Let's Talk About... Yu Yu Hakusho

[Spark Of Spirit]

I do recommend fans of the anime at the very least read the early volumes of the manga. It's a lot of great content you won't get in the anime and it does help flesh out the world a bit more.

[Avaitor]

Yeah, I've been meaning to for a while, but it's a little harder to find the manga nowadays in comparison to other successful series. I'll see what I can do before next week.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I always liked the idea of Takanaka as a sort of surrogate father-figure for Yusuke, and was a bit disappointed he just disappeared from the show after the Saint Beast arc.

The first episode is among my favorite first episodes for a shonen anime, alongside the first episodes of Dragon Ball and Detective Conan. The premise is just great, as is the way we transition from seeing a snapshot of Yusuke's life and his character, to him getting a wake-up call that, despite what he might have thought, he really did matter to a lot of people and a life he could have made something out of, and he should take the opportunity to get a second chance at living it. As a character Yusuke makes a really great first impression right off the bat, helped of course by Cook's great performance. I've always liked how one of the first things he asks  Botan is how the kid is doing and gets a smile when she asks him if he wants to visit him. Though his exterior is punk-ish, his actions show that he really is a good person at heart, and it's an appealing combination. The funeral scene is also just great, with Kuwabara's hysterics over Yusuke's death, Takanaka reprimanding the asshole teachers, lamenting his death in front of his wake, and comforting his mother, and then the bit with the kid coming to thank Yusuke and later asking his mother if he can get to play with him later on not having really processed what happened, all of it really works to make a powerful, really memorable scene that caps the episode off on a strong note. This is honestly one of the best single episodes in the entire show, and the best first episode of any battle shonen anime I know of as well.

The second episode has always come off to me as more of a premise-expanding episode, in which all the rules and the finer details of the immediate plot are established. It does it's job well, and establishes a lot of good things that come into play later on. It's a transitional episode, and not much in it has ever really stood out to me as greatly entertaining or memorable. I will say I always liked Keiko, the connection she has with Yusuke, and how they compliment each other, and I like the seeing part of that here. I also really like the scene with her parents as well. 

I'm pretty sure Togashi didn't originally envision he would turn the series into a battle manga. Of course, it did end up becoming one for whatever reason, but most of what happened during the series' gag-manga phase didn't really translate over into that. The anime likely cut out most of those stories and moved quickly through that part of the series because they weren't really relevant to what it became later on, and likely because that part of the series was not all that popular to begin with (though I've always liked it myself). I'm glad they kept one particular story in the anime, though, which we'll be talking about next week.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Yeah, I've been meaning to for a while, but it's a little harder to find the manga nowadays in comparison to other successful series. I'll see what I can do before next week.

Digital copies are available to purchase for $7 a volume from Viz's website. Ditto for physical copies via Rightstuf.

Spoiler

And if money's tight, it's not hard to find it using other means. 

[close]

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I also liked the beginning of the manga, which was more of a comedy interspersed with some great dramatic moments. The concept of Yusuke possessing another body like he did in episode 2, for example, was done much better in an un-animated chapter where he gets stuck in a kid's body and doesn't get released until he helps him overcome his bullies. What's great is that, although Yusuke can beat them easily, he doesn't get released until the kid learns to fight for himself. It was a really fun short story that I kind of would've liked to see animated, but I understand why it wasn't.

One does have to wonder how different the series would've been if Togashi stuck to his original vision as opposed to making it a battle shonen (albeit a great one) in order to boost its popularity and save it from cancellation. Based on early YYH and Level E, he is surprisingly good with comedy, IMO. If he ever does finish HXH, I wouldn't mind seeing him pursue another comedy with his next work. Either that or a horror manga, which I know that he's always wanted to do (there are certain parts of YYH, Level E, and HXH that even allude to that).

Anyways, next week we'll be watching one of my favorite Kuwabara episodes.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Togashi's early one-shots were all comedy-focused, so I think he was interested in doing gag-manga (with horror-themed elements) early on, but later found his groove in writing more serious action-oriented fare. Personally, I really want to see him do a horror anthology series after HXH finishes, since that seems like something he would really excel at.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Oh yeah, fun fact about the English Dub:

Justin Cook himself was actually responsible for voice-casting in this show. He made sure that he understood the show, so he watched it and read translated scripts beforehand. Originally he was never going to voice-act in the show outside of some extras, but another FUNi staff member convinced him. Originally he wanted to voice Hiei, but ended up casting himself as Yusuke since everyone seemed to agree that his voice was just a better fit for the character. That said, while it takes a few episodes for the other characters to nail down their roles, you can thank Justin Cook for not only holding the early episodes of the dub together with his performance as Yusuke, but also for casting the perfect voices for all of the other main characters in the show, even if it might not seem that way at first.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, I'd be totally down for reading a horror anthology by Togashi. More so than another battle shonen.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm not sure if this is relevant to anyone, but seeing as how GSF was looking for a legal way to watch the series, I found that the DVD sets are available on Amazon for about $15 a piece. All four 28-episode sets together would be a little over $60 in total, which is a pretty good price for a 112-episode series. I can't seem to find any better deals than that, but if those who don't already own the DVDs find that affordable enough, then that's a pretty viable option.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm assuming that Mondays are going to be the discussion days, so even though I watch these episodes on Sundays for convenience sake, I won't post about them until Avaitor does on Monday evening in order to keep the schedule consistent.

That said, both of these are strong episodes, IMO, but in particular I have some interesting things to say about episode 4, so tomorrow night should be fun.

[Avaitor]

Yes, tomorrow is my scheduled time.

I was actually going to make a post to remind you guys about it, but I'm glad you did it for me lol. I'm actually watching them now, before TCM's Disney block, to make sure I can get my post in time tomorrow.

[Avaitor]

I remember talking about "Kuwabara: A Promise Between Men" way back on tv.com, and Foggle referred to it as a porno title. I'll never forget that, even if it isn't really relevant here.

This is a great follow-up to the previous 2 episodes though, and helps to expand on Kuwabara's character. There have been notes made previously that he has a bit of an honor code to him, and this goes to show that despite his brutish exterior, Kuwabara really is a caring, loyal person.

He makes a good stride to stand by Okubo and deals with sacrifice to make sure that his job is safe, which includes getting the piss beat out of him. The fact that Kuwabara will still stand by and allow the kids from the other school to beat him repeatedly shows just how dedicated he is, and helps to establish the character as more than just a one-note antagonist to Yusuke. Even the beginning, when he came to the rescue of Keiko, was a good indicator. While Kuwabara makes note of this being an apology for his extended hug in the previous episode, I think that he'd be willing to defend any girl who was being bullied by bigger guys like that, simply for the reason that it's not right. Not a bad guy. He may not be the brightest guy, but this episode helps to make Kuwabara become more of a likable character than the pilot indicates.

But man, Akashi and Iwamoto are assholes. Trying to make Kuwabara and his friends learn a lesson for their frequent displays of violence is one thing, but everything else, yeesh. They were seen in the premiere to be mocking Yusuke at his wake, which is already a shitty thing to do, but continue to laugh at his death beyond. Assholes. But this episode does a good job of showing how Takanaka differs from his teachers, as while he may be a little harsh to Yusuke and Kuwabara, he does so to keep them along, not to make their lives hell. He's not getting the kids from the other school to beat Kuwabara up, or literally change answers behind their backs. Takanaka does a good job of scaring Akashi straight at the end, as any good authority figure should.

The lesser characters still need some work in the vocal department, but Sabat seems to be finding himself a little as Kuwabara here. Certain inflections still feel a little off, a little forced, but he finds a certain sincerity to the character that makes him sound a little pleasant. The voice is going to need a little more time to find itself, but so far Sabat is doing his best to find the best rough guy voice he can, with enough vulnerability to make him work.

Also, at the time I first saw this episode, I didn't know that the US was one of the few countries that has a 50% count as failing, so I was kind of surprised that Akashi wanted everyone to at least hit that score. Why bother for a slightly higher F when you can at least make them aim for a C? But now that I'm aware that most of the rest of the world considers 50 to be an average range, it makes a little more sense. Also, Yusuke's response to Kuwabara's previous score of a 7 cracked me up more than anything in the episode. Dumbass.



But truthfully, I want to wait for EK's word on "Requirement for Lovers" before I delve into it. Or whoever's willing to go first. It's a fine episode, but not exactly a perfect one in my eyes. I'll come back to it soon, though.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I was going to reference that Foggle post, myself.

That bit....still makes no sense to me, but it got me to chuckle.

03. Kuwabara: A Promise Between Men

This has always been a personal favorite for me as far as Kuwabara-heavy episodes go, as well as the early episodes in general. I think that, while we get hints of what makes Kuwabara such a great person in the first episode, this is the episode that really begins to explore that aspect of his, and essentially helps to begin his character arc throughout the series. He is a delinquent, yes, but we learn that looks can truly be deceiving when we see just how honorable of a person Kuwabara is when compared to other more "acceptable" members of society who seem to look down on him.

My one minor criticism in this episode is that the teachers are a bit too over-the-top in their attempts to foil him, and it's really kind of hilarious when Justin Cook adds in the line about inquiring if one of them even has a life beyond trying to torment students.

I think what really makes Kuwabara so likable, though, is that arguably more than just about any other character on this show, he's always thinking about others before himself. No matter how prideful he is or how angry he gets, he always takes other people's well-being into consideration. This, as we will discover later on, even extends to many of his enemies, and it'll become an incredibly important aspect of the Chapter Black arc much later on down the line.

Aside from that, I've already discussed the other reasons for why this episode is such a good one in an earlier entry that I did when I made a list of my top 10 favorite YYH episodes (which you can find on the main YYH thread).

04. Requirement For Lovers

Now, this is one of those few cases in which, while I really love the anime and even prefer it to the manga, I think that this particular part was done a little better in the manga. Of course, I still think that this is a mostly well-done episode, but one thing that has never sat quite right with me is how they handle Sayaka's character. For those who don't know, Sayaka did appear in the manga, but had a very different role. In that story, she was the wandering spirit of a little girl with a very disturbed childhood, and Yusuke has to stop her from stealing the soul of a young boy around her age (which she attempts to do because she wants a playmate). It's an entertaining story that has a bit of comedy, some good touching moments, and draws a lot on Togashi's love of the occult and horror films. In this episode, they use that same character for some reason, but give her the role of a Spirit Investigator, which never even existed in the manga....because why would Yusuke even need one? It was already explained to us that the Egg serves the purpose of determining whether Yusuke is actually worthy of coming back to life, whereas we could already clearly see in the first episode that we had at least three core characters who cherished Yusuke's existence, so Sayaka's relevance for being there is completely non-existant. Furthermore, it felt a bit disjointed in how the first part of the episode was more about the feelings that Yusuke and Keiko had for each other, and then the last third of it became more about Yusuke being willing to make a sacrifice.

That said, I do really love the parts of this episode that work. Despite Keiko kind of being a flat character on her own, I do think that she complements Yusuke well, so I do actually care a bit about their relationship. Furthermore, I love the scene where she dashes in to save his body without fear, and how even Kuwabara comes from half-way across town to help. It's really good foreshadowing for two characters who will be very important emotional connections for Yusuke throughout the series. Some people would point out that Atsuko leaving Yusuke so unattended like that is too irresponsible considering that she almost lost him, but while not necessarily well explored in the series....that is a realistic aspect of her character. While she does clearly mean well, she is very irresponsible at heart, so it makes sense that she'd be off drinking or doing god knows what when she finally gets over her grief of Yusuke thanks to the fact that it looks like he's alive again. It's a subtle nod to the real nature of human beings that Togashi becomes better at exploring in both later arcs of this series and in later works of his in general. That said, I don't quite see it as bad writing, as some people do.

Overall, though, the obvious stand-out moment of this episode was Yusuke giving up his Spirit Egg in order to save Keiko. While some people may call it a cop-out that Koenma gives him another Egg so soon after that incident, I believe that they are missing the point. I believe that Koenma was purposely vague with Yusuke about stuff like that to really test his nature. That isn't to say that he could predict a situation like this occurring, and you could argue that it's a bit too convenient from a plot-perspective, but as a work of fiction such things are only expected from time to time, but what makes this scene great is that it's a strong moment from a thematic point of view. A strong will and selflessness is really what Yusuke needs to show that he's capable of in order to come back, and what  better way to do that than to give up his "supposed" only way of coming back in the first place? This act of his will also effect what actually hatches out of that egg, but that'll be something to discuss for another time, when we get to later episodes.

Overall, though, as Avaitor said, this is not a perfect episode, but I do personally enjoy it for the things that it does get right.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Episode 3 was the episode where Kuwabara's character really took off for me. Before this he was alright, just a lunkheaded rival of Yusuke who was a surprisingly good friend to the troublemaker. But seeing a day in the life of the character (much like we saw for Yusuke in the first episode and Keiko in the next) really helped bring out why he's so likeable. He always looks after his comrades needs above his own, not daring to let them down even an inch.

It's what really makes his clashes with a certain short-stack demon later on funnier since we see how much alike they really are in a lot of ways.

I also really like the ending where he thanks Yusuke for helping him, even though he thinks he's dead at this point. The first inkling that Kuwabara thought of him as a friend this whole time and not just someone to fight.

Episode 4 is a pretty important episode in a lot of ways, but I do agree that it suffers a bit from changes from the manga. Sayaka was just a bystander dead soul like Yusuke in the manga and was scoping out Keiko to see if she was worthy enough for the boy. She also had a bad life the reflects to Yusuke on how bad he didn't really have it. This was the one disadvantage of cutting down on the spirit arc in the anime is that we lose characters like Sayaka to still stuff her into the same general role she had at this point in the manga.

They also had to rush this episode to get to Yusuke's real final challenge in the next episode (and get to the action quicker) which gives the episode an overstuffed feeling with a lot going on.

The animation, especially in the first half, is not all that impressive, either. You can tell they saved it for the ending.

All that aside, this is a great episode. Some might say Atsuko was being irresponsible, and she was. But if you pay attention to the ending, she admits to her mistake and after this point she rides Yusuke hard on doing the right thing. So, she does learn from her mistake after losing her son twice. Keiko also goes beyond the call of duty as Yusuke is not her responsibility, yet she still tries to do right by him and even ends up saving his life (and he in turn saves hers) with Kuwabara helping. Yusuke's self-sacrifice comes out strong here as a reflection of Keiko's own showing how they really do reflect well on each other. The best part of this episode are easily all the characters beginning to come into their own. You really start to hope they make it through.

Also, I think this was the episode where I knew Yusuke was going to be one of my favorite anime characters. He still is.

I also get a kick out of Kuwabara beating up his Yusuke punching bag.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Avaitor: I also used to think that a 50 was a standard failing grade until I later found out from my dad who grew up in India how tests were scored differently over there and a 50 or higher was a passing score.

To be clear, tests are much harder in those countries and typically lack multiple choice, and the whole scoring system is different, so a score of 50 on a Japanese math test would not at all be the equivalent of a 50% on an American math test. That 50 means something completely different than a standard percentage score.

On another note, I agree that Yusuke making fun of Kuwabara's score when he barely did any better himself was hilarious, though the dub line which I referenced earlier is probably my personal favorite comedian line of the episode. In general, I just love Justin Cook's ability to point out various obsurdities throughout the series, which really adds to the appeal of the character. I remember ths Desensitized once put it as Yusuke is awesome because he almost always says what we as the audience are thinking, which is no funny and Maj him every more relatable, and while that only applies to the dub version, it's still fun to see all the same.