I had to do a double-take at the chapter number here, because my count is 334, but the chapter I have is labeled as 335. For a moment I worried I'd skipped over a chapter, despite the fact that this is the fourth time I've read this manga and I think I would have noticed something was off about the flow of the story. Just to make sure, I looked up the chapter online and made sure it matched the one on my hard drive, then I went back to the previous chapter to check the title page, and wouldn't you know it? Chapter 333 was labeled 334! 332 appears to be labeled correctly, so I only missed it on the previous one, but that begs the question: why did the translator just decide to renumber these? I know it's not just a mistake, because this has happened with two chapters in a row, and it's unlikely our translator wouldn't be able to read the numbers on these chapters twice successively.
Do they just... not like the number 333? Is it some sort of bit? Did they write a fanfiction chapter that they inserted between chapters 332 and 333, so relabeled them according to their own new headcanon?
That last one might seem a little extreme, but from what I've experienced of this fandom, it's not out of the realm of possibility. Headcanons take on a life of their own like I've never seen before, and people get FAR too attached to them.
Or, these guys could be right; it could just be a prank I'm fully falling for.
While Inuyasha groans in annoyance, Kagome comments on how furious the village people are. You might be too, if your signature gay anthem had been co-opted by a despotic lunatic that is the top representative of the party of outright homophobia. Oh... sorry, wrong village people. Anyway, Kagome spots Shippou's balloon form wobbling up above, but unfortunately, so do the village men, one of whom aims an arrow at him with an affirmation that he's there, despite Kagome calling for them to stop. Inuyasha, however, tells Kagome calmly not to panic. Kagome casts him an anxious look and prepares to argue, but Inuyasha states plainly that what they're seeing is a fake.
A few arrows and spears fly up and pierce the decoy balloon, which ripples before bursting.
Those villagers keep getting GOT.
Inuyasha and Kagome look over their shoulders at the rain of giant acorns, the former remarking on how hard Shippou is working not to get caught by any of them, the latter much more concerned with finding the kiddo before the villagers do. She needn't be so worried about it, because they immediately find a funky-looking strutting chicken clucking just a short distance in front of them. Without a word, Inuyasha raises a fist and brings it down, narrowly missing the chicken as he shouts a malicious greeting at it.
No doubt as Inuyasha expected, the chicken pops into Shippou's form, who chuckles in a mockery of an evil laugh at him. He praises Inuyasha for seeing through his disguise, but Inuyasha dismisses such a high compliment, demanding the little troublemaker get down there. Kagome offers to take the Yadori Sanagi off his back once he does, which is almost as big as HE is, clinging to him and glowing darkly. I'm absolutely going to have nightmares about giant insects now.
Shippou scoffs, taking out a toy propeller to spin between his palms. Inuyasha asks what good THAT'S supposed to do him, before Shippou launches it at him and it plants itself in the top of his exasperated head.
He's not even fighting it, lol. Kagome notices with alarm that Shippou pops out of existence behind her, so with no other choice, Kagome chases after Inuyasha.
After a narrow sky transition panel, we find that there's a good reason Sango and Miroku have been missing for a bit; they're still extricating themselves from the sticky mess the other decoy Shippou turned into in the last chapter. They're at least on the ground now, but despite not being totally clear of the stuff, Miroku speaks about it as though it's in the past, saying it WAS horrible. Sir, your arms are still suspended above your head in the mess. Sango complains that Shippou is a bit tougher than they thought.
At this point, the propeller stuck to Inuyasha's head drives him straight into the sticky mass. His expression is still one of supreme annoyance and quiet rage. Miroku asks what he's DOING, and Inuyasha responds that he doesn't want to hear that question from him, because no doubt he could be asking the exact same one.
They all get clear enough to meet Kagome as she runs up to them on their feet, but they're still covered in gunk. She tells them that Shippou got away again, and Miroku reflects with his own irritated expression that it's a bit of a problem that they can't be too hard on Shippou, and that's just the start to the issues they have to navigate in this situation. Inuyasha scoffs, asking what they're holding back for, planning to hit him 50 to 60 times to wake him up. That's... an odd range of numbers. Kagome assures him that any number of hits isn't really going to make a difference, and Sango tells him not to say reckless things. But that's like half his dialog!
The characters must have taken a few minutes to bathe, because when Sango places a small elevated dish/table stacked with dumplings out, she's all clean. Miroku asks them what they really are, and Sango tells him they're a numbing potion. Inuyasha seems to think this is more reckless than his own idea and says so.
Kagome cries that the potion is working, and Inuyasha runs forth, eager to catch the little nuisance. But the stricken Shippou takes a deep breath and...
Are you sure you didn't get your "numbing" potion confused with ipecac, Sango?
As Shippou floats away, still shivering and with the parasite still stuck stubbornly to the back of his balloon form, Inuyasha looks like he's at the end of his tether. He's covered in scratches from the spiky wailing chestnuts and pressing a finger to his own forehead, mouth twitching and eyes closed as though he might be counting to ten. Whatever calming technique he's trying to employ, it doesn't work. He leaps after Shippou, preparing to draw Tessaiga and announcing that the little troublemaker is DEAD.
He unsheathes the sword and looks for all the world like he's going to make good on his threat, and draws the alarmed attention of Balloon Shippou. Kiddo turns back into his regular fox form, though it's still stricken by Sango's concoction, turning to curse Inuyasha, in disbelief that he'd really kill a friend. Inuyasha yells at him to shut up, because if he thought he'd get soft treatment because he's a kid, he made a BIG mistake.
Inuyasha pops up next to them just to whack Shippou on the head, who immediately wakes up to hit Inuyasha back on the forehead in retaliation, demanding to know what he's doing. He doesn't even react, really, just continues to look annoyed. Kagome tries to defend Shippou by saying it was the possession of the Yadori Sanagi that made him behave the way he did, and Shippou is just a LITTLE too quick to agree with this assessment. Inuyasha is definitely not buying it, and suggests that this just makes the whole thing simpler. He grabs the top of Shippou's head and asks him, point-blank, if it's true that he remembers everything that happened while he was possessed. Shippou gulps, not responding directly, so Inuyasha adds that he thought it was AWFULLY suspicious that only HE was getting hit by particularly nasty attacks.
At this, Shippou yells at Inuyasha to shut up, because he's always picking on him, the implication being that Inuyasha deserved everything he got. Inuyasha hits him again, reiterating this as a confession that Shippou really DOES remember all his actions under possession. Behind them, Miroku and Sango are mounting Kirara, the former telling them that's enough screwing around with the blame game, the latter suggesting they all go after that fleeing parasite.
I'm surprised they're able to find the thing again - Inuyasha and Shippou's spat gave it plenty of time to get the fuck out of Dodge.
Miroku asks Sango if the creature is searching for a new host, and Sango affirms this by saying that if they lose it now, it will inevitably find one. The Yadori Sanagi leads the group to a swampy area, and... well, I hope you're not hungry at the moment, because you're about to lose your appetite.
Miroku is as a loss for words at the scene and Sango is dumbfounded at just how MANY there are, both gaping. Kagome asks Sango what she MEANS by commenting on the sheer number, because it implies that this is NOT normal, and Sango replies that this many would indicate that a very large youkai infested with the parasites died, but that's just a guess on her part. Miroku unwinds the beads from around his right wrist, declaring that whatever the reason they're here, they've got to finish the Yadori Sanagi off, and Sango agrees. Yeah girl, go ahead and let him do YOUR job, lol!
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the forested hills...
This is a momentary switch to Kikyou, so don't get excited. RT just wanted to let you know that she too noticed the large number of Yadori Sanagi in the area lately. The irony being that she MIGHT know a spider demon that could take care of these for them...
We're thrown back with the Inuyasha group after another narrow sky transition panel, and while they're picnicking on a grassy hill overlooking the wide expanse of wilderness, Miroku asks Sango what's up, citing the fact that they got rid of those pesky parasites as the reason she should be relieved, I guess. Kagome asks if there's something she's still worried about, and Sango admits that she's thinking again about the massive number of them they saw, which makes her think the host had to have been SUPER LARGE. She says it's natural to assume the host died, like she said before, but she trails in this uncertain assessment. Miroku finishes for her, stating they didn't find a youkai corpse, and Inuyasha adds that there wasn't any smell either.
Well, that's not unusual. Youkai corpses disappear into thin air ALL THE TIME in this story. More often than not, in fact.
No one acknowledges this. Kagome asks hesitantly if it's possible the host HASN'T died, and Sango further builds on this idea, suggesting that the gargantuan thing just MOVED instead. Miroku questions if Sango thinks this means Naraku is involved somehow, and she just gives him a verbal shrug, but emphasizes how NOT NORMAL any of this is.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I FELT the frustration between Inuyasha and Shippou in this one. Theirs is an interesting relationship, and I always cherish when we get to explore it, because that happens so seldom. In this case we get a closer highlight of how they pester each other like siblings at odds. We see snippets of it all the time, of course, but putting the focus on it like this helps to put in perspective how the two of them chafe one another.
On the one hand, Inuyasha is facing a somewhat emotionally fraught time. He's having little spats with Kagome every time he catches a glimpse of Kikyou, and that's putting a strain on him, so his already short patience is all the shorter. Especially with little Shippou, who is always doing that little kid thing of trying to act more adult by making snide remarks about the behavior of the bigger kids and acting like he knows better. That's annoying to a good many of us under the best of circumstances, but with Shippou's habit of digging at Inuyasha for these very relationship issues he's struggling with, it's no wonder to me that he would just knock the little sucker out to get a break from the noise.
On the other hand, it's easy to forget that Shippou is still dealing with the loss of his father. The group is nice, but they aren't replacement parents, just a hodge-podge of kids themselves. It feels like he's been COMPETING with Inuyasha, because while Inuyasha IS someone he would naturally look up to, he's also quite dismissive and mean a lot of the time. The tension between them comes to a head when Shippou feels like he can't defend himself properly against the disdain he feels from Inuyasha when they're talking at cross-purposes. Of course, he managed alright in this chapter at least making some real trouble for Inuyasha and the others.
Which is what Inuyasha was implying with his comments about Shippou's memory here. If Shippou were MERELY possessed, and it was the Yadori Sanagi that was doing those things THROUGH him, then there wouldn't have been any particular targeting of Inuyasha at all. After all, the insect didn't know HIM from a hole in the ground. But since the rest of the group just got annoying little delays and misdirects, and Inuyasha got a lot of the more targeted attacks, it seems like Shippou was just drawing on the parasite's power while consciously DIRECTING the attacks, making him ultimately at fault.
And oddly, that makes me wonder; what would he think of Kohaku's current actions? Him being conscious and all, but still deferring to Naraku's authority for the time being. I know I keep coming back to Kohaku's current culpability, but there's something very interesting about the implications in it that I keep coming back to.
Anyway, I also really appreciated the fact that this goofy two-off of Shippou getting a chance at a little revenge on Inuyasha ended up leading into a wider question of WHERE all these parasites came from. A good mystery has always been gratifying to me, so I love where this is headed.
Or maybe I'm just happy we're getting less focus on jealous bickering between Inuyasha and Kagome.
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