← Back to the Library

Inuyasha in English: The Flip Point Is Volume 38

Viz published Inuyasha from 1997 to 2011, and changed direction mid-run: volumes 1–37 read left-to-right, volumes 38–56 right-to-left.

The English series began in April 1997 as Inu-Yasha, in American comic-book format with two or three chapters per issue; the last issue came in February 2003, having covered the story through the Japanese volume 14. The paperback line ran in two editions, a first edition of twelve volumes (July 6, 1998 – October 6, 2002), then a second edition from volume 13 (April 9, 2003) which also reprinted the first twelve to match.

The famous wrinkle is the flip point: through volume 37, Viz published Inuyasha flipped, reading left-to-right. With volume 38, on July 14, 2009, the remaining books switched to the original unflipped right-to-left layout, and the run closed with volume 56 on January 11, 2011. The uniform alternative is the VIZBIG 3-in-1 omnibus: 18 volumes (November 10, 2009 – February 11, 2014), unflipped throughout.

Inuyasha, Vol. 38 (Japanese)

Japanese volume 38: the exact point where Viz’s first edition stopped flipping the art and began printing right-to-left.

THE EDITIONS

Viz Media, 1997–2014

The Comic-Book Years · 1997–2003

Inu-Yasha, hyphenated and monthly: the last of Viz’s Takahashi series to take the American comic format, and the one that outgrew it fastest.

Two Editions of Paperback

The 2003 second edition changed the line’s design mid-run and reprinted the first twelve volumes to match: early and late printings of the same book differ.

The Flip Point · Volume 38

July 14, 2009: the single most useful identification fact on the English Inuyasha shelf. A matched-looking set can read in two directions.

VIZBIG · 18 Volumes

Three-in-one, original orientation, the wideban’s American cousin: the tidy way to own the series in English.

The Manga Gallery Viz & Takahashi Collecting Takahashi

Inuyasha in English: The Flip Point Is Volume 38

THE EDITIONS

THE FIRST WORD