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Wait, what?
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Madrid, Spain
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This time, I'm leaving out a lot of flavor content from 16 because jeez! Loooong.
EDIT: On second thought, maybe have some music playing when you go through this volume. I went with the easy choice, Faraway Promise from the Xenogears OST
https://youtu.be/jEmTH7-nQUM
First excerpt is a flashback to Harutora and Touji’s first meeting with the principal, when they talked about Yakou. Miyo’s opinion is that he was no different from an ordinary person, who laughed, cried, shined and drowned in the times.
Spoiler for [Re]incarnation:
Then we jump back to 1945. 10,000 meters in the sky, American crew of a B-29, and one of the guys is feeling the dissonance of such grand achievements, to see the wide blue open sky like this become something ordinary and routine. Especially since Japanese aircraft can’t reliably intercept them at this height.
Rumors of a dragon attacking the Allied air fleets is beginning to spread, although the survivors are always debriefed by OSS and secretive personnel, there’s still fuselage of damaged craft that doesn’t look like it got shot at. There’s some talk about multi legged tanks, Nazi mystics and stuff, but it’s almost time to start bombing – and a giant dragon appears in the sky with a man in a black coat floating around and shooting down aircraft. Yakou is too fast to be hit by the guns, but only 1/3 of the bombers are taken down and Tokyo gets hit hard.
Narrator time. A brief timeline of the Pacific War which follows IRL events, saying that Japan got drunk on the wine of victory after Pearl Harbor, the Phillipines and Singapore, etc. Everything got reversed at Midway – but because of a lack of calm judgement and self control, the losses are not recognized properly. Propaganda continues, reckless behavior increases and more lies are told to the media. A arrogant self esteem, backed by empty beliefs and dreams that have nothing to do with reality, it’s like the Japanese military is self defeating. Successive defeats mercilessly eat away at the material and spiritual substance of the nation.
Back to 1945, and Hishamaru is not at all calm. Yakou can only get to 10,000 meters through the Raven’s cloak, Hokuto and experimental magic to provide breathable air at that height. Hishamaru cannot provide support up there and is on the ground as mission control over the remaining Onmyouji practitioners in Tokyo. Onmyouji spells are used on the ground to limit damage from airstrikes, and Onmyouji generals were sent overseas to fight where they all died one way or another. Training cannot make up for the losses in personnel. Charms are being used up faster than they can be made. Food is scarce. Morale is low. Relatives of the Souma, Kurahashi and Tsuchimikado have died, people that Yakou and Hishamaru knew.
Yakou’s spell lost efficiency in the fight, and lost unconsciousness from lack of oxygen. The Raven’s coat brought him back to the ground but he is being hospitalized with a very unhappy Hishamaru. The Full Moon appears here too, normally a ring on Yakou’s finger but can materialize as a bunny.
Yakou cannot get out these dangerous air defense missions because at this point the military has total control over the Onmyojitsu institution and everything around Yakou. They provided a lot of help before, now Yakou has to pay it back.
Satsuki is clear about Japan’s precarious situation, that the general staff are working on beautiful rhetoric to tell the civilians to go kamikaze against the incoming invasion of Japan. Surrender is a sentiment shared by many, including Hishamaru, but the Military Police are listening everywhere and have no hesitation about arresting any defeatists.
But Satsuki agrees with Hishamaru that this is too dangerous for Yakou. To him, Yakou is more important than the predicament that Japan faces.
Yakou doesn’t feel that way, wanting to protect Japan’s people and not feeling that there’s a point in being the last survivor on the island. But he also feels pretty crappy about killing so many people.
So Satsuki brings up the ongoing work on a certain ritual as the alternative. Instead of having Taira no Masakado come down and be god, use the power of god to protect the Imperial Capital through a powerful barrier. Research has been done, the incantations that Dairenji used last volume have been implemented, etc.
But it’s dangerous – failure will be absolutely catastrophic. Satsuki isn’t too concerned about himself dying if it means saving more people, but he feels that Yakou is absolutely necessary for the future of Onmyou.
Spoiler for 16:
In a rest period with Hishamaru and Seishuku Temple visitors, Kokage is revealed to have a baby boy! Hishamaru’s infatuation with Yakou is teased since he has no direct heir (Satsuki already had one but not through marriage by the first time he met Yakou.
But sad memories can’t help but force their way in. During the earlier years, everyone (including the Kurahashi chief) would get drunk and discuss and experiment and use spells and it was all good fun (except for Hishamaru who would scold and scold and scold) but it was a really happy and carefree time. Now, many of the previous students are dead and the new youngsters are advocating using the power of gods to curse the enemy, becoming more and more radical.
Desperation, anger, sadness, regret, it’s expected that the young want to use strength to break their current predicament but they’re forgetting that curses that get out of control come back to the caster.
Miyo had a bad episode of divination (something bad is coming) but has no details. Nothing can be done about it, and Yakou does not want kids getting involved in the war (she’s only 10)
But IRL events aren’t stopping. March 10th, 1945, Tokyo Air Raid. Low flying B-29s using incendiaries flatten Tokyo in a night, killing tens of thousands and destroying hundreds of thousands of homes. Spiritual damage is great because of the slaughter, too many dead people have not been purified. The Onmyouji efforts could not stop all the fire and bombs, their movements were unable to coordinate against the sudden onslaught.
And this is really where Satsuki begins to go off the rails.
Spoiler for 16:
Satsuki won over his clan after the Dairenji business and possession, the elders bow their heads and apologize for their stubbornness and stupidity, but his life is so busy and full of stress that he doesn’t really care that much about the achievement he wanted for so long. Even though he has moments where he wants to touch a “god” again for that transcendent moment of wonder, not caring at all about the Souma clan’s wish, he still has to deal with a harsh reality without any escape.
And now he is watching now the city burning before his eyes. People burning up. Everything is engulfed in flames. He can do nothing about the situation, but the anger within burns.
And it resonates with a anger that is 1000 years old, and still burning even now. Satsuki watches Yakou jumping into action and wonders if he also feels the intense rage, the unforgivable atrocities before him feeding the anger?
After action is not a happy time. The original plan of protecting Tokyo with Taira is not going to work as scheduled – too much negative emotion and miasma is within the spiritual world and a lot of the original spells are no longer any good with conditions being what they are. In the worst case scenario, Tokyo could be destroyed.
But Satsuki insists it goes forward. Tokyo is already half destroyed. The military is insisting on fighting to the end. This is the only card left to actually play to save people, and all of the remaining Onmyoji are pressing Yakou to go along with it, who almost gives in on the spot. But Hishamaru’s hesitation is expressed in her eyes, and Yakou looks at her, and tells everyone to take a break to rest. The debate will continue afterwards.
Hishamaru in her own mind doesn’t know what the hell to do. There are no good options, no escape and no relief. After a lot of thinking and talking with Sen, all she can do ultimately do, is listen to Yakou, let him express his heart to her, accept all his worries and regrets and thoughts.
Yakou is having a casual discussion with Satsuki watching the ruins of Tokyo, and they inevitable go back to talking about the past. About their first escapades in Tokyo chasing Dairenji. About Satsuki’s question to Yakou – what kind of magic did he want to see? We still don’t hear what it is – yet. Bombers continue flattening Japan in March, and the Americans land on Okinawa in April.
Spoiler for 16:
The plan for summoning god becomes inevitable as a order from the military. Yakou and Hishamaru were the only ones who were against it anyways and preparations are complete. But one legacy of Dairenji’s work involves human souls again. With all the dead people in the vicinity, the Soma elders theorize that it’s possible to use their souls as emergency “fuel” for the ritual and have a spell ready. Yakou thinks this is absolutely evil and refuses and refuses and refuses to consider it, but Satsuki is able to pressure him into agreeing because the situation is so desperate and everyone’s eyes are pleading with Yakou.
The schedule advances, everyone is rushed. Yakou gives over the Full Moon to a member of the Souma clan and Raven’s Coat to a member of the Kurahashi family (can’t have items interfering with the ritual) and Yakou won’t have any shikigami nearby.
Kakugyouki comes out and says what you’re thinking: this ain’t right. Yakou must know that this is a recipe for disaster. He has to stop following the trend, he has to create his own path through this mess, stop doing this because he himself has a bad feeling about it. But Yakou sticks to his guns, except Hishamaru is able to convince Yakou to let her be nearby.
It’s the 12th of April, the night before the big ritual where Yakou dies. There’s a lot of talk between Hishamaru and Yakou, Hishamaru and Kakugyouki, abstract conversations about reincarnation, what happens when people die, etc. This is the scene where we hear Hishamaru asking Yakou if he won’t change his mind, and Yakou says that he thinks his choice is right.
Also where Hishamaru tells Yakou that no matter how many years they go through, if he dies and reincarnates, she will reunite with him again. Because she is his shikigami.
This prompts a long awkward attempt from Yakou to tell her something, which eventually turns out to be “please marry me” which is accepted on her part. It’s all happiness and gentleness in the calm Tsuchimikado manor away from the worries and stress of the world.
Reality sets in the next day. An airstrike damaged part of the original altar set up, the military is in confusion over the sudden death of FDR, and everything is a mess needing to be fixed. There are delays, Satsuki cannot come over until late in the night, Yakou gets a lap pillow from Hishamaru. Talk about changing the ritual to another day are refused, Tokyo’s spiritual condition is relatively calm and nobody knows when the wrath of the dead will cause the equivalent of a spiritual tsunami and destroy all chances of the ritual working.
The ritual finally begins. Problems arise but Yakou deals with them. Taira no Masakado arrives and Satsuki’s duty as a vessel begins.
Just as more American airplanes are in the sky. A large scale bombing action is at work against nearby areas – and Taira no Satsuki is not happy.
Not.
Happy.
Spoiler for 16:
Flashback time. Yakou explains to Satsuki what he wants to see with magic – “ordinary spells”
No more fear, no more taboo subjects, no more rejection of magic. Something that’s simply part of normal life. Something that can coexist with the world without unilaterally forcing the world around. Nothing “special”
Satsuki calls Yakou out – all of this is a cover. Yakou really wants a world that doesn’t reject living spirits, one that won’t discriminate against Hishamaru. Yakou’s unconvincing denial just gets them arguing like kids for a bit, but they agree not to say anything to Hishamaru about this one.
And now? Tairasuki is furious about his countrymen being killed and trampled in front of his eyes. He doesn’t listen to Yakou’s pleas to calm down, and starts throwing spiritual power around like cannonballs. He has the range to hit the planes.
But his divine 100% anger is corrupting everything. It’s spiritual disaster time, miasma is everywhere. The spiritual tsunami of the dead rises up, it’s all going horribly. Yakou uses Lingering Spirit Calling Magic which can be used to call to the dead and manages to get Satsuki to listen, and thus Taira makes all the miasma and spiritual disasters disappear instantly.
Satsuki is still furious. Yakou wants to stop the ritual and send everyone back to where they belong because things are just no longer salvageable. But Tairasuki is okay with the Dairenji’s spell of sacrifice, okay with being consumed to save the country, and his anger is making the weather go insane. The argument is at a dead impasse with both friends staring at each other.
And the situation gets worse. Bombers are zeroing in on the altar because guess what, all the torches and light are like saying “please bomb us”
And in this situation of shock and surprise, Onmyoji can’t defend against thousands of incendiaries. Those who flee will probably get killed. Those who fight get killed. Tairasuki is flinging power everywhere, and Yakou and Hishamaru get surprised by a bomb.
When Yakou wakes up, his leg is broken and he’s bleeding all over, Hishamaru is in bad shape, and Tairasuki’s arm is carbonized and falling off, he’s become a human torch covered with the products of science and containing the products of Onmyou inside. He’s become absolutely 100% furious, and now? It’s the true spiritual disaster time, Nue and Worm and Oni and phase 4. Planes are being eaten up by giant columns of miasma, the surrounding area of Tokyo is being attacked by spiritual beings, it’s hell on earth.
Yakou has one last card to play – use TFR to become a vessel himself and pray to clean up the disaster and get Satsuki’s soul to be at rest as one of the dead. Hishamaru is completely exhausted and can do nothing to help, beginning to black out.
And now we flash forward (back?) to the future where Natsume (Hishamaru?) is in Hishamaru’s body listening to Harutora’s declaration to Natsume at the end of volume 14, and things get…confusing.
Back to 1945. Whatever happened in the discussion between Taizakou and Tairasuki is unknown, but Taira left Satsuki’s horribly burned body, and Satsuki’s subordinate shoots him. Satsuki gave the orders earlier to him to kill him if things went out of control, but the sequence went all wrong, sadly. The miasma close by has been cleaned up, but there’s still a hell of a lot of bad spirits nearby, and a lot of it is bound to the future. All Taizankou could do was divide up the spiritual disasters, not in space but through time. What was the equivalent of a nuclear bomb will be a long slow burning fire of spiritual disasters, for Tokyo’s spirituality is permanently changed.
And Yakou saw that the Tensou Chifu Ritual will be attempted again in the future, and it is his duty to stop it. He choose to reincarnate with TSR, because he’s gonna die tonight. Too much damage, too much fatigue, it was all too much.
Just like that, the first new spiritual disaster hits. Satsuki’s body burns up, Yakou dies telling Hishamaru that he loves her. The earth swallows up their remains, Kakugyouki can only save Hishamaru.
And that, is how the Great Spirit Disaster occurred.
Spoiler for 16:
With the majority of the Onmyoji at the scene killed, all that’s left are a few leftover students and a lot of them die in the 7 day fight against the spirits. Ironically, the American air strikes end up destroying quite a few of the spiritual presences.
The public think that Yakou was responsible, and we know the rest. History remains the same, Japan surrenders after the USSR declares war and the nukes are dropped. The Onmyou Agency becomes Tokyo’s protector, but held at a distance. The Souma disappear, and the Kurahashi become prominent while the Tsuchimikados dwindle.
But Kokage’s husband survived war (got conscripted), Yakou’s baby nephew is alive, and life goes on.
Hishamaru says goodbye to Kokage and Kakugyouki, goes to Seishuku Temple and asks Shinra for help becoming a spirit by abandoning the body.
We see the sequence of how Miyo becomes the matriarch of the Kurahashi family while the secrets between their family and the Souma are kept from her eyes.
Of how Hishamaru saves Yakou’s descendants from spiritual disasters from time to time.
Of how Miyo and her hubby start up the new Onmyou Academy (original building was scrapped and virtually nobody from the Yakou days is left)
Takahiro meets Hishamaru during a quiet moment in the countryside. They discuss Yasuzumi
HIshamaru meets Kokage one last time before she passes away
And Yasuzumi meets Hishamaru right after Harutora is born, because, y’know. She also meets Harutora’s mother.
The discussion for sealing away Hishamaru, which is actually pretty heated because she doesn’t believe in sealing away Harutora’s talent, even if it’s to have a chance to develop himself free of the old prejudices and chains from Yakou’s day, free from the shadow of being seen as Yakou rather than himself. But Hishamaru accepts to be by her master’s side. But Hishamaru has a bizarre reaction when she hears Natsume’s baby cry.
Retrospection of the events of the last 15 volumes. Harutora’s growth. Kon’s thoughts. Talking to Natsume. Reawakening as Hishamaru.
As it turns out, the fruit that Harutora got from Seishuku temple were to be used to stabilize Hishamaru’s existence – but that couldn’t get the job done.
And things don’t get better. Harutora might be Yakou’s reincarnation, might have his memories and all kinds of things from Yakou – but he loves Natsume, not Hishamaru. That talk on April 12th, 1945 which sustained Hishamaru for so long is becoming something that is hurting her heart.
And thus, Miyo’s words about Yakou are true.
And so are Touji’s.
What happens from here, remains to be seen in volume 17.
Whether the final showdown is immediately at hand, or months in the future, or what will happen with the Imperial Household Agency and the current Emperor, IDK.
Who will end up on which side, how the world will react to Tairako, what will happen to Ohtomo if Kurahashi had any curses to gift his killer (like what he was afraid of with Amami), what's up with Miyachi, that's for the future.
Last edited by manifla; 2020-08-07 at 22:17.
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