Yu Yu Hakusho
Director
Nobuyuki Abe
Production
Fuji TV, Studio Pierrot
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
112 episodes
Year
1992
Yu Yu Hakusho Volume 1: Yusuke Lost, Yusuke Found
By otaku_kei
17th Mar 05  A show that has rivaled Dragonball Z in its popularity is finally returning to the UK. After a hiatus in releases due to MVM stopping releasing the dub only version, they have finally returned with this dual language release of this long running fighting anime. So time to strap in for some tough talking, hard living violence with a moral message! Yu Yu Hakusho starts like few other titles of this genre - with the untimely death of the central character! Yusuke Urashima is a 14-year old delinquent - he cuts school, brawls constantly and has a healthy disrespect for authority figures. But, cliche aside, he is a misunderstood soul with real quality under the rough exterior and that is why he gets a second chance at life. Koenma the ruler of the afterlife strikes a bargain with the youthful ruffian another chance at life and in return Yusuke's service as the Spirit Detective of Earth. Now that Yusuke has been given another chance at life he needs to regain his corporeal form and that is the central focus of this first disc. Yusuke gets to see how his death has effected his nearest and dearest, needs to stop his cremation going ahead and tries to work out who on the planet would even want him to come back. Helping Yusuke in his time of transition is his spirit guide Botan, assigned by Koenma to look after Yusuke and help him fulfill his potential to become the Spirit Detective. Now of course the series has dated a bit, being over a decade old that is to be expected but Madman & MVM have done a fantastic job with this release and there are few if any problems with the picture or audio quality. But what really sets this title up well is the gripping storyline that is well peppered with comedy moments. From the outset we care about Yusuke and his predicament and want to see him return to his physical body so that he can take up the charge he has been entrusted with. We are also introduced to Kuwabara, one of Yusuke's rivals as local tough guy but who also is a misunderstood soul and cares deeply for his little kitty. Kuwabara becomes the source of quite a bit of the humour but helps to keep the show grounded in the human side of the story and not the supernatural. Of course some of the other characters are little more than stereotypes (especially the evil schoolteachers - they'd give Hitler a run for his money!), but it is nice to see that so far some of the characters are going to have a degree of depth to them. Hopefully this will help to keep this show from degenerating into an interminable series of long running fight sequences that end with the discovery of a new power (for those of you who dont know I hate Dragonball Z). I have to admit that I was impressed by this show, so much so that volume 2 was put straight on afterwards just to see how it all goes. Personally I found this a lot of fun, but if you are going to get involved with this series then prepare to get in for the long haul as this show will run and run and run!
R2 DVD Notes
Features: English 2.0; Japanese 2.0; English Subtitles; Character Profiles; Name Translations; Textless Opening; Textless Closing
Release information: 18th March - OUT NOW
Notes: Well for a show that is over a decade old it would be expected to see some degradation in the picture and audio tracks, but thankfully that is not the case and this show looks great. Sure it may look dated but there are no actually faults with the transfer that I could pick up on.
Once again Madman and MVM have provided their standard extras to a series, but this time you cannot really fault them with the few additions as this series could well run over 30 volumes so they are gonna have more than enough time to put on any extras that are available.
Also of note is the opportunity to get this release with a limited edition Boxset to hold the releases in. This boxset also comes with a T-shirt. Nice to see one of the anime companies in the UK giving us some rather nice extras not on the discs. If this keeps up then we will probably see an end to the envy that our US brethren recieve for the multitude of boxsets and limited editions that they get.
-- otaku_kei 17th Mar 05
Yu Yu Hakusho Images  
|
