I’m something of a late bloomer for my anime intake, having grown up dieting mostly on American shows. Needless to say that a proper viewing of the 1992 animated succession of the hit manga series, Yu Yu Hakusho, was more than filling when I finally caught it about five years ago. Even the prospects of it becoming a potential live-action banger at some point drowned out all the other noise in my head, albeit much to the chagrin of fans of the series who are nothing short of skeptical when it comes to live-action re-renderings of IP faves like the work of mangaka Yoshihiro Togashi.
Alas, director Sho Tsukikawa’s treatment of the hit shonen publication comes at an opportune moment, months after Netflix reveled in the accolades handed from approving viewers recovering from the fallout of “Cowboy Bebop” with the winning first season of “One Piece” – a magnanimous moment for the streamer as it leaned on creators Akira Morii at ROBOT, and Kazutaka Sakamoto to help make it happen following its 2020 announcement. Three years and five episodes later, Yu Yu Hakusho is now here to help deliver what looks to be a well-packaged delight from Tsukikawa and screenwriter Tatsuro Mishima.
Enter Takumi Kitamura, fresh off the success of his lead foray in Tsutomu Hanabusa’s live-action trilogy rollout of mangaka Ken Wakui’s Tokyo Revengers from Warner Bros. Japan. Joined by a cast that lists Shuhei Uesugi, Jun Shison, Kanata Hongo, Sei Shiraishi, Kotone Furukawa and Keita Machida, the series stretches with five hourlong episodes delving into a carefully-crafted intro that aptly truncates our protagonist’s inauguration from dauntless delinquent with a heart to a hero worthy of redemption at the start of a new journey. The first episode itself is a literal trial by fire when Yusuke Urameshi (Kitamura) is thrust into his first official assignment as a spirit detective after finding redemption following his unforeseen death from rescuing a boy from imminent death.
You would have to watch the first five parts of Noriyuki Abe’s anime to get a good perspective of what it took to try and weave the events of the show into a lean live-action episode that’s cohesive and effective enough that it still allows its story and characters to develop and energize overtime, and emote well with viewers. This includes establishing the relation/friendship between Yusuke and schoolmate Keiko (Shiraishi), as well as his connections with brash school rival Kazuma (Uesugi), as well as his mother, and the impact he’s had on the people that culminate all of the events that occur and kick the show off to its explosive start.
To add, this also includes watching how are would-be hero bodes as a spirit detective forced to fight demons in agreement with the afterlife gatekeepers who help tap into his newfound abilities, as advised by the lively and high-spirited Botan (Furukawa), and her boss, Koenma (Machida). For this, we turn to action director Takahito Ouchi who does a fantastic job on helping present the increased level of danger to frame the stakes Yusuke is faced with, after being truly reminded of his impact on family and friends, and even frenemies.
All of this goes down in the first episode which also paves the way nicely for the in-roads of other characters to get into frame as the saga continues well toward the final battle with the Toguro brothers in this first season. I won’t be writing about each episode as I consume this series, but I will be posting something on my Instagram once I’m finished. As much as I loved the animated series and as hard as I hoped for a live-action series, I’m excited to see what future this show holds.
Watch Yu Yu Hakusho on Netflix.