Episode 21

EPISODE 21

幽助・命を賭けた反撃 (Yuusuke・Inochi wo Kaketa Hangeki)

Yusuke’s Life or Death Counterattack

First Broadcast: March 6, 1993

Equivalent Manga Chapter(s): second half of chapter 43 (WSJ #44, 1991, October 21), chapter 44 (WSJ #45, 1991, October 28)

Summary: Yusuke uses his true power to kill 6 Suzakus.  Wounded but not dead, the 7^th Suzaku absorbs energy from the others to heal, and splits into 7 again.  Keiko and Botan are finally cornered. Yusuke uses his own life force to kill all the Suzakus, freeing the humans from his control. The day is saved.

Anime/manga differences after the jump.

 

Differences from the Manga

(What's all this about?  Read here)

• As an exhausted Yusuke reaches for the Bug Flute, in the manga the surviving Suzaku immediately steps on his hand.  In the anime though, before that Suzaku’s bird Murg knocks the flute away from Yusuke’s hand.  Yusuke threatens to fry Murg with a Spirit Gun blast.  She says he’s bluffing, but still looks nervous.  The scene switches to Koenma and Jorge, and Koenma notes that Yusuke is indeed bluffing, and has no power left.  Then we get yet more of Kuwabara and co. fighting off the plant people.  At this point we cut back to Yusuke, and the last Suzaku finally appears.  Suzaku notes that Yusuke really doesn’t have enough energy for a Spirit Gun left.

• After the last Suzaku heals himself with energy from the dead ones and splits into 7 healthy Suzakus again, in the anime the scene switches to Koenma and Jorge.  Jorge rattles off every clichéd way of saying Yusuke’s done for (it’s like the Dead Parrot Sketch, really), while Koenma says Yusuke just has to manage something until Hiei and the rest arrive.

• As Suzaku prepares to fire his seven-person lightning attack at Yusuke, in the manga we see that Kuwabara and co. have finally defeated all the plant guys outside the tower, and they finally hurry inside.  In the anime though they’ve long since entered the tower, and we instead get a scene of them hurrying up a rather architecturally unsound spiral staircase to reach Yusuke.  The tremors created by Suzaku’s attack causes the staircase sections just ahead of and behind the gang to crumble away, leaving them stranded.

• In the manga as Suzaku prepares to fire his lightning attack at Yusuke, Yusuke uses his own life force as power for a final attack, resulting in one big explosion as the two blasts clash.  In the aftermath, one of the Suzakus wonders why none of his lightning arrows hit Yusuke, and discovers that Yusuke Spirit Gun from the very start of the fight had left a crack in one of his antenna (his armor-covered hair tips), which control the accuracy of his attacks, so that’s why he missed.  Why the cracks weren’t repaired when Suzaku healed himself earlier, I don’t know.  Anyway, in the anime Suzaku first fires his lightning arrows at Yusuke without Yusuke offering any counterattack.  They all miss, and that’s when Suzaku discovers the crack in his antenna.  So Suzaku prepares another lightning attack, one so powerful that it’ll definitely kill Yusuke even without nailing him precisely, and it’s at this point that Yusuke uses his own life force for one final counterattack.

• As Keiko’s screams for help inspire Yusuke to use his own life force to power his last attack, in the anime we see Yusuke’s power form some kind of shield around Keiko and Botan in the Human World.  Neat trick.  It’s at this point in the anime that we finally see Botan’s compact communicator device finally destroyed, while in the manga this happened shortly after Botan got hold of Keiko.  Also, the manga shows at this point that Suzaku’s big TV images of Keiko and Botan are being transmitted by an insect hovering around them, while the anime never makes it clear where he’s getting these images.  I guess Koenma and Jorge must have one of those bugs too.

• In the lead-up to the final big attack, in the anime we see Hiei and co. escape the stairway segment they’re stranded on by Hiei throwing his sword into the nearest intact portion of the stairway, and Kurama grabbing onto it with his Rose Whip so that they can all swing across.

• In the anime Kuwabara and co. reach Yusuke and Suzaku right before the final big explosion, while in the manga they reach it immediately afterward.  Also, in the anime we clearly see Murg destroyed in the final explosion, while in the manga it’s not clear what her final fate is.

• We see right away in the anime that Keiko and Botan are safe, because once the Bug Flute was destroyed the bug-possessed goons all collapsed before they could hurt her.  In the manga we don’t see the two safe and sound until after Kuwabara’s nasty prank where he tries to make Yusuke think something bad happened to them.

• Then after the big explosion we get another scene with Koenma and Jorge.  Koenma celebrates Yusuke’s victory, while Jorge points out that Yusuke’s in critical condition after using up all his energy.

• After the battle, when Yusuke asks Kuwabara what happened to Keiko, in the manga Kuwabara keeps trying to change the subject by talking about what happened to Iwamoto and Takenaka (Iwamoto was questioned by the police and said he couldn’t remember anything, while Takenaka was hospitalized after taking that blow to the head).  Kuwabara keeps repeating these same facts as Yusuke gets madder and madder.  In the anime Kuwabara just stays silent in response to Yusuke’s questions, and we don’t hear what happened to the teachers.  The anime also cuts out Botan saying how when she woke up she saw all the bug goons passed out and knew that Yusuke had won, probably because they actually show this scene earlier (only with Keiko being the one to see everyone passed out, rather than Botan).  There’s also a joke in the manga about how Yusuke beats the crap out of Kuwabara for his little prank.

• Chapter 44 ends with Koenma in the Spirit World sorting through a pile of cases and deciding which to give to Yusuke.  He’s trying to find the most troublesome one, and since Yusuke’s next case is how he meets the Toguro Brothers, Koenma really hit it out of the park.  The anime leaves this part out.