Episode 2

EPISODE 2

霊界のコエンマ!復活への試練 (Reikai no Koenma! Fukkatsu he no Shiren)

Koenma of the Spirit Realm!  A Trial Toward Resurrection

First Broadcast: October 17, 1992

Equivalent Manga Chapter(s): chapter 2 (WSJ #52, December 10, 1990), chapter 3 (WSJ #53, December 17, 1990)

Summary: In the afterlife, Yusuke meets Lord Koenma, who assigns him to keep an egg as his trail. He enters his childhood friend Keiko’s dream, telling her not to let his body be cremated.  But to truly convince her he’s coming back, Yusuke has to possess his formal rival Kuwabara and talk with her.

Differences from the Manga

(What's all this about?  Read here)

• In the manga, right as Koenma brings out the egg to show Yusuke, the scene abruptly switches to the living world.  Keiko’s friends note how sad she is over Yusuke’s death.  Keiko visits Atsuko, who remembers when Yusuke was little and got a fever after falling into the river during the middle of winter while chasing Keiko.  Keiko (nonsensically) blamed herself and came to see Yusuke while he was sick.  Yusuke hated seeing her so sad, so he went to school despite still being very sick, just to keep her from worrying about him.  This little scene is left out in the anime.

• In the manga, Koenma simply tells Yusuke to look after the Spirit World Beast’s egg.  He doesn’t say anything about what will happen when it hatches.  Then he tells Botan in secret that if Yusuke keeps giving off evil energy, the Spirit World Beast will grow into a disgusting monster that will eat him up body and soul.  In the anime Koenma directly tells Yusuke this.

• Once Yusuke enters Keiko’s dream and tells her he’s coming back to life, she goes over to Atsuko’s house to tell her.  In the manga Atsuko has already noticed that Yusuke’s heart has started beating again, and Keiko knows it wasn’t a dream and that Yusuke really is coming back.  In the anime Atsuko hasn’t discovered this, and she tells Keiko she had a dream where Yusuke fought demons in the afterlife and became their leader.  This makes Keiko question her dream and not tell Atsuko anything.  The scene where Atsuko tells Keiko that Yusuke’s heart is beating is moved to the end of the episode, after Yusuke possesses Kuwabara to convince her.

• This leads into the second half of the episode (adapting chapter 3).  Originally Yusuke possesses Kuwabara so he can get in contact with Keiko simply because this is the last day he’ll be allowed to do that before coming back to life, and he wants to say his temporary goodbyes and confirm that he’ll be coming back.  In the anime though Keiko doesn’t believe her dream and Atsuko hasn’t discovered Yusuke’s heart is beating, so Yusuke needs to convince someone he’ll be coming back to life so that they won’t cremate his body (Keiko starts to doubt her dream even in the manga, but Atsuko believes 100% that Yusuke’s coming back to life, so it doesn’t matter so much).

• There’s a scene at the start of chapter 3 where Atsuko tells Keiko about what the doctor said of Yusuke’s condition: he might wake up at any time, or just go on sleeping like that forever.  Atsuko believes Yusuke will definitely be coming back soon, but Keiko doubts it.  This scene isn’t in the anime.

• The ghost who Kuwabara says chased him once is a “blood-covered” old lady in the manga but just a “creepy” old lady in the anime.

• In the manga Yusuke can only stay in Kuwabara’s body for 30 minutes, while in the anime it’s an hour.

• When Atsuko tells Keiko that Yusuke’s heart has started to beat, in the manga she’s wearing Western clothes while in the anime she’s in a kimono.