I wish I could be half as confident as Byakko. Dude rips such extreme ass that he launches himself into the stratosphere, and he not only still has the nerve to show his face to these teenage boys making fun of him immediately afterward, but also straight up threatens them with a "Hell Room". Actively seeking revenge for his no doubt smarting asshole. Couldn't be me. I would bury myself in a pit for a thousand years in the hopes that when I finally emerged, everyone will have forgotten about it.
Of course, the level of fart he released there would probably be too legendary to not have stories passed down through the generations afterward. Byakko is likely just hedging his bets and forging ahead in the hopes he can kill these kids before word gets out.
In any case, the boys march along a crumbled passage, Yusuke wondering if he heard the overgrown fleabag correctly about a "Hell Room", and Kuwabara says that whatever Byakko meant by that, it's up ahead. It's not long before both of them are gaping in horror, asking where they even ARE right now.
Is... that lava? Or... ?
Whatever it is, it bubbles ominously, causing Yusuke and Kuwabara sweats. The former characterizes it as a serious pit of suffering, and the latter says one slip and it's all over. Byakko grins through his grotesquely massive fangs, chuckling that this is his special "gaming" room, suggesting it's quite a sight. Well, it's certainly nothing like Genkai's gaming room, and I would say one of these resembles what I would consider a room dedicated to gaming a lot more, but I digress. Byakko reveals in the next panel that it's ACID below when he says it's his favorite touch, saying it'll eat the boys down to their bones. He asks if any of them have the guts to come over and face him NOW.
Yusuke immediately steps out to take on this challenge, acting unimpressed with the "Hell Room", and declaring that he'll finish off all the rest of Byakko's nine lives, however many there are left. A hand on his shoulder stops him, though, and Kuwabara follows up with a demand to hold up, because he's still claiming Byakko as HIS opponent. Yusuke trails in a protest, and Hiei picks up the thread by telling Kuwabara evenly that he's fought well, but it's Yusuke's turn now - his uncharacteristic gentle kindness serves a purpose, because he expresses the want for Kuwabara to rest, convinced they'll have use for him later.
But Kuwabara isn't interested in taking a break, stating that this ain't baseball.
Weird analogy, my guy, but okay.
Hiei scoffs about irrational creatures, extending his irritation with Kuwabara to the rest of humanity, no doubt. Yusuke mumbles himself about Kuwabara being a stubborn son of a bitch (leaving off that last word), and Kurama teases that Kuwabara reminds him a bit of Yusuke himself. Two peas in a pod, those two.
An impatient Byakko asks what the hold up from his isolated platform in the middle of the acid pit, mockingly suggesting they're scared. Kuwabara yells at the moron to shut it, that he'll be right down, and jumps down to the first platform. The moment he lands, his weight cracks it, and the edge on which he's perched starts crumbling off into the sea of boiling acid.
Hooooooo boy, giving me palpitations.
Kuwabara cranes his neck to look behind and below him, where the rubble from the platform is splashing into the acid, and admits haltingly how close that was, adding it's not a GREAT start to this round. Kneeling on the overhang from the entrance above, Yusuke shouts to him that they can still switch, but Kuwabara calls back that there's no way, calling this fumble just a "dramatic flourish". You'd think HE'S the one writing this comic or something.
Once he's securely atop the platform, he takes off his shirt, claiming it's real hot in here. Any excuse to expose his titties. He invites Byakko to get this started, promising to finish the big cat this time. Byakko responds by clutching at his throat and making a hacking noise, lines of lightening emanating out from his head. The boys back at the entrance to the room stare in shock, and Kuwabara looks on with puzzlement while Byakko gurgles.
Byakko reaffirms that he's a cat, after all, and asks if they want to see his version of a hairball. LONG before anyone would figure out how to answer that question, he opens his snout and a crackling ball of energy is expelled.
Well... it's LESS embarrassing that the gigantic fart.
Maybe.
Kuwabara scoffs that this is a pathetic pitch, and adopts a batter's stance to hit it with his Reiki Sword, and says he'll send it back with what he calls a "Teikyo High Two-Run Walk-Off Homer". That's quite a mouthful. Kurama shouts a warning at him not to swing at that, urging him to jump off the platform he's on QUICKLY. Kuwabara casts a questioning glance backward, but goes ahead and takes this advice, though he does wonder aloud WHY he should do that.
A moment after he's vacated the platform, the "hairball" comes in contact with it, and it is surrounded by crackling energy, vibrating fiercely. As Kuwabara yelps at his near miss, the platform explodes, shattering, and leaving nothing but a pointed spike on the stone stem that once held it aloft. Hands still around his own neck, Byakko calls what Kuwabara and company just saw his "Tiger Shatter Scream", which reduces anything it hits to dust. Hiei says he'd heard of a demon who can produce sonic blasts that could shatter molecular bonds, expressing surprise that it's Byakko. He says that the only defense is to avoid getting hit with it. Should be easy with how ridiculously slow it moves, right?
The problem is that Byakko is already hacking up more, and quickly. Kuwabara has to jump to another platform as the other one turns into a fine dust. Byakko laughs, telling Kuwabara to keep dodging as much as he wants, but he'll run out of space soon. He's still firing off shots of from his horking throat, by the way.
He wasn't exaggerating.
Pointing a mocking finger, Byakko asks Kuwabara what's wrong, because there are PLENTY of platforms over by him, and all Kuwabara would have to do to get over there is jump two meters farther than 9-time Olympic Gold Medal winner Carl Lewis without a running start.
So. Question. How does a demon who is stuck in a demon city with no contact with human society for quite some time by the sound of it know a single fucking thing about African American Olympic athlete CARL LEWIS??
No one else is concerned with this weird detail, which is understandable, to be fair. Kuwabara growls in frustration, and Yusuke blurts that Kuwabara is no Carl Lewis - the other platforms may as well be the MOON. Your confidence in Kuwabara is breathtaking, Yusuke. A line of long, sharp knives sprout from Byakko's knuckles, making him yet another cheap Wolverine knockoff, as he mouths off about how speechless in the face of death Kuwabara appears to him. He swings his fist, slinging the knives out of it, and suggests that Kuwabara could try begging for his life or wetting his pants instead, which might get him mercy. Or might not. Either way, those sharp objects are already in the air, so I'm not sure how it matters.
Already? I thought this what you GAME ROOM, dude. That was barely enough time to finish a round of poker.
Kuwabara clenches a bleeding fist. Byakko horks up another ball of exploding energy, bidding Kuwabara die, and Kuwabara watches this incoming attack with the certainty that he's cooked. BUT, he's also very determined to take Byakko down with him. He lets out a roar, lunging for the edge of the platform, Hiei in some awe at his upcoming jump as Yusuke yells his name. Kuwabara launches himself off the platform toward the next nearest, and it seems he's barely off it before it's annihilated. He sails over the sea of acid, reaching, stretching out for safety, but he's FAR short, and begins to fall. Yusuke yells his disbelief, Kurama gaping in horror. Byakko laughs how Kuwabara was a mere five meters short, and he gloats that the rest of the party will soon follow their teammate.
But he's soon taken aback himself, because Kuwabara's smug smile is closing in on him rapidly. He says that it can't be, though it most certainly is.
Kuwabara is bound by neither logic nor convention.
As he's flying at Byakko, Kuwabara tells him that, like it or not, the abyss is waiting for BOTH of them. He uses his momentum behind the punch he delivers to Byakko's face, while yelling at him to die, and it propels both of them toward the edge of the platform. To Yusuke's horror, there's a splash, and he sees Byakko's limbs thrashing in the acid, hears the sizzle of them burning.
Not gonna lie, that's gotta be one of the most horrible deaths for me to imagine. No wonder Yusuke is screaming.
Another rumble passes over the room, and the rest of the team stares out at it with speechless horror at first. Trembling, Yusuke haltingly stutters that Kuwabara can't, though he's unable to quite finish stating what must have just happened.
But Hiei spots and points a figure hanging off the edge of the platform out: it's Kuwabara dangling precariously by the end of the bandage wrapped around his waist snagged on a knob of chipped stone on the platform. Holy fucking SHIT, dude, he cut that one the closest anyone EVER has. Kuwabara yells at the team not to just STAND there and help him up, because he's scrabbling to get a handle on this situation without falling to his horrible death anyway. Cheering for Kuwabara being saved by the nearest snag, he leaps down to go give him a hand, Kurama and Hiei hanging back.
No word on HOW they managed to get over there, given how perilous it was for Kuwabara to do so, but they're all on that platform in the next panel, Yusuke bonking the newly rescued Kuwabara on the head as he chastises him for scaring the spit out of him, thinking Kuwabara had eaten it for sure. He asks Kuwabara why he didn't holler out that he was alive sooner, but Kuwabara just retorts that all the hits to his head HURT, and if Yusuke isn't careful, he'll push him straight into the acid for REAL this time.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I gotta admit, I'm so glad Byakko is gone. He was a shockingly conventional villain, and overstayed his welcome by a lot. The ability to disintegrate the platforms was fine for raising the stakes, but the "cat" theming of it seemed tacked-on and unnecessary, and the change of location seemed awfully awkward to begin with. It was presented with the exact same cadence and attitude by Byakko as when the team first came up the staircase and found his sky-bridge arena. He presents them with the same cocky invitation to choose their fighter/follow him willingly to a second location. No seizing Kuwabara to drag him away to the "Hell Room" as punishment for humiliating him, and certainly no attempt to just hurl the boy from the arena in a fit of rage. That would be inconvenient for story trajectory.
And it would be inconvenient for the little trick Kuwabara pulls for his victory at the end of the battle too. Don't get me wrong, I like that Kuwabara continues to express creativity and cleverness in his use of his Reiki Sword, and I think it was a good fun idea for what he could do. But when the location change seems an awful lot like it's in service to an idea that YT had INSTEAD of the idea coming organically as a solution to a problem for the character, that's a bit of a problem. It strongly suggests that he leads with a cool way for a character to win a battle and specifically designs that battle FOR the victory moment, and that's BACKWARDS to how this should work. The solution to the conflict should organically flow from the circumstances around it, not the other way around.
That's not to say that these scenes CAN'T be written convincingly when a writer has put the cart before the horse in this particular way - stuff often comes to you out of order when you're developing a story. But I just don't think YT did a very good job HIDING that. I also think a lot of the trouble of failing to hide it came from Byakko's character just being lukewarm to begin with, and his mediocrity as a villain made it difficult to build the conflict around him. He was just... boring, in both design and personality, and when there isn't much there, it's hard to know where to go with him.
No wonder he went out without much more than a grunt and a sizzle. Rest in acid, you basic cat bitch.
Huh. I think it WAS lava in the anime, y'know? I wonder why that was changed.
ReplyDelete