Episode 89

EPISODE 89

予感！全てが止まる時 (Yokan! Subete ga Tomaru Toki)

A Premonition! When Everything Comes to a Halt

First Broadcast: July 16, 1994

Equivalent Manga Chapter(s): chapter 145 (WSJ #50, 1993, November 29), first third of chapter 146 (WSJ #51, 1993, December 6)

Summary: Still claiming to be on the brink of something new, Yusuke continues to fight Sensui with seemingly suicidal determination.  Frightened and enraged, Kuwabara uses his Dimensional Sword to escape from Itsuki, but the group arrives too late: Sensui has killed Yusuke.  The portal finally cracks open, and Sensui assures them all that the real finale is just getting started.

Anime/manga differences after the jump.

Differences from the Manga

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• The episode starts with a re-do of last time’s ending scene, as Yusuke starts to confront Sensui again now that the Mafukan has failed, while Kurama believes Yusuke is going to sacrifice himself to power them up.  There’s also a fairly lengthy flashback to Kuwabara’s “death” at the hands of Toguro, while the manga just has a shot of Toguro stabbing Kuwabara’s chest.

• After Kuwabara’s flashback to his history with Yusuke, there’s a brief scene in the anime where Shizuru can sense her brother’s emotions and has a feeling that something bad is about to happen.

• Itsuki explains about how even though Yusuke and co. can’t defeat Sensui now in a 4-on-1 fight, if they team up they might manage to escape, so he needs to kill Yusuke’s entire group right now to prevent them from becoming a more powerful threat in the future.  Hiei says Itsuki has pretty much figured out their plan.  In the manga it then goes right to Kuwabara producing his Dimensional Sword, his anger having finally reached the necessary tipping point again.  Itsuki yells for Sensui to finish Yusuke off right away, while Kuwabara cuts his way out of the Ura-Otoko’s subspace.  The scene switches to Yusuke’s apartment, where Keiko (in this version not wandering around Mushiyori City with Shizuru like in the anime) arrives and sees the building damage caused by Sensui’s attack for the first time (having likewise not been present for those events as in the anime).  She goes inside and finds Atsuko out on the balcony, holding Puu.  Keiko says she saw a report about the damage to the apartment building on the news and asks if Yusuke and co. were behind it.  Atsuko ignores her question and tells her that Puu isn’t moving and has seemingly been asleep for a long time; Keiko is alarmed.  Cue a 2-page spread of Yusuke’s body, as it flies through the air due to a blow from Sensui.  There’s a very interesting jumble of panels showing Yusuke land on the ground while Kuwabara and the others reach Sensui and see what has happened.  Among these panels is one of a living Yusuke (wearing his old school uniform) smiling happily.  Sensui tells the group that Yusuke has just died, but they needn’t be sad, since they’ll be dead themselves soon enough. 

• In the anime though, after Itsuki’s speech Kuwabara still seems calm, and Mitarai asks him if he could use his dimension-cutting abilities to escape from the subspace they’re trapped in.  Mitarai even helpfully re-re-re-explains about how Sensui wanted Kuwabara’s abilities so they could cut down the barrier between the Human and Demon Worlds, and we even get the Nth+ replay of the scene where Kuwabara defeats Mitarai with his Dimensional Sword.  Kuwabara wonders why he didn’t think of that earlier, and tries to produce the sword, but just manages to fling himself backward.  Itsuki says Kuwabara can’t yet freely control the Dimensional Sword; if he did, they would have just had him cut down the barrier long ago.  Itsuki then calmly tells Sensui to finish Yusuke off.  In the cave, Sensui tells Yusuke that it’s just about time for the portal’s “opening ceremony”.  The two brace themselves to fight, and the mid-episode eye catch comes, after which is a scene with Genkai and co. outside.  She senses the incredible storm of spiritual energy inside the cave, a mixture of Sensui’s, Yusuke’s, Kuwabara’s, and the rest.  Inside the cave, Yusuke powers up and charges Sensui.  They fight a little bit, with Yusuke getting some good hits in, and he says that in just a little bit he’ll be able to grasp hold of “something”.  Sensui starts pummeling Yusuke though, while Kuwabara watches and agonizes over not being able to produce his Dimensional Sword at such a critical time.  He has more flashbacks to his adventures with Yusuke, and as he grows more emotional he finally produces his Dimensional Sword.  In the cave Sensui powers up his golden Seikoki energy again (which had gone away for some reason) and bids Yusuke farewell.  Itsuki yells at Sensui to finish Yusuke while Kuwabara slashes his way out of the Ura-Otoko.  The scene literally pauses for a while, showing Sensui charging Yusuke while in the background the Ura-Otoko has a bright green scar from Kuwabara’s sword.  Everything then plays in slow motion as Kuwabara and co. tumble out while Sensui attacks Yusuke, who turns and smiles at the group before getting hit.  There’s no sound during this part either, save for the Ura-Otoko’s groan and Kuwabara shouting “Urameshi!”  Then there’s a roaring sound and a bright glow as Yusuke is hit, and we see everyone react, even Genkai outside the cave.  The scene switches to Keiko holding Puu, who’s stopped moving; Keiko has a feeling something has happened to Yusuke.  Things then go basically like the manga, as we see Yusuke’s body sent flying through the air from Sensui’s blow.  It lands, and there’s more reaction shots from everyone (Kurama’s looks really ugly for some reason).  

• Following that is some more anime-only stuff, first another scene with Genkai and co. outside.  Kaito and Yanagisawa ask what’s wrong, and she tells them Yusuke’s energy has vanished.  Meanwhile in the Spirit World, Botan slips off her oar as she’s flying towards Enma’s palace, apparently sensing Yusuke’s death on a subconscious level.  She wonders what’s wrong with her and starts to think that perhaps Yusuke has died, though she can’t believe it.

• The episode ends about 4 pages into chapter 146 (5, counting the title page), as Sensui says that the real finale is about to start, and the portal opens at long last.  In the manga demons are actually already pouring out as he says this line, while in the anime the portal cracks open after he says it.