Yu Yu Hakusho: Screw excorcism, just punch 'em in the face!

So after persistent, puerile procrastination. I am ready. I am here.

It is time. The seventh time, to be specific.

Let's punch some eccentric demons right in junk as we square off against my #7 favorite anime: Yu Yu Hakusho!






(First episode of YYH: Abridged, a comedic fandub. You're welcome!)

Yusuke Urameshi is a notoriously violent little fucker who barely attends school at his junior high because he's usually pounding every gang member in the city face first in the pavement. His childhood sweetheart pressures him to act like decent member of society, his drunken mother pressures him to make more tea to balance out her boozing, his principal pressures him to stay on campus and the local ruffians encourage him to hurt them less. His one simple success is making kids smile, not in the "creepy clown" way, but... well, actually, it's close enough to being like a creepy clown.

Maybe that's why he gets his ass killed by a distracted driver.

After that is where our story really picks up. His soul is intercepted by Botan, every nerd's wet dream of the grim reaper. Botan takes him to the Spirit World where he witnesses the amusing sight of orges in loincloths brutally making use of office equipment, computers and telephones as they manage the afterlife in the organized way. Yusuke is taken to see Koenma, the son of the Spirit World's ruler and stand-in while he's away. Koenma gives Yusuke an offer based on all his time brawling and taking his heart of gold into consideration, after a series of trials proving that he's worth a damn and that peripheral characters give a shit about him, that offer is the opportunity to become a Spirit Detective.

What does this entail? Well, not your traditional ghost busting as his methods are a little more hands-on. He has been gifted with immense psychic and spiritual powers that give him a massive arsenal of ways to punch ghosts and demons in both the face and in their junk. Along his adventures, he actually recruits a couple of guys that he made it a hobby and a career move out of punching into a quartet of roaming ass-kicking sent out as celestial hitmen to correct the problems of the Spirit World.


(Later opening for YYH TV show)

TV Show

Let's start with the 4-seasons and 112 episodes of awesomeness that stole my heart.

You may be asking why, in the midst of all these things which are almost entirely comical, is a fighting anime here? To be fair that's not entirely surprising because it's actually drenched in witty, comical quips that move smart and fast. Laughs come almost as often as the punches, in fact. The dialogue is especially charming because the dub is outstanding and outside of Ranma I don't think I've ever seen such a perfect adaption applied. The dub director/producer Justin Cook took special care of this anime to the point that he dubbed over the parts of Yusuke himself and to SEE him is nothing special, but to hear him as Yusuke after watching the fansubs so long is nothing short of amazing. To say nothing of the rest of the cast, the inflection and tone of each and EVERY character in the show is absolutely perfect.

I would have this dub's baby. I might even have Justin Cook's baby. Maybe. If he bought me dinner first.


(A taste of the first episode showing Yusuke's last heroic act that set him on the path to punch monsters)

If you didn't catch it on adult swim, I can't strongly recommend this enough. As classic fighting anime series go, this is absolutely essential to any worthwhile collection. The TV show focuses on the canon within the manga pretty well, including a lot the unncessary details about sexual preferences (apparently a lot of Demons are gay and then there's a She-male as well), but sidesteps the flowering man-on-man romance that Hiei & Kurama dance around without "addressing" it directly.

Despite any differences from the manga, the series stands strong and has a significant international following worldwide. Watch the show and you'll understand. It was picked up by and has since been in the hands of USA distributor Funimation and since they've finished the series you can find it reasonably priced in seasonal chunks of boxed sets to this day. I personally, sold off all my individual discs and picked up the sets for $20 apiece at Fry's Electronics.




Yu Yu Hakusho: The Movie

And here's the downside... The first movie was pretty bad. I should have built up some tension, but I have to come out and say it now because the balance of humor and action change dramatically and it's simply way too sugary.

The story is simple enough. Koenma takes a trip to the beach and gets kidnapped by a big demon that demands his magical seal in exchange for Koenma's life. Yusuke and Co. are sent out to kick his ass with a less than satisfying conclusion that doesn't affect the canon of the TV show or manga in any way.

Animeworks/Media Blasters got ahold of it and the dub is... alright. That's the best I can give it. Animeworks clearly thought the same thing as the movie is part of a double feature that includes the movie for a lesser-known fighting anime called Ninku. It's actually better than the YYH movie, but not by much.

Don't beat yourself up to find this film, it's pretty disappointing, but it's an amusing treat for fans of the series wanting more. Just don't expect much.

I believe it's still available as Media Blasters has cleverly survived in the depression thanks to extremely little expansion and getting the distribution rights to Invader Zim.



(See what I mean? Evanescence is apparently required anime music or something for AMV people. Anyway, the Video is a highlight reel for the Poltergeist report film showing a healthy chunk of the action.)

Yu Yu Hakusho: Poltergeist Report

YYH comes back with a bigger budget and badass group of demons meant to reflect abilities and characteristics of our heroes that intends to change the real estate market for Earth indefinitely. Or rather to make hell on earth. Or something.

For a show like YYH to submit to the thrills of a shallow, fast-paced fight jerkoff is a littel offensive, but man is it pretty. It's the polar opposite of the last film heading in the opposite direction taking ALL the fun out of the franchise and replacing with asses being kicked and stuff exploding.

I got a taste of a raw copy of this at a convention, but the whole movie was MST3k'd by a bunch of drunk nerds who absolutely loved Kuwabara. As soon as CPM got ahold of the rights I snatched this thing up ASAP and to this day I can honestly say that I am not disappointed in the least.

Well, there IS the dub. The dub is bad, but the movie is just another dumb "whiz-bang" action flick anyway without all the charm or marginal intelligence that made the show so fun and addicting, so it doesn't hurt it. It certainly doesn't help, but it doesn't hurt. So yeah, I'll admit to enduring this dub frequently more often than the sub.

If you're interested in finding it, and I can't blame you if you are, you are probably out of luck since CPM went under and this title was one of the many in their library to fall with them. Unless Funimation and Justin Cook jumped on this thing too, I wouldn't worry too much and see if you can find it on the secondary market.

OAVs

Apparently, there's some post-TV show OAVs floating around out there. They haven't made it ashore yet, but my vague understanding is that they are primarily review montages that cover the series as a whole while treating fans to a post-TV look at the results. My suspicion is that it's mostly Keiko & Yusuke just after they get "extra busy" as he bores her with pillow talk of his old adventures as a spirit detective and tries to justify why he's jobless and they have to live in Kuwabara's attic.

"I could have been king of Demon World!", Yusuke cries.

But then, I don't know because I haven't seen it. If I do catch them I'll update this so I sound less like an ignorant jackass on the matter of the OAVs.

Overall, Yu Yu Hakusho is a rare gem that combines the fun and humor of the original Dragonball with the knock-down, drag-out, balls-to-the-wall fighting of Dragonball Z. Even its fluff moments are fun to watch between the battles making it unique. It has a great start that flow explosively to a clear and satisfying end, not a lot of anime can brag the same AND have as many awesome fights leading up to the end.

On a personal note, my interest in stuff where the creatures of darkness mingle with contemporary society is extreme. Stuff like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural, Angel, Brimstone and Dresden Files all fascinate me immensely and YYH is no exception. Granted, the application of the supernatural to YYH is slippery at best because Yusuke's powers of detection suck and most of the conflict in YYH is resolved with long fight sequences and bloodsport-ish tournaments. So yeah, basically if something stands in Yusuke's way he'll punch the living piss out of it and then blast it with the Spirit Gun (which I should note is a pun of sorts because the Japanese word for spirit is "Rei" and he calls it his "Rei-Gun", as in his RAY GUN).


Give it a shot. Definitely watch the dubbed version for a treat and otherwise enjoy the hell out of this masterpiece of ass-whuppin' that is Yu Yu Hakusho.