Wow, these chapter names are getting a little wild. If it takes your reader more than a second to glean what it is you're trying to SAY with it, perhaps it's time to reconsider. It took me about three seconds to suppose that this phrase is trying to convey how Genbu is basically made up of the rock around them, and prior to that it seemed like utter nonsense to me. As usual, there might also be a bit of a translation difficulty here as well, where it's difficult to get across the meaning of the original Japanese, going in either a literal or figurative direction, so it comes out as rather awkward.
If this is the closest approximation that could be managed, that's one tricky phrase!
Tricky as a stone tail melting through the floor.
As Genbu's tail slithers back into the floor, Yusuke remarks on how it just slid straight through the rock and nailed Kurama. Genbu says that they should now realize that this room is just an extension of himself, and tells the doubled-over Kurama, nursing his slashed torso, that he has no hope of escape. Yusuke begs Kurama to say ANYTHING, because he's being awfully quiet, but when he looks over at Yusuke, albeit with a soft groan, he's smiling. He assures the team that he's okay, and he's suffered much worse, as Yusuke should well know. The excuse is just that Genbu caught him off guard. Won't make that mistake again, I'm guessing.
If you thought just the tail was bad, lol.
Kuwabara and Yusuke are freaking out over how the guy is totally gone now, and there's no telling where he'll pop back out. Kurama scans the floor for any sign of Genbu's exit point, but Genbu once again emerges behind him, arms raised and yelling "BOO" in a show of childish humor. Unamused and unsurprised, Kurama yells that it's another sneak attack, but just acknowledging it isn't doing him much good, Genbu's tail comes up on his left, and presumably another limb is attacking at the right, because Kuwabara shouts that Kurama is getting it from both sides.
Must. Resist. Obvious. Jokes.
Then again, I'm a bit old these days. XD
Kurama lands in a crouch on the floor and Genbu sinks back into the stone, Yusuke and Kuwabara complaining about it and whining that it's no fair like a couple of overgrown toddlers. Genbu reappears to attack from behind again, Kurama leaping out of the way, but Genbu tells him he won't win this fight by just dodging all over the place. Kurama scoffs that Genbu has a point, flips his luxurious hair, and pulls a rose from it, declaring it's time he gives as good as he's getting.
So, I guess this fight isn't really much more than a lovely bouquet in his eyes?
Yusuke asks Kurama if he's crazy, because the rose doesn't seem all that threatening to him. You can get tetanus from the thorns if you're not up on your vaccinations, and that's pretty shitty, I think. But Kurama says that this isn't just any rose, performing a swishing motion with his arm.
Like I said, LOTS of potential tetanus.
Genbu's voice, seeming to echo in every corner of the room, chuckles at the reveal. He asks Kurama how he's going to wield that whip against an enemy that can attack from ANYWHERE. Kurama placidly proposes that they're about to find out, and encourages Genbu to go ahead with the fight, because he's ready. Genbu declares himself interested, but also says he's going to cut Kurama to ribbons with one strike. My guy, you're already a couple of strikes in and you've hardly cut him even a LITTLE.
With the rest of the team looking on anxiously, Kurama stands with his eyes closed in quiet concentration for a moment. He suddenly looks up with a confident announcement that Genbu is up there, and Genbu is indeed descending from the stone ceiling, alarmed at being discovered. He asks how Kurama knew, and Kurama responds that he SMELLED Genbu's aura. He explains that the air has now been purified with the scent of roses, and it's easy to identify Genbu's PUTRID stench in the midst of the flowery scent. Shit, should have taken a bath before this one.
Smiling, Hiei says Genbu is done for, because the thorns on that vine can cut through steel like a hot knife through butter. With significantly more pain, if I had to guess.
Then again, can a living rock FEEL pain? Save that one for your joint sessions. ;)
As Kurama stands triumphantly among the littered limbs of his enemy, the peanut gallery is in a joyous uproar, Yusuke praising him for a stellar job at dismembering Genbu with a single whip crack, and Kuwabara saying that Genbu wasn't all that tough after all. Hiei calls Kuwabara a dolt, because while Kurama made the task LOOK easy, Kuwabara himself would have been dead at Genbu's first strike. Kuwabara demands to know why Hiei keeps aiming irritating comments at HIM in particular every time he opens his mouth, and cites the fact that he placed THIRD in the tournament for Genkai's succession, with the implication that this should get him some respect. Hiei, however, doesn't care about that.
Yusuke tells them to knock off their bickering, and Kurama is reminding them that they still have things to do when he pauses in the middle of his sentence, sensing something. He turns to Yusuke to inform him bluntly that they're NOT done here, much to Yusuke's confusion. Yusuke looks over at Genbu's dismembered limbs, which make crackling noises as they draw back together over the cobbled floor. Kurama gives this scene a placid stare while Yusuke grimaces in horror.
I suppose you don't get to be a big boss in a demon castle WITHOUT being hard to kill.
Kuwabara recoils, remarking about how "Granite Butt" put himself back together again, unlike that Humpty Dumpty fellow. It's Kuwabara's opinion at this point that Genbu is immortal. Genbu demurely tells him that's nothing, and bids him watch this new trick, which is voluntarily launching his arms like rockets from his shoulders at Kurama. He calls this move "Exploding Rock" and invites the thief he's fighting to take that.
Of course, the sliver of Genbu's face that's left grins at the futility of Kurama's actions, after Yusuke and Kuwabara prematurely assume that THIS was the strike that pulverized him and he's nothing but gravel now. But as Genbu's fragments all rush to converge once more, Kurama spies something glinting in the flying debris.
Mostly reconstituted, Genbu reminds them with a chuckle of what he said about this being a minor inconvenience. Yusuke whines that even Kurama's second whip crack didn't do the trick, and that he can't win. After this despairing cry, Genbu claims that the little twerp Kurama is boring him, and yells at him to die, calling out his intention to explode at him again. The shards of Genbu's body, not JUST his arms this time, rocket toward a frustrated Kurama once more, and appears to nick a few more cuts into him.
Kurama groans in pain and drops into a crouch, and the gathering pieces of Genbu brags that while he's still breathing, he's got no fight left. However, Kurama is chuckling in amusement, something Genbu mistakes at first for a fear-induced mental break, and promises to put Kurama out of his misery... before the astonished onlookers behold Genbu noting in confusion that Kurama appears to be upside down for him.
Kurama holds up a dark-colored, pulsing stone and asks if IT'S what he's looking for, and Genbu gives a horrified exclamation.
Kurama suggests that this particular stone is Genbu's "control core", or the part that keeps his body organized, which Genbu was careful to make look like the rest of him. But Kurama says he did catch a glimmer of energy it emitted as it flew past him, because part of what makes Kurama such a good thief is that he's pretty good at finding what's hidden. Genbu BEGS Kurama not to do anything to hurt that little piece of rock, and at first it looks like he MIGHT honor that request, tossing the stone into the air in front of him.
What is it with creatures who demand mercy where they are willing to give none?
Yusuke cheers that Kurama did it, and it was just what Genbu deserved too, and the shards of Genbu's shattered central regulatory rock rain down like a celebratory confetti. But Kurama collapses into a crouch again with a groan of pain, and while Yusuke calls to him in concern, Hiei quietly states that Genbu was a formidable opponent, and Kurama won't be able to go on.
You'd be surprised, Kuwabara, about what kinds of monsters hang out with monsters.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Genbu's defeat was pretty creative; it's an interesting weakness to give a rock creature to have him depend on a specific part of his body to reconstitute himself properly every time he's blown apart. A vulnerability like that balances out how Genbu cannot be cut or maimed in the traditional sense, and can explode at will with the ability to pull himself back together. And, of course, the tough exterior of one other villain has already been defeated through attacking the soft interior of him, so YT has avoided ALREADY resorting to too much repetition in this somewhat short comic thus far.
My only real complaint with this one, and the last, is that it's setting up a dynamic that is a little bit of a peeve for me. We have a full team of fighters, but most of the time, only ONE of them will be fighting at a time while the others stand by and make commentary. I understand that it can be a little overwhelming to write multiple people into a fight, and one-on-ones are much more manageable, but characters standing around without anything to do in an action scene gets under my skin. Not only do we not get to see how different fighting styles and communication go into a coordinated fight, but the agency of the characters just kind of disappears. It's not taken away or anything, just leaves for a minute because it's inconvenient for them to be doing anything at the moment. The only thing really active about them is their mouths in this state, and it just draws attention to how they're not DOING anything.
Now, since I'm familiar with this story, I'm aware that this turns into the tournament mechanic that ends up being the norm for a vast majority of the manga. Once it gets to that point, I'll be much more forgiving of it, because it at least provides a context for a one-on-one format. But here, it just has me hoping for an opportunity to see them all fighting together at some point, because I can't really remember if I ever DID in the anime.
Probably should watch that again at some point.
No comments:
Post a Comment