A Review of Yu Yu Hakusho Season 1: Shuhei Uesugi, Jun Shison, Takumi Kitamura, Kotone Furukawa, Keita Machida, Go Ayano, and Kanata Hongo are the cast members.
The authors are Akira Morii and Kazutaka Sakamoto.
Shō Tsukikawa, director
Netflix is the streaming platform.
Subtitles available in Japanese.
Five episodes, roughly one hour each, total runtime.
A Review of Yu Yu Hakusho Season 1: Synopsis
A Review of Yu Yu Hakusho Season 1: Netflix’s latest endeavor to transform anime and manga into a live-action series is Yu Yu Hakusho. However, unlike previous attempts, this adaptation is being produced in Japan, which adds all the distinctive elements that make this kind of program special. In the series, a young criminal meets his maker in death and journeys to the hereafter, where he must overcome innumerable challenges in the service of justice, friendship, and the chance to return to life.
Review and Script Analysis of Yu Yu Hakusho Season 1
Author and illustrator Yoshihiro Togashi created the manga series Yu Yu Hakusho, which Shone Jump published in the early 1990s. Because of his work on Yu Yu Hakusho and Hunter x Hunter, Togashi went on to become one of the most well-known mangakas in the world as well as in Japan. Togashi has made numerous contributions to the manga genre, and despite his reputation as an imperfect writer, readers who come across his writing often compliment it.
Although there are several short stories in the first half of the program that aid in character and plot development, it is true that the adaptation has removed a significant amount of content from the original work. However, here is where the show diverges into the Spirit Detective Saga. This accelerated speed undoubtedly helps the live-action adaption to engage with the action more intensely. However, those of us who watched the anime are aware that the story was told both in manga and anime, and that things were deeper and more slower in the latter.
Star Performance:
As we’ve already stated, Togashi’s stories mostly center on his characters. Both Yu Yu Hakusho and Hunter x Hunter have relatively simple plots that only become more intricate when the characters insert their own identities into the story events. As a result, a routine competition may turn into an ideological conflict or a straightforward game into a game of life and death.
Direction and music:
Similar to numerous other businesses worldwide, the Japanese film industry operates under its own set of regulations, which enables us to identify certain trends and peculiarities that indicate the Japanese origin of series such as Yu Yu Hakusho and others. The live-action TV show follows a well-known aesthetic that doesn’t give a damn about framing and forces its performers to do exaggerated, almost theatrical acting. Everything about it is similar.
There are moments when the directing seems careless, with little attention paid to the framing of the scenes, and the visual palette appears washed out, as is typical of Japanese media. But the visual effects are really good, and this continues a recent trend in Japanese media whereby productions are now able to reach a level of visual effects quality that is on par with or even better than that of effects produced for American television. Japanese television would rise if only other production elements could be handled with the same level of care.
Final Words:
Having a Yu Yu Hakusho adaptation is the next best thing to a live-action Hunter x Hunter adaptation, which may never happen. Fortunately, the program does a fantastic job of introducing the character and laying the groundwork for a potential second season of the Dark Tournament Saga. It seems possible that this live-action version may finish the plot in four seasons if it continues at this rate. The performers, the visual effects, and the plot in general make the program worth watching even though the visual direction feels a little lower quality.
