Yu Yu Hakusho

If Yu Gi Oh can be considered the companion piece to Pokemon, than Yu Yu Hakusho could be considered as a suitable companion piece for Dragon Ball Z.

The story concerns Yusuke Urameshi, a teenage boy who dies and comes back to life in an unusual twist of fate. As a side effect, he develops unusual psychic powers and is appointed as the spirit detective of the Earth, defending it from various demonic creatures.

The fights are more interesting than in DBZ, they really keep you on the edge of your seat, and they generally aren't too long and drawn out. The characters powers are also more entertaining and believable at once (i.e. They only get achieve levels capable of destroying the Earth towards the end, rather than in the very first saga, therefore, they usually must rely on strategy).

The characters are realistic and diverse, at least compared to most other shonen anime. They can be despicable, lovable, heroic, tragic and everything else, often all at once.

Of particular interest is the Chapter Black Saga, which tells the story of Sensui.

Yu Yu Hakusho is a truly excellent anime. Sure, people compare it to the Dragon Ball series, but the story is original and laden with humor, drama and romance.The characters are diverse and interesting, the voice cast is excellent, the animation is fluid and bold and...I can't say it enough...it's terrific!

Yusuke Urameshi is your typical teenage delinquent: cutting class, getting into fistfights and being overall unpleasant are his trademarks. But, that all changes when he gives up his life to save a little boy from being hit by a car. He, in floating spirit form, is greeted by the cheerful "Grim Wreaper," Botan. She takes him to see the great lord Koenma, who looks like a toddler, but is actually over 600 years old. From there, he is appointed spirit detective, one who is assigned to protect all three worlds from evil. Before he knows it, he is swept up into being a spirit detective...and it gets better and more interesting from there.

The characters have many different abilities and classes. For instance, two of my favorite characters are demons. One, Kurama, in an especially handsome human body, and, even though he is one of the weaker ones in his team, he relies on sharp stealth to defeat the enemy...and usually wins. One of the weaker ones? HA! One of the weaker ones indeed! The other, Hiei, looks human, but is, indeed, demon...trust me. But, later in the anime, his dark past is revealed and you see why his is so sharp and distant.

The animation gets better as the series progresses. You can see the anime is more detailed in the final episode compared to the very first episode. Not only that, the plot becomes more and more twisted and intense, leading up to the climactic final saga.

You can't miss Yu Yu Hakusho!

This is a great series. Not because of superior animation or music. Not because of innovative plots or creative story-telling. Its just fun to watch.

The series grabs hold of you with the first line of the first episode, which goes something like this: "This is our hero, Yusuke Urameshi. And surprisingly enough, he's dead." I mean, if the main character dying in the first episode doesn't pique your interest, what will? After that, the story is one we've seen often enough: guys with super powers fighting evil. Basic, but with good execution it can be quite effective.

I think the main strength of this show is in the characters. Yusuke is the jerk with the heart of gold. He'll do the right thing, but he'll always have a smart-alec remark to rub your wounds with salt. He has most of the best fights, and his scenes with his girlfriend are classic, and usually end with him getting slapped. Hiei and Kurama are just cool, if you'll simply look past Kurama's unfortunate fashion sense (the pink jump suit just doesn't work for me). Kuwabara's probably the best. He's so arrogant, and yet he loses nearly every fight he's in. It's great just to watch him get the crap beaten out of him after his long descriptions of how he's going to win the fight.

The only negatives for this show are some annoying habits they have. They usually pull the old, "There are four of us and one of him, but we're not going to all fight at once and overwhelm him, we'll just sit back while one of us (namely Kuwabara) gets pummeled. We could simply shoot the guy with a finger, but let's let him tire himself out kicking Kuwabara's face in instead." It makes for good comic relief, but gets kind of old when the fights stretch out unnecessarily long. Let's not turn this into DBZ here.

Funimation is the company well known for the dubbing of the Dragonball series, which was not as good as it was several years ago during the peak of its popularity. However, they soon got hold of another anime to put out on our television screens. Bad, right? Wrong.

YYH is the story of a street kid named Yusuke with unnatural and extreme fighting skills who becomes a Spirit Detective, a special official who battles demons who pose a threat to our Earth, after he surprises his boss for saving a child's life, something not expected because of his brash manner and horrible social life. From there, Yusuke is involved in many cases, ranging from returning artifacts to their rightful place to an Underworld fighting tournament, aided closely by his loyal friends and his girlfriend, who has a good hand on her as well.

The best thing about this series is that the only real edit is the voicing (as far as the uncut version goes). Everything else is the same: the names of the people, about 90% of the dialog, and more importantly the music. It's the closest thing to the original version I've seen in a long time, which is a very good call in my opinion to a well dubbed anime. And the voice actors are phenomenal. Everyone fits their roles perfectly and knows how to execute a joke, verbal and slapstick, so well that I found myself rewinding the recorded episodes I have just to see them again. Nicely done.

And the battles in the show themselves are very attention-grabbing and at times unpredictable. Yusuke may be winning a fight one minute and the next he can barely fight back because of his opponent's hidden technique they had all along. The fighters in this show can pull some unexpected tricks from up their sleeves and they are extremely intelligent and calculating in their each of their actions. They'll make you go "Wow. I never saw that one coming". Another good thing about the fighting is that long battles last no more than 5 or 6 episodes, unlike a 20 episode long battle in Dragonball Z. They get to the point quickly, with fireworks galore. These gripping moments never cease to let you go.

And the characters themselves are outstanding. Their personalities are so well brought out and so diverse. Yusuke's reckless and free-spirited, while Hiei (pronounced Hee-ay for those who don't know) is a dark loner who is only interested in number one most of the time. They are so developed and life-like you can't help but imagine someone close who resembles of few characters to the letter. And as perfect as this all sounds, it has one major downfall. Because of the similarities of the basic storyline to DBZ, people tend to look at it as just a DBZ rip-off and skip it. If the likeness is forgotten, it can become a well loved anime by most people who see it is a bad show.

In conclusion, YYH is a well done dub, as far as the uncut version goes. Wonderful voices, good humor, and battles that will have you hooked, all done without leaving out too much of the show's Japanese feel. Good job, Funimation, you've mastered the art of professional anime dubbing. Hey 4Kids, if you're reading this, maybe you'll learn something.

I started watching this on Cartoon Network last week when they started showing it at 5:00 PM central time, 6 for most of you. I was instantly hooked. Yusuke had a kick @$$ attitude that I really related to (not that I am that way, but I still relate). And I love the fact that a "toddler" can rule the spirit world. Boton is really funny. Seems too perky to be the grim reaper, but it's their world, not mine. Great show. I recommend it to all of you.