Let's Talk About... Yu Yu Hakusho

[talonmalon333]

You know how the characters talk about how they'll miss Hanging Neck Island and how they actually got used to this life style? I think I tend to feel the same way watching it. I like that island as a setting, and over the course of forty episodes, I do think you really get comfortable it and the stadium itself as a main setting. Feels weird knowing they'll be heading back to Yusuke's town soon.

But, of course, the Spirit Detective's job ain't done yet, is it?

[Spark Of Spirit]

So this week we deal with the epilogue as out main heroes bid farewell to each other and get on with their lives. That's Yu Yu Hakusho, folks! Hope you had a good time!

...

But in all seriousness, this episode shows that not only is Yusuke the strongest human being around, he's teetering dangerously close to becoming what Toguro was. Looking forward to bullying other kids (Kuwabara's nursing home comment was dead on) and gloating about how bored he is while being so strong, our hero is not flying right. So while he adjusts to his old life, while still acting superior to it, something happens. Yusuke never returns from his fight with those punks and Puu informs Botan and Kuwabara that something is wrong.

That's right, Yusuke has been kidnapped.



The toughest teenager in the world was beaten without even throwing a single punch. And now it's up to the rest of Team Uremeshi to rescue him.

Or is it?

See, Kurama is game, but Hiei? Hiei is not so eager to join in despite his curiosity. After finally convincing him to join them in finding Yusuke, we learn a little bit more about these strange teenagers. Whatever they are, they're not normal. They're not super strong like those in the Dark Tournament were, but they're just as dangerous. Maybe even more so. And strength alone will not be enough to help our heroes out here.

We begin with a cat and mouse game in some strange old house called the "House of Five Dimensions"  . . .



Now this is a strong open to the next arc. Lots of mystery, like wondering who that guy was meeting the nearly destroyed Elder Toguro at the scene of the Dark Tournament, and what these kids want with Yusuke. And a brand new power system is introduced that pretty much makes the strength of our heroes more of a tool in their own arsenal instead of a clear advantage like it would be in other shonen anime.

Buckle yourselves in, kids. You're in for a ride.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Fun fact; the chapter that begins this arc was the very first YYH chapter I ever read (and I think I read it before I ever watched the anime to boot, iirc).

I've always loved the way this arc opens. Most shonen series would follow it up just by introducing antagonists whose weakest members are somehow even stronger than the last villain, which ultimately leads to ridiculous levels of power escalation and extremely repetitive beat-em up brawls. But YYH not only doesn't introduce any new demons stronger than Toguro, but instead has the new villains be humans, far weaker than Toguro in terms of combat strength, but still incredibly deadly and dangerous to the protagonists because of their abilities and how they use them. And Togashi demonstrates this by having Yusuke, who's coming off Toguro thinking he's beaten the best of the best and nothing else can faze, utterly lose to three teens his age before he can even begin to fight, requiring the rest of the gang, who by all accounts are weaker than him in terms of strength, to try and rescue him. It's such a brilliant hook and way to begin a new arc, and an angle I haven't seen many shonen, old or new, ever do. I might very well say these two and the next compose my favorite section of the arc as a whole, but of course we've only just started and it's been a while since I've been through this so we'll see how I feel by the end. I will say though that next week's episodes will include my all time favorite from the series, and one of my all time favorite episodes from any anime ever, and I'm really looking forward to revisiting and discussing that.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Special attention is made in these episodes that Team Uremeshi completely outclass these kids. You see it in their first encounter when Yusuke downs one of them with a single punch.

What Togashi does is especially clever here, because he doesn't make the opponents stronger to raise the threat which was common in Jump series at the time before finally reaching and fracturing its head on the ceiling with Bleach. Instead he makes the opponents different. He changes the rules. Heck, Team Uremeshi's first opponent is a bookworm nerd who never throws a single punch... and he's by far the biggest threat they've come across so far.

And we've still got a ways to go, and much to see.

[Avaitor]

This really is cool stuff, a great way to start this side-arc off.

[gunswordfist]

Jeez, I thought y'all were through with this show.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

It' great to see you in on one of these discussions again, CX.

Anyways, it's no secret that this is my all-time favorite battle-shonen arc in anime. And man, right from the start, it NEVER ceases to amaze me.

I've always loved the way this arc opens. Most shonen series would follow it up just by introducing antagonists whose weakest members are somehow even stronger than the last villain, which ultimately leads to ridiculous levels of power escalation and extremely repetitive beat-em up brawls. But YYH not only doesn't introduce any new demons stronger than Toguro, but instead has the new villains be humans, far weaker than Toguro in terms of combat strength, but still incredibly deadly and dangerous to the protagonists because of their abilities and how they use them. And Togashi demonstrates this by having Yusuke, who's coming off Toguro thinking he's beaten the best of the best and nothing else can faze, utterly lose to three teens his age before he can even begin to fight, requiring the rest of the gang, who by all accounts are weaker than him in terms of strength, to try and rescue him. It's such a brilliant hook and way to begin a new arc, and an angle I haven't seen many shonen, old or new, ever do.

To further add to that point, let's not forget that this entire arc is filled with villains that are SIGNIFICANTLY weaker than any members of Team Urameshi, excluding Sensui himself (though except for his Shinobu persona, he is actually weaker than Yusuke, by his own admission). Togashi effectively takes an expected genre convention and throws it right out the window from the very beginning.

Yusuke and company are already facing a threat much greater than Toguro....and yet their enemies aren't really even fighters. So how are they so dangerous? Because they are smarter than Team Urameshi. They have a plan, strong leadership, superior team coordination, and a unique set of abilities put to clever use. They level the playing field by essentially changing the game. Yusuke may be more powerful than everyone else combined, yet brute force is rendered completely irrelevant among these sorts of opponents.

In fact, you can even test this sentiment. See just how many episodes go by before an actual traditional brawl/fist-fight breaks out. There aren't any to be found here, and certainly not in the next set of episodes, or the set after that, or for the entire first third of this arc.

The fact that so many casual fans dismiss this arc as boring and the downturn in quality of this series simply just boggles my mind. This arc is genius. This arc is brilliant. This arc is a masterpiece.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Also, I gotta say I like the usage of colors in this arc, especially so far. The sunset tint and the illumination of the House of Five Dimensions really makes it look otherworldly. As if they're entering a whole new creepy world.

[talonmalon333]

I love Chapter Black.

I always felt like the first episode of this week, despite being portrayed as a single day, probably takes place over a series of weeks (whatever the gap is between the Dark Tournament and Chapter Black). I think they even call the episode "Return to Living World". This episode makes it really feel like they only just left Hanging Neck Island a few days ago, with Yusuke saying things about how he's wanted to do nothing but watch television since returning home, and just how dull things are. Then you have Kuwabara thinking about Yukina, and Botan flat out saying "Apparitions are too tired to cause trouble". However, a few episodes later...

Spoiler

They firmly state that it's been weeks (maybe even months) since the tournament.

[close]

So, I think this episode doesn't necessarily portray a single day, and is more like a "summary" of their lives since returning home, catching us up on what they've been up to before Yusuke's next case starts at the end of the episode.

[talonmalon333]

Something that always sticks out to me in the second episode of this week is that, after Hiei falls out of that tree and is complaining, you can hear a dog barking in the background. I don't know why, but I've always remembered that moment. It just feels like a nice touch of reality.

But anyway, great episodes to start this arc. It's nice getting reacquainted with the school because, as I was getting at before, it's really been a long time. The last time we saw it was probably episode 25 or 26. We're now on episode 67, I think. That's a huge amount of time passed. I like that they are back home, though.

Also, I gotta say I like the usage of colors in this arc, especially so far. The sunset tint and the illumination of the House of Five Dimensions really makes it look otherworldly. As if they're entering a whole new creepy world.

I also love the design of the house. It fits that feel.

Also, I just want to say that I love the updated soundtrack the series uses from this point onward. Pretty much all of the background tracks the series always used are still there, but now there are new ones. Some are so eerie and fit so well with the atmosphere of this story arc.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

67. Return to Living World

First off, I really love the new animation for the opening theme. This is my personal favorite version of it. I also love (as Spark already mentioned) how the color scheme of this arc has changed to show a lot of darker colors in the background, setting an ominous tone for this story-line, and subtly letting you know that you're in for something completely different.

The theme of this first episode starting the new arc is great. While we get a brief glimpse of the new villain, the episode is really about Yusuke and starting his new character arc. Before it was about taking his responsibility more seriously and learning to fight with all of his heart and energy. But now we see that the aftermath of achieving this power has given him an odd sort of superiority complex, in that he feels that there is nothing left to challenge him.

And that's where the brilliance of this arc kicks in. It'd be SO easy to just introduce a stronger villain from the get-go, and most shonen would do that. Not Togashi, though. He throws us all a curve ball and introduces opponents who are physically and spiritually far weaker than Yusuke, but possess unique new abilities, not related to spirit energy, which ultimately render raw power completely useless. Territories are clearly a prototype for Nen, and just the concept alone is incredibly interesting. It basically presents you with all of Yusuke's power, and says: So what? There are plenty of situations in which raw power solves nothing, and it's hardly the only way to fight.

Additionally, this episode very cleverly sets up two other things. One is how Kuwabara is unable to tap into his spirit energy, giving us a hint that his powers will be important later on by taking the time to note the lack of them in the first place. The second is the demonic insect that Kurama spots, similar to those which were used by the Saint Beasts, which both hints at the expanding breech between the human world and the demon world, as well as to Doctor, who has control over these insects.


68. Setting the Trap

This episode is essentially the rest of the group coming together to save Yusuke. Everyone else already touched on how this is yet another ingenious way to bend a tired genre trope. I mostly like this episode for its great use of humor, though, and bringing us into The House of Four Dimensions, which leads to an interesting set of episodes that really effectively changes the game for this arc.

Hell, the second half of this episode clearly spells out the message with violence being rendered obsolete in this scenario, and clever wit being the only possible way to solve the problem and progress. Once again, while rehashing the plot of an earlier arc would have been easy enough, Togashi gave us something completely different from before, but made it so well-written and engaging in order to keep you hooked.

I must emphasize this point: The people claiming that this series went downhill after the Dark Tournament arc are fucking idiots. They just want the shonen equivalent of a Michael Bay movie. They completely miss the point of what makes YYH such a great series to begin with.

[talonmalon333]

I really like the tone of the House of Four Dimensions episodes. Like, it's dark in the literal sense, in that its has dark colors. But in terms of stakes, it's far from the most extreme thing we've seen. I mean, kidnapping Yusuke is bad, but we don't see any indications of widespread damage. The mission is, in a sense, light.

Spoiler

This is heightened when we realize that it was all a test Genkai set up, and we realize that they were never in any harm. Had they failed, Genkai probably would have just slapped them all silly and then explained their faults.

[close]

But, in the midst of this, we just get these tiny signs of something more foreboding (demon insects, etc.). Distant, but sinister.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Episode 69 is probably one of the best in the series. The following episode is good set-up for the rest of the arc.

[talonmalon333]

I also adore episode 71. So much atmosphere in that one. But that's not until next week.

[Avaitor]

This is another pretty great set of episodes. I do think that if you mostly like YYH for its action sequences, you might be disappointed here, but bah! The first episode is a smartly-paced game of wits, which is as exciting as any fight in my eyes. The second, meanwhile, has its own clever moments as Yusuke does his best to figure out which of the 4 are imposters, resulting in great character moments for everybody.

It all results into a further revelation that there is more going on than appears. And things only get more interesting from here.