♦ “The Rival” » 59 Kb

A friend and I were discussing some time ago about how the males in the IY world suffer from some sort of selective blindness. Here’s this demon hunter who’s got this lovely long brown hair, exotic eyes, voluptuous figure (because, despite the fact that she binds her chest, it doesn’t do much to flatten it) and is still incredibly feminine despite her masculine occupation (plus, she goes around in something equivalent to black Lycra/leather, for cryin’ out loud), but the males in the series barely grant her a second look. Ergo, they’re all blind. Or incredibly intimidated. Something.

Except for that Kuranosuke fella. Just for that, the guy’s a friggin’ genius.

The above quick sketch was inspired by an observation I made of Miroku and Sango a while ago. I know a few people consider them less romantic than Inuyasha and Kagome because of an incident where this Kuranosuke guy practically claims Sango as his bride while beside her Miroku barely bats an eye. If Miroku really, reeeally loved Sango, they say, he should’ve made his jealousy obvious and reacted accordingly.

But see, that’s not Miroku’s style. If he had “reacted accordingly”, as in pulled an Inuyasha and flew into a possessive rage, hauled Sango off, and then mouthed off to her in a fit of denial, would that have been more romantic? He and Sango were never promised to each other at that point, so why would he go and ruin something that might’ve made her happy?

It’s one thing to threaten bodily harm toward guys sniffing around your love interest, but it’s another thing to keep your cool and respect the latter’s choice. I don’t think it’s less romantic. I think it shows trust and maturity.

Manga spoiler alert—highlight the space to the left if you wanna be spoiled. It’s only after their engagement that Miroku, confronted with a girl-hungry demon, finally pulls a Kouga and calls Sango his girl, much to her shock. And delight, no doubt. Nobody saw that coming. And the way they end their first post-engagement tiff? Cute enough to make your teeth rot.

Oy, this’s turning into a rant. At any rate, the guy in the pic above is not Kuranosuke. It’s some guy I made up that I originally envisioned as a demon slayer from another village; he’s supposed to play a role in that doujinshi I’ve been brainstorming for a long while but never seem to have the time to work on.