Reiwa no Dara-san - Vol. 5 Ch. 35

[matthewrobo]

What would happen if I counter commissioned and asked for bi-weekly releases

Then you’d get a chapter every other week

 

[nomadicengi]

I'm kinda confused on how her sister got infused with her and the snek as well. I don't remember Dara san devouring her sister after she turned so I wonder what happened while she was rampaging on those her sister she convinced to turn against her.

 

[NaveronTheManslayer]

Kaoru is going to be conflicted. On one hand 2 pairs of knockers, on the other the sister is a bitch. I wonder if her revival is going to be treated like a gag like the snek god. Like the two sisters just constantly bickering

I hope not. The snake has the excuse of being butthurt that the sisters imprisoned it because it's a god and thinks it can do as it pleases, but the older sister was a vile pos

 

[Mr_Leixas]

You know, the more I read this manga, the more I realize it is firmly based on Shinto beliefs. At least from what I've understood from my research.

The fossilized arms coiled around each other? That's a goshintai, a divine vessel, and it is treated as such in the story.
Why Dara puts up with the siblings' antics? They entertain her, which is the human's duty, according to Shintoism.
And so on.

In fact, I don't think I have seen any notable Buddhist influence, which is rare in a manga.

Now, what do I think will happen to the older sister? In this situation, she is probably supposed to be a Kegare, an impurity for Dara. And, from what I understood, the Shinto way of purifying such impurities is not with destruction but through water, by washing it off. Hence why I think the situation will be resolved in a non-confrontational way that will result in Dara becoming more ritualistically pure as a god. Plus, it's more in line with how the siblings work.

On another note, I wonder what's the mangaka's background for making such a work.

 

[Yanqui9]

My favorite part is that remember at the beginning of the story, Dara-san said she couldn't remember her human name? It seems almost like foreshadowing now. Her original name was part of a curse on her and remembering would trigger it. Now Da Beeotch is back!

 

[Yanqui9]

I hope not. The snake has the excuse of being butthurt that the sisters imprisoned it because it's a god and thinks it can do as it pleases, but the older sister was a vile pos

Just so! Snek is more just arrogant and thinks ppl should worship him as a god but basically gets the karma he deserves. Tsubaki is just pure evil through and through.

 

[Mathias]

FUCK. THAT bitch is back...

 

[katakatakara]

Oh no! That's not good. Okay, let me see if I have this right, since it's been a while...

So, our "Dara-san" can feel a malevolent spirit sleeping inside of her, which she's constantly fighting to keep sealed. We are led to believe that this is the soul of Aragami, the evil serpent spirit, since that's naturally what the younger sister priestess had merged with, in the past. However, that snake spirit has already escaped, attached itself to someone else, and has turned into a funny mascot friend who is evil but mostly harmless. Despite this, Dara-san still feels as if she's playing a tug-of-war with her "other half", but it hasn't been clear if that's still a real threat, or if Dara-san has simply not noticed the serpent's absence.

Separately from that, we have this ongoing story in the past, where Jurota is working to set up the spiritualist faith in the Yamagami, and there's this odd quirk of the younger sister priestess' name constantly being kept hidden. In terms of story structure, the biggest mystery is why we're even seeing these events at all; at first, we were just getting the origin story of Dara-san, but we've long since passed that point now, and it's mostly seemed like inconsequential housekeeping that could've easily been summarised by simply saying "Jurota helped set up these traditions in reverence for the younger sister priestess", and left it at that. Moreover, what possible significance could her old name hold, after all this time? Why even hide it? It seemed like a strange choice.

This chapter is finally giving us the answer to all of these questions. The malevolent "other half" that Dara-san had been fighting against wasn't the serpent god, but her own older sister; she had sealed her own name away, because it was spelled the same as her older sister's name, and recalling her own name of "Koharu" would risk recalling the name of "Tsubaki" and empowering the older sister to awaken; and we're still following the story of Jurota in the past, because the preparations he made to establish Koharu as the dominant personality is presumably going to be vital in allowing her to reclaim her body from her older sister, and maybe even help to seal her away for good.

If I've gotten off-track anywhere, I would appreciate the correction, but this seems absolutely phenomenal. I can't believe how good this story is at handling its folk horror elements and tragic romance when it's like 50% composed of crossdressing children getting weirdly horny about monster milfs. Just crazy.

Thx for summary!!! It seems that Dara-san was almost about to figure out that she wasn't playing tug-of-war with the original snake! That might also have subconsciously caused her to think of this cave.