Yu Yu Hakusho

**Yu Yu Hakusho** is an action, adventure, romance, comedy, romantic comedy, drama, contemporary fantasy, coming of age, shonen

   battle anime series.  It was based on a manga series which was written by Yoshihiro Togashi and published by Shueisha for the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump.  It originally ran from December 3, 1990 to July 25, 1994, and lasted for 19 volumes in total.  After that came the anime adaptation.  It was directed by Noriyuki Abe, written by Yukiyoshi Ōhashi, musically composed by Yusuke Honma, and produced by Ken Hagino, Kenji Shimizu, Koji Kaneda, Kyotaro Kimura, and Studio Pierrot.  It originally aired from October 10, 1992 to December 17, 1994, and lasted for 112 episodes in total.  After that the series got an OVA, titled Eizou Hakusho, which was directed by Noriyuki Abe, written by Yukiyoshi Ōhashi, musically composed by Yusuke Honma, and produced by Studio Pierrot.  It originally aired from September 21, 1994 to February 7, 1996 and lasted for 6 episodes in total.  It also has two anime films, the first one titled Yu Yu Hakusho:  The Movie from 1993 and Yu Yu Hakusho the Movie: Poltergeist Report from 1994.

## Plot

*Yu Yu Hakusho* follows Yusuke Urameshi, a 14-year-old street-brawling delinquent who, in an uncharacteristic act of altruism, is hit by a car and killed in an attempt to save a young boy by pushing him out of the way.[3][4][5] His ghost is greeted by Botan, a woman who introduces herself as the pilot of the River Styx, who ferries souls to the "Underworld" or Spirit World (霊界 *Reikai*) where they may be judged for the afterlife. Botan informs Yusuke that his act had caught even the Underworld by surprise and that there was not yet a place made for him in either heaven or hell. Thus Koenma, son of the Underworld's ruler King Enma, offers Yusuke a chance to return to his body through a series of tests.[3][4][5] Yusuke succeeds with the help of his friends Keiko Yukimura and Kazuma Kuwabara. After returning to life, Koenma grants Yusuke the title of "Underworld Detective" (霊界探偵 *Reikai Tantei*, lit. "Spirit World Detective"), charging him with investigating supernatural activity within the Human World (人間界 *Ningen Kai*). Soon Yusuke is off on his first case, retrieving three treasures stolen from the Underworld by a gang of demons: Hiei, Kurama and Goki.[4] Yusuke collects the three treasures with the aid of his new technique, the "Rei Gun", a shot of aura or Reiki (霊気 *Reiki*, "Spirit Energy") fired mentally from his index finger.[3][5] He then travels to the mountains in search of the aged, female martial arts master Genkai. Together with his rival Kuwabara, Yusuke fights through a tournament organized by Genkai to find her successor. Yusuke uses the competition as a cover to search for Rando, a demon who steals the techniques of martial arts masters and kills them.[4] Yusuke defeats Rando in the final round of the tournament and trains with Genkai for several months, gaining more mastery over his aura.[3] Yusuke is then sent to Maze Castle in the Demon Plane (魔界 *Makai*, lit. "Demon World"), a third world occupied solely by demons, where Kuwabara and the newly reformed Kurama and Hiei assist him in defeating the Four Beasts, a quartet of demons attempting to blackmail Koenma into removing the barrier keeping them out of the human world.

Yusuke's next case sends him on a rescue mission, where he meets Toguro, a human turned into a demon. In order to test his strength, Toguro invites Yusuke to the Dark Tournament (暗黒武術会 *Ankoku Bujutsukai*, "Dark Martial Arts Association"), an event put on by corrupt, rich humans in which teams of demons, and occasionally humans, fight fierce battles for the chance to receive any wish they desire. Team Urameshi, consisting of Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, Hiei and a disguised Genkai, traverse through the strenuous early rounds to face Team Toguro in the finals and win the tournament. They learn that Team Toguro's owner, Sakyo, was attempting to win in order to create a large hole from the human world to the Demon Plane and allow countless demons through.[3] With his loss, Sakyo destroys the tournament arena, killing himself in the process.

After the tournament, Yusuke returns home, but has little time to rest as he is challenged to a fight by three teenagers possessing superhuman powers and who end up taking the detective hostage. Kuwabara and the others rescue him and learn that the whole scenario was a test put on by Genkai. It is disclosed that Shinobu Sensui, Yusuke's predecessor as Underworld Detective, has recruited six other powerful beings to help him take over where Sakyo left off, opening a hole to the Demon Plane in order to cause genocide of the human race. Yusuke and his friends challenge and defeat Sensui's associates one-by-one, culminating in a final battle between the two detectives. Sensui kills Yusuke then retreats into the newly opened portal to the Demon Plane. Yusuke is reborn as a partial demon, discovering that his ancestor passed down a recessive gene that would hide until an heir with sufficient power surfaced, when his demonic lineage would be revealed.[3] Yusuke travels to the Demon Plane and defeats Sensui with the aid of the spirit of his ancestor who takes control of Yusuke's body to finish the fight.

As they return to the human world, Yusuke is stripped of his detective title as King Enma orders he be captured and executed in fear that Yusuke's demon blood could cause him to go on a rampage in the human world. Yusuke, unsettled at having been controlled by his ancestor Raizen, accepts an offer by Raizen's followers to return to the Demon Plane. Raizen, desiring a successor to his territory, is on the brink of dying of starvation, a death that would topple the delicate political balance of the three ruling powers of the Demon Plane. Hiei and Kurama are summoned by the other two rulers, Mukuro and Yomi, respectively, to prepare for an inevitable war.[3] The three protagonists train in the realm for one year, during which time Raizen dies and Yusuke inherits his territory. Yusuke takes initiative and proposes a fighting tournament to name the true ruler of the Demon Plane, which is agreed upon by Mukuro and Yomi. During the tournament, Yusuke and Yomi meet in the second elimination round where Yusuke is defeated and knocked unconscious. Yusuke awakens days later to find that the tournament has ended and that a similar competition is to be held every so often to determine the Demon Plane's ruler. Yusuke stays in the Demon Plane for a while longer, but eventually returns to the human world after several years to be with Keiko.[3]

## Movies

1. Yu Yu Hakusho:  The Movie
2. Yu Yu Hakusho:  The Movie - Poltergeist Report

## Why It Rocks

1. Amazing fight animation, especially for its time.
2. Outstanding cast of characters.  Not as good as Togashi's later work, Yu Yu Hakusho, but the characters, both protagonists and antagonists, are interesting and complex.  The protagonists can also be generally entertaining.
3. Great voice acting in both sub and dub.
4. Unlike most anime similar to this, there's absolutely no filler throughout the show.  In addition, it's very short by compariosn to shows like Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Dragonball Z, and even InuYasha, only 112 episodes.
5. Surprisingly great comedy.
6. Yusuke Urameshi's character arc is known for being one of the best and most engaing.  coming of age stories in all of anime.
7. Shockingly great romance between Yusuke Urameshi and Keiko Yukimura.
8. The villains in this anime are some of the most well known, interesting, and surprisingly complex, in all of contemporary Shonen Jump anime and manga.
9. Excellent fight scenes.
10. All of the main cast have great dynamics together.  Their interactions are all engaging, weather they're shooting the shit, arguing, or whatever.

## Reception

The *Yu Yu Hakusho* television series was voted the best anime of the year in the 1994 and 1995 *Animage* Anime Grand Prix and the second best in 1993 after *Sailor Moon*.[132][133][134] Additionally, the publication declared the series number 53 on its top 100 anime listing in 2001.[135] In a 2006 web poll conducted in Japan by the network TV Asahi, *Yu Yu Hakusho* was voted as the 15th best anime of all time.[136] The Japanese magazine *Brutus* voted it the sixth best anime of all time.[100] The hit show garnered a large number of viewers during its run in Japan. Funimation president Gen Fukunaga remarked that *Yu Yu Hakusho* "came 'out of nowhere' to surprise people with huge ratings", which were just below those achieved by the popular series *Dragon Ball Z*.[137] *Yu Yu Hakusho* was frequently watched by several age groups during its early run in North America. When it aired on Adult Swim, the anime, along with others such as *Inuyasha* and *Cowboy Bebop*, met with male audiences ages 18–34.[138] During its Toonami debut in May 2003, *Yu Yu Hakusho* placed in seven out of the top 111 Nielsen ratings for Cartoon Network telecasts, with the highest being number 30 on May 13 at a two percent share of all viewing televisions in the country.[139] Atari stated in December 2003 that the anime was one of the top-rated television programs in North America for males ages 9–14.[100] Nielsen additionally reported that *Yu Yu Hakusho* tied with *Dragon Ball GT* as the top-rated Cartoon Network program for the same demographic during the week of September 28, 2004. It was the second highest-rated show among ages 12–17 the same week.[140] Cartoon Network dropped the show from Toonami in March 2005 due to declining ratings.[44] *Yu Yu Hakusho* proved to be popular in the Philippines, where it was rerun several times and managed to draw more viewers in the prime time slot than both local and foreign soap operas.[54][70][141]

The animated series received a generally positive reception in North America. In January 2004, *Yu Yu Hakusho* was named the second best action-adventure anime by *Anime Insider*.[142] It was voted by the users of IGN as the tenth best animated series of all time.[143] Critical reviews focused on the series' attempt at a versatile balance of narrative, character development, and action sequences. *Animerica's* Justin Kovalsky defined *Yu Yu Hakusho* as a character-driven series and compared it to other anime like *Phantom Quest Corp.*, *Rurouni Kenshin*, and *Flame of Recca* in that it successfully combines different ideas such as martial arts battles, character dynamics, the supernatural, and mythology.[5]Allen Divers of the Anime News Network identified *Yu Yu Hakusho* as "one of the best action series out there", and noted consistently good storytelling and character development throughout his critique of key points of the series.[144][145][146][147] Todd Douglass Jr. of DVD Talk declared, "It's a fun show with a great cast, a sense of humor, and a lot of action so there's no excuse not to at least give it a chance." He recommended the first three-season box sets of *Yu Yu Hakusho*, as well as the original boxset of the Three Kings Saga, but enjoyed the show's third season more than the others because of its multiple plotlines.[148][149][150][151] N. S. Davidson of IGN concluded that having several concurrent plot branches is not enough for an anime to succeed, but that good writing, interesting characters, and action are also necessary. He proclaimed in his review of the anime's final episodes that *Yu Yu Hakusho* possesses all of these qualities.[152] This was concurred upon by Joseph Luster of *Otaku USA*, who summed up his feelings about the universe of *Yu Yu Hakusho* by stating, "Togashi's world is eternally hellish and dark, but wildly varied. The only thing that doesn't change throughout its run is the fact that you'll still be rooting for the well-defined protagonists until the credits run on the last episode."[153]

Jeffrey Harris of IGN was more critical when looking at later episodes, and felt that the end of the show's third arc involving the villain Sensui is too similar to the finale of the second arc with Toguro. He described the episodes as trying too hard to draw sympathy from the audience for anime's villains.[154] Despite his overall praise of *Yu Yu Hakusho*, Divers noted in a review about one DVD release that the show "[walks] that fine line of a solid long running series or being a broken record".[147] He also called the artwork of the first few episodes "dated" and pointed out questionable script choices regarding the English dub.[144]