Inuyasha, a Dissection.

What made Inuyasha great? The answer is more complicated than what most people who liked it will usually give and much harder to recreate than given credit. The start of this topic was thinking back to the Anime that tried to recreate the experience but ultimately botched the subtleties that made Inuyasha's Anime run hold up for more than 600(!) episodes and 4 Movies and ran the manga for over 558 Chapters. Rumiko Takahashi (the Mangeka behind it all) had a good idea what she was doing and had a fair bit of experience behind her with Ranma½ being her previous masterpiece (mistresspiece?) and having studied under Kazuo Koike early on.

Here are a few pointers to recreating the things that make Inuyasha a classic (from my perspective).

Never bring god, or destiny into the story, instead things should have a mindful progression that makes sense, never have a moment of "Hey, lets go here to have a party!" and follow up with a major plot revelation that came about "by pure accident", your antagonist or the end goal should be established but it doesn't have to be in the first episode, you can use the first episode just to establish your characters and their world without building the main plotline.

Not once should a character see someone and without a word to each other fall hopelessly in love without there being a daemon behind it or a clever ruse being involved. The most true love is earned through constant repeated exposure, talking, bonding moments, Freudian slips, in-jokes, and cooperative combat.

Nobody should ever truly be immortal or bulletproof, yes important characters can survive to the end, but that shouldn't keep them from being dismembered, poisoned, stabbed, possessed, raped, beaten to a bloody pulp, held against their will, or even eaten alive. If your characters are coming out of every fight unscathed or only lightly scratched and bruised, you're doing something wrong.

Powers shouldn't all just just handed out from the get-go, earned "Through the power of Friendship", or suddenly they just HAVE that ability. NEVER give your protagonist a 1-hit win ability or you'll ruin your fights! there should be a almost(!) videogame-like progression, new abilites should be earned through time, dedication, work, and learning to keep up with the antagonists. yes you should have the occasional item or power gotten through defeating an opponent but don't make it the go-to or the aftermath of your fights will become predictable.

Enemies should play to their strengths and cover their weakness' without being outright undefeatable, your antagonist has a special power or item you want your protagonist to have? have them use it to their advantage when it seems reasonable, and put up a reasonable offence against your protagonist to become credible threat