Yu Yu Hakusho (幽☆遊☆白書) is a 1992 television anime series based on Yoshihiro Togashi’s manga of the same name. The television series is directed by Noriyuki Abe and produced by studio Pierrot. Staff credits also include writer Yukiyoshi Ōhashi and music composed by Yusuke Honma. The series first aired in Japan on October 1992.
Background:
“From cutting classes to brawling in the streets, Yusuke Urameshi is not your typical role model. In fact, this kid’s nothing more than a fourteen-year-old delinquent with a talent for trouble. But in a single selfless act Yusuke dies while saving another. For such noble sacrifice he is given a second chance at life, but it’s to be a life far different than the one left behind. Now a Spirit Detective, the young man must track down demons and humans alike who desire to rule over the three realms of reality.”
Plot Synopsis via Crunchyroll UK, April 2023.
Weekly Shonen Jump is the magazine that brings many people into the world of Japanese anime and manga, and a lot of the big anime that’s aired or still airing have come from this serialisation. One Piece, Dragon Ball, Bleach, Chainsaw Man, Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure – all of these started in this magazine so it’s a pretty big deal within the community. While the magazine’s reputation has gotten weaker over the years, there’s still new manga out there that are trying to reach the same lengths that others had done.
One series that’s still on-going all of these years (though had recently shifted magazines) was Hunter x Hunter by Yoshihiro Togashi, which many consider to be their (or at least one of) favourites in the magazine. But before he worked on that series, he wrote Yu Yu Hakusho which is also another one that many had adored. It serialised in the 90s and ran for 14 volumes which were also localised in English by Viz Media. And the anime even aired mid-way through and ended around the same time as the manga, which is also beloved by fans worldwide. Yu Yu Hakusho is also noteworthy for being amongst one of the first anime that Funimation had licensed for home video in both the United States and the United Kingdom.
Yu Yu Hakusho didn’t get a complete release in the UK however, and had remained in limbo for years. The first DVD release in the UK was distributed by MVM Entertainment on behalf of Funimation back in 2005, but had only lasted five volumes (with an average of 3-4 episodes per set). After that, Funimation shifted over to Revelation Films followed by Manga Entertainment (then Anime Limited, then Universal, then Sony before re-joining & acquiring Manga Entertainment). After rebranding Manga Entertainment as Funimation, Yu Yu Hakusho saw its return with four season sets in 2021, finally released the remainder of the series for the first time in the UK.
However, not long after those were released, Funimation rebranded as Crunchyroll (as Sony had purchased Crunchyroll and choose to use their brand over Funimation going forward, likely due to its international presence) and then released a box set that celebrates Yu Yu Hakusho‘s 30th anniversary. This box set is also similar to the Japanese BD-Box as it also includes two OVAs that were released in 2018 that are exclusive to the set.
Despite being an anniversary box set, the films Yu Yu Hakusho: The Movie and Yu Yu Hakusho the Movie: Poltergeist Report as well as the Eizou Hakusho OVAs are not included in the 30th anniversary release.
Limited Edition Contents:
Even though it’s an anniversary release, Yu Yu Hakusho‘s box set is more on the same level as Arrow Video’s standard edition box sets.
The limited-edition box set features a rigid box that houses five Amaray cases. Four of the cases represent a season of the television anime, whilst the fifth case is the 2018 OVAs that are exclusive to this release. As this is the UK variation of the box set, the overall package is identical for the most part.
The rigid box artwork is free of any information and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Crunchyroll limited edition releases.
The SRP for the limited-edition set was £99.99 and there’s no exact unit count. I pre-ordered the limited-edition release from Amazon UK because it had the best price of the lot. Whilst the individual season sets are still available, this box set is good value if you had yet to purchase the series prior.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with Amaray packaging and clean artwork
- Info sheet for specification
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Crunchyroll UK
Released: 17th April 2023
The limited edition release for Yu Yu Hakusho contains all 112 episodes across 12 Blu-ray discs, with an additional 3 Blu-ray discs for the new bonus features Funimation produced for their US steelbooks and UK season releases in 2019-2020, and an extra Blu-ray disc for the two 2018 OVA episodes.
Discs 1-3 cover episodes 1-28, Discs 5-7 cover episodes 29-56, Discs 9-11 cover episodes 57-84, and Discs 13-15 cover episodes 85-112. Discs 4, 8, 12 & 16 are the Funimation bonus features add-ons and Disc 17 is the 2018 OVA episodes.
All of the discs were encoded and authored by Crunchyroll, but the main 12 discs were re-used from Funimation’s 2011 Anime Classics releases (but have been tweaked to include Crunchyroll credits). Therefore Funimation’s very old typefont for the subtitles remains in-tact.
Audio options include Japanese audio with English subtitles and the Funimation English dub. The white subtitles are unlockable during playback and the disc regions are playable on A & B for Blu-ray.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | TV Series: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 2018 OVAs: English Dolby TrueHD 2.0 Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 |
| Video | TV Series: 1080p High Definition Native format 1.33:1 aspect ratio 2018 OVAs: 1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 aspect ratio |
| Region | A B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 17 (12 BD-50s, 5 BD-25s) |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 3:
- Textless Opening Song “Smile Bomb (Hohoemi no Bakudan)”
- Textless Closing Song “The Homework Doesn’t End (Homework ga Owaranai)”
Disc 4:
- Yu Yu Hakusho: Looking Back at a Legacy
Disc 7:
- Textless Opening Song “Smile Bomb (Hohoemi no Bakudan)”
- Textless Closing Song “Sayonara Bye Bye”
Disc 8:
- Yu Yu Hakusho: Behind the Design
Disc 11:
- Textless Opening Song “Smile Bomb (Hohoemi no Bakudan)”
- Textless Closing Song “Sayonara Bye Bye”
- Textless Closing Song “Unbalanced Kisses (Unbalance na Kiss wo Shite)”
Disc 12:
- Episode 63 English Video Commentary with Justin Cook and Chris Sabat
Disc 14:
- Episode 99 English Audio Commentary – Remixing Yu Yu Hakusho (2011)
Disc 15:
- Yu Yu Hakusho Trading Card Game Revisited
- Episode 108 – English Actor Commentary (2011)
- Episode 110 – English ADR & Mixing Commentary (2003)
- Episode 110 – English Supporting Cast Commentary (2003)
- Episode 111 – English Writer Commentary (2003)
- Episode 111 – English Outtakes & Foul-ups (2003)
- Episode 112 – English Leading Cast Commentary (2003)
- Episode 112 – English Memoirs of Yu Yu Hakusho (2003)
- Textless Opening Song “Smile Bomb (Hohoemi no Bakudan)”
- Textless Closing Song “The Sun Will Shine Again (Taiyou ga Mata Kagayaku Toki)”
- Textless Closing Song “Daydream Generation”
Disc 16:
- Yu Yu Hakusho: Season 04 Moments with English Cast & Crew
Disc 17:
- OVA: “Two Shot & All or Nothing”
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Yu Yu Hakusho is available to order through multiple retailers across the United Kingdom. The limited edition 30th anniversary Blu-ray release can be purchased through Amazon UK, MVM’s Anime-on-Line, and United Publications.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
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