Episode 43

EPISODE 43

覆面戦士の厳しき素顔 (Fukumen Senshi no Kibishiki Sugao)

The Masked Warrior’s Stern Face

First Broadcast: August 14, 1993

Equivalent Manga Chapter(s): last 2/3rds of chapter 75 (WSJ #27, 1992, June 22), chapter 76 (WSJ #28, 1992, June 29)

Summary: Yusuke and Keiko talk some more. Yusuke’s egg from the beginning of the series hatches into a creature dubbed “Puu”. Hiei and Kurama observe their next opponents, the Ura-Otogi Team, while the Go-Renja Team is set to fight Toguro’s team in the semi-finals. Mask is Genkai after all (she regains her youth during battle). She will now give Yusuke his final test.

Anime/manga differences after the jump.

Differences from the Manga

(What's all this about?  Read here)

• The episode starts with a brief retread of Yusuke and Keiko’s conversation from the end of episode 42.  Botan introduces it again (doing some sort of TV reporter/narrator impersonation), but with different dialogue than last episode/the manga.  Might be worth noting that when Keiko does her “don’t lose” thing, in the manga her face is oddly neutral, while in both here and episode 42 she’s clearly happy.  Her outfit is also slightly different: in the manga she has on a buttoned-down shirt, while in the anime she wears a sweater.

• When Botan comes out and explains to Yusuke that his egg will be hatching soon, he doesn’t remember what she’s talking about.  In the manga Botan just says it’s the Spirit World Beast egg by way of explanation.  In the anime, Yusuke asks if she and Koenma are raising chickens now, and Botan gives the full explanation about it being the egg Yusuke got as part of his trial to return to life.

• Similarly, Koenma’s explanation about how the form which the Spirit World Beast will take depends on Yusuke’s heart is expanded in the anime.  Koenma repeats essentially the same explanation from back in chapter 2/episode 2 about how if Yusuke has an evil heart, a fearsome monster will hatch from the egg and eat him body and soul.

• In the scene at the hotel where rest of the gang sees Puu for the first time, in the anime Yusuke hits Kuwabara for laughing too much.  So Kuwabara asks Yukina to heal the lump on his head with the power of love, which makes Shizuru hit him even harder for flirting too much.

• In the manga, Kuwabara explains that the rest of the Round 2 matches are beginning now, and the semi-finals will be the day after tomorrow, prompting Yusuke to note that there was really no reason for them to have their Round 2 and Round 3 matches back-to-back.  In the anime Kuwabara only mentions the semi-finals and not the rest of Round 2, so Yusuke’s comment is slightly less supported.

• In the manga Atsuko notes that Puu seems to like Yusuke’s soft head, and Yusuke retorts that he inherited his soft head from her, “the lousy drunk”.  In the anime Keiko takes Atsuko’s line and Yusuke just says it was uncalled for.

• In the anime we get to actually see the Ura-Otogi Team’s fight with the Gokukai Rokkyo Team, whereas in the manga the results were just shown on the tournament scoreboard.  Kuro-Momotaro fights a beast man, Ma-Kintaro fights snake man (splitting him in half with the same ax attack he later tries against Hiei), and Onji fights a more generic goon.  In the manga the remaining three members of the team are shown to be a vampire, wolfman, and Frankenstein monster.  For some reason the anime omits the vampire guy entirely.  In the manga it’s this vampire who refuses Onji’s offer to fight further and says that the Ura-Otogi will doubtlessly reach the finals, while the anime gives these lines to the wolfman.

• When the group comes (belatedly) to watch the Ura-Otogi Team fight, Kuwabara mentions that Yukina is looking for her brother, and Kurama and Yusuke tease Hiei by offering to help her look.  The anime highlights this a lot more, with Kuwabara asking what’s so funny, and saying he smells a secret.

• Kuwabara freaks out when he sees Toguro and co. and realizes how powerful they are, and wonders how he could have ever fought them before.  Yusuke comforts him by noting that the fact that he can now tell just how strong they are shows how much stronger he himself has gotten.  At this point the Ura-Otogi Team comes by and tries to intimidate them.  In the manga Yusuke tells Kuwabara he’s gotten stronger right there at the ringside, while in the anime the scene switches to the team in some room elsewhere in the stadium, and that’s where the conversation continues.  Then the Ura-Otogi Team walk into that room (how they know Yusuke and co. are in there isn’t clear).

• After the Ura-Otogi Team’s fight, in the anime we get to see the Go-Renja Team fighting the Kido Senshi Team.  Momo-Renja fights a giant top hat-wearing magician guy.

• In the manga, following the meeting with the Ura-Otogi Team, Mask tells Yusuke they have to talk, and walks off.  Yusuke is puzzled, recognizing Mask’s voice just then as Genkai’s, and goes after her.  In the anime Mask keeps staring at Yusuke throughout the episode, which after the meeting with the Ura-Otogi Team finally causes him to flip out and demand what her problem is.  Mask explains that she has doubts as to whether Yusuke can handle Toguro, which makes Yusuke even angrier.  Mask says they should step outside, and Yusuke follows her in a huff.  Botan is upset by this whole turn of events, and squeezes Puu in frustration.  Outside, Yusuke is still angry at Mask (whose identity he doesn’t really know) and wonders if she’s a spy for Toguro.  Mask says that she does in fact know Toguro, and her voice suddenly changes to that of Genkai, baffling Yusuke.  So in addition to the tone of this whole part being very different in the anime, the anime also hints at Genkai and Toguro’s relationship much earlier than the manga does.

• Continuing from that, in the anime Koenma and Jorge are watching the Go-Renja Team fight when Botan (still carrying Puu) rushes in and tells them what’s happening with Yusuke and Mask.  Koenma says that the time for Yusuke’s final trial must have come.  Elsewhere, Sakyo notes that Toguro isn’t interested in watching the match, and he says neither team would be any challange for him.  Sakyo mentions what’s happening with Yusuke and co., and Toguro says that things with Mask must be coming to a head.

• In the manga Puu is on Yusuke’s head at the start of the scene where Mask/Genkai finally explains everything to Yusuke, but he gets blown off by the force of Genkai’s Spirit Gun.  In the anime as we’ve seen, Puu is with Botan during this time.

• The boulders which both Yusuke and Genkai blow up with their Spirit Guns are notably bigger in the anime.