Episode 11

EPISODE 11

幽助苦戦!傷だらけの反撃!!  (Yuusuke Kusen! Kizu-darake no Hangeki!!)

Yusuke’s Hard Battle! A Brushed and Bloodied Counterattack

First Broadcast: December 19, 1992

Equivalent Manga Chapter(s): second half of chapter 28 (WSJ #28, 1991, July 1), chapter 29 (WSJ #29, 1991, July 8)

Summary: Yusuke beats Kibano through the clever use of cigarettes.  He then faces the ninja Kazemaru in the semi-finals, winning by accidently turning Kazemaru’s exploding shuriken against him.

Anime/manga differences after the jump.

Differences from the Manga

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• This episode has more filler scenes of Koenma watching the fights and/or goofing off.  We even get to hear King Enma over the phone, while in the manga he doesn’t have a speaking role until the Sensui story arc (his anime voice here and there sound quite different, as you might expect).

• Also notable is that we’ve finally got the first appearance of the ogre who will eventually be known as Jorge Saotome (one of YYH’s relatively few anime-only characters).  He’s not named yet and still doesn’t really stand out from the crowd of other ogres, but his appearance and voice are set in what they’ll be for the rest of the series.

• As mentioned in last episode’s notes, in the manga the cigarette Yusuke’s uses to defeat Kibano is his own, while in the anime it’s Genkai’s.  The manga also has Yusuke brag about his skill in lighting a cigarette so fast nobody notices, a skill teen delinquents refine.  Botan says he shouldn’t be proud of that.

• After the fight, the anime has a brief bit where Kuwabara asks Yusuke about the Spirit Gun.  He gets mad that Yusuke gets a gun while he’s stuck with a sword.

• The ending image for the episode shows Rando’s true form above Shorin’s, something we don’t see in the manga until Shorin/Rando fights Yusuke.