Inuyasha Manga: 103 Rescue Miroku

Can we take a moment to appreciate how insane Naraku made the odds of success here? Miroku's already got the knife hovering over him when one of his friends gets this vague feeling that he's in danger, and they don't even know where the hell he is. A rescue is some improbable by this point that it's bordering on the impossible, which means that Naraku is MORE than justified in thinking that there's no way Miroku is going to survive this plot against his life.

The amount of money Naraku must lose over the course of the series betting on his own competent but inexplicably failing schemes must be staggering.

Although there might be a rather CHATTY reason why this scheme in particular will ultimately fail. As that cleaver comes down, Miroku's brow is a bit more furrowed than simple sleep would suggest. A panel of blood spatter, then...

Miroku DEFINES close ones.

With an air of nonchalance, possessed!Mushin comments on Miroku still being awake. Miroku is looking beyond disturbed when he asks possessed!Mushin who exactly he is, and possessed!Mushin mockingly answers that he's the very same Mushin who raised him. Following this, the silky tendrils sneak out of possessed!Mushin's mouth to wiggle at Miroku, who now understands that Mushin is being controlled, though he's not sure by whom yet.

He scoots as best he can away from the advancing possessed!Mushin, while possessed!Mushin chuckles evilly, telling Miroku that he's not able to move anymore with the medicine making his body go numb. Miroku groans, and possessed!Mushin lunges at him, yelling that Miroku needs to go to heaven.

"You wouldn't get to go to hell, after all, because that place is for me and my bros!"

Miroku manages to roll out of the way of another blow that sticks in the door behind him. The weight of Miroku and possessed!Mushin pushes it right out of its frame so it falls backward onto the porch and on top of Miroku's tanuki friend, who happens to be carrying around Miroku's staff. Miroku holds out his hand and demands the staff (though weakly), when the tanuki asks what's going on.

This isn't exactly an answer, but combined with the tendrils creeping from Mushin's mouth again, the tanuki takes action after a short stint of nervous dithering. He throws something at the fighting pair that encompasses them in a cloud of dust and leaves, and possessed!Mushin is left with his cleaver embedded in a bloody spot on the wooden door, both Miroku and the tanuki gone. A small pause later, he vows not to let them escape.

The tanuki, though he's much shorter than Miroku, is somehow giving him a piggyback ride across the grass. Miroku urges him to escape by himself, but the tanuki refuses. His words of loyalty are cut off by Miroku's direction to take a look at the grounds, which have been overtaken by a crowd of destructive youkai. They're crawling over roofs and bells where they've punched holes most surfaces. Because they're rude.

Panting, Miroku says that if the tanuki is with him, he'll also be killed. All bravery from before dissolved, the tanuki agrees, eyes popping. Miroku's insistence to escape, as well as his statement that he'll hold off the youkai until the medicine wears off and he'll be able to move more freely echoes in the tanuki's head as he's floating in his rod-like form in the sky. He knows that even though Miroku said that, it's still too much to handle for just him, and realizes that Inuyasha must be fetched.

Not a moment after he comes to this conclusion, he notices a shadow gaining on him from the corner of his eyes. It gets close enough to become distinguishable as a massive cloud of Saimyoushou, which quickly closes the gap between them and the tanuki, proceeding to sting the ever-loving shit out of him. He screams, on a downward trajectory.

Inuyasha, meanwhile, damns Miroku for there being no trace of him. Because it's totally MIROKU'S fault that Inuyasha is conveniently unable to pick up his scent or something.

Yeah, for someone so overwhelmed with premonitions, you don't seem to be able to back them up with...

Hey wait. Is Sango sitting on Kagome's oversized backpack on the back of that bike? How the fuck is that supposed to work? Even if Kagome was strong enough to pedal around all that weight, it's not evenly distributed! That bike should be flipping at the back wheel! Unless Shippou is WAY heavier than he looks, which doesn't seem likely by how often he hangs out on people's shoulders.

Do ANY of these manga artists understand how physics works?

Whatevz. Kagome admits that though they traveled together, she didn't know much or anything about Miroku. Shippou has tears in his eyes when he asks forlornly if they'll never meet again. Inuyasha gripes that whatever happened, Miroku didn't feel like relying on them at all. He attracts all their concerned looks, and Kagome's protests that Naraku might be laying a trap for them, so they can't just leave Miroku.

Temper boiling, he asks Kagome where they should look then. Without missing a beat, she points up at the sky behind Inuyasha, saying they should start over there. Inuyasha is perplexed, as a screaming wiggly something passes over the moon. The tanuki yells for help on his way down, and Kagome identifies him as Miroku's friend with shock. Shippou has hopped up on her shoulder, vigor renewed at the overdue lead.

The tanuki pops back into his regular form with a screech of pain, tiny paws failing to shield his head from more stings. This is where Sango and Inuyasha realize that these are the Saimyoushou that Naraku keeps, apparently, and the Saimyoushou themselves hover in place a moment before trying to buzz right off. Inuyasha scoffs at them, hand on Tessaiga.

Oh, okay, I guess we're not going to get a shot of Inuyasha at least TRYING to swipe at a few of those bugs. Don't get me wrong, I understand that he would have been there all night if he were going to commit himself to taking them out, but this was an... abrupt scene change.

With spelling errors to boot. I don't think the tanuki is wont to be too offended by Kagome's mispronunciation of Miroku's name, though, considering all the work she apparently did patching up those stings. Inuyasha repeats that Miroku's Kazaana was cut in disbelief and the tanuki confirms that this is what Mushin said before he went loopy trying to murder Miroku. The tanuki tells Inuyasha that Mushin warned Miroku about opening the Kazaana at this stage, widening it through the wound, and shortening his lifespan as a result. Inuyasha looks very disturbed by this information, as does Sango.

She turns at a buzzing sound, and notices that there are Saimyoushou following them. Sango alerts Inuyasha to this, though she notes they don't look like they're going to attack them. Inuyasha grumbles that they're keeping a guard on the travelers, but does nothing to try and stop them.

At the temple, youkai crawl this way and that, asking each other where Miroku is and expressing a desire to tear him apart. One of the creatures, an eyeball situated on the tip of a slug-like thing, fittingly enough, says it can't see him. Another reasons that it must mean Miroku has put up a barrier. They insist on continuing the search, because he must be nearby, scuttling around and over the grassy crater Miroku said was his father's grave.

It's kind of amazing that Miroku is able to concentrate enough to create the barrier in the first place. I have a regular meditation practice myself that I've been maintaining for over a year now, and I STILL can't concentrate on that to save my life. And that's just relaxing and trying not to think about anything.

A couple of giant mantises are lurking at the lip of the crater, one of which declares Miroku's head its own because he killed its dear sister. The other one is a bit more honest in its motivations when it says it just wants to nom on Miroku's liver. Miroku considers these relatives of the mantis that cut his Kazaana a moment, and chastises himself for not knowing it was a trap from the start. He wonders if he's going to die "in a place like this", which I assume is a reference to his father's grave being a rather ironic place for him to be killed as well.

An incoming Inuyasha is crouching on the tanuki's transformed head as he descends, thinking he's not going to let that loser Miroku die so easily. YEAH, call him names! THAT will convince everyone, including yourself, that you don't feel ANY feelings of friendship for him! The tanuki shouts that the temple below them is the one when a burst of light emits from outside the building.

I think this is what the internet denizens call a "Zerg Rush". I don't know for sure, though, because Google keeps destroying my search results.

Inuyasha draws Tessaiga, instructing the tanuki to go straight through the mob of youkai. After a moment of uncertainty, the tanuki complies, and Inuyasha starts slicing and dicing, telling his victims he doesn't have time to fuck around with them. Sango has hopped on a transformed Kirara with her boomerang raised, suggesting that Inuyasha leave the small-fry to her. Inuyasha says her name in near amazement while she throws the Hiraikotsu, implying that it's no biggie because they're many, but weak. Inuyasha goes ahead and charges her with taking care of the mob.

Meanwhile one of the mantis siblings is stoked because it can see Miroku, telling the others that the barrier has fallen. The other one chuckles at Miroku's complete visibility. The youkai begin to advance on Miroku menacingly, slowly at first until someone shouts to tear him apart. They lunge, with Miroku asking himself if this is the end. However, Miroku is surprised when the youkai are ripped apart right in front of his face. Seriously, they must have been only centimeters from his nose right there.

Yup, and his perpetual petulance is just as pointed as ever. Alliteration.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Let it be known that Miroku has proven beyond any shadow of a doubt that he can be just as badass as the rest of the group. Not that I had doubts, per se, but we didn't get to see the full extent of how far he could go in a tight situation until just now. Though he wasn't swinging at the youkai, it was clear that he was under some severe physiological distress trying to function enough not to get murdered while under the influence of a narcotic. That is an enormous sense of will he has, even if this is maybe hinting a TAD that Miroku has a slight resistance to drugs like that and suggesting a history of recreational use.

Ahem.

On the other side of this, we have Inuyasha, who is trying and failing to keep calm at the mounting anxiety of not knowing where Miroku is or what's happened to him. The way RT drew his face in some of these panels was so acute in the frustration and worry that he was feeling, and it really sold me on those feelings. Inuyasha's dialogue played no small part either, one line really popping out at me: "That guy didn't want to rely on us at all." He's actually upset that Miroku would take off without telling them what was going on, assuming that they couldn't help him fix whatever it was. That's profound, because Inuyasha often acts the same way, but it shows he's coming around to realize that he and the rest of his companions can derive support from each other. He's starting to GET it, and not only that, but he WANTS that to be part of their relationship with each other. He WANTS to be depended on and WANTS to depend on others.

The little technical issues with the chapter didn't escape me though, despite all this phenomenal character development. The biggest one for me was the panel where Inuyasha is scoffing at the retreating Saimyoushou while acting like he's going to draw Tessaiga... and then not doing it. Again, I understand why he didn't bother; it would be a monumental task trying to take down a whole cloud of wasps two or three at a time, and he didn't have any kind of time for that with Miroku in as much trouble as he is. Besides, it's a somewhat clever hint for him to realize what a pain taking down all those insects would be right NOW, because he's going to get a small taste of something that will allow him to make much quicker work of them in the future.

However, his hand shouldn't have been on the sword. I've come to expect that whenever Inuyasha has his hand on Tessaiga, he's going to draw it and treat us all to an awesome image of him dismembering some cocky bastard. Either that, or we're given a thought-bubble explaining why he's going to ignore his reflex to draw it at the time. Giving us neither feels kind of jarring at this point, so I think that was a bit of a mistake.

As well as the little fact that the Saimyoushou basically PUSHED the tanuki right into Inuyasha and crew's vicinity. They were apparently smart enough to try and prevent the tanuki from getting help for Miroku by injuring and distracting him, but NOT smart enough to realize that they should probably avoid going in the direction of Inuyasha and the help the tanuki was seeking in the first place.

Real competent henchmen you have there, Naraku. Nice.

Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 161 The Fatal Duel!

Okay, I think it may be important to explain to whomever has named and/or translated this chapter what WORDS mean. You can't just toss a word in there and be satisfied that it SOUNDS ominous. Choosing the correct word for the particular concept you're trying to get across is one of the most difficult parts of writing, and if it's not KT just skipping over that process for the sake of expediency, it's the translators not giving a fuck what the meaning of the word they translated is. Either way, I very much doubt that "fatal" is an appropriate word here, because I very much doubt that anyone is going to die in this card game.

Therefore, I'm itching to find whoever's responsible for this and throw a dictionary/thesaurus at their face.

When more than one of a card is manufactured and sold, that tends to happen. Does Yami understand how economics work? Maybe Kaiba would have been able to put on his professor-business-owner hat if he hadn't gotten a bug up his ass to make sure he had or destroyed every copy of the Blue Eyes White Dragon ever made.

Pandora wags his finger at Yami as he says that there's only room for one magic-themed duelist in the world. Alright, so EVERYONE is really bad at understanding the whole "multiple cards manufactured and distributed" thing. Well, so much for economics. With Pandora's magician behind him, he announces that whomsoever wins this match will earn the title of Master of Magicians. There sure are a lot of titles to be won in this tournament, aren't there?

He goes on to discourage Yami from running away from the duel, but Yami pulls out a card dramatically, suggesting that he's not planning on it. He holds out this card to reveal both the card and the hologram form of HIS Dark Magician, shouting that he accepts Pandora's challenge. Yami's non-evil magician smirks it up behind him. As you do.

Pandora praises Yami on his proper spirit as well as his kindness in accepting the duel... Yami's kindness toward himself anyway, because Pandora then implies force would have been used with the opposite response. Then Pandora says it's an honor. What's an honor? Not feeling the "need" to force a child to play a game with you? You've got a very funny definition of honor, there PAL.

According to Pandora, the small shop is too tiny to have a proper duel, so he tells Yami that he prepared a duel arena in the basement below. That doesn't sound like a horror show at all! It's looking like Yami is finally beginning to get a little suspicious when Pandora leads him to a set of stairs (or a set of stairs drop down in the middle of the floor, it's not exactly clear). Yami peers down after Pandora descending them, looking a little hesitant while Pandora warns him to mind his step.

As they enter the dark underbelly of the shop, Pandora tells Yami that he had plenty of time to prepare something special and exciting for Yami, because Marik let him know that the boy would be heading his way. Yami widens his eyes at the mention of Marik, reciting all those things he knows Marik to be (leader of the Rare Hunters and owner of the last Millennium Item) in his head. Almost as if he has an audience that may contain new members to remind of these facts!

You know, Yami, you really should have KNOWN that would be the answer, considering how you and Marik spoke the LAST time. In fact, I'd almost go as far as to say that Pandora is openly making fun of how fucking DUMB that demand was just now. To make it even dumber, Yami looks taken aback for a moment before suddenly remembering that Marik is able to control his underlings through possession. This is either because watching someone flop around and project an unfamiliar voice is super forgettable, OR he has even MORE to remind that somewhat new audience of in the chapters they may have missed.

Yami wonders if Marik could be watching him right now, a paranoid thought that is odd for someone who is so comfortable addressing an audience every five seconds. Pandora has led Yami to a fancy door with a big question mark on it and OMG is he the RIDDLER??

It's like they're fucking TWINS.

Anyway, Pandora says that this is his underground lair duel arena, and standing next to the door like it's his mom and he's introducing her.

"No, wait, sorry, wrong door. This is actually my hipster curiosity shop."

Yami looks around to note that there are lots of stage magic props mixed with occult paraphernalia in there, and likens it to a bad dream. Yeah, one in which some dude is trying to convince you that he's a 10th degree Kabbalist wizard with the power to levitate, but you know he's never even TRIED to learn Hebrew or read the Torah. Oh shit, never mind, that's REAL LIFE asshole crap. I get those two mixed up all the time.

Pandora says that a conjurer has many powers, from simple card tricks to the ability to bring nightmares to life. I guess I know who to blame for my above mentioned problem, then. When he and Yami are standing on opposite sides of the table in the center of the room, Pandora goes on to say that this should be a worthy stage for their magicians to duke it out. Implying, of course, that this is a place where REAL magicians would like to hang out. Now isn't THAT pathetic?

He giggles at a glaring Yami, and both of them slam their respective decks on the table. Pandora suggests that they both shuffle their cards now, this moment determining whether they can draw their magicians or "die horribly". His words, not mine. Pandora proceeds to shuffle his deck shotgun-style, which Yami informs him will damage his poor cards. Pandora says that he's used to this way of shuffling, so he don't give a fuck. Gee, I wonder if this flagrant disregard for the condition of his cards will help establish further dismissive attitudes later in the duel.

Yami and Pandora trade decks to cut each other's cards at Yami's offer, and Pandora recites an old saying of gamblers about trusting friends, but always cutting the cards anyway. After a quick cut, a smirking Yami repeats the word "friends" as a question, and apologizes for not intending to make friends with ghouls. Pandora doesn't seem too choked up about this, given his chuckle, but he says it's a pity anyway. He wants to demonstrate how they're really blood brothers now that they're committed to dueling, and tugs on that chain hanging from the ceiling near his side of the table while yelling that this is a nightmare show with Yami as the star.

A resounding clack later...

Pandora points to his ankles to indicate that he has them too, so they're in the same boat and neither can escape. What better way to show how you're really the same? Except Yami is pretty pissed that he's in the situation to begin with, but he doesn't have time to finish his half-begun protest; Pandora has too much to say. Pandora yells that Yami will now witness the greatest show of the century: Pandora's escape from the jaws of death.

Aren't you being a little theatrical here? You're just locked up, you're not going to d-

Oh. I stand corrected. Ignore that, uh, embarrassing rant in the cold-open, would you?

So, what are these house rules? While Yami stares in shock down at the whirring saw blade, Pandora draws his attention to the numbers indicated just below the track for the blade, indicating life points. Since the tip of the spinning saw is just at the 4000 mark, a sweating Yami correctly deduces that the saw will come closer and closer as points are whittled down until... well, Pandora finishes for him the appropriate sound effect, wearing a gruesome grin. He gleefully says that this is a nightmare game where the loser's body is sawed apart.

Whatever happened to those fun, wholesome penalty games, guys?

I guess they were never very wholesome, were they?

Pandora now tells Yami to look down at the foot of the bench behind both their ankles. A box displaying life points on top of it has suddenly appeared where it wasn't before. Did it just pop out of the floor, or...? Pandora describes the box that will unlock their shackles when the enemy's life points it displays hits zero. At that point, it's designed to open and let the winner escape.

Yami lets Pandora know that all this elaborate setup to kill the loser of this duel makes him look like a wild nutcase, and Pandora is not interested in making a case otherwise. He launches into an explanation of the myth of Pandora's Box, holding all the misfortune in the world, until a woman opened it and unleashed evil and suffering, leaving only hope after she had slammed it shut. He says that in their case, the KEY in each of their boxes is hope, but it'll only come out for one of them.

Okay, fine, take all the analysis for yourself. It's not like I really enjoy that part or anything...

Pandora lets out a maniacal laugh, and Yami glares, hunching his shoulders and grinding his teeth? He asks Pandora if this is fun to him, to which question Pandora responds with a mocking "cme again?" gesture. Yami is patient enough to elaborate, asking again if a duel that kills people is really FUN for Pandora, and Pandora responds with an affirmative, because he'll be the winner. That doesn't actually explain things, you know. If I were stuck in a duel to the death and won, I still wouldn't find it fun. I'd find it distinctly UNfun.

Yami calls Pandora filthy scum, which doesn't wipe the psychotic grin off his face the slightest. When he receives no reply, Yami raises his Duel Disk fist, promising to take Pandora to the very edge of his life. All while spectral fire covers him, apparently.

Oh, is that not a table? Is it really just this weird... tile on the floor between them? What even IS this dumb room?

4000 points are displayed for both players, and Yami declares that he's going first. Fair, since he should be granted at least a LITTLE courtesy being a prisoner now and everything. Pandora shouts to draw five cards, which was unnecessary, but thoughtful, I guess. If he expects Yami not to know that little rule. Or maybe he's just reminding himself, I don't know. Pandora fans his hand out in front of him and grins again.

You see, he's already drawn a Dark Magician, lucky for him. Though in his mind he admits it's not just luck, because his magician ass knows a few tricks to cheat at cards, making it simple to draw whatever he wants from his deck at any time. The next panel lists six different ways to distinguish cards from the back as per Pandora's thoughts, but Pandora's particular technique for his Dark Magician was to shave down the card so it's JUST smaller than the others. He has three such copies of the card, and he set up the deck so that Yami would naturally put a Dark Magician on top when cutting the deck. His aim in this, apparently, is to teach Yami the hard way that no one outwits a conjurer, at least when death is on the line. He emphasizes this by looking at the cutting-edge situation he himself created. Sooooooo, did you just arrange the saws because you needed to rationalize the cheating you wanted to do, or...?

Yami shouts at Pandora to get ready, because it's his turn. He plays a face down card and Alpha the Magnet Warrior, a robot-looking thing with a preponderance of curved Acme magnets lining its limbs, in defense mode. It kneels behind a shield, and Yami ends his turn. Pandora announces it's his turn, summoning Legion the Fiend Jester in defense, its long limbs folded in a kneel as well. He looks at the Dark Magician in his hand and chuckles, knowing that he just needs one more monster to sacrifice according to those super expert rules in order to bring his favorite card into the game.

Back to Yami again, as per his own declaration. He glares at Pandora for a moment before informing him that he's not going to attack this turn. Well, yeah, your monster is in defense, Yami. Did you forget? Instead, Yami is going to play a spell card, much to Pandora's shock. Smirking, Yami pulls the card from his hand and it's...

Oh, stop whining! You've got two more magicians in your deck, I don't know why you're being so dramatic. Pandora's eyes are practically popping out of his head at the thought of losing that ONE Dark Magician, though. Yami scoffs and "guesses" that Pandora had Dark Magician in his hand after all, by the look on his face. Oh, and because Yami isn't a fool that duels a conjurer without taking precautions against cheating, apparently. He explains to Pandora that he knows someone who shotgun shuffles their cards doesn't care about hurting them, and deduced that Pandora wouldn't think twice about cutting or marking his cards from that cue.

Pandora points a shaking, furious finger at Yami, disbelievingly accusing him of knowing this trick when he cut the deck. How DARE he know about something you wanted to use to fool him!! What a lousy guy! Yami just chuckles again, drawing a new card. Wait, didn't he already draw a card at the beginning of his turn? I guess not, because the page where he begins his turn shows him rearranging his hand, but not drawing any new cards. Odd.

Anyway, Yami says that his turn isn't over yet and proceeds to reveal that face down card he set earlier: Brain Control. Pandora is APPROPRIATELY shocked at this one, asking himself a panicky question of whether or not Yami will control his monster. Uh, why would he play the card otherwise? Get your shit together, Pandora.

The Fiend Jester reaches out to Pandora as its pulled away from his side over to Yami, and that's kind of sad. It looks genuinely upset at being taken away. Yami proceeds directly onto the sacrifice that puts a swirl of wind around each monster before...

Well, that one seemed to be pretty broken up about leaving Pandora so that it could be your sacrifice. But I don't know if cards respond to abuse in the varied and complicated ways humans do, or if Pandora bothered to mark that one. Things to ponder.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Looks like KT went back to his roots and reminded us of what this story is really about; the protagonists being targeted with extreme violence because of some minor perceived slight. It's fitting that I should be covering this chapter at this time, given the news in the United States as of late being inundated with internal conflict, incited by a hate group whose only problem is that SOME people in the country aren't white enough for their tastes... I don't want to get too political on this blog, because that's not what it's for, but currently reading a story that has its protagonists confront extreme violence leveled against them on a regular basis and WIN is really important to me right now. Knowing that Yami is going to get through this with all his limbs, and that sweet Yuugi is probably going to find a way to save Pandora from the problem of his own making, is just right. Thank you, Kazuki Takahashi. I know that I've been ripping your story apart since day one on this blog (literally), but just because it's imperfect as all stories are doesn't mean that I don't find HUGE value in it. If I didn't I wouldn't have bothered to cover it here.

On a lighter note, I also really enjoyed the harkening back to Yami's extensive knowledge of general games and cheating. He's shown twice before that he understands how people can tip the odds to suit their own ends in games and is very good at shutting that shit down. Even though the manga's focus is on Duel Monsters now, it's nice to be reminded that Yami has expertise in ALL games, and is very adept at making sure that others are playing fair, just like in the old days. There are a LOT of moments in this chapter that really remind me of past scenes in the comic, and it's kind of got a weird nostalgic feeling to it. Not bad weird, but good weird.

Pandora himself blurted out the story of the actual myth here, much to my annoyance, so I won't cover that here. Besides, we won't get a good sense of how this Pandora compares to the one of myth until we start to understand his underlying drives, which we haven't gotten to just yet. Since he mentioned that it was a woman who opened the box in the story specifically, though, I'm willing to bet another fridged chick is going to crop up somewhere in there. Mark my words.

Inuyasha Manga: 102 Mushin's Temple

Okay, now I KNOW this chapter is trying to bring me to church. Or is a temple different? To be honest, I haven't been given a concrete definition of either term; only a vague sense that most people just think of a temple as something you run into while exploring the ruins of some long-dead civilization. THAT'S probably not the least bit accurate, given that temples exist and thrive in a modern context just fine.

Not that a modern context has much bearing on this chapter's contents, I'm sure.

Even LESS modern than usual, it seems. Baby!Miroku sure as HELL isn't concerned with my confusion over terms, and he damn-well shouldn't be. After that blast of wind, all that remains of the area he was running toward is a giant crater in the ground. A devastated baby!Miroku is addressed by the priest that had been chasing him, now calmly and a bit callously telling Miroku that his father knew his death was coming and so left his son back at the temple.

The same temple we're going to visit, no doubt!

A mist of remembrance swirls across the next couple of panels while Miroku recalls that his father was consumed by the Kazaana in his own hand, and he heard that it happened to his grandfather as well. As he's standing on a hillside with his tanuki friend, who searches the landscape ahead with a hand shading his eyes, Miroku wonders if he'll someday die in the same way. Well, I think that was the point of you developing the Kazaana yourself at some point, yeah? I say "developing" because baby!Miroku conspicuously lacks his bead and glove setup in the above panels, if you look REAL close.

Which I did.

That is an "I don't want to talk about it" face if ever I saw one.

When they've climbed the steps onto the deck, Miroku calls for a Mushin-sama, asking if he's in and letting him know that it's Miroku come to see him. He's still calling out as he enters the front doors of the temple and sees a portly man lying on the floor, head propped on a jar as he dozes away. He scratches at his chest while a soft snore escapes his red nose. Miroku is NOT pleased by the sight of him, annoyed by the drunkenly state that this man has maintained since the last time they were together. He demands the drunk wake up, kicking the jar from beneath his head and causing it to drop with a thud to the floor. He's certainly awake NOW, if his grunt and wide eyes are any indication.

He rubs at his bald head, observing that Miroku is still alive, albeit with some disbelief. Miroku expresses the same, telling Mushin that he can't live long drinking like he does as he sits down next to him. Mushin is scratching his belly beneath his robe, asking if Miroku came to preach at him. Hello? PRIEST. Miroku says that in addition to his preaching, his Kazaana was ripped a bit by a youkai, and he wanted to see if Mushin could heal it.

Mushin takes a close look at Miroku's cloth covered palm, speechless a moment until he grimly informs Miroku that he'll die sometime tonight. Miroku looks concerned, until JUST KIDDING! Mushin waves his hand and says it was all a joke. By the next panel, Miroku has put a lump on the top of Mushin's head and threatening to suck him up with his still raised right fist. Mushin holds up his hand in supplication, asking Miroku to wait.

He says he can heal Miroku, but he can't open up his Kazaana for a while afterward until the wound completely closes. Miroku asks what will happen if he opens it, and Mushin says the Kazaana will widen at the tear and Miroku will die all the sooner. Miroku glares with stoic acceptance as Mushin adds that if that happens, there's nothing more he'll be able to do for him. Mushin then wobbles to his feet, muttering that he's going to prepare some medicine. For Miroku or YOU, dude? As he shuffles away, he tells Miroku to wash the impurities from his body, and an exasperated Miroku sarcastically apologizes for being impure.

Granted, I haven't seen much of Mushin yet, but you didn't hit the guy up because ALCOHOL cut your Kazaana, Miroku.

From the porch around the side of the temple, Mushin is watching Miroku and cursing him mentally. He's annoyed that Miroku got so worked up over such a little wound, but realizes that he shouldn't be surprised when he remembers Miroku has had a pretty hard life.

Meanwhile, in the forest of useless chases, Inuyasha is bellowing Naraku's name while he leaps after a puppet weaving fast through the trees. Sango curses, hand at the ready on Hiraikotsu as she rides Kirara, and getting a side-eye from Inuyasha beside her. I thought that maybe she was cursing because something was preventing her from throwing her weapon, but I guess not, because in the next panel she lets it go clocking puppet!Naraku right in the back of the head. She yells that he's stopped moving, and Inuyasha takes the opportunity to rush forward and bring Tessaiga down on the offending baboon fur.

Surprise?

Sure enough, the little wooden doll with hair wrapped around it is sitting in the center of the pile of dirt Naraku used to make his double. Kagome rolls up onto the scene on her bike, a concerned-looking Shippou clinging to her shoulder. Glaring at the little wooden figure, she asks herself what's going on. When she recalls that the puppet just ran, she thinks that he just wanted to lure them away. Away from what? Kagome doesn't say, just repeats the notion that the puppet wanted to keep them from something while holding her hand to her mouth like she's trying to keep from vomiting this half-baked idea all over her friends.

Too bad, she turns to Inuyasha and says she's wondering why Miroku had to leave. Inuyasha's looks mystified, almost as though her bringing back up of Miroku came out of literally nowhere. Myouga makes a timid appeal to Inuyasha from his shoulder, and both Kagome and Inuyasha are surprised to see him hanging out. Not sure why, because they weren't in any danger before, being the ones CHASING rather than being CHASED.

After relaying the information that Miroku was brooding about something or other the night before, and staring at his right hand a lot, Myouga says that for SOME reason, Miroku looked serious. A small pause later, Kagome insists that they go find Miroku, because something must have happened. She looks off into the distance and wonders again why Miroku left without saying a word.

As the trees rustle in the wind outside the temple and it begins to look like a storm is coming (GET IT?), Miroku is peering into a bowl filled with liquid, somewhat doubtfully identifying it as a painkiller. Mushin confirms this, telling Miroku he has to sew the wound in the Kazaana closed, and if he drinks the painkiller, he'll sleep like a baby. Miroku downs the potion, but points out the Mushin's hand is shaking. Looking down at his trembling hand, Mushin attributes this to the drink having worn off, and gets up to chug another jar so it will stop. Miroku stares daggers at him as he fucks off to a storeroom.

Show me a man who says he WOULDN'T shit his pants upon seeing something like that in his pantry, and I'll show you a liar.

Mushin only has enough time to utter half the first word of what I'm sure was a long, expletive-filled question about what that is and what those things on its arms and head are and how he's supposed to kill it... ahem. All that, when some sort of wiggling string/silk-like substance shoots from the mouth of the jar in its hands.

Thunder rumbles outdoors while Miroku is lying on his back, awaiting his surgery with his eyes closed. Mushin, shadowed and eerie, returns from his trip to the storeroom, only to appear normal again when he leans over Miroku and asks how he's feeling. Miroku opens his eyes a crack and admits he's feeling a bit drowsy. Mushin tells him to sleep, reaching out to touch Miroku's forehead and assuring him it will be done soon. Miroku mumbles that it seems Mushin's hands have stopped shaking. More rumbling sounds, and this time it seems to be coming from the INSIDE of the temple, from our view of the eaves again.

Back on the inside, Miroku is snoozing peacefully, and not!Mushin says that this was really easy since Miroku looks to have a lot of confidence in Mushin. The stringy/silky tendrils protrude from Mushin's mouth just as they did from the jar earlier.

Your premonitions are turning out to be just as wonky as these.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? That thing that got a jump on Mushin was nightmare fuel for me, and I LOVED it. It's a classic example of RT's skill in creating some really disturbing-looking creatures out of such simple features. I think the thing that pushed it over the edge from kind of weird to downright creepy for me was those charms stuck to its head and arms. The way Miroku has used them in the past, I've come to see them as youkai extermination tools, but it looks like they weren't effective with this creature. It's a bit eerie thinking that this thing may have come up against priests like Miroku and Mushin before, and lost in earnest.

I'm not too wild about how Kagome's "premonitions" have occurred to her, though. I suppose they don't come out of NOWHERE, necessarily, but there's something very unnatural about the way that she assumed the Naraku puppet was leading them away from something. I don't know about anyone else, but finding a Naraku puppet in the woods wouldn't make ME automatically link it up to my friend by all accounts up and leaving of his own accord. Now, if no one had seen him leave or someone had given a more suspicious narrative of him leaving, maybe I would think the two had something to do with one another. But, as it stands, I'm not really buying it wholesale.

Then again, random visions or thoughts with a psychic basis to them is more believable in this context than some others, and RT DID have to make the group run to find Miroku in time to save him in some manner. However, if they're going to look for clues back in the village they just left, all the advantages of psychic intervention from the author in the WORLD isn't going to help Miroku.

Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 160 Marik Strikes!

What's this I see? An actual progression of the plot? The title is certainly giving me the faintest glimmer of hope that we're about to get a whole chapter devoted to something OTHER than Yami's impending rendezvous with his best and worst buddies. It's even implying that our villain of the arc is going to be committing rapid and surprising action! Maybe it's giving the story a hard shove in the direction of a meaningful conflict again! Wouldn't THAT be something?

Marik chuckles and says he should have known because DUH. What, did he think he was going to go head-to-head with Yami this soon? That would ruin the build-up, dude.

Mr. Sherlock Holmes in the hood over there asks how the hell Kaiba ended up with Obelisk, and Marik postulates that Kaiba got his hands on the card and hosted the tournament with the intention to unite the god cards. Doesn't really answer the question Mr. SH asked, but Marik would much rather elaborate the answer to the question in his own brain by thinking that Ishizu (his sister, as it turns out, surprising no one) was the one to have the Obelisk card. Marik ruminates on a hypothesis that Ishizu must have seen a possible future in which giving the card to Kaiba would ensure a tournament, that and the gods guiding Yami and Marik's fates to intersect. He's certain that all the god cards will come together in HIS hands, though, as well as the title of king.

*SpoilerAlert for S7E5 of GoT* Well, it'll become a bit less assured of a win for you when a couple of your bannermen are burned alive by Kaiba's dragons and the rest of your army bows to him in order to avoid the same fate.

#ThronesYall

Mr. SH asks Marik if he should send the Rare Hunters out to get Kaiba in the North block he's still occupying, but Marik says that Kaiba is such an extraordinary duelist that even the Rare Hunters will have a difficult time taking him down with Obelisk against them. Smiling, Marik says that you need a god card to beat a god card, at which statement Mr. SH is taken aback and stammering that Marik wouldn't. What wouldn't he do that he's clearly GOING to do anyway? Why go with his Sun God Ra to Domino City himself, of course! Oh snap!

Mr. SH asks if it's really necessary for him to dirty his hands, only for Marik to point out that he will EVENTUALLY need to face Kaiba anyway. Still, now that they know he has Obelisk, they can just let him be for a while, because he may be useful later. So, Marik tells Mr. SH to put someone on Kaiba's tail, making sure not to lose track of him. Mr. SH agrees promptly, before Marik says that in the meantime, there is ONE person who can entertain him. According to Mr. SH, the word "entertain" only exits Marik's mouth when he's filled with hatred.

How does hating being entertained work? Just, on a conceptual level.

Oh! He hates the people he's being entertained BY!

WHAT???

My confusion aside, Marik glances to his side and asks another of his hooded goons where Yuugi is at the moment. The guy falters a moment, then admits that they have information that he's heading from West B Block to E Block. Marik hums in contemplation, and Mr. SH stands dumbfounded at Marik's lack of priorities. They're supposed to be getting that third god card, and here Marik is, inexplicably after this Yuugi kid. The NERVE!

Marik thinks about the location he's been given and mutters that of course there is only one place Yuugi could be headed. He orders his goons to call up their Rare Hunter, Ordered the Second, Sir Pandora the Conjurer, Esq. At least, that's what I IMAGINE his full name to be. Marik wants Pandora to prepare himself for a duel, because he estimates that Yuugi will appear in front of him soon. And I thought PANDORA was supposed to be the conjurer.

His lackeys speechless, Marik continues to speak, saying it'll take him a bit of time to get ready to go to Domino. Have to reapply the eyeliner and all that jazz. He tells the goons that Yuugi should be occupied by playing around with Pandora a while as Marik gets his game-face on. Mr. SH says that he's ordered Pandora to keep tabs on Yuugi's friends, and Marik says they should get ready to make use of those pieces as well. Then he pushes himself to his feet and proceeds to go get himself ready.

The first step of this apparently consists of walking to a large table shaped like an upside-down pyramid, much like the Millennium Puzzle, except this has legs holding up each of the four corners to balance it and it looks pretty freaking awkward. On top of this table in the center of a glass slab in the middle is a card, which Marik picks up and examines, identifying it as the Sun Dragon Ra. We don't get a good look at he face of the card, only seeing the back of it as Marik mentally warns Yuugi to beware, because he's going to be taken care of by Marik's own hands. After this, the hood on Marik's cloak comes down so we can see his weird blond hair.

Mehhhhh. I would be totally shocked by this nonsense if we hadn't already had a similar accusation against Sugoroku that turned out to be inaccurate right before this.

But I always appreciate shirtlessness. Yes I do.

Meanwhile, Yami hasn't taken off HIS cape/jacket, and it's flaring out behind him like there's a permanent wind in his face as he wanders East Section Domino City at 10:30 in the morning. He's glancing around, wondering where the Rare Hunters waiting to prey upon honest duelists are, getting a little broody about them using counterfeit cards to steal legit ones earned with blood, sweat and tears. Stop by a café and order a chamomile tea, boy. CHILL. But no, he's only got one think on his mind, finding a clue to get to one of those dirty bastards.

Yuugi pops up next to Yami in his mental state, wondering what Jonouchi is doing. He hangs his head when Yami recovers from his initial shock to ask if Yuugi is worried. Yuugi explains that Jonouchi doesn't have his trump card the Red Eyes Black Dragon, and the tournament is filled with really good duelists. Yami pulls the Red Eyes from the pocket he stowed it in on his belt, gazing at it a moment contemplatively. Smiling, he tells Yuugi that this card is the courage they're holding for Jonuchi. Yuugi looks uncertain at first, but then gets it as he remembers that Jonouchi is fighting to get his favorite card back, and thus he and Yami gave Jonouchi something to fight for. Yeah, because it's so essential he even BE in this tournament to begin with...

Yami and Yuugi both agree that this is why Jonouchi will show his true strength as a duelist, a strangely concise explanation for how complicated this concept of a true duelist is becoming. Yuugi happily declares Yami right, and that Jonouchi will survive Battle City. Notice how he didn't say "win". Regardless, Yami nods and smiles.

How much do you want to bet that for how much KT is playing this up, he'll downplay the shit out of it at the end of the arc, or forget about it entirely? Any takers?

Yuugi thinks that it won't matter which of them wins this much-hyped duel between himself and Jonouchi, because it'll be a duel to remember either way, and a real good memory at that. Suddenly, Yuugi seems to have an epiphany about being an asshole, hanging his head and apologizing to Yami for forgetting that he doesn't have any memories from before they met. He looks over at Yami nervously, but Yami is staring down at the Red Eyes until it looks like HE also has an epiphany when he gasps. Yuugi asks what's wrong.

Yami asks why the Rare Hunters were after Jonouchi's Red Eyes Black Dragon in the first place, recalling that Jonouchi was attacked the night before the tournament even started. They had come at him with a Duel Disk knowing that he was a tournament participant and knew Jonouchi had a Red Eyes Black Dragon. Yuugi gasps as well, remembering the game shop where they got the Duel Disks. The clerk had looked them up in the database for information on cards and levels before he gave them the machine. Yami is sure that's it, and starts running as he concludes that the store is a front for Rare Hunters. He internally urges those scum not to move while he's heading for them.

When he arrives at the door, he stands dramatically in front of a "closed" sign. But if you think a little thing like THAT is going to stop Yami...

I'm sure the door being unlocked makes it NOT breaking and entering. And even if it doesn't, who cares? Rare Hunters don't have RIGHTS!

Backlit by the light streaming through the glass door behind him, Yami stands in the middle of the dark shop. He approaches a computer monitor on the counter which has been curiously turned toward where a customer would see, rather than the clerk. He hears a small beep issue from it, and looks alarmed when it lights up. He notes with some wariness that it turned itself on while it's still whirring to life. It eventually displays Yami's data from Kaiba's database, and I can only assume Yami is unnerved by it because the close-up on his eyes aren't really selling anything but angry here. He's probably still preoccupied with those dirty Rare Hunter bastards and their cheating here to really realize the full implications, because I would have been out of this horror movie trick in a flash if I were in his shoes right now.

But because Yami is a little slow on the uptake, some even MORE spooky shit is going down, like the Dark Magician card on the screen starting to issue physical smoke, and the face of that magician turning to a twisted grin and beady eyes. Yami stares agape at it until...

Is anyone else crapping their pants right now?

Just me?

The evil!Dark Magician tells Yami that its master Pandora will be dueling him this evening, to which gracious greeting Yami frowns as he wonders about this "Pandora" person. So it really IS just me... Evil!Dark Magician vows to show Yami that there is only one true user of the ultimate spell-caster card, and that's Pandora the Conjurer. Yami smirks, telling the Rare Hunter to get his butt out there and cut out the silly little tricks. In response, a spotlight shines in a previously dark spot where a silhouette of a man has appeared.

Sheesh. He's almost as weirdly possessive of the Dark Magician as Kaiba is the Blue Eyes White Dragon.

This possessiveness looks like it amuses Yami, who repeats this alias as a question. Sir Pandora says that he knows Yami has used the Dark Magician to defeat many before, be insists he is the TRUE master of the magician and no one can beat HIS Dark Magician specifically. Evil!Dark Magician smirks and I'm rolling my eyes SO HARD right now. Yami says they'll see if he's unbeatable, holding his Duel Disk arm up at the ready. He monologues about how duelists build their decks by choosing out of all the thousands of cards existing that they trust the most, but cards also choose duelists as well. As Yami puts his cards into the Duel Disk, he says that the hearts of both cards and duelist must be one in order for the former to show their true power.

I guess by THAT logic, anyone playing any card can say it chose them and make up some secret previously unknown power to beat them, huh?

Will there EVER be a true Scotsman?

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Mad love for the horror elements there toward the end, which will never not be my cup of tea. I did rather miss all of that creepiness from the first few chapters of this manga, so it's nice to see it make a comeback, even if it's only in a small way. And in a way that the main character didn't really have much of a real reaction to. I understand that KT wants to make his hero cool in the face of danger, but there's a point at which that becomes unrelatable and distances the audience from that hero.

I also want to address the name of our new Rare Hunter here, because I don't think it's accidental. Something I never addressed back in the Duelist Kingdom arc is Pegasus's name (given name in the original Japanese and family name in the English translation). Pegasus isn't part of Egyptian mythology, but Greek, representing a whole slew of different things depending on who's looking. It was difficult to really pin down what KT was going for by naming Pegasus after the creature of Greek cosmology, so I didn't really want to cover it way back when.

Now I wish I had, because here we have yet another character named after a Greek mythical figure: Pandora. She's a bit more simple in her symbolic representation, being a fairly straightforward explanation as to why evil exists in the world, so by the time this duel is over, I should be able to determine if this is more than a naming fluke. My hunch is that Mr. Pandora here is going to closely resemble the original Pandora's purpose in her myth, because I've come to realize that KT doesn't just slap a myth-related characteristic on his characters for no reason.

Additionally, Yami and Yuugi solving the mystery of how Jonouchi got targeted for his card, and how to find the Rare Hunters, was somewhat intriguing for a few reasons. It was nice seeing them start to really question the circumstances of what happened at what seemed like a natural time. There wasn't much of an opportunity to look too closely at the odd way the drama played out before now, given that Yami only just learned that Jonouchi had been robbed the night before in the morning. The deduction instead came when he was thinking about how Jonouchi's card ended up with him in the first place, organically leading to a revelation that the Rare Hunters MUST have tracked them that shop.

Now, if this extremely unnecessary event had never happened, Yami would have never gone LOOKING for Rare Hunters and would have never had a reason to revisit the card shop, so that renders the spooky scene unnecessary as well.

Damn.

Inuyasha Manga: 101 The Kazaana Wound

The translation for this chapter uses the term "Air-Rip" to refer to Miroku's curse, but I'll be using Kazaana instead, for the sake of keeping consistent with my previous decision. "Air-Rip" still sounds for all the world to me like a fart joke. As funny as that would be, this arc doesn't lend well to those types of jokes, if I remember correctly. It's a bit difficult to smarm about breaking wind when a dude is in serious danger of being consumed by an infinite void in his hand.

...I'll just let the chapter do that for me, I suppose. Stole a little of my thunder there.

Some village headman asks Miroku if his friend the exterminator will really be able to slay the youkai this way, and Miroku assures this doubter of awesomeness that Sango is a specialist. Kagome is squatting by the other side of the building, wafting the fragrant smoke through a hole in the foundation from its billowing container with a fan while wearing a mask over her nose and mouth. Fruits of that lovely modern first aid kit, no doubt. Kirara sits behind her, probably to avoid getting in the direct past of the smell, as Kagome mutters about this feeling a bit more like an insect extermination.

She pulls the mask off with a hooked finger to yell at Sango if she's having any luck, and I'm guessing the answer is no. I have to guess because the focus suddenly switches to Inuyasha sits curled on the ground next to Miroku with his sleeves crossed in front of his nose, groaning. A couple of villagers note his youkai-appearance and wonder if HE'S been exterminated, and Miroku looks stares down at him. No kind words to spare for the suffering hanyou, I see. Shippou at least says that Inuyasha has a weakness to smells, though I'm sure Inuyasha would take the word "weakness" as an insult and bop him one good if he was feeling a bit better.

Miroku's eyes wander to the crowd of villagers, where he spots a woman with the collar of her kimono pulled over her head like a hood. He judges her quite the beauty.

It's just a rat with too many eyes. Are we sure these "youkai" aren't just radioactive mutants from some sort of nuclear... Oh.

Wow, I am the biggest asshole in the WORLD right now.

Inside a nearby mansion, the headman confirms with Sango that it was indeed a monster-mouse that was their youkai. Sango says that the nest has been taken out as well, but pushes a pyramid of dumplings toward him just in case they come back. She's instructing him on how to use these deadly snacks while Kagome and Shippo sit with a still nauseated Inuyasha, by the looks of his swirly eyes. She asks him if it's still painful, rubbing his back in an attempt to comfort him, but suddenly looks around and asks where Miroku got to.

Shippou informs her that Miroku went off with some girl, and Kagome scoffs with indignation. Sango scoots over to complain that he did it while everyone ELSE was busy working (or in Inuyasha's case, being sick) to boot. Shippou wears a stern look on his face as he says that this girl he left with was beautiful and matter-of-factly states that Miroku probably went to ask her to bear his child. Since this is the first time Sango has heard of him requesting this, she recoils with disgust. Kagome, however, has been desensitized and just lets her eyelids droop in annoyance as she thinks that's DEFINITELY a possible explanation.

Elsewhere, in a sprawling field, Miroku is walking with the beauty from earlier, repeating her story of formerly being a lady from a prestigious house. She continues with the inevitable "but", claiming that this house was attacked and destroyed in a battle and that she's the last survivor. With downcast eyes, she says that she wishes to revive her house by giving birth to a strong lord. Miroku finishes her sentence by arrogantly stating that must be why she set her sights on him. Couldn't POSSIBLY be because she knew this is exactly what your ego wanted to hear and she's luring you into a trap. Nope.

Miroku acknowledges the "too good to be true" nature of this story, but fell for it because he was hoping. He smacks the mantis!woman right between the eyes with his staff, eliciting a grunt from her. Before she can return the blow with one of her giant appendages, Miroku leaps backward out of harm's way. She curses him before the human skin disguising her rips along where his staff struck, and...

How did it fit inside that tiny little woman skin down there?

Miroku looks down at the skin with some sadness, asking the mantis a redundant question about wearing the girl's skin. He then asks if the mantis killed her and the mantis replied that it ate her insides. That's how a mantis grows to be big and strong, I suppose. It threatens to eat Miroku too, but Miroku holds up his cursed hand curled into a fist, telling the mantis that it will regret its choice of opponent/meal. It just repeats that it's going to eat Miroku, because it must be super hungry after not finishing his previous meal. Wasteful bastard.

Miroku rips the beads from his hand, yelling that the mantis will be the one eaten, by his FIST. Not to be confused with eating fist, which is the opposite. Miroku exposes the Kazaana, and it starts to draw in the mantis face-first. Somehow, though, the mantis's claws are the last things to be consumed by the void, pointy ends curling out through a surprised Miroku's palm. It IS pretty weird that they're not shrinking like all the other stuff does.

That can't be good.

While Miroku hangs his head to the side, a rustle comes from a nearby tree and a lone giant saimyoushou wasp emerges from the leaves. It hovers for a moment before buzzing away, seemingly without Miroku noticing a thing.

Dammit, dude. You're supposed to be the SMART one.

Later that night, in what looks like an inn with a dog trotting past, Kagome and Sango are looking kind of salty as they eat from bowls. Miroku asks with some wariness if it's just his imagination that this meal came with some serious shade from the women in the room. Inuyasha mentions their suspicions about Miroku going off to pick up girls earlier, and tells him he's being judged HARDCORE right now.

Miroku just scoffs with a snide expression before abruptly turning serious to insist that this is just a big misunderstanding. He tries to make them feel bad by suggesting that they just can't bring themselves to trust him, but they are not buying it. Both of them state flat out that they don't trust him and he's probably lying. Miroku complains that he hasn't even said anything for them to determine is a lie yet. You just said it was a misunderstanding, didn't you? And I happen to KNOW that's a lie.

Still later, while the girls are tucked in beside each other with a sleeping Shippou in between, and Inuyasha is dozing as he sits against a wall, Miroku is awake, leaning on his left side as he examines his right palm as closely as possible with the cloth covering it. It's throbbing pretty badly, and he rolls over onto his back to sigh that this sucks. A more literal statement has not been made, my dude. He whines that it hurts, thinking that the mantis must have widened his Kazaana.

And he's not just off taking a dump either. Upon asking around, Kagome hears from an old man, probably the head of the inn/household (still not sure if this is one or the other), that the priest left really early looking kind of angry, and said he was going on a little journey. Kagome has nothing but astonished noises to make at this information, until they're on their way out of the village and she asks what they all think about Miroku's disappearance.

Shippou suggests it was because Kagome and Sango were being cold with him the previous day, and Kagome makes another noise in askance while gulping. Inuyasha, however, scoffs and says Miroku isn't sensitive enough for that kind of motivation. He's also not five years old, Shippou, so try to keep that in mind. Inuyasha changes the subject abruptly when he questions who's been following them, swiftly drawing Tessaiga to slice through the trunk of a tree I guess is obscuring his view of this mysterious person.

As the tree falls, Naraku's signature baboon pelt is spotted, and he turns to run while Inuyasha and Sango are still gaping in horror. Because Inuyasha didn't learn from the fact that he couldn't really discern the scent of Naraku's puppet before, he and Sango make to run after it blindly. Nice job wasting your time, guys.

The image of the puppet giggling evilly transitions to the actual Naraku sitting and staring off to the side at the wooden doll representing the puppet in the field. It appears to be making a strange "whooshing" noise that I imagined was what caught his attention, but on the next page it turns out that it must be the flapping of the saimyoushou's wings as it approaches the blinds from the other side. Naraku notes that it's back and it comes to rest on his raised hand like a bird or a hawk might. He's like an evil Disney princess, I swear.

After a moment of listening to its buzzing, which Naraku apparently understands, he smiles and mutters that it's as he thought.

Evil Disney princess. Seriously.

So, what did I think about this chapter overall? There were three time-skips in quick succession, which I'm not too crazy about. Granted, this decision was undoubtedly made so that RT could remain concise and to-the-point, something that I appreciate in how little superfluous bullshit I have to deal with. But I think that the time of the extermination at the beginning of the chapter should have been pushed forward a bit so that we could see Miroku walking in on a meal while the others were wondering where he was and eliminate two separate time-skips. It would have made the chapter flow just a tad better.

Other than that, I enjoyed the little glimpse into what this entire arc will give us. This shows us that, though Miroku is the "smart" one in the group, he also has his moments of bad judgment. He recognizes them as such, though, and is driven to worry about the consequences of them. The fact that his philandering habits really have some negative effects for him sometimes is clearly a little upsetting to him, considering he looked angry when he was leaving the village. It's completely understandable that he might feel a bit miffed with himself over not being as careful as he should be, like anyone is when they're doing something they know they shouldn't be and a manifestation of all those warnings they've heard pops up to spit in their face.

Or is that just me?

Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 159 Behold the God!

Is this chapter going to be taking me to church? Because I don't think services are in session yet. This tournament looks more like an attempt to establish clergy hierarchy through a competition than your everyday worship, and that process is usually closed to outsiders. The election of a new pope has always been kept under a veil of secrecy, much like the location of the finals for the tournament. Wouldn't want to expose THAT to the lowly plebs in the pews, right?

I suppose that the metaphor is a bit thin at this stage, though. There's NOTHING secret about kids attacking each other with monster holograms in the streets. Given how bombastic Kaiba is, he would never have been able to resist showing off at some point, and it may as well be early in the game. That way, he can save what little discretion he has on the finals and protecting his delusions that he'll become the new card pope.

Anyway, Jonouchi is standing triumphantly a short distance away from the defeated Esper Roba, who is curled up on the ground with his cards scattered all over the place like a baby throwing a fit. Someone in the crowd remarks on how Roba lost to such a n00b (lol) as Jonouchi dismisses Roba's "psychic" powers, since he won. Jonouchi goes on to note that he has experience with REAL psychic powers and that's how he knows that Roba doesn't have them. Roba growls as he pushes himself up, face half-hidden as he roughly wipes his cheek.

Jonouchi demands that they get on with those tournament rules and that Roba give him his rare and puzzle cards. Roba is speechless in grinding his teeth at first, glaring out of the corner of his eye at the unfriendly silhouettes of the spectators behind him. He yells at them all not to look down on him while a tear escapes his eye. Dude, you'll need to stand up if you don't want people to look down at you. That's just how up and down work. He asks them if it's fun for them to look down on a guy who lost, if it makes them feel better, and if they're thinking that at least they're not a loser like him. He insists that he's not like them, though, and is a special chosen person with powers.

Geez, KT, this is a tad cruel, don't you think? Creating this character who thinks he's the main character with magical powers when this is the only time he's EVER going to be relevant to a side story to the main one? That is some cold shit right there.

Jonouchi points to his head with an incredulous expression, asking if this is why Roba thinks he hears voices from space. Despite the very mean start to Jonouchi's speech to Roba, he tells Roba that he's not looking down on him, because all that happened was that he had better luck in this situation. He insists that no one there think's Roba's a loser, but I'm pretty sure that SOMEONE in that crowd does. Gamers can be mean fuckers. However, Jonouchi points out that if anyone is looking down on Roba, it's Roba himself. Roba looks shocked by this comment, before telling Jonouchi to shut his trap. Jonouchi assures him that all he's saying is Roba shouldn't hate himself, but Roba blurts a curse and shouts that he can't lose, rather insistently. He has Jonouchi staring, though he's looking rather patient as he does. A bit like Yami when he's being given a speech.

Ugh...

So, for any children who may be reading this blog and my reviews; first of all, you shouldn't, because this is wildly inappropriate for you. Get out of here.

But before you go, you should know that EVERYONE gets picked on. EVERYONE. Even those people you think are so popular and everyone loves them are getting DAILY insensitive comments from someone in their lives that makes them feel put-down and self-conscious. It is going to happen no matter what you do or how you act or what you look like or what your tournament record is. You cannot avoid it, it is inevitable.

Hell, it's also inevitable that you will or have been at some point the one to pick on someone else. This is because all you little buggers are so new to life and navigating it that you're insecure in who you are right now, and you'll want to distract yourself and others from this by pointing out someone else's perceived flaws. It happens, and some of us get in the bully or victim roles a bit deeper than others, depending on the levels of our security at the time. But, make no mistake, this is something that will continue to take place until you and those around you realize one day that it's okay to be yourselves because no one else is paying as close attention as you are and being a dick doesn't actually make your shit not stink or make you feel better. Until that day, just try to remember that you're not alone, that you'll get through this, and that you'll one day have too much to be farting around with to pay ANY attention to what others have to say about you.

Now get lost and wait a few years before coming back here. I don't want to be the reason your parents wonder when you got such a potty-mouth.

And now that THAT rant is out of the way, we can come back just in time to see Jonouchi's stare as he tells Roba to stop whining already. He tells Roba that this is Battle City, and all he needs to do is get up and fight another day. Jonouchi stoops and holds out his hand for Roba to take, repeating his command to get up. Roba looks up at the offered hand for a moment before slapping it away, yelling at Jonouchi to get lost because he doesn't need any pity from him. Jonouchi grits his teeth and shakes his stinging hand, scoffing and giving up the cause of cheering Roba up by telling him to do whatever the hell he wants. As Jonouchi turns to stomp away, he hears a crackling voice that pleads with "big brother" to stand up.

Jonouchi whips around again, getting a bit freaked by the fact that he's hearing voices when no one is talking that he can see. The voice again urges its big brother not to give up, and Roba isn't reacting much, but Jonouchi is frantically looking for the source of the voice above him, gaping. He wonders if it's from space, but gasps when he hears a voice beside him as well.

Seriously? Jonouchi couldn't zero in on the radio on Roba's wrist as the source of the voice? Space in in the exact opposite direction!!

Finally, Roba stands, and his brothers come running toward him to embrace him. He apologizes, saying he deserved to lose because he had made them do all that stuff for him. Jonouchi fumes about how Roba's BROTHERS were the source of his "psychic powers", but a moment later is fighting back emotional tears as he asks himself how he can possibly hate them. Eh, don't bother trying, Jonouchi. He did a douchey thing, but he's not deserving of hate.

Later, Roba stands before Jonouchi and finally admits straight up that he lost, prepared to hand over his rare card and puzzle card. Once he has these, Jonouchi advises Roba that he really needs to show his brothers how to play fair, and Roba agrees. He says the next time they face each other, Roba won't use any tricks. One of Roba's brothers promises that Roba will beat Jonouchi with pure skill next time. Jonouchi turns to go, telling them that he's looking forward to that next match.

He turns back briefly, though, to say that he has friends in this town and Roba has his brothers.

What else is friendship for, I ask you?

They each wave goodbye to each other, and Jonouchi celebrates his new rare Jinzo card with a little skip and jump.

In the North District of the city, someone is asking someone else what they're talking about, because some rare card they're being presented with doesn't even compare to their own. That someone strikes me as very familiar in the next panel, hovering over a guy protesting that he agreed to the ante before they started their duel.

Where do I know you from?

Oh, I know!

Welcome back, Nagumo! I had to go all the way into my archived pictures to find this panel of you!It's been a while, hasn't it? I'm sure you were taking your time recovering from the penalty game Yami dished you last time we saw you, and it looks like that long recovery period paid off! You don't look like you're suffering a single negative effect from the experience! Or... ANY effect, really.

Because Nagumo insists that he changed his mind about what he and his defeated opponent agreed upon before. He reminds the random sap he beat that he won the duel, and as the loser, the random sap has to do whatever he says. That's... not a logical interpretation of the ante rule, dude. He offers the random sap the option of giving him a card equal in value to his own rare card, paying 100,000 yen, or getting beaten so badly he'll never duel again. Those are some great choices, but you forgot to list the one where you fuck off and try to remember the last time you stole a toy from another kid. Think REAL hard now.

Random sap stutters that this is the best rare card he has, but Nagumo is not hearing it. He smacks random sap around as he's grabbing the card offered, and says he's going to break something of random sap's, but the scan is a bit too blurry for me to see what. Can't be good, though.

When he's wearing that grin, I'm not sure Mokuba's penalty game from Yami was 100% effective either. He's not going to revert back to his murder-child days, is he?

Mokuba snatches away the card in Nagumo's hand, ignoring his protests, and informs him that since ante disputes are the most common kind in tournaments, he'll act as a neutral third party. With that, Mokuba rattles off all the illegalities of Nagumo's behavior, from changing the ante after a duel is over to betting for money. After examining the two cards closely, Mokuba says that the comparable rarity of the cards is not a problem here, and there's no reason for Nagumo to not accept the card that was offered.

Nagumo threatens Mokuba with death for messing with HIS rules, because he apparently forgot that HE'S not the one who's putting on the tournament. An easy mistake to make, I'm sure. Of course, someone shows up to remind him just who's in charge here.

Nagumo looks right terrified of HIM, stuttering his name. Mokuba leans out from behind Seto's enormous coat to wag a finger at Nagumo and grin as he says his brother's rules are super scary and it's out of his hands now. He then holds Nagumo's card out to Seto, informing him that this is Nagumo's ante. Seto reads the name of the card thoughtfully, and expresses some disbelief that Nagumo thinks he can demand so much for a card like that, considering he's got 36 cards just like it.
Then Seto rips the card right in half, much to Nagumo's horror. He demands to know what Seto is doing, and Seto answers that he wouldn't have gotten that card back anyway as he tosses the scraps of cardboard to the wind. Seto says that he's challenging Nagumo to a duel right here and now, creepy little grin mirroring Mokuba's earlier one. That's where the family resemblance is.

Seto gestures to the briefcase Mokuba has opened on the ground behind him, full to the brim with rare cards that Seto says he's willing to offer up as an ante. Nagumo kneels in front of the case and examines them, confirming with astonishment that these are all, indeed, rare. He asks if these are all his when he beats Seto, and Mokuba says that his brother isn't stingy. Seto elaborates that it's compensation for tearing up Nagumo's rare card earlier. In fact, Seto is being downright generous when he suggests that Nagumo go ahead and take all the rare cards he likes right here and now, to improve his deck for their duel. He says he'll be taking them back if Nagumo loses, though.

Of course Nagumo giggles giddily while he picks out rare cards for his improved deck. I'm not sure he's listening when Seto tells him that his deck has something called a god card, and he wouldn't sell it for 50 billion yen, it's so rare. However, he's willing to include THAT card in the ante too. I stand corrected about Nagumo listening, because he's repeating the 50 billion figure in his head, and I'm surprised there aren't little yen signs popping up in his eager eyes. Regardless of how invisible they are, they're standing in the way of the obvious fact that Kaiba wouldn't be offering ANY of this if he wasn't absolutely sure he's going to win. I'd be running in the opposite direction by this point, but I've also never interpreted an ante rule as a loser having to do anything the winner wants, so...

Nagumo says he's holding Kaiba to their little deal here, thinking that all the rare cards he's picked has made his deck invincible and that there's no way he can lose. After he's declared a start to his and Kaiba's duel, Kaiba is grinning creepily again, thinking that he's going to show Nagumo God. Usually that phrase is figurative, but I wouldn't be surprised if he meant it literally in TWO ways here.

That was awfully quick. Random sap slouches over to peer at Nagumo, who is staring straight ahead in horror. Random sap then kneels down to pick up one of Nagumo's cards, the one Nagumo grabbed from him earlier, presumably, and hangs his head as he rips the card in half. He tosses the pieces much like Kaiba did and stumbles away, leaving Nagumo to suddenly scream like he only just remembered to do so. That's just how hard Obelisk fucks you up, man.

Uhhhh, this panel is looking just a TAD misplaced...

As they're strolling and Mokuba's lugging that suitcase along with both hands, Kaiba looks down at the deck of cards in his hands, thinking that's he's got God right there, but he's also got two cards left to find. Once he finds them somewhere in the city, he'll have the deck of God himself, and everyone will bow down to it. Heh, he wants people to worship his DECK.

Yes, I know, I have a juvenile sense of humor. Sue me.

But you have to admit it's just a LITTLE funny that Kaiba seems to have a very SPECIFIC worshipper in mind.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? The chapter was kind of awkwardly divided between two parts with nothing to tie them together, which was a little jarring. I understand that there wasn't enough material between the two halves of the chapter to expand and get chapters of their own, but with these two dissonant halves put together, I feel like there should have been SOMETHING to connect them better. In fact, it would have been really easy for KT to have Jonouchi thinking of meeting up with Yami later while he was walking away from Roba, so that we could see directly the similar desires of himself and Kaiba, and contrast how they treat their opponents. I'm already making that comparison and contrast in my head, but that's because I'm an analyst and it's my habit to look for these things. It would have been nice to have the source material more directly make that link between these two characters that are SO different.

Speaking of how these two treat their opponents, Jonouchi's treatment of Roba here is particularly interesting to me. He's not exactly polite in his encouragement, and can be downright mean sometimes, which is a really nuanced way to handle this conversation. It reminds me of how Jonouchi used to be a bully, insensitively jabbing at Yuugi at the beginning of the story because of how kind and gentle he was. That in turn reminds me of how Jonouchi confessed in Death-T that he was only trying to suppress and bury those hated qualities in himself until he realized that he, Yuugi, and the rest of his friends were all in this crazy game of life together. I feel like it harkens back to this moment when he tells Roba not to hate himself and that he's got people to help him through his troubles. Yet, he's still not perfect at being sensitive, so he has a little difficulty expressing it. Jonouchi's behavior and demeanor were incredibly complex here, and I'm impressed with the level of characterization shown.

What I'm NOT impressed with is the two-page spread inserted after the duel between Kaiba and Nagumi. It was beautiful, but it was horribly misplaced. At first I got the impression that KT was going for a mysterious omission, trying to make us more anticipatory for actually getting to see Obelisk up against a human opponent. Then I got the feeling that he got impatient and wanted to show off that sweet panel to us not two pages after he decided to be mysterious. And THEN I thought that maybe he realized a little too late that he was two pages short for his chapter and needed something to fill it with.

Either way, it was sloppy. Either go with the omission, or DON'T go with the omission. And if you decide to NOT go with the omission later, at least insert the new panels showing what you were omitting where it makes SENSE.