Alright… I’m going to have the interrupt the praise train, because there’s a section smack dab in the middle of this episode that runs a little long. No points for guessing that it involves Chu.
I don’t know, the notion of Yusuke’s having to square off against this totally-sloshed drunken master is alright. The parts where he indiscriminately attacks the ghouls in the audience tickled my sick sense of humor, and the glib wisecracks the dub team’s obviously inserted over all this are some serious sarcastic fun. For real - - his fireball’s full of chi and trace amounts of alcohol? That’s perfect.
The thing about gags, though, is that they need to run a fairly quick clip - - brevity is the soul of wit, and all that - - and this particular gag runs a little longer than it should. It’s abetted by a little mild confusion on my part on how exactly this Chu fella fits into this mythos of underworld ghouls. Is he a demon? A spirit? Or is he just some dude with a poor sense of moderation and an even poorer fashion sense? I’m not quite sure what the hell he’s doing there.
Actually, I’ll bring it up again that this show’s been rather notably free of the sort of mythos building you’d expect from a series that’s 31 episodes into a storyline. Thinking about it, the actually is a good amount of appeal in how YU YU HAKUSHO is simply about a couple of dudes who beat the shit out of demons. But still, when Botan makes some throwaway comments about how the ghouls are cheering on for Yusuke’s defeat because he’s earned a feared reputation amongst the evil undead, you’d expect a few more explanations would be in order.
Then again, that might take away from the fighting and, let’s be honest, nobody wants that.
Look up this episode, "Stumbling Warrior" 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
