Inuyasha Manga: 181 Sango's Decision

Ugh! Finally! We've been trying to figure out where we're going to eat for hours now! It's just been an endless merry-go-round of everyone passing the buck to the next person by claiming they have no preference. No one even had suggestions, so we just made a list of all the restaurants within a few mile radius and tried to rank them on how much we felt like their food. When we found we felt exactly the same about literally all of them, we figured we were going to starve to death.

So what's it going to be? Fast food? Semi-fancy? Classic pub?

Or I guess we could all just feast on the profound guilt Naraku tries to feed everybody and lose our appetites THAT way. Whatever works.

Oh, btdubz, that splatter across the panel that Inuyasha is sensing? The scent of Kagome's blood. I'm guessing Naraku has lifted that barrier for Inuyasha to get a little whiff, just to rub in the manufactured delay, first sign that he's gotten a tad too smug. He chuckles and tells Inuyasha that Kohaku will kill Kagome, and won't ever disobey him, and that's the SECOND sign that he's reached critical smugness. Stand by for critical evil plan meltdown.

Inuyasha finally loses his shit and slashes that bastard right in his baboon-masked face. The body under the cloak crumbles away, revealing the little wooden doll inside with hair wrapped around it. Big shocker there. Inuyasha leaps right over the puppet's remains screaming Kagome's name, but it still works enough for Naraku to continue scoffing at him that he's too late. According to Naraku, since he erased Kohaku's mind, the boy shouldn't hesitate to kill Kagome. Sound logic, that.

Kagome wonders what the hell happened, because this Kohaku is nothing like the one before. But he's exactly like the one BEFORE before. You know, the little morose murder-brat who was the reason Sango stole Tessaiga. I'll give you three guesses as to why he went back to that shit, Kagome.

No time for guessing at anything, though, as Kohaku takes another swipe at Kagome and she dives sideways to avoid getting slashed again. The little bottle of Shikon shards falls out of ther pocket and onto the ground next to her hand with her maneuver, giving off a high-pitched ringing sound. Kagome notes this, alarmed, while Kohaku hovers over her, sickle raised once more. Naraku's command tells him a couple of times to kill her while she yelps his name to try and appeal to his revoked memory. Yet another command to kill Kagome issues in Kohaku's head, because he's just standing there now, sickle held aloft steady. He doesn't move to swing it down; he's frozen. Kagome eases out of her cringe away and forward, saying Kohaku's name more gently this time as he just stares down at her blankly. Still unmoving, though.

Kirara barrels out of the sky with Sango, Miroku and Shippou still riding her back, the former screaming the names of the two on the ground. No doubt she's able to see the blood on Kagome's sailor blouse. Shitshow ahoy. Kagome calls back to Sango, who wears a shocked and disturbed expression, not unlike the other two behind her. Shippou states with alarm that Kagome is injured, which changes Sango's look to devastated. It certainly does look like... exactly what it is.

Kohaku don't give a fuck that 50% is still a failing grade and that he may as well take the 0, he bolts off with those Shikon shards while Kagome whines that he took them. Meanwhile, she's surrounded by Sango and Shippou fresh on the ground with her, the little one saying her name in concern. Kagome stutters that she's not hurt badly, so they shouldn't worry, but Sango glares off in the direction Kohaku disappeared, speechless and mind on one track.

Sango shoots to her feet, ordering Kirara to stay with both their invalids, as Miroku is still looking a bit hard done. Way worse than Kagome anyway. By way of ominous farewell, Sango asks Kagome if the cut on her arm hurt. Kagome can only say Sango's name while she looks up at her. I don't really blame her, seeing as it's obvious that there's really no right answer.

Sango, when I suggested we just dine on Naraku's infamous guilt feast, I was being sarcastic! I didn't think you would take the anti-comfort-food and run with it!

She's never picking another meal ever.

Kagome stares after her, gaping and worried, Miroku doing the same, a very unpleasant idea of what Sango was up to occurring to him. Neither of them are in a position to go after or reason with her, though, so Kohaku finds himself hearing a series of tree branches snapping behind him as he bolts through the forest. Hiraikotsu arcs down in front of him into the ground as it makes its way back where it came, cutting him off mid-run. He looks behind him to see Sango walking through the dust her weapon raised, not at all as hurried as she was.

She says his name, brows drawn low, and Kohaku takes a defensive stance as he holds his sickle back behind him to easily swing if need be. Sango has to admit that it's just as she thought; Kohaku wasn't freed from Naraku after all, but came to hurt Kagome and steal the Shikon fragments.

They lunge at each other, Kohaku's sickle at the ready as Sango draws the sword at her side. Kohaku tosses the end of the weighted chain on his sickle at her, which wraps itself around Sango's blade and wrist. Encumbered, Sango watches Kohaku leap the short distance between them with his sickle poised to swing down. She blocks the blow at the last minute with Hiraikotsu's broad side in her other hand, shoving Kohaku the other way. While she exchanges bashes with her brother, she silently promises him that he won't be dying alone, because she plans to follow after him. Pretty extreme plans Sango has there, as opposed to Xtreme, which is what she usually presents as.

Meanwhile, Inuyasha has finally found his way to his injured friends, yelling Kagome's name. She twists to greet him from her seat on the ground along with Shippou, but poor Miroku doesn't even move, still slumped against Kirara. Hey, maybe somebody should check on him? No, Kagome suggests instead that Inuyasha go after Sango, whom she describes as acting strange earlier, and Inuyasha makes his way directly to her side to confirm that it was Kohaku what did this terrible scratch to her. Really guys, Miroku is in so much worse shape. Someone should REALLY check to make sure he's still alive.

Kagome insists the cut is more like a graze, and doesn't hesitate to tell Inuyasha that Kohaku didn't kill her even if he could easily have done so. Inuyasha flashes back to when Naraku confidently told him that Kohaku wouldn't disobey orders to kill Kagome, not ever. Miroku, who is still alive and conscious thanks for asking, rasps his hypothesis that Sango is off to kill Kohaku. Over a paper cut.

Inuyasha rushes to act on this information, running through the forest toward the siblings as he ponders how Kohaku DIDN'T finish off Kagome. He wonders if this means Kohaku didn't obey Naraku's order, and reasons that if this is indeed the case, Kohaku still has a human spirit in spite of being manipulated.

Which frankly should have been obvious even after Kohaku reverted to listless obedience at Naraku's request. Kid looks exactly like a call-center employee being yelled at over the phone about a late order. Classic human spirit being manipulated, except instead of monetary compensation, he gets to not remember horrible shit. Joy.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Naraku's hubris and gloating at the beginning was a tad cliche, but not in a tired, boring way. It illustrates the wider issues with Naraku's plans, rather than the flaw in just this particular plot. Naraku employs too many moving parts, too many people involved who cannot be relied upon to perform the complex functions he needs, because as much as he believes he's got them under close control, he can't. He refuses to understand that not every little variable can be accounted for, especially not when he can't account for something as basic as personal will. He understands juuuuust enough about the people he's using as puppets to tie the strings to their limbs, but ignores their flailing when he tries to jerk those strings. Even when he thinks he's incapacitated them to direct them the way he wants, he hasn't.

Wiping Kohaku's mind didn't erase his autonomy or basic nature. Like a beaten-down working class schlub, if he's reintroduced into an environment where he's not expected to obey and fulfill the boss's every whim, he's going to recover a bit of himself. The essential human spirit that Inuyasha mentions here can't be just waved away or buried forever, no matter how much Naraku wants it to be. The Saimyoushou might be perfect little worker bees wasps, but the underlings with personalities and wills can't be reduced to that efficiency in carrying out dastardly deeds, and neither can HE. A bit early for THAT conversation, but this is a tie-in to it further down the rhetorical road.

Right now, it's Sango's view on human spirit that is in sharp focus right now, and it might seem like she's being overly dramatic at first glance, but you can really get a good sense of why she feels so hopeless about this situation here. Kagome was only injured, but even a minor cut by Kohaku represents a much more horrible reality to Sango; her brother is still under Naraku's thumb. It's not just that Kohaku can be ordered to inflict pain, but also that he can be released from mindless servitude just long enough to be accepted into their fold again, however hesitantly. The larger reality here is that all of the above is against Kohaku's will; he has no say in ANY of it, robbed of his autonomy again and again to the benefit of no one but a fiend. If Kohaku's body and mind cannot be his own anymore, if Naraku has turned them into machines for evil, then it's no wonder she feels like killing Kohaku is the only way to give him back his freedom from the horror.

It's a good thing that Inuyasha is ever the optimist, huh? Though communicating said optimism is always something of an issue for him...

I hope everyone's new year starts out great! Greet 2020 with a smile!

Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 239 The Crossing Souls

Quite honestly, this came a lot sooner than I expected. I knew other!Marik would go on a homicidal rampage eventually, but I kind of figured it would happen at the climax of the tournament, when he faced Yami or something. It feels a little premature for the souls to be crossing over now, what with there still being about 40 chapters left in the Duelist partition here. How's KT going to fill the rest of this arc? A drawn-out burial at sea?

We'll cross that bridge if we come to it, I guess, no pun intended. For now we can watch these youngsters live out their final moments doing what they love most - trash-talking each other over cards.

As Moar Cards Guy said in the last chapter, every glaring player is afforded 4000 life points to begin, but he's not finished explaining the rules, apparently. He states that each of them should have 40 cards to shuffle and insert into their Duel Disks, which would be shitty if anyone had forgotten that particular rule and were now stuck in their weird vertical rail cart, disqualified for the whole match. Luckily, Jonouchi already learned his tournament rules the embarrassing way at the beginning, so it looks like he's good. The other three I'm not worried about.

Moar Cards Guy tells them to connect the cable from their pod to a port in the Duel Disk, and when done, the screen at their navel level displays a READY notification where apparently the other duelists' cards will show up during the match. Then Moar Cards Guy explains that turns will rotate among the four players, and there's no restrictions on who any one of them can attack. Once a player has lost all 4000 life points, they'll reach the top of the tower.

But... what about the guy who wins? How does HE reach the top? Does he just sit there with his remaining points while everyone else parties up top?

I'm looking at you, Kaiba.

Moar Cards Guy adds that the first two players to lose will be the first pair up for the matches at the top. Well, in that case, does the duel even need to continue after that, since they already know who's paired with whom in the finals? All I'm saying is this is convoluted as shit and they didn't think the implications through.

And they nuked it, as they say in the Navy.

In this battle that determines your opponent for the next, Yami considers who his target will be. Kaiba looks across at Jonouchi, already having decided who his will be. He thinks that in order to defeat Marik's god card among god cards, he has to have the other two. Kaiba figures in order to achieve that, he's got to target the guy with the god card he thinks he can get in this battle, looking over at Yuugi with a little giggle and a promise that this will be their destined duel.

Uhhhh, you realize that this particular duel is only going to determine who you're supposed to go up against in your next one, right? You're not going to get any rare cards out of this one, honey. What, are you planning to do? Voluntarily lose points alongside the ones you beat out of Yami?

You know, for a supposed genius, Kaiba just seems to be getting dumber? Must have peaked early, poor kid.

Again, other!Marik silently reiterates that anyone can be his opponent, because he's pretty damn sure that no one can beat his Ra god card. Buuuuuut, he thinks that if he has to choose, it's gotta be Yami, because he's just dying to get rid of that guy. At least those are his feelings at the moment. Might change, given that he had to specify. Be on the lookout for that.

Jonouchi glances over at Yami too, recalling that he fought his way here to fulfill the promise they made at the beginning of the tournament. He certainly hasn't forgotten that promise, nor that Yami has his Red Eyes for that very event. This duel against him is also for "her"- whom I'm guessing is Shizuka - so he's doubly determined to win it. When Yami looks over at him too, though, he squeezes his eyes shut and begins to backtrack.

At this moment, his eyes pop open again at the sound of a cell phone ringing down below. Honda takes his phone out of his jacket pocket and answers; asking Shizuka on the other end how Mai is. Jonouchi gapes at the one side of the conversation as Honda confirms that there's really no change, and Jonouchi's head is filled with Mai now.

Again, I must stress that your opponent in the actual semi-final games is not determined by who you attack the most, guys. You've just got to be in the same losing or winning pair with them. Are they paying any attention at ALL to Moar Cards Guy?

Oh well, at least SOMEONE isn't totally focused on Yami here. That's good.

Back down on the floor, Honda asks Anzu if she's seen Bakura, and Anzu responds that he's not here. Why did Honda not just assume that Bakura was laid up in bed where they left him? Might have something to do with the fact that Honda returns to his phone conversation where he tells Shizuka that it's up to her to take care of Mai, then. So, the injured Bakura is missing, and as Honda ends the call with Shizuka, Anzu wonders where he is. Other!Marik smirks down at them from his pod-perch. You think he knows something they don't?

Moar Cards Guy announces that they will now determine the order in which the cycle through the players will occur for each round, which receives a glare from all the players and a question of how from Jonouchi specifically. They're told to grab a monster card from their deck, and the highest attack will go first, the next highest next, and so on. For some reason, Yami is portrayed as surprised by this. Not complicated enough, I guess, but if that's the case, then he's in luck, because a whole new caveat is about to drop. Moar Cards Guy says that the monster card they choose can't be returned to their deck - they'll have to play this game without it.

Soooo, they got to bring 40 cards up there, but now they'll only be playing with 39? Gracious, there's no end to the weird decisions to decide order.

Yami internally notes that the chosen monster's attack must be high in order to go first. Kaiba is only thinking about his advantage in going first and getting first pick of victim. Other!Marik just glares down his nose, no need to tell us again how little he gives a shit about any of this. Jonouchi rifles through his cards, fretting over which he should choose.

After a short period, Moar Cards Guy demands that the players show him their chosen cards, and they all hold them out. Don't know how the guy all the way on the ground is supposed to see them. Perhaps his sunglasses have telescopic tech in them or something. Knowing Kaiba, that's probably a thing.

The chapter's half over and we've FINALLY decided who's going first in the duel to figure out who's going first! This one is going to be a doozy, friends.

Yami looks over at Kaiba, acknowledging that he is indeed going first in his head. Kaiba smirks, inclining his head in a mockery of modesty and scoffing silently. He thinks that all he has to do attack the two duelists who will fight each other to separate them from he and his own opponent; that guy other!Marik and Jonouchi, whom Kaiba refers to as "the trash duelist". He must have figured out how this game is supposed to work between panels, and thank goodness for that. I was afraid I would spend this whole game shaking my head in disgust and pity. Now I'll only have to do it for a small portion.

Other!Marik has decided he DOES give a shit, because he's now actively planning on picking on the two players other than Yami. Couldn't keep up the cool disconnect from the outcome, could you? They never can. Jonouchi isn't even trying, though. He's AGONIZING over the fact that he really wants to face Yami, what with his feelings as a real duelist and everything, but Mai's health requires him to fight with someone else.

Yami's eyes are closed, considering where his own compass is pointing. He knows his real enemy in the tournament is other!Marik, because he's the one to go through for those lost memories. On the other hand, he made that promise to Jonouchi. On the THIRD hand, he's downright destined to duel Kaiba. Yami's torn three different ways, and is anyone else reminded of the hottest girl in school who has to choose between all the guys fighting over her? And the prom's tomorrow!!

Kaiba declares that he's first, even though that was already established. Twice. He places a card face down, and summons Blood Vors in attack, then ends his turn, clean as a whistle. Kaiba sneers in his knowledge that no one can attack on their first turn, but when the next one comes around, he'll get in the first hit. Yup, that sure is how going first works.

Other!Marik says he's going next, and summons a lanky yet muscular floating contortionist? I guess? Its name is Nyudoryuga, and according to other!Marik, its special ability is super useful. He ends his turn, and Yami announces his, drawing a card with style and imagining himself a duelist with the soul of a warrior. It's a little lame. He plays Big Shield Guarda in defense, as you do, and one face down card before ending his turn.

Jonouchi draws a card with his statement that it's his turn now, and looks down only to find that there are NO monster cards in his hand. Rotten luck. He groans, but manages to place a card face down before he ends his turn, cursing to himself. Yami casts him a sidelong glance.

Well that looks ominous.

Kaiba draws a card, looking downright jubilant as he announces his turn again. Jonouchi hangs his head across from him, and Kaiba starts rambling about how one can't just break the food chain of duelists to attack the one at the top. Guy must have taken a hit off of whatever other!Marik is always smoking. He commands his Blood Vors to attack Jonouchi, and while the monster approaches, Jonouchi grits his teeth and sweats. Kaiba laughs like an idiot and tells Jonouchi to die, but stops short at an unexpected sight.

Awww, Yami has chosen his prom date future opponent! They'll be the toast of the tournament.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I think the translator might have been the one not to understand who the targets should be in this game, and not the characters. There was a shift in the middle there when everyone went from thinking you attack the person you want to play in your next duel, to thinking you need to attack the other two that you DON'T want. To be fair, it's probably not the easiest concept to translate, alongside Kaiba's constant incoherent nonsense, this time about "food chains" in dueling. They noted that they had no idea what he was saying there, but my best guess was that he was trying to articulate some sort of inherent pecking order to a duel, which would kind of defeat the whole purpose of the game to begin with, but I digress. The point is, if I were the translator, I wouldn't trust whatever weirdly-phrased things these characters said either, and in fact DON'T. I'm always interpreting with my best guess too, so solidarity.

The pacing of the chapter was a bit strange. It started slow with quite an elaborate setup of rules, in addition to the long-winded agonizing over who would target whom. While I get that it would have kind of defeated the purpose of the four-way skill-based determination for the match ups in the next few duels to just randomly roll a four-sided die to figure out who goes first, the concept was entirely over-baked. At the very least the explanation of it could have been shaved down a bit - might have saved some of us some confusion. The characters' contemplations of who they wanted to face could have been much shorter too, since most reasons were well-covered in the past and perhaps only needed a short reiteration for new readers.

Save for Jonouchi's. He's the only one who really had to think this one through, torn in two different directions by two different obligations to his two different friends. He's been operating on a straight track to Yami in this tournament thus far, and that's given us a build-up of anticipation toward this promised face-off as much as him. Now that other!Marik has set him a timeline for ensuring Mai's safety, though, his desire to face Yami is now set against the urgent matter of Mai's condition. That's a compelling way of creating new conflict for Jonouchi, a breath of fresh air considering I still wasn't entirely impressed by the somewhat stagnant reasons he had for entering the tournament in the first place.

And the matter is made all the more complex by Yami announcing his preference to face Jonouchi in his next duel. Their intentions are at odds, and that causes so much more tension as Jonouchi hauls himself toward other!Marik, but Yami tries to haul him back. They haven't had a moment to discuss how their priorities may have changed over the course of the previous night, and they're not going to have time to discuss it now in the middle of the duel. Being out of sync with each other is going to lead to some very frustrating hijinks between them in the coming chapters.

Or the coming chapter-and-a-half for all I know. Once that duel got started, shit started happening at lightning speed, so perhaps KT will keep up that momentum. Fingers crossed.

And Merry Christmas, friends.

Inuyasha Manga: 180 Erased Mind

Enviable. There are a LOT of things I wish I could be erased from my mind. I could do without the knowledge of more than half the things I discovered on the internet. I need brain bleach for some of the stories I've heard on the news. Those little humiliating moments from childhood that will resurface and haunt me during the wee hours when I'm supposed sleeping, despite the 99% likelihood that no one else even vaguely recalls it but me? Why can't that shit be scrubbed from my memory?

Oh yeah, because the price Naraku charges for this valuable service is soul and servitude. Just BARELY too expensive.

Yeah Kagura, good luck convincing these folks that they're too late for anything. They've got two time-travelers in their group for pity's sake.

Inuyasha growls about Kagura and her army of bastards using Kohaku to get at Kohaku, but Kagura fires back that they should be worrying about their own lives before ordering her still strongly-numbered horde to rip them apart. Miroku curses as he rips the beads from his right fist, against Sango's shocked call to him from her perch on Kirara.

Oh, hey Shippou. RT remembered you just in time for me to notice that you've been conspicuously absent for a bit.

Kagura looks on at Miroku's risky move with the kind of mild astonishment that you afford a kid with a lemonade stand in this day and age - surprising, somewhat admirable, but ultimately ineffectual at its purpose. Inuyasha shouts Miroku's name while fretting about all those poisonous wasps he's taking in along with the horde. Miroku yells back at Inuyasha to just go after Kagome and Kohaku, and Inuyasha at least has the decency to look a little ashamed that he needed the diversion spelled out for him, stammering an apology and his understanding.

Of course Kagura doesn't have cotton in her ears; her expression has morphed to downright pissed as she curses and brandishes her fan in preparation to cut Miroku down from behind. He knows what she's up to, though, and warns her not to move. He's rotating on the spot after all, and she might get sucked in just as easily as her army if she isn't careful. I can't say why this would stop her, as her wind blades should be able to reach him before he can turn all the way around. Still, Kagura pulls one of her feathers from her hair, says she'd rather NOT get sucked in, and fucks off straight into the sky. Not taking ANY kind of risk, that one.

Sweating and shaking, Miroku closes his fist and begins to wind the beads around it once more, grumbling about Kagura escaping. Sango and Kirara come shooting down to his side, the former calling out to him. As Miroku drops to his backside, clutching his agonized arm, Shippou runs up to him from one side shouting his name, and Sango from the other asking if he's alright. He just haltingly says that they should also hurry after Inuyasha. He's running through the woods wondering in a panic where Kagome is.

Kid forgets his nose has super-human sniffing ability all the time, I SWEAR.

Somewhere in the midst of the trees...

Persistent little buggers, aren't they?

Kagome says that since the saimyoushou are still looking for them, they should keep lying low in their little hidey-hole until Inuyasha and the others come. Or until whatever freaking badger that lives there kicks your sorry asses out of its home. Whichever comes first. Kohaku mutters about "that girl", to which Kagome responds with a questioning noise. While he looks out at the surrounding woods, he wonders aloud if she's okay. Kagome assures him that she probably is, being that Sango is very strong, telling him not to worry.

Speaking of Sango, Kagome asks Kohaku if he still doesn't remember that Sango is his elder sister. He says that he still doesn't, but she...

And who knows if that's from the sister thing? There's just not enough data here to draw a real conclusion, right?

Speeding over the landscape on Kirara, half-conscious Miroku hanging on to the flying cat behind her because that seems like the safest idea ever, Sango is looking stony-faced. She thinks that if it turns out Kohaku has been deceiving them, and gone as far as hurting Kagome, then Sango has made a resolute and rather ominous resolution about what to do about it. It might be a dangling thread of a thought, but there's only one real way exterminators know how to solve problems, isn't there?

Elsewhere, Inuyasha oscillates nervously on a rocky outcrop, cursing to himself about how Kagome's scent got dispersed and he's lost it. Of course you have - plot couldn't happen if your nose actually WORKED, now could it?? Oh, and also because a nearby voice in the fog surrounding him claims responsibility, telling him he's trapped inside a barrier.

And with the biggest asshole in the world, to top it off. This is not Inuyasha's day.

Naraku (or more likely some facsimile given he would have to be an enormous dumbshit to confine himself with Inuyasha for any amount of time) tells Inuyasha that he won't be able to find Kagome's location. Inuyasha, several steps behind, accuses that bastard of targeting Kagome from the beginning. How out of shape do you have to be to trail behind a guy who's sallow and sickly? Naraku chuckles some more, admitting that this is exactly why he sent Kohaku into their midst; to kill Kagome and take her Shikon shards. While Inuyasha sweats and glares, he curses Kohaku, whom he thought looked as though he couldn't hurt a fly. Because Inuyasha is just that easy to read, Naraku expresses all the more amusement at how thoroughly Kohaku seems to have fooled Inuyasha. In Kohaku's defense, though, Naraku does have to point out how easy it is to act innocent when you in fact don't have to act at all, not even aware that there's a deception he's leading. Inuyasha makes a questioning noise and wonders just what the hell is going on here.

Back in their hidey-hole, Kagome is regaling Kohaku with information about his sister - how Sango was always worried about him while they were apart, always seeming strong, but occasionally wearing a fundamentally sad expression. You know, the kind of deeply personal emotional things Sango maybe might feel a tad uncomfortable with other people blabbing about. Kohaku just stares through the whole reveal, silently taking it all in, as Kagome concludes that this is why it's really great that he's come back and all.

The face of a kid who snuck into his sister's room to laugh at her diary entries after he learned that they TALK. INCESSANTLY.

Kohaku haltingly asks if it's really okay that he stays with Sango, and Kagome assures him that it is. In fact she's quite certain that he'll start recalling things about Sango if he decides to hang out. Kohaku utters a trailing affirmative, knowing that he wants to remember things about his sister, and about himself too, but the idea also terrifies him, as if there's something he absolutely MUSTN'T remember.

Switching to Naraku and Inuyasha in their bubble again, the former asks the latter why he thinks Kohaku lost his memory in the first place. Inuyasha suggests that it was because Naraku manipulated the poor kid's mind, and Naraku doesn't deny doing that, but states that part of Kohaku's amnesia is him REFUSING to remember that one abominable memory - the one in which he sliced up his father and fellow exterminators with his own hands. Heads flying and everything. Inuyasha yells at Naraku that he MADE Kohaku do this, but Naraku just giggles some more and avoids addressing Inuyasha's excellent point. Naraku just says that Kohaku wants to forget, so the benevolent baboon fulfilled his wish and made Kohaku forget. Simple as that. And because Kohaku's mind is a blank slate now, Naraku says controlling him is super easy.

Convenient.

The newly sinister form of Kohaku lurks behind Kagome as she ponders how late Inuyasha is. When she turns to suggest they poke their heads out a little after all, she sees Kohaku looming over her with his sickle raised, stare blank. She says his name in question, the sickle swings down, there's a splatter of blood.

Well, mom's favorite antique vase is lying in pieces on the floor, and she's on her way home. It's official. Kohaku's dead.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Usually RT is really good with pacing, but every one in a while, she'll break up the chapter in very choppy and jarring ways. I feel like this one could have been rearranged so the flow was a little better, because it felt longer than it should have, narratively. All of the pieces, while they're supposed to be happening simultaneously, or close to it, seem disjointed and disconnected between the sections, like they're happening in very different places as different times, and in that respect I've gotten the impression that Sango has been wandering around looking for Kohaku and Kagome for hours, and Inuyasha and Naraku are talking at least a few minutes longer than they should have been.

Speaking of long conversations, the one between Kagome and Kohaku isn't exactly riveting. Don't get me wrong - this is entirely understandable, considering they just met, are confined in a small space together by circumstances beyond their control, and only have one subject of conversation, considering Kohaku doesn't exactly have access to a past from which he can draw topics and such. Things are bound to be awkward. I just think that the real awkwardness of the situation was kind of glossed-over. It was there, but instead of using it, RT just ignored it and tried to play Kagome rambling on and on straight. In a way, it's kind of funny. An annoying way.

But otherwise, the stakes are engaging, and Naraku enclosing Inuyasha in a barrier was a clever way of making his nose irrelevant without just... turning it off when it suits the plot, like in some other circumstances. Inuyasha himself was a little all over the place in terms of focus and decisions in this one, but on a level, I get it. He's coming right off the heels of what he's lead to believe was a terrible mistake, and is confused about it too, because Kohaku did and does look like a genuine innocent. Though he had his suspicions in the beginning, there was no indicator, no warning sign, that Kohaku was still Naraku's agent. So having to go back in his head to where he went wrong and second-guess himself is slowing him down a bit. It's obvious he doesn't normally have to consider these things so hard. Usually, everyone has their own will that they act under, and value judgments can be made from there. Kohaku is in a whole other gray area, lacking consistent autonomy.

Puppet-master Naraku is playing the whole thing off in a totally believable way too. He's turned Kohaku into an empty marionette, overriding his free will and very personality twice now, and Naraku STILL finds a way to blame Kohaku himself for it. Even when Inuyasha points out that the horrible action Kohaku wants to forget was FORCED by Naraku, there's no acknowledgement of the fact. It's irrelevant that Kohaku didn't MEAN to kill his father and comrades, or that it was a foreign intent working through his body. It's a horrible, awful thing that happened by Kohaku's hands, through Kohaku's eyes and of COURSE he wants to forget the image of being trapped in a murder spree that he wasn't controlling. Naraku argues here that it's that wanting to forget that's the REAL sin, because in tandem with letting Kohaku have a blissfully blank mind, there comes with that vulnerability to more control. If he didn't want to be rid of that memory so badly, he wouldn't have invited Naraku to create an empty space where he could take up residence and trash the place whenever he felt like it. Naraku is a classic abuser, blaming the people he exploits for the very problems that he himself created.

He is just the WORST.

Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 238 Rising to the Semi-Finals!!

Is it time already? I mean, I only started the Battle City arc on the blog back in... March. Of 2017. They say that time flies when you're having fun, but I wouldn't say that's what's happened here. I'd say it's more like when you wake up on a weekday and it feels like you didn't get enough sleep even though you passed out early the night before for like 10 hours. Groggy, you know?

And it looks like I'm not the only one. Figures that the Kaiba brothers would be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, though. Those little monsters. XD

Yuugi presses his face against the porthole to get a glimpse of where it is they've arrived, and is able to make out the giant pillar shadow on the horizon. He stutters in disbelief that THIS dick tower was their destination, as the announcement seems to respond directly to his awe by confirming that this is indeed correct - this is the man-made island named Alcatraz. Because who WOULDN'T want to be reminded of prison when they're being flown out to play the latter part of a game tournament? Sounds fun.

The Kaibas continue to talk up their floating garbage-heap, in the center of which they point out stands their grand duel tower, pointing to the sky as a shining reminder. A reminder of what, you may ask? It's not clear, even to the translator, who has to put in a note regarding how super unclear this is. Granted, they lay the blame on the translation in an entirely different language for this murkiness, but I doubt the elder Kaiba is being too terribly specific in the original Japanese, either.

Anyway, Yuugi is just blown away by this duel tower. Meanwhile, Jonouchi looks out his window as well at the tower the blimp seems to be circling in a touristy way, wondering if this is the place he will test himself to see how much power as a duelist he has. Since every single point in the tournament has done exactly this in one way or another so far, I'm going to take a wild guess and say yes. Yes it will.

Then, we get an odd panel showing other!Marik glaring down his nose at something, presumably the window, holding up his Millennium Rod. No thoughts or words or anything. He's just standing there looking a little snobbish. It's weird.

The blimp touches down on a cleared patch of concrete, and Kaiba encourages his guests to descend to the ground, calling it an altar of his creation. Mokuba elaborates that the whole thing was brought to them by advanced Kaiba Corp technology. For fuck's sake, can someone just get down on their knees and kiss the brothers' asses so they'll get bored of grandstanding? We get it, you're brilliant and deserve aaaaaaall the praise.

Those little monsters.

A set of steps touches down to the hunk of astroturf, and everyone makes their way down to stand upon it themselves, giving each other morning greetings as they do so. Jonouchi looks around at the debris piled on the outskirts of the landing pad for the blimp and asks what's with all the junk, and Yuugi suggests it might be a landfill. A landfill that the Kaiba brothers are REALLY proud of.

Kaiba appears at the top of the blimp's stairs, telling all the duelists to head toward his giant phallus tower. Mokuba marches down the stairs in front of him demanding that everyone step aside for his big brother coming through. As Kaiba brushes past ,Yuugi asks him directly what all this trash is, and Kaiba answers that it COULD be said it's the remains of the man who created Kaiba Corp. This reminds Yuugi that he once heard Kaiba mention that he and his brother were adopted by a man named Kaiba, and when that man died, the elder brother inherited the company.

Mentioned while he was having a man he fired dragged out of the building while the guy was dropping truth-bombs about how Kaiba killed Daddy-Dearest. May not have been worth remembering to cinnamon roll Yuugi, but I think it's worth a mention. Just in case we've gotten far enough away from the incident to discard the relevance here.

Kaiba starts to monologue on the timeline of the company, starting with ten years prior when Gozaburou started the whole thing up as a center for military tech. The island was created to be the hub of the business, ground beneath their feet and all.

How much you wanna bet he has all kinds of little stipulations in his employees' contracts stating that anything they invent belongs to Kaiba Corp? It would be exactly the kind of hypocrisy only this guy could be capable of.

But the sob story is really working its magic on Yuugi, who looks up at Kaiba with a concerned expression. Jonouchi doesn't look too terribly moved, though. He's turned down the gullibility for this presentation, it seems. Kaiba keeps his oration going, skipping to after Gozaburou died, when he swore to use the company's technology for games only, and remake its image altogether. Notice he didn't say anything about swearing not to use the tech to hurt anyone. Truth by omission.

Kaiba destroyed all the relics of Gozaburou, including the island. Sort of, considering they're all still able to stand on this damn landfill. Yuugi looks down at the Duel Disk on his arm, unsettled by the origin story for it. Well, at least the part of the origin story that didn't involve Yami punching Kaiba straight in the, ahem, inspiration. Jonouchi fumes from his position, because he hasn't forgotten who built a theme park to kill all of them way back when. At least SOMEONE isn't letting that shit go, because I don't wanna be the only one.

Nothing says "I'm better than my father" than building a bigger dick than his.

With spectral fire surrounding him, Kaiba turns to Yuugi and states that it's time he's beat, indicating that Gozaburou's isn't the only member he's trying to dwarf. But Yuugi has morphed into Yami by that point, who looks just about as determined as Kaiba. He is NOT intimidated by Kaiba's overcompensation.

What's more, Jonouchi refuses to be ignored, warning Kaiba that he's in trouble if he's forgotten his other competition. Jonouchi jabs a thumb at his own chest and vows to beat Kaiba, showing him that he's a worthy adversary. Kaiba scoffs at him, glaring out of his periphery before tossing a comment behind him that Jonouchi is the closest to trash among the assembled duelists, so he should feel right at home in this junkyard. Now Jonouchi is the one radiating spectral fire, shaking his fist, the only thought he can properly articulate in his rage being that he has to beat that guy. Dude, seriously, just punch him.

Mokuba impatiently points at the duel tower and repeats that they all need to be heading towards it. He wants to get this bullshit over with, dammit! While they make the uncomfortably long and silent trek over there per Mokuba's orders, Yami and Anzu look over to find other!Marik not walking the cleared path like the rest of them, but hiking along the ridge of ruined concrete and rebar. Other!Marik strikes a captain pose and pauses, looking around, humming about this duel tower rising over them. He looks down his nose again, this time at Kaiba, asking him how he plans to decide who's dueling whom. Kaiba just glares back, so Mokuba, clearly getting testy by this point, barks at other!Marik not to worry, because he'll know his destiny when they get to the tower.

No... I think it's the destiny of you getting a thousand dirty looks today.

When they finally reach the door at the base of the duel tower, there's a shadowy figure there to receive them. After the four finalists in particular enter an octagonal room, with yet another set of stairs leading up from behind the figure who welcomes them to the start of the final duels of Battle City. It's Moar Cards Guy! Wow, they must really have been going slow if he got there before they did. No wonder Mokuba was constantly reminding them to get their asses over to the tower.

Moar Cards Guy tells them that each of them can enter one of the four doors, which they ponder for a moment from the middle of the room, one on every other of the eight walls. He tells them not to worry, because whichever one they choose won't affect the duels. The boys all stand in front of a door, which automatically opens for them. As Yami steps into his door, Moar Cards Guy repeats his request to do just that. He's just as eager as Mokuba to get this ball rolling so they can all go home at the end of the day.

Yami steps into a pod which he identifies as a virtual card game system for one. Back out in the central room, Moar Cards Guy invites the filtering in peanut gallery to ascend the stairs behind him to enter the field. Honda asks when the matches will be decided, and Moar Cards Guy answers that they'll be determined presently, in the game that's about to start. Yo dawg, we heard you like duels, so we put duels in your duels so you can duel while you're dueling.

In the meantime, the doors each of the competitors entered snap shut, Jonouchi looking out questioningly as his does so. Their pods begin to rise up along rails up the wall. As the spectators reach the top of the stairs, They see Yami coming up through a hole in the floor, Honda stuttering in disbelief.

Nonstop gaming. They don't call it a tournament for nothing. Somehow, this seems a little surprising to Yami, who summarizes this plan in his head. Moar Cards Guy tells them the simple rules - all four competitors will play each other starting where they're currently suspended just above, and the first two players to reach the top will face each other first, then the last two will duel each other second. Jonouchi gapes at the prospect of the four of them dueling all at once, but I'm sure he'll get the hang of it.

Moar Cards Guy says that it's standard Duel Monsters (or Magic and Wizards, as this translator has decided to accurately translate; first time I've seen its actual name in a while) rules, where the players start with 4000 life points. The more points lost, the higher their little pod-cars go up on the wall, so the losers will reach the top of the tower first. Jonouchi is mystified by what this will look like, but Honda seems pretty impressed with how this will account for dueling ability in this elimination match. Anzu asks what he means, so he explains that any player should be able to target any of the three others that will give them the biggest advantage. He imagines that if Jonouchi wants to fight Yami, he can, and just ignore the other two. Uhhh, somehow I don't think it'll be that simple...

The big question is, of course, who will attack whom. Kaiba only has eyes for one dude... to be his first opponent. What did you think I meant? Yami just glares, Jonouchi recalls his promise in Duel City, and other!Marik doesn't have a preference, because it doesn't matter.

How long before other!Marik starts trying to murder everyone again in nihilistic boredom? I guess it depends on whether he can figure out a way to take advantage of the fact that they're hanging precariously in the air on a rail.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Here we go on the sympathy coaster with the Kaiba brothers once more. This chapter is setting them up as highly sympathetic, and Seto in particular as a poor, exploited kid whose invention for enhanced enjoyment of games was stolen and sold to a military industrial complex. But I know how this song and dance goes, and as I've indicated above, I haven't forgotten that Kaiba has used that very technology he's pissing and moaning about being used by the military here as a torture device in the past. Yes, I still think that Kaiba's invention and drastic actions were affected by Yami messing with his head upon their very first game, but even I can't blame Yami for it all. Kaiba performed the actions, and neither he nor Yami have owned up to their roles in ruining several peripheral lives so far. I doubt they ever will, and that's why I'm cautious about extending sympathy to either one of them by this point.

In the same vein, Kaiba's timeline here leaves me with a few questions. From what I can gather, or maybe estimate ROUGHLY, at most a year-and-a-half has passed in this story. That's half as long as Kaiba's three-year figure in which Gozaburou sold his virtual tech to the military. Does this mean Kaiba was developing the idea long before he and Yami played that fateful game at the beginning of the manga? It would actually make some sense, given that it would explain how fast Kaiba came out with a simulation of his experience in the penalty game, if the base technology was already there for tweaking. On the other hand, Kaiba kind of gave the impression at its introduction that the penalty game was his inspiration for his box/hologram system. And if he was working on this at 12 or 13 years old, if the various fan pages online are to be trusted that Kaiba is 16 at this point anyway, what about Gozaburou's constant and grueling academic push on him? To hear Mokuba tell it, his big brother barely had time to scratch his ass, let alone pursue a passion project in gaming holograms. Did it start out as a part of Seto's intensive education, and he finally found passion in it when he had a specific vision for it?

None of these questions necessarily break the story - they're not necessarily contradictory to information given before, and as speculation lead to some interesting places. I'm just peeling the ideas off the wall where KT stuck them, only to step back and throw them yet again.

I'm not touching the blob that has DADDY PENIS ENVY written all over it, though. Everyone knows where THAT'S been, and it isn't anywhere nice.

Inuyasha Manga: 179 Suspicion

What's there to be suspicious about? What, you think there's an empty, mindless entity trying to infiltrate your inner circle with vague appeals to your humanity? Getting your guard down by engaging your deepest emotions for some sort of abstract benefit? Seems kind of paranoid and narcissistic, right? I mean, if that empty, mindless tentacle is controlled by any kind of intelligence, what interest could it POSSIBLY have in appealing to YOU and YOUR interests? It's not like there's anything you could offer a seething conglomerate. Don't worry so much about how much of your personal details they're absorbing, or how much of the same they offer you in kind for a price.

And definitely DON'T pay any attention to the fact that only minutes after you've mentioned needing a toaster near your smart device, it started advertising toasters to you nonstop. That's not suspicious AT ALL.

Grandiose isn't the word I would use, but he DOES have a point. There's something... theatrical about bringing an army to pick up little baby Kohaku.

Kagura doesn't try to defend her oversized show of force, just stands in front of it, silently, letting it speak for itself. Inside the hut behind Inuyasha and company, Sango and Kohaku kneel at the door, Kohaku holding his sickle and chain in a defensive pose, mumbling that they're surrounded. Sango squats between him and the door, holding his shoulder to keep him from bolting into Kagura's view. She tells him that it's okay, and not to go outside, thinking she can't let him fall into Naraku's hands again.

Back beyond that door, Kagura flips open her fan again, scoffing that she's actually glad she bumped into Inuyasha and his friends here, because she can kill all of them while she's running Naraku's petty errands. Two birds, one stone, as they say. Kagura's particular interest is taking Inuyasha's head, putting on a determined face to claim it as her own. With a wave of her fan, she sends a couple of crescent blades at him, and he grabs Kagome around the middle like she's a rag doll to leap out of the way of them. If I were Kagome, I would scamper off several yards whenever an asshole slinging youkai powers around showed up to avoid getting tossed around.

Kagura directs her horde to drag Kohaku out of the hut and it moves to comply, but the door is smashed out from the inside by a wide projectile; the Hiraikotsu tears through those fuckers like tissue paper. BLOODY tissue paper.

I know you guys are siblings, but I don't think you can fool Kagura into thinking YOU'RE Kohaku, Sango. She'll be able to tell the difference.

Kagome understandably tells Inuyasha to put her down, to which request Inuyasha responds with disbelief. Apparently it's just inconceivable that a woman WOULDN'T want to be slung around like a potato sack.

No, I don't have an issue with being picked up or carried, why do you ask?

Kagome yells at Inuyasha that he can't very well fight when one of his arms is occupied lugging her around. Kagura appears to hear this, and ENCOURAGES him to do whatever he likes - if he likes keeping Kagome under an arm, she could send them to their deaths together in one fell swoop. Inuyasha utters an expletive with a worried glance around, before dragging Kagome up the stairs to the hut, instructing Miroku not to let any youkai even a step closer. Miroku gives an affirmative as he bashes some youkai with his staff. It's all up to him and Sango now, the sad sacks.

Inuyasha barges through the doors, that I thought were ripped apart by Hiraikotsu a moment ago but I GUESS I was wrong, and comes across Kohaku still hanging out like Sango told him. For lack of anywhere safe to deposit Kagome under the circumstances, Inuyasha informs Kohaku that he's leaving Kagome here. Dude, you realize she has LEGS right? Kohaku stutters his understanding and promises to protect Kagome with his life. Kagome sits next to him and says his name in awe. Inuyasha sweatdrops, clearly still not 100% comfortable with Kohaku, but deciding there's no choice but to trust the kid for now. As he rushes back out the door, he looks back over his shoulder to threaten to waste Kohaku if anything happens to Kagome.

Once Inuyasha has disappeared, Kohaku asks if that guy is angry with him, an assessment Kagome protests. She knows that Inuyasha suspects Kohaku might still be under Naraku's control, but looking at his innocent stare at her, she's unconvinced. Inuyasha also thinks about Kohaku's expression while he's clawing through a random youkai in the yard. He can't figure it out - Kohaku definitely doesn't look like someone trying to manipulate and trick. Inuyasha appears to still have major doubts, though.

Meanwhile, Kagura swings her fan again, firing off another crescent wind blade, and tells Inuyasha to draw his sword now that he's finally got both his hands free.

Wouldn't want her to think she can just order Inuyasha around, do we?

Not that he's any more effective as a free agent. Inuyasha groans at the deep trench his heavy sword left in the ground, Kagura having easily moved out of the way before he could slice through her too. Kagura mockingly asks him what's wrong, because his swing has slowed quite a bit. Inuyasha doesn't answer but curses in his head about how Tessaiga is still too heavy to handle well.

Things aren't going very smoothly for anyone else either. Sango's Hiraikotsu rips through several youkai, but when it comes back, she notes with a groan that there's still more encircling her. The barely impacted horde collectively declares their intention to destroy the hut, lunging down toward it. Miroku gapes up at them and braces himself in front of the building, holding up his staff cross-wise in a defensive stance. The youkai dissolve upon its aura, but Miroku barely keeps his footing, also groaning under the endless onslaught.

Inuyasha catches sight of Miroku's struggle over his shoulder and yells his name, which REALLY offends Kagura. She demands that he stop looking away, launching another blade at him. He deflects it with the flat of his blade, hunching behind it like a shield rather than a sword.

All the above effort means dick.

Kohaku and Kagome scream in alarm at the building crumbling around them, although Kohaku does appear to be hovering over Kagome protectively. She's clutching a bow now, which I guess she found in the hut randomly? I don't know. Sango calls out to Kohaku, throwing her boomerang yet again to carve through another minuscule section of the onslaught, but the damage is done. Kohaku and Kagome are exposed, Kagome still kneeling in shock from the collapse of their hiding place. She's still catching up on the situation, asking Kohaku if he's okay though he's already on his feet and pulling her up by her arm, urging her to get moving. Neither of them comment on the bow that just magically appeared in her fist. No time, I suppose. That's fair.

Kagome gets up and they try to flee, but are faced with an offshoot of the main horde, telling them they won't get away. Kohaku responds by throwing his sickle in their faces, tearing through them. Kagome cringes behind him, her sudden accessory entirely useless. She and Kohaku keep running, pursued by a stream of youkai who are determined not to let them escape. These ones are stopped from a different blow, though I'm not sure from where. It didn't look like Hiraikotsu, though it is returning to Sango's hand as she looks in alarm at the section of the army of youkai flanking her from her right. No one else is close enough to have produced it.

Could it have been one of Kagura's wind blades?

Sango shouts at the youkai pressing upon her to get out of the way, as Kohaku and Kagome recede into the nearby forest, Kagome looking over her shoulder in concern at Sango. Miroku stares at them, thinking that this couldn't be. He's coming to a conclusion as Kagura tells Inuyasha that she's not letting HIM get away, because they haven't settled their differences yet. Miroku shouts to Inuyasha not to be fooled - he explains when Inuyasha asks what his deal is that while Kagura and her army SHOULD have been focused on their stated objective of Kohaku, they only really pursued him in the beginning and are now keeping them pinned down in endless battle. Hovering atop Kirara, where the horde have laid off long enough for her to contemplate Miroku's good sense. And for Inuyasha to realize a bit late that Kohaku lead Kagome away. How considerate of them.

Oh SOMEBODY'S injured, alright. In the head. But it isn't Kohaku. Did she take a piece of debris from the shattering hut to the temple or something?

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? It's not clear who fired the final shot on the youkai pursuing Kagome and Kohaku. I'd like to think it was Kagura, because it would make sense that she would want to stop them if they were getting too close to ACTUALLY spoiling the plan, but it's hard to say. Yes, it did look like one of the wind blades, but no one mentioned that Kagura was nerfing her own dudes, so who's to say? The scene could have either used an extra line in there regarding who killed the wave of youkai, OR an extra panel to clarify. I wouldn't have been picky.

And it's extremely disappointing how utterly helpless Kagome is made out to be in this chapter. To the point that a bow literally just appears in between panels, magically, and she doesn't get a chance to use it; the Chekhov's Gun that never went off. I guess it was an accessory that RT suddenly remembered Kagome needed, but its presence only served to remind the audience that Kagome has been an unleashed badass in the past, and is being made into a weakling here for the sake of plot.

If she uses the bow in the next chapter, it'll only serve to make Kagome's utter damseling in this one all the more glaring. And for what? To solidify Naraku's role as an evil mastermind in his plan to isolate and kill a character he should be MORE than aware can hold her own? Yeah, I get it, she's not going to absolutely detonate Kohaku like she did Naraku, but just because she wouldn't kill the boy doesn't mean she should be a doormat either.

At least let the poor girl WALK on her own. Cripes.