Dongfang Bubai tries to fix Moka's seal.
The infamous Dongfang Bubai in the flesh.
Summary:
At the Wong's mansion, Tsukune and friends are introduced to the Dark Lord Dongfang Bubai who happens to be a short, wrinkly old man wearing large sunglasses. During the dinner banquet, Dongfang tries to hog all the food to himself but he is hit by needles thrown by Fanfan's mother. Dongfang then goes to look at Moka's rosary seal, but first he tricks Moka into wearing a revealing cat costume and reveals himself to be an otaku. While fooling around, Dongfang states that Moka looks just like her mother Akasha.
Far away in the snowy village, Ruby and Kokoa are running an errand for the Chairman and they visit the Snow Witch and Mizore's mother Tsurara. The Snow Witch and Tsurara lead Ruby and Kokoa to the village's sacred Ice Tree which maintains the barrier around the village. The Snow Witch states that the Ice Tree has been infected by a foreign "egg" which is sapping the tree of its powers, but she can't remove the egg without further damaging the tree. Ruby wonders if the goal of Fairy Tale's invasion of the village was to plan this egg onto the tree, and at this moment Kahlua steps out of the shadows to confirm Ruby's guess. Kahlua states that she is just here to pass a message, and she tells Kokoa that the Shuzen family will support Fairy Tale when the time comes, and that means Kokoa's other older sister is also with Fairy Tale. Kahlua tells Kokoa to make sure Moka doesn't meet that other sister again as to not repeat what happened before.
Back in Hong Kong, Dongfang Bubai is about to examine Moka's rosary for real. Dongfang reveals that he was goods friend with Moka's mother but knows that she disappeared without a trace some time in the past. Moka states that the only thing she has left from her mother is the rosary, and that's why she wants to get it fixed. Dongfang agrees to Moka's request and uses his magic to examine the seal on the rosary, and he can see that the seal has been damaged from Moka's other past conflicts. Suddenly, the seal starts shooting beams around the room. Tsukune, Mizore and Kurumu wonder what's going on, and Dongfang tells them to get away as the seal has gone awry and is about to close, but Tsukune and Mizore are hit by the beams.
The next thing Tsukune knows, he is on a grassy cliff side near a castle. Tsukune is then approached by the young Moka who is surprised that Tsukune knows who she is. As Moka calls for her mother, Tsukune is grabbed by Dongfang Bubai who is hiding under the cliff with Mizore on his flying carpet. Dongfang explains that they are on the inside of the shield within Moka's consciousness, and this world is constructed with Moka's memories. Hiding from underneath the cliff, Tsukune and company sees Akasha lead Moka back to the Shuzen castle, and Tsukune notes that Moka greatly resembles Akasha. At the castle, Moka is challenged by Kokoa to a fight while Kahlua is doing chores nearby. Akasha tells the three sisters to get along as a new family member is about to arrive. Meanwhile, Tsukune's group continue to spy on the vampires from afar and Tsukune and Mizore remember that Moka is supposed to have another sister. Dongfang explains that they are seeing sealed memories that Moka herself doesn't remember, and also there are near the time when Moka's mother disappeared.
Back down inside the castle's courtyard, Moka is drawn to the barks of her pet puppy. Her puppy appears to be frightened and Moka spots a girl who is slightly older than her approaching. Moka and her two sisters wonder who the new girl is, and the girl, whose family name is also Shuzen (can't translate her first name), explains that she will be their new sister from now on.
She definitely has the evil half-sister look.
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Interesting chapter. Looks like Rosario + Vampire is going off into a new direction, but first we are going to learn a bit about Moka's family history. We know Moka had three other sisters, so the last one had to show up eventually. The series is hinting towards some bad history between Moka and this other sister which may have contributed to the disappearance of Moka's mother. Whatever happened, it was serious enough to warrant the memory be sealed from Moka's consciousness. With both Kahlua and the other older sister on Fairy Tale's side, battling Fairy Tale is probably going to become a very personal issue for Moka, and this should help the dramatic component for the series.
On the less serious side, we are finally introduced to the infamous Dongfang Bubai, who turned out to be an old, wrinkly, perverted otaku. Not a very impressive depiction, but I suppose it could be worse. The mangaka probably knew the character won't be taken very seriously because of the name, so that's why Dongfang Bubai was designed this way.
Speaking of names, Moka's mother Akasha may be named after the vampire queen from The Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice. If it is the case, Akasha is an appropriate name for a very powerful female vampire, although the Akasha from the Anne Rice novels is rather crazy, bloodthirsty, and evil.
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