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 2: Artifacts Of Darkness
By otaku_kei
22nd Mar 05  Well after the excellent first disc I straight away went for volume 2 to see the continuing story of Yusuke Urashima! So quick update, Yusuke dies and is then offered a chance to return to his physical body if he agrees to become the Spirit Detective of Earth. He then spent several episodes trying to make sure his body was not destroyed, whilst also trying to find people still alive who really wanted him to return. Now freshly resurrected Yusuke now has the chance to make good on his deal, as well as use his newfound knowledge of certain people to make amends! Well now that Yusuke is back in his physical form he almost immediately reverts to his slacker ways, cutting school and even attempting to cut out on his deal with Koenma to be the Spirit Detective but this first day back in the living world is not going to be easy on our hero and in fine cliched form he is just going to coincidentally run into his first adversary! Not only does Yusuke have to deal with this new threat, in the process he has to come to Kuwabara's aid once again - could this mean the enmity between these two can finally be put aside? The next few episodes deal with the introduction of a collection of formidable demons that have ransacked a storehouse of spiritual items and are now using them to wreak havoc in the real world. Yusuke is assigned to track these three criminals down, but are they all what they seem? These three episodes are used not only as an introduction to recurring characters for later in the series but also as a demonstration for the new found abilities of Yusuke as the Spirit Detective. But unfortunately already I am starting to see the beginning of the long running battles that plague these fighting anime with a constant back and forth until the hero can find the hidden reserves to defeat his foe. I hope that this promising show does not degenerate into that cliche but only time will tell. But at the close of the second volume I am still enjoying this show a lot, the characters are fun the action keeps the show flowing along at a rapid pace. So far it has not become bogged down by ridiculously protracted fight scenes. We are left wanting to know what is next to come for Yusuke and the adventures that he will have to endure before he fully comes into all of his powers. This series has the potential to excel and I for one hope that the high quality evidenced from these first two volumes will carry across to future volumes.
R2 DVD Notes
Features: English 2.0; Japanese 2.0; English Subtitles; Textless Opening; Textless Closing; Character Profiles; Name Translations
Release information: 18th April 2005
Notes: Another great quality disc from MVM. Their partnership with Madman has really paid off for them. Whilst the show may be dated the picture and audio do not suffer for it all.
Again fairly standard extras on the disc, but as stated before with a series that could feasibly run for almost 30 discs I'm gonna guess the extras can be fed out rather slowly.
-- otaku_kei 22nd Mar 05
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