Episode 46

Many Faces, Many Forms
Kanji	戦慄! 黒桃太郎の変身
Rōmaji	Senritsu! Kuromomotarō no Henshin (Tremble! Kuromomotaro's Transformation)
Japan Air Date	September 4, 1993
English Air Date	May 6, 2003
Episode	46
Manga	Chapters 80 (second half)-81
Saga	Dark Tournament Saga
Opening Song	Smile Bomb
Ending Song	Sayonara Bye Bye
Previous Episode	←Hiei Battles On
Next Episode	Legendary Bandit: Yoko Kurama→

Many Faces, Many Forms is the twenty-first episode of season 2 of YuYu Hakusho. It aired on September 4, 1993 in Japan and May 6, 2003 in the United States.

Short Summary

Hiei's attacks are ineffective against Kuro Momotaro, and he is forced to use his powers in an unorthodox fashion - channeling the Dragon of the Darkness Flame through his sword to dispatch Kuro Momotaro.

Detailed Summary

Hiei continues his struggle against Kuro Momotaro, who has just transformed to his second armor of beast, the Phoenix Armor. Kuro decides to show off by transforming into his third, and most powerful armor, the Wolf Armor. Kuro throws his last Steaming Sphere, and he turns into his hideous wolf form. Hiei draws his broken blade, and Kuro laughs, and tells him if his sword didn't work on the first armor, how could it work on the third. Hiei uses the power he stored for his Dragon of the Darkness Flame, and puts into his sword, creating the Sword of the Darkness Flame. Kuro jumps to bite him, and Hiei kills him in midair. Next, it is Ura Urashima versus Kurama. Ura is a small boy who fights with a fishing pole. He starts swinging it in a circle, and Kurama does the same with his Rose Whip. They start having a whip battle, when Ura Urashima tells Kurama a sob story about his sick grandmother, and he was only on the team because Shishiwakamaru, the team leader, promised him riches through telepathy. He asks Kurama to kill him, cause he feels it is the only way out. Kurama says he can fake his death by allowing him to hit him with the Rose Whip in a way that will knock him out. Ura "agrees". Kurama goes for the hit when Ura Urashima disappears. He is soon hit by the fishing pole and the cruel laughter announces Kurama was tricked. Ura Urashima decides to unleash a great weapon known as the Idunn Box. The magic inside the box will cause anyone but the user who breathes the smoke to go back in age and become a helpless baby. Kurama tries to hold his breath, but he breathes the smoke, and we see him go back in age. But the Idunn Box has pushed him too far. Kurama was a fox named Yoko in the past before possessing the human baby Shuichi. Kurama has now transformed into Yoko Kurama.

Anime Notes

• This marks the first appearance of Yoko Kurama, the true form of Kurama.
• The false story Ura Urashima conveys to Kurama differs between Japanese and English:
  • Japanese: Ura claims that all of his teammates are, in fact, demonic reincarnations of the protagonists from the classical Japanese fairy tales (Urashimako in his case) and that over time, they killed many humans in the name of the demons that the stories were supposedly written against. Eventually, Ura came to realize that Team Uraotogi's actions were pointless and unlawful and now desires death to atone for all his wicked deeds.
  • English: Ura claims to have joined Team Uraotogi to provide money for his sick grandmother and that their actions have escalated to the point that he feels great shame in his actions, now desiring to die as some form of atonement.
    • The change in English was likely done since, at the time it was produced, contemporary English audiences would not have been terribly familiar with the story of Taro Urashima and thus would be confused.

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