Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 158 A Brave Gamble

Gambles by nature tend to be brave, because part of the definition of the action is that the outcome could just as easily be for or against the one making it. If you know the way things will turn out, it's not a gamble. Still, I'll bite; I'm a bit curious about what makes this particular gamble so much more worthy of the "brave" title than any other. That's especially considering this gamble is within the context of an entire tournament with an ante rule, which is just one big gamble.

I'm getting a sense of gamble-ception from this already.

I don't know why he's so shocked at the sight of Jonouchi pushing himself off the ground. One of his more valuable cards is on the line - it's not like he's going to get another chance after shrugging his shoulders and forfeiting the rest of his points. Besides, Jonouchi still wants to keep moving toward that future he described to Roba before, which he doesn't see how he can get to if he just gives up.

Though he concedes in his head that this fantasy future of his may never actually happen, he's confident that he can get to the place in the city where Yami is waiting when he realizes his own strength. It's kind of strange to me that Jonouchi is so sure and unsure of his future simultaneously, because complexity of thought isn't really one of his hallmarks. Contradiction of thought doesn't seem up his alley either. Whatevz.

Regardless, Jonouchi is urging himself forward with the knowledge that he has to be there for his friend, having made a promise. To him, this means he can't lose, which he shouts at Roba with determination. Roba responds with a villainous laugh, inviting Jonouchi to dream all he wants, at the same time warning him it'll never happen. He declares that Jonouchi's only future is losing, pointing out that Jonouchi only has 200 life points left and has not a single monster left on his side. Add in the fact that his opponent has one of the strongest monsters in the game working for him, Jinzo, and that's a combination that would have Roba curious to see a way Jonouchi can win, if there exists such a miracle.

Jonouchi glares, speechless a moment, until Roba urges "Jonouchi the Super Loser" to take his turn already. Rude. Jonouchi tells Roba to just watch him and draws a card, praying it's something to beat Roba. It turns out to be Baby Dragon, which he adds to the only other card in his hand - Scapegoat. He has to bet it all on ONE of these cards, so...

Okay, betting on sleeping tribbles dressed as goats IS a pretty brave gamble, I'll warrant. At least Roba seems to get the idea behind these sleeping goats, which is to stand between Jonouchi and total annihilation. He's smirky about how it only buys a little precious time, though. Jonouchi is the opposite, sweating and telling himself this is all he can do for now. He ends his turn on that precarious note.

Roba tells Jonouchi to get himself ready as he draws a card, which brings back his smirk in full force when he sees its face. It's called Brain Amplifier, and he equips it on Jinzo, who clenches its fists and hunches in typical super saiyan power-up fashion, before explaining that it brings up Jinzo's attack by 500 points, and then 300 more every turn after this. It seems pretty unfair to have a card that can do such a thing, but I'm not a game designer, so my opinion could be crap on this matter.

I also happen to be critiquing from a safe out-of-universe distance right now, a luxury the panicking Jonouchi doesn't have. He's only concerned with how he's supposed to beat something that only gets stronger every turn. BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! Roba summons a monster called Reflect Bounder, a mirror-chested monstrosity with a bunch of other mirrors decorating its cape and other parts of its costume for good measure. Pointing, Roba shouts at Jonouchi that even if he manages to summon a monster and attack, his attack will be bounced back onto him. Get it? The attack is bounced - it's reflected - do you, do you get it?

Jonouchi is shocked by this declaration, and Roba encourages him once more to just give it up, because there's only defeat in his future. He's got this silly little grinning expression with his eyes closed too, like he's thinking this isn't a completely asshole thing to suggest. Jerk-ass. Roba shouts at both his monsters to attack.

That took less time than Jonouchi must have thought. Roba tells Jonouchi that if he summons another monster in his next turn and attacks with all three at once, he'll beat him no problem. He gleefully pronounces that he wins, again urging Jonouchi to forfeit before he embarrasses himself because his continuing is pointless. His insistence is a tad too relentless; a "methinks thou dost protest too much" moment, if you will. If this kid is going to win on the next turn anyway, why is he SO eager for Jonouchi to give up now?

The suspiciousness of this is furthered by the fact that when Jonouchi yells at him that it's his turn now, Roba gets PISSED. He demands to know why Jonouchi doesn't just give up. Why are you so offended by the fact that Jonouchi wants to keep going? What is your GLITCH, dude? Jonouchi doesn't care, of course. He just answers that he's a duelist, plain and simple, at which Roba grits his teeth. Calm your shit, bro.

Jonouchi draws a new card and his eye gleams at the sight of it. Or, GLEEMS, as the comic prefers to spell it.

If I had the experiences with "roulette" based games that Jonouchi has, I would avoid EVERY card that had a name containing the word. But, hey, this might be that brave gamble the title is talking about.

The spidery-thing starts pawing at Jinzo's face when it gets over there, and Roba is horrified that it managed to blind his precious monster. He stutters a question about what's going on, noticing that a roulette table has appeared between himself and Jonouchi while Jinzo acts as the center of it, letting out a series of muffled groans. Jonouchi explains that this spell card is his last big gamble, costing him half his life points and bringing them down to 100. He's not too broken up about that - it's not a huge difference from 200, after all.

Roba is freaking out, asking what Jonouchi is trying to do. Jonouchi informs him that his Roulette Spider has the objective of blinding the strongest monster on the field and spinning around. After the spider is done spinning, that monster, in this case: Jinzo, will attack whichever target is indicated by the arrow sticking out of the spider's backside. Roba is getting more and more nervous as the explanation extends to all the monsters on the field being potential targets, including Jonouchi's. If the arrow stops on one of the players, it'll hit them too. Sounds like Jonouchi's finally grasped one of those super expert rules. In this game of roulette, ROBA is the one who has to call for the arrow to stop.

It appears totally terrifying to Roba that Jonouchi's is a gambling deck that relies entirely on luck. I would think he'd be pretty smug about it, considering how easy it would be for Jonouchi's card to hurt him instead, but I just can't figure this little brat out. He's sweating up a storm when he imagines the worst - if it hits him, Jinzo's 2900 attack point would zero out his 1440 in no time. Jonouchi wears a cocky smile as he points at Roba and challenges his psychic ass to stop that arrow in the right place. Oh SNAP.

Jonouchi says that one of them is going to get blown away with this attack, so they may as well get on with it. He shouts for the spider to start spinning, and it does, taking the hapless Jinzo with it.

This makes Jinzo SIGNIFICANTLY less intimidating.

Roba calls out for the spinning Jinzo to stop, and stop he does, with the spider's butt-arrow pointing in a direction that has both Jonouchi and Roba gaping. It's the monster dressed in mirrors that is being pointed at, and a stuttering Roba mutters an trailing sentence about what this means.

So, Roba's big badass monster got all dizzy and destroyed itself along with one of its friends? That must be some hardcore embarrassment that's got Roba stumbling around as he cries that all his monsters are gone. His life points have been reduced to 240 as well, and I'm not certain how THAT happened if the mirror thing was only supposed to reflect the attack back at the attacker.

Ah well.

Grinning, Jonouchi informs Roba that there's still one more monster in his hand that he hasn't played yet. He slaps Baby Dragon on his Duel Disk, and its big doe eyes and chubby smile seem to terrify the SHIT out of Roba. Jonouchi provides forewarning of the extra humiliation he's going to deal Roba before...

Just goes to show you, kids, there's ALWAYS room for more embarrassment. Always.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? There was something forced and overbearing about how Roba was acting here that just rang a little hollow for me. I understand that his behavior was supposed to indicate that he didn't understand what true sportsmanship is, or that Jonouchi was willing to see his challenge through to the very end. It was an attempt to show that, behind the bravado, the cheating, and the ultimate insistence that a small number points inevitably leads to loss, Roba didn't have any clue what it means to really win or fight for what you want. That much is clear enough.

However, it sort of undermines what little legitimacy Jonouchi's new journey had, as well as his stated reason for being in this tournament to begin with. He said he wanted to learn to be a true duelist, and though he gave no definition of what that phrase means, he at least gave an inkling of it being someone who has the power and confidence to win back their cards on their own. At the end of his very FIRST duel in this tournament, he's shown he is MORE than capable of this against someone who was relentless in goading and talking down to him. He seems to already BE that true duelist that he was talking about, but I suppose KT has to have SOME reason for sticking him in this tournament and dueling Yami.

Too bad it was kind of a flimsy one.

Inuyasha Manga: 099 Water-Spout

That's funny. Fake!Suijin doesn't LOOK like a little teapot, short and stout. In fact, I believe it's been established that he's a long and thin snake creature, so just about the opposite of that. Real!Suijin fits the short part of that description, though, and I guess one out of three ain't bad when the guy impersonating her is sitting on a solid zero out of three. Maybe that's why she qualifies for the god-job more than him - resembling Mrs. Potts a fraction of a percent more.

But that just brings up more questions about why this is a standard that gods would be required to try and meet. Or why my speculation has drowned in the deep-end of ridiculousness at this point.

And my speculation isn't the only one, it seems. Inuyasha should have known it was foolish to go after it!

Sango and Miroku run up, asking Kagome if she's okay while Miroku holds up carefully cupped hands with a little glowing person nestled in them. Kagome gasps at what he's holding. The next panel switches to below the surface of the lake, where fake!Suijin is still holding a struggling Inuyasha. However, fake!Suijin notes that Inuyasha has weakened considerably, chuckling deviously. Back above, the Suijin in Miroku's hands demands to be put down and Miroku complies, lowering his fingers to the dock so she can step off of the edge of them as Kagome gapes at her, because I'm guessing SHE didn't expect the god to be that small either.

Suijin doesn't give a shit, taking off one of her earrings, which appear to be clusters of miniature pearls? Or grapes. Not sure. She says this is the "parting of the waters" as she throws the earring in the lake below, just as fake!Suijin is about to jab the holy weapon into the drowning Inuyasha, promising him that this is the end. Fake!Suijin pauses when he sees the tiny earring descending through the water above, prompting me to wonder how he managed to notice that. Seems like that might be difficult if you're wrestling around beneath the waves with someone anyway.

...Something you forgot to steal?

Kagome and friends gape down into the canyon between the walls of water, Miroku marveling at how the water actually parted. Kagome doesn't care, panicking about where Inuyasha might be. Instead of an answer, fake!Suijin thrusts the holy weapon at the walkway they're kneeling on. Kagome snatches up Suijin again, shouting to look out for that halberd's point as she scrambles out of its way. When the holy weapon makes contact with the creaking wood, it gives off a strange pulse or something that looks like rippling water, then the wood dissolves just as it did before. Miroku dumbly states that the walkway turned into foam as stares in alarm.

Fake!Suijin laughs, promising that this lot who has been interfering with him a ton tonight are gonna get it now. Miroku calls this nonsense, followed up by Sango informing fake!Suijin that they have the real one. Presumably Sango was going to talk about how Suijin is going to stop him, but is stopped short herself when Kagome shouts that Suijin is in fact ASLEEP in her hands. She's curled up, slumbering away against Kagome's fingers, despite all the chaos around her. Talk about things that seem difficult to do in the thick of a conflict. Who does she think she is anyway? Joji?

Miroku peers down at her, hand on his chin contemplatively as Kagome says that it looks like Suijin has used all her power. Sango is exasperated by how quickly that happened, but given Miroku's more sympathetic face, I'd say his power doesn't last much longer, if you get my drift. HEY-O!

He and Sango leap into action, weapons raised and intentions all synced up, along with their speech with Miroku starting and Sango ending a statement that in the case of the god being passed out, they'll have to exterminate the spirit. Fake!Suijin is unconvinced, lurching toward them with the holy weapon in his hands, comforted by the fact that he still has it. Not for long though. He suddenly drops in altitude and glares below him at what caused this.

Well, you DID just try to drown him. Which is way worse than calling you fake. Just for the record.

Kagome calls out Inuyasha's name, happy he's still alive. Shippou points out that he can breathe again with a leap for joy, unnecessary as this comment was. Fake!Suijin insists that no matter how much Inuyasha tears up his body, it doesn't even hurt. Then he shoots up into the air again, alarming Inuyasha before he latches onto fake!Suijin's scaly hide and insists the snake won't get away, spitting up water along the way. Fake!Suijin says he's not even trying to get away, though, while Sango calls for Kirara to join her in charging at the retreating snake. Kirara transforms into a big kitty, and Sango straddles her back.

They pull up level with Inuyasha clinging to the scales of the fake!Suijin so Sango can tell him to back off, because he's already failed to kill the bugger. She says it's her turn, which flabbergasts Inuyasha. Sango elaborates that to kill of the long types like this one, you have to cut off the head. To demonstrate, she and Kirara fly higher toward fake!Suijin's front, and Sango lets loose her Hiraikotsu, aiming for his neck, no doubt. He swiftly turns to knock the boomerang away with the holy weapon, complaining that her whole group is such a nosy bunch to keep coming after him one by one. Sango curses as she catches a slightly foaming Hiraikotsu, though it seems in one piece.

Fake!Suijin halts his rise into the sky to order the fools below to watch him unleash the true power of the weapon he carries. He thrusts the halberd in the sky among rumbles of thunder.

Something tells me his intentions are much worse than that, Kagome.

He's interrupted in them, however, when Sango's boomerang comes whizzing at him again. He swings the halberd back around toward her again, this time with a lot more power behind it. He calls her efforts at killing him futile and Sango's eyes widen at the power coming toward her. She calls the whirlpools of water approaching water spouts before they hit her in the chest, knocking her from Kirara's back. Kagome and Shippou freak out and Sango's unseating, Kagome nearly squeezing the little goddess in her hands until her eyes pop from her skull.

Fake!Suijin is keeping pace with the falling Sango, trying to skewer her with the holy weapon while she's going down head first, which kind of makes for an awkward pose of Sango straining to keep sight of the blade over/under her tits. It's bizarre, so I'm not gonna talk about it anymore.

You didn't think he just disappeared after you told him to, did you? Oh boy, I forgot how NEW you are to this.

Kirara catches Sango, who hangs on despite being half distracted by how Inuyasha came to her rescue. Inuyasha still has a firm grip on fake!Suijin's arm and tells him to give it up, but fake!Suijin just calls him an asshole. Sango and Kirara come up level with Inuyasha once again, Sango asking where the hell Inuyasha came from. He informs her that he slowly made his way up fake!Suijin's body as she was playing decoy, a term which gets Sango a bit miffed. That's not really Inuyasha's main concern right now, though.

Why are you so dumbfounded, Kagome? Did you only JUST notice those things on their rampage? Good grief, child...

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Well, I guess every arc has to have a weaker chapter, even good ones, and this was it for this particular arc. Granted the weaknesses were somewhat minor compared to some early ones I covered during Sesshoumaru's first appearance, but they were glaring given the quality of the rest of the arc.

In particular, there's the issue of the goddess being so worn out by throwing an earring into the lake. A freaking EARRING. It's not a terrible joke on its own, though the context does beg a few practical questions. First, is this meant to explain how fake!Suijin managed to trick her and steal the halberd in the first place? Is this weakness or mere laziness on her part? If she has to take a nap after throwing an earring into a lake, how did she ever wield a powerful weapon like fake!Suijin is doing? Had she been a goddess for very long before she was usurped? Because I can't imagine her being on the job a DAY before this guy decided he's had enough of her constant laying around.

Then there's the fact that the fake!Suijin is sensitive enough to feel this earring falling through the water near him, but NOT sensitive enough to feel Inuyasha clawing his way up his body. He even claims that Inuyasha's claws don't sting or itch, which would have been a fair setup for Inuyasha being free to climb without fake!Suijin noticing... if the earring thing hadn't given him pause before. He can't be super perceptive of every little thing in his vicinity one moment, and then oblivious the next. Continuity, RT. Continuity.

That's not to say that there aren't admirable parts of this chapter. I enjoyed the fact that Inuyasha and Sango are practically racing each other to get at fake!Suijin first. There seems to be a genuine competition between them to see who can wrap this case up, and you rarely ever get to see something like that between a male and female character very often.

At least not without the woman getting a crush on the man because he out-badassed her in the field. I'm grateful THAT piece of unsavory bullshit isn't clogging up this story.

Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 157 Psycho Deck!

Is this a Hitchcock reference? Does someone have a deck that is specifically meant to resemble the situation in the movie, or simulate Norman Bates' obsession with his mother? Did Pegasus create a series of cards that followed iconic scenes in the movie and throw some Duel Monsters stats on them?

Yeah, that's a thing now. Deal with it.

Roba growls at the mockery, and Jonouchi lays some more on REAL thick, quoting his claim of being in touch with the cosmos as a joke. He calls Roba a scam artist before he says he knows the trick; Roba is having someone peek at Jonouchi's hand. Roba is taken aback, eyes wide like a deer in headlights.

Up on the ledge of a nearby building just behind the duel in the street below, the team of Roba look-alikes are gazing down at it, one of the four voicing the fact that Jonouchi has figured it out. The one with the binoculars whines at one in a headset, asking why he didn't guess that Jonouchi had Devil Dice instead, and moaning that their big brother is going to yell at him now. Headset-Roba-Clone stutters out his apologies. Someone asks what they should do now, and Binoculars-Roba-Clone says that Roba can handle it from here, and that they may as well stop. One with an untucked shirt and a runny nose stands up and breathes a sigh of relief, finger right up in his nostril.

This family is all class, I tell you.

Strangely, Binoculars-Roba-Clone looks kind of scandalized that one of his fellows took his call for quits seriously, but Snot-Roba-Clone says that their big brother is a good duelist, so he can do the thing even without their help. Then he grins, his finger shoved in his nose throughout the whole exchange. Binoculars-Roba-Clone sweatdrops.

Down below, Roba himself has recovered somewhat, asking what Jonouchi could possibly mean when he talks about spies and who he thinks these hypothetical spies are. He suggests one of the spectators as a ludicrous option, then smirks at a glaring Jonouchi for making such baseless accusations, reminding him that he's only won one turn. Then Roba begins to recite the dictionary, calling a claim without a basis "speculation", followed by an unrelated insistence that he'll predict the future with his powers and be 100% accurate about it too. Jonouchi looks skeptical about this, as he well should, as Roba shouts that he'll win this duel, and Jonouchi will lose. He asks Jonouchi if he knows how Roba knows this, and despite getting no answer, Roba starts to monologue about how he's never lost a duel, and how Jonouchi's an amateur, and how the great Roba has more experience, therefore the future is certain, blah, blah, blah. Same garbage we've heard ten-billion times before from people who have come up against Jonouchi.

Jonouchi answers this with some refreshing honesty.

The cocked head is a nice touch, KT.

As an example, Jonouchi talks about walking down the street and turning the corner, maybe being able to see the next town, or a woman he's never seen before carrying a baby or her shopping, but that's about all the power he has for seeing into the future. However, Jonouchi says that he knows there's a guy somewhere in town who's waiting to take him on as soon as they get to the finals of the tournament. He's thinking of Yami, of course, when he elaborates that at some point in the future, they'll meet up and duel, dead sure of it. He claims to be fighting now for the simple reason he believes in the future he just described, and that's all there is to it.

Roba isn't moved in the slightest by this speech and vows to crush Jonouchi's stupid future. He then calls for the continuation of the duel, with the added jab that he doesn't need his (fake) powers to beat Jonouchi. At 2600 life points, Jonouchi thinks he's not going to lose, while the 2940 point Roba is planning to teach Jonouchi to fear his psychic cards.

Looking at his hand, Roba see's he's still got his Jinzo the Psycho Shocker card in his hand, which he calls the ultimate psychic card. You mean it's NOT a Hitchcock reference? Aw man... Roba grins up at Jonouchi, thinking he already knows how he's going to take Jonouchi down. This consists entirely of spending this turn playing a single face down card. After a pause, Jonouchi is relieved to know that Roba isn't playing another monster. He assumes this means that he can attack Roba directly to "wail" away at his life points. WAIL, as in "scream and cry obnoxiously". These are the official translators, folks - just want to let that hang in the air for a moment.

Aaaaaand, the moment's done. Jonouchi draws a new card, hoping it'll be good. He hunches to try and hide his hand as well, so no one will see it. Jonouchi is stoked to see he picked out Alligator Sword once he gets a chance to peek, and so summons it, much to Roba's undisguised amusement. Jonouchi assumes that because he's got two monsters with a combined power of 3000 attack points, he's won already. I wouldn't be too sure about that...

Against all my expectations, Roba takes the blow, cringing as the Alligator Sword swipes away half his life points, and whittling them down to 1440. His clones atop the building are all shocked and horrified by this turn of events, but Jonouchi isn't quite done yet. He yells that it's his Landstar's turn, saying that one more hit will end the duel.

Roba, however, doesn't sit still for Landstar's hit, telling Jonouchi the first one was the only one he'll get. It is at this point Roba reveals his face down card, Mind Control, which he uses to hypnotize Landstar and stop it right in its tracks. While Landstar's eyes swirl, Jonouchi is flabbergasted that Roba had a trap lined up. Are we certain he doesn't have short-term memory problems? That was literally the last turn, dude. It was the ONLY thing Roba did, you'd think you would remember to watch out for the possibility. Sheesh.

Cackling, Roba rejoices that Jonouchi's warrior is his slave for two turns, but Jonouchi just can't figure out why Roba didn't do this with Alligator Sword. Roba explains that if he had used his trap on Alligator sword, the pair of turns would have ended in a draw. Sure, he wouldn't have taken any damage, but he also wouldn't have gotten the LIVE monster he needed for his plans. Jonouchi glares at Roba cluelessly, probably because he's forgotten about sacrifices again so quickly. Ryuzaki sees what's going on here, though, and mentally calls Jonouchi a moron for not realizing that Roba wants to use Landstar as a sacrifice.

Jonouchi scoffs and thinks at Roba to take one of HIS traps then, pulling Chasm with Spikes from his hand, to ensure that Roba goes boom the next time he attacks. He plays his trap card as his last move of the turn. Roba is smirking when he thinks that Jonouchi's move of facing a trap with another trap is a disgusting show of single-mindedness. He's certain that very soon, no trap will be able to catch him.

Not again indeed! What a cheap shot!

Regardless, the Alligator Sword floats over to its new master's side of the duel, as he's bragging about how the monster is his now, along with the effectiveness of his ESP mind-control tactics. Uh, dude? You realize you're not actually controlling the monster with your mind, right? This is just the rules of the game and how the card you played works. Delusional little...

Jonouchi freaks about how both his monsters have been stolen, before Roba starts monologuing again. As this duel's bad guy, he can't help but tell Jonouchi the whole of his intentions, summoning an even greater creature by offering up Jonouchi's monsters. He cites super expert rules again, saying that you have to sacrifice two shrimpy monsters in order to summon a bigger, badder one of seven or more stars. Jonouchi appears shocked by this information, even if it WAS just given to him a couple of chapters ago.

The monsters Roba took are surrounded by holographic wind as Roba begins their sacrifice to summon some sort of crazy cyborg creature.

... I'll be seeing that horrible mask in my nightmares...

Jonouchi repeats the words "Psycho Shocker" as if they mean something surprising. Or mean ANYTHING, really, because it doesn't sound coherent let alone significant to me. Roba informs Jonouchi that Jinzo possesses the ability to detect traps, which Jinzo proceeds to demonstrate right there and then. A flash across those creepy goggles (*shudder*) later, a sudden laser beam shoots at Jonouchi's face down card and destroys it. Sweating, Jonouchi gapes at his blown-up trap.

Roba tells Jonouchi that as long as Jinzo is there, any traps played opposite it will be useless. Now it's Jonouchi's turn to look like a deer in headlights, while Roba airily says that he has no reason not to attack now that Jonouchi's trap has been eliminated.

Thanks Jinzo. As if there wasn't going to be ENOUGH in my nightmares.

Jonouchi hits the ground HARD with 200 life points left. As he lies there, Roba asks if he gives up, because he's basically lost anyway. Jonouchi, however, pushes himself up, planting a foot firmly on the ground. He says that Roba WISHES he would give up, and asks how he's supposed to get to his future if he just gives up.

Well, I think that was the point, kid.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Much like in the last, I'm a bit torn. It's still really cool to see Jonouchi sticking with the duel even when he's down to his last 200 points, given where he started in Duelist Kingdom. The amount of confidence and drive he's accumulated since then is enormous, and it's kind of inspiring. It's a message of perseverance and passion that I think everyone reading this could benefit from, so I have to commend KT for it.

But on some level, I think the contrast is almost TOO strong at this point. Back in Duelist Kingdom, Jonouchi was really FIGHTING for something. He was trying to earn this huge sum of money to pay for his sister's medical treatment, which was compounded by the fact that he was trying to gain some sense of self-reliance and self-esteem. It was a real struggle.

But in this tournament, he's not here for anything. I've said it before, but it bears repeating that the stakes are nonexistent for Jonouchi right now. His sister has her health, he has his self-esteem, and the only reason that Yami has his Red Eyes Black Dragon right now is because Jonouchi didn't WANT to take it back from him. Yes, he doesn't feel like he deserves to have it at this point, and that's what he's working toward, which I understand. However, this is so much SMALLER of a story for him than it was the last time. It seems dinky in comparison, so I'm having a bit of trouble caring.

Maybe if Jonouchi relapsed a little and became insecure about his ability to win at this stage, it would add a little tension back in, but then the great message I mentioned before would be sacrificed. It's like KT wanted to walk this tightrope of meaning and function, but he's several feet away from that rope balancing a spoon on his nose instead.

Yes, I know the simile is clumsy, don't judge me.

Inuyasha Manga: 098 The True Water God

Still no word on what makes this "true" god any different from their usurper except the holy weapon, but I'm guessing it's not any kind of hiring or electoral process. If it were, whoever put this deadbeat in their position would have sought to replace them with a more competent candidate LONG before Inuyasha and company showed up. If I managed to lose my keys to some random subordinate and got locked up in a room so they could pretend to do my job for a while, I would be fired so fast my head wouldn't even have TIME to spin. I guess this industry runs on slightly different standards of work ethic than I'm used to.

I think a boycott is in order.

In a small outbuilding on the end of a walkway, Kagome is crouched by the door while the children watch it with fear. Taroumaru says that fake!Suijin is getting closer and Kagome tells him to shut it. All she can think right now is to protect the kids until Inuyasha returns. The fake!Suijin stomps along toward them, but after a moment it seems to those inside the shack that he's passing them. Quiet outside as the lean toward the door, and Taroumaru voices the foolish hope that he's not coming after all.

A creak sounds above and behind Kagome.

Dammit! These were new pants!!

Screaming and screwing her eyes shut, Kagome fires an arrow at the peeping face of fake!Suijin, but it hits the support beam for the roof instead. Probably shouldn't fire arrows without your eyes open, Kagome. Fake!Suijin pokes his face up into the other side of the beam, chuckling that they won't get away from him.

Kagome yells at the boys to hurry and get out, and Taroumaru already has his fingers in the crack of the door ready to do so. Unfortunately, it won't open for him, and Shippou's expression is strangely blank upon seeing this. I would be freaking out, but maybe expression for more than one character was too much effort for such a small panel. The door isn't opening because fake!Suijin has stretched his body in order to wrap it around the building and over the exit. Meanwhile, fake!Suijin's face up in the rafters is telling Kagome that she'll be the first to die. She's nocked another arrow and is aiming for the face, but that tail-like arm she injured earlier wraps itself around her ankle and pulls her onto the ground.

She looks up to see that the holy weapon is descending on her point first, immediately ducking her head again and squeezing her eyes shut, thinking she'll be skewered. Before that can happen, though, a crash comes from the door.

Good job busting in to save the day, Inuyasha. Too bad you crushed Kagome while you were at it. Tessaiga is also reverted back to rust-stick because it touched the holy weapon, which might be contributing to Kagome's welling tear as she calls Inuyasha's name behind him. In addition to the lumber pinning her to the floor, obviously.

Fake!Suijin calls Inuyasha a bastard, arm holding the holy weapon hanging through the back of the roof where he was going to stab Kagome. Inuyasha actually refers to fake!Suijin as fake when he says the false god has shown his real character, and Kagome gapes at the new information. Inuyasha turns to ask if the kids aren't hurt either, and while Kagome stutters that she's fine, the children rise from the debris of the former door, complaining that they weren't hurt BEFORE Inuyasha turned up.

The tip of fake!Suijin's hat sinks beneath the lattice decorating the rafters, and Inuyasha shouts at him that he won't get away. However, fake!Suijin is already slithering snakelike in the water beneath the temple, away from Inuyasha. Inuyasha gives chase, running along the walkway trying to determine where the fuck fake!Suijin got to. A small pause to look around was all fake!Suijin needed to use his tail/hand wrapped around the ankle trick on Inuyasha and drag him off the walkway and into the water, much to Inuyasha's surprise. Fake!Suijin has stretched and wrapped his body around Inuyasha this time, changing Inuyasha's look to one of disgust as he glares at the scaled coil surrounding him.

What would you have done if he DIDN'T call you fake? Serve him cookies?

Inuyasha informs fake!Suijin that he heard all about how if he takes the holy weapon off of him, then he's just a regular subordinate. With a thrust of the blade at Inuyasha, fake!Suijin invites him to just try it. Inuyasha manages to barely lean out of the way of the blow, and the blade strikes one of the stilts holding up the walkway. It dissolves into foam, along with the whole side of the building above it. Inuyasha gapes at the dripping bubbles.

Kagome and Shippou are also alarmed at the effect of the holy weapon as the come upon the scene, where fake!Suijin assures Inuyasha that this time he won't miss. Inuyasha has recovered from his shock and offers a scoff at this statement. Popping his knuckles, Inuyasha encourages fake!Suijin to try and aim again, because before the blade lands fake!Suijin's body will be torn to shreds. He simultaneously makes good on his promise, ripping into a wide-eyed fake!Suijin's coils.

Inuyasha doesn't get even most of the way through them, however, before he's dunked beneath the lake water again, being cursed by fake!Suijin for taking some sizeable chunks out of his snake-flesh. Inuyasha's breath, scant as it is, begins to escape him. Kagome and the children run up to the side of the walkway, Kagome calling out to Inuyasha. She falls to her knees and looks over the edge into the water, mouth agape in a silent scream.

Elsewhere:

Yeah, and then you should suggest perhaps a different career-path for them. Maybe one that doesn't carry so much responsibility.

As they climb the rock, Sango urges Miroku to hurry it up, because she's kind of worried about Kagome and the others. Miroku reassures her that Inuyasha is with them, so they'll be fine, prompting Sango to ask if Inuyasha is REALLY that strong. She looks more curious than disbelieving here, so I suppose she didn't mean the question to be doubtful. Miroku, on the other hand, outright says that you have to ignore a few minor things in order to consider Inuyasha strong. Sango interprets this as Miroku trying to imply subtly that Inuyasha is a moron. Diiiiiiick.

A sound from Miroku marks his discovery of a sealing charm dangling from the rock. As if to confirm, a voice comes from behind the rock to ask if someone is there. Sango says it sounds like a young girl, and Miroku leans closer to the rock eagerly when he states that the Suijin must be a goddess. Said goddess instructs him to pull the charm off the rock quickly to let her out, and Miroku is only too obedient, Sango looking somewhat wide-eyed at him as he shouts his compliance.

Once the charm comes off, there's a flash of light from the rock before it crumbles and Sango and Miroku are able to view the Suijin with some alarm.

A tad too small for Miroku's tastes, I see.

Back with Inuyasha....

... He's dying. Juuuuuuuust brilliant.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? A very pleasing aspect of it was the fall-back to those horror elements that have been so iconic for previous chapters. It gives the impression that, despite the fact that we know this god is fake at this point, the protagonists fighting him are still WAAAAY out of their depth in dealing with him. At least one-on-one, because they've only had the opportunity to get at him one at a time so far since he separated them. Even Inuyasha is at a disadvantage with his youkai powers.

But that was a given from the start, since it appears that god and youkai powers tend to conflict. Kagome's experience fending off fake!Suijin was the real show-stealer here. It's not because she did particularly well, but because of her palpable fear in combination with fake!Suijin's caution in dealing with her. She was the only one who was able to injure him at the time, so while he was flitting around trying to use an entire building as a shield from her arrows, she was too scared out of her wits to notice this and use his hesitation to her advantage. It made the battle more interesting knowing both sides of the conflict were afraid of the other, but only one of them was really in a position to exploit a weakness.

At least, it's more interesting to me than two overpowered, overconfident dudes punching each other until one of them wins.

Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 156 Esper Roba

Okay, no lie, I had to look up this term "esper", because it sounded familiar, but was never defined to me. Sure, context clues gave me the idea that it had something to do with being psychic, but I wasn't sure how this synonym was supposed to have indicated a link to the former word. Apparently, I'm not savvy on the fine art of the verbing of acronyms, as I just learned that people who claim to have extrasensory perception, or ESP, are referred to as espers.

I guess it's to make them feel more... active?

Hate to break it to you, Roba, but that schtick doesn't look as good on you as Shawn Spencer, and he came AFTER you. It's probably because he has better hair.

Instead of making a big show of his psychic powers like I thought he was setting up for, Roba suggests that he and Jonouchi confirm what each of them puts up for their ante before they duel. Roba's is his Jinzo the Psycho Shocker that we got a glimpse of at the end of his last duel, plus his little puzzle card. Jonouchi holds up his Time Wizard to show, and affirms that he also has a puzzle card, as though Roba was already questioning his right to hang with the cool kids. Don't rush into it, man, all good things to those who wait.

Just in case you're picking this volume of the manga up in the Barnes and Noble out of curiosity, it decides to reiterate what those puzzle cards are for you. You know, just in case not knowing what the hell a puzzle card is would put you off instead of make you more curious to pick up an earlier chapter to figure it out.

Roba says "roger that" like he's talking over a radio to Jonouchi, which is odd for a psychic, but I'm sure THAT won't come up later. He suggests that they start their duel, and Jonouchi internally freaks about the fact that if he loses his puzzle card, he's out of the competition. From the sidelines, an angry Ryuzaki demands to know what Jonouchi did with his Red Eyes Black Dragon. So he DOES remember that he lost it to Jonouchi! Jonouchi brazenly admits that someone stole it because he fucked up, and Ryuzaki stutters in disbelief and shock. However, Jonouchi continues his story by saying he got the card back, but a friend is holding it for him, or rather his rival. His rival/friend. He has an "it's complicated" status on his Facebook page for sure.

Again, in case you have no sense of curiosity about what that friend/rival deal is about.

Ryuzaki yells at Jonouchi that he can't win against Roba, claiming it was mere luck that Jonouchi won against him in Duelist Kingdom. He also reiterates that Roba can read his opponent's hand. Jonouchi isn't listening, silently asking Yami to wait for him, confident he'll win this duel and get to their friend/rival battle. Confident for now, at least. Jonouchi calls out that he's ready to go and announces their duel in classic Yu-Gi-Oh dramatized fashion.

He declares he's going first as he draws his cards, and looking at them thinks that this is an awfully nice hand he's picked up. He picks one to play and glares up at Roba humming in his direction as he massages his temples. Psychically.

I would say that the cosmos bending the odds of a fucking CARD GAME in his favor seems like an awfully small thing for it to give a shit about, but this IS Yu-Gi-Oh, so...

Jonouchi internally growls, calling Roba a "radio-wave wack job", which is the best insult I have ever seen in this manga next to "baby goth". Jonouchi calls for a halt to this nonsense as he plays his card, Gilta the D. Knight. Roba scoffs, thrusting out his palm, an action which at first seems to dissolve the hologram of Jonouchi's card right in front of him. He starts freaking out about the card he played disappearing on him, wondering if it was ESP. Roba states that this was simply the law of the cosmos, then the audience bursts out laughing. Jonouchi turns to glare at them.

Ryuzaki is able to stop laughing long enough to ask if Jonouchi is braindead, assuring him that this trick wasn't any kind of ESP but the card Jonouchi played. He explains with some cruel relish that Jonouchi isn't able to play a high-level monster right off the bat like that, having to sacrifice a low-level monster in order to do so. These are the new rules of "Super Expert Mode" that Kaiba invented for his tournament, and because Jonouchi hadn't the slightest clue, Ryuzaki asks if this moron knows ANYTHING. Some other guy behind Ryuzaki rubs his chin in disbelief that such a NOOB got into the tournament. And yes, he really does use the word NOOB here.

Wow, 90's insults. That takes me back.

Jonouchi gulps and turns red, having totally "forgot" about the super expert rules. More like you were a bit preoccupied with the prospect of a shiny new tournament to notice that the rules were tweaked, boy. He IS relieved that Roba wasn't using ESP on him, though, and sighs. Roba states that Jonouchi wasted a turn, and while rubbing his temples again, offers to make a suggestion to Jonouchi. After spending a moment wondering how he should put his advice, he tells Jonouchi to play the card on the very left of his hand, Swordsman of Landstar. Jonouchi is blown away by the fact that Swordsman of Landstar is indeed the card to the very left of all the cards in his hand, hitting the nail on the head.

Roba insists that this is telepathy, repeating that his mind is one with the cosmos and he has absolute enlightenment. Smashing choice on what to use that absolute enlightenment on, kiddo. He drones one and on about how his awareness transcends time and space and how he and Jonouchi are made of the same particles, so that makes he, Roba, Jonouchi AND his cards. Jonouchi doesn't get it, but I suppose he doesn't need to, because Roba doesn't bother to elaborate, shouting that it's his turn instead.

He summons Cyber Raider, which he uses to attack Jonouchi directly, since Jonouchi doesn't have any monsters out to beat the snot from.

You, uhhhh, didn't pick up any suspicious brownies for breakfast before you went to get back your stolen card, did you Jonouchi?

Roba ends his turn with a flare of smoke drifting around his feet, and Jonouchi mechanically says that it's his turn now. He thinks on the super expert rule of being able to attack the player in lieu of monsters to bash, and decides to summon a monster fast as he draws a new card. His card is Graceful Dice, which makes two kinds of "dice" spell cards in his hand which he puts right next to one another. Meanwhile, he thinks that his monster card isn't nearly strong enough as is, and decides to gamble on a certain OTHER card.

Opposite him, Roba is rubbing his temples yet AGAIN, making his weird noises and claiming he's "channeling" something. This pisses Jonouchi off to the point of calling him a radio nut job once more as he stamps his feet. Like a computer, Roba states that his channeling is complete, making him aware that Jonouchi drew a second Graceful Dice detected by his telepathy. Jonouchi's teeth are gritted and his eyes wide as Roba asks if this shocks him. Well... duh. He then starts to blabber all over again about how his telepathy is a gift from the cosmos. He's real good pals with the cosmos, you see, and the cosmos gave him telepathy for his birthday.

Roba claims to be in contact with the spirit of Pegasus right now, who was tragically murdered a few months ago. Oh yeah, that guy's dead. Thanks for the reminder, manga. Jonouchi has his incredulous face on, sweatdropping at the assertion that Pegasus's spirit is currently talking to Roba. Roba explains that Pegasus is the master of his game, and that's why Roba knows Jonouchi's cards. Roba, sweetie, I think you left out a few crucial rational steps in your logic there. Jonouchi's teeth grind as he wonders if this child is for real right now. Roba points and shouts that it's Jonouchi's turn, so he should play his next card. Wow, suddenly the placid guy at one with the universe is super impatient.

As Jonouchi stares at Roba and his Cyber Raider, he's not sure if it's ESP or ghosts or something else, but it's a definite thing that Roba knows what cards he has. He asks himself what he should do while he stares at his cards, only to widen his eyes at them. Jonouchi remembers how Roba said the card he drew was his SECOND Graceful Dice card, and continues to stare, though it's not clear what's making him so alarmed at the moment.

But... didn't he ACTUALLY read that before? Did you forget?

Jonouchi picks out his two Dice cards and slaps them on his Duel Disk face down and ends his turn. We hop into Roba's head as he considers these cards, once of which he deduces to be Graceful Dice. His smiles when he figures that Jonouchi's strategy is to activate the card when Roba attacks with Cyber Raider, thereby raising Landstar's attack and destroying Cyber Raider. Roba is downright giddy knowing Jonouchi's plan to thwart his ESP with the roll of a die, because luck is the one thing he can't predict. He's happy to accept such a challenge, of course, smirking at the sweating Jonouchi.

Then he's all business, shouting that he's taking his turn.

Well, Landstar's impressed at any rate. Jonouchi doesn't waver from his resolve, however, activating his Graceful Dice. The top hat on its simplistic little head has wings and I can't even with it. It tosses the die it's holding and while it clatters around the street, Jonouchi does the calculations; Mega-Cyber has 2200 attack points and Landstar has 500, which means he has to get a roll of 5 or 6 to win this one. Roba, on the other hand, thinks that Jonouchi can't JUST win with luck, because a duel is much more than that.

The die shows its 6-face and Jonouchi hopes for it, but the die ultimately makes one final turn to 3 instead. Though Landstar beefs up to 1500 points, Roba rubs it in that this is not enough to beat Mega-Cyber. Jonouchi gulps, but as Roba commands the Mega-Cyber to attack, this worry turns to a confident chuckle. Roba is flabbergasted when Jonouchi reveals his other Dice card, which is Skull Dice, conical hat with bat wings attached and all. I've never wanted to cosplay before, but there's a first time for everything...

Roba doesn't believe the trap can be real, even as it throws its die with a cackle. The die bounces along and lands on a 5, which brings Mega-Cyber's attack right down to 440. Landstar easily disposes of Mega-Cyber after this, slashing it with a sword that looks more like something made of foam from the dollar store. It does the trick, though, and leaves Roba devastated and doing a Home Alone scream when his points have lowered down to 2940.

Jonouchi says that the reason Roba thought he had TWO Graceful Dice instead of the one was because the cards were on top of one another and only the word "Dice" was peeking out from behind the other. He declares that Roba DOESN'T have telepathy.

Uh-oh indeed.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Characters pretending to be psychic come in entirely too often for this comic's good, especially when we have a cast of characters who actually ARE clairvoyant to deal with as well. It muddies the waters when the plot is dismissive of some characters and encouraging of others when it comes to something that isn't easily discernable in any practical way, like ESP. Besides, there's something about the repeated instances of "psychic" characters that strikes me as a let-down because it seems like KT just ran out of ideas of how folks can cheat at his game.

Also, there's no damn way those kids would be able to see so clearly Jonouchi's cards through those cheap-ass binoculars.

This is what makes me so confused about this chapter, because I LOVED it. Despite the recycled plotline of a character getting outed as a fake psychic, or maybe in fact BECAUSE of it, I was kind of impressed with how it played out. Unlike in previous instances of this course of events, we got a really simple, and yet effective and kind of clever setup and payoff. Since the beginning of the chapter, we were getting hints and clues that Roba was using a trick: his comment of "roger that" as a strange radio jargon to use in his situation, the overhyping of his "abilities", and Jonouchi's own insult to him. KT wasn't obvious with it, but he also gave a little bit of information so as to make it possible for someone paying attention to figure it out before Jonouchi.

Which is the other reason why I liked this chapter. Jonouchi has faced someone claiming to be psychic before, and figured it out even faster than back then. It shows just how far he's come since that last incident in Duelist Kingdom that he was not only able to sniff out a rat so quickly this time, but also that he managed to keep his cool during the process, though he made a few mistakes at the beginning. When Jonouchi faced Mai the first time, he was constantly distracted by Mai's trick and his own failures. This time, Jonouchi gets right back up on that horse and doesn't dwell on what he does wrong or his opponent's slight of hand. It's like looking at a before and after photo and really seeing the difference.

Despite how much of a rehash this chapter has been of general cheating plots throughout the manga, it looks like KT isn't going for a whole redo of Jonouchi's Duelist Kingdom development, and that's an even bigger relief than finding out your opponent isn't using ESP against you.

Inuyasha Manga: 097 True Nature of the God

Ah, a philosophical quandary as old as the various cosmologies it examines. What IS the true nature of a god? Gods of all stripes have been viewed as malevolent or benevolent depending on the context in which their viewed (and the mind which views them), but the basic nature of a being that would use its grand power to create and/or manipulate smaller, more vulnerable creatures than it is something of a chilling notion. Is this being a cruel toddler burning ants with a magnifying glass? A loving parental figure that just wants the best for its little babies? Jealous and angry or affectionate and sincere? Or is this being even capable of having motivations and feelings remotely similar to our own?

Don't get too wrapped up in the universality of this question though; we're dealing with a specific, rather SIMPLE case today, friends.

The case being, of course, that this guy is a massive douchebag. Inuyasha's having fun with this douchebaggery, though, and tells Suijin to bring on whatever he can throw. Kagome whines Inuyasha's name in panic, as Shippou insists that this is not HIS idea of fun. Unfortunately, it's a bit too late to dissuade Inuyasha from saying offensive things, even if that could have conceivably been done at any point.

Beneath the walkways outside, the water starts to churn in little whirlpools. Suijin lifts his spear only to tap its butt on the ground again under him, nonchalant as can be. As soon as he does, a pulse moves out toward Suijin's unwanted visitors, who gape. Kagome's confusion soon becomes alarm, as does Inuyasha's when he's suddenly surrounded by a strong current of water. It takes him a panicked moment to realize where he is.

Inuyasha looks above him to find Kagome holding tight to Taroumaru and Shippou clinging desperately to her leg as she is swept along by the whirlpool. She's got her eyes screwed shut tightly, so she can't see Inuyasha, even as he's trying to reach for her. She does open her eyes and see him riding the stream behind her, stretching her hand back in desperation. However, the current is so strong that a rock is picked up by it and is carried quickly into Inuyasha's back, with Kagome powerless to warn him. The remaining breath is knocked out of him and he begins to sink, while Kagome tries to call out his name with only a stream of bubbles issuing from her mouth.

She doesn't have more than a second to fret on this, because she's suddenly being pulled upwards. Or rather, the boy in her arms is, and she goes along for the ride to the surface. Taroumaru and his hangers-on are tugged out of the water and deposited onto the floor of the castle. Kagome weakly lifts her head with a confused mutter, noticing that it's the same room they were cast from before. The lake is still rumbling ominously outside, and inside the shadow of Suijin appears before them. A closer look at his face reveals that his mouth is hissing and extra wide, fangs visible beneath his nonexistent lips.

Instead of freaking out, which is what I would do, she resolves to stop this monster from eating the unconscious child under her, which is clearly what he still wants to do. She grips her bow, something she managed to hold on to all this time. Seriously, I didn't notice before and I had to go back and check, but yeah, it was there when she was swirling around the lake. I guess RT learned her lesson from Tessaiga's scabbard, huh?

While she's thinking about how she must stop Suijin SOMEHOW, Suekichi crawls noiselessly to a floor sconce and grabs it, running to swing it at Suijin with a battle cry. Suijin glares into his periphery and snaps his elastic arm back to bitchslap that little guy back. Suekichi lands with such force that his already cracked mask shatters while Suijin calls him a fool. Kagome yells "now" as she sits up, arrow nocked and at the ready.

Haha! Look at that cocky bastard's arm get blown apart! I would be hitting rewind and play in a loop for eternity if this were a DVD!

Suijin is aghast as he stares at the bones poking out of the stub of his arm, looking a bit more like the interconnected bones of a tail than the ulna or radial bones. He wonders aloud how a mere arrow can do this to him, as Shippou expresses his amazement at how good Kagome got Suijin. She's just as surprised, because she didn't expect it to work THAT well. She goes to Suekichi to ask if he can run, and Suekichi answers in the affirmative. Shippou knocks Taroumaru over his head, demanding to know how long he's going to sleep, which is apparently not very long, because his eyes immediately snap open.

The water god begins to stand, muttering that this isn't the end, but Kagome and the kids are already booking it for the exit. Taroumaru asks if Suekichi is alright, who says he's fine and inquires the same after Taroumaru. Kagome butts in to thank Suekichi for his help back there in getting them out, and he smiles a nervous little smile as he accepts the thanks. Kagome encourages him to take off his mask now, not realizing that he already has, because his face apparently looks the same without it. I know this is supposed to be a joke, but Kagome has EXPERIENCE with people whose faces look like masks. That must be freaking TERRIFYING to her!

Or not, because she's still running alongside this kid, turning the topic to how they can't escape over the water, questioning where they can hide. She knows they have to elude Suijin until Inuyasha gets there, then remembers how he was hit by that rock and sunk earlier. She wants to believe that Inuyasha is still alive, but there's question in her wondering about it.

Meanwhile, Miroku has pulled Sango onto a small island, begging her to hang in there. He puts a ear to her chest, presumably to listen for a heartbeat, and decides that she's taken in water. Miroku tilts Sango's chin up to do mouth-to-mouth and leans in...

I think these kinds of misunderstandings would happen a lot less if you didn't come across as a pervert right off the bat, dude.

Sango is incredulous when she asks where they are, and Miroku says they're outside Suijin's shrine, the roof of which you can see peeking through the mist some distance away. He says he woke up on the island as well. Something in the water catches Miroku's alarmed eye, and it turns out to be Inuyasha, floating along the surface and out cold. He has a little help, though.

Miroku and Sango stare in astonishment, I'm guessing because those fish are the fanciest anyone will ever see. Miroku kneels down next to the water after he and Sango drag Inuyasha ashore, asking if they saved he and Sango as well. They affirm this, prompting Miroku to question them about their level of worry, since they must be involved with Suijin. The fancy fish leak tears when they tell him that Suijin is actually a big faker. Miroku repeats this as an inquiry while Sango asks if this means Suijin is actually a youkai. However, Miroku says he feels this is not the case, with that holy weapon and everything.

One of the fancy fish explains that fake!Suijin used to be a spirit of the lake like them, and the other clarifies that he used to serve the real Suijin. They indicate a craggy rock behind Miroku and Sango, who twist to look at it, while they further elaborate that fake!Suijin tricked Suijin and imprisoned the real one inside it. He then proceeded to steal the "Halberd of Amakoi" and take Suijin's place. So, even though he's only a little spirit, his powers are the same as a god's, and no one can oppose him, at least according to the fancy fish. I guess fake!Suijin was mad because his boss didn't let him eat all the little children.

Miroku confirms that he sees what needs to be done and immediately names saving the real Suijin as their first priority. However, someone behind him groans about how boring that is. Miroku looks behind him to acknowledge that Inuyasha has regained consciousness as Inuyasha pushes himself up. Inuyasha says he's going back to the shrine, and when Miroku argues that it would be best to consult the real Suijin's wisdom first, Inuyasha retorts that he's going to save Kagome first instead.

He might not be wrong about that, either.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Now that we have a new type of entity to add to the mix between gods and youkai, I feel like this might continue to complicate the issue. So, fake!Suijin is a spirit rather than a youkai, so that means that he can wield the power of a god without being simultaneously hurt by it? Then what is the difference between the real and the fake god? If the actual god can be tricked and trapped so a lesser being can take the true source of their power, their holy weapon, isn't the weapon the only distinguishing factor here?

In a seemingly contradictory sense, I do LIKE the course of the story. I'm a fan of studying mythologies and such BECAUSE all the gods have their distinct personalities and adventures, which makes reading about them all the more interesting. This arc is such a natural marriage between the hijinks of mythos and the interplay of mortals that it's got a similar, if a bit more pictorial, feel to that of the Iliad or religious texts in the depiction of gods and heroes.

So, if you ever wondered why this series tended to attract a rather fanatic fan base, that could be an explanation.