YuYu Hakusho Manga: 007 The Promise!

Which one, chapter? I've made an awful lot of promises, including of late, and they can be a little difficult to honor, especially if they're the ones I make to myself. In fact, those are the ones that are usually the first to go if I have a conflict, which is fairly often these days. Trying to learn the piano has fallen by the wayside, because there's always something going on with the house in the evening when I used to do it now. It's also a toss-up whether I can get any writing done when I have to clear the overgrown blackberry brambles around the house to prevent them from completely overtaking the yard. That work takes an absurd amount of work, too, because they are extraordinarily tenacious things and just grow right back where they were almost immediately. 

Anyway, all I'm saying is that I don't mean to keep reneging on my personal oaths, so don't call me out YYH!

Keiko? At the school Yusuke and she are both enrolled? How unusual... /sarcasm

There's a pause as Yusuke regards her in the crowd of students below for a moment, before Botan reminds him that he's not allowed to talk to her until he's gotten back on his physical feet again, so to speak. When Yusuke tells her that he knows this, she goes on to say that even LOOKING at Keiko is probably not the greatest idea, and Yusuke has to be the one to remind HER with considerable annoyance that SHE is the one who pointed Keiko out in the first place. Sheesh, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that she was the one who suggested they check out his school as well. Botan, why you trying to sabotage our boy? You know he's perfectly capable of sabotaging himself!

Yusuke dares to look anyhow, because that's just the kind of risk-taker he is, and with a note of her smile and laughter, thinks that she seems to be doing alright. The next page is the title page, which a happy Keiko takes up the majority of and, with Yusuke hovering over her, confidently announces to the audience that she will NOT be in this chapter. 

Okay, genuinely that made me snort a little. 

Oh, so these dudes don't EXCLUSIVELY get their asses beat? Could have fooled me.

I recognize this teacher and his skeletal face, but I don't know if he was given a name before. Knowing this manga's habits, I would say the chances are pretty high he hasn't. Anyway, he says all this fighting has gotten SUPER out of hand, and asks Kuwabara, being the leader of this little gang, what he has to say for himself. Kuwabara just mutters in annoyance that those kids over at the other school started it, and complains that when they whine about it, it's him and his crew who get in trouble. Yeah, every kid knows what it's like to defend oneself and get the shaft for it, so I believe it for sure.

Skeletor over here says he observes no remorse, and says they leave him no choice for what he's about to do. He addresses one Okubo, the stocky, heavier boy among them, who answers with his head lowered, but respectfully. Skeletor flips through a thick bound stack of paper and hums about how it says there that the school gave him permission to hold a part-time job, to which Okubo responds with a somewhat confused affirmative. It's wild enough to me that the SCHOOL is the one giving permission for this teenager to work part-time, but I'm absolutely appalled by Skeletor saying that he's revoking that permission right here and now, and he'll be informing Okubo's employer. Sorry, shouldn't there be some, I don't know, conference among other teachers about this? How can ONE teacher have so much power over a kid's employment??? 

Okubo stutters out his objection to Mr. Akashi (NAMES! I'm so relieved these characters are getting NAMES!) that he NEEDS the job, and it would be awful if he lost it. Kuwabara leans toward the teacher he's already towering over to ask why he thinks he has to do that, because in his mind, working and fighting are two entirely different matters. Akashi begs to differ, suggesting that Okubo might cause trouble at work, making his employer, the school, AND his advisor look bad. There's also a little editor note here informing us that Japanese high schools often forbid working on the basis that it interferes with academics. Fuck poor kids, am I right? 

Akashi glares over at Okubo and says they can't have any of those ADULTS looking bad, and Okubo sweats, beginning another objection. He begs for this to be overlooked just this once, promising not to get into any more fights, and explaining that his single mom and little siblings REALLY need his income. He's bowing his head in deference, pleading with Akashi to reconsider, and Akashi cruelly grins as he pretends to mull this over for a moment or two longer. 

Kuwabara jumps back in to assert that Okubo doesn't really fight with them, just gets beat up. Boy, he's one to talk, huh? XD He says that if anyone here does any actual fighting, it's him, essentially arguing that HE should be the one punished. With an even creepier smirk, Akashi meanders his way into claiming he can see their way into letting this matter go, IF Kuwabara agrees to two things. Kuwabara repeats the phrase in curiosity.

... Deceptively easy...?

The other two members of the little gang don't seem to think it's easy at all. They bring up the real possibility that the kids from the other school might jump them again, asking if they're just supposed run away like chickens, and suggest instead a moratorium on fighting for a maximum of two HOURS. Wow, how many enemies who want to beat your faces in do you HAVE, boys??? 

But Kuwabara appears to be seriously considering the one week proposition, his other two friends asking if he really thinks it's possible after he mumbles the phrase aloud, while thinking that it was Kuwabara himself they were mainly concerned about the ability to pull this off. Smirking, Akashi firmly says that one week is the deal. He adds mentally that he doesn't believe Kuwabara could go one day without fighting. It may be more likely than you being able to go a day without being a dickbag to a student under your care. 

Yusuke is watching the boys leave Akashi's office, the fair-haired one sliding the door shut behind them with his foot. He marvels about how interesting things have gotten around here since he died. Back in his office, Akashi chuckles at what a bunch of morons all those kids are if they can really think they have a snowball's chance in Hell at succeeding in this challenge. Yusuke hovers behind him in indignation while Akashi muses on how Kuwabara is the biggest idiot since Urameshi he's ever seen, with a hair-trigger temper as well. Akashi has a little devil tail extending up from behind him in his seat and everything while he eagerly anticipates when Kuwabara snaps, mutual restraint going down the drain, and the trust between the group members dissolving so all of them will be easier to keep in line. He considers this pipe dream to be a nice feather in his cap. If it comes to pass anyway. That last part is a bit shaky, honestly. 

Outside the school, the boys are lounging down the walk, complaining about how much it blows now that Urameshi, the guy who kept the majority of the teachers distracted with his antics, is gone. Now the teachers are coming down on them all the more. Okubo says he realizes that this task of not fighting will be a bit tough, but he asks for their patience for the mere week ahead. He worries over his mother, who hasn't been feeling well and can't get to work every day, assuring his friends that he's not exaggerating when he says his wages are all that's keeping the family afloat. 

Botan and Yusuke are hovering a little behind them, and Yusuke expresses his surprise to learn that Okubo, or "the fat one" as he refers to him, had it so rough. Botan points out that Yusuke also lived in a single-parent household, and asked how his mother paid the bills. Yusuke admits he doesn't know, but he DID see her extorting money from a certain cop a few times. Damn, wonder what dirt she had on THAT guy. 0.0

He says that the main thing is to avoid those guys from the other school, so he advises all the rest of them to stick close to home as well. The kid with the buzz cut seems amazed that Kuwabara is really going to do this "not fighting" thing, and the fair-haired one says there's no sense hanging around then. They separate, presumably to make a hasty retreat home, and when Kuwabara is alone, we're shown a sneaky Akashi dogging him from around the corner of a building, thinking he'll catch him in the act. 

Of course, Yusuke and Botan are still following him as well. Botan comments on how much Kuwabara cares about his friends, but Yusuke scoffs that it's all an act, insisting that this guy couldn't avoid a fight if his life depended on it. In the very next panel, Kuwabara crosses paths with three tall youths, all of which have bandaged and battered faces. One of them confronts Kuwabara on the "unfinished business" they have with him, suggesting they go for a "walk". Kuwabara agrees to this, Yusuke triumphantly inviting Botan to behold the fundamental inability of Kuwabara not to fight. 

Well, it's the only option left to him, I guess. 

His enemies all look REALLY weirded out by this proposition, mumbling that he's talking crazy. Yusuke is just perplexed while Botan enthuses about how COOL this is of Kuwabara, and Akashi cranes his neck from around the corner of the nearest building and admits this isn't how this whole thing was supposed to go down in frustrated confusion. 

We don't see the beating, little blessing that this is - the next panel just shows the outside of the school the next day where someone is asking Kuwabara in shock what happened to him. He's lumpier than usual, bruised and battered, but smiling good-naturedly as he tells his wincing buddies that the gang from the other school used him for a punching bag is all. He doesn't seem all that concerned about it, but Okubo in particular is very disturbed by this, no doubt under the impression that this is HIS fault. He's really rather sweet, and I like him a lot. 

Akashi walks up casually and admits to Kuwabara directly that he's shown some laudable restraint. Kuwabara tells him that he's just sticking to their deal. Kid's got integrity, so you'd think a teacher who WASN'T a piece of shit would latch onto this as a trait to encourage and reward with some protection and help of some sort. Instead, he sneers and reminds Kuwabara that he actually mentioned TWO requirements for him to let Okubo keep his job. Oh fuck, he DID do that. I completely forgot. Akashi says that at the end of this week-long grace period in which they can't fight, he's giving a major science test, and each of the friends has to score ABOVE a 50%. Lots of conveniently NOT sharing helpful info with characters until the last possible second in this comic...

Turning to walk away, Akashi assures him with some sarcasm that it shouldn't be a problem if they all stay home and study for it. He does realize that would absolutely reduce the chances that these kids would get in a fight between now and then, right? I can't tell if this guy is actually trying to HELP them or if he's just REALLY incompetent at being a nuisance. In fact, the buzz-cut kid is pretty confident that he can manage it if he studies a little, since he scored 45% on the last test. The fair-haired one says he's got him beat already, since he got a 52%. All he really has to do is maintain that score. They asks Okubo, and he says he got 39%, so he looks less confident, but suggests if he really knuckles down he might be able to improve. Fair-hair asks Kuwabara, and he answers in a blunt, unembarrassed manner that he got 7% on the last test. YIKES.

His friends all look horrified, and while Kuwabara asks what's with those expressions, Yusuke's specter laughs heartily in the balcony seat. He yuks that even HE did better than Kuwabara on those tests, and when Botan asks what he scored on it, with a grin he says 12%. Not MUCH better, but he brags that the science tests were mostly multiple choice, so it was his best subject. He even adds that it was AMAZING the results he was able to achieve through intuition alone. Yeah. Amazing, lol. Botan refuses to ask what he scored in his OTHER subjects, and that's probably a good idea. 

He's really positive about it, I love that for him!

We get a view of his friends' backs as they walk off down the hall, marveling at how serious he actually seems about this, and speculating that if he pulls all-nighters studying on top of getting his ass beat every day, he's going to die. They even suggest that "rat-face" Akashi cooked this whole thing up just to set up a trap for Kuwabara. Like I said, he's REAL incompetent about it, though... He's even hiding around a corner again, sneering about how the kids can think what they want, but he's CERTAIN Kuwabara will never get a passing grade at this test. Looks real pleased with himself.

Like, bro, you ever tried getting a hobby? 

Then there's a panel featuring a picture of Keiko looking vaguely concerned? It states her name, birthday, age, blood type, and, go figure, HOBBIES, which are cooking and cleaning. This is a VERY strange extension of the joke on the title page that she's not actually in the chapter. Kind of makes it seem like YT is a little preoccupied with her, even if he can't write about her in this one. It's just real weird, and didn't make me snort at all. 

After this odd single-panel digression, we get another that's a time skip to several days later, and someone crying that Kuwabara's killing himself. His face is swollen, bloodied, and tissues are sticking out of his ears, because he must have been bleeding from them at some point. It's really a wonder that he can SEE the Science 2 booklet he's holding open. Then again, maybe he doesn't and he's just delirious from sustained brain injury. Okubo is literally SOBBING over how Kuwabara is looking after his constant study in the midst of ambushes, even saying that his job doesn't matter THIS much. This contrived dichotomy has got Okubo claiming that his family's survival isn't important. Terrible.

Okubo suggests that they go and kick all their butts, but Kuwabara tells him to cool it, that this isn't all that bad. He smirks, saying he got WAY worse from Yusuke when he wasn't even trying all that hard, and advises them to just stick to their studying. His friends are speechless, and still quite distressed by his appearance by the looks on their faces. Especially Okubo, who is clearly holding back outright WAILS. 

Kuwabara is still flipping through his textbook, muttering the contents out loud, while Yusuke floats over him with a curious amazement. He then notices a couple of nearby thugs, one of whom nods to Kuwabara passing and says that word is he's gone soft. After half a moment's consideration, he says it sure looks like it, and his companion says they should go have some fun at his expense. 

Being a ghost comes in real handy. Yusuke is even able to perch on the back of Kuwabara's chair while he's passed out at his desk from a full night of studying to quiz him in his sleep about what the agent is in blood that makes it red (hemoglobin). Botan isn't even HERE, so she didn't have to goad him into it or anything. He's just doing Kuwabara a good turn. 

The day of the test arrives, and surrounded by other students scribbling silently on their test sheets, Kuwabara scratches his head, bent over his own exam in concentration. Yusuke hovers outside the window, peering in at Kuwabara as he continues to itch furiously at his head, mumbling about how he knew something. After it's all over with, he brags in the corridor to Okubo about how he's SURE he got over 50% on the test. Okubo asks if it's true, and Kuwabara grins smugly as he explains that he went over the points multiple times and it came out to 53% - this being the ones he KNEW cold, including the last question which nearly put him in tears when he realized he was so sure about the answer. Okubo really IS in tears in the background, sobbing into his sleeve in relief, while their other two friends whisper to each other about how doubtful they were that Kuwabara got the points calculated. 

But when we cut to the faculty offices and Akashi holding Kuwabara's test, we see that Akashi is in sweaty, angry disbelief that Kuwabara indeed got over 50% on the test. Instead of being elated like an actual educator would be at this RADICAL transformation, and trying to think of ways to nurture the trend WITHOUT weird threats to his friend's employment, Akashi keeps scanning the test for ONE MORE WRONG ANSWER. He's reminding himself that he's written the point values for each question already, and is just flabbergasted, because this was not how this whole scenario was supposed to go down.

IT WAS SUPPOSED TO ALLOW HIM TO GET A TEENAGER FIRED. 

NO KAREN HAS EVER WANTED TO GET A TEENAGER FIRED MORE THAN THIS MAN, I JUST CAN'T EVEN...

Takenaka just happens to be strolling through the office behind Akashi as he is evilly admiring his handiwork, but he doesn't really DO anything. Just kinda gives him a questioning look. 

A transition panel showing us a sliver of hallway gives way to a shocked expression on Kuwabara's face as he looks down at his test with a 48 written at the top. Akashi tells him it was a good try, but a deal's a deal. I guess he'll be calling up Okubo's employer now, since he's so inexplicably on fire to do so. After a speechless pause, Kuwabara insists that this isn't possible - he checked and rechecked his answers, and added up the score over and over, Yusuke looking curiously in from the window. Kuwabara KNOWS he got a 53%. He scans the paper again and notices something missing, swearing up and down that he wrote down an answer to the last question, and then comes to the realization that Akashi ERASED it. 

He must have wandered off from Akashi, because he turns and runs toward the grown-ass bully, yelling that he's a bastard. Akashi squeaks in fear as Kuwabara grabs him by the lapel, Yusuke and Botan looking on in shock and horror. Kuwabara pulls his fist back to deck this MFer, but Yusuke's spirit yells at him not to do it, grasping Kuwabara's fist with his spectral hand. With some alarm, Kuwabara freezes, though he no doubt has no idea why. 

I mean, technically, Akashi could still have a claim on assault for Kuwabara grabbing him, depending on the local laws...

Kuwabara stands there with his fist raised, but not actually swinging. Takenaka jogs onto the scene, telling Kuwabara to calm his shit, and Akashi tries to goad him into actually following through on the punch, though Akashi is clearly shaking like a leaf as he does so. Without a word, Kuwabara slowly lowers his fist and releases Akashi, who skitters off along the wall like the little bug he is while Kuwabara turns away from him. 

Akashi chuckles in relief, pointing a trembling finger at Kuwabara and informing him that it would have been the last nail in his coffin if he had hit him, and it wouldn't have changed that 48% one tiny little bit. As Akashi straightens out his terrible suit, Takenaka walks up and asks if he's alright, Akashi responding that he's just a little rumpled. But he doesn't lose the chance to whine about how VIOLENT Kuwabara is. 

Takenaka leans over in a strangely intimate way and says that what Akashi did to Kuwabara's test was in its own way equally violent. Seems like SOMEONE has been reading foundational communist theory. Akashi looks like he accidentally drank a whole glass full of lemon juice, bug-eyed and grimacing, then tries to stutter out an explanation. Takenaka takes this as an admission that Akashi indeed falsified Kuwabara's test score, and holds a forefinger right up in Akashi's cringing, sweating face, admitting that he'd like to take a swing himself right now, but it wouldn't do justice to the fact that Kuwabara held back. He suggests that Akashi puts back things the way they should be, because Takenaka is a total fucking KING. 

His king shit ain't over either.

Poor Kuwabara, he is so bewildered. 

Okubo cries in his relief and happiness that he gets to keep his job, with Kuwabara providing a silent, if not confused, support. Yusuke looks on from where he hovers just over the scene, confessing to Botan that he tried to stop Kuwabara before he remembered that he COULDN'T, not being physical and all, expressing surprise that Kuwabara was able to hear him anyway. Botan says that she doesn't think Kuwabara DID hear him, and when Yusuke makes a puzzled noise at her, she points out that his voice didn't actually reach him because it's insubstantial. Can't hear something that doesn't actually produce physical waves in the air, technically. 

But Botan suggests that Yusuke's FEELINGS got through to Kuwabara, and Yusuke's care for Kuwabara and his situation is what he "heard", which is fundamental to empathy. Yusuke immediately protests the notion that he CARES about Kuwabara, saying it grosses him out, but Botan insists she thinks it's sweet with a shrug. 

Meanwhile, Kuwabara is thinking about the "if" of him actually hitting Akashi. He turns on the spot, facing the spot where Yusuke is hovering, much to Yusuke's surprise. Yusuke turns back to Botan and asks if he could possibly see them, but Botan gives him a hard NO, reiterating that Kuwabara might be able to feel their presence or something like that, but since they're invisible and inaudible, that's feeling is pretty much all there could be. Indeed, getting a view of the area from Kuwabara's angle, we can see there's nothing there. 

And yet, after the protracted silence, Kuwabara gives thanks to the thin air. Yusuke stares in astonishment. Okubo asks who Kuwabara is talking to, and after another pause, he says it's nobody and starts to walk off, Okubo following dutifully, but with his own bewildered air now. Everyone is just so confused in this one, it's hilarious. 

He manages to communicate better than most people WITHOUT the advantages of a physical presence. How does THAT work??

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? It was a very relatable chapter, if a bit exaggerated in places. I think there are very few students who didn't have THAT teacher, who seemed to have it out for them no matter WHAT. Hell, I was a prim, proper little girl growing up, who did damn near everything I was told by my teachers and was a fairly good student, but I had that teacher too! It's kind of an open secret that as many good teachers who actually got into their profession to help children develop into intelligent and curious adults exist, there are those that entered into teaching simply to be the bully themselves, and take advantage of a position of power to make miserable the students they don't like. 

Granted, Kuwabara and his friends are little punks, and it was entirely valid for them to be confronted by a teacher for PUTTING ANOTHER KID IN THE HOSPITAL. That shit might even have been grounds for a lawsuit? I'm not sure how it would have worked in Japan at this time. But the strange obsession Akashi had with Okubo losing a job he and his family absolutely needed was not an appropriate response, and it spoke of a deep vendetta against these kids that a healthy adult SHOULD NOT have regarding the children in his care.

The masculine urge to create economic distress for your students instead of getting therapy.

But it is absolutely hilarious how shitty Akashi is at actively trying to get these kids in trouble. In all that effort, he ends up proving beyond any doubt that they, and especially Kuwabara, are capable of INCREDIBLE academic and behavioral improvement, and under DURESS no less! And the whole time, Akashi is pissing and moaning that they weren't SUPPOSED to get better and show integrity, they were supposed to fail! Not once during one of these laments did he ever stop and reflect on why he was DISAPPOINTED by a child improving so remarkably, and that is the funniest part of all of it. The man is such a sad, pathetic piece of garbage that he's upset he SUCCEEDED in creating a marked improvement in his students. Just, absolutely fucking wild, I'm ROLLING. 

Finally, Kuwabara is such a wholesome kid, he deserves EVERYTHING. He is just DRIPPING with integrity, going to such lengths to help a friend is an enormously admirable thing, and something you wouldn't really expect from someone of that reputation. But that does seem to be the point of this whole series so far - the labels that society sticks on people, especially young people who might be a bit rough around the edges, don't speak to the depth of their characters. People are a lot more complex and have very intricate values that can come out in the most interesting of ways, so you never quite know what they're going to do. 

It does make you wonder. If Kuwabara died in the next chapter, would the afterlife have as much trouble placing him as they did Yusuke?