Yu Yu Hakusho is a Manga by Yoshihiro Togashi and charts the "adventures" of a boy with an unusual fate. This was an immensely popular Manga in Japan (before it ended, ofcourse), and the Anime fared very well too. This Manga ended quite abruptly and unexpectedly, probably because the author was forced to end it off due to pressure from the Manga magazine it was printed in, Shonen Jump. Yoshihiro Togashi became famous with this Manga, but he also has done other Manga, including Cupid, (a romantic comedy) Okami Nante Kowakunai, (a collection of short stories) and Level E. Out of all these I've only seen a bit of Level E, but I couldn't make heads or tails out of what was going on. But still, anyone who has a shrine to Yoshihiro Togashi in their backyard can have a look at some of these comics. To explain the title, the first Yu stands for the main character's name, Yuusuke, while the second Yu means to play or travel around, but in this context it means "adventure". The last 2 words, Hakusho is an archaic term for "choronicles". So it is actually a very nice name for the Manga, and because of that I won't try and translate it into English as nice Manga names rarely translates well.

STORY

Yu Yu Hakusho is the story of 14-year old Yuusuke Urameshi, a juvenile delinquent who spends his time wagging school and being a legend at street fighting. One day, while Yuusuke was wagging school as usual, he saves a child from being runovered by a speeding car, and was consequently killed. So, nary 3 pages into the Manga, and the leading character is dead. But wait! All is not lost! After his death, Yuusuke meets Botan, a denizen from another world who says that there is no room in heaven or hell for him, as his death was totally unplanned and it was not his time to die yet.

Yuusuke balks at this, saying that he had died in place of the child, so why shouldn't there be a place for him? Botan answers by telling him that even though the child was meant to be hit by the car, miraculously he was not hurt in any serious way, and didn't die. So Yuusuke had dived in front of the car and killed himself for no reason at all. But because this was an extremely rare case, so Yuusuke was given another chance at life.

Yuusuke was then taken to Reikai (the name for the other world) to see the "person" in charge, called Koenma for a test, which he supposedly passed and hence was reincarnated as a psychic detective for the Reikai to catch criminals from Makai (the demonic plane) and monsters who had sneaked into the Ningenkai (the place where humans lived). The test was actually a test of his virtues; it involved him carrying the egg of a ReikaiJyuu; an animal of Reikai. This ReikaiJyuu lives on the energy Yuusuke emits; if Yuusuke is kind-hearted, the the ReikaiJyuu will become an angel, but if Yuusuke is evil, the ReikaiJyuu will become a monster and eat him when it hatches. Yuusuke gives up the egg when Keiko is trapped in a fire, and because of this act he was reincarnated. The egg business vanishes for a while, but resurfaces when the egg hatches to reveal Yuusuke's likeness in mind; a blue penguin-like bird they dubbed Puu. As low as it render's Yuusuke's intelligence, this bird actually morphs into a cool-looking phoenix when Yuusuke undergoes transformation into a youkai.

As Yuusuke's powers increase, so does that of his enemies. He builds up a team of friends, some of which are demons themselves, and gets involved in demonic fighting tournaments, Makai and rifts between worlds. Yuusuke's party generally became known to include four people. One of them is his eternal enemy/friend, Kazuma Kuwabara who too is a juvenile delinquent but has psychic talents. The other two are demons, or one-and-a-half demons, in which Yuusuke apprehended in his first assignment. They are the famous robber of today's Makai, Hiei, and the famous robber of yesteryear's Makai, Kurama.

Iron Mouse's Comment

The most attractive thing about this Manga is the characters, especially seeing that more Japanese girls seem to watch the Anime than boys. And the characters are not lacking in charisma (my favourite is Kurama), but a comic which revolves around it's characters is rarely able to sustain a strong or complex plot, which is exactly what happens in Yu Yu Hakusho. The story is divided into sections, or a new "adventure", but basically Yuusuke just meets enemies more powerful than before, until the power of the enemy is so great the series has to end. But nevertheless, this Manga is still worth a read as it has some very new and interesting ideas and the characters are also developed quite well. Think of Dragon Ball with less straight-on fist fighting and more (much more) attractive characters.

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