The Let's Play Archive

Shadow Hearts: Covenant

by The Dark Id

Part 136: Episode CXXX: Jutendouji

Episode CXXX: Jutendouji



We're not quite done with Inugami Village or letting Kurando get some screentime. We have to actually completely exit the village and return to the World Map before immediately about-facing and reentering the town to trigger the next quest because old video games. The prerequisite to trigger this quest is completing the Dog Shrine and Yuri must have all his elemental-based Fusions unlocked. Neo Amon isn't necessary to the proceedings. But we've long since completed that task, so let's mosey back into the village.


Music: Field of God-Dog ~ Village of The Dog God



What is it? What's going on?
Saki seems really strange. Since early morning she's been all by herself at the Fountain of Sukune.
Well, what are you worried about? She's always doing that.
I would be more worried if she wasn't zoning out in there at this time of day. That would mean she's hitting the wine again.
No, it's different this time!
How so?
No, it's different this time!
Yes, I understand. How is it different?
Kurando! I'm so glad you're back! I've got to talk to you! Saki seems really strange. Since early morning she's been all by herself at the Fountain of Sukune.
Nanna are you... feeling alright?
No, it's different this time!

All right, then. I'll go see how she is. You don't have to worry.





Back to the Fountain of Sukune we go. We are going to want to make sure Kurando's health and MP are topped off from the trials in the Dog Shrine as this is a solo Kurando side quest. Whoops, I saved the game and forgot to use a Tent and had to reload the game before realizing Kurando had full health still because Garan's AI busted hard. Oh well. Entering the unknown with an empty mana pool is also embarrassing.



Don't worry! I'll be back before you know it. Just wait here and relax.
Be careful, okay?
<nods> Of course.
We'll just... go get lunch or something while you do your thing.
Is there anywhere good to eat around the village?
<grimly looks down> No.
...Oh...

Kurando enters the shrine alone.



Kurando...
Mother, what is it?! What's happened?!
Hee hee...



Last night, your dead father appeared to me in my dream.
M-my father?
Yes. He showed me the enemy that you and the others must ultimately face.
A very prominent chin and wide build, yes?
That would be him, alright.
He also complained about his adventures with Yuri's father went untold in favor of frivolities in America. I did not understand those words. But the important thing he told me...



<steps forward> And he said this to me: "Open Kurando's seal."
My seal...?!
The power of the dog guardians that guard the 8 million gods of Japan... That power is in your blood, given to you to protect this world. Kurando, I must follow the Law. It is my duty to prepare you. You must defeat me, and break out of the box that contains your power.


Music: Fountain of Saint Evel ~ Spring of the Holy Demon



<grabs sword hilt> I understand.
I cannot hold back. If you lose, you will die. Please forgive me, my son... my beloved.
You needn't apologize. I am Inugami too. My blood is your blood!
<nods> Hmm.
I am surprised you decided to stand against this trial alone.
I... thought I had to do so?
There is nothing in the law of the seal that says you cannot have allies with you.
Oh, well... I suppose it's too late for that now... Hmph.
You can still call for them, if you'd like. They are waiting outside the shrine, are they not?
They may have gone to get lunch. It... No, it's fine. I can do this by myself.
Very well.



Awaken now the true form which lives behind the façade!



Awaken now! Spirit of the Ogre!




Music: Ladder to Heaven



Solo boss battle time! Before we can do anything, Saki had things a little backward. It's not defeating her that will unlock the seal on Kurando's power. Kurando's seal has been unlocked, now he must defeat his mom. And the newfound power Kurando has unlocked?





Changing his ethnicity, hair color, growing a horn, stripping off most of his clothing in favor of a loincloth and weird slave shackles as well as acquiring a huge ass sword. This is Kurando's second and final Demon Morph -- Jutendouji. Which, if you cannot tell by the sword that's nearly bigger than he is, is purely a raw physical strength Fusion.

Jutendouji is supposed to be Shuten-Dōji, a prominent oni king from Japanese folklore that was kind of a dick and kept kidnapping and eating villagers around Kyoto. This resulted in a band of heroes needing to go kick his ass. Or disguise themselves as priests, get invited over to his joint, to get him completely piss drunk and decapitate him while he's too shitfaced to fight back. As heroes do. I'm uncertain if the oni king did this villainy in a loincloth.

Wikipedia on Shuten-dōji posted:


Click here for more!

Shuten-dōji is a mythical oni or demon leader of Japan, who according to legend was killed by the hero Minamoto Raikō. Although decapitated, the demon's detached head still took a bite at the hero, who avoided death by wearing multiple helmets stacked on his head. Shuten-dōji had his lair at Mt. Ōe northwest of the city of Kyoto, or Mt. Ibuki, depending on the version. It has also been theorized that the original mountain was Mt. Ōe on the western edge of the city of Kyoto.

According to the Ōeyama Ekotoba version, Shuten-dōji returned to his true form when he slept. He was 50 feet in height, had a red body and a five-horned head, with fifteen eyes; one leg was white and the other black, while his arms were yellow and blue.

Yeah, not really seeing that description fitting Kurando's current form.



Speaking of forms, our adversary is just Kouenki again. I guess that transformation earlier wasn't the dark influence of Astaroth on Saki. She... can just turn into a giant four-armed lady at will. She just happened to get mildly possessed the last time. Kurando's mother is still a Fire class elemental enemy. Though to make things fair for a solo boss battle, her health pool has been reduced to 2800 HP. She's still pretty tough if we're not careful, though.





Kurando's Jutendouji form only has two abilities at its disposal at the moment. Ascetic's Fire, despite the name, is a Non-Elemental magic attack that costs 88 HP. It's not very impressive, doing exactly 250 HP of damage to Kouenki.



The actual only option to get anywhere is to just go ham with Jutendouji's physical attacks. Even with a Level 1 version of the Demon Morph, he is pretty goddamn strong doing 400 to 450 HP of damage with a second attack string.







The thing is Kouenki also hits really goddamn hard doing in the ballpark of 250-300 HP of damage per turn. So Kurando gets maybe at a risk two turns before he needs to heal up with a consumable.



Big Lady Saki also access to Energy Charge and Kurando better have at least 200 HP RIGHT NOW because that's how much damage she is going to do the next turn. If he defends and Blocks the next turn, that is. If he isn't defending, Kouenki will do over 700 HP of damage and he will die that turn.





And as Saki said before the battle began, this is a real match and she will straight-up murder her son in this fight. It's going to be really hard for Saki to explain to Yuri and the gang why Kurando is a splattered corpse with a different skin color, stripped almost naked, and is wearing weird bondage chains. No part of that is going to look good for the defense team in Saki Inugami's murder trial.





In any event, Kurando just smacks his giant lady mom with a sword a bunch and heals every other round until she takes a nap. That's pretty much the whole fight.


Music: Result ~ Victory





Kurando gets a load of experience all to himself and a hefty allowance for knocking his mother out. Again. This family is a little dysfunctional. But they are related to the Hyuga family so it is to be expected.


Music: Field of God-Dog ~ Village of The Dog God



W-what the...?! I feel a burning in my chest... And an urge to go wild...
These clothes... they feel so... restrictive...
That's the spirit of the Ogre you have awakened. Your life will now be a struggle to keep it under control. But I know you're capable of it. Make your father proud now, as the young Inugami leader.





And nothing says leadership of a clan like rejoining a band of weirdo hobos and immediately leaving town again.



Now that we're out of cutscene and battles, let's take a quick look at Jutendouji. Like other high-end Fusions, Kurando's second Demon Morph is a Non-Elemental class. At default level, Jutendouji has:
Can't do magic for shit. VERY fast and strong.





But that's at Level 1. We have a decent stock of Soul Energy that's being saved for a rainy day or the End Game Fusion unlocks. We can have Kurando perform several unfortunate-looking poses to buff him to max Level 10. Which ups Jutendouji's stats to:
More fast. More strong. More hit with sword good! At the maximum level, Kurando Form 2 possesses the following abilities:

All and all not bad. It still isn't going to make me use Kurando much. You should have shown up in Disc 1, Young Swordsman.



Can I just note that the Fountain of Sukune has been visited for several key scenes now and this goony ventriloquist with pockets full of spoiled food has been loitering outside this entire time. You're not going to be Japan's best ventriloquist standing in the middle of the woods all day. Christ, you don't even have a puppet! Get it together, Ichizumi!



While Kurando's role in events today has concluded. There is one additional thing we can do in the village if we return to the Inugami Estate and speak with Saki one last time.



I-I, uh... Well... I wanted to talk to you, Saki...
To me? What about? Speak up, and don't be shy, now.
I know we haven't known each other very long but you can trust me to talk about whatever you wish.
Have you seen my entourage? Other than Kurando, you are downright normal.
Hee hee. Yuri seems like a fine young man, at least.
...For being his aunt, you sure don't know that guy very well.
Perhaps. So did you want?
Well, I... I'm not really sure what to say... I'm worried about Kurando. He seems to have... changed somehow.
Kurando?
<nods> Yes. ...He seems to have gotten more... manly... more adult lately...
He keeps saying he's itchy in his clothes and something about returning to monke...? I don't quite understand what's gotten into him.
Tee hee hee! I'll let you in on a little secret. Kurando has recently become a man!



That's right. Don't tell anyone, all right? But Kurando has just passed his coming-of-age rite. He was swinging that big, hard thing around so roughly! I was just amazed to see what a man he'd become!
<looks down and ponders> Big, hard thing...?! What a man he'd become...?!
Wow, they really do things differently in Japanese families, huh? That's wild!
!?
Oh, my goodness! Heavens, no! What were you thinking of, my child?! Ho ho ho! ...Actually, I guess I'm the one that was thinking something weird! Ho ho!

I meant that Kurando broke his seal and resurrected the Spirit of the Ogre. He was swinging a metal rod. Understand?
<shakes head rapid> Uh, I don't think so...
Is this the sex talk? My mom already gave me that one and it wasn't nearly as... strange. There are some cultural differences that aren't coming across well, if so...

Saki turns away embarrassed.



Huh?
<turns back to Anastasia> Never mind. ...Oh, I know! I'll tell you what, Anastasia! Let me give you this. It'll look just marvelous on you!





So we gain Anastasia's alternate costume accessory. Only the female characters gain alternate costumes. After Karin's uhh... look, and given some Cornelia's dresses, Anastasia gaining an alternate appearance could be worrying. But thankfully, it's just an inoffensive cute kimono.



The leading weavers of the day purified raw silk in the holy fountain to create it, the ultimate garment! I kept it safe all these years, to give to the woman Kurando would someday marry.
<gasp> The woman Kurando would marry?!
<nods> That's right. ...And that should do the trick to repair my image, don't you think?
...Arranging a marriage for you son?
Do you not want that?
No, no, no! That's fine! That works! Image restored!
<steps forward> And what is my image supposed to be? You remember, now, don't you?
...Um, "the beautiful, mysterious widow," was it...?
<smiles and nods> There you go! And that's what I want you to say, whenever anybody asks you from now on, you got that?
Especially any suitable, handsome men looking for mysterious, alluring single women.
<nods> Um, yes, ma'am. (What is she getting so worked up about...?)
And now you and Kurando are officially engaged! Take good care of my son!
Y-yes, ma'am!



Now that Saki has offloaded Kurando, she is quitting this shrine gig, taking the next bus to the Imperial Capital, and getting her single mom drink on. That was kinda fuckin' a weird conversation to end things on... Hey, 12 year old want to marry my sixteen year old son? No, we're not going to discuss this with him. Have this cute dress and don't discuss the talk that could be mistaken for gawking at my son's penis. Now on your way, sweetie.

That weird shit is the last time we ever take to Saki Inugami. She ended on that.





That all said, the Autumn Dress, like Karin's alternate costume, is an Anastasia-only Accessory that has zero stat boosts and just burns an inventory slot changing Anastasia's appearance if you're into that kind of thing.



And now that we've gotten the two youngest party members hitched and taught one of them to strip down to their britches, we are officially done with business in Inugami Village for the rest of the game. Slowly but surely we are crossing more and more locations off of the World Map. One day we'll reach Asuka Stone Platform again. One day...






Video: Episode 130 Highlight Reel Juten-Kurando's Special Attacks are at the end of the video.





Jutendouji Official Art - It was important to get the detail on Kurando Butt.



Jutendouji Portrait - I'm told extremely bushy old man's eyebrows help greatly in battle.



Anastasia Alternate Costume - Anastasia is going to be the only Romanov to survive the purges because she moved to Japan and became a complete weeb.



Kurando and Anastasia Key Art - Anastasia is trying very hard not to look at Kurando's butt.