I wonder if anybody else has noticed this.


It seems that demons with poisonous abilities, like Sesshoumaru's claws or Naraku's miasma, demons like that tend to have marks or colors on their face. Even if it's just eyelid coloring.

Yet demons like Kouga and Shippou, who don't have any attacks that are poison-based, don't have any colors on their face.


It kind of makes me wonder if the coloring, stripes, etc on demons denotes that they're poisonous the way some frogs and snakes that are poisonous are also very brightly colored.

Anyone else ever consider this theory?

I never thought of it that way. I always thought of it as denoting some sort of ranking, but now that you bring Kouga into the picture, it makes perfect sense for the bright colors to denote some sort of poisonousness. Maybe it's the same as the frogs or other poisonous creatures, bright colors = don't eat/mess with me.

Hmmm,working with your theory would that mean that Inuyasha has some kind of poison in his Demon!Inuyasha form?

It's possible he does and just doesn't know how to use it.

Sesshoumaru used his dokkasu a lot because he didn't have his own sword. Once he did I notice he uses his poison claws a lot less, save for when he has a lot of opponents at once.

I could see that happening, maybe someone should write a fic where he discovers them?

Why do I see a scene where he accidentally gets himself in the face with it while he learns? *squirt* "Gah! Get it off!" followed by some flail.

Lol Momo, I could see that happening

What about Inu's blades of Blood, don't they kinda count as posein? The seem a bit corosive if you watch him use them.

Hmm, I like the theory. They are related but because inu's only half maybe a little bit of corosive blood is all he gets.

I thought that the blades of blood was more of a projectile type attack since he can't necessarily do it on command, he has to cut himself or already be bleeding to use it. Since it does the same type of slices like one would get from a sword, I always associated them more with a throwing blade rather than a corrosive. A lot of the weapons used in the anime make it look like the victim of said weapon disintegrates upon contact, especially in the case of hiraikotsu. Then again, that is a weapon specifically forged for fighting demons, so it could possibly have a corrosive property to it as well...

I think I just confused myself.

That's a very good point, and I hadn't thought about it that way. I've been looking around and I see that InuYasha is not the only place that characters have facial markings. Does anybody know where the idea may have originated?

I think that they are more for intimidating and signs of lineage than just venom, though the venomous theory can't be dismissed. Also I think the demon attacks are often corrosive because they have demonic energy in them. There just aren't enough humanoid youkai, venomous and otherwise, in the series to be sure.

Anyone notice how Sesshoumaru's markings seem to be a cross between his parents?

I mean the massive straight jagged blue stripes of his father, going by third movie anyway, compared with the slender maroony curvy stripes of his mother? To me it seems like he has the colouring from his mother, the pointy-ness from the father, his markings are slender and not jagged like his mother (unless transforming when one ridge forms closer to his father's markings), and Sess has two on each side as if he had more um 'ink' to use up, seeing as his father had massive markings compared to his mother.

I was thinkg about the Band of Seven, too. But then again, they are not demonic... Maybe the markings have something to do with control over life and death, being dead, making things dead...?

I've always though of the markings as like rank bars denoting one's status in society. Sesshomaru's two marks denote him as senior brother of the Western Lands, whereas Inuyasha's one mark denotes him as like the heir or second in line to rule the lands.

Kouga and Shippou don't have any marks because they aren't or weren't of the ruler's family.

It could be that while the marks denotes one's status in demon society, on the other hand, in human society marks denotes one's prowness in combat. A sign of elitist status.

Once again though, the same could be said of demon society.

Marks could be an indicative sign in demon society of how deadly one demon is. Inuyasha is argueably more dangerous and deadly in his demon form, so he gets a mark then. Kouga doesn't get any because without artificial power from the jewel shards or access to powerful weapons like Goraishi, he's not really that strong or deadly of a demon.

Now that I think about it, I guess you could attribute it to the fact that dogs and spiders can have spots/markings on them, while wolves don't really possess anything that could really be considered "markings". Cats of all kinds can as well (The Panther Tribe). I figure that's why they are marked as they are. But it could just be for visual enhancement as per Takahashi's whims. *shrug* Who knows