| YuYu Hakusho | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||
| Japanese name | |||||
| Kanji | 幽☆遊☆白書 | ||||
| |||||
| Based on | YuYu Hakusho byYoshihiro Togashi | ||||
| Written by | Yukiyoki Ohashi [ja] | ||||
| Directed by | Noriyuki Abe | ||||
| Music by | Yusuke Honma [ja] | ||||
| Country of origin | Japan | ||||
| Original language | Japanese | ||||
| No. of seasons | 4[a] | ||||
| No. of episodes | 112(list of episodes) | ||||
| Production | |||||
| Executive producer | Yuji Nunokawa (Studio Pierrot) | ||||
| Producers |
| ||||
| Production companies | |||||
| Original release | |||||
| Network | FNS (Fuji TV) | ||||
| Release | October 10, 1992 (1992-10-10) – January 7, 1995 (1995-01-07) | ||||
| Related | |||||
| Original video animation | |||||
| Yu Yu Hakusho: Eizou Hakusho | |||||
| Directed by | Noriyuki Abe | ||||
| Music by | Yusuke Honma | ||||
| Studio | Studio Pierrot | ||||
| Released | September 21, 1994 – February 7, 1996 | ||||
| Runtime | 25 minutes | ||||
| Episodes | 6 | ||||
| Original video animation | |||||
| Yu Yu Hakusho: Two Shot& All or Nothing | |||||
| Directed by | Noriyuki Abe | ||||
| Studio | Studio Pierrot | ||||
| Released | October 26, 2018 | ||||
| Runtime | 15 minutes | ||||
| Episodes | 2 | ||||
YuYu Hakusho (Japanese:幽☆遊☆白書,Hepburn:Yū Yū Hakusho), also known asYu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files, is a Japaneseanime television series based onYoshihiro Togashi's manga seriesof the same name and produced byStudio Pierrot. Covering the entire storyline of the manga, the series follows the adventures ofYusuke Urameshi who after dying in a car accident and after encountering Botan is now tasked to complete tasks from the Spiritual World in order to return to his world as well as fighting supernatural threats.
The series aired onFuji Television and its affiliates from October 1992 to January 1995 resulting in two movies, an OVA compilation series, video games, toys and other merchandise.
A sequel OVA, covering the last two chapters of the manga and made in commemoration of the anime series' 25th anniversary, titled bothTwo Shots andAll or Nothing respectively were released on October 26, 2018.
| Character | Japanese voice actor | English voice actor (Funimation) | English voice actor (Animax) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yusuke Urameshi | Nozomu Sasaki | Justin Cook | Darren Pleavin |
| Kazuma Kuwabara | Shigeru Chiba | Christopher Sabat | Russell Wait |
| Kurama | Megumi Ogata | John Burgmeier | Candice Moore |
| Hiei | Nobuyuki Hiyama | Chuck Huber | Dave Bridges |
| Koenma | Mayumi Tanaka | Sean Michael Teague | Candice Moore |
| Genkai | Hisako Kyoda Megumi Hayashibara (young) | Linda Young | |
| Botan | Sanae Miyuki | Cynthia Cranz | Sarah Hauser |
| Keiko Yukimura[b] | Yuri Amano | Laura Bailey | Andrea Kwan |
| Narrator | Tomomichi Nishimura | Kent Williams | Rik Thomas |
The series was directed byNoriyuki Abe and produced byFuji Television,Yomiko Advertising [ja] andStudio Pierrot.[2] The series, consisting of 112 episodes, aired from October 10, 1992, to January 7, 1995, on Fuji TV and its affiliates.[3] The episodes were released on 23 video cassettes byPony Canyon from January 1, 1995, to December 6, 1995. They were also released on 28 DVD volumes by Beam Entertainment, with volumes 8–14 released on March 25, 2002, volumes 15–21 released on April 25, 2002, and volumes 22–28 released on May 25, 2002.[4] The anime differed from its manga source material by containing different levels of violence and profanity, as well as minor variations in art style from one to the other.[5] When animating the manga series, Abe took notes from Togashi's illustrations and noted that Yusuke and Kuwabara have opposite school uniforms despite being from the same school which he found weird. He asked the editorial for the manga and they found it suitable. The visual helped to make Yusuke and Kuwabara looked like theyankī delinquent stereotype seen in other works. When Kurama and Hiei joined the main cast, the anime staff liked the contrasting colors the protagonists have, linking them to populartokusatsu series. The team also decided to tone down the appearances of Yusuke's mother when it came to seeing his son fight. For the ending, the creators ended up shaping the end according to the manga while interspersing an original screenplay, summarizing it in a structure in which Yusuke returned after a few years in contrast to the manga where he immediately returns alongside Kurama.[6] Mari Kitayama, a lead character designer for the anime stated that she considers Kuwabara to be the most difficult character to design.[7] Kitayama finds Kurama to be the easiest of the main characters to design due to his well-proportioned features and considers Hiei to be her favorite.[7]
Yusuke is voiced byNozomu Sasaki in Japanese.[8] His performance appealed to Togashi due to how he developed his identity.[9] Before the anime adaptation ofYuYu Hakusho started, Sasaki had been a fan of the series and wanted to do the role of the lead thanks to how Togashi drew him. He also liked the personality Yusuke is given as he always says what is in his mind enough to admire him.[10] Togashi was greatly impressed byShigeru Chiba's voice depiction of Kuwabara, admitting that the actor understood the character better than Togashi himself.[11] When animating the manga series, there was talk of casting either Hiei or Kurama as a female cast member, and the station producer said, it would be Kurama due to his Kurama androgynous, naive-looking looks. As a result, Hiei was voiced by the male actorNobuyuki Hiyama, while Kurama was voiced by the female voice actressMegumi Ogata.[12] Hiyama initially gave Hiei an inimitating aura in order to give Yusuke fear. As a result, he was surprised when he the character became supporting. When talking about the character, Hiyama says he is constantly moody and is balanced with the notable power he exposes. Due to this cold portrayal the character has, Hiyama noticed there was a massive change when his sister Yukine was introduced and Hiei was bothered by how Yusuke and Kurama casually mocked this state of weakness. In response to positive response to the handling of the leads, Hiyama said that Hiei and Kurama might also become enemies in future episodes.[13] After receiving many letters both praising and criticizing the voice actors, Togashi clarified that he had no involvement in the anime adaptation.[14]
In early 2001, the series was acquired byFunimation Entertainment for North American distribution asYu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files.[15] Funimation's production saw a significant contribution from voice actorJustin Cook, who not only directed the dub but also voiced the protagonist Yusuke.[16][17]
The American-produced English dubbed episodes aired from February 23, 2002, to April 1, 2006, onCartoon Network. Initially, the series was shown on the channel'sAdult Swim programming block from February 2002 to April 2003, but was later moved toToonami.[18][19] Some of the show's original depictions of mature content including violence, sexual humor, and coarse language, as well as some controversial cultural discrepancies wereedited out for broadcast.[20][21]Yu Yu Hakusho was taken off Toonami around March 2005 and moved to an early Saturday morning time slot that October where the series finished its run.[22] It was also aired uncut as part of the Funimation programming block on Colours TV in 2006 and theFunimation Channel inhigh-definition in 2011.[23][24] Following Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll, the series was moved to Crunchyroll.[25]
The series was distributed in the United Kingdom byMVM Films and in Australia andNew Zealand byMadman Entertainment.[26][27][28][29][30][31] In India the English-language version of the series was released asGhost Fighter.[32]
Yu Yu Hakusho was localized in thePhilippines asGhost Fighter and aired onIBC in the mid-1990s, as well as onGMA Network in 1998.[33] This dub, in Tagalog,[34] localized the characters' names, such as changing "Yusuke" to "Eugene".[35][36] At the time theWorld Wide Web was not yet widely available in the Philippines, and the creators of the dub had received limited information on the television series and its characters. Therefore they mistakenly believed Kurama was a female character, assigning the name Denise, and that Genkai was a male character, assigning the name Jeremiah. In regards to the former, after the dubbers learned Kurama was male, a later episode explained that Denise, now with the real name Dennis, is a male character pretending to be female.[37]
Funimation separated the series into four "seasons", that each compose their own story arc, which they refer to as "sagas". In North America, 32 DVD compilations have been released by Funimation for the four sagas, with the first released on April 16, 2002, and the last on July 19, 2005.[38][39] The episodes have been released in both edited and uncut formats. In addition, DVD collection boxes have been released for all four sagas, each containing all the episodes of that particular saga, except for the Dark Tournament Saga, which was split into two collection boxes.[40][41][42][43][44] Funimation released season box sets of the anime starting with season one on July 8, 2008, and ending with season four on January 13, 2009.[45][46] Each set contains four DVDs which have 28 episodes, or one-quarter of the whole series. Funimation began releasing the seasons onBlu-ray Disc on May 31, 2011.[47] Cook has stated that the production staff made minor improvements to their recordings, such as redubbing certain lines, cleaning up the dialogue, and removing "arrant anomalies".[48] In Japan, three separate multi-disc DVD box sets were released, as well as 28 DVDs totaling all 112 episodes of the series.[49] Japanese home video distributorBandai Visual began releasing the series on Blu-ray Disc on October 27, 2009, with the first set containing a picture drama set after the end of the series that saw cast members reunite to record new dialogue.[50]
The music for theYu Yu Hakusho anime adaptation was composed by Yusuke Honma.[2] The series has one opening theme, "Hohoemi no Bakudan" (微笑みの爆弾,Hohoemi no Bakudan; lit. "Smile Bomb") byMatsuko Mawatari, as well as five closing themes: "Homework ga Owaranai" (ホームワークが終わらない,Hōmuwāku ga Owaranai; lit. "Homework Never Ends"), "Sayonara ByeBye" (さよならＢｙｅＢｙｅ,Sayonara ByeBye; lit. "Goodbye ByeBye") and "Daydream Generation" also by Mawatari; and "Unbalance na Kiss o Shite" (アンバランスなＫｉｓｓをして,Anbaransu na Kiss wo Shite; lit. "Give Me An Unbalanced Kiss") and "Taiyō ga Mata Kagayaku Toki" (太陽がまた輝くとき,Taiyō ga Mata Kagayaku Toki; lit. "When The Sun Shines Again") byHiro Takahashi. When Funimation gained rights to the series, English language versions of each of these songs were produced and arranged by musicianCarl Finch.[51] The localized opening theme is sung by Sara White and the closing themes are sung by members of the English cast includingStephanie Nadolny,Jerry Jewell, andMeredith McCoy.[16]
Several audio CDs have been released in Japan. TheYū Yū Hakusho Original Soundtrack was released in two volumes by Pony Canyon on January 18, 1997. The discs contain the show'sinstrumental tracks and some vocal themes.[52][53] Also released on that day isYū Yū Hakusho: Music Battle, a series of three albums featuring vocal tracks sung by the Japanese voice actors as their corresponding characters.[54][55][56] Compilations of vocal songs includingYū Yū Hakusho Super Covers,Yū Yū Hakusho Super Dance Mix, andLegend of Yu Yu Hakusho: "Sai-Kyou" Best Selection Album were released on December 16, 1995, March 21, 1996, and March 21, 1997, respectively.[57][58][59]Yū Yū Hakusho: Collective Songs andYū Yū Hakusho: Collective Rare Trax, which containcovers of the theme songs performed by the series' voice actors, were both released on March 17, 1999.[49][60][61] A CD soundtrack for the second film and amaxi single with the vocal songs of Mawatari and Takahashi have also been published.[62][63]
Twodrama albums featuring the cast from the anime have been released byShueisha.[64][65] The first, released on December 10, 2004, adapts Yusuke's first encounters with Kurama and Hiei and the manga chapter "Yu Yu Hakusho Tales: Two Shot".[66] The second, released on March 25, 2005, adapts the "After the Party", "Sink or Swim", and "And So..." chapters.[67]
During the show's original run, 15 video games were released, primarily fromSega, which at that time were released exclusively ontheir systems as well asTomy andNamco which released titles exclusive toNintendo's systems, primarily theGame Boy and theSuper NES. Due to the show's popularity in rebroadcasts and international releases, additional games were developed and published during the 2000s, mainly for thePlayStation 2.
Atari had a three-game deal signed with Funimation in 2003 which led to the creation of three games, these games beingYu Yu Hakusho: Spirit Detective andYu Yu Hakusho: Tournament Tactics for theGame Boy Advance as well asYu Yu Hakusho: Dark Tournament for the PlayStation 2.
TheYu Yu Hakusho television series was voted the best anime of the year in the 1994 and 1995Animage Anime Grand Prix and the second best in 1993 afterSailor Moon.[68][69][70] Additionally, the publication declared the series number 53 on its top 100 anime listing in 2001.[71] In a 2006 web poll conducted in Japan by the networkTV Asahi,Yu Yu Hakusho was voted as the fifteenth best anime of all time.[72] The Japanese magazineBrutus voted it the sixth best anime of all time.[73] The hit show garnered a largenumber of viewers during its run in Japan. Funimation presidentGen Fukunaga remarked thatYu Yu Hakusho "came 'out of nowhere' to surprise people with huge ratings", which were just below those achieved by the popular seriesDragon Ball Z.[74]Yu Yu Hakusho was frequently watched by several age groups during its early run in North America. When it aired onAdult Swim, the anime, along with others such asInuyasha andCowboy Bebop, met with male audiences ages 18–34.[75] During itsToonami debut in May 2003,Yu Yu Hakusho placed in seven out of the top 111Nielsen ratings forCartoon Network telecasts, with the highest being number 30 on May 13 at a two percentshare of all viewing televisions in the country.[76] Atari stated in December 2003 that the anime was one of the top-rated television programs in North America for males ages 9–14.[73] Nielsen additionally reported thatYu Yu Hakusho tied withDragon Ball GT as the top-rated Cartoon Network program for the same demographic during the week of September 28, 2004. It was the second highest-rated show among ages 12–17 the same week.[77] However, Cartoon Network eventually dropped the show from Toonami in March 2005 due to declining ratings.[22]
Yu Yu Hakusho proved to be popular in the Philippines, where it was rerun several times and managed to draw more viewers in the prime time slot than both local and foreign soap operas.[35][78][79] In 2023 Chad de Guzman ofTime wrote that "mentioning it to viewers in the Philippines is bound to induce nostalgia in anyone who came of age during its run[...]"[80] The phrase "Tapusin! Tapusin!" (meaning "Finish him! Finish him!"), used by enemy characters watching tournaments in the Tagalog dub, became a catchphrase among anime watchers in that country.[34]
The animated series received a generally positive reception in North America. In January 2004,Yu Yu Hakusho was named the second best action-adventure anime byAnime Insider.[81] It was voted by the users ofIGN as the tenth best-animated series of all time.[82] Critical reviews focused on the series' attempt at a versatile balance of narrative, character development, and action sequences.Animerica's Justin Kovalsky definedYu Yu Hakusho as a character-driven series and compared it to other anime likePhantom Quest Corp.,Rurouni Kenshin, andFlame of Recca in that it successfully combines different ideas such as martial arts battles, character dynamics, the supernatural, and mythology.[83] Allen Divers of theAnime News Network identifiedYu Yu Hakusho as "one of the best action series out there", and noted consistently good storytelling and character development throughout his critique of key points of the series.[84][85][86][87] Todd Douglass Jr. ofDVD Talk declared, "It's a fun show with a great cast, a sense of humor, and a lot of action so there's no excuse not to at least give it a chance." He recommended the first three-season box sets ofYu Yu Hakusho, as well as the original box set of the Three Kings Saga, but enjoyed the show's third season more than the others because of its multiple plotlines.[88][89][90][91] N. S. Davidson ofIGN concluded that having several concurrent plot branches is not enough for an anime to succeed, but that good writing, interesting characters, and action are also necessary. He proclaimed in his review of the anime's final episodes thatYu Yu Hakusho possesses all of these qualities.[92] This was concurred upon by Joseph Luster ofOtaku USA, who summed up his feelings about the universe ofYu Yu Hakusho by stating, "Togashi's world is eternally hellish and dark, but wildly varied. The only thing that doesn't change throughout its run is the fact that you'll still be rooting for the well-defined protagonists until the credits run on the last episode."[93]
Jeffrey Harris ofIGN was more critical when looking at later episodes, and felt that the end of the show's third arc involving the villain Sensui is too similar to the finale of the second arc with Toguro. He described the episodes as trying too hard to draw sympathy from the audience for the anime's villains.[94] Despite his overall praise ofYu Yu Hakusho, Divers noted in a review about one DVD release that the show "[walks] that fine line of a solid long-running series or being a broken record".[87] He also called the artwork of the first few episodes "dated" and pointed out questionable script choices regarding the English dub.[84]
Aedan Juvet ofFunimation called the anime influential and "timeless" with classic villains, highlighting fivevillains in the series which helped the anime evolve.[95]
| Media | |
|---|---|
| Characters | |
| Music | |
| Games | |
