Yu Yu Hakusho (now streaming on Netflix) is a five-episode live action version of the popular 1990-94 manga of the same name written by Yoshihiro Togashi. And while Togashi’s comic was eventually adapted into anime form, this Netflix production is the first time Yu Yu Hakusho has entered the live action realm. Takumi Kitamura is Yusuke Urameshi, wayward teen-turned-Spirit World detective. Wait, Spirit World? Yes, tradition holds that it separates the Human World from the Demon World. And when troublemaking demons known as “yokai” creep into our world, it’s Yusuke’s job to stop them. Yu Yu Hashuko features visual effects from Scanline, the studio known for its work on Stranger Things and Game of Thrones.
Opening Shot: “His head is bleeding! EMTs have arrived!” At the scene of an accident, a young man is observing first responders at work as they stabilize a victim. But things get weird when he realizes they’re working on him.
The Gist: “Am I dead?” Yusuke Urameshi (Kitamura) asks himself as the Sarayashiki City medics speed his body from the scene. And with that we flash back to four hours before. Yusuke is cutting class like he always does, smoking cigs on his high school’s roof, when his classmate and childhood friend Keiko Yukimura (Sei Shiraishi) pesters him about his chronic misbehavior. Yusuke hates going to class, but he’s not all bad, as we see him protect a kid who’s always getting pushed around by bullies. Later, at her family’s ramen shop in a crowded retail arcade, Keiko wonders why Yusuke doesn’t let people see his noble side, and they bicker like longtime friends do. But she doesn’t really mean it when she says “You delinquent! Go die!”
The city of Sarayashiki is dominated by a massive – really massive – sinkhole. While scarfaced local casino owner Sakyo (Goro Inagaki) outwardly has plans to monetize the eyesore, he also seems to know that it’s not just a big hole. “It keeps going,” he says. “All the way to the Demon World.” And we get a taste of that place’s horrors when a yokai known as a roundworm monster flits from the sinkhole in super-gross insectoid form. The yokai preys on people’s negative emotions, and when the truck driver it possesses goes berserk and drives through a pedestrian mall, Yusuke dives in front of the vehicle to save a little boy’s life. He himself isn’t so lucky. As his dead body is carted off, Yusuke is visited by Botan (Kotone Furukawa). She’ll be his guide to the Spirit World – sort of like Al from Quantum Leap, only in a kimono; she even has a Ziggy-like device – which appears through a dimensional rift as a place full of placid waters, paper lanterns, and the pagoda-like overlook of Koenma (Keita Machida), who’s in charge of deciding where human souls travel when people pass on.
The thing about Yusuke’s death is that it’s not permanent. Koenma and The Spirit World have chosen him to regulate these demonic incursions into the Human World that are becoming increasingly violent, since even untrained he possesses spirit strength that manifests as bolts of powerful energy. And after he thwarts a yokai attack, Yusuke is reunited with Keiko and his mother Atsuko (Ayumi Ito). He’s still sort of a grouch, but one with some important work to do, as we get more glimpses of the battles that continue to rage in the Demon and Human worlds.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Remember when Netflix poured a bunch of cash into a live action version of the anime classic Cowboy Bebop, and then canceled it after only like three episodes? The streamer did hit a home run with its recent One Piece adaptation, however, and it also features Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning, and Rurouni Kenshin: The Final, which are both pretty great.
Our Take: “Nah, I’m good. I don’t wanna be told what to do even as a ghost.” At first, the god Koenma and his assistant Botan aren’t sure what to make of Yusuke Urameshi, whose disaffected sense of cool is so powerful, it withstands being hit by a truck and initially rejects the Spirit World altogether. There’s a kind of James Dean quality to how Takumi Kitamura plays Yusuke, and it’s fun to watch him strut through the city, lighting cigarette after cigarette and playfully sparring with a rival delinquent, the blonde pompadoured, zoot suit-styled Kazuma Kuwabara (Shuhei Uesugi). And by the time Yusuke has been killed, revivified, and fought his first yokei battle, it also seems that Kuwabara will become an ally. Which is fortunate, because that ginormous sinkhole spells trouble for the mortal population of Sarayashiki City. The special effects that render Yuksuke’s hapless classmate as a possessed yokei vessel are really impressive – a winged insect slithering through passageways underneath the kid’s skin – and later, as we’re introduced to more otherworldly characters in the weaponized vine-wielding Kurama (Jun Shishon) and swordsman Hiei (Kanata Hongo), Yu Yu Hakusho alludes to some evolving Spirit World chaos in the form of a mirror that reflects only darkness, a magical dagger, and a mysterious bauble. Yusuke’s going to need friends as he tackles his new gig as a Spirit World detective, and we’re looking forward to what realms beyond our known dimensions it seems bound to take him to.
Sex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: So far, Koenma has been impressed with Yusuke’s on the job training. But the challenges will only get tougher for his newest spirit detective, as we see when Yu Yu Hakusho cuts to a crazy battle sequence featuring Kurama and Hiei taking on a group of cycloptic demon freaks.
Sleeper Star: “I’m what the western world calls a ‘Grim Reaper.’” But don’t expect a black cloak and vicious death-wielding scythe – instead, Kotone Furukawa is quirky and impishly mischievous as Botan, Yusuke’s Spirit World guide, who appears to him in a pink kimono and dyed-blue hair.
Most Pilot-y Line: “You’ve misunderstood,” Botan tells Yusuke. “You’re not going to Hell, Heaven, or anywhere for that matter. To tell you the truth, your death was not anticipated by the Spirit World. Even the Buddha himself couldn’t have imagined that a delinquent like you would sacrifice himself to save a child. A once-in-a-100-years anomaly…”
Our Call: STREAM IT. Fans of the original Yu Yu Hakusho manga will definitely want to check how this energetic live action version realizes its classic characters. But there’s plenty to enjoy for the rest of us, too, with Takumi Kitamura’s detached sense of cool as rookie spirit detective Yusuke, the series’ unpredictable sense of humor, its high-flying fight choreography, and sharp use of VFX.
Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.