Part 2 of Yu Yu Hakusho
Part 2 of Yu Yu Hakusho
- Toguro and The Dark Tournament: Why are we here?
https://1anime.to/episode/159025-yu-yu-hakusho-episode-32-english-dub - 14:25 to 18:25
https://1anime.to/episode/159053-yu-yu-hakusho-episode-60-english-dub - beginning to 16:30
https://1anime.to/episode/159040-yu-yu-hakusho-episode-47-english-dub - 17:05 to 21:42
The Dark Tournament arc, or part, of Yu Yu Hakusho is definitely a popular part of this anime. Contrary to what some people may think, Yu Yu Hakusho doesn’t end with the Dark Tournament, as we will see after discussing it. Before getting into what happens after the Dark Tournament, I would like to discuss parts of the Dark Tournament that I think focus more on Yusuke and Toguro, as well as some of the members of their teams, that answer the question of why they are there.
The question of ‘Why are we here?’ is seen in the first video I show when Kuwabara explains to Keiko why he is fighting with Yusuke, along with other members of Yusuke’s team (Hiei, Kurama, and Genkai). While Kuwabara is impressed and enthralled with Yusuke’s fight in this video, Keiko isn’t. When she expresses her concerns to Kuwabara about it, Kuwabara starts telling her about Toguro, who he first encountered with Yusuke (and Boton) on their 4th case (more about this case as this reflection continues, and again when analyzing Hiei on Friday). Toguro is a powerful demon that Kuwabara and Yusuke thought they defeated by teaming up on this 4th case, but Toguro faked this defeat for the benefit of a character named Sakyo, who we learn about in the second video, so Toguro could have another chance of fighting Yusuke, and Sakyo could bet his life on Toguro since he has nothing left to lose after a long life of gambling (a tournament provides more chances for betting/gambling - it’s what Toguro and Yusuke want too, even though they have to fight other competitors first, and do so with teams). Even though Keiko questions why Yusuke would agree to a fight he couldn’t win, Kuwabara simply replies by saying that they don’t have much of a choice in the matter. Yusuke has, and wants to, fight Toguro again, even if he isn’t ready to do that at this point.
This is where Genkai comes in. Genkai takes time during this tournament to train Yusuke to be powerful enough to defeat Toguro. We see an example of this is in the third video of Yusuke’s test of absorbing Genkai’s Spirit Orb, taken out of her body, into his body. As we saw in the very first Yu Yu Hakusho video, this test is difficult, and despite these difficulties, Yusuke tries to do it anyway. We also see in this video that Yusuke passes this test due to Puu, Yusuke’s inner self, who is also mentioned in this video (Puu’s first appearance is in the Dark Tournament arc). In the beginning of this third video, we see Yusuke struggling with this test while Puu is flying to get to him. Despite the fact that he’s also in pain due to Yusuke being in pain, he still tries to help Yusuke. Yusuke realizes he can also do this too to not only help Puu, but also himself (helping Puu is helping himself because Puu is part of Yusuke), which is something he needs to learn how to do. Genkai isn’t the only one who teaches Yusuke about the importance of caring for others, as well as himself, and by saving Puu from dying, Yusuke not only shows he cares for others, but also himself by focusing on saving Puu, and himself, and not on his own pain of this test. This is also how he passes this test, completing his training with Genkai.
Even though Yusuke has completed his training with Genkai, he is still sad when she is killed by Toguro (more about this in next reflection), which is seen in an interesting way in the second video I show. In this video, we see that Kuwabara gets mad at Yusuke for not telling him about the death of Genkai, which he learns in his fight with Elder Toguro. Kuwabara thinks Yusuke didn’t tell him on purpose, and told other people to hide it from him, but Kurama tells Kuwabara that Yusuke didn’t tell him or Hiei either, and that they figured it out for themselves. Yusuke then reveals that he didn’t tell anybody because he figured Genkai’s death wouldn’t have to be real if he never told anyone about it, even though he acknowledges it in his own way, which is seen in the video I use to introduce Yu Yu Hakusho.
However, this video also mentions that Yusuke lies to Kuwabara about it, which isn’t exactly what happens. Kuwabara gets mad at Yusuke for not telling him, not for lying about it. Yusuke can acknowledge it, but by not telling anyone (Koenma already knew because he was there when it happened - he also doesn’t need anyone to tell him due to his role in Spirit World, which we will see in the next reflection). However, he realizes in the third video I show in this reflection that the only way to move on is to accept this death, even if he has to deal with it in a way that only makes sense to him. This is how grieving works. Grieving lasts forever, or at least when the person dies and comes back and dies again (grieving would definitely be complicated in anime where this happens - there are other types of grief, as well as other things to know about it, which is something I used to teach in a class about that), but the point is that grieving happens, or at least should happen.
As I also mentioned in a previous reflection, another important part of grieving is remembering the memories you have with the deceased (that’s also why I show a video of Yusuke’s training with/from Genkai after a video of him dealing with her death). Remembering why we are here is also an important part of this grieving process. This remembering is also seen in the next reflection too, both with what happened in this one, and what happens in the next one.
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
- Reflect on a time in your life when you questioned why you were there. What was that like for you?
- How do you deal with grief and other difficult situations in your life?
2. Toguro and The Dark Tournament: The End of Toguro and Sakyo
https://1anime.to/episode/159057-yu-yu-hakusho-episode-64-english-dub - beginning to 21:42
https://1anime.to/episode/159057-yu-yu-hakusho-episode-64-english-dub - beginning to 21:42
https://1anime.to/episode/159058-yu-yu-hakusho-episode-65-english-dub - 10:00 to 15:25
The main reason for why Yusuke, along with his team and other friends, are at the Dark Tournament is to stop Toguro, and to support Yusuke in doing this, which is how Sakyo is stopped too. How this is done is first seen when Yusuke fights Toguro, then with what Sakyo does after this fight, and finally with the end of Toguro in Spirit World.
In the first video, Yusuke starts to take his fight with Toguro more seriously after witnessing the death of Kuwabara at the hand of Toguro. Interestingly enough though, Toguro makes it look like he kills Kuwabara to push Yusuke in order to get more fight out of him, which is what he wants. Toguro doesn’t want to kill Yusuke’s friends. He wants a fight where he can use his full strength, and to fight someone like Yusuke, which is what the first video from yesterday also mentioned (as well as the Kuwabara part). This video also mentions that Yusuke already had this power he needed to defeat Toguro, but that he needed something to bring it out of him and change his way of thinking. Killing a friend is a common way for this power to come out, as we have seen before (like Gohan in Dragonball Z - also one of the general observations).
Not only does Yusuke’s full power come out when Toguro kills Kuwabara, but also his emotions. The fight between Yusuke and Toguro is not just about power, but also what it means to them. Toguro tries to convince Yusuke to be more like him, which is something that Yusuke thought he wanted, but Yusuke realizes (again with the help of Genkai) the importance of what Toguro gave up and ran away from. Toguro gave up and ran away from living as a human in order to live as a demon. Toguro believes this is what he wants, and it seems to be what he wants for Yusuke when testing Yusuke as they fight, which is even seen as they finish this fight. However, as we see in the last video, there was more to Toguro than what we saw in this fight, but before the last video, we see what happens to Sakyo.
After Yusuke defeats Toguro, we see a video of what Sakyo does as a result of Toguro being defeated. Since Sakyo bet his life on Toguro, and realized then he didn’t really know what Toguro was thinking, he decides to end not only his own life, but also what he wanted to do, which was create a way for demons to come to Earth (this is the first time we hear this: he thinks this will happen one day - it does, which is seen in the rest of this series, including another attempt in the next part). He ends both by destroying the tournament stadium, which is also his lab, and not leaving this destruction, although he seems to have second thoughts about not leaving before making the decision to stay. This decision is Sakyo’s final one. We don’t see what he decides to do with himself in Spirit World. However, we do see this, and much more, with Toguro.
In the last video of this reflection, we first see Toguro facing judgment from Koenma in Spirit World for what he has done, and what happened to him, which is something he also wants to control. He wants a harsh punishment for himself, even though Koenma doesn’t think that this is necessary and doesn’t know what Toguro is asking for. Toguro is okay with it after Koenma tells him what he is asking for, and seeing that, Koenma lets it happen. When Toguro leaves for this punishment, he tries to figure Toguro out, and understand Toguro’s thinking, which is also seen when Toguro meets the younger Genkai waiting for him before facing this punishment.
The younger Genkai also tries to figure Toguro out and understand his thinking. Genkai knew Toguro would choose to give up his humanity to become a demon to increase his power, which is a way of saying he chose to follow the path of Asura, when they were still allies, but she couldn’t stop it then. She also doesn’t understand why she can’t stop him now since she thinks that they have suffered enough already with this decision. Toguro, however, doesn’t think he has. He thinks he has to pay for what he wanted for himself, and suffer more for this decision. He also thinks that Genkai has to stop thinking about him, and focus on Yusuke so she can continue to influence him since Toguro couldn’t be influenced by her, which is why I think he killed Genkai. Yusuke would want her back more than anything else, which Koenma can do, and does after Genkai listens to what Toguro says before his eternal punishment. As Genkai put it, Toguro really was a kindhearted fool (dimwit definitely, but not completely hopeless - he knows he could’ve had a beautiful life with Genkai, but didn’t regret choosing not to do that) who Koenma also realized was the mastermind of what happened with the Dark Tournament, not Sakyo.
The end of people usually marks a new beginning, not only for the people who come to this end, but also for the others affected by it, like in the termination of a counseling session. This is also seen with the character Toguro in Yu Yu Hakusho with the Dark Tournament.
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
- Are you influenced by what other tell people tell you, or show you? Does it depend on the person doing this? Explain.
- When did an end mark a new beginning for you?
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