Episode 29

EPISODE 29

血の花を咲かす蔵馬!  (Chi no Hana wo Sakasu Kurama!)

Kurama Makes Blood Flowers Blossom

First Broadcast: May 8, 1993

Equivalent Manga Chapter(s): second half of chapter 55 (WSJ #6, 1992, January 27), chapter 56 (WSJ #7, 1992, February 3)

Summary: Kuwabara uses his Spirit Sword to avoid a fatal fall, but still barely loses to Rinku.  In the next match, Roto threatens to kill Kurama’s mother in an effort to get him to surrender, but Kurama secretly plants a deadly seed on Roto, killing him.

Anime/manga differences after the jump.

Differences from the Manga

(What's all this about?  Read here)

• As Rinku prepares to drop Kuwabara to his death, in the manga Keiko and co. arrive at the stadium.  Atsuko shouts that Kuwabara will die if he’s dropped from such a height, and Koenma notes that it’s simply that kind of tournament.  In the anime Keiko and co. have been in the stadium for a while now.  Atsuko’s not even at the tournament, so Keiko says her lines, while instead of Koenma replying, Shizuru says that whether her brother lives or dies is up to fate.  Koenma is actually not even with the group in the anime, but up in his own private box with Jorge, in baby form.  Koenma makes various excuses about why he shouldn’t help Kuwabara.  He sees that Keiko is repeatedly calling out to Yusuke that he should wake up and help his friend (she does this in the manga too, but it goes on a lot longer in the anime), and worries that she’ll get attacked by demons if she keeps that up.  Jorge compares this to rooting for the wrong team in baseball, name-dropping some Japanese baseball teams.

• True to Koenma’s warning, Keiko really does get attacked.  In the anime she’s attacked by a single demon, but Shizuru chases the demon away by putting her cigarette out on its tongue.  Keiko then goes down to the front row seats to yell at Yusuke closer up, but to no effect.  In the manga Keiko and Atsuko both shout at Yusuke and are attacked by three demons, one of which Shizuru puts her cigarette out on (why the other two run off isn’t clear).  Keiko and Atsuko continue to yell at Yusuke from their seats in the back rows, while Koenma wonders if they’ll manage to return home alive.

• We clearly see Kuwabara’s twisting Spirit Sword pierce through Rinku’s chest in the manga.  In the anime it hits his chest, but stops there and disappears.

• After the double ring out, in the manga Rinku ties Kuwabara up with his Devil Yo-Yos the moment Kuwabara stands back up again, causing him to lose when he fails to return to the ring by the count of 10.  In the anime Yusuke yells at Kuwabara from his sleep again, so Kuwabara rushes over to chew him out for a bit.  It’s only then that Rinku thinks of tying him up.  This makes Kuwabara look like a complete idiot, since he pretty much only loses because he didn’t immediately rush back into the ring.  Shizuru even calls him a fool.

• Before Kurama starts to fight Roto, in the anime Botan rushes up to the ring and announces that she’ll be looking after the team’s health from now on (in the process, she throws off her fancy kimono to reveal street clothes underneath).  She starts by slapping the heck out of Yusuke to try and wake him up.

• Then while Kurama is outclassing Roto, in the anime we see Sakyo taunting Gonda that his Roku-Yukai Team might not be capable of defeating Toguro’s team.

• In the manga we see Kurama’s mother with the same man in glasses who she’ll eventually marry.  He appeared back when Kurama first explained about his past, but he was left out of the anime version then and is left out here too.  As mentioned, Kurama’s mother eventually marries this guy, so in the anime this announcement kind of comes out of nowhere.

• As Roto beats up the helpless Kurama, in the anime Rinku complains about Roto’s dirty tactics, while Zeru says winning is everything.  This is the first time Rinku’s portrayed in a particularly positive light.  We also see Sakyo and Gonda reacting to the fight some more; Gonda says Roto should just go ahead and kill Kurama quick (he invested a lot in the team, after all, and needs them to win).  There’s also a bit of Koenma and Jorge’s reactions.

• At the end of the episode, Hiei says that the servant demon Roto had poised to kill Kurama’s mom at his signal “disappeared” when Roto died.  This demon’s something of a loose thread in the manga.  The (supposedly) sleeping Yusuke congratulates Kurama.