Inuyasha Manga: 019 Spirit of the Castle

Volume 3 in your faces, motherfuckers!! I feel like these chapters are just flying by! Where does the time go? It feels like I was only starting my reviews on this manga just a couple of weeks ago, but we're already twenty chapters in. They grow up so fast...

Not that we're even kind of close to the end yet, oh no. It's still just Kagome and Inuyasha so far, and we've only just passed the first arc featuring a reoccurring character. There's still much to see in this world...

Like these forgetful kappa type things, for example. They repeat Inuyasha's question about the Shikon no Tama in a loop of stupidity causing an angry vein to pop in Inuyasha's temple. Myouga suggests they stop talking to them, because they're idiots, though it's been three days since they left the village and they have yet to find any clues. As Inuyasha is leaping over the trees, having left their dead-end leads behind (probably still asking the question that never ends in the swamp), he postulates that there may not be any shards in the Musashi area at all.

He looks down to find Kagome is wading in the water again, but in a bathing suit this time, something he's apparently confused about. She's stretching her arms and talking to herself about how good the water feels, which must be significantly warmer than last time. She leans down, pools some water in her hands, looks off to the side inquisitively, and shrieks. Inuyasha, who had seated himself on the bank, flinches back and yells at her that she shouldn't get angry because SHE'S the one who took her clothes off.

Kagome calls him an idiot, saying she wasn't screaming at him, and demands that he go and get her clothes back from a blur of white fur making off with the bundle she left on the shore. Inuyasha identifies it as a monkey, curiously.

Well, I mean, this is what you get for sending a monkey off to get you food. You get exposed to lingerie that no one in your culture will be familiar with for a long time. Is it funnier for him not to know what he's holding? Genuinely, I'm curious about which is actually the better joke.

Anyway, Inuyasha and Kagome pop out of a nearby bush, Kagome telling this dude to give her back her clothes immediately. He pulls out a sword and points it at them, asking who they are and calling them suspicious. Inuyasha thrusts his foot at the side of the dude's head, claiming that he stole his line. They don't even PRETEND to be oblivious to the script in this one.

The next panel shows the stranger shoving potato chips in his face, because he was probably starving if the monkey was in the habit of bringing him inedibles. Kagome, dressed again and sitting beside him at the base of the tree, offers him some tea, which he ravenously accepts.

Are... are you offering him DOG BISCUITS, Kagome??

She's such an asshole.

Kagome says that if Inuyasha eats something, she'll have less to carry, and he in turn jumps down to her level and asks why she brings so much stuff through the well. She starts to list off all the things she needs to bring with her from her time, including a change of clothes, which is ludicrous because she always just wears her damn school uniform. Why does she only wear that? Because RT literally just WANTS her to. Check out the profiles book if you don't believe me.

The stranger crumples up his dried potato bag and thanks Kagome for the delicious food. You're only saying that because you were fucking starving dude. Because he calls her "Young Lady", Kagome stutters out an introduction that was somehow not made before, telling the stranger who Inuyasha is too. Myouga jumps onto the stranger's cheek and begins sucking his blood, earning a dispassionate flattening against said cheek. Kagome says with a smile that he just squished another named individual, Myouga, all as the stranger wonders just who the hell these people are.

Something I'd like to take the time to appreciate here is how our stranger isn't freaking out over the chips, or the bra, or any of Kagome's modern-ness. Sure, he's perturbed and weirded out, but he's not screaming "witch" and grabbing torches and pitchforks. Time travel stories too often portray the people of past societies as superstitious morons who will worship a time-traveler over the simplest of devices or tricks. It's unrealistic because people are perfectly capable of grasping technology and not losing their minds over it EVERY DAY. It's always nice to be reminded that I'm not reading a story that assumes inferiority in intelligence on entire populations just because they lived in the past.

Granted, this stranger IS a moron, but for different reasons than the cliche above.

Kagome makes conversation with him, recalling that he said he was separated from his retainers, and asking if he's from an important family. The stranger says he can't reveal his FULL identity, but he gives her one small tidbit.

Ohhhhhh boy. Kagome grabs his hand with both of hers, shaking it vigorously while he stares at her in alarm. That's not a gesture he's going to understand, Kagome. She gushes about what a pleasure it is to meet him, and Inuyasha leans over to ask why she had such a change of heart. She informs him that Oda Nobunaga is a SUPER famous person, asking if Inuyasha didn't know. Girl, of course he doesn't know, that unification Nobunaga was famous for hasn't even happened yet! Otherwise you wouldn't be in the feudal period! Use your head!!

Kagome whips out a book entitled "Fun Japanese History for Examinees" and begins reading aloud portions of the text, saying that Oda Nobunaga was considered the Fool of Owari until he defeated Yoshimoto in the battle of Okehazama in 1560. Inuyasha is perplexed as to what she's reading from. Something that has to label itself "fun", oddly enough.

Nobunaga interrupts her shyly to say that he's actually not ODA Nobunaga. Kagome stares at him as she asks if he's really not. He stands, bows, thanks her for the food, and tells her he has to get going. As he's leaving, he twists around to tell her that he comes from Takeda, not Owari, and he shouldn't be mistaken for any fool of that area. He turns around again, saying he has an important mission he has to complete. Kagome repeats in her head that he's not Oda Nobunaga, I assume in disappointment, while Inuyasha appears to remember something important.

A little late to speak up now, Inuyasha.

Somewhere where the mountains meet the forest, a totally fucked procession is traveling through a village. A man on a horse has a line of girls with their wrists tied walking behind him. He tells the villagers not to hide any of the girls, because they're all supposed to be presented to the local lord without exception. An old man off to the side wonders what the lord is DOING with all those girls he gathers from all over, and a guy next to him says that none of those girls ever return to their villages.

Nobunaga is peeking over a bush lining the road where the girls are lined up, looking forlorn and scared, wondering how the lord could do such a thing. He also wonders if it's true that the lord has gone insane.

Good grief Kagome, you're not Nobunaga's mom.

They're close enough to hear one guy whispering to another that just between the two of them, he heard that the lord was actually possessed by a monster. Inuyasha steps on Nobunaga's head to lean closer to the private discussion, because demonic possessions are what interests him.

Over an idyllic backdrop of a lovely castle, the rest of the rumor unfolds into a sinister tale about the girls being eaten by the possessed lord.

He's quite the mummy, huh? He asks Princess Tsuyu, the girl pouring him his tea, if she's gotten used to living there. She puts on a weak smile and stutters that she wants for nothing, but in her mind her only thoughts are about how scared she is. The lord doesn't seem to notice how uncomfortable she really is, so says how okay that sounds to him. Princess Tsuyu's thoughts turn to how attractive her husband's figure was before his illness made his voice change and he became strangely fat. There's your first indication that this ain't no illness, sweetie. At least not of the viral or bacterial kind, because those usually make people thinner.

Princess Tsuyu asks for the lord's attention haltingly, and he responds with another one of his heart-adorned words.

And theeeeeeere's your second indication. Mummy!lord is hiding something nasty. Still, because he's acting so violent all of a sudden, Tsuyu has no choice but to bow and apologize for HER impertinence. Later, when she's sitting with a sewing old woman, she can afford to look as uncomfortable as she needs and think about wanting to go home. With a tear in her eye, she wishes someone would come help her.

I know help is coming, but this is breaking my heart right now. For all she knows, the guy she married just completely changed into this abusive asshole for no reason, and she's totally freaked out. Hang in there, girl!

Meanwhile, Inuyasha and company have approached the base of the cliff of rock that the castle is perched on top of, staring up at the gate. It's just as he thought - the place smells overrun with youkai, so he's thinking there's no way the Shikon no Tama wouldn't turn up in there with a smile. Inuyasha crouches in front of Kagome and tells her to get on his back, because they're going in. Nobunaga clambers on too, implying that Inuyasha's back is broader than it looks. Inuyasha glares over his shoulder and asks who invited him along, and Nobunaga just drops a vague statement about having business in the castle too. Before they take off, Nobunaga glares at the retaining wall with determination and thinks at Princess Tsuyu that he's coming to rescue her. Okay, Mario.

Inuyasha leaps on top of and over the wall with his passengers, and once they've been let back to the ground, urges them to come with him. Myouga, on Inuyasha's shoulder for the time being, warns Inuyasha to watch his back because he senses something weird. Inuyasha asks him what it is, and Myouga answers that this is a big castle, but there's not a single watchman out. Nobunaga calls this careless, but Kagome rounds a tree to find a watchman in armor sitting against it snoozing. She assumes he's asleep, but Myouga says it's a spell that put him in that state and surmises that maybe the whole castle has been put out of commission like so.

The princess and old woman are asleep on the floor too.

Oh boy, the goofy fucker isn't so goofy after all...

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? The ambiance of the mystery is really well set up. Being shown all those women tied up and being led away like prisoners was chilling, and getting a glimpse of what's happening to them once they get to the castle is enticing. When I read this chapter for the first time, I couldn't wait to figure out just what was going on here and what these bubbles were, but even now I'm looking forward to seeing what's happening here. It's just so bizarre an image that you can't help but be excited for it to be explained.

I also really like how RT portrayed this relationship between Tsuyu and the mysterious lord. All too often, if women are in abusive relationships in fiction, their partners are assumed to be abusive from the very beginning, either kidnapping the woman or the woman herself being criticized for being such a bad judge of character. Here, RT is giving us a much more realistic picture, that often abusive partners can start out loving and sweet and then turn out to NOT be those things. Granted, in this case, the issue is a literal demonic possession, but the situation still points out how scary and uncomfortable this change in personality can be for real women. It's truly awful to see Tsuyu mentally freaking out, and then being forced to apologize even though SHE'S not the one acting violent and volatile.

As fantastical the reason for his behavior is, it's still interesting to see Tsuyu struggling with this change as a person instead of an object of kidnap or just a stupid bimbo who couldn't recognize an abusive person when she saw them.