Part 1 of Yu Yu Hakusho
Yusuke vs. Suzaku - What’s Important?
https://1anime.to/episode/92911-yu-yu-hakusho-episode-20-english-dub - beginning to 21:42
https://1anime.to/episode/92912-yu-yu-hakusho-episode-21-english-dub - beginning to 22:15
In Yusuke’s third case as Spirit Detective, he is given the task of stopping a group of demons who plan to rule the Earth with the help of his newly assembled team (more about this when analyzing the characters Hiei and Kurama). Yusuke’s last obstacle in this case is his fight with the demon Suzaku, the leader of these demons (by the time Yusuke fights him, these other demons have been defeated, so Suzaku is the only one left). This fight is when Yusuke starts to ask himself what’s important with the help of Genkai’s training, which we see a flashback of during this fight, but I start this fight with a video of Yusuke continuing this fight before this flashback is seen.
At the start of this video, Yusuke is fighting Suzaku because he’s mad about what Suzaku is doing. Yusuke doesn’t say why he’s mad, but the reason is to protect Keiko, who he sees is in danger. Yusuke can’t do anything to protect her other than defeat Suzaku and destroy the device Suzaku uses to turn humans into demons and control them from Demon World (Boton, another important character who helps Yusuke, attempts to help Keiko back on Earth). Suzaku knows Yusuke is fighting to save Keiko, but Yusuke doesn’t admit this to him. Suzaku thinks he can use these feelings to his advantage, but it turns out to be his downfall, which is basically part of the typical anime fight schema.
Another important part of this schema is that the hero seems to win/be winning until the villain unveils more of his power. For Suzaku, this is his cloning technique where he can create six copies of himself. Yusuke tries to defend himself from this attack (the clones attack with what Suzaku can do himself), but it doesn’t work. However, he doesn’t give up the fight even though he thinks he doesn’t have any power left. Suzaku also forces Yusuke to watch what seems to be the death of Keiko (and Boton), but the voice of Genkai is heard in Yusuke’s head telling him not to give up since Keiko isn’t dead, and to remember his training with her.
What Yusuke proceeds to remember when training with Genkai before this fight is an example of what also happens in a typical anime fight. When there’s a point the hero is losing, they remember that there are people who believe in them, and they find the power that they need to continue the fight, and eventually win. However, this power of friendship example isn’t a typical example. This is also the first of many examples of Genkai’s training of not only training Yusuke physically, but also mentally and spiritually.
The first time Genkai trains Yusuke is the first time she calls him out on his typical behavior by responding to it in a way that helps him (tough love - in counseling, this is known as empathic confrontation). According to her, Yusuke would always give up whenever he wanted to, like in this fight, which Yusuke gets mad at Genkai for saying because she is telling him what he doesn’t want to hear. After dealing with Yusuke’s outburst, she tells him that he needs to concentrate on committing to something to improve his way of thinking when it comes to fighting.
However, Yusuke has to think about this question of what’s important in order to do this. Usually, an anime character wouldn’t need to do this because they would already know that their friends would need them. Yusuke has to think about what his friends are doing for him now, and have done for him. After thinking about these things, he realizes that they need him, not just him needing them, and he brings out the rest of his power that he already had. He uses the rest of this power to seemingly defeat Suzaku.
After Yusuke thinks he has defeated Suzaku without any power left, he remembers he still has to destroy the device Suzaku used to control demon possessed humans to save Keiko. After reaching this device, and before he can destroy it, Suzaku returns. Suzaku not only returns, but he can also restore his strength as if Yusuke didn’t use all of his to seemingly defeat him. However, Yusuke can’t really do anything except hope his friends arrive to defeat Suzaku, but before that happens, Keiko is in danger of dying herself. Yusuke prevents Keiko from being killed by deciding to use his life energy to defeat Suzaku in order to save Keiko.
When Yusuke does this, his friends arrive to see this, but they aren’t too late to save him (heroes arriving at the right time is another typical thing seen in anime - Yu Yu Hakusho also provides a different example of this here). While Kuwabara attempts to save Yusuke by giving him some of his own life energy, despite the risks of doing that, Hiei asks Kurama why Yusuke would do this, which Suzaku doesn’t understand either until he is defeated (the fact that he understands is the last thing he says). Kurama assures Hiei that there are reasons for this, but Hiei concludes from this that only someone who lives with humans could understand this. After returning to Earth, and recovering from this fight, Yusuke tells Keiko that what happened before this case is his fault, but Keiko forgives him as long as he promises to tell her about future cases so she knows what’s going on. Yusuke is important to Keiko, and to his other friends, and Yusuke continues to see this for himself (he already started to and he will continue to do this).
What helps Yusuke continue to see this for himself is by not only concentrating on what’s important, but also asking himself this question. What’s important for all of us is what we all need, and need to do for others. An example of this is seen when Yusuke fights Suzaku.
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
- Is it easy for you to concentrate on what’s important to you? Do you need to think about it before concentrating on it, like Yusuke? Why or why not?
- Why do you think someone would risk their life to save someone else, like Yusuke did for Keiko?
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