children? lolwut? Why can't you people be like sensible languages like Japanese and have your grammar rules actually be "rules" and apply to everything instead of just the words you feel like?

Dear Papa,
it's me, Nicole again.
I've been reading/watching more InuYasha now, and what surprises me is how Kohaku's all about killing himself to "atone for his sins" and even when he regains his memory, he's still squeamish about being with Sango.
Now, I know killing one's friends and family must be devastating, but doesn't he know he's been controlled by Naraku? Who "made" him kill his family?
I wonder if Kohaku knows that (and thinks he could have somehow prevented it/controlled it, which I doubt) yet takes all the blame on himself, or if Naraku just mindscrewed him into thinking he did it out of his own volition.
It just pisses me off when some of the enemies tease Kohaku about killing his family which gets him upset, he should get mad about it and tell them to screw off: "I was being mind controlled by Naraku at that time, damnit!"
Sincerely,
Nicole (z55177)

Dear Nicole,
Even if he wasn't aware of it, he still did it. I have some experience in doing terrible things while being completely unaware of it, and let me tell you, it isn't something that you can just excuse yourself of even if you know there was nothing you could do about it. The blood is still on your hands. If you do something seemingly innocuous that nevertheless ends up hurting a lot of people, you can't just excuse yourself of fault simply because you "didn't mean to". It doesn't matter whether we meant it or not, what matters is the actual outcome, and we have to face it like it or not. Kohaku got a bit obsessive over it, sure, but I don't think he was wrong for taking responsibility.

Dear Papa,
Have u ever been slapped across the face, hit, kicked, got biten by or anything of that sort by a woman? If so did u deserve it?
Sincerely,
Huge fan

Dear Huge fan,
Let's see, yes, yes, yes, yes, and much more. I've also been stabbed, bludgeoned, crushed, cut, punched... mostly all from the same person. Ah, that was a fun relationship. I probably did deserve it, though.

Dear Papa,
has Sesshoumaru ever seen InuYasha in his human form? If he did, how did he react to it? (and if he didn't, how would he react?)

I was just thinking that because I remember how surprised and "curious" Sesshoumaru got when he saw InuYasha turn into his demonic berserk mode and tried "testing" it out to see what InuYasha could do in that state.
Sincerely,
Nicole (z55177)

Dear Nicole,
He has, actually, but the anime skipped it because it happened during the Mouryoumaru arc of Kanketsu-hen where 10 volumes of manga got crammed into 10 episodes, so a crapton of stuff ended up on the cutting board, Sesshoumaru's encounter with human Inuyasha being one of them. Check manga volume 37 for the story. Sesshoumaru didn't seem particularly surprised, and actually his reaction indicated that he was already well aware of Inuyasha's habit of turning human, since he made the quip, "Don't show yourself around me when you look like that."

Dear Papa,

the funny thing is i came to you for advice awhile ago on how to make a guy roll over for you.... worked til now... more help please... you males are just so stupidly irritating it's aggrivating. please help.
Sincerely,
shewolf with issues

Dear shewolf,
Er... which part of my advice did you take? For an honest answer, I can't help you. Contrary to what Cosmo magazine might say, there is no ubiquitous way to please a man. We're all individuals and have individual preferences, so you can't just assume without actually knowing the person first. And if a guy's worth it, I'm sure he'd appreciate someone trying to get to know his personal tastes rather than trying to please him based on a stereotype.

Dear Papa,

How do you stay so fluffy (and clean) after all those messy battles with cat, dragon and moth demons?
Sincerely,
L

Dear L,
L'Oreal. Because I'm worth it.

Dear Papa, What happened at parties in ur era? I was wondering. They can't be like the ones in our era since that stuff wasn't around yet. I'm not talking about orgies or anything. Like non-civilized parties. Unless all non-civilized parties were orgies. I was just curious. Did they have any attempts of methods of birth control back then? Sincerely, Random

Dear Random,
"Pull it out" I think was the most common birth control method of the time. Either that or the Falcon Punch. With parties, though, um... I can't really say I ever did much in the way of "partying". I attended a few formal occasions where sake was served and people sat around and talked. But as for crazed debauchery... I only had the misfortune to witness it on several occasions but never participated myself. Drunken barfights span the ages.

Dear Papa,

Alright, so here's the deal. While on a forum, I found an thread entitled "Rin." Curious, I clicked it. Low and behold I find a large, intense, conversation about pairings. Of course the Sesshomaru/Rin pairing was prominent. Now, I see the pairing as strictly platonic, but I began getting curious. Sesshomaru doesn't seem like he'd be the type of guy to adopt someone. So I guess my question is this: what do you think he sees her as? A daughter? Sister? Friend? Or just something he needs to protect?

Also, at the very end of the manga, when Naraku was finally defeated, he mentioned that the jewel didn't grant his wish for Kikyo's love, or something like that. Throughout the serious, he's been an all around bad guy. The whole thing about his wish to be with Kikyo and his lamenting on how he's unable to go where she is, was that supposed to cause sympathy for him? Or what was the point of that bit of information? In your opinion, of course.
Sincerely,
Crazy

Dear Crazy,
Well, it's definitely not as weird as the Inu-papa/Rin pairing I'm starting to see brought up lately (at least in my search referrals). Personally, I consider the Sesshoumaru/Rin relationship to be a platonic familial sort of thing. You generally don't grow out of how you initially view someone. A normal person does not have the desire to sleep with his or her children just because they grow up hot.
With Naraku... eh, I don't really know what was going on with him. I guess his views on Kikyou were a sort of "If I can't have you no one can" sort of thing. Though that doesn't explain why he was obsessed with amassing so much power. Or why, after killing Kikyou, life went on as normal. To me it just seemed like he was evil for the sake of being evil and Takahashi simply tried to shoehorn a motive in at the last minute. In the end, that just makes him weaker, I think. The world needs more Kefka-like villains, who are evil simply because they find the suffering of others amusing. Attempting to insert a tragic element to it after all he's done just makes him seem like he's been throwing a tantrum the whole time.

Dear Papa,

Alright, two weeks ago my sister came crying up to me screaming about how something had killed and eaten our cat, leaving a bloody corpse in our yard. Now I didn't have the heart to tell her that it was HER dog that did it, so I made up a lame excuse of "Um... It's alright, some other animal probably did it. It could have been the evil demon dog next door!" Little did I know she BELIEVED me and since she is like 10 years old and knows the anime Inuyasha, she started believing that Sesshoumaru did it. (his dog form gave her nightmares)

I'm at a loss as to what to do now, she's under the impression that either you, or one of your two sons killed the cat. WHAT DO I DO?! She even asked GOOGLE whether you killed the cat or not. Yeah, not the brightest bulb in the pack...

(P.S. Just so I can verify the fact that you AREN'T the killer to my sis, please: if you would be so kind, enlighten me on the diet of a daiyoukai)

Sigh, a box of milkbones and a hug for your troubles.

Sincerely,
A very exasperated Oneechan

Dear Oneechan,
... What the hell, why are you making such a joke of this? You're telling me that a dog that is out for blood is currently in the posession of a ten year-old girl, and the biggest worry on your mind is that she thinks I'm mean? She'll be upset when she learns that her dog killed the cat, yeah, but not as upset as she'd be if that dog tears her arm off. And don't make excuses about, "Oh, he'd never hurt her", because that is bullcrap. A dog is not particular about what it attacks, if it can get worked up enough to KILL a cat, it can get worked up enough to violently attack a lot of things. This isn't about not having the heart to tell her what the dog did, this is about not wanting to face the implications of it. That dog either needs some serious training at best, or to be put down at worst, but one thing that is absolutely necessary is to get that dog away from children right away.

Dear Papa,
What was your biggest turn on in a woman? I was curious. Something besides her body plz. Anything about a girl's personality that attracted you to all your "in life" relationships. Who r u with now?
Sincerely,
Your Name

Dear My Name,
Intelligence, definitely. I mean, I don't need her to be a rocket scientist, but I prefer someone who I can have some semblance of an intellectual conversation with without her going "lol i have no idea what ur talking about, omg isnt Robert so hawt?" And on that same note, functional literacy is also an imperative. I can't very well have an intellectual conversation with someone if she is incapable of constructing readable sentences. Beyond that... similar interests, non-smoker, likes to cuddle... but with standards like that, it's no wonder that I've found myself so alone all this time.

Dear Papa, I was watching the fourth Inuyasha movie ,'Fire on the Mystic Island' ,and at one point two demons that claimed they served under you come up to Sesshomaru and ask for his asistance in defeating the four war gods, saying it was your final wish. Did you really want to defeate the four war gods? If so could you tell me why? Or was this something the directors came up with to give Sesshomaru an excuse to be in the movie?
thank you for your time! =3
Sincerely,
Saki

Dear Saki,
I seemed to have a whole laundry list of crap that I left as a "final wish" for my kids to clean up after. 90% of it was anime-original, though, and you hit the nail on the head, it's just the only motivation the anime writers can think of to get Sesshoumaru to do anything. From fighting Menoumaru to the Hyounekozoku to Takemaru to the Shitoushin, every single one is just, "Hm, we need to bring Sesshoumaru into this somehow... eh, let's just have them be yet another guy his dad fought yet failed to defeat." With my anime track record, it's amazing I still ended up with the title of "most powerful" anything. So, yeah, Seiten and Kujaku were just in it as a (shallow) catalyst to get Sesshoumaru into the movie somehow, and provide Kyoura and Juura with a fan and a cannon. And just for the record, Ryuukossei and Shishinki are the only two canon characters I fought and failed to defeat, and I never explicitly left any instructions for my kids to inherit the fight for me.

Dear Papa,

I'm just a smidge curious, how do you feel now that your sons are *tolerating* each other now, and Sesshoumaru has surpassed you in power and got his own sword, the Bakusaiga. Are you really,really, really proud of them? Just curious.
Sincerely,
BooBoo-chan

Dear BooBoo-chan,
Surpass me? Peh, Toutousai just told them that to make them feel accomplished. I mean, I guess he "surpassed" me in that, yeah, I never got a Bakusaiga, so he's got that on me. But I wouldn't consider "doing some random thing that your dad never did" as "surpassing". 'Course I'm proud of them and glad that they're tentatively getting along, but let's make it clear that I will always be top dog.

Dear Papa,

What happened to your web camera? I can't find it anywhere now.
Sincerely,
Miss Seeing You

Dear Miss Me,
You mean... the one linked to immediately above this post, or is there another webcam that's been secretly videoing me that I've been unaware of until now?

(Dear Patches365)
This doesn't really matter, but your comment on the "Death of a Legend" pic (which was undeniably AWESOME!!!) said that Inu-Papa died in the fight with Ryuukotsusei, but i think i remember them saying that he was FATALLY WOUNDED in the battle. it didn't really say when EXACTLY he died.

i love InuYasha anime! XDDDDD

(ps u probably won't ever hear from me on devART cuz i'm not a member of anything except Gmail '-_-
Sincerely,
Cattychan09

Dear Cattychan,
This is one of those things that people are thinking way too hard about due to the anime deciding to run in a completely different direction with the ambiguous wording. The line translates to, "The wound he received from Ryuukossei was how your father was killed." Yes, the wording implies my death was not instantaneous, but that was meant to cover for the fact that I sealed Ryuukossei before dying rather than being killed outright. However, the anime decided that if I could do that, I was still hale and healthy enough to go run off on a host of other errands before finally kicking the bucket.

Dear Papa, there is a girl i like, but i am not sure if she likes me what should i do.
Sincerely,
World of manga

Dear world of manga,
... Ask? You may feel dumb, but at least you'll know for sure and won't keep worrying about it.

Dear Papa,
How did u feel when u met ur first fan girl?
Sincerely,
Fan girl

Dear Fan girl,
... Violated?

Dear Papa,
Judging by the fact that you've got two children, by two different women, it would appear you have been at least a bit lucky in love compared to those of us who, you know, have never so much as been on a date before... Any advice applicable to guys for whom the descriptor 'puppydog' is only applicable to personality?
Sincerely,
Shy Guy

Dear Shy Guy,
On the contrary, I think it's more telling that I lived for 500 years and only ever got laid twice, meaning it took me on average 250 years to score a woman. So I'm probably not the best person to go to for advice. In general, though, if you don't look like you can take care of yourself, a woman isn't going to be interested. The cardinal rule in attracting a mate, though, is maintaining proper hygeine. Because if you don't take any time on yourself, she won't think you'll take any time on her.

Dear Inu-papa-sama,
This is totally unrelated to Inuyasha, but I just want to know. Okay, maybe it does because of fanfiction, but that's beside the point. x[
What is it about female characters that makes them so susceptible to Mary-Sue-ism? :( The ladies written in your memoirs seem fine, but why is it so hard to write good female characters?
Sincerely,
Keira

Dear Keira,
Oh, I could write entire essays about the Mary-Sue phenomenon. I think it would make a great psychological study, actually, delving into what motivates people to write such things. But, since no study has been done that I've ever found, I'll have to go off personal opinion.
First off, Mary-Sues tend to be a hallmark of a young writer. Someone who's just getting her feet wet when it comes to inventing new characters, and the only "character type" she really knows is herself. Therefore her character tends to be a carbon copy of her, or a projection of what she wishes she was. Since these writings tend to start when the author is about 13 or so, it's during a time in her life when she desperately wants to be accepted. Therefore, in her fantasy world, all the "good" characters absolutely adore her and anyone who doesn't is immediately branded "evil". It's a projection sort of thing, which is why the author always feels personally threatenend when people don't like her character.
And this demand for acceptance is really what defines a Mary-Sue rather than her superpowers or tragic past or amazing good looks. A character who has a tragic past or super powers or amazing good looks is not automatically a Mary-Sue, so long as the rest of the cast reacts to her in a believable manner. What really defines a Mary-Sue is the gap in how the author WANTS her character to be regarded versus how her character is ACTUALLY regarded by her audience.

Dear Papa, is that your youngest pup's haori your wearing on the webcam or is it just stylish pyjamas?

Is it made out of fire rat as well? They are endangered animals/demons you know!
Did you kill it by yourself? We wouldn't want you to get arrested for it! Or did you buy it off ebay or something?
How much such a fire rat kimono costs anyways???

And are you drinking a tea, coffee or hot chocolate? Or is it a liquid ramen, perhaps???

^_~
Sincerely,
Mistress of Pinky Fluff

Dear Pinky Fluff,
Actually, it's just my red undershirt that I wear under my usual white and blue clothing. It's not made out of anything special. And I'm actually just drinking water and that's the only cup I have around.

Dear Papa,

I enjoy reading your memoirs very much. They are really well done, and my question is: How often do you update the chapters? And just how many do you intend to have? Thanks.
Sincerely,
Lark

Dear Lark,
I try to update it approximately weekly, but it depends heavily on my personal schedule, given that it usually takes me 6-8 hours to plot out, write up, and illustrate a chapter, and between work and other real-life necessities, sometimes it's hard to find that much personal time. I have no set goal as to how long it's going to be, but at the rate it's going, probably at least a hundred chapters.

Dear Papa,
I was wondering if there had ever been an actual dog in the manga or anime... Not a transformed dog youkai; just a regular dog.

I enjoy your column and am beyond excited about Kanketsu-hen.
Eagerly awaiting Bakusaiga,
Sincerely,
Pliny

Dear Pliny,
Actually, no, there are no regular dogs in the Inuyasha manga canon. In one of the movies (the second, I think?), Kagome walks by a pet store and commands all the dogs there to sit, but that is the only place a normal dog ever appears. The closest thing to a normal dog in canon was a yama-inu that appeared briefly while posessed by the Hitoukon in the first episode of Kanketsu-hen.

Dear Papa,
What is your opinion on the ever increasing popularity of Naraku/Sesshoumaru pairings? Also, in accordance with Izayoi, do you know if she ever displayed any sign of spiritual power/houriki? In the manga, as the un-mother (or whatever you'd like to call the thing), she appeared to have holy powers when she teleported Inuyasha and Kagome away, or was that just the creature?

Here, have a magical box full of hugs.
Sincerely,
Mokomokosama

Dear Mokomokosama,
No, Izayoi didn't have any special powers in life. Inuyasha didn't appear perplexed at all by her double's powers, but that's because he was under her spell. She also didn't have super flexy arms and the ability to suck people into her chest. At least... she never demonstrated such techniques with me, even though in some circumstances that might've been kinda kinky... but I digress.

Dear Papa,

I am a bit curious about two things.

1: I believe that you and Sesshoumaru, being dog-demons, can speak to regular dogs, but can Inuyasha? I mean, he can't transform into a giant fluffy dog like you and Sesshoumaru, but he inheirited the dog ears and canine olfaction, so would he be able to communicate with dogs? Just curious.

2: This may have been asked before, but how do you think Inuyasha would have been different if you never died and he grew up with a loving father and a...not so loving brother who would be forced to tolerate him. What do you think would have happened?

(Here's a pork-bone and a belly rub for your trouble.)
Sincerely,
Alexandra

Dear Alexandra,
I'll have to call you on the faulty premise in question 1. Sesshoumaru and I, in fact, do not speak to regular dogs. Granted, no regular dogs ever appear in the series, therefore no one gets the chance to try to communicate with one, but since nothing has been stated one way or another, I really don't think it should be taken as a given. The answer to any assumed abilities should always be "no" unless explicitly shown otherwise.
And if I hadn't died, Inuyasha would have merely been used as a hostage by my enemies in order to sway my hand, so all things considered, he probably ended up better off than if I had remained alive. At least with me gone, those who opposed me had no real reason to take note of him anymore.

Dear Papa,
You know how ur son, sesshomara has been rather grumpy well i have come up with a conclusion on THAT.....He had a sword up his butt the whole time! what do you think it was heehe

P.S. Its really cold up were i am and i know no fire youkai, and the snow is getting on my nerves mind calling one and sending it up here!! THANKS!!!
Sincerely,
Hanabusa (petals of a flower)

Dear Hanabusa,
Well, not up his butt per se, but he definitely had a sword stuck somewhere and finally got it pulled out after 518 chapters/184 episodes.
And I don't have the power to send a youkai to do your bidding. Why don't you do what I do and grow an extra layer of fur?

Dear Papa,
Happy New Years!!!! In honor of it, will you please tell us how New Years is celebrated in Japan?

*hugs pillow and settles down to listen*
Sincerely,
Elora

Dear Elora,
New Year's is probably the biggest holiday in Japan, and its celebration pretty much parallels how Americans traditionally celebrate Christmas. Most businesses are closed, families get together, and everyone mails out cards to their family and friends. Though instead of a church service, it's customary to make temple and shrine visits on New Years. And instead of cookies, you make mochi.

Dear Papa,
i am having a situation, so i'm just trying to get into a mans head. What really gets a man to roll over? I've tried everything, but i figure that you might be some help.
Sincerely,
a werewolf with a problem

Dear Werewolf,
When it comes to subduing men, you've got the classic two options: Kick it or lick it.

Dear Papa,
How old were you when you died?
Also how old was Sesshomaru?
Thanks for taking your time to read this
Sincerely,
Sutaa

Dear Sutaa,
There really is no canon or even anime-original guesses as to how old I was or how old Sesshoumaru is (though the third movie implies Inuyasha is 200 years old, which is rather unlikely). I tend to think of myself as a lot younger than some sources put me, but that's just me trying not to feel so old. ... In fact, now that I look at the (Japanese) manga, I'm not even finding any explicit mention that I was particularly ancient. When I was first introduced, the extent of my description was "a bake-inu who prowled the West" and "a powerful, imposing daiyoukai with particularly delicious blood". Granted, when it comes to youkai, power and age tend to go hand-in-hand, but Naraku was only 50 years old and still kicked pretty much everyone's asses.
This is all just a roundabout way of saying "I have no idea".

Dear Papa,
This may sound odd, but my dogs(There are 4 of them, they are all husky) Have issues with the Toy poodle were house sitting but the the shepherd/retriever that we are training, which got me wondering, was there any sort of demon you had an unconscious(or maybe even conscious) disliking for? Cheers,
Sincerely,
Sophia

Dear Sophia,
Unfortunately, I was a bit on the naiively trusting side in life, so I never had an immediate dislike of anyone. Well, at least not simply due to what they were. There were quite a few people I immediately disliked because they were assholes, though.

Dear Papa,

It recently occurred to me that your younger son, being a hybrid, may be in the company of other hybrids such as ligers and mules, who because of their hybrid genetics are not fertile. However, given the presence of magic, the good old "A Wizard Did It" magical facilitation argument is available, so I thought I would seek your opinion. You think Inuyasha could have kids? Have a cow, for your time.
Sincerely,
Zyoshu

Dear Zyoshu,
How 'bout I don't have a cow, man? ... How in the world did that idiom originate, anyway? It makes absolutely no sense. Anyway, Inuyasha's genetics are in the realm of "let's not think too hard about this". I mean, take his human form. In terms of his hair color, we can assume that his youkai genes dominated his human genes and therefore forced his hair follicles to produce youkai pigmentation, which would be white. For the sake of argument, let's also assume that there is a "white" pigmentation cell, when in real life, white coloring is simply a lack of pigmentation. However, when Inuyasha turns human, his hair instantly turns black. Even if you figure his youkai pigmentation cells just vanish into thin air, where did the human pigmentation come from all of a sudden? In order for that to work, all his youkai hair would have to fall out, and his now-dominant human hair color gene would have to take over and immediately cause his hair follicles to produce human-colored hair instead. It's not like his human hair color is just "hiding underneath" his youkai hair color. It's not a bleach job. His cells would have to physically discard all his youkai cells and immediately re-make them as human. In a matter of seconds.
Long story short, if his body can pull THAT off, then having kids should be a roll in the hay.

Dear Papa,

So, I just watched the episode where Sesshomaru's mother appears. Now, she was cold in the manga, but she seemed more so in the anime.

Which got me thinking, did/does Sesshomaru's mother care about him? It's obvious that you love your children, but she seems like she could care less about Sesshomaru. Was she like that when he was a child?

Sincerely,
BloomBud

Dear BloomBud,
Well, she definitely cares about him, given that she offered him a way out of Hell (which he refused) and even brought Rin back to life because he seemed upset that she died. She just has a weird way of showing her affection, which Sesshoumaru seems to have inherited. At least she was more level-headed than I was.

Dear Papa,

Hey Papa just caught up on your memoirs and I'm still grinning at how you contiue to give explainations for why your weapons act a certain way and why you are the way that you are (if that makes any sense). Still a big fan of you and reall wish you were given more space in the manga. I mean what do you have in total? Its like 4 pages about you in the entire series. An injustice surely. Anyway, are you going to begin fast forwarding through the content in Memoirs? I feel like you answered this before and if so apologies. An on a side note do you like snow? Random but its snowing up here and its really beautiful and my dog loves it. Hehe sorry I'll leave you now. Here's a hug for your troubles

Lots of love for you and the family
Sincerely,
Bria

Dear Bria,
I'm telling you, with 500+ chapters and a lot of seemingly contradictory information along with downright undeveloped plotlines, it's been a pain in the butt to try to tie everything together in a believable sense. And unfortunately, I'm not as much of a "write whatever and pretend it makes sense" writer as Takahashi is, so I'm limited to explanations that follow as many physical laws and are as intuitive as possible. I do intend to pick up the pace quite a bit as it progresses, as there are 500 years to get through despite the fact that 50 chapters only covered a year and a half.
And snow is fun only until it gets on the roads.

Dear Papa,
Demons seems to like eating humans(not a sexual remark) so did u ever feel dat urge. Liek when u first Izayoi did u wanna eat her?(Totally a nonsexual question so get ur mind out of the gutter)What did Izayoi's family think of ur guys relationship and how did they feel when they found out u knocked her up?What were ur thoughts when u first met her? I've always been curious
Sincerely,
Cheyenne(again)

Dear Cheyenne,
It is true that the most basic food for youkai is human blood, but the higher a youkai gets, the less need he has for it. Sort of how the older a human gets, the less he has to rely on his mother's milk. Though I personally have no conscious desire for human blood, if I lose myself to my basest instincts, I unfortunately can and have eaten humans. This is why I forcibly gave myself an intolorance to human blood to minimize the damage I could do should I ever lose myself to my wild side.
Izayoi's family... wasn't really alive enough to care about our relationship.

Dear Papa,
Hiya. How are you doing? Here's a steak for your trouble. I'd offer a hug, but I'm sick and you probably wouldn't enjoy being sneezed on.
I have 2 questions:
Were you still with/married to/whatever Sesshoumaru's mother when you, uhm.. let me put it this way. Did you actually cheat on Sesshoumaru's mother (or were led astray, or whatever) with Izayoi?

2. If you had known Inuyasha was going to be mod-happy with Tessaiga, would you have let Sesshoumaru keep the Meidou Zangetzuha? It seems to me like that was sort of a last ditch thing, in case Inuyasha couldn't use the Kaze no Kizu and/or the Bakaryuuha (if his nose wasn't strong enough or whatever). Of course, I could be wrong, but Sesshoumaru was nearly killed because he lost the Meidou Zangetzuha, and he was very upset over it (Daddy-doesn't-love-me sort of thing) and I find it hard to believe that you would wish that on your son.
Sincerely,
Melian Alcarimë

Dear Melian,
Aha, so YOU'RE the one who gave me this cold I've been suffering through for the past two weeks. *snifffff* Shame on you.
As for my status with Sesshoumaru's mother upon Inuyasha's conception... um... Well, let's just say she thought it was a little weird and it was kind of awkward for me to explain everything, but in the end she was okay with it. I think. I swear I just...! ... I was lonely.
And Tessaiga has WAY TOO MUCH BLING. Seriously, Bakuryuuha I can understand, but then he has to trick the damn thing out with diamonds and scales and old man power and fire and youkai butts and hell. Sesshoumaru doesn't need all that crap, and he needed to be taught not to need all that crap. "Tricking out your sword will ruin you, son, leave the little brother with all my excess baggage and go do your own thing."

Dear Papa,
Exactly how old r u? In human years not demon years? I'm just curious. Did u ahve lots of relationships in ur life? Have u had ur heart broken a lot? Who was ur first love?
Sincerely,
Cheyenne

Dear Cheyenne,
How old am I? How old would you like me to be? I lived in Heian Era Japan, which was over a thousand years ago. After that much time passes, you stop counting the years.
Relationships, huh... You qualified the statement with "in life", so to that, I can honestly say, no, I didn't have very many relationships during that period of time. Seems like it was only after I died that all the fangirls started throwing themselves at me...

Dear Papa,

As every other Inuyasha Fan out there, I was extremly happy to find out that the anime started up again and that they are finshing the story. I have read the manga and my favorite character is your eldest son, Sesshomaru. With the anime series being finshed up so fast, do you think that Sesshomaru's Mother will be introduced into the anime, like in the manga.

Also do you have any news about Viz releasing the anime into English, and if they do. will the English Dub Voice Actors be reprising the roles. Don't get me wrong I think the Jap. Voice Actors are great, it's just that I'm currently trying to learn Japanese, and it's kinda of confusing? (Does that make sense?)

Thanks for taking the time read this!
Here's a milk bone and can I have a hug/

P.S Do you know how to properly pronouce MOKOMOKO-Sama?
Sincerely,
Sesshomaru is Fluffy Evil

Dear Fluffy Evil,
Yes, Sesshoumaru's mother was in episode 9 of Kanketsu-hen. It looks like the anime was only rushing and chopping through things during the Mouryoumaru storyline to get it out of the way as quickly as possible, and has since slowed the pacing somewhat now that it has passed that hurdle (though episodes at this point are still progressing about twice as quickly as they did in the original series). My guess is that the pace will continue to even out as they reach the end, allowing them to likely be able to pull off everything from Black Tessaiga onwards without rushing or cutting anything.
I'm sure Viz will be releasing the series dubbed eventually, as they're already releasing it online subtitled the same day as it airs in Japan. However, I doubt the entire original English cast will be able to reprise their roles. Many English voice actors are under contract with certain studios, and in the five years since the original anime ended, a good number of them have likely left to join other projects.
And I never understand why people ask how to pronounce something in Japanese. Japanese is phonetic. EVERYTHING is pronounced the way it looks. Just break the syllables down one at a time and that's how it's pronounced. Mo-ko-mo-ko.

Dear Papa,
Hi I'm new to this site and i enjoy reading your memoirs I just started.reading them. They are interesting to read. But I have some questions what does sesshomaru mean. I think it means killing or something. Why would you name yours son that? I mean it sure him and all. In last,but less your name is never say other then inu no taishou, is that your real name and if so what does it mean?

p.s. please for give me, but I'm not to sure of Japanese so that is why I'm asking the means of you and your sons names

p.s.s I all most for got to ask inuyasha what dose his name mean.

Sorry for all the questions!
One last question can you teach me Japanese?

and for answering all my questions here is your treat I hope you like it!

warm simile,hug and a big juicy T-bone stake
Sincerely,
shyangel

Dear shyangel,
"Sesshoumaru" is comprised of the kanji "setsu" (殺) meaning "to kill", "shou" (生) meaning "life", and "maru" (丸) meaning "circle". The combination of the first two, "sesshou", represents "killing" as a noun. "maru" is simply a common ending for a male name (a bit TOO common in the Inuyasha series... seriously, Sesshoumaru, Juuroumaru, Kageroumaru, Taigokumaru, Tsukuyomaru, Goryoumaru, Mouryoumaru, Menoumaru, Takemaru, there was a Taroumaru in there somewhere, I think...). So, "Sesshoumaru" is simply... "killing guy", I guess.
I don't have a name. "Inu no Taishou" is a title, and is the only thing I'm ever called in canon. The anime writers wanted to call me "Touga-ou", but then decided against it for some reason.
"Inuyasha" is comprised of "inu" (犬) meaning "dog", "ya" (夜) meaning "night", and "sha" (叉) meaning "partition". In this case, other than "dog", don't take the kanji literally, as "yasha" is simply a phonetic approximation of the sanskrit "yaksha", written before katakana had been developed, so they simply stuck some kanji together that sorta sounded similar. And a yaksha is some sort of guardian nature spirit. So "Inuyasha" would mean something like "dog spirit".

Dear Papa,
Two questions,mostly: Question A) Were you really that large in life? And will Sesshomaru ever get that big, seeing as he actually FIT into your RIBCAGE? Question B) What's up with your brood's ears? Not that I have issues with them (can I have some, please? With a fluffy tail!), but you've got spainel ears, as does Sessy, but Inu's got those pointed ones. What's up with that?
Well, that's it, really. Have fun, and I'd like to give you a ear rub (or belly rub, I'm not picky), if that's alright with you.
Sincerely,
Amber

Dear Amber,
Yes, I really was that large in life. I was larger than life. Most of the time I had to suppress my size because I was too big to do anything useful in my real size. It's like, "Oh, I want to fly off with this cow, oh wait, I just stepped on it and smashed it into cow-pie." But when I died, well, I kind of lost my ability to suppress my size, so my skeleton ended up as the gigantic thing that you see. Though it does make a cozy living space, if you don't mind the decor. And don't be dissing my ears. I'm a "dog" youkai, and that can mean any kind of dog. I'm so amazing, I have every possible breed of dog in my genes, so my kids can end up as anything.

Dear Papa,

Exactly how is that fluffy thing attached to you? Some say tails (usually refering to Sesshomaru, but still...) And if it it's a pelt (which I think it is) how it it being held up on your shoulders? So far the only pelt that seems to make sense is your demon mate's where it just loops around her shoulders evenly. And Sesshomaru's pelt doesn't make much sense either.
Now I feel stupid -.-

P.S. I'm new to the site, and so far I love the memoirs!!!! ^^
Sincerely,
Zhao

Dear Zhao,
Thanks, and welcome to the site! It's actually... both a pelt and a tail. We're youkai, so it's not like we're bound by the physical constraints of normal animals. Sesshoumaru's fluff bleeds in the manga, so it's quite obviously something organic. Remember that the human form that youkai take is not a "real" form, so we can mold it into whatever shape we want. This means that the clothing and accessories are also technically a part of our bodies as well, even if they don't look or behave like it.

Dear Papa,how do you make such a wonderful site do you make yourself or do you use a program for it? also do you know any more langauges besides english?
Sincerely,
a good fan

Dear good fan,
The site is entirely programmed myself, yes. I used Adobe Photoshop to cut apart the background images and generate the tables to hold them, and I pulled a bit of open-source Javascript from another site for the chapter menu in the Memoirs, but every other aspect of this site was drawn, written, and coded by me. As for other languages, I do know Japanese to an extent, and while I had a Latin class years ago, I've forgotten most of it. Unless you mean programming languages, in which case I'm decently-versed in Java, C, C++, C#, Visual Basic, Perl, and HTML.

Dear Papa,
so wait, they've started airing new eps already?! can you find subbed versions somewhere?! please tell me you can. (dang me and my only english speaking problem grr)
ps. they should totally have you in that episode it would go along perfectly with the story line! :D
Sincerely,
A Friendly Vampire

Dear Friendly Vampire,
Yes, the new season of Inuyasha began airing at the beginning of October. Provided you're in the United States, you can (legally!) view new episodes subtitled online at Shonen Sunday every Saturday afternoon. The backlogs of older episodes are still there as well as of right now so that you can catch up.

Dear Papa,
what is the difference between "yaoi" and "shonen Ai"???
P.S. :sry for asking but i want to know!
P.S.2 : your memoirs are adorable " the pretty little pictures are so sweet :) "
Sincerely,
Your Sarah

Dear Sarah,
While I... definitely wouldn't consider myself an expert on the subject by any stretch of the imagination, going by what I've been told by my more knowledgeable friends, "yaoi" is male homosexual erotica while "shounen ai" is simply male homosexual romance. Basically, one has sex and the other doesn't.

Dear Papa,
Do you think Sesshomaru is as much a dick as I do?
Sincerely,
ChibiNeko

Dear ChibiNeko,
I don't know, how much of a dick do you think he is?

Dear Papa,
I have been reading some of the past questions a you have answered and some of them are quite stupid. I mean, There was one that keeps assuming that your first wife has a name, and frankly it is quite annoying. Also how many chapters with there be in Your Memoirs? I mean i enjoy them, don't get me wrong, but i'm just wondering. Also, i read the manga and i was wondering... Is Inuyasha and Kagome married? I mean i haven't seen the proof, but are they? Thank you so much!!!
Sincerely,
Lil miss slacker.

Dear slacker,
Generally I ignore messages that are either mindless "omg i luv uuuu!!" stuff, inappropriate questions like "which kid to you love more?", or questions that have simply already been asked recently enough to not warrant answering them again. My inbox holds 10 messages at a time, but I'm lucky if even half of them are worth responding to. The one prior to yours was simply someone glomping me. The one after yours is a repeat of the "what kind of kid would a youkai and a hanyou have?" question that's already answered a few posts down from here. That's why the updates here are so few and far between.
As for the Memoirs, at this rate I'm expecting it to go at least a hundred chapters, most likely more, if I manage to maintain the will to keep writing. It's at chapter 50 now and I'm still a kid, so there's still a ton of ground to cover.
Inuyasha and Kagome are married, yes, as was stated by Souta in the last chapter, that instead of going to university, Kagome left to get married, and his classmates thought that that seemed a bit rash.

Dear Papa,

Are there any scenes you would like them to add to the new anime adaption?

P.S. I find your memoirs very interesting so thank you for writing them.
Sincerely,
Zach

Dear Zach,
Given how fast the new anime series is plowing through material, they're not going to have any time to add much of anything other than transitional snippits to bridge previously unrelated events due to them cutting out a lot of stuff in between. The first four episodes alone cover 50 chapters when the original anime would only cover 12 in that time. If they add anything, I hope it's a cameo by me. There's ample opportunity to do so in the Shishinki fight given how often I'm referenced. I could appear in a flashback!

Dear Papa,
My friend keeps makeing up storys that your like her father or something and she seems to be taking them seriously. And now she's dragged me into them! I was happily born human and now she saying in her mind I'm a demon like her! I think you and every other character are awesome and all its just I like to stay with the story line. How do I get her to stop?! Here's a milkbone for being your awesome self.

P.S. Can I have a hug? I really need one.
Sincerely,
Anoyedhumanfriend

Dear Annoyed Human,
It's quite simple, really. My virility is so powerful that all my offspring are male. So the very fact that she does not carry my manly Y chromosome is proof enough that she can't possibly be my child.

Dear Papa,
do you realize how many last requests/final wishes you have? not to mention all your enemies you just left sealed, we are so sick and tired of cleaning up after you, what gives?
Sincerely,
Your sons

Dear kids,
Hey, I expect you two to clean your rooms once in a while and not expect me to do it for you. Also, the gutters on the skeleton need cleaning out if one of you happens to stop by again. And could you bring some Blue Moon ice cream? They don't sell it around here. And once you get here, I want to make sure you eat all your vegetables and get to bed by 9:00. Don't forget to brush your teeth! And floss! There's no way you'll grow up to make any kind of decent swords out of your teeth if you don't take care of them.
I say all this because I love you.

Dear Papa,
I was wondering if a youkai had sex with a honyou what kind of demon will the kid be?
Sincerely,
Zane

Dear Zane,
If a youkai and a hanyou have a child together, my guess is that it would genetically be 3/4 youkai, though which traits show through the most would be determined by the strength of the individual parents' genetics.

Dear Papa, there is this big controversy about SessXKag pairings. Personally, I think that they make a good couple. What's your view about this?
Sincerely,
Animaegan

Dear Animaegan,
In your view, they make a good couple, eh? What, exactly, does your view believe to be a "good couple"? Two people who exchange maybe five lines of dialogue over the course of 550 chapters? He has no reason to be interested in her. She has no reason to be interested in him. The only way to pair them together is to radically alter the personalities of both of them, at which point it's not Sesshoumaru and Kagome anymore, just two people who share their names and physical likenesses. The guy is not secretly a gushing marshmallow of compassion. The girl is not going to go running to someone who gives even less of a damn about her feelings than Inuyasha. No, the only reason people think Sesshoumaru and Kagome are a "good" couple is because they use Kagome as their own personal avatar to secure the hawt guy for themselves.

Dear Papa,
in reference to your memories, all though i know it will take you some time probably to reach that point and i could see you dropping that part of your site all together before then im curious as to if you'll write about the first great war with the panther demons. that whole affair was so vague in the anime and never was in the manga so i wonder as to how it played out. so are you going to write about it?
ps. don't worry there's a perv in all of us just cause someone says tacos things can turn bad. (snicker snicker)
Sincerely,
little half demon Cillian

Dear Cillian,
I'm actually intending to stick strictly with manga canon in the Memoirs. This mostly has to do with the fact that there is so much contradiction between the manga and anime originals that for the sake of my own sanity, instead of trying to come up with convoluted explanations for the contradictions, I'm just going to disregard those sections altogether (coming up with an explanation for Meidou Zangetsuha and Bakusaiga that both makes logical sense and doesn't make me come across as a dick is going to be hard enough). Therefore, aside from borrowing my character design (which Takahashi designed, anyway) and Izayoi's name from the third movie for convenience, the Memoirs assumes the anime version of the series doesn't exist. Thus, I do not intend to ever deal with the Hyounekozoku, Sou'unga, and the Shitoushin. Mostly because I never defeated any of them and my story is going to be kind of lame if it's full of unresolved battles. And even though I didn't beat Shishinki and Ryuukossei, either, I at least blew half the former's head off and sealed the latter to a wall with a fingernail, so I can at least kind of claim victory there.

Dear Papa,

First of all, I have to say you're the most fantastic daiyoukai I've ever had the pleasure of writing to. :3 *throws a juicy beef at you*

Something's been bothering me for a while since I've seen the episode where Bakusaiga appears. I just kinda didn't get it. I mean, it just sprouted from his body together with a new left arm when he was battling Magatsuhi.

Toutosai says it wasn't a memento from you, but rather a sword that was inside him all this time. And that had me wondering. Where did that sword and that arm come from? D: I couldn't reach a logic conclusion... do you maybe at least have a hunch on it?

Oh, and... can I give you a hug? Please?
Sincerely,
Innete

Dear Innete,
What? You mean randomly sprouting an arm and a sword isn't a commonplace thing and requires further explanation than "It was in you the whole time"? Come on, isn't the explanation obvious?
Um....
*hugs her and runs away*

Dear Papa, Boxers, Briefs, Fundoushi, or Commando?
Sincerely,
Mayu-san

Dear Mayu-san,
You ever seen a dog wear underwear?

Dear Papa,
whats with Sesshomarus dog form? It looks like he's on crack. Does he get it from his mother? Cuz, when I look at your dog form, you look so...Mature and...not on crack.
Sincerely,
Inufanchan

Dear Inufanchan,
Ah, I think Sesshoumaru's in the middle of one of those teenage growth spurts where not everything grows at the same rate, so he gets a bit... oddly-proportioned. Give him time and he'll turn out as dashing as me.

Dear Papa,
so Inuyasha is actually finishing, that's quite a bit of good news. I've read that they're getting the same cast and staff members to do it, but I'm not sure if this applies to both the English and Japanese versions. Will VIZ try at least to get the same people or do you think that there's not a high likely hood of the full cast coming back? and how long do you suppose it will take for these new Inuyasha episodes to be aired/distributed in the US after originally airing in Japan?
(PS, I'm holding an Inuyasha party and ur invited here's the invite, I'm the demon living in a mountain couple peeks from ur place :D hope u come)
Sincerely,
Dead Amarican Demon

Dear Dead American Demon,
The Japanese version will have entirely the same cast and pretty much entirely the same staff as before. And while it's licensed in the US, the chances of getting the entire dub cast back are slim as some of the actors have already left the studio and the translators and directors for the first series have moved on to other projects. However, because the series is already licensed, I wouldn't be surprised if VIZ puts their own subtitled version up online mere days after the original Japanese broadcast.