Jul 10, 2016
Yu Yu Hakusho is one of the most influential and important Shounen Manga of all time. Sadly, many younger viewers/readers now see this as the other series made by the same guy as Hunter X Hunter.
Yu Yu Hakusho has 47 million total volume sales and it is only 19 volumes long. That's a ratio of 2.47 million copies of each volume. That is one of the highest sales per volume of all time!
Now, lets move on to the actual review. I'll also do some anime comparisons and talk about the Viz release.
Story: Yu Yu Hakusho centers around a Jr. High delinquent named
...
Yuuske Urameshi. Eventually, after a series of trials, Yuuske ends up becoming a Spirit Detective. Essentially, he has to "solve cases" *cough* beat the crap out of demons *cough*. Early on the series does have an actual detective aspect to it but the series quickly develops into a battle manga, even boasting the best tournament arc of all time (in my opinion). It may sound generic now but Yu Yu Hakusho laid the groundwork for what would turn into stereotypes. The story is a means to the end for this series as the real beauty of Yu Yu is in its characters.
The Story is divided into 4 arcs. Sadly, the final arc is not good and extremely rushed.
Art: If you are familiar with Togashi's other work, Hunter X Hunter, then you know how wildly inconsistent his art can be. At times, his art is great and other times its unbelievably bad. It took a few chapters for Togashi to really start developing the art in this series but once he does it is actually quite good for a weekly Shounen anime. You can even see Shojo influences in his art. However, towards the end of the series the art just crashes. Really, Togashi just crashes as the end of the series is easily the weakest part.
Characters: The best part of the series hands down. The series has many side characters, great villains, and probably the best main cast out there. 2 out of 10 of my favorite characters of all time come from Yu Yu. You'll have characters take wildly different approaches to battles, which add to the the diversity of fights. One character will astound you with their intellect and another will make you laugh at how hardheaded they are.
Enjoyment: Overall, Yu Yu Hakusho is a must see Shounen. It laid the groundwork for many future works and it is simply fun. It'll make you laugh, it has emotion, and of course there are plenty of epic fights.
ANIME: Ok, so how does the manga compare to the anime? This is one of the rare cases where the anime is clearly better than the manga and I do mean that. If you haven't watched or read Yu Yu Hakusho, then just go watch the anime. The manga is like a rough draft and the anime is the real finished product in my book. The Manga and Anime are pretty much the same story until the very end. The Anime has one of the best dubs, great music, better art, much better fights, and it actually cuts out unnecessary parts from the manga while adding much better scenes. The anime is more serious, while the manga does have more comedy. At times this adds to the manga but it can be distracting during certain moments. Thankfully, the anime does its best to maintain the comedic nature of the series while keeping the serious moments serious.
Viz: Ok, so I like supporting the industry and I hope you do too. The manga has been licensed and fully released in English. Sadly, the translation may be one viz's weakest. I don't know if they were trying to censor certain curse words or trying to directly translate Japanese to English but the translation feels off at times. It's one of Viz's earlier translations, so it's kind of understandable. Still worth buying, most of the time the translation is fine just some goofs here and there (grammar mistakes as well), and Togashi's extras in between chapters and volumes are hilarious.
Overall: I gave this series an 8/10, with an inflated score coming from the sheer influence this series had on future shounen. You must consider that this is an early 90s series. At times, this series is frankly great but at others it sadly falls quite short of its heights. That being said, every Shounen fan must watch and/or read this series. It's an all time classic. Yu Yu Hakusho isn't just that other series made by the same guy as Hunter X Hunter; it's the series that paved the way for HxH, many other battle manga, and in many ways is still better than the newer stuff.
I hope this review helped!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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