Inuyasha Manga: 234 Zombie

Oh, I hope it's a Zombie Zoo. I'm on another Tom Petty bender - just listening to his music nonstop. It's partly a comfort thing, because I've been under a LOT of stress for the last couple of days. Mostly it's a problem with the house, and being a new homeowner, I'm very quick to scare the shit out of regarding anything that might possibly be wrong with it. I'm on an emotional roller coaster right now rolling constantly between relief and abject terror about the state of the place. It's exhausting, but at the moment I'm in a relief trough due to a visit from a professional that said it's not nearly as bad as I thought, so I'm really enjoying the jams right now. 

This mutant wolf looks almost as stressed as me. Want me to blast the Tom Petty louder? Probably would only keep the the flying snake youkai following after him on his tail, though. It's not long before they catch up to him, gnawing into his sides from several different directions at once. His tongue lolls and his eyes roll back as the the flying snakes bite/bleed him, which is a lot more gruesome than I thought it would be, honestly.

A familiar headband, legwarmer, and fur-clad figure leaps into the scene from above.

I see someone has found a more proper outlet for his anger.

His friends Mohawk and Two-Tone, along with the wolf entourage, arrive from behind the trees calling to Kouga and making shocked noises. After receiving an apology for being such a bother, Kouga comments on how the old wolf can talk. They've all gathered around the injured creature, as he confirms that he does indeed speak. He's a MASSIVE fucker too - more than three times the size of the wolves surrounding him, one of which is trying to lick his wounds. 

The old wolf says he fears he's done for anyway, even though Kouga went to the trouble of saving him. Kouga is speechless a moment, then notes that this isn't his territory, expressing some disbelief that even a geriatric wolf would be scared of the small-fry slain earlier. The old wolf tells Kouga he's abandoned his territory in the north, something he has in common with his attackers, apparently. Two-Tone and Mohawk each take an end to the question of what they were running FROM, and the old wolf says simply it's a zombie.

Kouga looks leery while his two underlings appear a little uncomfortable, the former encouraging the old wolf to elaborate. Over a panel featuring a shadowed hulking human torso, the old wolf says that this zombie came from even farther north than his territory. Not a youkai, not a human, whatever it is, the old wolf knows only that it smells like a corpse and graveyard dirt. It started devouring all the youkai in the area, which is presumably why the old wolf left, but as far as we know, he says nothing more on the subject. Or ANY subject, really.

Have a beer and opine about the transience of life?

No, Kouga suggests instead that they go. Two-Tone asks if he means to go where this aforementioned zombie is, Mohawk adding that he THOUGHT they were searching for Naraku, which Two-Tone is unsure is necessarily related to this incident. But Kouga says that's why they're going, to check it out, implying that he wants to make SURE it's got nothing to do with him. Besides, Kouga notes with disdain that "Dog-Turd" is heading their way, which takes aback both his companions, one of them referring to Inuyasha in confusion. Kouga has deduced that the disgusting smell in his nose couldn't possibly belong to anyone else, and therefore they had to be going in the right direction. Assuming your rival knows more about where to go than you do? SOLID LOGIC.

He tells them they're going again. NARROW SKY TRANSITION PANEL!

You're in the forest, what do you expect, dude?

He describes Kouga's smell as "conceited", a quality I didn't know could be a quality of a scent, and I'm not the only one. Shippou asks what kind of smell Inuyasha said this was with his little eyebrows raised, but Inuyasha is too focused on his irritation, saying Kouga has definitely passed through. Miroku suggests this means Kouga is moving toward Ushitori just like them, and Sango wonders out loud if he might have gotten some sort of clue.

It's the blind leading the blind in here. 

Recalling the vague direction which Sarugami-sama pointed them in as where he noticed the malevolent presence disappeared, Kagome thinks that SOMEWHERE up ahead is where Naraku hid himself. Yeah. Somewhere. Definitely more than enough to go on. Inuyasha yells that they ought to move, as if they haven't been this whole time anyway. 

Elsewhere in the misty hills, there's a wizened old priest hiking along with a young apprentice following behind, both shuffling along with identical walking sticks and baskets on their backs. The apprentice stutters that it's evening, and suggests they should head back to town for lodgings. The elder scoffs that he's a coward, but the apprentice insists that there's been rumors lately of a large ogre being sighted around these parts. Claiming something like this so-called ogre would easily be suppressed by his powers, the elder grins and holds up a string of beads. 

Adjacent to them, a stir of power emanates from a copse of trees, enough that several birds dart out of them, cawing.

I don't know, I don't think that little string of beads is going to be enough to even suppress my NIGHTMARES about this for the next few nights, let alone the actual deal. 

The elder and apprentice recoil in horror, muttering that the ogre is eating an ogre, and attract its attention in doing so; it twists to look over its hulking shoulder at them. Both priests sweat bullets,otherwise frozen in fear. The apprentice stutters some more about the possibility of punishing this creature, but the elder cries that it's impossible as he turns tail and runs, arms flailing. The apprentice follows of course, but I like to think that he takes a little less shit from his "master" in the future, given both of them know he can't really walk the walk now.

Meanwhile, the ogre is referred to as "Kyoukotsu-sama" and it turns at the call to none other than my boy Kohaku, standing on a high tree branch to meet Kyoukostu at eye-level. Long-time no-see, kiddo! He says that the ones with the Shikon fragments will be arriving there soon. Kyoukotsu laughs and says he won't fail, unlike his siblings who came before him. This statement will prove quite confusing in future context, so stay tuned for that, folks.

Kyoukotsu starts to dismiss Kohaku, but upon seeing the glint of the Shikon shard in his neck, starts to go back on that order, even though he acknowledges that he shouldn't. 

Lack of self-control. That will undoubtedly help you in whatever task you're here to complete.

Kohaku swings his sickle down and slices clean through Kyoukotsu's wrist, severing his hand from his arm. The hand falls to the ground in front of Kohaku while he lands crouched as well, and a couple of saimyousho hover onto the scene as backup. Kohaku coolly elaborates on the implication here, that Kyoukotsu shouldn't be acting on his own. Kyoukotsu laughs despite his dismemberment, acknowledging that he's being watched. 

How are we defining the word "precious" here? Anyway, he says he JUST got back on his feet with a chuckle. Probably doesn't want to take his second dirt nap RIGHT away or anything. 

We get a shot of wolves running up the side of a hill before pausing at the sight of rustling foliage near the top. Before we know it, Kyoukotsu's huge hand smacks down on them as they skitter out of the way. Kouga runs up to where his anxious wolves prance about, and Kyoukostu labels him as "the guy who has the Shikon fragments". Kouga just gapes in mild disbelief at first. 

How do you suppose? He said he was going to take you life, not your brains.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I really loved it as a lead-up to Halloween this week. The imagery is chilling, taking me back to the earlier aesthetic that this comic had in the beginning. Despite the monster design not being particularly creative here, there is a visceral quality to the story here that brings MORE than enough horror to the table. Seeing a giant wolf (an animal that should not be afraid of SHIT) be chased down and chomped on by flying snakes, a fresh grave in the foreground of a panel that lets it sit there without mention, a massive man munching on a live creature clawing for release - this is the shit of nightmares, even if they're not the kinds of lurid nightmares that keep you falling asleep again.

At the same time, RT has fallen back on a couple of old habits in this one. Kouga seems to be under the impression that Inuyasha has at the very least a clue to Naraku's whereabouts, implying as much in his decision to head in the same direction. He shouldn't have so much as an inkling of the previous chapter's clue yet, but somehow he comes into this chapter pre-loaded with the notion that Inuyasha's got some information he doesn't. It's not as glaring as the previous instances of characters knowing/deducing things they shouldn't, but it's a little grating nonetheless. It was also very awkward that we had to switch to Inuyasha and company's perspective for a few panels just so we could understand they noticed Kouga in the area too. I feel like it would have been less clunky if they had only noticed one another after Kouga had started fighting our "zombie" in the next chapter, and RT had come up with a more organic reason for Kouga to check out the "zombie" in the first place.

Speaking of the devil, I'm not sure if the whole "I won't fail like my siblings before" was a translation issue or a reference Naraku's offspring, oddly enough, but it had me scratching my head. Knowing what I know about this character, the people he normally refers to as brothers haven't DONE anything to fail at yet, so if he's talking about them... I don't know what the hell that's supposed to be about.

Maybe all those youkai he's been eating are messing with his head a little.