My tinfoil hat theory about Shinobi Undercover this week is that is was asked/told to hurry up to some romance bits to help bridge the romance gap left by Hima-Ten and now Blue Box.
'Cause, even by the standards of Shinobi's quick pace, this chapter felt like two chapters smooshed together in a way nothing before it has.
Or I could be wrong and the culture festival will also get swallowed up by this crazy pace as well... Man, I hope not.
Personally, I think the better option is having Trupicato hunt Fujimine or at least run interference to try to inhibit or distract her. It at least beats hiding Trupicato and letting Fujimine run free.
Kijibato here would probably chuck Trupicato off a cliff without a second thought, though.
At some point, you have to ask how many hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent lives are worth less than one old woman in hiding.
I'll save you the effort of writing the counterpoints
Pupils are bound to obey the master (despite us never actually seeing this happen with Desscaras or Fujimine so far)
Witches are forbidden from dealing with witch criminals (oh, so stopping the super serial killer with the 4-figure kill count is the one case where the Association won't try to defy or trick the Magikeepers. Charming. How virtuous of them.)
It'd be cruel to make Trupicato hunt Fujimine, they were probably in wuuuv (that's currently still speculation but, if true, it clearly stopped being the case at some point)
So
I
don't
~caaare~
Trupicato's title shouldn't be 'Villain Witch' but 'FUJIMINE HUNTER EXTRAORDINAIRE'
For hiding Trupicato instead of having her run interference, I consider the blood of Fujimine's victims to also be on the Association's hands.
Months ago, I made an off-hand comment to a friend that Hayabusa and Mukudori would either already be engaged or banned from even considering each other, no in-between. I'd meant it as a joke (I'd much sooner ship Hayabusa and Enaga, honestly).
After I made this post about Mukudori and looked at chapter 84 again, that offhand comment wormed its way back into my head...
Now we've gotten chapter 85 and
Oh no they are engaged.
Drat.
(Yes, I have reasoning but I don't feel like writing it out because I want to be wrong)
I will continue to cope.
(Also yes I am a Mega Man fan how could you tell)
I went through the pain of actually trying to play Mega Man X6 and beating Nightmare Zero to get my own screenshot to work from. Don't regret the effort but I don't wanna touch that game again...
Mukudori isn't the Kamuro family head. But she should be.
This is going to be a speculative post since there are only about 3 real data points and a flashback to work off of.
tl;dr Are we going to get Kamuro family succession drama? Because I'd like to see Kamuro family succession drama at some point
Fact #1: The previous Kamuro head, Mukudori and Umineko's father, has already died
Fact #2: Mukudori is the eldest child of the main family and possesses the family's kekkai
Fact #3: Umineko is the eldest son of the main family and now possesses the family's kekkai
I think the least worst scenario here is that Mukudori is still considered not old enough to take over and someone else (maybe even her mother?) is just keeping the seat warm until then.
Not really expecting that to be the case, though, thanks to this flashback...
These random jerks casually ignoring Mukudori's existence, as if she's simply not in the running. It does seem like the ninja world runs on old rules (arranged marriages, anyone?). It wouldn't be surprising if Mukudori has been snubbed for being female.
Now chapter 84 has thickened the plot both with the confirmation that Mukudori isn't the head and the existence of Fukuro, the female head of the Kuryu family. In the current ninja society, is the Kamuro family behind the times? Is the Kuryu family more open-minded? Is Fukuro just so awesome that she made everyone acknowledge her? Impossible to know at this point.
(I hesitate to use Kasasagi as a data point either way since she was presumably groomed to just be the puppet of the current Uzen head. That and the head trying to strongarm a minor into an arranged marriage. That isn't a man playing by modern rules.)
In addition, for all her bluster, Mukudori is merely a member of Squad 6, she's not the ace of her own single-digit squad like the representative of a great family should be. What this might suggest about her and the Kamuro bloodline in general is a step too far into speculation for this post.
And now, there is a new wrinkle in the matter of Kamuro succession: Umineko. If it's the case that Mukudori has been fighting tradition and prejudice trying to become the head, Umineko proving to be a late bloomer would make everything significantly harder. Because now there is a viable male heir in the main family and there would likely be voices now calling for him to be put in the running as the next head. What Umineko might think about that would again be all but pure speculation at this point.
For the sake of covering all bases, there is also the possibility that Mukudori's already married (possibly arranged/political) and her husband is the current head. That sort of thing can happen to keep a family name going when there are only female offspring. I highly doubt that's the case but since arranged marriages came up with Kasasagi and Yodaka, it's not impossible so it's getting mentioned.
This is all a very long way of saying that the setting is ripe for some good Kamuro family succession drama and I am here for it if Shinobi Undercover winds up going in that direction!
She's not the head... I've got thoughts about that but I'm not writing them out tonight.
Anyway, Hayabusa is at the meeting so I called that wrong. But I'm still wary of how much Mimizuku is hanging around. Genuinely, who is guarding Aoi right now?
Thoughts/Predictions for the Next Shinobi Chapter(s)
For a simple start, Hayabusa name-dropped a 'Nazumi' family way back when, so I wouldn't be surprised if they're among the distinguished families. Nothing else to go on except that they're apparently preoccupied with ninja bloodlines.
Next, the Kamuro family. Who's the current head? Is it Mukudori or someone else? Either answer is likely to be ~enlightening~ (I was going to go on a tangent here but my thoughts on Mukudori and the Kamuro family could be its own post. I'll wait and see who shows up at the meeting first)
And then Hayabusa. Even though it's been all but explicitly spelled out that he's from a distinguished family, I'm... not really expecting to see him. At the meeting, at any rate. Maybe we'll see him elsewhere? I have a sneaking suspicion he might be guarding Aoi right now...
Lastly, for a bit of complete speculation, what are the odds Suzume's family could be there? I don't even know if I'd want them to be. As much as I'm curious about her background, that is not a can of worms I want opened right now. The cultural festival and Yodaka's birthday first, please!
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