Yu Yu Hakusho, the legendary smash-hit manga from Weekly Shonen Jump, is finally getting a live-action adaptation! This series of unprecedented scale is brou...
On today’s episode of “which series will Netflix ruin next”…
Maybe it is just that YYH is one of my all time favorites*, but this doesn’t look horrible? I have concerns that the actors can really capture the “style” of the boys, but that was VERY much built around over exaggerated animation and so forth.
And I get why they needed to do Adult Koenma even in spirit world (and love that they are keeping the pacifier)
But I will say. The moment Sakyo referred to Toguro, I lost my shit. Had noticed what looked like Karasu but wasn’t sure. Wasn’t FULLY sold on him (he looks like he went to Party City…) but the warehouse scene where he just tells the full crew to come at him REEKED of Toguro’s “This man is so incredibly badass and so incredibly problematic. I can fix him” style.
And the fight choreography looks good. Reminds me a lot of the Rurouni Kenshin live actions where it is just “holy shit, they found a way to do real life anime”. Doesn’t scratch the same itch as something like Warrior or a Donnie Yen movie, but still awesome.
As long as Botan still cheerfully points out that Yusuke died for absolutely no good reason and actually hurt the kid he was protecting more by helping, I will be down for this. Because that is really the litmus test. I get wanting to go super epic fight scenes for the trailer (I want to say Toonami marketing was the same?). But THAT really sets the tone for the entire series of “Well, you tried. You didn’t actually accomplish anything and probably made it worse. But… what was I trying to say again?”
Main problem I see is that it looks like they might be biting off way too much. I get it. Dark Tournament is probably THE greatest tournament arc in all of anime and there is very little chance this gets a season 2.
But most of that is because of what built up to it. And even in 10-12 one hour episodes, that is going to be a rush. But I assume we’ll spend, at most, one episode with Yusuke dead (enough time to make it clear that Kayko loves him, his mom is a piece of shit, and Kuwabara is magic). Kick straight to Genkai so that we can meet her and Kuwabara properly and have an exposition and training montage (likely no Genkai tournament, but have Yusuke and Kuwabara team up for the first time). Probably distill recruiting Hiei and Kurama down to a single episode
spoiler
Get his ass beat in the three on one but Kurama saves him because Kurama somehow knows about Yusuke saving the kid or whatever. Two on one with Kurama and Yusuke against Hiei and Whatshisface for the magic wish mirror. Ends with the same freebie and Hiei and sort of Kurama on work-release.
Then combine Yukina and Toguro 1 with Dark Tournament and Toguro 2. My hope is still that we are being faked out and that was actually a boat to Tarukane’s island and they are just consolidating The Apparition Gang into Toguro’s DT team. End the same way the Spirit Detective Saga did. We think that the team won because of the power of friendship but, instead, they were being played and never stood a chance. But now Toguro wants a REAL fight and will murder everyone Yusuke knows if he doesn’t give it to him. Stretching still looks horrible without a REALLY good budget, so Elder Toguro as someone who can fuck with people’s perceptions actually is a much better fit.
Would also give a much stronger emotional component to the rest of the team. Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Genkai already have a lot of stakes in that fight. But Hiei and Kurama very much felt like “just another battle”. Having Bui and Karasu be people who have bested them in the past really cranks up the stakes of the fight itself, rather than just the overall math of it.
Hell, I would LOVE if the scene of them all going up against Toguro were the penultimate scene of the movie. Instead of just fucking with Yusuke, he fucks with all of them at once and shows that they aren’t shit. Because Bui and Karasu already almost killed arguably their strongest fighters at that point. And here is Toguro, no effort, taking down the whole team while actively pulling his punches. Roll credits.
Do I think this will be amazing? Hell no. Do I think it will be enjoyable? Maybe?
*: Rewatched it a few months ago. Never realized it at the time, but basically the entirety of Toguro and Yusuke’s relationship is about the dangers of toxic masculinity. And a lot of the rest of the series becomes about finding a balance in life.
Maybe it is just that YYH is one of my all time favorites*, but this doesn’t look horrible? I have concerns that the actors can really capture the “style” of the boys, but that was VERY much built around over exaggerated animation and so forth.
And I get why they needed to do Adult Koenma even in spirit world (and love that they are keeping the pacifier)
But I will say. The moment Sakyo referred to Toguro, I lost my shit. Had noticed what looked like Karasu but wasn’t sure. Wasn’t FULLY sold on him (he looks like he went to Party City…) but the warehouse scene where he just tells the full crew to come at him REEKED of Toguro’s “This man is so incredibly badass and so incredibly problematic. I can fix him” style.
And the fight choreography looks good. Reminds me a lot of the Rurouni Kenshin live actions where it is just “holy shit, they found a way to do real life anime”. Doesn’t scratch the same itch as something like Warrior or a Donnie Yen movie, but still awesome.
As long as Botan still cheerfully points out that Yusuke died for absolutely no good reason and actually hurt the kid he was protecting more by helping, I will be down for this. Because that is really the litmus test. I get wanting to go super epic fight scenes for the trailer (I want to say Toonami marketing was the same?). But THAT really sets the tone for the entire series of “Well, you tried. You didn’t actually accomplish anything and probably made it worse. But… what was I trying to say again?”
Main problem I see is that it looks like they might be biting off way too much. I get it. Dark Tournament is probably THE greatest tournament arc in all of anime and there is very little chance this gets a season 2.
But most of that is because of what built up to it. And even in 10-12 one hour episodes, that is going to be a rush. But I assume we’ll spend, at most, one episode with Yusuke dead (enough time to make it clear that Kayko loves him, his mom is a piece of shit, and Kuwabara is magic). Kick straight to Genkai so that we can meet her and Kuwabara properly and have an exposition and training montage (likely no Genkai tournament, but have Yusuke and Kuwabara team up for the first time). Probably distill recruiting Hiei and Kurama down to a single episode
spoiler
Get his ass beat in the three on one but Kurama saves him because Kurama somehow knows about Yusuke saving the kid or whatever. Two on one with Kurama and Yusuke against Hiei and Whatshisface for the magic wish mirror. Ends with the same freebie and Hiei and sort of Kurama on work-release.
Then combine Yukina and Toguro 1 with Dark Tournament and Toguro 2. My hope is still that we are being faked out and that was actually a boat to Tarukane’s island and they are just consolidating The Apparition Gang into Toguro’s DT team. End the same way the Spirit Detective Saga did. We think that the team won because of the power of friendship but, instead, they were being played and never stood a chance. But now Toguro wants a REAL fight and will murder everyone Yusuke knows if he doesn’t give it to him. Stretching still looks horrible without a REALLY good budget, so Elder Toguro as someone who can fuck with people’s perceptions actually is a much better fit.
Would also give a much stronger emotional component to the rest of the team. Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Genkai already have a lot of stakes in that fight. But Hiei and Kurama very much felt like “just another battle”. Having Bui and Karasu be people who have bested them in the past really cranks up the stakes of the fight itself, rather than just the overall math of it.
Hell, I would LOVE if the scene of them all going up against Toguro were the penultimate scene of the movie. Instead of just fucking with Yusuke, he fucks with all of them at once and shows that they aren’t shit. Because Bui and Karasu already almost killed arguably their strongest fighters at that point. And here is Toguro, no effort, taking down the whole team while actively pulling his punches. Roll credits.
Do I think this will be amazing? Hell no. Do I think it will be enjoyable? Maybe?
*: Rewatched it a few months ago. Never realized it at the time, but basically the entirety of Toguro and Yusuke’s relationship is about the dangers of toxic masculinity. And a lot of the rest of the series becomes about finding a balance in life.