In 1990 Yu Yu Hakusho debut in Japan, causing a storm into the Shonen Genre, at the time fans like me remember when it came to the United States in Shonen Jump Magazines that you could buy at local book stores for $5.99 depending on where you lived, and for me it was that price in the little town of Hutchinson Kansas.
My big brother bought each month when I was five each issue to read Dragonball Z mainly, but I would sneak to read Yu Yu Hakusho because at first when I was five it came on television and when I saw Yu Yu Hakusho it blew my mind more than Dragonball Z!
Take note my Mom let me watch whatever except pornography, she let me watch whatever as long as I knew fiction from reality, because she never got that privilege growing up, and had to learn to grow up fast taking care of a mother with severe bipolar alot.
So I'd say I had a no censorship filter required childhood, which I saw Stephen King's IT too young at age six causing a clown phobia, then I knew I had limits in what I could watch at that age.
At this time growing up, mainly Japanese Anime showed on Cartoon Network, channel 63 at the time, and it was the best thing ever until American Cartoons ruined it.
It was the era Anime was starting to get popular. Anime is more popular now then it was back then and you had to fight tooth and nail to get any Anime products, or it was by luck you got any.
I remember I read one of my brother's Shonen Jumps, and it was before Bleach 'ever came out' that at the time because Yu Yu Hakusho had a better storyline aka plot attribute to fans and pulled them in more than Dragonball Z, that in the Shonen Jump Magazine said Yu Yu Hakusho topped the charts over Dragonball Z, it was number one, Dragonball Z number two, and One Piece number three. So you know I have a photographic memory when it comes to anything involving anime, always remember this stuff.
The Story; (Warning Spoilers)
Yu Yu Hakusho is about Yusuke Urameshi, who gets run over by a car saving a little boy, and eventually he has to go through hoops to be revived back to his friends and family, but the kicker is he becomes a Spirit Detective for Spirit World, fighting evil doers.
Or demons.
Along with his friend Kuwabara they go to meet the psychic Genkai to see who inherits her abilities, fighting a demon in the end Rando.
Yusuke by chance defeats him.
Yusuke then trains with Genkai.
Genkai makes him sleep with snakes, balance himself on a spike 'only using' his Spirit Energy at the tip of his finger for hours on end to learn control over his Spirit Energy, climbing up mountainsides with chained weights on him, and if he stops climbing he gets pummelled by Genkai until he falls off of it.
Pure hell in my opinion, but he progresses in getting stronger.
Soon Yusuke, Kuwabara have to team up with Kurama or his human family know him as Shuichi Minamino, and Hiei.
Kurama long ago was a Fox Demon thief called Yoko, he back then stole many things, artifacts of Spirit World, the like, but his greed for those things got him in trouble, when someone hunted him down, injuring him, and he fled to The Human World, and went inside a human woman, and was reborn her human son as Shuichi Minamino, but he had his Fox Demon powers though reborn as a human.
Only his friends from Team Uremeshi call him Kurama, he never wants them to call him Kurama around his mother or her husband and his brother.
He is very fond of his mother and would die to protect her.
Which he almost did to cure her illness with the Forlorn Hope Mirror, until Yusuke showed courage to sacrifice himself so Kurama won't die to save his mother, the Forlorn Hope Mirror you must give your life to get the truest wish you want in exchange, but the Forlorn Hope Mirror was moved by Yusuke's courage and strength, and decided not to take any lives in exchange for curing Kurama's mother of her illness.
Hiei is a Fire Demon, his Ice Apparition Mother had an affair with someone outside her clan, and had twins, Hiei who's a Fire Demon and his sister Yukina who's an Ice Apparition, in the Ice Apparition clan it's forbidden to have a Fire Demon child, and they feared Hiei would destroy them if he stayed in their village. So Hiei was as a newborn wrapped up in a bundle, with his mother's tear, that each Ice Apparition shed when they give birth, which his mother shed two of them, and Yukina has one too; he was thrown over a cliff.
But guess who found Hiei?
Demon Thieves and they raised him for awhile, and he soon found out he had a sibling, visited where he was born, finding his mother passed away.
His mother felt so guilty for what she had done to him.
In the end Hiei found out his mother's relative that she loved him in the end.
Hiei then decided to protect his sister, by getting a Jagan Implant Eye in his body, which was the most painful experience in his life.
He got this implant so he could watch over his beloved sister.
Further progressing into the story Yusuke and Kuwabara had to save Yukina from a crook of the Black Black Club, using Yukina by torture to create rare jewels when she sheds any tears.
Ice Apparitions are known to create rare jewels when they cry, but the rarest ones are when they give birth.
Eventually both boys save Yukina, with Kuwabara falling head over heels for Yukina, which annoys Hiei to no end, which you'll notice throughout the series Hiei mocks Kuwabara's intelligence like no tomorrow, and his way of fighting recklessly in getting his ass handed to him, even by a child demon more or less.
Hiei warned if 'anyone' meaning Yusuke, Botan, Kurama, or any other character tells Kuwabara that Yukina is his sister he'd no joke kill them.
Team Uremeshi; Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, Genkai aka The Masked Fighter, and Hiei all face in a Dark Tournament against the villians Elder Toguro and Younger Toguro and won, but at a cost of Genkai dying.
But she is eventually brought back to life in the end by Koenma.
Yusuke took in Genkai's Spirit Wave Technique, which was the most iconic scene of the show, fans like me loyal to this series say it's the most tear jerking scene in the anime, it's when Yusuke is having issues trying to maintain the Spirit Wave Technique in his body and it's ripping his body to shreds, which is gory mind you, he thinks about everyone he loves, which are his friends and his sweetheart Keiko, who he admits has the worst slaps than Younger Toguro, and dude Younger Toguro could put a big as hell crater into the ground, Yusuke's logic blowsy mind comparing Keiko's slap to that kind of powerhouse like Younger Toguro!
But what he did is the tear jerker!
He has a Spirit Beast, called Puu who's a cute little thing, who was carrying water to Yusuke in its penguin-like wings at the time, and Yusuke who's having all this torturous injuries being done to him by Genkai's Spirit Wave Technique saw a piece come off the cave, and about to kill Puu, so he forced his body by will to take in Genkai's Spirit Wave Technique, and rushed to save Puu!
When he at first hated Puu!
He was moved by Puu doing such a thing for him though he said Puu was ugly, and he hated Puu!
Fans never expected that, sending Us Fans into bawling fits.
The 1990's was an uncensored era where you could flip the bird, and say any derogatory thing in anime, and Yusuke is one kind of punky teenager who says what he thinks of you up straight.
He literally told a Trans Demon, he didn't care if she was a child, old hag, or a girl or man; he'd kick your ass!
Gender and age don't matter to Yusuke when it comes to defending his friends, which this kind of plot magic drew fans to Yu Yu Hakusho immediately more than Dragonball Z.
When the guy who is your boss literally looks like a toddler and Yusuke literally laughed when he met his boss Koenma The Prince Of Spirit World, he laughed his butt off questioning why Spirit World is run by a freakin toddler!
This had fans rolling in pure laughter when it first aired in English Dub in America!
Then on later in the Sensui Arc of Yu Yu Hakusho, in the English Dubbed version of this anime, which loyal fans say is the best Anime Dubbed In English In Their Lifetime; Yusuke had the ('golden balls I say') to when Koenma withheld information about the Kekai Barrier and information about Sensui Yusuke called Koenma.
"Toddler Bitch."
Which is the second most iconic scene in the show, making fans roll over in laughter once more! I was a guilty party.
Sensui was a very mentally ill man, who by trauma of seeing The Black Black Club torture demons made him leave his job as Spirit Detective years ago before Yusuke became a Spirit Detective, and caused him to have seven personalities, one being a young girl.
Sensui eventually killed Yusuke triggering Yusuke's dormant ancestrial demon blood to trigger upon his death, and he comes to life as a demon now with high Demon Energy.
Yusuke follows Sensui into the open portal Sensui opened to the Demon World, following his best friends, Kurama who's transformed into his Yoko Fox Demon Form, and Hiei who's powered up to the max, and Kuwabara who's got a stronger Spirit Sword that now can rip through dimensions.
All three were fighting big bad Sensui in his original personality he was born with before the trauma occured to give him seven other personalities.
Yusuke arrived in time before his friends would be defeated or killed more or less by Sensui, and started kicking some tail.
But soon Yusuke was possessed by a force not his own, who took control of his body, causing his hair to grow, making it look like he got hit with a lightning bolt, wild as hell.
This force which is male made Yusuke use his demon energy to kill Sensui with a Spirit Gun which it is called in English in the show, but in the manga it's called Rei Gun.
Sensui while laying dying, his close demon friend Itsuki told his story of why he did everything he did, that he was dying of an incurable disease and the Sensui said he wanted to go out with a bang, he wanted to fight a strong enough opponent to kill him in the end, and Yusuke gave him his wish in the end.
But Yusuke was pissed he wasn't the one who made Sensui go out with a bang, and he wanted to whip whoever took over his body a new one with his fists!
The demon friend of Sensui Itsuki took his body into another dimension claiming he will preserve Sensui's body by his side forever.
This however made fans think Itsuki was in love with Sensui, and that's why he wanted to keep Sensui's body with him forever by his side.
Yusuke was immediately fired as Spirit Detective because Spirit World feared his demon powers.
Koenma is on Yusuke's side.
Soon a demon comes to Yusuke claiming his great great great many greats grandfather who's a Demon King of Demon World wants to meet Yusuke, telling Yusuke that was him who possessed his body in the fight with Sensui.
Yusuke wanted to go to Demon World and kick that old man's butt!
Nobody uses his body like that!
So off he went to Demon World, finding out the 'old man' fell in love with a human 1,000 years ago, they had a passionate night together, and this is why Yusuke exists.
Since then because of that Raizen who the 'old man' is called starved himself for 1,000 years because he loved that human woman so much.
There are three demon kings.
Each eat human beings.
Mokuro who's a female, but called a demon king.
And Yomi who's blind as a bat, but he's very powerful, though blind.
Yusuke in the end never got to kick Raizen's butt, because he passed away telling Yusuke about the human woman he loved.
Tragic love story ain't it?
A Demon King starved himself because he loved the woman he had a one night stand with at first sight?
Starved himself for 1,000 years!
That's a faithful man for you!
Hiei and Kurama were also in the Demon World.
Hiei on Mokuro's side.
Kurama on Yomi's side.
Yusuke eventually convinced both Yomi and Mokuro to hold a tournament to see who will be the Demon King of Demon World!
So you know the Demon Kings;
Yomi and Mokuro including Raizen are the strongest demons in Demon World and are S-Class Demons, and they are known to be Planetary Destructive Beings!
Though Hiei, Kurama and Yusuke 'lost' the Demon Tournament, and an old friend of Raizen's won it in the end defeating Yomi; Hiei, Kurama, and Yusuke at the end of Yu Yu Hakusho were S-Class Ranked Demons!
Yusuke did quit school, Kuwabara stayed behind with Yukina in the Human World with Genkai while the Demon Tournament happened.
Yusuke did propose to Keiko his childhood friend who then became his sweetheart.
Life goals right there in my opinion for Yusuke.
At the end of the anime Yukina is shown to be pregnant, Hiei stayed in Demon World to patrol it, because Raizen's old friend is now king and the Kekai Barrier is no more, and demons are forbidden now to harm humans, but can walk into the Human World freely.
This friend of Raizen's was inspired by Raizen to do this, his love for that human woman which they never give her name sadly.
Fans have always wondered what her name was.
I imagine it's a beautiful name.
Peace returning to All Realms; Demon World, The Human World, and Spirit World.
Hiei was seen by one human, and that human drew him, claiming Hiei was an alien, which cracked fans like me up.
Hiei works with Mokuro keeping humans out of Demon World, to keep them safe, guiding them back to The Human World.
Once a year a Demon Tournament is held to see who will be Demon King, Raizen's friend who is now Demon King announced that after he won.
Kurama if I remember right was going to become a doctor, and Kuwabara was focusing on passing exams to get a good job to support Yukina.
Genkai; she gave her land to Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, Keiko, Yukina and if Hiei visits yeah he can live there.
She's getting old and she has a huge property, parts of it demons live in, hinted early on in the anime.
The anime won the hearts of many fans nationwide, more than Dragonball Z, the story and plot so wholesome, and the funny parts in the English Dubbed version is by loyal fans the best Anime Dubbed In English at the time and still is today.
Now with in 2023 Japan is producing 'a legit' live action version of Yu Yu Hakusho, loyal fans are hoping....no praying that it's done right on Netflix.
Fans speculating how the Japanese actors will look as each characters.
Though in the anime Yusuke's mother was a deadbeat drunk, his mother in the manga yes drank alot, but goes with him along his journeys throughout the manga, supporting him entirely, while in the anime she was scarcely seen.
Yu Yu Hakusho memorabilia to loyal fans are their treasures in life, most fans collect the rare figures hard to get ahold of even video games made in Japan only in the Japanese Language.
Which can be hella expensive!
Hell even collecting the Yu Yu Hakusho trading cards!
Yep even Yu Yu Hakusho had trading cards!
I can't afford most the things on this list, but I have acquired my favorite character Hiei, his figures from Furyu; a noodle stopper figure, and his GoodSmile figure, which I saved up for.
There are Hiei fans.
Kurama fans.
Kuwabara fans.
And Yusuke fans too!
Even Botan the Grim Reaper has her fanbase including Koenma, Yomi, Mokuro, and Raizen!
Yu Yu Hakusho Communities as far as I've known in my years is the least toxic Anime Community I've ever been in, while I'm afraid of joining the My Hero Academia Community because though We Older Anime Fans know Anime Characters Never Age like we Real Life Human Beings; we like collecting anime merch of our favorite anime characters even if they are Characters Who Are Minors.
We get attacked by Gen-Z for owning such things, My Hero Academia merch is the most toxic things Gen-Z give us hate for, especially Bakugou Merch!
I've seen us Millennials get called pedophiles for it when Gen-Z don't know what it's like to be a victim of a pedophile, and they've gone so far as call the police in that Millennial's state, and the police go to their house, and I've seen a Millennial show the cops they are either a Tiktoker or YouTuber, and show them the Anime Merch in question like a Bakugou body pillow I've seen where he's aged up to be 20, and the cop laughed on the video, and they'll charge the person who called for False Report.
Which is a serious crime.
Any Bakugou Merch is technically taboo to own by Millennials 'by Gen-Z', and that's gatekeeping a fandom!
Gatekeeping a fandom is hella wrong!
They've gone so far as to threaten jobs of the Said Millennial, with no joke bomb threats! Even threatening on sending one in their mailbox!
That's how toxic My Hero Academia Community is thanks to 'Gen-Z!'
Which is why I don't want to get into that anime.
Hell I've even seen Demon Slayer get this bad in toxicity!
But, no Yu Yu Hakusho is the most less toxic community I've known for years that has been my safe space.
To me Yu Yu Hakusho is my number one favorite Shonen Anime besides One Punch Man, and the Dragonball Franchise being third.
At the time I mentioned growing up before Bleach came out that Yu Yu Hakusho, Dragonball Z, and Once Piece were the big three right?
Well after Bleach came out, which was inspired by Yu Yu Hakusho Tite Kubo admitted years ago, Bleach knocked Yu Yu Hakusho down as being the top three, so for so long Bleach, The Dragonball Franchise and One Piece were top dogs.
Now it's My Hero Academia, Demon Slayer, and Ju Jutsu Kaisen.
My I feel old to be honest though I'm turning 28 years old soon.
If you haven't seen Yu Yu Hakusho I highly recommend this 1990's anime.
I truly love this anime with my heart and soul. As well as Yu Yu Hakusho has inspired many manga artists today to create Shonen Anime you watch today!
If you want to join the Yu Yu Hakusho community, I've seen that the community has the biggest following so far of Fans New And Old on Facebook, where fans share the Yu Yu Hakusho merch they obtain, or if any fans make their own Yu Yu Hakusho merch they got permission to do by the author they share it, and they even share fan art in this community.
Not once have I had a problem with this community.
To me it's a safe space as I said.
Thank you for reading this article.
~zerohimeyumi~
Yu Yu Hakusho Iconic 1990's Anime By Fans!
