Yu Yu Hakusho

[Avaitor]

SLEEP DOCTOR SLEEP IS ONLY #4?

I was expecting that to be #1. Good show though!

I remember sing #5 as an example of how strong Kuwabara's character was back on tv.com. Not only that, but its existence is more proof that the show was great right from the beginning, and the first episode wasn't a fluke. You get so much out of this one episode.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I wasn't aware you guys liked the Doctor so much. Watching that on Toonami was one of my favorite moments.

[Avaitor]

Oh man, it's such a good representation of the show at its best. If you want to get someone into the show and the first couple of episodes were "too slow" for them, for whatever reason that could be, show them this 2-parter.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I have to really give it to the animation team and direction on this one, too. In the manga it's still really good, but the anime staff hit it out of the park with how foreboding the whole situation was.

I also really enjoy the dub's take on it; "PRONOUNCED DEAD" is such a creepy line and delivery but it works great.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I remember Greg X once saying that he didn't see what made this show anything special. I don't know if he ever watched this 2-parter, but if something like this couldn't convince him or anyone else how great this show truly is, I don't know what else could. It basically proves everyone who calls this show another generic shonen series flat-out wrong, as far as I'm concerned.

[Dr. Insomniac]

If it makes you feel better, GregX doesn't really know half of what he's talking about at times. I mean, he thinks Young Justice is better than Justice League.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I don't agree with him a lot of the time either, but it does feel like he didn't really give the show much of a chance and to be fair he also thought Dragon Ball was the same thing as Dragon Ball Z.

[Avaitor]

If it makes you feel better, GregX doesn't really know half of what he's talking about at times. I mean, he thinks Young Justice is better than Justice League.

Really? The last time I talked to him about YJ, he said that he hasn't been enjoying it that much.

He might have said that Young Justice had a better first season than Justice League did, which is true, IMO.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I also have to point out how much I love the ending of that 2-parter, where Doctor gives off one of the best set of lines in the series, IMO. The dub in particular does an excellent job with his speech (of sorts).

If it makes you feel better, GregX doesn't really know half of what he's talking about at times. I mean, he thinks Young Justice is better than Justice League.

To be fair he does admit that he's extremely biased towards anything that has Greg Weisman's involvement. Were the show not headed by him, I'm pretty sure that he'd really be able to pick apart all of its problem. And that's not saying that its a bad show by any means, but no way in hell is it better than Justice League.

[Dr. Insomniac]

I also don't like how he keeps bitching about Superman being unrelatable and a bad character. Dude, he's an alien with superpowers. He's not supposed to have a personality resembling anything human. It's just that bad writers keep trying to make him grounded and like Spider-Man or something.

That's half of why I don't really want him watching Doctor Who, because he'd probably just spew a ton of articles about how the Doctor is a Mary Sue.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Yeah, Superman is not supposed to be relate-able, that's why I think he's great. He has to live up to this icon of justice and its an extremely daunting task especially when Clark Kent is just a bumbling reporter. He's the anti-Batman and he's great for that.

But if he personally just can't connect with things like YYH there's very little anyone can do about that except him.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Honestly, episodes 73-77 may be the best consistently awesome string of episodes in the series. There is just so much awesomeness packed into each and every one of those episodes and I was really tempted to just post that whole string in one slot on my list, but I had to select self-contained segments within the grand scheme of things to keep my list reasonable.

Really, though, the Chapter Black arc is an amazing achievement among early shonen series. I would say that more shonen series should aspire to try and learn from what this arc does right. Instead we have modern shit like Beelzebub coming out these days and completely lacking any sense of anything that can actually be considered "competent" writing (let alone good), and somehow its shit like this that becomes a big hit among manga readers.

Seriously, when I finally get a mic and start participating in podcasts, we have to dedicate at least one segment in some episode to talking about how kick-ass this show is. Avaitor, Desensitized, and myself could hold awesome discussions on this show alone (the other segment could be devoted to Ed, Edd, n' Eddy ).

[gunswordfist]

The Swatiska ninja did survive. Genkai said that he was unconscious and that they should just fight around him in the finals.

[gunswordfist]

If it makes you feel better, GregX doesn't really know half of what he's talking about at times. I mean, he thinks Young Justice is better than Justice League.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Here's a single entry (once again because I'm too burned out to write any more than that, ATM):

3. The Death of Genkai (Episode #052)



Alright, before you all blast me for this one, yeah, I know the fact that Genkai "comes back" at the end of the tournament may cheapen the impact of this episode for most people (it did for me at one point in time). But upon having re-watched the episode numerous times, it still hits that emotional cord with me as strong as ever, and that's the result of absolutely terrific execution and directing (you know, back when Noriyuki Abe was actually adapting good material in the first place). In that regard, much like how many still consider Spock's Death to be a classic and touching moment in Star Trek 2 despite his return in the next film, I find the episode about Genkai's death is still one of the highest points in the series, personally.

Its no secret by this point in the series that Genkai and Toguro were once partners in their youth, however they went their separate ways once Toguro chose to abandon his humanity for the power of a demon's body, which disgusted Genkai to no end given what Toguro had turned himself into, not on the outside, but within. Throughout the tournament you get the sense that Toguro has always held a deep grudge towards Genkai, if only because it feels like he wanted to prove that his life choice was right and she was wrong to have walked away from him (we do know by the end of the arc that there was much more to him than that, but up to this point its how the viewer would perceive him). Of course what the viewer knows, none of the other actual characters (save for Toguro's elder brother) know. This is where Yusuke comes in. The previous episode ended with him finding out from Kuwabara that Genkai had gone off into the forest for some bullshit reason that she gave him, which immediately got Yusuke darting for her location as he immediately realized what she really meant. As Yusuke is rushing to get to Genkai in this episode, she and Toguro, who are already in each other's presence, have a conversation about their past, with Toguro claiming that Genkai was a fool for turning down the power and eternal youth that the transformation into a demon's body could give her, saying that instead she had chosen to become a withered old hag. Genkai of course expresses equal disgust for Toguro in his current state, and gave her counterpoint as to why he was the fool. The conversation was more of just a way for each of them to say their last pieces to each other, though, as Toguro pointed out that they were just delaying the inevitable and was ready to finish things between them for good.

Now, its worth noting by this point that Genkai, knowing full well that her death was coming at the hands of Toguro, had passed down most of her power to her student, Yusuke, through a transfer by her own personal spirit orb. This means that she had less power than ever to fight back against Toguro with, but you really got to appreciate her effort for not backing down against him even knowing full well that anything she did was futile. She fires a blast at him using all of her spirit energy which Toguro easily pushes past and delivers to her a single punch which shatters her body and leaves her face-down on the ground lying in a pool of her own blood. Its unfortunate that this is the exact moment that Yusuke finally makes it to her, only to see her in a dying state. Without even paying notice to Toguro, he swiftly rushes to her side and holds her up, telling her to hold on. Its at this point that Genkai, extremely close to deaths door, reveals to Yusuke that she had a history with Toguro (which was was surprise to Yusuke since he knew nothing of this before this point in the story). She also revealed that she knew full well that she was being lured in by Toguro as a trap for over 3 months before the tournament, when representatives of the tournament committee had come to her requesting her presence at the Dark Tournament. At first she refused, saying that upon being part of Toguro's winning team half a century ago she had made the specific request not to be disturbed by the tournament committee ever again. The representative tells her its optional for her, but then also tells her that Toguro has had Yusuke invited as a guest entry into the tournament, and for him it was mandatory. This of course forced Genkai into the tournament knowing full well that her student wasn't ready for the harsh battles that lied ahead of him at that point in time.

Genkai desperately uses her last few moments of life to tell Yusuke the mistake that Toguro had made and pleaded with him not to become the same as him, pointing out that every big decision he made would affect the people he cared about and also telling him that he couldn't just be a kid anymore. And then she finally closes her eyes. Yusuke holds her dead body silently for a moment before Toguro cuts in on his grieving countering her last words and once again proclaiming her the fool, as he was
the one standing and she had just past through death's door. This of course enrages Yusuke, which looking back on it was probably intentional on Toguro's part, as part of the reason he killed Genkai was to bring out Yusuke's full potential, and saying what he did was a great way to provoke Yusuke into attacking him to test his power. Unfortunately Yusuke just didn't have the heart for a fight at that point, and rushed at Toguro with nothing but blind rage. The result was Toguro sending Yusuke flying through a row of trees with a single well-placed punch, leading to the iconic image of him lying battered and bruised against the trunk of a large tree, with a look of grief and some emptiness showing in his eyes.

This is by far one of the most emotional episodes in the entire series. It features terific dialogue, really captivating themes, and it really shows how multi-dimensional the characters in YYH are as it explores the conflicting philosophies of Genkai and Toguro as they remember their past together and what brought each of them to the very different points that they reached in life. It has a great scene with the hero, Yusuke, being completely defeated and you as the viewer wanting more than ever before to see Yusuke pick himself back up and deliver to Toguro exactly the kind of ass-kicking that he deserves, but the episode itself leaves off on a very sad yet somewhat touching note. Yeah, Genkai coming back to life at the end of the DT arc may cheapen its effect a little (though I forgive that because she actually had a good role to play in the Chapter Black arc), but for me nothing can ruin the impact that this episode had one me and always will have. It made me tear up a bit when I first saw it on Toonami as a kid, and even to this day it still gets me emotional whenever I watch it. Its easily one of my top 3 favorite episodes of YYH.