A little late, isn't it? I've been checking my watch impatiently for MONTHS now, thinking that the night HAS to be over soon, all while I keep getting a sucker punch from a new angle every five seconds. Since it's dark, it's impossible to tell where these hooks and jabs are coming from, so I can't duck or brace myself. What makes this all the worse is that there are a lot of other people getting even MORE sucker punches than I am, and asking even more desperately for a little light on the fucking horizon so we can fight back already.
But I have a feeling that relief is a bit further in the future for us than it is for Inuyasha, and not just because we're living in nightmare year 2020.
Insurrection always looks easy to privileged jerkwads who've never had a jackboot on their necks before. Or been sucker punched in the dark.
Kouga shouts from Kirara's back that Kagura's smell is coming closer as they continue to head in her direction. He surprises the hell out of Kagome and a little out of Inuyasha by leaping right over Kirara's head and sprinting ahead. He at least takes a moment to twist and give Kagome his thanks before saying that he's officially ditching them. Kagome starts to protest, referencing his wounds, but Kouga brags that they're already healed because he's a REAL youkai, unlike some dope he refuses to name. Inuyasha bristles, because he's not dopey enough to miss that Kouga is talking about him, and starts screaming like a hyper toddler about who the actual loser is here. Delivery aside, though, Kouga IS the one that got his ass handed to him by Kagura just a couple of chapters ago, so...
Miroku ignores Inuyasha's crowing and suggests to Sango as he runs up behind Kagome's bike that it would practically be a miracle for Kouga to turn around and defeat Kagura after losing so badly to her before. Sango agrees, then turns to demand that Kirara drop Inuyasha. The great saber-tooth cat shakes its back so Inuyasha slips off sideways in a mild confusion, right along with Shippou. When he hits the ground, he yells at Kirara in offense as Sango hops into the spot he just vacated. Sango twists around, advising him to be quieter, but Inuyasha insists that he's coming with and that she stop kidding around. Right before he gets Miroku's staff to the back of his head, knocking him silly. Miroku chastises the dazed Inuyasha for being so impatient; his patronizing way of saying that the very human Inuyasha ain't going NOWHERE.
Overhead, a couple of giant wasps are spotted, Kagome identifying them as the Saimyoushou. Miroku says Naraku seems to be making a move, and that it'll be very bad if Inuyasha is seen in his current form.
My sentiments these days exactly, Kagura.
She leaps back from the oncoming boomerang to avoid it, then lands in a crouch on the ground, only to see Kouga standing a short distance away. He looks pretty mad, cracking his knuckles and calling her a bitch. Kagura sardonically asks if there's something else he wants. You know, other than another ass-whooping, presumably. He yells at her to shut up, because he's there to take back the Shikon shards she stole. She fails to look intimidated, smirking that this must be why he brought Inuyasha's crew, for reinforcements. Kagura holds up the very Shikon fragments to which he's referring, asking if he's really so afraid to fight alone without them.
Kouga seems to be distracted from her mocking by demanding Sango not get in the way, though, snapping at her as she continues to fly on Kirara at his back. Sango responds with indignant disbelief, but Kouga tells her not to forget he has claws and fangs, in a panel where he is drawn distinctly without claws. Oops. Anyway, Kouga claims he's going to crush Kagura, who dares him to just try it, lifting her fan for the attack.
Maybe I'm just not strategically savvy, but it really doesn't look like this guy is doing ANYTHING different than he was when Kagura beat him up a few minutes ago. In fact, he's immediately driven back by several wind blades, groaning in his renewed failure. He admits silently that just dodging her blades is taking everything he has, and he can't get close enough to Kagura. Untouched and annoyed, Kagura tells him to hurry up and drop dead, then lets loose a particularly aggressive slash when she yells that she doesn't have time to waste on him. Kouga has to leap to the side to avoid it, cursing.
Kagura is still dwelling on Sesshoumaru's advice to use the shards herself to defeat Naraku if she wants to be free, to which she finally responds with a mental scoff and the claim that she knows. That using the shards herself is her only option? That she wants to be free? Not clear. As Kouga staggers to his feet in the rubble her hail of wind blades has created, and Sango continues to hover in the background, suggesting that this has become a one-sided battle, Kagura considers using the Shikon fragments clutched in her fist.
Sango looks around at a dark cloud growing in the sky behind her, which happens to be another of Naraku's youkai hordes, much to Kagura's surprise. Sango also identifies them with some shock, but Kagura is practically frozen at the mention of Naraku, his name echoing in her head. As Sango curses and swings her Hiraikotsu to slash through a few of them on their way toward her, Kagura's mind races with the question of whether Naraku has noticed she's trying to betray him yet, or perhaps is making another move altogether.
Kouga lunges at her, demanding to know what's got her staring vacantly like that.
Not that he's above taking advantage of the opportunity vacant stares afford him, of course.
As she was hit, the Shikon shards flew from her hand, letting out a high-pitched ring as they fell to the ground. Kouga recognizes them and makes a grab for them where they landed, but Kagura is quick to respond with one of her whirlwind flicks of her fan. Kouga's hand is shredded while he's reaching for the fragments, and he is flung away from them by the multiplying tornadoes as Kagome and Inuyasha show up on her bike accompanied by Miroku on foot.
They peek out from some nearby forest to find Kouga struggling, and Inuyasha is quick to point out Kouga can't begin to compete. Kagome is afraid that if they let him continue to fight alone, he'll die, so Inuyasha steps forward and tells a wide-eyed Miroku not to stop him this time. Kagome says his name in concern, and Miroku asks Inuyasha if he plans on saving Kouga, clearly not keen on repeating his knock-out strategy before. Probably would have to contend with me creating a GIF of Archer ranting about how bad being knocked unconscious is for you.
Yeah, I'm stoked for a new season of Archer. Sue me.
Inuyasha tells Miroku to get real, and that he's just going to retrieve those Shikon shards, because if Kouga is thrown out of the ring, Kagura is just going to run off with them again. He insists he won't just stand by and watch that happen as he runs onto the scene. All-Seeing-Sango happens to glance behind her again and see Inuyasha heading into the fray, saying his name apprehensively.
But wait! He's not COMPLETELY out of his mind! REALLY.
Kouga groans, sprawled on the ground and bleeding fresh. Kagura emerges from the cloud of settling dust to mockingly call him a sore loser. She slashes down through the air with her closed fan, telling Kouga to go to his final resting place, as though he can just get up and walk to wherever he wants to rot once she kills him. It's a weird phrase, is what I'm saying. Another whirlwind forms out of the air, its point jabs down at Kouga, shredding the ground and flinging debris everywhere when it touches down. Smiling, Kagura assumes she got Kouga.
Wow, Kagura, how did you miss this screaming idiot launching himself onto the scene? Not just him, either, but Miroku, who appears to have dragged Kouga out of the tornado's direct path. Both Kouga and Kagura stare from opposite sides of Inuyasha's transformation in disbelief as his hair lightens, teeth sharpen, and ears become pointed and migrate higher on his head. The last of the black is quickly fading from his head when he addresses Kagura, betting it was pretty boring to knock around that wimpy wolf behind him.
Took you long enough, didn't it?
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I'm kind of torn on what to think about the reckless actions of most of the characters at the forefront of this chapter. From Kouga rushing into another fight with Kagura clearly without having thought of a strategy to get close enough for a melee advantage, to Inuyasha rushing to grab those shards despite sunrise being close enough to hang back for less of a chance of his human form being discovered, to Kagura's sudden laser focus (after daydreaming for the first part of the fight) on toying with Kouga and utterly failing to notice anything else happening, including Inuyasha's arrival with an interesting appearance, it seems like everyone was written a bit dumb here. This is another installment that strikes me like an idea that RT couldn't abandon due to time constraints, despite the characters not really fitting into the roles required, so she just forced them into the mold and carried on with it regardless.
It's also giving me the STRONG impression that RT is just avoiding writing genuine strategy into her battles. This is one of the things that I feel makes Inuyasha a poor fit as a shounen title. RT is clearly not good at weighing advantages and disadvantages of opponents in battle scenes - just creating an obvious underdog that has ALL the disadvantages and an obvious antagonist who has all the advantages. This can work well when the protagonist has a clever way to counter and win in the end, but not when the underdog is so mismatched that they have to be pulled out of the fight, TWICE. Kouga was so ridiculously incompetent in this fight that Kagura had her head half in the clouds the whole time and he still got his ass kicked. It wasn't fun to see play out, just a little sad and unsatisfying. I want to see Kouga come up with a plan to counter and come back out on top, but he has to lose again just as bad this time to justify Inuyasha stepping in to save the day.
Which isn't to make Inuyasha appear heroic so much as impulsive and antsy. He's been portrayed as genuinely savvy in the past, but lately I'm beginning to think RT is actually trying to make him out to be actually stupid. Yes, it was a valid point that Kagura would have run away with the Shikon shards the moment Kouga was out for the count, but why it had to be HIM that went in to retrieve the shards when Miroku was right there and able until Inuyasha was could show himself without risk is murky. It comes across as a contrived justification to get the image of Inuyasha changing from human to hanyou before Kagura's eyes on the page and create the tension of an enemy perhaps knowing Inuyasha's secret.
Much like in the Tsubaki arc, RT seems either unable or unwilling to put in the work necessary for properly justifying the actions of her characters, and this is getting worryingly common. I'm beginning to wonder if I've managed to ignore this clunky writing to preserve my love of these characters for literal years.
Oops.
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