Inuyasha: Kagome or Sango?

If you have an interest in manga or anime, chances are you have run across Inuyasha. I won't describe the setting because it has already been done so many times before. Instead, I pose the question, "If you could choose between the two, who would you prefer as a friend or girlfriend, Kagome or Sango?"

I am actually torn between the two. They both display a certain worldliness and yet still retain their modesty and sense of rightness. Still, I will try to define their individual characteristics and maybe I can make a decision before the end as well. Since we see Kagome first, and she is the center of this series of adventures, no matter that the title would lead you to believe, I'll start with her.

Kagome is one who has lived within a shrine all of her life, so she can see that many people are willing to believe in legends and that they're willing to pay for that belief. She, however, chooses to believe in real things that she can see. She's not very good at math, but she does want to do well in her educational pursuits. She cares about her family and she is conscious of what her friends might think of her. She is very easy to anger and just as easy to forgive, and to seek forgiveness. She also has a strong sense of duty. As the story progresses, we see her, time and again, sacrificing her own wants and needs for the sake of those around her. Since the story is not yet complete, we don't know the fate of Kagome, but we know that she will do what she feels is right, even if that means she will have to give up the things she truly wants for herself. There is a bit of innocence about Kagome that is very appealing, in spite of the horrors that she has had to face, but she has an insight that lets her cut right to the heart of things too. She is youthful and attractive, with the promise of being a very tender and affectionate friend or girlfriend and, if her mother is one to judge by, very understanding as well.

Sango has lived in a world where demons are commonplace. Indeed, it was the driving force for the village where she grew up. All of her life she has trained to be a demon slayer and she is adept at it. She seems to be a bit older than Kagome, but not much. She has had to endure loss. We never see her mother, so we have to assume that she grew up mostly without one, but she has a younger brother. This can only lead me to believe that her mother was not the guiding force in her life, even when she was very young. The flashbacks that we see of her former life center around the time she spent around her brother and, to a lesser extent, her father. She is a strong young woman and holds to tradition as much as she is able. Witness the fact that she always reverts to a long kimono when she is not expecting to have to fight. She chooses to take the burden of fault upon herself before she would place it upon someone else. She is easily forgiving of the faults of others, even her not-so-secret love, a lecherous fellow who is constantly asking one maiden after another to bear his children. She is constantly being torn between her loyalty to her friends and her mission, and her loyalty to her one remaining tie to her youth and her past. She too, is youthful and attractive, and brings the promise of undying loyalty and forgiveness.

I still cannot decide. Kagome brings modernism, and an understanding of what the world is today. She would understand what it is to live in the world we see. But Sango brings tradition and the mysteries of the past. They both have the drive to see things through to the bitter end. They both seem willing and able to give up all that they hold dear, if it will mean that others may have a better life for it. Okay, so much for their good qualities; for me it's pretty much a draw. What about their bad qualities, their dark side, as it were?

Kagome will, on occasion, drop everything and go running home to momma. She'll also take offense at some comment and drive Inuyasha into the ground. She seems to be particularly susceptible to being possessed by the enemy or his agents. She's easily frightened and, at times, is quick to believe the worst of someone. She has a soft spot in her heart for someone with kind words, even when she knows the person to be guilty of the most heinous acts. She is besieged by self-doubt and often hides her true feelings from even her closest friends.

Sango's dark side mostly shows in her relation to her boyfriend, even before it was formally established that he was her boyfriend. She is often too quick to judge and she can be very possessive. She will sometimes take vengeance for perceived wrongs, rather than wrongs actually committed. She is much more likely to believe something bad of him than to seek another answer. Her worst characteristics though, are focused on herself. She doesn't believe herself to be worthy of true friendship or love. She feels that she she has failed her father, her brother and her people, and that she will betray the trust of her friends. She is often overcome by self-doubt and self-incrimination.

I don't know. If I were a cartoon character and had to choose I think I would be at a loss. If Kagome and Sango were real women I saw every day I somehow think I would lean towards Sango, but I'm not sure. Kagome, I believe, would have lots of guys swarming around her and would find someone worthy. I think though, the thought of helping Sango, the broken woman, realize that she is worthwhile and desirable would appeal to me very much.