, also known as Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files, is a Japanese anime television series based on Yoshihiro Togashi's manga series YuYu Hakusho and produced by Studio Pierrot. Covering the entire storyline of the manga, the series follows the adventures of Yusuke Urameshi who after dying in a car accident and after encountering Botan is now tasked to complete tasks from the Spiritual World in order to return to his world as well as fighting supernatural threats.
The series aired on Fuji Television and its affiliates from October 1992 to January 1995, and spawned two films, several OVAs, two drama albums, and multiple video games, toys and other merchandise. Two OVAs commemorating the anime's 25th anniversary were released in October 2018.
YuYu Hakusho is considered to be one of the best anime series of all time.
Cast
CharacterJapanese voice actorEnglish voice actor(Funimation)English voice actor(Animax)Yusuke UrameshiNozomu SasakiJustin CookDarren PleavinKazuma KuwabaraShigeru ChibaChristopher SabatRussell WaitKuramaMegumi OgataJohn BurgmeierCandice MooreHieiNobuyuki HiyamaChuck HuberDave BridgesKoenmaMayumi TanakaSean Michael TeagueCandice MooreGenkaiHisako KyodaMegumi Hayashibara (young)Linda YoungBotanSanae MiyukiCynthia CranzSarah HauserKayko YukimuraYuri AmanoLaura BaileyAndrea KwanNarratorTomomichi NishimuraKent WilliamsRik Thomas
Episodes
Production and release The series was directed by Noriyuki Abe and produced by Fuji Television, and Studio Pierrot. The series, consisting of 112 episodes, aired from October 10, 1992, to January 7, 1995, on Fuji TV and its affiliates. 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 released on March 25, 2002, volumes 15–21 released on April 25, 2002, and volumes 22–28 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 the other. When animating the manga series, Abe took notes from Togashi's illustrations and noted that Yusuke and Kuwabara have opposite school uniforms despite being from the same school which he found weird. He asked the editorial for the manga and they found it suitable. The visual helped to make Yusuke and Kuwabara looked like the yankī delinquent stereotype seen in other works. When Kurama and Hiei joined the main cast, the anime staff liked the contrasting colors the protagonists have, linking them to popular tokusatsu series. The team also decided to tone down the appearances of Yusuke's mother when it came to seeing his son fight. For the ending, the creators ended up shaping the end according to the manga while interspersing an original screenplay, summarizing it in a structure in which Yusuke returned after a few years in contrast to the manga where he immediately returns alongside Kurama. Mari Kitayama, a lead character designer for the anime stated that she considers Kuwabara to be the most difficult character to design. 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.
Yusuke is voiced by Nozomu Sasaki in Japanese. His performance appealed to Togashi due to how he developed his identity. Before the anime adaptation of YuYu Hakusho started, Sasaki had been a fan of the series and wanted to do the role of the lead thanks to how Togashi drew him. He also liked the personality Yusuke is given as he always says what is in his mind enough to admire him. Togashi was greatly impressed by Shigeru Chiba's voice depiction of Kuwabara, admitting that the actor understood the character better than Togashi himself. When animating the manga series, there was talk of casting either Hiei or Kurama as a female cast member, and the station producer said, it would be Kurama due to his androgynous, naive-looking looks. As a result, Hiei was voiced by the male actor Nobuyuki Hiyama, while Kurama was voiced by the female voice actress Megumi Ogata. Hiyama initially gave Hiei an inimitating aura in order to give Yusuke fear. As a result, he was surprised when he the character became supporting. When talking about the character, Hiyama says he is constantly moody and is balanced with the notable power he exposes. Due to this cold portrayal the character has, Hiyama noticed there was a massive change when his sister Yukine was introduced and Hiei was bothered by how Yusuke and Kurama casually mocked this state of weakness. In response to positive response to the handling of the leads, Hiyama said that Hiei and Kurama might also become enemies in future episodes. After receiving many letters both praising and criticizing the voice actors, Togashi clarified that he had no involvement in the anime adaptation.
Localization
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. Cook was a fan of YuYu Hakusho before being given the role of the protagonist, who he always cared about. Originally, he was not being cast for the role but was just the voice director instead. The producers had a hard time deciding who would voice the lead until one of them found Cook to be suitable for the role, which excited the actor. He considered Yusuke unique thanks to his friendly side despite being a delinquent, which allows him to relate to the audiences. Cook enjoyed Yusuke's characterization as a caring teenager with several friends despite initially being seen as a delinquent. He especially enjoyed Yusuke and Kayko's interactions in the anime.
The American-produced English dubbed episodes aired from February 23, 2002, to April 1, 2006, on Cartoon Network. Initially, 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 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 the series was released as Ghost Fighter."Ghost Fighter" (Archive). Animax India. February 27, 2007. Retrieved on June 8, 2015.
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 1998. This dub, in Tagalog, localized the characters' names, such as changing "Yusuke" to "Eugene". At the time the World Wide Web was not yet widely available in the Philippines, and the creators of the dub had received limited information on the television series and its characters. Therefore they mistakenly believed Kurama was a female character, assigning the name Denise, and that Genkai was a male character, assigning the name Jeremiah. In regards to the former, after the dubbers learned Kurama was male, a later episode explained that Denise, now with the real name Dennis, is a male character pretending to be female.
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 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, except for the Dark Tournament Saga, which was split into two collection boxes. Funimation released season box sets of 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 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.
Music and audio dramas The music for the Yu Yu Hakusho anime adaptation was composed by Yusuke Honma. The series has one opening theme, by Matsuko Mawatari, as well as five closing themes: , and "Daydream Generation" also by Mawatari; and and by Hiro Takahashi. When Funimation gained rights to 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.
Several audio CDs have been released in Japan. The Yū Yū Hakusho Original Soundtrack was released in two volumes by Pony Canyon on January 18, 1997. The discs contain 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 the theme songs performed by the series' voice actors, were both released on March 17, 1999. A CD soundtrack for the second film and a maxi single with the vocal songs of Mawatari and Takahashi have also been published.
Two drama albums featuring the cast from the anime have been released by Shueisha. The first, released on December 10, 2004, adapts Yusuke's first encounters with Kurama and Hiei and the manga chapter "Yu Yu Hakusho Tales: Two Shot". The second, released on March 25, 2005, adapts the "After the Party", "Sink or Swim", and "And So..." chapters.
Original video animations A series of six Yu Yu Hakusho original video animations collectively titled 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 the four protagonists. For their DVD release, the Eizou Hakusho OVAs were combined into three two-in-one sets, all released on January 19, 2005.
Yu Yu Hakusho Opening & Ending Theme Encyclopedia was released on VHS on October 20, 1995, and DVD on January 19, 2005.
Two new Yu Yu Hakusho OVAs were released with the fourth Blu-ray box set of the television series on October 26, 2018, in Japan. Two Shots, which adapts the "Two Shot" bonus chapter from the manga's seventh volume, and All or Nothing, which adapts the manga's penultimate chapter "Sink or Swim".