From the back cover:
Inuyasha and the gang follow a trail of rumors that lead to a “living mountain.” Naraku has awoken the mountain from its 200-year slumber and stolen its sacred stone. The “living mountain” then gives a gift to Inuyasha and his group to help them in retrieving the stone. But what could Naraku be hoping to achieve?
Review:
There’s an Eddie Izzard routine where he talks about Queen Elizabeth II being forced to fend off a snarling pack of canines while crying, “Aah! Crazy dogs! Crazy dogs!” For the first few chapters of this volume, I kept thinking, “Aah! Crazy rats! Crazy rats!”
In a ploy to lure Kikyo out of hiding, Naraku has deployed crazy rats to eat some villagers. Normally, this would be cause for snoozing, but Kohaku’s personal dilemma is intriguing. He’s the one unleashing the rats, and is caught in the act by his sister. He’s only pretending to be under Naraku’s command, though, but can’t do anything to explain the situation to Sango because he’s being watched by Naraku’s spies. I like this plot thread, and also appreciate when he and another of Naraku’s gang finally decide to start working together to bring their master down.
After the crazy rats are vanquished, Inuyasha and friends encounter some parasites that’re going around possessing demons and which ultimately lead back to Naraku. At this point, I’ve seen Naraku dissolve so many times and yet not die that I just don’t get invested in these little encounters they have. I’m much more interested in what’s going on with Kohaku and in the little random character chapters that pop up, like the one where Shippo has been infected by the parasite or the one occurring in the real world in which Kagome’s school friends get to meet Inuyasha. Both are very cute.
I’m a little sad I really can’t care about the plot more, but it’s a fun reading experience nonetheless.
Great, just great, now I’m buying this. Thanks a lot Jun, thank you for forcing me to start buying this again. I thought I was free of Inuyasha.
I bought the first two volumes years ago and promptly traded them back to my local comics dealer for something better. Then I come to Flamminggeeks and read some positive Inuyasha reviews and I think: huh, doesn’t sound so bad, maybe I should give it another — GAAH, caught, trapped, snared, tricked, hooked, snagged!!!!!! 😮
It’s all right though, I found a bunch of volumes at my local half priced book store. I bought volumes 9-14, and now *slump* there’s no going back.
Muahaha! My evil plan has come to fruition! 🙂
This is really one of those series where the characters are the draw and the plot just kind of recycles itself. I guess it’s like a sitcom or something, but I still find it enjoyable. Plus, Takahashi’s art is just great and often makes me giggle all on its own.