Yu Yu Hakusho - Reviews

This old shounen still packs some punch (literally;)).

The good:
Battles are swift and exiting and they rarely take more that an episode to finish. And although you often can guess who is going to win a fight, the twists and turns and (un)expected revelations make it a thrilling ride.

Very cool and creative powers.

Likeable and developed characters. This is where the series shines: almost every character is likeable in his or her own way: the comic ones make you laugh, the badasses will impress you with their skills and the background of each of the character will make you feel closer to them. There are no simple badguys and good hero's here, everyone had their own reasons for fighting and near the end you will actually cheer for some of the 'badguys' as well. This may be a story about demons and people, but in this anime they are more alike that they would likely admit.

The bad:
The story is pretty predictable, takes a coupe of episodes to get going and it never goes there where other shonen did not go before (or after). I also would have liked it if the challanges that our heroes face would have been a bit more diverse. More than 90% percent of all the fights in Yu Yu hakusho are one-on-one fights, where its successor Hunter x hunter had group fights, hunting games, mental challenges and a lot more different things.

This is a pretty old anime, so the designs are quite simple and dated. It wont wow you in this department. The animation itself is alright, though, and there are still some cool fights to be seen.

All in all this is quite a good series, so if you like shounen and fighting this will be right in your alley.

Yu ☆ ​​Yu ☆ Hakusho,

I still remember when I watched the anime back in 2010 or 2011 and it was one of my first long-term non-TV anime. At that time I really liked him, among other things because I had only minimal experience in the mainstream area and this series seemed somewhat individual to me.

And even today, after watching the show again, I have to admit that the show has retained its individual traits. YYH will definitely be remembered. Unfortunately, I remembered the series a lot better than it actually was, and I expected that.

I really have to admit that the author "Yoshihiro Togashi" who also created Hunter x Hunter, had improved significantly with his newer works. YYH was definitely a good start for him, he couldn't reach his true potential as an author back then. If he ever started this manga again, he could make a lot more out of it.

The plot of Yu-Yu-Hakusho has been blessed with a very interesting approach, that the 4 protagonists are practically only criminal daredevils who have to face their personality in the course of the plot and also develop. The actual sequence of events is as typical for Shounen as you can imagine, including the Tournament Arc DLC which you cannot forget, without this Arc, it cannot be a real Battle Shounen. One villain appears after the next and is eventually defeated after a few power-ups. A LOT of time is invested in building the respective arcs, which progresses extremely slowly and makes the episodes seem like an eternity. If it hadn't been for the characters, there's hardly anything left to say. Until the final arc, everything was far too linear without any real tension build-up. Although I already knew the plot, I could see how much time was wasted on the respective scenes. This anime could easily have been 10+ episodes shorter if just removing repetitive motions and drawn-out scenes. This would also give several scenes more dynamism and weight.

However, I have to praise the various fighting shounen elements here, as they were quite individual and interesting. As I said, it's not even close to the level of Hunter x Hunter. But here, too, at least some explanation and strategy were used, more than in the typical standard. It also made the fights a little more refreshing.

The animations were fluctuating. Now and then one had a background that was satisfactory for the time, and dynamic explosions and movements. On the other hand, some scenes were simply copy-paste so you can see how far the character is jumping - known Captain Tsubasa problem. For the time, the animations were still above average, no doubt about it.

The intros had a style that was common at the time, which I still have no respect for. It may have been popular in the past, musically and visually the intros and outros have no appeal and are almost daunting.
The series had several Osts that are average but go well with the style. Especially "Tatakai no Hate" which at least made the biggest impression.

The strongest point of the series is of course the characters, at least with the protagonists. All 4 have their own goals, problems, and developments. I don't agree with how flat and meaningless the character development was, but it was there. In the series, she was handled almost as if she had hardly any weight. The protagonist is the only one with whom you could feel it to some extent, as is his perspective.
The remaining 3 protagonists were interesting and developed as I said, but it was probably because of the implementation at the time that it was not convincing.
Most of today's series have mostly fewer character approaches, but they try to balance it out with "expression", which can make even a minimal development look like something big. Here it was handled on the contrary.
Most of the supporting characters were nothing special, as were the female protagonists. You just never want to bother with the female lead roles, nobody really seems to want that. And because of that something like that happens, I don't know a single one of their names, you forget them just like the shopping list.
The antagonists weren't interesting, at least once you've seen the series once. You will understand that they do have approaches and goals. Unfortunately, these are still too special and you can only see their personality shortly before the end. Before that, they do the usual 0815 I am evil characters move. But they are still more noteworthy than average.


In general, YYH is a catchy title. I will remember some scenes even after years. But the series had less actual content. Not the characters didn't have enough personality, as the series had too much focus on hot air and fighting than building relationships.

If YYH ever got a new adaptation, this series would shine again. The old adaptation, on the other hand, is too drawn and much too sluggish. When you almost have to force your way through 100 episodes until something relevant happens to the characters or the plot in every 10 episodes.

Kurama is love, Kurama is life.

The story is delivered with a typical and welcome and Shonen flair and while the story itself can feel a little dated in today's context it's still an anime worth watching! A good dose of action, magic and tournament arcs for everyone's needs!!!,

Story

The story is quite contrived, written to ensure there are plenty of fights.

 

Animation

Outdated, but still good

 

Sound

The voices match the characters well. The music is cheesy, but then so is everything else so it cant really be faulted for that

 

Characters

The characters are all very enjoyable. Everyone is fighting for their own reason, even the antagonists which makes every character more enjoyable

 

Overall

Good fun, cheesy but definitely worth a watch

If you want to see some oldschool epic action anime this is for you. This anime have many emotions and it can teach you many things about life. That's why i love this anime. Of course everything has minuses so and this anime.There were some parts and facts i didn't like it but judging when this anime was made i just could say they made an amazing job.In my opinion the strongest part of this anime was characters and their different feelings.Every character was made different from inside and from outside.The story is was little bit floppy but i was kind a satisfied. About animation and sound i can't say nothing because it was made in 1990 and i don't want to compare to these days quality of animation and audio.I think they made really happy ending :) in my opinion they could have ended at 111 ep. but oh well. Overall if you are oldschool anime fan you should watch this.