Episode 97

EPISODE 97

別れ・それぞれの旅立ち (Wakare・Sore-Zore no Tabi-dachi)

Parting—Our Respective Departures

First Broadcast: September 10, 1994

Equivalent Manga Chapter(s): second half of chapter 156 (WSJ #11, 1994, February 28), chapter 157 (WSJ #12, 1994, March 7)

Summary: Hokushin explains that while he wants to give up human flesh like Raizen, he also needs strength to fight Raizen’s enemies.  He tells Yusuke to think over whether to come to the Demon World or not, then leaves.  Kuroko has watched the whole fight, and she advises Yusuke to go to the Demon World.  An envoy from the Spirit World had tasked her with killing Yusuke, and while she refused, seeing Yusuke calmly discussing the matter of eating humans with Hokushin has profoundly disturbed her.  Meanwhile, Kurama and Hiei are themselves approached by headhunters from the other two kings, Yomi and Mukuro, asking for their help in the coming war.  Yusuke breaks the news to Keiko that he’ll be leaving for three years, and asks her to marry him when he returns, but she dumps him instead.

Anime/manga differences after the jump.

Differences from the Manga

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• When Hokushin comments on Yusuke managing to punch him, in the manga he notes that Yusuke’s power completely changes depending on his emotions, which gets left out in the anime.

• The anime shows Hokushin and co. teleporting away after they finish talking with Yusuke, while in the manga it looks like they just walk away (though it’s kind of a vague panel).

• The flashback to how Kuroko was ordered by a Spirit World envoy to kill Yusuke is a single panel in the manga, while the anime expands it into a proper scene, showing the envoy suddenly appear as Kuroko is walking home with groceries.

• In the manga the initial scene where Kurama meets Yomi’s messengers ends with Kurama saying he’ll treat them roughly or kindly depending on their business with him.  This is followed by a scene of Hiei meeting Mukuro’s messengers in the woods (he says he had heard of the three king’s war but thought it was a fairy tale), then a single panel showing Kuwabara sleeping soundly in bed, which ends chapter 156.  Chapter 157 then starts with Yusuke telling Keiko how he has to go to the Demon World, and then we get back to Kurama.  He’s sitting in the basement of Meio High School and flashes back to how the visitors gave him the message ball, saying it was from Yomi.  He breaks the ball against the wall and listens to Yomi’s message, then Hiei shows up and they watch the message Mukuro gave him.  In the anime this is all just one long scene: Kurama encounters Yomi’s messengers, they give him the ball, he breaks it open right there under a train overpass, then Hiei shows up there and plays his message.  The main downside to this is that the anime doesn’t show Hiei’s meeting with Mukuro’s messengers, who look pretty cool: a tiny guy in suit and top hat along with a huge bestial monster, the two wearing spiked collars linked together by a chain.

• During his message, in the manga Yomi mentions that he sensed that Kurama came to the Demon World and he can tell he’s gotten stronger, while the anime leaves this part out.  Also, in the manga Yomi says that hundreds of years ago when he and Kurama worked together, Raizen and Mukuro were the “twin heads of the Demon World”, while in the anime he says they were trying to take over the Demon World.  

• Mukuro’s message meanwhile mentions in the manga (say that five times fast) that Hiei was quite famous in “North-East Sector 13” as a prodigy who reached A-class power by age 5, which the anime leaves out.  Mukuro also asks Hiei if he knows about her three-way standoff with Raizen and Yomi and explains about it a little.  She later warns Hiei that he should refuse any offer he gets from Yomi if he wants a long life, and that joining Raizen’s side would be outright suicidal.  The anime skips these parts.

• After seeing the messages, Hiei announces his intention of going to Mukuro’s side, simply as an opportunity to get stronger.  In the manga Kurama thinks to himself that Hiei doesn’t know how terrifying Mukuro is because he wasn’t born at the time, while in the anime he thinks that Hiei doesn’t know but doesn’t specify the reason.  Also, in the manga Hiei says that Mukuro checks out every high-level fight in the Demon World and so learned of their clash with Sensui, and later that fighting year round is the best way to get stronger.  In the anime these lines are given to Kurama.

• After the mid-episode eye catch there’s an anime-only scene with Kuwabara.  He’s sleeping soundly (like in the end of chapter 156) when Shizuru abruptly wakes him up and tells him he should be studying.  They have a talk about high school and Kuwabara’s future.  Notably, Kuwabara’s sleeping with Eikichi, the cat Yusuke rescued for him back in episode 5.

• During the scene where Yusuke tells Keiko he’s become a demon and is going to the Demon World, in the manga Yusuke starts to smoke at one point, but Keiko grabs the cigarette and smokes it herself.  She then complains that she feels sick and doesn’t understand how Yusuke can smoke those things; she even forget all the English vocab words she memorized.  The anime leaves this part out.  

• Also, at the start of the Keiko/Yusuke scene, in the anime to explain his newfound demonhood Yusuke mentions how he was different when he came out of Irima Cave.  In the manga Keiko wasn’t present then, so he doesn’t mention it.  The anime also has Keiko tells Yusuke that Kuwabara plans on going to Gai Technical College’s high school annex.  Keiko’s wearing pants in this scene in the manga, while in the anime she wears a skirt.

• When Yusuke heads to Keiko’s family restaurant (which doubles as their house), in the anime Keiko’s father says they’re closed for the day before recognizing Yusuke and letting him come in, while in the manga the place is still full of customers.  The anime also shows Yusuke looking in at Kuwabara studying as he walks to Keiko’s (reinforcing the anime’s depiction of Kuwabara living near Keiko), and at the end of the episode has Keiko watch Yusuke from the window as he leaves, repeating his promise to return in three years.  The last part sets up the final episode of the anime, which depicts Keiko faithfully waiting for Yusuke’s return, while in the manga her feelings are a bit more ambiguous (at one point she claims Yusuke broke his promise by returning before three years had passed).

• Chapter 157 ends with a panel showing Kuwabara studying and wondering why he can’t understand this stuff.  In the anime this is more or less adapted into the previously mentioned part where Yusuke overlooks Kuwabara studying.  In this version Kuwabara seems a little less self-aware, proudly proclaiming that 2x2=8.