Episode 71

EPISODE 71

迫り来る恐怖！魔界の扉 (Semari-kuru Kyoufu! Makai no Tobira)

The Terror Approaches! A Doorway to the Demon World

First Broadcast: March 12, 1994

Equivalent Manga Chapter(s): second half of chapter 118 (WSJ #21-22, 1993, May 10), first 3/4ths of chapter 119 (WSJ #23, 1993, May 24)

Summary: The Demon World portal is in nearby Mushiyori City, and will fully open in 3 weeks. Koenma explains that if it does then demons of Toguro’s caliber (B-class) will be able to freely enter the Human World.  A special barrier prevents even stronger demons (A and S-class) from entering even if the portal opens, but if this final barrier is destroyed it will mean the end of the Human World, as even the Spirit World can’t stop S-class demons.  Hiei leaves the others, vowing to return to the Demon World, and the group decides to rest and plan their next move.

Anime/manga differences after the jump.

Differences from the Manga

(What's all this about?  Read here)

• The anime slightly expands on the scene showing the various odd effects the portal is creating in Mushiyori City.  Most notably, we see a ghost (?) beneath a street lamp, flickering briefly into and then out of visibility.  Nice touch.

• After Koenma contacts Botan and co., in the manga he tells them that the portal is opening with such speed that it’s clearly artificial, and that the reason they took so long to notice it is due to it being limited to a very confined space.  The anime cuts these lines (skipping straight to Genkai saying that the portal has already started affecting humans), perhaps because they seem a little redundant after Koenma and Ayame’s conversation.  On that note, the anime adds in some extra lines for Koenma during that scene.  In the manga he just shouts “impossible!”, but in the anime he goes on to say that there couldn’t really be a portal connecting the Human and Demon Worlds, and that the area must have simply fallen under the influence of some demon lord.

• Before Koenma starts explaining all about the different stages the portal will pass through and demon ranks and whatnot, in the anime he hesitates and says he doesn’t know whether or not he should tell Yusuke and the gang this, since much of this information is top secret.  Yusuke yells at him for being so self-important.

• In the anime Koenma notes that demons that are D-class and lower are stupid but very violent.  This matches up well with Sensui’s later explanation of the traits of each demon class.  The anime also shows one such low-level demon attacking a woman, by way of illustration.

• In the manga Koenma says the final stage of the portal will come when its radius is 1 km, while the anime phrases this as its diameter being 2 km.  This of course means exactly the same thing, but I wonder why they bothered with such a small wording change?

• Koenma’s explanation of the demon levels and the structure of the Demon World is slightly rearranged and expanded on in the anime, but the actual explanation is ultimately the same.  The most notable change is that in the manga Koenma talks about S-class demons before explaining how small a portion of the Demon World the Spirit World is actually able to control, while in the anime the S-class demon explanation comes after this.  In the anime Genkai asks whether or not the Spirit World has done anything to prepare for the possibility of A or S-class demons invading the Human World, which leads into Koenma’s speech about the barrier between the Human and Demon Worlds, while in the manga he just goes straight from one subject to the next.

• To illustrate the idea that even a single A or S-class demon invading the Human World would be worse than allowing tons of B-class and lower demons to slip in, the anime includes some really great scenes of gigantic S-class demons destroying cities and fighting armies, Godzilla-style.

• In the anime when Kuwabara complains about not being able to see the video and so not understanding all this “class” stuff they’re talking about, he mentions “Oba-Q”.  This is short for “Obake no Q-Tarou”, a manga about a ghost (obake) named Q-Tarou.  The joke is that the Japanese word for “level” or “class”, kyuu, is a homonym for the Japanese pronunciation of the alphabet letter Q.  So Kuwabara kept hearing them say kyuu this and kyuu that, and connected it with Q-Tarou.

• After Kuwabara’s outburst, in the manga Koenma (apparently just ignoring him) says that Yusuke and the gang must stop whoever is opening the portal before it gets too wide.  The Spirit World is quickly forming its own strategy, but first Yusuke et al must find the people responsible for the tunnel.  Genkai replies that they’ve really got no choice, since the culprits are clearly targeting them, apparently because they represent a threat.  The scene then switches to Sensui’s apartment, where he talks with Elder Toguro.  In the anime though, after Kuwabara’s outburst there’s just an awkward silence.  Kuwabara asks what’s wrong, and the scene ends there, after which we get the scene with Sensui in his apartment.

• Significantly, in the anime version of the Sensui scene, Elder Toguro calls Sensui by name, and the scene ends with Sensui thinking to himself about how terrible humans are and all that jazz.  In the manga we don’t learn Sensui’s name until the scene with Itsuki, and we don’t get any sense of his motives until Koenma explains his backstory to Yusuke and co., following Seaman’s defeat.  

• By the way, in the anime the full moon during these night scenes is GIGANTIC.  It looks like it’s about to crash into the Earth.

• Chapter 119 opens with the narrator explaining about Mushiyori City (population: 250,000) and the portal opening there, after which we see Sensui speaking with Itsuki about the portal’s progression, and then we get back to 4-D Mansion where Kuwabara is in a panic after being told all about A and S-class demons.  The anime rearranges these scenes so that the 4-D Mansion part comes first, while chapter 119’s opening narration is used for the recap at the start of episode 72.  Also, in the manga Yusuke explains to Kuwabara about the barrier between the Human and Demon Worlds, while the anime cuts this, presumably since while this kind of recap is necessarily at the start of a chapter it’s redundant midway through an episode.  Technically Kuwabara’s recap of the A/S-class explanation is redundant too, but it’s funny to see him all panicked.

• When Genkai explains about physical bodies, spiritual bodies, and naked souls, the manga includes a note saying that “spiritual body” was the state Yusuke was in following his death at the start of the series, while the anime doesn’t include this.  Also, in the manga the models for each state are just non-descript drawings, while in the anime they use images of Kuwabara. 

• When Kido and co. reintroduce themselves, in the manga besides their names they also state their age and what year of school they’re in (Kido: 15/third year of middle school, Yanagisawa: 16/second year of high school, Kaito: 17/second year of high school).  The anime just has them say their names and abilities. 

• In the manga Kaito explains that before they developed their abilities the three of them all went through a period of intense nausea and headaches, and that this was probably the awakening of their abilities.  The anime leaves this out.

• When Hiei says how he plans to use the portal to return to the Demon World, in the manga he notes that once its diameter reaches 2 km even B-class demons will be able to pass through it, while the anime leaves this out.  It’s a small thing, but it implies that the reason Hiei asked Koenma about his current rank was so that he’d know precisely when he’d be able to pass through the portal.

• After Hiei leaves, in the anime there’s a Koenma/Jorge scene.  Koenma wonders whether he should have classified Hiei as an upper-middle B rank or even higher, while Jorge thinks that this isn’t like deciding what to order at a restaurant.

• In the anime Genkai’s explanation of what their investigation strategy should be is somewhat shortened, and instead Yanagisawa and co. explain their willingness to help defend the Human World.  In the manga Genkai says that everyone should go home and get some sound sleep, while in the anime she has them all sleep in 4-D Mansion.  Kuwabara wants to cuddle up with Botan, much to her disgust.  That’s quite a callback to the “Kuwabara likes Botan” early filler…and kind of out of character now that Kuwabara’s supposed to be all about Yukina.

• After the 4-D Mansion scene ends, we get the anime version of the scene with Sensui and Itsuki.  Notably, Sensui calls Itsuki by name, while in the manga we don’t learn his name until later.  Itsuki’s explanation of the barrier and how they need someone to cut it down is shortened, though nothing is left out that we haven’t really heard before.  When Sensui heads out to look for someone with a barrier-cutting ability, we see the other members of their group in the background.  In the manga these are all ridiculous-looking interchangeable placeholder images that look nothing like the group members we eventually see (they’re all the same height and build, for instance).  In the anime though, we see shadowy but recognizable images of the actual group.

• After that is an anime-only scene where Keiko is woken up by Puu, who is trembling.  Puu flies away and Keiko runs out of her house and follows after him.  The two soon pass by the Kuwabara household, where Shizuru happens to see Puu, and she goes out and talks with Keiko.  They discuss how neither Yusuke nor Kazuma came home last night, and figure that Puu might know where they are.  Shizuru is able to sense the negative energy emitting from Mushiyori City.  I guess this scene establishes that Keiko and Kuwabara live fairly close to each other, in the anime at least.

• The episode ends about 14 pages into chapter 119: Yusuke and co. call it quits for the day and plan their next move (but like I said, the manga scene order gets rearranged a bit).