Friday, June 28, 2013

Okami Chapter 32: The Time Traveler's Wolf

Hello, dear readers! You've reached my 32nd post about Okami. In today's post, our intrepid heroes travel back in time, get confused, and the timeline skews into an alternate tangent  for some reason, there's a chalkboard in the living room shenanigans occur. And without further ado...on with the show!

When I last left off, we'd just gone through the Spirit Gate. And here's a blurry picture of what we saw on the other side of the gate!


Why is everything so green? This looks familiar...


I wouldn't be so sure about that...


Well, we just got here, so I'm guessing the misfortune hasn't quite happened yet.


Familiar, you say?


It's Kamiki Village, right? What's so disastrous about that?


Thanks, Captain Obvious.


Hey! Watch what you're calling a "tiny village!"

Well, actually, it is pretty small...okay, carry on.


Yeah, yeah, we know.



Kamui isn't part of Nippon? That's news to me.


Or, and let's think about this here...you took the sword before it was ready and now you're wandering around assigning every "miracle" to your sword when it's really just dumb luck that things keep happening.


Yeah, whatever, knock yourself out.


Yeah! You know, your village's last hope and all?


Douchebag...Okay, what do we do now?


I would think so...


Well, I'm sure we'll find out what's going on soon enough.


What? The moon is out?


Clearly it's been more than a month since we defeated Orochi, but okay...


Wait a minute...


Did we get sent back in time? I'm pretty sure we got sent back in time.



And that looks like a little Sakuya...


She's drunk, by the way. I must have missed getting a picture of her saying she was drunk.


Pretty sure we've been sent back in time.


Sakuya, Shakuya, same difference.


And the title thing called her "young." We're definitely in the past.


But, as usual, Issun is an idiot and can't tell the difference between Shakuya and Sakuya. Also, that her tree is still a sapling in this time. Moron.


See? She's Sakuya.


But somehow he can't put two and two together.



Idiot.

So we decided to go talk to some of the villagers to see what they had to say. The first person we found was a maiden who looked suspiciously like Kushi.


But it wasn't Kushi.



Hmm. She was scared of us for some reason. I wonder why?


Issun, being incredibly slow on the uptake, still didn't figure it out. I figure this was for comic relief or something.

So we found somebody else to talk to, who looked like a past-version of Mrs. Orange.


We noticed that already. What an interesting night for the Spirit Gate to send us back to.


I think Issun's intelligence moves at the speed of the plot. That would make sense.


Nami? Oh, I get it. Not only have we been sent to the past, we've been sent 100 years into the past. Interesting.


I know, right? We're totally 100 years in the past! Isn't this crazy?


...

Okay, first off, all you heard about her was her name. And secondly....oh, never mind. Idiot.


See? She called me Shiranui. Clearly we're 100 years in the past.


Quit babbling? Do I look like I'm going to attack you?


My sentiments exactly...


Ugh, he's hopeless. Let's keep moving.

Next we found some guy sleeping on the ground behind Susano's house. Hmm, I wonder who he could be...


Now, who does that remind you of?


Uh oh. We'd better do something before his mumbling gets X-rated.


Issun, of course, was still completely clueless.


I'll be glad to, if it means an end to your persistent stupidity.


That's Tsukuyomi...


You did? And who are you, exactly?


Pretty sure this is Nagi. I see the apple doesn't fall far from the tree regarding Susano, eh?


See? Told you.


The Ghost of Christmas Past?


Oh, right. Aww, he can't see my divinity.


Shut up, Issun.



Despite the fact that this guy dresses nothing like Susano, Issun still thinks it's Susano.


Haha! Take that, Issun.


Uh oh. Quick, what can we do to defuse the situation?


That's not really helping.


NO. HE IS THE PAST. WE'RE IN THE PAST. GET A CLUE ALREADY!


See? Even Nagi says you should get a clue!


Yeah, yeah, we know, it's a full moon.


Wait. Doesn't that mean Orochi makes his choice of sacrificial maiden tonight?


Right, right. Just getting a little ahead of the story there.



And then, finally, FINALLY, Issun figures it out.


And then everything started getting all misty and creepy.



Congratulations. You're now on the same page as everyone else!

Try not to fall behind again, okay?



Yes! Are you finally getting it?


Ugh! He still doesn't quite get it! But he's close.















It's not me! It's Issun, I swear! I totally know what's going on!


He just needs a little more time to- wait, what?


I thought the situation was defused! No fair! And that's totally not my finger in the corner of that picture!


I can't get killed by Nagi in the past! That'll totally mess up the space-time continuum!


Meanwhile, the gears in Issun's brain were feverishly spinning as he put two and two together and figured out what everyone else has known almost since we got here!


Is this it? DOES IT ALL MAKE SENSE NOW?


Yes! He's getting it!


Congratulations! You've officially figured out what's going on. Now let's move on, shall we?



Oh, right, Nagi wanted to fight me. Okay, let's get that over with.

Fighting Nagi wasn't too terribly difficult, but it did take a while. It was mostly a matter of avoiding the little swords he summoned to fly at me, then moving in and hitting him with my sword over and over, until he finally keeled over.



Oops. Considering which night it is, that's probably a bad thing...


That probably means he IS Nagi.


You know, despite the fact that his outfit looks nothing like Susano's and he's wearing a helmet.


Well, I think Issun figured out what's going on, but now...he just doesn't want to believe it? Or something? I dunno.


Yes, we've noticed it twice before now.


Okay, I'm getting tired of your stupidity. Cut to the chase already.


Thanks, Captain Obvious. I think you should be promoted to General, or perhaps Colonel.


What? You're wondering why we're here in the first place?


No idea. I suspect we'll find out when the plot says to.

It was right about then that we heard a commotion coming from the direction of Nagi's house. Hmm, there's something so familiar about this...


We'll just ignore that extra apostrophe in "villagers," there.


Could it be possible that Nagi was a boastful drunk, too? I'm shocked, I tell you.

And, haha! The village elder is named Mr. Grapefruit. Maybe oranges didn't exist in Nippon 100 years ago.



Hey! She means you no harm! Leave her alone!


Whoa, whoa, whoa! I don't even know why I'm here! Quit painting me as the villain!



I really hope the villagers don't look over behind Susano's house, because they'd see the evil Shiranui standing over Nagi's prone body. Actually, I'm not sure how they didn't see us in the first place, because we'd be plainly visible to anyone coming over the bridge from the rest of the village.

But it was too late for any more bleating from the helpless villagers! The time of choosing the next sacrifice was already at hand!



So the eight symbols of Orochi appeared in the air...


...and formed themselves into the Bone Arrow of Doom or whatever it's called...



...while all the villagers ran onto the bridge to watch.


So the arrow loosed itself and started flying.


Fortunately, nobody was in the way this time or it probably would have blown straight through them...


...and then it lodged itself in Nami's house. I'm really not sure why anyone would be surprised by this, since she's the only maiden in the village.


And no one was surprised?


I'll refrain from asking how the village could possibly sustain that with so few residents.


Actually, if you look closely at the next picture, I think I found the culprit for choosing the next sacrifice. The kid had some kind of alien-looking thing on a string that moved around by itself. It was really creepy to watch.


I mean, look at that thing. If that's not a spy for Orochi, I'll eat my Divine Instrument.


Yay! At least somebody does!


If his definition of "long and hard" is the same as Susano's, we're probably in trouble, but whatever.

Good! Nagi would probably be crapping his pants by now if he wasn't unconscious.



Knock yourself out, lady.

Just...not literally, or that would be bad. Or maybe not, depending on what the plan is.


Gee, ya think?


Wha?


I don't remember the disguising himself part...



Well, obviously we're going to have to help him.


I think we've already changed history, so we might as well stop worrying about it. Unless Nippon is a terrible dystopia when we get back, in which case we'll have to go back to the past and fix the tangent.


Yeah, definitely.


Uh oh. I don't know about this...


Um. I have paws, and you're an inch tall. How is that going to work?


This is getting worse by the second...


NO NO NO NO DO NOT WANT



IF WE HAVE TO DO THIS YOU'RE DOING THE UNDRESSING



If you say so...


How about you do that, and I'll wait right here for you?

So we went over to Nami's house, where we saw someone in the stream behind the house...


Ugh, we're totally spying on a naked lady. That's not cool.



Yeah, yeah, let's just take the robe and go...


That doesn't look white at all...but okay.

There was also a barrel of 8 Purification Sake, for some reason. Well, I'm sure we won't need that.


Yeah, well, we're intruding on her privacy, so...


Actually he isn't, if the legend is correct.


Well, she is a sake brewer, and she's probably pretty devoted to her own profession...


EWWW LET'S JUST GRAB THE ROBE


Shut up and let me do it, and I will! Sheesh.

So here we were, watching Nami bathe with the robe right in front of us...


So it was basically a case of slowly sneaking up and grabbing the robe...



...and then sneaking away again.


Woohoo! Now, let's go do our unfortunate job.


Well...I highly doubt the robe fits.


I'm not seeing a whole lot of white on that robe...and more importantly, I think the beard is going to be a dead giveaway.



...More or less.


How are we going to get him there if he's unconscious?



I guess that's how.


Well, as long as he doesn't fall off, I guess we're good.

And with that, I've reached my stopping point for today! Tune in next time as we travel through a shrunken Shinshu Field and face Orochi for the second time. Wait, I mean the first time. Or would it be the second time? Time travel is confusing. Well, anyway...shenanigans will ensue!

Until next time, heroes!