Chapter
35: 三十五ノ章 敵地 Sanjuugo no sho Tekichi (Journey 35 - Stronghold)
The girls and their allies find themselves traveling off the coast of Nagasaki to the Goto Islands. The Tree of Ages explained that they would find Kirinmaru's castle at "the end of the Land of the Rising Sun" and this is the farthest island in the western chain. Riku explains that the castle is invisible to humans thanks to a powerful barrier that Kirinmaru has placed around it, and to save Sesshomaru from having to break the barrier and waste precious energy, he will open it for them. As preparations are made, Towa wonders to herself what will happen after they defeat Kirinmaru- will she remain here or return to the future with her adopted family? Riku slices his hand and commands that he shares the blood of Kirinmaru and bids the door open for him. Slipping inside they soon confront a seemingly innocuous kappa carrying a lantern. Hisui threatens to kill the frightened creature until it tells them it has a wife and children to look after. The kappa leads them deeper into the castle, pass hoards of waiting demons who all seem poised to attack. Suddenly the kappa turns and blasts the half-demon princesses, Hisui, Kirara and Riku with flames from his lantern, transporting them to another part of the castle. Sesshomaru slays the kappa while Kohaku explains to Takechiyo that Sesshomaru wants the girls to absorb the power of the demons in the castle to empower the Tenseiken so they can destroy the Grim Comet. Meidomaru appears with a mask over his damaged face and his arm repaired, ready to battle against Sesshomaru again. However Kohaku steps in, saying he wants revenge against Meidomaru for killing Hisui. Sesshomaru allows it, passing silently as Kohaku moves with incredible speed against the demon, silently telling himself he will "kill the Naraku inside me". Having been teleported away, the others are soon confronted by two conjoined demons, Kouka and Souka.
Published In:
Shonen Sunday Super 2024 Vol. 9
Yashahime Vol. 12
Publication Date: July 25, 2024
Pages: 32 (black and white)
Anime Adaptation: None
Notes:
"That 'smart fone' of yours is really something, Towa." - In Japanese, Moroha's comment about the smartphone is indicated by her calling it a "すまほ" (sumaho, an abbreviation for "smart phone") written in hiragana rather than katakana.
Riku explains that the flames the kappa wields is an "okuribi" (送り火). This refers to the flames used in a Bon festival to send off spirits upon the conclusion of their visit back to the land of the living.
In Kohaku's comment about Naraku there can be a double-meaning. Naraku refers to the villain of Inuyasha but it also means "hell", so "the hell inside me".
Kouka (紅禍) and Souka (蒼禍) are obviously influenced by Kinka and Ginka. Their names mean "red wickedness" and "blue wickedness" respectively.
The story is finally coming to an end, but if Kirinmaru appears as soon as everyone arrives at the castle, I'll have to think to myself, "That's more like a commoner's house than a castle," so I decided to have his subordinates greet everyone. As a result, we'll have a mid-boss battle at this point.
Kinka and Ginka were originally a story from Inuyasha, and were inserted into Yashahime along with some other storylines that could not be included in the final anime episodes. From the time of broadcast, I was thinking, "If he appears, it'll be his second appearance in print media, so I want to put a little twist on it in the manga," and initially I had the idea that "he's an oddball in the family and has no intention of fighting, but his mother gets angry at him, so he pretends to be on bad terms in front of others. But the Yashahime and the others find out that it's rigged."
"... It seems like you guys aren't fighting seriously." "What are you saying? We don't get along at all, right, brother!" "It's like what my little brother said! We're seriously killing each other! So you guys get out of here already! If we fight any more one of us will end up dying" (laughs).
In the end, I decided to make them young female twins based on the female villains from the anime , and to make them mid-bosses, making use of the aforementioned friendly setting. The names Soka and Koka come up immediately, so their speech style can only be "I wonder if so" or "I wonder if so" (laughs). Later, my family pointed out to me that there is a mob character in the anime Revolutionary Girl Utena who speaks like that, but I didn't watch it so I didn't know much about it. Well, even if readers think "That's Utena!", I think it's good to have the atmosphere of the '90s to 2000s anime from the time of Inuyasha... well, I haven't watched Utena so I don't really know. I do know the theme song, which is cool and straightforward, though.
The kappa that appeared at the beginning was designed based on the one that appeared as a mob character in Inuyasha. I wanted to move the story forward quickly, so I didn't intend to introduce a character like that there. But for some reason, a warning came from my subconscious that "I can't move forward unless I change the rhythm," and I had no choice but to follow it. Even now , I think in my head, "No, it would be quicker to leave this part out and introduce Meidomaru right away, right?" , but from experience, it's usually better to follow your intuition in these situations. I wonder, maybe it's because the depiction makes you feel the depth of Kirinmaru's organization... Japanese monsters are not just scary or strong, but also "weird neighbors". Also, this might be more Rumic-like than a series of formulaic battles.
Kohaku's actions were also unexpected this time around. The original plan was for it to be "Kouka and Souka" vs "Yashahime" and "Meidomaru vs "The Demon Slayers and Kirara" , but because of the kappa, all the members except Kohaku went to Kouka and Souka, and I was confused as to what to do, but I left it to the characters and continued drawing, and it seems that this is a chapter in which Kohaku overcomes his past. Although his life was saved at the end of Inuyasha, there is no way that his emotional wounds would heal so easily after that. In the manga adaptation, I've been focusing on that aspect of his character. It may be typical of this manga to complement the "process of becoming the anime version with the village headman's personality" that was left to the viewer's imagination. That said, the line "I will kill the Naraku inside me here today" is quite in line with the character of Kohaku in the original work, and I was surprised myself. I timidly showed it to Rumiko Takahashi-sensei and she said it was interesting, so I thought I just had to make up my mind and draw it (laughs). So, in the next issue we will tackle this by adding more pages.
Table of Contents
A: I'll be doing an autograph signing at the Zetsu Karin Children event.
Chapter
36: 三十六ノ章 呪縛 Sanjuuroku no sho Jubaku (Journey 36 - Spellbound)
The girls prepare to join the fight against Kouka and Souka. Myoga explains that most conjoined demons like these two fight after they are born, with one killing the other. However Riku explains that these two members of the Ka Tribe and unique in that they get along with one another and work together. The duo seems unusual in their affection for one another, explaining that together they killed all of their siblings that had murdered their own conjoined twins and then when their mother grew enraged at their fratricide, Souka and Kouka killed her as well. It was Kirinmaru who protected them from the rage of their tribe as they were hunted as criminals for the murders they took part in. Elsewhere, Kohaku does battle against Meidomaru who now struggles to read his moves. As Meidomaru attempts to read Kohaku's mind, he is shocked that he is thinking of another opponent- Naraku, a face from his past. Kohaku thinks to himself about the fear he has struggled with as his life has moved after Naraku's death, but he finally realizes that true strength is not built on fear, but is free like the wind. After killing Meidomaru, Kohaku also puts Naraku out of his mind, realizing he has carried the burden of his time under Naraku's control for far too long. Back at the fight with Souka and Kouka, Hisui and Riku attack from one side, while Moroha attacks from the other and Setsuna and Towa strike from behind. Towa is able to use her sword to separate Souka and Kouka and the two panic at the idea of being parted. Riku tries to give them a chance to surrender, but when they press the attack Setsuna decapitates Souka. Shocked by the death of her beloved sister, Kouka cuts her own head off by forcing Hisui's sword against her throat. Deeper within the castle Sesshomaru arrives to face Kirinmaru, who says he was hoping to face Sesshomaru's daughters. Sesshomaru stares at him, telling the powerful demon that he knows the Grim Comet absorbed Kirinmaru and now merely wears his skin.
Published In:
Shonen Sunday Super 2024 Vol. 10
Yashahime Vol. 12
Publication Date: August 22, 2024
Pages: 47 (black and white)
Anime Adaptation: None
Notes:
This month's Shonen Sunday Super has an advertisement for "Sunday Fest" which features various characters on the advertising including Towa.
Also in this month's issue, Call for UFO (コール・フォー・ユーエフオー) by Kashio Deshi (出路かし魚), one of the winners of the Shogakukan 94th Newcomer Awards. This award was judged by Rumiko Takahashi, Gosho Aoyama, Kenjiro Hata and Mitsuru Adachi. Takahashi's comments can be seen in the news archive for June 11th.
Kohaku's comment that "true strength is free, like the wind. I'll become the wind. Free as the wind!" is a reference to Kagura's quote before her death.
What did you think of Kohaku and Naraku's "other conclusion"? I wish there were a few more pages, but since this comicalization is based on Yashahime, this balance of Inuyasha material might be good as is. While making the structure more compact for the manga, I also subtly added in the epilogue elements of Inuyasha, which they tried to avoid as much as possible in the anime, along with my personal interpretations and wishes... it's not that subtle, though. I always go all out.
The story doesn't say a word about why the feathers were suddenly fluttering down, but anyone who knows what they are will understand... I'm sure. Of course I know what it's all about when I drew it, so I was crying while I was drawing it (；∀；).
Rumiko Takahashi-sensei said, “When I wrote the line, ‘I am the wind, the free wind,’ I foresaw Kagura's death. By using the same line as Kohaku's power, I felt like I was able to give them both a loving hug. Technically, I'm creating a story with the same structure in my own manga, but to be able to do something like this officially, in a work I was reading as a fan and with the original author's check is like magic. The magic of going two-dimensional, that's what comicalization is.
When Takahashi-sensei wrote the chapter of Kinka and Ginka, she was probably imagining a certain story from a certain classic science fiction manga. In old manga, it was a rule that "twin enemies" always appeared at least once, and I remember that they were often good storylines in which you could tell they were the losers from the moment they appeared, but the bond between them and their partner was impressive. So, I aimed for a similar sinister yet sad feeling for the conclusion of the battle between Souka and Kouka... although after I finished it, I felt that the image of Aura from Frieren: Beyond Journey's End was also included (laughs).
It's hard to depict decapitation in TV anime these days, but I did it a few times in this manga because I thought it would be appropriate for a Sengoku period drama. The Sengoku Otogi world of Inuyasha often depicts the existence of vivid violence. Even so, Kagome-chan doesn't let it bother her even after experiencing something scary, and she remains calm, which is what makes it an excellent dark fantasy for light readers. I think this sense of balance between reality and fiction is the true essence of Rumiko Takahashi-sensei's work, and even though I can't do the same thing, I try my best to create the atmosphere of a sister work by decapitating heads and gouging out eyes and hearts.
By the way, in the Sengoku period, it was the job of the women guarding the home front to clean up the captured heads of enemy generals. The enemy's head was proof of military success, and the reward was determined by the rank of the defeated enemy, so there were apparently various tips and techniques for making it look good at the military awards meeting. I've heard that people sometimes even read fortunes from the expressions on the face of the deceased, which is a very different experience from the modern era, and I couldn't imagine living there. Still, if you could find a strong and cute half-demon lover to protect you, you'd have a chance (a real maiden at heart).
Table of Contents
A: Thank you to everyone who came to the autograph session.
Chapter
37: 三十七ノ章 異変 Sanjuunana no sho Ihen (Journey 37 - Anomaly)
Kirinmaru reveals that he wants to return to the past when Sesshomaru's father was still alive, when his daughter, Rion, and his sister Zero, were still alive as well. Sesshomaru is unimpressed with his petty desires, thinking to himself that he would instead live for the future where Rin and his daughters could live and be safe. The girls make their way to the dungeon along with Riku and Hisui where they reunite with Jaken, Takechiyo and Kohaku. Everyone watches as Sesshomaru and Kirinmaru do battle. Kirinmaru reveals that the mysterious creators of the Windmill of Time died before it could ever be used, but once activated it will restart the universe over once again. However, the power needed to start it is immense, beyond even the ability of the Grim Comet to call forth. Instead, the room that Kirinmaru has built in the depths of his castle will absorb the battle aura of Sesshomaru and Kirinmaru as they fight, and that should be enough to trigger the windmill. Kirinmaru understands that Sesshomaru has been repeating these battles endlessly as she has been stuck in a time loop, but Kirinmaru plans to use the windmill to escape to the 21st century. Suddenly Rion appears and is forced by Kirinmaru's spell to stab Riku in the neck. Towa, Setsuna and Moroha realize now is the time for them to act as they rush forward. However Riku has begun to sprout horns and says that he is now becoming Kirinmaru's perfect copy.
Published In:
Shonen Sunday Super 2024 Vol. 11
Yashahime Vol. 12
Publication Date: September 25, 2024
Pages: 32 (black and white)
Anime Adaptation: None
Notes:
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Table of Contents
A: I started playing Zelda again after taking a few months off and I had forgotten how the controls work and how to navigate the area.
