Ranked #945

Yu Yu Hakusho: Meikai Shitou Hen - Honoo no Kizuna

It's been at least three years since I finished watching Yu Yu Hakusho and I was more than happy to once again pick up a title from one of my most beloved series.

Story: When transferring a television series into a movie one expects series with a very short run time (ATHF for example) to be especially problematic in this area as the writers/characters are not used to a prolonged storyline. Ironically, this can also be the case with series that deal with huge story arcs trying to condense what would at least be a 20-some episode arc into about ninety minutes. The story wasn't lacking in this movie, rather it felt extremely rushed. If prolonged throughout a season of the series then it would have done rather well.

Art: Never lacking in Yu Yu Hakusho, old-school anime style with it's own sense of personality about it. It's animation style is very versatile, able to transfer between lighter and more melancholy scenes with ease.

Sound: Because it's been a few years since I've watched the television series I didn't realize that the voice actors weren't the same until I looked it up just now. The dub for this movie, with the exception of Yusuke, was just poorly done. Hardly any emotion put into the acting and I considered a few times switching over to the Japanese track. I was wondering what was off about the voices because I didn't remember the series being this badly dubbed, but now it all makes sense. Why they chose a different cast for the movie escapes me, but it was the wrong decision.

Character: Another unfortunate aspect of this script being turned into a movie rather than a series arc is that there were many chances at character development, and even movie-exclusive characters weren't fully exploited or handled briefly before being thrown to the wayside. I would have liked to see and know more about the antagonists in this movie as they could have made for some interesting characters, but nearly all of them were given five minutes of screen time before sudden, unbelievable defeat.

This was where the movie failed, while these were the characters I know and love it was utterly unbelievable that they were able to emerge from this scenario alive. Yusuke went from being nearly helpless against the King of the Netherworld to suddenly being powerful enough to change the energy-format of the Power Sphere, something King Enma couldn't do. If he really had that much energy, I would expect that we would have seen it before the critical moment. Godlike characters bug me as they are completely unbelievable, one of the reasons I never got into series such as Dragonball is because of this. In the series Yusuke develops at a reasonable, believable pace after much training, blood, sweat, and tears. In the movie the leap was sudden and inexplicable, a plot "device" that can ruin any good movie for me.

Enjoyment: Despite the previous statement this was a joy to watch, mostly because I was happy enough simply seeing one of my favorite cast of characters again. I've decided that I need to watch the series again, it's been too long my friends... read more

A few years back I had watched the first Yu Yu Hakusho movie. During which time I was rather new to the series, but even so I deemed that movie unfit in the line of YYH media. I wrote it off as crap and went about my life. Some time later the second one pops up. Curious I nabbed it and brought it home hoping it would be better than the first....and I was right! Meikai Shitou Hen is a very good movie, with a sense of action gripping you from the start. Yakumo the evil lord of Meikai (Netherworld) has come to take Reikai (Spirit World) and Ningenkai (Human World). So as always Yusuke and the gang have to stop this baddie. I wil wager to say this movie might take place after the Dark Tournament.


As far as the art and animation goes it's tops! The characters look their best at all times, as do the backgrounds. Everything is very fluid and scenes vibrant when need be. The english dubbing is passable, however for those of us used to the Funimation dub it's a hit or miss. However the Japanese voice cast as always has the original voices we love. So if you're new to the YYH verse than pick up this movie. You do not need to know precisely who everyone is or their back story. It's always a good movie for you action junkies.

<b> Misc </b>

This movie also leads way to an interesting character development. A close friend of Youko Kurama! His name is Kuronue and you'll see him in the movie much, don't worry. read more