To be fair, I suppose not every arc needs to conclude with some arch villain getting vanquished, or with the heroes being thrust into drastic life changes. Still, the way “Yorknew” more-or-less ends with the good guys reaching some irresolute treaty with the bad guys on a rainy afternoon makes these “goal posts,” as they were, seem rather arbitrary.
Hell, the announcer even breaks part of the deal between audience and crew when he hypes the next arc by actually calling it the start of a new arc. == TEASER ==
One time on the Vice Pit, while I was voicing my disinterest in all the Vicious-centered ‘mythology’ episodes of COWBOY BEBOP, Sam posited that every mangaka has at least one yakuza story they want to tell someday, regardless of what else they do. Togashi pawed at underworld dealings (both literal and figurative) in YU YU HAKUSHO a few times; but he clearly got to scratch that itch in full here. I could’ve used a Hunterpedia to keep track of all the secret alliances tangling up together. At a certain point, I just gave up on trying to figure out who was double-crossing whom and just slapped a big post-it on it all that read “the Phantom Troupe squabbles internally.”
The most appealing parts had to be when the Troupe tries to rationally suss out their individual prophecies, and interrogate Hisoka on how he’s contributed to them. To me, these scenes represent what’s best and worst about a series going on long enough that it can afford to devote entire episodes to breaking down the semantics of its own lore.
On the good end, it really does add to the verisimilitude of the whole experience when you get to see these sorts of in-between moments which a standalone feature would have to skirt over. On the bad end, they remind me of what can bore me about an Asimov story - - when I feel like I'm getting a dry lesson on the Laws of Robotics (or Nen) instead of an entertaining narrative.
Anyway, I've slipped my quarter into the slot. Let's hit Start for "Greed Island!"
Watch "Allies × And × Lies" and "Beloved × And × Beleaguered” and "Initiative × And × Law" and "Signal × To × Retreat" decide for yourself, then read my comments on the previous episode.
About the Author
 | Tom Pinchuk’s a writer and personality with a large number of comics, videos and features like this to his credit. Visit his website - - tompinchuk.com - - and follow his Twitter: @tompinchuk |
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