Yu Yu Hakusho

**Yu Yu Hakusho** (幽☆遊☆白書, *Yuu☆Yuu☆Hakusho*?, lit. *Poltergeist Report*) is an original Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi.

It was originally serialized in Japan by Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1990 to 1994. In North America, the manga was completely published by Viz's Shonen Jump from 2003 to 2010.

## Author

**Yoshihiro Togashi** (冨樫 義博, *Togashi Yoshihiro*?) is a Japanese mangaka and both the author and illustrator of Yu Yu Hakusho.

Togashi made a name for himself by creating Yu Yu Hakusho around November 1990, basing the series on his interests in the occult and horror films and an influence of Buddhist mythology.

Yoshihiro Togashi holding his two most famous works: Yu Yu Hakusho and Hunter x Hunter.
### Creating Yu Yu Hakusho

Togashi stated that he began working on Yu Yu Hakusho during a period of time around November 1990. Following the completed the serialization of his romantic comedy *Ten de Shōwaru Cupid* in Weekly Shonen Jump. Having felt somewhat intimidated by some of his more popular fellow authors during his previous manga's run, Togashi realized he would need to create a fighting manga to both gain popularity and write something he enjoyed.

When first producing Yu Yu Hakusho, Togashi did not have a clear idea of what he wanted to title the series. He used the tentative title "How to be a Ghost" while presenting rough drafts to his editors and later changed it to Yu Yu Hakusho.

As for the naming of the primary protagonists, Togashi contiguously developed the names by skimming through a dictionary and taking out kanji characters he found appealing. "Yusuke Urameshi" is a pun, "Kazuma Kuwabara" is a combination of two professional baseball players, and "Hiei" and "Kurama" are "just names that Togashi spontaneously came up with. When he introduced the latter two characters in Volume 3, the author had already established plans to make Kurama a main character but was not certain about Hiei.

The manga's shift from occult detective fiction to the martial arts genre after Yusuke's death and revival in the early chapters was also planned by Togashi from the beginning.

For his drawing materials, Togashi used drafting ink and Kabura pens throughout the creation of the series. While his style of artwork began with screentone, he gradually developed into minimalism. As the series progressed, he would draw figures and faces very detailed or "cartoony, sketchy and jumping with action" whenever he desired such effects.

### Health Issues & Concluding the Series

During the years he worked on Yu Yu Hakusho, Togashi would calculate the personal time he had based on a formula of four hours per page without scripting and five hours of sleep per night. He's admitted to stopping Yu Yu Hakusho out of selfishness to preserve his own health. The author had originally wanted to end the manga in December 1993, at the climax of the Chapter Black Saga.

Although there was not a large demand from the editorial staff, Togashi was under a great deal of personal stress at certain points of the series' run, particularly during its final six months of publication. He claimed that inconsistent sleep resulting from overwork was causing him health problems starting at the beginning of writing the Dark Tournament Saga.

Togashi was relieved at the conclusion of the manga despite editors asking him to reconsider. The author claims to not have been involved in the production of the Yu Yu Hakusho anime adaptation due to his own work schedule.

## Production

The Yu Yu Hakusho series was first serialized by Shueisha in the Japanese magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from December 3, 1990, to July 25, 1994. It consists of 175 chapters spanning 19 tankōbon volumes. The first volume was released in Japan on April 10, 1991, and the last one released on December 12, 1994.

An English translation of the series was serialized in North America by Viz Media in the American Shonen Jump magazine. It first debuted in its inaugural magazine in the January 2003 issue and ended in January 2010. Viz Media released all 19 collected volumes of the English manga between May 13, 2003, and March 2, 2010.

## Synopsis

*Main Article*: Story Arcs & Sagas
Yusuke Urameshi was a tough teen delinquent until one selfless act changed his life...by ending it. When he died saving a little kid from a speeding car, the afterlife didn't know what to do with him, so it gave him a second chance at life. Now, Yusuke is a ghost with a mission, performing good deeds at the beshest of Botan, the spirit guide of the dead, and Koenma, her pacifier-sucking boss from the "other side." But what strange things await him on the borderline between life and death?