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.