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Dec 20, 2009 5:32 PM
#1

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Jun 2008
1003
THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE.
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poor kid....

RtheO
May 15, 2010 2:43 PM
#2

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Aug 2009
121
Nah, I don't buy it. That would be too dark for this anime. Either that kid is not really dead, or he will be resurrected somehow.
"I know about people who talk about suffering for the common good. It's never bloody them! When you hear a man shouting "Forward, brave comrades!" you'll see he's the one behind the bloody big rock and the one wearing the only really arrow-proof helmet!"

-- Rincewind gives a speech on politics. (Terry Pratchett, Interesting Times)
Sep 26, 2010 10:21 AM
#3

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Jun 2010
359
I liked this one. =] It was like suddenly saw series. lol wanna play a game ? and then hes the one to die. pretty sure the mangaka is shotacon how he makes many shota chars and pretty boys acting gay. lol He finally made hunterxhunter which is more of shota. XD I liked how the cute shota cried. =] But before he made a very annoying ugly face even as a shota.
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Oct 4, 2010 1:36 PM
#4

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Mar 2010
55477
kurama is so kool

Behold of my awesomeness~
controversial and/or sensitive topics likely devolve into the same repetitive, derogatory, abusive, and harassing comments can no longer be posted.
But my feels.
Oct 4, 2010 1:36 PM
#5

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Mar 2010
55477
kurama is so kool

Behold of my awesomeness~
controversial and/or sensitive topics likely devolve into the same repetitive, derogatory, abusive, and harassing comments can no longer be posted.
But my feels.
Oct 4, 2010 1:36 PM
#6

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Mar 2010
55477
kurama is so kool

Behold of my awesomeness~
controversial and/or sensitive topics likely devolve into the same repetitive, derogatory, abusive, and harassing comments can no longer be posted.
But my feels.
Aug 6, 2011 3:41 PM
#7

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Mar 2010
287
Sad how the kid died.

@Rasco, you don't have to make 3 of the same post.
Dec 19, 2011 1:44 AM
#8

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Jun 2008
15842
Wow! They actually killed a kid in a shounen anime. Nice to see they had the guts to do it.
Jan 2, 2012 7:22 PM
#9

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Feb 2009
3436
That was a pretty unexpected twist, I daresay...
Feb 23, 2012 10:12 AM
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Nov 2010
75
Okay i felt sorry for the kid that he had to die, his intentions wasnt to kill anyone in the game.
ParasoloFeb 23, 2012 12:00 PM
May 21, 2012 10:34 PM

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Jun 2010
1862
The flashback scene with Sensui and the kid uncomfortably resembles a pedophile convincing to take advantage of a lonely and isolated child. The intensely creepy atmosphere this creates is perfect.

A great trick to invert the usual function of tension onto the adversary; the mid-episode fade-out even focuses on the kid's fear.

Choosing not to show the actual death of the kid, only his crumpled body, is a good anti-climax after he begins to become frantic when he realizes there's no escape. Having the tears in his eyes glisten was going a little too far, though, I think.
Jul 16, 2013 1:18 PM

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May 2012
2364
Poor kid. But I think he will be alive (like Genkai). And I wonder what will happen if Koenma will remove his pacifier?
Aug 31, 2013 4:09 PM

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Sep 2009
2972
Fronzel said:
The flashback scene with Sensui and the kid uncomfortably resembles a pedophile convincing to take advantage of a lonely and isolated child. The intensely creepy atmosphere this creates is perfect.

A great trick to invert the usual function of tension onto the adversary; the mid-episode fade-out even focuses on the kid's fear.

Choosing not to show the actual death of the kid, only his crumpled body, is a good anti-climax after he begins to become frantic when he realizes there's no escape.
Couldn't have put it better myself.

Darkest episode. Easily.
Sep 24, 2013 7:29 PM
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Feb 2013
108
Kurama is full of anger. I sense a "Yoko Kurama transformation" lol
Apr 24, 2015 4:15 AM

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Aug 2013
1929
So Koenma becomes more powerful and perhaps even gains a new form with his pacifier taken out?
It's good to finally know that actually has plot relevance.

I think it is interesting to note that the game Kurama played would have technically been the easiest nevertheless due to how both players in the game are playing individual of the other player and basically against a computer with the same difficulty setting.
Jan 3, 2016 10:21 PM

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Dec 2012
324
Wow...I didn't think they'd do it...

Yusuke took the death pretty well, considering he actively participated in it. You'd think killing a naive kid would hurt his conscious a bit more than killing a deceitful, psychopathic, genocidal lunatic doctor.

Speaking of which, looks like that guy broke out—a surprise to no one.
BanjaJan 3, 2016 10:27 PM
Jul 19, 2016 11:06 AM

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Jun 2016
25
Poor kid. The murder kill doctor who has now escaped from prison got to live but the little kid dies.
Apr 26, 2017 5:58 AM

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Dec 2013
14941
That was a surprisingly dark death. I'm guessing he will probably come back to life somehow but it was still messed up with how Sensui used the kid.

Good to know that there's more to Koenma's dummy than just a dummy.
Apr 29, 2017 5:04 PM

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Sep 2015
3269
Poor kid... this is why you dont talk to strange men
Jun 27, 2017 11:26 PM
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Nov 2015
1056
What a glorious bitch Sensui is!!!
It's true that he does not consider any of the Gang of Seven better than human, and whether any of them dies does not concern him.

The most humane method would be Kurama giving up, and somehow Kuwabara coming out of hostage to smash the Territory.
Jun 27, 2017 11:35 PM
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Nov 2015
1056
I love this Gang of Seven.
I love how they don't really shine through gorgous amazing power, but through their weakness and problems and naivite.
And how Sensui has meticulously done research on and chosen each of them based on their weakness, working his false prophet magic, so that he can exploit them for his goal.
Sure want to see more of Sniper (hope he hasn't died)
Jun 27, 2017 11:55 PM
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Nov 2015
1056
Sean_Nessman said:
What a glorious bitch Sensui is!!!
It's true that he does not consider any of the Gang of Seven better than human, and whether any of them dies does not concern him.

The most humane method would be Kurama giving up, and somehow Kuwabara coming out of hostage to smash the Territory.


NOOOOOOOOO he actually died. A kid die while the damn doctor escapes prison!!! Last episode was so happy and playful and now a kid dies.

The voice-over about how the bugs over the city disappear is like a sea before the storm is great.

I wish these late episodes are more beautiful though. Been very interesting, but such an important setting as Sensui's cave is not creepy inventive enough, compared to Genkai's house, who is a martial artist dabbling in architecture.
Sean_NessmanJun 28, 2017 12:00 AM
Aug 8, 2017 4:50 AM

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Jun 2016
3391
I was disappointed, then surprised, then impressed. That battle started off as a silly gimmick and ended up being a tragic story about some dumb kid manipulated by Sensui. When Amanuma first learned about his possible death when he was playing his expression was so different for first time, it was utterly hopeless. And when he exclaimed how he didn't want to die, right before dying, while his opponents regretted having to kill him just as much as he didn't want to die, that was seriously tragic. The plan and use of his territory makes more sense now and that was a really great watch. Conveniently however, he has like the only territory he can't turn off on command apparently?

I have to question why they can allow Kurama to kill a human, an innocent one at that, but not allow Yusuke to kill one which is practically a demon without reviving him right after. Hiei is seen slaughtering Hagiri as it fits with his character, but it's weird that they have the guts to force Kurama to live with his choice while they're afraid to make Yusuke live with his after setting the whole fight up around that concept. Still, ever since Dark Tournament I said I liked Kurama's decisiveness, his ability to be compassionate but also take life when he must. Really showing that off, not even hesitating, yet it still clearly effecting him. He's a great character in that sense.

And check what I said on the last Doctor episode, it's ridiculously lazy writing wise and literally irresponsible on the characters part to revive Kamiya. Just ridiculous. Of course he's going to kill more innocents, escape and probably commit even more horrible acts.
Aug 27, 2017 7:14 AM

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Apr 2017
299
Now this is how you build tension. Instead of "will our hero survive????" It's "will our hero kill a kid for the greater good?" It's one hundred times more interesting even on just a conceptual level and the way they did it probably couldn't have been much better. This snot nosed kid turns out to have a sad past, but it's mostly shown and not told in monologue form which is very much appreciated.

This Sensui guy is a real piece of shit. Taking advantage over his own teammates weaknesses for his own gains. He's much more well written than past opponents who kill their teammates because they're "too weak" Actually putting them to use like that really gives this man a sense of purpose.

At first I thought the arc was standard, but this episode really puts it up there. Good shit
Big breast are full of dreams, but small breast are full of hope.
Dec 17, 2017 8:05 AM

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Oct 2016
167
Good, the show finally pulled the trigger on some dramatic stakes
Oct 8, 2018 6:25 PM

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Nov 2016
31357
Kurama was so cunning.

One Piece episode 914 & 915 & 1027 were a mistake and 957 brought the salvation - FMmatron


May 5, 2019 4:27 PM

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Jul 2017
952
Really dark, and I 'm still not sure why they didn't try to knock him out instead of winning the game. It just seems like there may have been a few more options. Sensui is basically a cult leader, and I think that this arc has been successful at portraying this well.
Jun 2, 2019 1:42 PM
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Apr 2016
13215
I honestly felt really bad for the kid, didn't expect the anime to really kill him off, though. Okay so, what will removing his pacifier do? That's interesting, I guess he had it in his mouth for some actual good reason.
Nov 1, 2019 7:01 PM
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Nov 2014
677
Kurama just earned a place in my favorites
Jan 12, 2020 4:31 PM
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Dec 2019
114
This was a really well-done episode.

I genuinely thought there would be some sort of anime magic loophole to allow the Game Master to live on and join Yusuke's cause, but his death was unfortunately necessary. Not only that, but extremely poignant and meaningful. It's a device used to demonstrate the extent of Sensui's evil intentions.

This is shaping up to be my favorite arc of the show.
Apr 30, 2020 12:27 AM

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Mar 2020
1110
He shook cuz ain't no such things as halfway crooks
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Sep 4, 2020 3:50 AM

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Apr 2020
1109
I did not really think that the kid would die, but R.I.P.
His sweating and stuff made it really tense. I really hope to see some really cool Kurama moments.
--AbiSa--
Jan 7, 2021 11:44 AM

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Dec 2007
7904
i thought that kurama will have something in his slave to help him, but we got to see the dark side of kurama. damn i love kurama as badass.

from some reason i get from the anime vibes that the arc didn't even started.
Mar 4, 2021 8:50 AM

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Oct 2020
24
i was not expecting this. really want to see how kurama's character will change because of what happened here. pretty sad
Aug 12, 2021 10:53 PM

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Aug 2018
41211
I wonder what Koenma's true power is....

Jan 19, 7:30 PM

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Mar 2022
585
Wow I must admit I really felt sorry for Gamemaster there. I mean he was kind of a brat to Team Urameshi but he generally was still a kid and just didn’t know what he was doing when he was helping Sensui and then he ups and dies because he realised too late that he’s playing the role of the Goblin King. That was quite the dark twist to the episode.

Kurama was most certainly in a rage there. Now I’m quite curious at how powerful Koenma is without his pacifier. Well I guess I’ll find out soon enough. Otherwise this was a really well done episode for me.
Mar 16, 8:18 PM

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Oct 2023
309
I'm not buying into Amanuma's death yet, but I still really enjoyed the episode. A great character focus on both Kurama and Sensui for their own reasons.

Koenma taking out his pacifier is something I wasn't expecting to be introduced with this much relevance, and finally Kamiya is being brought back into the fold. I had certain expectations going into this arc and it's starting to look like they may be fulfilled. Sensui was already a good villain, but now he's really becoming a shit-heel in ways I did not anticipate. I hope the upcoming fights were worth the wait!

While Amanuma's territory being essentially built on top of a game console continues to make these types of powers make even less sense, I very much appreciate Togashi going out of his way to invent entirely fictional games to be inserted into the world. It's something that's done in Hunter X Hunter very well, and happens to fulfill a different requirement in the plot while achieving a similar effect when done here.
Mar 21, 11:29 PM

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Apr 2017
488
I do like how they brilliantly flipped out thought process on our heads. When you first play the game, the kid is a cocky brat. He's annoying, and you want them to beat him. If only to humble the brat. Yet after Kurama revealed that beating the kid means that he dies, you actually start to hesitate. You don't want the kid to die. You actually feel sad when the kid looks at Kurama and begs for his life. You realize that the kid didn't think he was in any danger. The kid didn't even want to kill them. He just wanted to waste time. He was practically groomed by Sensui taking advantage of his lack of friends and parents. You go from the guys wanting to put the kid in his place, to wanting the kid to live.

It actually makes Sensui one of the worst villains. He doesn't care about anyone but his own wacky ideals. He'll even go as far as grooming a kid to basically die. What a piece of shit!
Apr 24, 12:59 PM
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Jan 2021
108
This one's really a dark episode. I feel bad for the 'Game-master' kid, but it is what it is; the world is cruel!
I'm also excited to see how strong Koenma will be with his pacifiers removed. Would he be stronger than Yusuke, Hiei, and the others? Even if he is, would he be able to face off against an S-rank demon? And then there's 'King' Enma. This guy's got to be one of the strongest characters in the series. If Koenma is on par with an A-rank demon, 'King' Enma must be on par with S-ranks or even stronger, considering he's the supreme monarch of the Spirit World. I'm really, really hyped about the next episodes.

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