Yuu☆Yuu☆Hakusho

NOTE: I apologize ahead of time for a rather lengthy and what’ll seem dragged on review, this is a show that holds a special place in my heart -gets teary- So I wouldn't feel right leaving anything that I feel is important out of this review. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Introduction: “Don’t judge a book by the cover.” This is the first thing that comes to my mind when I think about the show that is Yu Yu Hakusho, given it’s not actually a book but an anime adaptation of a manga, baka, of course I know this much. It appearsto be another one of those scream-as-loud-as-you-can-to-power-up-and-protect-your-friends, kind of show, which seemed to be riddled throughout the anime industry in the early and late 90s. Sure the show has it’s cliché moments but I would argue they are ingeniously portrayed in an enjoyable manner that is for the most part unpredictable and interesting. The mangaka of Yu Yu Hakusho is Yoshihiro Togashi who you might know as the creator of the hit series Hunter x Hunter (Fun fact: Togashi is married to Naoko Takeuchi, the author of Sailor Moon.) - Togashi is exceptional at creating characters with depth, and putting these characters in various psychological struggles both internally and externally to strengthen their growth and development. This is what makes Yu Yu Hakusho stand out so much, it’s characterization. Now, with the introduction out of the way let’s power up and start! “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH” Story. 9/10 The show tells the story of Yusuke Urameshi a 14 year-old delinquent that is always itching for a fight, he refuses to attend classes regularly and enjoys fighting fellow delinquents in his city, not the most charming guy, right? Well he’s our protagonist, and pseudo-spoiler-alert he dies in the first, wait for it… 25 seconds of the show. He amazingly enough jumps in front of a car to save a child who was chasing after a ball. No one could have guessed Yusuke, of all people would sacrifice his life for another. Hell, even the head honchos at Spirit World wouldn’t of imagined he would perform such a selfless act, thus his adventure begins with his death. Yusuke’s death was an unpredicted one and well he has no place to go. There’s no place for him in the afterlife, they at Spirit World, did not know he would die on that day by saving someone’s life at the cost of his own. Therefore, Koenma, the son of King Yama, decides to put Yusuke to a test, an ordeal to see if he deserves to come back to life. So with this Yusuke’s first unofficial mission begins, the mission of resurrecting himself, little does he know on completion of this mission he will become Spirit Detective of earth; and must now protect all of humanity from aberrations with the help of his assistant Botan, the blue haired grim reaper, Kuwabara, Yusuke’s classmate and arch rival, Kurama the intelligent former demon fox, and lastly Hiei the demon swordsman with a bitter attitude. Together they are earths ragtag team of defenders. The premise of this show is an interesting one, it grabs your attention with the very unique cases *jobs* Yusuke is given as a Spirit Detective. The story at times can be rather dark, and does a very good job at pointing out the underbelly of society and meshes it with the story in a way you wouldn't feel preachy, it’s very crafty with this. Overtime we see the story progresses from the simpler cases to more life threatening and consequential ones that affect things on a larger scale which brings the intensity up! Animation. 9/10 First off, the Yu Yu Hakusho anime adaption was done by Studio Pierrot, who is also responsible for the anime adaptations: Naruto, Bleach and GTO (Great Teacher Onizuka) So it’s blatantly obvious this studio is more than credible with their animation skills. Yu Yu Hakusho aired in 1992 (Fun fact: The user Cloud_Silvers as also born in 1992) and at the time the animation was very fitting and very well done as was the fluidity in the action sequences, given at times the colors can be a bit crude. I believe the show’s visual can hold up today pretty well seeing how it originally aired 22 years ago, I bet you feel old... As we progress with the story and things become gradually more serious we see the art style losing some of it’s softness and in turn becomes a lot more detailed and mature which can be interrupted as a tool to symbolize the story and characters growths over time. I tend not to be overly critical with animation especially anime from the 90s but for the time this was done it was done very well. The protagonists all have a unique enough styles that they’re very memorable and same goes with the antagonist, you won’t see an actual character in this show that doesn’t have a creative design, one that will burn into your brain, like a tattoo.(Fun fact: I have no tattoos.) Sounds. 9/10 Now the soundtrack. Oh boy, does this show have one, a good one at that. The show’s soundtrack is a very memorable one because it does an amazing job at setting the mood for the show. The pieces are very 90s and kick-ass the perfect mixture for a fighting shounen. You can really tell a lot of care was put in the soundtrack because you being to feel the emotions when a certain track comes on and makes the experience all the more enjoyable. Listening to the soundtrack you can feel a sense of urgency, emotions both sad and happy, you can feel the pain and anger all this is done with the genius music. Overall beautiful pieces composed by Yusuke Honma (Wow his name seems familiar, I swear I've seen it somewhere -whistles-) The soundtrack is beautiful, appropriate and is truly a labor of love. Characters. 10/10 Yu Yu Hakusho’s characters are very diverse and complex. Watching the show we get to experience this adventure with them as they grow, mature, learn new perspectives and change their outlooks on life itself. The best part of the characters is that they are so human and relatable. You gradually come to understand every character, and their ideals, mindsets and feelings. You get emotionally attached to each character and even the villains you come to sympathize with as you found out their backstories. I rarely watch a show where I literally shed tears for a villain's demise. These villains all have their various reasons and they may be wrong but they're just trying to achieve their own respected goals and the show does a good job at making this apparent. They are not villains for the sake of being villains. Enjoyment.10/10 Lastly the enjoyment factor… I love this show wholeheartedly, it’s one of my first anime I ever watched when I was younger. It was not until I was older and re-watched it could I truly appreciate this anime for what it was. A battle shounen with an amazing cast of characters, interesting storylines, and fantastic villains. This show is special to me not because of nostalgia reasons but because I’ve watched it over 6 times and still find myself not getting bored. There’s a lot to it, more than you would really think. I would say it’s arguably one of the most enjoyable long-shounens. Overall: 10/10 Yu Yu Hakusho does a superb job of creating these totally human characters both good and bad. We get to see them in a state we can understand and this makes it all the more enjoyable when seeing them mature or learning about their back-stories. Again, this show will at times make you sincerely feel sorry for the antagonists because of the complexity and human nature they put into them. Out of them all Yusuke our protagonist is the one who we see “grow up” the most, from a quick-to-throw-a-punch-cocky teenager to a dependable man who can both protect and cherish his friends and loved ones which is the opposite of how he started off. I fell in love with the characters and I truly cared for them, I cried with them and I smiled with them, I was on this adventure with them and for that I thank you Yu Yu Hakusho. This show is great for both young adults and more mature audiences.

I think most of the high reviews here are just based on nostalgia. I recently watched this anime and found it absolutely boring and unenjoyable. The characters are actually pretty decent. They dont receive that much development but they are fine. Yusuke in particular seems better then Luffy, Naruto and Ichigo. But thats the only good thing I can say. Most of this series consists of fights. Which would be great if it werent for every fight following the same formula. Good guys fight against overhyped superevil demon and get their ass handed to them. But they never kill them. Then you have 2 options. The goodguy does an all in attack where he uses his own life force (whatever the fuck this means, since nobody dies anyway) and instakills the bad guy. OR the character gets a random powerup via new technique or power of friendship and once again instakills the bad guy. The villains are non-threatening and the series is full of anime cliches. After a few fights you know whats gonna happen till the end, and since there is little plot its not worth watching 112 episodes for mediocre fight scenes. I truly think the first 10 episodes were the best. With the focus on the characters and the town.

Alright, I'll start off by saying that I'm no longer a big fan of fighting-based anime. However, I do still enjoy the ones which are well done, as well as some of the classics. That said, if you really don't like fighting anime of any sort, even if its one which has a decent or really good story, then don't bother reading this review, because I can already tell you that this anime is most likely not for you. Anyways, for those of you who do like a well constructed fighting/action anime, Yu Yu Hakusho is an outstanding show in this category, overall. Yes, it isa shounen, and yes, it does have a few of those typical shounen clichés. However, it also manages to come up with a lot of very unique and inventive ideas, and its dialogue, above average story, with much more depth to it than what you would expect from a shounen, and actual good sense of humor (when compared to most other action anime), make this title stand out from the crowd. I find the characters to be the real award winners here. They each have something unique and interesting about them. Upon first glance they may look like they each have those 1-dimensional cliché roles of an action series, but upon further viewing you will see that there is more than what meets the eye with Yu Yu Hakusho characters. I can guarantee that throughout the course of this show anyone watching it would at least find 1 character which they can truly appreciate. Also, this show doesn't just focus on the main character getting stronger and always being the big hero. There is some very interesting character development for many of the characters, and the way in which they interact with one another, as well the diversity and similarities that they show, make for a very balanced chemistry between this cast. The animation and artwork isn't top notch, even for its time, but its adequate and gets the job done. The action isn't amazing, but believe it or not, unlike most action/shounen anime this anime often tends to focus more on developing its story and characters, rather than producing lots of mindless action. And at that, even if it doesn't look all that great it is great to see actual strategy and emotion playing big parts in many of the fights, rather than simply just having a bunch of punches, kicks, throws, explosions, etc., taking up multiple episodes. Now, as for the music, its really all opinion. Some people won't find it to be anything special. I personally fell in love with the entire soundtrack of the series, and believe it or not, it has some of the best BGM that I have heard in any shounen anime. Its doesn't quite give you the same diversity and overall satisfaction that the soundtracks of Cowboy Bebop and a few other anime with great musical scores give you, but once again, its far above average when compared to most other shounen and action anime, or at least I feel that way about its music, personally. And then finally, there is the voice acting. Oh, and how wonderful it is. Well, if you're watching the sub then chances are the voices will stand out to you as adequate, yet nothing amazing, but as long as you're watching a decent and reliable fansub or the DVDs, you will love the dialogue, which is brilliant in its use of sarcasm/jokes and also in delivering many of the serious and plot-oriented lines. However, if you're an English speaker, even if you typically can't stand dubs, the English dub is the way that this series should be watched. The English voice acting is absolutely fantastic. The voices all fit their respective characters almost perfectly. Sure, the dialogue may not be 100% accurate in correspondence to the original lines from the sub with its added humor and sarcasm (which is well worth going a little off track from the original script for, though), but the messages that each character gets across with their lines are delivered solidly and would be interpreted and understood in the same way, whether you were watching the sub or the dub. So, overall, the dub is loyal to the original text despite the fact that it makes a few very noticeable changes and states some lines in different ways. Overall, Yu Yu Hakusho is a very fun and enjoyable series. This anime is not something that everybody is going to like, but most people should at least find something about it that keeps them interested. Its not a DBZ clone, and its not just a mindless excuse for intense action scenes. The show is fairly long, but its one of the few series that go over 100 episodes and still manage to stay fresh the whole way through. Therefore, I highly recommend this series. I personally find it to be one of the best series that anime has to offer, action or otherwise, and I know that many people would disagree with me (although, I'm really not a big anime buff), but I have watched my fair share of anime and I almost never give out 10's as scores since no series is perfect (and this anime is no exception), but when I feel that a series deserves it then I give it that score, and Yu Yu Hakusho is one of the few. If you haven't seen it yet then go out and give it a try. I can almost guarantee that you won't be sorry.

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