Let's Talk About... Yu Yu Hakusho

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

95. Yusuke's Destiny

I like this episode for its calm, mellowed-out tone as everyone has been adjusting back to their normal lives. That is, everyone except for Yusuke. For one thing, Koenma is still hiding out from his father, now being considered a rogue from Spirit World, and Yusuke has to keep an eye out for anyone trying to assassinate him. But beyond that, we can see that Yusuke has grown so accustomed to fighting strong opponents, and when combined with the discovery of his true heritage, he is having trouble adjusting back to any state of "normalcy" whatsoever.


96. Three Strangers, Three Kings

This episode is another interesting one, despite being all set-up. For one thing, it's fascinating to meet the original Spirit Detective, and it's a good experience for Yusuke to talk with her and see that she was able to settle down to her own style of life after retiring. Genkai probably sent him there to show him that he could adjust to a peaceful life even after all he had been through, but neither her nor Yusuke were prepared for being visited directly by men of his own ancestor's order. Now they have offered Yusuke an intriguing proposition to return to Demon World and inherit his ancestor's role as one of the Three Kings.

You know, for as unfortunately rushed and lopsided as this arc turns out to be, I always felt that it had a great set-up with the potential to surpass even the Chapter Black arc in terms of quality. While it ultimately doesn't quite capitalize on that, the great character development and moments are what make it still hold up well enough, despite some glaring flaws.

[Spark Of Spirit]

The anime staff has to be praised how they saved the arc from itself. In the manga it was obviously building to something that abruptly got cut off for an epilogue out of nowhere that might be the worst written (and drawn) material Togashi has ever done. In the anime, they were well aware of how the arc ended up, so they changed it slightly by altering little things and fleshing others out so that you can feel it's the last arc all the way through, and when the epilogue comes it's actually a really good transition that ties together the themes from the previous arcs as well as the first episode. It's still not a perfect arc, but it is now quite enjoyable compared to what it could have been.

[Avaitor]

Yeah, I can see where you're coming from. I'm still not very well-versed with the manga, but from what I can tell, this is an improvement from that, even though it's still not perfect.

I'll try to have more to say tonight.

[Avaitor]

The set up for Yuuske's return to the Demon World is pretty good. Considering how important his relationships with Keiko and Kuwabara are, it's fair that he gets plenty of time to say goodbye to them, and they're both strong enough to warrant such a reaction.

And then this set of episodes ends with Yusuke's father. This is going to get interesting.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

As per usual, I'm behind on my write-ups from last week and this week, which I'll get to eventually, but I'm not behind on my viewings, and this week's pair of episodes are a great character-piece for Hiei. These are especially rewarding to see for a Hiei fan, as you finally get full insight into his backstory, and it does not disappoint.

[Avaitor]

Not a bad way to hit 100 episodes, and the final stretch. A new intro, and a great pair of origin episodes for Hiei.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

97. Departing Living World

Yusuke making the decision to accept Raizen's offer and involve himself with the Demon World conflict may seem selfish, but we can see that he actually put a lot of weight behind that decision. Him proposing to Keiko is a really cute scene, and it does feel like he just wants to close out his character arc for good at this point, so that he can move on with his life. In fact, being able to move on from the past seems to be the general theme of this arc.


98. Return to Demon World

Not too much to add here other than how much I like the slice-of-life elements of these episodes. While I would have loved to see Kuwabara involved in the final arc, it does make sense that Kuwabara would not be involved in this conflict which doesn't concern him. And his character arc is already complete, so taking his sister's advice to study and focus on his life is what best fits his character. He's already moving on with his life, and I love how Togashi subverts the typical delinquent stereotype, here.


99. Haunted by the Past

This is about the time when you can tell that this arc was being rushed to its conclusion, and that Togashi was just ready to be done with writing this series. Since he lost his motivation by this point, most good things to say from now until the end will have to go to the production staff behind the series rather than Togashi himself. Anyways, I do find Hiei's past to be fascinating, despite being an obvious retcon. I'm not too happy about having a roughly six-month time-skip out of nowhere, though.


100. The Secret of the Jagan

Having a vendetta and being denied revenge in some way is once again a great subversion of a common shonen trope. In this case I give the anime staff the credit for fleshing it out (though, Togashi does it even better with Kurapika's character arc in HXH). I also like how Hiei realizes that it was really finding Yukina that filled the void of emptiness which he felt, as opposed to finding his lost birthright. And Mukuro saving Hiei's life by healing him after his fight with Shigure, and revealing that she has experienced similar pain is a great set-up for their dual/parallel character-arcs....which unfortunately is never fulfilled because of how rushed this arc is, but it does show us that the potential was always there. I also like Hiei's backstory with Shigure, giving us a lot of insight into his character, but like before, it's inconsistent with how he's portrayed in his earlier appearances in the series, making it clear that this wasn't planned from beforehand. Overall, though, it's a strong episode.

And now I'm finally caught back up, and we're finally past the 100-episode mark! Despite being the weakest arc in the series, there's still more good stuff to come in these final few weeks, so stay tuned!

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Hey guys, I'm on time for a change!

101. Reunion of the Bandits

We follow up Hiei from last week with Kurama's side of the story. Despite coming out of seemingly nowhere, I really like his backstory with Yomi, and how Yomi used to be his righthand man, but now their roles have reversed. What's particularly poetic is how everything that Yomi uses to make Kurama submit to his side are ironically thanks to Kurama trying to have him killed hundreds of years ago back when he was Yoko Kurama. On top of that I love how the theme of his kingdom is progression, order, and politics. It's represented as a very high-tech society and he even has a counsel. This is in stark contrast to the chaotic nature of Mukuro's rule, or the traditional ways of Raizen's monarchy, and of course Yusuke, Hiei, and Kurama are all perfect fits for who they chose to back. This is what I mean when I say that this arc has brilliant concepts, but unfortunately never carries them out past their initial set-up.


102. Torn Between Identities

This time Kurama puts his skills to use through some straight-up Game of Thrones-style plotting. I like how he manages to use Sachi's own minion against him, and how he actually does give him the chance to live, as is within character for him, but ruthlessly takes Sachi out without a second thought when he still tries to oppose him. This is why I love Kurama as a character so much. He is as cold and calculating as he is genuinely kind, and this is why you do not ever want to fuck with him and end up on his bad side. On top of that, it was also a treat to see some of the supporting characters from the Dark Tournament arc make their return, here.

Overall, this was yet another strong set of episodes despite being part of the weakest arc in the series. Now that we've gotten time to spend with Hiei and Kurama, next week will be Yusuke's turn.

[Avaitor]

This week's episodes were also pretty good. We get more info about Yusuke's origin, and also set up for the final tournament, with a welcome reunion between Yusuke and some favorite Dark Tournament members.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

It must be stressed that, despite the exposition and rushed nature of these episodes, it's still surprisingly engaging stuff in the anime. Perhaps below this show's usual standards, but easily better than most other shonen by an average show's standards.

[Avaitor]

Yeah, the pacing has been a little off in the past few episodes. I haven't especially disliked anything yet, though.

[Avaitor]

I'm watching this week's episodes, and while they're entertaining enough, I think the difference between the Dark Tournament and this arc is that DT took time to make many of the characters Team Urameshi fought against worth caring about in their own rights. There was plenty of love for character, which kept the episodes fresh, and justifies why some of these opponents come back to help Yusuke out here. That isn't really present with these episodes, as even the attempt at a story in the second episode doesn't do much.

I do like how Koenma dressed up as Tuxedo Mask, though.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Togashi was in fact dating Naoko Takeuchi during YYH's run, so the references to Sailor Moon in the manga and anime are not surprising. They even come off as rather cute, in a way. Though, I do wonder if Sailor Moon had any YYH references.

Anyways, I'm behind again as ususal, but the good news is that I got a big bulk load of work off of my shoulders now, so I'll get to be more on-time with the rest of these.

[Avaitor]

Togashi was in fact dating Naoko Takeuchi during YYH's run, so the references to Sailor Moon in the manga and anime are not surprising. They even come off as rather cute, in a way. Though, I do wonder if Sailor Moon had any YYH references.

Oh yeah, I forgot if they were together at this point or not, but it definitely makes sense that they were.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

103. Inheritance

I like how this episode delves a bit into the history of demons in general, and highlights how Raizen discovered the beauty of humanity. I also like how politics come into play here as Raizen instructs Yusuke to side with Mukuro once he dies, since her traditional segregation from humans will at least keep them safe. Lots of interesting concepts are here. It's just a shame that they didn't have more time to develop and be fully realized.


104. Every Demon For Himself

This is where the arc starts going downhill for me. It was rushed before, but still conceptually intriguing. Yusuke suggesting a tournament to decide the next ruler of Demon World is nonsensical and stupid, and kills the clever political theme that this arc had going for it.


105. The Preliminaries

This is a pretty boring episode, doing nothing more than living up to its title. It just showcases some early fights. And....that's it.


106. The Battle of Father and Son

This is an episode that could have been great if we actually saw some development between Yomi and Shura's relationship beforehand. This is where the rushed nature of this arc really hurts it. We have no investment in this match because we barely know one character and only just met the other.

Overall, those weren't terrible episodes by any means, but painfully below average by this show's standards. Thankfully, there are still better episodes to come, and tonight's episodes should at least be a bit more entertaining, but it really is plain to see that Togashi just gave up by the second half of the Three Kings arc, to the point where even the anime staff could barely salvage it.