YuYu Hakusho Manga: 029 Kaze-maru - Ninja!

I've been trying to cut down on my use of the em dash and en dash in my writing lately, because I hear that there's a tendency to ChatGPT and other LLMs to overuse these punctuation features, and I certainly don't want anyone to mistake my writing for that of so called "AI". As a result, I've become sensitive to the use of dashes everywhere I see them, and I can't help but flinch whenever I see them in other texts too, even ones that predate our current LLM issue by a long way. It's not their fault, but a filter's a filter. To make matters worse, the use of the hyphen in Kaze-maru has hardly been consistent when it's been used in previous chapters. In a single chapter, his name as been translated as Kaze-maru, Kazemaru, and Kaze Maru, and I've just stuck with the hyphenated spelling for consistency's sake. 

It might help if HUMANS could agree on how to spell names before they publish, instead of being so wild with them. 

Not a moment to recover? Is Genkai not vibing with Yusuke's punk persona and trying to get rid of him?

Yusuke complains that he just finished a match, and Genkai retorts that the order of the matches are set, which is a tough break for Yusuke. Uh, girl, the only one who's setting these rules is YOU. What's with the "I just work here" attitude you're adopting? Anyway, she's also sick of the fights in the dark, apparently, so she tells them they're also switching locales as she opens the massive door out of the abyss of a room.

Well, at least it'll be easier to for the audience to see the battles now too.

They climb a hill through the trees as a group this time, Yusuke bringing up the rear, huffing and puffing the whole way. Ah, the cigarettes are already taking their toll. He pisses and moans that his Reigun is all used up and he's a mass of bruises, not giving himself good odds for this round. Botan, who is slightly ahead of him on the trek, silently agrees, and adds that Kaze-maru might very well be Rando. They both peer at the backs of the two left besides Yusuke and Kuwabara, worrying and wondering which one it might be. 

The group emerges from the trees in a clearing with some tall grass that half-obscures Genkai, who announces that they've arrived. 

Genkai might be going for Yoda vibes here...

She states in all seriousness that ancient battles were fought here, and there's no more spiritual a spot on the whole mountain. It's her assertion that their powers will flower fully on this ground, swampy though it might be. Kaze-maru agrees with her, surrounded with spectral fire, saying that he feels the power surging through him. Botan turns to Yusuke and asks if HE feels anything while he examines his extended forefinger and thumb. He answers that he's getting SOME strength back, but not nearly enough for a decent shot, and he has some anxiety about being cooked if Kaze-maru is Rando with powers he hasn't shown yet. 

Wearing a smug smirk, Kaze-maru claims to sympathize with Yusuke being dealt a shit hand, and starts to lecture Yusuke on how you have to play the cards luck has given you in the real world. I wouldn't expect a guy like this to use gambling metaphors, but I guess it works for the target, so it's fine. Kaze-maru adds that Yusuke MAY prevail with enough spiritual energy, but rather than this being a hopeful note, it comes across as more mocking. Yusuke thinks that he'll only prevail by delivering one good counter punch, clenching his fist. It's no wonder his instinct is to fall back on his base brawling skills, as he doesn't appear to have much faith that he can get through this otherwise.

Kaze-maru takes a step forward, drawling about how interesting it is to meet someone like himself that can emit reiki in the same way he can, but acknowledges that it seems Yusuke's energy is spent. With this observation out of the way, he lunges for Yusuke and declares he could defeat the kid right now with his bare hands. To his horror, Yusuke's shoe gets stuck in the squishing mud and he's forced to watch Kaze-maru's fist sailing straight at the side of his face. 

That's going to hurt in the morning. Or now. 

It unsticks Yusuke from the ground, though, so that's good. He's left sprawled on the swamp some distance from Kaze-maru, having been flung through the force of the ninja's punches. Groaning, Yusuke pushes himself up as Kaze-maru strolls over, Kuwabara laments how beat Yusuke is to the point where he can't even hit back or dodge. 

Kaze-maru pulls back for another hit when he arrives at Yusuke's side, promising to make it a quick defeat for him. But Yusuke responds with an exclamation of "now!" and swings at Kaze-maru once he's close enough. Sweatdropping, Kaze-maru twitches back, so Yusuke's punch barely goes past his head. Yusuke complains that he missed, but blood spurts from a new cut on Kaze-maru's cheek, surprising him quite a bit. He leaps back some distance, and as Yusuke bares his teeth at him, Kaze-maru admits that Yusuke's not quite as spent as he thought, and he'll have to stay out of the tot's reach. 

Just thought I'd remind everyone that this is a grown man fighting a literal teenager. 

Well, the title DID emphasize that he's a ninja, after all. 

As the stars whizz toward him, Yusuke acknowledges that he's in pretty bad shape, but he should easily be able to dodge those. And in fact does, fairly easily. This doesn't appear to bother Kaze-maru, though, who stands with a neutral expression, arms crossed. Yusuke asks if he's got anything else, or if he plans to just stand there, but his attention is drawn by a growing whir behind him. To his alarm, it's the whole set of stars coming back around at his head. 

The stars slash Yusuke yet again on their third pass, causing Yusuke to cry out in pain. Kaze-maru lifts a finger from his crossed arms to wag it at Yusuke, calling these little missiles reiki-seeking throwing stars that Yusuke won't be able to escape. Over another shot of one spinning relentlessly in the air, Kaze-maru says they'll keep going until they hit their target. 

Yusuke takes a wide defensive stance in front of a tree, the stars steering toward him once again. At the last second, he leaps out from their path, and the moment one of them makes contact with the tree...

Really? They have to EXPLODE too??

Apparently. As Yusuke is thrown back by the force of blast, Kaze-maru lightly admits that his stars also explode when they're hit, so even a near miss can mess one up. Pointing in his supposed triumph, Kaze-maru declares that Yusuke out of options. Yusuke pushes himself again to his feet with more effort than ever, it seems, groaning while he thinks that he's toast if there's one more explosion like that. He staggers, and senses the turn in midair of the remaining stars as they steer for him once more, knowing that this is it. But he also knows he can't just STAND here if this guy is Rando.

Interlude by a sketch of Botan wishing everyone a happy New Year with best wishes and all that. Being as far as I can be from the New Year during my coverage of this chapter is a LITTLE amusing to me. 

Back in the chapter proper, Yusuke glances nervously over to Kuwabara, and laments how much it sucks, but...

He doesn't realize he's the new tree yet, does he?

Yusuke he's going straight into WHATEVER Kaze-maru has got, so that if HE goes down, so does Kaze-maru. Kaze-maru holds out his palm, which glows with building power, insisting (a little nervously, I might say) that Yusuke take his energy blast, because the fool cannot be allowed to get anywhere NEAR him. 

After a splash, Kaze-maru is left alone on the field, looking around and questioning where Yusuke disappeared to. He's incensed that Yusuke pulled off this impossible vanishing act, but his anger is quickly replaced with panic when his stars, in Yusuke's absence, start heading straight for him. He yells at them halting exclamations of discouragement and disbelief, as though they'll be moved not to attack their own master.

Maybe program them for that possibility next time, my dude. 

Kaze-maru arcs back with the force of the self-inflicted explosion, exclaiming haltingly that he just doesn't get it, then thumps on the ground, defeated. But Kuwabara seems more interested in the fact that, as he and the others advance on the battlefield, Yususke really appears to have vanished into thin air. Botan's attention is drawn by a glubbing in the swamp, and then an arm extends from the muddy water, waving, and she points out the spot in excitement. Kuwabara drags Yusuke out of the bog, mocking him for being so desperate as to hide in there, but Yusuke coughs that he WASN'T hiding; he just FELL IN. He and I both seem to be in disbelief that it turned out to be the right move anyway, lol. 

Smiling, Genkai says that it would seem it was, telling Yusuke that his sudden disappearance threw Kaze-maru off his timing, and though it was accidental, it's still Yusuke's win. She asserts that Lady Luck was smiling on him this time. Still not the biggest miracle she pulled off for him in this story though! XD

Kaze-maru, still conscious, though immobile on the ground, whines that he can't believe it, and Yusuke agrees. Botan can say for certain now that Kaze-maru is down for the count and is not giving off any subconscious demonic aura that she can detect, he's NOT Rando. With this affirmation, Yusuke concludes that the only one it could possibly be is the guy Kuwabara is now going to face in the second semi-finals match that Genkai is yelling at them to prepare for. The guy who Kuwabara is currently thinking should be a cinch to beat. 

Yeeeaaaaah, definitely should have struck us as more obvious...

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I may have been somewhat torn on the re-frame of Yusuke's bad habits in the previous chapter, but my opinion of the content of this one is less difficult to parse. I definitely appreciate the element of luck being emphasized in this one, because it's just not covered in most stories that I come across. Skill and work are subordinate to opportunity in my experience, and the former just don't matter much without the latter coming around first. Without a little luck, Yusuke wouldn't have been in any position to win this one, because he just wasn't in any physical condition to continue to perform at capacity. 

And it looked to me that Genkai, smiling like she was, appreciated Yusuke's luck here too. One might have expected her to be a little frustrated that fortune had played so big a role in the outcome of this match as opposed to the skill and power of the two fighters. But she appeared almost pleased with the winner. It's possible, because she had already decided on the order of the matches, that she had been hoping the old swamp would provide a bit more of a leveling effect on the playing field, with its power-boosting properties as well as its environmental advantages. Because she's expressed her intention to go with whoever won in her trials no matter what, she would be interested in making things as fair as possible, and to make up for her personal hand in the matter as much as possible. I don't doubt she's aware that her own decisions are affecting the scales in various subtle ways, so I wouldn't be surprised if she was trying to mitigate that as much as possible. If adding a little luck into the process for anyone to grasp and take advantage of is the result, then that's all the better. 

And no doubt a spiritual adept like herself is partial to the idea of seeming randomness like luck provides an avenue for Providence to act for the best too. XD