#i can see where they coulda refocused to really highlight an actually important moment

[britcision]

So, the YuYu Hakusho live adaptation

Well.

We got a real good anime adaptation, which is rare enough

And they did a good job with the costumes, aesthetics, and they did hit a lot of the fight scenes as close to the original as they could

They just… very obviously understood absolutely none of the actual messaging or what made those scenes impactful

Spoilers below for the original anime/manga and the live action

I understand they only had 5 episodes to get through the first season but I just finished episode 3 and I literally do not understand how they plan to get from here to the Dark Tournament

Genkai was introduced, trained Yusuke for 20 fucking days, trained Kuwabara as well and blatantly favoured him for 19 of those days including telling Botan to tell Koenma Yusuke’s a write off

(Do not fucking ask about Koenma he’s a cool teenager with a pacifier the entire time it is literally not even commented on)

Then oh Yusuke does his finger handstand for one entire night, pops off a spirit gun that Toguro notices

(Elder Toguro promptly shits himself in glee)

Genkai can magically tell they’ve noticed, nearly cries, and hands over the fucking spirit orb. Immediately. It just pops straight in, no big deal, no question, Yusuke wanders off for ramen and Toguro kills her

Not one Genkai fight scene. A lil moment of her fucking around and throwing walnuts at Yusuke, but not even breaking a sweat

Tarukane and Yukina were introduced right off the bat and Hiei’s stolen spirit treasure is a piddly little knife he used to make a teeny weeny cut and give himself a jagan eye so he can look for her, no evil machinations or transformation for this bitch

Yusuke and Hiei don’t even fight before Kurama calls them both bitches and they’ve already picked up Kuwabara to get on the boat for The Fucking Tournament Island which is apparently just Sakyo’s house

Oh yeah, because Sakyo told Tarukane episode ONE that he’s digging a hole to the demon world, sold him Yukina (so who should Hiei really be stabbing?), and has now invited Tarukane back to his place to be protected by Sakyo’s demons, the Toguros

The Black Black Club are fucking all there. In person. Just chilling. At Sakyo’s house on the tournament island and the Demon Triad are there but none of the tournament folks are but they’re on Sakyo’s boat? Minus Genkai? Who died about 30 minutes tops after her first appearance?

Oh, and we saw the demon triad and Toguro popping a giant beastie and Hiei running around with his knife and then immediately after the cut Yusuke just fucked off to Genkai’s to be instantly accepted as her pupil for a 20+ day training montage so who knows what the fuck Hiei and Tarukane were up to in the meantime, Tarukane fully left the mainland and apparently Hiei spent 3 weeks sitting on his thumb about it

I just. The saddest part is that I really, truly think the people making the adaptation thought they were being faithful to the original

The characters look so good, the costumes are incredible, the special effects are fucking fantastic

But every single moment of build up, of dramatic tension, of getting to know the characters and seeing them care about something is gone

Yusuke’s dramatic revelation that it’s time to get serious with his training isn’t Toguro levelling a parking block; it’s watching Kuwabara hit a rock with a wooden sword until his spirit sword happens

His whole motivation to get stronger is “well I can’t let Kuwabara beat me”, which even Genkai calls piss weak one day and then the next it’s fine, he’s ready to finish his training

(One thing I do like is the characters themselves occasionally dropping a “well what the fuck did that mean” about particularly egregious logic leaps, like Elder Toguro shapeshifting to impersonate Hiei and kidnap Keiko

Like

Do they not understand Hiei was a fan favourite just for being an evil little shithead in his first appearances who didn’t care about anybody except maybe Kurama?

Instead we have pre-reformed Hiei who only wants to save his sister uwu won’t even take a stab at properly fighting Yusuke before they’ve teamed up

Just let Hiei be a little shit

Just let him have a stupid grandiose plan that even je can later admit made no fucking sense

Let Yusuke shoot him in the ass and show some ingenuity under pressure)

Don’t get me wrong, I’m finishing out the season just to see where the fuck they’re going, but I thought I had a general idea for the first two episodes and now I just. I don’t know.

I think they’re gonna pansy out of giving me Jin

They’re not gonna do my goddamn flying demon uni-leprechaun

However if they do punch Sakyo and toss him into a pit at the end of this season I will not be mad, he’s gonna be Right There in punching range apparently because they’re not going to a tournament, they’re going to HIS FUCKING HOUSE

Oh and no Shizuru

No badass moments for Keiko (well I guess she did slap the face off Elder Toguro once that was great)

No Atsuko past the first episode

Botan is basically a semi-sadistic cheerleader

Genkai is dead

Because it’s not like anyone liked this show for actually having interesting and semi-independent female characters

Honestly I even had a couple moments of “maybe I’d like this better if they did a worse job”, because it’s so clearly made by people who really cared about the show, and worked to fit as much as they could into five episodes (fuck you Netflix)

But what they cared about was fight scenes

Not any of what actually made YYH interesting and compelling; no character growth, no relationships between rivals, between enemies to allies, between teacher and student

Not 30 seconds on the relationship between Toguro and Genkai, for all they lifted lines directly from the anime

He walks in and pops her, no big deal

Not even on screen

Puu does not exist

For a character who starts the show by fuckin dying, Yusuke really has not been pushed to his limits since

And to be fair, the things the show does well, it’s fucking nailing

Toguro’s muscle transformation? PERFECT. Understated, clear potential to become fucking ridiculous around 80%, classy as hell

Kurama’s rose whip? Incredible, 10/10, so fucking glad we’ve seen so much of it, super well done

Spirit gun and spirit sword? Fabulous, gorgeous, I am in love, only thing that would make it better would be shooting that asshole teacher in the head (not that Yusuke has been to school since the day he died except to sit on the roof)

It’s just… the edgelord version of the story. As truncated as possible, just event event event, without any patience or respect for character relationships or growth or that, y’know, you need to give your audience a reason to care

The good news is, at this point it’s pretty much no reason for them to do the fourth season just in general which would make Yoshihiro Tagashi very happy

Just in general, it’s… fine. It’s a little short action show with great special effects and some fantastic costuming and aesthetic

There’s something that sorta almost resembles a story

And as far as live adaptations go? We definitely for sure know it could be worse, especially with Netflix *stares in Death Note*

I just won’t be all that disappointed if they don’t get the second season they really really really needed