Since we're talking about mind-reading monsters and everything.
As Inuyasha's companions run up to the scene, Kagome trails off a comment about an observation she's made, probably to let Miroku mansplain it instead. A spider-shaped scar is clearly visible on this ogre's back, just above his tail. Miroku pronounces this to be the third youkai offspring of Naraku. The ogre turns to chuckle at Miroku now, affirming that he is indeed his father's son, not just with a straight assurance. He claims in the midst of an introduction that his elder sisters Kanna and Kagura are minor characters since he's shown up on the scene. Don't flatter yourself, honey.
Inuyasha scoffs, calling Goshinki a talkative monster, and raises Tessaiga over head to carry out an intention to see how much power he really has. Inuyasha's sword crashes down into the ground where Goshinki was standing but a moment ago, to his confusion. Next thing he knows, he's gaping through his periphery to where Goshinki has appeared behind him, reminding Inuyasha that he can read minds.
As Inuyasha bounces on the ground into a clutter of rubble nearby, Miroku rips the sealing beads from his right hand. Predictably, Goshinki is far from intimidated, repeating Miroku's obvious thoughts of sucking him up in the Kazaana back to him. He's suddenly surrounded by the figures of floating insects - three guesses as to what THOSE are. Kagome gets it right on the first try when she sees the giant wasps; the saimyoushou. Miroku balks, twisting the beads back around his hand.
Goshinki tells him that it's no use, because he knows all their weaknesses. He advises a gaping Kagome not to try and shoot an arrow, for how he would kill her before she could draw the bow. He similarly addresses the incredulous Sango riding astride Kirara, telling her he knows she can't move or fight because she was hit with her own weapon. When he turns to Shippou, who sweats in anticipation, he just as quickly turns his back without saying a damn thing. Shippou jumps onto Kagome's shoulder, barking about being the only one ignored in this little list of shortcomings. Seems to me like this should make Shippou feel better, but he's all kind of offended. Kagome looks at him with raised eyebrows as Miroku assures Shippou that he shouldn't worry about it, given that it's just an attempt to rile him up.
Meanwhile, Inuyasha is pushing himself to his knees, and in the process sees out of a surrounding mist or dust (it's not easy to tell) two little figures. It's the kids he distracted the ogre from earlier, and he begins to reprimand them for not running away when he told them to. But they're not ready to leave behind crucial pieces of their parents.
But it does beg the question: does Goshinki not eat heads? Is he just awfully picky, or can those giant teeth just not crack open a skull?
Inuyasha asks if these were their mother and father, to which the boy can only give a slight nod in response. Putting on a new glare and clenching his teeth, Inuyasha stands with Tessaiga slung over his shoulder to greet again the approaching Goshinki, the kids staring up at him. Goshinki giggles, mockingly parroting Inuyasha's thoughts about how he won't be forgiven and how Inuyasha will waste him. The ogre says this makes him laugh, then moves along to how Inuyasha is a hanyou. He comments on how though Inuyasha's blood is half-youkai, he still doesn't seem to know the pleasure of eating people. A harder-core youkai would say Goshinki doesn't seem to know the pleasure of eating heads. There are just certain things everyone doesn't like to eat, my dude.
Inuyasha, of course, tells him to shut his trap, which is a much more economical comeback than mine, to be sure.
But his mental description of the Kaze no Kizu as the technique that draws out the Tessaiga's ultimate explosive power is a bit problematic. No doubt we can all guess why. Goshinki reminds Inuyasha that he KNOWS that Inuyasha intends to blow him away with Kaze no Kizu, but Inuyasha's retort is that Goshiki should prepare to die if he knows so damn well. He's in shock when Goshinki thrusts right through the place where the youki collides at him. Kagome and Sango also gape in disbelief, with Sango even characterizing this as a break through the Kaze no Kizu.
Wait, how would YOU know? The only on here who can "see" it is Inuyasha. Keep your literally impossible observations to yourself, Sango!
Inuyasha has recovered from his shock fairly quickly, though, because he calls Goshinki a fool who will just get ripped apart directly now. Goshinki scoffs, pretty unconcerned as he identifies Tessaiga as a mere dog's fang before catching it between his own teeth. He chuckles around the blade while chomping down. HARD.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Not up to RT's general standard of action, honestly. Usually she packs a lot into a chapter with a rapid succession of blows, much closer to the time in which it might actually take. This time Inuyasha's fighting was slowed down, especially in the middle of his attempt at Kaze no Kizu. There shouldn't have been room for as much dialogue as there was in the middle of a single leap like that, and it really threw me off. I know anime and manga does this a lot, actually, inserting a ton of expository dialogue in the middle of a move, but one of the things I love about Inuyasha is that it doesn't pull that crap often. RT generally lets her art speak for itself, and the action flow from it. I REALLY appreciate that practice in an action scene, which makes me miss it all the more when it's so conspicuously absent. What happened there?
And furthermore, what happened with Sango commenting on the state of Kaze no Kizu in relation to Goshinki? I know, one could argue that Sango heard from the banter that Inuyasha was planning on using Kaze no Kizu and guessed that Goshinki just charged right through it, but I would have appreciated her qualifying the guess as one, if that were the case. More so than that, though, I just don't think she should have said more than Kagome. Her comment was also right in the middle of that single leap, and it just drew more attention away from the action and into the peanut gallery, supplementing the perfectly adequate pictures with needless dialogue. If anyone HAD to say it, I think it should have been Inuyasha. But that's only if anyone HAD to say it, and I would argue that it didn't NEED to be said at all.
But I liked the kids holding the heads. It was both heartbreaking and chilling at the same time, which is a bit confusing, but in a good way. A complex mixture of feelings doesn't often come out of comics like this, but I dig it.
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