Review of Yu Yu Hakusho Vol 2

Introduction

Yusuke Urameshi was your average juvenile delinquent, making his way reluctantly through school, ruling the roost when it came to who was top dog, although that meant regularly facing off against his rival Kazuma Kuwabara. That all changed one day when he was knocked down by a car while rescuing a toddler, and was killed. Death was only the beginning of his problems, as spirits soon appeared to tell him that it wasn`t yet his time. He had a chance to return to his corporeal existence if he completed a quest. At the end of the first four episodes, he had satisfied Koenma, diminutive ruler of the spirit world (in the absence of his dad) that he was worthy to be resurrected, and at the beginning of Volume 2, he waits in his spirit form for the right moment to come back to life. Volume 2 contains the next 4 episodes in Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files. The translated Japanese titles are followed by the English language version titles.

Ep 5. Yusuke`s Resurrection! A New Trial - Yusuke`s Back

Koenma informs Yusuke that there is only one opportunity every fifty years to return to his body, and the next opportunity is tomorrow night. But before that can happen, he has to persuade one of the three people who care about him to breathe life into his comatose body.

Getting used to a corporeal existence is even harder, especially when it seems that someone has been muscling in on his turf while he was indisposed. An odd experience prompts a visit from Botan with news. Yusuke`s new spiritual abilities means that he is now a Spirit Realm Detective, one of the few people in the human world who can solve problems of a supernatural nature.

Ep 6. The Three Yokai! Hiei, Kurama, Goki - Three Monsters

Three criminals escape the spirit realm with three mystical treasures that could give them dominion over the world of man. Koenma has only a week to recover the treasures before his father returns. That means putting an untried and untrained Yusuke in the field against three hardened spirits before he is ready, with only a scrying lens and his underpowered Rei-Gun to help him. Luckily, it seems the three spirits are more prone to arguing amongst themselves, but it seems that Yusuke is no match for any one of them.

Ep 7. Kurama`s Secret!? The Ties Between Mother And Son - Gouki and Kurama

Fortunately for Yusuke, his confrontation with Goki is interrupted while he is still in one piece. Botan gives him some more spirit detective tools of the trade, a Rei-gun enhancer and a spirit detector, but Goki`s still stealing the souls of children, so Yusuke rushes to face him. Having retrieved one of the treasures, next on Yusuke`s list is Kurama, But Kurama meets him and makes an odd request. Could Kurama actually be a good guy?

Ep 8. Keiko In Peril! Hiei, The Jagan Master - The Three Eyes Of Hiei

Two down, one to go, but retrieving the third treasure will be the hardest test of all, especially when Hiei kidnaps Keiko. Yusuke is out of his league and all looks hopeless, then Yusuke gets help from an unlikely source.

Video

Yu Yu Hakusho gets a 4:3 regular transfer as per the original television broadcasts. It`s a clear unproblematic transfer, but the animation is certainly showing its age. Made before the advent of CGI, when the characters would be hand drawn, there is a more rough and ready feel to the animation, and the colours lack the vivid strength that recent shows exhibit. The animation is smooth and serves the story well, but is hardly exceptional.

Audio

For sound you get a choice of DD 2.0 Japanese and English, and both soundtracks serve their purpose. The dialogue is clear, and as usual I listened to the original language track for preference. I sampled the dub and it`s one of the old school dubs, with ill fitting character voices and excruciating dialogue. You also have a choice of dubtitles or translated subtitles, although the disc auto selects them according to which soundtrack you choose.

Features

There is a brief selection of extras to accompany the disc, including the jacket picture, and multi-angle credit sequences in Japanese and English.

There are 6 text character profiles, and 8 name translations, and you can look at the opening and closing sequences minus the credits. The character profiles are useful if, like me you are coming anew to Yu Yu Hakusho with the second disc.

Conclusion

Yu Yu Hakusho could be an expensive habit. In Japan, Yu Yu Hakusho ran for 112 episodes and spawned 4 specials and 2 movies. Funimation present the second disc in what could turn out to be a lengthy release schedule. For such a long running and popular show, I was expecting something out of the ordinary. On the strength of these four episodes, Yu Yu Hakusho turn out to be a fairly run of the mill animation, albeit one with an interesting premise and characters. It`s a sort of Ghostbusters with teen angst, as class delinquent Yusuke dies and is resurrected with powers to defeat the most troublesome of spirits. He has problems at home and at school, a non-starting relationship with his would be girlfriend, Keiko, made no easier by his spirit partner in fighting crime, Botan. In his spare time, he`s supposed to bust ghosts. However there is no proton pack for our hero. He has the ability to channel his spiritual energy to the tip of his forefinger, where it is discharged in a burst of psychic energy. For all of us who have memories of playing Cowboys and Indians in the playground, this serves as some form of irony no doubt.

I found Yu Yu Hakusho to be laden with anime clichés, although they were probably not as hackneyed when this animation was produced. There is the excessively bloated and cheesy dialogue, usually when characters take a break in the middle of an epic battle for a breather. There is the triple hero shot, when our hero will pose dramatically before an action sequence, and the camera will pan upwards three times, each time in slower motion to capture the heroic pose. There`s plenty of slow motion during the action, and it will pause completely at the introduction of a new nemesis or device for a handy caption and a voiceover explaining the vital statistics, history and potential damage. Of course when the hero is significantly motivated, he will glow with an unearthly energy before unleashing his ultimate rage.

Yet there is something there beyond the simple monster of the week format that is cause for hope. The characters are well rounded for a start, and the writing is a little more thoughtful than the usual action fests. There is some attention paid to the character interactions, and the stories promise more than the epic good guy bad guy confrontations of the usual Saturday morning animations. The third episode on this disc, Gouki and Kurama introduces Kurama as a villain, but his motivations are selfless rather than selfish, and the episode has a quite moving conclusion.

These are early days indeed, and the main characters are still being introduced. With 112 episodes in total, the show can take its time in establishing itself. These four episodes, while showing some glimmer of originality and character, didn`t really grab my attention. I`m sure that for fans of Yu Yu Hakusho though, this disc will be essential.