And there's a lot more of THAT right now, somehow surprisingly to me. I don't know how I manage to get so blindsided every single year by how early the sun goes down in this half of the year. It was understandable when I first moved up here, because I'd never been as far north as this before then. But it's been three or four years now, and I'm still kind of flabbergasted at just how soon I'm sitting in the dark these days. I must just be out of tune with nature or something.
Geez, Miroku, he asked who YOU are, not to have HIS identity parroted back at him. Did your brain fly south for the winter like mine or something?
Hakushin-Shounin replies that he is indeed who Miroku has suggested he is, creaking with every tiny movement. It's super gross. Sango supposes that Naraku must have brought the mummy guy back to life, while Miroku asks if Hakushin-Shounin did not express great virtue when he was alive by saving the people, with a bit of a petulant tone. He demands to know why Hakushin-Shounin is now working for Naraku, admitting he's finding it a little hard to believe the mummy guy doesn't know what Naraku is, despite putting up such a great pure barrier like he is.
Hakushin-Shounin confirms that of course he KNOWS what Naraku is about, but he doesn't really mind that Naraku's a big bad youkai. It's no biggie, you know? Kinda weird, considering his barrier has been working super hard to murder even benign youkai this whole time - you'd think he'd be super prejudiced against them. Hakushin-Shounin gives a rather simple answer to why he's buds with Naraku: he's just doing what he damn well pleases. Miroku and Sango stare at him, looking a slight bit confused in addition to being peeved.
I feel like this mummy spent some time on Twitter lately...
In the meantime, a lightning-shaped strike lashes out and Inuyasha knocks it back with his sheathed Tessaiga, diving out of the way of yet another lash from Jakotsu's bendy-sword. Jakotsu pauses his assault to ENCOURAGE Inuyasha to run away some more.
How did you become a parody of yourself so fucking fast, dude?
Jakotsu doesn't want Inuyasha to get him wrong - he thought his hanyou form was super cute, but his human form is even CUTER to Jakotsu and he just wants to SQUEEZE it. The cringe is palpable here, not gonna lie. Inuyasha scoffs that Jakotsu is one perverted weirdo, and says that everything that Jakotsu says puts him in a bad mood. Nails on a chalkboard sitch.
Jakotsu giggles at this, not bothered in the least, and swings that sword again. Inuyasha tries again to fend off the blow this Tessaiga's sheath, but when he pushes against it, the blades bend around him and slash him in his shoulder. Glaring down at his bleeding arm, Inuyasha worries that his fire rat coat has also lost its youkai powers, not serving as armor at all. Jakotsu pulls back his blades, licking the residual blood left on the edge by his previous attack. He chuckles once more, promising to cut Inuyasha up bit by bit, predicting that Inuyasha will eventually lose his strong will and resolve. He pleads with Inuyasha to get down on his knees and cry, suggesting a fantasy phrase he could utter asking Jakotsu to cradle and comfort him or something. He's not a voice actor at a convention taking requests on stage, dude, save that stupid shit for your fanfiction.
Inuyasha belts out a noise of refusal, and warns Jakotsu that if he keeps spouting his cringe nonsense, he's going to smash Jakotsu's head in. He lunges toward Jakotsu to make an attempt at just that, but Jakotsu slings those blades out again, declaring that he LOVES the confidence. He even says it makes him want to see Inuyasha crying even SOONER.
That's not even pain, it's just him reacting to the fucking CRINGE, lol.
Back up at Hakushin-Shounin's temple, Miroku is beside himself, in complete disbelief that Hakushin-Shounin knows what Naraku is about and still helps him out. Hakushin-Shounin responds with a short silence at first, and then launches into a reminiscence about when he was alive; he says he saved many people without any hesitation. A purification center was built by the people who adored him at the base of Mt. Hakurei where everyone from the disillusioned to full-on criminals could come for their souls to be saved. Seems like these villagers are the ones doing the REAL work, but whatevz.
Miroku begins to ask why he's going against his adoring public now, but is cut off by Hakushin-Shounin explaining what led him to giving up his life - a years-long famine and disease outbreaks left corpses littered pretty much everywhere, represented in the panel by an arid landscape and a dead woman being devoured by crows. Hard times, to be sure, and Hakushin-Shounin also got sick while he was tending the ill in his center. He remembers lots of grieving members of the community gathered around his sickbed, grieving. Such folk asked him what's to become of THEM if he dies, and who will save them in his absence. These people are extraordinarily helpless, aren't they? Their community to ill and starving, and their biggest priority is some sort of weird spiritual crisis...
Hakushin-Shounin tells them not to worry, that he has a solution for them that he thinks will work.
"Bury me alive, that'll save your soul in perpetuity!" - An abundance of sense.
Sango reiterates his point that this is what led Hakushin-Shounin to become a living Buddha, just to show she's listening, I guess. He goes on to say that a bamboo pipe was the only thing connecting him to the world outside his grave. Hakushin-Shounin would continually ring a bell in the hole, so that the cease of that ring would indicate that he'd died to the villagers. He knew that everyone was praying for him to enter Heaven well on the outside, that they were essentially praying for him to die. At some point this really stuck in his craw, and he was plagued by doubt in his decision to suggest this in the first place, having the will to live and an overwhelming fear of the coming oblivion he'd consigned himself to simultaneously. Though he had dedicated his whole body and soul to serving the people, he questioned why he had to die for that.
While Miroku and Sango glare in silent judgment, Hakushin-Shounin goes on to relay that his body finally expired, and had risen to become a living Buddha, just what he had intended. But his soul had been left behind in the darkness of that pit, unable to be saved. That's one hell of a contradiction of existence, isn't it? But eventually, he heard a man's voice in the dark.
With an empathetic air, Naraku waxes poetic about how pitiful it is that this man was revered as a saint and couldn't allow himself any fear or doubt, but no one else gave any thought to him or his needs either. Hakushin-Shounin's much anguished soul is shedding a veritable river of tears as he presently reflects on the fact that HE never could have articulated that point. Naraku tells him not to deceive himself, asserts that he wanted to live, then invites him to come with him to LIVE the life he never got to.
Well, your ass sure isn't any Monseigneur Bienvenu, if you know what I'm saying.
Miroku is literally the first to admit that he's no saint or a man of excessive virtue, so he says he has NO intention to judge Hakushin-Shounin. But he DOES express the intention to take down the barrier that's protecting Naraku, mainly with a lunge forward with his staff extended to pop that motherfucking bubble. Hakushin-Shounin warns him that his barrier will not break, its brilliance increasing as the attack advances on it. Miroku grunts when he's forced backward with an electrical energy crackling around him, winding up on his ass and cursing while Sango rushes to kneel next to him in worry.
Yet again, we find ourselves back in the caves with Inuyasha, who is bloodied and breathing hard, striking a wide stance to keep his footing with less precious energy. Jakotsu, by contrast, doesn't have a scratch on him, and is chuckling that the way Inuyasha is panting has gotten pretty nice. Around a bend in the rock walls, Renkotsu peeks and is disappointed to see that Inuyasha hasn't even been able to wound Jakotsu a little bit like he'd hoped.
Renkotsu might have bet on a lame horse. Then again, he himself seems to be a lame horse, so...
Silently complaining that Inuyasha can't land a SINGLE hit, Renkotsu thinks it's inevitable that Inuyasha will be tortured to death by Jakotsu. Jakotsu himself says to Inuyasha that it's about time they embraced, observing that he's fetchingly smeared in his own blood. Inuyasha groans, stumbling off as his many wounds ooze, clutching his way along the cave wall while Jakotsu follows him leisurely like the creep he is. His attacker chuckles that he's not getting away, fully getting us back to the fucked-up horror roots of this comic.
I am more disturbed by this than ANY monster youkai RT could throw at me. Truly.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I like the characterization of Hakushin-Shounin, as a balance of supreme spiritual power and supreme selfishness. It's not clear if the population of Mt. Hakurei was REALLY as helpless as Hakushin-Shounin is making it out to be, but I think it's very likely that we're dealing with an unreliable narrator here. He strikes me as someone who is both framing himself as so central and necessary to the function of the community that he HAD to become this permanent fixture in it, and simultaneously at the whims of the unfeeling, insensitive jerkwads that make it up. His narrative certainly does bring up a question of his patronizing nature: did he end up encouraging everyone around him to rely so heavily upon him that they thought they couldn't get along without him, OR were the people a little too independent for his ego's liking so that he felt it necessary to suggest to them that they needed his help for all eternity?
Either way, I don't buy the entirety of his story, but I do buy his FEELINGS on the matter. There have been many times when I've felt that the people around me were taking more than they gave without regard to my needs, and I've also been in the position of thoughtlessly receiving grace where I could have done to give a little something back. Often we feel like we can't complain when we're taken advantage of, because there's this expectation that our motives should be based on pure altruism or we're doing things for the wrong reason. In fact, it is entirely reasonable to want some reciprocity and not feel like we're putting all of the work and maintenance into relationships with others in our community, but we're often made to FEEL like Hakushin-Shounin, that not being willing to give up our very lives for our neighbors who never seem to return the favor or even pay it forward somewhat taints your deeds. Solidarity with others is important, and helping out people who might not be able or willing to help you is necessary for a functioning society, don't get me wrong. But at the same time, feeling like you are pouring your entire self into making others happy without others seeming to care whether you live or die can be a HEAVY emotional burden.
Hakushin-Shounin's mistake here, the difference between a little healthy selfishness and full-on destructive selfishness, is allowing Naraku to convince him that a malicious backlash/punishment is the same as true absolution. Once again, Naraku shows how emotionally COMPETENT he is, even more so than our main characters, in speaking to JUST what is ailing Hakushin-Shounin and telling him it's OKAY for him to be feeling what he's feeling. He's right! It IS natural and good for Hakushin-Shounin to feel some bitterness and resentment toward a community that was so blind to his needs as a human being. Where the manipulation comes in is the definition of "living" Naraku is providing; doing whatever Hakushin-Shounin "wants", following whims that seem suspiciously to align with JUST Naraku's goals, perpetually remaining resentful and hateful toward a group of people who are long dead by now and aren't being hurt at all by his actions. That'll show 'em.
And this, more than anything else before in the story, so clearly defines WHY Naraku is bad and wrong. He seems to be so impressively in tune with a range of emotions, both positive and negative, and he also seems to accept them in a surprisingly mature and wise way as just... NORMAL ways to feel. But instead of acknowledging and letting go of these emotions in that Buddhist sort of way that helps one toward enlightenment, he USES them to justify cruelty and sustained anger. He takes notice of them in others and manipulates them in one way or another, twisting this emotional normalcy into a malignant force for his benefit. This chapter just showcased an especially clear example of that, in my opinion.
My only real criticism of this chapter is a familiar one when it comes to Inuyasha - the structure could have done with less switching back and forth. It easily could have been reworked so we didn't keep hopping between scenes. But I do think that the connection between these two scenes is significant in that it's made so painfully clear how dependent one is on the other. While Miroku and Sango are standing and listening to Hakushin-Shounin's tale of woe, Inuyasha is getting ripped to shreds. It really pushes home the point that Inuyasha's survival is riding on Miroku and Sango taking down that barrier, and the longer it takes, the worse things get for poor Inuyasha.
The dramatic irony to that fact isn't helping my anxiety about it either.
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