Mar 22, 2024
YYH is a classic manga for many reasons, with well-written characters, an awesome creepy tone inspired by slasher films, and some truly epic fights that make you feel like the whole world is at stake, just like a good shounen should. The problems are also many. The beginning of this manga is all over the place, with it not even becoming a fighting manga until the 3rd volume, and that is tolerable but from there you run into plot-holes and just uncreative ways of presenting conflict up until half-way through the Dark Tournament arc, which in my opinion is the point where Togashi became the
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mangaka he is famous for being and the one who would go on to create HXH - he really comes into his own as a storyteller around this point. After the Dark Tournament Arc we are treated to Chapter Black, which has a very memorable and unhinged villain in Sensui, and also touches on some of the same themes that Togashi would rather go on to explore in the Chimera Ant arc of HXH, here exploring the question of humanity (is it good or bad, what makes someone a person, and what is the line between human and demon, what do we have in common and where are we different, something the HXH arc would explore using Chimera Ants and humans).
But it is important to note that this fairly short manga contains not one, not two, but three tournament arcs, the laziest trope a shounen can indulge in. And while the first third of the manga is pretty scattered, it is masterful compared to the mess that is the final few volumes. The Three Kings arc buildup creates a huge amount of story potential that Togashi squanders (for reasons that are not his fault and should be seen as an example of how publishers exploit their mangaka to the point of reducing the quality of the product). And after the Three Kings Arc, it becomes an unreadable mess for about one painful volume before Togashi finally put the series out of its misery. Do yourself a favor and watch the English dub of the anime instead as it fixes a lot (though not all) of these issues and adds a lot to the series in general.
I love this series and always have, and all of its strengths are very notable and memorable, in fact what makes it GOOD is so good that I can't bear to give it less than 7/10 despite my many criticisms, but overall the manga makes me a bit sad for all the lost potential it represents.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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