Episode 107

EPISODE 107

激闘！夢に賭けた男たち (Gekitou! Yume ni Kaketa Otoko-tachi)

Fierce Fighting! Men Fighting for Their Dreams

First Broadcast: November 26, 1994

Equivalent Manga Chapter(s): none!  The first episode of pure filler.

Summary: With the main tournament in full swing, Shishi-Wakamaru loses to Hokushin.  Jin goes up against Soketsu, while Toya fights Kujo.  The two put up a heroic struggle but are no match for Soketsu and Kujo, who are really two of Raizen’s old friends and therefore extraordinarily powerful. 

Anime/manga differences after the jump.

Differences from the Manga

(What's all this about?  Read here)

• Well, it took a long, long time, but we finally got an episode that is essentially all filler.  It’s not too bad though.  I do however think it was a bit of a wasted opportunity to devote most of the episode to Jin versus Soketsu and Toya versus Kujo.  These fights are both basically remakes of Chu versus Natsume: one of the Dark Tournament characters goes up against one of Raizen’s friends and gets clobbered.  It was fun once, but three matches with foreordained conclusions are a little much.  Much more interesting I feel is Hokushin versus Shishi-Wakamaru, since it’s a different sort of match-up and either character could win.

• There is still a bit of material in this episode that sort of adapts things from the manga.  At the start Yusuke checks in with Toya to see how the gang all did, much like he does in chapter 168.  There though Yusuke learns the outcomes of Chu and Rinku’s matches, while in the anime he learns that Suzuki has lost to a demon “whose power was in a league of its own”.  This sounds like Suzuki likewise had the misfortunate of fighting one of Raizen’s old friends, but we don’t see the fight or get any further information on it.  I get the feeling Suzuki wasn’t exactly a popular character.  

• I’m not going to bother outlining everything that happens in the anime-only fights in this episode (or the next few episodes, for that matter), but it’s probably notable that the Shishi-Wakamaru/Hokushin fight includes two anime-only attacks.  First, Shishi-Wakamaru uses the Kaidoku Shokuhazan (“spinning skulls that destroy on contact”).  Hokushin blocks this with an energy shield and counters with the Reiko Saga-dan (“scattering bullets of spiritual light”).  It’s interesting that Hokushin’s attack has a naming scheme similar to the techniques Genkai uses and taught to Yusuke; compare its name with the Reiko-Dan (“Bullets of Spiritual Light”).  Perhaps Hokushin learned this new technique from Yusuke?

• By the way, the big tournament chart in the manga indicates that Hokushin and Shishi-Wakamaru would indeed go up against each other in Round 2, assuming they both made it past Round 1 (their Round 1 opponents are both nobodies, so it seems a safe bet).  In the anime though, the two are fighting in Round 1.

• I said before that Shishi-Wakamaru/Hokushin is a fight either side could win.  Strictly speaking though, if you pay attention to the spectral power numbers thrown around in the manga (which I wouldn’t necessarily recommend), Hokushin had a power of 36,000 points according to Yomi’s data, while Shishi-Wakamaru grew to be over 100,000 points thanks to Genkai’s training.  Despite this, in the anime Hokushin wins, with relative ease it seems.  This could be because Hokushin has grown stronger by fighting Yusuke all the time and is now likewise over 100,000 points, or perhaps because his stretching powers and/or fighting experience gives him an advantage. 

• Koto refers to Jin and Soketsu’s fight as the 6^th match in Block A (this probably means the Hokushin/Shishi-Wakamaru fight was the 5^th fight of Block A).  This diverges from the manga’s version of the tournament.  According to the massive tournament chart featured in chapter 168, the 5^th fight of Block A is between Shu (Raizen’s friend) and an unknown character named “Urara”, while the 6^th fight is between Soketsu and “Soko”.  This is why you later see Soketsu and Shu fight as part of Round 2.  So basically the anime swaps Jin in for Soko; in the manga for Round 1 Jin instead fights a guy named “Hatsukan” for the 12^th fight of Block D.  I don’t particularly mind the anime changing things around like this, but again I think it would have been more interesting to see Jin paired with somebody he could have had a more even fight with.

• In fact, the manga tournament chart shows that Jin would have faced Kirin (Mukuro’s old right-hand man) in Round 2, assuming neither character lost to their Round 1 opponents.  I think it would have been fun for the anime to depict that fight instead, if only so we could see what Kirin is capable of.  And Kirin’s supposed to have a power of roughly 90,000 points, which is comparatively close to Jin’s, so it would be perfectly fitting for them to have a close battle.  The tournament chart also shows that, if Jin did manage to defeat Kirin, he would go up against Denho (Raizen’s big beast friend) in Round 3.  I wonder why the anime didn’t just show that fight, if they wanted to show Jin against one of Raizen’s friends (they could just move it to Round 1)?  Maybe they wanted to hype Soketsu up a bit, since his fight with Shu is somewhat prominently featured later on in both versions.

• Interestingly, the anime depicts Soketsu as capable of flying.  He can even fly faster than Jin, saying that as a Wind-Tamer Jin can’t fly faster than the wind can.  How Soketsu himself flies isn’t explained, but presumably it’s via his own energy, like the characters in Dragon Ball.  

• Also notable is that Soketsu refers to Jin as the toughest person he’s met since Raizen, and says Jin’s stubbornness reminds him of himself, back when he used to fight Raizen 1,500 years ago.  We get a flashback to this, showing Raizen easily beating up Soketsu.  

• Jin uses a “powered up version” of the Shura Senpu-ken during the fight.

• In the anime during Round 1 Toya goes up against Kujo for the 11^th fight in Block B.  Like with the Jin/Soketsu match, this diverges from the tournament chart featured in the manga.  There, Block B fight #11 is Koko versus “Kagemi”, while Kujo fights “Oomune” in Block B fight #2, and Toya fights “Nensai” in Block C fight #2.  I’m not sure why the anime staff picked Kujo as the friend of Raizen for Toya to fight.  My best guess would be that it’s because in the manga Kujo is the one who defeats Kurama in Round 3 of the tournament (something we’re told but not shown), making him somewhat important, though the anime version actually never mentions that.

• The only thing really notable about all these “who fights who in which part of what round” changes is that according to the manga tournament chart Toya doesn’t actually go up against any major character until the semi-finals, when he’d fight Enki.  Until then his opponents are all random nobodies.  This is actually commented on in chapter 169, but Toya points out that he can’t rest easy, since one of those seeming nobodies might be a super-powerful person who’s been hiding up until now, like with Raizen’s friends.  He could also end up like Rinku and lose for a really stupid reason, of course.  But we’re never told what happened to him, and for all we know while Yusuke, Hiei, and Kurama got smoked in the third round, Toya advanced all the way to the semi-finals and was defeated by the eventual tournament champion.  I like to think this happened, if only because it amuses me.

• This episode reveals that Natsume and Kujo are brother and sister, which isn’t specified in the manga.

• During his fight with Kujo, Toya uses an ice-based attack that prevents Kujo from using his spectral energy.  Obviously this is a tie-in to Gama’s technique during the Dark Tournament, where he did the same sort of thing with his body paint/blood.  Kujo says this means the difference between their spectral powers has disappeared…but he still manages to break out of Toya’s ice when he really needs to, though apparently this uses up the last of his power.  Regardless of supposedly having no power left, Kujo still manages to fight evenly with Toya, and everyone (even Yusuke) is impressed by their battle.  Toya realizes that Kujo purposelessly let his energy be drained so that the two could fight on equal terms.  Toya then collapses.

• During Toya and Kujo’s fight, Kurama tells Yusuke about how all his Dark Tournament opponents have been influenced by him, and there’s a flashback to what Toya told Kurma before the match.  Back in the Dark Tournament Toya said he was trying to find the “light”, and now he has, which essentially means he is free.  With that off his to-do list, Toya now has no other aspirations but to fight as hard as he can.  This is intended to be a positive influence Yusuke and co. have had on him, apparently.