Another character? Hope this one is interesting enough to stick around this time. Perhaps RT was right to be a little hasty in sending Shnooky on his way, because my attention has indeed wandered elsewhere. I've been absolutely OBSESSED with the Frogwares Sherlock Holmes games now, and been playing Chapter One every free moment I can. It's made me want to read the original ACD stories again, because while I really like Frogwares' interpretation, I miss the canon Holmes.
So I'm back on my Sherlock Holmes bullshit, and focusing on anything else is hard for me right now. You think RT was ever on some similar "bullshit" that distracted her from the writing on her comic and causes her to slip up by including uninteresting characters that go nowhere in the story?
Sango asks what this is all about, and Miroku promptly answers with an admission that he'd THOUGHT the purpose of Kagura and Shnooky's murder tour was to break all the youkai seals in the area, but says that it seems this was not all they were after. Seriously, Miroku, you're supposed to be "the smart one", and you couldn't draw a better conclusion from what you ALREADY know about Shnooky and his whole deal? Why would that kid JUST go around setting other youkai free when he had a specific objective before? What is this dude even good for at this point?
Kagome wonders if there's something at the border between worlds that they don't know about, when a deep rumble vibrates through the temple, making the already wary Inuyasha and Miroku even warier, if the Dutch angle is any way to judge. The disciples are shook by the sound and are worried about the seal on their very own youkai that they must have failed to remember until that very moment.
The next panel shows them confirming Inuyasha's question as to whether they're going behind the mountain while they run toward the scene. One of them informs in that their deceased priest sealed the "Youba Entei" there with his spiritual power. Miroku conversationally asks if it's a horse youkai, like they're discussing the weather or something, and this is also confirmed, accompanied by an explanation that one of them gives about the previous owner of the horse before it was sealed away being a man-eating demon or whatever. Cool story, bro.
When they reach the sheer mountain face, it's cracking and crumbling before their eyes. Inuyasha watches with mouth agape as light escapes from the cracks in front of him.
Calling all horse-girls, this is your time!
There's a spray of something that hits the group sidelong like a driving rain, and Sango holds her mask to her face, warning the others to be careful because it's miasma. Of course, they're already holding their arms up to protect their heads and faces, Inuyasha with a fire-rat robed arm around Kagome to shield her from the blast of poison too. Shit straight up strips the leaves off nearby trees, too, so it's nothing to scoff at. With one last trail of fire disappearing into a dark swirling cloud, the glimpse of the demon horse is gone. Inuyasha comments blandly that the horse dun ran away, but Miroku calls for them to go after the damn thing, no doubt hoping to stop it from committing any atrocities on nearby towns.
TWO narrow sky transition panels later, we're looking at a few OTHER sheer mountain faces, the few bushes that have managed to grow on rare level ground rustling.
She clarifies with a flashback to Shnooky splitting in two and another of Kanna telling her to protect her half of the baby like some biblical parable just what it's been three days since. She looks back farther into the cave, where she's deposited the half-infant unceremoniously. No doubt this is an awfully long time to stand vigil over a kid that didn't even have a name. She wonders aloud what she should do with this part, because it's not like it's breathing or anything. As, you know, is typical of dead bodies.
As if in answer, the bundle rolls and shifts a little, and Kagura gives it a critical glare. She goes to kneel next to it, asking it if it's come back to life or something, because the bundle is very noticeably squirming now. A heartbeat-like thump issues from it as well. This is the part of the horror movie where you remove your ass from the situation, Kagura. But no, she just stares down at the bundle, not really looking as amazed as her thought of awe that he's actually alive might suggest. Mostly, she just looks suspicious.
A crop of light-colored hair grows from the top of the bundle as the heart inside continues to beat.
A whooshing transition panel takes us to Inuyasha and company in typical formation with Kagome riding on Inuyasha's back while Shippou, Sango and Miroku ride on Kirara's. They're hot on the demon-horse's scent, per Miroku's suggestion, and Inuyasha confirms that it's nearby. They head down a hill toward segmented rice paddies and a watchtower beyond, a village that somehow seems to surprise whoever points out its existence, because there's a question mark accompanying that exclamation point.
When they reach the actual village, it's a wreck, to the inu-crew's shock. Kagome notes with horror that everything from people to whole houses have been trampled. Shippou hides behind Inuyasha's ballooned pant-leg as he observes rather large and deep horseshoe prints, though Inuyasha himself seems to regard them more casually. Sango also comments on how big the hoof prints they're seeing are. Miroku invites them anxiously to continue following it, as it can't be far now. They must have JUST missed it.
Cut to Kagura flying on her feather, cursing that little brat that emerged from the half-baby. Apparently, it had pretty much immediately demanded she go and get it some new clothes, and she's annoyed that the kid wakes up bossing her around. Suddenly, she perceives a big flaming SOMETHING in her periphery.
I guess Kagura is not one of the aforementioned horse girls, but I suppose that makes sense. Why would she need to be, with ready transportation at her fingertips?
And we're back with Inuyasha, who has something like a lightning bolt to the nose to indicate a sudden sensory input there. Kagome notices and asks after him over his shoulder and he answers that it's Kagura's scent he's picking up. At the same time, Miroku warns everyone to be careful, because judging by the dark ominous clouds roiling over their path, there's an evil energy closing in. A few light shafts break through the cloud cover and Inuyasha's crew pauses to stare tensely up at the sky, where the clouds have formed a smooth swirling backdrop for an equine figure floating with flaming feet, much like Kirara. The giant monster horse spits fire at the ground, LITERALLY, and Inuyasha has to dodge a massive fire bomb, Kagome shrieking as they avoid the flames narrowly. The group has made it to relative safety (with a few flaming pieces of debris quite close at their feet) when they turn to identify Entei.
It didn't come at you though? That fiery projectile vomit was a ranged attack, bro.
Inuyasha quickly pulls and utilizes Tessaiga to throw a Kaze no Kizu at the horse, but a bubble barrier surrounds it and bends the attack around it. Hmmm, looks AWFULLY familiar. Miroku has an expression of pure shock that there's a barrier involved here, even though Inuyasha JUST mentioned that Kagura's scent was hanging around - he must not have been listening or something.
Seemingly from the horse at first, we get a chuckle, and a question if that was a flying greeting for it. Inuyasha just gapes stupidly in response, and Kagome asks who the FUCK is riding that horse, because on closer inspection, there is a small, childlike figure riding astride it. The figure laughs again that this monster horse seems to have chosen it to ride it. I can feel the horse girls I summoned earlier getting SUPER jealous that this kid is living their dream.
A pretty good guess. I think the LEAST I'd offer someone is a ride after they broke me out of the clink.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Once again, I feel like there are far too many transitions and a lot more switching between Kagura and Inuyasha's group than necessary - at the very least a couple of these scenes could have been combined into more coherent ones and the chapter would have seemed less fragmented and disjointed. As it stands, like with a lot of RT's quick-switch style, I just have a bit of whiplash.
But otherwise I thought it was interesting how RT decided to use the corpse of her inherently uninteresting Naraku-baby to birth a new, more active one. I make fun of RT and her love of hanging lampshades all over her poorer writing decisions, but I have to congratulate her on doing something actually CREATIVE with this one. Shnooky's death wasn't just brushed off with a few odd comments about how short his existence was, but it was a springboard into the creation of what looks to be a much more challenging villain. At least one that can walk, anyway.
The "th-thump" sound effects in the rebirth scene brings up something that I didn't really think of before, but now it's gnawing away at the back of my brain: is this an indication that Kagura got the left half of the Shnooky? OR, is this the right half that grew its own heart and the left and "hearted" part of Shnooky is getting its own resurrection with Kanna? Because, mild spoiler, we do see our infant friend return eventually, and the heart is probably the most contentious part of him for a while. I don't know if it matters too much, but I am somewhat curious if there's a connection between which half Kagura was told to pick up and what bossy little brat she got.
Finally, Miroku seems to be bugging me a LOT in this one? He's not even at his peak of annoying for me, but every time he got a line I rolled my eyes. I don't know if he's coming across as more irritating because RT didn't bother to instill him with the small amount of imagination it would have taken him to figure that Kagura and Shnooky were doing more than just causing mayhem. It might also be because I'm still sore about his and Sango's very disappointing romantic comedy bullshit recently. One thing is for sure, he hasn't dropped off the shitlist like he usually does, so I'm bristling every time he says a WORD.
Dude has turned into one of those itchy clothing tags that you can't get rid of.
No comments:
Post a Comment