Summer is so UN-fun these days. I'm not one to pine for my childhood, and I'm of the unpopular opinion that being an adult is WAY better, but it's at times like this that I give a great deal of wistful thought to the days when I didn't have anything to do during the summer months and could just goof off. No school, no obligations, nothing but time and whatever nonsense exercise of the mind/body I could dream up to keep myself occupied. Now it seems to have done a 180 degree shift for me, and I'm working harder than ever on endless tasks that just keep cropping up. Job after job at work, practice at more and more skills I'm trying to pick up, garden work that gets more intense as the season wears on. By the end of the day I'm a useless lump on the sofa and I can barely move.
I'm dreaming of the far-off autumn to keep myself sane at this point.
Nothing tougher than delivering this news, though, I'll warrant. At least I can't complain about that.
Kaede bids Inuyasha not to say more, reminding him (and herself) that her sister was forced to come back to this world originally. She still looks mighty sad, though - her head is less bowed in prayer than it is hanging in grief. In fact, Kaede adds that Kikyou's life was heaped with suffering even when she was actually alive, trailing in what I can only assume is the assessment that this might be for the best. As they say, whatever helps you sleep at night.
Inuyasha hangs his head sadly as well, opining about how he couldn't save Kikyou's soul, and that damn Naraku was involved in her second death as well. Kaede looks up at the sky to say that Kikyou's soul has vanished, that she's no longer suffering. It doesn't just... go back to Kagome? Would Kagome know if it did? Am I the only one asking these questions? Inuyasha starts to respond to Kaede, but she tells him that the fact that he sister is no longer suffering is the very reason that HE shouldn't suffer anymore either.
Naraku is unnaturally talented at fucking up the hopes and plans of EVERYONE, isn't he?
We get a shot of some buildings in '90's Tokyo, where Kagome sits in a classroom like a normal kid, sighing over normal shit. She ruminates on how she was finally able to come back to her native time, but Inuyasha didn't tell her to hurry back like he usually does. She's still dwelling over how he apparently doesn't need her support after all while she's out at the upside-down version Micky-D's with her NORMAL friends. I wonder if I should call it Wickey-D's...
Kagome sighs some more, causing Headband to comment on how down she seems.
Short Hair timidly asks if anything happened with that selfish, violent, two-timing guy she told them about, and Kagome answers distractedly that yeah, he was really nice. She sips from her soft drink through the straw, possibly to avoid answering any more questions. Short Hair and Headband respond with exasperation, by Wavy Hair smiles and says this is great, though this may be a bit of an uncomfortable tense assessment. Her grin looks a little fake.
Narrow sky transition panel! We're back in the Sengoku era, outside Kaede's house, who must have just been told about the most recent incident, because she's asking for confirmation that Naraku was trying to make use of Kagome's eyes. The answer that comes back is an affirmative, to find the Shikon shards. Inside, they're sitting around the central fire in the floor, Inuyasha leaning on Tessaiga and looking distant, Sango polishing Hiraikotsu on the edge of the raised floorboards - it looks as though the main conversation is happening between Kaede and Miroku. Kaede probes further by suggesting that Naraku must not know the location of all the remaining fragments, and Miroku responds with another yes, and adding that Naraku's effort to go out of his way to kidnap Kagome means that there are still fragments that he's been completely unable to find. Not sure how that's not EXACTLY what Kaede said, but go off I guess.
Yet ANOTHER narrow sky transition panel! Barely a whole page later! A large swamp where a few wildlife skeletons are lying around is the new location. Something bursts from beneath the water, an odd, rounded, stone-like something.
Oh, Dumbo, you look even WORSE without the trunk, buddy.
A swirling cloud moving down toward the water surrounded by a smattering of giant wasps chuckles that this makes things a bit easier, and coalesces into Naraku's brand new torso, fragments of it still piecing together out of the air. He calls the the massive-eared resident Mimisenri, which gets him the chapter-vocalizing award for this one! Though, I feel like someone's name is an easier one to nab. Naraku says that Mimisenri here is one rumored to have ears that hear EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD. That sounds like a SPECIAL kind of hell, was he just trying to drown himself to stop the cacophony or WHAT??
Mimisenri grins, confirming this horrible truth about himself, and says he's also heard rumors about Naraku himself, asking if Naraku intends to absorb his ears into his body as well. Naraku assures him drily that he has no interest in his filthy body, as if his stinky miasma-ass can talk about filthy. He gets down to business, asking if Mimisenri has heard about where Shikon shards could be. Mimisenri implies he's thinking on it, and after a short pause says that per the rumors between youkai, Naraku already has most of them, asking if this is true.
Naraku mutters that there's one more.
Check your calculations, Naraku - there's another one in a tree that is destined to be carved into a mask one day... But I suppose that's one you technically already have.
TIME PARADOXES!
Cut to Inuyasha, Sango, and Miroku hanging out at a fence under the night sky, doing a variety of uncomfortable-looking sitting on the fence, leaning forward on it, and standing a healthy distance from it, respectively. Miroku comments on how all the Shikon fragments have gone over to Naraku now. It's acknowledged that the only remaining ones are in Kouga's legs, Inuyasha glaring over his mention, and the one in Kohaku's neck, Sango's morose expression remaining mostly the same. Miroku says her name, because she'll need to give her input for that second one. After all, completing the Shikon no Tama means Kohaku's death, as the manga itself points out.
Inuyasha tells Sango not to worry, that he'll never let Kohaku die, as though his will alone should be sufficient to keep the boy alive without the jewel. And he says that the people who will be collecting the rest of the Shikon fragments are them, and I'm not sure if he's avoiding addressing the issue of how they're going to save Kohaku, or mistakenly thinks this statement is somehow an answer to it. When Miroku addresses Inuyasha, he takes the conversation on an entirely different track, telling him that while it should hardly worth mentioning, but he has to take care of Kagome so she doesn't get kidnapped by Naraku again. Inuyasha scoffs and tosses his head haughtily, saying he already knows this.
I hope you're at least planning on putting out a snare trap to catch Naraku by the ankle when he comes for the bait. That you don't have yet.
Back in Kagome's bedroom, she's sitting at her desk, staring off into space for an extended period. Then she unceremoniously headbutts the text and workbook spread out before her, groaning in frustration. She complains to herself that she can't concentrate on her homework at all, suggesting aloud that she should sleep instead of continuing to struggle. She stands and steps over to the window, looking out into the dark shrine grounds and brightly lit buildings beyond, completely devoid of Inuyasha. She haltingly says that he appears to NOT be coming, and sighs as she shuts the window.
Woah! Snuck up on her, didn't he?
And he seems annoyed, asking what she's doing, and announcing that they're going back in a prickly kind of way. Kagome is still recoiled somewhat, staring with wide eyes at Inuyasha and asking in disbelief if she's seeing things. Inuyasha questions just WHAT she's babbling about, and Souta pops up to inform Kagome that Inuyasha actually came in through the actual entrance and hall today. Nice to know she's not just hallucinating Inuyasha or somehow missed him jumping in the window she was so intently gazing out of a moment before.
Inuyasha seizes her wrist and pulls her toward the door so they can go, Kagome protesting that this is all rather sudden and requesting he hang on a sec. My girl, when has he EVER given you ample notice for coming to grab you? She adds that he never once told her to hurry back, letting the implication that she figured she could take her time hanging unsaid. Inuyasha twists to bark at her that if she's not over on the other side of the well, they can't look for Shikon shards.
Clearly hurt, Kagome looks up at him in silence a moment, only to ask if that's really all. It's Inuyasha's turn to stare speechlessly, while Kagome looks away, eyes closed in haughty offense. She says unconvincingly that it's not really a problem, but in her mind she concludes that he's certainly gone back to normal. The next moment, Inuyasha is admitting defensively that he wanted to see her face, asking if she has a problem with that. She says she doesn't really, and Souta stands off to the side (the cat in his arms looking more like a rag doll than anything) thinking that this Inuyasha guy sure is selfish. Not the word I'd use, but accurate.
Back in the Sengoku Swamp (TM), where Mimisenri is mumbling about being able to hear something faintly, the Shikon fragment Naraku is looking for, presumably. He warns the Naraku still floating next to him that he won't be able to get at this shard easily, because this final one is in the boundary between this world and the next.
How lucky for you it was JUST within the range of the guy who can hear everything in the world, lol.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I found the design for Mimisenri to be refreshingly creepy. The monster designs lately, including Naraku's new "improved" form, have been a bit lacking and less overtly unsettling than they were before. It's not quite up to the classic "wrongness" that Inuyasha had in the early days, but it is much better in that department. I love the lack of eyesight on him, but you can tell he has bulging eyes back behind the thin eyelids, and the fact that he's got this old shriveled diminutive body, combined with the massive skull to hold all those rumors. I like to think he's the mill behind all the youkai rumors flying around. Not sure why the ear LOBES are so much more massive than the ears themselves, though. It doesn't really work for the idea of a cone concentrating the sound into the ear itself, if that was the intention. And with lobes that big, I'd want to spruce up the design with a whole bunch more earrings made of bone and skulls and other cool shit, but that's just me.
I think all the jumping here and there between locations was a bit on the excessive side for this one. Sometimes I feel RT gets a bit carried away trying to cover several different points of view in the same time, and this was one of the times she couldn't quite pull it off in my opinion. It gave me a bit too much whiplash, and if it were me, I probably would have tried to condense down the discussion with Kaede about what happened to Kagome and the conversation outside about their next steps into one, as well as combine a couple of scenes with Kagome in the modern day, just to smooth out the more jarring transitions.
But I really liked Inuyasha's talk with Kaede in the beginning - it felt appropriately somber and respectful of Kikyou, not just a throwaway, "hey sorry your sister's dead again". It acknowledged that maybe it's better for Kikyou that she's not caught up in this shit anymore and can rest again, while also being bummed about her being gone. Complicated situation, with a lot of contradictory feelings behind it, ones that the scene doesn't shy away from.
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