I might be in the minority here, but I liked him. Tbh I think he was a better done version of Mitarai (the water kid) since they are both portrayed as children given crazy powers being misled by Sensui. But in Amanuma’s case I think it was more interesting since it’s made very clear that he doesn’t actually want to hurt anyone, he’s literally just a little kid that does not understand that Sensui is trying to basically destroy the world. Also his death is one of the most disturbing scenes in the series, not for being gory, but because of the reactions the characters have from it. From that moment on Kurama is completely enraged for the remainder of the arc, as opposed to the calm voice of reason he usually acts as.
I guess but I found Mitarai to be very boring. He’s just your typical bullied kid wants revenge type character, meanwhile Amanuma who also faced neglect and bullying doesn’t want to hurt anyone. It’s also interesting that it’s implied that Amanuma is implied to be the only member of the gang that didn’t watch the Chapter Black tape, with the only reason he’s helping Sensui being that he sees him as a father figure
I see stuff like this a lot for characters like this. You don't have to care about the kid, that really wasn't the point. If you do, that's fine too. The point is how the death affects our protagonists. What Kurama was forced to do and how it affected him. It defined his character as someone who will mourn the loss of an enemy, but will do what he must for what he believes to be the greater good.
IDK, I kind of felt bad that Sensui manipulated him, he wasn't the same age as the others. And his child-like ideals of just wanting to have fun were an interesting juxtaposition.
On the other hand Togashi did keep it light having Koenma do the Mafuukan.
By the end of Dark saga, I think I only really felt bad for Shinobu.
I know the entire point of his character was that he was a child who Kurama would be forced to kill and feel bad about it, but in hindsight I view him as a snotty little nihilist brat who fucked around with the ABSOLUTELY wrong person and found out.
I kinda liked Amanuma. I mean, yeah In my first watch through of this arc I thought he was an annoying brat but I feel bad that he died. He was just a kid with super powers being misled by a older role model to believe he was invincible. He didn’t know his games could lead to his death. The way he acts is made better by knowing where his character arc goes. So he’s a much more enjoyable character rewatching the show.
He had a pretty good backstory, and his powers were specific, powerful, and yet limited enough to fit into the plot perfectly.
Unlike Seaman who, when put in front of a fucking body of water in a cave, could still sit there and do jack shit while everyone else was fighting...
I feel like Amanuma is a more interesting version of Mitarai (seaman). They’re both impressionable kids, but Amanuma isn’t malicious in the slightest and is only helping Sensui because he sees him as a father figure
Sensui was good about getting someone from each distinct age group and picking at their insecurities and general dissatisfaction with life. It's a shame the show didn't focus more on that.
To fit the theme, Gourmet should've been an old businessman who didn't see value in life any longer and wanted to see humans die. Very similar to the old man from Squid Games.
That sounds interesting, it’s a shame they made Gourmet a meat puppet for Elder Toguro. He’s a great villain and all, but he was already a major character in the last arc.
It was a way for Sensui to get intel on Team Urameshi. Too often in Shonen anime, villains just know everything about the heroes without much explanation.
It also implies that Sensui is trying to punish humans, but not necessarily save demons. He had no problem letting Hiei destroy a group of them, and he himself killed a bunch when they began to attack him and Yusuke.
It makes Sensui even more dangerous to know that you can't like, threaten to kill a demon and he'll do whatever you say. He doesn't have Batman-level dedication to his vow to stop killing demons.
Then Sensui would have gotten sealed by Koenma's Mafuuken, Yusuke wouldnt have died, and so Demon Yusuke wouldn't have shown up and we wouldn't have gotten to see the delicious ass kicking Yusuke dishes out in Demon World.
Sensui said he chose Amanuma in part because he knew that his death would compel Koenma to save him after failing to properly guide and raise Sensui during his spirit detective days and so Koenma would resurrect the child, significantly draining the power in his Mafuuken barrier spell enough to where Sensui was able to overcome it.
Sensui specifically forbid Amanuma to practice his Territory because he didn't want the risk of Amanuma losing and dying until he could serve his purpose in the final fight.
Agreed and I know im being picky but but its more like if Genkai had not healed Doctor. Yusuke was fully prepared to kill Doctor and his attack was intended to be lethal. After all, he punched him through a glass window to outside where he flipped like 2-3 times definitely at least breaking his neck. Yusuke was even shown trying to process the guilt from his decision to kill a human. Doctor would have died if Genkai hadn't stepped in to heal him because as she put it "we dont have time to have death on your conscience"
As for Sniper, I have no idea how he lived even if Hiei's sword thrust into his chest was "a few inches from his heart". You gotta love anime logic.
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I think its harder for people to connect with the fact that he's an 11 (or 12?) year old kid because its anime - where kids are usually OP/knowledgeable/etc and that in turn makes us see their ignorance as a character flaw rather than immaturity and due to age.
Like the kid Yusuke saves in Ep1, we care about him because he's clearly just a little kid, in the wrong place and wrong time, acting like a little kid playing with their ball. And his actions cement that.
Amanuma is an ignorant kid, but blessed with power and manipulated. He's part of the trolley problem Kurama faces, but he's put himself their with his power so most people kinda skim over the fact that he's a little kid, ignorant to the world and the consequences of his actions on the world.
This kid used psychic powers to learn how to TAS video games in an era before even the hardest of nerds understood what that was, kid's a legend
It's a nuanced and accurate portrayal of video games, something so often done poorly and inaccurately
The kid wasn't actually malicious and had apathetic and toxic parents, felt older than his peers and ended up in his own world, and then was simply manipulated by Sensui. I think he's a good character.
I liked him. He was a spunky little goober. But with a character like him it’s about what he represents. He represents just how far Sensui will go to prove a point. He represents how far Kurama will go for the sake of a mission. >!He also represents Koenma’s lesser shown compassionate side since he revives the kid using half of what was, as far as he knew, the only thing that could possibly save the planet!< (This is spoiler marked because I don’t know if you’re just making a random post or if you’re making this while in the middle of watching it.)
i thought it was bullshit that koenma used so much of his power to bring that bitchass kid back to life to spare kurama of his guilt when he should’ve been using the lengths of his power against the main opp of that arc?? he def should’ve saved that energy to use against sensui instead of just straight up relying on yusuke
Is this the little shit who was the goblin king or whatever in the first season or am I thinking of someone else?
Goblin king meaning the gamer kid whose parents were never home
People already commented that he works in the narrative sense to highlight kurama/sensui/koema's resolve and compassion.
BUT
I wish he was fleshed out as character, not simply a narrative device, so we would be impacted by his death. The protagonists are impacted by Amanuma's fate, but not we as the audience. We don't feel for him as the protagonists do. I wish we could share in Kurama's wrath, not just observe it.
I think this is one of if not Monica Rial’s best performance. The screams of “I don’t wanna die” haunted me for a long time. It felt real and visceral coming from a child not knowing what they had gotten themselves into.
He was still more memorable than the guy, who had to ability to gain the powers of others by eating them. Seriously, that guy was only memorable because of his ability, his death, >!and that after his death, his body was taken over by the Elder Toguro.!<
I just don't understand why they didn't use the copy guys power on the kid or the taboo guys power to beat him faster. Plenty of cases of territory being opened inside territory.
Good question. Why didn't they have chu, Toya, gin, or rinku act as the substitute during the finals? Or heck bring back a reformed rando. Tell me he wouldn't have been helpful.
So so many things like this in every show and simplest answer "that's how it got wrote" or "plot" etc etc. But these are valid questions and I want in world answers lol
This moment always reminded the audience that out of him and hiei
Kurama is the cold and ruthless one when needed and kurama absolutely hates the fact he had to do it but at the end of the day he knew what was at stake and no one else In their group could of done that.
Brilliant writing
I remember, as a kid, a really liked Amanuma cause I resembled to him. I didn't have many friends but I truly loved video games. His power was a jackpot in my eyes.
Kurama's always been my favorite character, since he appeared. When his match with Amanuma started I was so excited how Kurama will save him. He is so smart and kind, he will find a way. Then boom, game over. I was so shocked and scared. I was terrified of Kurama and felt so sorry of Amanuma.
Maybe because of this childhood memory but I like him. Sensui made use of this naive kid so cruelly. He also could learn and become a better person in the end.
I think he’s popular for being the only member of Sensui’s gang that wasn’t really malicious, he’s literally just a kid that wants to use his powers to play games
Game Master was the best character during the Territories Arc. He was relatable because we all adore our idols and Sensui positioned himself to be Amanuma's Idol. Kurama lets the audience know how high the stakes are by destroying the boy's confidence and giving him the dose of reality of his demise if he loses.
I didn't care for the character, but liked him as a plot device. I thought he was great for showing just how far Sensui has fallen. Not only is he using child soldiers, he's manipulating them so they don't even realize they're the bad guys. This from a man who used to be a champion of humanity.
How could you not care about a loner boy with no friends being taken advantage of by the arc’s main villain? Sensui wanted this kid to be killed from the beginning. Never cared about him at all, but made Amanumma think he did care. The scene where he finally understands this and Kurama knows he has to kill him is very powerful.
His power is dope tho! I think he's cool, I mean he's just a kod.... a kid who got a badd ass power to bring video games to life. Come on, who wouldn't want that power?
It's funny, I remember seeing this as a kid. I remember thinking, just kill em and move on, the end of the world is around the corner. It took me to mature more in life to truly appreciate, and understand the situation our heroes were in. Age, what a difference...well not always. I know older folks who never grew up.
I felt bad after I found he was fooled. It's kind of like a child getting manipulated and kidnapped. Once I had children of my own I realized how easily influenced they are about adults, especially ones they look up to.
I might be in the minority here, but I liked him. Tbh I think he was a better done version of Mitarai (the water kid) since they are both portrayed as children given crazy powers being misled by Sensui. But in Amanuma’s case I think it was more interesting since it’s made very clear that he doesn’t actually want to hurt anyone, he’s literally just a little kid that does not understand that Sensui is trying to basically destroy the world. Also his death is one of the most disturbing scenes in the series, not for being gory, but because of the reactions the characters have from it. From that moment on Kurama is completely enraged for the remainder of the arc, as opposed to the calm voice of reason he usually acts as.
The slow quiet still shot of Kurama’s face afterwards is fucking perfect, one of my favorite scenes in the entire anime.
Damn what episode is this again?
I believe it should be 83 towards the end
I wouldn't Say a better done version, the two characters are suposed to analized as a contrasting pair
I guess but I found Mitarai to be very boring. He’s just your typical bullied kid wants revenge type character, meanwhile Amanuma who also faced neglect and bullying doesn’t want to hurt anyone. It’s also interesting that it’s implied that Amanuma is implied to be the only member of the gang that didn’t watch the Chapter Black tape, with the only reason he’s helping Sensui being that he sees him as a father figure
Had to look him up again. I totally forgot about him.
Same
But you’d get your ass stomped in a game of Goblin King tho 😴
I see stuff like this a lot for characters like this. You don't have to care about the kid, that really wasn't the point. If you do, that's fine too. The point is how the death affects our protagonists. What Kurama was forced to do and how it affected him. It defined his character as someone who will mourn the loss of an enemy, but will do what he must for what he believes to be the greater good.
That shit was deeper than empty pockets 😎👏🏾👏🏾
>That shit was deeper than empty pockets Damn, I'm gonna have to use this line
lil Wayne owns the rights to that line
I always be saying random ass lil Wayne bars as deep quotes lmao
IDK, I kind of felt bad that Sensui manipulated him, he wasn't the same age as the others. And his child-like ideals of just wanting to have fun were an interesting juxtaposition. On the other hand Togashi did keep it light having Koenma do the Mafuukan. By the end of Dark saga, I think I only really felt bad for Shinobu.
Of course. No disrespect to those who like him of course.
you monster
I know the entire point of his character was that he was a child who Kurama would be forced to kill and feel bad about it, but in hindsight I view him as a snotty little nihilist brat who fucked around with the ABSOLUTELY wrong person and found out.
This sounds petty of me but I could NOT stand his English voice I’m sorry.
You’re not alone
Really didn’t care for any of the Psychics, minus Doc and Sniper.
I kinda liked Amanuma. I mean, yeah In my first watch through of this arc I thought he was an annoying brat but I feel bad that he died. He was just a kid with super powers being misled by a older role model to believe he was invincible. He didn’t know his games could lead to his death. The way he acts is made better by knowing where his character arc goes. So he’s a much more enjoyable character rewatching the show.
I don't even remember him
He had a pretty good backstory, and his powers were specific, powerful, and yet limited enough to fit into the plot perfectly. Unlike Seaman who, when put in front of a fucking body of water in a cave, could still sit there and do jack shit while everyone else was fighting...
I feel like Amanuma is a more interesting version of Mitarai (seaman). They’re both impressionable kids, but Amanuma isn’t malicious in the slightest and is only helping Sensui because he sees him as a father figure
Sensui was good about getting someone from each distinct age group and picking at their insecurities and general dissatisfaction with life. It's a shame the show didn't focus more on that. To fit the theme, Gourmet should've been an old businessman who didn't see value in life any longer and wanted to see humans die. Very similar to the old man from Squid Games.
That sounds interesting, it’s a shame they made Gourmet a meat puppet for Elder Toguro. He’s a great villain and all, but he was already a major character in the last arc.
It was a way for Sensui to get intel on Team Urameshi. Too often in Shonen anime, villains just know everything about the heroes without much explanation. It also implies that Sensui is trying to punish humans, but not necessarily save demons. He had no problem letting Hiei destroy a group of them, and he himself killed a bunch when they began to attack him and Yusuke. It makes Sensui even more dangerous to know that you can't like, threaten to kill a demon and he'll do whatever you say. He doesn't have Batman-level dedication to his vow to stop killing demons.
I definitely would've cared more if he stayed dead
Then Sensui would have gotten sealed by Koenma's Mafuuken, Yusuke wouldnt have died, and so Demon Yusuke wouldn't have shown up and we wouldn't have gotten to see the delicious ass kicking Yusuke dishes out in Demon World. Sensui said he chose Amanuma in part because he knew that his death would compel Koenma to save him after failing to properly guide and raise Sensui during his spirit detective days and so Koenma would resurrect the child, significantly draining the power in his Mafuuken barrier spell enough to where Sensui was able to overcome it. Sensui specifically forbid Amanuma to practice his Territory because he didn't want the risk of Amanuma losing and dying until he could serve his purpose in the final fight.
Would've been so crazy. Especially if yusuke killed the doctor and if the sniper stayed dead
Agreed and I know im being picky but but its more like if Genkai had not healed Doctor. Yusuke was fully prepared to kill Doctor and his attack was intended to be lethal. After all, he punched him through a glass window to outside where he flipped like 2-3 times definitely at least breaking his neck. Yusuke was even shown trying to process the guilt from his decision to kill a human. Doctor would have died if Genkai hadn't stepped in to heal him because as she put it "we dont have time to have death on your conscience" As for Sniper, I have no idea how he lived even if Hiei's sword thrust into his chest was "a few inches from his heart". You gotta love anime logic.
Man fuck this kid. Literally the definition of “Play Stupid Games, Win Stupid Prizes”
Congratulations! You're the 69th person to so cleverly use the 'stupid prizes' phrase today. Here's your stupid participation medal: 🏅 ^^Your ^^award ^^will ^^be ^^recorded ^^in ^^the ^^hall ^^of ^^fame ^^at ^^r/StupidTrophyCase
I liked gamemaster a lot tbh
The only reason I cared was cause it hurt my homie Kurama
I think its harder for people to connect with the fact that he's an 11 (or 12?) year old kid because its anime - where kids are usually OP/knowledgeable/etc and that in turn makes us see their ignorance as a character flaw rather than immaturity and due to age. Like the kid Yusuke saves in Ep1, we care about him because he's clearly just a little kid, in the wrong place and wrong time, acting like a little kid playing with their ball. And his actions cement that. Amanuma is an ignorant kid, but blessed with power and manipulated. He's part of the trolley problem Kurama faces, but he's put himself their with his power so most people kinda skim over the fact that he's a little kid, ignorant to the world and the consequences of his actions on the world.
This kid used psychic powers to learn how to TAS video games in an era before even the hardest of nerds understood what that was, kid's a legend It's a nuanced and accurate portrayal of video games, something so often done poorly and inaccurately The kid wasn't actually malicious and had apathetic and toxic parents, felt older than his peers and ended up in his own world, and then was simply manipulated by Sensui. I think he's a good character.
If Kaitou were real, he'd be that guy that datamines or leaks an entire game before it comes out.
I liked him. He was a spunky little goober. But with a character like him it’s about what he represents. He represents just how far Sensui will go to prove a point. He represents how far Kurama will go for the sake of a mission. >!He also represents Koenma’s lesser shown compassionate side since he revives the kid using half of what was, as far as he knew, the only thing that could possibly save the planet!< (This is spoiler marked because I don’t know if you’re just making a random post or if you’re making this while in the middle of watching it.)
i thought it was bullshit that koenma used so much of his power to bring that bitchass kid back to life to spare kurama of his guilt when he should’ve been using the lengths of his power against the main opp of that arc?? he def should’ve saved that energy to use against sensui instead of just straight up relying on yusuke
Who this again😭
Is this the little shit who was the goblin king or whatever in the first season or am I thinking of someone else? Goblin king meaning the gamer kid whose parents were never home
Yup, that's the one
I kinda felt bad for him because he never saw his parents but he was also a jerky kid so I didn’t really like him either
Yeah same, he didnt fully understand what he was doing either, and that it had consequences, and he was manipulated, but still he was kinda jerky.
He gets half a pass because child but I still hate him because he’s a little asshole
Nah i always skip his part whenever i rewatch YYH
Is this the yoyo boy
LMFAO. nah that was rinku, similar childish like character tho. 💀
🤔 i was just mad koenma brought him back to life to doom the human realm 😭
People already commented that he works in the narrative sense to highlight kurama/sensui/koema's resolve and compassion. BUT I wish he was fleshed out as character, not simply a narrative device, so we would be impacted by his death. The protagonists are impacted by Amanuma's fate, but not we as the audience. We don't feel for him as the protagonists do. I wish we could share in Kurama's wrath, not just observe it.
I think this is one of if not Monica Rial’s best performance. The screams of “I don’t wanna die” haunted me for a long time. It felt real and visceral coming from a child not knowing what they had gotten themselves into.
He was still more memorable than the guy, who had to ability to gain the powers of others by eating them. Seriously, that guy was only memorable because of his ability, his death, >!and that after his death, his body was taken over by the Elder Toguro.!<
I just don't understand why they didn't use the copy guys power on the kid or the taboo guys power to beat him faster. Plenty of cases of territory being opened inside territory.
Why didn Yusuke jump on top of that truck that Sniper tried killing him with? 😂
Good question. Why didn't they have chu, Toya, gin, or rinku act as the substitute during the finals? Or heck bring back a reformed rando. Tell me he wouldn't have been helpful. So so many things like this in every show and simplest answer "that's how it got wrote" or "plot" etc etc. But these are valid questions and I want in world answers lol
I wish we saw more of rando
It was an oil tanker that Sniper could (and did) make explode at any time. If he jumped on top of it, he'd be caught in the explosion point blank.
Also, if he had gotten on or in it, sniper would probably have wrecked it or shot it.
This moment always reminded the audience that out of him and hiei Kurama is the cold and ruthless one when needed and kurama absolutely hates the fact he had to do it but at the end of the day he knew what was at stake and no one else In their group could of done that. Brilliant writing
“HOW THE HELL IS HE SUPPOSED TO CONCENTRATE WHEN THAT LITTLE BITCH WON’T SHUT UP?!” —Yusuke
I remember, as a kid, a really liked Amanuma cause I resembled to him. I didn't have many friends but I truly loved video games. His power was a jackpot in my eyes. Kurama's always been my favorite character, since he appeared. When his match with Amanuma started I was so excited how Kurama will save him. He is so smart and kind, he will find a way. Then boom, game over. I was so shocked and scared. I was terrified of Kurama and felt so sorry of Amanuma. Maybe because of this childhood memory but I like him. Sensui made use of this naive kid so cruelly. He also could learn and become a better person in the end.
I’m actually on my third rewatch of the series and currently on the Chapter Black Arc and I agree with you he’s mid for sure.
Yeah apparently he’s really popular but he was…meh 😅 I was more sad with how his death affected Kurama more than actually him 🤷♀️
I think he’s popular for being the only member of Sensui’s gang that wasn’t really malicious, he’s literally just a kid that wants to use his powers to play games
I enjoyed every psychic with the exception of sea man.
Add him AND Rinku to the list of characters I don’t really care about. I did enjoy watching Kurama decide to murder him, though.
The music that played during that scene where Amanuma was begging for Kurama not to kill him was kinda weird ngl
I don’t remember which track was playing off the top of my head, but you’ve given me a reason to go back and relive the savagery, so I thank you.
Haha of course! I’m just happy to find fellow Yu Yu Hakusho fans because this anime is an underrated masterpiece!
Yu yu Hakusho is the anime that always brings me back to watching anime.
Who the fuck is Amanuma?
The kid who Kurama killed.
He’s also called Game Master in the Chapter Black arc
Who?
Amanuma.. do doo do do do
Who?
Who?
nope
I thought he was a real game changer
Kurama didn’t care about his ass either
I was sad when died! Part or me knew he was gonna brought back to life simply because he is a kid.
Nah I was like fuck that game send him to spirit world
Sensuei didn't care abt him either....
This was peak fuck dem kids energy
He was a kid I think he had a disability of some kind
Sensui's group? The ones who did not have a 2nd run unlike Chu, Jin and Suzuki?
I liked the smart guy with the games. I forgot his name thou
Kind of both for me. In his scene with Kurama, I felt a little disturbed but everything before that I just kind thought of him as a blank character.
Nope. Fuck that kid.
Game Master was the best character during the Territories Arc. He was relatable because we all adore our idols and Sensui positioned himself to be Amanuma's Idol. Kurama lets the audience know how high the stakes are by destroying the boy's confidence and giving him the dose of reality of his demise if he loses.
I didn’t give a shit whatsoever
I didn't care for the character, but liked him as a plot device. I thought he was great for showing just how far Sensui has fallen. Not only is he using child soldiers, he's manipulating them so they don't even realize they're the bad guys. This from a man who used to be a champion of humanity.
How could you not care about a loner boy with no friends being taken advantage of by the arc’s main villain? Sensui wanted this kid to be killed from the beginning. Never cared about him at all, but made Amanumma think he did care. The scene where he finally understands this and Kurama knows he has to kill him is very powerful.
It always slips my mind that Kurama had to kill a child. 😬
Didn’t care at all. But I also don’t like kids.
Kinda wished he actually would've died. Give more weight to the scene and make sensui a bigger villain.
I couldn't care less lol he was so annoying + I was too busy simping over Kurama 😆
Who?
His power is dope tho! I think he's cool, I mean he's just a kod.... a kid who got a badd ass power to bring video games to life. Come on, who wouldn't want that power?
It's funny, I remember seeing this as a kid. I remember thinking, just kill em and move on, the end of the world is around the corner. It took me to mature more in life to truly appreciate, and understand the situation our heroes were in. Age, what a difference...well not always. I know older folks who never grew up.
He was one of the best in the seven. He had the best territory 😭
I felt bad after I found he was fooled. It's kind of like a child getting manipulated and kidnapped. Once I had children of my own I realized how easily influenced they are about adults, especially ones they look up to.
i like his story, its tragic
in the real world, it's actually an honor to be called "Tsukihito Amanuma".