Nice to Netflix dishing out live adaptations of traditional manga (comics) when even the japanese gave up.
I really like the standards for CGI and the fights and i cant comment on the story live or adaptation of source material as I have not watched it but i see gaps in the story narration & fight choreography
1. At the end of Ep4 Kurama transformed to white kitsune overpowering karasu but in the Ep5 he fights him as huma again
2. Climax fight scene between Toguro and Yuusuke was underwheliming especially how he let him attach & ate it without dodging as if he wanted commit suicide
That being said i would recommend to promote and watch this show as an entry to other anime works
As a Brazilian, I'm a fan of Yu Yu Hakusho, it's by far my favorite anime, so I was hesitant when they said there was going to be a live-action one, but I had faith when I saw the One Piece one.
but my honest opinion, they removed a lot of important things and changed some things that give more weight to some characters like hiei, they didn't give time to develop a lot of things like the group's friendship, everything to go straight to the dark tournament.
as I thought this season would adapt the saga of the spiritual detective, it would be a detective series with a beating, where each episode would be a case, an arc with a bigger plot behind it that would end up culminating in Yukina's arc and would then give hiei and a development.
It's pretty good, only got a few complaints mainly They basically merged season 1 with season 2, completely killing off the dark tournament arc and going straight to Sakyo's plan getting stopped... Even so far as Genki getting killed off the episode after you meet her, theres no 4 beast king arc at all... Oh and no Pu either... All in all it hits the beats of the original, but feels rushed and abandoned... Like they had no other choice than to try and squeeze everything into one season, then try and make that work.
Oh, Hiei and Genki are too tall.
Mainly just sad that they basically murdered the best arc and gave us this instead, Genki and Toguro are dead (though Genki gets revived in the original) and they were the main protagonists of the Dark Tournament arc other than Yusuke....
Gotta give it about a 6.5/10 watchable, enjoyable even... Just strays way too far from the source to the point that it feels like a one and done, they had zero faith in the show from the moment they wrote it.
The best thing about the series was the clothing. If you ever watched the original anime you'll notice instantly that it was really spot on.
WTF was up with Kurama's hair? It was the worst wig I've ever seen. Especially since they nailed the clothing.
The fight scenes were well done.
Kuwabara getting his spirit sword was pretty cool. It also had an awesome effect. It looked better than Yusuke's spirit gun. Which is weird because he's the main character.
The story was ok if you've never watched the original anime. As a fan of the original anime I'll start out by stating the obvious. This was so dang rushed. Somehow Netflix crammed seasons 1 & 2 of the original anime into 5 episodes. Keep in mind that covers a total of 66 episodes. The saddest part is that the entire Dark Tournment consisted of 4 individual fights that lasted maybe 3/4 of an episode spread over episodes 4 & 5. I guess they make up for this downright disservice to the original anime by not even calling it the Dark Tournment.
Genkai had an amazing story ark in the anime. She was done dirty in this Netflix series. Once again it was extremely rushed.
Mostly a love letter to original fans of the anime. I wouldn't watch this if you haven't seen the anime. They shoved everything into 6 episodes all the way up to the Dark tournament. It is an ok watch for fans only.
Very good series. Excellent fight scene's. Really enjoyed it. Binge watched in one night. Highly recommend for something different. Well worth a watch :thumbsup_tone1:
well, honestly, it wasn't bad at all, it was even very good.
the cast is very well chosen, takumi kitamura makes a very good yusuke and I love kotone furukawa as botan, I have a little crush on her I think.
the big strong point of the series is the action scenes, the choreography is top notch, some of the fights are among the best I have seen on tv, very impressive.
5 episodes was surprisingly enough, the pace is well managed even if I wouldn't have denied my pleasure with more episodes.
I'm continuing to try to watch Japanese anime and live action, although they are quite engaging, I can't fully appreciate the style. I can't stand too much excessive drama typical of these Japanese
:heart:x7
This is another Anime-to-Live-Action show and I liked it a lot. I have not seen the anime version so I have no clue how it stacks up to it.
The visuals are great and the story is pretty good.
And - is it just me or does that observation room look a lot like the one from Squid Game?
How I rate:
1-3 :heart: = seriously! don't waste your time
4-6 :heart: = you may or may not enjoy this
7-8 :heart: = I expect you will like this too
9-10 :heart: = movies and TV shows I really love!
Well, first, I should state that I don't know the Anime, so I don't have the direct comparison. However, I'm not sure what to think about this show. It contains the typical Japanese overacting and the outfits seem to be taken from a music video of an 80ies synth pop band. The story is ... interesting... and the special effects are quite ... special. But it's entertaining.
The plot lacks many scenes, and the special effects are ok, but too few episodes will leave people wanting more.
Review by FLYVIP 2BlockedParentSpoilers2023-12-26T02:16:10Z
I really don't understand what they wanted to do here. It seems they put some money in it. Did a lot of efforts on visual, special effects and fights. And yet they totally botched the story in a way that not only renders most of the action rushed and meaningless and prevent any character building or attachment to the characters, but also basically prevents another season. Did they run out of money in the middle ?
Cast
Mixed success.
Yusuke: Kinda ok
Kuwabara: Nope, not at all
Keiko: Looks weird (while the actress would have looked like a good fit)
Botan: Really doesn't match the character's range
Koenma: Looks spot on, except I would have preferred the kid version
Kurama: Nope, not as weird as Kuwabara, but pretty bad
Hiei: Kinda, except the height
Genkai: She's huge ! WTF!
Toguros: Pretty close to perfect
Style and effects
Surprisingly great (not a fan of Reigun though). They put the work on the costumes and overall everything looks great.
Fights
Even more surprisingly great. This is hard to nail, but they did. Fights are fluids and watchable (no camera change all the time), in line with the characters power, and even if the effects are not perfect, it fits and is believable.
Really an amazing job, specially the Karasu vs Kurama.
Characters
The setup of the characters is pretty good, inline with original material. However the villains are given little backround, notably Karasu and Bui appearing out of nowhere.
And given the shortened storyline, there is no character development whatsoever.
Story
First episode is a good intro, shortening the useless parts of the manga. It covers the first arc (before Yusuke's resurrection).
Second one fits ok, covered the Goki/Kurama (2/3) of the second arc (3 thieves).
It all goes to shit in the third one:
1) Hiei's part is basically skipped
2) The third arc (Genkai's tournament) is skipped with Yusuke immediately becoming a disciple, having a fast forward training and immediately receiving Genkai's power.
3) The fourth arc (4 beasts) is skipped.
4) Yukina and the first appearance of Toguro is mixed in there
5) The whole second Saga (Dark Tournament) is skipped except for a recreation of the fights against Team Toguro.
So:
1-2-3) remove any fighting experience Yusuke would have had (except Goki) before his fight against Toguro.
2-3) removes Kuwabara's only supernatural experiences.
3) removes any semblance of team building and bonding between the characters
5) removes any character development and any powerup for any of the character, as well as any substance of sense of urgency in fighting the villains.
Worse thing: Genkai being killed basically 10 minutes after appearing. This removes any development of the character and any attachment the other characters or the viewers could have had. It turns the most emotional moment of the whole manga into an empty non-event.
Another season ?
Well, they just basically erased 7-8 volumes of the manga, the best arc, and ruined the best villain.
There's still the Sensui's saga left, but it would be very weird to treat it properly after basically skipping the previous saga.
And the last saga has not even be properly done in the manga, so what would be the point.
What could have been done ?
Why only 5 episodes and why so much in it ? With 8 episodes, it could have been great.
Ep1: The same
Ep2-3: Include Hiei's part
Ep4-5: Genkai's tournament and Rando
Ep6-7: The 4 beasts
Ep8: Yukina and first encounter with Toguro.
If it worked, the Dark Tournament could have been done in a season 2.
Conclusion
This is really disappointing when you see so many hard things done right, and not so long after One Piece that really nailed it (with no chance whatsoever to complete its story, while YYH could have).
I can only hope that for people that do not know the original the end result does not feel as emptied of meaning as I see it, and that it give them the desire to try the manga or the anime.