Yu Yu Hakusho
Plot
YuYu Hakusho follows Yusuke Urameshi, a street-brawling delinquent who, in an uncharacteristic act of altruism, is hit by a car and killed in an attempt to save a young boy by pushing him out of the way.[1][2][3] His ghost is greeted by Botan, a woman who introduces herself as the pilot of the River Styx, who ferries souls to the "Underworld" where they may be judged for the afterlife. Botan informs Yusuke that his act had caught even the Underworld by surprise and that there was not yet a place made for him in either heaven or hell. Thus Koenma, son of the Underworld's ruler King Enma, offers Yusuke a chance to return to his body through a series of tests.[1][2][3] Yusuke succeeds with the help of his friends Keiko and Kazuma Kuwabara. After returning to life, Koenma grants Yusuke the title of "Underworld Detective", charging him with investigating supernatural activity within the human world. Soon Yusuke is off on his first case, retrieving three treasures stolen from the Underworld by a gang of demons: Hiei, Kurama and Goki.[2] Yusuke collects the three treasures with the aid of his new technique, the "Rei Gun", a shot of aura energy fired mentally from his index finger.[1][3] He then travels to the mountains in search of the aged, female martial artist Genkai. Together with his rival Kazuma Kuwabara, Yusuke fights through a tournament organized by Genkai to find her successor. Yusuke uses the competition as a cover to search for Rando, a demon who steals the techniques of martial arts masters and kills them.[2] Yusuke defeats Rando in the final round of the tournament and trains with Genkai for several months, gaining more mastery over his aura.[1] Yusuke is then sent to Maze Castle in the Underworld where Kuwabara and the newly reformed Kurama and Hiei assist him in defeating the Four Beasts, a quartet of demons attempting to blackmail Koenma into removing the barrier keeping them out of the human world.
Yusuke's next case sends him on a rescue mission, where he meets Toguro, a human turned into the strongest of demons. In order to test his strength, Toguro invites Yusuke to the "Dark Tournament", an event put on by corrupt, rich humans in which teams of demons, and occasionally humans, fight fierce battles for the chance to receive any wish they desire. Team Urameshi, consisting of Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, Hiei and a disguised Genkai, traverse through the strenuous early rounds to face Team Toguro in the finals and win the tournament. They learn that Team Toguro's owner, Sakyo, was attempting to win in order to create a large hole from the human world to the "Demon Plane", a third world occupied solely by countless demons.[1] With his loss, Sakyo destroys the tournament arena, killing himself in the process.
After the tournament, Yusuke returns home, but has little time to rest as he is challenged to a fight by three teenagers possessing superhuman powers and who end up taking the detective hostage. Kuwabara and the others rescue him and learn that the whole scenario was a test put on by Genkai. It is disclosed that Shinobu Sensui, Yusuke's predecessor as Underworld Detective, has recruited six other powerful beings to help him take over where Sakyo left off, opening a hole to the Demon Plane in order to cause genocide of the human race. Yusuke and his friends challenge and defeat Sensui's associates one-by-one, culminating in a final battle between the two detectives. Sensui kills Yusuke then retreats into the newly opened portal to the Demon Plane. Yusuke is reborn as a partial demon, discovering that his ancestor passed down a recessive gene that would hide until an heir with sufficient power surfaced, when his demonic lineage would be revealed.[1] Yusuke travels to the Demon Plane and defeats Sensui with the aid of the spirit of his ancestor who takes control of Yusuke's body to finish the fight.
As they return to the human world, Yusuke is stripped of his detective title as King Enma orders he be captured and executed in fear that Yusuke's demon blood could cause him to go on a rampage in the human world. Yusuke, unsettled at having been controlled by his ancestor Raizen, accepts an offer by Raizen's followers to return to the Demon Plane. Raizen, desiring a successor to his territory, is on the brink of dying of starvation, a death that would topple the delicate political balance of the three ruling powers of the Demon Plane. Hiei and Kurama are summoned by the other two rulers, Mukuro and Yomi, respectively, to prepare for an inevitable war.[1] The three protagonists train in the realm for one year, during which time Raizen dies and Yusuke inherits his territory. Yusuke takes initiative and proposes a fighting tournament to name the true ruler of the Demon Plane, which is agreed upon by Mukuro and Yomi. During the tournament, Yusuke and Yomi meet in the second elimination round where Yusuke is defeated and knocked unconscious. Yusuke awakens days later to find that the tournament has ended and that a similar competition is to be held every so often to determine the Demon Plane's ruler. Yusuke stays in the Demon Plane for a while longer, but eventually returns to the human world to be with Keiko.[1]
[edit] Production
Author Yoshihiro Togashi stated that he began working on YuYu Hakusho during a period of time around November 1990, though he forgot the exact time.[4] As a fan of the occult and horror films, he desired to write and illustrate a manga based on his interests.[5] Togashi had previously published an occult detective fiction manga titled Occult Tanteidan, of which he referenced positive reception from readers as a reason for continuing to create manga.[6] When first producing YuYu Hakusho, he did not have a clear idea of what he wanted to call it. He used the tentative title "How to be a Ghost" whle presenting rough drafts to his editors. Once given the go-ahead to begin publication, Togashi proposed "YuYu-Ki (Poltergeist Chronicles)" for the title, as there would be battles with demons and it would be a play on the title SaiYu-Ki. Because a series with a similar name (Chin-Yu-Ki) had already begun publication, Togashi quickly created an alternative: "YuYu Hakusho (Poltergeist Report)".[7] He commented that he could have used "Den (Legend)" or "Monogatari (Story)", but "Hakusho (Report)" was the first thing that came to his mind.[8] He contiguously developed the names of the main characters by skimming through a dictionary and taking out kanji characters he found appealing. "Yusuke Urameshi" is a pun, "Kazuma Kuwabara" is a combination of two professional baseball players, and "Hiei" and "Kurama" are "just names that popped into [Togashi's] head".[5] When he introduced the latter two characters in volume three, the author had early plans to make Kurama a main character but was not certain about Hiei.[5]
The manga's shift from occult detective fiction to the martial arts genre after Yusuke's death and revival in the early chapters was planned by Togashi from the beginning.[5] The series borrows many elements from Asian folklore, particularly Buddhist beliefs in the afterlife.[2][3] Togashi came up with the concept of the Ningenkai (human world), Reikai (Underworld), and Makai (Demon Plane) as being parallel planes of existence in the YuYu Hakusho universe. He thought of them as places that one could not easily travel between using modern technology, but rather as a spirit lacking a material body.[5] However, the idea for the "territory" powers from the Sensui story arc was parodied from a separate, unnamed work by Yasutaka Tsutsui.[9][10] For his drawing materials, Togashi used drafting ink and Kabura pens throughout the creation of the series. While his style of artwork began with screentone, he gradually developed into minimalism. As the series progressed, he would draw figures and faces very detailed or "cartoony, sketchy and jumping with action" whenever he desired such effects.[5]
During the years he worked on YuYu Hakusho, Togashi would calculate the personal time he had based on a formula of four hours per page without scripting and five hours of sleep per night.[11] He wrote in his own dōjinshi Yoshirin de Pon! that he stopped the production on YuYu Hakusho out of selfishness.[12] The author had originally wanted to end the manga in December 1993, at the climax of the Sensui arc.[9][12] Although there was not a large demand from the editorial staff, Togashi was under a great deal of personal stress at certain points of the series' run, particularly during its final six months of publication. He claimed that, beginning with the Dark Tournament arc, inconsistent sleep resulting from overwork was causing him health problems.[12] He noted himself as being very ill while working on the color pages for Yusuke's match with Chu.[9] There were also many instances where he would create nearly entire manuscripts by himself, such as Yusuke's meeting with Raizen and the battle between Kurama and Karasu.[12] Togashi was relieved at the conclusion of the manga.[9]
[edit] Media
[edit] Manga
The YuYu Hakusho manga series was written and drawn by Togashi and originally serialized by Shueisha in the Japanese magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from December 1990 to July 1994.[13][14] The manga consists of 175 chapters spanning 19 tankōbon (collected volumes) with the first one being released on April 10, 1991 and the last one released on December 12, 1994.[15][16] Between August 4, 2004 and March 4, 2005, Shueisha released the kanzenban (complete) editions of the manga. Each of the 15 kanzenban volumes features a new cover and more chapters than the tankōbon edition.[17][18] YuYu Hakusho has also been published as part of the Shueisha Jump Remix series of magazine-style books. Nine volumes were released between December 22, 2008 and April 27, 2009.[19][20] A bunkobon version began publication on November 18, 2010.[21]
An English translation of the YuYu Hakusho manga was serialized in North America by Viz Media in the American Shonen Jump magazine, where it debuted in its inaugural January 2003 issue and ended in January 2010.[22] Viz released all 19 collected volumes of the English manga between May 13, 2003 and March 2, 2010.[23] A total of 176 chapters exist in this format due to Viz treating the extra non-numbered chapter "YuYu Hakusho Tales: Two Shot" found in volume seven (which tells the story of how Hiei and Kurama first met) as the 64th chapter.[24][25][26] The YuYu Hakusho manga has additionally been licensed and published across Asia and Europe. A French translation from Kana, for example, began publication in 1997.[2]
[edit] Anime
The YuYu Hakusho anime adaptation was directed by Noriyuki Abe and co-produced by Fuji Television, Yomiko Advertising, and Studio Pierrot.[27] The series, consisting of 112 television episodes, aired from October 10, 1992 to January 7, 1995 on Fuji Television in Japan.[28] 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.[29] In early 2001, the series was acquired by Funimation Entertainment for North American distribution as Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files.[30] Funimation's production saw a significant contribution from voice actor Justin Cook, who not only directed the dub but also voiced the protagonist Yusuke.[31][32] The English dubbed episodes aired from February 23, 2002 to April 1, 2006 on Cartoon Network. Initially, the episodes were shown on the channel's Adult Swim programming block from February 2002 to April 2003, and switched to its Toonami programming block.[33][34] Some of the show's original depictions of mature content including violence, sexual humor, and coarse language, as well as some controversial cultural discrepancies were edited out for broadcast.[35][36] YuYu 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.[37] It was also aired uncut as part of the Funimation programming block on Colours TV in 2006 and the Funimation Channel in high-definition in 2011.[38][39] The series was distributed in the United Kingdom by MVM Films and in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment.[40][41] It is currently being aired by the satellite television network Animax across East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and eastern European nations such as Hungary and Romania.[42][43][44][45] YuYu Hakusho was localized in the Philippines as Ghost Fighter and aired on the GMA Network as early as 1999.[46][47]
The four seasons that compose the television series are each their own story arc and are referred to as "sagas" by Funimation. 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.[48][49] 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, with the exception of the Dark Tournament Saga, which was split into two collection boxes.[50][51][52][53][54] 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.[55][56] Each set contains four DVDs which have 28 episodes, or one quarter of the whole series. Funimation began releasing the seasons on Blu-ray Disc on May 31, 2011.[57] 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".[58] In Japan, three separate multidisc DVD box sets were released, as well as 28 DVDs totaling all 112 episodes of the series.[59] Japanese home video distributor Bandai 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.[60]
[edit] Films and original video animations
Two animated films based on YuYu Hakusho have been produced. Both films have original storyline content that is not canonical to the manga. Yu Yu Hakusho: The Movie was released in Japan on July 10, 1993 as part of a seasonal film festival.[61][62] In the movie, the protagonists Yusuke and Kuwabara are on a mission to rescue a kidnapped Koenma from a pair of demons who desire the Golden Seal, a stamp used for finalizing the sentencing of souls in the afterlife.[1] AnimeWorks released an English dubbed version of the half-hour film for VHS in both English-dubbed and subtitled formats on May 5, 1998 and on DVD on January 30, 2001.[63][64] Yu Yu Hakusho the Movie: Poltergeist Report, known in Japan as Yū Yū Hakusho: Meikai Shitō Hen – Honō no Kizuna (幽☆遊☆白書 冥界死闘篇 炎の絆, lit. "Yū Yū Hakusho: Chapter of Underworld's Carnage – Bonds of Fire"), was released in Japanese theaters on April 9, 1994.[62][65] The plot revolves around Yusuke and his friends defending the human world against inhabitants of a fourth plane of existence called the "Netherworld".[1] This full-length feature received its first English dubbed version by Central Park Media, which released it on VHS on March 3, 1998 and on DVD on October 8, 2002.[66][67]
A series of YuYu Hakusho OVAs collectively titled Eizō Hakusho (映像白書, lit. "Image Report") was released in Japan in VHS format between 1994 and 1996.[68][69][70] The OVAs feature very short clips that take place after the end of the series. They also contain video montages from the anime, image songs, voice actor interviews, and satirical animated shorts focusing on the four protagonists.[68][71] The OVAs consist of three volumes as well as an opening and ending encyclopedia. A four-DVD box set containing this series was released in Japan by Pony Canyon on December 15, 2004.[59] Funimation dubbed the OVAs and redubbed the first theatrical film. Both will be released in North America in a DVD bundle on December 13, 2011.[72]
[edit] CDs
The music for the YuYu Hakusho anime adaptation was composed by Yusuke Honma.[27] The series has one opening theme, "Hohoemi no Bakudan" (微笑みの爆弾, lit. "Smile Bomb") by Matsuko 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 Bye Bye" (さよならByeBye, lit. "Goodbye Bye Bye") and "Daydream Generation" also by Mawatari; and "Unbalance na Kiss wo Shite" (アンバランスなKissをして, lit. "Kissing the Unbalanced") and "Taiyō ga Mata Kagayaku Toki" (太陽がまた輝くとき, lit. "The Sun Is Shining Again") by Hiro Takahashi. When Funimation gained rights to the series, English language versions of each of these songs were produced and arranged by musician Carl Finch.[73] The localized opening theme is sung by Sara White and the closing themes are sung by members of the English cast including Stephanie Nadolny, Jerry Jewell, and Meredith McCoy.[31]
A number of audio CDs have been released in Japan. The Yū Yū Hakusho Original Soundtrack was released in two separate volumes by Pony Canyon on January 17, 1997. The discs contain the show's instrumental tracks and some vocal themes.[74][75] Also released on that day is Yū Yū Hakusho: Music Battle, a series of three albums featuring vocal tracks sung by the Japanese voice actors as their corresponding characters.[76][77][78] Compilations of vocal songs including Yū Yū Hakusho Super Covers, Yū Yū Hakusho Super Dance Mix, and Legend of Yū Yū Hakusho: "Sai-Kyou" Best Selection Album were released on December 16, 1995, March 21, 1996, and March 21, 1997 respectively.[79][80][81] Yū Yū Hakusho: Collective Songs and Yū Yū Hakusho: Collective Rare Trax, which contain covers of the theme songs performed by the series' voice actors, were both released on March 17, 1999.[59][82][83] Two drama albums have been released by Shueisha, the first of which has an audio adaptation of the chapter "YuYu Hakusho Tales: Two Shot".[84][85] A CD soundtrack for the second film and a maxi single with the vocal songs of Mawatari and Takahashi have also been published.[86][87]