#yu yu hakusho spoilers

[sarayashikidays]

Read YYH again this week and I love you, Kuwa-papa, I wish we got more of you because you seem like a REALLY decent guy

[emeraldspiral]

My hot take on YYH Netflix is that normally condensing a story this drastically would not work at all, but YYH is kind of a special case because Togashi very obviously was making things up as he went along and it takes quite a while for YYH to settle on what the story actually is.

Like, if you just saw the first episode you'd probably think the show is about Yusuke's ghost shenanigans and the story's over when he comes back to life. They spent a whole four episodes on it in the anime, and that's after cutting out a lot more issues from the manga. But there's not a lot that happened while Yusuke was a ghost that's of any consequence to the rest of the story, and anything that was, like Kuwabara becoming a good student, didn't need Yusuke to be a ghost in order to happen. Like, while he's a ghost he learns ghost abilities like being able to possess people or talk to them in their dreams, but when he comes back to life he doesn't retain any ghost powers like Danny Phantom, he gets completely different abilities that he only learns about after coming back to life.

So it really doesn't feel like we missed out on anything by having Yusuke get resurrected right away and establishing the threat of demons invading the world from the beginning and having that be the reason Koenma wanted to resurrect him, rather than introducing all of that only after Yusuke came back to life. It doesn't feel rushed, it just feels like it knows what the point is and gets to it.

The story also doesn't really dally around with the idea of Yusuke doing actual detective work, which also gets abandoned pretty quicky in the managa/series. He doesn't get any gadgets or get assigned a bunch of different cases that all just end up being a gauntlet for him to fight through, he pretty much just has the one big case. I think combining the Three Thieves arc with the Rescue Yukina arc is actually a significant improvement for the story. Cause like, originally the Thieves arc was just a vehicle to introduce Kurama, but then Hiei ended up becoming a regular character too and his appearance in that arc was totally inconsistent with everything established about him later. It makes so much more sense for his motive for participating in the heist to be his sister, rather than wanting to take over the world with an army of demon slaves. It also doesn't feel like we lost anything of value by cutting out the 4 Saint Beasts arc when helping Hiei rescue his sister is a much better motive for him to cooperate and bond with the others than Hiei just being forced to do community service. It also eliminates that awkwardness of Hiei kidnapping Yusuke's girlfriend and trying to turn her into his demon slave and then being instantly forgiven by Yusuke the next time they meet and never addressing it again.

Where I feel like it went too far was bringing in the Dark Tournament stuff. Having Yusuke drop everything to go train with Genkai for a whole month in the middle of a case while Hiei apparently makes no progress toward finding his sister just didn't make any sense. We didn't get to know Yusuke well enough to really understand how much growth he had to go through to earn Genkai's spirit wave or what emotional barriers he needed to overcome to beat Toguro. We didn't get to know Genkai long enough for her death to hit as hard as it should. We didn't get to see enough of Yusuke and Kuwabara's bond to understand why it made more sense to kill him instead of Keiko in order to motivate Yusuke. We didn't get as much build-up for the opponents the fab four would be facing and things like Kurama's fox form and Hiei's dragon are just there and not things that that were built up as their only desperate options to have even the slimmest chance of survival.

It really feels like a shame that they didn't go with the original ending of the Rescue Yukina arc where the Toguros took a dive on Sakyo's orders. Like, if they were worried about not getting a second season, the story already had a perfectly satisfying conclusion that you can just accept as an ending as long as nothing else comes afterward to tell you the bad guys are still alive. But Toguro, Bui, and Karasu are all clearly unambiguously dead by the end of the Netflix series and all the important plot points about Toguro and Genkai's past has already been put out there, so there's no way to go back on that and do the Dark Tournament proper with a more fleshed out story and fan-favorite characters now.

Hypothetically, if there were more seasons though, because the vast majority of the series is already covered and there's really only two arcs left that are too distinctly separated to be combined I could see a season 2 and a season 3 that adapt Chapter Black and the Makai arcs in a way that's more satisfying.

Like, S2E1 could cover just the House of 4 Dimensions, ending with the reveal that Genkai has been brought back to life, or at least can contact the living world in order to continue Yusuke's training and prepare him for what's coming.

S2E2 would be Yusuke and the gang looking for Sensui and his goons and we'd get the battle with Doctor in the A plot and Kuwabara's battle with Seaman in the B plot.

S2E3 would be Seaman's backstory and revelations about who Sensui is and what he's trying to accomplish. Kuroko could maybe be introduced here to fill in some of the exposition gaps. The episode would end with Sensui finally appearing and kidnapping Kuwabara, with Sniper foiling Yusuke's attempt to rescue him.

S2E4 would be Seaman taking the gang into the tunnel, Game Master would be skipped over and we'd get straight into Yusuke vs Sensui, ending with Yusuke's death.

S2E5 would be Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei breaking out of containment to avenge Yusuke and Yusuke awakening to defeat Sensui, only for Spirit World to suddenly turn on him once they realize he's related to Raizen. The season would end on a cliffhanger with Yusuke being forced to go on the run into demon world.

S3E1 would then open with Yusuke already in Demon World, wandering around until he eventually finds Raizen. Meanwhile back in the human and Spirit Worlds everyone is dealing with the fallout and the episode ends with Hiei and Kurama being summoned/deported to Demon World.

S3E2 would be Hiei and Mukuro's stories.

S3E2 would be Kurama and Yomi's stories, with Kuronue from the movie thrown in there as well.

S3E3 since we skipped the Dark Tournament we can't have Kurama recruiting old opponents under the guise that they'd be serving Yomi only to turn the tables and reveal that they're all loyal to Yusuke. And besides, it was kind of a waste in the original series to set Kurama, Hiei, and Yusuke up on opposing sides and then just instantly resolve the conflict by having Yusuke propose a free-for-all that everyone gets on board with. This could be a great opportunity to have some actual conflict between the three with Yusuke fearing what the other two Kings would do with total control of Demon World, Kurama not wanting to work for Yomi but having to pretend like he does, and Hiei not knowing what he wants.

S3E4 would see the three kingdoms go to war, until Yusuke and his friends learn about Spirit World's plot to pit them all against each other to further their own control of Demon World and convince the kings to set aside their differences and unite to battle Spirit World.

S3E5 would see Spirit World defeated and King Enma overthrown and replaced with Koenma. New policies would be put in place respecting the Demon World's right to self-govern and allow its citizens to travel between worlds. Yusuke and Kurama would finally be able to return home to their loved ones while Hiei would stay in Demon World to be with Mukuro.

[sunlightfeeling]

Yu Yu Hakusho: Episode 2 (2023)

Inagaki Goro as Sakyo

[alotofrandomfangirling]

Would seriously DIE for him

[giggly-squiggily]

I RETURN MUAHAHAHA | (• ◡•)|| (• ◡•)|

As the resident angst queen I am hereby requesting one Darling and Miss You with Kuwabara and Yusuke :))

Blunt Kuwabara who doesn’t feel any awkwardness in his body, and Sadge Yusuke who is too prideful and embarrassed to admit he needs some lovin’ in this essay I will-

Ducky! Our residential angst queen indeed! I've been touched by the angst bug myself a little with this one, can't deny! I've gotcha covered, friend! :D

Spoiler warning for the dark tournament of Yu Yu Hakusho, Angst

Miss You: "When's the last time you smiled?" + Darling: "Do you want me to tickle you?"

Things were…not so good. It didn’t take a genius to figure that out.

Kuwabara cut eyes at his friend, brows furrowing at the intense melancholy radiating off him. Yusuke might look…well; he wasn’t exactly hiding his distress- but his weak front didn’t come close to reflecting his inner turmoil.

“What is it? Got something to say?” Said boy’s voice was icy as he glared, making the taller boy startle back. The action softened the chill but not by much. “What is it, Kuwabara?”

“Urameshi..when’s the last time you smiled?” That…wasn’t what he meant to say. Yusuke huffed out a hollow laugh.

“How can anyone smile right now? We’re fighting for our lives in this over the top tournament and Genkai-” The name made him choke. Yusuke bit the inside of his cheek, squeezing his eyes shut. Kuwabara reached out, squeezing his shoulder.

“What do you want me to do for you right now?”

“I- I don’t know! I don’t know, I just- I don’t wanna think about anything. I just want to forget..” Yusuke was shaking, his voice sounding so small. “I need a distraction...anything.."

“...Hey.” A distraction, huh? “Do you want me to tickle you?” Kuwabara felt a bit silly asking, but it was the first thing to come to mind. He waited for Yusuke to snap at him and shove him away.

Instead, he nodded- a shaky gesture. Okay then.

“Just tell me when you’re done, okay?” Kuwabara scooted closer, getting into position. After another nod, he gently skittered his fingers up Yusuke’s sides, watching his friend tense up. “You okay?”

“Y-Yeah…ehehe..it’s f-fihihine..” His voice was so thick, like his throat was covered in molasses. But he was laughing; even if it was kinda forced. “Ihihihit’s hehehelping..hehehe.heheha!”

“Good! That’s good.” Kuwabara smiled, pressing along the open spaces of Yusuke’s ribs with the same gentle pressure. “Want me to keep going?”

“Yohohohou keheheep ahahahasking thahahat! Ahhahaha, ohoohokay!” Yusuke yelped, twisting around and grabbing Kuwabara’s hands. “Ohoohkay, ohoohkay…”

“Okay?” Kuwabara asked, watching Yusuke calm down. He wasn’t shaking anymore. His throat didn’t sound as clogged.

“...Okay.” He nodded, meeting his friend’s eyes with a small smile. “Erm…thanks. I appreciate it.”

“Urameshi!” Kuwabara let out a mock wail, pulling his friend into his chest and falling backwards, earning a squawk and swear from the other.

The once heavy silence filled with laughter and lighthearted swears, Kuwabara feeling lighter seeing Yusuke come back to his usual self.

For the first time in awhile, he was smiling like before.

Send me a candy heart and I'll write a dabble for it!

[triggerblaze345]

[i-lived-bitch-beatdown]

[lookingforcactus]

Live action Yu Yu Hakusho liveblog: ep 1

This is so much fun. Nostalgia time. 13 year old me is LIVING

Warning for like whole ep 1 spoilers and all

Yusuke and Botan look great which I already knew going in from the gifset that informed me this show exists lol, but it's delightful, bc the characters in this show aren't necessarily the easiest to translate to live action

Botan is adorable. Her hair is adorable. And I'm delighted to see that Yusuke's hair is the Correct amount of Poufy

Plot twist: Kuwabara hot. He looks great actually. Translated nonliterally compared to Yusuke but v well. The actor is selling me on it too, fun casting

Kuwabara was always hard for me to watch in the original bc he set off my vicarious embarrassment soo hard. Glad they're less committed to making him the constant source of painful comedic relief here lol

KOENMA PACIFIER REVEAL I LOVE IT

Laughed out loud for real tbh

Idk if I'm a little disappointed he's not a baby but like live action would make that ridic hard to do in a lot of ways so I don't blame them at all. He's in his adult form which makes sense. Still damn glad they kept the pacifier it is RUINING his dignity and I love it

I also don't blame them for cutting the flying oar effects. A lil sad but the initial transition to Reikai looked great so they're forgiven

Yusuke. "No thanks." I knew it was coming and the delivery still made me laugh out loud. Just dropped it in there. Yusuke I love you please see a therapist

Fight scenes are v creative and p epic

Seriously they do a really good job of making Yusuke's fighting style as a human believable, fun to watch, and effective. He rly does come off as just kind of a natural fighting genius (with practice ofc)

Sakyo in ep 1? Weird but I'm not opposed. The wavy hair is kinda freaking me out though ngl. Smoothness was just such his THING in the show it's distracting

Really liked Yusuke's mom's introduction (not that it was flattering to her as a character) but I wish they'd done more with her in the rest of the ep. Her power hug at the end is great tho

Show's slowing down a bit but it's fine I'm still having fun, the nostalgia power will get me through basically whatever

NO PUU!!!! This is tragic but I Do understand this as an adaptation choice. Reluctantly. Tragic tho.

Bug under guy's face effect EPICALLY creepy

That said I keep watching the motion of him and the other demons in this ep and thinking about Hayao Miyazaki said about the disgusting cruelty of using effects technology to make the scary scary inhuman monsters just fucking. look and move like disabled ppl

Seriously I keep seeing flashes of the appearance and movements of people I know with developmental disabilities (particularly this one guy I know with cerebral palsy but also I've worked in care work for disabled adults and just kind of a lot of people in general) and. I hate this. Especially as a person who DOES have a (nonvisible) developmental disability myself. This is such a rising trend in horror/sff/fantasy tv/movies/video games and I hate everything about it. Hayao Miyazaki was right this kind of attitude and shit really is "an insult to life itself"

Anyway fight scene cool

I love Keiko btw. Her crying and blaming herself! Her face when Yusuke comes back! Also Yusuke "I'm not gonna die just bc you talked shit" pffft jackass (affectionate)

DEMON CREW CAMEO AT THE END

Kurama looks pretty good. Goki actually looks wayyyy better than he did in the anime imho, which I did not see coming.

Effects on Kurama and Hiei's fighting looks surprisingly great. They pulled off the rose whip way better than I thought they would, and did some great wirework with Hiei's speed and fighting style

That said....Hiei...oof. That hair was always gonna be a Challenge but I think their ambition here did uh. not play off rip. Hopefully it'll look better later on

[crass-myrtle]

YYH ch 24

[honoviadakai]

So the live action series for Yu Yu Hakusho drops tomorrow…

Possible spoilers down below. If you don’t wanna see spoilers, keep scrolling!

***

Imma level with ya’ll…my expectations are so low for this to be good that the bar’s not even in hell, it’s under it.

Like this

This scares me.

It could potentially be interesting. Like maybe he was viewed as too violent and brash so he was initially denied the jagan eye surgery. Instead of calming down, Hiei steals a jagan implant and does an impromptu surgery on himself with 0 medical training, thus proving Shigure’s point.

That would be cool right?

Well…

This looks like a warehouse…in the human world…

This kinda looks like he gave himself a jagan eye using the conjuring blade he stole in the spirit detective saga arc…

I really hope they don’t have him do that, especially not in the middle of his fight with Yusuke

But I’m also just fully prepared for that to 100% be the case…

I could list other things that scare me but this is already getting long and I just wanted to point out Hiei cuz he’s my favorite character. Lol

We’ll see what happens but man do I want this series to prove me wrong.

(Also…did anyone else notice they lowkey gave Hiei a pompadour??? Hiei straight up stole Kuwabara’s look XD)

[sarayashikidays]

I say this from a place of never finishing the anime due to epilepsy related issues with it so this may be in the anime! BUT really really really like, always, Yuusuke settling in to just be a GuyTM in his city... taking care of the people he loves I always adore it

[brokenangelwings22]

I didn’t know that Michael Jackson was in Yu Yu Hakusho 🤣

[fallenqueen2]

Yu Yu Hakusho Netflix Live Action Review

As a long-time fan [this is my favourite anime] I did enjoy the acting/characterizations [they all fit their characters well], CGI, Costumes, Locations and Fight Scenes

But, it's like they took canon events and new ideas, tossed them in a blender and hit 'speed-run' for the plot & character development thus relationships and deaths weren't as impactful as they were in the anime/manga [I still sob at Genkai's death in the anime], but those feelings just didn't appear in the short time Genkai was on the screen.

It was so rushed that by the point of the last 2 episodes [even with the Spirit Wave Orb], Yusuke and Kwubara should never have been ready to fight the Toguro Brothers.

Even Kurama shouldn't have been able to become Yoko so quickly, not to mention somehow Hiei had the Dragon Of the Darkness Flame ready to go already summoned on his arm?

I can't recommend this as your first look into the world of Yu Yu Hakusho.

[sunlightfeeling]

Yu Yu Hakusho: Episode 3 (2023)

[mistleaneous-chaos]

Ok so now that Hunter x Hunter has started to pick back up and Togashi has gotten back to ripping our hearts out and shooting us down like dogs while telling us to read his manga (which we will), I wanted to talk about the significant number of parallels between aspects of Yu Yu Hakusho and parts of Hunter x Hunter that show how much Togashi laid the groundwork for HXH in YYH. As well as how he improved and revised many aspects of his previous work.

Originally, I was going to make this one whole post, but because of how much I wrote in this one, I figured I would just make it multiple parts.

Spoilers for HXH and YYH

Part 1: The Power Systems and their similarities/differences, and how Togashi demonstrates Limits

Nen and Spirit Energy are both very similar in multiple ways. For example, both have very similar sources, with Spirit Energy being something all humans have, and Nen being something all beings have.

Now then, what I want to talk about is the differences between them first.

Spirit Energy is something everyone can use, but unlike Nen, signature techniques are just that, techniques. For example, let's take a look at one of the best examples of this and wasted potential: Rando

Rando is a demon whose whole thing is that he steals techniques, but not like Chrollo(Trust me, we will get into Chrollo), but in that he just learns them. To put it in a way that makes sense, Spirit Energy is malleable, anyone who has Spirit Energy (or Demon Energy) can replicate and learn other techniques with the only setback being that you would run the risk of not mastering them and not knowing how to use them all efficiently like Rando did.

Unlike another character who is a master with Spirit Energy without overextending themselves: Genkai

Despite knowing nowhere near as many techniques as Rando, Genkai is a much better fighter than him, able to use her techniques in nearly every situation in ways that allow her to fight on a level that is nearly unbeatable, or at least was before she gave away the majority of her power to Yusuke, but even then she was able to go toe-to-toe with Shishiwakamaru, a demon who had the ability to summon hundreds of dead souls to attack indiscriminately.

Genkai is a master of Spirit Energy, even if she doesn't have as much power as the rest of the main characters.

Meanwhile let's take a look at a Nen User from Hunter x Hunter, a character you may or may not know (/j): Hisoka

Now setting aside Hisoka's.... """tendencies""", when it comes to his proficiency in Nen, he's one of the best in the series, with his Nen Type being Transmutation, which would make his nen chart look something like this

Now then, his Main Nen Ability is known as Bungee Gum, which contains the properties of Rubber and Gum, which is known. He Transmutes his Aura into an elastic and stretchy material which he can stick onto anything, and can do multiple things such as catch objects, immobilize opponents, or create flail-like weapons to swing around with. That is Hisoka's Hatsu, his personal expression of Nen. That is his main weapon until the day he dies, and cannot be changed as far as we know.

But that doesn't mean he can't do things that aren't too far from Transmutation, such as Conjuration, which he exemplifies with Texture Surprise, a technique which allows him to create images and textures on top of flat surfaces, such as paper, and can change its appearance. He uses this technique in creating fake tattoos or even fake skin all over his body to make himself look normal, when really he looks like this

So needless to say, Hisoka is an extremely adept Nen user. But the fact is, like everyone else, he has to stay in his lane, or else he'll end up like another Nen User in the series: Kastro

Kastro is an Enhancer, he was born one, which means that his potential is limited to that of an Enhancer's, which looks like this

According to an extremely talented Nen Teacher: Wing, Kastro could have been a master of a technique that most Enhancers can use, the Tiger Bite Fist, which may have helped him achieve his goal... But instead of developing his Hatsu and enhancement abilities he chose to use a technique that was completely incompatible with his own: The Double Technique.

The Double Technique is fairly self-explanatory, you make a double of yourself out of Nen, and manipulate its actions into fighting alongside you. It's an amazing technique, but the fact of the matter is that for a majority of Nen Users, it's one that is either lopsided, or just more trouble than it's worth, because it is a combination of Manipulation and Conjuration. The only type of Nen User that it would work perfectly for is a Specialist, which are one in a million in the world of Hunter x Hunter, and even then it requires an extremely high amount of focus due to the amount of precision the management of an entire second body requires, because it is not an automated body, or a clone of your mind, you have to use Manipulation Nen in order to make it do anything, and that is why Kastro was doomed when he tried to make it work.

Because of his status as an Enhancer, while Kastro technically has an equal amount of proficiency in Conjuration and Manipulation Nen, he is restricted to mainly lower-level techniques, or he has to use every bit of his Nen if he wants to even touch higher level techniques of those types, which is what he does with the Double Technique, and because of it, he dies.

In both series, Togashi demonstrated the consequences of overreaching when it comes to the amount you can do, and the consequences of trying to do more than what you can handle, but he demonstrated it in Hunter x Hunter in a much more detailed way than Yu Yu Hakusho, not to discredit Yu Yu Hakusho, as it also does a swell job of it. But yeah, that's all I wanted to say about the power system for now.

For Part 2, I'll be discussing the differences between the dynamics of the Main 4 in each show, With Yu Yu Hakusho having Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei, and Hunter x Hunter having Gon, Killua, Kurapika, and Leorio

[hauro]

spoilers

I’m done with the tournament arc of Yu Yu Hakusho.

I have to say that I got a little tired of it toward the end. Of the fighting itself, not because of the story. Personally, I would have been glad if that story had a different approach. But, I also realize that tournament arcs are very popular in Shounen. But the fighting was the least interesting thing that happened in my opinion. I guess though, there would have been a few entertaining things I would have missed out on.

Now going into real spoiler territory.

The whole thing with Sakyo was odd to me. Starting with his supposed budding romance with Shizuru and ending with his death.  I mean, I guess Shizuru wasn’t fully aware of who he is and it could be explained that she was just charmed by his good looks and the fact he helped her. Actually, physical attraction is the only explanation I have. I don’t approve the way they did that. I don’t know what she sees in him beyond his good looks. But then, it happens, I guess. I was generally confused with how the narrative wanted us to perceive Sakyo. I’m getting mixed signals. What I got from him was that he was an extreme adrenaline addict. From what I gather, he just wanted to create chaos or anarchy. Was he an antagonist? I’m not sure haha. Togura was apparently also just some soft sort of antagonist. And you know, I can appreciate it if it isn’t black and white in a narrative. At the end, I think you could have taken Sakyo out of the narrative and it wouldn’t have changed a thing. And look, I say that when I can appreciate a random good-looking guy in a narrative. But I suppose I was just thinking they would do a little more with him?

I love Genkai and I’m glad we got her back! I think her initial death and the grief the others felt, especially Yusuke were the strongest part of the arc. Her final parting with Toguro felt bittersweet to me, so that set-up clearly worked well for me. I didn’t believe Toguro, Genkai or rather the narrative fully when they wanted us to believe he might have seen Yusuke as a son he never had with Genkai. Like the sentiment, but yeah, wasn’t quite believable to me, although he did make sure no harm came to Yusuke until he could fight him. I guess I would have to take a closer look at the arc again if I wanted to find out if my point of view is warranted on that. But it’s fine if I’m wrong. Still, I was a little invested in his past romance with Genkai. So there’s that.

Otherwise, the interactions between our main characters, but also the other demons were very entertaining. Heart-warming, funny, sad. Good stuff.