The punny nature of THIS name is a bit reduced, I'm afraid. The "Gin" in this one is the character for "silver", which I kind of expected in my insignificant knowledge of Japanese, but it's also limited as a descriptor. Since actual silver isn't really used in heavy machinery for obvious reasons, we can only assume that we're talking about color or the sheer amount of MONEY that went into making Ginkotsu a cyborg. So the interpretations of this guy's name I'm ultimately left with are either that he's impressively SHINY, or essentially the Six Million Dollar Man. In the latter case, I'm just tempted to call him Steve Austin instead.
It's really a shame that RT couldn't have gotten away with calling him "Chrome Skill/Chrome Bone". Would have raised fewer questions for me, at least.
Oh yeah, I haven't gotten into Renkotsu's name yet!
I'll do it later. I'm lazy.
Renkotsu tells Jakotsu that he'll go and finish his OTHER work, though no word on what that is. I'm probz better off not knowing, to be honest, which means I'm very likely to find out before too long. But Renkotsu does promise that if Jakotsu hurries it up, he may just be in time to see Inuyasha die. What a comforting thought for a sadist.
Out in the wooded hills, Inuyasha carries Kagome on his back while he leads Kirara, ferrying the unconcious Sango and Miroku slung across a massive back and Shippou perched on her head, who asks Inuyasha how far he intends to go. He ignores the question, asking the dozing Kagome over his shoulder if it hurts, and for her to hold on just a little longer. Sango and Miroku rustle a bit as Kirara picks through the forest, but they too are otherwise silent.
Insistent, Shippou says it's bad to keep moving everyone for how it speeds the poison's circulation, to which Inuyasha snaps that he KNOWS. There's a rustle above that Inuyasha glaces up for, clearly a bit paranoid at this point. He carefully slides Kagome off his back holds her out to Kirara, bidding Shippou take her and the others on ahead. Shippou looks confused, I'm sure due in no small part to the fact that he's not only being entrusted with holding Miroku's staff, but also a girl five times his size as Inuyasha leans her on Kirara in the front. Seriously, he doesn't even bother situating her on the giant sabertooth's back like the others. Perhaps he thinks he doesn't have time; he's already got a hand on Tessaiga's hilt, cursing that whomever has been stalking them has caught up. The rustling around them becomes more pronounced.
Inuyasha deflects the ridiculous flying saw blades with his sword, cursing again, and they are yanked back toward their source by some force, to his surprise. Over the stumps of the felled trees, Inuyasha spies a hazy figure stamping up the hill as the last errant saw blade locks back onto a rack on its back.
That is the jankiest shit I've ever seen.
Inuyasha tentatively identifies the jank-man as a member of the Shichinin-tai as well; though this one's human shape is a bit on the ambiguous side, Inuyasha says he still smells like corpse and burial soil. The object of this assessment just gurgles a chuckle, introducing himself as Ginkotsu. With Tessaiga hoisted on his shoulder, Inuyasha says he has a few questions, but acknowledges that this isn't the time to ask them.
Ginkotsu laughs again, surmising that Inuyasha wants his poisoned friends to rest as soon as possible, and offers to kill them off himself before the poison has a chance to bring them that far as he launches those disc saw blades from his back again. Inuyasha dodges and weaves around them with a grunt, then while they dig themselves into the ground with their rotating inertia, he turns to yell at Kirara to everyone away from here. Kirara wastes no time in grabbing Kagome by the cape of her sailor blouse and lifting all of them in the air, including a shocked Shippou. Hope Kagome's blouse is made of a decent textile.
Ginkotsu chuckles that they won't get away, aiming that arm that looks like it's capped with a grappling hook up at them. The claws have come out, and, for better or worse, we'll never know if that blouse would have held up under the weight of Kagome's limp torso.
Mayday! MAYDAY! We've got antiaircraft artillery!
Ginkotsu yanks back on the chain attached to his grappling hook and Kirara & crew go DOWN straight into the dirt. Inuyasha gapes at a groaning Kagome, who still seems to be unconscious. He then turns back to Ginkotsu, sword held at the ready, as he promises the bastard in front of him that he'll pay for that. Ginkotsu laughs in amusement while Inuyasha calls out the ever reliable Kaze no Kizu. He doesn't have a chance to follow through.
Ginkotsu explains that he was told by his big brother not to Inuyasha swing his big sword around too much, metal parts screeching against one another as he chuckles some more. He wastes no more time in firing the big canon on his back at Inuyasha, yelling at him to just DIE already, and Inuyasha cringes away from the blast with a grunt. Debris bounces in front of Shippou, who has hit the deck and stutters in shock that this is gun powder. Brilliant deduction, my young mascot.
The jank-man declares victory too early, claiming that Inuyasha was blown to pieces with pathetic certainty. Dude, don't you know the whole story is NAMED after him??
Try again when YOU'VE got a comic with your name on it, bro.
Ginkotsu jumps back as Inuyasha swings Tessaiga down where he was standing. Quite limber for a hunk of junk. Inuyasha yells again at Shippou and Kirara to get going, and Kirara takes off again, all bodies miraculously back on back or in jaw, and Shippou shouting Inuyasha's name while they fly away. Once they clear the canopy, Shippou can clearly see a temple rising at the top of a nearby hill. He points it out to Kirara, directing her to land over there.
After a small black panel, we are with Kagome as she slowly comes back to consciousness. Shippou is sat next to her head, on the futon she's laid on with a plain blanket draped over her. She acknowledges Shippou, asking where they are with the roof over their head and the open sliding door. Shippou tells her they're hiding at a temple, and indicates Sango and Miroku laying next to her, on their own futons, stating that they're still unconscious. The only thought Kagome has is to question where Inuyasha is.
Someone at the door comments on the fact that she's awake. A serene-looking monk is framed in the open door, claiming how glad he is to see she's come to, asking her to rest without worry. He can't fool her for a single moment, though.
He wiped the flames off his face, but it still wasn't enough.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Inuyasha's anxiety is PALPABLE in this chapter. It's easy to feel how nervous he is over the condition of his friends, getting them to a safe place, being stalked, etc. He's less cocky, and is very quiet while Shippou nags at him about the poison spreading, with only the tense snap-back to acknowledge he's heard. If he were feeling his normal hot-headed self, he would have at least said something snide and hit Shippou over the head, but clearly he's a bit overwhelmed with the situation. Not only does he have a lot of dead weight to look after, but that dead weight was recently a team and friends. It just goes to show how far he's moved away from a loner mindset that he's become so uncomfortable with the possibility of the company/support going away. He has certainly gotten reliant on his group, both emotionally and in a fight, which SHOWS in how his demeanor has deteriorated since the previous chapter.
It's been a while since I've read this part of the manga, so I can't remember all that well, but I find it hard to believe that Renkotsu DIDN'T know Kagome could sense the Shikon fragments - he and his associates know entirely too much about (most) of their enemies from Naraku for me to buy that he hasn't been briefed on THAT as well. I'm guessing Renkotsu decided to disguise himself as a monk to look innocuous to innocent little Shippou, and is banking on Kagome not being able to speak on the matter. She's demonstrated that she CAN above, of course, but given the group is out of commission at the moment, it would be unwise for her to let on that she knows anyway. No doubt the mental torture of this is part of Renkotsu's plan, since there's a noticeable pattern among all of the Shichinin-tai that they're all about inflicting all kinds of anguish on folks.
No wonder Naraku gets on so well with them.
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