Inuyasha Manga: 359 Hitoukon

Apparently, this chapter title means "Roots", which I hope is someone's name or SOME kind of proper noun. I've never been much of a fan of scanlators keeping random words untranslated, especially when it comes from a language that is not based in the same writing system as the target language. I mean, you took the time to convert the kanji/kana characters into the alphabet, it would be the same amount of work to go the rest of the way and just translate the word. Even when I was learning Japanese for a while, I didn't appreciate this, because it certainly didn't help me learn. It just seems like a flex on the people reading. An extremely SHALLOW flex. 

To be fair, "Root" would be a pretty cute name for a dog. Even a giant wild mountain dog. 

Inuyasha and company are listening silently to the claim that this was definitely some youkai, wearing serious expressions. Afterward, while Inuyasha is on his hands and knees sniffing the ground in the forest, Miroku admits that this probably has nothing to do with Naraku, but he doesn't want to pass it by. Kagome asks Inuyasha how his olfactory investigation is going, and he responds with a hesitant question of whether this is really a youkai whose trail he's following. Miroku makes a surprised noise, and Sango asks what he means. He turns to inform them that there's no smell here except that of a mountain dog. 

A narrow sky transition panel takes us to a village, probably a different one than that which engaged the Inuyasha Crew's assistance. A man in a high lookout post rings an alarm bell, yelling that a mountain dog has come. A mother lunges for her children playing outside, urging to hurry and come indoors, but she only just embraces them when she twists around at an alarming growling sound behind her. 

Holy FUCKING shit! Is THAT what they mean by a mountain dog???

We get a close-up on that branching scar-like thing around this giant dog's eye. Then it suddenly drops the corpse of the woman in its mouth as it lunges for the other woman and her children, who hunches down over the kids to try and protect them from the oncoming threat. Clearly this attack ISN'T just because it's hungry.

A weight on the end of a chain flies straight forward, embedding right in the dog's eye surrounded by that strange scar, before it can reach the mother and children. As you may have seen coming, the other end of that weighted chain, a sickle, soars toward the dog next, a familiar black-clad boy directing it from the chain's center. The sickle slices straight through the dog's neck as it roars, which is pretty impressive, considering how much smaller the tool is than the animal. I really don't know HOW that would be possible without a bigger blade and a lot more force.

But okay, more unbelievable things have happened in this comic, so what the hell. 

Kohaku walks forward silently, saying nothing in response to the mother's stuttered gratitude. She then screams when the severed head of the dog shudders all on its own. It catapults in the air, rocketing off into the distance. Kohaku curses and runs after it, into the forest, keeping his sickle-chain at the ready as he looks around cautiously through the trees. 

Great, he's got the poor kid farming for XP. 

Kohaku twists around at the sound of something coming at him from behind. The head of the dog's head chomps down on Kohaku's arm before the boy can react, but he's able to pull his bleeding limb from the front teeth's tenuous grip, crashing to the ground. Again the head flies for him, but he's prepared this time, once more slicing straight through the offending skull. It once more lands in the dirt, and this time the scar around the eye starts writhing, bubbling up out of the dog's flesh. A strange, branching entity rises up out of the head and flies to escape. 

It really does look like a bunch of tree roots, huh?

Kohaku watches with mouth agape as this creature splashes into the river and starts swimming upstream like a spawning salmon. He runs after it along the back of the river, thinking it's trying to escape him into the mountains. 

Back in the village where he left the headless giant dog, Inuyasha and company have arrived, asking the villagers who did this as they're tying ropes around the dog's body to drag it away. As if Inuyasha couldn't SMELL Kohaku there. Haltingly, one of the men says that it was just a kid, but he says that he had the same style of clothes as Sango, indicating her. She looks taken aback while another man asks if this was a friend of hers. Kagome and Shippou gape, the former immediately wondering if it's Kohaku. DUH, girl. 

Another interesting question: why was Inuyasha pretending not to know it was Kohaku? Weird. 

Cut to the woods where Kohaku is picking through felled trees and branches, having lost the trail of the creature. A noise off-panel alarms him yet again, and he automatically throws his sickle toward the source, which he didn't realize at first is a boy with his own sickle staring with mouth wide open up the hill at him. Alarmed, Kohaku pulls back on the chain in a hurry, re-routing the path of his sickle upward where it slices through a low hanging branch. The kid continues to gape at all this like a fish, until someone calls to him, calling him Daichi. A man with a bundle of twigs tied to his back comes onto the scene, Daichi identifying him as his dad, and he peers at an awkward and silent Kohaku. 

You could say that, though Kohaku doesn't even offer that kind of vague answer as Daichi's smiling father finishes tying the bandage around Kohaku's arm. He does give his thanks, though, while he thinks hard about how he MIGHT still find that weird root-like youkai. He's on his feet and halfway out the door to do just that when he turns and thanks the father and son again, informing them he's on his way now. Daichi's dad seems confused by this, and sets his hands on Kohaku's shoulders, bidding him to wait, because night will be falling soon. He invites Kohaku to stay in their home for the night, Daichi affirming from the fire in the center of the hut that this is a good idea. Sleepover! Kohaku doesn't answer straightaway, looking hesitant. What's wrong, kid? You in some kind of hurry?

A narrow sky transition panel takes us back to the giant dog head lying there where Kohaku left it, still showing signs of where the branching youkai hung out around its eye. Inuyasha has led the group to the spot, where Miroku observes that this creature was finished off here, but Inuyasha says he just DOESN'T get what Kohaku is supposed to be doing here. It just looks like regular youkai extermination to him. Even though earlier he claimed that the dog just smelled like a regular dog and NOT a youkai before. 

Thankfully, Sango is about to address that very angle, kneeling next to the head as Inuyasha asks her what's up.

Finally, a professional assessment of what actually matters.

Sango suggests that the youkai she's talking about is probably a "hitoukon", informing Kagome that it's a grass root youkai when she asks about it. Damn, there are youkai of LITERALLY EVERYTHING, aren't there? Sango says they have possessed animals and humans, and they primarily feed on human blood. No shortage of carnivorous plants for us here.

In the little father and son's home, Kohaku's clothes are being scrutinized for how odd they are. Hey, some of us are eccentric dressers, deal with it. The two hosts and guest sit eating around a big bowl of what looks to be stew, cozy as can be. Daichi's dad asks if Kohaku does some sort of side-show, which seems a little rude, but Daichi himself gushes about how great Kohaku's sickle chain is, inquiring about who taught him how to wield it. After a short pause, Kohaku bashfully claims not to remember, though in his head he credits his father and everyone in his village. 

Later, the moon has risen high in the sky, and the three of them lay sleeping under the same cover. Daichi sits up, rubbing his eye sleepily, and goes outside to answer nature's call. The branches above the tree trunk he's watering rustle, and he looks up in alarm. 

Seriously? You're going to ambush a guy while he's taking a piss? That's even more rude than the dad was before!

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I'm glad that there seems to be a reason for leaving the word "roots" untranslated in the title! But I found this one a little weird, due to the number of questions that kept popping up and breaking my immersion. Inuyasha seems genuinely surprised that Kohaku is behind the beheaded dog, despite using his nose to lead his team straight to it. RT has forgotten Inuyasha has a super-smeller before, but I can't quite recall a time when she forgot in the SAME chapter where he's actively using it. That's really awkward, and doesn't indicate how well she's managing her story and team. 

In addition, she seems to be running out of innocuous stuff to turn into youkai, and this is her most awkward idea yet, I have to say. Not that I think it's necessarily a terrible idea in and of itself, because I think there's a way to turn something as unthreatening as a grass root into something terrifying, but I don't necessarily think it was pulled off here. It comes across as more goofy than anything else, even in the final two panels of active possession, which were the spookiest by far. The giant dog it was possessing was frightening enough by itself without being possessed by... grass. 

That was another oddity that kept probing at my brain: it was an AFULLY big dog, bigger than all the humans, but there's no indication that it grew or was considered abnormal in size at all, nor did it return to a more normal size once the parasite youkai was gone. Am I meant to believe that these giant mountain dogs are THAT fucking huge?? Absolutely wild.

One thing that I'm digging about this chapter is Kohaku getting a little positive socialization in. Daichi and his dad seem genuinely kind, patching him up, letting him stay with them for the night, feeding him. It was so touching that there was no doubt it would turn sour, and in such a way as to further convince Kohaku that he's unfit for human companionship. He'll blame himself and his being there for Daichi's possession, and get away from them as fast as possible to relieve them of the general tragedy he brings to these happy situations. Though Naraku's commands to him don't have a THING to do with this particular incident, he is out on Naraku's orders, chasing the very youkai that is possessing Daichi, which will be enough of a link to trigger his perpetual guilt around the horrible things happening to people he comes to care about. 

The quality of these scanlations are quite fuzzy, and I think it's likely to be their condition from now on. I believe I've entered the point in my downloads where I was grabbing the translated files back when they were first coming out, and they were being hastily scanned and sloppily posted to satisfy a rabid fanbase. Apologies for that - they're at least readable for the time being. Hopefully they stay that way, even if they aren't as pretty as some of the previous pictures!