| “ |
Despite how I look...I'm still a member of the Destiny Production Management Bureau! |
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—Inaba
Inaba (因幡) is a member of the Destiny Production Management Bureau and a love interest of Shinobu Miyake.
Biography[]
Inaba first appears when Shinobu Miyake stumbles across him lost and nearly passed out from hunger in the streets of Tomobiki. She revives him with a large carrot to eat, and he is immediately smitten with her. He tries to ask her on a date, but his insistence, combined with his phrasing it as a favor to her, results in her launching him into the sky. He returns mid-flight to his realm in sub-space, but drops one of the destiny keys in the process. Back in subspace, he meets up with the rest of the Destiny Production Management Bureau, who are gathering for their yearly cleaning of the destiny doors; they are initially unhappy with him having lost that destiny key, but then shrug it off when they realize it's useless to the average mortal. He then joins in with the cleaning, until they spot that one of the destiny doors has been opened. Investigating, he discovers Shinobu exploring the future Tomobiki, and asks if she's happy with the future she's seen, giving her his business card. Once they reunite with Ataru Moroboshi and Lum, he repeats his question, and offers them the chance to change this future. Before he can get any further, they are attacked by the DPMB members, who capture the four teens.
After regaining consciousness at the "trial" by the Destiny Production Management Bureau, he tries to speak up in Shinobu, Ataru and Lum's defense, only for his co-workers to point out that they wouldn't have even gotten into trouble if it weren't for Inaba's carelessness. They begin beating Inaba, but the teens from Tomobiki save him and flee into the corridor of futures. With his guidance, they reach the DPMB's locker room, where he outfits them all with costumes that will allow them to freely traverse the destiny realms like he does. He attempts to take them to the room where destiny doors are created, excitedly talking about how he can make a future where he and Shinobu are married, but Shinobu is hesitant and hearing that all these doors are possible futures causes Ataru and Lum to take off and explore on their own. Finding a series of futures where Lum is married to Shūtarō Mendō whilst Ataru Moroboshi is his servant convinces them to finally go with Inaba when he catches up to them.
After some bickering between Lum and Ataru over their mutually disappointing search for a future, Inaba leads them to the Destiny Factory, where he shows them how to craft doorknobs that can be used to create a literal dream future. No sooner has everyone finished than the Destiny Production Management Bureau members arrive and try to stop them, but Inaba leads his companions to where the incomplete futures are waiting. The DPMB members catch up to them here, knocking Inaba unconscious and sending him plummeting through the void, with Shinobu Miyake diving to his rescue.
He regains consciousness inside the future that Shinobu created, a future Tomobiki where nothing has really changed from her present, which Shinobu brought him into in order to hide them both from the angry DPMB members. He asks if this chaos is really what Shinobu sees as her ideal future, and is told that it was a mistake on her part. They return to the room of destiny doors just as the DPMB members begin decommissioning them all. Inaba leads Shinobu, Lum and Ataru through the chaos to the door they used to reach this area of sub-space, and sends them through, whilst he stays behind to remove the knob and seal the door. Before closing the door, he asks Shinobu to have tea with him if they ever meet again. It's an emotional parting... and then he shows up the very next day for that date, where he explains that his punishment for everything that went wrong is to personally rebuild all of the different futures that the trio broke.
After this, Inaba next appears when Shinobu literally stumbles upon him after storming off from a failed outing with Ataru and Lum. Once she drags him to a cafe to recover, Inaba pleads with her to help him; he's been selected to undertake a quest to be promoted within the ranks of the Destiny Production Management Bureau, but the specific quest he needs to do requires him to do it with a girlfriend. Although Inaba puts his foot in his mouth, with some help from Ataru, Shinobu ultimately agrees to help after he explains that the quest is to pick a rare flower from the space-time forest. He is unaware that this is considered the hardest promotion quest by his superiors, who have no hope that he will succeed.
Followed by Ataru and Lum, Inaba takes Shinobu to meet his superiors, and then sets off on his quest, leaving so quickly he doesn't even wait for them to warn him about why this quest is so hard. He leads them to a huge and ominous door, and whilst he briefly loses his nerve when worried about Shinobu's safety, her goading pushes him to unlock it. Inside, he finds a women's bathroom, and he freezes up in modesty-induced paralysis. Shinobu, ironically, has no problems and ends up literally pushing Inaba through the room. On the other side, he apologizes, explaining that he's "not used to women", something Shinobu secretly finds appealing. He continues leading them onwards, and after some misadventures, they end up in a lake inhabited by some mermaids. One mermaid grabs Shinobu with her prehensile hair and demands that Inaba kiss her, or she'll let Shinobu drown. Inaba refuses until it seems he has no choice, but the sight of him leaning in for a kiss enrages Shinobu so much that she tears her way free. Inaba follows her to the bank, and tries to explain what was going on, but Shinobu is too angry and refuses to listen.
When she tries to storm off, she falls through a space-time distortion, and Inaba hurries to rescue her. He guides her to safe ground, and assures her that he will escort her home, even if this means failing his test. This isn't enough to mollify Shinobu to the point she'll let him explain, however. As they travel, they find a staircase surrounded by beautiful bunnygirls, who offer to take Inaba back to his course to the space-time flower if he'll abandon Shinobu and go with one of them instead. Inaba refuses, and instead fights a horrible monster to access a different door that he and Shinobu can both pass through. He wins, but is left unconscious, and Shinobu drags him through the door and on into the forest. But when she reaches the flower, it's half wilted. This is when Inaba wakes up, with Shinobu apologizing. He assures her that he doesn't mind, telling her that all he cares about is having had the chance to see and be with her that day. He gathers flowers, gives them to her, and thanks her for being there for him today, an action that makes Inaba realize he really does love her. She is so overjoyed by this that her love and happiness nourishes the flower, causing it to bloom - the part of this test that Inaba kept skipping out on.
During Ataru's journey to the World of Darkness to rescue Lum from Rupa, Inaba discovered that all of the future-knobs he attempted to create came out solid black, and when used on a blank door, resulted in it opening into an empty void of darkness. This ominous sign turned out to be a premonition as to the temporary strife between Ataru and Lum, and the fateful game of tag that would decide whether or not Earth would be allowed to retain its memories of aliens.
Appearance[]
Inaba is an attractive young man with short hair; in the black and white manga, it is a light gray color compared to the blacks of his counterparts, with the 1981 anime depicting him as blonde-haired and brown eyed. He is forever wearing the uniform of the Destiny Production Management Bureau; a full-body rabbit costume with solid white fur. Over the top of this, he wears a black (or red, in the anime) apron with the image of a clock on it.
Personality[]
Inaba is characterized as a well-meaning, slightly impulsive young man. He can be a bit overenthusiastic, most notably in his eagerness to enter a relationship with Shinobu Miyake, but is otherwise genuinely a nice guy. Shinobu initially thinks of him as just another creepy boy in her life, but after getting to know him better, warms up to him. He can be a little melodramatic, but is also genuinely noble and willing to self-sacrifice. He has a known problem with directions, making him prone to getting lost, and can be a bit unthinking with his speech.
In contrast to the likes of Ataru Moroboshi or Shūtarō Mendō, Inaba is classified as a genuine romantic; fully in control of his lustful urges, shy around women, and with no perverted intentions. It takes a mermaid threatening Shinobu's life to persuade him to kiss her, despite them not being officially boyfriend and girlfriend at that time. Likewise, he would rather do battle with a huge monster many times his size than abandon Shinobu, even though Shinobu was angry with him and he was assured that she would be led safely home in his absence. It is this faithfulness and romantic nature that ultimately attracts Shinobu to him, contrasting the lecherous and unfaithful Ataru or the arrogant, selfish Mendō.
Quotes[]
To be added
Trivia[]
- Inaba means "factor, cause, origin, motive" (因) (in) and "flag, banner" (幡) (aba).
- His seiyu would then voice Tatewaki Kuno, a character of Ranma 1/2 (Rumiko Takahashi's third major manga series).
Media Appearances[]
Manga
- Chapters 329-333 (331-335 in wideban)
- Chapters 346-348
- Chapters 362-366
Anime
- Inaba the Dream Maker (OVA)
- Urusei Yatsura: The Final Chapter
- Rage! Sherbert! (OVA)
- Terror of the Girly-eyes Measles (OVA)
- Urusei Yatsura: Always My Darling
2022
Gallery[]
Movies and OVAs[]
2022 Anime[]
