YuYu Hakusho Manga: 057 The Fearsome Hell of Blazing Heat!!

Ouch. This title stings me right in my climate anxiety. This summer has already been oppressively hot, and it's only just the beginning of August. Europe has been experiencing UNPRECIDENTED heat waves, and wildfires have been popping up in places where they've never been experienced before. Where I live in the Pacific Northwest, my boss went to his regular military reserves drill in Spokane, Washington, only to be asked to help fight fires there when they started practically overnight around the city, and he doesn't know when he's going to be able to come back. The world is fucking BURNING, and all the people in charge only care about spectacle and profit. 

At least I can feel good about the fact that this comic seems to accurately portray that attitude. 

As Kurama exits the platform, Hiei informs him that the familiars took off once their master expired, his eyes closed and his fingers touched to the band around his forehead. Clearly he's been using his special talent to keep an EYE on Roto's underlings stalking Kurama's mom. Kurama mumbles about Hiei having noticed, and Hiei that the idiot had NO idea who he was dealing with. The glazing is pretty blatant here. 

Koto shouts for the next contestants, and Kurama and Kuwabara look around in alarm. It appears the other team's already offered up their next member, Zeru, who the crowd seems to be convinced will trash whoever's next. Koto impatiently demands that Team Urameshi send up their next contender. Kurama says he thought Zeru was the team captain, and Kuwabara suggests this means that he other two team members are tougher than him. I don't know, Kuwabara, does the fact that you went first suggest you're the weakest in your group? 

... Let's not answer that one, shall we? 

Smirking, Hiei denies Kuwabara's conclusions, affirming that Zeru is definitely the powerhouse of his team. It's his guess that the members of the opposite team just drew lots for fight order, like most other groups. Hiei pulls off his cowl/scarf thing and volunteers to take Zeru, to get back at him for making fools of them yesterday. 

I'm sure there's never been anything in the history of ever that has ever fallen short of that kind of assessment. 

As he approaches Zeru, he voices his observation that Zeru uses flames, bragging about how he checked the cup that had been sliced in half by what seemed to be some sort of blade, but the edges appeared melted. He accuses Zeru of lacking refinement, but Zeru doesn't think that matters at all, since he doesn't take criticism from "belly-crawling evil-eyed rodents". Points for creativity, I suppose. 

The moment Koto declares the match begun, she cringes against the sudden fiery aura that flares out from Zeru. He says that Hiei is basically ALREADY cinders, and Kuwabara shields himself from the flaming aura with a raised arm, in awe over its killer energy. Zeru rotates his hands, asking if his opponent is impressed, because he should be. He's sure that a mouse like Hiei could never in his whole life summon so much aura. Hiei himself actually looks rather UNIMPRESSED, demanding that this be the end of talk, and for Zeru to just MOVE already. 

Be careful what you wish for.

Hiei's eyes are wide, his jaw slack, and his smirk is GONE. The hit launches him backward, and while he's in the air, Zeru punches the air between them, his fist flaming. Hiei's silhouette is surrounded in flames and burns as he flops on the ground. Kurama is in speechless horror, but Kuwabara manages to voice his shock at how QUICK this match has been. Even the demonic audience is blown away by the record time in which Hiei seems to have been laid out. 

I say "seems" because, while Zeru turns his back on Hiei and scoffs that this was hardly worth getting out of bed for, he's struck dumb by the voice floating over his shoulder from the place the burning figure had landed. That figure is standing again, admitting that Zeru is good, and it's a shame he has to kill him.

Is that worth a "rejoicing" really? 

Kurama recognizes the name of this attack, saying that it's FORBIDDEN in the human world, only meant for the demon plane. There are an awful lot of RULES for demons, I'm noticing. A little odd for creatures of malevolence and violence. 

With a little manic grin, Hiei says that he hasn't fully tamed this move, but he's confident that he will in short order. Heh, did he just make a short joke? Anyway, he's holding his clawed fingers aloft, which are surrounded in dark fire, and Zeru notes this through his massive gape, asking just HOW they've been summoned from the demon plane. 

Gotta get in that practice! You know, to gain more control. 

As Hiei steps forward his shirt continues to burn away, but his trousers must be made of tougher stuff, because they're perfectly intact. He tells Zeru that this is TRUE pyromancy, actual evil that Zeru's "match-play" lacks. Fighting fire with fire never seemed like such a sure thing. He says that while Zeru laughed at his Evil Eye, but he's going to regret it. Looks like he's already starting to do so, wearing a horrified expression and stuttering that somehow, Hiei CAN'T do this. Why not? There's really no answer. Koto is running, shouting into her microphone that it's getting so over-the-top in the ring that even she's been forced to take cover. 

Hiei declares that this is it. 

There's a great WHOOSH as Koto crouches by the side of the raised platform, rushing over her head. A quiet follows, and she remains in her position for a moment before peeking over the lip of the platform to check on the damage. The area in front of Hiei's outstretched arm is completely clear, no Zeru to be seen at all. Kurama looks much more serious when he states to a grimacing Kuwabara that it was over in a flash. Yusuke remains slumbering peacefully. 

Koto turns, presumably to ascertain Zeru's whereabouts to start the count, and is alarmed by what she sees on the wall below the stadium seating. 

Well, it WAS a fast match. Just not AS fast as everyone thought at first. 

Zeru's remaining team members are gulping from the sidelines, mumbling about how NOT GOOD this is. Hiei has his hand raised again while he tells Koto that he incinerated Zeru's human world aspect and to start the count. Oh, so he's not actually dead? Might come back? I'm neutral on this news. Koto stutters that she's inclined to just skip that part, letting out a relieved breath. I mean, even if he DOES come back, he's not going to make it within the limits of a ten-count. No way no how. Koto declares Hiei the winner. 

Kuwabara shakes his raised fist at the opposite team, pointing out that they're behind two-to-one even after he himself got swindled in the first match. SURE, buddy, whatever makes you feel better about your loss. Though Kuwabara goes back to his grimace when he realizes this isn't a big comfort to him knowing now what Hiei is capable of if he decided to turn on his own team now. He even gulps a bit when Hiei walks past him with his fists shoved in his pockets. Hiei turns to him to offer his assurances that he sticks with a side once he's picked one, and the move he just used needs way more work anyway. I'm sure his wide eyes and small smile are MEANT to be reassuring, but he still looks pretty unhinged, especially when that last part of his statement could be taken as an admission that the reason he's not going HAM on the whole stadium right now is because he doesn't think it would be as spectacular as he wants, lol.

Across the way, the two remaining teammates of Zeru are sweating bullets, stuttering over how he was zapped just like that. These large, grown-ass "men" (or rather, demons) are shaking like leaves while their CHILD team member just sit's on the ground resting. He seems alarmed by their cowardice as they moan that they came to the event to kill for fun, and they're not having ANY of that fun they wanted at all. They declare that this is it, they're OUT. 

A flitting sound effect and a blurred panel is all that's left for them.

I don't think this is quite the out they had in mind. 

Hiei looks around from his distance to see the two decapitated bodies spurt blood, and a pair of feet darting toward the ground near them. 

Who... who the FUCK???

This seemingly random stranger slurs his way through a statement that a little danger is a lot more fun, and the cowardice of his victims ruined is buzz. Rinku identifies this guy as "Chu" with some excitement. He must not have been particularly attached to those other two guys. Chu goes over to Koto and informs her, as if she couldn't have seen the reality herself, that the team has two deaths "by accident", asking her what the rules say about that. Koto isn't about to CHALLENGE this blatant lie, and sweats bullets as she rattles off the rules about each team getting a single alternate in case of deaths, and the circumstances don't matter. She stutters a little as she informs him that they'll have to go on with whoever is left, no forfeits allowed. 

He stomps past her, grossing her out with his overpowering BO, mumbling that it's fine, as well as how interesting it is that the last two being his opponents now. Kuwabara says that he's getting a bad feeling from the guy, presumably too far away for it to just be the shit smell. Apparently, though his aura isn't much, but there's something about him that just doesn't sit right with Kuwabara. 

Kuwabara looks around in shock and alarm at a grunt, seeing Yusuke sit up groggily. AT LAST. Yusuke digs a pinky finger in his ear and asks who's been boozing it up, because there's a stench on the air that would wake the dead and kill them all over again. And no doubt he would know, in multiple different ways. Kurama is placid while he notes internally that Yusuke has noticed the odd aura. 

Chu hiccups that Yusuke has FINALLY woken up. Up in the stands, Keiko and Botan stare wide-eyed at the scene below, the former muttering over how it's about to start. Atsuko yells at her son to kill the guy. Because of COURSE she does. Hiei thinks Chu may actually be the worst of the opposing team, noting that he sensed no bloodlust at all, even when Chu killed his teammates. 

Chu cuts off Koto as she calls for the sub-captains to come forward, shouting to get the ball rolling, because he wants to beat these guys quick so that he can get down to some serious drinking. That's definitely what you need dude. MORE drinking. 

Radical rest AND promoting exercise? Since when did HE become a healthy king? 

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I had to go back and make absolute sure that Chu wasn't among his teammates when they were all introduced, because his design certainly stands out, and I really would have been disappointed in myself if I hadn't spotted him before. I'm supposing, as an alternate, it wasn't necessary for him to be with the rest of the team at the introduction. After all, he might not have needed to be there at ALL if they were all as good as they pretended. I find it hard to believe that he would have stumbled onto the scene just now to hear his cowardly teammates try to make a break for it, given that it's implied he's been in his cups this whole time. I assume he had to have been informed of or saw that Roto had been killed and ambled his way down to take his place, only now actually arriving.

Because Hiei really cleaned up Zeru EXTREMELY quick. Kind of shocking, given how much Zeru's aura and power were hyped from the moment our protagonists met him. I actually appreciate how fast his defeat was, though, because it just further emphasizes a theme that has been developing for a while now: appearances aren't always reflective of reality. Someone's skills can be rather minimal, even if they put up an impressive front. I'm guessing Chu is going to be demonstrating the opposite truth as well, that someone can SEEM rather unimpressive while having much more ability than is first visible.

What I'm not appreciating is this Black Dragon Hell Fire attack for Hiei that YT seemed to pull out of his ass. This was never mentioned before, not so much as hinted at, let alone the apparent forbidden quality of it. Introducing a supposedly forbidden technique on the spot, having characters gush about how no one is ALLOWED or hasn't been ABLE to use it outside of a certain realm, is not really impressing upon me how badass the technique is. It's impressing upon me how the writer hadn't bothered to come up with a plausible established defeat for the opponent, or introduce a new method at least a LITTLE ahead of time in a setup. 

Again, I'll chalk it up to the on-the-fly nature of serializations, but it's still a little irksome to me. It would have been MUCH cooler with a setup.

Inuyasha Manga: 356 Evil Presence

Do you ever get that feeling in your gut, when you first meet someone or they're pointed out to you, that you REALLY don't want to be around that person? Just something about them immediately sets you on edge and there's no reasoning yourself out of the immediate dislike? I've never really believed in "evil" per se, but I have had a couple of those experiences where I seemed to know immediately that I didn't want to be around someone, being that something about them was just OFF. I won't go into detail, due to the semi-traumatic nature of both these instances, but suffice it to say, I was correct 100% of the time, and I had to suffer the consequences of ignoring the little voice inside my head that told me this person was bad news. 

If Kikyou had listened to her own gut, or at least her sister's, none of this shit would have been a problem. 

As Kanna stares blankly over the infant she's holding, Kikyou thinks about how he was tracking a completely DIFFERENT presence all the way here. She clearly isn't going to let this opportunity go to waste, aiming an arrow at Kanna and the baby. But she shoots a glance into her periphery just as a strike comes down from the sky and explodes the earth at her feet, forcing her to leap away. 

Gee, I wonder where YOU'VE been all this time. 

Kikyou identifies Moryoumaru as the one she'd been tracking to begin with, the evil presence that guided her here, and points her arrow at HIM instead. Moryoumaru sees this and his body breaks up into curls of disconnected flesh so the arrow sails straight through it. Kikyou notices that there are spheres that the flesh is rotating around, and recognizes them as haku after a moment's squint. 

A coordinated swarm of the flesh slams into the ground, and again, Kikyou has to jump backward. While she draws another arrow, she sees Kanna's form fleeing the scene through a cloud of dust. She yells at Kanna that she won't get away, firing the arrow. 

Oops! Infants can survive a fall from a cliff, right? 

Kikyou curses and runs to the edge of the cliff, as Kanna is caught by one of the pieces of flesh from Moryoumaru's cloud. By the time she kneels to peer down into the chasm below, Kanna and the infant have disappeared. She notes that not only has she lost sight of those two, but the evil presence as well. Observant as she is, Kikyou recalls the jewel that the infant was carrying when she saw him, and what Inuyasha related to her about Naraku getting ahold of a stone that erases youki. She puts two and two together, identifying that stone as the Fuuyouheki, but she does wonder if she just came across the heart that was supposed to be protected by the stone's youki-erasing powers by accident. It DOES seem awfully coincidental, doesn't it? 

Cut to Kaede's village, long time, no see. Kaede enters her home announcing that she's boiled some herbs.

I'd say it'll leave some nasty scars, but I don't know if RT could remember them at all beyond this point, let alone draw them with any consistency when relevant. 

Kaede asks Sango in the background how Miroku is doing, and Sango tears her eyes away from him to confirm that he doesn't seem to have shaken off the Saimyoushou poison quite yet. Inuyasha being missing, Kagome asks where he is, and Kaede looks over toward the mat hanging over her door, saying that he seems to be brooding sullenly about something out there. It's not clear if they can see him sitting hunched on the fence from where they are, but we're shown the image anyway.

Shippou suggests that Inuyasha might be worried about how he lost to the corruption of the Shikon shard, which looks like it's news to KAEDE, because she's shocked by this information. Wow, you guys told her damn near NOTHING, huh? Kagome admits this is the case, but adds that they were all saved because of it. Shippou corrects the oversimplification, crediting Kagome with jumping in to purify the fragment so Inuyasha didn't turn full youkai and lose himself. She hangs her head in melancholy as she acknowledges this is true. 

What would you know about it? What are you, like six? 

Inuyasha doesn't even bother with the sarcastic response that I would go for, opting instead for his usual whack to Shippou's head as he requests Kagome come out and hang with him a bit. She makes a confused noise, but it's not long before they're outside and Kagome is asking him what's up.

Oh, that won't matter a lick to the foot fetishists now drooling over this chapter.

Kagome doesn't answer his question, just says his name. He sighs and hangs his head, admitting the very thing that he hit Shippou for saying earlier: he has a long way to go. Toward what goal, I'm not certain, but there seems to be some agreement here that the journey is long. Inuyasha apologizes to Kagome for causing her to have a painful memory, if not the literal pain in her feet. It's a straightforward sorry, which is more than a lot of internet personalities are capable of, anyway. 

But Kagome assures him that this isn't true at all, and that it was because he was there that any of them survived at all. Of course, they wouldn't have been IN the oni stomach to begin with if he weren't there either, but we'll gloss over that. Kagome adds that she was actually really happy in the moment that he asked for her support for just a little longer, because she was glad to be by his side. It's Inuyasha's turn to say her name in a trailing statement. 

Awwwww! So sweet! 

Isn't this SO MUCH BETTER than watching them have the same fight over and over again???

Cut to yet another remote building perched precariously on the side of a mountain. This one looks a bit bigger than the one Hakudoushi was hanging out in, and stands out against the bare rock, not a tree or bush in sight. Inside, Kagura is descending a set of L-shaped stairs, a healthy distance between her and Naraku. He seems to be leading her somewhere, and on some sparse information, because after a moody pause she asks him what this "important job" he's mentioned to her is. 

Naraku looks up over his shoulder at her, accusing her in no uncertain terms of poking around too much, and asking her what it is she's even looking for. OH SHIT, no more coy bullshit, he's just flat out telling her he's noticed her sticking her nose where he doesn't want it. Though the exclamation point in her speech bubble implies that she's shocked, her expression remains on the more irritated and defiant side. Inside, she's freaking out in disbelief that he might have noticed she's searching for his heart. NO, YOU THINK??? 

She's not saying anything out loud, though, so he continues without her answer, suggesting that she just wants to find things out because she doesn't know anything. Typical harmless curiosity, no biggie. He says this is why he'll put some IMPORTANT work in front of her. He's led her into a dark dungeon built into the side of the mountain, where metal grate is set into an opening leading into another roughly carved chamber off to the side. Sweatdropping, Kagura recognizes the same Rakan statues that were on Goryoumaru's temple grounds sitting outside the grate. 

So he's not in a grave anymore, and not out there flying around as Moryoumaru. What's the DEAL with this dude?

Kagura is SURE that Goryoumaru's head was cut off, but here he is, head still attached and laying there in a cell. 

My dude, did you think this would make her LESS curious?

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Well here we are! Right at the point where the first anime ended, having caught up to the manga yet again and not being prepared to produce even more filler content while canon material built back up. This was quite the place to do that, because this arc has been difficult to parse, and I think a lot of viewers of the show might have been left scratching their heads rather than anticipating a possible sequel series. It's a cliffhanger, but in more a confusing, frustrating way. Not only has the series itself become more repetitive and homogenized, but there's this sense that no explanation for the latest events will be truly satisfying because the pieces just don't make a lot of sense altogether. 

For example, the supposedly human and totally innocent of knowing shit about Naraku Goryoumaru showing up in a prison with his head attached firmly to his body, no new scar to speak of, just increases my bafflement. Trying to reconcile that with the state he was in before and the information we had at that time is futile in my case. That's not to say that a good explanation CAN'T exist, but if it does, it's extremely opaque. That alone might persuade a lot of viewers against coming back if things are going to be so oddly murky. 

It also brings up some questions that seem to be glossed over within the chapter. For instance, how long has Kikyou been following around Moryoumaru? Has she been at it for this whole arc? Is that why she and Moryoumaru have been sort of MIA this whole time? Otherwise I would have expected Kikyou to be drawn instead to that creepy temple and Goryoumaru. And yet, there is no indication from Naraku or Hakudoushi that Moryoumaru (and thus Kanna and the infant) was being pursued by Kikyou. In fact, the only concern that they discuss is how Kagura is being a nosy Parker and how to deal with that. 

How appointing her Goryoumaru's warden is supposed to solve this problem, I have no idea. I feel like Naraku is losing his touch a bit. 

I will say that it was nice to see Inuyasha and Kagome at last able to have a conversation that isn't dripping with resentment and jealousy. No doubt that's because Kikyou wasn't involved in this incident, so it was a little easier for Inuyasha and Kagome to talk about what happened without slinging blame around. On the contrary, Inuyasha puts all the blame on himself for the incident, which isn't exactly WRONG, given he led them into the situation in the first place. Of course, since none of the rest of the group challenged his reckless leadership and asked for a slow-down so they could think for a second whether it was really the best idea to fly into a giant mouth is an important factor in this as well...

Inuyasha taking responsibility for this incident isn't necessarily bad, but I do worry about his and Shippou's statements that "he has a long way to go". In the context, the implication is that the goal is for Inuyasha to be stong and capable enough to single-handedly get them out of any emergency situation. That's an awful lot of pressure to put on a SINGLE member of their team, and kind of goes against what he's been learning about the benefits of having friends this whole time. 

Which is why I hope he's listening closely to Kagome when she says she was happy to be able to offer him support. She's not just saying that it was a pleasure to help. It was a pleasure to be there so that he could draw on her strength where his was lacking. That's the point of having relationships, because NO ONE can do everything themselves and they are going to need help when the gaps in their abilities show up. 

Inuyasha has spent a long time believing that he had to do everything for himself and refuse reliance on others, so his habit is to assume that if he wasn't able to solve a problem alone, he's still not good enough. There's probably also an element in there of the guilt over Kikyou's death, seeing it as his failure to save her from Naraku. It's helpful to have Kagome around, demonstrating support, reliability, trust, and respect, so that he can slowly start to understand personal strength can always be supplemented by great connections and teamwork. 

YuYu Hakusho Manga: 056 Blood-Stained Flowers!!

The established pattern of using two exclamation points at the end of every title can be a bit discordant at times. I feel like the imagery this title is evoking is more somber than the punctuation would suggest, unless it's coming as a horrible surprise, and even then I'm not certain this would be the best presentation. Of course, I'm not a comic artist myself, so who knows what decision I would make if I were drawing/writing something to do with blood-stained flowers, and to be fair, I'm thinking of a bouquet splattered with viscera and someone stumbling upon it when they come over for a visit. This is most certainly NOT the context, so we'll see what it really is and if my irritation with the exclamation points is at all warranted. 

Maybe a bloody bouquet is just something winners get as part of their prize in this tournament. XD

Kurama, looking so much more invested in this than Hiei, puts forth his own awed commentary that both opponents took clean hits, and this match could end in a draw. But Koto only get to the count of two when her attention is drawn to the edge of the ring, where a set of fingers grip from below the edge. It's Rinku who pulls himself up, grunting, and leaps back onto the platform. His shirt has a rip in it where Kuwabara pierced it with his Aura Sword, but there's no visible wound there in the flesh beneath. It would probably be distasteful to show the child bleeding out. 

The crowd cheers that Rinku is back up, and declares that the Jolly Devil Six will be winning this one. Rinku puts his hands over his smarting belly, complaining that he had a LOT more trouble with this battle than he had anticipated, and he has to focus his aura now on patching himself up. 

Kuwabara stumbles to his feet, still off the platform, but he's still causing Rinku some anxiety with his tenacity. Rinku can't help but yelp about Kuwabara being back on his feet, asking what the hell this guy is MADE OF. Throwing out a hand toward Kuwabara, Rinku grunts in effort again, and Kuwabara is confused at first. 

Well, that's that.

But Kuwabara is having trouble accepting it. He asks who cares, roaring that he can still fight and straining against his yo-yo bonds. Rinku recoils, shivering as he thinks that he BELIEVES Kuwabara, because he's never seen anyone so stubborn in his life. Meanwhile, Kurama is praising Rinku for being so masterful as to be able to control his yo-yos even when he's not connected to them. Hiei scoffs that they lost by the rules, seemingly only really concerned with the outcome. 

The scoreboard announces both in print and by speaker that the first round goes to Team Jolly Devil Six. Finally free of the yo-yos Kuwabara points to Rinku and vows that they'll finish this later, though Rinku grumbles that it's not likely. 

Kurama volunteers to go next, and his opponent, a guy with short hair standing at a spiked angle and black scleras, says straight up that he's not an honest fighter like Rinku. He prefers the EASY WAY. 

Kuwabara's act must be easy AND difficult to follow at the same time. 

Hiei calls out to Kurama, and when he looks back, tells him not to pull any punches out there because the opposite team have got to start thinking twice when fighting them in the future. Kurama assures him that he knows. Kuwabara appears to be standing tall and perfectly well again when he says to his remaining teammates that there's something he's been wondering about; where Kurama keeps his Rose Whip. Hiei says that it's contained in a simple little rosebud, and smirks as he exposits that ANY plant is a weapon in Kurama's hands, a simple weed on the street liable to turn into a razor sharp blade stronger than steel. When are they going to make out?

The match between Kurama and his black-eyed opponent Roto is begun, and Roto IMMEDIATELY starts in with some trash-talk. He sneers about hearing that Kurama lives with a human, and says that's hard for him to figure, asking if it's some sort of "family" thing with a chuckle. Not sure what he's getting at there, and perhaps Kurama isn't either, because he just... doesn't say anything, looking off to the side. Probably a smart move. 

For a single panel, we go to the stands, where Shizuru drawls that the long-haired kid isn't a human, and Keiko seems amazed that she can tell. Wait, hasn't she MET Kurama before? At LEAST when he was in the midst of training Kuwabara for a couple of months? I have a hard time believing that this is an assessment she's made just in the past SECOND. 

Anyway, Roto leans down, bracing one hand on the ground while he curls the other out behind him, the middle finger of which stretches and morphs into a long scythe-like extension. He asks if Kurama would be real sad if the human he lived with died, but Kurama just mutters that Roto is a weasel with a sickle. 

Roto swings and swings that blade-like finger, Kurama continuing to dodge and leap out of its way. Hiei says this is all a waste of time because Kurama is WAY ahead, and tells Kuwabara that luck was just against him. Well that's... uncharacteristically nice of him, lol. Kuwabara thrusts his thumb in his own direction and asserts that he would have taken his opponent out best out of three. Sure you would have, buddy. Sure. 

Kurama zips behind Roto and murmurs to him that he's adequate, but not much better than that, and he'll end this whole thing quickly. Roto's bewildered expression flips back to a smirk when he tells "Suichi Minamino" that his mother's life is in his enemy's hands. Kurama freezes in his chopping motion at the back of Roto's neck in alarm, then leaps backward once more as Roto swings the finger-scythe back toward him. He hasn't escaped - he looks up again with a thin gash dripping blood down his cheek. Hiei looks up at this with mild surprise, but Kuwabara clenches his teeth in his tension, asking through them why Kurama has slowed down. 

Oh wow, no easier strategy than extortion. 

Roto suggests that Kurama wouldn't like this development, given he's such a devoted "son" and all. He really did his research, huh? Kurama drops his defensive stance and just STANDS there silently, looking a bit put out. Roto chuckles, retracting that massive scythe-like claw, because he thinks he sees what that silence means. He darts over to Kurama and punches him square in the face, voicing his interpretation as Kurama the HUMAN LOVER picking up what he's putting down. 

While Kurama's face remains snapped to the side by the hit, he flicks something at Roto's face, that seems to bounce off quite harmlessly. He looks over at where it's landed on the grid drawn on the platform, identifying it as a pebble, the most modest show of defiance from Kurama. Roto raises the fist holding his precious extortion button to make it as visible as possible, and declares that Kurama won't show even a pebble's worth of defiance anymore. He demands that Kurama clasp his hands behind his back and act as his punching bag. 

Dude wants to push the button so bad that he's hallucinating defiant behavior. Even Kuwabara recognizes that Kurama is leaving himself wide open and wonders with horror just WHAT it is he's doing. The crowd erupts in cheers for Roto's supposed hypnotizing of Kurama, and calls for him to torture and tear up the compliant opponent. 

Roto's smirk is a sharp, jagged gash in his own face. He chuckles that Kurama WON'T fight, because he's such a good little mama's boy. He gets right up in Kurama's turned-away face to suggest he COULD sever his arm with his Rose Whip, but the fingers on that arm might twitch just enough to get the job done on dear mommy. He outright laughs, hitting Kurama in the gut.

Kurama lets out a muffled grunt, but that's all. It's enough for Roto to declare he likes, though, and Roto continues hitting Kurama, this time across the face, saying beating on a guy who can't fight back is what he really calls fun. Can't relate, but I'm someone who likes a bit of a constructive challenge in my leisure activities. 

Roto suddenly pauses, frowning, calling Kurama scum. That was a real heel-face turn, huh? He re-extends the finger-scythe to poke at Kurama's cheek and complains about not liking the LOOK in his eye. He demands that Kurama look SCARED, but I don't know how THAT'S going to be any more satisfying. 

Great, now he just looks like another popular anime character. Good job, dipshit. 

Roto finishes the slash so hard that Kurama's face is whipped to the side again, demanding that Kurama stop LOOKING at him like that. Like what? Like he's been scrolling through Netflix for 20 minutes without finding a single thing to watch? Though Roto's smirk is back, he says he's in a real bad mood now, and is putting the responsibility of doing something about that on Kurama. He's just being a stereotypical abusive boyfriend at this point. How lame. 

Lifting his foot demonstratively, Roto commands Kurama to bow down and lick his shoe. He offers to cut Kurama's head clean off once it's clean, and then maybe he WON'T press that button. It's a wonder to me that Kurama's eyes don't roll straight out of his head when Roto asks jokingly if he can refuse, and then answers himself in the negative, because Kurama's precious mommy's life is on the line. 

But the answer that comes from Kurama is the opposite - he absolutely DOES refuse. After a pause, Roto asks for him to repeat that, and as he dusts off his jacket casually, Kurama says that's enough, and gives Roto permission to go ahead and push the button. Sounds to me like Kurama has some INSURANCE now that he didn't before, but Roto interprets this differently. He giggles madly that if he heard Kurama correctly, his hypocritical ass told him to press the button, and that makes him not any different than any of the OTHER low-down bloodthirsty demons in this stadium, if being asked to lick a boot is all it takes for him to go demonic again. Kurama just coldly repeats his dare to push the button. 

So Roto agrees to push the button, given that they're all death-hungry demons here anyway. 

Your lips are still eternally flapping though. SADLY. 

While Kurama snatches the button out of Roto's immobile hand, he prepares to repeat what he, apparently has said so often before: if something seems like an EASY course of action, it's usually the most DANGEROUS. I don't remember him saying this at ALL before this moment, but it IS real rich coming from the guy whose introduction was his quest to trade his life for his mother's health in the simplest little bargain with a hand-mirror ever. 

Kurama explains that he countered the coercion that Roto had tried on him by planting a DEADLY VETCH seed on him. I don't know what that is, but it sounds pretty bad when Kurama further exposits that its roots have spread through Roto's body and immobilized him. Roto strains to look down at his chest, where a red bump has raised on the left side of it, just beneath the lapel of his jacket. He recalls the pebble bouncing off his face and realizes it was a distraction from Kurama planting the seed. Always keep them watching your left hand while your right does the real work, as they say. 

That isn't even the whole deal. Kurama says that he can say a certain word that will make the plant grow at an EXPLOSIVE rate, no doubt much like how cyclospora is currently affecting a chunk of American colons right now. Kurama says he LIKES facing low-lives like Roto, because then he gets to be as brutal as he wants. And apparently he wants to be REALLY BRUTAL. Roto cries for him NOT to sink to his level, that he LIKES nice guys, and he was just a kid. Already referring to himself in the past tense? That's fucking BLEAK. 

Kurama just says "DIE" in response.

Cliche as it is, remind me not to get on this guy's bad side. 

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Before I get to the proper analysis, I have to say I was a little preoccupied by the resemblance between Kurama here and another very popular manga/anime character. I won't be actually STATING that name here, partly because I'm sure everyone reading this knows which character and story I'm talking about given the aforementioned popularity, but also because I refuse to support even in the smallest way the artist behind that character, even by having the name of the work here on my blog where it can be scraped by Google and other search engines. The reasons for this should be clear, but if anyone happening upon this somehow hasn't heard of the controversy behind this person, I would just steel yourself if you're liable to try and look it up. It's not pretty. 

ANYWHO, my curiosity about this resemblance I consider to be suspiciously close was piqued, and I decided to look up known influences between the two serializations. So, having done that, allow me to correct my previous statement that Kurama now resembles that character; this depiction of Kurama with the X-shaped scar on his cheek actually PREDATES that character by about two years. The artist actually stated his character was modeled after Kurama. My bad, lol. 

Now that we've gotten past THAT, Kurama is showing a MUCH scarier side to him than he has before this point. He's been mild-mannered, demure, and occasionally on the cheeky side, but he's always struck me as containing whole OCEANS of patience and empathy. Case in point, he trained Kuwabara, and that COULDN'T have been an easy task for someone who was any less than perfectly zen most of the time. 

But here he is downright MENACING, and while that quiet, patient quality to him carries him through the abuse intended to humiliate him throughout the match, he is only TOO eager to dispatch Roto when it's possible to do so. I'm surprised he even bothered to explain himself beforehand, though I suppose if he didn't, the audience wouldn't have much of a clue as to what happened there. Of course, he DID allow Roto some final groveling, which does speak to the pleasure he implied when he said he gets to be as brutal as he wants. Clearly Roto made an emotional impact on Kurama with his abuse, even if Kurama was VERY good at refusing to show it. Dude wanted Roto to SUFFER. 

Really puts into perspective Hiei's little gloat at the beginning about how Kurama can turn any plant into a deadly weapon into sharper perspective. Because anyone dumb enough to piss him off wouldn't even see that shit coming. Spooky. 

Inuyasha Manga: 355 Using the Fragment

All I seem to have these days are fragments, of TIME anyway. My day is chopped into odd little pieces here and there to try and get tasks done, but they're never quite enough to complete to satisfaction. While it's not as bad as it COULD be, I've been struggling to keep up with things lately, because there are new things cropping up all the time that need to be fit into the schedule, and that takes little bites out of what's already allocated. Thankfully, most of those things cropping up are good and fun with new friends, but I'm going to need some chemical assistance before long just to be able to cram more action into less time. 

Not SO unlike our protagonist here. 

There is a Saimyoushou still hovering in the oni's stomach viewing Inuyasha from a distance, so that Naraku can get a view of what's going on in there. Having fully reconstituted his body again by this point, Naraku chuckles darkly about how Inuyasha's going to use the Shikon shard they have. Judging by the little smug smile he's wearing, he counted on this very thing. 

Kagome reluctantly holds the Shikon fragment in its little bottle out to Inuyasha from under his coat, saying his name warily. Inuyasha says a little silent prayer to it, asking it to PLEASE handle the remaining strength needed for their escape, and slaps the bottle to the side of Tessaiga, shattering it. The shard itself sticks to the sword and the steel pulses powerfully, causing Inuyasha's own body to reverberate too. 

Sango mumbles about Inuyasha putting the fragment onto TESSAIGA, and a hopeful Shippou pipes up about how it should make the sword powerful enough to cut out of the oni's stomach. But Kagome is still looking uncomfortable and unsure as she looks at Inuyasha. Maybe it's because THIS is how he looks:

Yeeeeaaaaah, something's not quite right here...

There's a cloudy, patchy effect over Inuyasha's hands gripping the sword, and he realizes that SOMETHING is flowing from Tessaiga into him. From her crouched position under the coat, Kagome adopts a horrified expression when she sees that the Shikon shard has darkened. 

Outside in his little bubble, Naraku chuckles again. He's aware that Inuyasha using the Shikon fragment means that it leaves Kagome's hands, and therefore it can't remain pure from her direct contact with it, succumbing instead to the evil atmosphere within the oni's stomach. Are digestive gases inherently evil, or is it JUST because they're in this evil oni? 

A combo for a straight-up bad time in this particular place. And it seems this has been noticed by the previously jubilant Shippou. He clings to Kagome, stuttering Inuyasha's name in fear, Kagome looking just as terrified as he is. 

Inuyasha's fangs lengthen, as well as his nails. 

A SLIGHT understatement. I would be spitting a string of at LEAST six curse words here.

Inuyasha sweats profusely with wasted effort, realizing that his body isn't obeying his commands, and that there's something up with his head too. He swings around to look at his friends, the terror of which become more prominent, Shippou stammering about him looking at them with his now monstrous face. He urges them to run away, though where they're supposed to run to, I couldn't hazard a single guess. 

Kagome jumps from under the protection of his coat and calls his name, running TOWARD him instead of away, against his advice. Shippou yells after her, but she ignores him, enduring the drips of acid from the ceiling that she can't quite do the same for, trying to shield her head with a raised arm. Her recklessness is only just beginning.

Bold move, even if it's just a choice between this and the acid as a method of death. 

Kagome holds onto Inuyasha tightly, sweating and her eyes screwed shut, silently begging him not to lose. Meanwhile, her ankles are sizzling in the pool of acid where she stands, Sango and Shippou calling out to her with concern. Inuyasha stands frozen with her arms around him, and as a point of light appears in the Shikon shard he'd slapped on Tessaiga, he seems to regain some of his control, at least enough to identify Kagome haltingly. 

That's an interesting new look you've got there, buddy. Like a rocker chick.

Kagomr looks up at him with a mixture of concern and pain, asking if he's okay. He turns in her arms, assuring her that he is indeed alright, but he needs her support a little longer. Arms now hooked up under his armpits and toward his shoulders from behind, she agrees, squeezing her eyes shut again and resting her cheek on his back. Once more, Tessaiga is encrusted in a jeweled shell as Inuyasha holds it outward, preparing for another swing. 

Outside, even the oni itself is looking down at its bulging stomach and grimacing at the light starting to emanate from it, and Naraku curses from within his floating bubble. He's clearly unhappy with the turn things have taken. Inuyasha lets off another volley of Kongoushouha, and the oni's stomach further inflates and glows with the white hot blast fired within. 

Even Taco Bell couldn't be more destructive. 

The oni's head has turned back to stone, and what would have been viscera raining down around the newly freed Inuyasha and Kagome is shards of rock. I hope none of those fall on their heads, because that might finish what the stomach acid started. Sango peeks from under Inuyasha's coat, noting that the acid has receded, Shippou stuttering in relief that they're saved. Miroku remains unconscious in between them. 

The puddle of acid Inuyasha and Kagome had been standing in has mostly disappeared, revealing their feet, all hatched over and mottled with burns, even while Kagome's remain in her shoes and socks. Kagome sighs in relief herself, but she appears feverish, still sweaty. Inuyasha spies the bubble barrier disappearing into the distant sky, and growls through his still elongated fangs and striped cheeks that Naraku fucking ran away AGAIN. Maybe Inuyasha can take some comfort in what it says that Naraku doesn't stick around to see if he can take on even the severely WEAKENED protagonists. 

In a rocky, desolate place, not unlike the one Inuyasha's group was just left in, Kanna is walking along with an escort of Saimyoushou buzzing around her. She pauses when a person in sandals and a long hem billowing around their ankles. 

Awkward switched homophones aside, I'm not sure the word "herd" fits here very well.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I appreciate how time has been respected in this particular chapter, and an emergency is truly treated as such. In the past, supposedly time-sensitive situations have been dragged out over an unrealistic period, and I felt like there was some time dilation going on so that it could be crammed with every possible interior and exterior reaction. Inuyasha is by no means the WORST offender in the over-bloated plot point department, to the point where what should take mere seconds seems to take an hour or more, but it HAS happened here. I'm just glad this isn't one of those instances, and things feel like they move along as quickly as they need to. 

The point about putting Inuyasha's group and the Shikon shard in a controlled atmosphere and separating Kagome from the fragment so it becomes corrupted easily are clever moves by Naraku, but I DO have questions about the apparatus. Did he FIND or CREATE the giant stone oni? If the former, what is the lore behind who or what is responsible for it being there? If the latter, did he use a similar method to the creation of the Rakan statues, the vague spell that Miroku mentioned? What makes the stone oni's stomach SO tough as to withstand volleys of diamond spears drilling into its lining? Without the setup necessary to really understand where this thing came from and why nothing unmodified by the Shikon shard can pierce it, the context for the cleverness is missing. The stone oni just kind of appeared in the story, just EXACTLY what Naraku required, no real effort needed. 

This is a perfect representation of the majority of the reason I'm so frustrated with Naraku right now, and I think others might feel the same. His plots have zero setup behind them anymore, and he basically has unlimited resources appear for them whenever necessary, so it doesn't seem to matter how many of them Inuyasha and company overcome. There's always going to be another one, at virtually NO cost to Naraku. They're not even wearing him down, just going through a string of meaningless trials over and over until at last the readership starts to wane and RT is told to wrap the thing up. 

There's a part of me that's a little surprised that Inuyasha's audience held out for as long as it did, because we're only really about two-thirds of the way through, and our protagonists are STILL being led around by the nose (LITERALLY) by a villain that doesn't seem CAPABLE of weakening in any meaningful way. Say what you want about Inuyasha fans, they really have an incredible amount of patience. 

YuYu Hakusho Manga: 055 The Secret of Devil Yo-Yos!!

Wait, have I been thrust back into the Yu-Gi-Oh manga? Granted, yo-yos aren't exactly a GAME with RULES, but they feel like something that a chapter of Yu-Gi-Oh might be written around. A big collecting entertainment fad in the '90s that recalls my childhood nostalgia and simultaneously leaves the comic in which it's featured SEVERELY dated? Meets all the requirements. I feel like the only thing that HASN'T come up in these stories is Pogs.

But let's face it, Pogs were acknowledged as lame even at the time. 

I wouldn't say pretending to suck hardcore is a "psychological" tactic. 

Grinning, Kuwabara admits he was outwitted, but the kick didn't kill him, so he reckons the kid isn't SO tough. Rinku just smiles back silently before sticking his hand into the drawstring pouch slung across his chest, saying he understands now why Kuwabara and the rest of the team were invited as guests to the tournament. Since Kuwabara withstood his direct attack, he promises to use more underhanded demonic tricks, holding up a small star-stamped disk he appears to have picked from the pouch. 

Is there any other kind? 

Kuwabara manifests an Aura Sword in both fists, crossing the blades and calling "batter up" as only a staunch baseball fan can. 

Rinku springs into the air, arms crossed until he flings one of them out with a cry of "shot", the yo-yos on all his fingers released. As they fly toward him, Kuwabara says splitting the toys apart should be a cinch, but then he appears to see something else that changes his attitude entirely. 

The most impressive part is how they don't look to be getting all tangled up. I can't play with ONE yo-yo without it tangling up with itself eventually. let alone one on each finger. Koto is also impressed, calling this a stylish move, describing it as a real good fake-out on Kuwabara's butt. Seems like most of this kid's moves require a bit of a fake-out.

Rinku walks the dog with a handful of yo-yos at once, casually asking what he considers his moronic opponent if he really thought he was just going to play around. I mean, you ARE a kid and your weapons ARE playthings... But the yo-yos spinning from his fingers tear up the ring floor as he explains that he sends his aura directly into the toys from his fingers and this allows him to control them all individually. To demonstrate, he throws his arms out and the yo-yos wriggle around on their strings, calling up the image of a coiled snake in the background again. 

Kuwabara recoils and has lost some of his cockiness in the face of this threat display. Rinku mocks that Kuwabara's dull old Aura Swords won't even be able to cut the string, and then extends his yo-yos' walk toward Kuwabara rapidly, who notices how they're digging up the very ground beneath them as they go. He's lucky they didn't do that to his flesh while making contact with him earlier, I reckon. 

Kuwabara's dodge buys him mere seconds before that swing around they do in the panel above comes back on him and whack him straight in the back and stomach at the same time, and it looks like they knock the wind out of him. From his spectator position at the edge of the ring, Zeru muses about how Rinku's powers work best through weapons, his yo-yos making up for his small size. Kurama is alarmed at how the toys go wherever Rinku wills, Hiei just kind of side-eyeing the action beside him. 

To Kuwabara's disbelief, the yo-yos start wrapping their strings around his wrists and ankles, and he is lifted off the ground at these points, angled to face his new puppet master. Koto announces just how she sees it, just before Rinku declares an "Around the World" trick. Kuwabara BARELY has a moment to express his alarm. 

Oof. If he wasn't so used to taking a beating from Yusuke to begin with, this MIGHT actually be fatal to him.

A many-eyed demon in the stands calls for blood, and another with NO eyes demands that Kuwabara be whipped around again. How does he know that's what's happening? Does he feel the vibrations/wind currents or something? Regardless of how this guy is perceiving the battle, he gets his wish, and Kuwabara is smacked into the floor of the ring again. On the sidelines, Hiei tells Kurama that he can't really say much for his coaching abilities, considering how his student is being laid the FUCK out right now. After an awkward pause, Kurama haltingly responds that he admits they haven't really seen much yet. Whatever THAT'S supposed to mean. 

Kuwabara is still getting dragged around, and STILL has the energy and vitality to complain while it's happening. He lifts his head from the ground, head, nose, and mouth bleeding, to threaten death upon the kid doing this to him. Rinku's smugness is dampened a bit when he acknowledges that Kuwabara is an awfully tough one to finish off, and this is just the first day of fighting. He muses that it's time to wrap this up. 

The ladies have only JUST entered the stadium at this point, Botan complaining that the tournament has already started, and Atsuko noting that the crowd is going wild. She wonders aloud who's winning when Botan points with distress at the ring below, drawing the rest of their attentions to Kuwabara floating at his child opponent's will in the air, like a kite tethered to many strings at the limbs. 

I'm sure the view is breathtaking. Kuwabara is speechless, but that appears to be out of tension rather than awe. 

Atsuko shades her eyes with a hand as they follow Kuwabara's progress upward, expressing some clueless alarm over the fact that if he falls now, he'll surely die, and that's too brutal. Koenma looks exasperated while he informs her that this is KINDA the point. Keiko's eyes are drawn DOWNWARD though, to where she spies Yusuke slumped unconscious against the edge of the ring, and she calls out his name. She starts shouting at him that his friend is in danger, criticizing his napping at this moment, and calling him a heartless creep, despite a call from the surrounding crowd to shut her trap. 

Oh look, it's the gatekeepers that EVERY event of a certain size seems to have, lol. 

Atsuko is not the least bit intimidated, no doubt due to her background relationship with shady organizations, and yells in the face of the guy on the right that her Yusuke is competing in this thing, so she's staying right here. His tongue wiggles out of his wide open mouth as he claims that her "hot and bothered" attitude is a point in favor of eating her (or, because we've tangled up our sexual euphemisms with food and eating, maybe doing OTHER things to her), but before he can make good on the threat a smoldering cigarette is put out on that protruding tongue. He turns and flees, crying about how much it hurts, as Shizuru placidly stares in the opposite direction. Botan comments on her novel method of exorcism, though it's not clear if she approves of it or not. 

Keiko screams down at Yusuke to wake up, and Atsuko, with her foot up on the back of Koenma's seat in front of her, yells at Kuwabara to stay up in the air and float like a butterfly. Koenma sweatdrops in annoyance, muttering that he's not with them. It's absolutely beautiful that these women are the loudest, most intense people in a stadium full of DEMONS. They are SQUAD GOALS. 

Koto is still commenting on the match, by the way, stating that Kuwabara is flying high, but it's a long way down. Kuwabara himself is yelling to be let down, the spectators in the stands calling for him to be dropped and gloating that he's dead now, and Rinku says to himself that this extreme height SHOULD do it. He declares that Kuwabara is going to go splat like an egg, and with a whir retracts his yo-yo strings from Kuwabara's limbs. 

Kuwabara screams as he goes down, Koto barking into the microphone that this is the end for him. But Kuwabara refuses that fate, commanding his Aura Sword to grow long out of his palm, pointing it directly at the ground. Rinku looks surprised at what comes next. 

He's battling with PHYSCIS today. 

Rinku is smiling again, though. He says it's a nice move, and Kuwabara is clever in a pinch, but his trajectory is sending him straight at the yo-yo slinging youth. Rinku is already throwing those toys right in his face again, per his stated intentions. Kuwabara reminds him that he has a SECOND sword, which at first Rinku isn't moved by, because a straight sword is easy to dodge. 

He is, once again, surprised. 

Why not? It's kinda like what YOU'RE doing. In fact, a smug Kuwabara claims as much, saying his sword is tracking Rinku much like Rinku is tracking Kuwabara with his yo-yos. It's apparently a technique Kurama taught him. So THAT'S what Kurama meant about not having seen much yet. 

Zeru calls with the first sign of emotion (concern) that he's ever shown to Rinku, telling him to jump back. Not that this advice would mean much when Kuwabara's sword can just grow to meet him. Rinku recognizes that as he watches the tip of the Aura Sword approach his chest. Kuwabara doesn't even seem to NOTICE the yo-yos closing in on his face, focused on stretching his aura that final amount and mentally encourage the runt he's targeting to ponder it in Hell. 

Cue the explosion of simultaneous blows - Rinku speared through the chest by the Aura Sword, and Kuwabara pummeled in the already hamburger face by a volley of supercharged yo-yos. Rinku utters an "uh-oh". Kuwabara stutters that he got the brat. Keiko holds her hands to her mouth in shock while Shizuru comments in deadpan how nice that final move was. Zeru is back to looking completely placid. Koto is in sweatdropping in shock. 

They really did do the funniest thing they absolutely could have in this situation!

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Despite the SLIGHT feeling that this ending is anticlimactic, I have to admit it is somewhat fitting. Matching Kuwabara with a literal child and having them literally knock each other out in a draw makes a statement about Kuwabara's level of maturity in relation to his own teammates. It acknowledges that while he's resourceful and clever sometimes, he's more of a "big kid" than any of the rest of them, and he's still got a ways to go when it comes to taking this tournament seriously. I'm reminded of how Kuwabara has a code of fairness in fights, and he's liable to be VERY disappointed by the way this EXTREMELY unfair event is going to unfold. It's being presented and run by humans that amassed unthinkable amounts of wealth by trickery and exploitation, so his more childish conception of justice is going to be challenged at every turn. For now though, it's just kind of funny how he's pitted against a little kid as a peer. 

I really love how the ladies handled their demonic harassers, because every single woman on the planet has had this experience. Some jerk tries to intimidate you out of participating whatever social or hobby event he's at because deep down, he's got this fear of his interests being FEMINIZED by your very presence. In this instance, their objection is stated to be against "human" participation, but the two big, beefy male aggressors hovering over four diminutive women is STARK. Whether YT intended this or not, it IS pretty cathartic as a woman to see other women succeeding in getting literally demonic men to fuck off and let them have their fun. 

It's also pretty stark seeing Koenma sinking in his seat and disowning the enthusiasm of the women around him. He thinks they're embarrassing, because it's beneath him to scream and shout at a sporting event. He's probably going to be cringing a lot as this event crawls forward, lol.