Characters in a nutshell:
Kagome Higurashi: Despite describing herself as "your average 15-year-old school girl", Kagome really is anything but. Most girls would not have the wit to divert a demon from a village by running unprotected into the woods in a strange time, but Kagome thinks nothing of it. It's not to say that she's quick to figure out what's going on, or that she's singlehandedly capable of defeating any demon, but Kagome starts out spunky and gets spunkier. She thinks with her heart more than her mind, a lot of the time, but her heart is smart and usually makes the right choices. Kagome thinks of herself as the least skilled of her group, but the truth is that she's probably the second most powerful, after Inuyasha himself; she can sense jewel shards, purify them with a touch, has mastered archery in about the equivalent of a week or so of practice, and somehow has picked up Kikyo's ability to purify the arrows she shoots so that they disrupt and destroy demons and evil spells. Kagome quickly saw through Inuyasha's bluster to what was underneath, and liked what she saw; despite her best efforts, she fell in love with him in short order, though she remains by his side as a loyal friend rather than an unrequited would-be lover. She's easily the glue holding the group together; without Kagome, it's likely Inuyasha would leave the rest of the group entirely, and both of the big power-hitters would be gone. Kagome's bravery and loyalty keep the group going just as much as her growing spiritual powers.

Inuyasha: His name literally means "Dog Demon". Appears to be about 18. He's a very rough type, prone to violence, rude even when he's not meaning to be (and he usually is); Inuyasha has a lot of anger, for good reasons, and was not brought up in an environment to teach him how to deal with these things. He has barely more than a second's worth of patience, probably one of the most extensively offensive vocabularies ever, an explosive temper, difficulty communicating anything subtle, and a natural tendency to try to drive people away. On the other hand, beneath the surface, Inuyasha is a deeply lonely person who was so used to being shunned that he took up shunning everyone else first; his temper sometimes masks a lack of confidence in expressing his true feelings; and he possesses a dog's loyalty, in that once he trusts someone, that someone is forever under his protection, no matter what. Kagome discovers this after not too long of travelling with him. Although much of the series is seen through Kagome's eyes, the story itself is definitely about Inuyasha. He proclaims throughout the series that he wants the Shikon Jewel so that he can become a whole demon instead of the half-demon he was born as; whether or not that will, ultimately, be his goal or not remains to be seen. Inuyasha is astoundingly confident when it comes to fighting things. Even weaponless, he perseveres, and hates running away. He may be hopelessly outmatched, and more than once is fought to a standstill, but once he decides he's taking an opponent down, he won't give up until that opponent is down. When it comes to Kagome, Inuyasha puts nothing in front of her. She is the only reason he will abandon a fight, and one of the main reasons he will start one. Kagome is the first, and possibly still the only, person he has ever trusted; Inuyasha clearly loves her, but various reasons prevent him from acting on it, so their relationship remains one of extremely close friendship.

Kikyo: A very powerful priestess/miko, evidently the previous incarnation of Kagome. (Few things irritate Kagome like being called Kikyo, or Kikyo's Reincarnation, actually.) She had been entrusted with the Shikon Jewel, and was to keep it purified and protected from the demonic forces that coveted it; unfortunately, this led to her death. Although she shot the arrow that bound Inuyasha to the tree, effectively killing him for fifty years, their relationship had a lot more than met the eye. Fifty years later, a witch named Urasue stole Kikyo's ashes and the soil surrounding her grave, and resurrected her spirit into a golem that looked exactly like Kikyo. Kikyo's soul was trapped into this earthbound body, and she was forced to subsist on the souls of young maidens who had recently died in order to keep "alive". Her presence causes quite a stir in Inuyasha's group, especially since she often seems to be working against them; she resents Kagome, but cares little for anyone in the group except Inuyasha. She also has worked both with and against Naraku, for her own reasons, which aren't entirely clear. What is clear is that her spiritual powers remain immense, even after her death, and that her purpose seems to be the same as it was in life: to recollect, and repurify, the Shikon Jewel. Kikyo is an exceedingly tragic figure, and her current state doesn't seem to allow her the use of many emotions, but she seems to waft despair wherever she goes.

Kaede: Kikyo's younger sister, though since she outlived Kikyo by fifty years, she is now an old woman. As a child, she was blinded in one eye, and now wears an eyepatch. She replaced her older sister as miko of the village, and has spiritual powers of her own, though nowhere in the league of Kikyo's or Kagome's. Kaede is a motherly figure to most of the characters in the show, as well as a source of wisdom and information on a number of situations. She has a dry sense of humour, and an implicit trust in Inuyasha which is somehow never questioned. In return, she is the first person Inuyasha shows real concern over, even before Kagome; he seems to feel an urge to look after her, perhaps because he knew her as a child, or possibly just because she treats him a little like family.

Shippo: A very young kitsune, or fox spirit; known in Japanese mythology as tricky shapeshifters. This is exactly what Shippo is, except (probably due to his youth) he's more playful than tricky. He meets Kagome and Inuyasha early in their travelling, when he steals their Shikon jewel fragments while attempting to avenge the death of his father at the hands of two demons. After Kagome and Inuyasha help him, he joins them on their journey. He takes an instant shine to Kagome, who is very motherly, and seems to see her as a surrogate sister; Inuyasha, on the other hand, bullies him from the first instant, and Shippo enjoys making use of his shapeshifting abilities to screw with Inuyasha's mind. And what else are brothers for? *G* Shippo is not an especially powerful fighter, but he's determined, and like Inuyasha he's very loyal. He's also bloody adorable. ^_~

Miroku: A monk, apparently about 19 or 20 years old, who was on his own quest to gather the Shikon Jewels. Miroku is on a quest to find Naraku, the demon who cursed his grandfather 50 years ago with a generational curse that has been passed down from father to son ever since: a black hole in the middle of the right hand, which when not protected by prayer beads, produces a void that sucks everything into it. Miroku's father and grandfather were both killed by the hole, which Miroku calls a "wind tunnel", and Miroku is seeking to kill Naraku and break the curse. However, if he can't manage that before the wind tunnel overcomes him, he hopes to at least carry on his family line with a male heir who can take up his quest when old enough. For this reason, Miroku asks every beautiful woman he meets if she will bear his children; though actually, he'd probably ask regardless of the curse. In essence, despite his strong spiritual powers, Miroku is just not cut out for the life of a devout man of the cloth. He has a good handful of vices, and women are the main one (this apparently runs in the family, as well). He is in love with Sango, and intends to marry her, but that doesn't stop his extensive appreciation of other women. Miroku is extremely smart, and has the kind of vocabulary that can make a person sound classy; he uses it well, to cover for the fact that he's something of a lout. He is, however, a very good person at heart, and is genuinely dedicated to ridding the world of "evil forces".

Sango: A 16-year-old demon exterminator; also a lovely, sensible girl. Sango comes from a village of demon slayers, and is a very skilled fighter with an extensive knowledge of demons. She usually fights with a huge boomerang made of bone, called the Hirai Kotsu. Sango, sadly, is the only remaining member of her village; a group of the strongest slayers, herself included, were lured away and an army of demons wiped out the nearly-defenseless village in their absence. Meanwhile, the group was ambushed, and only Sango survived. Thirsting for revenge, she joined Inuyasha's group and determined that it was the fault of Naraku, the same demon who had cursed Miroku and manipulated the deaths of Inuyasha and Kikyo. Sango's past has changed her slightly; she has always been a determined and powerful fighter, but when she enters the series we see her briefly as she once was: a bright, cheerful, happy young girl. Although she is still capable of happiness, her experiences have stripped away much of her innocence, and her demeanor is subtly changed from what it was. Sango is generally disgusted by Miroku's womanizing, but despite that, she falls in love with him and accepts when he asks her to marry him. This essentially gives her freedom to smack him around when he hits on other women in front of her. ;) Sango is generally accompanied by Kirara, a small, catlike creature with two tails which can turn into a very large catlike creature with two tails and big big fangs. Kirara is a very smart animal and a dangerous opponent, and may or may not have been a companion to the priestess who created the Shikon Jewel many years ago in Sango's village.

Koga: The leader of a tribe of Wolf Demons. Despite being a Wolf demon, he physically looks like a human of approximately 17(?) years. Koga has three jewel shards embedded in his body - one in his arm and one in each of his legs - and when he realizes Kagome can see them, he decides not to eat her (as was originally planned) and instead kidnaps her to make her his mate. Seeing as how she's, you know, so useful and all. He's very practical about it, but that doesn't mean he gives up easily after she tells him she's not interested; Koga becomes Inuyasha's main rival for Kagome, and is quite persistant in his insistence that he will kill Inuyasha, proving he's the alpha male, and then claim Kagome as his own. Oddly enough, he's far more considerate than Inuyasha is, seems like he'd probably make a better boyfriend, and gets along very well with Kagome. All of which drives Inuyasha up the wall with jealousy. *G* Koga is the epitome of overconfidence, which gets him in trouble a few times, but despite being rash and cocky he is very powerful, and has a strong sense of honour and dedication to his wolf pack. He's a very good leader, and his association with Kagome seems to have changed him and given him more respect for human life and right and wrong. (He also looks like he could easily be a long-past ancestor of Ryouga Hibiki. *G*)

Sesshoumaru: Inuyasha's half-brother, a full demon. Very powerful, more so than Inuyasha, and determined to best his younger brother and kill him. Sesshoumaru's motives are often inscrutable, as he rarely betrays any emotion on his face, and doesn't reveal a whole lot through speaking, either. Despite his professed hatred and contempt of his brother, and the fact that he is clearly a more skilled fighter, he has yet to be able to kill Inuyasha and on more than one occasion has teamed up with him to defeat a common opponent. Sesshoumaru is aristocratic and prideful, and for this reason he will not take advantage of opportunities to kill Inuyasha when Inuyasha can't defeat himself; this has, more than once, even been his excuse for simply giving up and walking away from a fight. He is ruthless, violent, and contemptuous of humanity - and yet he keeps a young child with him, a human girl named Rin who was kind to him while he was lying injured in a forest after a fight. His reasons, and feelings - if he has any - are his own, and not known to us, but he won't allow any harm to come to Rin, and is known to track down and kill anyone who does try to injure her. Sesshoumaru also employs a vassal, a little reptilian demon named Jaken, who is devoted to Sesshoumaru - and is quite vocal, perhaps to make up for Sesshoumaru's usual silences. Jaken is a little inept, and usually mistreated by his master, but he remains loyal.

Naraku: The demon mastermind behind much of the events that befall the cast. He has manipulated nearly everyone in the cast, and is a master of finding new and creative uses for the shards of the Shikon Jewel. However, Naraku is cowardly, preferring other people to do his dirty work for him; if he does appear at a fight, it is usually a puppet version of himself, controlled from afar via magic. It is Naraku's goal to complete the Shikon Jewel and use it not only to enhance his own power, but to corrupt all those around him, and ruin as many lives as he can in the process. He once was human, and was burned almost to death; Kikyo found him, and hid him in a cave, and tended to his wounds. He loved her, but in a sick way, desiring to see her goodness corrupted. In order to gain a body that wasn't burned and dying, he offered his body and soul to a mass of demons and let them devour him, becoming a demon himself. Then he set about spreading evil and disease wherever he could, and he fully intends to destroy Inuyasha in particular.