Review of Yu Yu Hakusho: Vol 4

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. Returning to a corporeal existence, he was assigned the duties of a Spirit Realm Detective, to stop rogue spirits from flouting the rules and regulations of the human world. Yusuke`s training with Genkai concludes on this disc, as he faces his toughest challenge yet in the person of the Yokai Rando. Following that starts a new chapter as the denizens of the Demon Realm threaten to overthrow the human realm. Unlike the first three discs, this disc only has three episodes on it. I had a look ahead at the specifications of the Region 1 releases, and Funimation alternated between four and three episodes per disc over the length of the series, and if MVM follow suit, the next few discs of Yu Yu Hakusho should have three episodes per disc as well. The three episodes on Volume 4 of Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files are as follows. The translated Japanese titles are followed by the English language version titles.

Ep 13. Yusuke vs. Rando! Sorcery Thrown Into Chaos - Yusuke vs. Rando 99 Attacks.

Shorin is revealed to be Rando in disguise after Kuwabara is terribly injured. The battle continues, but Yusuke is almost exhausted, his spirit power used up. Rando isn`t overly disappointed, as he likes to toy with his prey first. Yusuke will have to find untapped reserves of energy, lest Rando takes Genkai`s Reiki powers.

Ep 14. The Four Holy Beasts in the Labyrinthine Castle. A Challenge To The Spiritual Realm - The Beasts Of Maze Castle

It`s taken nearly a month, but Yusuke`s finally completed his training under the tutelage of Genkai. Kuwabara has healed rapidly under her care as well. Yusuke returns home hopefully to a semblance of a normal life, but he isn`t home long before mysterious zombies are tailing him. It`s a chance to put his new abilities to the test, and soon Botan appears with a new mission for the Spirit Realm Detective. The Four Beasts of the Demon City have issued an ultimatum to the Spirit Realm, and demanded the right to take over the human world. In advance of their invasion, they have sent thousands of Makaichu bugs, supernatural insects that take over weak-minded humans and turn them into violent zombies. The only way to stop the invasion is for Yusuke to go into the Demon realm and face the Four Beasts on their home turf. He isn`t alone though as Kuwabara decides to help. The two are quickly in over their head when they enter the Demon realm, but fortunately aid arrives in the form of Yusuke`s former adversaries, Hiei and Kurama (Volume 2), who are there to work off their debt to society by defeating the demon menace.

Ep 15. Beautiful Dance of the Rose! The Elegant Kurama - Genbu, the Stone Beast

The four heroes are trapped in the Gateway of Betrayal, and the only one who can save them is Hiei. Hiei has to overcome his desire to defeat Yusuke first, but a greater challenge awaits in the shape of the first of the Four Holy Beasts, Genbu a stone demon.

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 text Character Profiles, and Name Translations, and you can look at the opening and closing sequences minus the credits.

Conclusion

My third disc of Yu Yu Hakusho and the fourth overall, and I feel I`m finally getting a grip on the format. A quest is set up, of personal significance to Yusuke or threatening to the world in general, and then the following episodes in that particular storyline will be an showcase for one on one battles between our heroes and various enemies, some of the battles lasting the length of the whole episode if not longer. And with each successive battle, our heroes` abilities and power will increase incrementally as they draw on deep reserves of strength to prevail. It`s utterly formulaic stuff, and pretty distant from the anime ghostbusting that I had taken Yu Yu Hakusho to be at first acquaintance.

It`s an ultimate battle anime, in that the focus is on the fights between characters. There`s plenty of the staple anime clichés, bloated dialogue while combatants take a breather, slow motion and repeated takes to get the best look at special moves, and the action pauses to let a caption flash up to announce the latest explosive death defying battle combo, just before its effects are felt by the hapless opponent. Too much of this would be a ready turn-off, so its fortunate that Yu Yu Hakusho`s strengths are in the characters and their relationships. The friendly rivalry between Yusuke and Kuwabara remains enjoyable, and Kuwabara is rapidly becoming my favourite character in the show. He`s always ready with a crude witticism and his crush on Botan is cause for a few laughs. That is if you watch the Japanese version with translated subtitles. If you watch the English dub, the wit is absent from the character and he is voiced like an uncultured thug.

Yu Yu Hakusho skirts the thin line between formulaic tedium and entertainment through the strength of its characterisations. The battles between characters could become a cause for boredom, but there is enough humour in the character interactions to keep the attention. The tendency for each episode to end on a cliffhanger also leaves me with the nagging desire to find out what happens next. This disc lowers the bar in the value for money stakes, with only three episodes on the disc. Yu Yu Hakusho isn`t exactly ground breaking anime. It`s repetitive and light on story, yet oddly addictive.