Inuyasha Manga: 148 Kanna

If anyone is wanting to convince me that there's not an over-abundance of names starting with "K" in this manga, I present to you another. Though I very much doubt anyone else is bothered by this, because I tend to get caught up on details that no one else seems to care much about. This whole blog is proof of that. Latching onto the details is actually one of my better qualities, believe it or not, because making sense of and using them in a greater context is what I do. I'm lucky enough not to miss the forest for the trees.

Miroku, it seems, isn't quite so lucky. Guy hasn't seemed to notice that his attitude toward Koharu has inspired some serious disgust in his friends. Both girls focus icy, exasperated glares on him, Sango flatly asking for clarification and Kagome advising him not to get the wrong idea about what was suggested. He pretends to be confused by the irritation shown him, but he's looking a little shifty there in the cold atmosphere. Inuyasha leans toward Kagome and tells her not to bother steering Miroku away from perverted conclusions, something I can't help but agree with. Haters gonna hate, players gonna play, and Mirokus gonna Miroku.

On the road ahead of them, shadows shuffle toward them in the night, carrying torches. Sango lets out a confused sound, and Kagome speculates its villagers. As they draw closer, this turns out to be the case, though Inuyasha's distrustful focus finds the sharp sickles and hoes in their hands. One of them shouts an order to kill Inuyasha and company, and the group raises their farm implements as weapons, lunging forward.

Inuyasha demands to know what their problem is, meeting them halfway with a punch knocking back the nearest villagers. They sit looking disgruntled and angry that Inuyasha didn't just stand there and get stabbed, apparently. Kagome wonders what's wrong with them as well, because they just look like ordinary villagers to her. An old man standing behind the clocked front line holds up his torch and commands the remaining mob not to let their sudden enemies leave the village, which another man bearing a hoe agrees to.

Sango moves forward and asserts that they're being controlled by something, but Inuyasha contradicts her by insisting that there's not the slightest smell of youkai within the village.

Turns out that those flying things in the background are Saimyoushou, shockingly. I mean, the characters are shocked, clearly, but I have the privilege of dramatic irony. Kagome looks appalled that this appears to be Naraku's doing, not that it could be anyone else, but twists to call after Miroku as he sprints off in another direction. He shouts his worry that Koharu might be rather in danger now, which isn't a bad assumption, for a guy who seemed so tone-deaf a few moments ago.

He runs back to the house where he'd left Koharu, who is lying on her face just out the door. She responds to his approach, lifting her head, reaching for him, and stuttering his name. He kneels next to her, concerned, while she explains that she lost consciousness, though she doesn't say why. As he holds her protectively, his friends run up as well, Kagome asking Koharu if she's okay. Sango casts a wary glare over her shoulder at the threatening villagers following them all up the hill, torches and implements in hand.

NOW Inuyasha is in agreement that the shambling mob seems to have someone controlling them, but Sango doesn't gloat. She merely states that they're surrounded with a scowl. Miroku is speechless a moment, until he looks down at Koharu and tells her to stay put. Though she asks after what HE'S going to do, he doesn't answer, striding up to Inuyasha while he tells Kagome to hold tight as well. She stammers an agreement.

Both boys shout back at Sango to take care of their respective ladies, much to Sango's initial alarm, and then annoyance. Her expression is flat when she wonders if it's just her imagination that they're not treating her like a woman. The grass is always greener on the other side, as they say.

Sometimes a deliberate swing in the opposite direction is just as bad, kid.

Koharu says meekly that she saw something before she fainted, describing it just as a youkai, much to Sango and Kagome's alarm. She also says that inside the house, the headman and his other staff/family have been knocked out too, lying scattered on the floor. One might have questioned how she knows this, having woken up OUTSIDE the house, but hey, I guess that's easily explained by her seeing them unconscious before she tried to flee the house in fear of what happened. But no one bothered to ask, sooooooo...

The girls all creep into the house, Sango with her Hiraikotsu at the ready as Kagome and Koharu cling to one another behind her, though Koharu warns all of them that the youkai may still be hanging out in there. Sango ponders aloud whether this is the force that's controlling the villagers, and Kagome wonders why Inuyasha couldn't smell whatever this thing is at all.

Just as Koharu feared, it was still inside the house, the girl in white stepping out from the other side of a wall with her mirror raised to reflect the investigators. Triumphant that she's found the youkai, Sango swings her boomerang, aiming straight at the girl in white. She is completely placid even when the weapon flies right up to her mirror, which she holds out to it as though she wants it broken. But much to the surprise of Sango and Kagome, a flash of light off its surface preempts a rather unexpected result.

Hooooo boy, that's gotta sting. But considering this is a weapon that regularly rips youkai in half, I'd say Sango got off rather lucky. Quite the opposite result of succeeding at BREAKING a magic mirror, so great job NOT doing that, Sango!

Kagome casts an half-panicked, half-angry look over her shoulder at the girl in white, who  murmurs her name. She's alarmed that this girl is the youkai, considering this a more surprising fact than the one that she knew her name. To be fair, since she knows that Naraku is behind this nonsense, she's probably able to extrapolate from that. She is further alarmed by Koharu curling her arms over her shoulders from behind, holding Kagome still.

And Koharu SWORE she wouldn't get in the way if she were allowed to come along with the group. Was SHE ever the optimistic one...

Underneath a confusingly rumbling moon, Inuyasha and Miroku are a bit more distracted by their own struggle. A crowd of angry villagers are lunging at them with their farm implements again. As Miroku knocks back a series of hoes and sickles, he pleads with Inuyasha to try and remember that his opponents are mere humans, and not to hurt them. Inuyasha snaps at Miroku over his shoulder that he KNOWS, as he lands a punch across some random's face. Uhhhh, Inuyasha, you may not realize that even your punches might be stronger than regular ones, so Miroku's not entirely out of line reminding you of that.

Poor zombie guy is gonna come back to a concussion in addition to himself.

Inuyasha complains that holding back is getting them nowhere, though, as there are too many people coming at them. They're distracted by a familiar voice telling them that they're too carefree.

You shut your mouth, Inuyasha! Kagura is DELIGHTFUL!

To someone who isn't fighting her every five seconds, that is.

Kagura continues to taunt Inuyasha and Miroku by supposing that if they were willing to kill all the villagers, they would have done it by now. Yeah, no shit. Inuyasha barks that she must be the one controlling the innocents, but she informs him that her Corpse Dance is just what it says on the tin - she's unable to control the living. Both Inuyasha and Miroku are in disbelief at this fact, the former realizing that there must be another youkai somewhere around, if this is true.

Again, Kagura goads the boys, estimating that Kagome will have had her soul sucked out by now. Before Inuyasha can voice a question about what that could mean, Kagura makes her challenge.

I would advise Kagura not to get TOO comfy, but I think she's not wrong to believe she's got this one in the bag. What's an Inuyasha without his Kagome, after all?

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I might have thought Sango would be a little more cautious when investigating the house, ESPECIALLY on Koharu's word. I admire Sango's ability to provide protection to the girl who's getting some extra inappropriate attention from Miroku, but that nobility actually detracted a little from the story. This might have been a good place to use her fledgling jealousy in a GOOD way; prompt her to question Koharu's awakening while the rest of the household was out cold, and the rest of the village was being controlled, as well as her withholding the fact of her youkai sighting until AFTER Miroku and Inuyasha left. It might have acted as something of an asset in that particular situation, giving it another dimension in the context of the arc. Of course, that would have made the whole thing longer, and there's only so many pages afforded...

That's just a minor thing that I might have done differently, though. I did think the chapter flowed well, with the characters finally getting to engage with the new mystery that's been on its way for the past two chapters. The reasons for the group's separation was done much better than the last, giving us a sense of suspense rather than the idea that the scene is just overcrowded and we have to get rid of a couple of characters with busywork for a while. I always like it when everyone has something to do, and when the action is helping to build the stakes.

I do so enjoy watching fictional people face new challenges, much more than dealing with them myself. The latter is what the new year brings, though, so here's hoping the trials during this one are a bit more bearable than those in the last.

Happy 2019, everyone.