“A knife edge death match? What do you suppose that means, Kuwabara?”
“Can’t say that I’ve ever encountered one in all my fights, but I suppose it involves fighting to the death with knives.”
Or something along those lines.
I swear, the droll, tongue-in-cheek asides in the dialog are what really make this show for me - - even more so than the fighting. And I’m saying that as somebody who found it damn hysterical how this big, climatic came down to the good guy and bad guy forcing themselves into close quarters so they could simply wallop on each other for ten straight minutes until of them finally collapsed. The only thing that might give me a bigger kick is if they started using matches from obscure stripes of pro wrestling like the lumberjack’s match and the coal miner’s glove match.
Seriously, brother, pro wrestling’s the best possible comparison point for this arc; especially when Keiko’s essentially playing Miss Elizabeth to Yusuke’s Randy Savage when she’srunning back-stage to go talk him out of the beating he’s taking. I was half expecting her to go ring the bell by the commentary booth and get an early decision called.
Dig it.
PREDICTION TIME: Chu is going to eventually come back to help Yusuke’s team against these demons. That’s the way it works in a show like this. If you end a fight with a bad guy on good terms - - hell, if you just don’t turn him to ashes - - he’s going to join your team, sooner or later. I suppose only time will tell if drunken boxing’s effective against Toguro’s Pumping Juice style.
Look up this episode, "Knife Edge Death Match" and decide for yourself, then read my comments on the previous episode here.
Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon here & here. Follow him on Twitter: @tompinchuk
Coal miner's glove match? Well, you can think of the arena as Vader's White Castle of Fear if that's what floats your boat.
I definitely see a crossover between shonen anime and wrestling. They are both these odd forms of the male soap opera that stick plot points in between punches and kicks. They both have that oddly visceral thrill of performance that you don't get out of a traditional sporting contest.
This is, without question, my favorite episode of YYH. Ever. I can't explain why. I first saw it years and years ago when I was about twelve, and the sheer ridiculousness of the whole scenario really appealed to me. It's a wonder I never got deep into pro wrestling.
This W&L made me look up "Coal Miner's Glove Match."
@jewunit said:
You, my friend, get +9000 honorary XP for catching this reference.
@XplusY said:
You have no idea how validating that is for me.
@Vaiz said:
I think the reason it's a great episode is because good "bad guys" are respectable, and are that much more easier to like because they embody ideals of honor and good sportsmanship, and the "thrill of the fight" rather than the win. It's an oft-used archetype in various mediums (can't speak for anime, but it's common enough), but it's always pleasant when the writers apply it to a character.
@CH3BURASHKA said:
When you think about it,
, kind of to the point where when you run into a straight up evil dude its takes you back a bit.
Now hang in there, Tom!
I find the next batch of fights kind of boring and overly melodramatic, but I also think of them as the calm before the storm.
All of the Dark Tournament battles are good and many of them are about characters using ingenious tactics. It's a shame that people write this off as just another tournament arc while continuing to like watching BS. This is the greatest arc in all shounen. It has an underrated story and what people easily don't notice is that a tournament arc is great for a character driven story.
@Maajin:
I dont know, at the end everything sort of comes together in a way that makes those fights pretty meaningful and not just throw-a-ways
eh I wonder if my dislike for 80's wrestling or wrestling in general was why I don't like shonen. I don't know, hoping it does get good enough that I can look into watching these at some point but I expect it won't do it for me.