Episode 74

EPISODE 74

テリトリーを打ちやぶれ!!  (Teritorii wo Uchi-yabure!!)

Destroy his Territory!!

First Broadcast: April 2, 1994

Equivalent Manga Chapter(s): chapter 123 (WSJ #27, 1993, June 21), little bit of chapter 124 (WSJ #28, 1993, June 28)

Summary: Yusuke struggles with the prospect of killing a human like Doctor (as opposed to a demon), but manages to knock him out with Mitsunari, Murota, and Genkai’s help.  Yusuke and co. reunite with Kurama’s group, and they flee the hospital before the police arrive.  Doctor is arrested and under questioning reveals his motives.

Anime/manga differences after the jump.

Differences from the Manga

(What's all this about?  Read here)

• The episode opens with a re-do of Doctor re-attaching his arm, from the end of last episode.  Following this is some filler with Keiko, Shizuru, and Puu being chased by Doctor’s virus bugs through the hospital.  They flee into an elevator, but one bug manages to get inside with them, and infects Keiko.

• When Doctor tells Yusuke that Yusuke seems conflicted over whether or not to kill him, in the manga he says Yusuke also seemed conflicted when he fired that Spirit Gun earlier.  At this point a nurse (actually Yanagisawa in disguise) walks out, and Doctor takes her hostage.  The anime inserts several new scenes between Doctor saying that Yusuke seems hesitant and him taking the nurse hostage.  The line about Yusuke seeming hesitant when he fired the Spirit Gun might be an attempt to explain why Yusuke’s blast back then merely blew off Doctor’s arm, as opposed to blowing up half the building as you might expect it to following the Dark Tournament.  Anyway, that line gets left out in the anime.

• Filler scene #1 is another scene with Shizuru and Keiko.  Genkai runs into the pair while she’s fighting off the virus bugs.  She joins them inside the elevator and says that it’s probably the safest place.  Outside, Kurama’s group has reached the hospital.  They conclude that the inside of the hospital must be the enemy’s Territory, and that it’s too dangerous for them all to go in.  Despite this, Kurama decides to go in on his own, using his Rose Whip to climb up to the roof and enter through there (correctly guessing that entering through the front door would be too dangerous).  Sniper is watching all this from afar with binoculars, and tells Sensui what’s happening.  Seaman says that perhaps they should go help Doctor, but Sensui says this will be a good opportunity to learn exactly what kind of man Yusuke is.

• After that the scene returns to Yusuke and Doctor, but we’re not back to manga material yet.  Doctor effectively spells out the entire dilemma underlying the episode: his virus will kill everyone inside the hospital within 10 minutes, and the only way to stop this is to knock him out.  But thanks to the enhancements he’s made to his body, he can’t be knocked out, so the only alternative is to kill him.  However Yusuke hasn’t ever killed a human before, and Doctor doubts he can bring himself to do it.  Yusuke starts charging up another Spirit Gun blast, which causes the nearby windows to shatter from the vibrations (nice touch).  

• Then comes the mid-episode eye catch, after which we get another update with Shizuru and co.  Genkai has them take the elevator down so she can go check on Yusuke and the others, and she leaves Shizuru and Keiko in the elevator where they’ll be safe.

• Following that we get back to Yusuke and Doctor.  Doctor now believes Yusuke seriously intends to kill him and starts to panic, telling Yusuke that he’ll go to prison if he kills him.  But Yusuke doesn’t stop, so Doctor makes a run for it.  At that moment the nurse finally stumbles by, and Doctor takes her hostage, which causes Yusuke to stop firing his Spirit Gun.  In the manga the nurse stumbles by while Yusuke and Doctor are just standing around talking. 

• After that bit of manga material we get back to more anime-only stuff.  In the Spirit World Koenma seems to have a lot on his mind, and is standing out on a balcony looking off into the distance when Ayame shows up.  She says the hole is continuing to get larger, and that the person making it must be very skilled.  Koenma says that no number of ordinary practitioners could create such a large hole, which is why Sakyo had to pour such huge sums of money into trying to create one.  Ayame says that the culprits must also be aware of the barrier between the Human and Demon Worlds, and wonders whether they plan on destroying it.

• Meanwhile, the virus bugs manage to infiltrate the elevator where Shizuru and Keiko are hiding, but Kurama arrives just in time to save them.

• Chapter 123 ends with Genkai resuscitating Doctor so that Yusuke won’t have to be burdened with his death.  Chapter 124 then starts with Doctor’s testimony to the police, and narration from Yusuke saying that they left the scene before the police showed up, after which they reunited with Kurama’s group an hour later.  Botan healed Yanagisawa, while Kido was in such bad shape they had to take him back to the hospital.  Rather than physical injuries though, this came from him using up all his mental energy moving his shadow to warn Yusuke.  The anime adapts this narration into a scene following Doctor’s defeat.  Earlier filler established that Kurama and co. had already reached the hospital, so once the danger’s gone the group Kurama left outside all show up, while Kurama himself arrives with Keiko, Shizuru, and Puu.  Yusuke and Kuwabara are surprised to see Keiko/Shizuru, and Yusuke blames Puu for bringing them there.  Genkai tells Botan to heal the people in the hospital, and says they should leave before the police show up, but Kaito stays behind to admit Kido for treatment.  The episode’s closing narration also seems to draw from Yusuke’s manga narration, with its note that they can’t let their guard down, since they still have 6 enemies remaining.

• As Doctor explains his desire to kill all of humanity, in the manga the detectives questioning him point out that his crimes are on far too small a scale for that.  Did he think attacking the people in the hospital would somehow trigger a natural disaster or something?  Doctor just says that’s enough for now, and of course doesn’t explain what his ultimate plan was.  The anime cuts this part out.  Also, in the anime the detectives look quite shocked by what Doctor tells them, while in the manga they look totally unfazed and unimpressed (which is reflected in them nonchalantly pointing out the apparent holes in his reasoning).

• The episode ends roughly 3 pages into chapter 124.  Doctor’s testimony is the first 2 pages (not counting the title page), while page 3 contains Yusuke’s narration, which was loosely adapted into an anime-only scene.