When Yusuke Urameshi dies saving a child from an
accident, he finds himself at a crossroads.
Brought to Spirit World he is given the choice to return to life, on the
condition that he becomes Spirit Worlds new Spirit Detective. Now Yusuke must investigate matters tied to
the world of demons trying to cross into the Human World. Aided by his rival turned friend, Kuwabara,
and two rogue Demons, Kurama and Heiei, Yusuke’s missions will take him right
into the heart of a full on conspiracy and one insane mans dream to bring the
Demon World to Earth.
Netflix has certainly given Anime fans new hope that Live
Action Anime Adaptations can be good thanks to the worldwide success of One
Piece.
They overcame a ton of pre
release community doubt to deliver a faithful and fun first season that fans
are eager to see continue.
With that
kind of clout, Netflix can have its pick of any project they want (just so long
as it doesn’t end up like Cowboy Bebop).
Which brings us to Yu Yu Hakusho.
It hasn’t gotten the same pre release buzz as
One Piece and I knew a lot of friends who didn’t even know this was a thing
until they pulled up Netflix over the weekend it dropped.
It may not have the same massive army of fans
One Piece has but Yu Yu Hakusho is still a beloved classic that was a staple of
Anime fans in the 2000’s thanks to its popular run on Cartoon Network’s Toonami
and Adult Swim blocks.
So how is this
interestingly short first season of the Anime some fans only think of as a “Proto
Bleach”?
When I previewed that trailer back in early December, I
noted how super serious Yu Yu Hakusho seemed to be taking itself.
Sadly, that observation is more evident than
ever within the first few minutes of the series.
The Yu Yu Hakusho Anime has plenty of
dramatic and somber moments but possesses a fun sense of humor which comes from
the main characters interacting with otherworldy sights and Yusuke’s always
reliable smart ass attitude towards everything he tried to fight.
You barely see any of that in the Live Action
series as Yusuke’s all smug and no fun.
He has the same single expression on his face at all times and the bulk
of his performance, even towards his own death, can be best summed up with
“Whatever”.
Even some of the more
whimsical elements of the Anime are totally eliminated.
We never see Koenma in his toddler form,
which makes his adult form having a pacifier all the more strange.
And in a season so short, we never get a
chance to see the full group dynamic between Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama and
Heiei, save for a couple of practically blink and you’ll miss it dialogue bits
that remind old school fans how fun the rivalry between Kuwabara and Heiei can
be.
In short, it shouldn’t be laugh out
loud funny but Yu Yu Hakusho is very, very serious to the point where its hard
to have fun.
Part of that iniability to have fun comes from how
truncated this season feels.
Whereas One
Piece and even Cowboy Bebop had 10 episodes to get to know that cast, Yu Yu
Hakusho only has 5 close to one hour episodes, which is an odd choice.
The show starts off well enough establishing
Yusuke’s new arrangement along with his supporting cast like Botan, Koenma,
Keiko and Kuwabara.
We even get a decent
episode with Kurama’s history.
But after
Yusuke and Kuwabara train with Genkai, the story seems to become an
afterthought in favor of all out action with little emotional
payoff...basically a Compilation TV Series.
We hardly know anything about Heiei and the more we focus on main season
villain Sakyo, the more his grand plan just feels…well stupid.
Episode 4 itself is just two long and drawn
out action scenes with Kurama and Heiei against two opponents who wreck the
hell out of them. It’s like the season skips ahead several episodes because of
its time limit and just decides to go for spectacle rather than logic.
I wont lie and say by the time we were midway
through the final battle against Toguro in the finale, I was ready to be done
with the whole show.
The story and overall execution fall very short of the
standard set by Live Action Adaptations like One Piece or Rurouni Kenshin or
even the Japanese Death Note films.
But
that’s not to say Yu Yu Hakusho doesn’t have its moments of fun.
The action is well choreographed and battles
like Yuskue vs Goki and even some of the aforementioned Toguro fight show off
Yusuke’s quick thinking. The way he moves about his environment and uses every
miniscule tool at his disposal to attack and dodge feels very Jackie Chan
inspired.
The CG is hit and miss,
definitely miss on Toguro’s final form, yikes that uncanny valley is real.
But the practical effects such as in the
first episode are excellent and I wish we had more of that terrifying nightmare
fuel in the rest of the show.
My biggest
praise has to go to Shuhei Uesugi as Kuwabara.
Unlike Yusuke and his “whatever” approach to everything, Kuwabara has
more of a character arc and Uesugi imbues him with plenty of charm and emotion
to make him the character you can most get behind.
It’s not even a contest: he should be the
hero of this story more than Yusuke.
Other character stand outs are actually the lovely ladies of the show
with Sei Shiraishi as Keiko Yukimura getting plenty of moments to shine and Kotone
Furukawa as Botan looking hella cute and being far to underutilized.
Let’s face it, One Piece set a high bench mark for TV
Live Action Adaptations of Anime and Yu Yu Hakusho misses the mark for a number
of reasons.
The season is so short that
the story feels rushed and often ignored in favor of fight scenes that look
great but more often than not outstay their welcome.
The lead hero is dull compared to his more
emotive and likeable supporting cast.
And it lacks the fun and wit of its Anime and Manga counterpart, instead
opting for a dour outing that has the right idea leaning towards the horror
elements at first but eventually just becomes a bit of a slough to finish
out.
I may not be the biggest YYH fan
but I know it well enough to know that this could be much better than it turned
out.
In a way, it’s a good thing that
(Spoiler) there’s no season ending cliffhanger.
If it’s a one and done, that’s fine with me.
Because, sorry to keep coming back to it, I’m
more excited for One Piece Season Two than Yu Yu Hakusho Season 2.
5/10
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