Inuyasha Manga: 077 Kagome's Voice

There was a kind of hullabaloo over that, wasn't there? Back when the original anime was out, I remember loads of Inuyasha fans coming out of the woodwork to piss and moan that Kagome's voice actress was "shrill" or some other surface complaint. When asked what "shrill" meant, none of the dissidents of Kagome's voice could ever give a straight answer. I didn't happen to think she did a half bad job of it, but I never gave the matter much thought either. My opinions on such things were never very popular to begin with, so to hell with it.

Uhh, never mind, I'll keep my opinions after all. I wouldn't want them to be stuck there with Kikyou forever...

Kagome screams at Inuyasha to run away, calling him stupid as she asks if he can see what's happening right in front of his dumb face. Sorry, couldn't resist throwing in my own insult. From what Kagome can see of Inuyasha's eyes, all glassy and out of focus, Kagome realizes that it's no good to yell at him because he's not even conscious. Instead, Kagome starts yelling at Kikyou, asking if she can hear her. Kikyou does have an eye on Kagome as Kagome hurriedly explains that her hatred is misplaced, because fifty years before, Kikyou and Inuyasha fell into a trap. Kagome tells Kikyou that a guy, called Naraku, is the one really to blame for making Inuyasha and Kikyou hate each other, and he's the one whom Kikyou should despise.

Kikyou turns her head more fully toward Kagome now, glaring, and Kagome thinks she might have gotten through to Kikyou. However, when Kikyou raises a hand...

Shit, that was RUDE.

Kagome whimpers Kikyou's name as Kikyou continues to glare, saying that even if she could get her revenge, her dirt body would not come back to life. Kikyou lifts her hands to caress at Inuyasha's face lovingly, claiming that it will be better for him to come with her rather than go on living unable to forget about her. Yeah, because being unable to forget about someone is debilitating and deserves euthanasia.

Veins pop out all over Kagome's head as she gets seriously ticked. She shouts at Kikyou to stop messing around and not to touch Inuyasha, which seems to do something shocking to Kikyou. Literally, there are tendrils of lightning drawn all over her taken-aback expression accompanied by a crackle.

Kagome's voice may not have bothered me none, but those souls are sure getting the fuck out of dodge, aren't they? Beyond the barrier, Miroku and Shippou observe with alarm the gigantic ball of souls escaping into the sky. They simultaneously speculate that the souls appear to be running away.

Kagome is no longer being held up by the soul-collectors, leaning on her hip in the grass. Kikyou realizes that Kagome had torn out her soul yet again, and she tightens her grip on Inuyasha's robe, trying to drag him down faster before she runs out of souls. However, Kagome utilizes her voice yet again; now that she's free, she tries to get Inuyasha's attention once more by shouting at him to wake up. Inuyasha's fuzzy brain picks up on it this time, and he takes a moment to realize that it's Kagome.

Inuyasha doesn't need anyone to tell him to get to work. He whips out Tessaiga and runs toward Kagome, leaving behind a hurt-looking Kikyou in his rescue wake. Inuyasha swings the Tessaiga down on the wafting soul-collectors, and Kagome flinches for how close the blade comes to her face with the strike. When Inuyasha asks Kagome what she's doing in a place like this, Kagome repeats the question indignantly, but Inuyasha is soon distracted by the remaining soul-collectors coiling around the ruined tree in front of him.

They pass him to hover around Kikyou, who kneels in the rubble of the broken ground where she tried to drag Inuyasha into Hell with her. Inuyasha sweats as he looks at the great cracks in the earth he just escaped.

Don't pout, Kikyou. You set yourself up for this. She asks Inuyasha if Kagome is more precious to him. More precious than being MURDERED by you? Yeah, that's not really a difficult choice to make, is it? Inuyasha looks flabbergasted at the question, not having the opportunity to answer before Kikyou allows herself to be carried away on the backs of her remaining soul-collectors. He calls after her and she responds with a demand for him not to forget...

Duly noted. Inuyasha gapes at her retreating form while Kagome glares at the ground with a heavy frown. Inuyasha watches the souls and Kikyou grow smaller in the night sky as she tells him not to forget again, and he contemplates her with sadness.

He hears a shift in the grass behind him and glances at Kagome now stomping off in the opposite direction to Kikyou over his shoulder. Confusion apparent on his face, he follows, trying to get her attention, but she tells him to go away. Inuyasha asks what she's so pissed off about, causing her to stop abruptly and turn to glare at him. She apologizes before she lets him know that she saw everything.

Inuyasha recoils a moment, sweatdropping, before repeating "everything" like a question. She confirms that she saw it all from beginning to end. Inuyasha sweatdrops even more while she sighs and asks with a crestfallen expression just what in the world she is to him. Inuyasha is taken aback again, searching for words, but when he reaches out and actually starts to talk, Kagome sits his ass. From his prone place in the ground, he shouts at Kagome, but Kagome sighs that she's going home. Miroku and Shippou find him laying in the dirt fuming, asking what happened. Miroku says it looks like something awful happened to him.

Meanwhile...

She's casual, for a dead girl.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Talk about a cat fight. Kagome and Kikyou bickering over Inuyasha never did entertain me much, and it's only become a LITTLE more bearable through a deeper understanding of Kikyou's motivations here. It's because delving deeper into the motivations is like wading knee-deep in the kiddie pool. Kikyou is essentially being a brat.

Sure, it was interesting seeing her admit that revenge won't get her her life back, and this after Kagome says that her hatred is totally misplaced. It's her admission that she's acknowledged the priest she killed had a point. She's clinging to a time that's long past, and the only thing she can do at this point is go back to death. Kikyou tries to bring Inuyasha with her to restore her warped sense of balance, because she had originally died with the notion that she was following Inuyasha her love.

It doesn't actually matter to her whose fault it is that she died. All that matters is making things the way they were SUPPOSED to be fifty years before. Which is the other part of the reason she's so upset that Inuyasha has moved on. The first part that we've already discussed is plain jealousy, but it's not JUST of Kagome's place in Inuyasha's life. It's jealousy of Inuyasha himself for still having a life to live and a path to keep going forward. That crack about him not being able to forget her was actually the vain hope that he was in some way LIKE HER in that he wouldn't be able to truly heal.

Of course, she knew all along that she had to trick him into going with her into death, that he wouldn't go willingly. It's no wonder she thought she had to remind him that her feelings are REAL, despite the trick she played on him.

As for Kagome's depression and anger at the end of the chapter, same ol' same ol'. He's anxious and wary of Kagome's temper, but still too unskilled socially to properly explain himself. She's focusing on the fact that Inuyasha' confession to Kikyou seemed to be expressing sentiments similar to those in the one he gave her, and confused by Inuyasha's seemingly contradictory actions. They'll go around in circles until one of them manages to express a message in a language the other actually understands.

Ah, young love.