**SPOILERS** Latest Manga (on-topic, please..)
 

You can currently see chapters 355-362 at http://www.ear-tweak.com, and all the chapters translated at http://www.wot-club.org.uk/Inuyasha/. Discuss past chapters here too, if you want.


Chapter 362 - "Escapee"
Shonen Sunday Vol 22 - May 26, 2004

Hakudoushi himself tempts Kagura into releasing Goryoumaru against Naraku's orders, pointing out that obeying Naraku at this point won't get her anywhere. Also mentioning that she's protecting Goryoumaru, rather than just holding him captive. She destroys the Rakanzou statues Naraku made that create the barrier holding him.

Meanwhile, Inuyasha and co. come across a village plundered by bandits, but these bandits have somehow gotten their hands on the Gyouja jars that emit powerful youkai blasts. Unfortunately, the night of the new moon is approaching, which will leave Inuyasha weakened in a human form. As Miroku, Sango and Kirara battle the bandits that night, Goryoumaru approaches the shack that Kagome, Shippou and human Inuyasha are hiding. A sinister smirk on his face...


It's about time Miss Takahashi remembered there are new moons now and then. Almost seems like Inuyasha himself forgot for a bit there, too. First the return to Inutaishou's grave, then we find our long-lost Kouga, now the new moon that hasn't been seen for the past three years. I'm half expecting her to bring back Houjou, who's been completely missing from the manga since Kouga was introduced... :P It really does seem like she's wrapping up things bit by bit.

Anyway, if Goryoumaru was really someone Naraku wanted to protect, I doubt he would've left him in Kagura's care. Why would Hakudoushi encourage Kagura to go against orders unless this is part of Naraku's plan? Finally, the only reason I can think of for Gory to come after them in the shack with that look is if he's after Kagome's jewel shard. And I'm glad we found out that Naraku was the one that made those funky statues. That was bugging me something fierce...

Let's see, what else is there... :P

Well, I did put a huge spoiler warning in the title... :P You should probably start at Chris' site. His translations go back much farther. Kuro only keeps the last eight or so chapters around to save bandwidth.

Let's not forget that it seems to have ended with Goryoumaru outside of Inuyasha's dwelling, I think some fights are coming up.

Well, now that I look at it, the last new moon was way back in the 21st tankouban. (After all, his transformation at Hakureizan was due to Hakushin's barrier.) Of course, the Shichinin-tai Arc took up a big chunk of the story there and it probably didn't last much longer than a week. It really stretches the imagination to think the events of 158 chapters only took approximately 28 days... I suppose they could've skipped a new moon, but she usually works those into the story. Who knows? She's not that obsessive about time anyway...

I imagine Kouga will be showing up again soon. His return during the haku incident a short ways back was surprisingly short, especially since we hadn't seen him since Hakureizan. His presence is critical for the final battle, so I imagine his return will be a harbinger of the end.

Houjou? I imagine he's suffered the same fate as Toufuu-sensei. He's gone and he probably won't be seen again. Then again, you never know. If I'm not mistaken, the appearance of Kagome's third friend in 34.4 is the first since 3.5 (even though the anime always keeps her with the other two).

I get the feeling that when Hakudoushi killed Goryoumaru, he became a haku puppet like Mouryoumaru. (Those two look freakishly similar. I doubt it's any coincidence.) I imagine that either Hakudoushi or Naraku himself is speaking through his body. (His new ability to absorb bits of youkai is causing some alarms to go off in my head.) Then again, Goryoumaru might still possess his soul and Naraku figures that Kagura will lead him right to the Inuyasha Ikkou. Isseki Nichou, as they say...

I didn't figure the rakanzou were Goryoumaru's handiwork. Of course, what better place to hide something masking its youki than somewhere that's overflowing with the stuff? (Especially since the pursuers are all looking for blind spots for their quarry...)

Raise your hand if you think Inuyasha is going to get hurt something awful in the coming fight. *raises paw* He always manages to get torn up when he's in his human form. It's like he says, "I'm really weak and vulnerable right now. That means I need to push the envelope." <_< Of course, he usually gets rather thoroughly torn up anyway... -_-;

*raises hand* Of course he's gonna get torn up. He always does when he's human.
Okay, I don't want to sound stupid, but the bandits are just normal humans aside from having the gyouja jar right?

That's how it looks to me. I wonder if Naraku simply swiped the goryou tsubo from the temple or if Goryoumaru made new ones for them...

The former would imply that Naraku intended for Goryoumaru to be released though, correct?

Yes, but that seems to be a given anyway... After all, Naraku and Hakudoushi are basically the same person. The connection between them is much stronger than what Naraku shares with his other bunshin like Kagura and Kanna. The whole prison thing is undoubtably a ruse to screw with Kagura's head. After all, it's not Naraku's style to just kill someone in a direct manner. He has to given them the most miserable death his sadistic little mind can think up. Being born from him, I imagine Kagura is going to suffer more than any of his usual victims. Kawaisou ni...

Yeah. It's kind of sad that Naraku plots his schemes around Kagura's betrayals and uses them to his advantage. Like leading Inuyasha-tachi to the ogre's stomach. You'd think she would've learned her lesson back then. But she's just the weak-hearted, easily-manipulated type that he likes toying with best. About the best way she can undermine him now would be to follow orders and not betray him at all.

I'd love to see Naraku get all fidgety with Kagura refusing to let Goryoumaru go. Unfortunately, Goryoumaru's words went right to the quick. (If I'm right about him being Naraku's puppet, it makes it all the more wrong...)

One thing about Naraku... You can't say he doesn't know what he's doing. You may surprise him once, but don't ever expect the same trick to work twice and don't dare to put your cards on the table first. Kikyou learned that the hard way...

And most of all, DON'T HAND HIM MOST OF THE SHIKON FRAGMENTS!! Okay, I know what she was thinking, it just wasn't her brightest moment. :doh:

Edit: Okay, now I'm getting off-topic... -_-;

No, you're not. Kikyou's faulty plan is largely responsible for us getting to this point. It was less about her lacking intellect than caution and having far too much confidence in her abilities. She thought she could easily take down Naraku with the completed jewel, but she gravely underestimated how resourceful he'd be in finding a way to beat her. Now she can't even stand toe-to-toe with him anymore and she's the one most responsible for it.

I guess, at the time, she was still thinking of him as Onigumo, the common bandit, in a youkai body. She hadn't really seen the depths of his scheming abilities and foresight at that point. Still, I wouldn't give the jewel to even the stupidest bandit. -_-; That's kind of a no-brainer.

She really should've just destroyed him when she had the chance back in chapter 174, when she was all but impervious to him. But that wouldn't have given her the closure she needed. She herself had become a lot like Naraku in the desire to make him suffer first. Letting him nearly reach his goal before tearing it out from under him. Putting the world at risk seemed worth it to her at the time. Like you said, that changed after the Mt. Hakurei incident.

In addition to giving herself the greatest sense of vengeance, she also wanted to kill two birds with one stone. I imagine her goal was to blast Naraku once he had incorproated the jewel into his body, thus destroying both in a single fell swoop. She should've killed him when she had the chance, but she thought she was invincible. Then she was proven wrong and now she has to sneak around to avoid getting taken out for good the first chance Naraku gets.

Well, I imagine that someone like Onigumo would probably overcome by the will of the jewel and be reduced to a berserker at best. Naraku, on the other hand, possesses a keenly focused will that can easily subdue the jewel and wield its powers for his ends. Kikyou definitely misjudged him...

Can't disagree with anything there. ^_^

So what chances do you think Sango and Miroku have against these bandits? The power in those jars might give them serious trouble.

Do you think Naraku knows about Inuyasha's human night after all and timed Goryoumaru's escape to coincide?

And was that Shippou's word balloon that bapped Inuyasha over the head on page 11?? lol

Ah, I think those two can handle it. It's not the weapon, but the wielder that's the real threat. I doubt a bunch of two-bit bandits can use the goryou tsubo any better than those kids. Given that there are no signs of the Saimyoushou (yet) and that the light of the goryou tsubo are really youkai, Miroku could always resort to the Kazaana to eliminate the threat. If the goryou youkai force Sango to keep her distance, she could always resort to attacking with her poison powder if the wind's favorable. I'm sure it'd kill their will to keep on fighting.

I don't think Naraku knows Inuyasha time of the month. However, Miroku confronting him about being a hanyou during the Musou incident may have been enough for him to guess that Inuyasha had transformed that night, too. Unless he can read Kagura's mind...

Yes, it does look like the word bubble hit Inuyasha's head. I always say Shippou tells him the cold, hard truth, but still...

It seems that the word bubble thing is a new addition to Takahashi's comedic arsenal. I don't remember encountering it in Ranma and I doubt I'll find it in any of her earlier works. To my knowledge, it's first appearance is in 35.5, when Shima talks about how much she's been waiting for the day Miroku would come back to her.

http://img34.photobucket.com/albums/...sha/shima1.jpg

Speaking of which, Miroku managed to snag Koharu three years ago, Shima two years ago and Sango this year. Who wants to bet there's someone from one year ago? (Well, it doesn't seem like Miroku got a "yes" out of the previous two at the time, but the fact that they were still interested counts for something. Miroku's batting average isn't all that great if all he can get is one girl a year, at least one that isn't possessed or a youkai in disguise... -_-; )

Makes me wonder just how they plan to animate that effect, if at all. ;) I'm surprised I hadn't noticed the same thing back then.

I'm guessing Shima and Koharu are just the only girls he's run into lately. Sango knows there are likely others.

Oh, Miroku gets rejected fairly often. I like to think his success ratio is only one a year. ^_^ (I imagine three years ago was around the time he first began his travels. He would only have been fifteen at the time, after all.)

As for the effect, I don't imagine it'll find its way into the anime. All the more reason to have the manga handy. ^_^

Could it be possible that Hakudoshi has decided it's time for him to rule the roost, actually? Everyone's talking about how this might be part of Naraku's master plan, but hasn't everyone here been repulsed by the deceitful, cruel nature Hakudoshi possesses? Remember, the heart is what keeps Naraku together, but he's removed that from his body, and in order to kill Naraku, you'd have to off Hakudoshi and the baby as well. Could it be that as the integral parts of Naraku, Hakudoshi could possibly exist as a solitary entity without him? It would be an interesting twist, to say the least.

Wai! Chao-chan ga kaete kita! :cheers: Hisashiburi! Yay! Chao-chan's back! Long time no see.

On to the topic, though you bring up an interesting possibility, I really doubt Hakudoushi is acting on his own. He and Naraku seem like they're on the same wavelength too much for me to believe he'd try to take over. He strikes me as more of an extension of Naraku rather than a separate entity. Yeah, we've seen that he's an individual to a degree, but he simply doesn't seem distant enough to make betrayal a viable option. It'd be more like stabbing yourself in my opinion.

Also, Naraku is nigh-unvulnerable these days. He might have been killed by Kikyou's arrow at the border if he hadn't been drawn back into this world as it struck, but we don't know that. (Even he doesn't know for sure.) Hakudoushi isn't the type to take stupid risks. He knows there's no way to destroy Naraku without putting his own existence on the line.

New chapter's scanlated over at Ear-Tweak. ^_^

Chapter 363 - "Goryoumaru's True Nature"


Just as we thought. Kagura's "betrayal" is going exactly the way Naraku wants.

Naturally... Maybe Kuro-dono will have everything up by the time I get back from school... Otanoshimi... ^_^

Looks like it will turn out as you thought Bake.

Pretty much. But I don't get the bit at the end. Why did it seem that Goryoumaru was transforming into a lotus or something? What did I miss?

He was transforming into the guy I can't remember his name, Myroumaru or something like that.

Oh. okay. Thanks^_^

I had thought something was a little weird before, but the moment I had the 35th tankouban in my hot little hand with Mouryoumaru on the front and Goryoumaru on the back, I was 99% sure there was a connection. BAM! There it is!

Well, we're in a bit of a pickle now. We've seen Kikyou's hama no ya fail to destroy Mouryoumaru before, so I doubt Kagome can do any better. We get the impression that the Kongousouha can do the trick since Hakudoushi took the hit in Mouryoumaru's place back in 34.4. Too bad Inuyasha's still human...

Here's the question. What'll Kagura do right now? Help Goryoumaru/Mouryoumaru, help the Ikkou, or simply stand on the sidelines? I imagine she'd rather choose "C," but I think she's going ot have to make a choice. "Saigo no shigoto" indeed...

But like always, Inuyasha will no doubt proceed to get himself thoroughly bloodied up and then the sun will rise in just the nick of time and he'll be hanyou once more.

Well, that's beside the point... The real kicker is what's going to happen between Point A and Point B with the rest of the characters.

Obviously.

Well... It seems that the theory of Goryomaru being a puppet was correct... At least according to the latest manga. As well as to how beaten up Inuyasha is going to be, I believe that the wound he sustained in 363 are far worse then the ones he had gotten so far... The question that is bugging me though, is what is Kagura going to do? Because this seems like the perfect point for her to make her stand rather then stand on the sidelines and be bullied or mind gamed around with.

Personally for a long while I was rather sure that Goryomaru was some how connected to Onigumo because of the odd scaring, because just like the bandit who was burnt this guy also has burn marks, something to do with Naraku and that arm.... ::shudders::

Anyway in case anyone wanted to know what the heck I'm rambling about...




SPOILER FOR 363!!
http://www.furinkan.com/iycompanion/new/index.html

Chapter 363: Goryomaru no shoutai

The bandits attack using the Gyoja's spirit jars, but Miroku simply absorbs the attack into his wind tunnel. Safe inside their hut, Inuyasha and Kagome listen as the noisy battle outside ends, suddenly large tentacles crash through the wall, grabbing Kagome. Inuyasha recognizes the figure outside as Goryomaru, right before a blast from his arm sends the entire structure crumbling down on top of him and Shippo. The bandits prove no match for Miroku's wind tunnel, and a quick interrogation reveals that the men got the spirit jars from a woman, who told them to use them in an attack on the village. At the same time, Goryomaru confesses to Kagome that he knew she and the others would come to the village if they heard about the attacks, when out of the shadows steps Kagura. Shippo watches from the wreckage as Inuyasha lies unconscious. Goryomaru tells Kagome that he survived his decapitation because he is no longer Goryomaru. Goryomaru once fought a demon, and sacrificed his own arm so that the demon would be sealed away inside it, causing his arm to be that of a demon, but for Goryomaru to retain the soul of a human. As he tells his story to Kagome, Inuyasha and Shippo emerge from the rubble to confront Goryomaru. Without wasting any time, Goryomaru tosses Kagome at Inuyasha, and then attacks with one of his tentacles, slicing Inuyasha's back wide open. As Kagome calls out to Inuyasha, Goryomaru seems intrigued, as he learns that this human is actually the half-demon he met previously. As he asks Kagura about this, Miroku and Sango arrive to protect their friends. Shocked by the reappearance of Goryomaru, Miroku asks who he is, as Goryomaru simply laughs and shows them the Shikon shard he has taken from Kagome, his true reason for coming. As everyone looks on, Goryomaru says that he's met all of them even before their encounter at the temple.

Hisashiburi, Cajun! ^_^

So far, Inuyasha has suffered more severe injuies against Tokajin, Kaijinbou and Renkotsu and Jakotsu in his human form, but the battle's just started. He might one-up those previous scrapes before it's all said and done.

As for Kagura, she'll take a stand only if she's sure she can survive it. If the Saimyoushou are keeping an eye out or if she doubts Goryumaru/Mouryoumaru can be defeated, she'll opt to bide her time. Remember that her hopes are riding more on Sesshoumaru than the Ikkou. She wants to live no matter the cost. If it means screwing over our heroes to buy herself some time, she'll do it. However, it seems pretty obvious that Naraku is wise to her schemes and is likely to make his move to finish her off. (One likely scenario is that she'll be coerced into fighting alongshide Goryoumaru/Mouryoumaru and Inuyasha will take them both out with a Kongousouha once his powers return. I don't want to see it end for her that way, but I doubt Naraku's talk about her "saigo no shigoto" was for nothing...)

I'm starting to think the baby, Mouryoumaru and Goryoumaru are now all one in the same. Perhaps Kanna put the soul of the baby into Mouryoumaru. Goryoumaru was a real man who tried to exterminate Baby/Moury, but sucked him up as a replacement arm. But with Goryoumaru's death, Baby/Moury's consciousness took over as he was brought back to life. Kanna and the baby are now decoys, since everyone still believes Naraku's heart is within it.

Or something like that... If you look at page 13, the youkai Gory is sucking up kinda does look like something Naraku would come up with, if not Moury himself.

If Naraku's heart was in Goryoumaru/Mouryoumaru, then I doubt Naraku would risk putting him on the front lines like that. Then again, there had to be a reason Hakudoushi used his own body to protect Mouryoumaru in 34.4... You might be on to something, Honeybee...

I didn't doubt that Goryoumaru was once a normal human and I imagine that Hakudoushi decapitating him stripped out his soul to allow the haku-driven Mouryoumaru to become dominant.

As for the absorbing bits of other youkai, remember that Mouryoumaru was made from a collection of other youkai, so it stands to reason that he'd have that ability. (However, since it happened while he was still in the guise of Goryoumaru, the event strongly backed the suspicion of a connection to Naraku.)

Since Kikyou has already encoutered Kanna and the baby, I suppose it's reasonable to assume Naraku wouldn't leave his heart in the same place. A decoy along the lines you suggested sounds like his thinking all right...

It seems obvious to me that Hakudoushi was experimenting with creating haku-based youkai for the specific purpose of making a near-indestructible new body for Naraku's heart. He tested it out against Inuyasha and the others before implanting the heart, where we saw that only parts of Mouryoumaru can be destroyed with Kagome's arrows. (And that the baby knew about the Fuyouheki-detecting crystals right from the start.) Kagome doesn't normally seem powerful enough to take him out completely. (If she got sufficiently angry, on the other hand...) So that's when Kanna promised to give Mouryoumaru a soul. Kikyou's arrows are probably more effective, but he seems able to just morph around them. (When Kikyou fired her arrow at him, did you notice the slight change in expression on Mouryoumaru? ch.356,p.5) I suppose Kazaana is still something of a threat, unless Saimyoushou are present. And Kongousouha is certainly something they're cautious about, which is probably why they chose this night to attack Inuyasha. I wouldn't be surprised if Naraku, Hakudoushi and Goryoumaru already know about his time of the month, and Gory was just tormenting Kagura. The same way Naraku and Hakudoushi were asking her how Inuyasha's group knew about the ogre's head.

Anyway, yeah. Those are my current disconnected thoughts. :P

This brings up a point that I had made in passing earlier which may prove greatly significant now. We're pretty confident that Kagura kept Inuyasha's time of the month a secret. Well, don't you think that it's reasonable to assume that Naraku's bunshin display properties that he could wield himself under the right circumstances (particularly with the degree of mastery he develops with the Shikon Jewel)? Goshinki could read minds as we all know. Given that Naraku has a physical connection to Kagura through her heart, wouldn't it be a reasonable guess that she can't keep any secrets from her, no matter how hard she tries? (Of course, my previous hypothesis of simple reasoning also carries enough water.)

At any rate, it looks like Naraku has them where he wants them. Yeah, the Saimyoushou didn't stop Miroku from finishing off the goryou tsubo-wielding bandits, but the whole thing was surely a delaying tactic. Will Miroku and Sango get back in time to make a difference? Even if they do manage to get back to the others, what traps does naraku have in store for them? (As long as Goryoumaru/Mouryoumaru holds the fragment, Miroku won't use the Kazaana, so the Saimyoushou wouldn't even be necessary.)

Bugger, Goryoumaru/Mouryoumaru would do just fine retreating with the last fragment and then it'd just be a matter of hunting down Kouga, sure to be no difficult matter. However, I know Naraku will try to reduce the number of his pursuers if he can.

I congratulate you on bringing up Kanna's pledge to give Mouryoumaru a soul. That was a good bit of foreshadowing to the Goryoumaru connection. Erai zo. ^_^

http://www.inu-papa.com/random/364_nise.jpg

^_^ I thought that was all too cute.... Though in all seriousness, it makes the most sense for Goryoumaru to be Mouryoumaru, however, would it really be that easy? Frankly, I would expect something more... Surprising and unexpected. :unsure:

While the catfish's revenge would be incredibly funny, I don't think that quite fits Naraku's master plan. (Besides, the second he made the slightest move toward Sango, Miroku'd give him another sound thrashing. ^_^ )

Don't feel bad that you were able to call a plot develoment. It just means that you've gotten into the author's groove. You should be proud. ^_^