Chapter
12: 十二ノ章 因縁 Juu ni no sho Innen (Journey 12 - Fate)
Yotsume flees the tremendous power of Towa and Setsuna only for him to be sucked into Riku's gourd. Captured and bound, Yotsume wonders how Riku, a piece of Kirinmaru's horn sliced off by Sesshomaru and Inuyasha's father can defy the very master he was originally a part of. Riku tells Yotsume that in order for him to become Kirinmaru's master he must ensure that the great demon lord cannot see through his eyes. To prevent this he plucks out Yotsume's eyes and stuffs them into his own eye sockets. This will temporarily free him from having Kirinmaru watching the world through Riku's gaze, though the effect is only temporary. With that Riku kills the four-eyed owl. Riku, Rion, Takechiyo and the girls all continue on their journey, traveling through the Owari domain as they comment on how quickly their wounds have healed. Towa further thanks Takechiyo and Moroha for patching up her school uniform. Soon they stumble upon the skeletonized remains of people along the road and realize that demons must be near. Suddenly from within the trees a giant octopus demon named Takonyudo leaps forth and attacks the girls. As they deal with Takonyudo, undead soldiers begin to rise behind them. Suddenly the hear Kagome's voice call out, warning them of the danger before it catches them unaware. Suddenly the giant octopus snatches up a palanquin holding a girl and using her as a hostage. Takonyudo uses his ink to blind the girls and flees with his hostage, thus ending the battle. The girls wonder about the voice they heard, believing it to have come to them through Setsuna's dream butterfly. A laughing, mustachioed man pops out and offers to help the girls on behalf of his lord, Oda Nobunaga. He introduces himself as Kinoshita Tokichiro a name that is quickly recognized by many in the traveling party, though only Towa realizes the great heights this man will eventually reach. The man explains that he was the one that was supposed to help Princess Aiya who was captured by the octopus, but he thinks to himself that he will use something he stole from the demon "Inuyasha" to aid in his ascent to fame and glory as he toys with a small sack he removes from his kimono.
Published In:
Shonen Sunday Super 2022 Vol. 10
Yashahime Vol. 4
Publication Date: August 25, 2022
Pages: 32 (black and white)
Anime Adaptation: None
Notes:
This month's issue of Shonen Sunday S had an advertisement for volume 3 of the the Yashahime manga coming out October 12th.
Riku reveals how Zero gave him life and named him. His name is written with the kanji for "logic" (理) and "beautiful black jewel" (玖).
The narration bubble lists Owari (尾張) as modern day Aichi (愛知) prefecture.
Towa comments that Takechiyo's hat is like a "four dimensional pocket" (四次元ポケット/yojigen poketto). This is a reference to the pocket on the stomach of Doraemon, the robot cat, from the legendary manga Doraemon by Fujio F. Fujiko.
As they find the skeletons on the road a comment is made about how they have passed into Oda (織田) territory. The girls mention a quote that is attributed to Oda Nobunaga, the famous warlord. The quote states that "if even a single yen is stolen it means the death penalty" (一銭盗んでも死罪). The quote is often attributed to either Oda Nobunaga or Toyotomi Hideyoshi and was thought to have been a strict punishment in order to maintain military discipline within their domains.
Takonyudo (蛸入道)'s name means "a man with a shaved head who resembles an octopus." Takonyudo is an actual historical yokai that was said to inhabit the waters around Shimane and resembled an octopus with a beard and wearing monk's garb. This demon appeared under different circumstances in the Yashahimeepisode 30.
The girl in the palanquin is Princess Aiya who appeared in a number of episodes from the Yashahime anime series. Aiya (愛矢) is written with kanji meaning "love arrow". Additonally, Aiya is referred to as "princess" (姫/hime), however this should not be thought of in the same sense as the term is used in the West. In Japan, "princess" can be used to refer to any lady of high birth, not exclusively the daughter of an emperor or shogun. Those individuals would typically be referred to as "ojo" (王女), which is typically translated as "princess" as well leading to some confusion.
Kinoshita Tokichiro (木下藤吉郎) is one of the aliases used by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (豊臣秀吉). He would become the ruler of Japan after the death of his master Oda Nobunaga. He rose from the peasant class to become one of the unifiers of Japan and one of the most celebrated men in Japanese history.
Riku asks Kinoshita Tokichiro about Sunomata Castle (墨俣城/Sunomata jo) and a promotion he received there. This is a reference to Kinoshita Tokichiro (Toyotomi Hideyoshi) building the castle at a rapid pace from prefabricated section, making it seem to the nearby enemy that the fortress spurng up overnight. This impressed Oda Nobunaga who promoted Kinoshita and began his rise.
Kinoshita Tokichiro laughts with "kukuku" (くくく). This is considered a "wicked" or "evil" laugh.
In his blog Takashi Shiina says that going forward his chapters will be shorter due to his physical condition and schedule but feels that 32 pages is sufficent for a monthly series and jokingly says he would like to be praised for the large page counts up to this point.
He asks if the audience liked Yotsume's death, explaining again as he mentioned in his blog for chapter 11 that he had been planning this scene for a long time. He goes on to say that scenes like that cannot be shown in an anime marketed towards children and shown in the evening, but he wanted to have something more in keeping with some of the violent scenes from Rumiko Takahashi's original manga. He says Takahashi liked that he had Riku use "ore" (俺) (a more course, masculine way of saying "I") when he ripped out the eyes.
He says Riku likely kept Yotsume's extra eyes pickled in salt as spares and explains that he took his time in depicting Riku's nudity which also could not have been easily depicted in the anime version (though he points out his two anime, Ghost Sweeper Mikami and Zettai Karen Children were both Sunday morning anime and not late night programs).
He explains that the next chapter will deal with some of the anime characters such as Princess Aiya, but that the plot has deviated a great deal from the anime. He felt that because they were geographically not in the domain of Aiya's father as they were in the anime he should introduce some real historical figures such as Kinoshita Tokichiro.
Shiina explains that historically this story would be set in 1567-1568 given Kinoshita's status as not being too high nor too low and Oda Nobunaga preparing for his invasion of Kyoto. He says this also makes clear that Oda Nobunaga is not Amari Nobunaga from Inuyasha. He goes on to say that Kinoshita would have been a vassal in Suruga province around the time the girls were born 15 years earlier and would have been moving to Owari around this time which was too perfect not to incorporate.
He adds that Kappei Yamaguchi, the voice of Inuyasha, is a Sengoku era fantatic and has played Kinoshita/Hideyoshi, so he hopes you will read the character with his voice in mind.
Table of Contents
A: It's the first anniversary of the start of serialization! So fast! It takes a long time to make progress.
Chapter
13: 十三ノ章 囮 Jyuu san no sho Otori (Journey Thirteen: Decoy)
The story opens fifteen years in the past in the valleys of Suruga. Miroku and Inuyasha are following rumors of the Shikon Jewel having somehow reappeared in the area, though both seem skeptical of the possibility. Inuyasha impatiently calls to a young boy who is guiding them, calling him "Sarukichi". The boy corrects him, telling Inuyasha and Miroku his name is "Tokichiro" and that the jewel the demon in the area posses is the "Shigon Jewel", not the "Shikon Jewel" which irritates Inuyasha even further. Inuyasha groans that they should get this over with, buy some gifts for their wives and go home. Miroku mentions that Kagome is at a delicate stage of her pregnancy and Kaede is watching over her. As they talk, Tokichiro is morose about how he is given jobs no one else wants and how the Oda family in Owari is weak and on the verge of defeat ensuring that he has little hope for the future. Inuyasha notices the boy is depressed and assumes he is fearful about the nearby demons. Inuyasha tells Tokichiro that he has nothing to worry about as long as he and Miroku are around. Inuyasha tells the boy he was often treated badly when he was a child and that things will get better. Tokichiro is encouraged by Inuyasha's kind words and thanks him, calling him "Inuyota" which enrages Inuyasha who tells him to make sure he gets people's names correct (before calling the boy "Etekichi"). They all arrive in a valley scattered with stones which Inuyasha kicks causing them to come to life. Tokichiro calls the rock demons "Ganma" and tells Inuyasha and Miroku that swords and arrows cannot pierce their stoney bodies. Inuyasha says he has a sword that can handle them and pulls out Tessaiga. The memory fades and Tokichiro, now an adult thinks about how easily military conquest would be with ten such swords like the one he saw fifteen years ago. Inside the palanquin a female voice calls out and Tokichiro answers "Princess Setsuna". Inside Setsuna is in a lovely outfit and heavily made-up, a disguise used to lure out Takonyudo. Aiding Tokichiro is Hanbei, a famous historical samurai. Towa, Moroha and Riku are all outside the palanquin disguised as guards and Towa can not help but snap a photo on her smartphone of Setsuna while she's dressed up. Hanbei threatens them that if they will not quiet down they will all have to take turns dressing up as the princess to lure out Takonyudo. Finally Takonyudo appears and attacks, leaving the girls to play along waiting for the ocotpus demon to grab the palanguin and tunnel under the ground so they can follow him back to his hideout. As Tokichiro watches he thinks back to his time with Inuyasha and Miroku again as they battled the stone demons. Inuyasha tries to make short work of the demons, remembering that Kagome is close to giving birth and he promised to be with her when she goes into labor. He recalls Kagome joking that perhaps she should go wait with Sesshomaru and Rin in case of an emergency he could use Tenseiga to ensure nothing tragic happened during the birth. No longer willing to battle the stone creatures patiently Inuyasha uses the Meido Zangetsuha and sucks all of the creatures into the portal. Suddenly the giant stone leader of the small creatures appears and as Inuyasha uses the Meido Zangetsuha again the massive giant is able to deflect one of the slashes, sending it towards Miroku and Tokichiro. Inuyasha dashes to try to save them but they are all pulled into the portal to the underworld. Tokichiro is shocked that such power exists in the world and is stunned by the emptiness of the boundary between the world of the living and the dead. Inuyasha explains he can use Tessaiga to find a path back to the living world when suddenly the giant starts to tear open the portal in front of them, shocking Miroku and Tokichiro.
Published In:
Shonen Sunday Super 2022 Vol. 11
Yashahime Vol. 4
Publication Date: September 25, 2022
Pages: 32 (black and white)
Anime Adaptation: None
Notes:
Suruga province is the historical region where the real life Tokichiro Kinoshita's lived before traveling to Owari.
Inuyasha calls the boy "Sarukichi" (猿吉) rather than his actual name "Tokichiro" (藤吉ろ). The "saru" in "Sarukichi" is "monkey" which would be a rather mean-spirited name. His actual name, Tokichiro is written with the kanji for "wisteria" and "good luck".
The two mix up one another's names again later. Tokichiro calls Inuyasha "Inyota" (犬与太/dog rubbish). Inuyasha calls him "Etekichi" (エテ吉). "Etekou" (猿公) means "monkey" or "ape".
The stone demons are called "Ganma" (岩魔). This means "rock demons".
There is a marginalia note explaining the term "Kairikiranshin" (怪力乱神), a term used by Tokichiro. It means mysterious phenomnena that disrupts order.
Takonyudo (蛸入道)'s name means "a man with a shaved head who resembles an octopus." Takonyudo is an actual historical yokai that was said to inhabit the waters around Shimane and resembled an octopus with a beard and wearing monk's garb. This demon appeared under different circumstances in the Yashahimeepisode 30.
Hanbei (半兵衛) is better known as Takenaka Shigeharu (竹中重治). He was the chief strategist of Toyotomi Hideyoshi (aka Tokichiro).
There is another bit of marginalia explaining the term "onnanorimono" (女乗物), a palanquin for high-ranking women.
This is the first chapter that Takashi Shiina did not write any comments in his blog for.
Table of Contents
A:Zettai Karen Children won the Nebula Award! Thank you!
Chapter
14: 十四ノ章 急所 Juuyon no sho Kyuusho (Journey 14 - Vital Points)
In the deep underground caverns where Princess Aiya was taken after having been kidnapped, a wasp speaks to her before reavealing itself to be Zero. She tells Aiya that the plans to use the girl as her puppet to infiltrate the Oda clan and bring down the human world. Suddenly Takonyudo breaks through the wall as Moroha, Setsuna and Towa battle against the massive octopus as Riku kills the bug that Zero was speaking through. Takonyudo continues to battle against the girls as Setsuna rescues Princess Aiya. Tokichiro steps us, pulling something from his robe he says will help the girls in their battle. He flashes back to when he, Miroku and Inuyasha were lost within the void caused by Inuyasha's Meido Zangetsuha. Tokichiro recalls how Inuyasha could understand the odd sounds the stone demon was making and he asks Miroku and Tokichiro if they stole something from the demon. Both say "no" but Tokichiro realizes he has a small pebble in his sandle. When he plucks it out he realizes it is a baby stone demon that is crying for its giant parent who tore its way through the Meido portal to get the tiny demon back. Returning the baby the giant rock demon leaves peacefully. In the present Tokichiro pulls out a baby octopus and threatens to eat it if Takonyudo does not retreat. Much to the shock of the girls the octopus demon agrees, takes the baby and departs. Having escaped from the underworld Miroku secures the "Shigon Jewel" that they were tasked with collecting and reports that the stone demons say they will go and live deep in the mountains away from humans. Inuyasha discusses his worries about what it will be to soon become a father, wondering if he will have the skill for it. He soon remembers though that all his own father did was leave Tessaiga for him, and vows that he has very little to do to be a better father to his unborn daughter than that. As Tokichiro's thoughts of the past fade, he drops the black pearl he found from those days and Moroha immediately notices it, seemingly able to sense Inuyasha from within the jewel. Tokichiro nervously says he got the stone through honorable means which makes all three girls look at him skeptically. Soon Princess Aiya awakens and glimpses Setsuna and Towa ane excitedly thinks they might be handsome samurai who have come to save her. When she Tokichiro tries to talk himself up to her, wanting her to think he was the key figure that lead her rescue, but it soon becomes clear that the Princess as a very different idea about what the hopes her rescurers will look like. As the girls leave ethereal images of Kagome, Rin and Inuyasha watch the girls, realizing that Moroha could hear their voices somehow. Even Rion is able to briefly see the trio at a distance for a split second. Kagome hopes she will be able reunite with the girls soon and Rin thinks about Sesshomaru's progress. Elsewhere he flies over Kyoto in search of Zero who realizes her four underlings have no longer sent her any reports. She realizes that means they must have been killed by Towa, Setsuna and Moroha. Enraged she says she will start taking things into her own hands.
Published In:
Shonen Sunday Super 2022 Vol. 12
Yashahime Vol. 4
Publication Date: October 25, 2022
Pages: 1 (full color) 32 (black and white)
Anime Adaptation: None
Notes:
This month's Shonen Sunday Superfeatures an ad for Yashahime volume 3, MAO volume 14 and the first boxset of Urusei Yatsura manga re-releases to celebrate the new anime.
Takonyudo (蛸入道)'s name means "a man with a shaved head who resembles an octopus." Takonyudo is an actual historical yokai that was said to inhabit the waters around Shimane and resembled an octopus with a beard and wearing monk's garb. This demon appeared under different circumstances in the Yashahimeepisode 30.
Tokichiro threatens to eat the baby octopus with a side of wakame (わかめ). This is a type of brown seaweed.
The group of samurai that Princess Aiya imagines is based on Rumiko Takahashi's drawing of V6 that appeared on the cover of their Inuyasha theme song "Change the World".
In his latest blog post Takashi Shiina promotes the tankobon for volume 3 which has just come out, recapping the events that took place in that particular volume. He also mentions the new 2022 anime adaptation of Urusei Yatsura.
He continues saying he wanted Princess Aiya to be more nuanced than her depiction in the anime. "Princess Aiya in the anime is a character who has a connection with Hisui, but it is unclear at the moment whether he will meet her later in the manga space and time. I interpreted her as a "tomboy," as a child who feels suffocated by samurai society, taking a step beyond her characterization as "too energetic" or "selfish". She said something along those lines in the anime, and I thought that if I focused on that, it would overlap with Toiwa's search for her own place in the world. I wanted to make her say, "I want to cheer up all the girls in the world," and to make it a gag so that the story would not become too heavy, but at the same time, I wanted to give her some relief, or perhaps I wanted her to be able to save herself."
He references making mention of the lyrics of "Change the World" in the drawing he did of V6 mentioned above.
Shiina described why he depicted Zero as a wasp. "Lady Zero is a character who wears butterfly designs and her weapon has a spider motif, but I think that symbolizes her dual nature. So I assumed that she is not a specific creature but an incarnation of "the mystical life force of insects" and added the setting that she uses wasps for her alter ego. The interpretation is that at the root of the various contradictory elements - ferocity and gentleness, beauty and ugliness - teasing, fragility, strength, and the intensity of a small life that wants to be happy.... For this project, I bought a Kaiyodo "Revogeo Wasp," a movable figure, and I was very grateful for its excellent craftsmanship, and it was also wonderful as a drawing reference tool."
Shiina explains Riku's brief appearance in this chapter. "I had expected Rion-chan to have no part in this story, it was unexpected even by me that she was the only one to notice the presence of the girls' and those watching over them. This is a story that builds from the anime that "Inuyasha/Kagome are watching over Moroha from inside the Black Pearl."
He also speaks about the scenes in the past with Inuyasha worrying about becoming a father and how that will tie into Moroha's name. "The scene in the past where Inuyasha talks about his feelings regarding his family, that is actually connected to the origin of the name "Moroha". I hope he will be able to tell share that soon."
From there Shiina said he had planned to show Rin and Sesshomaru as newlyweds but felt the transition from showing similar scenes with Inuyasha did not work well and that he'll focus on that later. "In the end, the newlywed episode of Mr. and Mrs. Sesshomaru had to be carried over. The plan was for Inuyasha to say, "I wonder if this is how Mr. and Mrs. Sesshomaru are feeling right now," but I felt it would be unbalanced and just an afterthought to the story, so I decided to separate the two episodes. I think I will be able to take my time next time, so please look forward to it... Well, it is only a "fragment of a love story between a demon and a human, conceived by me, another writer, not Rumiko Takahashi," so I don't want you to have excessive expectations (which one is it?)."
Table of Contents
A: Volume 3 is on sale now! Buy it!
Chapter
15: 十二ノ章 契り Juugo no sho Chigiri (Journey 15 - Promise)
Tokichiro arranges for a ship to take everyone across the lake on onward in their journey. The girls bid their farewells to the little man, thanking him for his wife's cooking and for cleaning their clothes. Suddenly they sense an immense power from Tokichiro and think he may be a demon, but Towa explains he is a man who has the power to change history, as he will be the one to unite Japan (under the name Toyotomi Hideyoshi) after the death of his seemingly more powerful master, Nobunaga. Towa then wonders if her father is a similar sort of person, as she knows he is called a "great demon". Elsewhere Sesshomaru stares at Rin suspended inside the Tree of Ages, recalling how they met. Rin told him he was like a god he was so beautiful, though Sesshomaru recalls he was badly wounded after his battle with Inuyasha. Rin dumped water on his head, saying that she was imitating what she saw the villagers do to statues of Jizo. Rin tells Sesshomaru that she wishes she could be a demon so she could go on living with him and Jaken. Sesshomaru thinks to himself how fleeting human life's are, but that they have children as a way to continue their legacy long after their death. Sesshomaru silently thinks how important Rin had become to him, just as she confesses he is still a god to her. Sesshomaru continues to stare at the slumbering Rin, glancing at Inuyasha and Kagome who are also sleeping inside a tree next to her. Leaving the forest he exits into his mother's castle where the forest and Tree of Ages are like small models kept on a table in her home. Jaken is overwhelmed to see Sesshomaru and Shippo sits near Sesshomaru's mother as he silently stares at her before departing. Sesshomaru's mother is surprised, commenting that he gave her a nod of thanks, though Shippo says he did not notice anything. Meanwhile the girls continue their own travels, saying they are nearing Kyoto when a heavy fog overwhelms them. From out of the fog wanders a white haired woman walking with a cane who welcomes them into her home. She tells them her name is Toyo and that she is a minor noble. As the woman named Toyo leaves to get some tea for the travels the girls all talk about how suspicious this all seems. Down the hall Toyo tells her elderly servant to make sure she mixes a strong poison for the girls given how powerful they are as bees start to flutter out of her hair.
Published In:
Shonen Sunday Super 2023 Vol. 1
Yashahime Vol. 4
Publication Date: November 25, 2022
Pages: 32 (black and white)
Anime Adaptation: None
Notes:
As mentioned previously, Kinoshita Tokichiro (木下藤吉郎) is one of the aliases used by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (豊臣秀吉). He would become the ruler of Japan after the death of his master Oda Nobunaga. He rose from the peasant class to become one of the unifiers of Japan and one of the most celebrated men in Japanese history.
Rin says that she dumped water on Sesshomaru's head because she viewed him as a god. Her only understanding of gods were the roadside statues of Jizo, the protector of travelers and children, that are often ritually cleaned by passersby. This is why she thought she should pour water on the wounded Sesshomaru's head when they first met.
When they are lost in the fog Riku comments that they are "literally lost in a sea of fog". A more literal translation of the Japanese idiom he uses is that they are "in a five ri fog" (五里霧中/gorimuchuu) with "ri"(里) being an old unit of measure equivalent to 3.927 kilometers or 2.44 miles. In his blog Shiina states, "by the way, 'in a five ri fog' is based on a legend from the later Han Dynasty in China, and this "mist covering five ri in all directions" was created by a hermetic technique to make people go astray. This word came out naturally in Riku's line, and later I looked it up in the dictionary and said, "Hee! That's exactly what I should say in this situation! The character improvised based on knowledge I didn't have."
"Toyo" (登代) is written with the kanji meaning "ascend" and "replace". She is obviously a reference to the Mermaid Forest character Towa upon who's appearance she is clearly based on. The old woman she tells to make a strong poison is clearly meant to be Towa's sister Sawa. Shiina comments on including Towa from Mermaid Forest. He states that he had imagined Zero would have laid a trap for the girls and he imagined the fog and the only character design that fit no matter how much he tried to come up with something else was Towa's. He decided to tweak her name to avoid confusion and when he showed it to Takahashi he asked if it was too much. He states that she said "I laughed, so I forgive you for it this one time." He then recommends the Mermaid Saga to anyone that hasn't read it yet stating it is a true masterpiece.
In his November blog post Takashi Shiina discussed the layers of this month's chapter and his approach to them. Firstly he talked about showing the potential power held by Tokichiro, who will become Toyotomi Hideyoshi eventually. He wanted to show this so that the girls might begin to wonder if Sesshomaru is a powerful/dangerous figure like him, unlikely the kindly father figures such as Kohaku and Sota that they grew up with.
Their thoughts on Sesshomaru allowed the scene to then segue to expanding upon the relationship between Rin and Sesshomaru. Shiina states that obviously there would need to be some development of the events that occured between Inuyasha and Yashahime he explains how he approached Takahashi... "For a long time, I asked Rumiko Takahashi if I could create a 'conceptual love scene' with a different take from the depiction of human love, but with a fantastical performance. I picked up the backstory from a Q&A article in which Takahashi-sensei answered, "The reason Rin threw water on him when they first met him was because she thought he was a god." So that part is not my creation, but historical fact. However, in the anime version of Inuyasha, the scene where Rin-chan splashes water on him was actually cut, which means that it is against regulations for the anime time-space to leave that part out. However, readers of the original story will have a strong impression of that encounter, and adding the image that was in the author's mind at the time of writing, an "untold episode," so to speak, and using that as a foundation, the entire scene will be more convincing. Therefore, there was no choice but to use this story. The resulting super fluffy scene between Sesshomaru and Rin-chan was a hit with Rumiko Takahashi, who said, "It's great. I think the fans will be happy with it." I hope it will make everyone's hearts fluffier."
Table of Contents
A: It's fun to visit museums for research. It feels like the Yashahime and the other characters are there with me.
Chapter
16: 十六ノ章 暗殺者 Jyuu roku no sho Ansatsusha (Journey Sixteen: Assassin)
As the group enjoys a rest during their journey, Moroha shows Towa a game of "slug, snake and frog" which Towa immediately realizes is a precursor to "paper, rock, scissors". Setsuna tries some of the tea the old woman offers and can immediately tell that it is poisoned. The woman transforms into a giant demonic bug but when Setsuna attacks her blasts pierce the wall and travel through the opposite wall, nearly injuring her and her friends. Riku realizes that in this palace space-time has been wrapped around itself and so they must be careful how they attack. When Moroha shoots an arrow at the bug on the ceiling it passes through and nearly pierces her as it comes out of the ground behside her. Towa realizes they are trapped in a mobius loop with no way to escape except to cut the loop. Uncertain of how to do this Setsuna powers up and can suddenly see dozens of threads filling the room and begins to look for a place where they converge. As she does, Riku notices the energy of the mark on her arm, her blood blade. Slicing the spot where the threads come together allows Setsuna to kill the demonic insect that was hidden there and breaks the illusion of the mobius strip. With the illusion fading, everyone is suddenly overcome with by the effects of the poison and Zero reveals herself. She laughs as she explains that the poison was actually in the fog and she needed to waste enough time for it to take effect on the girls. As Zero prepares to kill the girls after they have been weakened by the poison she is suddenly struck down by Rion who leaps into battle. Rion explains that her poison cannot work on someone who is already dead like her and she kills her aunt, only to watch as her body crumbles into a swarm of bees, revealing that she was only a decoy as well.
Published In:
Shonen Sunday Super 2023 Vol. 2
Yashahime Vol. 4
Publication Date: December 23, 2022
Pages: 32 (black and white)
Anime Adaptation: None
Notes:
This issue of Shonen Sunday Shas posters of various Rumiko Takahashi and Takashi Shiina illustrations as potential prizes for their Christmas holiday contests.
In his blog Takashi Shiina discusses why he did the map illustration as the title page illustration for this chapter.
I realized after my editor pointed it out that I had gone to the trouble of introducing the setting, the purpose of the adventure and the destination of the journey, but I had never mapped it out. Although I thought that people would understand it because I had described and mentioned it in the story to a certain extent, I wanted to make it obvious even to those who are not familiar with the geography of the region. So, I hastily replaced the title page illustration with a road map.
I guessed that Kaede's village, the village of the demon exterminators, and the corpse house are located in Nerima, Chofu, and Shinagawa, respectively, but in the map, they are in Nerima, Hachioji, and Odawara. This is due to the scale of the map and the fact that I prioritized the image of the progress of the trip over the accuracy of the map locations. I don't think anyone, including the original author, knows the exact location (laugh), so you can think of it as a "historical mystery that has not been solved academically, and this manga is a creative way to fill in the blanks". The tentative goal for now is Sakai as Riku suggested, but the final destination that Riku ordered them to go to, "the end of the west, the end of the land of Hinomoto," is currently Kyushu and the Goto Islands. It is the setting of Shusaku Endo's "Silence".
Moroha gives a factual history lesson on the origin of "paper, rock, scissors" (or "じゃんけん/janken" as it is known in Japan). The earliest references to it call it "mushi-ken" (虫拳) where the frog beats the slug, the slug beats the snake and the snake beats the frog. Shiina discusses this more in his blog entry.
Takashi Shiina discusses the identity of the creature impersonating Zero, explaining it is the "Eternity Bug" (常世の虫) that lived in the fragrant tree of Nanahoshi in episode 35. He states that he had Setsuna learn the Yukari no Tachikiri and had to cut out the weapon enhancement "for the sake of progress" and that the weapon will automatically upgrade as the story progresses. As a result he says that Totosai will not appear in his manga adaptation. Furthermore Shiina says he does plan to show the negative sides of Zero and Kirinmaru just like in the anime.
In his blog this month Shiina concludes that in upcoming chapters he will show Zero's history, the origin of the rainbow pearls and the disappearance of Inuyasha.
Takashi Shiina pointed out a typographical error after the chapter was published in Shonen Sunday S. Rion says "養蜂" (yoho/developing bees) rather than "妖蜂" (yobachi/demonic bees).
Table of Contents
A: I think the Exterminator's Village and the corpse house are close to Kaede's village, but had to alter it due to the scale (of the map).
Chapter
17: 十七ノ章 過去 Juunana no sho Kako (Journey 17 - The Past)
The girls are shocked to see Rion's sudden attack against the false Zero. As her sword turns back into a flute she reintroduces herself as Rion, the daughter of Kirinmaru. The girls are shocked that she could be the daughter of their enemy when suddenly Moroha doubles over and coughs up blood. Setsuna immediately realizes that because she is only a quarter-demon she can not withstand the poison in the same way that they could. Suddenly Myoga appears and suckles her tainted blood, saving Moroha's life. While he sees to them Rion picks up Riku's dismembered arm and uses her magic to help mend him. Meanwhile in Kyoto, Zero wrestles with the memory of Sesshomaru and Inuyasha's father. Zero steps outside and finds Nanahoshi weeping as he becomes overwhelmed with emotions, he explains that he suddenly feels saddness and loss and no longer needs the fragrant wood that often stirred such deep emotions within him. Zero tells Nanahoshi to go and find the half-demon princesses, that she believes they are nearby. Indeed they are, as they have arrived in Kyoto and are speaking with a man who looks exactly like Jyubei the Corpse Dealer, though his name is Kyubei. He's agreed to allow them to all rest as they recover from the poisoning, when Riku has suffered particuarly severely after his injury. Myoga explains that Riku needs special treatment given his status as a demon. He also tells them that he knows Rion is a corpse brought back to life. Towa says that seems impossible while Myoga thinks back to Kikyo who was revived from the dead. Myoga explains that Rion was brought back through the power of her father, Kirinmaru. He recounts how Kirinmaru and the half-demon princesses' grandfather were rivals but also had a strange respect for one another as well. Myoga recalls Kirinmaru and the grandfather speaking on the edge of a cliff when Sesshomaru arrived and Myoga tried to sneak a drink of his blood. Sesshomaru violently crushed Myoga and his father warned him that even little demons like Myoga were worth having as friends and protecting. Sesshomaru said he does not make friends with his enemies and eyed Kirinmaru who pushed Sesshomaru back with his aura. As they sized one another up a huge eye opens int the sky and Sesshomaru's father explains that this is the Grim Comet, an omen that comes every 500 years as battles are waged between the demons of the sky and the demons of the earth.
Published In:
Shonen Sunday Super 2023 Vol. 3
Yashahime Vol. 4
Publication Date: January 25, 2023
Pages: 32 (black and white)
Anime Adaptation: None
Notes:
This month's Shonen Sunday S featured an advertisement for Yashahime volume 3.
In his blog this month Takahashi Shiina discusses the changes he implemented for Nanahoshi. "In the manga version, if I had made him a "sadistic pervert," he would have been the same as Yotsume, so I decided to make him a "masochistic and narcissistic pervert," which is a slightly different direction from Yotsume (laughs)."
Shiina explains that he thought having a chain of demon corpse shops all operated by nearly identical looking Jyubei-esque characters would make it like an old RPG game. He also says he thought it would not effect much to omit Jyubei and Takechiyo in terms of the story, but it would rob the story of what makes it Yashahime and so he wants to do something with them both in the future.
The eye he gave to the Grim Comet was to make it a celestial demon, however he states that after he submitted the pages he realized it made the comet look like Backbeard from Gegege no Kitaro.
Shiina states that he conceived of Sesshomaru and his father's interactions with the third Inuyasha film in mind, though set earlier than when that film took place. He states that he accidentally put a pattern on young Sesshomaru's obi which should have been plain and that he hoped to show Sesshomaru as being more bloodthirsty at that age than he is now, though he was careful not to make him lose his mystique. Shiina stated he wonders about the great dog demon's feelings for Sesshomaru's mother since his feelings for Izayoi were known.
Lastely, Shiina explains that fans are likely not less interested in Jyubei, Myoga, Nanahoshi and the Grim Comet but he was pleased he got to have Myoga repeat the poison removal that he did in the original Inuyasha manga.
Nanahoshi is written "七星" meaning "seven stars".
Nanahoshi has a number of interesting characteristics. The marks on his forehead are "hikimayu" (引眉) which means "pulled eyebrows". Aristocratic women would pluck their eyebrows and then paint new, stylized ones on with an ink called "haizumi" which was made with soot and rapeseed oil. Additionally Nanahoshi has black teeth, a practice known as "ohaguro" (お歯黒). A drink is made with iron-filings and vinegar that stains the teeth black. The process has to be repeated everyday to maintain the black-teeth appearance. Though primarily associated with women, both hikimayu and ohaguro were practiced by men at times. In 1870 as Japan began to adopt Western customs both hikimayu and ohaguro were banned.
There is a bit of marginalia that explains what "fragrant wood" (香木/koboku) is. It is wood that releases a pleasant odor when burned.
Kyubei spells his name "灸兵衛". It means "moxibustion middle palace guard".
As Myoga recounts Kikyo's return from the grave there is a girl next to her. This is is Natsume from Takahashi's Mermaid Saga series of stories. She was brought back from the dead though through very different means that Kikyo or Rion.
The Grim Comet is written as "妖霊星" (Yoreisei). Literally it can be translated as "demonic soul star".
Table of Contents
A: I was finally able to draw Lord Kirinmaru who has some dialog as well. Just like in the anime he's good friends with Inuyasha and Sesshomaru's father.
