#suikotsu

Strategy: The Band of Seven are Plan Recyclers

The Band of Seven are mercenaries first and foremost. They’re ruthless, efficient, and unexpectedly loyal. Once a promise is made, they waste little time in getting the deed done, no matter how brutal it might be. Because they’re so absurdly powerful, we’re presented with very few examples of them strategizing about their attack plans though, and oftentimes one or more of the members will simply go overboard and kill indiscriminately. 

Even when Bankotsu is planning to attack the castle to rescue Banryu, we don’t see him show any concern or stress for how that attack is going to go, and even deliberately gives them a heads-up to scare them. He isn’t worried in the slightest about the castle having time to prepare for the onslaught, and with good reason, since their castle falls within no time at all.

When we do see them attempt to strategize, the Band of Seven have a habit of recycling plans.

Episode 105 / Episode 117

In episode 105 “The Ghastly Steel Machine”, Ginkotsu uses the glint of his spear to draw Inuyasha away from the cave with his friends. Because he previously blew up so much of the forest, the scent of gunpowder was everywhere and led to Inuyasha being unable to track Ginkotsu.

In Episode 117 “Vanished in A River of Flames”, Renkotsu uses this same strategy against Inuyasha. The difference being that rather than using a spear, he sends a Saimyōshō as bait.

Both of these strategies involve luring Inuyasha away from a cave so that a mercenary can attack his friends. It’s also more or less implied that Ginkotsu was executing this plan under Renkotsu’s orders, meaning Renkotsu reused his own plan.

Renkotsu also sets the temple on fire, which as he says — only “hastens the inevitable” deaths of Kagome, Miroku and Sango. 

In Episode 108, we see Renkotsu execute another strategy on Suikotsu’s village — he and Ginkotsu fire cannons at the ground/houses to draw people out. In the context of the anime, this is done to force Suikotsu out into the open, rather than searching each house individually.

The intention is likely the same in the manga, the main difference being that in the anime, the villagers all escape unscathed.

We see in flashbacks that Renkotsu has a habit of lighting buildings on fire during their attacks. (Note: This could be an example of Rumiko herself reusing strategy, as Princess Abi and her birds use a similar method of lighting themselves on fire to force people out into the open — they either stay in the house and die from smoke inhalation, or they run out and get killed by the birds. Later on, Renkotsu later uses fire as a means to keep people trapped with the river of flames, which also bears resemblance.)

In Episode 106, the purpose of lighting the temple on fire is more precautionary than anything else. Kagome, Sango and Miroku can’t get up and run away, and he could just kill them immediately and be done with it, but there is benefit in killing them slowly as it makes Inuyasha vulnerable.

If he had finished them off, Inuyasha wouldn’t be trying to run to their aid, he’d be solely focused on vengeance.

Early on in the Bo7 arc, we see Renkotsu take over the temple to hide his scent among graveyard soil and the scent of a living person. 

In Episode 104, Jakotsu does the opposite — he opens his kosode up to ‘fan’ his scent out so Inuyasha could track it faster, albeit I suspect that was mostly just so he could be flirty about it. Nonetheless, this tells us that the Band of Seven, minus Kyōkotsu, were all aware they smelled like a dead person to someone with a heightened sense of smell.*

*Given that no one in the village commented about Suikotsu being strangely stinky, it doesn’t seem to be perceptible to humans.

Another example of plan recycling comes from Episode 108 and 109.

When Jakotsu is sent after Suikotsu, he intends to scare him into his evil side, but Kikyō thwarts his plans by protecting Suikotsu. With no other option, Jakotsu uses Yūta and Chiyo (who decided the best course of action is to run towards Suikotsu) as a means to lure Suikotsu away from Kikyō’s protection and into danger.

He attacks the kids a lot slower than he usually does, giving Suikotsu ample time to run to their aid. Given he later complains about having to kill kids, it’s safe to say he was just using them as bait, which means two of Jakotsu’s plans involve using a child (Yūta-Chiyo/Rin) or two as bait to draw someone (Suikotsu/Sesshōmaru) into a trap. 

Renkotsu also uses the immobile Kikyō as bait to distract Inuyasha and everyone from their real target — Yūta and Chiyo — which he sends Jakotsu after, which is a plan in a similar vein.

Mukotsu actually has his own plans that are interesting enough. He uses his poisonous smoke as a barrier around the hut, ensuring no one can leave or enter. This would’ve been entirely effective against normal humans. 

Now, while I lovingly call them plan recyclers, that isn’t a bad thing. It actually makes perfect sense for a team to have specific plans they can cycle, but it gives us a little insight into their go-to when facing single enemies.

In Sickness and In Health:

Fandom Perception

There’s been many headcanons and portrayals of the Band of Seven by the fandom throughout the years, and there’s one in particular that’s very understandable but I ultimately disagree with: Suikotsu being their doctor.

One personality may have a medical degree, but I think it’s highly unlikely he took on that role within the Band of Seven for a few reasons.

Perhaps the most obvious being Suikotsu himself would not be pleased with being used as a doctor. It contradicts his ‘evil’ personality, which would anger him. In some instances, it might even cause him to revert to his doctor personality who can’t handle blood. Even aside from that, I don’t think Bankotsu would force him.

So what happens when one of them gets injured? Who is the go-to medic?

Renkotsu.

Canonically, Renkotsu is the one who patched up and enhanced Ginkotsu to his current state, which is likely the only reason Ginkotsu lived as long as he did. While undercover as a monk, he takes care of Kagome, Miroku and Sango convincingly enough to fool Shippō. He’s even designated as ‘the smart one’.

While Bankotsu and Jakotsu can probably patch themselves up well enough not to bleed out, the other members I’m less sure of.

Namely, Kyōkotsu and Ginkotsu. The only indication we get of how Kyōkotsu deals with injuries is when he picks up his severed hand and reattaches it. Based on his general characterization and behaviour, it seems unlikely that he’d bother with bandages.

Ginkotsu might have some experience with patching injuries, but his injuries would later leave him with a more limited range of motion, and not the best suited for delicate tasks.

 Mukotsu’s experiences with herbs suggests a possible background where he was taught herbalism for medical purposes, so it’s likely he’s not inexperienced in the First Aid department, but ultimately I think Renkotsu was more trustworthy, especially as Bankotsu’s second in command.

(Note: In the audio drama, Mukotsu does attempt to add a medicine box to Ginkotsu, but given none of them are alive at this point, the necessity of the medicine box is in question.)

Thus, Renkotsu was probably the de facto healer of the group, which probably contributed to how remodelling Ginkotsu even started. If not him, it probably would’ve fallen to Mukotsu.

Whose Killed the Most People?

We know Bankotsu has killed at least 1020 humans with Banryū, and three without, and 1000 demons with Banryū. We can’t say for certain, but evidence in the show indicates Bankotsu may have had a background as a soldier or the like, which would make that number higher. Banryū is extremely heavy, so he likely trained very hard and had seen battle before having it forged. 

There’s no concrete way of determining how many people Bankotsu has killed prior to his murder quest but we can approximate who did the most damage of all the members.

In Episode 103, the villagers specify that those slain by the Band of Seven were sliced to pieces and burned alive. Burned alive obviously refers to Renkotsu, he’s the only one who burns his victims like that, whereas Ginkotsu would more likely have blown them up.

Sliced to pieces is a bit more vague, but I believe the phrasing points to Jakotsu more than Bankotsu. 

Jakotsu is known for slicing opponents up creatively. His theme tune is even called “Cutting Captain, Jakotsu” or “Slash Captain, Jakotsu.” He slices and he sure as hell dices. The jakotsutō is designed to wrap around an opponent like a snake and mince them in one smooth motion. While the word-of-mouth technically doesn’t mean anything for their kill count conclusively, I think it’s worth taking into account the perspective characters in-universe have.

The flashbacks in Episode 103 showcasing their attacks does give us a better indication with how many opponents they take on at once.

Jakotsu: 16

Ginkotsu: At least 12

Renkotsu: 9

Suikotsu: Unclear (two slashes)

Mukotsu: 5

Kyōkotsu: 4

Bankotsu: About 13

In Episode 110, we see another flashback of them fighting as a group. The number of opponents is much more even this time:

Jakotsu: 5

Mukotsu: 4

Kyōkotsu: 3

Ginkotsu: 5

Suikotsu: 5

Renkotsu: Unclear (5-7)

Bankotsu: Not shown

As a group, it’s stated they could do the work of 100 men. We can also analyze the damage they do outside of their targets.

Episode 104, Mukotsu has killed at least four villagers (+ a bird) with his poison. It’s unclear how far the perimeter of his poison extends, but he might’ve wiped out an entire peasant village to lay a trap for Kagome.

In the same episode, we see Renkotsu arrive at the temple. He kills at least five monks, one of which he kills with his bare hands. 

In his debut episode, Jakotsu kills at least 48 armed soldiers and at least 4 horses. Prior, it’s mentioned he wiped out the entire border guard/patrol, which I’ll assume is at least 10 people and in the manga, at least one horse. Jakotsu later kills 10 people and 2 horses on his quest to acquire new clothes.

In Episode 115, Suikotsu, as ‘Neutral’ Suikotsu, kills at least six villagers.

As far as I recall, Ginkotsu doesn’t kill post-resurrection outside of (implied) getting revenge on the castle.

So from these numbers, it seems like Jakotsu tends to do the most damage. But there’s actually more pointing towards that conclusion, too.

The dialogue may vary depending on translation, but Bankotsu knows without asking that Jakotsu is the reason that there isn’t anyone left alive in the castle.

He either recognizes this through the condition of the corpses, or it’s a pattern — possibly even both. He doesn’t sound particularly surprised, just lightly scolds Jakotsu for it. 

It could also be meant to imply that Jakotsu killed the women because they’re women, but given how annoyed and reluctant he was to fight Sango, and how little he seemed to desire to hurt her, this part is extremely doubtful to me unless Jakotsu was jealous at the idea of women being around Bankotsu.

(Notably, if we do go by that interpretation, Jakotsu’s jealousy in regards to Bankotsu would be more vicious than his jealousy in regards to Inuyasha, as he only gives Sango a warning-wound in response to her interference.)

Given his previous reluctance to hurt/fight women and overall disinterest in them, there’s a good chance the women were casualties who were standing close to men, or he did go out of his way to swing his sword in their direction specifically because of his hatred towards the castle, or just didn’t feel the need to show restraint.

Coupled with the numbers we see him take down in the show, I believe he was doing a lot of the heavy-lifting when it came to battles. 

// EDIT: This conversation from Episode 107,

Renkotsu: So you let Kōga get away, did you? Shame on you, Jakotsu. // So you let him get away? That’s unlike you.

Jakotsu: Sorry, couldn’t be helped. The guy ran super fast. You shoulda seen him. // What could I have done? The guy runs ridiculously fast.

Renkotsu: It doesn’t matter/It’s fine (Eng Sub only)

also implies that Jakotsu has a high accuracy rate. 

//

Bankotsu can also do a lot of damage, but Bankotsu is pickier about opponents. They have to be strong enough to interest him.

Bankotsu claims to have chopped off the heads of a thousand warlords with Banryū. We can’t prove or disprove this statement, but it does give the implication that when it came to battling, Bankotsu would make them leave the leaders and the strongest for him.

That leads well into the next discussion.

Individual Morality

Because Bankotsu cares most about an opponent’s strength, I think his personal take on killing women and children is ‘Not unless they can fight back’ — battle is a way for him to get strong and prove it, and there’s no sport in killing children.

Renkotsu isn’t shown to have any specific qualms against killing women and children, and he most likely doesn’t care either way. 

Jakotsu, as discussed once or twice, doesn’t care for killing children or women. He refers to killing children as ‘dirty work’, but he also doesn’t have any interest in preventing it. He condones it, but he is personally uncomfortable with doing it himself.

Granted, he does smile right before raising his sword against Yūta and Chiyo, but given that he was just complaining about the task and tried to ‘reassure’ them it’d be ‘over quickly’, I can only reasonably interpret it as a preemptive ‘get-to-see-Inuyasha’ smile as anything else contradicts previous actions.

The manga specifies that the Band of Seven didn’t spare women and children, which I have to assume is meant to mean that they didn’t kill them any more mercifully than they did anyone else.

Kyōkotsu, interestingly, doesn’t kill any humans on-screen — it’s just mentioned that he’s been killing and eating every demon in sight. 

That’s the interesting thing about Kyōkotsu — the wiki and any fan-run sources are almost certain to say he had an appetite for human flesh as well, but regarding that, I haven’t seen anything in canon or official sources to actually indicate that.

In the profiles book, it’s just mentioned that he eats ‘demons and ogres’ — which is all he’s ever explicitly stated to eat, far as I can tell. The same is stated in the audio drama, where Kyōkotsu is described as a “giant oni-eating man”.

I’m not saying he’s for sure never dabbled, but he certainly doesn’t go out of his way to do so. He intends to eat Kōga, shards and all, because Kōga is a demon, and he intends to absorb a little bit of demonic power by consuming demons.

His goal is ‘You are what you eat’, and he intends to get as big as he possibly can. Since I don’t think he’d achieve the same ends with humans on the menu, he likely sticks to demons.

It’s also entirely possible that Bankotsu would draw the line there. There are many lines he won’t draw, but there are some he will — never befriending a demon, for instance — which could mean that, strong or not, he doesn’t want anyone in his band to be too far removed from humanity.

And while Bankotsu explicitly states he wouldn’t befriend a demon, the other members don’t necessarily share that view. If I were to guess, I believe Renkotsu would be reluctant to do so and Jakotsu wouldn’t be, and Kyōkotsu would view them as a snack waiting to happen.

I’ve discussed before that Mukotsu and Jakotsu have very different styles of being inappropriate with their targets. Jakotsu specifically wants his opponents to fight back and participate, because it’s not interesting or fun to him if they’re not equally involved in the interaction. Even outside of one-on-one fights, Jakotsu doesn’t kill as many people as he could in one stroke — at least 16 — because the reactions of the people he leaves alive is entertaining.

Mukotsu likes to play with them like dolls by completely immobilizing them. He’ll watch from afar as they drop like flies. 

This isn’t morals, but it isn’t entirely removed from them, either. It says something about who they are as people.

And although he immensely enjoys it, Jakotsu doesn’t actually kill without reason to — whether it be orders or because they drew their swords first. He loves killing, but he never has to instigate. People do that for him.

So Jakotsu ultimately seems to do the biggest quantity of damage overall, hence why he’s the Slash Captain. (Among other reasons.)

So, who is the least violent of the Band of Seven?

Ginkotsu.

Despite the fact Ginkotsu clearly loves weapons and showing them off, he never goes out of his way to kill people. Even when he scares away the monk and his disciple in Episode 105, he never intended to kill them.

To Ginkotsu, I think killing is more of a job than a way of life. He’s good at it, and enjoys it, but what he cares about most is The Band of Seven.

He saves Bankotsu by weakening the Wind Scar, and is stated to respect Renkotsu’s cleverness and for enhancing his body whenever he gets injured. 

Perhaps the most compelling point in this argument is that, in the English dub,

Ginkotsu’s reaction to the soldiers surrounding them is very matter-of-fact. I can’t aptly judge the tone of voice for the original Japanese but his sentence is along the lines of “Let’s go kill some more” which does indicate more excitement than his English line.

But either way, Ginkotsu likely displays the least bloodlust of all of them. Not to say that he doesn’t have any, because he certainly does — they all do, and Ginkotsu laughs a lot during his initial fight with Inuyasha. However, comparatively, he seems more motivated by protecting members of his group or comradery than anything else.

I think a big motivation for Ginkotsu is friendship.

He calls Inuyasha ‘thoughtless’ for letting his friends suffer, and reassures Inuyasha he’ll reunite him with his friends. He’s the only one of the Band of Seven to talk about Inuyasha’s friends this way, in a way I think is telling.

In the profiles book, Rumiko states that Ginkotsu mostly just went along with Renkotsu because he thought whatever he did was ‘right’ 

He also helps protect Bankotsu from the Wind Scar and later sacrifices himself to save Renkotsu’s life. That, combined with his fixation on Inuyasha having friends, signals that he mostly values friendship and loyalty.

Ginkotsu likes being involved, and likes being helpful to his comrades. Whether or not he gets to kill is a bonus. He has little complaints, as long as Renkotsu keeps gluing guns to him and rearranging his organs to fit more weapons in them.

It’s all he wants in life.

Last up is Suikotsu. 

While he isn’t the least violent Band of Seven member, he is the most complex morally, so there’s more to dive into when it comes to him. Something I touched on earlier and that I’ve felt I should address for a while is why Jakotsu’s plan successfully awakens Suikotsu. 

Suikotsu has an anime version of Dissociative Identity Disorder, or DID — and compared to some other portrayals of DID (looking at you, B99) it’s actually surprisingly realistic in the way it's written.

Suikotsu develops DID after experiencing a traumatic event: a samurai killing an unconscious little girl and reiterating his orders were to kill everyone in the village, then being forced to kill. 

He’s a doctor who is forced to kill someone in self-defense, something so completely against his code of ethics that it shatters his sense of identity.

“When I was alive before, I was tormented by uncertainty. I didn’t know what was right, and what was wrong.”

Previously, he had a black-and-white view of morality. He is a doctor, so he saves lives no matter what. He helps people. To kill someone, even in self defense, completely went against that.

“Looking back, I was probably harder on myself than anyone else would’ve been. I couldn’t forgive myself. I didn’t know what to do.”

In Suikotsu’s flashbacks, we don’t really get a good sense of how much time passed before he became “Evil Suikotsu”, but it likely wasn’t immediate. Most likely, Suikotsu would’ve shut down — stopped eating, drinking, sleeping, etc. 

To deal with this, his mind ‘split’ into two. A ‘good’ version which was his true self, and the ‘evil’ version. ‘Evil Suikotsu’ was his way of protecting himself. It could handle all his memories, because it didn’t care. His brain decided that to deal with the aftermath of killing someone, it had to trick him, or part of him, into believing he liked it.

‘Evil Suikotsu’ has a hyposensitivity to pain, emotional and physical.

“Your body has its own pain-relief system, and it actually produces opioids,” she said. “When you’re dissociated, the endogenous opioid system is in overdrive. You’re pumping out endorphins all the time to protect yourself from emotional or physical pain. Like any drug, it’s addictive.”

— Huffpost article + Additional source

Essentially: ‘Evil’ Suikotsu does not experience pain or fear, at least not in the way a normal person would. 

“That idiot doctor. He’s too scared to come out because of my injury.”

Once Suikotsu was in his altered state of mind he’d be encouraged to stay in it. The adrenaline from battle combined with his dissociated state pumping opioids gave him an incentive to kill; it kept the doctor locked up, and kept him both free from pain and high on adrenaline. Any time he was scared or in pain he’d revert to ‘Evil Suikotsu’ and getting out of that state would be reliant on himself pushing through it. 

Once out of the state, the ‘good’ Suikotsu would repress anything related to ‘evil’ Suikotsu, meaning he lacked awareness about it and likely woke up confused a lot.

The Band of Seven would specifically keep Suikotsu as ‘evil Suikotsu,’ and if he wandered off in his good persona, they’d herd him back to the rest of the group.

Renkotsu: Hey. We’ve come for you.

Jakotsu: Man, keep being so difficult, will ya?

Suikotsu’s nightmare in Episode 108, prior to reconnecting with the Band of Seven, includes the Band of Seven coming to pick him up. We know that when he was recruited, only Bankotsu and Jakotsu were present.

But he specifically dreams of Renkotsu and Jakotsu’s voices, and Jakotsu is definitely in-character given that we see him have similar complaints towards Suikotsu later on. 

This means that Suikotsu did in fact still switch to being the ‘doctor’ at times while part of the Band of Seven, which is probably why he believes his name to be Suikotsu in both forms. 

They’re not surprised he wandered off or ‘hid’ from them, they’re resigned to it. It’s normal behaviour. The mountain’s influence makes it harder for the evil side to fully take over, which surprises them and ends up creating a third persona.

Jakotsu’s plan works because the pain and fear make his body uninhabitable for his good side. By triggering Suikotsu’s dissociation, he makes his mind feel the need to protect itself, and creates the perfect opportunity for the violent side of him to come out. It’s a plan that is intimately aware of Suikotsu’s condition, which I think further backs up the idea he’s “switched” in front of them previously.

And then they die and open a theatre in hell. I guess.

We all contain multitudes.

In conclusion: if Feudal Japan had offered them some kind of theatre program, they probably never would’ve gotten into murder at all. Their bad.