Inuyasha Manga: 229 The Oni's Head

I still can't get over the concept of a guy burying a monster head in his garden. I've encountered a lot of animal heads on WALLS living in the American west, but that's a taxidermy trophy people can see. You can't exactly brag about victory over a creature if your proof is six feet under. Is it some sort of weird humiliation thing? Like the guy defeated the monster, so he wants to assert his victory by planting its head under the outhouse? Or is it more an invisible fence post, assuming other monsters can detect the defeated one in the ground and get put off attacking? 

Google is going to be working overtime on this shit, I promise.

Too bad Kagome hasn't introduced Inuyasha to projectors in the modern era yet. Then maybe he would have more suspicions and less confusion here.

Inuyasha resolves to take another shot at the thing with the sword, lifting Tessaiga again, but is stopped by a plea to wait. Thank goodness that Miroku rescued us from having to sit through multiple failed attacks. I guess he's not so bad after all. While Inuyasha acknowledges his call to wait with pause, Miroku holds up a couple of paper charms and says that weapons won't work on this foe. He throws the lightly flaming charms at the oni head, and THIS attack seems to land, crackling and arcing across the ogre's mug.

Kagome and Shippou gape over Inuyasha's shoulder, a castle guard nearby exclaiming that the head disappeared. Brilliant observation of what amounts to a weird laser light show. The princess is also muttering that the oni head has disappeared to the princess, who is gaping up at the sky where it performed its trick too, so I have to assume she's not blind. Miroku says it was an illusion all along, just as he thought, and Sango repeats "illusion" back to him as a question. I would have suggested he tell that to all the castle staff that that psycho holed up in his room killed, but I'm also very rude.

Later, they're all sitting facing each other for a meal set out in front of them, save Inuyasha, who lounges against the open edge of the sliding door leading onto the porch. The porch man/goblin, apparently forgoing his own meal, sits at the head of their formation, asking for confirmation that the ogre head will be back again tomorrow night. Miroku says that yes, it was just a fake, probably an illusion to divert attention away from the oni's real body. The old woman chuckles at the thickening plot.

Kagome concludes that the real ogre must be hiding somewhere in the castle then, and Sango affirms that the evil atmosphere hasn't lessened at all, her point emphasized by the marbled effect hanging out behind them. The old woman, around a mouthful of food, reiterates that she can't feel an evil aura. Kagome gives her a fake smile and acknowledgment, but Sango just looks on exasperates and thinks this is some exorcist sardonically. 

From his uncomfortable-looking seat on the threshold, Inuyasha recalls that the old man from the porch had said Tono had gone insane, and suggests that it's not just the oni's curse, but a full-on possession.

That's right, this is being observed by Inuyasha and Miroku at a crack in the door, homicidal nature be DAMNED. The old porch-goblin, presumably having led them there, whispers that they'll get killed if they're caught, but Inuyasha assures him that they'll just kill the Tono first if they have to. Super reassuring, I'm sure. Miroku tells Inuyasha not to be so hasty - the guy IS important after all. Why else would they just let him get away with literal murder over and over again, never sending in a few well-trained guards to stab him a bit until he stopped moving? 

Inuyasha leans close to peer over Miroku's shoulder, asking if this guy is indeed the ogre. Miroku says that, on the contrary, this guy seems entirely human. He's pretty sure the evil aura permeating the castle isn't coming from here, anyway. This is his expert opinion, folks.

Cut to the old exorcist woman throwing her pocket-sand in Kagome, Sango and Shippou's faces as they sit all in a row, eyes squeezed shut against the flying particles. The old lady suggests with optimistic certainly that they must feel a bit better now, but Sango offers her insincere apologies while brushing off her shoulders aggressively, Kagome coughing next to her. The old woman says this is strange; she holds up the jar, describing its contents of purification ash salt, a substance most youkai are repelled by. Inuyasha and Miroku walk back into the room at this moment, in which the former scoffs at the fraud exorcist and asserts the ash salt would never work. Kagome ignores Inuyasha's rudeness where she normally wouldn't, welcoming the boys back without reprimand. Maybe it has to do with Shippou still gagging on the ash salt behind her. 

Meanwhile...

Not as disturbed by this idea as I would be, but whatevz.

The princess prompts him to continue with a word, and the old porch-goblin reports further that Miroku has observed otherwise, that Tono has just gotten a bit crazy after all. She draws the conclusion on her own that this would mean the oni is elsewhere, muttering "oh my" with some sterility. Not long afterward, her old attendant addresses Miroku outside of the room where he and the others are gathered, informing him that the princess wishes to consult with him. He loftily asks for confirmation, while Sango twtiches in irritation next to him. 

She tells him to hold it, asking if he intends to go alone, indignant. Miroku responds by grabbing her hand and bidding her not to worry. He acknowledges the princess's beauty, but affirms his heart belongs to her, guiding the back of her hand to brush up and down his cheek. It's super weird. Sango protests, flustered, that she's not worried about that, explaining that it's dangerous to be traipsing about on one's own while they don't know when the oni is going to appear next. A fair point, but Inuyasha says it'll be fine, Miroku being more than capable of handling it by himself. Sango shoots him a withering glare, and he crouches behind Kagome in fear, wondering why SHE has the face of an oni now. Kagome looks exasperated, thinking Inuyasha is a fucking moron. 

Before he heads off, the old exorcist woman hails him and presents him with a packet of her purification ash salt as a precaution. Though he's a little taken-aback, he accepts the gift with a gracious bow and thanks. 

Next we see him, he's heading down a LONG staircase, appearing to lead underground, lead by the princess. Apparently this is the way to the tomb of the oni's head, which she confirms for him, claiming it was enshrined under the castle, which she says she wants him to see without fail. Red flag eagerness aside, Miroku seems pensive, saying he heard the oni's head was buried as a protection against evil. She says this is true, and that there haven't been any strange events until now. Are you telling me this oni-head-in-the-ground is actually effective? I don't know if I buy it, but okay.

"Alright, which of you fuckers opened Pandora's Box?? TONO???"

The princess holds out her lamp, drawing Miroku's attention to the center of the crater in the ground, the shadowed contents of which draw shock from him.

This is what happens when you ignore red flags. 

Back with the rest of the crew, Shippou sits out on the porch, commenting on how late Miroku is, while Sango has taken Inuyasha's place on the threshold leaning on the edge of the door. Inuyasha is now inside, loftily implying that the perverted bastard and the princess are probably getting up naughty things without outright SAYING so. This still has Sango twitching, though, if it's not that uncomfortable-looking position she's in at the door anyway. Kagome snaps at Inuyasha to sit with her brows knit in frustration, the first time in a while, incidentally. 

From his belly on the floor, Inuyasha demands to know what she did THAT for, and Kagome leans down to explain that he has NO tact whatsoever. She looks back up to invite Sango to look for Miroku in a friendly tone, but Sango coldly turns her down, saying they shouldn't get in Miroku's way. Kagome smiles, but she knows Sango is forcing herself not to get worked up over this. 

There's the sound of running down the way, and an outcry, drawing Sango, Inuyasha, and Kagome to look at the length of the porch. In Tono's room, he's got one woman by the hair and two other corpses discarded behind him, blade drawn while he heaves like he's just run a mile. The old man and a couple of other men come in to try and persuade him not to murder anymore, but I don't think that's working so well. Inuyasha and Sango push in around these fools, the former barking at them to get out of the way. They show up just in time to see some horns, pointed ears, and a row of sharp teeth start to form on the guy. 

It only gets worse from there.

Miroku's judgment is fucked up all over the place today, isn't it?

Speak of the devil, we're back looking into the pit with him and the princess, kneeling next to it. The princess explains to him that this is what happened to all the priests and priestesses that came to exorcise the oni. She gives him an eerie sideways stare as she continues, stating that the oni liked to eat humans with spiritual powers when it was alive, so those powers could be absorbed into its own. Smiling and sweating, Miroku mutters that this must have been why she brought him here. She confirms that indeed, she wants to eat his powers.

So he pocket-sands the shit out of her face with that ash salt he got from the old exorcist lady, which is a fair response. The princess recoils, but lifting her big sleeve to shield herself isn't enough to block the salt, and she too grows horns and a little feminine set of fangs in contrast to Tono's big fuck-all row of stakes. Miroku says he enhanced the ash salt a bit, and that his amplification of the power seems to have worked while the oni princess groans. But Miroku silently remarks on this oni's toughness, and how troublesome it will be, since he's finding it really difficult to move in this evil aura it's continuing to produce. He's sweating even more now.

The oni princess laughs, asserting that help won't be coming for Miroku, the hanyou and his other companions being otherwise occupied with her decoy oni in the castle.

Good for you? This seems like an unnecessary flex when this guy has been treated with kid-gloves since before you got here. 

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I'm lukewarm - this is mostly okay, though nothing about it stands out as especially good. The new characters are not notable or particularly interesting. The only notable, delusional old exorcist wannabe, seems to have disappeared halfway through it, and the rest of them are very wooden and uninteresting. Aside from how thorough our ogre princess is in creating a couple of different decoys to draw attention away from her, there's just nothing about her that stands out as a villain. 

And of course I have to wonder how she managed to lure THAT many priests and priestesses into the pit. We know why MIROKU was interested in going down there with her alone, but ALL of the bones in that pit couldn't possibly have belonged to perverts. She had to figure out a way for each of them to get down there to devour them according to their own personalities, and that wouldn't be a problem if they were supposed to have trickled in over a period of YEARS, but we were told at the beginning of this mini-arc that the oni-head nonsense began only recently. I just don't know if I buy that this ogre with an ENORMOUS appetite managed to lure that many people down into her hell-hole gravesite in such a short amount of time. The logistics of that aren't really adding up for me.

Miroku's libido bumping up against Sango's jealousy for giggles is a little cringe all on its own, but RT turned that shit up to 11 when he was caressing his own face with her hand, claiming his heart belongs to her. Granted, much like Inuyasha and Kagome, it was obvious even without a formal "we're dating" announcement that Miroku and Sango were an item immediately after their last little adventure together. It's also obvious that Miroku is a bit more bold in expressing himself and this isn't out of the question for a guy who asks random women to bear his children. Still, I can't help but wince at this scene, because unlike Inuyasha and Kagome's romantic interactions reinforcing their relationship, this just comes across as a parody of romance, like Miroku is almost making fun of Sango for liking him. Maybe it's because his "pervert" behavior is in a comedic context, so everything surrounding it is too, but it just makes me feel bad for Sango.

But the setup and payoff of Miroku getting the ash salt and using it against the oni princess in the pit was satisfying. So there's that.

Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 287 The Father's Shadow

Gracious, it always comes down to daddy-issues, doesn't it? And no, I'm not talking about the ladies whose romantic choices are mocked in blatantly misogynistic terms of how one supposes she relates to a paternal figure, oh no. I'm talking about the direct and obvious connection between a male character's motivations to be great/powerful/dominant/etc and the superior light in which he places his father. Guys in stories are constantly drawing inspiration from their fathers' successes while simultaneously wanting to punch that asshole for how distant and demanding he was. It's a prolific trope, probably because a lot men in real life have a bit of the daddy-issue bug too, but they're too busy projecting that onto women who won't date them instead of admitting to it upfront so they can get on with their protagonist's story arc. 

Or they write it into their totally-not-them protagonist in a long-running series about friendship. And cards.

If proto-Kaiba's performance is any indication... Maybe?

Thief!Bakura says that if he loses, Yami can have his head, but if he wins, he's going to take Yami's life, finery, and the Millennium Items. Yami glares at him, and I like to think it's because he's weighing the worth of thief!Bakura's head against all the things the guy is demanding if he wins. Seems to me that Yami would be getting next to nothing out of his win, but that may be just me. Akhenaden points and raves about how apparently thief!Bakura has no respect, asking how he can say such things to the divine king, and promising that there will be no mercy for him. Clearly we have another Honda here who needs a minute to catch up. Dude, your questions and statements have already been answered if you bothered to LISTEN, alright? 

Sorry, I've got very little patience for people who refuse to acknowledge that they've been given all the information they could ever need to draw logical conclusions and therefore instead draw all the most ILLOGICAL ones. Can't imagine why that is.

Yami calls out to thief!Bakura, asking him why he wants the Millennium Items, to which question thief!Bakura scoffs. He lifts the rope tied around the mummy's neck that he's been dragging around this whole time, suggesting that Yami should ask HIM instead. Yami gapes in shock at this gesture, Priest Seto identifying the mummy as the former king like he's just NOW seeing it. Is he? Did no one notice this fucking mummy on a leash before this moment? Thief!Bakura chuckles, one of his feet propped on the wrapped back of the former pharaoh. Calling him a barbarian, Priest Seto asks how the thief dares to step on the body of Pharaoh Akhenamkhanen, threatening to flay thief!Bakura to the bone. Again, I feel like this question has already been answered, but whatevz. 

My concerns pale in comparison to Yami's after all.

This also hits Yami like an emotional bombshell in a ground zero already LITTERED with shells - he's learning so much in so very little time he probably wouldn't be able to retain that name of his even if someone said it to his face right now. 

Akhenaden steps forward to give thief!Bakura a little bit of a history lesson; he says the previous king ruled for 40 years, put an end to the wars between countries and brought peace to the land. Thief!Bakura interjects with a sarcastic comment about how it was peace for THEM, maybe, but Akhenaden continues on as though not interruption. He claims that the reason that the previous pharaoh made the Millennium Items was because he wished for a millennium of peace for this war-torn country. Don't know why he thought explaining the reasoning behind the NAME of the items was pertinent information...

Someone exclaims that they know this story, that the old pharaoh left them the seven items imbued with the power of justice and righteousness to purge all the evil and sinners in land. The propaganda was really effective here, huh? Laughing, thief!Bakura demands not to be made to laugh ANYWAY at the concept of justice tied to these items, and asks if they don't know the truth. He asserts that the Millennium Items are forbidden artifacts of dark magic, with the evil power of darkness dwelling within them, and that the one who owns all seven of them can forge a pact with the dark spirits of the afterworld. Mahado immediately dismisses this as absurd, Isis questioning the phrase "dark spirits of the afterworld". The cosmology isn't quite lining up, apparently. Thief!Bakura's grin has twisted into a grimace as he asks if they've ever heard of the village Kul Elna. Akhenaden DEFINITELY recognizes it, looking shocked at its mention. 

Overlaying an image of a disheveled temple's inside, thief!Bakura says this village is now a ruin, but tells of a secret shrine hidden there housing the tablet of the afterworld.

... Sounds cool? Not really, but I'm trying to be supportive of his goals.

Yami growls angrily at thief!Bakura, who continues to Captain Morgan all over the previous pharaoh's back while suggesting that might be the REAL reason his current stool made the Millennium Items. Perhaps Akhenamkhanen was after the same evil power as thief!Bakura, and wanted to rule the entire world with the power of darkness in addition to Egypt? This provocative question is ignored by Yami, who loses his shit and stands, demanding that theif!Bakura get his foot off his dad's body. This just pleases thief!Bakura, who notes he's managed to finally goad Yami's butt off that throne, mockingly calling him a "great pharaoh".

And then Shada pops off at this last straw, asserting that death is the punishment for insulting the pharaoh. Totally proportionate reaction, I've gotta say. He yells that he and the other priests will carry out thief!Bakura's execution, who just grins and tells them they're in the way, threatening to get rid of them all at once. Four more giant stones are summoned into the room by the line of priests, Akhenaden leading them in a summoning by calling on the monster ka sealed in the stone slab, spirit ka within his body, and probably all the other weird ghosts in the area. A few arcs of energy shoot up out of the Wedju Shrine in response. 

Meanwhile, Yami stands there, looking ready to start striding across the room at a moment's notice. After giving himself a long impressive title based on all the advising he's done for Yami's father, Siamun assures Yami of one thing.

It's about damn time! 

Despite Siamun's protests, Yami begins walking straight toward the new tablets and Diabound, for all the world looking like he can't even hear anything other than the blood rushing through his eardrums. I mean, he looks PISSED. Siamun cries that it's too dangerous, the ka of the priests and the thief are about to clash, and frantically urges Yami to return to the throne. Indeed, the ka of the priests are flying into their respective stones rapidly. 

But Yami is like a honey badger. 

He don't give a shit.

I mean, a full-on WAR is happening here, and Yami has left all his fucks in his other pants. Which is a shame because I spy a familiar monster that he might have liked to see in this memory world of complete and total head-scratchery thus far.

The monsters of the priests clash all at once with Diabound; no turns, no rules, just chaos. Diabound punches the head off of that dragon thing and hooks the armored dude as it digs fingers into Diabound's abdomen down below. The tail end with the snake head on it chomps down on the panther. Diabound snaps the creature in half with a mere gesture. It's bananas. Thief!Bakura laughs that none of them are a match for his Diabound, as the priests double over at the injuries to their monsters. Mahado marvels in pain at the power of this thing, and is urged by Akhenaden not to give up and keep his ba strong. 

A command to MOVE is given. 

... That was easy.

An indignant thief!Bakura grimaces over his shoulder at Yami, who kneels to pick up the mummy lying on the floor. Looking down at the body in his arms with a grief-stricken expression, Yami is consumed with regard for the mummy that once was his father. Thief!Bakura uses this moment to recover his smooth mocking attitude, suggesting that this is an emotional reunion for Yami, and says a couple of pieces might have fallen off on the trip over. Can he BE any more desperate to be offensive? 

Yami is silent at first.

Shouldn't be too hard. You just demonstrated that the guy is a LITERAL pushover. 

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I'm digging the ambiguous nature of daddy!pharaoh's identity being set up here. We have two different narratives going: one that paints the pharaoh as a purely sunshine and rainbows ruler who created the Millennium Items to bring peace and justice to the land, and another that paints him as this sinister figure that might very well have created the Millennium Items to build an empire. In the middle is Yami, who can only recall one solitary image of his father, which at first seems a little underwhelming for his reaction. Upon looking over the chapter again, however, I think it works, because that one stationary memory is the ONLY memory he's actually recovered thus far, and as such it's had the emotional impact of a speeding train. Under ordinary circumstances, this particular memory would be one facet of a complicated tapestry of his relationship with his father, but the rest of that tapestry being obscured brings into sharper relief the positive feelings that this single memory dredges up. He now has grounding and stakes in this conflict, a personal connection defined by a solitary moment in time when he was admiring his father for his benevolence to an Egyptian crowd. 

But again, it's a very limited picture of the whole man, and I wonder if this particular memory is "accurate" in the sense that it disproves thief!Bakura's testimony. I'm really HOPING it's not so simple as that; recent events have taught me that people are complicated as hell, and it's hard to reconcile the contradictory aspects of their nature. It's always a treat when stories can afford to give a fraction of that complexity to their characters. 

With KT, it's a toss-up. We shall see.

Inuyasha Manga: 228 Oni's Head Castle

That name'll inspire urban legends and those damn kids to creep onto your lawn in the hopes of seeing something spooky, huh? I remember when I was growing up, my friends and I saw a vaguely unkempt home in the neighborhood and we'd convinced ourselves it was haunted. We'd trespass on that property all the time and peek in the windows, trying to catch a glimpse of the head on the chopping block that someone's mother's cousin's friend's sister saw one time. If we had heard it was a ogre's head on that chopping block, I bet we would have been all the more desperate to see it, and whoever owned that house wouldn't have gotten ANY rest.

Not least of all because, as 90's kids, we would probably have brought up our CD players to blast Smash Mouth at the property at all hours. 

I jest, of course; internet meme culture was in its infancy and not NEARLY as strong as to inspire that kind of bold assholery... for the most part.

"Pocket sand!"

The weird little animal ghost hisses and retreats a tad, so the spunky old lady here raises her staff to strike it, claiming this will end their fight. She misses by a hair, the weasel ghost drifting backwards just out of range, then it lunges for her, very solid-looking little claws extended, where the old lady has fallen over, though there's no discernible reason why. She didn't lose her balance in the last panel or anything...

Whatevz. A "sankon tessou" cry comes out of nowhere.

And little snot-nosed teenaged brats should hold their tongues instead of being condescending to their elders, but "should" never stopped you, now did it?

The old lady doesn't seem to register what he said, or even did, because she perceives him from her spot on the ground as reinforcements for the creature he just killed. She hops up to throw whatever's in her jar at HIS face too, crying for dispersal. After an initial recoil, Inuyasha has to be held back by Miroku, staff extended across Inuyasha's chest while he's demanding not to be stopped, ranting about hitting the old woman. Miroku tells him to cool his balls while the old lady looks on owlishly. 

Once tempers have subsided, a talk leads to someone asking for confirmation that the number of youkai are increasing. Seated on an exposed tree root, the old lady says it started rather suddenly in recent days, and says it's the reason an old exorcist like herself has been called to action. The Inuyasha crew sit and stand across from her, Miroku asking from the ground if she has any idea why this is. She says it's probably because of the curse at Oni's Head Castle, a name Kagome parrots back in question as Inuyasha gives a half-quizzical glare. 

There are FAR too many monsters hanging out beneath castles in this damn place. Someone should do something about that, I think.

The old lady says that the lord of the castle took the head of an oni he'd exterminated, buried it as a substitute for a charm against evil, and built his castle on top of it. Why he thought that would work as a substitute for a charm AGAINST evil is a bit beyond me. Kagome just makes a noise of amazement, so SHE'S not going to explain, even though her background of growing up in a shrine might be a little illuminating in this aspect. Also the old woman continues to expound upon the legend, saying that lately, the oni came back to life and cursed the area, and all attempts to exorcise it have been futile, or so she's heard. Frankly, I love that for the poor abused thing; get your revenge, dude! Miroku and Sango stare critically at the woman while she speaks, speechless.

She stands up and bids them to come with her, and Inuyasha asks where to cluelessly. She answers that they're going to Oni's Head Castle, naturally, citing that they allegedly called themselves traveling exterminators somewhere off-panel. Kagome turns to Inuyasha, asking his opinion on what they should do, and he asserts that they don't have time for this. I'm sorry, were all of you BUSY with something, what with Naraku being MIA for the moment? Inuyasha says just searching for Naraku is the priority, and Miroku begins to argue a different perspective after hearing this story. The old woman drops the off-hand comment that there's apparently a hefty reward for slaying this thing and Miroku is right behind her without another look back at his indignant friends. Never mind that he already seemed to be leaning on going over there to begin with. The old lady offers to split their reward 50-50, and that's enough to put him squarely in her court. 

Generally, if you want to convince people you haven't seen anything, you don't INSIST on it desperately. Just a tip. Though I doubt it's of much use now. 

Narrow sky transition panel! An old man sits on a porch while the Inuyasha group sits in the dirt facing him, and he tells them that Tono has been secluding himself in his bedroom and won't come out. His endless demand for tissues and lotion are no doubt the worst part of all this. Kagome leans to whisper a question at Inuyasha; if he gets a bad feeling from this place. Miroku is thinking it's the aura of the oni, and Sango thinks it's floating over the whole castle. The old woman, on the other hand, twists to ask them what is up with their uneasy expressions, if they're afraid. Her face blissfully unbothered, she declares these youngsters rather pathetic. Miroku asks if this exorcist really can't feel ANYTHING in the atmosphere of the castle, and she responds with a classic "feel what?" 

Did this woman only start working today? Only I'm amazed she's managed to stay alive as long as she has without ANY instinct for this. Inuyasha wonders if this old lady is a fraud or something, and Shippou claims even HE can feel the evil aura. Forget you, kiddo, even SANGO can feel it, and she's the only member of the team without a supernatural bent. 

Kagome catches sight of a couple of men carrying a covered stretcher from the castle. 

Ominous. The word you're looking for is ominous. When you're interviewing for a monster-slaying job and there are bodies being carried from the site, that's ominous. 

The dude on the porch actually admits it's the 10th one! As if that isn't the red flag to end all red flags! He says Tono kills every maid or retainer that goes near the bedroom, over a panel of the guy sitting with his hanging head shadowed and gripping a sword by its BLADE, breathing strained. Hopefully he's just possessed and not literally psychotic or our heroes might be a bit out of their league. Miroku asks if this madness is due to Tono's madness, and the man on the porch says that's probably it. PROBABLY isn't very reassuring, but okay.

The porch-goblin says the oni appears when the sun goes down, and instructs the gang to wait there in the dirt until then. Not even going to invite them in for like... a drink? Or... 

Nope, they hang out there in the courtyard, mostly sitting around, except for the old woman, who is performing stretches and telling them to be on their guards. A reclining Inuyasha observes mildly that she's rather energetic, as Shippou explores up the stairs onto the porch and Kagome marvels at this aforementioned energy in the oppressive evil aura. I feel the same about anyone still bopping around under the weight of surefire climate collapse on the horizon, so samesies! 

Miroku complains that even with a trained body, the evil in the castle is uncomfortable, suggesting to Sango beside him that they should exterminate this thing quickly and get out of there, to which Sango agrees. They both look up when a voice asking if they're here to exorcise the oni descends on them from the porch. 

She says many Buddhist priests and Shinto priestesses have tried and failed to exorcise this thing, losing their lives in the process. I'll give you the ONE guess you could ever need as to what Miroku's response to this is. 

That's right, he climbs to stairs to kneel in front of her and tells her not to worry, promising to personally stay as many days as it takes to complete the purification. An annoyed Sango asks if he didn't JUST say that he wanted to get this extermination over with quickly. 

They all turn to the sounds of panicked shouts and alerts that the oni has come.

Lucky for this awkward dipshit that it can fly, because otherwise I don't know HOW anyone could take it seriously. Hell, I STILL can't take it seriously.

Sango jumps onto Kirara and flies off, though Kagome calls to her in alarm. She promises to finish the thing in one shot, throwing Hiraikotsu directly in its giant face, but it goes right through it and comes back around without so much as scratching the creature. Inuyasha, Kagome and Sango (while catching Hiraikotsu again) are all alarmed that it's a bit less solid than it looks. The former, drawing his sword, curses and tells Sango to move out of the way before slinging a Kaze no Kizu into the oni's head to follow up. 

Its effect is about what you might expect.

... Probably an illusion and not really there? Maybe?

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? The incompetent/clueless old lady is a trip, and not half-bad as comic relief. One of the things I appreciate about RT's old woman characters is that they're not only visible, but also just as distinct in personality as any other character, which can't be said for many other writers. If old women even exist in most stories, they're reduced to archetypes; broad strokes of a shadow instead of someone you could actually see as a human in another universe. The old woman here has a very specific mindset: ambitious, confident, driven, and gives the impression of someone who absolutely did NOT earn her high regard for her abilities. She strikes as one of the last in a family of iffy religious/spiritual leaders, which has been slow on the uptake that either they lost the spark at some point, or never had it to begin with. It does beg the question how in the WORLD this lady has been so lucky to have survived as long as she has with such a reckless lack of self-awareness, but it also inspires the reader to come up with their own plausible backstory for the seeming walking contradiction. It's a treat.

The flying ogre head is fun too, but I do genuinely feel like I might be missing some context. Not only does the concept of burying a monster head in my future garden not seem particularly lucky to me, but this head flying around without a body is something of a head-scratcher to me. Everyone seems more concerned about this hologram of a creature that can't be touched by weapons than the flesh-and-blood serial killer who's holed himself up in the castle, killing several people? And the guy who explained this to our heroes didn't even seem all that SURE the two things are related? Or perhaps he was, but the major issue of Tono hanging out in his room and killing the help didn't occur to him as an important enough piece of the puzzle to mention it BEFORE the latest victim was carried out on a stretcher? 

It seems to me that this castle has 99 problems, but a bitch oni head might be a more minor one, if anything.

Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 286 Diabound vs. Galestgoras

A new acquaintance on the way, I see. I'm already overloaded with all the human players in the throne room; I have to keep looking up everyone's names every time I cover a chapter here, and not mix them up with the future counterparts they so resemble. Putting them in a new costume and environment doesn't seem to distinguish them enough in my mind, which is a pretty big issue in real life too, unfortunately. Without a huge degree of genetic variation in the species like in some others, we're pretty uniform in general. 

With the monster types, there's not much danger in mixing them up with anyone else with their unique and varied designs. Maybe if KT put some monster heads on these people, I wouldn't keep forgetting their names every five seconds...

I could snark here, but I honestly don't blame him for questioning where they ended up. It's kinda hard to believe the inside of Yuugi's soul looks like THIS:

Yuugi says this is his other self's "maze of the soul", and Jonouchi expresses the understandable disbelief just mentioned that all this is his soul. Well, at least Yami's part, anyway. Honda is still rubbing his eyes and yawning in the background, as though he's just woken from a nap. Since I'm pretty sure they can't physically be in Yuugi/Yami's soul and are passed out on the floor of the museum exhibit (awkward), I'm wondering how bad Honda's sleeping habits have to be if he's tired in a dream-state. No one else is questioning this, though, so I guess I'll just back up off that nonsensical visual. 

Bobasa says Yuugi and Jonouchi are correct, and that they have entered the room of the pharaoh's soul, by the power of the Millennium Key. A perfectly succinct summary of where they are and how they got there, but Honda remains befuddled, looking every which way and asking the questions Bobasa just answered. I assume he's just several steps behind everyone else due to being inexplicably groggy in here. Yuugi acknowledges Bobasa, and Jonouchi asks if that means the door is somewhere in here. Bobasa confirms that it is, and they must find the true door, as it's the only way out of this dimension - no going back the way they came. Jonouchi reacts with shocked disbelief, he, Yuugi and Anzu staring around at the endless staircases and doorways.  

Because they're optimistic kiddos, and we can't break the pacing for natural doubt now and have to push that plot forward, Jonouchi declares they have to find it, Anzu echoes the sentiment, and Honda (having at last caught up to everyone else) says it's on. Yuugi silently asks Yami to wait for them, promising to find the door and follow him into the world of memories. 

There doesn't appear to be TIME to wait around for Yami, though. Those memories he's hanging out in keep marching on, with this guy at the pacing reins. 

Yami sits in speechless horror, Siamun expressing his utter disbelief that a lowly thief could have a "good" holy type of ka that's so strong to boot. I know challenges to one's worldview were rather scarce before the anonymity of the internet, especially for a sheltered higher class, but how has this dinosaur NOT encountered any reason to question this shaky-ass bullshit yet? Yami himself is belatedly putting all the pieces of the puzzle together (heh): a thief after the Millennium Items named Bakura? He thinks there's no mistake, it's definitely him. Welcome to the obvious, Yami. I hope you enjoy your visit. 

Priest Seto is beside himself, asking how this heretical imbecile dared to enter the palace. I mean, besides just walking in the front door and tossing around your shitty guards? He promises to show thief!Bakura the true power of the priests and their Millennium Items, and thief!Bakura says that sounds like a fine time, urging ALL of them to fight him like a drunkard in a bar. 

Akhenaden tries to advise Piest Seto that the enemy is strong, and they should join forces, but that dramatic kook throws out his hand and yells at Akhenaden to stay back, insisting he's MORE than enough for the likes of thief!Bakura. He holds up a couple of fingers and mutters a chant, summoning a new stone tablet to stand up from the floor behind him. Siamun explains to a shocked Yami that Priest Seto's servant monster will counter the thief's ka; a demon to fight a spirit, which Siamun praises as a very wise decision. Yami considers with curiosity the concept of Priest Seto's servant monster. 

Siamun exposits the location of the "Shrine of Wedju", west of the palace at the end of the ceremonial boulevard, where the stone tablets of the gods and the monsters extracted from the sinners are sealed. Why he would be doing so to someone he has no reason to believe needs this information is beyond me, of course. The image of it that he's speaking over is a pyramidal structure surrounded by obelisk-spires and a stocky pillar replacing the point of the pyramid covered in hieroglyphs. Inside, it looks as though every single wall is COVERED in tablets, including the surfaces of another smaller pyramid in the center, with a staircase leading up like a narrow channel to a torch-lit altar at the flattened top. Back at the palace, Siamun says that every holder of a Millennium Item can command three monsters from the many thousands in the shrine. Yami passes him a shell-shocked look.

This is a STRANGE spectator sport. 

From the top of the Shrine of Wedju, a ball of light shoots in an arc over to the palace, alarming the many men walking in between. One of them exclaims that a ka has been transferred from the shrine to the palace, and something important must be going on. The ball of light slams into the tablet standing behind Priest Seto, and thief!Bakura sarcastically heralds the arrival of the great big priest ka at last. Priest Seto ignores the sarcasm and summons, loudly and emphatically, Galestgoras.

It looks like Kaiba's Duel Disk enhanced version of Duel Monsters, anyway. 

The two beasts face off with a cry of "diaha" which is apparently "duel start" in Egyptian. Gratuitous use of foreign language isn't just for fanfiction writers, folks! Thief!Bakura guesses that Priest Seto got his Galestgoras out of a sinner, but asserts none of the monsters they drew from the standard criminal can stand up to his spirit beast. He declares himself the King of Thieves again, and much more than any other "sinner" or anything the priests can imagine. Priest Seto just smirks and says he doesn't need to summon his personal guardian spirit to defeat the likes of him. Thief!Bakura interprets this as Priest Seto's fear that his life would be in danger if his own spirit were injured in the fight.

It's a good thing they're about to shut it and fight, or I might start to think that they're BOTH just full of hot air. 

Go figure, without all these boisterous commands and explanations of attacks, this is actually pretty intense!

For a moment, it looks like Diabound manages to wrench its arm from Galestgoras's jaws and strike it in the back with its tail, but after a couple of panels showing thief!Bakura looking shocked and taken aback, and Priest Seto chuckling smugly, Galestgoras is shown pinning down the snake end of Diabound. Thief!Bakura bemoans the fact that his monster has been successfully grappled into submission, Priest Seto announcing that it will end on this one move. Galestgoras yanks Diabound into a prone position and leaps into the air, preparing to, as Priest Seto screams on the ground, stomp Diabound flat. As Galestgoras rockets to the floor on top of Diabound, thief!Bakura scoffs, suddenly smug himself.

Did he reveal a trap card tablet? Close - thief!Bakura says he activated Diabound's special ability. Of course he did. This phrase is questioned by Priest Seto, and this prompts thief!Bakura to launch into a long-winded explanation; when a person has a ka in their soul, it develops the powers that person wishes they had, reflecting their most secret desires. Sounds like there is LITERALLY no downside to this soul monster, where the hell do I sign up? Thief!Bakura uses himself as an example, and the fact that he's a thief gives him a desire for a power that helps him steal treasure. He playfully asks what it could be like the host of a Blue's Clue before he announces it's the power to move through solid stone. 

Someone repeats this claim that his monster can move through walls with disbelief, but thief!Bakura isn't done yet. He asks sardonically for confirmation that a monster summoned from a stone slab will vanish when that slab is destroyed. One of the priests, though I'm not quite sure which because their speech bubble is obscuring them, picks up what thief!Bakura is putting down and warns Priest Seto to protect the slab. Thief!Bakura sneers that it's too late, though, as Priest Seto turns around to find that the spirit beast Diabound's image is starting to appear on the stone. Priest Seto is floored by the fact that this monster can hide in the ground and other monsters' slabs. Once the stone is filled with Diabound's picture, it begins to crack.

Would I be a complete shitbird if I were to admit that I totally agree with thief!Bakura and want to see him go head-to-head with Yami over proto-Kaiba?

Yeah. Probably.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I'm glad KT kept the lead with Yuugi and friends in Yami's soul room a bit shorter than the last couple. As much as I appreciate his move to keep them working toward supporting Yami to keep the tension high, there's not much he can do to make the details of a scavenger hunt among the kiddos comparatively interesting to literal actual monster fights on the other side of this. Attempts were made to insert some humor into the situation, with Honda lagging a bit behind everyone else in terms of understanding and immersion in it, but it kind of fell a little flat in how it made me scratch my head. Seemed like more a device to fill space than anything else. At least KT didn't make Jonouchi the punching bag this time. 

The fight in this chapter between the ka monsters was really engaging, and I genuinely think it's because all the card game structure was pulled out of it and it was just pure fight, so KT didn't have an excuse to insert more than its fair share of narration by bystanders. It was mostly just clean art depicting the moves of the monsters, aided by minimal description when needed. It's strange, because immediately preceding this fight, there is an example of the exact OPPOSITE of this: Siamun giving a long-winded expository speech about where the tablets are and how they're accessed, down to literal DIRECTIONS between the buildings. This could have been just as minimal in description, and it would have been better, especially considering it wouldn't have given the audience the uncomfortable story-breaking impression that Siamun was talking directly to THEM.

Sometimes, I think KT is getting better at letting his art speak for itself, and then at other times, I think he's supplementing it too much with redundant narration and speech bubbles. It's weird when both of these thoughts could occur to me in the SAME CHAPTER. But I'll tell you what not weird: the villain brushing past proto-Kaiba on their mad dash to face Yami, thoroughly leaving him in a cloud of loser dust. THAT part is entirely expected. 😂

Inuyasha Manga: 227 Vanished Presence

That's where I'm headed too, though less "into thin air" than Naraku, admittedly. We started packing yet again today, hauling in the plastic totes from the closet on our balcony so we can start dumping our belongings in them for a team of movers, and we're not exactly quiet about it. I've alerted my job that I'm going to start working from home again starting mid-August. My husband is on his computer setting up a pass for the toll he's soon going to have to drive through for his own job. I'm gearing up to let our apartment know that we'll be moving out soon.

Because closing for our new house is on August 13th! 😀😀😀😀

I don't know about THAT guy, but I know my personal escape is going to be on a little over an acre covered in trees a few miles out of town. Reminds me of my childhood in the middle of nowhere, and I'm LIVING FOR IT.

The hairball monster admits with more gurgles that it doesn't know any more than I do, which elicits an incredulous outburst from Kouga. The creature explains that it was separated from Naraku partway, so it doesn't know what Naraku was thinking afterwards. Considering Naraku didn't seem to run back into the castle to PACK before he left, where the creature gained consciousness, I'm just a tad puzzled by this statement. However, the local smart guy Miroku says that this thing doesn't seem to be lying, so I guess we're taking it at its word. 

Its extremely inconsistent with the depiction of previous events word. 

Inuyasha curses this useless information, and the creature just kind of gurgle-laughs at him for his lack of satisfaction in the matter. Cracking his knuckles, Kouga scoffs and says it can't be helped that this thing doesn't know anything. Reading the somewhat disdainful look on Kouga's face as potentially a sign of violence to come, Kagome calls to him questioningly. 

Gee dude, wanna turn down the frightening overreactions a little? Just a little?

Inuyasha and Miroku just stare at the rain of flesh falling from the massacre of the monster, speechless, but not looking disturbed like the women and child. Kouga himself hoists a lump of flesh up by the few hairs still attached to it, just as Mohawk and Two-Tone jog out of the surrounding trees shouting for him. He flatly notes how they finally caught up, tossing the lump of flesh at them, which Two-Tone catches with an alarmed squeak. Mohawk recoils from the flying flesh. Kouga tells them to memorize this scent, and get the wolves to remember it too, which begs the question: they didn't know that scent BEFORE???

Miroku supposes aloud to Kouga that he intends to use the wolves for a blanket search, something that he probably should have been doing to begin with? Maybe? And Inuyasha asks what the point of this could be, considering the wolves would have sniffed Naraku out long ago if they had the ability. This excellent point is completely ignored, for Inuyasha finds that when he was offering it with his eyes closed and nose stuck in the air, Kouga had stood himself in front of Kagome to grasp her hands and tell her he had to go now. Inuyasha demands to know if Kouga is even listening, while Kagome just kind of endures Kouga's totally unromantic talk of giving her Naraku's head as a present the next time they meet. She forces a smile, but inside it's a HARD no on her part.

Bye, you worryingly unstable weirdo.

Miroku approaches Inuyasha as he's picking himself up off the ground, saying it may actually be a good strategy to rely on Kouga's numbers. Inuyasha snaps at him that this is naive, asking why Naraku would throw away this monster with his scent all over it if his scent could possibly be a clue to his whereabouts, concluding this would be FAR too careless of the originator of the scent. Wide-eyed and shocked, Miroku makes a noise of astonishment, Sango looking on in surprise from the background. Come on, guys, I know you like to play like Inuyasha is a moron, but really...

Inuyasha reiterates that Naraku is confident he'll never be found, which Miroku acknowledges as a point, before asking him to go one. Inuyasha makes his own balking noise, and Miroku refuses to let him get away with it, asking him where he thinks Naraku has gone. Do you have COTTON in your ears, buddy? If Naraku is so sure no one is going to find him, why do you think Inuyasha can just GUESS at where the dude is? Miroku says he's asking for Inuyasha's thoughts, Inuyasha glares and tells HIM to think about the rest of it, and Sango whispers to Kagome that Inuyasha didn't think about the rest of it himself. 

Okay, fine. If RT wants to pretend that Inuyasha not having any idea where Naraku might have gotten to is in his conclusions about Naraku's confidence at not being found, she's allowed to frame it that way. It's HER story. Even if it makes zero sense. 

Kagome thinks that Inuyasha WAS correct in what he was saying, though, contemplating the place Naraku ran to as the place nobody can reach. Meanwhile...

Someone's been busy, I see. 

Kikyou's visits to places she's noticed give off an evil aura have turned up squat; Naraku's presence isn't here either, nor has it been anywhere else. She's walking along the edge of a sheer rocky bank of a raging river when she hears a feeble voice referring to her. She looks over and sees an old man reclining against the exposed roots of a tree. 

"And you look like shit, what of it?"

Kikyou peers at him a moment, determining that he's human, and he's at death's door. Profound observation, to be sure. As old men are wont to do, he starts telling Kikyou about his past - namely, that he did a lot of evil and wicked things in it. He lists murder, theft and arson, just to name a few, and says that his philosophy was just to live doing whatever he damn well pleased. But since he's gotten old and ill, he admits that he also got scared about falling into Hell. Kikyou kneels down next to him, asking if he wishes to be saved. I doubt he would be wasting his breath if he wasn't coming to that point, Kikyou.

Old Dude over here says he's heard of a place where even old sinners like himself can get some salvation. As Kikyou looks critically down at him, he states that he was traveling just to that particular place, but he's pretty sure he can't go any farther. Somehow, Kikyou needs this shit spelled out for her, because she asks if he has a request for her. No, he's just weaving this whole sob-story for no good reason at all. Carry on, lady, no quests to be found here!

This guy takes his whole-ass katana and shears off the ponytail he's cultivated on the back of his bald old head, holding it out to her. He says that he wants at least THIS part of him to get to that place he mentioned. 

A couple of sky transition panels later, night has fallen.

Kagome says that they'll surely find Naraku if everyone is searching. Inuyasha shoots into a sitting position to glare at Kagome and ask her what she means by that, and if she's relying on Kouga after all. At least HIS insecurity isn't manifesting in bursts of violence. Just bursts of pathetic paranoia. Kagome responds with a suggestion that he's jealous, and his hackles are fully raised; he hunches next to her looking like a defensive hound, and denies being jealous at all. Kagome seems... Unconvinced. 

They stare at one another in silence, Inuyasha sweatdropping and looking expectant in his anger, and Kagome just blankly blinks at him. With a slight flush, Inuyasha suggests they drop the conversation, and Kagome adopts an annoyed visage while she reminds him that he brought up the subject in the first place. Seems to me that they already dropped it when they stopped talking entirely, but maybe I just don't comprehend awkward quiet in a conversation anymore. Am I supposed to continue a thread that has culminated in a few seconds of uncomfortable silence? I don't know, I've always been a social idiot and Covid has just made that condition worse.

To top off this sundae of awkwardness, the next frame is wider to show that Sango, Miroku, and Shippou snoozing in his lap, are sat farther up the hill, and their stares are being added to the veritable convention of stares. In spite of how obviously unwelcome Miroku's encouragement is, he urges them not to worry about them and keep talking. Inuyasha tensely says that's enough already, and Kagome thinks she's had quite enough herself. 

In the morning, we get a great view of another set of generic forested mountains. A couple of old men marvel at the fact that Kikyou has brought the hair of the dead this far, and she explains that it was the last wish of a dying man. One of the men she's talking to says that he's heard a rumor of an area of purification on Mt. Hakurei, where a great Buddhist priest opened up a temple there, in which all sins can be purified...

Yeah, the strange feeling that I'm going to be sick of looking at this mountain long before it's done being a setting. 

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? For the second time, Kouga has been cast in a slightly sinister light, flying into a fit of disproportionate violence at the weak hairball creature. The ladies and child react with unease at this behavior, and there's a part of me that would like to label this as a juxtaposition between him and Inuyasha - a commentary on how Inuyasha's more "human" side to him makes him a far less frightening figure to their common love interest, and Kouga's "demonic" behavior here is part of the reason Kagome feels she cannot reject him outright even though she has no real interest in him. But there are no other moments building on this worrying behavior later in the series, nor is there an ultimate discussion between Kagome and Kouga regarding how he's more threatening than anything. Which is something of a shame, because it could have been an interesting element to add to the series as a teachable moment to any young men reading that beating up on weaker individuals is a HUGE red flag and they probz shouldn't do it. More's the pity.

What has been and is a repeated habit of framing RT continues in this chapter is portraying Inuyasha as this dunderhead incapable of real strategy or extrapolating the deeper meanings of events. There is no reason why Inuyasha's fair conclusions that Naraku must have hidden himself REALLY well in order to not worry about leaving behind obvious traces of his scent should be used to put down his intelligence, but somehow it's turned out that way? It really makes no discernible sense as it's laid out, unless RT is trying to imply that the only reason Inuyasha came to his conclusion is because he doesn't want to give Kouga's strategy any credit out of jealousy, which might have been a good punchline if the conclusion wasn't actually a perfectly reasonable one with perfectly reasonable logic. If his jealousy were meant to be joked about as his primary motivation, Miroku might have made a clever mention of that instead of some weird request that Inuyasha DIVINE Naraku's location despite the clear implications of the conclusion that Naraku had hunkered down somewhere no one knew about.

All in all, it's very clunky and unintelligible.

But, I will say I'm intrigued by how much HAIR and its personal identification qualities has factored in during the last few chapters, culminating in an old man's request to have his hair get to a place where it can be purified. His intent to erase all his ill deeds by putting a piece of himself in a special place is a rather SLY nod to Naraku's plan here, a natural mirror to Naraku leaving HIS hair behind as an indicator that he's still lurking just beyond the reaches of his enemies. As one regular man asks Kikyou to complete his pilgrimage to wash his slate clean, Naraku is leaving his refuse around with no care to its connection to him and his villainous history with the promise that he will not answer for his crimes. 

I'm kind of impressed given all the sloppiness in the rest of the chapter. One outta three ain't bad, I guess.

Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 285 Bakura, King of Thieves

I've seen quite a few men in my day claim to be kings. Guys from middle school shop classes declaring their regency over power tools to incoherent old farts who drape everything they own in gold and direct their followers like a deranged army. I have seen would-be emperors strut and preen like self-important peacocks, with just as little understanding that they are just as fragile and vulnerable, and that their thrones are completely imaginary. I could fill many volumes with details of the dominions built entirely on delusion and their eventual crumbling when their builders realize none of it is real. In fact, most of these volumes already exist, and are called HISTORY BOOKS.

But if I've seen anyone who might actually deserve the title of king, if for nothing else than the sheer irony of it all, thief!Bakura could be the dude.

"Faith willing" isn't a phrase that inspires a lot of confidence, if I'm honest, Bobasa. That's not even evoking some personified deity, it's just telling me to BELIEVE really hard that this door will be found.

And I'm not very good at just BELIEVING things, so I feel like this is asking a lot. :(

As usual, Yuugi and company hung up on the last thing Bobasa references, in this case "the true door". Bobasa affirms their interest in this topic and talks seriously about the world of the pharaoh's memories beyond that, but he's really going to have to slow down here. Jonouchi and Honda are blown away by the claim that Bobasa can take them into Yuugi's soul, of all places, while asshole!Bakura pays close attention behind a practically drooling regular Bakura. Yuugi himself remembers the one time he visited Yami's "room" in his head, the endless maze with thousands of doors, unable to tell the floor from the ceiling, like the soul in there had lost its memories and didn't know where to go. Weird that this statement is set up as a simile, despite the fact that this is the ACTUAL situation here, no simile required.

Poop face activated, Yuugi thinks about there being ONE door in there that leads to Yami's memories. And just like that, everyone (or at leas the overzealous CONSCIOUS ones in the group) starts shouting that they're going for it and cheering. No further questions about the logistics, no more explanations. Just needed a little more superficial resistance to the idea to pad out the chapter a tad and then off we go! Bobasa's whole body shakes with a hearty chuckle, but snaps back to seriousness when he demands they wait as he reaches beneath his vest - before they begin, HE'S the one who who will determine who will enter Yuugi's soul. 

Dude's a little desperate to be important, isn't he?

Honda, Bobasa said EVIL and DECEPTION would tilt the scale, not a mind permanently entrenched in the gutter. 

Bobasa says it's not a matter of whether he trusts them, and rather the concern that anyone with evil in their hearts could be trapped in Yuugi's soul accidentally, and is really for their own good that he's testing them like this. He proceeds with Anzu, who stands straight and tense as Bobasa declares her okay to go, to her relief. Bobasa moves to hold the scales in front of Jonouchi and Honda, saying they're both okay too, the two of them rather pleased with themselves over it. No surprise about either of these outcomes, of course.

... And no surprise there either! Yu-Gi-Oh not taking any risks today.

Bakura rubs the back of his head, complaining that he wants to find Yami too, and Jonouchi barks that Bakura is their friend. But Bobasa is having none of it; he tells Bakura that he must leave here immediately. He thinks on how the scales sensed a shadow in young Bakura's soul, and wonders if THIS is the kid who holds the Millennium Ring. No points for guessing that one, Bobasa, Bakura totes that damn thing around with him without shame and wouldn't hesitate to whip it out when mentioned. 

Sighing that he'll just go home then, Bakura heads for the door, waving goodbye on his way. He does firmly state that they HAVE to bring Yami back, though, which might be the most assertive we've seen him in a while. It's not a lot, but it's something. Jonouchi calls out to him, but he whirls around and runs the rest of the way out the door, claiming that he'll see them later. There's a bubble connected to his parting wishes that says "I hate him!" and I'm very confused, until in the next panel, while Yuugi is expressing pity for Bakura, Bobasa is wondering if his hatred is because Bakura is wearing the Millennium Ring. Love it for KT that he's committed to making odd dialog/thought representations this far into the comic. Speech bubble confusion forever, dammit!

While Bakura runs out of there with tears in his eyes, his asshole doppelganger smirks at him from slightly out in front, thinking this all works just fine for him. He doesn't need to go now; if you'll recall, a piece of him is already in the puzzle, hanging out. As you do. 

Back in the exhibit, Bobasa has the kids all form a circle with him, telling them to join hands and clear their minds. Jonouchi and Honda balk at the order to join hands with one another, because they're secretly three years old somehow. They smack at each others' wrists, though Honda has no problem holding Yuugi's hand in the foreground. Jonouchi's other wrist has been seized by Bobasa, Bobasa holds the Millennium Key up high with the other, and a flushed Anzu tugs at the corner of his vest in lieu of having his hand. She's got Yuugi's left hand, though. 

They all close their eyes, Yuugi promising Yami silently that he'll find him. Bobasa chants aloud for the door to open, and the way to be made clear. Anzu, Honda and Jonouchi all think of Yami simultaneously. Bobasa thrusts the key higher in the air, demanding it lead them into the soul of the one chosen by the Millennium Puzzle. 

They're on their way to a real shit-show, if the next page is anything to judge by.

I mean, at the very least, they're perfectly within their rights to side-eye you. You've been weird enough. 

Yami gives this intruder a critical look, repeating his title in disbelief mentally, while thief!Bakura chuckles darkly. Shada holds out his Millennium Key in front of him for some reason, informing thief!Bakura that bursting into throne room without an invitation is a serious crime, and that he won't be forgiven. Is it a more serious crime than dragging a corpse out of its tomb and parading around with it? Because I feel like THAT would be the thing that bothered me the most if I were present for this spectacle. 

Thief!Bakura gestures to the gold trinkets scattered on the floor, and says he took them from Akhenamkhanen's tomb, fully ignoring the threat inherent in Shada's statement. As he should. He says he wants something more than these baubles, though, and that's the collection of Millennium Items the priests before him are carrying. Thief!Bakura offers to ask nicely for them ONCE, but the question doesn't really come across as sincere, believe it or not.

Priest Seto, from whom I'm now pretty certain Kaiba inherited his dorky laugh, says that it takes courage for a miserable thief to stand before six priests. He promises to make sure the canopic jar they put thief!Bakura's guts into is a somewhat larger one. Yeah, snappy comeback from a dude who should know that the intricate mummification process with the extra step of removing organs and putting them in expensive jars was only really reserved for royalty. Are you TRYING to validate this strange thief's delusions of king-hood or what? 

Akhenaden jumps in to bid thief!Bakura to listen; the Millennium Items maintain the law and order (read: status quo upheld by a state monopoly on legitimate violence) of this world, and the only one who can hold them are priests who have trained their souls, and the divine pharaoh of the land, of course. Akhenaden states that if a person with an evil heart like thief!Bakura were to touch these objects, his very soul would burn away and he would die as punishment from the gods. I would say that's ONE way to deter someone from fondling your things, but in this case, it's not really working. Thief!Bakura says he's just excited and wants them even more now with a deranged chuckle. Are we certain this guy doesn't just WANT to die, with world-shattering bang?

As if he hasn't picked up on this romantic affair thief!Bakura is having with death right in front of them, Priest Seto tells him not to worry, as he'll be dealing out a punishment of death long before it gets to the point where thief!Bakura touches the items. Thief!Bakura spreads his arms wide in welcome of the challenge, offering to take on all the priests at once. 

Yami sits there quietly watching all this with his arms crossed, and Siamun tells him not to worry. He says the thief should be the one worrying, because no one in their right mind would stand up against the magic of the six priests. Yami asks if there's a monster in this intruder's soul as well, and Siamun answers that there may very well be, estimating that it's a very low-level weak one since they're talking about a thief. 

Well if this doesn't take me all the way back to the beginning of the manga! When we were getting these kinds of blurbs on the rules of this week's game and all that... Good times. 

Between two more guards, who apparently DIDN'T get thrown against the walls, another stone slab slides up into view, something that Yami notes with alarm. Siamun says thief!Bakura's evil ka will soon show its true form, and be sealed into the slab by the magic of the priests. That's his expectation at least, and call me crazy, I'm starting to think it may skew a bit from that expectation. Thief!Bakura is standing in a slightly defensive, wide stance, but there's a big grin on his face.

Things start going wrong right away. The guy with the Millennium Scales (whose name I don't believe has been revealed) draws everyone's attention to the fact that they're swinging quite wildly in his hand and are unable to measure his evil. Mahado's Millennium Ring is rattling around his neck as well, to his shock and dismay. Isis predicts through her necklace that the shadow in thief!Bakura will bring disaster to the world, and Akhenaden's Millennium Eye glows, apparently showing him a bottomless pit of shadow in thief!Bakura's soul hiding a powerful hatred. 

And this is with the guy just STANDING there smiling. Thief!Bakura thinks that the term "law and order" is laughable, and is certain he'll show them the true nature of the Millennium Items: a power that can destroy the world. 

You and every other anime villain. Get in line.

Akhenaden warns Shada that the shadows of this man's soul are deep, and to be careful. Shada gives a one-word affirmative, then holds out the Millennium Key again, apparently this time to use it. He calls upon the power of the key to lead him into the sinner's soul and the key glows accordingly, providing him with a hyper-zoom into the darkness of thief!Bakura's soul. A gigantic snake with it's jaws yawning wide is what greets Shada in there, which he greets with complete disbelief. 

Shada gasps and stumbles back, Akhenaden asking what's wrong with alarm. Panting and sweating, Shada has to catch his breath before he stutters that thief!Bakura's ka is too great. He even gestures to the stone tablet that rose out of the floor with the key, saying that it's WAY to small to seal this particular monster. Well, so much for Siamun's shitty predictions. Akhenaden refuses to believe this while thief!Bakura chuckles. Akhenaden is at least able to give the brief warning that thief!Bakura's ka is about to appear right before it does. 

... I gotta hand it to him. It's pretty cool.

Thief!Bakura corrects them - this isn't a demon, but a god, the great "Diabound". Though he's only been acquainted with the rules of this soul-monster concept for like five seconds, Yami seems to already be drawing conclusions about what this means. Siamun says with panicked indignation that this is impossible, since he JUST got done explaining that a god-type ka can't possibly exist in an evil heart of a thief. I feel like this is grounds for re-evaluation of how you guys think of these creatures and how they form, but at the same time, there's not a deeper definition of what makes a god-monster above than good soul=god above, so something tells me they didn't think too hard about it in the first place. 

It's time for some philosophy! Thief!Bakura chuckles some more, asking them what "evil" even IS, and if being loyal to what these simpletons think is right is all it takes to be "good". These are not bad questions, actually. Priest Seto scoffs at them though, at points the Millennium Rod at Diabound, demanding that the items not be underestimated. He commands the evil ka into the stone tablet, and it seems to be compelled inside it just like the first demonstration, directed into the rock as thief!Bakura looks furious in the background. Diabound's image is imprinted on the stone when Priest Seto asks if thief!Bakura sees now. But thief!Bakura fires back the suggestion that this isn't over. 

Sure enough, the stone begins to crack from the center, and Priest Seto looks alarmed at it.

There's nothing more quintessentially Kaiba than acting overly cocky despite how thoroughly he's been defeated, so proto-Kaiba over here is really establishing the brand nicely. 

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? A lot of the same kinds of things from my analysis on the previous chapter apply to this one too, concerning the split between following Yuugi's/Yami's individual quests and the interesting build of this version of ancient Egypt. There's not much new to say except that it was genuinely heartbreaking watching Bakura run off crying because he couldn't go to find Yami too; this kid is always the short end of the stick in this story, and I can't help but wonder if he's ever going to get a little bit of a break. Poor little bastard.

At first I was a little annoyed by the overly simplistic ideas behind Siamun's explanation of the development and levels of monsters, but since those black-and-white shallow assumptions are being CHALLENGED by our main villain, it now intrigues me. I get the impression that the Millennium Items and their use is connected somehow with the actual function of this system, whether the items somehow control or influence it in some obscure way. Thief!Bakura bringing up the unknown, suppressed history of the items in the chapter just reinforces my suspicions. I'm really looking forward to the possibility of a more complex and interesting monster origination system than the one described here. 

Also, Diabound is pretty frikkin' sick. It might give Summoned Skull a run for its money as my favorite.