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I've started watching YuYu Hakusho on Cartoon Network. I missed a few episodes, so I picked up YuYu Hakusho The Dark Tournament Saga Part II. The box set contains special features and extras. There are 20 episodes on 6 DVDs. If you want to know the episode titles I have included them in this review.

Disc .14-No Return
47.Legendary Bandit: Yoko Kurama
48.The Cape Of No Return
49.Genkai's Strength
50.Suzuka's Challenge

Disc .15-Settle The Score
51.Arch-Rivals
52.The Death Of Genkai
53.Overcoming Grief

Disc .16-Yoko Kurama
54.The Beginning Of The End
55.The Beast Within
56.Yoko's Magic

Disc .17-Sword And Dragon
57.Beneath Bui's Armor
58.Wielder Of The Dragon
59.The Shadow Of The Elder Toguro

Disc .18-Deadly Toguro
60.Sakyo's Power
61.Yusuke VS. Toguro
62.Toguro's Full Power

Disc .19-Tournament's End
63.Yusuk's Despair
64.Toguro's Desire
65.Out With A Bang
66.Toguro's Wish

The longest and most savage arc of the "Yu Yu Hakusho" series comes to an end.... and it turns out that all is not as it appears.

In fact, "Yu Yu Hakusho: The Dark Tournament Saga, Part 2 " is pretty much packed with entertainment -- endless one-on-one matches, leading up to a gruesome fight between Toguro and Yususke. While the end of the Dark Tournament Arc is all hardcore, bloody action and quite a bit of pathos, it's still tinged with a sense of humour. If only Yusuke's final duel with Toguro hadn't dragged out so long, this collection would have been ideal.

The awe-inspiring power of the ancient fox Yoko Kurama is revealed in a very nasty fight involving deaging smoke, which leaves the next fight up to Genkai and the bizarre clown-faced Suzuka. Between fights, Genkai encounters Toguro away from the right, but without the strength to even scratch the superdemon -- leading to a tragic loss for Team Urameshi. In the meantime, a defeated opponent gives both Kurama and Kuwabara tools that may unlock more of their power.

Then it's time for the battle royale with Team Toguro... and unfortunately, the first match is Kurama against Karasu (who has a sort of serial-killer crush on him), leading the desperate fox-boy to transform once again.Then Hiei fights the monstrously powerful Bui with his newly retrained Dragon of the Darkness Flame, shattering the stadium and threatening to destroy everyone around him. And Kuwabara goes up against the grotesque, unkillable Elder Toguro -- who drives him into a rage with the revelation of Genkai's death.

Then there's the duel everyone's been waiting for -- Yusuke and Younger Toguro. And though Yusuke's training has given him immense new powers, he still can't beat his demonic opponent. But then a familiar voice tells Toguro the secret to unlocking Yusuke's power -- kill one of his friends. And when Toguro seemingly murders a helpless Kuwabara, Yusuke's rage and grief cause his power to skyrocket -- but will it be enough to defeat Toguro's 100%?

The ending of the Dark Tournament is a pretty solid one -- lots of fiery black dragons, dismemberment, Toguro's gross green muscles, and a stadium that finally collapses under the strain of endless attacks and a loser's dramatic suicide. It's quite a credit that after dozens of fight scenes, this series still manages to amp up the voltage for the final round of fights, and delivers a few shocking twists along the way.

And Team Toguro's fights are possibly the nastiest of the entire series -- one guy literally levitates with battle energy, another can materialize bombs in Kurama's body, and a third is a grotesque, sadistic body-shifting lump that is almost impossible to kill. Sometimes the good guys triumph, and sometimes they get their backsides handed to them -- but the solutions are always ingenious and sometimes a little scary (especially Hiei and Kurama's).

The big problems: a certain dead character fails to stay that way, and Toguro and Yusuke's battle is kind of anticlimactic after Hiei's literally earthshattering duel and Kuwabara's inspired attack on elder Toguro. Ah, well. You can't have it all.

And fortunately the stories still have their fair share of humor, including Kuwabara's victory dance and the casual, icy witticisms of Yoko Kurama. And one fun scene has a still-threatening Hiei crashing down for a nap against his will ("Can I give him a mustache?" Kuwabara asks, holding a marker). There are also some quieter moments between and after the fights, including an episode-long retrospective on all the guys have gained, and all they've lost.

Yusuke has a lot of growth in this season, and not all of it is good -- sometimes he seems deeply overconfident and rather obnoxious, but he also shows a great deal of caring for his friends. The fight against Toguro is when we really see him devastated -- even the loss of a different teammate earlier on didn't affect him so deeply.

And we finally get to see the devastating, casually ruthless Kurama that everyone keeps talking about, which manifests as a hidden personality inside the warmhearted human-fox boy. Hiei turns out to have plenty of power and the "abandon" to use it, and Kuwabara again proves that he's a lot cleverer than he looks. What's more, the final episode of this collection dissects Toguro's psyche and reveals the devastating reason he acted as he did. The one problem is Chizuru, who inexplicably falls in love with a psychopathic serial killer. What? Why?

"Yu Yu Hakusho: The Dark Tournament Saga, Part 2" is a suitable end to "Yu Yu Hakusho's" longest and bloodiest arc -- and there are hints of strange things yet to come.

Yu Yu Hakusho is probably my favorite anime, and The Dark Tournament is by far the best saga in the series. The fights are all well thought out and the characters that are introduced are all memorable and unique. The progression of the tournament does a tremendous job of building up the tension between Yusuke and Toguro, and the climax of the tournament is where the series truly hits its peak. Must buy for any Yu Yu Hakusho fan.

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