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YuYu Hakusho

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|} YuYu Hakusho (幽★遊★白書 YūYū Hakusho, literally Spirits Wander White Book, meaning "Ghost Files" / "Poltergeist Report") is a manga and anime series by Yoshihiro Togashi.

The anime, produced by Studio Pierrot consists of 112 TV episodes and two movies, "The Golden Seal" (') and "Bonds of Fire" (').

In Japan, the series ran in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump. In North America, the manga currently runs in Viz's Shonen Jump.

The name of the series is spelled Yu Yu Hakusho in FUNimation's distribution of the anime, while the series' name is spelled YuYu Hakusho in the Viz manga. It originally started airing in February 2002 on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block. Around March 2003, the show moved to Cartoon Network's Toonami block due to higher ratings with the kids. Then Yu Yu Hakusho was taken off Toonami around March 2005 and moved to a early Saturday morning timeslot at 5:30 A.M. where the series finished it's run.

A series of Yu Yu Hakusho Original Animated Videos were released only in Japan:

In the Philippines, the anime and both movies were initially shown on IBC 13, then on GMA 7, all under the name Ghostfighter, with the names of the main characters changed.

It has also been broadcast across Japan, Southeast Asia and the Indian Subcontinent by the anime television network Animax.

Background

YuYu Hakusho logo (English manga)
Enlarge
YuYu Hakusho logo (English manga)

In the beginning of the manga, Yusuke Urameshi is nothing more than a street-brawling delinquent who only goes to school about once every ten days. His teachers hate him and he has few friends. Yusuke's mother Atsuko is an alcoholic. She had him at the age of 14 and shows little interest in raising her son. He has a reserved seat in the guidance counseler's office. Since every single punk in the city is trying to take him on, Yusuke is pretty fed up with life.

Right to Left: Yusuke, Kurama, Hiei, and  Kuwabara
Enlarge
Right to Left: Yusuke, Kurama, Hiei, and Kuwabara

However, no one could foresee his most famous deed: he dies trying to save a little boy from a speeding car. When he arrives in the afterlife, the people in the afterlife inform him that since no one was expecting him to die in that way, they are not prepared for his arrival.

In the manga (volumes 1 and 2), between the time Yusuke is run over and the when he manages to return to his body he has several adventures, (mostly helping people in need) that are omitted from the TV series.

Eventually, Yusuke gets his life back and discovers a new power, he can see beings from the spirit world (yōkai). This is when the series really kicks off. He is enlisted as a spirit realm detective (霊界探偵 Reikai Tantei), to help control the actions of spirits in the real world. His first assignment is to round up three demon prisoners (Goki - spelled "Goki" in the English manga and "Gouki" in the English anime-, Kurama, and Hiei) who escaped and stole three terribly powerful artifacts. Later Hiei and Kurama become allies.

His second is to participate in a contest to choose the next disciple of an aged fighter (Psychic in the English Dub) named Genkai, and to defeat a demon, Rando, who is posing as a contestant so he can win Genkai's powers. Yusuke's next assignment is to kill the four Saint Beasts, Genbu, Byakko, Seiryu, and Suzaku. In that mission, he is assisted by Kazuma Kuwabara, Kurama (Shuichi Minamino) and Hiei.

The next mission involves the Kōrime, Yukina, who has been kidnapped by the evil Gonzo Tarukane (Tarukane Gonzō). Yusuke and Kuwabara have to fight the Toguro brothers, who fake their deaths. After Toguro threatens to hunt their loved ones down Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei have no choice but to join the Dark Tournament.

Thus a new season, The Dark Tournament, begins. Here they encounter the Jolly Devil Six a.k.a. Team Rokuyukai (Rinku, Chu (Chū), Roto, Zeru, Ichikia, and Gouta), Team Ichigaki (Dr. Ichigaki, M1, M2, M3 (see below) ), Team Mashotsukai a.k.a. Shadow Channelers a.k.a. Team Masho (Gama, Touya, Bakken, Jin, The Master of Wind; and Risho), and Team Uratogi a.k.a. Fractured Fairy Tales (Kuromomotaro/Black Peach Boy, Uraurashima, Shishiwakamaru, Suzuki, and Makintaro/Evil Kintaro). Genkai is killed by the younger Toguro and Yusuke gains all of Genkai's power. In the finals Sakyou makes a bet and risks his life on Yusuke versus Toguro fight. He loses the bet and sets the stadium to blow up within ten minutes. The team and their loved ones barely make it out alive. Yusuke's wish for winning the Dark Tournament was to bring Genkai back to life.

Next is the Chapter Black Saga, which is the story of Sensui and his humans with Yokai powers. Kuwabara, and Yusuke must fight through the five human psychics who are helping Sensui open the portal to the Makai Realm. The seven members on Sensui's team are (in the order they appear): Dark Angel (Shinobu Sensui), Sniper (Kaname Hagiri), Doctor (Minoru Kamiya), Gate Keeper (Itsuki), Seaman (Kiyoshi Mitarai), Game Master (Tsukihito Amanuma), and Gourmet (Sadao Makihara). Yusuke later confronts Sensui head on in the fight of the spirit detectives to stop Sensui's plans of breaking the barrier and unleashing havoc upon the Human World. Yusuke learns there is no other way to beat Sensui, and charges head on at the fallen spirit detective planning to get killed to bring out the limits of his friends, who get out of Itsuki's shadow creature just in time to see Yusuke smile at them as Sensui punches a hole through his heart. Enma (King Yama) tells Botan how Yusuke is distantly related to a powerful demon called the Mazoku, and has sent his spirit guards to make sure Yusuke can never revive. But at that exact moment, Yusuke starts to glow, and out comes an unusually long haired Yusuke (a hanyou, or half-demon). Yusuke and Koenma travel to Makai to help his friends. But at that same moment Yusuke is taken over by his "Father" Raizen, the war god of Makai. Raizen tells Yusuke that he is too weak, and shows him his own potential. The possessed Yusuke fires a barrage of attacks on Sensui and ends off with a spirit gun. Yusuke regains his consciousness right before he fires his spirit gun and yell, "Sensui, dodge it!", but Sensui gets hit anyway. When Yusuke finds Sensui, Sensui tells him that this was his dream. Sensui says, "After all the demons I killed, I wanted to travel and die in Makai, after seeing how horrible humans are to Yokai." Yusuke starts yelling at Sensui to live so they can continue their fight, but Sensui dies because of his wounds as well as a pre-existing terminal illness. Yusuke has a choice to either stay in Makai or go back to Human World. He decides to go back.

The series ends off with the Demon World Tournament. Yusuke begins to question his existence. There are no more difficult challenges for him to face and he is now regarded as too dangerous to stay in the Human World by King Enma. Genkai advises him to go talk to the first spirit detective. He gets a little insight before three demons arrive and try to persuade Yusuke to go back to Makai. Yusuke accepts, wanting to learn more about Raizen and face off with stronger demons. There is a war going on in Makai between the three strongest demons: Raizen, Mukuro, and Yomi. The war was started when there was a dispute over eating habits. Raizen felt that it was wrong to eat humans, and that all demons should stop doing it. Mukuro and Yomi disagreed, which led to a standstill for over many centuries. Raizen is about to die from starving himself, and they need Yusuke to help lead the territory. Yusuke trains his hardest to try to beat his ancestor. The story then turns to Hiei and his history. Hiei was abandoned by the Koorime and had to fend for himself in the harsh Makai world. He grew to be ruthless. Hiei received his Jagan eye because he lost the jewel his mother had given him and he wanted to find where the ice world was. When Hiei goes to the ice world, he finds out he has a sister and goes off searching for her. Hiei is summoned to Makai by Mukuro. Then it switches off to Kurama, and we learn of his past life as the great theif Yoko Kurama as he is summoned by his former co-commander, Yomi. Kurama sent an assassin after Yomi because he was a huge risk to his group, but the assassin was only able to blind Yomi.

After one year, Raizen dies and Yusuke goes to Yomi to suggest holding a tournament to see who would rule all of Makai. Yomi agrees, along with Mukuro. Yusuke, Hiei, and Kurama all participate and each one deal with their conflicts. They all lose in the end, and Enki becomes the champion. He declares that all demons shall not harm or cause problems in Human World and that there will be regular demon tournaments to see who becomes the ruler, sort of like general elections. Yusuke goes back to human world in the last episode. Hiei decides to stay in Makai. It's been a couple of months and everyone is going to Genkai to discuss about the opening to Makai. Genkai wants to set up a neutral place for demons to live. Yusuke still has not returned. They decided to go to the beach. The sun is going down when Keiko shouts that she will no longer wait for Yusuke. Yusuke appears and Keiko runs toward him, leaping on top of him. They kiss and a wave washes them away. The series ends with a water fight between the friends, and a very memorable message: Forever Fornever. This message has been argued to be a typo and has created discussion amongst the fan base.

Characters

Main article: YuYu Hakusho characters Names are in Western order, with the surname after the given name. The English anime name is to the right of the Japanese name if it applies.

Story Arcs

Terms

Reikai Tantei (literally Spirit Realm Detective) / Spirit Detective - "Spirit Detective" is the name given to those who defend the human world (Ningenkai) from interference from demons, beasts, and apparitions known as yōkai hailing from the Demon World (Makai). Reikai Tantei are usually picked by Koenma, the prince of Spirit World (Reikai), the realm of the dead or disembodied.

Classes

In YuYu Hakusho, the ranking of demons and apparitions is done by grade letters. E-class is the weakest class of demons, only slightly stronger than ordinary humans. Meanwhile, S, which indicates "Super A-class", is the strongest demon classification. Each class also has sub-divisions of upper special (or ++), upper (or +), middle, and lower (or -). For example, A has four subclasses: A-, A, A+ and A++. While the classes are intended for ranking demons, they are also used to classify powerful humans. A* indicates that the particular character is at the highest level of that rank. In the Three Kings Saga, it seems that many demons surpass the Upper S Class rankings, so Yu Yu Hakusho adopts a numerical system. 80,000 on this system is equivalent to a Middle B class, 120,000 to a middle A class, and 200,000 to a Middle S class. However, the Device used to record the energy levels aforementioned breaks before the Makai Tournament, so the few figures are just inferred when comparing the class and the energy readings.

Theme songs

  • Group/Duet Songs
  • *"Mienai Mirai" - Kurama, Yusuke, Hiei, Kuwabara, Yukina, Keiko, Botan, and Koenma
  • *"Wild Wind" (Yasei no Kaze no Youni) - Hiei and Kurama
  • *"Yasashisa Wa Nemuranai" - Kurama, Yusuke, Hiei, and Kuwabara
  • *"Moonlight Party" - Botan and Koenma
  • *"EYE TO EYE" - Kurama, Hiei, and Kuwabara
  • *"Rocket Hanabi no LOVE SONG" - Kuwabara & Yukina
  • *"Omoide o Tsubasa ni Shite" - Yusuke & Keiko
  • *"Love Song o Anata ni" - Koto, Juri, Ruka
  • *"HOLD OUT!" - Botan, Keiko, Yukina
  • *"Hikari no Naka de" - Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, Hiei
  • *"Eien no Requiem" - Sensui & Itsuki
  • *"Dark Side Stories" - Yoko Kurama & Hiei
  • *"Boku-tachi no Kisetsu" - Yusuke, Kurama, Kuwabara, Hiei
  • Trivia

    External links

     


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