Ever since my anime-freak best buddy got me into watching “Inuyasha” with her every weeknight, something’s been bothering me about Sesshoumaru, the title character’s demon half-brother. He appears to have this… thing… rising up over his right shoulder-blade. Especially after Cartoon Network started featuring him in the end credits of “Inuyasha”, my friend and I have been debating about what exactly that thing is.
I originally thought that it was some sort of fur wrapping, perhaps obtained when Sesshoumaru mugged a local drag queen. But my friend shot holes in this theory by pointing out that it seemed to move on it’s own and appeared to be growing out of Sesshoumaru’s crotch area. She thought it was a cloud or a mist that followed him around.
“Perhaps it’s a parasite or something,” I suggested, “rather like the demonic version of athlete’s foot.”
“That’s a good idea,” she replied. “Maybe Sesshoumaru refused to wear those little shower shoes when he went into the locker-rooms at Demon High School.”
With this new theory, we imagined all sorts of scenarios in which Sesshoumaru could have used his parasite to torment his younger half-brother, Inuyasha.
SESSHOUMARU: C’mon, touch it! It’s furry. And it moves of it’s own volition!
CHIBI INUYASHA: bursts into tears, then runs away shrieking
“And Inuyasha doesn’t have the parasite because he never got to go to Demon High School,” said my friend, “So maybe he made fun of it or something and that’s the real reason Sesshoumaru hates him so much.”
SESSHOUMARU: You may have the tetusaiga, Inuyasha, but I have… a fuzzy parasite growing out of my genitals! Yes, my precious, my darling… caresses it
Anyway, that’s just our theory. Anyone got anything better?