I still can't get over the concept of a guy burying a monster head in his garden. I've encountered a lot of animal heads on WALLS living in the American west, but that's a taxidermy trophy people can see. You can't exactly brag about victory over a creature if your proof is six feet under. Is it some sort of weird humiliation thing? Like the guy defeated the monster, so he wants to assert his victory by planting its head under the outhouse? Or is it more an invisible fence post, assuming other monsters can detect the defeated one in the ground and get put off attacking?
Google is going to be working overtime on this shit, I promise.
Too bad Kagome hasn't introduced Inuyasha to projectors in the modern era yet. Then maybe he would have more suspicions and less confusion here.
Inuyasha resolves to take another shot at the thing with the sword, lifting Tessaiga again, but is stopped by a plea to wait. Thank goodness that Miroku rescued us from having to sit through multiple failed attacks. I guess he's not so bad after all. While Inuyasha acknowledges his call to wait with pause, Miroku holds up a couple of paper charms and says that weapons won't work on this foe. He throws the lightly flaming charms at the oni head, and THIS attack seems to land, crackling and arcing across the ogre's mug.
Kagome and Shippou gape over Inuyasha's shoulder, a castle guard nearby exclaiming that the head disappeared. Brilliant observation of what amounts to a weird laser light show. The princess is also muttering that the oni head has disappeared to the princess, who is gaping up at the sky where it performed its trick too, so I have to assume she's not blind. Miroku says it was an illusion all along, just as he thought, and Sango repeats "illusion" back to him as a question. I would have suggested he tell that to all the castle staff that that psycho holed up in his room killed, but I'm also very rude.
Later, they're all sitting facing each other for a meal set out in front of them, save Inuyasha, who lounges against the open edge of the sliding door leading onto the porch. The porch man/goblin, apparently forgoing his own meal, sits at the head of their formation, asking for confirmation that the ogre head will be back again tomorrow night. Miroku says that yes, it was just a fake, probably an illusion to divert attention away from the oni's real body. The old woman chuckles at the thickening plot.
Kagome concludes that the real ogre must be hiding somewhere in the castle then, and Sango affirms that the evil atmosphere hasn't lessened at all, her point emphasized by the marbled effect hanging out behind them. The old woman, around a mouthful of food, reiterates that she can't feel an evil aura. Kagome gives her a fake smile and acknowledgment, but Sango just looks on exasperates and thinks this is some exorcist sardonically.
From his uncomfortable-looking seat on the threshold, Inuyasha recalls that the old man from the porch had said Tono had gone insane, and suggests that it's not just the oni's curse, but a full-on possession.
That's right, this is being observed by Inuyasha and Miroku at a crack in the door, homicidal nature be DAMNED. The old porch-goblin, presumably having led them there, whispers that they'll get killed if they're caught, but Inuyasha assures him that they'll just kill the Tono first if they have to. Super reassuring, I'm sure. Miroku tells Inuyasha not to be so hasty - the guy IS important after all. Why else would they just let him get away with literal murder over and over again, never sending in a few well-trained guards to stab him a bit until he stopped moving?
Inuyasha leans close to peer over Miroku's shoulder, asking if this guy is indeed the ogre. Miroku says that, on the contrary, this guy seems entirely human. He's pretty sure the evil aura permeating the castle isn't coming from here, anyway. This is his expert opinion, folks.
Cut to the old exorcist woman throwing her pocket-sand in Kagome, Sango and Shippou's faces as they sit all in a row, eyes squeezed shut against the flying particles. The old lady suggests with optimistic certainly that they must feel a bit better now, but Sango offers her insincere apologies while brushing off her shoulders aggressively, Kagome coughing next to her. The old woman says this is strange; she holds up the jar, describing its contents of purification ash salt, a substance most youkai are repelled by. Inuyasha and Miroku walk back into the room at this moment, in which the former scoffs at the fraud exorcist and asserts the ash salt would never work. Kagome ignores Inuyasha's rudeness where she normally wouldn't, welcoming the boys back without reprimand. Maybe it has to do with Shippou still gagging on the ash salt behind her.
Meanwhile...
Not as disturbed by this idea as I would be, but whatevz.
The princess prompts him to continue with a word, and the old porch-goblin reports further that Miroku has observed otherwise, that Tono has just gotten a bit crazy after all. She draws the conclusion on her own that this would mean the oni is elsewhere, muttering "oh my" with some sterility. Not long afterward, her old attendant addresses Miroku outside of the room where he and the others are gathered, informing him that the princess wishes to consult with him. He loftily asks for confirmation, while Sango twtiches in irritation next to him.
She tells him to hold it, asking if he intends to go alone, indignant. Miroku responds by grabbing her hand and bidding her not to worry. He acknowledges the princess's beauty, but affirms his heart belongs to her, guiding the back of her hand to brush up and down his cheek. It's super weird. Sango protests, flustered, that she's not worried about that, explaining that it's dangerous to be traipsing about on one's own while they don't know when the oni is going to appear next. A fair point, but Inuyasha says it'll be fine, Miroku being more than capable of handling it by himself. Sango shoots him a withering glare, and he crouches behind Kagome in fear, wondering why SHE has the face of an oni now. Kagome looks exasperated, thinking Inuyasha is a fucking moron.
Before he heads off, the old exorcist woman hails him and presents him with a packet of her purification ash salt as a precaution. Though he's a little taken-aback, he accepts the gift with a gracious bow and thanks.
Next we see him, he's heading down a LONG staircase, appearing to lead underground, lead by the princess. Apparently this is the way to the tomb of the oni's head, which she confirms for him, claiming it was enshrined under the castle, which she says she wants him to see without fail. Red flag eagerness aside, Miroku seems pensive, saying he heard the oni's head was buried as a protection against evil. She says this is true, and that there haven't been any strange events until now. Are you telling me this oni-head-in-the-ground is actually effective? I don't know if I buy it, but okay.
"Alright, which of you fuckers opened Pandora's Box?? TONO???"
The princess holds out her lamp, drawing Miroku's attention to the center of the crater in the ground, the shadowed contents of which draw shock from him.
This is what happens when you ignore red flags.
Back with the rest of the crew, Shippou sits out on the porch, commenting on how late Miroku is, while Sango has taken Inuyasha's place on the threshold leaning on the edge of the door. Inuyasha is now inside, loftily implying that the perverted bastard and the princess are probably getting up naughty things without outright SAYING so. This still has Sango twitching, though, if it's not that uncomfortable-looking position she's in at the door anyway. Kagome snaps at Inuyasha to sit with her brows knit in frustration, the first time in a while, incidentally.
From his belly on the floor, Inuyasha demands to know what she did THAT for, and Kagome leans down to explain that he has NO tact whatsoever. She looks back up to invite Sango to look for Miroku in a friendly tone, but Sango coldly turns her down, saying they shouldn't get in Miroku's way. Kagome smiles, but she knows Sango is forcing herself not to get worked up over this.
There's the sound of running down the way, and an outcry, drawing Sango, Inuyasha, and Kagome to look at the length of the porch. In Tono's room, he's got one woman by the hair and two other corpses discarded behind him, blade drawn while he heaves like he's just run a mile. The old man and a couple of other men come in to try and persuade him not to murder anymore, but I don't think that's working so well. Inuyasha and Sango push in around these fools, the former barking at them to get out of the way. They show up just in time to see some horns, pointed ears, and a row of sharp teeth start to form on the guy.
It only gets worse from there.
Speak of the devil, we're back looking into the pit with him and the princess, kneeling next to it. The princess explains to him that this is what happened to all the priests and priestesses that came to exorcise the oni. She gives him an eerie sideways stare as she continues, stating that the oni liked to eat humans with spiritual powers when it was alive, so those powers could be absorbed into its own. Smiling and sweating, Miroku mutters that this must have been why she brought him here. She confirms that indeed, she wants to eat his powers.
So he pocket-sands the shit out of her face with that ash salt he got from the old exorcist lady, which is a fair response. The princess recoils, but lifting her big sleeve to shield herself isn't enough to block the salt, and she too grows horns and a little feminine set of fangs in contrast to Tono's big fuck-all row of stakes. Miroku says he enhanced the ash salt a bit, and that his amplification of the power seems to have worked while the oni princess groans. But Miroku silently remarks on this oni's toughness, and how troublesome it will be, since he's finding it really difficult to move in this evil aura it's continuing to produce. He's sweating even more now.
The oni princess laughs, asserting that help won't be coming for Miroku, the hanyou and his other companions being otherwise occupied with her decoy oni in the castle.
Good for you? This seems like an unnecessary flex when this guy has been treated with kid-gloves since before you got here.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I'm lukewarm - this is mostly okay, though nothing about it stands out as especially good. The new characters are not notable or particularly interesting. The only notable, delusional old exorcist wannabe, seems to have disappeared halfway through it, and the rest of them are very wooden and uninteresting. Aside from how thorough our ogre princess is in creating a couple of different decoys to draw attention away from her, there's just nothing about her that stands out as a villain.
And of course I have to wonder how she managed to lure THAT many priests and priestesses into the pit. We know why MIROKU was interested in going down there with her alone, but ALL of the bones in that pit couldn't possibly have belonged to perverts. She had to figure out a way for each of them to get down there to devour them according to their own personalities, and that wouldn't be a problem if they were supposed to have trickled in over a period of YEARS, but we were told at the beginning of this mini-arc that the oni-head nonsense began only recently. I just don't know if I buy that this ogre with an ENORMOUS appetite managed to lure that many people down into her hell-hole gravesite in such a short amount of time. The logistics of that aren't really adding up for me.
Miroku's libido bumping up against Sango's jealousy for giggles is a little cringe all on its own, but RT turned that shit up to 11 when he was caressing his own face with her hand, claiming his heart belongs to her. Granted, much like Inuyasha and Kagome, it was obvious even without a formal "we're dating" announcement that Miroku and Sango were an item immediately after their last little adventure together. It's also obvious that Miroku is a bit more bold in expressing himself and this isn't out of the question for a guy who asks random women to bear his children. Still, I can't help but wince at this scene, because unlike Inuyasha and Kagome's romantic interactions reinforcing their relationship, this just comes across as a parody of romance, like Miroku is almost making fun of Sango for liking him. Maybe it's because his "pervert" behavior is in a comedic context, so everything surrounding it is too, but it just makes me feel bad for Sango.
But the setup and payoff of Miroku getting the ash salt and using it against the oni princess in the pit was satisfying. So there's that.
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