"Gyouja" means ascetic, apparently, but while I was looking this up, I was surprised to learn that the Inuyasha Viz Big volumes were all available on the Viz website. I don't know if this has always been the case and their search function just sucks, but I already have an account and it's how I've accessed the Yu-Gi-Oh chapters and, more currently, the YuYu Hakusho chapters. I wanted to be able to do so with Inuyasha as well, because it's a bit of a chore to drag the box with my paper volumes out of the closet whenever I need to compare the Viz official translation and whatever scanlation I'm working with.
So, I was very happy to discover this and looked over the whole LONG list of Inuyasha chapters just to see if they had them all, and was then surprised to see that all but the first three were barred to me by a paywall. I'm already paying about $3 a month for a subscription to the Shonen Jump manga, but they want me to pay another $2 per month for an entirely SEPARATE subscription to OTHER Viz manga that are not in the Shonen Jump publication.
I guess I'll be continuing to drag my physical copies out of their box whenever I want to compare in the future. XD
The men look up at the giant mountain monster in horrified wonder, stuttering that it's a youkai. Brilliant observation guys. Our rocky boy is glaring into a growing surge of light, and a few points of light shoot from the glow to pierce him in and around the neck area, bursting straight through him.
A couple of the witnesses from the first page affirm that this happened three days ago, describing what they call a "batch" of light that struck through the monster mountain. They point out the place where the giant youkai fell, which is still visible as pretty much a regular mountainous outcrop, because the body was just left there. His isn't the kind that dissolves upon death, I guess. Gotta leave proper evidence for our team to examine.
Apparently, the gargantuan corpse is so frightening, no one from the community has gotten close to take a look. As Inuyasha and Company rush toward the site themselves, Miroku admits that he can only imagine that it was Gakusanjin who fell here, but he also says he can't sense any youki from this mountain at all, Sango saying it's like the mound of rocks and foliage is just a regular mountain. I would have thought THAT would also dissipate along with the subject's life, but I'm no youkai expert, so what do I know?
Inuyasha remains quiet, thinking that the smell remains, and he's pretty certain about who they're coming upon as the massive outline of their destination coalesces out of the mist ahead.
Kagome recalls how when they met before, Gakusanjin had told them Naraku stole his Fuyouheki, with the power to erase the youki of the holder. Miroku suggests that Gakusanjin must have also gone after Naraku after they parted the first and last time they met, and Sango asks if he believes that Naraku is the one who killed Gakusanjin. She receives no answer from Miroku, but Kagome asks after Inuyasha, who is crouched on the ground, sniffing with some purpose. Inuyasha informs her that there is the scent of SEVERAL humans here, and when Kagome repeats "human" as a question, he elaborates that it's a fresh scent, which he deduces to mean that they came here AFTER Gakusanjin's death. As Shippou pops up on her shoulder, Kagome asks what THAT in turn means, and Shippou notes what they were told about the locals being too afraid to come over here. Assuming they're not just unaware of any dumb kids going to poke the dead youkai with a stick...
Narrow NIGHT sky transition panel, a full moon on display. A giant hairy eyeball with furry legs sprouting from it at every angle has perched itself on a roof, and a few villagers with torches stutter about it coming out. Clearly they are familiar with this creature, which is unfortunate. A couple of other villagers turn to shout at a "Gyouja-sama" to please take care of this shit.
They are indeed, because the stuttering village men thanking them for their work stand a head or two taller than they do, despite their stooped peasant posture. Granted, it's nothing we haven't seen before in this manga, but not being accompanied by ANY adults whatsoever isn't quite so common. Being peasants, the villagers struggle to bring up the subject of a reward for the service rendered, but the kid at the forefront of his mini-exterminators tells the villagers that a handcart is all they need.
The village men seem confused by the request, but in the next panel, the body of the spider-eyeball has been loaded onto the requested cart, and the kid assures his customers over his shoulder that the youkai corpse shall be buried at their residence over his shoulder as he pushes at the back of the cart on their way out. The villagers mumble amongst themselves about how the kiddos sure are something, despite the hesitant observation that those Gyouja-sama still being children. Not anything "ascetic" about them, as far as I can see, but I haven't seen much yet, to be fair.
Cut to another mountainside, near the foot of which the kids are dragging the cart up a path to a complex in the trees. Around this set of buildings are giant spikes of stone or maybe even crystal sticking up out of the ground, and in between them, what looks like the desiccated forms of monks with wide open mouths sitting cross-legged in eternal meditative pose. They look ANYTHING but peaceful.
Everything about this is creepy AF.
It's amazing how many times I've seen this very panel reproduced by this point in the story.
For being "ascetics", these kids sure are gluttons for shooting youkai with lasers.
Someone calls for "Goryoumaru-sama", announcing outside a particular building that they brough the remains of the youkai they finished off, with the goods to prove it on the cart at their backs. A voice from inside the dark doorway open a crack praises them and gives them permission to go rest.
Come daylight, someone ELSE is expressing incredulity at the village. It's Inuyasha, at the head of his own group, questioning the claim of the village men working in the field who told them about the gyouja going around exterminating youkai. But a villager leaning on his hoe confirms his claim, saying that these characters come from the holy mountain to the east. Oh no, not another holy mountain! The men further disclose that the gyouja had a kind of weird pot with them, which emitted a light that pierced the youkai.
This appears to ring a bell for Miroku, who asks how many of these gyouja there were, since the villagers indicated multiples. The villagers answer that the ones who came here were a three-"man" team, using the word "man" rather loosely in my opinion, but say there are rumored to be many more of them.
Kagome recalls to everyone's attention how they were told that lights of the same sort killed Gakusanjin, and Inuyasha agrees that the implication is the gyouja guys did the deed. He calls for his group to hop to it, and in their wake, the villagers mutter over how the boy they just saw had some weird ears and was a youkai, they guess. They're pretty laid-back about it.
Kagome wonders aloud if these gyouja fellows have a connection with Naraku, and Inuyasha gives her a big "DUH" answer, citing the fact that they killed Gakusanjin. Coincidences are NOT possible in this story. He repeats the information they got that the gyouja come from this holy mountain in the east, so he's more than ready to go and confront them about killing the mountain-guy, at the very least.
Ugh, kids these days and their over-use of the "z" sound.
But a moment later, Inuyasha suddenly picks up an alarming scent, that appears to be familiar to him. It's another mere moment before a blast rushes toward his left side, and he has leap out of the way. It slams into the ground below, and Sango observes that it appears to be just a surge of light. Inuyasha touches down with Kagome struggling to keep her seat on his back, already twisting to confront whoever shot at him.
Miroku comments in mild disbelief that their attackers appear to be children, and Sango observes that they must be those gyouja they've been hearing so much about. Inuyasha also says he's POSITIVE that these are the same scents he smelled at Gakusanjin's head. Kagome hides half behind his shoulder like she's SCARED of these rugrats, lol!
One of the kids admits to only NOW noticing the human behind Inuyasha, and another bluntly tells her that she should get away from the youkai if she doesn't wanna die. I'm pretty sure brats like these are like HALF the reason I never became a mother. The other half being the environmentally destructive fascist capitalism.
Kagome gets irritated at being advised thus and stutters a demand to know what it is they think they're saying, but Inuyasha tells her to get back again. Ah, the quintessential female experience of being given conflicting orders by all the boys around you like you're a fucking house pet. Inuyasha comments on how dangerous those jar things are on those kids' backs, and asks where they got them. The kids in turn ask what good it'll do knowing, because he's about to be exterminated anyway. Inuyasha draws Tessaiga and vows to make them talk no matter what, lunging for them.
So, what do I think of this chapter overall? I'm sure it will surprise no one that my favorite part of this chapter is the creepy atmosphere of the complex for the gyouja characters, and how creepy the guy they answer to is. The rocks sticking out of the ground like giant stakes and the figures of agonized monks between them strikes a very unsettling tone of warning. There's also something ominous about the insistence of the boys to bury their slain youkai in this place - it puts a loose connection between the twisted nature of the landscape and this practice.
It's also somewhat reminiscent of Sango's first appearance in the story, who took pieces of the youkai she had killed back to her village of exterminators herself, and had an established practice of doing so to manufacture armor and weapons from them. But the tone was FAR different, from the contrast between the environments to the clear versus obscure purpose, and there seems to be a deliberate comparison happening here. The kids are after all using the exact language that Sango used when referring to her exterminator career. I'm looking forward to seeing more of HER response to this in particular, because she no doubt would be able to provide a unique insight to this community of little exterminators calling themselves "ascetics". Gonna have a hard time getting over that word.
Finally, I think Inuyasha's behavior in this chapter is interesting, showing a unique kind of empathy for Gakusanjin and sadness when his murder is discovered. His manner is less caustic than usual, keeping a more internal dialog like he does when he's contemplating something uncomfortable for him, and his expression suggests at the very least disappointment. He wants to chase down the killers pretty much immediately, and while HE would probably characterize that as eagerness to get at the shadowy villain behind the murder he's been chasing this entire time, but I think in addition to the other things, it at least speaks to how sad Gakusanjin's loss is. Inuyasha had promised to bring the fuyouheki back to him, so there might perhaps be an echo there of the guilt he feels at failing to protect Kikyou, as well as a frustration at the lack of justice there for a guy who just wanted to go back to sleep.
Of course, I might just be projecting. Gakusanjin was my boy. We had so much in common, just wanting to get some fucking sleep. XD XD XD
No comments:
Post a Comment