Yu Yu Hakusho Season 1 Cast: Go Ayano, Shuhei Uesugi, Jun Shison, Kotone Furukawa, Kanata Hongo, Keita Machida, and Takumi Kitamura.
Creators: Kazutaka Sakamoto and Akira Morii
With Sho Tsukikawa in charge
Netflix is the streaming service.
Japanese is spoken (with subtitles)
Five episodes, each lasting around an hour.
What It Concerns:
Netflix’s most recent attempt to turn manga and anime into a live-action series is called Yu Yu Hakusho. However, this adaptation is taking place in Japan, which adds all the distinctive elements that make a program like this one special. In the series, a young criminal finds himself in the afterlife and journeys to a spiritual realm where he must overcome innumerable challenges in order to battle for justice, companionship, and the chance to live again.
Examining the script:
The manga’s creator and illustrator is Yoshihiro Togashi. He went on to become one of the most well-known mangakas in the globe as well as in Japan as a result of Yu Yu Hakusho and Hunter x Hunter. He has made many contributions to the manga genre.
Although Yusuke, our main character, dies in the live-action adaptation’s opening scene in Media Res, death in Yu Yu Hakusho signifies simply the start of an exciting journey. From there, the live-action adaptation makes every effort to condense as much of the manga and anime material into the limited five episodes as possible. This may seem like a small anime, and it is, but considering that each episode lasts an entire hour, you may consider that there are three or even four episodes total.
Fortunately, Togashi’s remarkable characters are his primary literary device, so the creators and directors of the live-action TV show understand how important it is to get the characters properly. In light of this, the writers do an excellent job concentrating on the individuals, their connections, and their interactions with the outside world. The fundamental story of the live action series is just excellent enough to keep viewers interested for the duration of the season, despite the fact that the plot feels a little hurried at moments.
Star Performance:
As we’ve already mentioned, the people in Togashi’s stories are the main focus. The stories of Hunter x Hunter and Yu Yu Hakusho are both rather straightforward, only getting more complicated when the characters introduce their own identities into the narrative. As thus, a simple game might become a game of life and death, or a normal competition can become an ideological clash.
Takumi Kitamura, the main character and the show’s star, is a fortunate actor for the production. The young actor, who has a good deal of acting experience, is able to bring the natural tenderness of the characters to balance Yusuke’s uptight attitude. As a result, the actor gives a strong performance that, like most Japanese TV acting, appears incredibly exaggerated yet nevertheless works within the framework of the program.
Music & Direction:
As with many other businesses worldwide, the Japanese film industry operates under its own set of norms, which helps us identify certain trends and quirks that indicate the origin of series like Yu Yu Hakusho and others in Japan. A similar thing occurs with the live-action TV show, which adheres to a well-known style that doesn’t give a damn about framing and forces its performers to do ridiculously dramatic acting.
The visual palette appears washed out, as it usually does in Japanese media, and the directing occasionally feels careless because there is very little attention paid to the framing of the scenes. The visual effects, however, are really good, and this continues a recent trend in Japanese media where productions are finally reaching a level of excellence that can compete with or perhaps exceed the effects produced for American television.
Final Thoughts:
Even if a live-action Hunter x Hunter adaptation may never happen, a Yu Yu Hakusho adaptation is still the greatest option available, and fortunately, the series does a fantastic job of introducing the character and laying the groundwork for a potential second season of the Dark Tournament Saga. This live-action adaptation might finish the plot in four seasons if it continues at this rate, which makes perfect sense. Though the visual direction of the program seems a little lower quality, the story, the VFX, and the performances make the show worth watching overall.
