“How… how can the advancements of science be undone by… JAZZ HANDS?!?!”
Lines like that are what make this show. As is the special, sick enjoyment I get from how Yusuke’s so unhesitant and willing to beat the shit out of these possessed, innocent apprentices.. Seriously, it’s something I’ve wanted to see over a long time of watching this sort of plot play out in this sort of show.
Yeah, it’s mean and it’s unfair, but the bottom line is that it’s hard enough for these Spirit Detectives to simply beat their opponents when they’re trying their hardest. When they’ve got to start competing at a self-imposed handicap, you’ve got to start thinking about that “Needs of the many” schpiel that Spock went on in THE WRATH OF KHAN. The right answer isn’t always going to be the nice one.
Getting back to the jazz hands line (as we should) I can’t help wondering how much of this humor I enjoy so gleefully was actually in the original show. That line's uttered by Sexually-Perverted, Hideosly-Deformed Mr. Fuji after Genkai (or… * AHEM * the masked fighter) frees the aforementioned innocent opponents from their possession through what may as well be the highest-level Tai Chi nerve attack imaginable.
The episode then ends with an absolute deluge of man tears flowing as these apprentices are reunited with their master (giving us our second “amiable solution” to follow that MAD MAX dude’s defeat) and the sight’s so gloriously absurd that I really have to believe that the original animators had to be in on the joke. If they weren’t, then this whole dub might be the most awesomely elaborate prank that’s ever been pulled on anybody. Here these poor bastards think their show’s earnest sincerity’s coming through in English, and then it’s actually just a big snarky goof.
Look up this episode, "Ambition Destroyed: A Trail of Light" 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
Congratulations! The next team is freaking awesome and the fights I remember being tense as hell. Can't wait to read your feelings on them.
Yusuke....Kicking the crap of of the innocent for decades to come.
Does this have a sub? If so watching it and comparing it to the dub would be interesting.