Happy autumn, friends! It's gotten rainy and chilly again, so I busted out all the teas and am drinking multiple cups a day. The leaves are juuuuuuust starting to turn, no one can shut up about pumpkin spice, and the small town my new house is near has a banner up for a scarecrow contest. Apparently there's a little fall festival on its way too, and I am absolutely shocked - I accidentally stumbled into a cutesy slice of old-time Americana and it's too saccharine to handle. I'm SICK with how adorable it is.
Yeah, but do they have a SCARECROW CONTEST? Apparently not - Sango says that something is strange, and when the city girl beside her asks what's up, she points out that the crops are all in ruins, lying dug up and chopped into the soil all over the place. No lavish dinners for their visit this time, apparently.
A crowd down the road runs toward them uniformly, a few old men in the lead pointing out "him" as the guy they're looking for. The Inuyasha group turns at the shout to look over their shoulders, making questioning noises as Sango hesitantly identifies them as the villagers. Said villagers yell at the one with silvery hair to wait, one of them also referring to his pointy animal ears as a sign that he sure ain't human. Kagome quizzically supposes that they're talking about Inuyasha as Inuyasha walks out to confront the (presumed) mob, asking the bastards what is up with them.
Oh good, Inuyasha gets to play god today. This should be new and fun...
Taken aback, Inuyasha asks if they mean HIM. Clearly they do, because when they end up in the village, Inuyasha has adopted the role of porch-goblin in this one, sitting up on top of the stoop while the villagers sit in the dirt below, Miroku and Kagome standing next to the stairs on either side of him like attendants. The villagers mumble that they had no choice but to turn to the gods, and Miroku, observant as he is, voices his suspicion that they're in some kind of trouble.
One of the men reiterates what Sango mentioned before, that the fields have been laid to waste, and they're in some dire straights. Another opines that they might starve to death at this rate. No Sultans of Swing around here, folks. Kagome asks if this is a youkai's doing, to which the frustrated villagers answer that the culprits are actually monkeys. Inuyasha sweatdrops at this information, looking just as bemused as before.
A villager says they heard that monkeys have always been afraid of dogs, who are more abundant in supernatural form around here than just... regular dogs, apparently. Another villager sheds a tear, begging the Inugami-sama to use his dog power on the monkeys. Miroku kneels before the men, promising that they'll exterminate these pests, but Inuyasha tells him to hold up a tick. He complains that they don't have time for this, but Miroku says not to worry; he suggests Sango and he will go look for Naraku clues nearby in the meantime. Sango accepts this spontaneous plan, looking a bit mystified by the suddenness of it, although that might be just a drawing error.
In any case, the villagers direct Inuyasha to Monkey Forest, the natural habitat of the creatures he is asked to drive away somehow. They don't appear to want the monkeys dead so much as... not around their crops anymore. They're a bit friendlier than most other villagers in this story for sure. I think I like them.
Cut to Inuyasha and Kagome walking out into the forest, Inuyasha pissing and moaning about this side-quest. He asks why HE has to do monkey-duty, seemingly having forgotten why he was targeted for the task to begin with. Meanwhile, they're seen by SOMEONE who knows he's a dog youkai rather than a god. Whomever this is curses those villagers because they're aware they hate dogs. Despite this, however, this person resolves to beat these saviors of the village back.
More ape than monkey, but I'm not going to harp too hard on the taxonomy of a cyclops monster that clearly isn't part of the real tree of life at all.
Also, Shippou is here too! Go figure. He stutters about the monster monkey, but Inuyasha is grinning and cracking his knuckles threateningly over this, saying it would be boring otherwise. And we would just HATE for our boy to be bored, wouldn't we? He knocks the cyclops on its ass with a single punch while he talks about how much better it is to have a youkai opponent. Even one that falls like a 10-pound sack of potatoes, apparently.
Or... THREE tiny ones that fall like a 10-pound sack of potatoes. For the price of one, so I'm counting this as a bargain.
Inuyasha still holds up a fist, forgetting to uncurl his claws in his mild shock. Shippou is significantly calmer than before when he identifies them as monkey kids, and Kagome squeals about how cute they are. Inuyasha squats next to the little guys, accusing them of being the ones who fucked up the village fields. They take a moment to huddle and whisper among themselves before bowing to Inuyasha, the one up front above declaring that they have lost. This one also holds out a little rock with a garland around it, offering this as a gift and proof that they will never be naughty again.
Inuyasha oohs at the offering, but Shippou calls to him in warning. Inuyasha has already accepted the gift and is holding it when he asks Shippou what's up, who begins to explain that lowering an enemy's guard with a trinket is a bit suspicious...
Yeeeeeaaaaahhhh, a bit slow on the heads-up there kiddo. Probably not by accident, either. Inuyasha stretches his foot over to shove Shippou's head down into the dirt, snapping at him to speak faster.
One of the monkeys crosses his little arms and laughs that Inuyasha deserves this for being a sucker, and the leader claims the damn inuyoukai can't move. In response, Inuyasha rapidly bops them all on the head - he might not have any long-distance aim to speak of, but he's quick on the draw, we can hand him that much. He begins to threaten the monkeys if they don't withdraw their little prank, but a monkey scoffs that it's useless. The leader says that as long as they don't break their spell, he'll never be able to get his hand off the rock.
Inuyasha adopts a twitching annoyed smile as he sweatdrops, acknowledging this and offering a compelling counterargument.
Well, compelling until they just... run off. Giant boulders are much slower to swing around than his fist, as it turns out. Inuyasha shouts at their retreating backs that they'll get theirs, while the little leader monkey shouts over his shoulder that Inuyasha should just wait. Kagome dashes off after them with bow clutched in hand (oh, NOW she has her bow up front and visible, when she's clearly not going to use it?), calling for Shippou to come along with her. He's already clinging to her elbow, so all that's left is for Kagome to shout back at Inuyasha to hang out where he is as he's yelling at her back.
Shippou warns Kagome that it'll be bad if they get away, Kagome responding with a questioning noise. He reminds her of just what they said; only those who created the trick can remove it. Kagome doesn't seem thrilled by this prospect, so obviously, they press on, running up on a building in the forest. Abandoned, as usual.
Oooh, and looking a bit crispy as well.
Kagome notices a set of footprints leading up to the burned-out structure, and in the darkness she sees the little monkeys shivering at the back. She climbs into the doorway, giving them a friendly greeting. Before long, they're all sitting outside while Kagome hands out lollipops, asking why they pulled the prank on the villagers' fields. The leader insists it was no prank, but their desperate attempt to find a kidnapped Sarugami-sama.
At the question of who Sarugami-sama is, the leader monkey explains that he's the god who resides at this shrine, and they are the sprites who serve him, trained while they watched over the shrine. Kinda like the water sprites who hovered around both real and fake water gods 100-ish chapters ago. The shrine was burnt due to a nearby conflict, and Sarugami-sama's "go-shintai" was taken by someone. Had to look up that term, because unlike with "hokora", there was no definition in the margin provided by the translator. In case anyone is curious, it's a physical idol that is supposed to hold the god/spirit of a shrine, like a body - a statue or some such.
Kagome asks if they mean that they think the villagers have the go-shintai, and the leader monkey says they had supposed the go-shintai was buried in a field due to Sarugami-sama telling them about it in dreams. All of them, apparently, each receiving a different cryptic clue. One of them was told it was a dark and damp place, another that it was stuffy and cramped, and the third that it stank of icky ICKY vegetables. Well, kids are always going to hate their veggies, I guess.
They all lift their heads at the sound of a mighty thump in the distance, Kagome humming. A couple more echo through the trees, rattling everyone. The leader monkey says that something is coming, and Kagome delicately tries to persuade them to remove the spell on Inuyasha, for their own sakes. The monkey leader says there's no way.
Sounds familiar.
Wheezing, Inuyasha arrives, hand still stuck to the boulder, and just in time to be indignant over their admission of incompetence. They recoil, sweatdropping, as Shippou sternly warns them that they'll get hurt if they're joking, Inuyasha not really known for using a light hand with kids. They insist they're not kidding, putting on the dunce pose above once more as they repeat that they have completely forgotten how to remove their little enchantment.
Inuyasha conks them all over the head once more, putting giant knots on their scalps, heaving in anger and exhaustion. I assume it's Kagome who suggests that this is a problem, leaning down to chide them, but it could also be one of the monkeys as well - the speech bubble isn't really clear in its placement. Inuyasha lifts the boulder over his head again, threatening to kill them with it, but the leader monkey holds out his hand to plead for pause. He says that Sarugami-sama would be able to lift the spell if they can find him, since Sarugami-sama was the one to teach it to them. Kagome's expression is kind of worried, urging Inuyasha to hurry back to the village with her to find the go-shintai. Inuyasha, of course, is a bit flummoxed on a couple of levels at this suggestion.
If they aren't able to get that boulder off his hand, he'll be too exhausted to actually punish anyone for it. At least the monkeys have THAT in their favor.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? It's a little strange to me that after such a long time in which Shippou just hangs out on the margins with a stray comment from time to time, his role in this chapter is only a TAD more involved. He speaks a little more, but is just as uninvolved in moving the plot forward as ever, unless you count his INACTION as some sort of marginal involvement. It's in service to a fair joke, and as I mentioned above, you could absolutely interpret it to indicate a deliberate hang-back on Shippou's part as a small revenge for all the whacks he gets on the regular. But at the same time, he genuinely seems to lack the pettiness and childishness he's had in his salty interactions with Inuyasha in the past, so I'm not sure it's a very SOLID interpretation.
Otherwise, this was a very amusing installment - LOVED that Inuyasha gets mistaken for a god, or at least the villagers are willing to treat him as such for the chance that he'll be the savior of their fields. A little strange that they found Inuyasha before an ACTUAL dog first, but I guess a mundane canine probably wouldn't be very effective against a supernatural pack of monkeys. THEY didn't seem to make a distinction, but that's how I'm going to justify it in my head.
Speaking of the monkeys... they're alright. Mostly it's just the leader showing any kind of distinctive personality, which is a persistent haughtiness. I do find it somewhat compelling that he is clearly mistrustful and disdainful of the human villagers, basically accusing them of kidnapping the resident god of the shrine. Whether that's the way he's always felt, or it was the warring humans burning out the shrine kind of souring him on humanity isn't clear, but I kind of feel like it's the latter. Considering monkeys are considered pests to most agricultural societies they share their habitats with, though, I wouldn't be surprised it he thought humans were shitty before too. Either way, it's not unreasonable for them to be cowering from Kagome and her bow in the shrine, even if she was absolutely harmless.
All the same, their craftiness was rather blase, not particularly unique, despite them being clever little primates like one might expect. I appreciate Shippou's indication that theirs is the strategy of most smaller youkai/spirits of all kinds, simply because they don't have pure size and muscle on their side. It goes a ways to explain how a small youkai might actually manage to make it in a world of violence by default. Doesn't do much to make these particular ones stand out very much, though, which is odd considering how talented RT can be in making even her non-recurring characters strong personalities.
They can't all blow your mind, I guess.
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