201-398: YuYu Hakusho ( Japanese : 幽☆遊☆白書 , Hepburn : Yū Yū Hakusho ) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi . It tells the story of Yusuke Urameshi , a teenage delinquent who is struck and killed by a car while saving a child's life. After a number of tests presented to him by Koenma , the son of the ruler of the afterlife, Yusuke is revived and appointed
402-559: A pure vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length, and a lexically significant pitch-accent . Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, and sentence structure is topic–comment . Sentence-final particles are used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or form questions. Nouns have no grammatical number or gender , and there are no articles . Verbs are conjugated , primarily for tense and voice , but not person . Japanese adjectives are also conjugated. Japanese has
603-405: A wooden sword capable of killing demons. Kuwabara defeats him with his newfound Spirit Sword power. Kibano ( 牙野 , Kibano ) is a self-proclaimed master of all the world's martial arts. He has the power to absorb spirit energy from the environment to increase the size of his muscles. He was defeated by Yusuke's clever thinking. The Four Beasts ( 四聖獣 , Shiseijū , "Four Saint Beasts" in
804-415: A 6% vote. King Enma Jr., usually addressed as Koenma ( コエンマ , combination of "Enma" and "ko", meaning "child" ) is the son of King Enma , the one in charge of judging whether a soul goes to heaven or hell. Koenma takes over the responsibilities of his father's work when he is away. Though he is said to be at least 700 years old, Koenma usually appears as a toddler with a pacifier in his mouth and wearing
1005-637: A benefit from the in-group to the out-group) means "[I/we] explained [it] to [him/her/them]". Such beneficiary auxiliary verbs thus serve a function comparable to that of pronouns and prepositions in Indo-European languages to indicate the actor and the recipient of an action. Japanese "pronouns" also function differently from most modern Indo-European pronouns (and more like nouns) in that they can take modifiers as any other noun may. For instance, one does not say in English: The amazed he ran down
1206-528: A cigarette. About 18,000 copies of the publication (out of 120,000) were returned from the fairs as a result of the matter. A Viz spokesperson defended the manga, clarifying that it is intended for older teens and that the alleged swastika is actually a Buddhist manji . The YuYu Hakusho manga publication has received mixed criticism by reviewers in English-speaking regions. Martin Ouellette of
1407-594: A complex system of honorifics , with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of the speaker, the listener, and persons mentioned. The Japanese writing system combines Chinese characters , known as kanji ( 漢字 , ' Han characters') , with two unique syllabaries (or moraic scripts) derived by the Japanese from the more complex Chinese characters: hiragana ( ひらがな or 平仮名 , 'simple characters') and katakana ( カタカナ or 片仮名 , 'partial characters'). Latin script ( rōmaji ローマ字 )
1608-399: A dark age still centuries away. However, after deciding to use it early to stop Sensui, it proves ineffective because of Sensui's Holy Chi. At the end of the series, an investigation by Koenma ended up revealing that his father had been falsifying reports on demon activity against humans in order to justify keeping the two separated. Having proven the criminal statistics are much lower, Koenma
1809-540: A deadly disease. He then implanted the Blood-Slaver Node onto their backs, giving him control of their minds and boosting their fighting abilities. It is revealed that Ichigaki is the one who originally poisoned their master in order to manipulate them. Yusuke, Kuwabara and the Masked Fighter fight these martial artists in a battle royale, while Kurama and Hiei are delayed fighting two lesser members of
2010-460: A design on him that binds Kurama's demonic aura for another ten minutes in order to aid his team. Toya ( 凍矢 , Tōya , "Touya" in the English dub) , the "Hexed Ice Master", is the second member of Team Shadow Channelers to fight. He battles Kurama, whose demonic aura was sealed in the previous match by Gama, using sharp ice projectiles and an ice sword that is attached to his hand. However, he
2211-414: A distinct language of its own that has absorbed various aspects from neighboring languages. Japanese has five vowels, and vowel length is phonemic, with each having both a short and a long version. Elongated vowels are usually denoted with a line over the vowel (a macron ) in rōmaji , a repeated vowel character in hiragana , or a chōonpu succeeding the vowel in katakana . /u/ ( listen )
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#17327810089982412-710: A diverse cast of characters created by Yoshihiro Togashi . It follows a fourteen-year-old junior high school delinquent Yusuke Urameshi , who dies but is resurrected in order to become the Underworld's detective of paranormal events in the Human World. He begins his work in the Human World, but ends up traveling to the Underworld and then eventually to the Demon Plane. In each case he undertakes, Yusuke meets several new enemies and allies. Other predominant characters include Yusuke's rival delinquent Kazuma Kuwabara ,
2613-411: A fan of the occult and horror films , he desired to write and illustrate a new manga based on his interests. Togashi had previously published an occult detective fiction manga titled Occult Tanteidan , of which he referenced positive reception from readers as a reason for continuing to create manga. When first producing YuYu Hakusho , he did not have a clear idea of what he wanted to call it. He used
2814-469: A female. However, a male child is born only if the Maiden has had sexual contact with a male, which is forbidden in their society. As her children were born, their mother wept two Tears of Ice before dying, tears that crystallize into jewels and are given to the babies. Hiei was thrown from the floating glacial country to his supposed doom, but managed to survive and grew up in the wilderness where he developed
3015-419: A glide /j/ and either the first part of a geminate consonant ( っ / ッ , represented as Q) or a moraic nasal in the coda ( ん / ン , represented as N). The nasal is sensitive to its phonetic environment and assimilates to the following phoneme, with pronunciations including [ɴ, m, n, ɲ, ŋ, ɰ̃] . Onset-glide clusters only occur at the start of syllables but clusters across syllables are allowed as long as
3216-503: A hand-to-hand combat fight with their heels against two knives stuck into the arena floor, which Chu loses after both use headbutts. During the fight for control of the Demon Plane, Chu is one of the demons that Genkai and Kurama train to fight for Yomi, though they eventually all disband to fight individually in the Demon Plane Unification Tournament. At the end of the series, he is training with Natsume,
3417-497: A human turned into a demon. To test his strength, Toguro invites Yusuke to the Dark Tournament ( 暗黒武術会 , Ankoku Bujutsukai , lit. "Dark Martial Arts Association") , an event put on by corrupt, rich humans in which teams of demons, and occasionally humans, fight fierce battles for the chance to receive any wish they desire. Team Urameshi, consisting of Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, Hiei, and a disguised Genkai, traverse through
3618-423: A large hat with the kanji for "king" and the English letters "Jr". He can also transform into a young adult form, retaining his pacifier but losing his hat, showing the letters "Jr" on his forehead. Koenma acts as Yusuke's boss, assigning him his Underworld Detective cases through Botan. His pacifier is a receptacle, which Koenma constantly imbues with his aura so it can create a powerful barrier in order to fend off
3819-429: A listener depending on the listener's relative social position and the degree of familiarity between the speaker and the listener. When used in different social relationships, the same word may have positive (intimate or respectful) or negative (distant or disrespectful) connotations. Japanese often use titles of the person referred to where pronouns would be used in English. For example, when speaking to one's teacher, it
4020-640: A new cover and more chapters than the tankōbon edition. YuYu Hakusho has also been published as part of the Shueisha Jump Remix series of magazine-style books. Nine volumes were released between December 22, 2008, and April 27, 2009. A bunkoban version began publication on November 18, 2010, and was finished on October 18, 2011. An English translation of the YuYu Hakusho manga was serialized in North America by Viz Media in
4221-467: A period of time around November 1990, though he forgot the exact time. He had recently completed the serialization of his romantic comedy Ten de Shōwaru Cupid in Weekly Shōnen Jump . Having felt somewhat intimidated by some of his more popular fellow authors during this manga's run, Togashi realized he would need to create a fighting manga to both gain popularity and write something he enjoyed. As
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#17327810089984422-458: A phrase uttered by superstitious people when they are scared. Mari Kitayama, a lead character designer for the anime adaptation of Yu Yu Hakusho , stated that she considers Kuwabara to be the most difficult character to design. Kurama and Hiei's names came to Togashi on the spur of the moment. When the two were introduced, the author had early plans to make Kurama a main character but was uncertain about Hiei. Togashi based Hiei's design off of
4623-411: A review about one DVD release that the show "[walks] that fine line of a solid long running series or being a broken record". He also called the artwork of the first few episodes "dated" and pointed out questionable script choices regarding the English dub. Aedan Juvet of Funimation called the anime influential and "timeless" with classic villains, highlighting five villains in the series which helped
4824-472: A secret from Keiko, though she finds out about it. Keiko worries about Yusuke but knows that he is more happy fighting demons than having a normal school life. When Yusuke leaves for the Demon Plane he promises to return and proposes to her. At the end of the series, Keiko is entering college to be a teacher. She came in sixth in the American Shonen Jump poll. Botan ( ぼたん ) is a guide to
5025-408: A sentence need not be stated and pronouns may be omitted if they can be inferred from context. In the example above, hana ga nagai would mean "[their] noses are long", while nagai by itself would mean "[they] are long." A single verb can be a complete sentence: Yatta! ( やった! ) "[I / we / they / etc] did [it]!". In addition, since adjectives can form the predicate in a Japanese sentence (below),
5226-428: A single adjective can be a complete sentence: Urayamashii! ( 羨ましい! ) "[I'm] jealous [about it]!". While the language has some words that are typically translated as pronouns, these are not used as frequently as pronouns in some Indo-European languages, and function differently. In some cases, Japanese relies on special verb forms and auxiliary verbs to indicate the direction of benefit of an action: "down" to indicate
5427-576: A thirst for killing. The only times he found peace were while looking at his Tear of Ice jewel, later deciding to find the glacial country in order to take revenge on the women who cast him out. Having lost his jewel during a battle, Hiei went to Shigure and had an Evil Eye implanted so he could find it and the glacial country, at the cost of losing his powers. Though he easily found the Ice Maidens' home, his lust for revenge fades, he can not find his jewel and sets out to find his sister instead. Hiei
5628-452: A tournament to find a successor for her techniques, which Yusuke and Kuwabara both take part in. Having entered the tournament as a detective on a case, Yusuke wins after defeating Rando and is taken on as Genkai's student. Disguising herself as the "Masked Fighter" ( 覆面戦士 ) , Genkai enters the Dark Tournament on Team Urameshi. 50 years earlier, Genkai and Younger Toguro were lovers and teammates in an earlier Dark Tournament. After winning,
5829-486: A very advanced sixth sense and is highly aware of the supernatural. Kuwabara ends up assisting in most of Yusuke's cases, having gained the ability to form a sword out of his own aura called the Aura Sword ( 霊剣 , Reiken , "Spirit Sword" in the English anime) during the competition to become Genkai's pupil. He learns to develop this power rather quickly; being able to wield two at once after training with Kurama for
6030-499: A young teen. Yusuke's most common attack is the Reigun ( 霊丸 , Reigan , lit. "Spirit Sphere", "Spirit Gun" in the English anime) , an aura energy blast fired as a projectile out of his right index finger as though his hand were a gun and his finger the barrel. At first he is only able to muster a single shot per day, but after training under Genkai he is able to fire multiple shots per day, as well as developing minor variations on
6231-624: Is compressed rather than protruded , or simply unrounded. Some Japanese consonants have several allophones , which may give the impression of a larger inventory of sounds. However, some of these allophones have since become phonemic. For example, in the Japanese language up to and including the first half of the 20th century, the phonemic sequence /ti/ was palatalized and realized phonetically as [tɕi] , approximately chi ( listen ) ; however, now [ti] and [tɕi] are distinct, as evidenced by words like tī [tiː] "Western-style tea" and chii [tɕii] "social status". The "r" of
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6432-596: Is Butajiri ( 豚尻 ) of the Black Book Club. Team Urameshi fights Team Shadow Channelers immediately after Team Ichigaki and, under the guise of a medical exam, Hiei and the Masked Fighter are forced to sit out by Luka . Gama ( 画魔 ) , a "Master of Ritual Adornment", is the first member to fight, doing so through ritual body art that he paints using his blood. In addition to painting himself to boost his power, he also paints designs on his opponents to seal their movements. Before dying from Kurama's attack, Gama paints
6633-629: Is a Fox Demon ( 妖狐 , Yōko ) and former thief, who specialized in undoing seals and stealing ancient treasures. Fifteen years before the series began, he was badly injured and escaped to the Human World in soul form, where he entered an embryo in a pregnant human woman, becoming Shuichi Minamino ( 南野 秀一 , Minamino Shūichi ) at birth. Within ten or so years his powers would return and his body would become inhuman, at which point he planned to leave. However, Kurama comes to love his now-single human mother, and when she becomes gravely ill he cannot bear to leave her all alone and remains as Shuichi in
6834-411: Is a classmate of Yusuke's at Sarayashiki Junior High School. Despite his unusual affinity for kittens, he is the second toughest delinquent at the school, constantly picking fights with Yusuke to prove himself stronger, but never succeeding. Eventually Kuwabara's feelings of anger toward Yusuke become feelings of respect. Although he loves fighting, Kuwabara would never steal or extort money. Kuwabara has
7035-438: Is a demon who can create a thick fog from his sweat and beats an unconscious Kurama until winning the match via ring out at the orders of Risho. The weakest member of Team Shadow Channelers, Yusuke quickly defeats him. Jin ( 陣 ) , the "Wind Master", is the fourth member of Team Shadow Channelers to fight. He has the ability to fly at great speeds and to block and change the course of any energy-based attacks that travel through
7236-436: Is a descendant of the demon king Raizen , whom he goes to see in the Demon Plane. Upon Raizen's death, Yusuke becomes king of his domain but proposes the Demon Plane Unification Tournament, winner taking control of the whole Demon Plane. At the end of the series, Yusuke opens up a ramen stand and also spends time helping humans and demons cooperate. Yusuke is a popular character with fans, coming in second and third place in
7437-479: Is a popular character with fans, coming in first place in the series' first two popularity polls. He also came in first in the American Shonen Jump poll. He was ranked as the first, then second, then third most popular male anime character in Animage ' s Anime Grand Prix for the consecutive years of 1993, 1994, and 1995. The Japanese publication Newtype ranked him as the fifth best male anime character of
7638-461: Is a young demon who uses yo-yos to attack. Rinku is childish and playful and often annoys those around him. He is the first fighter on his team to step forward in the ring, fighting Kuwabara. Rinku controls his yo-yos by channeling his aura through the strings, is very acrobatic, and is capable of healing his wounds with his own demon energy. He defeats Kuwabara by ring out, though he is quick to cheer for Team Urameshi after his own team's loss. During
7839-448: Is also seen in o-medetō "congratulations", from medetaku ). Late Middle Japanese has the first loanwords from European languages – now-common words borrowed into Japanese in this period include pan ("bread") and tabako ("tobacco", now "cigarette"), both from Portuguese . Modern Japanese is considered to begin with the Edo period (which spanned from 1603 to 1867). Since Old Japanese,
8040-527: Is also used in a limited fashion (such as for imported acronyms) in Japanese writing. The numeral system uses mostly Arabic numerals , but also traditional Chinese numerals . Proto-Japonic , the common ancestor of the Japanese and Ryukyuan languages , is thought to have been brought to Japan by settlers coming from the Korean peninsula sometime in the early- to mid-4th century BC (the Yayoi period ), replacing
8241-493: Is apparent that both enjoyed their fight. During the fight for control of the Demon Plane, Jin is one of the demons that Genkai and Kurama train to fight for Yomi, though they eventually all disband to fight individually in the Demon Plane Unification Tournament. Risho ( 吏将 , Rishō ) is a demon with power over earth, using it to form armor made of clay. Despite unfair interference by the Tournament organizers throughout
YuYu Hakusho - Misplaced Pages Continue
8442-440: Is appropriate to use sensei ( 先生 , "teacher"), but inappropriate to use anata . This is because anata is used to refer to people of equal or lower status, and one's teacher has higher status. Japanese nouns have no grammatical number, gender or article aspect. The noun hon ( 本 ) may refer to a single book or several books; hito ( 人 ) can mean "person" or "people", and ki ( 木 ) can be "tree" or "trees". Where number
8643-701: Is associated with comedy (see Kansai dialect ). Dialects of Tōhoku and North Kantō are associated with typical farmers. The Ryūkyūan languages, spoken in Okinawa and the Amami Islands (administratively part of Kagoshima ), are distinct enough to be considered a separate branch of the Japonic family; not only is each language unintelligible to Japanese speakers, but most are unintelligible to those who speak other Ryūkyūan languages. However, in contrast to linguists, many ordinary Japanese people tend to consider
8844-466: Is better documentation of Late Middle Japanese phonology than for previous forms (for instance, the Arte da Lingoa de Iapam ). Among other sound changes, the sequence /au/ merges to /ɔː/ , in contrast with /oː/ ; /p/ is reintroduced from Chinese; and /we/ merges with /je/ . Some forms rather more familiar to Modern Japanese speakers begin to appear – the continuative ending - te begins to reduce onto
9045-402: Is challenged to a fight by three teenagers possessing superhuman powers and who end up taking the detective hostage. Kuwabara and the others rescue him and learn that the whole scenario was a test put on by Genkai. It is disclosed that Shinobu Sensui , Yusuke's predecessor as Underworld Detective, has recruited six other powerful beings to help him take over where Sakyo left off, opening a hole to
9246-405: Is charged with investigating supernatural phenomena in the Human World that have connections to the Underworld. Yusuke bears affection for his childhood friend Keiko Yukimura , who initially takes a role as Yusuke's conscience, making sure he comes to class and behaves, and later becomes his romantic interest. Yusuke's alcoholic mother, Atsuko , raised him as a single parent after conceiving him as
9447-509: Is correlated with the sex of the speaker and the social situation in which they are spoken: men and women alike in a formal situation generally refer to themselves as watashi ( 私 , literally "private") or watakushi (also 私 , hyper-polite form), while men in rougher or intimate conversation are much more likely to use the word ore ( 俺 "oneself", "myself") or boku . Similarly, different words such as anata , kimi , and omae ( お前 , more formally 御前 "the one before me") may refer to
9648-488: Is defeated by Kuwabara, he is killed by Seiryu. Seiryu ( 青龍 , Seiryū ) is a demon with enhanced speed and control over ice. He is quickly cut to pieces by Hiei. Suzaku ( 朱雀 ) is the leader of the Four Beasts. A demon who uses lightning to attack, he is able to split himself into seven separate, yet equally powerful bodies. Suzaku came in sixth place in the series' first popularity poll. He came in eighth in
9849-418: Is defeated when Kurama plants his attack into his own wounds to access his aura and knock Toya down for a ten count. During the fight for control of the Demon Plane, Toya is one of the demons that Genkai and Kurama train to fight for Yomi, though they eventually all disband to fight individually in the Demon Plane Unification Tournament. Bakuken ( 爆拳 , "Bakken" in the English dub) , the third member to fight,
10050-463: Is greeted by Botan , a woman who introduces herself as the pilot of the Sanzu River , who ferries souls to the Underworld ( 霊界 , Reikai , "Spirit World" in the English anime dub) where they may be judged for the afterlife. Botan informs Yusuke that his act had caught even the Underworld by surprise and that there was not yet a place made for him in either heaven or hell. Thus Koenma , son of
10251-417: Is important, it can be indicated by providing a quantity (often with a counter word ) or (rarely) by adding a suffix, or sometimes by duplication (e.g. 人人 , hitobito , usually written with an iteration mark as 人々 ). Words for people are usually understood as singular. Thus Tanaka-san usually means Mx Tanaka . Words that refer to people and animals can be made to indicate a group of individuals through
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#173278100899810452-755: Is less common. In terms of mutual intelligibility , a survey in 1967 found that the four most unintelligible dialects (excluding Ryūkyūan languages and Tōhoku dialects ) to students from Greater Tokyo were the Kiso dialect (in the deep mountains of Nagano Prefecture ), the Himi dialect (in Toyama Prefecture ), the Kagoshima dialect and the Maniwa dialect (in Okayama Prefecture ). The survey
10653-637: Is now in charge of the Underworld and allows access between the Demon Plane and Human World. Koenma is a popular character with fans, coming in seventh and fifth place in the series' first two popularity polls. He came in ninth in the American Shonen Jump poll. Rando ( 乱童 , Randō ) is a demon of battle who specializes in defeating martial arts masters and monks. Having killed 99 masters so far, he steals their secret techniques and tests them out on humans. Rando participates in Genkai's tournament to select her pupil in order to learn her techniques, and Yusuke
10854-420: Is often called a topic-prominent language , which means it has a strong tendency to indicate the topic separately from the subject, and that the two do not always coincide. The sentence Zō wa hana ga nagai ( 象は鼻が長い ) literally means, "As for elephant(s), (the) nose(s) (is/are) long". The topic is zō "elephant", and the subject is hana "nose". Japanese grammar tends toward brevity; the subject or object of
11055-495: Is only the start of this trend." Dan Polley, a staff reviewer of Manga Life, gave an average grade to the fifth volume, which entails Yusuke's battle with Suzaku, the leader of the Four Beasts. Although he found some the battle sequences to be engaging, Polley judged the chapters as lacking in characterization and development overall. Polley also discounted the manga's comedy, considering the "bit gags or fairly lame jokes" to be "too much" at times. The Yu Yu Hakusho television series
11256-498: Is preserved in words such as matsuge ("eyelash", lit. "hair of the eye"); modern mieru ("to be visible") and kikoeru ("to be audible") retain a mediopassive suffix - yu(ru) ( kikoyu → kikoyuru (the attributive form, which slowly replaced the plain form starting in the late Heian period) → kikoeru (all verbs with the shimo-nidan conjugation pattern underwent this same shift in Early Modern Japanese )); and
11457-443: Is sent to stop him on orders from Koenma. Rando initially disguises himself as Shaolin ( 少林 , Shōrin , "Shorin" in the English anime) , a monk, during the tournament so as not to draw attention to himself. He defeats Kuwabara and is about to beat Yusuke with the same technique, but Rando's ignorance of the stolen techniques causes it to backfire on him and he is defeated by Yusuke and arrested by Botan. Rando came in tenth place in
11658-602: Is the second member to fight. He has his familiars stalk Kurama's human mother to force him into submission, until the plant Kurama planted in Roto blooms, killing him. Zeru ( 是流 ) is a demon with control over fire. He is the team leader and his power is far greater than his teammates, with the exception of Chu . Because of this, Hiei quickly beats him by summoning powers he can not yet completely control, leaving his right arm severely injured. The remaining team members run away after Hiei's display of power. Chu ( 酎 , Chū )
11859-506: Is the strongest fighter of Team Jolly Devil Six. Although he is technically the team's alternate fighter due to losing at rock-paper-scissors, he is able to fight after decapitating his fleeing teammates Imajin and Gaou. A user of the Drunken Fist ( 酔拳 , Suiken ) , Chu gets stronger the drunker he is and is touted as an alchemist who fuses the alcohol he drinks with his demon aura. After exhausting their auras, he and Yusuke agree to
12060-402: Is the version of Japanese discussed in this article. Formerly, standard Japanese in writing ( 文語 , bungo , "literary language") was different from colloquial language ( 口語 , kōgo ) . The two systems have different rules of grammar and some variance in vocabulary. Bungo was the main method of writing Japanese until about 1900; since then kōgo gradually extended its influence and
12261-481: Is then sent to Labyrinth Castle in the Demon Plane ( 魔界 , Makai , lit. "Demon World") , a third world occupied solely by demons, where Kuwabara and the newly reformed Kurama and Hiei assist him in defeating the Four Beasts , a quartet of demons attempting to blackmail Koenma into removing the barrier keeping them out of the Human World. Yusuke's next case sends him on a rescue mission, where he meets Toguro ,
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#173278100899812462-471: Is used for the present and the future. For verbs that represent an ongoing process, the -te iru form indicates a continuous (or progressive) aspect , similar to the suffix ing in English. For others that represent a change of state, the -te iru form indicates a perfect aspect. For example, kite iru means "They have come (and are still here)", but tabete iru means "They are eating". Questions (both with an interrogative pronoun and yes/no questions) have
12663-405: Is why some linguists do not classify Japanese "pronouns" as pronouns, but rather as referential nouns, much like Spanish usted (contracted from vuestra merced , "your ( majestic plural ) grace") or Portuguese você (from vossa mercê ). Japanese personal pronouns are generally used only in situations requiring special emphasis as to who is doing what to whom. The choice of words used as pronouns
12864-420: The shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from December 3, 1990, to July 25, 1994. The manga consists of 175 chapters spanning 19 tankōbon with the first one being released on April 10, 1991, and the last one released on December 12, 1994. Between August 4, 2004, and March 4, 2005, Shueisha released the kanzenban (complete) editions of the manga. Each of the 15 kanzenban volumes features
13065-473: The Anime News Network identified Yu Yu Hakusho as "one of the best action series out there", and noted consistently good storytelling and character development throughout his critique of key points of the series. Todd Douglass Jr. of DVD Talk declared, "It's a fun show with a great cast, a sense of humor, and a lot of action so there's no excuse not to at least give it a chance." He recommended
13266-517: The Japonic language family, which also includes the Ryukyuan languages spoken in the Ryukyu Islands . As these closely related languages are commonly treated as dialects of the same language, Japanese is sometimes called a language isolate . According to Martine Irma Robbeets , Japanese has been subject to more attempts to show its relation to other languages than any other language in
13467-514: The Philippines , and various Pacific islands, locals in those countries learned Japanese as the language of the empire. As a result, many elderly people in these countries can still speak Japanese. Japanese emigrant communities (the largest of which are to be found in Brazil , with 1.4 million to 1.5 million Japanese immigrants and descendants, according to Brazilian IBGE data, more than
13668-569: The Ryukyuan languages and the variously classified Hachijō language . There have been many attempts to group the Japonic languages with other families such as the Ainu , Austronesian , Koreanic , and the now-discredited Altaic , but none of these proposals have gained any widespread acceptance. Little is known of the language's prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from
13869-828: The Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen in 1993. Towards the end of the series' run, Togashi was publicly criticized for not meeting chapter deadlines and for lower quality art. On TV Asahi 's Manga Sōsenkyo 2021 poll, in which 150,000 people voted for their top 100 manga series, YuYu Hakusho ranked seventeenth. In North America, several volumes of the manga have ranked within the weekly Nielsen BookScan graphic novels list, including volume five at both sixth and ninth in October 2004, volume six at sixth in February 2005, and volume seven at seventh in June 2005. In 2004,
14070-738: The United States (notably in Hawaii , where 16.7% of the population has Japanese ancestry, and California ), and the Philippines (particularly in Davao Region and the Province of Laguna ). Japanese has no official status in Japan, but is the de facto national language of the country. There is a form of the language considered standard : hyōjungo ( 標準語 ) , meaning "standard Japanese", or kyōtsūgo ( 共通語 ) , "common language", or even "Tokyo dialect" at times. The meanings of
14271-816: The Yu Yu Hakusho anime adaptation was composed by Yusuke Honma. The series has one opening theme, " Hohoemi no Bakudan " ( 微笑みの爆弾 , Hohoemi no Bakudan , lit. "Smile Bomb") by Matsuko Mawatari , as well as five closing themes: "Homework ga Owaranai" ( ホームワークが終わらない , Hōmuwāku ga Owaranai , lit. "Homework Never Ends") , "Sayonara ByeBye" ( さよならＢｙｅＢｙｅ , Sayonara ByeBye , lit. "Goodbye ByeBye") and "Daydream Generation" also by Mawatari; and " Unbalance na Kiss o Shite " ( アンバランスなＫｉｓｓをして , Anbaransu na Kiss wo Shite , lit. "Give Me An Unbalanced Kiss") and " Taiyō ga Mata Kagayaku Toki " ( 太陽がまた輝くとき , Taiyō ga Mata Kagayaku Toki , lit. "When The Sun Shines Again") by Hiro Takahashi . When Funimation gained rights to
14472-404: The YuYu Hakusho manga serialization sparked a controversy when a Florida grade school teacher issued a complaint about material found in an issue of the American Shonen Jump magazine purchased by a fifth-grade student at a Scholastic Book Fair . The complaint centered around portions of the manga containing violence, mild profanity, a character wearing a swastika , and another character smoking
14673-591: The YuYu Hakusho series, most of which have been produced for and released exclusively in Japan. Prior to the launch of the franchise in North America, games were released on the Game Boy , Super Famicom , Sega consoles, and various platforms. North America only saw three video game releases. Two releases for the Nintendo's Game Boy Advanced handheld console, and one release for Sony's PlayStation 2 console. A single Mega Drive game, Yū Yū Hakusho Makyō Tōitsusen ,
14874-806: The de facto standard Japanese had been the Kansai dialect , especially that of Kyoto . However, during the Edo period, Edo (now Tokyo) developed into the largest city in Japan, and the Edo-area dialect became standard Japanese. Since the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages has increased significantly. The period since 1945 has seen many words borrowed from other languages—such as German, Portuguese and English. Many English loan words especially relate to technology—for example, pasokon (short for "personal computer"), intānetto ("internet"), and kamera ("camera"). Due to
15075-461: The four symbols of Chinese astrology . Genbu ( 玄武 ) is a rock demon with the power to move through stone as though it were part of his body. Although he can reassemble his shattered body, he is defeated by Kurama. Byakko ( 白虎 ) is an anthropomorphic tiger who can turn pieces of his hair into lesser beasts, absorb aura energy, and fire sonic blasts from his mouth that destroy everything they touch by destroying their molecular bonds. Although he
15276-448: The standard dialect moved from the Kansai region to the Edo region (modern Tokyo ) in the Early Modern Japanese period (early 17th century–mid 19th century). Following the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages increased significantly, and words from English roots have proliferated. Japanese is an agglutinative , mora -timed language with relatively simple phonotactics ,
15477-527: The 1.2 million of the United States ) sometimes employ Japanese as their primary language. Approximately 12% of Hawaii residents speak Japanese, with an estimated 12.6% of the population of Japanese ancestry in 2008. Japanese emigrants can also be found in Peru , Argentina , Australia (especially in the eastern states), Canada (especially in Vancouver , where 1.4% of the population has Japanese ancestry),
15678-516: The 1990s. Masashi Kishimoto said that he used Hiei as a reference when creating Sasuke Uchiha from Naruto and his Sharingan technique. Keiko Yukimura ( 雪村 螢子 , Yukimura Keiko , spelled "Kayko" in the English anime ) is Yusuke's childhood friend and classmate and eventually girlfriend. She has known Yusuke for many years and acts as a disciplinary figure, often trying to get him to attend his classes and behave, though usually to no avail. Yusuke attempts to keep his job as spirit detective
15879-465: The 3rd century AD recorded a few Japanese words, but substantial Old Japanese texts did not appear until the 8th century. From the Heian period (794–1185), extensive waves of Sino-Japanese vocabulary entered the language, affecting the phonology of Early Middle Japanese . Late Middle Japanese (1185–1600) saw extensive grammatical changes and the first appearance of European loanwords . The basis of
16080-410: The 64th chapter. Viz later re-released the series digitally as part of their digital manga releases between August 20, 2013, and February 25, 2014, and later added it to ComiXology 's digital releases. The YuYu Hakusho manga has additionally been licensed and published across Asia and Europe. A French translation from Kana , for example, began publication in 1997. The Yu Yu Hakusho anime adaptation
16281-553: The American Shonen Jump magazine, where it debuted in its inaugural January 2003 issue and ended in January 2010. Viz released all 19 collected volumes of the English manga between May 1, 2003, and March 2, 2010. A total of 176 chapters exist in this format due to Viz treating the extra non-numbered chapter "YuYu Hakusho Tales: Two Shot" found in volume seven (which tells the story of how Hiei and Kurama first met) as
16482-446: The American Shonen Jump poll. Team Jolly Devil Six ( 六遊怪 , Rokuyukai ) is the first team that Team Urameshi fights in the opening round of the Dark Tournament. Sponsored by Sukezo Gondawara ( 権田原助造 , Gondawara Sukezo ) of the Black Book Club, it consists of demons from the red-light district who have little to no acclaim. The members decided their alternate by rock–paper–scissors . Rinku ( 鈴駒 , alternately "Link")
16683-400: The American Shonen Jump poll. Botan was ranked as the seventh most popular female anime character in Animage ' s 1993 Anime Grand Prix, the eighth in 1994, and the eleventh in 1995. Genkai ( 幻海 ) is an elderly martial arts expert who is famous among both humans and demons, and considered one of the top five reiki masters according to her friend Koenma. She first appears holding
16884-547: The Canadian Protoculture Addicts compared the progression of the series to Dragon Ball Z and stated, "Togashi's art, while simple, is extremely efficient and the story is really fun." An older article by the same reviewer disagreed with the notion that YuYu Hakusho was similar to Dragon Ball , stating that the former franchise has better developed characters, more interesting action sequences, and more humor. Eduardo M. Chavez of Mania.com enjoyed
17085-557: The Dark Tournament on Yusuke and Kuwabara's team. During the Dark Tournament he debuts the technique known as the Black Dragon Unholy Fire ( 邪王炎殺黒龍波 , Jaō Ensatsu Kokuryūha , lit. "Tyrant King's Blaze-Murdering Black Dragon Wave", "Dragon of the Darkness Flame" in the English anime) , which allows him to summon and control black flames from the Demon Plane. He eventually masters the technique by consuming
17286-553: The Dark Tournament, and create a more powerful sword that boosts his recuperative abilities, acting as both a weapon and shield, by using the Sword of Trials he gets from Suzuki . Kuwabara later obtains the Dimensional Sword ( 次元刀 , Jigen Tō ) during his fight against Kiyoshi Mitarai , a sleeker and cleaner aura sword that possesses the ability to slice and cut through and between dimensions. This causes him to become
17487-401: The Demon Plane Unification Tournament, losing to Mukuro in the third round. At the end of the series, he is assigned to the special squad in charge of safely returning humans who wander into the Demon Plane. Hiei is Yukina's twin brother. It is later revealed that he is a fire demon born to a race of female Ice Maidens, who reproduce by parthenogenesis every 100 years, always giving birth to
17688-409: The Demon Plane and defeats Sensui with the aid of his ancestor who takes control of Yusuke's body to finish the fight. As they return to the Human World, Yusuke is stripped of his detective title in fear that Yusuke's demon blood could cause him to go on a rampage in the Human World. Yusuke, unsettled at having been controlled by his ancestor Raizen , accepts an offer by Raizen's followers to return to
17889-490: The Demon Plane to cause genocide of the human race. Yusuke and his friends challenge and defeat Sensui's associates one-by-one, culminating in a final battle between the two detectives. Sensui kills Yusuke then retreats into the newly opened portal to the Demon Plane. Yusuke is reborn as a partial demon, discovering that his ancestor passed down a recessive gene that would hide until an heir with sufficient power surfaced when his demonic lineage would be revealed. Yusuke travels to
18090-419: The Demon Plane. At the end of the series, Genkai decides to leave her vast land to Yusuke and his friends. While Genkai had already died during this moment in the manga, in the anime, she is still alive. Genkai is a popular character with fans, coming in seventh place in the series' second popularity poll. In a 2007 poll by Oricon , Genkai was tied with two other characters as the fifth-best anime "master" with
18291-454: The Demon Plane. After learning that King Enma was falsifying reports on demon activity against humans in order to justify keeping the two separated, Koenma takes over his father's position and allows access between the Demon Plane and Human World. Genkai dies and leaves her estate to the main characters. The story ends with Yusuke and his friends reuniting at a beach. Author Yoshihiro Togashi stated that he began working on YuYu Hakusho during
18492-464: The Demon Plane. Raizen, desiring a successor to his territory, is on the brink of dying of starvation, a death that would topple the delicate political balance of the three ruling powers of the Demon Plane. Hiei and Kurama are summoned by the other two rulers, Mukuro and Yomi , respectively, to prepare for an inevitable war. The three protagonists train in the realm for one year, during which time Raizen dies and Yusuke inherits his territory. Yusuke takes
18693-400: The English anime) are four demons who run a criminal organization in a part of the Demon Plane called Demon City ( 魔街 ) , a haven for criminals. In order to get the Underworld to allow them access to the Human World, the Four Beasts release parasitic insects into the human world causing them to send Yusuke to their Labyrinth Castle ( 迷宮城 ) to stop them. The Four Beasts share their names with
18894-579: The Evil Eye ( 邪眼 , Jagan , referred to as the "Jagan Eye" in the English anime) implanted in his forehead, which gives him clairvoyance and allows him to control lesser demons and humans with only a glance. He can transform into a form with Evil Eyes all over his body, boosting his powers. While assisting Yusuke in defeating The Four Beasts in exchange for a reduced sentence, Hiei changes and no longer acts solely for his own interest. For associating with humans, Hiei and Kurama are invited to take part in
19095-731: The Game Boy Advance; and Yu Yu Hakusho: Dark Tournament , a 3D fighting game for the PlayStation 2 . Yu Yu Hakusho characters were also featured in the Weekly Shōnen Jump crossover fighting games J-Stars Victory VS and Jump Force . Yusuke, Hiei, and Toguro are playable in both games. On December 16, 2020, a Japanese live-action series adaptation was announced. It is streaming on Netflix worldwide, with Netflix contents acquisition director Kazutaka Sakamoto serving as executive producer and Akira Morii producing
19296-476: The Human World ( 人間界 , Ningen Kai ) . Soon Yusuke is off on his first case, retrieving three treasures stolen from the Underworld by a gang of demons: Hiei , Kurama , and Goki. Yusuke collects the three treasures with the aid of his new technique, the Rei Gun, a shot of aura or Reiki ( 霊気 , Reiki , lit. "Spirit Energy") fired mentally from his index finger. He then travels to the mountains in search of
19497-566: The Human World. Having teamed up with Hiei and Goki to steal three Underworld treasures, Kurama becomes a target of Yusuke Urameshi. However, he betrays his partners and takes the Mirror of Darkness ( 暗黒鏡 , Ankoku-Kyō , known as the "Forlorn Hope" in the English anime dub) , a mirror capable of granting the user's desire at the cost of the user's life, to cure his mother of her deadly illness. Yusuke saves Kurama's life with both of them giving some of their lifeforces, therefore they both survive (in
19698-486: The Japanese language is of particular interest, ranging between an apical central tap and a lateral approximant . The "g" is also notable; unless it starts a sentence, it may be pronounced [ ŋ ] , in the Kanto prestige dialect and in other eastern dialects. The phonotactics of Japanese are relatively simple. The syllable structure is (C)(G)V(C), that is, a core vowel surrounded by an optional onset consonant,
19899-570: The Masked Fighter (Genkai), while the latter gives Yusuke the final test as her student. Evil Kintaro ( 魔金太郎 , Makintarō ) , a parody of Kintarō , is a demon who can turn his hand into an ax. Hiei quickly kills him with his swordsmanship. Poison Peach Boy ( 黒桃太郎 , Kuro Momotarō , lit. "Black Peach Boy") , a parody of Momotarō , is a demon who can make himself impervious to any attack his body has experienced by absorbing his Millet Dumplings . These dumplings also transform his body, giving it simian, avian, or canine characteristics, but he
20100-552: The Movie: Poltergeist Report . A series of Yu Yu Hakusho OVAs collectively titled Eizou Hakusho ( 映像白書 , Eizō Hakusho , lit. "Image Report") was released in Japan in VHS format between 1994 and 1996. The OVAs feature very short clips that take place after the end of the series. They also contain video montages from the anime, image songs , voice actor interviews, and satirical animated shorts focusing on
20301-500: The OVAs and does not include the Japanese voice actor interviews. A brand new OVA of Yu Yu Hakusho was released with a Blu-ray box set of the series on October 26, 2018, in Japan. It adapts the "Two Shot" bonus chapter from the manga's seventh volume and the manga's penultimate chapter "All or Nothing". In October 2019, Funimation announced the OVA release with an English dub. The music for
20502-736: The Old Japanese sections are written in Man'yōgana , which uses kanji for their phonetic as well as semantic values. Based on the Man'yōgana system, Old Japanese can be reconstructed as having 88 distinct morae . Texts written with Man'yōgana use two different sets of kanji for each of the morae now pronounced き (ki), ひ (hi), み (mi), け (ke), へ (he), め (me), こ (ko), そ (so), と (to), の (no), も (mo), よ (yo) and ろ (ro). (The Kojiki has 88, but all later texts have 87. The distinction between mo 1 and mo 2 apparently
20703-502: The Philippines, where it was rerun several times and managed to draw more viewers in the prime time slot than both local and foreign soap operas. The animated series received a generally positive reception in North America. In January 2004, Yu Yu Hakusho was named the second best action-adventure anime by Anime Insider . It was voted by the users of IGN as the tenth best animated series of all time. Critical reviews focused on
20904-488: The Ryūkyūan languages as dialects of Japanese. The imperial court also seems to have spoken an unusual variant of the Japanese of the time, most likely the spoken form of Classical Japanese , a writing style that was prevalent during the Heian period , but began to decline during the late Meiji period . The Ryūkyūan languages are classified by UNESCO as 'endangered', as young people mostly use Japanese and cannot understand
21105-482: The Underworld or a shinigami , charged with ferrying souls of the deceased to the Underworld to face their final judgment. She is sent to inform Yusuke on the offer for him to be resurrected, and later acts as his assistant and trainer as he starts out his tenure as Underworld Detective. Botan teaches him how to use the various detective tools, communicates messages from Koenma and often guides him to different destinations pertaining to his cases. She will also join him in
21306-437: The Underworld's ruler King Enma , offers Yusuke a chance to return to his body through a series of tests. Yusuke succeeds with the help of his friends Keiko Yukimura and Kazuma Kuwabara . After returning to life, Koenma grants Yusuke the title of "Underworld Detective" ( 霊界探偵 , Reikai Tantei , lit. "Spirit World Detective", "Spirit Detective" in the English dub) , charging him with investigating supernatural activity within
21507-486: The Underworld. With the Conjuring Blade ( 降魔の剣 , Kōma no Ken ) , a sword that turns anyone cut by it into a demon, he plans to create an army. As the last of his partners on the run, Hiei kidnaps Keiko in an exchange with Yusuke for the other two treasures. However, he also cuts her with the Conjuring Blade, forcing Yusuke to defeat him to save her, which he does with help from Kurama and Botan. Hiei possesses
21708-462: The United States. The anime has been given mostly positive reviews by critics in North America, complimenting its writing, characters, comedy, and amount of action. YuYu Hakusho follows Yusuke Urameshi , a 14-year-old street-brawling delinquent who, in an uncharacteristic act of altruism , is hit by a car and killed in an attempt to save a young boy by pushing him out of the way. His ghost
21909-543: The addition of a collective suffix (a noun suffix that indicates a group), such as -tachi , but this is not a true plural: the meaning is closer to the English phrase "and company". A group described as Tanaka-san-tachi may include people not named Tanaka. Some Japanese nouns are effectively plural, such as hitobito "people" and wareware "we/us", while the word tomodachi "friend" is considered singular, although plural in form. Verbs are conjugated to show tenses, of which there are two: past and present (or non-past) which
22110-438: The aged, female martial arts master Genkai . Together with his rival Kuwabara, Yusuke fights through a tournament organized by Genkai to find her successor. Yusuke uses the competition as a cover to search for Rando , a demon who steals the techniques of martial arts masters and kills them. Yusuke defeats Rando in the final round of the tournament and trains with Genkai for several months, gaining more mastery over his aura. Yusuke
22311-403: The air. His signature move is to spin his forearm at high speed, creating a tornado around it, making his punches more powerful, even causing damage when he misses. Jin enjoys his battles, especially when he has a worthy opponent. Although his fight with Yusuke is initially ruled a loss for Jin via ring out, the decision is overturned and declared a draw. He and Yusuke have a lot in common, and it
22512-428: The anime adaptation. Yusuke Urameshi ( 浦飯 幽助 , Urameshi Yūsuke ) is a fourteen-year-old delinquent who attends Sarayashiki Junior High School. His poor school attendance, constant fighting and bad habits have earned him the fear of his classmates and the disdain of his teachers and neighbors. This all changes rather abruptly when Yusuke is struck and killed by a car while saving a small child who has wandered into
22713-507: The anime evolve. Japanese language Japanese ( 日本語 , Nihongo , [ɲihoŋɡo] ) is the principal language of the Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people . It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan , the only country where it is the national language , and within the Japanese diaspora worldwide. The Japonic family also includes
22914-553: The anime starting with season one on July 8, 2008, and ending with season four on January 13, 2009. Each set contains four DVDs which have 28 episodes, or one quarter of the whole series. Funimation began releasing the seasons on Blu-ray Disc on May 31, 2011. Cook has stated that the production staff made minor improvements to their recordings, such as redubbing certain lines, cleaning up the dialogue, and removing "arrant anomalies". In Japan, three separate multi-disc DVD box sets were released, as well as 28 DVDs totaling all 112 episodes of
23115-419: The anime's final episodes that Yu Yu Hakusho possesses all of these qualities. This was concurred upon by Joseph Luster of Otaku USA , who summed up his feelings about the universe of Yu Yu Hakusho by stating, "Togashi's world is eternally hellish and dark, but wildly varied. The only thing that doesn't change throughout its run is the fact that you'll still be rooting for the well-defined protagonists until
23316-510: The anime, along with others such as Inuyasha and Cowboy Bebop , met with male audiences ages 18–34. During its Toonami debut in May 2003, Yu Yu Hakusho placed in seven out of the top 111 Nielsen ratings for Cartoon Network telecasts, with the highest being number 30 on May 13 at a two percent share of all viewing televisions in the country. Atari stated in December 2003 that the anime
23517-417: The anime, the mirror cancels the sacrifice due to Yusuke's kindness). This act bonds Yusuke and Kurama as friends and allies. He begins assisting Yusuke in defeating The Four Beasts in exchange for a reduced sentence. Kurama is one of the most popular characters in the series, particularly in Japan. In Animage 's Anime Grand Prix , he was ranked as the third most popular male anime character of 1993, and
23718-405: The author had early plans to make Kurama a main character but was not certain about Hiei. The manga's shift from occult detective fiction to the martial arts genre after Yusuke's death and revival in the early chapters was planned by Togashi from the beginning. He took this idea from the series Kinnikuman , which began largely as a comedy before concentrating more on action. Togashi's intention
23919-441: The character Skunky from the manga series Patalliro! by Mineo Maya . Kitayama finds Kurama to be the easiest of the main characters to design due to his well-proportioned features and considers Hiei to be her favorite. The names of Yusuke's school Sarayashiki and the rival Kasanegafuchi Junior High are both named after haunted mansions in famous ghost stories; Banchō Sarayashiki and Kaidan Kasanegafuchi . The names of
24120-529: The characters Roto and Rinku are taken from video game characters of the same names, the former from Dragon Quest and the latter from The Legend of Zelda . Togashi's inspiration for the character Mukuro was Kushana of Torumekia from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind . After receiving a lot of letters both praising and criticizing the voice actors, Togashi clarified that he had no involvement in
24321-634: The concept of the Ningenkai (Human World), Reikai (Underworld), and Makai (Demon Plane) as being parallel planes of existence in the manga's universe. He thought of them as places that one could not easily travel between using modern technology, but rather as a spirit lacking a material body. However, the idea for the "territory" powers from the Sensui story arc was parodied from a separate, unnamed work by Yasutaka Tsutsui . For his drawing materials, Togashi used drafting ink and Kabura pens throughout
24522-532: The creation of the series. While his style of artwork began with screentone , he gradually developed into minimalism . As the series progressed, he would draw figures and faces very detailed or "cartoony, sketchy and jumping with action" whenever he desired such effects. During the years he worked on YuYu Hakusho , Togashi would calculate the personal time he had based on a formula of four hours per page without scripting and five hours of sleep per night. He wrote in his own dōjinshi Yoshirin de Pon! that he stopped
24723-417: The credits run on the last episode." Jeffrey Harris of IGN was more critical when looking at later episodes, and felt that the end of the show's third arc involving the villain Sensui is too similar to the finale of the second arc with Toguro. He described the episodes as trying too hard to draw sympathy from the audience for the anime's villains. Despite his overall praise of Yu Yu Hakusho , Divers noted in
24924-448: The day before the finals. After Team Urameshi wins the tournament, Genkai is brought back to life by Koenma for their reward at Toguro's suggestion. She has Asato Kido , Yu Kaito , and Mitsunari Yanagisawa attack Yusuke and friends as a training lesson and to inform them that someone is opening a portal to the Demon Plane. At Kurama's request, Genkai trains Rinku , Chu , Toya , Jin , Shishiwakamaru and Suzuki to balance power in
25125-578: The effect of changing Japanese into a mora-timed language. Late Middle Japanese covers the years from 1185 to 1600, and is normally divided into two sections, roughly equivalent to the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period , respectively. The later forms of Late Middle Japanese are the first to be described by non-native sources, in this case the Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries; and thus there
25326-421: The end of the series, Kuwabara becomes more engrossed in his studies, choosing to cram for his high school exams rather than follow Yusuke and the others into the Demon Plane. At the end, Yukina is living with his family as a homestay . Kuwabara is a popular character with fans, coming in fourth place in the series' first two popularity polls. He came in fifth in the American Shonen Jump poll. Kurama ( 蔵馬 )
25527-499: The entire round, Kuwabara defeats Risho for the final win thanks to a revitalization after Yukina appears. Team Fractured Fairy Tales ( 裏御伽 , Uraotogi ) fights Team Urameshi in the semifinals of the Dark Tournament. Composed of fighters gathered together by Suzuki , who furnished them with weapons he created, their names, appearances and powers are derived from myths in Japanese folklore . The matches are decided by rolling dice, with Hiei initially filling in for both Yusuke and
25728-592: The female demon who defeated him in the tournament and whom he fell in love with. Imajin ( 威魔陣 ) and Gaou ( 牙王 ) are simultaneously decapitated by Chu as they flee in fear of Hiei. Team Ichigaki is the second team that Team Urameshi faces in the Dark Tournament. It is led by Dr. Ichigaki ( Dr.イチガキ ) , an evil demon scientist intent on creating the ultimate biological weapons. He duped three martial artists, En ( 円 ) , Kai ( 魁 ) and Ryo ( 梁 , Ryō ) , also known as M1, M2, and M3 respectively, into volunteering for an experiment in exchange for curing their master of
25929-442: The field occasionally and protected Keiko from the crazed humans controlled by the Four Beasts. According to Koenma, Botan's sentimental side sometimes overtakes her professionalism. In the anime, she goes with Yusuke and Kuwabara to Tarukane's mansion and acts as team manager in the Dark Tournament. Botan is a popular character with fans, coming in fifth and sixth place in the series' first two popularity polls. She came in fourth in
26130-416: The fight for control of the Demon Plane, Rinku is one of the demons that Genkai and Kurama train to fight for Yomi, though they eventually all disband to fight individually in the Demon Plane Unification Tournament. At the end of the series, he is seen with Sasuga, a female demon who defeated him in the tournament and with whom he fell in love. Roto ( 呂屠 ) , a demon who can form a sickle on top of his hand,
26331-493: The first three-season box sets of Yu Yu Hakusho , as well as the original boxset of the Three Kings Saga, but enjoyed the show's third season more than the others because of its multiple plotlines. N. S. Davidson of IGN concluded that having several concurrent plot branches is not enough for an anime to succeed, but that good writing, interesting characters, and action are also necessary. He proclaimed in his review of
26532-493: The flames, which greatly enhances the user's abilities. Although he initially refrains from helping Yusuke and company stop Sensui from opening the portal to the Demon Plane because he wants to return himself, Hiei later joins them when Yusuke offers to let him have The Black Chapter videotape. After watching Yusuke's death by Sensui, Hiei's old demon powers awaken. He is invited to the Demon Plane to join Mukuro . He takes part in
26733-521: The four protagonists. The OVAs consist of three volumes as well as an opening and ending encyclopedia. A four-DVD box set containing this series was released in Japan by Pony Canyon on December 15, 2004. Funimation dubbed the OVAs (though not the anime montages) and (re)dubbed the first theatrical film with their original cast from the anime, and released them both in North America in a two-disc DVD bundle titled Yu Yu Hakusho: The Movie & Eizou Hakusho on December 13, 2011. This version splits up parts of
26934-488: The four sagas, with the first released on April 16, 2002, and the last on July 19, 2005. The episodes have been released in both edited and uncut formats. In addition, DVD collection boxes have been released for all four sagas, each containing all the episodes of that particular saga, with the exception of the Dark Tournament Saga, which was split into two collection boxes. Funimation released season box sets of
27135-425: The fox demon Kurama , and the sword-wielding fire demon Hiei . While several characters are humans, many are demons, and both have different supernatural abilities due to harnessing their Reiki , one's own aura or life energy. Togashi did not give much thought to the names of the characters. He came up with them by skimming through a dictionary and combining kanji characters he found appealing. The author said
27336-609: The genitive particle ga remains in intentionally archaic speech. Early Middle Japanese is the Japanese of the Heian period , from 794 to 1185. It formed the basis for the literary standard of Classical Japanese , which remained in common use until the early 20th century. During this time, Japanese underwent numerous phonological developments, in many cases instigated by an influx of Chinese loanwords . These included phonemic length distinction for both consonants and vowels , palatal consonants (e.g. kya ) and labial consonant clusters (e.g. kwa ), and closed syllables . This had
27537-476: The initiative and proposes a fighting tournament to name the true ruler of the Demon Plane, which is agreed upon by Mukuro and Yomi. During the tournament, Yusuke and Yomi meet in the second elimination round where Yusuke is defeated. Yusuke hopes a similar competition will be held every few years to determine the Demon Plane's ruler. Two years later, Yusuke returns to the Human World while Hiei stays with Mukuro and protects humans who have accidentally wandered into
27738-458: The languages of the original Jōmon inhabitants, including the ancestor of the modern Ainu language . Because writing had yet to be introduced from China, there is no direct evidence, and anything that can be discerned about this period must be based on internal reconstruction from Old Japanese , or comparison with the Ryukyuan languages and Japanese dialects . The Chinese writing system
27939-449: The languages. Okinawan Japanese is a variant of Standard Japanese influenced by the Ryūkyūan languages, and is the primary dialect spoken among young people in the Ryukyu Islands . Modern Japanese has become prevalent nationwide (including the Ryūkyū islands) due to education , mass media , and an increase in mobility within Japan, as well as economic integration. Japanese is a member of
28140-427: The large quantity of English loanwords, modern Japanese has developed a distinction between [tɕi] and [ti] , and [dʑi] and [di] , with the latter in each pair only found in loanwords. Although Japanese is spoken almost exclusively in Japan, it has also been spoken outside of the country. Before and during World War II , through Japanese annexation of Taiwan and Korea , as well as partial occupation of China ,
28341-481: The manga has over 50 million copies in circulation worldwide, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time. It also won the 39th Shogakukan Manga Award for the shōnen category in 1993. The animated series won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize for best anime in 1994 and 1995. The series has been well received by a large audience in Japan and a wide range of age groups in
28542-482: The manga's artwork and found that the supporting characters tend to be illustrated with more detail than the main characters. He praised Lillian Olsen's English translation, but disliked Viz's use of overlaying English words to translate the expression of sound effects. In later volumes Chavez was dismayed by the transition of the manga from the early detective cases to the Dark Tournament arc. He asserted, "Seeing fight, after fight, after fight gets boring and this seriously
28743-408: The name Yusuke Urameshi is "practically a joke." Viz Media explained that the "Yu" is written with the kanji for "ghost", and "Urameshiii..." is a phrase typically said by wailing ghosts. Togashi came up with Kazuma Kuwabara's name by combining the names of two professional baseball players ( Masumi Kuwata and Kazuhiro Kiyohara ). Viz Media said that it is also a pun on " Kuwabara kuwabara ",
28944-425: The only strict rule of word order is that the verb must be placed at the end of a sentence (possibly followed by sentence-end particles). This is because Japanese sentence elements are marked with particles that identify their grammatical functions. The basic sentence structure is topic–comment . For example, Kochira wa Tanaka-san desu ( こちらは田中さんです ). kochira ("this") is the topic of the sentence, indicated by
29145-481: The other. In early 2001, the series was acquired by Funimation Entertainment for North American distribution as Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files . Funimation's production saw a significant contribution from voice actor Justin Cook , who not only directed the dub but also voiced the protagonist Yusuke. The American-produced English dubbed episodes aired from February 23, 2002, to April 1, 2006, on Cartoon Network . Initially,
29346-470: The out-group gives a benefit to the in-group, and "up" to indicate the in-group gives a benefit to the out-group. Here, the in-group includes the speaker and the out-group does not, and their boundary depends on context. For example, oshiete moratta ( 教えてもらった ) (literally, "explaining got" with a benefit from the out-group to the in-group) means "[he/she/they] explained [it] to [me/us]". Similarly, oshiete ageta ( 教えてあげた ) (literally, "explaining gave" with
29547-415: The particle wa . The verb desu is a copula , commonly translated as "to be" or "it is" (though there are other verbs that can be translated as "to be"), though technically it holds no meaning and is used to give a sentence 'politeness'. As a phrase, Tanaka-san desu is the comment. This sentence literally translates to "As for this person, (it) is Mx Tanaka." Thus Japanese, like many other Asian languages,
29748-464: The production on YuYu Hakusho out of selfishness. The author had originally wanted to end the manga in December 1993, at the climax of the Sensui arc. Although there was not a large demand from the editorial staff, Togashi was under a great deal of personal stress at certain points of the series' run, particularly during its final six months of publication. He claimed that, beginning with the Dark Tournament arc, inconsistent sleep resulting from overwork
29949-481: The proposed larger Altaic family, or to various Southeast Asian languages , especially Austronesian . None of these proposals have gained wide acceptance (and the Altaic family itself is now considered controversial). As it stands, only the link to Ryukyuan has wide support. Other theories view the Japanese language as an early creole language formed through inputs from at least two distinct language groups, or as
30150-399: The road. Such an altruistic deed catches even the Underworld ("Spirit World" in the English anime) by surprise, and because they do not have a place for him yet in heaven or hell, he is permitted to return to his body and resume his life. However, while doing so it is revealed that Yusuke has a particularly strong aura, or spirit energy, and Koenma recruits him as Underworld Detective. Yusuke
30351-444: The round for Team Urameshi. The martial artists survive and, free of Ichigaki's control, reunite with their master who was healed by Kurama. Team Shadow Channelers ( 魔性使い , Mashōtsukai , "Team Masho" in the English dub) is the third team that Team Urameshi faces in the Dark Tournament. They are a group of renowned ninja demons who are hoping to win the tournament so they can claim the hosting island as their home. Their sponsor
30552-459: The same structure as affirmative sentences, but with intonation rising at the end. In the formal register, the question particle -ka is added. For example, ii desu ( いいです ) "It is OK" becomes ii desu-ka ( いいですか。 ) "Is it OK?". In a more informal tone sometimes the particle -no ( の ) is added instead to show a personal interest of the speaker: Dōshite konai-no? "Why aren't (you) coming?". Some simple queries are formed simply by mentioning
30753-486: The second anime license to make it into the system. By 2013, YuYu Hakusho had over 50 million copies in circulation in Japan alone, making it one of Weekly Shonen Jump' s best-selling manga series. Patricia Duffield, a columnist for Animerica Extra , acknowledged the manga as "one of the kings of popularity in the mid-1990s" in the region where it saw mass availability from large bookstore chains to small train station kiosks . YuYu Hakusho earned Yoshihiro Togashi
30954-609: The series at Robot . On July 15, 2022, it was reported that Shō Tsukikawa will serve as the series director, with Tatsurō Mishima handling the script and Ryō Sakaguchi serving as the VFX supervisor. The series stars Takumi Kitamura as Yusuke Urameshi, Shuhei Uesugi as Kazuma Kuwabara, Jun Shison as Kurama, and Kanata Hongō as Hiei. It premiered on December 14, 2023. An encyclopedia titled Official Yū Yū Hakusho Who's Who Underworld Character Book ( 幽☆遊☆白書 公式キャラクターズブック 霊界紳士録 , Yū Yū Hakusho Koushiki Kyarakutāzubukku Reikai Shinshiroku )
31155-743: The series finished its run. It was also aired uncut as part of the Funimation programming block on Colours TV in 2006 and the Funimation Channel in high-definition in 2011. Following Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll, the series was moved to Crunchyroll. The series was distributed in the United Kingdom by MVM Films and in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment . In India the English-language version of
31356-484: The series was released as Ghost Fighter . Yu Yu Hakusho was localized in the Philippines as Ghost Fighter and aired on IBC in the mid-1990s, as well as on GMA Network in 1999. This version of the dub localized the characters' names, such as changing "Yusuke" to "Eugene". Funimation separated the series into four "seasons", that each compose their own story arc, which they refer to as "sagas". In North America, 32 DVD compilations have been released by Funimation for
31557-458: The series was shown on the channel's Adult Swim programming block from February 2002 to April 2003, but was later moved to Toonami . Some of the show's original depictions of mature content including violence, sexual humor, and coarse language, as well as some controversial cultural discrepancies were edited out for broadcast. Yu Yu Hakusho was taken off Toonami around March 2005 and moved to an early Saturday morning time slot that October where
31758-495: The series' attempt at a versatile balance of narrative, character development, and action sequences. Animerica 's Justin Kovalsky defined Yu Yu Hakusho as a character-driven series and compared it to other anime like Phantom Quest Corp. , Rurouni Kenshin , and Flame of Recca in that it successfully combines different ideas such as martial arts battles, character dynamics, the supernatural, and mythology. Allen Divers of
31959-469: The series' first popularity poll. He also came in tenth in the American Shonen Jump poll. Kazemaru ( 風丸 , Kazemaru ) is a ninja who guards VIPs, and eventually decides to compete in Genkai's tournament. Kazemaru wielded a version of the Spirit Gun that was more powerful than Yusuke's own, expelled from his entire palm. He also wields explosive shuriken capable of pursuing their target. Yusuke
32160-470: The series' first two popularity polls. He came in third in the American Shonen Jump poll. In the Japanese magazine Animage ' s Anime Grand Prix popularity poll, Yusuke was ranked as the thirteenth most popular anime character in 1993, the tenth in 1994, and the eighth in 1995. In March 2010, Yusuke was ranked sixteenth best male anime character of the 1990s by the Japanese magazine Newtype . Kazuma Kuwabara ( 桑原 和真 , Kuwabara Kazuma )
32361-479: The series, English language versions of each of these songs were produced and arranged by musician Carl Finch . The localized opening theme is sung by Sara White and the closing themes are sung by members of the English cast including Stephanie Nadolny , Jerry Jewell , and Meredith McCoy . A number of audio CDs have been released in Japan. The Yū Yū Hakusho Original Soundtrack was released in two separate volumes by Pony Canyon on January 18, 1997. The discs contain
32562-443: The series. Japanese home video distributor Bandai Visual began releasing the series on Blu-ray Disc on October 27, 2009, with the first set containing a picture drama set after the end of the series that saw cast members reunite to record new dialogue. Two animated films based on Yu Yu Hakusho have been produced. Both films have original storyline content that is not canonical to the manga. The first, simply titled Yu Yu Hakusho
32763-587: The show's instrumental tracks and some vocal themes. Also released on that day is Yū Yū Hakusho: Music Battle , a series of three albums featuring vocal tracks sung by the Japanese voice actors as their corresponding characters. Compilations of vocal songs including Yū Yū Hakusho Super Covers , Yū Yū Hakusho Super Dance Mix , and Legend of Yu Yu Hakusho: "Sai-Kyou" Best Selection Album were released on December 16, 1995, March 21, 1996, and March 21, 1997, respectively. Yū Yū Hakusho: Collective Songs and Yū Yū Hakusho: Collective Rare Trax , which contain covers of
32964-443: The sixth best anime of all time. The hit show garnered a large number of viewers during its run in Japan. Funimation president Gen Fukunaga remarked that Yu Yu Hakusho "came 'out of nowhere' to surprise people with huge ratings", which were just below those achieved by the popular series Dragon Ball Z . Yu Yu Hakusho was frequently watched by several age groups during its early run in North America. When it aired on Adult Swim ,
33165-817: The state as at the time the constitution was written, many of the elders participating in the process had been educated in Japanese during the South Seas Mandate over the island shown by the 1958 census of the Trust Territory of the Pacific that found that 89% of Palauans born between 1914 and 1933 could speak and read Japanese, but as of the 2005 Palau census there were no residents of Angaur that spoke Japanese at home. Japanese dialects typically differ in terms of pitch accent , inflectional morphology , vocabulary , and particle usage. Some even differ in vowel and consonant inventories, although this
33366-481: The street. (grammatically incorrect insertion of a pronoun) But one can grammatically say essentially the same thing in Japanese: 驚いた彼は道を走っていった。 Transliteration: Odoroita kare wa michi o hashitte itta. (grammatically correct) This is partly because these words evolved from regular nouns, such as kimi "you" ( 君 "lord"), anata "you" ( あなた "that side, yonder"), and boku "I" ( 僕 "servant"). This
33567-413: The strenuous early rounds to face Team Toguro in the finals and win the tournament. They learn that Team Toguro's owner, Sakyo , was attempting to win to create a large hole from the Human World to the Demon Plane and allow countless demons through. With his loss, Sakyo destroys the tournament arena, killing himself in the process. After the tournament, Yusuke returns home but has little time to rest as he
33768-478: The target of Sensui as it will aid in completing the portal to the Demon Plane and he is captured, and later cuts the force field to chase after Sensui fully opening the portal. Kuwabara falls in love at first sight of the Ice Maiden Yukina , and helps Yusuke rescue her from Gonzo Tarukane. Yukina is very appreciative to Kuwabara for saving her from captivity, but is oblivious to his affection. Towards
33969-480: The team and the robot-like Gattasval ( ガタスバル , Gatasubaru ) in the wilderness outside the competition. Due to their refined auras, the three martial artists' attacks are invisible to the weaker Yusuke and Kuwabara. After Team Ichigaki knocks Kuwabara down for a ten count, the Masked Fighter destroys the Blood-Slaver Nodes on all three, knocking all three down for a simultaneous ten count and winning
34170-552: The technique such as the "shotgun" variant wherein Yusuke fires a spray of miniature spirit guns at once using his fist instead of his finger. After he is killed by Shinobu Sensui , it is revealed that Yusuke is a "demon throwback"; a demon mated with a human ancestor of his 44 generations ago but the gene remained quiescent for generations. Yusuke is resurrected by his demonic powers, which when fully awakened sees his hair grow to his knees and tattoo-like marks appear on his body. Yusuke
34371-550: The tentative title "How to be a Ghost" while presenting rough drafts to his editors. Once given the go-ahead to begin publication, Togashi proposed "YuYu-Ki" (Poltergeist Chronicles) for the title, as there would be battles with demons and it would be a play on the title SaiYu-Ki . However, a series with a similar name ( Chin-Yu-Ki ) had already begun publication, so Togashi quickly created an alternative: "YuYu Hakusho" (Poltergeist Report). He commented that he could have used "Den" (Legend) or "Monogatari" (Story), but "Hakusho" (Report)
34572-421: The theme songs performed by the series' voice actors, were both released on March 17, 1999. Two drama albums have been released by Shueisha, the first of which has an audio adaptation of the chapter "Yu Yu Hakusho Tales: Two Shot". A CD soundtrack for the second film and a maxi single with the vocal songs of Mawatari and Takahashi have also been published. A number of video games have been developed that tie to
34773-434: The title of "Underworld Detective". With this title he must investigate various cases involving demons and apparitions in the Human World, with the manga gradually becoming more focused on martial arts battles and tournaments as it progresses. Togashi began creating YuYu Hakusho around November 1990, basing the series on his interests in the occult and horror films and an influence of Buddhist mythology. The manga
34974-603: The topic with an interrogative intonation to call for the hearer's attention: Kore wa? "(What about) this?"; O-namae wa? ( お名前は？ ) "(What's your) name?". Negatives are formed by inflecting the verb. For example, Pan o taberu ( パンを食べる。 ) "I will eat bread" or "I eat bread" becomes Pan o tabenai ( パンを食べない。 ) "I will not eat bread" or "I do not eat bread". Plain negative forms are i -adjectives (see below) and inflect as such, e.g. Pan o tabenakatta ( パンを食べなかった。 ) "I did not eat bread". List of YuYu Hakusho characters#Hiei The YuYu Hakusho manga series features
35175-419: The two consonants are the moraic nasal followed by a homorganic consonant. Japanese also includes a pitch accent , which is not represented in moraic writing; for example [haꜜ.ɕi] ("chopsticks") and [ha.ɕiꜜ] ("bridge") are both spelled はし ( hashi ) , and are only differentiated by the tone contour. Japanese word order is classified as subject–object–verb . Unlike many Indo-European languages ,
35376-577: The two methods were both used in writing until the 1940s. Bungo still has some relevance for historians, literary scholars, and lawyers (many Japanese laws that survived World War II are still written in bungo , although there are ongoing efforts to modernize their language). Kōgo is the dominant method of both speaking and writing Japanese today, although bungo grammar and vocabulary are occasionally used in modern Japanese for effect. The 1982 state constitution of Angaur , Palau , names Japanese along with Palauan and English as an official language of
35577-417: The two split as Toguro decided to become a demon, while she wanted to grow old together. When using her full power, Genkai's cells revitalize and her body rejuvenates momentarily, causing her to appear as she did in her prime, around 20 years old. During the semifinals against Team Fractured Fairy Tales , Genkai imparts her strength to Yusuke, leaving her much weaker. Now of no use to him, Toguro kills Genkai
35778-480: The two terms (''hyōjungo'' and ''kyōtsūgo'') are almost the same. Hyōjungo or kyōtsūgo is a conception that forms the counterpart of dialect. This normative language was born after the Meiji Restoration ( 明治維新 , meiji ishin , 1868) from the language spoken in the higher-class areas of Tokyo (see Yamanote ). Hyōjungo is taught in schools and used on television and in official communications. It
35979-407: The verb (e.g. yonde for earlier yomite ), the -k- in the final mora of adjectives drops out ( shiroi for earlier shiroki ); and some forms exist where modern standard Japanese has retained the earlier form (e.g. hayaku > hayau > hayɔɔ , where modern Japanese just has hayaku , though the alternative form is preserved in the standard greeting o-hayō gozaimasu "good morning"; this ending
36180-548: The world. Since Japanese first gained the consideration of linguists in the late 19th century, attempts have been made to show its genealogical relation to languages or language families such as Ainu , Korean , Chinese , Tibeto-Burman , Uralic , Altaic (or Ural-Altaic ), Austroasiatic , Austronesian and Dravidian . At the fringe, some linguists have even suggested a link to Indo-European languages , including Greek , or to Sumerian . Main modern theories try to link Japanese either to northern Asian languages, like Korean or
36381-539: Was based on 12- to 20-second-long recordings of 135 to 244 phonemes , which 42 students listened to and translated word-for-word. The listeners were all Keio University students who grew up in the Kanto region . There are some language islands in mountain villages or isolated islands such as Hachijō-jima island , whose dialects are descended from Eastern Old Japanese . Dialects of the Kansai region are spoken or known by many Japanese, and Osaka dialect in particular
36582-509: Was causing him health problems. He noted himself as being very ill while working on the color pages for Yusuke's match with Chu . There were also many instances where he would create nearly entire manuscripts by himself, such as Yusuke's meeting with Raizen and the battle between Kurama and Karasu . The editors of the publication tried to make Togashi reconsider cancelling Yu Yu Hakusho , though he justified his decision by stating that it would simply be replaced by another popular series. Togashi
36783-706: Was directed by Noriyuki Abe and co-produced by Fuji Television , Yomiko Advertising, and Studio Pierrot . The series, consisting of 112 episodes, aired from October 10, 1992, to December 17, 1994, on Fuji Television. The episodes were released on 23 video cassettes by Pony Canyon from January 1, 1995, to December 6, 1995. They were also released on 28 DVD volumes by Beam Entertainment, with volumes 8–14 being released on March 25, 2002, volumes 15–21 being released on April 25, 2002, and volumes 22–28 being released on May 25, 2002. The anime differed from its manga source material by containing different levels of violence and profanity, as well as minor variations in art style from one to
36984-408: Was first used. Shueisha has also released two volumes of a guide book titled Yū Yū Hakusho Perfect File ( 幽☆遊☆白書 パーフェクトファイル , Yū Yū Hakusho Pāfekutofairu ) and books based on both films, each containing screenshots organized in manga-style panels. In Japan, various collectibles such as trading figures, plush dolls, and gashapon toys also exist. A collectible card game based on the franchise
37185-735: Was imported to Japan from Baekje around the start of the fifth century, alongside Buddhism. The earliest texts were written in Classical Chinese , although some of these were likely intended to be read as Japanese using the kanbun method, and show influences of Japanese grammar such as Japanese word order. The earliest text, the Kojiki , dates to the early eighth century, and was written entirely in Chinese characters, which are used to represent, at different times, Chinese, kanbun , and Old Japanese. As in other texts from this period,
37386-480: Was later licensed in North America by Funimation in 2001, where it aired on Cartoon Network blocks including Adult Swim and later Toonami . The series has also been published and broadcast in various other countries around the world. The YuYu Hakusho franchise has spawned two animated films , a series of original video animations (OVAs), a live-action television series , audio albums, video games , and other merchandise. YuYu Hakusho has been well received;
37587-474: Was lost immediately following its composition.) This set of morae shrank to 67 in Early Middle Japanese , though some were added through Chinese influence. Man'yōgana also has a symbol for /je/ , which merges with /e/ before the end of the period. Several fossilizations of Old Japanese grammatical elements remain in the modern language – the genitive particle tsu (superseded by modern no )
37788-514: Was one of the top-rated television programs in North America for males ages 9–14. Nielsen additionally reported that Yu Yu Hakusho tied with Dragon Ball GT as the top-rated Cartoon Network program for the same demographic during the week of September 28, 2004. It was the second highest-rated show among ages 12–17 the same week. Cartoon Network dropped the show from Toonami in March 2005 due to declining ratings. Yu Yu Hakusho proved to be popular in
37989-714: Was originally serialized in Shueisha 's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from December 1990 to July 1994. It consists of 175 chapters collected in 19 tankōbon volumes. In North America, the manga is licensed by Viz Media , who first serialized it in Shonen Jump from January 2003 to January 2010. An anime adaptation consisting of 112 television episodes was directed by Noriyuki Abe and co-produced by Fuji Television , Yomiko Advertising, and Studio Pierrot . The anime series originally aired on Japan's Fuji TV network from October 1992 to December 1994, and
38190-606: Was published by Cocoro Books on October 12, 2004. A stage play adaptation produced by Office Endless was announced in May 2019. The play is written and directed by Chūji Mikasano, a screenwriter for the Tokyo Ghoul anime series. The play ran from August 8 to September 22, 2019, in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and Aichi. In September 2019, YuYu Hakusho joined the Universal Fighting System CCG, this marked
38391-456: Was published by Shueisha on March 4, 2005. It contains extensive character profiles, story summaries, and an exclusive interview with Yoshihiro Togashi. An art book , Yu Yu Hakusho Illustrations ( 幽☆遊☆白書 画集 , Yū Yū Hakusho Gashū ) , was published by Shueisha on April 27, 2005. It is composed of pieces of artwork from the series, including illustrations created for the kanzenban edition reprints and an index of print material where each image
38592-472: Was published in Brazil by Tectoy in 1999 under the title YuYu Hakusho: Sunset Fighters . When Atari gained publishing rights to Yu Yu Hakusho video games in 2003, the company created and released three games in these regions: Yu Yu Hakusho: Spirit Detective , an action-adventure game for the Game Boy Advance ; Yu Yu Hakusho: Tournament Tactics , a tactical role-playing game also for
38793-516: Was released by Movic . In North America, the series saw licensing for apparel from ODM, lines of action figures by IF Labs and Jakks Pacific , a Skannerz electronic toy from Radica Games , and an activities book from Scholastic . Score Entertainment created the Yu Yu Hakusho Trading Card Game for release in the United States. An English guidebook to the series titled Yu Yu Hakusho Uncovered: The Unofficial Guide
38994-669: Was released in Japan on July 10, 1993, as part of a seasonal film festival. In the movie, the protagonists Yusuke and Kuwabara are on a mission to rescue a kidnapped Koenma from a pair of demons who desire the Golden Seal, a stamp used for finalizing the sentencing of souls in the afterlife. AnimeWorks released an English dubbed version of the half-hour film on VHS in both English-dubbed and subtitled formats on May 5, 1998, and on DVD on January 30, 2001. Yu Yu Hakusho: Chapter of Underworld's Carnage – Bonds of Fire ( 幽☆遊☆白書 冥界死闘篇 炎の絆 , Yū Yū Hakusho: Meikai Shitō Hen – Honō no Kizuna ) ,
39195-399: Was released in Japanese theaters on April 9, 1994. The plot revolves around Yusuke and his friends defending the Human World against inhabitants of a fourth plane of existence called the "Netherworld". This full-length feature received its first English dubbed version by Central Park Media , which released it on VHS on March 3, 1998, and on DVD on October 8, 2002, under the name Yu Yu Hakusho
39396-479: Was relieved at the conclusion of the manga. The author claimed to not have been involved in the production of the YuYu Hakusho anime adaptation due to his own work schedule. He stated that he was greatly impressed by Shigeru Chiba 's voice depiction of Kuwabara, admitting that the voice actor understood the character better than Togashi himself. The YuYu Hakusho manga series was written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi and originally serialized by Shueisha in
39597-489: Was still able to defeat him, due in large part to luck. Kuroda ( 黒田 , Kuroda ) is a professional contract killer who was defeated by Kazemaru. Chinpo ( 珍宝 , Chinpo ) is a wanderer and a tournament competitor who was defeated by Rando. Musashi ( 武蔵 , Musashi ) is a wandering swordsman who hunts down demons. Musashi has the ability to cloak his spirit energy, allowing him to bypass Kuwabara's high spiritual awareness and remain undetected. He carries around
39798-431: Was the first thing that came to his mind. He contiguously developed the names of the main characters by skimming through a dictionary and taking out kanji characters he found appealing. "Yusuke Urameshi" is a pun , "Kazuma Kuwabara" is a combination of two professional baseball players, and "Hiei" and "Kurama" are "just names that popped into [Togashi's] head." When he introduced the latter two characters in volume three,
39999-403: Was to establish the main characters and familiarize the reader with them before placing them in tense, physical conflicts. His editor at the time was nervous of him beginning the manga this way and recommended he transition to a battle-focused plot after about 30 chapters. YuYu Hakusho borrows many elements from Asian folklore, particularly Buddhist beliefs in the afterlife. Togashi came up with
40200-409: Was voted the best anime of the year in the 1994 and 1995 Animage Anime Grand Prix and the second best in 1993 after Sailor Moon . Additionally, the publication declared the series number 53 on its top 100 anime listing in 2001. In a 2006 web poll conducted in Japan by the network TV Asahi , Yu Yu Hakusho was voted as the fifteenth best anime of all time. The Japanese magazine Brutus voted it
40401-479: Was voted the first place popular male character in both 1994 and 1995. In 2010 Kurama was ranked third best male anime character of the 1990s by the Japanese magazine Newtype . In more recent times, Japan's goo ranking site launched a poll in 2019 for users to vote for the hottest Shonen Jump character of all time, in which Kurama ranked fourth place. Hiei ( 飛影 ) is introduced as one of three wanted demons, alongside Kurama and Goki, who stole three treasures from
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