Thoughts on an old friend

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I started watching Yu yu Hakusho several years ago when [adult swim] was new; when they were first experimenting with Anime. I enjoyed the animation, characters and plot. The story of Yusuke Urameshi, spirit detectives, demons, and friendship was enjoyable. 

Back in in the early days (2002, I guess) YYH was relatively uncut on [as]. It could be pretty violent and vulgar (hey, it's a story about a smart-mouth, bad-ass kid fighting demons, after all!). It was pretty ballsy to put something like it on a children's network, even late at night. That didn't deter the popularity of the series, apparently, as it was eventually moved out of [adult swim] and into Toonami.

I stuck with YYH after the move to Toonami, but it was clearly a different show in that it was heavily edited. All the good stuff was watered down for the earlier time slot. I still enjoyed it, though. The Dark Tournament storyline was excellent. We saw the characters become more interesting, and face a fascinating and seemingly unstoppable foe. 

When it was over, the Sensui story line began, and I felt it didn't quite live up to my expectations. The show was still enjoyable but not as before. 

Something happened in that either the time slot was moved or the show never finished its run on Cartoon Network. I never found out what happened to the Sensui story line. Eventually did come around and I felt the new characters and situations were worthwhile.

I was left at a cliffhanger, and a damn good one. Multiple personalities and such. It would be a long, long time before I would see the resolution and what lay beyond. 

The DVDs of the series were obviously available. But I never bought them for various reasons. The most obvious being lack of funds on my part. You have to know that back in those days (early New Millennium) DVDs were still expensive, and Anime DVDs were more so. Also, in those days, Anime DVDs portioned off episodes very frugally; a disc with five episodes was a treasure trove. As such, the first 26 (out of 112) episodes of Yu yu Hakusho were at least $60. And that price is for the cheaper box set. 

At one point, two to three years after I saw that last episode, there was a trend of re-releasing Anime on DVD where the series was compressed down to a relatively inexpensive set of collections. I recall each box set including a neat key chain of each of the four main characters. I never bought this sets either. 

Eventually, less than a year ago, I think (I write this in July 2010), I began buying the new re-re-release of the series. It was the cheapest I had ever seen: $20 for 26 episodes. Back in the day this price would've been one-quarter of what I would need to pay. 

I had the discs, and then it was time to start watching the series again. 

I would not start off where I left off those years ago. I started from the beginning as it had been so long since I had seen the story lines. 

Death and rebirth. The Spirit Detective's first case. Training, and fighting against Rando. The Saint Beasts. Meeting Toguro. The Dark Tournament. Sensui.

Then it was uncharted territory.

The battle with Sensui ends (I won't spoil things for you from here), and Yusuke learns about himself. And the final story line begins. 

I'm afraid I must say I was disappointed with the resolution of the Sensui plot. And perhaps even more so with the final story. I felt thar, with the knowledge that there were so few episodes left to properly wrap up the series, the end was rushed. The underlying, grand plot is addressed, as expected. But the final story left me shaking my head. It felt like a pale version of old times. 

Perhaps that's why I'm disappointed. I realize it has been nearly a decade when I first saw the series. I have seen the first 80 episodes enough times that the last 32 episodes don't match up; my expectations were too high. I was a different person when I first say Yu yu Hakusho. There was such a large gap between the resolution to my hobby.

I almost feel sorry to let it go. It's kind of a part of me. I feel that there isn't the thing in the back of my mind any more. What else is there to do?

Maybe I'll watch the whole series again, but maybe this time in the original Japanese and subtitled.  
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