Yu Yu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi

While trying to stop myself from reading Neuro again right away (I'm obsessed, really, I'm watching the anime to try and hold me over but its not the same) I decided to find a more classic Jump manga to read this time around. Though three long manga in a row has basically wiped me out, seriously my bum hurts from sitting for so many hours at a time and I won't even bring up my shoulders, I'm glad I read this trio of shonen manga in a row. Though I think I'm in the mood for something more girly now.


Yu Yu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi

Art and story (c) Yoshihiro Togashi

Genre: Supernatural Fighting Shonen
Length: 19 Volumes - 175 Chapters

with her on the next page

For example, this thing

           The art is fairly rough, after a while it seems that that roughness is given more of a stylized look, but there is a weird contrast in this manga. There are times when people are really amazingly pretty and then something really nasty will show up and this nasty looking guy will hang around for chapter after chapter until you, like the main characters, want to punch him in the face. The background guys, too, will be the strangest people you have ever seen. This being such a well known manga, I've seen it around for a long time, as such I've always though about how appealing and not appealing it can be all at once, I suppose its part of its draw. Characters are easily recognizable, its very unique, in an older style. The eyes, when given the chance, have lots of sparkling depths, and considering its mostly all bouts and comedy, the chances are quite plentiful to see it. The clothing isn't special in any way, typically the characters wear school uniforms or black clothing, their casual clothing is given some detail but that is not often seen. The backgrounds aren't notable, fighting sequences don't tend to lend to them anyway, but they are lacking. Its really hard to describe this art in my usual terms, to see it is to know it, but beyond that it is hard to define.
           Yusuke Urameshi is a delinquent of the highest order, able to win every fight the other punks challenge him to, or he used to, its now impossible for him to brawl or smoke because he's dead. In an unexpected twist, having died saving an innocent child, he's given a chance to redeem himself. All he has to do is be a ghost for a while first. Little does Yusuke know, though, that this encounter with the underworld will soon change the course of his life forever.
           I remember reading bits and pieces of this manga in the American version of Jump back in high school, and enjoying it, to boot. This time around I set out to actually read the thing all the way through and see how it fares over all. Personally, I found that it hasn't really held up as far as the story goes. I enjoyed it, but I probably would not read this again because I found it a lukewarm narration. My main problem with it was there was never any in between of the character's lives, it was always straight to the next set of challenges. So, even though romance elements are introduced, they're never really given any weight, only teased whenever the author felt like it. Before I get too carried away though, lets go back to the beginning. The beginning

of Yu Yu Hakusho is nothing like the rest of it, more specifically, volume one and two essentially are just Yusuke being a ghost and meddling in other spirits or human's lives. I don't know if the author got wise to the boring-ness of this or got bored himself of drawing it this way, but suddenly the premise put into place is thrown away to put a more action-y spin to things. And that is when what its typically thought of as Yu Yu Hakusho really begins. What is typical to it, you may ask? Well, epic fist fights with demons that don't end until Yusuke wins, no matter how many times he goes down before hand, and super powers endowed by character's auras including finger lasers and disgusting transformations. These fights, ending in the main characters being bloody and broken, are always proceeded by a page or two of peace, but the next threat, more sinister than the last, always shows itself right away. I found the action sequences themselves were easy to follow and enjoy and the characters themselves interesting and funny, but it got repetitive really quickly. That could be said about most manga, especially fighting manga, but the way that things restlessly move on in Yu Yu Hakusho really felt like a grind to me. Its a classic, its fun to read, but I can't really recommend it wholeheartedly. With such interesting characters around all the time, I wish I'd had more time outside of fights with them so I could get to know them better. The ending volume really tires to remedy that, too, I think, but the loosely connected stories of the gang's happenings just feels more like limping along instead of heading towards an ending (its also a bit like Dragon Ball's ending, too, in more ways than one), and after 19 volumes I'd hoped for something much more satisfying. Just like the strange art, the story also was likeable and unlikeable at the same time.



2.5/5 Despite being a classic and nostalgic, I found it lacking in long-term appeal. 

Ah yes, I read this manga often in the American Daily Shonen Hop magazine. Memories of my youth...