Inuyasha Manga: 319 The Fragment's Intent

This oughta be good. I've heard a LOT about the intent behind various weird shit for pretty much my whole life, and have learned to regard with skepticism any third party that claims to have correctly interpreted those intentions when they're not easily ascertained. I'd need several hundred extra arms and legs to count all the bad faith actors who seek to supplant their own interpretation as the ONLY possible true understanding of the intentions of entities who, for whatever reason, cannot or will not be interviewed about these directly. These days, if someone is declaring anything other than their OWN intentions, I side-eye them real hard. 

Not that intentions are much help in excusing the actual results of them, but that's another discussion altogether. 

Squatter's rights, fam.

The skull sitting in the middle of its spiky nest repeats Inuyasha's claim that this is his father's remains back as a question, asking for confirmation apparently. Then the skull stretches out a long-ish neck of spikes, revealing it has a couple of short antlers on either side of it. It asks directly if Inuyasha is saying that he's the son of the leader of the dogs. 

Before he can answer, Myouga hops excitedly on his shoulder, eager to present a theory as to who this could be - Housenki. He asks the possible Housenki if he doesn't recognize his old pal Myouga. Meanwhile, Sango repeats the name, while Miroku refreshes our memory that we were already told how Housenki created the black pearl for Inuyasha. 

Housenki, or his skull, anyway, at last seems to acknowledge Myouga, and so identifies Inuyasha in addition.

You can almost hear the screeching sound of old dial-up internet trying to connect.

He says that it certainly is the case that he created the black pearl for Inuyasha at his father's request, but also that Inuyasha must have already used it to come here, and therefore the black pearl must have vanished. Though his face isn't exactly expressive, Housenki doesn't seem particularly happy when he says that there shouldn't be any reason that Inuyasha should be allowed to come here again, not matter who he (or his father, I guess) is. 

Kagome pipes up with a polite interjection, having observed a familiar glitter deep within that extended "neck" of Housenki, identifying it as a Shikon fragment. She asks why he brought the shard of the jewel here, much to Inuyasha's shock. He makes an accusatory declaration that Housenki has one after all, and demands that he hand the fragment over before he gets hurt. He must not have ever heard the phrase "You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar". 

No surprise there. 

Housenki explains that he's a youkai who rules over jewels, so one of his abilities is to hear the voices of them. I like that he even kind of rhymes there. He has a small flashback to when he was still living, but feeling like he probably didn't have long left, sitting in his giant clam shell, bent over a Shikon shard he came across in his palm. Housenki claims that the fragment spoke to him, telling him not to allow the Shikon no Tama to be complete again. Apparently, the shard is aware that most of the others are in the hands of an evil entity and have become corrupted, and it is certain if it gets mixed up with them it'll get corrupted as well. The company you keep and all...

Kagome and Inuyasha listen in rapt attention to this account, the latter with his hand resting on the hilt of Tessaiga. He's probably doing this out of an abundance of caution, but it's not the GREATEST look when he just got done kinda sorta threatening Houseki. Houseki is still telling them about how the Shikon fragment wished to come with him to a place where the evil entity couldn't reach, namely, the youkai graveyard. In the trailing silence after this speech, a sweating Myouga advises Inuyasha that it's best to give up on this, and to leave the Shikon shard to Housenki. Inuyasha demands to know what Myouga is talking about, reminding him (and informing Housenki at the same time) that Naraku got here the moment before they did. He asserts that Naraku is hiding SOMEWHERE, seeking that fragment. 

Housenki says in his staunch, stubborn way that he's not going to give up the shard to anyone who comes. 

Did he just grow some diamond arms? Bad news. 

Myouga is sweating even MORE heavily now, trying to persuade Housenki to hold on, that they can all have a rational discussion about this. Not likely. 

He's almost as bad at aiming as Inuyasha.

Inuyasha tells Kagome not to move from her spot on the flying skeleton, then before she can even call his name in concern, he jumps off their perch, drawing Tessaiga. As he swings the sword down, he advises Housenki to get a clue about who his friends and enemies are. Again, I'm going to re-emphasize, that whole bit about "hand it over before you get hurt" sounded an awful lot like a threat, kiddo. You haven't exactly been communicating "ally" so far. 

Oooh, I felt my OWN teeth rattle with that.

Myouga shouts at Inuyasha that this kind of attack will not work, too little too late. He's hopping excitedly on Kagome's shoulder now as he points out the obvious fact that Housenki's arm is a lump of hard diamond. Kagome inquires as to when Myouga got to be on HER instead of Inuyasha, as if she doesn't know. 

Out of Housenki's gaping jaw collects a bouquet of sharp diamond spikes and he practically projectile vomits them at Inuyasha, who barely dodges upward with a cry of surprise. Inuyasha manages to drop onto another of those skeleton birds just kind of drifting about. From Kirara's back at a distance, Miroku mutters that Housenki is so violent, and there's no chance to reason with him. Between him and Inuyasha, there was never going to be an option for that. Kagome has hung back next to Miroku and Sango, where Myouga whines into her ear about how he can't believe Housenki is going for Inuyasha. She doesn't reply, examining the scene in silence before she sees something shocking. 

They are so easy to corrupt, aren't they?

Kagome shouts a warning at Inuyasha to be careful, because the Shikon shard in Houseki's body has gone black. Inuyasha looks up at her in surprise, and Sango wonders aloud what's going on. Miroku starts to pontificate upon how the clarity of the Shikon fragment should depend on the holder's heart, and based on Housenki's earlier explanation, it doesn't seem like he brought the shard here for his own selfish purposes. Miroku trails in his conclusions, hesitating to say just exactly what this means to him. Suddenly, Kagome becomes aware of a marbled darkened atmosphere around her, and says she feels several corrupted Shikon fragments, judging them to be Naraku's based on the size of them, and I'm sure, the fact that he's the one with the biggest collection. 

Sango at last vocalizes that this must be influence of Naraku's corrupted fragments, while Miroku turns to her with a slightly panicked demand to tell them where Naraku is. Kagome stays quiet for a moment, looking around her at the jagged peaks poking out of the mist in the distance. 

Has he become omnipresent??

Inuyasha turns back to Housenki, which I guess has been sitting there politely waiting for the conversation to subside in the nosebleed seats. He asks Housenki if he heard all of it, warning him that if he keeps carrying the corrupted shard, it will eat at his soul, advising him to let go of the thing right now. Housenki insists that it's nonsense for such a small amount of corruption to make him lose himself. 

Something tells me you were counting on that anyway.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? It's been a while since I've really liked a new character/monster design in this comic, because for a long time they all seemed to be somewhat generic. Housenki's isn't AMAZING, but it does contain some of that original creativity in design that was part of what drew me to Inuyasha in the first place. I like the fact that his body and powers are something of a transformation more toward the powers that he had in life. Through his flashback, we can see that he looks nothing like this, and resembles much more his son that we met at that clam shell way back when. So the fact that his appearance has come to reflect more closely the very jewels that he had such a close affiliation with, and even sort of resembles the Shikon shard he brought with him to the graveyard, is a fun decision. 

Housenki is also somewhat hilariously SLOW. The guy takes forever to respond to Inuyasha and company, which a couple of times delays his reply through whole adjacent conversations. Myouga doesn't really speak to this quirk either - he's more concerned that Housenki would attack Inuyasha, so I'm thinking the guy has always been thus. It might be another deliberate decision, putting his response time on par with geological time, since he's so in-sync with the rocks around him. If so, VERY funny, had me giggling the whole time. 

Inuyasha being so caustic and confrontational is actually how I like to see him, and was a great way to complicate the interaction with Housenki. He has come to retrieve the Shikon fragment, and is never one to be polite about it, but he's especially anxious about it because Naraku could be lurking around any corner and prepared to perform some trick to get at this last piece of jewel. Of course he's wanting to just grab the Shikon shard and get out of there, and his already underdeveloped persuasion skills are going to be truncated a bit with the frustration of dealing with a stubborn old dude who refuses to see that he's not looking to misuse the damn thing. 

Meanwhile, Housenki's motivations are pretty clear, and it makes sense that he would be suspicious of Inuyasha. He's got good reason to believe that Inuyasha already used the black pearl he made, because Inuyasha already has Tessaiga on him, and that was the reason Inuyasha's father commissioned the jewel, after all. And after working so hard to use up the rest of the jewels he made to make sure he couldn't be followed, Housenki is going to be a little peeved that ANYONE found their way there at all. That's going to mix with Inuyasha's anxious impatience like oil and water. A confrontation was inevitable, even WITHOUT the added complication of a corrupted jewel shard. 

And RT has managed to make me very nervous, because I am wondering where Naraku has got to. Kagome's statement that it seems like he's everywhere puts in me a strange idea that he's managed to disperse himself in the air like he's turned into the very miasma he's always spewing. The ability to do that would be insidious, but also just plain gross.

I mean, are they BREATHING HIM IN right now????

YuYu Hakusho Manga: 019 Action!!

Ugh, no, I already want to take a break. I have gone so long without doing any regular activism that my recent foray into a political action group has been somewhat overwhelming. It's like working out after an extended period of hanging out on the couch - the muscles have atrophied somewhat, and I have to find a nice, easy set of exercises to start with to avoid burning out right off the bat, or throwing out my back. Besides, I have a lot more going on in my 30's than I did when I was in my late teens/early 20's in college. Trying to rearrange my schedule to accommodate more stuff is VERY challenging. 

But, just like working out, if I don't do it now, I risk having a much reduced quality of life later on. 

This has been me every morning my alarm blares this winter. 

Atsuko is kneeling next to Yusuke's bed, leaning over the side with a wide-eyed alarm as Yusuke picks up his alarm clock to check it. He asks his mother what's going on, since it's only seven in the morning. Hoo boy, am I jealous. I have to drag my ragged ass out of bed at FIVE. Atsuko haltingly states, with some amazement, that he woke up, then her face screws up in a follow-up wail over a repetition of that fact. Partly in sleepiness and partly in just mental exhaustion, Yusuke begs his mom not to do this again. She sobs that she can't help it, because she's so afraid that he won't wake up, just like before. 

Yusuke reflects on how it's been five days since his mom found out that he'd revived, five days after Keiko did, and Atsuko has been behaving like this ever since. Flawed and neglectful as she is, Atsuko's going to be carrying the trauma of almost losing her child for a long-ass time, sorry Yusuke. 

There's a large, two-page title spread with Botan in jeans and a jacket, dressed MUCH down from her usual kimono fare, Yusuke glaring in question through a magnifying glass at the reader, Koenma's head larger than life looming in the background, and a long-haired silhouette standing off to the left. It's a lot, but not really saying too terribly much yet. 

Next we see Yusuke walking through the gates of the school, dozens of classmates pausing to stare, muttering their alarm that he's back, and even a few running away from him, declaring his presence is too weird. Yusuke is annoyed that they're all acting like he's a zombie (not too far off the mark, frankly), trying to brush it off as nothing new. 

I gotta say, I'm becoming more and more interested in what Atsuko's DEAL is. Girl has connections...

Yusuke is muttering about how coming to school still sucks, and dreaming of making plans to cut out one day, when a hand falls on his shoulder from behind. He turns to greet a serious-looking Kuwabara, who expresses his approval that Yusuke has managed to return to life, because that gives HIM another shot. He vows that THIS TIME, it'll be himself sending Yusuke to Hell, and chuckles that he should enjoy the life he has left. One of Kuwabara's friends asks if he wasn't going to THANK Yusuke for saving Eikichi, but Kuwabara barks at him to shut his trap. Yusuke just quietly sweatdrops at his retreating back, wondering what's WITH him. Well, he can't very well make out with you here and now, can he?

Yet again, Yusuke is approached from behind, Takenaka slapping some kind of notebook on the back of his head. He passes him, casually calling back to Yusuke that it's his first day back, so he shouldn't dawdle. Takenaka is looking REAL pleased with himself. Or, maybe he's looking pleased with Yusuke, it's difficult to say. After a moment of speechlessness, Yusuke's temper starts to boil over. He starts to rant that this does it, he's taking off, when yet ANOTHER voice addresses him at his back.

It's Keiko, of course, who asks him what the matter is, encouraging him to come up to the school with her, because the bell's about to ring. She looks perfectly nonchalant, and this appears to confuse Yusuke. He's mildly flustered that she's acting like nothing's different since her actions when he was revived. He supposes that to her, it was just CPR. When she calls back to him to get a move on, he says okay in a resigned kind of way. 

OR, hear me out, you could just invest that time and effort into THERAPY. 

In the school gym, several boys are squeaking around on a basketball court under the net, one of them asking where Urameshi is. Another answers that he's in the bathroom, and there's a comment dropped that they won't see him again for a while then. Yusuke is one of THOSE, then, lol. Indeed, he's squatting, but not in the bathroom. it's next to a wall outside, where he's examining a little tiny keychain-like magnifying glass. He's wondering what good it can be to a detective, and clearly he does not have my obsession with Sherlock Holmes. 

He recalls Botan telling him about his new job as underworld detective - the main responsibility being to solve crimes in the living world that have some underworld/spirit world connection. As she rummaged in her fortune-telling cloak, she informed Yusuke that Koenma will send her with the assignments the young detective has been given, and some items that will be of use to him. She pulled out the little trinket that Yusuke is now examining, which she presented with some enthusiasm and the declaration that it's what every detective needs as a "See-Through Glass". A little unfurled scroll info box tells us that it allows the user to see through solid obstacles, like walls. 

Unsure about giving that to a teenage boy, but okay. 

Yusuke didn't react with nearly as much enthusiasm, hesitantly accepting it, but also asking for confirmation if there will be more of these tools. She told him that there will be six more, and that underworld devices require a considerable amount of spiritual power to use, so he'll have to learn how to use each one at a time. Well, at least there's a cost, so that might stop him from using this dealie for less-than-honorable purposes in the meantime. 

Back in the present, Yusuke strolls off, tossing the little glass up and down, with the affirmation that he doesn't need to look through anything at the moment. He also decides he doesn't give two shits about P.E. so he dismisses going back there. The teacher from above, whose name I don't remember if he even has one yet, and I don't care enough to look up, is lurking around the corner and smirks, thinking this is just as he figured. 

Behind the door of Yusuke's classroom, 2-B, this teacher is rummaging through the school bag of one of the absent students who are at gym. 

Don't you have WORK to do, my dude???

Mr. AxToGrind at first plans to put the items HE stole in Yusuke's bag, but then he decides it's better to put them in the incinerator, since it'll be more suspicious if they're never found. Weird for a guy like him to be choosing "suspicious" over "damning", but who am I to criticize his unhinged way of carrying out a grudge? He holds up what looks like a pen with a dragon curled around it, calls it an interesting little geegaw, and pockets it himself. So much for the incinerator. 

I think I know where THIS is going...

After the bell rings and the kids are back in 2-B, there's some frantic cries of dismay that certain things are gone. Someone asks a boy called Takai what's gone, and he says it's his lucky fountain pen with the gold dragon around it, a one-of-a-kind piece. Takai snaps that it was in his bag before they went to P.E. as others in the room start discovering that watches, calculators, and other such things have gone missing. 

All of a sudden, when Yusuke comes onto the scene, everyone stops grumbling about their missing objects and glare at him in an accusatory fashion. He sweatdrops at them, asking what they're all looking at. Keiko steps in front of Yusuke and tells them that they're too quick to assume guilt, but Takai is quick to point out that Urameshi was the only one who wasn't in P.E. 

Mr. AxToGrind appears again, asking what's going on here, as if he doesn't know. It must be some time later when Yusuke is insisting that he didn't take anything, and he gets a PUNCH IN THE FACE from Mr. AxToGrind and a command to stop lying in return. He can't be ALLOWED to assault a student like that, RIGHT??? Apparently, he IS, because comrade Takenaka is in the room, asking if this dude has actual proof that Yusuke took anything. Mr. AxToGrind says that Yusuke had the opportunity and is just the sort to seize it. He cites a statistic about the incidents of stealing being way down while Yusuke was gone, and even brings up a rumor about Yusuke's mother pretty much blackmailing the principal to get her son back in school. Mr. AxToGrind glares over at Yusuke and says that it's like mother, like son, and Yusuke calls him slime in return. Tempers are definitely running a bit high. Would be convenient if this budding brawl between student and faculty were to get interrupted.

Awkward.

Yusuke is frozen in absolute shock, gaping and sweatdropping, repeating a noise of bewilderment that might actually form a question if he could get a handle on one. He stares at Koenma over Mr. AxToGrind's shoulder, and he blandly asks Yusuke if he's going to take that shot or not. Yusuke is way too distracted by Koenma's frantic explanation to even listen - apparently the underworld treasure vault has been broken into, and three items have been stolen: the Conjuring Blade, the Mirror of Darkness, and the Rapacious Orb. You Spirit World folks really know how to name shit, huh? Anyhow, as Mr. AxToGrind turns to see what it is that Yusuke is staring at, Koenma tells Yusuke that the culprits are at large and presumably hiding out in Human World. 

You, uhhhhh, gonna put a kiddo that you just stuck in a spirit detective role over the weekend hunt down some MOST WANTED CRIMINALS??? 

Grinding his teeth in frustration, Yusuke thinks at Koenma to buzz off, because he's busy. Mr. AxToGrind is still examining the air behind him in an attempt to see what's got Yusuke so distracted, and is not finding a single thing, while Koenma yells at Yusuke not to be stupid. He lectures Yusuke on what will happen if these villains get to wield their stolen goods in the human world, or if a human manages to get their hands on them. The three dark treasures have the potential to be turned into deadly weapons that could harm or manipulate hundreds of people. Big trouble, in other words. 

Yusuke jabs a thumb at himself as he continues to think furiously at Koenma his own current issue; the faculty members here think he stole stuff, but he didn't. Koenma says that of COURSE Yusuke didn't steal the items, and points at Mr. AxToGrind, accusing him instead. He tells Yusuke to check the guy's pocket with the lens Botan gave him, and when Yusuke questions what he's talking about, Koenma snaps that the classmate's pen is in Mr. AxToGrind's pocket. Koenma, my dear, sweet, baby child... if you know all about this stupid petty business, how could you possibly need Yusuke to risk his mortal ass going after massive Underworld criminals?

I'm sure we'll come back to that... Meanwhile, Yusuke holds the glass up to his eye.

Good thing he could verify the pen was there before he had to reach into this man's pocket.

With a sardonic note, Yusuke observes that he seems to have found Takai's lucky pen. Mr. AxToGrind tries to claim that it's his, and that they're fairly common, but he is stuttering a sweating a bit. Yusuke asks if that's so, because Takai said before Mr. AxToGrind entered the room that this ugly little trinket is one-of-a-kind. Thank you, Yusuke, that thing IS truly gaudy as all hell. Becoming all the more flustered, Mr. AxToGrind backpedals and completely changes the story, saying he MEANT to say that Takai asked him to hold it for him this morning. Yusuke asks why Takai said he lost it after P.E. then, and Takenaka follows this up with his own question about what exactly is really going on here. 

An awkward silence stretches until Mr. AxToGrind decides to dig his hole even DEEPER. He says that Takai forgot, and trails in citing that with all that other stuff missing, he must have panicked. What, like you're doing right now, dude? He blurts that he has to get to a meeting and speedwalks for the door, but Takenaka calls Mr. IWAMOTO back because they're not done. Oh yeah! THAT'S his name, lol! Iwamoto curtly declares that they ARE done.

Yusuke mutters that he's a creep, which is accurate. Koenma impatiently urges Yusuke to go and investigate now that he's been acquitted, but Yusuke is not willing to let Iwamoto just GET AWAY with trying to frame him - douchebag's gotta pay. Koenma expresses some incredulity that Yusuke JUST got off the hook, but is now willing to get into real trouble by striking a teacher, but Yusuke don't give a fuck, because he's PISSED. Koenma sighs that Yusuke should get his revenge without being seen, then, to which Yusuke demands to know how. Koenma demonstrates extending his pointer finger toward a target, and instructs Yusuke to focus on the very tip of it, picturing energy from his whole body concentrating on that one point. 

Peering at his own finger, Yusuke notes pretty quickly that it's glowing and getting warm. Koenma further instructs him to take aim at the target and pull the trigger in his mind. He's got a sly kind of expression as he does so, giving me the impression that he's rather enjoying enabling Yusuke's base impulse here. As Yusuke points his glowing finger-gun at Iwamoto, he thinks how nuts this is, while Takenaka is STILL trying to get Iwamoto to return and clear up what's actually happening. 

Bet you won't feel stupid about it from now on.

Iwamoto's glasses are knocked askew and he goes DOWN. Yusuke marvels at his own finger while Takenaka wonders aloud about what would make Iwamoto pitch over like that, asking if the garbage teacher is alright. With growing delight, Yusuke declares that this thing actually works. Koenma is lecturing again, calling what Yusuke just did a "Rei" Gun, with "Rei" meaning "Spirit". There's a silhouette of a human body illustrating with arrows the flow of aura/energy/chi running through the whole thing up to the finger, Koenma explaining that it's the concentration of that energy into that single point. He claims that it packs twice as much punch as a physical one, but warns Yusuke that at his current level of ability, he only gets ONE shot a day, so he encourages the TEENAGE PUNK to be judicious with it. 

Good to know that your whims and satisfaction come before stopping a bunch of underworld creeps. 

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? To begin with, I'm touched by Atsuko's reaction to Yusuke's awakening. It strikes me as oddly realistic for the circumstances. Atsuko is by no means a GOOD mother, but this doesn't mean that she doesn't care deeply that Yusuke is alive, and that she can't have trauma related to his near-miss with death. She's a complex character, and I very much appreciate that. I would have also appreciated a little bit of a hint as to why Atsuko went to the lengths she did to get Yusuke back into school, though, since in her first appearance, she encouraged him to drop out because he was skipping classes that were costing her some money. I'm curious to know if perhaps she thinks that Yusuke's survival of such a grave near-death experience is a sign that he's meant for bigger things and wants to encourage a little more academic effort from him, OR if she just kind of wants him out of her hair as she conducts her shady relationships with the Yakuza on the side. 

It struck me as INCREDIBLY irresponsible of Koenma and Botan to rope Yusuke into this role of their detective without any indication that he has the right to refuse it in the last chapter. Now I'm downright HORRIFIED that Yusuke's second "case" is to apprehend much more formidable antagonists, with nothing but a goofy little magnifying glass and a square-one command over some basic spiritual powers at his disposal. It's all the more frustrating when Koenma so easily points to the real culprit who stole all those items from the students, because it suggests he can innately do what the special magnifying glass can, AND he has the wherewithal to be able to draw conclusions that Yusuke didn't even have the mindset to do. If the King of the underworld is back, and Koenma has more free time to yap at Yusuke now, then why isn't HE taking care of this? Why does he need Yusuke at all?

This chapter would have been MUCH better if Yusuke had been able to solve this issue of him being framed by himself instead of having the answer handed to him. That way, we could have SEEN how he's suited to exposing the truth and pointing to the real culprit of a case, and WHY he has been given this enormous responsibility of Underworld Detective. As it stands, he has the solution pointed out to him by someone else, who is INSISTING that he absolutely needs Yusuke's help as detective while doing all the detective work in the current issue himself. It's SO backwards.

Also, I really hope that Yusuke's little spirit bullet knocked the desire to get a damn HOBBY into Iwamoto. Dude is incredibly lame.

Inuyasha Manga: 318 River of Blood

Is it weird that I'm seeing this as a nightmare not so much in the fact that this is a RIVER OF BLOOD, and more in the sense that it would be a real pain to clean up? Cis women like myself are no stranger to cleaning stubborn bloodstains out of garments, and more general stains out of everything and anything as well. It speaks to how thoroughly I've been programmed that I see the first double-page spread of this chapter and my first thought isn't how bright that red is for a creature whose heart has stopped beating, how fierce the flow is despite the same, or how much I appreciate a color page, rare as they are. No, my very first thought is to ask myself who's gonna have to clean that up.

Not me! Lol

Inuyasha has the distinct honor of saying the chapter title on the next page, and so very early! Miroku has concluded that this is what connects this world and that border Naraku's been trying to get to, but he still seems in a little disbelief about it. Honestly, regardless of the explanation, a wave of blood is always a bit on the nauseating side. 

They are so distracted by the new sanguinary flood that it comes as something of a surprise when Inuyasha and crew at last spot Naraku floating along with the flow, who turns to smirk over his shoulder at them, asking them what they're just standing and watching for - the path by this river of blood will soon be closed. Inuyasha spits that he doesn't need to be told, with Kagome joining him in a eager lunge toward their destination, despite the fact that they WERE in fact just standing there gaping at the whole thing for a moment. 

Myouga reappears at Inuyasha's forelock and advises emphatically against going. Inuyasha makes a confused noise at him, and Myouga brings up the very much valid question of how they all plan to get back if they jump in that bloody river. 

Have... y'all been observing the same sneaky, meticulous, plans-within-plans Naraku I have this whole story?? 

Shippou looks off the side of Kirara while clinging to Naraku's sleeve and sees in the undulating current of the blood what look to be thousands of screaming skulls. He alerts Miroku to this, and Miroku, who will one day be father to ten or twenty children by his own reckoning, tells him with perfect sobriety that it's probably the malicious feelings of all the souls whose blood was sucked out for Tekkei. This poor kid. Sango wonders aloud how many people have been killed JUST to make this path, which is certainly a path in itself to depression. Kagome says that they have to quickly stop such things from happening, and Inuyasha agrees. 

A bit late for that, don't you think????

If all those people could, they'd be giving you the finger, no doubt about it.

After a narrow sky transition panel, Jaken is scouting slightly ahead of Sesshoumaru and the two-headed dragon carrying Rin on its back behind him, trailing in his statement of what he's seeing around the side of the steep rocky hill rising on their right. I shouldn't have forgotten Sesshoumaru exists so soon after we last saw him, but here I am. Jaken looks up at the giant bird corpse with its head missing and expresses some incredulity as Sesshoumaru approaches the scene just as placidly as ever. Sesshoumaru observes the dripping blood from the severed neck, keeping all his surprise that the smell of all that blood that must have come from a body that huge has just vanished to himself. I mean, the smell as well as the blood altogether. I guess NO ONE had to clean it up...

On the hill they had passed behind them, Kagura has appeared, and addresses Sesshoumaru with a slight mocking tone; she says that he's arrived too late to take the entrance that has already closed. Rin shrieks over and over in her alarm over the presence of her former kidnapper, and Jaken stutters Kagura's name indignantly, asking what's with her showing up a lot around Sesshoumaru recently. 

Surprised he's not murdering her?

Sesshoumaru asks what she means by this "entrance" she mentioned, and Kagura is in a little shock that he actually took the bait for once. He almost ALWAYS takes the bait, girl, you've just been unlucky in your efforts. Aloud, she tells him she's referring to the path that leads to the boundary between this world and the next, the one that Inuyasha and Naraku have already taken. After a pause, Sesshoumaru says that it sounds from her tone that she knows of another way. She admits readily that she does know of another way, but also that she doesn't know if even HE can pass through it safely. Dude looks half-asleep, as always. Still got a stash nearby, I see. 

Meanwhile, in the center of the blood-tunnel Inuyasha and company have been rocketing down, they acknowledge with excitement a point of light that's expanding in front of them. Miroku suggests it's the exit, donning the Captain Obvious hat once more, and Inuyasha tells Kagome to hold on tight. The tunnel is suddenly vanished, and they are suspended in midair with a jagged peak and a couple of bony birds visible in the distance. 

Is there fanart of this armor and skeleton filled out with the anthropomorphized giant dog in living flesh and fur? Because there should be.

A couple of those skeleton birds helpfully come flying up and under Inuyasha and Kagome, who drop onto one of their backs, like they're those cabs that hang out at the airport arrival wing. Convenient. Miroku looks around, taking stock of this place they call the boundary between this world and the next, and Sango also characterizes as the youkai's graveyard. All the bodies that dissolve in the physical world reconstitute themselves here, probz. Inuyasha snaps at them that this is no time to be casually sightseeing, because Naraku got there before them, even if it was just one step. He is not, as far as I can tell, visible anymore, so it makes sense that Inuyasha is a little on edge. He's thinking that it's likely Naraku's plan to hide himself until Kagome can find the outstanding Shikon shard. 

Kagome is indeed keeping her eyes peeled, looking intently at the skeleton of Inuyasha's father in the distance. Suddenly, there's a glare that flashes out from that very skeleton, growing in intensity as Inuyasha and Kagome look on in shock.

One of the bone-birds is torn apart by what Miroku calls "shining spears" in alarm, the glittering onslaught continuing to shoot toward them. Inuyasha draws Tessaiga with a curse, assuming that this is Naraku's doing as he deflects the spears with his sword, which is much rattled by the task and passes that rattling up to Inuyasha himself. 

A few chips from a spear sprinkle down where Myouga is sitting on one of Inuyasha's beads, and he declares with surprise that this is diamond. Kagome repeats the word as an exclamation, looking to Myouga for further explanation, and he says it's the hardest jewel in the world that the spears are made of. Miroku calls from behind them that he can't sense Naraku's evil aura, so Inuyasha questions who the hell is behind this attack. 

Well, you're close enough to finding out, anyway. As long as you're good at dodging and weaving.

Kagome alerts Inuyasha to the fact that there's a Shikon fragment, the one they're looking for, no doubt, INSIDE his father's grave. Inuyasha gapes in yet more shock, and as they get even nearer to the giant skeleton, a voice from off-panel comments bitterly on how the visitors are all still alive. 

And while you're explaining THAT, maybe tell me WHAT the hell you are. That is a WILD morphology you've got there, buddy. 

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? The distinct impression I got as to the rush to this arc's end is at last tempered somewhat with the ticking clock. It makes sense that Inuyasha and company would only have so much time to figure out whether they wanted to go ahead and take the blood river to their destination, because Tekkei's body can only have so much blood. While it IS rash of them to jump in there without a return plan, with the frankly BLIND excuse that Naraku has to be hobbled in the same way (not factoring in his extended time for planning for exactly this issue is just brain-dead if I'm being honest), their fears of Naraku getting to that Shikon shard before they do is a valid motivator. Weighing the lack of a path back with the real possibility of Naraku becoming all the more powerful and closer to a complete jewel, it's easy to see why anyone, especially impulsive teenagers, would decide to worry about the former when they got to that point. 

For all that anxiety Rin had about Sesshoumaru killing her new friend Kohaku for his role in that little kidnapping scheme of Naraku's, the scene with Kagura might prove all of it moot. Kagura was the one who kidnapped Rin in the first place, and yet here Sesshoumaru is, having a casual chat with her about hints she's dropping, NOT murdering her face. All while Rin is screaming about Kagura being near as well. It's further evidence that this isn't about Rin and the threat to her so much as Sesshoumaru trying to get back at the main villain for catching him unawares. Rin is young, though, and it's probably not going to occur to her that Kohaku seems perfectly safe from Sesshoumaru's wrath, poor thing.

I'm pleased to see that there's been some tie-in to the beginning of this "path to the border between worlds" arc, because the recent death of the youkai jeweler strikes one as kind of a big deal when it's brought up, what with him suspiciously using up all those jewels before he died. Now we've got a shining diamond skull shooting diamonds at our protagonists when they get to the border, which, spoiler alert, is no coincidence. Anyone who knows me knows I love a good setup and payoff, and this one satisfies. 

Not the best I've ever seen, but it's far from disappointing.

YuYu Hakusho Manga: 018 The New Mission!!

As if I should be excited. It's not always the best thing to have a mission assigned to you. In times like these, I feel called to act in all manner of serious issues, but I don't FEEL GOOD about it. There's this overwhelming feeling like I and everyone else around me are fighting against a nightmarish hydra of cosmic horror proportions, and the hopelessness of it grows with every passing day. And I'm no spring chicken, alright? I've been around the proverbial block, and I know from experience that the work we're asking the youth to do these days to create a more just and healthy world for themselves is downright UNFAIR.

It's especially unfair when we're RESURRECTING them in order to put them in the fight, dammit!

Gotta make sure we stress that nothing inappropriate happened there. Keep your thirsty speculations out of this small time gap, fan-brats! XD

Yusuke is standing there, watching all the people chattering in the street, laughing together, children playing, all with the sparkling perspective of one who has not been able to partake in even the mundane parts of life for a while. He sighs that it really is great to be alive, which in and of itself is a somewhat discordant message of gratitude for this famously action/violence-oriented manga, but lovely nonetheless. Yusuke examines the palm of his hand, considering his time as a ghost and how it was one heck of an experience, but nothing beats life, after all. He blurts out, to the alarm of his neighbors in the street, that he feels so good that he could pick a fight with anyone or anything. 

This isn't really saying much coming from a guy who would pick a fight with anyone or anything when he was in a BAD mood too.

Uh-oh, I wouldn't be targeting a guy who just declared to the whole street that he's in the mood for a fight if I were a street psychic. Seems like a real dangerous game to be playing. 

Yusuke asks if the psychic is talking to him and she says she is, and begins motioning over the little glowing crystal ball in front of them, saying that Yusuke was born under strange stars which bestowed upon him strange traits. Wearing an amused grin, Yusuke asks for more specific examples of these traits and wonders what would happen if he told her that he was a ghost until yesterday. The psychic remains vague, mentioning that they amount to the talent and skill for his true mission in life, and he just scratches his chin in confusion at that. Then he turns to go, apologizing if she's trying to get him to sign up for something, because he's not interested - had enough of occult stuff to last him a lifetime. He says his only mission in life is to get his kicks while he can, and leaves the psychic sitting there speechless. 

Putting on a pair of shades, Yusuke retains his grin and says it's about time he got started getting those kicks. He's planning on starting with kicking back with a smoke in a cafe, which took me aback a little, because I don't remember smoking ever being allowed in cafes during my lifetime. The differences in culture and time I'm observing in these comics never fail to astound.

He slides up to a place called "The Far Cry", a name I assume is much in the same meaning as that series of games. Two guys walking toward Yusuke conveniently exposit how this is a Kasanegafuchi Junior High hangout, and they're getting pretty thick around these parts. As they pass Yusuke, both sweatdropping, they're talking about how it won't be long before they challenge Kuwabara's gang for their turf, and how it's a same the guy they JUST passed by isn't still around. Seems like Yusuke was missed in more ways than he imagined.

Without a word, Yusuke walks into the cafe, triggering the bell above the door. 

I'm sure he's sorry to disappoint.

As Yusuke sits down with a drink in the corner, he observes the unfriendly-looking group above and determines that they are indeed Kasane guys. He compares them to roaches moving in during his absence, and we're shown a little simple map depicting where Yusuke's school, abbreviated as Sara Jr. High in the lower left corner of the map, close to this cozy little cafe they are sitting in at the moment. On the other side of a river, named the River Sticks (wow, THAT'S booping us all on the snoot pretty hard, isn't it?), sits the similarly abbreviated Kasane Jr. High closer to the upper right corner. We're assured by the panel's third-person voice that it is to Yusuke's credit that this "gangster prep school", as it is known, didn't expand their territory. However, according to this map, the current turf distribution for Kasane is pretty wide, extending out slightly past the cafe and dangerously close to Yusuke's own school. These preppy posh gangsters mean business, apparently.

By the next panel, Yusuke has taken off his shades, but whether it's just because he's indoors or because he's maybe hoping to get recognized and get into a little brawl, I couldn't say. What I CAN say is that it's at this moment he notices something odd about the kid with the darker hair and glasses smoking in the center of the gang at the nearby booth - he appears to have horns protruding from his forehead a little below his hairline. That's weird, right? Yusuke takes a sip of his drink, also observing that this kid looks to be the leader of the pack. 

He picks up the start of a conversation about how Kuwabara is late, much to his mild surprise. A couple of the center kid's surrounding goons asks if there's a chance he'll ditch, and how their leader is so sure Kuwabara is going to show up. Issuing a jet of smoke from his lips, the leader reiterates that he's certain Kuwabara will meet them, because they have an ace in the hole. Rather than elaborating on what this could be, he shifts gears to tell his gang that he instructed Kuwabara that he and his friends should shoplift some manga on the way over, implying that this could be the reason Kuwabara is taking so long. Yusuke himself has got a little comic open at his table, and internally scoffs at the fat chance that is, because he knows that Kuwabara lives to FIGHT, and he's not one for stealing or extorting stuff. He is, at heart, a cinnamon roll.

The bell at the door jingles again. 

I'm getting to be very attached to Kuwabara's group. Just LOOK at those precious faces!

Kuwabara strides right for the gang's table, demanding to know where "Eikichi" is, wanting to see him. The gang leader cooly tells "Kuwa-chan" to hold on for a moment, asking if he's got the goods. Growling in frustration at his infantalization, Kuwabara produces a paper bag and throws it on the table, a corner or two of an manga magazine poking out of the corner. This is shocking to Yusuke, in disbelief behind his own open manga cover. Kuwabara asks if the gang leader is happy now, and demanding once again to see Eikichi. 

So he didn't shoplift after all!

Kuwabara asks what the hell difference it makes, and his tormentor responds that it makes ALL the difference, because he was SUPPOSED to enjoy the thrill of stealing them. And I'm sure you were SUPPOSED to just enjoy good grades and an illustrious career that has nothing to do with shoplifting, but sometimes we're disappointed, aren't we?

Anyway, the gang leader accuses Kuwabara of reneging on their deal, and taps some ash from his cigarette as he demands Kuwabara apologize. After Kuwabara makes a confused noise at the order, the gang leader smirks, calls him a "sleaze", and tells him to get on his knees to beg forgiveness for breaking his promise to steal some fucking comic books. I... guess apologies have been given for less... 

Kuwabara's friends are indignant, hissing through clenched teeth that this scumbag is asking for it, but Kuwabara tells them to shut it, and the only thing they dare utter after that reprimand is a stuttering of his name. He slumps to his knees obediently and with some difficulty spits that he's sorry for breaking his promise. The gang leader pretends not to hear him, so Kuwabara has to yell that he's sorry, perfectly humiliated. He asks the gang leader if he's happy NOW, and demands Eikichi back once more. 

Yusuke is struck by how bizarre the display is, and all for someone named Eikichi, while the gang guffaws at how pathetic Kuwabara is for actually groveling before their nerdy little leader. 

Hey man, there is a REASON the internet revolves around cats, okay?

Yusuke topples over in absolute shock in the background as Kuwabara chokes about his kitten Eikichi. The gang takes turns making fun of the fact that the top dog at Sarayashi Jr. High is a joke, pissing himself over a pet cat, and Kuwabara accepts this as all true, begging them not to hurt Eikichi. The guy holding Eikichi waves and rattles the little creature around, singing "wussy wussy 'lil pussy", and Kuwabara (and I) panics with the plea to stop. Kuwabara's friends are all sweating nervously, muttering about how the gang is going way too far, because Kuwabara is nuts for cats and Eikichi is his baby. 

CINNAMON ROLL.

Yusuke is still watching all this from behind his manga, peering at the gang leader, who says that they haven't done enough until Kuwabara gets with the program and tastes evil - it's fun and will prevail in the end. This guy needs his brain erased. Conveniently, he starts talking about Yusuke, how the previous leader of Sarayashi Urameshi was a real hard case that was a problem for them for a long time. He says he heard that Urameshi died saving some kid, and giggles about this being where doing good deeds gets you. A couple of his gang members mutter that they heard the zombie of old Urameshi kicked the shit out of Motomoto recently, and therefore suspect that he's not really dead. A couple more members openly laugh over this, countering that the word is those guys there were pretty wasted at the time, so it's clear they're not taking any claims they made seriously. The gang seems pretty split on the issue. 

The leader himself is in the latter camp, dismissing dead people altogether and abruptly suggests they all step outside for some air.

Maybe just accept that Kuwabara isn't all that inclined to do evil, my dude? What's your investment in converting him anyway?

Instead of giving Kuwabara up as a hopeless case of goodness and light, the gang leader points at Kuwabara's friends and commands him to knock them all out. Apparently they've been giving him the stink-eye the whole time they've been conversing, and the gang leader wants Kuwabara to pound them until he says to stop. Not more homoeroticism sneaking into the dialog here. As the flunky holds up Eikichi for Kuwabara to see, the gang leader counts to three in order to give Kuwabara a time limit. 

Kuwabara sweats heavily, grinding his teeth, but when he curls his fingers into a fist, he haltingly says he won't do it. The gang leader glares at him through his glasses, then holds up his cigarette so the smoldering end of it is aimed straight at Eikichi's big kitten eye. He tells Kuwabara to beat the shit out of his friends, or the cat will lose it's sight. The little creature is impressively sanguine as the cigarette comes close enough to singe the fur near its eye. It has ZERO fear for a little guy who just got whipped around in the air by the guy holding him. 

Kuwabara is clenching his jaw in sweaty tension again, and his friends encourage him to just do what the little evil fucker says, telling him that they can take the beating, and pay it forward to the gang once they hand over Eikichi. Maybe don't announce that, in case they decide they'll keep the cat to prevent it? Regardless, Kuwabara refuses again, emphatically. At this point, the gang leader's eyes are ringed with wrinkles from how hard he's glaring. He's just expounding upon his intentions to make good on his threat when a fist flies in from off-panel and shatters the jaw of the guy holding the kitten, gently seizing it with the other hand. Gang leader, Kuwabara, and gang members all gape in utter shock at the sudden assailant.

I LOVE that this slicked-back hairstyle has been characterized as "battle mode". Fucking SICK.

The whole gang is up in arms, freaking out about Urameshi's presence as if they're really seeing his ghost, screaming and carrying on. Where have I seen THIS before?

Same energy.

Kuwabara is half grinning, half twitching as he is overwhelmed with disbelief that the guy actually made it back from his near-death experience, his friends reacting with the same level of alarm as the gang members opposite them. Kuwabara recovers quicker than the rest of them, though, and looks back at his crew, shouting them out of their stupor as well. He points out the group of buttwipes in front of them, who are still kind of dazed with alarm, and pounces, encouraging his friends to sic 'em as well. 

There's a flurry of punches and hits, the scuffle carrying out in front of the gang leader, who is just kind of panicking on the sidelines. He looks between the mass fight and the lurking figure of Yusuke advancing on him in his sudden cowardice, whimpering about how much this sucks. Yusuke holds up a fist and grins, cracking his knuckles, telling the gang leader that he's forgotten something. He grabs the gang leader by the collar to prevent him running away when he turns to do so, screaming a pathetic no on his way. 

Down like a sack of bricks.

Yusuke calls the fallen gang leader a lowlife for hurting a defenseless kitten, which is definitely a generous term. But as he looks down at the douchebag, he hums in question. Out of the unconscious gang leader's gaping mouth reaches a tiny arm, soon followed by the head and torso of horned and fanged creature. It's rubbing it's own skull and whining in pain when Yusuke leans down and asks it point blank what it is. It answers that it's OUT OF THERE, and in a blur attempts to flee, but a close-up on Yusuke's eye communicates that it's a quick one.

The little creature insists that this is impossible, that no mortal should be able to see him, but is unable to deny that Yusuke not only saw him but caught him with bare hands. I hope it's not secreting some poisonous sweat or something. Yusuke asks in exasperation if this little tapeworm thought he'd let him get away, and said "tapeworm" is further astonished that Yusuke can UNDERSTAND him as well. I guess one doesn't have to be a SKILLED villain if one is relying on no one being able perceive one in any capacity.

At a voice off-panel congratulating Yusuke for his capture of a wanted criminal for five previous convictions, Yusuke looks over his shoulder to find that the street psychic from earlier is approaching him. She says the little demon's specialty is taking advantage of someone's dark side and leading them down the path of evil, with a very familiar GUIDE-like cadence. She looks over at the unconscious gang-leader while Yusuke is still kind of hung up on the fact that she's the fortune teller from earlier, and further explains that the tiny criminal Yusuke has caught prefers souls already inclined to his influence, which, uh, duh. Path of least resistance and all that. The street psychic says that she was actually on her way to assign taking custody of the now sullen demon still clutched in Yusuke's hand, but he's already taken care of that, so she tells him he's done good work yet again. 

She points at Yusuke, informing him that he has the instincts and abilities to track down/deal with these kinds of otherworldly threats, and announces that he's going to make a GREAT underworld detective. Rather than being proud, Yusuke looks like he's aiming a snarl at the fortune teller, as the demon in his fist complains that he can't breathe. Oh great, he's already following the police-violence shtick. Fantastic. 

Yusuke demands to know what the flippin' ding-dong she's even talking about, asking who she is anyway, and she responds with a hum about how soon we forget. She pulls down her hood, revealing a perky ponytail, at which Yusuke grimaces in alarm. 

He clearly doesn't like her as much as the readers do.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Definitely on Yusuke's side at the end of the chapter. Granted, I do like the new direction that the manga is exploring, and I did like it when I first saw it in the anime, because it seems a little more active and challenging for our main character. Still, I am totally empathetic to a kid who only JUST woke up from a coma and is just starting to appreciate being able to live his life again, being summarily assigned a whole-ass JOB by the people who are presumably linked to a kind of near-death trauma. There was no discussion of this with Yusuke, no OFFER of this position, his autonomy is just steamrolled over for the convenience of Koenma. I am very curious to see where Koenma is coming from on just ORDERING Yusuke to go out and grab underworld criminals for him, because I wouldn't be surprised if it's mostly due to his habit of looking at everyone around him as an idle underling - being a little prince of the underworld isn't likely to allow you to see anyone's autonomy very clearly, if at all.

I'm pretty amused with our villain in this chapter. The smug evil was so over the top, and the reference to a conflict between good and evil with the declaration that the evil would win in the end was funny enough to have me laughing out loud in a couple of places. It was fitting that the kid was merely possessed by some mediocre little demon creature, because every single thing that he was demanding of Kuwabara was so absurd. He stole Kuwabara's poor little kitten to force him to... steal some comics and beat up his own friends? Lame, and definitely not going to convince Kuwabara of how awesome being bad feels. Whoever this little evil influencer is, he probably should get a day job, because this shit is weak sauce. 

Kuwabara being motivated by love of his kitten is so him, which is perfect, no notes. But the poor thing DID disappear toward the end there, probably because it would have gotten in the way of Yusuke decking the antagonist. I can imagine YT getting a little tired of drawing it, because sadly, he doesn't seem as able to put the expressiveness in the animal as he has been putting it in his human characters. No reactions from little Eikichi at all, as far as I could see, not even when being handled roughly. I would have expected much more attempts at scratching/biting/writhing. Maybe I should be happy for him, as he clearly hasn't had the misfortune of seeing a cat in distress before writing this.