Yes Yu Yu Hakusho did not wait to be on Netflix this Thursday to be known to fans of Japanese pop culture (the anime is in SVOD on DNA and on DVD at Dybex, the manga at Kana), we must admit that the power of the platform will allow the general public to discover a cult work, like JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure last year. Yu Yu Hakusho is at the same time a reference of the pure shônen, time Dragon ball and Slam dunk, and an influence assumed by the blockbusters of the moment, like Demon slayer and Jujutsu kaisen.
At least that one, Yoshihiro Togashi finished it.
The complete Yu Yu Hakusho, by the author of Hunter x Hunter, July 1. pic.twitter.com/FrYkKfRe89
– Netflix France (@NetflixFR) May 12, 2021
Gender codes and exits
Created by Yoshihiro Togashi and published in the Weekly Shônen Jump from 1990 to 1994, the manga tells the story of Yusuke, a thug teenager, who dies saving a child from a traffic accident. Except that his sacrifice was not planned and there is no place for him in the realm of the dead. He is then offered to resuscitate and become a detective from the beyond, endowed with powers and in the service of good. This is only the beginning of a 19-volume saga that borrows as much from the codes of the genre (fights, tournaments), as from Japanese folklore (invocations, demons), also with complex characters and outings. unexpected framework for such a manga.
The manga is reissued in Star Edition this summer
It is no coincidence that Yoshihiro Togashi is also the author of Hunter x hunter, series where he will push the experiments even further, the publication irregularities too. The mangaka, although honored by the profession, will always be on the margins, even against the system, to the point of precipitating the end of Yu Yu Hakusho, where an Akira Toriyama pulled a line on Dragon ball. Another reason that makes the manga a work apart, reissued by Kana in a Star Edition on August 27.
Success requires, Yu Yu Hakusho was adapted very quickly in animated in Japan, from 1992, but it will be necessary to wait to discover the series in France, first in DVD then later on the TV. In fact, she does not enjoy the same aura as a Dragon ball, Ken, the survivor or The Knights of the Zodiac. His arrival on Netflix can serve as a catch-up, especially since Yu Yu Hakusho will continue to make the event, with a live series project, still on Netflix.