This is kind of a bad time for a "clash" for me, Chapter. I'm still recovering from some sort of weird stomach bug - nope, not Covid, thankfully. I was concerned at first that it might be, because I felt very much like I did when I got my vaccine booster, lots of body aches and chills. Even though I didn't have a cough or any other tell-tale signs (loss of smell/taste, headache, etc.), I decided to get tested anyway. Meanwhile, my body aches morphed into vague aches in my midsection, and then cramping in my stomach. The test came out negative, and I'm feeling somewhat better, but I'm still being woken up in the middle of the night by sudden stomach cramps, decreasing in severity of course. I don't know WHAT I put in there to make it so upset, but the whole ordeal has exhausted me and butting heads is something I'm a bit ill-equipped for as a result.
So much for my two-year streak of not getting sick.
Well, look who's getting along again! That's a relief at least.
In addition to the big presence of Shikon aura Kagome's feeling, Inuyasha smells fire and blood, so he's certain they're headed for the Shichinin-tai. Indeed, straight ahead, there's smoke climbing from behind the walls surrounding the castle raided in the previous chapter. Maimed corpses lay beneath charred wooden beams, eyes still open wide to the horror of their final moments. Among the carnage, Bankotsu complains that there's not a single woman left alive.
I thought Jakotsu was supposed to be the ditzy one, but here he is steering the topic away from the pettiest whining I've ever seen a character make in this comic.
Jakotsu asks if it's really the best time or place to be sitting and drinking sake, increasing my sense that things are all topsy-turvy for a moment, until he follows this up by expressing a desire to see Inuyasha again as soon as possible. Oh good, they're just silly together. From across the courtyard, Renkotsu lectures Jakotsu for being impatient, reminding him that Inuyasha has a good nose. Bankotsu agrees, wearing an easy smile while propping his cheek against the heel of his hand, speculating that the others will just follow the smell of blood on the wind right to where they're sitting and waiting.
Just when he's finished saying this, a whirlwind appears along a nearby retaining wall, something Suikotsu and Renkotsu note with only the mildest interest. A familiar figure is leading it as he sprints forward with determination.
Do you really need confirmation at this point?
Bankotsu notes aloud that the wolf arrived before the dog while Jakotsu asks Kouga casually how it's going, and Kouga expresses some frustration that they're so FUCKING relaxed right now. He demands to know where Naraku is, since he's aware that these bastards have been hanging around the villain. Instead of answering the question, Bankotsu scratches his head and comments one how many enemies Naraku seems to have, as if it only just occurred to him. He turns to Jakotsu and admits he has a bad feeling about this, asking if Jakotsu thinks they can trust Naraku. Jakotsu says it's no good asking HIM, reminding Bankotsu that he's the only one who's met the guy.
Kouga again demands Naraku's location, dangling a nonspecific threat for if their hiding him. Before he can be ignored again, Kouga lunges and declares he'll waste them, but when has it ever been THAT easy?
Kouga calls Jakotsu a moron, and claims he's already seen through the bendy-sword trick, but no sooner do the words come out of his mouth when he has to leap to the side as an explosion blooms next to him. No surprise that it's Renkotsu manning Ginkotsu's guns, muttering his disappointment that Kouga dodged. When Kouga looks up from his crouching position after his evasion, Bankotsu is standing with his entirely oversized sword propped on his shoulder, observing with amusement that Kouga is fast. He deduces that it has to be the Shikon shards in Kouga's legs giving him the extra boost in speed, then swings down his massive sword, saying that Naraku asked him to get those shards too.
With a shiver, Kouga becomes alarmed by his opponent in a split second.
In mild annoyance, like he's suffering the slightest of inconveniences, Bankotsu tells his brothers not to let Kouga get away. Ginkotsu answers with a gurgle and another blast from his guns, which Kouga leaps away from again, grunting at the debris chasing him through the air. Bakotsu swings his sword again, demanding he stop struggling.
This is getting downright Freudian.
Bankotsu hums in confusion as the sword in his hands shakes with the force of Inuyasha's strike, and Inuyasha lands a distance away with Tessaiga still raised in front of him and Kouga, the blade trailing SMOKE. Jakotsu cheers Inuyasha's name in his excitement, and Inuyasha yells at him to shut up, Kouga glaring over at Jakotsu as well.
Bankotsu identifies Inuyasha with a smirk, saying that he has some ridiculous power. Ironic coming from a guy who's shouldered a blade that looks to be longer than Inuyasha and Kouga together are wide. Inuyasha also acknowledges Bankotsu as the last of the Shichinin-tai, but he seems far less pleased about it. He does work in a dig about how Bankotsu and the rest of them are ganging up on the wimpy wolf Kouga, though, so he's having a little fun, I'd wager.
Kouga knocks him in the back of the head, asking who he's calling wimpy, and they start screaming at one another, Inuyasha yelling that Kouga was about to get his Shikon enhancements stolen, and Kouga denying that he could ever be that dumb. Meanwhile, the rest of Inuyasha's group runs into the courtyard, Miroku calling out to Inuyasha and Kagome noting with concern that Kouga is there.
Oh shit, Jakotsu forgot to tell him about the extra piece on the board, didn't he? I guess it doesn't really matter at the moment, though.
The Inuyasha assemblage mirrors that of their enemy's, it's namesake calling the Shichinin-tai bastards. He promises to send them back to their graves, after they've been running rampant all this time. In response, Bankotsu vows to have his revenge for Kyoukotsu and Mukotsu, the shards in his neck glowing ominously. Miroku's got his Captain Obvious on again when he mumbles to the girls that it seems the one with the great halberd is the leader. Kagome remains quiet, but Sango also observes that Bankotsu seems to be the youngest. Must be a case of "biggest sword makes for best leader" logic, huh?
Suddenly, Kagome blurts out at Inuyasha to be careful - she's noticed that Bankotsu has three Shikon fragments in his neck. Bankotsu doesn't deny it, and tells them that they're actually those of the fallen brothers he mentioned earlier. Inuyasha just glares as Kouga supposes THAT was what made Bankotsu so much more formidable than the others. I don't know, man, he didn't have the Shikon shards when he wielded that planet-sized sword BEFORE his death. Guess again.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I came away from this feeling strangely envious of how chill and carefree our villains are as a whole, which fittingly clashes with how much I loathe their lack of regard for every life they come across. Granted, they have just come out of a decade-long death, so there might be a level of thinking that death is just... not that big of a deal at this point, but there's also plenty of evidence to suggest that their attitude about life and death was comparable to what it is now. In particular, what stands out to me about Bankotsu's outlook is how much he's just treating this like a JOB. A job he very much enjoys, doing what he loves for a living, can't deny that, but a JOB nonetheless. He only targets the castle because he wants his sword back, he views being served sake by women as a perk of a job well-done that he was denied, he chats with his "coworker" about whether or not their boss should be trusted, while part of the job he was hired for stands right there no less. This seems like familiar patterned behavior to me, the kind of routine that a worker in ANY career falls into when they have been at it for a long time. More specifically, it's the paradigm of reporting to and getting orders from a boss and having all of your actions dictated to you. In their lives before, the Shichinin-tai were mercenaries, soldiers for hire that took the violence to another level, but we get no indication from the legends surrounding them that they ever went against the job perimeters and went for the guys at the top, just that those lords who hired them got a little concerned that it might happen one day. I'm getting the distinct impression here that Bankotsu and his band were just far too comfortable to rebel, and continue to be to this day, to the point of just taking the first job offered by the guy who revived them with minimal questions. Back to the old grindset.
Reminds me a bit of Kikyou, who has also attempted to re-enter her old comfortable habits and profession after she was revived, multiple times. It never works out for HER because she is stuck in a limbo of frozen time, unable to grow and learn because she is no longer in the realm of progression like a normal person. Something interesting could be done with these characters if they are forced to confront the fact that they are unable to expand their experiences or operate outside of the paradigm they knew in life, much in the way Kikyou has been.
But then again, Kikyou's already filling that niche, so we probably don't need to cover that ground again.
I'm going to ignore the growing issue with Bankotsu being human in name only, because the characters are, and I'm sick of going over this in damn near every analysis of chapters. If they don't care, then neither do I, but I am still rather annoyed at RT for it. Clearly she's been drawing superhuman battles for too long and simply can't figure out how to do a fight with an especially competent human killer involved. A dead shame.
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