Before I begin to talk about the story, I would have to recommend that you read the first chapter of the series yourself before continuing with reading this review, as I believe it is the greatest first manga chapter of all time. I would not like to spoil what happens for anyone, so please do that first, as I'm about to talk about the the basic premise, and I don't want to spoil the beginning for anyone. Yusuke Urameshi is seen by everyone as a delinquent. He regularly skips school, is reprimanded by his teachers constantly, gets in fights on a daily basis, receives neglect from his alcoholic mother, is avoided by most adults, and has almost no real friends. The only person who he has any real relationship to is his childhood friend, Keiko, and she also nags him to start caring about his own life. So Yuusuke is basically a loner who no one expects anything good to ever come from… until he saves a child from being hit by a car, which kills Yusuke instead. Yusuke, now a spirit, meets Botan, the guide to the spirit world (afterlife). She reveals that Yusuke died in vain, as the car would have missed hitting the child. However, now the spirit realm isn't prepared for him either, as they did not expect him to accomplish anything, especially not a good deeds like this. So Yusuke is given the chance to earn back his life through helping others, and the story takes off from here. The beginning section of Yu Yu Hakusho is actually rather slow, as it deals mostly with Yusuke helping others, and has little to no action in it. However, it is clear that the writer, Yoshihiro Togashi, decided to take the series in a different direction after the initial part, and the series quickly develops into the action packed series that is to be expected from a Shonen. It's mostly the typical Shonen affair, with increasingly powerful villains, supporting characters defeating the main villain’s underling, and tournament arcs galore. There are only two problems with the story. The first problem is there are A LOT of time skips. Though time skips can be useful to bypass long periods of training, Yu Yu Hakusho uses this plot device far too often in order to justify character power ups. The second problem is that the final arc felt like it rushed to end as quickly as possible. It seemed as if Togashi finally got bored with the series, and wanted to just move on to something else (Hunter x Hunter). Other than that, the story is good, but it is definitely not the main focus of Yu Yu Hakusho.
The artwork of Yu Yu Hakusho is one of its finest aspects. Every character design sets itself apart from others. Even minor characters are given very memorable designs. This is especially impressive, as there are plenty of characters in Yu Yu Hakusho who make no reappearance after they are first introduced, and yet even they are usually distinguishable from those around them. Perhaps more impressive is the fluidity of movement during fights. Togashi has a way of giving fights a certain flow to them, and he does it with such an expertise that the reader is actually able to pick up on the character’s movements and attacks throughout a fight. Togashi does this better than most artists of his time, arguably even better than the great Akira Toriyama (coming from me, that's saying something, because I love Dragon Ball). A good example is Yusuke vs Shu, which is able to create an intense set of movement within a VERY restricted space. No fight ever feels dull or like it's just a rehash of a previous battle, even if it's a complete blowout. This makes the fights and art of Yu Yu Hakusho another amazing trait.
Finally, and most importantly, is the characters of Yu Yu Hakusho, and the main cast is great. The main cast of Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, and Kurama are the standout of course. One trait (cliche)holds true about all of them (as well as the main villains who I shall have to use every ounce of self restraint from talking about for spoiler purposes): don't judge a book by its cover. I already mentioned Yusuke, the one who seems like a delinquent, but feels lonely deep down and wants to prove himself. Kuwabara, at first glance, seems to be a complete idiot. However, once the reader gets to know him, they see he is rather prideful, and how his quick thinking and strategies often allow him to win difficult encounters. Hiei takes the case of a reformed villain, and is seen as fairly evil when he is introduced. However, we also learn that Hiei is actually much like Yusuke, as he he is prideful and always looking for a stronger foe. Kurama seems to be the most calm and level headed of the group. However, he also has a dark and sadistic side that is linked with his past. These four, along with many of the villains (must… not… spoil… younger… Toguro) all display incredible amounts of character depth, and are very well written. Unfortunately, this cannot be said about the supporting characters. Unfortunately, they show fairly little depth. I can look past this for characters like Botan, Yusuke’s mom, Koenma, as they were never truly meant to have the greatest impact on the series to begin with. However, I cannot give the same excuse for Keiko. Throughout the entire first portion of the series, she was shown to be the only person Yusuke had in his life that was worth living for, but she receives very little character development. To make matters worse, when the action starts to become the focus of the series, she is completely sidelined. This is the only real disappointment I have in the character department, and it does hurt my views on this series, but only slightly.
Like I said before, Yu Yu Hakusho is a true gem among Shonen manga. For fans of the genre, the fast paced and well illustrated battles will not leave your dissatisfied. However, even if you don't like Shonen, I believe you may also be able to enjoy the depth of its main characters. Unfortunately, Yu Yu Hakusho is not flawless, as it has a slow begins segment, too many time skips, and some poorly developed supporting characters. Though this may slightly decrease the value of reading this, I still believe it is worth checking out by all.
