Yu Yu Hakusho

[Aurora]

Damn it! 

Sacred game? Meh. Btw, you the same Ensatsu-ken from tv.com right? Yeah, it's me Envy2000. I don't know if you remember me. We usual communicated through pm.


I'll get to you someday you rascal!    SOMEHOW!

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Hmmmm....Sorry to say, but there are dozens of people from TV.com who I don't remember. The name "Envy" rings a bell, though.

Speaking of TV.com, I looked back on it the other day for old times sake and checked out the animation forum....I lol'd when I realized that more than half the threads on it were from years ago when I was still posting on that site, and that there were about 3 or 4 new posts for most of them....since I had last checked out the site 3 years ago.

God, it makes me so happy to see how terrible that site is doing since it deserves it being the piece of shit that it became back when I finally decided to leave it.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

FUNimation put up this video comparing the image quality of the new Blu-Ray re-mastering of season 1 to the older DVD sets. Well, to be honest dated animation will always be dated, so the series still clearly shows its age in how old it looks, but I have to admit that the more defined coloring-scheme in the remastered edition looks a lot better than what I have on my DVDs (that, and it can also actually be played on wide-screen). Its also confirmed that its from the Japanese sets, so its not like FUNi pulled the same shit that they did with orange-brick DBZ sets. Still, I doubt that I'll ever get these releases since I already own 3/4 of the show on DVD, and also because I still don't have a Blu-Ray player, anyways.

[Angus]

They could do the Disney strategy of packing the DVDs with the Blu-ray, but nah more production costs they are spending to hang onto those Panty animes.

[Aurora]

Hmmmm....Sorry to say, but there are dozens of people from TV.com who I don't remember. The name "Envy" rings a bell, though.

WHY I OUTTA! 

Yeah, we usual discussed Halo canon and that type of stuff.



Just saw the last 3 episodes now and my reactions-   


Yomi vs Yusuke was a pretty decent fight, and as for the last episode. Well, just check my last reaction. I has problems of course, but meh I can deal with it. I'll just post them later.

[Spark Of Spirit]

As much as I love Smile Bomb, I have to say I prefer the second opening animation for the song more. Not because it's very Chapter Black centered (as that was when it was used), but because it feels more general for the tone of the whole series. The first intro animation is good, but I think the second is just way better.

Oh yeah, I started watching the show again. 

[Avaitor]

I like the second OP a great deal myself, but "Smile Bomb" is still untoppable for me. I pretty much told you why I love it the other night.

How far along are you right now?

[Spark Of Spirit]

Awesome OP

I watched all the way up to the start of the Dark Tournament so far. Keeping track, the longest fight so far was Yusuke Vs. Suzaku and that was three episodes long (between much else going on), and it is amazing how fast and brisk the pace is kept with no real filler in sight.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I like the second OP a great deal myself, but "Smile Bomb" is still untoppable for me. I pretty much told you why I love it the other night.

Well, the 2nd opening IS Smile Bomb. Its the same exact song but just with different animation, and I do personally agree with Desensitized that I prefer the 2nd animation set, if only because it actually has Sensui in it.

Yeah, as for YYH, its so strange how I have literally watched every episode at least a dozen times each by now (and believe me, that's no exaggeration) and yet I still haven't burned myself out on the series (granted that, I always alternate between the sub and the dub now, though I still prefer the dub on the whole, even with its inaccuracies and added jokes, which don't happen as often as some sub elitists would claim).

The only truly weak points of the series that I would call bad would be the Saint Beasts arc (which was a derivative as you could possibly get for a shonen arc) and the Team Dr. Ichigaki part of the Dark Tournament. Other than that, just about every other part of the series is consistently good up until the last tournament (and even that wasn't terrible).

[Avaitor]

I knew that... kinda, but it's been a sorta hectic night for me. But yeah, I like both OP clips fine, but I might prefer the second ever so slightly.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I like that it kept a consistent OP for the whole series. That never happens anymore for anime.

But yeah, the Saint Beasts was pretty generic as a whole, though since it was the first real appearance of Hiei and Kurama as allies and Kuwabara starting to reach his potential it is fun to watch.

Though one question. What rank are the Saint Beasts? Throughout watching it, they kept calling them really powerful, but since they obviously couldn't touch Toguro or his team in power (in fact I think Hiei makes mention of Touya outclassing Seiryu, and Touya isn't even close to team Toguro) and Yusuke and Kuwabara had quite the tough struggle against them. Would they be lower B rank?

I dunno why I'm asking, I guess I'm just curious at how the other early villains stack up to the remainder.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Well, both Koenma and Kurama mentioned that back before the Dark Tournament began Hiei was at the level of a D class demon (though, keep in mind that he used to be of a higher class until he got the Jagan Eye implanted in him, which drained him of most of his energy causing him to have to build his power back up from scratch), and naturally Kurama would have been around the same general level. While I don't believe that there were any official rankings for the Saint Beasts, most fans pretty much agree that the Saint Beasts were of the lower to mid C-class level (with Suzaku being the strongest among them, obviously). I find this to be a little odd, though, and can't completely agree with it myself given how easily Seiryu was defeated, but its possible that Hiei and the others may have also just been lower C-class demons by that point in time (it would especially make sense for Yusuke to be around that level of strength since he had just undergone some training with Genkai).

In terms of consistency, though, you shouldn't go too much by what anyone said in the Spirit Detective arc. Back then its obvious that Togashi didn't have things well planned out and changed things along as the series progressed. Most of the consistent information starts from the Dark Tournament arc and goes onward from there.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Well, both Koenma and Kurama mentioned that back before the Dark Tournament began Hiei was at the level of a D class demon (though, keep in mind that he used to be of a higher class until he got the Jagan Eye implanted in him, which drained him of most of his energy causing him to have to build his power back up from scratch), and naturally Kurama would have been around the same general level. While I don't believe that there were any official rankings for the Saint Beasts, most fans pretty much agree that the Saint Beasts were of the lower to mid C-class level (with Suzaku being the strongest among them, obviously). I find this to be a little odd, though, and can't completely agree with it myself given how easily Seiryu was defeated, but its possible that Hiei and the others may have also just been lower C-class demons by that point in time (it would especially make sense for Yusuke to be around that level of strength since he had just undergone some training with Genkai).

In terms of consistency, though, you shouldn't go too much by what anyone said in the Spirit Detective arc. Back then its obvious that Togashi didn't have things well planned out and changed things along as the series progressed. Most of the consistent information starts from the Dark Tournament arc and goes onward from there.

I get what you mean, but watching it again, I do spot some things that caught my eye about the Saint Beasts. The Saint Beasts were not (except Suzaku, clearly) physically much stronger than someone like Rando, but they had special powers that gave them the edge in battle. Genbu could form into rock to avoid mortal blows, Byakko could absorb energy, and Seiryu could freeze anything within a split second. None of them were traditionally strong other than Suzaku, they all relied on powers to do their work for them which is why I was curious at what their overall rank would be considered.

Kurama only got hurt because he was sloppy and Hiei didn't have much trouble at all, which lead me to believe that outside of their gimmicks, they weren't as strong as someone like Rando or anyone from the early Dark Tournament rounds. Sort of like how ranks didn't matter in Chapter Black because of territories, I assumed they would be skewed here too.

The only other part that really struck me was how all of Toguro's men in the Rescue Yukina arc were rather weak. Or maybe that's because Yusuke and Kuwabara improved so much.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Toguro implied that he purposely got some relatively weak guys in order to test Yusuke's strength to see if he had any potential and if he was even worth fighting. Even though he hadn't met Yusuke yet, he had claimed to have heard rumors about him ever since the Rando and Saint Beasts incidents, and at least knew what a Spirit Detective was and that Yusuke was the new Spirit Detective around. Keep in mind that he's the guy who would be ecstatic at the thought of someone with even enough potential to eventually come to his level of strength, so its more like he wanted to see if Yusuke was all that the rumors claimed that he was. Also, while it wasn't necessarily implied, you could say that he would also have been aware of Genkai being Yusuke's teacher back then, too, seeing as how he knew that he defeated Rando which only took place at Genkai's tournament to decide who her student would be, so that would also make sense as to why he wanted to test Yusuke out.

As for why he chose weak demons to begin with, aside from testing Yusuke (which admittedly isn't much of a test if even he admits that they are weak), it probably also could have just been to give Tarukane a little added incentive to higher him since they worked under him, and Tarukane probably wouldn't believe that just 2 guys would be enough to keep Yukina from being rescued given how ignorant he was of the power of demons and such.

[Aurora]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG7X7sp_22s&feature=player_embedded

Yuyu Hakusho KAI!