Part 3 of Yu Yu Hakusho
Part 3 of Yu Yu Hakusho
Sensui and his Identity Crisis
https://1anime.to/episode/159069-yu-yu-hakusho-episode-76-english-dub - 12:30 to 17:55
https://1anime.to/episode/159081-yu-yu-hakusho-episode-88-english-dub - 3:45 to 5:40
As the video I started this analysis with said, Sensui is the second major villain of this series that is more complicated due to the fact that his relationship with Yusuke is only part of his goal, which wasn’t the case with Toguro as we saw yesterday. What also makes Sensui more complicated is his identity crisis, including the reasons behind it, and what it does for him, but before getting into that, I start this analysis with a video of his introduction.
With the help of new friends (some of which are seen in the video I started this analysis with), Yusuke attempts to find the villain Sensui, and he does so in the video of Sensui’s introduction. He finds him by having one of these new friends read the thoughts of people in a crowd (some of these people help Yusuke with their powers, and others help Sensui, which is also seen in the video I started this analysis with), which shows that Sensui is just another face in the crowd, yet he isn’t. Sensui’s thoughts also reflect this, and we will see more of these thoughts as this reflection continues.
Sensui’s thoughts are based on his experience as Spirit Detective, which is also why he talks to Yusuke about it, which is seen in the beginning of the second video. This conversation is the example of Yusuke’s lack of a conscious agenda, which was seen and explained in the first video I started this analysis with. Unlike Sensui, Yusuke doesn’t care what his job as Spirit Detective can do to him. He just cares about completing his cases, which is why he wants to stop Sensui (this also involves fighting him, which as we saw before, and will see again, is one of the ways he likes to solve his problems). Sensui’s own experience is also what causes him to have multiple personalities. The third video explains this. Sensui developed these multiple personalities to deal with what he saw as Spirit Detective, which was humans torturing, and killing, demons as he devoted his life to doing that himself due to him being told that demons are the enemy. Sensui’s multiple personalities not only help him deal with this trauma, and dilemma, but also justify what he plans to do, which is bring down the barrier between Demon World (Hell?) and Earth/Human World. The next video I show is of something else he also uses to justify his thoughts.
This video I show of something else that Sensui also uses to justify his thoughts is of a video called Chapter Black. Chapter Black is a tape that documents the history of violence that humanity has inflicted on its own kind, including what humans have done to demons (Kurama knows about it, and Hiei wants it, although interestingly enough, Hiei wants it so he can destroy it, which he eventually does). Not only does Sensui watch this tape himself, which he stole from Spirit World, but also makes his henchmen watch it, like his former henchman seen in this video talking about seeing it, which makes him think he’s guilty from his impression of just seeing it. However, Yusuke sees past this, and focuses on the fact that Kuwabara saved him. Sensui, and others, may care about this video, what it means, and what it can do, but Yusuke doesn’t (his lack of a conscious agenda isn’t necessarily a bad thing). I also think this difference in the way of thinking between Yusuke and Sensui leads to their difference in power, which is seen in the next, and last, video of this reflection.
In the last video of this reflection, we see Sensui use something called sacred energy, which as is seen in this video too isn’t a form of spirit energy or demon energy. Sacred energy is something that Sensui can use due to his way of thinking, as well as having multiple personalities to help him with it. It’s also something that Genkai doesn’t know how to reach either, so she couldn’t teach it to Yusuke (does she choose not to? Does it require being like Toguro?). This energy also gives Sensui the upperhand in fighting Yusuke, and his friends after he appears to have defeated Yusuke, but as we will see in the next reflection, Yusuke has a power up of his own due to his own identity crisis.
An identity crisis is both good and bad. This is because even though it can help you do certain things, like deal with trauma, it requires a reason for having it, like facing trauma that helps you deal with it. We see an example of this with the character Sensui. We will also see an example of this with Yusuke that also includes him dealing with it in the next reflection.
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
- Have you ever experienced your own identity crisis? Explain what it was like, including what motivated it.
- What do you use to justify what you do and/or can do?
Yusuke and his Identity Crisis
https://1anime.to/episode/159086-yu-yu-hakusho-episode-93-english-dub - beginning to 22:15
https://1anime.to/episode/159088-yu-yu-hakusho-episode-95-english-dub - beginning to 22:15
Yusuke’s identity crisis is seen in the beginning of the first video I show in this reflection. The video I started this analysis with talks about Yusuke’s identity crisis, but there is more to it than what that video said about it, which I will reflect on now when analyzing Yusuke’s identity crisis, starting with how it resolves Sensui’s identity crisis.
When Yusuke fights Sensui again in the beginning of the first video, Yusuke is evenly matched with Sensui now due to his newly discovered demon energy, but as Yusuke fights Sensui with this new power, a voice inside Yusuke takes over his body to show him how to use this power. After this transformation, which Sensui is excited about, Yusuke proceeds to easily beat Sensui, and before Yusuke defeats Sensui, we see that Yusuke doesn’t know what’s happening, and wants to know, thinking it’s something he should know, despite what this voice tells him. When Yusuke sees that Sensui is about to be defeated with a Spirit Gun blast, he tells Sensui to dodge it, but he doesn’t, and the blast hits him. Yusuke follows where the blast went that took Sensui to find him, as do Yusuke’s friends.
In the rest of this video, we see Yusuke confused about what he just did since he thinks it wasn’t him who killed Sensui. Yusuke’s friends, as well as Sensui, think he did do it, but Yusuke doesn’t understand what happened, so he figures it couldn’t have been him. He wanted to defeat Sensui on his own, even if he did do it with his own body. The identity crisis Yusuke faces now is due to his heritage, not any trauma like Sensui. Interestingly enough, Yusuke’s identity crisis solves Sensui’s, who actually wanted to die in Demon World (he was going to die soon anyway due to a rare illness, and wanted to get to Demon World in order to do that), and Sensui is also prevented from going to Spirit World for this reason (his demon partner takes him with him to spend eternity in solitude). After this happens, Yusuke is still confused about what happens, and now that his case with Sensui is finished, he wants answers to his own identity by finding his demon ancestor while he is still in Demon World. However, Yusuke’s friends are with him now, and Koenma mentions to Yusuke that the barrier between worlds will be sealed again soon, so if they stay, they wouldn’t be able to go back to Earth. Since Yusuke is with his friends now, he decides to go back to Earth with them.
This doesn’t change the fact that Yusuke is still confused by all of this, which is seen in the second video I show. This video starts off with a dream Yusuke has that at first, seems to have nothing to do with what is happening with Yusuke now. However, when Yusuke wakes up from this dream, he says he’s been having this dream for a while now, and he thinks he knows why. This is because he’s still thinking about his last fight with Sensui. He first talks to Koenma about this on Earth since they can’t go to Spirit World now. Yusuke is also confused not only because of this fight, but also about his decision to leave to go back to Earth. If he didn’t leave, he could’ve stayed to find what he was looking for in Demon World, but if he stayed, he would’ve left his friends back on Earth without knowing if he would ever see them again, and without them knowing that either, as well as them thinking he abandoned them. After their conversation, Koenma suggests that Yusuke talks to Genkai about this, which he does, even though he thinks it won’t help.
At first, it seems that talking to Genkai doesn’t help, as Yusuke thought, until Genkai tells him to find another former detective to talk to. Yusuke does find this person (and her family), and Yusuke is told that he’s thinking too much about this, which he usually doesn’t do, so he has to go back to not thinking a lot about his problems. However, he is also told that the answers he’s looking for will come to him, which happens at the end of this video with the arrival of three demons from Demon World, who take Yusuke back to Demon World, which I will talk about why in the next reflection, after Yusuke talks to his friends about it.
There are also times when an identity crisis makes you question what is happening, and leads you to answers that you don’t expect. We see an example of this with Yusuke, and we’ll continue to see it in the next reflection.
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
- Have you ever had an identity crisis that you didn’t understand (do you have one now)? Explain.
- What helped you understand this identity crisis (or helps you with it if you have it now)? Explain.
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