Let's Talk About... Yu Yu Hakusho

[Avaitor]

These are both decent episodes, but not as good as they could have been. The pacing is all over the place, and kill the promise and momentum that they try to deliver, even with some strong stuff for Kurama in the latter episode.

I can see why the last arc isn't as well regarded.

[Peanutbutter]

Is it wrong that I wish a sequel series or a remake of this came to be?

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm running behind again, but this week we get a decent but very rushed final battle for Hiei, and Yusuke finally starts his fight with Yomi, kicking off the final battle of the series. And next week will be the final two episodes! I'll give my overall thoughts about the series at that point.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I do wish I could have kept up until the end. But I'm still glad this feature was done anyway.

[Avaitor]

I'm sadly just not finding too much to say right now, though. And I watched the episodes!

[Avaitor]

But it really is a shame that these last few episodes barely go above "good" status, if that. There's some important material for the 3 members of the core 4 who are still around, but the pacing is just meh.

I can see the manga be inferior to the anime, but it's sad all around that such a great show may not live up to its best.

[Spark Of Spirit]

The manga was far worse at this point. For a hint at how bad it is, the final episode (which is great) is not in the manga at all.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

While we're on the subject of YYH's rushed ending, here is a translation of an old article of an interview with Togashi in which he clearly explains why he stopped. Working on Yu Yu Hakusho so abruptly: https://www.reddit.com/r/HunterXHunter/comments/2ga6as/togashis_long_written_piece_found_in_the_yyh/

In particular, this piece of information explains it the best:

It saddens me to say this, but I had explored every possible direction for the YYH characters that I could in the context of a professional publication. All I could do at this point was to start deconstructing the characters, or go on repeating the same storylines over and over until the readers got bored. My attempts to deconstruct the characters were, of course, turned down by Jump. I didn't have the strength, physically and mentally, to keep doing the same thing over and over.

So I went ahead and did what I had always wanted to do: "If I ever manage to have a long serialization in Jump, I will end it on my own terms." I knew that Jump dropped a manga after 10 weeks if the readers' surveys proved it to be unpopular, and I knew this when I started working for them. This system proved encouraging for me, and I learned a lot by being aware of readers reactions. But I ended up wanting to draw manga for myself, without thinking about anyone's reactions. I don't believe that anything I came up with on this premise will live up to Jump's standards, so I will not try.

In conclusion: I ended YYH because of my own selfishness. I'm sorry.

Regardless of whether you agree with his mentality or not, it clearly shows Togashi's talent and skill as a writer to understand when his story and characters are at risk of becoming stale, and I for one would have loved to see his deconstruction of the main characters had the editorial staff accepted his pitch.

Unfortunately, they turned it down, and Togashi decided that he'd rather have the series end abruptly (and horribly, in terms of a lack of care and quality), than drag it out for several more years of bland material. I kind of think it's cool that someone would be willing to do that for a successful manga in a weekly serialization as high-selling and hard to get into as Jump Comics. Essentially, Togashi cared less about making money and more about writing a story with characters that he was invested in. However, since he lost interest in the YYH cast as they were, and wasn't given the freedom of creativity to explore them in unique and different ways, he said "fuck it" and basically told the editorial staff to go eat a dick by not even trying anymore. If he's not allowed to write a story with the best of his ability, then he won't even try at all. It's either writing with all of your passion, or not giving two shits. There's no room for half-heartedness, which is how I interpret what he said.

The interview also explains why he is prone to taking so many breaks, and this was long before Hunter X Hunter was ever even conceptualized in his head. Basically, he says that he wants to have a life, and this was before he even had a family, but now that he has a wife and two kids, you can probably understand even more that he doesn't want to devote all of his time to drawing.

While I disagree with his methods of taking long breaks (I mean, he could at least try and publish one chapter a month if he wanted more time for himself and his family), it's honestly kind of bad-ass for him to have been the only mangaka in history to have stood up to the most notoriously ferocious editorial staff for a manga publication magazine in Japan (at the height of its popularity, too!!!! This was during Jump's Golden Age, after all)....and come out the winner of the conflict.

I relly recommend reading that whole statement in the link. It's a very interesting piece to get into Togashi's head.

[Spark Of Spirit]

He could at least move HxH to a monthly magazine. Berserk takes breaks, but the chapters are long when it comes back.

As for the ending, it is strange that Jump never tried to capitalize on the success of the YYH anime and HxH in general by having Togashi redraw the final arc in a way that would satisfy fans and himself. Jump did it (to an extent, I'll admit) with Shaman King and Sunday is currently doing it with Arata. I'm not saying he would do it, (though it would probably be easier than figuring out where HxH is going) just that I'm surprised it was never a thing that came up since YYH is still a popular Golden Age series for them.

Personally, I think he ended the story in the right place. Four arcs is a solid place to end it and I'm not a big fan of deconstruction, so I understand why he did it even if I hate manga Three Kings so very much. Thankfully as we learned in Bakuman and seen in real life with Assasination Classroom, Jump no longer seems to mandate series going on endlessly beyond their expiry date anymore. Bleach, Gintama, Nisekoi, and Toriko, coming to an end within the year all seem to reconfirm it.

I never write fanfiction, I find it too hard to get into another writer's head, but if I ever did I think I would write a final YYH arc that brings everything together from the rest of the story and end it with a big bang. Just something to kick around.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Personally, I think he ended the story in the right place. Four arcs is a solid place to end it and I'm not a big fan of deconstruction, so I understand why he did it even if I hate manga Three Kings so very much.

I believe that you're thinking of deconstruction as just dark, gritty tripe to please pre-adolescent kids who think that anything dark is mature. To be fair, certainly a lot of it falls into that category, but deconstruction can be excellent when handled by a good writer, and Togashi is an excellent writer when he tries. In fact, you've already seen good deconstruction from him before. He does it to some extent in the Chapter Black arc with Sensui, by using him to deconstruct and criticize the idealistic, black-and-white nature of traditional shonen protagonists, and in Sensui's case, not being able to come to terms with how reality truly works mentally shattered his mind. And Hunter X Hunter does an outstanding job of deconstructing multiple shonen tropes, especially in the York New City and Chimera Ant arcs. A deconstruction of the YYH characters could have been great if handled by Togashi WHILE he was still on his A game, IMO.

Thankfully as we learned in Bakuman and seen in real life with Assasination Classroom, Jump no longer seems to mandate series going on endlessly beyond their expiry date anymore. Bleach, Gintama, Nisekoi, and Toriko, coming to an end within the year all seem to reconfirm it.

Honestly, I tend to think of it as the opposite. If anything, they are just as prone to milking popular series as ever. The fact that something as bland and unimaginative as Nisekoi has been in publication for as long as it has, despite the mangaka clearly being capable of writing more interesting stuff, is kind of proof of that. And while I enjoy both MHA and Food Wars, the former series honestly hasn't done anything incredibly original (it's good because of its execution rather than a great story), and the latter is honestly as formulaic as they come, despite being entertaining even though it's usually pretty predictable. Personally, I feel like Jump, while better than it was in the previous decade, is still playing it pretty safe with most of its series, with a few stand-outs here and there. And those big series ending is more of a coincidence that they happen to be in the same year, rather than Jump wanting them to end. There's no way that they'd just allow them to go out of their own accord with such brand recognizability. The fact that Bleach even went on for as long as it did kind of reconfirms that Jump is STILL very willing to mandate a series going on endlessly beyond its expiry date. I feel that these manga ending is more of a combination of a push from the creators, as well as sales for those series not necessarily growing anymore from when they were at their peak of popularity. They also still have One Piece to bank on, so they definitely aren't letting all of their long-runners go if they can help it, though to be fair, One Piece is one of the few currently long-running series of its kind that still has a point to continuing its story.

[Markness]

Read the interview. Thanks for the link, Dr. Ensatsu-ken.

One interesting part of the interview is how he felt intimidated by Hagiwara of Bastard!!. I can see why he felt that way because the artwork in that manga was obsessively detailed and vivid. However, I feel YYH had more likeable characters. Not to mention, YYH finished while Bastard!! hasn't had any updates since 2010, making Hagiwara the real lazy bastard (no pun intended).

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Here's a fun line from the full version of the interview:

Q: Your comment on receiving the Shogakukan Manga Award?

Togashi: Slam Dunk should have gotten it.

You can criticize Togashi for a lot of things, but at the very least it's nice to have a creator that clearly isn't full of himself. Just like with Hagiwara, he has no shame in admitting when he feels that someone's work is superior to his own (and as far as the manga goes, I do agree with him about Slam Dunk).

[VLordGTZ]

As for the ending, it is strange that Jump never tried to capitalize on the success of the YYH anime and HxH in general by having Togashi redraw the final arc in a way that would satisfy fans and himself. Jump did it (to an extent, I'll admit) with Shaman King and Sunday is currently doing it with Arata. I'm not saying he would do it, (though it would probably be easier than figuring out where HxH is going) just that I'm surprised it was never a thing that came up since YYH is still a popular Golden Age series for them.

From what I understand, Hiroyuki Takei finally making a final arc for Shaman King was due him seeing the mass fan demand for it rather than Jump wanting to.  Jump seems to have been fairly indifferent to the series since they didn't hesitate to let Takei originally end the series prematurely and almost didn't release the final volume of the manga.  In terms of re-doing manga, Jump has certainly allowed it with a few series like Jumbor and Zetman, which initially failed in WSJ but were remade into full-fledged series in Ultra Jump and Young Jump years later.
 

Honestly, I tend to think of it as the opposite. If anything, they are just as prone to milking popular series as ever. The fact that something as bland and unimaginative as Nisekoi has been in publication for as long as it has, despite the mangaka clearly being capable of writing more interesting stuff, is kind of proof of that. And while I enjoy both MHA and Food Wars, the former series honestly hasn't done anything incredibly original (it's good because of its execution rather than a great story), and the latter is honestly as formulaic as they come, despite being entertaining even though it's usually pretty predictable. Personally, I feel like Jump, while better than it was in the previous decade, is still playing it pretty safe with most of its series, with a few stand-outs here and there. And those big series ending is more of a coincidence that they happen to be in the same year, rather than Jump wanting them to end. There's no way that they'd just allow them to go out of their own accord with such brand recognizability. The fact that Bleach even went on for as long as it did kind of reconfirms that Jump is STILL very willing to mandate a series going on endlessly beyond its expiry date. I feel that these manga ending is more of a combination of a push from the creators, as well as sales for those series not necessarily growing anymore from when they were at their peak of popularity. They also still have One Piece to bank on, so they definitely aren't letting all of their long-runners go if they can help it, though to be fair, One Piece is one of the few currently long-running series of its kind that still has a point to continuing its story.

I think nowadays Jump more inclined to let the creators to choose when to end their manga as long as their series are doing at least moderately well.  In Bleach's case, I think it's more likely Kubo dragging out the series rather than Jump, and Jump is just allowing him to do so simply because the series is still one of Jump's best selling manga.  Toriko is certainly ending due to low popularity and sales, but it doesn't seem Jump ever was dragging it out (if anything it looks like Shimabukuro had a lot more planned out and Jump is forcing him to cut/rush through it). Considering that Assasination Classroom (which was the most popular series currently running in Jump besides OP), Nisekoi, and Gintama are all ending while they are still popular, I feel that Jump's Golden Age practices have at least been changed to an extent.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I think nowadays Jump more inclined to let the creators to choose when to end their manga as long as their series are doing at least moderately well.  In Bleach's case, I think it's more likely Kubo dragging out the series rather than Jump, and Jump is just allowing him to do so simply because the series is still one of Jump's best selling manga.  Toriko is certainly ending due to low popularity and sales, but it doesn't seem Jump ever was dragging it out (if anything it looks like Shimabukuro had a lot more planned out and Jump is forcing him to cut/rush through it). Considering that Assasination Classroom (which was the most popular series currently running in Jump besides OP), Nisekoi, and Gintama are all ending while they are still popular, I feel that Jump's Golden Age practices have at least been changed to an extent.

Bleach still sells and Jump is not going to end a money-maker just because it isn't that great. Besides, it only hit rock bottom in the rankings during the previous arc which lead into this one which was advertised as being the final arc. Bleach is on the way out, made its money for Jump and Kubo, and that's all there is to say about it.

Toriko actually does prove my point because it is obviously being rushed to its ending after its sales dropped. Nisekoi is a high seller, but it still is nearing its end when Komi could easily drag it out for another few years if he wanted to and he clearly isn't being forced to string it out any longer. Assassination Classroom also ran shorter than Yu Yu Hakusho and he didn't have to bomb it in the rankings in order to end it.

Personally, I also feel Jump has learned a bit in recent years. The only change I'd wish for would be for them to not be so ruthless in cutting series early on. It's hard to get into a series if you can't be sure it'll even run over 20 chapters.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

107. The Demon World Tournament Begins

This episode was a bore. While, it's nice to see the Dark Tournament characters again, having them just haphazardly crammed into one episode leaves us no time to get invested in their fights, and really they have little to no purpose in this arc.


108. Farewell, Kurama

This episode could have been more interesting if there were actually some time devoted earlier on to establishing an identity crisis with Kurama upon coming back to the world of his origin. Instead, it feels like it comes out of nowhere, and it's merely a passable episode at best. Though, at least we do get to see a final fight for Kurama, here. In the manga, we didn't even get to see him fight in this arc.


109. Love and War

Once again, it feels like there was a lot of potential for something really interesting to happen between Hiei and Mukuro. If that article that I linked to earlier was any indication, Togashi had the seeds of some ideas as to what to do with Hiei and these other characters. But instead of coming to fruition, we just got a forced final battle for Hiei, and a resolution to a character arc for Mukuro which never even got off the ground in the first place.


110. A Reason to Fight

And yet again, we have Yusuke finally starting to realize the ultimate conclusion of his final character arc. In this case it's that he doesn't want to stay in Demon World after all, and instead wants to give up fighting in general to live out the rest of his life with Keiko. However, it's so poorly handled in this arc because of its rushed nature. As viewers we should feel a deep emotional satisfaction from both witnessing this fight and getting to see the completion of Yusuke's character growth. Instead it's merely entertaining action, but pales in comparison to what came before it.

And that makes up for the last two weeks. My thoughts on the final two episodes will be up shortly!