Inuyasha Manga: 021 The Heart Remains

Welcome to the 100th review I've done on this blog! I don't even know how this happened! Seriously, I didn't expect to get through the first twenty chapters of Yu-Gi-Oh. I figured I would get bored and fall out of the habit and that would be the end of the thing. But here I am, one hundred chapters, and not slowing down for anything.

This calls for a celebration. I need cake, wine, and plane tickets for all my friends back home to attend my party.

Or just cake and wine, since they're all busy and such...

When we left off, Tsukumo no Gama was going to use Tsuyu as HIS cake and wine. No! Bad frog! This is MY party, and you're not allowed to consume human flesh here! I don't CARE if you brought your own snacks in their weird egg-bubble things. Who even invited you??

Rude. Can you believe that crap?

As Tsuyu stares in horror at the line of egg-like containers full of women around her, her eyes fall on one of the eggs in which all that remains of the woman is the head, attached to a tadpole's single flagellum. She gasps and Tsukumo flicks out his tongue to wrap it around her, restraining her arms and torso. She's lifted up and screams, but a crack sounds at the door.

This party is going down the tubes. Shit...

Inuyasha glares at the frog he's cornered as the frog grunt-chuckles again. While peeking over the edge of the hole Inuyasha made in the door, Kagome asks Nobunaga if he's alright. He assures her that his injury is nothing. Then they actually NOTICE what's in the room Inuyasha busted into.

Well, at least she wasn't stripped like the others. Inuyasha looks around at all those others in their eggs and various states of transformation into tadpoles, saying that this is what all those women rounded up from the villages must have been for. Kagome gazes around too, identifying the eggs as such in disbelief. Myouga, having perched himself on Inuyasha's shoulder again, exposits that the Tsukumo no Gama keeps the girls' souls in the eggs to ripen them for eating.

Nobunaga is horrified at the suggestion that Princess Tsuyu is being set up to be eaten, but Myouga isn't done dropping info yet. He says that Tsukumo was able to usurp a country and take the identity of a lord through the power of the Shikon no Tama. Overcome with rage, Nobunaga has taken out his sword again and charges toward Tsukumo no Gama, cursing. Tsukumo no Gama releases a cloud of miasma through his mouth again, and Kagome warns Nobunaga to look out for it. You're so very observant, Kagome.

Inuyasha elbows Nobunaga out of his way as he draws Tessaiga, planning to rip through the miasma along with the frog.

HAHAHAHAHAHA! Frog-Lord-sama! I'm dying!

Also easily entertained.

Inuyasha wears a jaunty grin as he holds up his sword and promises to cut open Tsukumo no Gama, take the Shikon shard, and stop him from making any more trouble. Myouga is impressed with how well Inuyasha is using Tessaiga, and Kagome admits that he is sort of helping humans. This inexplicable look of admiration is on her face while she says this. Seriously, what do you have to be smiling about? That he's indirectly helping people by pursuing his own interests?

Tsukumo no Gama watches some of his blood running off his webbed fingers, cursing the fact that he's dying. He looks up at his store of eggs and chants about souls a couple of times.

That's some serious paranormal activity you've got going on there.

Each of these heads swims right into Tsukumo no Gama's open gullet until his engorged belly is full and he slaps it, happily declaring that his HP is restored. The wound on his chest has disappeared, which Kagome notes with dismay. Inuyasha calls Tsukumo scum, but Tsukumo taunts him by encouraging him to cut him more so he can devour more souls.

Tsukumo is distracted by Nobunaga having crawled over to Tsuyu's egg, slicing her out of it with his sword. She coughs out the amniotic goo that had surrounded her within. Nobunaga leans over her, and when she looks up to see he saved her, she throws her arms around him in gratitude. Heart hammering, Nobunaga looks at her in surprise, then returns her embrace, claiming that he can now die in peace. Inuyasha and Kagome look on in exasperation, Kagome saying this isn't really the time for that.

Tsukumo no Gama is suddenly livid after hanging back for a weirdly long time to let them have their moment. Now he's stretching his tongue from his mouth to impale Nobunaga again and asking him how he dares to touch the princess. Inuyasha smacks Tsukumo over the head with the dull side of his sword, telling him he's one to talk. Tsukumo no Gama's eyes bulge and he wobbles, disoriented, before he haltingly says Tsuyu's name.

Tsuyu is hiding behind Nobunaga, who's still holding his sword out, but they both look somewhat confused. Tsukumo no Gama takes his webbed hands and pats them all over his face, stuttering out a question.

Uhhh... what's happening with Inuyasha's Tessaiga there? I think there's a bit of a perspective error going on here that's making this look super weird.

Inuyasha says it's a little late to be playing dumb, but Tsukumo continues to disparage his own actions with a horrified tone. Kagome approaches on the thought that maybe he's not playing at all, and asks him if he's the lord of the castle. The frog groans, and says that when the demon first possessed him, his human heart remained, but even that has diminished over time. Kagome is shocked that the lord still survives within the demon.

The lord requests that they kill him, to which Kagome gives a noncommittal noise.

Why you gotta break my heart, manga???

Nobunaga, as is his habit, addresses his lord without actually saying anything. He just trails off to let the lord continue to wallow in this insistence that he has to die and take Tsukumo no Gama with him. Kagome looks thoughtful, thinking it's so... something. I was considering the term tragic, but who knows what Kagome had in mind.

We know what Inuyasha has in mind, though.

Kill, kill, kill. Maim. Can't wait to get to the butchering, that boy!

Nobunaga asks Inuyasha to wait and what will happen to the lord inside if Tsukumo dies. Kagome, panicked, seconds that question, saying that the lord's heart is still trapped within. Ever the optimist, Myouga tells her that though she's right, even the lord's heart will be consumed before long. Kagome begins to reprimand Myouga when Inuyasha yells at them all to shut up. Since the lord is asking to be killed, they should stop with their useless sympathy.

Inuyasha swings his sword down at the hunched frog, Kagome shouting his name. I'm not sure why, but a cloud of mist is somehow suddenly covering the floor and the lord's possessed body, with Inuyasha looking down at where his sword landed. Kagome stares too.

Inuyasha is SO annoyed with his own compassion. He lifts Tessaiga back onto his shoulder and whines that it's just too easy if he simply executes his foe. Kagome breathes a sigh of relief, smiling at Inuyasha's inability to kill Tsukumo's hostage. Inuyasha walks up to Kagome and asks her what she's going to do, her answer to which is confusion. He says that she was the one who stopped him doing the deed, so she should be responsible for dealing with the frog in another way.

Said frog's eyes narrow and blink.

Looks like Tsukumo no Gama regained consciousness. Kagome kneels next to Inuyasha, calling his name, while Tsukumo's tongue slithers back into his mouth. He grunt-chuckles, asking if they really think they can deal with him. He shuffles forward, telling Kagome that he's going to eat her first.

Nobunaga and Tsuyu acknowledge that the possessor has returned to the forefront. Myouga leaps onto Kagome's shoulder shouting for her attention. When she glances at him, he says he's thought of a way to drive Tsukumo no Gama from his host body. Kagome asks if there's really a way, Myouga says it's a risk, but she says she has to try with a determined expression. Get on it, girl!

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? The lord's return and the characters' understanding that he's still trapped in Tsukumo no Gama somewhere complicates things in a good way. What little we got to hear from him confirms that he's a good person, doesn't want to hurt anyone, and is genuinely remorseful for what has been done. Granted, it may not have been HIM, but it was his body and more importantly his POWER that allowed this to happen. What Myouga said about the political and social position of the lord being crucial to Tsukumo no Gama's plan is spot on. It was the station that accomplished the scale on which Tsukumo no Gama was able to do these things. Such is the nature of privilege.

Watching Inuyasha in this chapter was an extra treat because not only was he his usual hilariously grumpy self, but he also showed his human side very effectively here. From his expression when he saw Tsukumo no Gama devouring the souls of the women, to his own inability to slay the demon knowing the lord was in there too was great. A more subtle move of his that I noted was his use of the dull end of his blade to hit Tsukumo no Gama over the head. It was clear to him by that point that Tsukumo was just going to eat more souls if he was cut, so Inuyasha hurt him in another way to avoid that.

He should count himself lucky that Tsukumo no Gama doesn't appear to heal his headaches like he does his cuts.