Let's Talk About... Yu Yu Hakusho

[Spark Of Spirit]

One of my favorite dub moments involves the "video editing" comments between Koenma and Yusuke in an episode in the latter half of season one. It really brings out Koenma's arrogance and Yusuke's snark.

[Avaitor]

Alright, it's interesting to know about Sayaka's character in the manga. Something always seemed a little off about her time in the anime, and now it makes sense.

Actually, you know what, something is coming back to me. Do you remember before when I said that I haven't read the manga before? Well, technically I lied. I read a teeny bit of it when Jump was first published in the US, and I believe that I did get to read some of her material and vaguely remember getting to her origin. This would have been nice to have in the anime, but obviously I'm not too bitter, since the episode does work fine.

I always found it kind of cute how Yusuke and Keiko clearly do like each other as more than friends even at this point, but they're a little too unsure to fully accept it. This is very true of middle schoolers, which they are. Not to mention how one of them is technically dead... And I also agree with EK about how Yusuke sacrificing his egg made for a poignant moment. It also helps to further show that there's something worth saving in him, if he's willing to risk everything he's worked for just to please someone he cares about.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Nothing much I can add about these that y'all haven't already covered. "A Promise Between Men" is a great episode for fleshing out Kuwabara's character and making him a more sympathetic character with more layers to his personality than we had a sense of in the previous two episodes, and hinting at a less antagonistic connection between him and Yusuke. It's a great character-based episode, one that I would rewatch many a time on Colors Tv, and it remains among my top favorites in the entire show. "Requirement for Lovers" also does what it sets out to do well, especially in terms of demonstrating the strong bond between Yusuke and Keiko and how far they are willing to go for one another. Like others here, though, I prefer the manga's version, and ultimately, while it's a solid episode, like episode 2 it's more of a means to an end episode to me, and isn't an episode I tend to go out of my way to rewatch unless I commit to doing a complete rewatch of the entire series.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

BTW, why are Talon and VLord absent in all of this? Talon especially is a huge YYH fan, so I'm actually rather surprised that he has nothing to say, here.

[Foggle]

I remember talking about "Kuwabara: A Promise Between Men" way back on tv.com, and Foggle referred to it as a porno title. I'll never forget that, even if it isn't really relevant here.

holy shit I don't remember saying that at all

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

You totally did.

[talonmalon333]

Here I am. I'm not going to be watching the episodes, however I will gladly comment on them.

I can't add much to the discussion at this point as you've all done a good job of summing it up. I will say that I always had one minor problem with Requirements for Lovers. Yusuke's "My life or hers? choice at the end... is there really any real choice there? If he throws the egg, he saves her life but loses the chance to come back to life. But if he decided not to, then without Kayko to save him, wouldn't his body just burn up in the fire? In fact, when she first ran into the burning house and Yusuke told her to go back, Botan said to Yusuke something along the lines of "You know you can't come back without a body, right?". And this episode comes not long after Yusuke had to get Kayko to stop his body from being cremated at the funeral. So it almost seems like the choice is to either save Kayko and stay dead, or let Kayko die and still stay dead.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

He never said: "My life or hers?"

The idea was that he was unsure of whether she'd be able to make it out on her own or not, or if Kuwabara would arrive in time to help her. He then decided no to risk it and gave up the egg. The dub dialogue did make it seem like it was a different scenario, though.

[talonmalon333]

He never said: "My life or hers?"

The idea was that he was unsure of whether she'd be able to make it out on her own or not, or if Kuwabara would arrive in time to help her. He then decided no to risk it and gave up the egg. The dub dialogue did make it seem like it was a different scenario, though.

I did read this part in the manga, and I think I saw the sub version of the episode, but I didn't remember what was said. I almost always experienced this series in its dub, which is where Yusuke says "So my life or hers, wish somebody would've told me I'd make this choice this morning".

EDIT:

Although it did seem like it would have been impossible for her to make it out on her own, or even for Kuwabara to come to the rescue. After all, we did see lots of burning debris surround her when she got to Yusuke. Or maybe that part wasn't in the manga. Again, I don't remember.

But anyway, overall, the episode is great, though maybe my least favorite of the first five. Meanwhile, A Promise Between Men may be my favorite of them. Funny enough, I think it was the opposite when I first saw these episodes back on Adult Swim.

[Foggle]

You totally did.

Well, it sounds like something I would say. I just don't remember.

[Avaitor]

You totally did.

Well, it sounds like something I would say. I just don't remember.

I mean, it was like 7, 8 years ago. I can understand that. It's a little bit that I haven't forgotten, though.

[Foggle]

I have a really bad memory. Sometimes I can't even remember things I've done/said on the same day I did them. I also have a habit of remembering things incorrectly, which people seem to think is me purposefully trying to mess with them or make myself look better... but no, my brain just doesn't like me sometimes.

[talonmalon333]

I agree that Sayaka is kind of uninteresting in the animated series. I think another problem is her miscast dub voice. Sounds like a full grown woman.

I have a really bad memory. Sometimes I can't even remember things I've done/said on the same day I did them. I also have a habit of remembering things incorrectly, which people seem to think is me purposefully trying to mess with them or make myself look better... but no, my brain just doesn't like me sometimes.

Probably a side effect of your age constantly jumping around to random years. Eventually, your mind can't remember at which ages you said what, and thus it basically shuts down on you.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Actually, while not great in terms of voice acting, the idea of making her sound like a full grown woman makes sense since her role is different from the manga, and in this episode she's a representative of Spirit World much like Koenma,  who also sounds like an adult in the dub, so FUNimation was just trying to stay consistent and pass her off as much older than her appearance suggested, much like Koenma. It wouldn't make sense to Western viewers who speak English when one sounds like an adult and the other doesn't, otherwise.

It's worth noting that Koenma does sound suitably more childish in the Japanese portrayal, though, being voiced by Mayumi Tanaka, who's more famous for voicing Krillin from the DB franchise and Luffy from OP.

[VLordGTZ]

I've been busy lately, but I'll probably be able to start re-watching the show in a few weeks.  I don't think I've done a complete re-watch of YYH with the blu-ray remasters yet, so it'll be fun to finally do that.