Episode 72

EPISODE 72

魔界の使者！七人の敵 (Makai no Shisha! Shichi-nin no Teki)

Envoys of the Demon World! Seven Enemies

First Broadcast: March 19, 1994

Equivalent Manga Chapter(s): last quarter of chapter 119 (WSJ #23, 1993, May 24), chapter 120 (WSJ #24, 1993, May 31), first third of chapter 121 (WSJ #25, 1993, June 7)

Summary: Yusuke and co. start investigating Mushiyori City, and split into two groups.  Kurama’s group investigates the center of the portal-opening and finds only an empty field; the true center must be underground.  Meanwhile, Yusuke’s group discovers someone else with an ability: the mind-reader Murota.  They use him to search for the group opening the portal. He seems to find the ringleader, but is apparently shot by someone.  At the hospital, Murota explains what he read in the ringleader’s mind: a group of 7 is behind the plot, and they want to kill everyone in the world.  Nearby, one of those 7 is watching...

Anime/manga differences after the jump.

Differences from the Manga

(What's all this about?  Read here)

• The manga states that Yusuke and co. explore Mushiyori City two days after the end of the 4-D Mansion hijinks, while the anime doesn’t specify (though Genkai’s speech from last episode implies this is simply the next day).  It’s not clear why they’d wait an extra day, what with the fate of the world being on the line and all.  Plus it’s established that Mushiyori City is very close to Sarayashiki.

• Once everyone reaches Mushiyori and sees all the demon bugs everywhere, in the manga Kido asks Yusuke what his impressions of the city are.  Yusuke says it doesn’t seem so great (even taking into account how he’s only seen the bug-infested version) and Kido agrees, but says he still feels strangely drawn to protect his hometown.  The anime includes Yusuke and Kido’s negative opinion of the city, but leaves out Kido’s speech about wanting to defend it anyway.  Probably this was because last episode had the anime-only bit where he and his friends say something similar.  The anime also reshuffles scenes slightly, with Kurama and co.’s investigation now coming between Yusuke and co. seeing all the demon bugs and Yusuke and Kido discussing the city, instead of those two parts with Yusuke and co. being a single scene followed by Kurama and co.’s scene.

• In the manga as Kurama and co. leave the field at the center of the spatial distortions, we see that there’s somebody watching them behind a nearby wall.  It looks like Sensui, but it’s too shadowy to tell for sure, and Sniper later tells Sensui that Seaman is tailing Kurama’s group.  In the anime Kurama actually realizes that someone is watching them and tries to catch them, but the person gets away.  Then they leave and we see the person watching them crouching in the grass.  Here, the person is clearly Seaman.

• Murota is hanging out in a Mahjong parlor in the manga.  The poor saps he’s playing Mahjong with are dumbfounded at how he keeps winning (this of course foreshadows his telepathic powers).  They figure he’s cheating and refuse to play with him anymore, at which point he gets up and starts talking with Yusuke and co.  In the anime though, Murota is in some kind of bar or café, sitting by himself, and he starts talking with Yusuke and co. right after they enter and assess the scene.

• In the manga before Yusuke and co. enter the Mahjong parlor, not knowing precisely who or what they might find inside, Yusuke recites the Japanese proverb about how one “cannot obtain a tiger cub without entering the tiger’s den”.  Essentially it means “nothing ventured, nothing gained” (why you’d want a tiger cub, I don’t know).  Chapter 119 is actually named after this line, but in the anime Yusuke just promises Genkai he won’t make the same mistake as before.

• After Yusuke takes care of Murota, in the anime there’s a Koenma/Jorge scene.  Jorge goes on about how exciting this all is, while Kurama suddenly contacts Koenma through his magic TV and reports on his group’s findings.  Koenma then calls for Ayame, who he orders to re-analyze all the data on the portal.  This is the first time Ayame has been identified by name; in earlier episodes and even this one she’s simply credited as “Secretary”.  And in the manga she’s never named at all.  However, the manga guidebook Spirit World Who’s Who calls her “Ayame”, which suggests it was a name Togashi came up with, possibly at the request of the anime staff.  Anyway, just as Botan is named after the Japanese word for peony (a flower associated with death), ayame is the Japanese word for the iris flower.

• As Murota scans the thoughts of those passing by, in the manga there’s an interesting panel where everything is represented by its kanji.  So there’s a huge crowd of 人 (person) kanji, and big 自動車 (car) kanji passing by in the background, and 鳥 (bird) kanji floating in the sky.  Not sure what the point of this is; maybe it somehow represents Murota’s perspective, or maybe Togashi was just feeling lazy for that panel.  Anyway, the anime understandably doesn’t do anything equivalent.

• When Murota hears Sensui thinking about how he wants to kill absolutely everybody in the entire world, in the anime the voice seems to be specifically that of Sensui’s “Kazuya” personality.  A bit of foreshadowing, perhaps?

• Once Sniper shoots Murota, in the anime there’s a scene of him being taken to the hospital in an ambulance (the manga just skips straight to the gang at the hospital, with Murota already conscious again).  In the ambulance Genkai explains that Murota was shot with a mere eraser; the manga has this explanation at the hospital, after Murota tells them all about what he read in Sensui’s mind.  There it’s part of Genkai’s larger explanation of Sniper’s abilities.

• Following the ambulance scene is a purely anime-only scene showing Keiko and Shizuru in Mushiyori City, having followed Puu there.  Shizuru notes the demon bugs crawling all over the place, which confuses Keiko, since she can’t see them (Shizuru thinks that she’s probably better off).  Obviously Yusuke and co. have gotten mixed up in something weird again.  Murota’s ambulance then rushes by, followed by Puu, and so Keiko and Shizuru run after it.

• Right after that scene, the anime has the scene where Sensui and Sniper talk.  In the manga this comes after the group reach the hospital and discuss things, and there Sensui and Sniper are just out on the street., while in the anime they’re on top of a building.  The anime expands the scene a bit by ending it with Sensui saying that the one with the ability they’re looking for (the power to cut through the barrier between the Human and Demon Worlds) might be among Yusuke’s group.  Then he goes into his song and dance about killing everyone.  During this scene the manga has a note revealing Sniper’s real name, Kaname Hagiri, but in the anime we don’t learn this until later.

• As Genkai explains all about how Murota was shot, including the fact that his shooter was over 500 meters away, the manga has a note explaining that Genkai’s has 6.0 eyesight, which is left out of the anime.  

• In the anime Genkai’s explanation of his shooter’s abilities causes Murota to freak out.  He doesn’t want to die, and can’t stand being up against someone that amazing.  Then we see that Doctor is watching the group from a distance, and that ends the episode.

• The episode ends 7 pages into chapter 121: Sensui and Sniper discuss things (but as mentioned, the anime rearranges things so that the episode itself ends on material that in the manga comes earlier).