Episode 94

EPISODE 94

エピローグ！明日へ！ (Epiroogu! Ashita he!)

Epilogue!  Towards Tomorrow!

First Broadcast: August 20, 1994

Equivalent Manga Chapter(s): almost all of chapter 153 (WSJ #8, 1994, February 7)

Summary: Yusuke and the gang return home.  Exiting Irima Cave, they reunite with Genkai and co., who have been anxiously waiting for them.  The Special Defense Squad threatens Koenma for his disobedience, but Yusuke scares them off and they go back to sealing up the portal.  The case is closed.  Everyone lives more or less happily ever after (even Amanuma was resurrected by Koenma), save for Yusuke, who feels lost and unable to fit back in to everyday life.

Anime/manga differences after the jump.

Differences from the Manga

(What's all this about?  Read here)

• The scene where Yusuke and co. meet up with everyone outside the cave is expanded in the anime by the inclusion of Keiko and Shizuru; Keiko hugs Yusuke when he comes out, and doesn’t ask any questions about his new appearance.  In the anime the Special Defense Squad heads back into the cave after Yusuke tells them to get lost, saying that their duty is to close up the portal.  In the manga they seem to take off into the sky, leaving the cave behind, which is odd because they shouldn’t be done sealing the portal yet (it’s supposed to take 2 days).

• During the scene with Kamiya (Doctor) and Hagiri (Sniper), in the manga when Kamiya says Sensui has lost, Hagiri asks why he thinks so.  Kamiya says it’s because of the wound on Hagiri’s chest (the one from when Hiei stabbed him).  It was clearly made by someone with incredible skill, and Kamiya figures that not even Sensui could defeat such people.  In the anime though, when Kamiya says Sensui has lost Hagiri simply agrees, and then Kamiya starts talking about Hagiri’s wound with no real transition.  A flashback to Hiei stabbing Hagiri is played here.  Also, in the anime the scene begins with them briefly discussing Kamiya’s jail break, and at the end Hagiri asks Kamiya what he’ll do now.  Kamiya says he doesn’t know, but it’ll be like “walking through mist”.

• In the manga Yusuke’s narration about what happened to him following the end of the battle comes at the end of the chapter, following the epilogues for all the other characters.  This leads to Yusuke thinking that he can’t return to everyday life and how he feels lost, ending the chapter.  In the anime Yusuke’s explanation of what happened to him post-battle comes after the Kamiya/Hagiri scene, while his reflection on his feelings is moved to the end of the episode and made into a different scene.  The post-battle explanation scene is expanded in the anime by Kuwabara interrupting Yusuke’s thoughts as he sits under a tree.  Kuwabara asks if Yusuke is skipping classes again and says he’ll never become a good boiler man at this rate.  He wonders why Yusuke can’t enjoy peaceful days like this, then mentions that he got a letter from Mitarai, saying that he and Amanuma had returned to school.  Kuwabara’s worried that they’ll eventually cause more trouble though, since they didn’t fit into everyday life to begin with.  This serves as the transition to Mitarai and Amanuma’s epilogues.

• Amanuma’s epilogue is expanded a bit with a flashback to Koenma bringing him back to life.  He thinks that it’s good to be alive.  Also, when the narrator explains Amanuma’s future, he says Amanuma would use games to gradually expand his circle of friends.  This isn’t said in the manga, but pretty strongly implied by the scene that proceeds the narrator’s explanation.

• During Kamiya’s epilogue, he stops to laugh at his own wanted poster (having used his ability to alter his face).  In the anime a nearby policeman asks what’s so funny and if he knows anything about the man in the wanted poster, but Kamiya just says that the man happened to resemble someone he knew.  In the anime the narrator’s explanation of Kamiya’s future explicitly says that he used the “Miracle Hands” hospital he established to heal many people.  The manga isn’t quite so specific: it just says he established the hospital, and given Kamiya’s personality you’re left to wonder what a place run by him would be like.  The narrator also says Kamiya lives alone in the manga, which gets left out in the anime.

• For Hagiri’s epilogue, in the manga the narrator notes at the end that for five years following his disappearance, he’d send his mother 200,000 yen a month.  This detail is left out in the anime.

• On the same note, Mitarai’s epilogue ends with the narrator saying he studied abroad and is engaged in volunteer work relating to environmental issues and international relations, which gets left out in the anime.

• The scene where Kido, Yanagisawa, and Kaito part ways with Yusuke and Kuwabara is expanded on in the anime by the inclusion of Genkai.  In fact, the three pretty much just talk to Genkai instead of Yusuke and Kuwabara like in the manga.  Genkai tells them to refrain from using their abilities as much as possible (on the grounds that using their abilities too much would make them view themselves as different from others), and they thank her for all she did for them.  The anime has the narrator re-explain the three’s abilities.  He then says that they all subsequently went back to their schools and obeyed Genkai’s warning, never using their abilities again, and graduated without incident.  The manga doesn’t offer any glimpse into their future (at least not at this point; there’s some more stuff with them in the last few manga chapters, which are left out in the anime).  At around this point in the manga is a margin note saying that Makihara’s body is still in the cave with Elder Toguro.

• Hiei and Kurama’s epilogue (if you could call it that) in the manga is just a single panel showing them sitting under a tree.  Hiei has the Black Chapter video in his hand, and an exposition box explains that he was carried back to the Human World while asleep.  In the anime Kurama asks Hiei if that tape he’s carrying is the Black Chapter, and he re-explains about what that is.  He then says he wants to return the tape to the Spirit World, but if Hiei really wants to go to the Demon World he might be able to trade the tape in for that privilege.  Hiei promptly destroys the tape with his sword, calling it worthless.

• The Hiei/Kurama scene is followed in the anime by the scene with Itsuki and Sensui, while in the manga the Itsuki/Sensui scene comes between Mitarai’s epilogue and the scene with Kido and co. saying farewell to Yusuke and Kuwabara.  The scene is expanded a bit by Itsuki telling the dead Sensui that he can continue sleeping in peace, and that nobody will bother them anymore. 

• Following that in the anime is an anime-only scene in the Spirit World.  King Enma reads a letter from Koenma, saying he doesn’t plan on returning to the Spirit World.  Otake says that while Koenma went against the will of the Spirit World, he’s still the one chiefly responsible for the successful sealing of the portal.  It’s another way the anime makes Otake into a sympathetic character, in contrast to the manga where he eventually becomes (or is revealed to have always been) an extremist religious terrorist who stands against the changes Koenma and Yusuke have made to the relationship between the Spirit, Human, and Demon Worlds.  Anyway, King Enma isn’t convinced by anime-Otake’s argument, saying that Koenma defied him and that he’ll inform Otake of Koenma’s punishment later.  Enma says that he always considered Koenma a child, and wonders when he grew up.  He then lets the letter slip from his fingers and blow away.  

• After that is another anime-only scene with Kuwabara running around looking for Yusuke, who has his math book.  Keiko tells him to check the roof, which he does.  Yusuke actually is up on the roof, but in a place Kuwabara can’t see.  Kuwabara gives up and heads to borrow Keiko’s book, while Yusuke starts thinking about how while everyone else has settled back into everyday life, he can’t seem to manage it.  This is taken from the end of chapter 153, but expanded on with Yusuke talking more.  There’s a flashback to the end of the battle with Sensui, as Raizen-possessed Yusuke finishes Sensui off, and Yusuke thinks about how it doesn’t sit well with him to have somebody else meddle in his fight.