Let's Talk About... Yu Yu Hakusho

[Spark Of Spirit]

You know, that fight was a lot briefer than I remember it being. But every second counted.

I like that the whole problem of Yusuke walling himself off from the world was finally broken through and allowed him to grow up a little. Now he no longer hides being a tough exterior, but can be fully open with dealing with the world around him. Of course, he isn't finished growing yet, there is more story to tell, but I'm glad that that particular flaw of his won't be getting in the way so much anymore. As for what's next, well, that's next. I'll bring that up later.

For now, I'll just mention that it was one of the best final villain fights in any shonen. Every movement counted, and no move was wasted. No fake outs, just everyone laying it on the line. I don't think the arc could have had a better ending to the main conflict.

[talonmalon333]

The first episode of this week, the third episode of Yusuke and Toguro's battle, is one of my absolute favorites in the series. Really, all four of these episodes are absolute top notch. But if I had to separate them, I'd say the first episode is Yusuke and Toguro feeling out each other's strengths, the second episode is them powering up to their best, and the fourth episode is the wrap up. The third episode, to me, feels like the peak of the match because the emotions are so high. As I talked about the other day, they do such a good job establishing how powerless Yusuke is to Toguro, despite coming so far and despite now having Genkai's spirit energy. Genkai was built up to be something special, so how is it watching the strength of her and Yusuke combined do absolutely nothing to this mammoth? This was established well last week, but we see much more of it in this episode.

And it's not just a slaughter. The fight means so much to the characters, and I think I speak for all of us when I say it matters to us, too. We desperately want to see Yusuke get up and defeat him... but now, it just seems so impossible. And Toguro, who is typically comes off as professional and, in Sakyo's words, "so businesslike", it's something seeing how monstrous he is here. He just comes off as so despicable. Particularly when Yusuke's on the ground remembering Kayko. I also love the idea of the audience turning on Toguro and siding with Yusuke. When I was first watching the Dark Tournament, I remember thinking that, after whenever Yusuke beats Toguro, it would seem wrong for the audience to be booing him still. I think it was important to get them on Yusuke's side and let them cheer once Yusuke came out on top. I also love how Toguro's energy starts draining the life from the audience. Just makes the situation seem all the more terrible when, not only is Team Urameshi at risk of dying, but the whole stadium is.

Speaking of which, that leads me to another reason I love the third episode of this match so much. It no longer feels like an official Dark Tournament match. Gone is the ring. Gone is the referee. Even the announcer is fading. The audience is slowly dying. Of course, to Yusuke and Toguro, this was always something personal. But, beyond that, this is no longer just a match to put points on the scoreboard and decide a winner. It's just two warriors fighting in the ruins of a stadium, and whoever wins decides the fate of everyone. And I think this is pushed by how ready the rest of the team is to fight Toguro. Normally, that would be illegal and would forfeit Team Urameshi, but now, it would have been perfectly okay for the rest of the the team to intervene. As Toguro approached them, Hiei and Kurama were ready and strategizing to fight Toguro in order to protect their teammate, and Kuwabara literally charged into battle. Just little things like that make the match feel stronger.

And that leads me to the final point. Kuwabara's death. Seriously, this is one of the crowning moments of the entire series. First, there's the scene where Genkai possesses Pu, which is great. But Kuwabara's speech, and his charge into battle, ending with his death and last words, really work so well. It really feels like this is it. We lost Genkai, and now, we lost Kuwabara, and Yusuke is ready to bring out his best and defeat Toguro once and for all.

I also want to give a mention to the sad melody that closes out the episode. It's used throughout the whole series in sad and dramatic moments and it always works very well. But, I think this might be the best usage of it. Or, at least...

Spoiler

The second best usage of it, beaten only by the ending of Attempting Revenge in Chapter Black

[close]

The next episode is also top notch. I just wanted to talk about this episode because it, in particular, is one of my favorites.

[talonmalon333]

Spoiler

The team owner also seemed to doubt Risho after Jin proved unable to beat Yusuke.

I think this is how I'd rank all the opponents in the first and third rounds of the tournament based on strength. I'm leaving out Itchagaki's team because I have no idea how they compare.

Jin
Chu
Zeru
Risho
Touya
Gamma
Rinku
Bakken
Roto

Roto strikes me as completely useless without his cheap tricks. And Bakken was established to be fairly weak.

I might update this list as we get to later rounds and meet new fighters.

[close]

Now that the tournament is over, I'll update this. It's a bit hard getting the characters from the semi-finals in there, though I feel like most of them are weak.

Toguro
Elder Toguro
Bui
Karasu
Jin
Chu
Zeru
Risho
Shishiwakamaru
Touya
Gamma
Suzuka
Rinku
Bakken
Kuro Momataro
Ura Urishima
Makintaro
Roto

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

63. Yusuke's Despair

This penultimate episode of the fight was fantastic. The emotional outburst of Keiko and Yusuke's memories of their childhood were just beautiful. Yusuke realizing more and more how much his friends mean to him, and that he's going to lose them all if he can't defeat Toguro had a strong emotional resonance. Finally, Genkai using Puu to tell Toguro how to bring out Yusuke's full power was really heart-wrenching to watch.


64. Toguro's Desire

And this conclusion was nothing short of amazing. Yusuke's reaction to Kuwabara's death, his speech about how he at one time admired Toguro's power before realizing what he had thrown away to achieve it, and the fact that he finally understood what it meant to put everything he has into his fight signifies the full development of his character arc since the beginnibg of the series. By the end of this battle, Yusuke has grown immensely, not just in terms of raw power, but as a human being as well.

Speaking of being human, I love the imagery of Toguro's defeat. His demon body is cracked and shatters around him, leaving his pale, withered interior that represents the last of his diminished humanity, but also symbolizing that even he had a shred of humanity left after all. It's a great example of how even many of Togashi's baddest villains aren't 1-dimensionally evil at their core.

Overall, this is my favorite single fight in the series (though, the fight with Team Masho is my favorite overall fight). It's the perfect climax to the best shonen tournament arc ever written.

Soon I'll have to do my summarized thoughts of the overall arc, but we still aren't done yet! There are just two more episodes left, and shit's still going to go down!

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

And these two episodes deal with the aftermath of the tournament and close out the arc. I'll post my thoughts later, but I love the send-off that Toguro gets, and I don't see Genkai's revival as a total cop-out if only because her apparent death served its purpose of Yusuke learning to not use her as a crutch, any longer.

[Avaitor]

It seems hard to believe that Yusuke has come out victorious from Toguro so soon, huh? Well, we're not done just yet, as his deserved victory is being sidelined by the destruction of the tournament area, as the gang races for their lives to come out unharmed.

And that's only the first episode. The next gives Toguro his justified end, as he accepts his fate and gets the goodbye he's long been looking forward to. Just as the tournament arc ends with a more than welcomed return.

What a finish! Not every fight was as fascinating to watch as the best, but this has the series at its best, a great beast that is unbelievably entertaining and endearing to watch. But we're not done yet!

[Spark Of Spirit]

It's hard to believe we're halfway done the series. Feels like we only started a couple of weeks ago.

I always liked that after the battle with Toguro, we spent two episodes dealing with the aftershocks including Sakyo's plans falling apart with Toguro's death and Genkai and Toguro seeing each other one last time before Toguro meets his fate. It's funny that even at the end he refused to let anyone see him for who he really was even though Genkai was clearly able to see who he really was underneath all his posturing. Gotta say, it's a strong end to one of the best arcs in shonen.

And next week we start something . . . a little different.

[talonmalon333]

The Dark Tournament couldn't have possibly ended with two better episode.

Out With A Bang opens with recapping the ending of the fight. I suppose this is my only problem with the episode. We really shouldn't have had to have seen this again.

The rest is perfect. Yusuke's monologue when he's blaming himself for Kuwabara is a great way to setup the comedic gold that is Kuwabara's return. I just love that moment when Yusuke is shouting that it's all his fault, while Kuwabara rises up with a big, stupid grin. "'Captain Faker'! That's me!". It's especially funny seeing Yusuke beating him up when you remember that this is all happening right after that huge, emotional fight.

Then we get to the main stuff. Sakyo setting up the countdown to the stadium's explosion, to allow himself to go down with it. Somehow, they managed to find a way to keep up with the fast paced momentum even after all the fighting is over. The scene of Sakyo's death is well done, as is Shizuru's reaction. I like the way they approached the bond between those two.

Then we get to the ending. I like how all of the team is on the same page here, even Hiei. They all had one wish, the same wish, that they wanted for winning the tournament: bringing back Genkai. And yet, they knew they wouldn't be able to get it. And then, we see Yusuke's moment shouting "It's done. We finished it, Genkai!". Just a perfect way to end the Dark Tournament.

Then, we get to the last episode, which is basically an epilogue. Did anyone ever notice how much cleaner the animation is in this episode? Part of it might be the fact that the character's are all cleaned up now, but the look of this episode is a lot shinier and cleaner to me. But anyway, this episode does a good job of showing the team wrapping things up on the island, and showing us that final scene with Toguro and Genkai. I like that, despite everything they went through together, they were able to get closure and go out on fairly good terms.

I think Genkai's revival seems like a bit of a copout at first, but very quickly, you realize that it works. Like E-K said, Yusuke no longer needs to use her as a crutch, but I also like that this was Toguro's plan all along. He's a complicated guy. He disrespected everything Genkai stood for, but wanted to be proven wrong. He wanted a fight to the death with Yusuke, but also seemed to want Yusuke to avoid the path that he took. And for both of these things, he felt Genkai had reason to come back. He even said "Maybe he'll actually listen to you, the way I could not".

And you know, despite everything that happened, in the end, I legitimately wish that Toguro could have gotten a lesser punishment after his death. But it's what he wanted, and that's all that matters.

The story of Toguro and Genkai ended on a bittersweet note. And as for the crew? They got to go out on a happier note. After saying goodbye to Hanging Neck Island (which you have to imagine that, despite the dangers of the tournament, became like a second home to them), Genkai comes back, and they all get to go home together. I do wish that the narrator didn't give that ominous speech at the end, of something along the lines of "Unbeknownst to them, a new threat lurks beneath the rubble of the stadium determined to keep Sakyo's plan alive". I might have misquoted that, but you get the idea. I think it would have been better to just end it on a lighter note and leave those plot threads for later.

But anyway, overall, a perfect end to the arc. If this was the end of the series, then the show would basically be perfect. But we aren't even close to reaching the end of the greatness...

It's hard to believe we're halfway done the series. Feels like we only started a couple of weeks ago.

More than halfway done, actually. We're 66 episodes into a 112 episode series.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Episode count-wise, yes, but arc-wise we've hit the halfway point. Unfortunately, this is the part where most people tune out of the series when up next is arguably the best part of it.

[talonmalon333]

It's kind of hard to pick, but I do think that, in the end, I'll always say the next arc is my favorite. The Dark Tournament is an extremely close second, though.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

It still baffles me to this day how so many fans can honestly claim that the series goes downhill with the Chapter Black arc. I mean, I love Dark Tournament through and through, but it's like all that some people care about is a set-up good enough to have lots of fighting in it. There's a whole other brilliant aspect of this series that at least half of its fan-base seems to be completely oblivious to.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

65. Out with a Bang

The highlight of this episode for me was Sakyo going out with some dignity, paying off his promise for losing his gamble. It was nice to see Shizuru's sub-plot with him get some resolution, as well.

Kuwabara being alive didn't feel like a cop-out to me since it was in-character for Toguro to spare his life out of respect, and because all he needed to do was to give Yusuke a push in the first place.


66. Toguro's Wish

First of all, I want to point out how superb and beautiful the animation and art direction in this episode is. One of the best looking episodes in the entire show, by far. But what really makes this episode so great is it's conclusion to Toguro's character arc. That's right, how many other shonen are written so well as to give their antagonists a complete character arc of their own with such a satisfying conclusion? Despite once having noble ambitions for seeking more power, "Toguro's Desire" ended up turning him into the very thing that he hated. It's fitting, then, that with his humanity restored, he makes the personal choice to undergo severe punishment for his crimes, which also fits with the episode title and imbues it with a double-meaning. Easily one of the greatest and most unique villains in any battle shonen.

You might call Genkai coming back to life a cop-out, but her "death" achieved the outcome that it was meant to, however as Yusuke's character arc is not entirely complete and about to begin a new stage, he still requires a mentor to guide him through his future struggles, and let's just say that he'll be struggling a lot in the Chapter Black arc, which I'm super excited to revisit.

Dark Tournament; Overall Rating: A+
Summary of Thoughts: While only my second favorite arc in the series, re-watching it really makes it easy to see why it's so well-regarded as the best tournament arc of all time. On the one hand, it has numerous excellent fights as any tournament should, but it goes above and beyond expectations by giving each main character a personal struggle to overcome, having them grow through their individual character arcs, while simultaneously strengthening their bonds as a team. But even beyond that is a morally complex and interesting main antagonist at the heart of this story, which makes the ultimate goal of facing and defeating him all the more high-stakes and compelling.

[talonmalon333]

It still baffles me to this day how so many fans can honestly claim that the series goes downhill with the Chapter Black arc. I mean, I love Dark Tournament through and through, but it's like all that some people care about is a set-up good enough to have lots of fighting in it. There's a whole other brilliant aspect of this series that at least half of its fan-base seems to be completely oblivious to.

Kind of reminds me of the people who love Scarface and then talk about "because it has cool action scenes!" It's like, really? That's what the movie's all about?

[Avaitor]

God, the Dark Tournament arc is just so good. It's great to see how the core 4 characters have grown since they started working together, and we get to learn so much about Kurama, Hiei, and Genkai in what feels like a seamless fashion. And this doesn't drag at all, which is especially crazy. People who skip the show when they hear about the tournament arc are really missing out.

Tonight's post may come out a little late, btw. I have plans after class tonight. If I don't come around by midnight, could you do it for me, Spark?

[Spark Of Spirit]

Sure I'll do it if you can't.

The Dark Tournament is the best tournament arc in any manga or anime. About the only ones that come close are the ones in Dragon Ball, for obvious reasons. I think it's because it so closely ties the character development with the matches and opponents that by the end they haven't just grown as fighters but as individuals.

Other tournament arcs worth mentioning:

The Urabutou Satsujin in Flame of Recca
The Inter-High in Slam Dunk
The Mamodo Tournament in Zatch Bell (Yes, this is the whole series, but it is a very good take on the tournament idea)

I'm not a big fan of this trope, but it has been done well a few times.