Episode 3

EPISODE 3

追いつめられた桑原!男の誓い (Oitsumerareta Kuwabara! Otoko no Chikai)

Kuwabara In a Corner!  A Man’s Oath

First Broadcast: October 24, 1992

Equivalent Manga Chapter(s): chapter 7 (WSJ #6, January 28, 1991)

Summary: Kuwabara improves his grades and stops fighting to help his friend keep his job.

Differences from the Manga

(What's all this about?  Read here)

• While the first two episodes adapt manga chapters 1-3, chapters 4-6 (which show Yusuke helping various people) are skipped over.  There are a lot of chapters with self-contained stories of Yusuke helping out living people, ghosts, and whatnot during the time he’s trying to get back to life, but these are all left out in the anime.  Obviously they want to get straight to the fighting portion of the series (and Hiei and Kurama’s debut), but it kind of takes the legs off the whole idea of Yusuke undergoing a trail to be resurrected.  In the anime he pretty much just floats around watching his friends do stuff.

• The episode begins with a filler scene of Yusuke talking about his egg, only to see some thugs from Kasane-ga-fuchi Middle School hassle Keiko.  Kuwabara and his friends then step in and save her.  This fight with the Kasane-ga-fuchi thugs is mentioned in the manga but not shown, and Keiko had nothing to do with it there.

• In the manga, Akashi talks to himself about how Kuwabara won’t be able to keep his promise to not fight for a week, while in the anime he has this conversation with Iwamoto.

• When the Kasane-ga-fuchi punks confront Kuwabara wanting payback, in the anime he runs away at first before deciding to just let them hit him until they’re satisfied.  In the manga he just says that right away.  Also, the anime shows this one-sided fight in more detail, including Kuwabara almost snapping and fighting back.

• In the manga Akashi’s science test is 6 days away, but only 3 days in the anime.  Also, in the manga Akashi says right from the start that he has two conditions to allow Okubo to keep his job, but he doesn’t tell Kuwabara and co. the second one (them all getting over 50 on the test) until the next day.  In the anime though the 50 point thing is something he adds on the next day after another teacher (presumably Iwamoto) said his punishment was too light.

• After Yusuke brags about getting 12 points on the science test Kuwabara only got 7 on, in the manga he brags about science being his specialty subject, causing Botan to wonder what his grades must be like in his other subjects.  This is cut for the anime.

• The anime has scenes of Kuwabara studying at lunch and at bookstores.  At the bookstore we get to see the Kasane-ga-fuchi punks beating up on him again.  In the manga it’s only mentioned that he got into another fight.

• The part where Yusuke enters Kuwabara’s dreams to help him study is a lot longer in the anime, with Kuwabara actually talking to Yusuke a little bit.

• Right before the scene where Yusuke helps Kuwabara study, in the manga there’s a part where some more punks try to beat up Kuwabara.  Yusuke stands between them and Kuwabara and warns them not to hurt him.  The punks can’t actually see or hear Yusuke, but they get a weird feeling and chicken out.  The anime moves this scene to after the dream study session part and expands on it.  Yusuke’s ghostly threat still gives the punks a weird feeling, but they go after Kuwabara anyway, knocking over a girl in the process.  Yusuke then possess the unconscious girl and beats up the three punks.

• In the manga Akashi gets the idea to erase one of Kuwabara’s answers all on his own, while in the anime Iwamoto tells him to do it (and actually erases the answer himself).