Kagome’s character development analysis

I always see sooo many people complaining that Kagome didn’t have any character development at all and it honestly baffles me.. I mean, we’re talking about the little school girl who was completely unprepared to face all the obstacles that she encountered and yet, she was the one who defeated the villain! Personally, I always thought that Kagome’s development was one of the most impressive. So here are the reasons why I think Kagome grew up a lot :

1. She became a master archer

It was obvious at the beginning of the series that she was a very gutsy girl, never afraid to fight demons and confront Inuyasha, but she grew to be even stronger. At the beginning she was a bit clumsy, and she didn’t really know how to use her bow correctly but she never gave up and she still tried to help Inuyasha whenever she could: she even went up against Sesshomaru, almost killed Naraku really early in the series and she protected Inuyasha against Nikosen because he was human (and those are only a few examples).

The Kagome we see at the end of the series in practically a master archer, who can shoot her arrow through things using concentration and sheer willpower. After her trial with Hitomiko, she learned to develop her abilities with the bow even further (and that’s the only training she got, she became a master archer without even having the chance to train with a teacher!). At the last battle she just knew she would be the one who would be able to purify Naraku’s soul and that her arrow could pierce the jewel. She became even more confident in her fighting capabilities and she did become one of the most powerful member of the gang.

I know a lot of people say that she became a ‘’cheerleader’’ after a while, but I don’t think that’s entirely true. They encountered demons who were getting stronger and stronger, so a lot more difficult to defeat. Kagome knows that her spiritual powers are strong, but she’s not agile or fast: she’s a long-range fighter! So most of the time, Inuyasha tells her to stand back and Kagome does it because she’s not dumb and she knows when she should let Inuyasha do the job. I think this is actually one of Kagome’s strongest point - she knows her weaknesses and she learns to deal with them and become an even better person.



2. She overcame her “jealousy”

One of her weaknesses is obviously her jealousy. I wouldn’t that she is overly jealous like some people say she is, but she definitely had things to learn. I think her real struggle was that she thought she wasn’t as good as Kikyo. She’s her reincarnation after all, and everyone always compares her to the older, more powerful and beautiful miko!

When Inuyasha went to see Kikyo, she kept saying to herself: “Oh that’s right, Inuyasha is still in love with Kikyo…”. Sometimes she got mad at him for it, but progressively, she began do to the opposite! Further in the series, she encourages Inuyasha to go see Kikyo, because she knows that when Kikyo is in danger, Inuyasha needs to be there to protect her. When they heard news that Kikyo might still be alive after Naraku pushed her into the river of miasma, she said this to him:

And not long after this is the moment when she said this beautiful quote :

“In my head, I know that Inuyasha can’t forget about Kikyo and that still hurts but… The resentment I feel toward him and my jealousy over Kikyo… They’re just normal emotions that anyone could have - not the dark hatred you keep trying to tell me they are!”



She doesn’t see Kikyo as a rival anymore - she always tries to help her without really expecting anything in return. But the real big improvement is that she isn’t afraid of being inferior to Kikyo anymore, and she even says it right in her face! She doesn’t resent Kikyo or wish she was gone, because she knows she has her place in Inuyasha’s heart and that nothing can change that.

Even after this scene, she tells Inuyasha that she is mad at herself for imagining Kikyo like that - since Kikyo changed a lot since the day she met her - but Inuyasha reassures her and tell her that her heart is strong and pure since she still wanted to save Kikyo. Also, she worked with Kikyo to try to defeat Naraku before Kikyo passed away and she even shed tears for her and apologized for not being able to save her life! That is definitely NOT the definition of someone who is overly jealous if you ask me.





3. She became more mature

Kagome’s personality and confidence is one of her strong point, but she was challenged at lot during her journey with Inuyasha. She is a witty, reckless and headstrong girl, but she can still be very sensitive sometimes. Since she’s very opinionated and quite short-tempered, she used to get in a lot of arguments with Inuyasha. But she’s still very empathetic and as she traveled with Inuyasha she learned more things about him and toward the end of the series, she sometimes realizes that her arguments with Inuyasha are unjustified.

Kagome is dealing with a lot of things at the same time, she’s stressed because of school, she has to find jewel shards and find a way to destroy Naraku, etc. I don’t think her “jealousy” is the only reason why she gets mad at Inuyasha sometimes. Her struggles might not be as intense as Sango’s or Miroku’s, but it’s still a lot for a girl who used to live a perfectly comfortable and happy life not too long ago. And she gave that up to help her friends because she knows how much they hurt, even though she could have easily abandon them!



Also, I think her temperament changed too, she was more funny and happy at the beginning of the series, but she became more serious as she spent more time in the feudal era. If you look at Kagome at the end of the series, she doesn’t smile as much as she did at the beginning of the series, because she has been through a lot. She has seen things that most girls of her time haven’t, like the horrors of war, and as a result she has become a more mature woman. Her perception on things has changed a lot too, she knows when it’s time to “sit” Inuyasha and when it’s not.

And finally, I think the best proof that Kagome did have a lot of development in the series is this:

When she first met Inuyasha, she hated going to the feudal era, she preferred staying at home having a nice bed, good food and a warm bath.

… and in the end she decided to gave up all her modern luxuries to live with the man she loves and her second family, dedicating her time to help people around her, being a miko instead of having a nice paying job in her time. If that’s not development, then I honestly don’t know what is.