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. 

Inuyasha Manga: 354 Unbreakable Wall

They're all supposed to be SO unbreakable. The people who build them insist that you can't get through, but even if all of them haven't been busted through, they've at least been scaled or gone around. Within my lifetime alone, there have been many walls put up and taken down, but there doesn't seem to be much between one and the other. All it takes is a shift of mindset and the direction of effort to get from point A to point B. You know what they say - it's much easier to destroy than to create, and that aphorism applies to everyone whether they are on one side of a conflict or the other. 

I wonder how long it will be before his lunch starts to disagree with him. 

Naraku promises Inuyasha and company, whom he calls bastards, that not even their BONES will survive the digestive process of this giant oni, and they'll never get out. Inuyasha yells at him to shut up and swings down Tessaiga, letting off a Kaze no Kizu that Naraku easily rises up in his barrier bubble above. Miroku rips the beads off his right hand and points his Kazaana up at Naraku, assuring him he won't get away, which OF COURSE summons the Saimyoushou. Shippou has climbed his shoulder and warns him to be careful of the insects' poison, but Miroku insists he doesn't give a shit. Naraku looks on with mild surprise, if the exclamation mark in his speech bubble is any indication. 

The Saimyoushou fly into Miroku's hand without hesitation. 

Inuyasha calls Miroku a damn fool, which is a little rich coming from the guy who led them all into this situation so boldly in the first place. He rushes over and forces Miroku's fist closed and downward, commanding him to close the Kazaana and not to be SO quick to kill himself. As Inuyasha steps off and Miroku is obediently rewrapping his hand in the beads, Sango rushes over to fuss over Miroku, who stutters that he's fine. 

Inuyasha has gone back toward the center of the stomach where he'll have more room, holding the gleaming Tessaiga out in front of himself, the blade having taken on a jeweled, faceted shine. He declares that he's going to rip through Naraku and the oni's stomach in one go. He shouts the Kongousouha attack, the diamond spears shooting out at speed, absolutely SHREDDING the Saimyoushou.

None of us are that lucky. Though Naraku's shredded body falls away, his remaining head and shoulders chuckles evilly, and the diamond spears just lodge into the wall of the pulsing oni stomach. Miroku can only manage a noise of disbelief as Sango voices the question herself as to how Kongousouha didn't work on this massive ogre's belly. It's not convenient to the plot, that's how.

Naraku's severed hand still balances the corrupted Shikon no Tama in its palm while it floats around, waiting to be reabsorbed into Naraku. Kagome notices this, wondering if Naraku is using it to strengthen himself. She nocks an arrow and aims, muttering that she just has to purify it, but when the arrow flies, Naraku scoffs smugly.

What did you expect? He's smart enough to remember what happened the LAST time you caught his ass with an arrow. 

Outside, Kagura continues to hover by the formerly stone oni, wondering what happened to Inuyasha and company. Acknowledging that this is one of Naraku's traps, she realizes it was a good thing she didn't fly into the oni's mouth herself. 

... Maybe being inside a giant's stomach isn't SO bad after all.

Looking over her shoulder at the oh-so-familiar malevolent presence at her back, Kagura sweatdrops while Naraku chuckles about anticipating the lives of his enemies ending soon by being dissolved into the great oni's stomach. We get another view of that disembodied hand with the Shikon no Tama in its palm, though it looks rather clear this time around. Naraku estimates the Inuyasha group's power to be too deficient to ever escape this gruesome fate he's concocted for them. 

Hakudoushi rather POINTEDLY asks Naraku's floating head how Inuyasha and company even found this place in the first place, as if he didn't KNOW. Kagura sweats even HARDER, wondering if the little brat noticed that she invited Inuyasha's team here. When Naraku claims not to have any idea how Inuyasha ended up here and asks Kagura, again rather POINTEDLY, what she thinks, she unconvincingly says she doesn't know anything. If she had balls, she'd have sweated them off by now. 

You're damn right. 

Kagome and Shippou have crouched on a mound of flesh out of the pond of stomach acid in the pit of the stomach, the latter freaking out about the acid getting steadily stronger, and the former with her hand clasped over her mouth and complaining how difficult it is to breathe. Sango has dragged Miroku out of the acid herself, and has her mask secured around her nose and mouth, though she notes that the acid is coming out of the surrounding walls they're forced to huddle toward, and despairs of what this means at this rate. 

Inuyasha turns to ask Miroku if he's able to put up a barrier, and Miroku says he can, but they won't be able to leave once the barrier is up. Plus, he's not looking too terribly well right now, looking feverish and sweating. Inuyasha says he's fine with whatever he can do, as long as he takes care of everyone, but he's able to discern that the Saimyoushou's poison has really started to take effect and the situation isn't the best. Tessaiga's blade is encrusted with jewel-like faceting once more as Inuyasha thinks he can't afford to be cautious and it'll be this time for sure. Every reckless decision justifies an even more reckless decision in the future, I suppose.

With Miroku's arms protectively around the girls and young fox, holding his staff out in front of them to produce the small sphere of protection around them, Kagome calls out to Inuyasha in concern. He turns to earnestly tell her not to worry, then twists to let out another Kongousouha. The spears cluster into the pulsing stomach flesh wall. 

Okay, is there a plan B? A plan C? 

Who are we kidding, there wasn't even a plan A. 

Inuyasha curses in frustration, then looks around when the acid around his feet starts to bubble all the more, also noting how hard it's getting to breathe. It's signaled to him that the oni's miasma has started to fill the area, but I would just put it down to the natural gaseous byproduct of digestion. You're literally just smelling the beginnings of farts dude. All the undulating nodes on the walls and ceiling start to up their production of MORE acid, and as it sizzles on the barrier Miroku has erected, Sango calls his name in concern. He insists he's alright, despite the statement being halting, and his sweating, feverish appearance. Kagome even points out to him how he's BURNING UP. Internally, he BEGS Inuyasha to hurry up. 

A little acid burns through the weakening barrier and onto Sango's Hiraikotsu, both her and Kagome gaping in alarm and Kagome trailing a sentence about the state of the barrier. It starts to collapse when Miroku falls unconscious and drops the staff, whole sheets of acid raining down on what's left of it. Inuyasha rushes over, taking off his red fire-rat coat in the process with a groan. 

The young folk would say they were cooked, but I'd say they WISH they were cooked before they ended up in a stomach like living sushi. 

Inuyasha looks up high on the wall where the stone spears from Tessaiga mark his first attempts at busting them out of there. Shippou clings to Kagome under Inuyasha's coat and complains to her that it's difficult to breathe, while she again holds her hand over her mouth and nose and agrees. 

Notice that Sango in the panel above has lost her mask? Turns out that wasn't an oversight on RT's part, because the next panel shows her carefully placing it over Miroku's face as he winces even in his unconsciousness. Inuyasha is once more thinking that there's now no time to waste, as if there was any BEFORE this point, and twists around to demand the Shikon fragment Kagome is carrying. 

Literally the last resort. 

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? This is one of those that give me mixed feelings. On the one hand, this is probably the best action we've had since Inuyasha got the Kongosouha move to begin with, and it's accompanied by some real tension. Though we HAVE seen Inuyasha trapped in someone's belly before, and that particular situation was more dangerous to him INDIVIDUALLY, due to him being in human form at the time, in some ways this is worse. He has Tessaiga here, but even its newest most devastating barrier piercing attack isn't doing jack shit, and his entire team is in this belly. It's not just his neck on the line, and given his lingering guilt about Kikyou's death and what he sees to be his part in it, being responsible not only his own demise but those of his closest friends as well would be some devastating last thoughts for him. There's a lot more on the line at this point, so that amps up the stakes a bit. After 350 chapters, RT still has the ability to make me sweat for these characters. 

On the OTHER hand, the way we got here was EXTREMELY clumsy and there is still no proper explanation for the steps we took to this spot in the story. The Moryoumaru/Goryoumaru connection remains obscure, the spell to create the Rakan statues and the purpose of such is opaque, and original purpose of Naraku placing the infant in the temple with Goryoumaru in the first place is unexplored. Despite my enjoyment of the action and tension this chapter provides, I am a little frustrated that there's not a lot of lead-up to it that makes any amount of sense so far. Anyone who's been reading the blog for a while knows I love a good setup and payoff, but this seems like a whole lot of payoff to very little (if any) setup. It feels a little like my brain is preoccupied by its confusion over how we got here instead of being present in the stakes of the moment.

As a little side note, Naraku's teasing tone came dripping through the screen at me when he was "casually" wondering how Inuyasha and crew got here. Kagura has GOT to know at this point that she's in a bad place. Not that there's much of a way out of it. Much like Inuyasha's group, she's trapped inside Naraku's machinations, and her dissolution in its acidic output seems inevitable. We'll see if she can manage to wriggle free as the protagonists are expected to. 

YuYu Hakusho Manga: 054 The Vanguard Battle Begins!!

Please forgive me if my writing is at all... confused right now. We got our cat Pooka spayed and her recovery has been a whole battle of its own. Upon coming home from the animal hospital, she immediately started trying to run and jump on everything, and she stayed awake for the first two days straight wired on her adrenaline and confusion and fear. Her strict regimen of meds to keep her calm doesn't always work and she's writhed her way out of two different recovery cones AND a body suit, so our sleep has been rather patchy for the last few days in our efforts to keep one eye open and on her at all times. What's more? Our other cat Grimalkin rejected her when she came home, hissing and swatting at her, because all the smells of the anesthesia, her new medical outfit, and her own terror masked her scent enough to make her somewhat unrecognizable. It's day five and we're FINALLY making progress on that last issue, Grimalkin no longer hissing at Pooka and cuddling with her a little. A relief, to be sure, because it was a complication we were unprepared for. 

The good news through all this is Pooka's incision wound is healing well and fast, so I'm hoping we can get her out of her hated cone and suit soon. Fingers crossed!

Bet SHE'S never had to wear a cone. 

Whatever medical indignities she has or has not endured, she declares the Dark Tournament open, though I still don't know WHO she is that empowers her to do so. We're shown a snapshot of a couple of men sitting in the VIP seats, another hefty cigar-sucker like Tarukane (except with some hair) and a slim lined middle-aged sort, both wearing suits. The former chuckles to his companion that this is the best part of selling one's soul to the dark side; the regular goody-two-shoes of world will NEVER know the thrill of being able to see Hell unleashed. Don't I WISH. 

The cheapo public seats are filled with demons calling for hitting, kicking, pokes in the eye, which is... pretty tame coming from literal malevolent spirits. Did they actually come here for a screening of some Three Stooges films? Anyway, they complain that they didn't do any of that preschool violence for weeks so they could come here, because bad deeds are restricted for prospective audience attendees to the event. 

Wait, so let me get this straight: if one wants to go to a bloodsport tournament between demon combatants that promises to end in death for a lot of them, the demons who want to come and watch have to be good little hellspawn and on their best behavior leading up to it? Like they're performing goodness for Santa Claus? 

It's kind of a wonder that ANY of those seats are filled, lol. 

Looks like demons have housing issues too.

Back in the VIP seats, we're shown a man with deep lines around his mouth right down to his large chin called Sukezo Gondowara, labeled the sponsor of the aforementioned Jolly Devil Six. A thoroughly unimpressed-looking Sakyo sits next to him, yet he asks him anyway what he thinks, calling his team "the dregs of the red light district" but with the potential to be legends. He in fact believes that the Jolly Devil Six are the REAL challenge to Toguro's team, since it's his opinion that Yusuke's team will be dispatched in short order. 

Said team emerges to jeers from the crowd, who perceive the guest team has arrived, and in the process note that Yusuke is still unconscious, one of his arms slung over Kuwabara's shoulder who drags him out upright. They mistake this for a dead faint, call Hiei and Kurama human-loving bastards/traitors, and yell that there's no WAY any of them are coming out of this alive. At least, the stated HOPE is that the the "legitimate" teams chew them up and spit them out. 

Kuwabara sweats and clenches his jaw, sarcastically calling the crowd a friendly bunch and supposing its members have to let loose on SOMEONE. Kurama question their use of the word "traitors", saying he'd be offended if they weren't such low lives. Clearly he's offended either way. 

The unnamed announcer lady calls the two teams to the center of the arena, and they comply. 

Uhhhh... I get that he didn't want to look like a toddler at this event, but this... This just makes him look like he's high on E at a rave. 

The ticket scalper balks, recognizing Koenma despite him being "all growed up" so to speak. The little goblin-like creature scratches the back of his head in nervousness, asking Koenma if he's here to watch the bloodbath. Koenma tells him an acquaintance of his is competing as a guest, which is a bit of a COLD way to refer to Yusuke. I mean, sure, they're not FRIENDS, but surely he's more than an acquaintance! I guess "child soldier" was a little on the nose. 

With an irritated expression, Koenma chatters to this random scalper about how he had THOUGHT about ending this whole bloody spectacle entirely, but he asserts that this event vents demon stress which reduces predations in the human world. What kind of terrible "The Purge" logic is this shit?? 

Absolutely fucking wild. 

The goblin scalper calls Koenma wise, calling this place a dark sanctuary where battle is the only language understood, the law is decided by the victor, and even the noble Koenma has no rank over any other spectator, unable to object if he saw his own parents murdered. Sounds like the "poetry" of half my mediocre middle school classmates. No WONDER he's scalping tickets for some extra cash. 

Koenma swings around to leave, muttering a thanks for the laughably edgy little screed. Nearby, Botan calls to him, accompanied by Keiko, Atsuko (as I was informed in the comments of the last chapter review, thankfully!), and Shizuka. She tells him that Yusuke's team is in the arena, and the goblin scalper is taken aback by what he assumes to be Koenma's substantial harem, calling him quite the ladies' man. Yeah, the pacifier brings all the girls to the yard - triggers that maternal training, I guess. Koenma corrects him with the simple statement that they're the friends and family of the guest combatant he mentioned earlier, adding that he HAD to bring them along due to Botan's loose lipped habits. She makes the excuse through nervous laughter that she was just trying to be nice. Still, the goblin remains kind of impressed in a shocked sort of way that THREE human women had the guts to come here. 

Yusuke snores on a glaring Kuwabara's shoulder as the three members at the forefront of the opposing team glares right back, though the little one notes that Yusuke is still asleep. The announcer informs the audience with her microphone that the team captains will decide the mode of battle and what constitutes a win. Apparently, if they're unable to agree, it falls to the house rules that stipulate one-on-one matches where the team with the most victories takes the win. 

The fair-haired guy, Zeru, stares unrelentingly at Yusuke's team while Kuwabara frets that their captain is still snoozing on his shoulder. Kurama tells him that it's HIS office then, to which he responds with bashful nervousness. He laughs that he's flattered, since it means that he's Yusuke's second, and verbally throws caution to the wind before squaring his shoulders and resolving seriously to show their opponents leadership, Hiei looking annoyed at his back. Meanwhile, Yusuke has DISAPPEARED. I assume in his eagerness that Kuwabara literally shrugged him off, and he's lying crumpled on the floor right now. 

Kuwabara walks right up to Zeru, hands in his pockets. Aural tension crackles between them. Zeru downplays the importance of his opinion (somehow the captain doesn't think it MATTERS what he says), but says he likes the one-on-one battles, given that it prolongs the fun. Kuwabara agrees wholeheartedly, asserting that this is a real man's way to fight. Fantastic, they agree. As Kurama hands Yusuke back over to Kuwabra, because I suppose HE just took Yusuke for the moment it took to agree, Kuwabara is stoked at how cool the non-existent negotiations were. 

Zeru's attention is on the sleeping Yusuke, his gaze flashing after a moment. 

The fuck? Is he starting the first match already?

Kuwabara complains that Zeru's aura is hot as an oven, and characterizes this swell of power as an attempted provocation of Yusuke. The masked member silently notes that this guy is out to kill, and Kurama wonders at the fact that he hangs out in the human word despite his icy eyes and fiery aura. The implication being that these attributes would be better utilized in the demon world, Kurama questions what demonkind has come to. 

I mean, YOU'RE hanging out in human world, dude...

Kuwabara hollers straight in Yusuke's face, yelling at him to rise and shine, but it's hopeless. The kid snoozes on. Observing that Yusuke still hasn't stirred, he wonders whether he's ill or just stupid. A little of column A, a little of column B. 

The announcer calls for the first contenders to get on the field. Little Rinku saunters forward with his hands clasped behind his head, the very PICTURE of relaxation as he bids his teammates later. With the crowd roaring and Kurama and Hiei looking on silently, Kuwabara grins and volunteers to take this one. The audience screams about Kuwabara being up, yelling for him to be killed. Rinku frowns in disappointment, mentally grousing about always getting the doofuses, and how the teasing he did yesterday didn't seem to scare his opponent like he'd intended. I'm sorry, kid, you're just not that intimidating. 

Anything goes in one-on-one battles, per the announcer, who also adds that a count of ten will determine out-of-bounds and knock-outs. Rinku smiles innocently, hands now behind his back as he expresses that he's as prepared as he's going to be, no anxiety to be found on his face. When the announcer begins the match, Kuwabara confidently invites the shrimp to bring it with a beckoning motion, and Rinku complies. 

You'd think the twerp were in a gymnastics competition. 

The announcer, who at LAST introduces herself as Koto, is impressed by Rinku's supreme agility, admitting she can BARELY follow him. At some point Rinku assumes that he's darted around enough so that Kuwabara can't see him properly, but when he comes close to Kuwabara, he sees the older boy pulling back his fist in preparation. 

He lost his hat and everything!

Up in the VIP seats, the team sponsor recoils, his expression a little like Rinku's above. The cheap seats murmur in disbelief at the hit to Rinku. Kuwabara pulls back for yet another punch, telling Rinku in no uncertain terms that the gloves are off. Rinku attempts to scramble away, but Kuwabara literally delivers a kick straight to his rump as he's turned away. Kuwabara is smugly holding up a fist again when Rinku turns back and rushes him in his indignation, delivering an uppercut to the tyke's chin and sending him flying. 

The crowd is now roaring with insults for Rinku, claiming they've never seen anything more pathetic, asking who sent the little runt into the ring anyway. From the sidelines, Kurama says evenly that Kuwabara can be surprising, and his love of fighting was apparent in the times he's spared with the tough. Hiei seems overall unimpressed, and asks Kurama what's with all the samurai posturing Kuwabara is doing, since he SHOULD have finished this with his aura sword by now. Uh, dude, weren't you listening? He LOVES fighting. Are you in the habit of rushing shit you love? 

Although, it does feel pretty scummy watching a huge teenager beating the shit out of a tiny baby child like this...

Rinku clutches his stomach and makes a noise like he's fighting back vomit. Kurama looks pleased, convinced Kuwabara has got the kid and this is it. As Rinku falls backward and Kuwabara dashes at him, Kuwabara says he's not into torture, so he's going to make this quick, promising Rinku he's going down for the count. 

But Rinku smirks slyly and flits away before Kuwabara can land a new punch. Kuwabara looks dumbfounded, and even more shocked when Rinku reappears behind him with the stated hope that Kuwabara enjoyed his moment. Kuwabara just begins to turn when... 

Oof, that sounds like it hurt. 

Kurama gapes in horror, the crowd drones in shock, and Zeru just... stares, as usual. Rinku once more clasps his hands behind his head and saunters off, a giant smug grin on his face. He's following up on his trailing comment earlier about hoping Kuwabara enjoyed his moment, declaring it now over with a laugh. He also asserts that he could have taken him out from the first moment, but asks where the fun is in that, echoing my point from before. Finally, he discourages the announcer from doing a count at all, because he's pretty certain he broke Kuwabara's neck back there and the teenager is well and truly dead. 

Hiei smiles creepily, thinking the little grease ball Rinku ALSO enjoys a fight it seems. The audience pumps fists and heaps praise upon the little dude who appears to have won. For a brief second, anyway.

Look whose moment is over NOW. 

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Forget Yusuke, poor Kuwabara has the weight of the WORLD on his shoulders throughout the whole beginning of this thing. He's forced to be interim team leader because Yusuke just CAN'T rise and shine, and that means negotiations that he was not all too prepared for, and then stepped in to take the very first round of the match. Sure, it seems to be going about as well as you might hope, but it all still looks ABSOLUTELY exhausting. Kurama is BARELY picking up any slack by taking Yusuke off Kuwabara's hands for a moment there, and Hiei is FULLY committed to being as hands-off as possible until his round starts. Granted, I expect it from Hiei given his character, but Kurama's refusal to take damn near ANY responsibility this situation is a little disappointing.

The background on this tournament we get through Koenma and the scalper's conversation is pure comedy. The suggestion that demons who value blood and destruction above all else can not only be expected to not partake in those things themselves just so they can vicariously watch others do it, but they actually DO IT? But it makes the reader question how much of this blood and destruction mentality is natural to them and how much is learned. If they can refrain, then it implies that it's not an intrinsic part of how they function. Between the necessity of eating SOULS for some of them and the ability to just NOT hurt humans, what IS the basic nature of these creatures? That might be as impossible a question to answer as what the basic nature of HUMANS is. 

And why shouldn't it be impossible to answer? We're the one's who invented "demons" after all.

Inuyasha Manga: 353 Stone Oni

All these haunted garden statues are giving me the creeps, but the chills they offer aren't nearly enough to overcome the heat of this year's El Nino. Our nearest city experienced record highs for this time of year, and as the summer wears on, things aren't liable to get much better. I'm perpetually freezing to death on the regular, but even I was too warm. Though our house manages to stay fairly cool even on hot days, this fact doesn't do much to curb my spiking climate anxiety. 

We'll see if throwing myself into another review does the trick.

Maybe Sesshoumaru could lend me a little something to take the edge off, if all else fails.

Jaken glares at the youki crystal he's holding up in front of his face, reporting that it's not reacting at all. He turns to Sesshoumaru and asks if Kagura was making up her story about Naraku's heart being here, but Sesshoumaru is lost in his own analysis of the environment. He can smell Inuyasha's former presence, as well as something else that he doesn't even identify yet in his HEAD.

Not for long, obviously. Once the group gets closer to the treeline, they find the shredded remains of myriad youkai shredded and chopped, which disturbs the SHIT out of Jaken and Rin. And that's not the ONLY thing. 

Someone's been exhumed. 

As Jaken and Rin cower behind Sesshoumaru's furry shoulder ornament, the former asking what the deal is with all the dead youkai, Sesshoumaru comments rather on the fact that someone seems to have been buried in this spot. He suggests it was THAT person who was responsible for all the carnage around the empty grave. I mean, okay, but dead people don't usually just get up and start killing youkai. Maybe since he (along with plenty of others in this story) is familiar with zombies menacing an area by this point, he's less concerned with the "HOW", so much as the "WHY". If he's concerned at all, of course.

As Jaken sidles up to the corpse of a giant eyeball with legs and hums critically, Sesshoumaru resolves silently to remember this scent. Given historical precedent, he probably has no doubt it will pop up again. 

Narrow transition panel to Inuyasha and company racing at breakneck speed over a rocky landscape, Inuyasha himself complaining about how they really got delayed, Kagome clinging to his back with a concerned look. On Kirara a short way to the rear, Miroku tells Inuyasha there was really no way they could have left Goryoumaru unburied to give chase right away. Kagome adds that their new knowledge that the baby is Naraku's heart on its own is valuable, but Inuyasha interrupts her to snap that it's not GOOD enough. He is, after all, a man of action. Inuyasha insists that they have to find the heart before Naraku can hide it somewhere new. 

A narrow shape in the sky hovers in the distance as they fly through a jagged canyon. 

No surprise that it's Kagura, as Kagome identifies from their advancing position on the ground. Inuyasha looks a little mystified by her just hovering there, and from Miroku's shoulder, Shippou recalls that she was going to follow-up on the location of the baby. That's not how I remember her parting words to go after Hakudoushi and Kanna, but I suppose the implication could be there. Miroku wonders aloud if Kagura is INVITING them to follow her. What OTHER reason could she possibly have to sit there stationary in a visible spot waiting for you to catch up? 

Kagura herself notes that the group below has seen her and that it's coming over. On the ground, Sango expresses some suspicion about how much of a distance Kagura is keeping from them, and Miroku interprets this as a lack of courage to guide them directly. Kagome seems to agree with this assessment, reminding them that Kagura told of how Naraku has a grip on her heart. All Kagura can think is that these bastards better do a good job, because she's not interested in dying in vain either. 

Another narrow transition panel leads us to another view of the massive stone oni from below.

Had to get out of the canyon to look the thing in the mouth. 

Without ANY hesitation, it seems, Inuyasha encourages the group to enter the statue, and he receives no argument either. Kirara follows him into the cavernous mouth of the carving, like it's some kind of cheap Halloween attraction. They've got more guts than me, that's for sure. I hope they don't LOSE them in there. 

When Shippou DOES ask if they're going to be eaten as they start to approach the throat and he takes a last nervous look at the gaping mouth behind them, Miroku assures him that it's just rock carved to LOOK like an oni. He should know that this is no guarantee of safety, but there's literally nothing else he can do while actively entering the statue than trust that it won't spring to life. 

Inuyasha pauses at the back of the mouth, commenting on the deep shaft descending into darkness from there as he gazes down it. Kagome thinks she can sense something down there in the dark, and at the same time, Inuyasha's nose twitches, picking up a scent. Once more, he tells the group to press on, jumping into the hole. 

This carving is REALLY realistic. Look at those BONES. 

After letting Kagome off his back into the ankle-deep questionable water at the bottom of the "cave", Inuyasha advises her to keep close, and she stutters her agreement. She says his name with some concern when he draws Tessaiga, but he just screams out into the cave to the bastards he KNOWS are there, letting off a Kaze no Kizu at the wall. A silhouette, all tentacles and spines, emerges from behind the crumbling divide. 

Yeah right. $50 bucks says it's a fucking puppet or something. Nothing less will buy me a tank of gas these days.

Inuyasha is clearly suspicious of the obvious as well, asking what's going on for Naraku to just stroll out here like this. I mean, he WAS behind a wall... Miroku interprets this to mean that the Shnooky heart was already hidden elsewhere, while Naraku asks Inuyasha what's wrong with him that he's not the LEAST bit happy at finally cornering his hated enemy. I doubt anyone would be HAPPY to see you under ANY circumstances, dude. 

Naraku (or his proxy, as it may be) holds out his hand, palm up, to surprise the Inuyasha group with a the almost complete Shikon no Tama, dark as a lump of coal. Kagome has her brows drawn down in anger, noting that its evil aura has grown stronger still than the last time they encountered it. Naraku appears at first to be offering the jewel as a parting gift - before their journey into the afterlife, at least. But then he clarifies that he MEANS the Shikon shard Kagome already carries. How can you give someone something they already HAVE? 

Who knows? He doesn't really bother to elaborate as the Shikon no Tama in his palm pulses and crackles. 

This doesn't look good. 

Shippou and Kagome both shriek in pain, jerking their feet out of the "water" with urgency. The newly pulsing walls glisten, secreting more moisture that drips down on the group's collective heads, Sango shouting in alarm that this is ACID. Outside, Kagura is shocked by the oni statue throbbing before its eyes spring open, looking malicious in its new vitality. Despite Kagura's disbelief, it has indeed come to life. 

Hakudoushi hovers at Kagura's back while she's distracted with horrified fixation on this giant creature into which she's led the Inuyasha team. He smirks at her. 

And where does THAT get you when your hand just dissolves seconds later, dude?

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Inuyasha's pursuit of Naraku has always been SOME level of reckless, but it has reached a whole new level in this chapter. From snapping at Kagome that just having the information they've gained on Naraku's heart isn't enough, to automatically diving into the most suspicious mouth-shaped cave in the history of ever, to vowing to grab the Shikon no Tama off Naraku basically even when he would fucking die in the process anyway, he's so eager to solve this Naraku problem as fast as possible that his brain is fully off. No strategizing anymore. Not even the beginnings of strategizing. Just lunging for what is most likely, if historical precedent is any indication, not REMOTELY close to the throat. The desperation for any kind of strike at this purely malevolent force that has taken so many lives and been so destructive is potent enough that it doesn't seem to matter to Inuyasha though.

But you know, I can't really blame him. I'm tired of Naraku's shit too. Every action of his is more outrageous and heinous than the last, and you have to wonder how he's gotten away with it all having pissed off so many people. I suppose his only saving grace is that all those people he's pissed off so thoroughly are distrustful enough of EACH OTHER that they aren't ready to enter into a real alliance to take his horrible ass out, and some part of that is by design. Keep everyone fighting amongst themselves and even when they realize they have goals in common, they can't quite bring themselves to join forces because the prejudice is so deeply ingrained. 

What do you mean? Of COURSE I'm still talking about Naraku. Who ELSE could I possibly be talking about?