Jigokuraku – 11

「弱イと強イ」 (Yowai to Tsuyoi)
“Weak and Strong”

Is it just me, or was that doushi being incredibly helpful in explaining the entire Tao system in the middle of a battle? I mean, he’s the enemy, theoretically. Why would he waste time explaining things to a human he was about to kill or turn into tan? I know we get this sort of explanation in battle shounen where systems are complicated. It certainly happened with Nen, but Togashi was far more artful in the way he made those explanations seem like an organic part of the narrative.

The tide of this battle is starting to turn a bit in the humans’ favor. Except in Choubei’s case (yet another superb Kimura performance) I’m not sure we can call him a human anymore. He seems to have merged with the plants without turning into tan himself – though whether he’s simply in the first stages of that process I don’t know. Judging by the reaction of the doushi he’s facing this isn’t a normal progression, so perhaps he’s a new sort of hybrid. I find Choubei lots of fun so I hope he sticks around for a while.

Mei is at the center of the episode’s developments this week. Two more doushi have been sent to cut the new humans down to size, but when they catch a glimpse of Mei with Team Gabimaru their priorities shift. Turns out Mei was exiled by the Tensen because she was a defective higher being – only possessing Yin instead of both Yin and Yang as they do. Rather than being executed she was sent to be, effectively, a sex slave for the doushi – who require intercourse to be able to perform their Buchu-Jutsu training. That was certainly a dark turn – no wonder she’s been hiding from them for centuries.

All this plays right into Gabi’s growing protective instinct. And with Fuchi interpreting Mei’s halting (strong-strong bad, strong-weak good) explanations, he finally grasps the essence of manipulating Tao. And once he has that going for him, the doushi are no match for Gabimaru. Choubei has found their weak spot, and Gabimaru has learned to read their Tao – maybe that doesn’t put them level with the Tensen, but they’re a lot closer than they were before. Now if these humans could all get together and pool their strength and knowledge, we might be getting close to a fair fight.