Episode 108

Farewell, Kurama
Kanji	蔵馬, 過去との決別
Rōmaji	Kurama, Kako to no Ketsubetsu (Kurama, A Break with the Past)
Japan Air Date	November 19, 1994
English Air Date	March 4, 2006
Episode	108
Manga	Anime Canon
Saga	Three Kings Saga
Opening Song	Smile Bomb
Ending Song	Daydream Generation
Previous Episode	←The Demon World Tournament Begins
Next Episode	Love and War→

Farewell, Kurama is the fourteenth episode of season 4 of YuYu Hakusho. It aired on November 19, 1994 in Japan and March 4, 2006 in the United States.

Short Summary

Kurama battles Shigure, and is torn over his conflicting identities. Finally determining that he will live as a human, Kurama dispatches Shigure with his full power.

Detailed Summary

Kurama battles Shigure, and is torn over his conflicting identities. Though Kurama is in the Lower S Class power level, he is no match for Shigure. Shigure offers to operate him (in order to become Yoko once more) if he would tell him a story.

Finally determining that he will live as a human, Kurama dispatches Shigure with his full power. During a fierce battle, he transforms into an Upper S Class Yoko and easily uses Super Speed to avoid Shigure, but willfully transforms back into his human self, stating that he will not resort to using that power.

Despite being weaker than Shigure, he is able to cause the large dormant Okunenju tree they are using as an arena to bloom, having merged it with a cherry blossom seed before the fight began. This causes Shigure to lose the match as his Rinka Enreki-tō gets stripped from him, giving Kurama the win. However, Kurama is unable to continue with the Demon World Tournament and withdraws due to severe injuries. After his fight with Shigure, he decides to not look to the past for answers, but to the future. Since his loyalty is now to his human mother, and his friends, he decides to put his Yoko lifestyle behind, as he tells Yomi. He decides to return home to live out his human life and will not forsake his Yoko nature, since he never leaves out anything.

Characters in Order of Appearance

Kurama Shiori Hatanaka Kazuya Hatanaka Shuichi Hatanaka Chu Touya Jin Rinku Suzuki Shishiwakamaru

Shigure Mukuro Hiei Yomi Koto Yusuke Youda Koenma Jorge Saotome Botan

Relevant Techniques

• Rose Whip (Kurama)
• Master Swordsman (Shigure)
• Boomerang Circle (Shigure)
• Petals and Thorns (Kurama)
• Sword Cyclone (Shigure)
• Super Speed (Kurama as Yoko)
• Okunenju Roots (Kurama)

Anime Notes

• Kurama rejecting his yoko nature, however, was an addition made exclusively on the animation. In the original story told by the manga, such resolve was not shown or hinted just like his fight against Shigure. In fact, the entire fight with Shigure was not shown in the manga at all, although Kurama did state that he didn't know how he beat Shigure and used up most of his youki in this battle, indicating Kurama had a extreme difficult battle. He then lost to Kujou, one of Raizen's Friends in the third round. After the end of the Demon World Tournament, Kurama goes back to the Human World.
  • Shigure's suicide after his loss was also anime exclusive. The manga shows him to still be alive after the Demon World Tournament as a part of Hiei's patrol alongside Kirin.

Trivia

• In the ending, Botan was with the group out of disguise to see if Kurama was alright. In the succeeding episode, however, she is back with Koenma and still in disguise watching the others retrieve Kurama via monitor.
• The blu-ray has a redub with the announcer who calls Kurama and Shigure to their match. Alexis Tipton replaces Bob Carter from the original dub.

Gallery

• Main article: Gallery