Yu Yu Hakusho Episode Guide

Season 1

1. Surprised to be Dead

Yusuke Urameshi is your normal 14-year old junior high student. . .well, maybe not. He never does any schoolwork, despises teachers, and picks fights alot. This day hasn't been very pleasant for him. First, he was apprehended by the principal for trying to get his stolen wallet back from some rival thugs, was attacked by his rival Kuwabara, got home to find that his mom has been drinking. . .again, and then got run over by a car! It wasn't an accident, however -- he had saved a small child from being hit! As he floated mindlessly into the spirit world, he was approached by a girl on a broom named Botan. She informed him that the spirit world hadn't expected him to make such an ultimate sacrifice, therefore, he could come back to life! Yusuke, however, still peeved from the day he just had, decided he didn't want to come back. After viewing his funeral, though, and watching his mother, a small friend named Keiko, and his rival Kuwabara all in tears, decided that he'd come back to life.

There are some requirements, however. . .

b: 23-Feb-02

NOTE: A Cd Rom featuring this episode and previews of Dragonball Z figures was available in the May issue of Request magazine. Members of the Sam Goody Replay Club recieved this.

2. Koenma Appears

Botan takes Yusuke to the spirit world, to meet the great ruler of the Spirit Realm, Enma Daiouh. But instead of meeting a large hulking monster like Yusuke imagined, they're greeted by a small toddler! (Or so it seems. . .) He introduces himself as Koenma Diaouh, the prince of the spirit world, and also the 'man' in charge of the revival process. He gives Yusuke the key to his revival -- a small golden egg. This egg will eventually hatch a 'spirit beast', so Yusuke must take great care of it or else it won't hatch properly, and the monster that results from it will eat him for eternity!

Confident that he can do the task, Yusuke and Botan return to the living world to make sure that Yusuke's real body is properly taken care of. Somehow, he must get the attention of at least one of his friends. His mother was out of the question, since she was completely drunk. He tried to tell Keiko in a dream, but since it was a dream, she didn't believe it. His only choice left, and the one he disliked the most, was to enter Kuwabara. It took some time, but he eventually convinced Keiko that Yusuke WAS coming back to life. Keiko immediantely rushes over to Atsuko, (Yusuke's mother) telling her that she needs to keep Yusuke's body in good condition. Atsuko nods, saying that Yusuke's heart never seemed to stop beating. . .

b: 02-Mar-02

3. Kuwabara: A Promise Between Men

While waiting for the Spirit Beast to hatch, Yusuke and Botan witness Keiko get attacked by some thugs from another school. Luckilly, in the nick of time, Kuwabara and his three friends appear on the scene, and a large brawl with the other gang begins. They end up back in their school in the principal's office, being apprehended for starting the fight. Mr. Akashi, a teacher with teeth like a rat, hates Kuwabara and his friends, thus, will go to any means to cause them pain. He tells them that as a punishment, if even one of them gets into a fight through the next week, they'll all be taken out of school permanently. Everyone agrees. Then, after school, Mr. Akashi secretly arranges for the same punks from the other school to attack Kuwabara. Akashi hopes that Kuwabara will be forced to fight, getting all four of the kids that Akashi dislikes out of his way. Kuwabara keeps his promise to his friends, and just takes the horrible beating his recieves from the three ruthless kids. This infuriates Akashi even more, and so he raises the stakes the next day. He now says that they'll all be expelled if just one of them scores below 50 on the next test. (I assume this is out of 100 points total.) This doesn't bode well for Okubo, a kid who works at a job through the school, to help support his poor family. He tells the others that he can make it, however, since the last test he scored a 47 on. Kuwabara, unfortunately. . .scored a 7 on the last test! He upholds his promise, however, vowing to score above 50 on the upcoming test. Kuwabara makes a great effort to study, however it falls short that night when he falls asleep at his desk. Yusuke enters his dream and inspires him to study more. The next day, the day of the big test, the three thugs follow Kuwabara once again to try one last time to get him to fight. On their way to get him, they knock down a girl, causing her to faint. This is Yusuke's only chance -- he enters the girl, and successfully defeats the thugs, (in a very humorous scene) preventing Kuwabara from even getting involved with the thugs. Kuwabara takes the test, successfully answering enough questions to pass. Akashi becomes enraged by this, however, and secretly erases some of Kuwabara's answers!! Kuwabara recieves his test back, stupified that he had done so poorly. Luckilly, he copied down the answers on a piece of paper so that he could check them in the book later, and realizes what Akashi has done. He aims to punch Akashi -- but Yusuke somehow stops him. (Botan later explains that this was Yusuke "transmitting emotion" from one soul to another. Only very close friends can experience such a transmission.) Mr. Tanaka, one of the head teachers, (and also one of the few that actually liked Yusuke) catches Akashi as he was about to leave the scene. He assures Kuwabara that justice will be served, allowing Kuwabara and his friends to stay in school, and Okubo to retain his job. As the day ends, Kuwabara realizes that it was Yusuke who helped him through this, and secretly thanks his deceased friend.

b: 09-Mar-02

4. Requirements For Lovers

Koenma sends an investigator named Sayaka to check up on how Yusuke is doing. She starts getting nosy, and begins to talk about how Keiko and Yusuke share love for each other. Yusuke tries to deny it, but falls short, and finds that Keiko has been coming to his house every day and taking care of his dead body. This time, she is about to lean down to kiss him, when an alarm for the city goes off, warning the citizens of a pyromaniac who's been setting fires on the loose. Of course, this happens to Yusuke's house, right after Keiko goes off shopping. Botan, Yusuke, and Sayaka frantically try to find some way to stop Yusuke's body from being burnt to a crisp. Botan goes off to find Kuwabara, who is on the other side of town. Keiko sees the fire and comes back to Yusuke's house. Putting herself in danger, she runs into Yusuke's house to try and save him. As she reaches his bedroom, she becomes surrounded by flames, blocking all her exits. Sayaka tells Yusuke he now has the choice of letting Keiko die, or throwing his Spirit Beast egg into the fire to sacrifice it for her life. After a quick decision, he decides that she deserves it more than he does, and tosses it in. It explodes, and Kuwabara arrives at the last second to guide Keiko out as the Spirit Beast parts the flames. The two friends and the body are saved, but Yusuke is down because he realizes he'll never come back to life. As he sadly watches the living world celebrate, Koenma comes and informs everyone that Yusuke, commiting one more valiant sacrifice, has proved himself worthy to the prince. Koenma will personally bring Yusuke back to life. Yusuke cheers, and the episode abruptly ends. There has to be a catch here. . .doesn't there?

b: 16-Mar-02

5. Yusuke's Back

Koenma now makes plans for Yusuke's revival, telling him that he must have one of his loved ones transmit their life energy to him by midnight. Yusuke wonders if it's a human sacrifice, but Koenma explains that all they need to do is kiss him. Yusuke immediately rules out Kuwabara, and then finds that his mother is too drunk and not at home, so their only hope is Keiko. That night, Keiko's mother becomes sick in the hospital, so she is diverted from Yusuke's house. Botan does some quick thinking and enters Keiko's mother, and tells her to go to Yusuke's house and kiss him to revive him. Keiko immediately sets out on this mission, and completes it at the last second.

Now, back alive, Yusuke walks the streets, overjoyed that he has life again. He comes across a coffee shop, and sees some other gang from a rival school. It seems that they've enslaved Kuwabara and his friends, and are getting Kuwabara to steal stuff, because they've taken his cat hostage. (Kuwabara has a soft spot for cats.) Yusuke, for some reason, can see horns coming out of the top of the leader's head.

Kuwabara returns, the gang had made him steal manga from a store. He bought them instead, not wanting to steal, and they reprimand him for it. They threaten to kill his cat, and force him to get down on his knees and apologize. They take him out into the back alley, and tell him to beat up his buddies. Kuwabara refuses, so one of the lower gang members takes a glass bottle and inches it toward Kuwabara's poor kitty. This is when Yusuke jumps in from behind the corner, throwing off his sunglasses and revealing himself to both sides. Everyone, at first, is surprised that he is alive again, but they don't have time to gawk, and a fast-paced fight ensues between the two gangs. Yusuke spots the gang leader leaving, and he chases him down the street, eventually into a tunnel. He punches him over, cussing him out, and notices a small oni crawl out of his mouth. Confused by this, Botan comes to him and explains that he's already begun to start his mission. Yusuke asks what missions these are, and Botan says he's the Spirit World's new Spirit Detective. He's still not getting it, and Koenma comes and tells him that he will prepare to give Yusuke his first mission.

Yusuke is having second thoughts about coming back to life. . .

b: 23-Mar-02

6. Three Monsters

Yusuke's finally back in school, and he's already being reprimanded by a teacher. This time it's Mr. Iwamoto, another teacher that despises Yusuke. He's accusing him of stealing a kid's dragon pen and some other items. Yusuke of course, didn't do it, but can't find a way to get out of it. Koenma comes to him, and explains his new powers that he picked up in the Spirit World. First off, he can see the true intentions and through the lies of people. He then realizes that Iwamoto has the missing items inside his coat pocket! Yusuke gets out of trouble, but wants to pay Iwamoto back. Koenma tells him about his second power, the "Spirit Gun". By focusing energy into his finger, he can release a blast of energy. He quickly smashes Iwamoto in the back of the head, and then heads off on his way--well, almost. Koenma tells him the real reason he came down was to tell him that three of his father, the Spirit King Enma Daiouh's artifacts were stolen: a sword, a mirror, and an orb. Yusuke's new job is to find these artifacts and retrieve them for Koenma. So, Yusuke's off once again, without any leads. On the street, he sees a kid fall down, and a cloud rise up out of him. Yusuke follows it to an alley, where he runs into some thugs. He spies on one in the back, seeing horns. He beats up the thugs in the way, but by the time he's done, the demon is gone.

Meanwhile, Koenma is doing research on the three criminals that were working together to steal his artifacts. One is Gouki, the brute that Yusuke found, the other is Kurama, a red-haired person, and the third Hiei, a raven-haired sinister looking man. Botan rushes in and interrupts him, trying to get him to stop Yusuke before he gets killed -- again.

Yusuke follows Gouki into the forest, and witnesses him meeting up with Kurama and Hiei. Kurama announces his withdrawl from the criminal ring. Hiei, shocked and angered, follows Kurama as she leaves. This leaves Gouki facing Yusuke. Yusuke attacks Gouki, knocking him down and taking the Orb. He doesn't have time to celebrate, however, as Gouki gets up and transforms into a hulking demon. Yusuke finds out that he can only use his Spirit Gun once per day, so it looks like it's time for some Spirit Detective ass kickin'.

b: 30-Mar-02

7. Gouki and Kurama

Yusuke continues getting creamed by Gouki, and is eventually saved by Botan and brought back to his house. He sets off to find Gouki again before swallowing more souls, more confident this time, because he hasn't used his Spirit Gun yet. Botan gives him a ring that allows him to channel his energy and increase the power of the Spirit Gun. Yusuke eventually corners Gouki in a park, and starts to fight him. He finds that Gouki's skin, while transformed, is inpenetrable. He is about to be killed once again when Botan comes to his rescue, momentarily irritating Gouki. Their efforts fail early, however, and soon they're BOTH cornered by the demon. Gouki opens his mouth, and Yusuke then gets his opening, propping the monster's mouth open with a stick and firing his Spirit Gun straight through the back of his neck. Gouki is finally defeated, and the Orb of Baast is secured.

Later that night, Botan and Yusuke go out on the town looking for the next artifact. They find Kurama walking admist the crowd, who tells them that he came to make them an offer. He says that he'll return the Forlon Hope to them in three days. Yusuke is confused, and Kurama leaves, telling Yusuke to meet him at the hospital tommorow. At home, Botan realizes that the reason that Kurama wants to give them back the mirror in three days is because in three days the moon will be full, and then the Forlon Hope can be used to grant one wish to the user. Yusuke decides to take action the next day, and plans to fight Kurama for the mirror. At the hospital, he realizes that Kurama seems to have a sick mother, who calls him Suuichi. On the roof, he explains to Yusuke that he was originally a fox-demon in the Spirit World, who, for fun, used to break open seals and ancient treasures. One day, however, he made a mistake, and was nearly killed. Before he died, he used the last of his power to turn into a human and become the child of a family. Now this mother is sick, and Kurama feels guilty for becoming her son. He plans to give up his life in order to let her live. Eventually, his mother becomes even sicker, and he is forced to use the mirror that night. Yusuke shouts at him at the last second, and threatens to give up his own life in place of Kurama, saying that the mother will just live her life grieving over her dead son. A large light shines out from the mirror, and Kurama and Yusuke collapse to the ground. Kurama gets up and runs and checks on his mother, who has miracously recovered. Yusuke then gets up, shocked that he's still alive. He realized that what he just did was really stupid, that his mother would cry over his death, thus defeating the purpose. The mirror speaks, telling Yusuke that since he did such a valiant deed, he was once again spared of his life. Kurama takes off, and now the only artifact left for Yusuke to find is the hardest one to get, especially with the demonic Hiei as its bearer.

b: 06-Apr-02

8. The Three Eyes of Hiei

Yusuke and Botan continue their search for the last artifact, the Shadow Sword. During school, Yusuke stops Botan from telling Keiko about the Spirit World. On the way home from school, as Keiko is walking, Hiei approaches her and slashes her with the sword. He wants to take Keiko to bait Yusuke into a warehouse in the back. In school, Yusuke's Spirit Compass begins to shake, telling him where the demonic energy is coming from. He follows it to the warehouse, where Hiei is waiting with Keiko. Hiei begins his speech, and Yusuke starts to realize that Hiei talks. . .ALOT. He begins to fight Hiei, while Botan notices a third eye appearing on Keiko's head. Hiei explains that if that third eye opens, Keiko will become nothing but a low-class slob of a demon. Botan uses her power to keep the eye from opening while Yusuke continues to fight Hiei. After becoming warmed-up, Hiei starts to move significantly faster. He nearly slices Yusuke with the Shadow Sword, when Kurama appears, taking the hit, and surviving, since he's of demonic blood. Kurama tells Yusuke that the score is settled, since Yusuke had earlier saved Kurama's life. Hiei gets pissed off, and takes off his shirt, and reveals tons of other eyes all over his body. He's EXTREMELY fast now, and Yusuke is running out of options. He finally shoots his Spirit Gun at Hiei. . .but Hiei dodges it! The Spirit Gun slams into the Forlon Hope, bounces off and smashes back into Hiei, and Yusuke explains that this is what he intended. With Hiei down, they take the Shadow Sword, and use its solution to heal Keiko. All seems well!

Later, Botan explains to Yusuke that while the artifacts were returned, since the Forlorn Hope was broken and the Shadow Sword had Kurama's blood all over it, Koenma's dad found out about it after all, and gave Koenma a LIGHT punishment: 100 spankings!

b: 13-Apr-02

NOTE: Hiei and his Jagan are introduced.

9. The Search Begins

Botan gives Yusuke his next mission: The psychic master Genkai has called a tournament in the Human World, in which she will pass on her powers to the winner. Yusuke is sent in to make sure that these powers aren't passed on to the wrong person, and also to find and kill the demon Rando, who has killed 99 psychics, and strives to make his power stronger. Yusuke is against going at first, but is finally baited into going with some tickets to a martial arts show at Tokyo Dome. He reaches Genkai's Dojo, and finds tons of fighters waiting to get in. Even more surprising, is Kuwabara, who's also come, but for different reasons. He tells Yusuke that his powers to see ghosts have become even worse these days, and he's hoping that he can get Genkai to turn them down. Genkai finally comes out, a short old woman with long curly purple hair. She tells them that the first test is to pull the tickets out of an urn, and if you get a red ticket, you have passed the test. Everyone takes one, (Yusuke hopes his isn't red so that he can go home) and Genkai reveals her plan: If your spirit energy is strong enough, the ticket will turn red. Some angry people whose tickets were blank come up, and Genkai kills them by smashing them through a wall with just her mind. Yusuke becomes more interested, which is a good thing, because both his and Kuwabara's tickets are red. Genkai leads them to the next room, which contains a punching bag video game, a rock-paper-scissors game, and a karaoke machine. Everyone is confused as to what this has to do with psychic ability, and Genkai explains that the punching bag projects your psychic strength, the rock-paper-scissors your response time, and the karaoke machine your ability to adapt in unusual situations. Kuwabara scores 125, higher than the others, who are scoring around 16. Yusuke shows him up by scoring 155, but a mysterious dark fighter with green hair shows both of them up with 176. Genkai is intrigued by these three, remarking that their psychic ability is much above average. The remaining 20 fighters reach a forest, which Genkai explains is infested with low-level demons. A few run away, but the rest of the fighters enter. Yusuke plans to just go straight through, thinking it's the fastest path. Kuwabara leaves the main path early on, and ends up reaching the end first, easily. Yusuke runs into a man-bat on the way there, and easily knocks him out with two punches, saying how slow it is compared to Hiei. Yusuke reaches the end last, because he had to sacrifice some time to kill the bat. Genkai tells him he is above the limit, and Yusuke tells her that the man-bat had distracted him. Genkai is so surprised that Yusuke even stood a chance towards the bat, so she makes an exception. The remaining eight fighters go with Genkai to start the tournament.

b: 20-Apr-02

10. Kuwabara's Spirit Sword

Genkai matches everyone up, and the fighting rounds begin. The beginning match is the ninja expert Kazemaru VS. a knife-toting man named Kuroda. Kazemaru quickly defeats him with a powerful hand-propelled Spirit Gun, lighting up the room so that Yusuke is able to witness it. This spectacle surprises him, and Botan contacts him by telepathy. Yusuke quickly runs outside to meet Botan, who begins telling him what kind of Spirit Gun it was that Kazemaru used. Kuwabara rushes outside after them, and reprimands Yusuke for 'cheating on Keiko'. He then proceeds to try and pick up Botan for himself. Genkai grumpily ushers them back inside, to watch the next match, a short tiny kid named Shorin, and a fat chinese man named Chinpou. The match is very quick, and Shorin comes out from the room as the victor, and tells them that he barely made it. Although no one saw the match, Koenma says he was lying. The third match is the silent samurai, Musashi, VS. Kuwabara. The battle starts, and Kuwabara begins taking a heavy beating by the ninja, since he has nothing to defend himself with. Musashi brings out his "Shining Sword" attack with his wooden bokken, and rips Kuwabara nearly to pieces. His bokken breaks in mid-attack, cancelling out the final blows, so he is momentarily stopped. Kuwabara lies on the ground, and Musashi steps up to give the final attack. Kuwabara picks up the piece, to try and salvage some sort of defense. At the last moment, a gigantic, lighting-esque blade shoots out from the stub, and Kuwabara rips through Musashi's sword, cutting the samurai in the gut and slamming him into the south side of the arena. Kuwabara doesn't even know how he did it, but accepts his win. The final match of the first round is Kibano, a master of martial arts, VS. Yusuke. Yusuke isn't too enthusiastic, and pisses off Genkai, who quickly sends them in them in to fight. Yusuke can't see a thing, but for some reason, Kibano can tell all the moves he makes. Kuwabara, with the help of his spirit ability, sense s that Kibano is cheating, by wearing a helmet that can sense all of Yusuke's movements in the dark. Yusuke starts to really get beat up, seeing no way that he can possibly detect Kibano before he's hit first.

b: 27-Apr-02

11. Hard Fights for Yusuke

Yusuke continues to stand his ground against Kibano, and manages to grab his arm by sheer luck. Kibano, however, is far stronger than Yusuke, and lifts him up in the air, tossing him too far away to see anything. Yusuke, desperate for a solution to the fight, powers up his Spirit Gun to target Kibano. Kibano, on the other hand, tip-toes behind Yusuke, and gets ready to knock him out. At the last second, however, Yusuke turns around and fires at point-blank range, shattering his helmet and knocking him down. Yusuke had slipped the cigarette that Genkai had thrown on him in the earlier episode into Kibano's robe as he was tossed before, thus, he could easily spot the small glowing cinders in the darkness.

The semi-finals now begin, this time out in a swamp-like area with a large pond. Yusuke is up yet again, this time versus the insanely quick Kazemaru. Kazemaru starts off the battle, easily beating up the exhausted spirit detective. Yusuke tries a last-attempt uppercut, but misses. Kazemaru, not wanting to risk another close call, brings out magic shurikens that seek out the spirit energy of the opponent, and won't spot until they hit. Yusuke runs around in a futile attempt to dodge them, and eventually decides that he'll have to run towards Kazemaru to try and bring him down with him. Suddenly, as he's closing in, he dissapears, and Kazemaru is smashed by his own shurikens! The rest of the gang is amazed, and Genkai supposes that Yusuke just showed them all a hidden technique. Then, Yusuke climbs out from the ground. It turns out that as he was running, he slipped and fell into a hidden hole in the swamp, thus, inadvertenly winning the match. With his semi-final match one, there's only one fighter left that could be Rando. . .and that's the seemingly innocent monk Shorin.

b: 04-May-02

12. Rando Rises, Kuwabara Falls

The final round begins, with Kuwabara versus the innocent-looking Shorin. Yusuke is sure that Shorin must be Rando in disguise, so he warns Kuwabara, who shrugs it off and steps into battle. Shorin begins, by getting knocked down by Kuwabara. He gets back up and fires off some fireballs, which Kuwabara easily deflects with the Spirit Sword. It's looking good for Kuwabara, which surprises Yusuke. Then, Shorin pulls out his trump card, which is an incantation that turns Kuwabara to a tiny size. Shorin dons a sadistic smile, and begins to squeeze Kuwabara's bones, breaking them all and making him completely paralyzed for life. Yusuke, in a rage, goes out to attack Shorin, but is stopped by Genkai. Shorin shows a small bit of compassion, by throwing Kuwabara's crushed body to the ground. Everyone thinks the poor guy is dead, but his spirit still retains. . .

Yusuke starts the final round by himself, and beats Shorin up in a rage. Shorin attacks back, however, with some flying cutting spheres, but Yusuke dodges them and quickly pounds Shorin into the dirt, claiming a victory. . .or so he thinks. Shorin's body dissipates, and out rises. . .Rando!

b: 11-May-02

NOTE: Shorin (Rando) revealed the following techniques from the other psychics he had killed: **Circles of Inferno** **Sickle and Tornado**

13. Yusuke VS. Rando: 99 Attacks

Rando rises to fight Yusuke. Yusuke attacks first, with practicalyl nothing due to his extreme exhaustion from the past fights. Rando eventually gets bored of this and wraps Yusuke in a gum-like tentacle, and begins slamming him through trees and into the ground, beating him up severely. He eventually hangs him onto a tree, and summons demons called "Hate Fish" in the lake below to eat Yusuke. He feeds them a demon to show their true power, and teases Yusuke. He continues to mock Yusuke by shooting off the Spirit Gun, which he had learned simply by watching Yusuke do it. He fires it through the tree and knocks Yusuke into the water. . .while underwater, Kuwabara's spirit comes to Yusuke, and gives him a little 'morale boost'. . .Yusuke lets off an extremely powerful energy wave, destroying all the fish. It doesn't phase Rando, as he is excited to kill Yusuke with his own attack. Yusuke swims underwater through a tunnel to a swamp behind the demon, and jumps out and fires his Spirit Gun. Rando counters, but he still doesn't have the punch that Yusuke packs within his, and he's knocked backwards into the swamp. Yusuke hopes that Rando is dead this time, but Rando comes out of the swamp, extremely pissed. He knocks Yusuke into the dirt -- hard, this time, and prepares to shrink him. Once he says the chant, however, HE is the one that shrinks. He is shocked, but his mistake is revealed when another stupid miracle seems to have befallen Yusuke -- there was swamp algae clogged in all of his ears, so, he couldn't hear most of the chant. . .and with any spoken chant, the target has to hear it, or else it goes to the next closest person. . .that being Rando. Yusuke stands up, exhausted, and simply falls on Rando with his elbow out to kill him. Genkai's Tournament is finally over, and Genkai fully heals Kuwabara while Yusuke catches his breath. He's excited to go to Tokyo for the battle dome now, but Genkai tells him that he has to stay for six months to train with her, since he won the tournament. He's really angry that he can't go, but Genkai forces him to stay anyway. . .

b: 18-May-02

NOTE: Techniques Revealed: Life Force Thread - archaic form of Spirit Energy.

14. The Beasts of Maze Castle

Yusuke returns from his grueling training under Genkai, and gathers Keiko and Kuwabara to go hang out in the city. A little ways into the day, he realizes he's being followed, and he and Kuwa are cornered by three blue-fleshed thugs. They easily dispose of them, with the help of one of Yusuke's new techniques, the Shot Gun. Botan appears and tracks down what seems to be the leader, a lizard-skinned thing in a robe. She gives Yusuke his next mission now. . .and it's a big one. In a nutshell, the four Saint Beasts want to force Koenma and the rest of the Spirit World to open up the portal so they can enter earth. . .and they're doing it by force, sending out tiny insects to possess the people of the planet earth. They reside in a large city of ghosts and apparations, so Yusuke must go there and defeat them before all of Earth is turned into mindless zombies! Yusuke is angry at first, but eventually decides to go ahead with it, also after Kuwabara says he'll go too. Botan tracks down a portal that will send Yusuke and Kuwabara one a one-way trip into the demon city. Yusuke is about to jump in, when he remembers he dumped Keiko at the movie theaters when he and Kuwabara confronted the thugs, and sends Botan to go find her. She hands Yusuke a communication mirror first, and he jumps into the portal.

They land on the outskirts of the demon city, and are immediately confronted by Fugaki, small fanged beasts that come in large amounts. Yusuke and Kuwabara try to fight them off at first, but there's way too many, and they seem to be overwhelmed. At the last second, two more people drop out of the portal. . .Kurama and Hiei! They tell Yusuke that Koenma agreed to wipe their slates clean if they helped in the effort to overwhelm the Saint Beasts. The four spirit detectives approach the castle. Hiei and Kuwabara bicker constantly, creating a large sense of tension between the cool-headed Kurama and the other three hot-headed fighters. They are soon confronted by a cyclops-bat creature, who tells them that they must pass 'trials' to enter the inner of Maze Castle. . .and the ceiling immediately comes crashing down on them! The ceiling's force is equal to all of their strength, so it will take their teamwork to get out of it. . .and if one leaves, the other three will perish. . .

b: 25-May-02

NOTE: Yusuke's third mission was introduced: To win against the four Saint Beasts and destroy the leader's whistle in order to stop the Makai insects from invading Earth.

New technique of Yusuke: Shotgun - like shooting hundreds of Spirit Guns at one time.

Communication Mirror was introduced by Botan.

Fugaki monsters are revealed. Fugaki - flesh-eating monsters with sharp claws and teeth.

Kurama and Hiei comes back! WhoOoOoO!

15. Genbu, the Stone Beast

Yusuke decides to put all his trust in Hiei and while they hold up the stone he dashes for the switch. After what looks like Hiei betrayed them, he flips the switch and everyone gets out OK. They walk in to Genbu's lair, the first of the Saint Beasts and Kurama steps up first. He pulls a rose out of his hair and turns it into a rose whip. He slices Genbu to pieces and attacks its brain finishing this monster off for good.

b: 08-Jun-02

NOTE: In this episode, we've seen Kurama fight his first battle.

This episode also revealed that Kurama's weapon is a rose.

Using the rose, it could transform into a whip with thorns.

Kurama's special attack: Rose Whiplash

Rose Whiplash - The rose whip can slice through absolutely anything, including rocks.

Unlike Hiei, Kuwabara and Yusuke, Kurama uses his intellect in battle.

When in battle, Kurama remains calm and undaunted (not easily scared).

Kurama never uses his fist when in battle.

16. Byakko, the White Tiger

Yusuke and the group continue up the tower, Kuwabara telling them that he's going to fight the next battle. When they come up a stairway, they reach a stone bridge leading to a large ledge on which Byakko, the 3rd of the Saint Beasts, is standing. Kuwabara steps up to fight, grasping his Spirit Sword, which he can now command to grow longer and use without Musashi's broken sword. Byakko laughs at Kuwabara, and sends out four smaller demons, which are parts of himself. They chase Kuwabara around and begin to bite and scratch him up. He as well as Yusuke realizes that he'll never be able to win by just swinging the Spirit Sword around. Yusuke shouts to Kuwabara to quit and let him fight for him, but Kuwabara's stubbornness keeps that chance from Yusuke. Kuwabara's next move seems to be running, as he goes back across the bridge. The four beasts follow, in a straight line. This was Kuwa's plan all along, and he shoots his spirit sword out, skewering all four on the sword. Unfortunately, they can't be killed this way, since they're all projections of Byakko's spirit. He feeds them more power, and they begin to chase after Kuwabara, still attached to the sword. He runs around the tower that they came out of, and then, now in a circle, attaches the front of the sword to the end. The monsters are now trapped on the outside circle of the tower. He smiles and laughs at Byakko, who, enraged, comes down to fight him. Kuwabara immediately begins attacking him, slicing him left and right. . .yet Kuwabara is the one who seems to be hurting. Kurama realizes that Byakko is actually sapping energy from Kuwabara, and he'll never be able to win using his sword. Kuwabara ignores this, and continues to attack the tiger! How is he going to get himself out of this one?

b: 15-Jun-02

NOTE: We've seen Kuwabara use the Spirit Sword without the help of Mushashi's broken sword.

17. Byakko's Lair

Despite losing all his energy, Kuwabara unleashes his last drop of power and attacks again with his spirit sword, but once again Byako absorbs the energy, leaving Kuwabara down unconscious. Now Byako is about to smash Kuwabara with his humongous feet, but suddenly he begins to feel something wrong. It seems like what Kuwabara planned before has finally taken effect. Byako absorbed too much energy for his body to take, and with this Byako suddenly explodes and he falls unconscious to the pit down below to his demise. Kuwabara faints from exhaustion.

Two demons down, and Yusuke and the gang continue with their journey. Yusuke calls Botan again with his communicator to ask the situation on the human world, but again Kuwabara sprungs out (recovers his strength again) and snatches the communicator away and asks Botan for a date... it turns out that things are getting worse as more and more humans are being possessed by this said insects. Yusuke needs to stop Suzaku, the holder of the flute that controls the insects as soon as possible to prevent more casualities in the human world. They enter the next venue of challenge, a valley of lava. Hundreds of stepping stones lie ahead but what awaits them below is one sea of burning lava.. Kuwabara rips a piece of his shirt and throws it down the lava, but it burns right before reaching the sea, proving how hot it really is. So they continue on jumping on each stone but suddenly someone arises in front of them... Its Byako!

It turns out Byako survived his fall from the pit and has regained his composure. He challenges again the group to another showdown. As Yusuke attempts to attack Kuwabara suddenly stops him, saying this is his fight, and what he started must be finished. Bravely Kuwabara jumps off to face Byako one more time, but the stone he jumped on suddenly breaks... and a horrified Kuwabara catches his breath on almost falling to his death in the sea of lava.. he removes his shirt and prepares for the battle and unleashes his spirit sword one more time. But Byako has something new to show, and he spits out a devastating fire ball for Kuwabara. Kuwabara was about to counter with his sword but Kurama suddenly butts out saying he must avoid the attack. He does, and realizes the ball disintegrates anything that touches it. With this, Kuwabara avoids every ball Byako fires, destroying each time the stepping stones all over. Now there are only two stones left, the stone where Byako waits, and the stone where a shocked Kuwabara stands.

Yusuke pleas for Kuwabara to retreat since a close range weapon like his sword will never stand a chance against Byako's fire ball attacks. But Kuwabara persists on staying in the battle, and he takes the gamble and jumps off the stone he stands towards Byako's position to attack him frontly. But his jump fell SHORT and he is racing down the burning pit of lava beneath...

Just then he unleashes a new weapon.. his sword transforms into a pole-like gadget and it bounces him back up and into Byako and with this momentum Kuwabara releases a migthy punch that nails Byako in the jaw and knocks him out of the stone and down into the lava.. however his punch was too strong he couldn't control himself and he too fell down. The three are in shock on how Kuwabara sacrificed himself to beat Byako but just then we hear Kuwabara's scream.. he didn't fall! he's dangling just below the stone and yells for help. Another lucky break for Kuwabara.. so finally they beat Byako and they continue on to face the rest of the demons as the episode ends.

b: 22-Jun-02

NOTE: Byakko revealed two of his techniques: Tiger Scream and Tiger Claw.

Tiger Scream - Everything it touches will transform into ash. It is absolutely impossible to block. If touched, it will cause a chain reaction and destroy the target's spirit.

Tiger Claw - Ability to throw tiger nails to an opponent.

18. Seiryu, the Blue Dragon

The group reach upon a room with several doors to choose from. Kurama tells them that only one door will lead them to their path and the others are gateways to hell. Kuwabara, having the highest "luck factor" of the four, decides to choose the door they will venture, since he senses a strong spiritual energy inside. He opens the door expecting a strong demon to encounter because of the strong energy he sensed, but finds a tiny rat that crawls around.. Gosh.

They continue towards the path Kuwabara insisted, and they find themselves in some kind of room with weird dragon carvings around. As they enter they come upon another sacred demon - Seiruu. He is an ice demon, and he has enormous strength worth not underestimating. Suddenly Seiruu greets another guest, and the four are surprised that someone was following their tracks - Its Byako! He's still alive after burning down the sea of lava and comes to Seiruu begging for help. But instead Seiruu uses his ice attack and freezes the heck out of Byako, then pulverizes him, and Byako finally dies.

Kuwabara gets enraged about Seiruu's lack of respect and confronts him. Just then Hiei steps in his way, and decides he will avenge Byako's untimely death and takes off his cape and brings it down the head of the dead Byako. Hiei draws his sword - and the battle begins. Seiruu uses ice attacks but Hiei is too fast and avoids everything Seiruu gives, thus freezing the whole room... now the whole room is wrapped in ice and Hiei has no where to go.. he barely avoids Seiruu's next barrage of ice attacks, but gets his left leg frozen in the process. Now his speed his reduced significantly with a frozen leg. However things are just warming up. Hiei draws his sword and plunges into Seiruu - as Seiruu attacks with ice. Hiei goes down, both feet and one arm frozen, and Seiruu remains standing, unharmed.

Seems like Seiruu has gained the upper hand as Hiei's speed is drastically decreased with his body frozen. Just then Hiei stands up and startles Seiruu as he unleashes his fire spirit and melts the ice in his body - He is back to his normal self. Seiruu decides to attack again with his ice shards but then suddenly blood rushes down from his forehead... and then in a blink of an eye his dead! Kuwabara was surprised by this turn of events and Hiei explains that when he plunged his sword towards Seiruu earlier he nailed him around 16 times in a fraction of a second without Seiruu even knowing he's hit. He also allowed himself to be hit by the ice attacks to deceive Seiruu even more.. Now Hiei has grown drastically powerful but the important thing is.. he has learned to trust his comrades.

Meanwhile in the other world Botan gets trapped by more and more people possesed by the insects, but suddenly a weird melody tunes in and all the people who were possessed by this mind-controlling insects are rapidly heading towards Yusuke's school.. something's up. We then see a brief look at Suzaku, the leader of the demons. With the three other demons gone, he is the only one left and launches his next strategy which is to invade Yusuke's school and capture the one most important to Yusuke... as the four hurries towards the top of the castle to face him, not knowing something horrible is about to happen in the human world...

b: 29-Jun-02

NOTE: Seiryu assassinated Byakko.

Seiryu's special technique is called "Ice Dragon".

Ice Dragon - It's an ability that can turn anything into ice.

19. Suzaku, Leader of the Beasts

Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei rush into the next part of the castle as they reach the final chamber where Suzaku awaits. Unknown to them Suzaku's master plan is being made - to capture Keiko. Meanwhile at the human world Keiko runs for her life as she is being chased by humans possessed by the mind-controlling insects. She runs into a corner and someone pulls him beneath.. It's Botan! Botan calls Yusuke and tells him the situation and Suzaku's plan to capture Keiko.. but their conversation is rudely interrupted by the possessed people and together they run to an exit. On the other hand Yusuke and the gang are stopped by hundreds of zombies, but then Hiei thinks of a plan, and Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei worked together and formed a bridge for Yusuke to jump into the nearby entrance to the final chamber. They successfully accomplish the job, and Yusuke runs off to face Suzaku one-on-one as the three finish off the zombies.

Yusuke confronts the leader of the sacred demons - Suzaku, who is playing the flute of mind control. Just then Yusuke sees in a wide screen Botan and Keiko being chased by possessed people. With this scene Yusuke becomes enraged and decides to take back the flute by brute force, and he starts to attack with a barrage of punches. However Suzaku blocks every punch with only one hand, while the other continues to hold the flute which he plays. So Yusuke decides to finish things quickly and unleashes a devastating rei gun, however Suzaku is prepared for the situation. He quickly deflects the rei gun off and destroys part of the chamber. Yusuke gets shocked on how powerful Suzaku is, because even with his intense training with Genkai Suzaku was able to defend his rei gun. Then Suzaku decides to take on the offense, and he raises his hand a lighting bolt strikes him - then his power as a lightning-demon arises and he attacks Yusuke with an enormous lighting fist - Yusuke was able to dodge it, but the force of the fist was so powerful it electrified him and knocked him down.

Meanwhile Keiko and Botan gets trapped by those chasing them, and Botan decides to fight them off to survive. Keiko uses herself as bait as Botan grabs a fire extinguisher and showers it over the possessed people. However behind her another possessed person appears and tries to choke her out.

Yusuke takes off his shoes and puts it in his fists and prepares for another lighting fist by Suzaku. As Suzaku attacks Yusuke uses his shoes to avoid being electrocuted, but the force is too strong it destroys the shoes. However Yusuke's plan was just getting started, as he uses the shoes to cover his power-up and unleashes a mighty right hand that hits Suzaku hard.. and at the same time Keiko prevents Botan to be choked to death as she nails the possessed person with a mighty slap... It seems like things are now going Yusuke's way...

b: 06-Jul-02

NOTE: Makai insects are being controlled by Suzaku's whistle.

The name of Suzaku's annoying bird is Murugu.

Cultivated Humans - Demons grow their bodies in large fields. Then stripping them off their free will at birth. They are perfect brainless slaves.

Storm of Torment - Uniting the powers of lightning and Spirit Energy forming a hybrid force to envelop the opponent in a wall of torture. Escape is nearly impossible.

20. Seven Ways to Die

Suzaku goes down off Yusuke's sneak attack, but remains unharmed. Again Yusuke charges, this time with more intensity, but Suzaku still blocks all of his attacks, however Yusuke manages to sneak in and nails a punch, and Suzaku loses possession of the flute. Yusuke rushes to the flute but Suzaku uses his teleportation and gets the flute back. Now he is definitely furious.

Botan and Keiko meanwhile continue to run from the possessed people that chases them, and they are forced to fight when cornered. On the other hand Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei continue to fight off the zombies, but it seems like they are totally outnumbered as more and more of them continue to appear.. Kuwabara decides to use his spirit sword to jump up the entrance Yusuke went in earlier.. but fell short and smashes his face into the stone wall (ouch).. guess he didn't realize that there's an easier way by simply entering the main entrance from beneath as Hiei and Kurama did.. :)

Suzaku then uses another one of his techniques - and he splits into seven more Suzaku! Yusuke had a tough time with one Suzaku, what more with seven REAL Suzakus? All the seven Suzaku flies off and unleashes a lighting arrow attack... and SEVEN powerful lighting attacks are coming Yusuke's way! Yusuke manages to deflect the first six, but he got totally hit by the seventh and knocks him unconscious. Now Suzaku has the upper hand. Meanwhile Botan and Keiko are once again trapped and they hurry into a room... but its a dead end and they are forced to face the possessed people.. but there are too many of them. Now they are in grave danger. Back at the demon's castle the seven Suzaku's are beating up Yusuke, as Yusuke sees the situation on the human world from Suzaku's wide screen.. Seems like Botan and Keiko are hiding in a locker to avoid the possessed people.. but Keiko's handkerchief got stuck in the locker and the possessed people sees it.. and without hesitation they smash the locker down...

Yusuke sees this and thinks that Botan and Keiko are finally caught... He loses courage.. and Suzaku beats him up more with his electrifying attacks. Yusuke was about to give up when suddenly Genkai's voice kicks in Yusuke's mind.. telling him Keiko and Botan are not done yet.. and we see that the two girls are still alive and they practically deceived the possessed people from believing that they were hiding inside the locker.. they deliberately placed the handkerchief inside.. now they escape once more..

Now Yusuke realizes they are still alright and regains his composure. He starts building up his energy and releases a mighty blast that almost destroys the whole chamber.. to Suzaku's astonishment.. Now the real battle is about to begin...

b: 06-Jul-02

NOTE: The Prism of Seven - Multiplying Suzaku's body in seven. Each of them has their own freedom and will, which makes a very destructive power.

The Prism Storm of Torment - It's like "Storm of Torment", only seven Suzaku's attack at the same time.

Genkai talked to Yusuke through telepathy while being tortured by the seven Suzakus' destructive electric energy. Genkai infuriated Yusuke to help him bring out Yusuke's true power.

Yusuke realizes that his friends and family needs him.

21. Yusuke's Sacrifice

Suzaku releases another lightning fist attack, but Yusuke was up to the task as he himself unleashes his full power and he blasts Suzaku with his devastating spirit shotgun! Suzaku goes down and Yusuke has finally beaten him. However he has used up his own strength and he goes down too.

Keiko and Botan continue to run from the possessed people that are chasing them when suddenly Botan gets whacked hard from a sneak attack and she passes out. Keiko goes to her aid, but now they are trapped and have nowhere to go. Yusuke sees this from Suzaku's wide screen and decides to grab the flute and destroy it. He doesn't have much strength so he crawls towards the flute when suddenly Suzaku's bird (the one that flies with Suzaku all the time and taunting Yusuke) knocks the flute far off. Yusuke threatens the bird with a rei gun pose, scaring it, and he goes again to grab the flute when suddenly Suzaku steps on his hand.. he's still alive!

Suzaku grabs the spirit of the other Suzaku clones he earlier formed and with this he gains back his full strength. Now Yusuke is in real trouble. Suzaku charges up for another lighting fist attack, and Yusuke absorbs the full impact of it. However he doesn't go down. Somehow he has some strength left, but Suzaku realizes this and sees he doesn't have enough to take another attack. He charges up again for another lighting fist, but Yusuke sees Keiko and Botan about to be assaulted by the possessed people... more specifically he sees Keiko.. and suddenly his eyeballs disappear (kind of a super saiyan-jin change ^_^) and a burst of energy suddenly erupts from Yusuke and he unleashes a mighty SPIRIT SHOTGUN just in time for Kuwabara and the others to see... they arrive as Yusuke nails Suzaku with the immense energy and the force blows up the whole chamber...

The possessed people goes down... the flute is destroyed! Now Keiko, Botan and the whole human world is finally safe as Koenma (who was watching this whole time) rejoices.. However Yusuke is totally drained.. Kurama checks him out and sees his heart not beating.. In danger of losing a friend Kuwabara decides to share his energy to him in order for him to live.. As Hiei looks on, confused.

Three days later Yusuke wakes up somewhere... and sees Kuwabara and Kurama. He realizes he is in Kuwabara's room and he has been sleeping for this past days, seems like he did beat Suzaku after all. But then he remembers something and asks Kuwabara about Keiko and Botan.. Kuwabara and Kurama gets this depressed look making Yusuke think something went wrong with them.. when suddenly the two girls burst out of the door and yells at Yusuke for breaking out of the bed.. bad joke.. Kuwabara gets one hell of a laugh.. Later as Keiko leaves Yusuke follows and apologizes for the things that just happened.. and it looks like Keiko will be replying with a deadly slap.. but instead of a slap she points her finger at Yusuke.. telling him not to make her worry again. Now Yusuke's mission is finally over...