I lost my notes on the second arc, the Dark Tournament Saga, of Yu Yu Hakusho from the first watch through, and I had a lot. I had to settle instead with going through my screenshots from the Dark Tournament Saga and trying to remember my thoughts and impressions on it from when I watched it back in November. I am glad that my memory is better than I thought it would be. The Spirit Detective Saga covers episodes 26–66, which totals 41 episodes.

Yu Yu Hakusho is a classic shounen anime from the 90s that follows the adventures of Yusuke Urameshi, a delinquent teenager who dies and is revived as a spirit detective, tasked with solving supernatural cases and fighting evil spirits. The second arc sees them challenged to a battle tournament where their lives are on the line.

I am streaming Yu Yu Hakusho on Netflix in the English dub.

With this being my very first exposure to Yu Yu Hakusho as a whole, I am not going to do a deep dive into the plot. I am watching it to enjoy it and will not be analysing the plot. If there is a glaring plot hole that “world breaks” the anime for me, I will mention it, or if there are tropes that pull my attention or anything that risks the credibility of the story, I will likely mention it. Otherwise, these thought pieces are literally my first thoughts and impressions while I watch the anime. Some of it will be incredibly superficial, and others will be more in-depth. I have turned my reviewer brain off and am just enjoying it for what it is. With that said, let’s dive in, shall we? Yu Yu Hakusho awaits!

Thoughts I have about Yu Yu Hakusho’s Dark Tournament Saga

I have conflicting feelings about Yusuke sleeping through his friends fights. Glad he trusts the team, but annoyed he won’t watch. I really want team battles, but considering the group, I am not surprised that they are doing one-on-one battles. 

Some elements of the arc were incredibly predictable. Such as the identity of the masked fighter. I did enjoy how the identity was hidden with a face reveal, which did make me doubt for a brief moment, and then my brain kicked in again. It was abundantly clear that it was Yusuke’s master, Genkai. Although the young reveal of her face was fun to see.

The thought of Kazuma Kuwabara being a dual-bladed wielder makes me happy. However, I do not realistically see him pulling it off during the arc or possibly the entirety of the anime. If he does, I will be incredibly happy and impressed.

Surprisingly, I would have loved to have seen Shizuru and Sakyo become a couple or to explore the connection that the anime hinted towards. 

• Would they be a healthy couple? No
• Could Shizuru “heal” or change Sakyo? No
• Do I still want to see them in a relationship? YESSSS!!!

While I acknowledge that their values differ and they would not last long as a couple, I can easily see them having a brief and intense affair with genuine feelings. They would probably end up hurting each other or themselves in the process, and not one of them would walk away unaffected. I would love to see a side story of raw feelings.

I love the friendship that has built up between the girls, Botan, Keiko, Yukina, and Shizuru. Whether sharing gossip, cheering on their fighters, or secretly plotting behind the scenes, their bond adds warmth to the series. 

The battles in the Dark Tournament are pulse-pounding. Each opponent brings distinct abilities and strategies, which are interesting.  I loved watching most of the opponents while the larger plot was progressing in the background.

I really enjoyed Kurama’s foxy side. His fox form is quite to my liking.His cunning intellect combined with his elegant appearance made it so I really enjoyed watching all of his battles. Although this has left me with the understanding that he really enjoys adding dramatic flare to his fights,. In a cool and unbothered way.

I enjoyed watching Keiko and Yusuke’s relationship deepen and gain understanding. Watching Keiko’s understanding of him grow and seeing how she is still unwaveringly supporting Yusuke is respectable. It also warms my heart to see him face her seriously. The development of their relationship is incredibly mature for their age, and that does worry me a bit. As Yusuke faces formidable opponents, Keiko’s concern for his safety intensifies. She grapples with fear and frustration, torn between wanting him to be safe and respecting his determination. When they do take that next step and confirm their feelings and face their feelings, they are going to have an intensely serious relationship. 

Kuwabara’s sweet interactions with the ice maiden, Yukina, make me happy. However, I get the distinct impression that it is one-sided.  Kuwabara’s infatuation with Yukina is endearing. His bumbling attempts to impress her add a touch of humour to the intense tournament. Yukina, recognises Kuwabara’s sincerity, but I do not think she feels the same. I do get a kick out of picturing Hiei and Kazuma as brothers-in-law. 

I am glad that we got Sakyo’s history, and it shows how twisted he is. However, I wish there was more than a few minutes of backstory in a single episode. It did make me wonder if he gave his backstory, knowing Shizuru was listening. I would like to think so, since I very much doubt Younger Toguro would not have known she was there. This thought just takes me back to shipping the two of them together. I am not the biggest fan of how Sakyo’s arc wraps up. His giving Shizuru his lighter as a memento and his facial expressions when he saw that she followed him made me tear up a little, I won’t lie. The chemistry there; I am hooked. My poor heart.

From what I was looking forward to at the end of the Spirit Detective Saga, I am disappointed that there was no ‘team battle’ in the way I wanted it. I am glad that we did get a better understanding of power scaling. Yet I feel that the understanding is going to be warped with the future arcs. I wish we had reached the point where the team worked as a team. I am glad that they have learned to trust each other; now I just want them to depend on each other. They are still very much one-on-one fighters fighting on the same side. I suppose they are an individual team, rather than a cohesive unit. WHERE ARE MY TEAM BATTLES? Perhaps another saga will grant me that wish. Perhaps I wanted a more ‘battle royal’ styled fight where we get to see them fight all at once and maybe swap opponents.

In the end, Genkai’s resurrection invites both celebration and contemplation. I would have preferred if Genkai had stayed dead. I have multiple reasons for this. It took away the ‘risk’ for future battles when considering the main cast and their lives. I know now that it is an easy reversal. That tension has been lost. It cheapened Yusuke’s loss and trauma for me as a viewer. I know why writers kill off mentors; it is character development that forces the character to make a drastic change, usually for motivation and maturity. Genkai has served her purpose, and I cannot see how she, specifically, will be needed going forward. She has her age and thus wisdom, yes, but I feel they could add another character for this role.

I knew that we would be in for a lot of fight scenes in this arc, more so than normal. What I was not prepared for was the number of relationships and the bonds between the characters. I genuinely enjoy this aspect of this anime, and I hope that it continues throughout the anime.

Thoughts on the main character Yusuke Urameshi

Yusuke Urameshi really went through a lot in this arc. Especially outside the Dark Tournament ring. I still adore him with his hair down and want more scenes with it not slicked back. I have a feeling I might keep opening my thoughts on Yusuke with his hair for this segment of the post. Yet, I feel it is an important part of his character.

I mentioned in my first arc thoughts that I had not yet fully connected with Yusuke as a character, especially as a main character. The emotional wringer he goes through and that we witness in this arc changed that. This arc really added depth and a range of emotions to this character.

This arc went out of its way to break him. His mentor died in his arms, and his friend was killed in front of his eyes, ‘because’ of him. He had to make decisions with consequences. He had to face himself. Experienced excruciating pain, physically, mentally, and emotionally.  He was forced to grow up in a multitude of ways, with the most brutal of methods. This also happened in a very short period of time. I wish he would have access to trauma counselling once the arc was complete. Even if the deaths proved “misinformed,” maybe even more so due to that. He is so far removed from an average teenager that I can not see him going back to his old normal day-to-day. He was made to grow up too quickly. This was not what I had in mind when I said that I wanted to see “how he will grow”.

Fight I enjoyed the most:

I really wanted to say Yoko Kurama’s fight where he revealed his fox form, yet there are better fights. The fight I am deciding on for this segment is a rather obvious one. It was the most built-up and teased fight since the previous arc. The fight I enjoyed the most from the Dark Tournament was none other than Yusuke Urameshi vs. Younger Toguro. This battle went on for a multitude of episodes. It gave, and it gave. The action was good, the abilities were interesting, the dialogue was captivating, and the stakes were there. I immersed myself in this fight. I enjoyed the trash talk and was drawn in by the classic 90’s animation and styling. It is a good shounen fight with a lot of emotion and action.

Expectations for what comes next

After the establishment of the team and a basic introduction to the world and its dynamics in the Spirit Detective Saga, the Dark Tournament went out of its way to really flesh out the characters, as well as explore and deepen their bonds. I expect that after this arc, we are in for a rough ride against a really strong adversary. Especially because a lot of the characters got stronger with a power-up of some kind and became more mature. To sum it up, this arc was a glorified training arc, satisfying and with high stakes, but a training arc.

The end of this particular arc was wrapping up the ending and giving conclusions to plot points, so we did not get any hint of what is to come. When I hit play on the next episode, it is going to start straight up with the next arc. I feel it will be a fast-paced introduction to the next part of the overall plot. I do not expect many episodes to show their day-to-day or showing them get back into their supposed normal.

Now that this post is done, I can officially hit play on episode 67.