Amazon

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Monday Morning Motivation: A Promise Between Men

Today's motivation comes from Yu Yu Hakusho. I loved watching the anime during its run on Toonami during my high school days. It was unfortunate that it never finished its run on Cartoon Network and I never got to complete watching it.

In episode three, Kuwabara and his friends get into a fight with a gang from a different school. The next day, the teacher starts laying into the gang. With plans to try to expel Kuwabara from the school, the teacher threatens to revoke Okubo's permission to work a part time job.

Okubo has a sick mother who is unable to work. He also has two younger siblings. Without the source of income, Okubo's family may risk starvation. But Kuwabara is unwilling to let this happen. He is able to bargain with the teacher for a deal. Okubo would be able to keep working his job as long as Kuwabara and the rest of the gang could go one week without getting into any fights.

Normally, I would like the scene here but you really just need to watch the whole episode. I'm not linking it because I'm sure the episode would just get taken down eventually. Instead, I've linked the abridged version of the episode here.

As Kuwabara is walking home, he runs into gangs from rival schools. As part of his promise to Okubo, he does not engage the rivals. However, Kuwabara is no coward and won't run from any fights. He has too much honor for that. Because of this predicament, he tells the gang that he won't run or fight back but he will stand there and take the beat down.

Because of this, Kuwabara gets punched in the face, kicked in the ribs, punched in the kidneys, and kicked in his face when he is on the ground. This happens a few times throughout the week. But this isn't the end of the ordeal.

In order to make it harder for Kuwabara, the teacher modifies the deal. In order for Okubo to keep his job, all four students have to score 50 points or higher on the next natural science test. For the other 3, it isn't a big deal but it is a problem for Kuwabara as he scored a 7 on the previous test. To keep his promise, Kuwabara studies as much as possible into the late hours of the night.

Kuwabara passes the exam to the surprise of his teacher. Unfortunately the teacher purposely miss graded the exam to make Kuwabara fail. At this point Kuwabara almost assaults the teacher but decides to let it go. Luckily, the principal knew of the teachers misdeed and threatens the teacher to correct the exam.

Of the 50 or so episodes of Yu Yu Hakusho I watched, this episode was one of the most memorable. You would go to great lengths to help your brothers. You would sacrifice a lot for your friends.

No comments:

Post a Comment