Episode 44

EPISODE 44

幻海からの最大の試練 (Genkai kara no Saidai no Shiren)

The Greatest Trial From Genkai

First Broadcast: August 21, 1993

Equivalent Manga Chapter(s): chapter 77 (WSJ #29, 1992, July 6), chapter 78 (WSJ #30, 1992, July 13)

Summary: Genkai asks Yusuke to kill her, but he can’t bring himself to. Having passed that test, Yusuke begins a painful ordeal to inherit Genkai’s power. A crowd gathers for the semi-finals, and the gang starts fighting the Ura-Otogi Team without Yusuke or Mask. Hiei quickly kills the first opponent, Ma-Kintaro.

Anime/manga differences after the jump.

Differences from the Manga

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• The episode starts with a re-do of episode 43’s last scene, with Genkai blowing up the big rock and telling Yusuke she’ll give him her final trial.  This time around she says it’s both her final and greatest trial.

• In the manga Genkai says that getting old means that, though you can keep on polishing your skills, you can’t stand up to overwhelming power anymore.  Then there’s a panel of Toguro pointing at his neck, like he did last chapter to challenge Yusuke.  In the anime Genkai specifically mentions Toguro, and there’s a scene of him powering up and wiping out several people.  Yusuke asks Genkai if this means Toguro is stronger than her, and she says that he is, to the extent that she’s gotten old.

• As Yusuke struggles over the prospect of killing Genkai, the anime replays scenes of their training and battles together, and Yusuke has more lines where he wonders what he should do.

• At this point, in the manga Puu is shown sitting on a tree branch, while in the anime we later see that Puu is with Keiko, and feeling ill.

• When Keiko and the girls come over to Kuwabara and co.’s hotel room to party, in the manga they’ve got alcohol, and Atsuko says they’ll have to drink as much as they can tonight, since the semi-finals are the day after tomorrow.  The anime as usual glosses over the issue of minors drinking.  Keiko also has a different outfit between versions: in the manga she’s wearing the same pants and shirt as when she talked with Yusuke, while in the anime she has a dress on.  We also see in the anime that the playing cards the gang uses are made by Nintendo.  Nintendo did indeed start out as a maker of playing cards.

• As Genkai pulls out the Reiko-Gyoku to give to Yusuke, in the anime the scene briefly switches to the Toguro Brothers in their hotel room.  Younger Toguro senses what’s happening and says that the tournament will be getting more interesting.

• Chapter 77 ends by contrasting Yusuke suffering through his final trial with what everyone else is doing (Toguro’s sitting looking smug, Kuwabara and co. are partying, Hiei looks pissed), while the anime leaves that out.

• As a crowd enters the new stadium for the semi-finals, in the anime we see the ticket-scalper from the start of the tournament.  Koenma and Jorge also comment on the creepiness of the new stadium.

• Right before the semi-finals start, there’s some filler of Jorge wondering where Yusuke and Mask are, and Koenma saying Yusuke’s undertaking his final trial.  Then we see Yusuke undergoing the trial some more, as Genkai watches him.  Next, back at the hotel room the girls are all oversleeping as the semi-finals begin, and Puu is still looking ill.

• In the anime, after Hiei cuts Ma-Kintaro’s arm off, he casually tosses it to Juri.  She freaks out.