Episode 25

EPISODE 25

燃えろ桑原!愛の底力 (Moero Kuwabara! Ai no Soko-dzikara)

Burn, Kuwabara! The Underlying Power of Love

First Broadcast: April 10, 1993

Equivalent Manga Chapter(s): second half of chapter 49 (WSJ #50, 1991, December 2), chapter 50 (WSJ #51, 1991, December 9)

Summary: Even the Spirit Gun can’t scratch the Toguro Brothers, who overwhelm Yusuke and Kuwabara.  But the pair finally achieves a turnabout victory with a clever combo attack.  Hiei appears and rescues Yukina.

Anime/manga differences after the jump.

Differences from the Manga

(What's all this about?  Read here)

• The episode begins with the BBC members re-explaining the conditions of the final bet.  After a bit of recap from last episode’s end (Kuwabara and Yusuke preparing to fight the Toguro Brothers), we get a scene with Koenma and Jorge.  Jorge points out how nervous Koenma is, and asks if that Toguro guy is strong.  Koenma says he’s super-duper strong, though he only saw him once a long time ago, an interesting detail that never gets expanded on.

• In the anime, Toguro has a clearly defined ring of…muscles (?) around his neck after he powers up to fight Yusuke and Kuwabara.  In the manga he has this in his higher powered forms (like when he fights Helen), but not the one he uses to fight the two that first time.  What the heck is that thing, anyway?  Does it protect his collar bone or something?

• When Toguro smacks Kuwabara, he notes that Kuwabara managed to move in such a way as to avoid taking critical damage.  In the manga he says Kuwabara’s smarter than the genetically engineered monster (ie Helen), while in the anime he just says Kuwabara has some smart moves.

• After Younger Toguro’s attack on Kuwabara, in the manga Yusuke immediately jumps at him and hits him with the Spirit Gun at point blank range, only to find that Elder Toguro has changed into a shield to protect his brother.  In the anime, after Kuwabara gets hit Yusuke first fires a Spirit Gun from the ground, but Younger Toguro jump up over it.  Yusuke then fires his Shotgun into the air, but Younger Toguro just toughs it out all on his own (he seems to form some kind of energy shield around himself).  After Younger Toguro lands, Yusuke then runs at him and jumps up to fire the Spirit Gun at point blank range.

• While the Toguro Brothers beat up on Yusuke and Kuwabara, we get another Koenma and Jorge scene.  Kurama shows up and asks if those two are the Toguro Brothers (seems he knows of them to).  Then he heads off to Tarukane’s mansion, while Jorge wonders if he’ll make it in time to help.  After that we see Hiei infiltrating Tarukane’s mansion.

• During the flashback to the last guy who tried to rescue Yukina, in the manga we get a full view of him getting riddled with bullets, while in the anime we just see his feet and hear the gunfire.

• When Hiei finally shows up, in the manga Tarukane is shouting orders at his staff to prepare a helicopter so he can escape with Yukina, and when he turns around he sees that Hiei has already knocked out everyone but him (so presumably nobody was listening).  In the anime we see that his staff is still standing around as he gives them orders, and it’s only when he finishes talking that Hiei enters.  We also hear slashing sound effects as Hiei takes down the staff in the anime, while in the manga it’s not clear how he beat them (we don’t see a sword, so he could have just beat them up).

• In the manga Hiei immediately punches Tarukane out, with Tarukane only managing to blurt out “help me” before going down.  Hiei punches him once, and says he won’t kill him, since he doesn’t want a worthless life like his on Yukina’s hands.  In the anime Tarukane offers that Hiei join him, saying Yukina’s Hirui Stones sell for lots of money.  This naturally doesn’t please Hiei, who starts punching him furiously.  Botan tells Yusuke that Hiei can’t be allowed to kill Tarukane, since no matter the reason it’s a criminal offense for a demon to kill a human.  Yusuke shouts for Hiei to stop, but he starts to punch Tarukane again anyway.  Yukina then grabs his arm and pleads with him to stop, so Hiei lets Tarukane live for her sake.

• Yukina asks who Hiei is, and he just says he’s a friend of Yusuke and Kuwabara’s.  After Yukina goes off to heal Kuwabara, in the anime Kurama shows up and asks Hiei why he didn’t tell Yukina he was her older brother.  Hiei says there’s no need.  In the anime Hiei’s also much more noticeably shocked when Yukina asks who he is.

• Yukina and Kuwabara’s conversation is a tad longer in the anime.  Yukina apologizes to Kuwabara for him having to go through all this for her sake, but Kuwabara sees the scar on her arm from when Tarukane burned her with a magic charm.  Kuwabara says he’s the one who should apologize, and this leads into the manga conversation where he asks her not to hate all humans.  During this speech, in the anime he sees Yusuke meeting up with Hiei and Kurama.