Review of Yu Yu Hakusho: Vol 3

Introduction

Yusuke Urameshi was your average juvenile delinquent, making his way reluctantly through school, ruling the roost when it came to who was top dog, although that meant regularly facing off against his rival Kazuma Kuwabara. That all changed one day when he was knocked down by a car while rescuing a toddler, and was killed. Death was only the beginning of his problems, as spirits soon appeared to tell him that it wasn`t yet his time. Returning to a corporeal existence, he was assigned the duties of a Spirit Realm Detective, to stop rogue spirits from flouting the rules and regulations of the human world. Using his wits and a whole lot of luck, he managed to complete his first case, but now the time has come to be trained in the skills necessary for his work. Fortunately Genkai, a Master in the spiritual martial arts has decided to pass on her knowledge. However a Yokai named Rando has targeted her in his desire to increase his spiritual powers. It`s up to Yusuke to be chosen as Genkai`s next student, all the while stopping Rando from stealing Genkai`s secrets. Volume 3 contains the next 4 episodes in Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files. The translated Japanese titles are followed by the English language version titles.

Ep 9. The Successor To Genkai Tournament Begins - The Search Begins

Koenma knows that Yusuke will never willingly accept instruction from a Master, so he wraps up the training in a convenient mission. Yusuke is reluctant to attend on his day off, but is surprised to see his rival Kuwabara also in line to become Genkai`s next student. Genkai sets some odd tasks for prospective students to complete before selection though.

Ep 10. Death Battle In The Dark! Kuwabara`s Reiki Sword - Kuwabara`s Spirit Sword

Genkai`s fourth test begins, and now that the weak have been weeded out, it`s down to a knock out tournament to decide just which survivor will become her student. One of the surviving applicants is probably the Yokai Rando in disguise. Yusuke`s talents as a Spirit Realm detective aren`t enough to keep him out of trouble, but Kuwabara`s manifesting some spiritual talents himself.

Ep 11. Yusuke`s Hard Battle! A Bruised and Bloodied Counterattack - Hard Fights For Yusuke

The fourth test has barely begun and already Yusuke`s in trouble. Can he pull victory from the jaws of defeat? If he gets through this, there will be the semi finals to deal with.

Ep 12. Rando Appears! Kuwabara`s Grievous Defeat - Rando Rises, Kuwabara Falls

Just three left in the tournament, and now Kuwabara must face an opponent who is most likely the Yokai that Yusuke has been tracking. But Rando hasn`t revealed his true self yet. Can he be defeated? Find out in the next disc of Yu Yu Hakusho…

Video

Yu Yu Hakusho gets a 4:3 regular transfer as per the original television broadcasts. It`s a clear unproblematic transfer, but the animation is certainly showing its age. Made before the advent of CGI, when the characters would be hand drawn, there is a more rough and ready feel to the animation, and the colours lack the vivid strength that recent shows exhibit. The animation is smooth and serves the story well, but is hardly exceptional.

Audio

For sound you get a choice of DD 2.0 Japanese and English, and both soundtracks serve their purpose. The dialogue is clear, and as usual I listened to the original language track for preference. I sampled the dub and it`s one of the old school dubs, with ill fitting character voices and excruciating dialogue. You also have a choice of dubtitles or translated subtitles, although the disc auto selects them according to which soundtrack you choose.

Features

There is a brief selection of extras to accompany the disc, including the jacket picture, and multi-angle credit sequences in Japanese and English.

There are text Character Profiles, and Name Translations, and you can look at the opening and closing sequences minus the credits. There are also trailers for other MVM titles, namely Kiddy Grade and Blue Gender.

Conclusion

This is the second disc of Yu Yu Hakusho that I have seen and delivers more of the same, lighthearted ghostbusting action. The storyline followed in this disc takes us away from the setting of Yusuke`s home and school, and away from the teen angst to a Spiritual Martial Arts tournament with more emphasis on action and battles. Fortunately his archrival Kuwabara is already there, so there`s plenty of sniping and wisecracking to be had.

It`s still an ultimate battle anime, in that the focus is on the fights between characters. There`s plenty of the staple anime clichés, bloated dialogue wile combatants take a breather. Slow motion and repeated takes to get the best look at special moves, and the action pauses so a caption flashes up to announce the latest explosive death defying battle combo, just before its effects are felt by the hapless opponent. Too much of this would be a ready turn-off, so its fortunate that Yu Yu Hakusho`s strengths are in the characters and their relationships. This disc focuses on the friendly rivalry between Yusuke and Kuwabara, and their irreverent lack of respect for the aged Martial Arts Master provides more than a few chuckles.

Just 12 episodes into this epic anime is hardly the place to draw conclusions, but it does seem to be taking its time telling its story. Where shorter series would spend 2 episodes at the most on story threads like this one. Yu Yu Hakusho devotes the entire disc to the tournament, taking the time to introduce the various characters competing and giving us a fair bit of character development too. I did feel a little disappointed that the storyline wasn`t resolved on this disc, and it will involve waiting for disc 4 to find out the result of the tournament.

Yu Yu Hashuko still does not convince me. It`s light-hearted and entertaining, but there isn`t much substance to it beyond the brash characterisations and the eye-candy combat. I must admit that I have developed a little fondness for Botan, Yusuke`s ditzy spirit partner. Yu Yu Hakusho, nothing to rave about, but nothing to sniff at either.