Episode 23

EPISODE 23

闇の使者!戸愚呂兄弟 (Yami no Shisha! Toguro Kyoudai)

Envoys of Darkness! The Toguro Brothers

First Broadcast: March 20, 1993

Equivalent Manga Chapter(s): last 3/4s of chapter 47 (WSJ #48, 1991, November 18), first half of chapter 48 (WSJ #49, 1991, November 25)

Summary: Tarukane calls the BBC to bet on whether the pair will defeat the other henchmen outside. Only Sakyo bets they will, and he’s right.  The pair now faces the Ogre Triad, who Sakyo wagers they will also defeat.  The first of the Triad, Miyuki, appears.

Anime/manga differences after the jump.

Differences from the Manga

(What's all this about?  Read here)

• The episode starts with an anime-only scene of the gang trying to find their way through the forest to Yukina.  Botan has the demon detector, last seen during the Genkai tournament story arc.  Back then, it exploded because Rando was nearby and his powerful energy was too much for the device.  In the manga it’s not seen again until the early Sensui arc, when Botan uses it to try and find Hiei.  She says it was repaired in the Spirit World and can now sense any demon without blowing up.  I guess in the anime its repairs just wrapped up sooner

• After Toguro tells Tarukane about Hirue’s defeat, in the anime there’s a brief Koenma and Jorge scene.  The image on Koenma’s magic TV fizzles out, and Koenma says his agents are being kept out of the mansion.  So apparently “agents” are responsible for Koenma’s omnipresent TV cameras.

• Tarukane turns out to be a member of a group of evil super-rich guys whose hobby is making absurd bets.  In the manga this is called the “Black Book Club” (“BBC” for short), while in the anime it’s called the “Black Black Club”.  Either way, not to be confused with the British Broadcasting Corporation.

• In the anime after Tarukane tells his butler to call the BBC, there’s a brief filler scene of Yukina telling the birds near her window not to come anymore.  Then we get more of the gang mucking about in the woods.  Botan gets captured by a giant demon spider, which Yusuke punches dead.  After that is more of Koenma and Jorge watching the action (seems their “agents” get around in the forest just fine).  The pair are shortly joined by Kurama, who says Hiei still hasn’t come back yet.  Koenma assumes Hiei has somehow caught on to what the tape was about, and says he should have sent Kurama along with him.  Jorge asks why Koenma didn’t just tell Hiei what was up himself, but Koenma says if he did that, Hiei would just go kill everyone in the mansion, and demons killing humans is a serious crime no matter what the reason.  Back in the forest, Hiei flits through the trees and stops to overlook Yusuke and co.

• After the eye-catch we get an interesting filler scene where Hiei dreams of the operation where he got his Jagan.  In the anime this is the first hint that Hiei’s third eye isn’t part of his natural anatomy.  In the manga this isn’t suggested until the end of the Tarukane arc, when Yusuke asks Hiei if he got Jagan so he could locate Yukina (Hiei denies this, but of course it’s the truth).  By the time this episode of the anime aired, the manga had also already long passed the point in the Dark Tournament where Onji flat-out says Hiei’s Jagan isn’t natural.  However, in the manga it’s not until the very end of the series when Hiei’s training under Mukuro that we actually learn that he got his Jagan via a medical operation, so in that sense the filler scene is prescient.  Perhaps Togashi gave them some details?  On the other hand, this filler does create some plot holes because the doctor shown in it clearly isn’t Shigure, the guy we eventually learn gave Hiei his Jagan.  Maybe it’s Shigure’s assistant? 

• Hiei also dreams of Yukina as a child, while in the manga it’s eventually established that they were separated at birth and didn’t know each other as children.  Hiei supposedly didn’t even learn he had a younger sister until he got his Jagan and returned to the Land of Glaciers (which creates plot holes even in the manga).

• In the anime the narrator gives a more detailed explanation of the BBC than we get in the manga (they’re sponsored by Tarukane and are leading businessmen in the underworld).

• Tarukane shows a video of Yusuke and co. to the BBC right away in the anime.  In the manga the BBC doesn’t get to see them until they pose for a security camera inside the mansion, after defeating Miyuki.  –In the manga Toguro notes that each of his demon underling has enough power to instantly kill a pro wrestler, a detail left out in the anime.  Also, in the manga there are 12 demons outside the mansion (not counting Hirue, already defeated), while in the anime there’s 14 (not counting Hirue and the spider guy).

• There’s a bit more to Yusuke and Kuwabara’s fight with the demon mooks in the anime.  One of them grows gigantic, but Yusuke still takes it down in no time.  And Kuwabara’s somehow got a headband proclaiming his lover for Yukina.

• In the manga, Kuwabara uses his heightened spiritual senses to learn that there’s 3 demons inside the mansion much stronger than the ones outside.  In the anime Botan learns this via her demon detector, and flies off to investigate.  On her way over there’s a huge explosion, and Tarukane’s ordinary human guards get scared and run away.  Turns out Yusuke and Kuwabara have stepped on a (ridiculously powerful) land mind, but are unharmed.  In the manga instead of the landmine scene, we see Yusuke and Kuwabara easily defeating Tarukane’s armed human thugs inside the mansion.  Maybe the anime didn’t want to depict a direct confrontation between 14-year old kids and men with guns, even if the kids come out unscathed.  Land mines, of course, are fair game.

• As Yusuke and Kuwabara beat up the human guards in the manga, Miyuki steps forth and challenges them to a fight.  In the anime she just appears in front of them on her own once they get inside the mansion.  In the manga Miyuki has martial artist-style baggy pants on under her skirt, while in the anime she’s just bare-legged.

• The episode ends 7 pages into chapter 48, right as Miyuki appears.