Episode 22

EPISODE 22

悲しみの美少女・雪菜 (Kanashimi no Bishoujo・Yukina)

A Sorrowful Young Beauty--Yukina

First Broadcast: March 13, 1993

Equivalent Manga Chapter(s): chapter 46 (WSJ #47, 1991, November 11), first quarter of chapter 47 (WSJ #48, 1991, November 18)

Summary: Yusuke is ordered to rescue Hiei’s younger sister Yukina from the billionaire Tarukane, while Kuwabara and Botan tag along. For protection, Tarukane has hired the Toguro Brothers.  Yusuke and Kuwabara defeat one of the brothers’ henchmen.

Anime/manga differences after the jump.

Differences from the Manga

(What's all this about?  Read here)

• The anime skips over chapter 45, a short story that acts like an intermission between the Four Beasts and Tarukane story arcs.  In it, word starts to spread among the lesser demons in the Human World about how Yusuke has defeated Suzaku, making Yusuke (and Kuwabara, to a lesser extent) a target for any demons looking to make a name for themselves.  So two demons impersonate Yusuke and Kuwabara and frame them for some attacks on the Kasane-ga-fuchi School punks, hoping to incite a fight between the two groups.  Yusuke and Kuwabara are both still very weak from their battle with the Four Beasts, so the two demons’ idea is that even if they still manage to beat the Kasane-ga-fuchi punks, the demons can then step in with their own gang and finish them off.  Fortunately Kurama and Hiei come to the rescue.  Notably, this is the last manga chapter to not be adapted for the anime until the various stuff at the end of the series.

• Chapter 45 ends with Hiei giving Yusuke the tape with his next mission from Koenma.  The joke is that Yusuke’s been ridiculously worn out throughout the whole chapter due to his last mission, and now he’s already got to go on a new one.  Since the anime doesn’t adapt chapter 45, episode 22 starts with an anime-only scene of Yusuke running off to school (Atsuko has to force him), and on the way there Hiei appears and hands him the tape.  The scene then switches to the Spirit World, where Koenma is talking with Kurama for a change (in the manga version of the Tarukane arc, Kurama doesn’t appear at all).  Koenma wonders whether Kurama should have gone with Hiei to deliver the tape, but Kurama says Hiei trusts Yusuke enough now.

• After that’s the scene at school where Yusuke asks if he can watch the video at Kuwabara’s, since his VCR is broken (this is where chapter 46 starts).  In the anime Kuwabara protests a lot about not wanting to get involved in things this time, though Yusuke notes he was the one who insisted on coming along last time.  This isn’t in the manga, and helps build up the joke where Kuwabara instantly decides to go on the mission to rescue Yukina after falling in love with her at first sight.

• In the manga Keiko wonders whether Yusuke’s tape is Terminator 2.  Now there’s a dated reference.

• We hear more of Botan’s bogus “explanation” to Keiko about the events of the Four Beasts arc in the manga, via an exposition box that Yusuke cartoonishly drags over to Botan.  Botan said that Yusuke wanted to turn his life around, so he became the assistant to a famous detective.  While they were investigating a narcotics ring, a traitor to the ring fled to Sarayashiki Middle School, so the ring used hypnotism to manipulate Iwamoto and the other teachers into killing the traitor.  Keiko happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, so they tried to kill her too.  In the anime the only part of this we get is that Keiko thinks Yusuke’s the assistant of a famous detective.

• In the manga Botan’s the one to note that the more Keiko knows of the real state of things, the more it will endanger her, while in the anime Kuwabara says this.  Botan thanks him for the support, and Kuwabara notes that he’ll always be on Botan’s side.  This is the last of the anime’s “Kuwabara loves Botan” running joke we get before he switches to loving Yukina.

• On that note, it’s perhaps worth pointing out again that by the time the very first episode of the anime version aired, the manga was already up to Genkai vs Toguro.  So the anime staff knew going into the thing that Kuwabara would eventually have Yukina as his love interest, but they chose to show him as having a crush on Botan in the early episodes anyway.  Maybe they thought lovey-dovey Kuwabara was too funny to wait 20 episodes for.  Overall I don’t really mind, but it does introduce an element of fickleness into Kuwabara’s character.

• In the anime, Koenma’s tape begins with a parody of the standard messages at the start of VHS tapes, and various movie studio logos.

• In the manga, Tarukane’s mansion is located in Honetadare Village, a ghost town.  In the anime it’s located in the forests at the foot of Honetadare Mountain, and there’s no mention of any village.

• In the anime we clearly hear the tape being paused as the love-stricken Kuwabara gets up and heads for Honetadare, explaining why Yusuke and co. don’t miss out on any of its contents (while Kuwabara does, of course).

• This episode marks the first appearance of Shizuru Kuwabara in the anime, while in the manga she appeared way back when Yusuke’s house caught fire.  Because of that, she gets more screen time in the anime version of things here, to properly introduce her.  We first see her come into the room to bring everyone tea while they’re watching the video, and she stands there unobserved until Kuwabara hurries out to Honetadare (in the manga she doesn’t come in until right as Kuwabara’s on his way out).  She wonders why they’re all watching such a weird video, and Yusuke and Botan remark on her strong spiritual senses, since the video’s supposed to only appear as static to ordinary humans.

• When Kuwabara asks his sister for money to go to Honetadare, she says it shouldn’t cost much.  In the manga she says this is because Honetadare is in the adjacent prefecture, while in the anime she says that these days even going to Hawaii is cheap.

• The Toguro Brothers are the leaders of a gang of demons who deal in the buying and selling of (primarily) other demons.  In the manga their group is called the Dark Brokers, while for some reason they’re not really given a name in the anime.  After a bit of research it seems like “Dark Brokers” (闇ブローカー) may be a slang term for black market traders and so not necessarily intended as a proper name, though it seems like one in the manga, and Viz treats it as one (their translation is “Brokers of Darkness”).  If it’s not supposed to be a proper name that might explain why the anime left it out, though not why they bothered removing every instance of it from the dialogue.

• In the manga we actually get to see Yukina’s birds as Elder Toguro kills them.  In the anime they’re completely wrapped up in his fingers as he crushes them, so it’s not bloody at all.  On the flip side, in the anime Younger Toguro actually hits Yukina as she tries to stop them from killing the birds.

• One of the major changes in the anime version of the story arc is that while in the manga Yusuke and Kuwabara go to Tarukane’s mansion alone, in the anime Botan tags along with them.  The dialogue in numerous scenes is adjusted accordingly.  For instance, in the manga Yusuke thinks to himself about how he probably shouldn’t tell Kuwabara about the rest of the video’s contents (ie Yukina being Hiei’s sister), while in the anime he and Botan discuss this among themselves

• In the anime we see the trio getting dropped off at the bus stop nearest Honetadare Mountain, and a nearby Buddha statue opens its eyes and spies on them.  This is then how Tarukane learns of the group’s intrusion on his property, which in the manga is unexplained and presumably via more conventional means.

• In the manga we don’t see Hiei during the Tarukane arc until he shows up at the end to rescue Yukina, while in the anime there are several scenes of him on his way over there.  The first is near the end of this episode as we learn that Yukina is Hiei’s sister.

• The episode ends 5 pages into chapter 47, with the gang defeating Toguro’s green octopus henchman, Hirue.