Since this is the first full summer that I've had a yard of my own, I've been experimenting with growing more than just herbs on the porch, having planted quite a few veggies in beds and baskets. I haven't been TERRIBLY successful - the only things that really got anywhere so far are some buttercrunch lettuce which is a little susceptible to insects, and some potatoes that I just dug up in the past week. I've learned a LOT for next year, though, and I'm looking forward to trying again with some new advice under my belt after February 2023. The tip I'm most looking forward to implementing? Surrounding my more vulnerable plants with nasturtium and marigolds.
Apparently these flowers aren't very palatable to veggie-destroyers, and were described to me a garden "purifiers". Huh, I wonder if those were the ones on Hijiri Island, lol!
It's a wonder we manage to keep track of all these people.
Within the actual storyline, Inuyasha's friends stand looking on with worry, Sango articulating the obvious point that Inuyasha is at a disadvantage now because of his injury. Kagome thinks that on top of that, Banryuu has some Shikon fragments in its blade, which she doesn't have to explicitly explain is a bit of a power-up. We've seen enough examples to get an idea. Pointing his gargantuan halberd, Bankotsu commands Inuyasha to do a PROPER Kaze no Kizu this time. Through a clenched jaw, his power stirring back up again in absence of the barrier, Inuyasha says he doesn't need to be told. He swings down Tessaiga and calls out his attack, while Bankotsu spins his massive sword above his head with one hand.
I don't get it. Bankotsu gives off both try-hard and easy-street energies at the same time? He confuses the shit out of me.
As the dissipation of the attack whooshes over their heads, Sango, Miroku and Kagome gape in alarm. Inuyasha's teeth are still grinding, though his expression has turned to a more worried one, because he recognizes that Kaze no Kizu has been cut down. Bankotsu is in the air again, asking what Inuyasha is so surprised about before he swings down and Inuyasha leaps out of the way in time for Banryuu's blade to rip into the earth below him.
Inuyasha calls Bankotsu a jerk, which is the kind of insult you'd EXPECT out of a nine-year-old being bullied on the playground. He swings back at Bankotsu, their swords clashing like two carts in the supermarket.
"The last box of Lucky Charms is MINE!"
Sango remarks that they're locked together, and Miroku adds that their strength is equal. Just imagine if Inuyasha DIDN'T have a big bloody gash in his shoulder. Teeth gritted and straining, Bankotsu promises to split Inuyasha AND Tessaiga in two, and Inuyasha says this is HIS line, scoffing through his own clenched jaw. The commentary from the sidelines continues, with Sango suggesting that this will take a while and Miroku saying that neither can move until the other does. Shintarou worries about what will happen to them if Inuyasha loses, but Kagome assures him that Inuyasha won't lose, her hands laid comforting on his shoulders.
Behind her, still in its crater, power stirs in the dokko, then surges suddenly.
Is this Hakushin-Shonin dude a saint or a poltergeist??
After a moment of confusion over the amazing flying dokko, Inuyasha looks back at Tessaiga to find...
May as well ask if it'll be alright in the end.
Miroku shouts that since the dokko was the heart of the holy barrier around the island, its behavior seems to suggest that Hakushin-Shounin is on Bankotsu's side. Bankotsu's got an adjacent but different interpretation: he says it looks like he's being told to finish up quickly. As he rushes at Inuyasha again, he declares he doesn't like the inherent lack of confidence in his ability, though. Or, maybe it's your tendency to drag this shit out for your own amusement?
Inuyasha yells at him to cut out the dirty tricks, even though it's obvious Bankotsu's not the one actively performing them. Bankotsu calls him a stupid bastard, and insists there's no such thing as a dirty trick in a death match. Dude managed to make a halfway decent point, good for him. He charges, Inuyasha braces with his chipped and rusted old untransformed Tessaiga, and Miroku tries to warn Inuyasha to fall back.
An arrow flies through the air and into a confused Bankotsu's forearm, shot by Kagome, whose bow is still thrumming. Inuyasha looks back at her, flabbergasted, muttering her name. As Bankotsu calls her a bitch, Kagome stutters that he's a COWARD. Ironic as it would be for Bankotsu to argue that it's unfair for her to intervene in the fight when he just got done saying that dirty tricks don't exist in this arena, he doesn't. Instead, he just holds up his arm.
That. Is. SICK. In every sense of the word.
Kagome and Miroku gape, the latter babbling about the arm just being bones. Makes a whole hell of a lot more sense than Shintarou's dad being just bones, honestly. Bankotsu is in mild awe over the actual effects of the purification arrow he's no doubt heard about. While he's pondering this, the dokko starts to glow again, looking like it's back in its little crater? I don't know when it migrated back there. Inuyasha flinches back from the burst of light in alarm and confusion.
Anyone else hear that electronic whir from BotW when Link fast-travels?
The peanut gallery is comments in amazement that Bankotsu appears to be disappearing, and Inuyasha yells at the bastard to wait. Why do I feel we've been here before? Inuyasha takes a flying leap to try and grab Bankotsu before he fully vanishes, but collides with a bubble surrounding Bankotsu, yet another barrier no doubt. I guess the dokko has refreshed after a short cooling period. Inuyasha curses this barrier and lands in a crouch as the last of the light flurries where Bankotsu once stood.
Kagome rushes to kneel behind Inuyasha, hands hovering over his injured shoulder as he asks if he's okay. He answers in the affirmative, though he does hiss a bit, but his attention is more drawn to the fact that it's not just Bankotsu that's gone; the dokko has disappeared as well. Miroku approaches the spot where Bankotsu teleported out of there, reaffirming that he and the dokko went together. Sango asks if the dokko let Bankotsu escape, and Miroku says this is most likely, though Bankotsu's unwillingness to do so kind of makes this wording inaccurate.
A small, hesitant voice talks of Hakushin-Shounin.
Took a little vaycay? Is it a bank holiday, by any chance?
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I can't help but feel that this newest showdown was nothing but an excuse to communicate to the main characters and the audience what the source of the barrier is, and that this source is an ally of Naraku. It's not... awful, but it IS a bit inorganic. Not only do we have some repetitive elements in the fight, with Bankotsu whisked away at the end just as before, but I'm not sure why Naraku would deliberately lead his enemies to clues about with whom he's teaming up. It was a very deliberate move on his part, and he even had Bankotsu wait there for Inuyasha and company to show up, and he had to have known that they would learn in traveling there just what was supposed to be on the island and its history. I mean, if I were in Naraku's shoes right now, having performed IMPOSSIBLE levels of preparation for a disappearing act as I have, I would probably try to keep these details a secret as long as possible, especially ones that reveal a lot about my means of repulsion against my enemies.
Maybe he (read: RT) doesn't think it's important that they know, and that knowing doesn't help them in reaching him at all. Maybe he thinks he's got too many layers of protection between him and even the humans he's pissed off that it won't matter. His castle walls are damn near impenetrable, so how does a little information impact that? But maybe I think that someone who has gone to these insane lengths to surround himself with the supernatural equivalent to massive stone walls and a crocodile-filled moat would be entirely stupid to lead his enemies to a library containing instructions on how to build a trebuchet.
I'm just saying that the care with which Naraku has constructed this scheme is a little incompatible with his lack of caution regarding letting Inuyasha and company know how it was built. And it strikes as somewhat contrived to the very when combined with deliberate way in which RT had Naraku set the stage for this beat-down in the first place. Seems like she wasn't sure how else her heroes were supposed to find out this information, that's all.
But Bankotsu's skeleton arm was AWESOME, so I can't complain too much. Just mostly.
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