recommended

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

Unllike the first movie which while good and entertaining was still an extended episode on a big budget, "Castle Beyond The Looking Glass" improves upon its predecessor greatly by giving us a story of what would happen if the series's main villain Naraku died right here and now and how it would affect everyone. The movie also uses the basis of the famous Japanese fairytale "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" and the main character from that story Princess Kaguya who serves as the film's villain. (Unless you have familiarity with the fairytale, certain parts of the plot won't make any sense.)The animation is stunning and uses very little to no CG unlike the first movie. The action scenes are fluid and some of the comedy is very hilarious at times. Also part of the plot revolves around the fact that Kagomes likes Inuyasha for the way that he is and not a full fledged yokai. This leads to the best part of the movie where we get to see Inuyasha and Kagome kiss on screen for the first time in the series. (Unfortunatly its never acknowledged in the TV show but hey.)"Castle Beyond the Looking Glass" is a great addition to the Inuyasha film series and a good "What If" story if Naraku was gone and everyone returned to their normal lives even if it was but for a brief moment.

When I first saw the first movie, I was great disappointed by what I saw, especially for a series as good as Inu-Yasha. My expectations first watching Castle Beyond the Looking Glass were not as high, but I was in for a surprise. In every single way I can think of, Castle Beyond the Looking Glass is a vast improvement over Affections Touching Across Time.For the most part, the second movie's story is as stock quality as the first movie. It does however try to go into the realm of alternate universe (though it still really takes place in the canon storyline) by posing the question "What would it be like if Naraku died right now?" And, in my opinion, the interpretation is pretty good. Castle Beyond the Looking Glass does something however that really makes it just like many other Japanese animated movies by incorporating story elements from the fairy tale, Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. While it does so in a tasteful way, it kind of gave me the impression of "overused" just as the first movie's story felt. Getting past that though, the villain Kaguya is far superior to Menomaru, if only because she was less corny. So the story, which features all our favorite characters rather evenly (meaning there is something for everybody to enjoy), is actually more compelling.The animation and music is about the same level as the first movie. Actually, I say the music was better for this movie because the first movie sounded as though it ripped a lot of tracks right off the television show. In contrast, I'm pretty sure most, if not all the music used for Castle Beyond the Looking Glass, was original (using the same melodies possibly, but at least played in a different way).I thoroughly enjoyed Castle Beyond the Looking Glass much more than Affections Touching Across Time. The DVD also has some nice features that you shouldn't miss.

The movie opens with the be all end all battle between Inuyusha and the gang, and Naraku. After Naraku's apparent death, the gang more or less split up and go there seperate ways. But when Kagura (the wind demon that has those cool fans) and Kanna (the little girl with the mirror that steals souls) conspire to raise a demon who plans to stop time. Inuyasha, Kagome and all the rest must come together to stop her.Any more would be giving away things, and I don't want to do that But I'll just say this, a lot more happens than ever happend in the show, and Kagome and Inuyasha even share a kiss. This is the second movie in the series of movies and it's worth finding, though I don't doubt it will be released here in the states soon by the same company who's distributing the series.I cannot stress enough how awesome this movie is, easily bests any american action movie made in the last ten years.Oh yeah, I'm also obsessed with Anime, so my review is a little biased

The movie starts with the supposed killing of Naraku and then introduces a new enemy: Kaguya, who used Naraku's helpers Kanna and Kagura to free herself from her 1000-year prison. Her coming will mean an eternal darkness. She is supposedly the tennyo from the old legend of the angel who lost her feathered robe and was unable to return to her home in heaven. Inuyasha and the gang gets drawn into all of it when Kagura and Kanna appear to steal a part of the Fire Rat Robe that Inuyasha wears (wouldn't it have been safer just to slay a Fire Rat and rent a seamstress to make a robe of it, I wonder... doesn't Kagura and Kanna fear Inuyasha now that he has supposedly killed their old boss?). Anyway, Inuyasha and the gang also meet an ancestor of Houjou-kun, who posesses the tennyo's robe that Kaguya desires. They figure out what's going on and decide to prevent Kaguya from being unleashed.The basic plot is sound, but the movie suffers slightly from involving too many of the IY-characters. Kikyou's scenes are completely unnecessary - the only thing they accomplish is remind us that she is wierd. The Kohaku-story was slightly far-fetched, but given it's final developement, it passes for accetable. At this point, I'm just thankful they didn't try and squeeze Sesshoumaru into the story as well.The problem with the movie is that it's slightly too short. Another 5-10 minutes would have been enough to let the plot sink in and allow the viewer to understand what is going on. For instance, the quick 2-line explanation given as to why Kanna and Kagura starts serving Kaguya doesn't make any sense at all.This movie is, despite its flaws, excellent. It has the regular nice IY-humor, the characters feel deep and real and the Kagome/Inuyasha-relationship is warmer than ever (*sweeet*). The badguy is somewhat shallow and single-minded, but she makes up for it in style. She feels even more powerful than Naraku.This movie is a must-see for anyone who whatches the tv-series. It contains some really longed-for moments and the action is superb. Don't miss it!