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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/00_main03.png]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:"The [[SpiritWorld other world]]'s [[OnTheNextEpisodeOfCatchphrase not watching for nothing!]]"]]
3
4->''"And so it all begins. This boy's name is Yusuke. He's 14-years-old, and is ''supposed'' to be the hero of this story, but oddly enough... he's dead."''
5
6A [[ShonenDemographic Shonen]] {{Fighting|Series}} manga authored by Creator/YoshihiroTogashi, and adapted into animation by Creator/StudioPierrot, ''[=YuYu=] Hakusho'' (幽☆遊☆白書, also romanized as ''Yuu Yuu Hakusho'') tells the story of Yusuke Urameshi, a bitter, beleaguered, junior high punk -- and legendary street fighter. One particularly bad day gets worse for Yusuke after he dies saving the life of a small boy from a car accident. He discovers that the forces of the Spirit World were expecting the boy to miraculously survive the accident but did not expect Yusuke to even be a part of it. Because of this [[PetTheDog surprising]] ([[SenselessSacrifice if ultimately useless]]) HeroicSacrifice, they offer Yusuke a chance to return from the dead. With the help of Botan (a perky female ''{{shinigami}}'' "Angel of Death" or essentially "[[TheGrimReaper Grim Reaper]]") and the approval of Koenma (the snarky son of King Enma, the judge of the dead in the Buddhist belief system, and the part-time stand-in for his father) Yusuke returns to the living world.
7
8But Koenma has other plans for Yusuke, as both his fighting ability and newfound spirit awareness makes him a prime candidate to be a Spirit Detective, an agent of the spirit world hunting down renegade demons who threaten peace on Earth. With much reluctance, Yusuke takes on the job, and finds himself facing all manner of supernatural baddies. Lucky for him, he has the help of Botan as a liaison and tactical support. Early on in his career they send him to the OldMaster Genkai, a petite, crotchety old woman who nevertheless is a highly capable spiritual guru and martial artist.
9
10As his closest teammates, he gathers some more than capable fighting partners in the form of Kazuma Kuwabara, his old school rival; Kurama, a benevolent reformed fox-spirit trapped in a human body; and Hiei, a [[TokenEvilTeammate not-so-benevolent, not-so-reformed demon]] who reluctantly tags along with Yusuke and his entourage [[RecruitingTheCriminal as part of his sentence]].
11
12Serialized from 1990 to 1994 in ''Magazine/ShonenJump'', ''Yu Yu Hakusho'' became an instant phenomenon throughout Japanese culture and set many standards for Creator/StudioPierrot in setting the bar to a new height in animation, cinematography, and fight choreography for the Japanese animation industry. Togashi’s liberal approach to Studio Pierrot’s adaptation practice also led to the solid fruition, and “industrial boom” of multimedia tie-ins by being one of the industry’s first examples of producing “standardize long discographies” of soundtracks, character [[Main/ImageSong image songs]], national tours of voice actor stage performances, [[OriginalVideoAnimation OVAs]], and video games.
13
14The above mentioned initial marketing strategy also made ''Yu Yu Hakusho'' one of the only few titles to achieve successful [[LongRunners continuous]] tie-ins and [[{{Crossover}} crossover]] campaigns '''post''' initial animation airing well over 30 years and counting; targeting its demographic sharply as fan base ages.
15
16As of 2020, ''Yu Yu Hakusho'' has made crossovers and tie-ins with a broad range of companies, video games, and high ranking mobile games in the Japanese market, including:
17
18!!!Fashion, Food & Beverages:
19* GEORGIA Coffee (''Magazine/ShonenJump'' 50th Anniversary)
20* Iyemon Tokucha (Suntory)
21* [=SuperGroupies=]
22* UNIQLO (''Magazine/ShonenJump'' 50th Anniversary)
23
24!!!Mascots:
25* Bad Badtz-Maru (Creator/{{Sanrio}})
26
27!!!Mobile Games:
28* ''Castle & Dragons''
29* ''VideoGame/GrandSummoners''
30* ''Gyakuten Othellonia''
31* ''[[VideoGame/{{Langrisser}} Langrisser Mobile]]''
32* ''VideoGame/MonsterStrike''
33* ''VideoGame/PuzzleAndDragons''
34* ''Shironeko Tennis'' (Subsidiary of ''Shironeko Project'')
35
36!!!Video Games: ''Magazine/ShonenJump'' All-Star Series
37
38* ''VideoGame/JumpSuperstars'' (2005)
39* ''Jump Ultimate Stars'' (2006)
40* ''VideoGame/JStarsVictoryVS'' (2014)
41* ''VideoGame/JumpForce'' (2019)
42
43''Yu Yu Hakusho'' is a classic {{shonen|Demographic}} anime featuring colorful characters, lots of humor, and very clever fights. It wasn't as popular in the States as other series, but was one of the first anime to air (mostly uncut) on Creator/AdultSwim, until it migrated to Creator/{{Toonami}} with an edited weekday version. It was among Creator/FUNimation's earliest shows to dub alongside ''Dragon Ball Z'', and therefore, starred some of its earliest regular cast members and kickstarted their reputation. Then 19-year-old Justin Cook, who was the Line Producer and played the lead role, is now the chief producer at the studio. In the UsefulNotes/{{Philippines}}, the series was titled "[[CompletelyDifferentTitle Ghost Fighter]]" (and used [[LocalizedNameInANonLocalizedSetting different character names]]) and went on to be one of the landmark anime series there as well.
44
45In 2020, Creator/{{Netflix}} [[https://www.pennlive.com/life/2021/03/netflix-contracts-studio-for-yu-yu-hakusho-live-action-series.html announced plans to make]] a LiveActionAdaptation of the series in association with Creator/{{Toho}}. It stars Takumi Kitamura as Yusuke Urameshi. The first five episodes premiered on December 14th, 2023.
46
47The live action series can be found at ''Series/YuYuHakusho2023''.
48
49----
50!! This show provides examples of:
51
52[[foldercontrol]]
53
54[[folder: A]]
55* AbnormalAmmo:
56** Bui removes concrete blocks from the Dark Tournament ring and throws them at Hiei.
57** Hagiri can use anything as a lethal projectile, much like Marvel Comics' Bullseye. Some of the things he is seen shooting are dice, knives and a pencil eraser.
58* AbusiveParents:
59** Mukuro's father is a more direct example of downright evil treatment.
60** Yusuke's mother Atsuko is not exactly devoted. She's an alcoholic who neglects, beats, and screams at him (no wonder he became a street punk in the first place). And on top of that, she leaves her son's dead body surrounded by loads and loads of trash, which nearly gets burned in an arson. Despite this, the trope is subverted as she still loves him in her own warped way and actually grieves for him when he died the first time.
61* AccidentalHug: Between Yusuke and Kuwabara in Episode 9.
62* AdaptationDyeJob:
63** The original black and white manga had the four main fighters all with dark hair. Yusuke and Hiei retain the dark hair for all color depictions (Yusuke has blue-ish highlights and Hiei has white highlights), while Kuwabara consistently has red hair in color depictions (it's been stated that this reflects attempts by Japanese kids to try and dye their hair blonde themselves, which typically turns red instead). Beyond that there are significant differences on color.
64** Color ''Jump'' pages (while admittedly a limited, sober palette) have Kurama with black hair.
65** Togashi's own color illustrations sometimes also depict Kurama with violet hair instead of black (most notably on the second kanzenban cover), and he vacillates between having Botan as blue-haired or blonde. The anime settled on going with blue hair for Botan.
66** Genkai and Koenma are blond in some of the colored artwork for the manga, with Koenma's uniform being green instead of purple.
67* AdaptationDistillation: The anime cuts out a lot of the adventures Yusuke had while dead-- the only ones left are the ones that set up Keiko's and Kuwabara's characters. This streamlining continues throughout Kurama's introduction,[[note]]cutting out the flashback that explains the exact moment that caused his change and his rationalization of how his mother will actually be better off with him dead, now that she's seeing someone[[/note]], but the anime also starts making small changes that give Koenma and Botan more to do and more dialogue in general. Koenma gains his video screen that lets him watch everything the heroes do and his sidekick Jorge Saotome, who needs things explained to him. Cutting actual scenes or storylines mostly stops by the time we get to Genkai, and entirely once we get to Yukina, but starting with the Yukina rescue and going into the Dark Tournament, the anime starts padding the episodes out with more character moments, like having Botan go with Kuwabara and Yusuke to Tarukane's mansion, extending the fights with the demon triad, and more Koenma-and-Jorge slapstick, or slightly extending jokes and sight gags, like Botan imagining Hiei's reaction to her telling Yukina who he is. Keiko and Shizuru start to get more dialogue and more introspection, both to extend the length of the tournament episodes (the most popular arc of the manga) and to cover for Atsuko being left out of the anime from this point on. Small changes keep happening, like having Keiko recoil and slap a demon in fright instead of deliberately punching him (and muttering to herself afterward about how she's losing her touch) or rearranging dialogue so that Hiei actually has lines, and short scenes of introspection get progressively longer until we hit the Sensui arc and the Three Kings. Once the Demon World Tournament starts, however, all bets are off. The manga only shows a little of the prelims and the beginning of Yusuke's fight with Yomi, before cutting back to the human world, summarizing the tournament, and starting a long wrap-up of final character notes and last hurrahs, ending with the characters relaxing after Genkai's funeral. The anime, again because the Dark Tournament was so popular, instead extends the tournament, fleshing out Yusuke's and Yomi's fight, but also ones that were only mentioned, like Kurama vs Shigure and Hiei vs Mukuro, and condensing all of the character notes and last hurrahs into the 112th episode... and letting Genkai live. So it's kind of fascinating, taken as a whole. The first part is full of cuts to get to the fighting faster, while the last part is full of padding to keep the fighting going until the end.
68* AdaptationExpansion: What parts that are covered are given a bit more to help out with the stories. For example, when Younger Toguro invites Yusuke to the Dark Tournament in the manga, he confronts him outside the school, takes him to the parking lot, and shows his transformation, stating he could level it if he wanted. In the anime, there's much more build up as Yusuke is on a date with Keiko and Toguro leaves a calling card of sorts by damaging a building before confronting him, as well as ''actually'' leveling the parking lot to show how serious his threat is when giving the invite. In addition to this, other scenarios that were glossed over in the manga, such as Kuwabara finding out about Toguro's return and being invited alongside Yusuke, the TrainingMontage involving Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei, and Botan telling Keiko and Shizuru about the Dark Tournament were actually shown in the anime.
69* AdaptationalBadass: In the manga, Dr. Ichigaki was instantly defeated by Yusuke after his transformation. In the anime, Yusuke had some trouble before he was able to defeat him.
70* AdaptationalHeroism:
71** A minor version, since Kuwabara was never really that bad of a guy in the first place, but towards the beginning of both the manga and the anime, Kuwabara's gang gets into trouble for getting into a fight and Kuwabara winds up sticking his neck out for one of his friends and promises to a teacher to stay out of fights and pass an upcoming exam. This fight is never shown in the manga and is implied to be the usual delinquent behavior from him, but in the anime the fight ''is'' shown, and he started the fight only because the gang he was fighting was harassing (and possibly threatening to molest) Keiko and he wanted to help her out.
72** Yusuke, while still a delinquent in the anime, has some of his bad traits toned down, like his smoking habit, gambling, and shoplifting.
73** King Enma in the anime due to omitting plot details revealed in the last manga chapters. He still isn't the best person by any stretch but he isn't [[spoiler: a GreaterScopeVillain like in the manga.]]
74* AdaptationalSuperpowerChange: In the anime, Makintaro's power not only makes him able to [[ShapeshifterWeapon shapeshift one of his arms into an axe]] (like in the manga) but also to regrow his lost arm -- severed by Hiei -- into the axe-arm.
75* AdaptedOut: There are a few early stories from the manga that never made it to the anime, including the story of a ghost girl who died waiting for her boyfriend and a tanuki who was once saved by an old man and his grandson.
76* AdaptiveAbility: Kuro Momotaro uses Steaming Spheres to gain an immunity to whatever attack was last used against him.
77* AddictionPowered: Chu in the ''Dark Tournament'' arc in the uncut version. Creator/CartoonNetwork's Creator/{{Toonami}} edited version has Chu as a fighter who seems like a bumbling fool, [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass but is actually very skilled and dangerous]].
78* AffablyEvil: Sensui's main personality, Shinobu, shows some signs of this, talking respectfully to Yusuke as if they were having tea and crumpets together. Just make sure you shake his hand when he asks you to.
79* AfterlifeAngst: The manga kills off its protagonist, Yusuke, in the first chapter/episode and then shows him at first not realizing he's dead and then attending his own funeral before accepting that he's willing to die -- only for him to be offered a chance at resurrection.
80* AlasPoorVillain:
81** The story takes a moment to focus on Byakko's shock and horror when he is betrayed and executed by Seiryu for failing to beat his opponent. There's even a hint of a tear on his bodiless head.
82** [[spoiler:Sensui's]] life as a Spirit Detective was not an easy one...
83** Even [[spoiler:Toguro]] has a sad past that drove him to be the way he is.
84* AllJustADream: Some of the ''Eizou Hakusho'' shorts.
85* AmplifierArtifact: the Concentration Ring from Yusuke's detective kit. It's function is to multiply the available Spirit Energy of the wearing, giving the Spirit Gun a significant damage boost. Sadly, the power overload knocks out the wearer after use.
86* AndIMustScream: Kurama's CoolAndUnusualPunishment of [[spoiler: Elder Toguro]].
87* AndThisIsFor: {{Invoked|Trope}} by Yusuke in the ''Dark Tournament'' Arc, while pummeling the particularly odious Dr. Ichigaki, who has [[spoiler: beaten the snot out of Kuwabara and enslaved innocent martial artists]]. Yusuke finishes by saying "And this... IS FOR ME! FOR JUST PISSING ME OFF!!!"
88* AnimationBump: The anime looks noticeably better arc after arc. This is very noticeable when you compare the early episodes with the Chapter Black Arc.
89* AnotherDimension: Itsuki traps Kuwabara, Kurama, Hiei, and Kiyoshi Mitarai in a pocket dimension while Yusuke is fighting Sensui.
90* AntagonistInMourning: Kuwabara, who fought Yusuke constantly before the series started, was this when Yusuke died.
91* AntiHero: Yusuke (PragmaticHero), Kurama (LovableRogue), and Hiei (NominalHero). Though Hiei could theoretically shift to UnscrupulousHero when Yukina is involved. He also shows more heroic tendencies when dealing with Kurama and Mukuro. Kuwabara would be a normal hero in most other settings, but he's got enough hardscrabble street fighting background to qualify here.
92* ArbitrarilyLargeBankAccount: The members of the Black Black Club bet billions like it's nothing, with Sakyo betting (depending on the adaptation) either Japan's annual GDP or more money than exists on earth, stating said amount was Tarukane's net worth.
93* ArcNumber: Seven for the Chapter Black arc. It's declared that the "seven" will dig a grave for humanity, [[spoiler:but it's seven personalities; Itsuki remarks that Sensui saw all of his followers as expendable]].
94* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking:
95** You can tell Yusuke's a {{Japanese Delinquent|s}} because he gets in fights, skips class, smokes on school property ([[NoSmoking in the manga]]), and wears a [[TransferStudentUniforms green gakuran instead of a blue one]].
96** The cruelties of [[TrainingFromHell Genkai's training]] include: Four weeks locked in a cave, balancing on spikes, being buried alive in a snake pit, and not being allowed to shower.
97* ArtEvolution: The anime starts off with the somewhat 80-ish type animation where characters are poorly drawn, but improves greatly by the ''Dark Tournament'' arc.
98* TheArtifact: Yusuke's Spirit Detective tools get phased out around the time of the Dark Tournament. This bit actually gets {{lampshade|Hanging}}d by Botan when she laments that Yusuke never bothered to use them. They make a brief comeback at the start of the Chapter Black arc.
99* ArtifactOfDeath: The Forlorn Hope can grant the user a wish, but only at the cost of their life.
100* ArtifactTitle: [=YuYu=] Hakusho translates to "Ghost Files" or "Ghost Report", which is appropriate for the early chapters but loses relevance after Yusuke returns to life and starts primarily fighting demons.
101* ArtisticAge: Yusuke and Kuwabara are stated to be 14-years-old, but look, sound, and act like young adults, or at least much older teenagers.
102* AssimilationBackfire: When Sensui's minion Gourmet eats Elder Toguro to get his powers, Elder Toguro ends up taking over his body later.
103* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: Invoked by Yusuke and played straight by the entire demon world during the ''Demon World Unification Tournament'' arc.
104* AtrocityMontage: Chapter Black is a supernatural videotape containing [[HumansAreBastards all of humanity's worst atrocities displayed one after the other]]. Its effects on the psyche are [[BrownNote harsh enough]] to turn people into [[MisanthropeSupreme murderous misanthropes]]. It's noted later that there's a Chapter White containing the inverse - every good deed under mankind's name - and that they were ''never'' meant to be watched separately.
105* AwesomenessByAnalysis: After Yusuke is overpowered and cornered by Hiei during their fight, he shoots a Spirit Gun that is avoided by Hiei but hits him in his back after being reflected by the Mirror of Darkness. Yusuke accomplished this by moving in the mirror's direction so Hiei would be directly in front of it after the Spirit Gun was fired.
106* AwkwardlyGayDream: When Yuusuke is trying to come back from the dead, but needs someone to kiss him in order to transfer a spark of life energy to "jump start" him, Kuwabara gets a dream in which he does just that. It gets better: Yusuke had to provide the dream ''himself'' (as a ghost, he could communicate through the dreams of the living, and Kuwabara is extremely susceptible. Yusuke did this to help him study for a test once). The kiss has to be from one of the three people who care about him the most -- who turn out to be his mother, his not-quite-girlfriend Keiko, and Kuwabara, who was a big time AntagonistInMourning. Yusuke was horrified, but he did it anyway. Kuwabara thought it was a hellish nightmare, kissing Yusuke's dead body.
107* AxCrazy: A great deal of demons, most notably Elder Toguro.
108[[/folder]]
109
110[[folder: B]]
111* BackToBackBadasses: Kurama and Hiei in the ShortFilm.
112* BadassCrew: The four main characters have prevented TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt more than once and are the current Dark Tournament Champions.
113* BadBoss: Though nicer than most examples, Koenma's treatment of Ogre is less than benevolent.
114* BarehandedBladeBlock:
115** Yusuke was able to catch Hiei's sword with two fingers when he was testing how strong Yusuke was after his training for the Dark Tournament.
116** Genkai does this during her fight with Shishiwakamaru.
117** During the ''Dark Tournament,'' Hiei was able to block Bui's [[ImpossiblyCoolWeapon insanely large axe.]] [[IntimidationDemonstration Twice.]] Not to mention melting it.
118* BarredFromTheAfterlife: At the beginning, delinquent Yusuke dies saving a child from being hit by a car, which puts the CelestialBureaucracy in a bind: He was scheduled to go to Hell, but his HeroicSacrifice partly redeemed him... But not enough to qualify for Heaven. He ends up working for them fighting demons.
119* BashBrothers: Yusuke and Kuwabara do this most often. [[spoiler:Toguro and Genkai long ago might have been something between this and a BattleCouple.]]
120* BatmanGambit:
121** This is Kurama's modus operandi of choice.
122** Sakyou pulls a pretty big one on Tarukane, counting on the latter to try to hustle his friends at gambling. It ends with Tarukane losing his shirt, then his head.
123** Sensui sends Game Master, a little boy whose psychic powers bring games to life, to stall the team from rescuing Kuwabara. The game he chooses to play has the villain die when the player wins, meaning [[SecretTestOfCharacter they have to kill the boy to get to Sensui.]] Sensui counts on Koenma using a large chunk of his spirit energy [[spoiler:stored in his pacifier]] to bring the boy back to life, ensuring that the [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Mafukan seal]] that that energy would otherwise go towards would not be strong enough to hold Sensui, so he could continue to Demon World.
124* BattleAura:
125** Seen several times in the ''Dark Tournament'' arc. Arc Villain Toguro at the higher reaches of his strength produces an aura which dissolves weaker demons. Of special note is Toguro's unwilling subordinate Bui, whose major power is literally and explicitly called Battle Aura; he uses it to fly and shoots pieces of it for attacks. The reason for Bui's insanely heavy armor is that [[spoiler:Bui's raw power is greater than his fine control, and he can't turn the aura off. The armor acts a PowerLimiter to keep his aura restrained until he decides to take his armor off]].
126** Becomes more common as the series goes on. Yusuke starts showing one in the ''Dark Tournament.'' The ''Chapter Black'' arc BigBad's aura is so strong it physically prevents energy attacks from hitting him. Yusuke, Yomi, Mukuro, and Raizen's old friends each produce massive auras in the Demon World Tournament.
127* BattleOfWits:
128** The ''Sensui'' arc focused on this for the most part, the Kaitou and Gamemaster fights being the best to define this.
129** The series as a whole was one of the first to exploit fighting strategically in mid battle rather than pummeling others with the superior powers.
130* BeamOWar: Yusuke and Rando's Rei / Spirit Guns colliding with each other, Yusuke's Rei / Spirit Gun colliding with Chu's Suiken yoki orbs twice, Yusuke's full power Rei / Spirit Gun being canceled out by Sensui's smaller yet just as powerful Resshuu Kou Kyu Ha.
131* BeamSpam: Yusuke against [[spoiler:Yomi, firing his near infinite amount of Demon Gun at Yomi's [[DeflectorShields Demon Energy Barrier]] before finally breaking the barrier with YinYangBomb shots]].
132* BeatThemAtTheirOwnElement: Hiei is a fire demon who [[FightsLikeANormal mostly prefers to use his martial arts and swordsmanship]] to win fights. In the first round of [[TournamentArc the Dark Tournament]], he encounters Zeru, another fire demon who is impressively strong, and rather than try to take on Zeru with his usual fighting style, Hiei brings out his own fire abilities for one of the few times in the series. Hiei whips out a DangerousForbiddenTechnique that is the fire equivalent of a FantasticNuke and drops it on Zeru, reducing him to nothing more than a scorched silhouette on a wall.
133* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Downplayed, but the majority of the monstrous looking demons (like the tournament spectators) are huge assholes who blindly hate humans. It's telling that of all the Dark Tournament participants (whose appearances were varied), the ones who turn good all look human.
134* BelatedInjuryRealization: Makintaro [[spoiler:fails to notice he's had an arm cut off by Hiei until he's shown the severed limb]].
135* BelligerentSexualTension: Yusuke and Keiko. They fight constantly from the very first episode, but they clearly care a lot about each other. Their {{relationship upgrade}}s gradually: After the ''Saints Beasts'' arc, we tend to see them argue with each other more often than not in their interactions, but neither Yusuke nor Keiko seem to refute the notion that they're in a relationship (or something at least akin to it). Yusuke mentions to Toguro that he hopes to "grow old" with her after winning the Dark Tournament, and a lot of the set-up to the ''Demon Kings'' arc involves Yusuke clarifying his hopes to marry her by the series' end. [[spoiler:They do both say "I love you" on-page in the final chapters, though they're still teenagers in high school at the finale.]]
136* BerserkButton:
137** Hiei is depicted as being extremely cold and not caring about anyone or wanting any friends, which is why his reaction to people threatening his sister is a bit surprising.
138** Kurama, likewise, used to be pretty evil, but after growing up as a human he has developed an attachment to his family. Threatening them will make you pretty dead pretty fast.
139* BetterThanNew: Yusuke appears to be permanently dead, but this trope occurs [[spoiler:as his [[SuperpoweredEvilSide demonic half]] awakens]].
140* BetweenMyLegs: Used on a semi-regular basis to frame opponents throughout the show, most common on Kurama vs his opponents. It does happen to the other characters as well sometimes.
141* BewareTheNiceOnes:
142** It's generally not a good idea to get the soft-spoken and outwardly friendly Kurama mad.
143** Kuwabara is probably the friendliest in the group, and he's not to be trifled with, either, if you don't want a Jigen-tou through your chest...
144** Yukina, of all people, when she reveals [[spoiler:she was searching for her brother to remind him he promised to exterminate all the Koorime]].
145* BigBadWannabe:
146** [[SmugSnake Gonzou Tarukane.]] While he is dangerous thanks to his wealth and his connections (being the founder of the Black Black Club, and hiring various demons and humans to do his dirty work), he overestimates his chances of winning, loses everything when Younger Toguro is defeated, and doesn't compare well to most of the antagonists in the series. [[spoiler:It doesn't help that the Toguro Bros. were actually working for the real Big Bad, who had caused him to lose his money, and that they end up killing him after this is revealed.]]
147** Some of the {{arc villain}}s in the ''Dark Tournament'' are pretty haughty, but end up getting taken out with relative ease. Most notably are Shishiwakamaru and Suzuki from Team Uraotogi, who are each primed to be intimidating foes, yet [[spoiler:each lose easily to a severely weakened Genkai]].
148** Also, Risho of Team Masho, who takes particular glee in the potential of taking victory over Team Urameshi, even though it would mostly be by technicality (Genkai and Hiei were kept at bay with a trap from outside the ring and Yusuke by a bogus call from the Tournament Committee; Kurama didn't actually lose -- he won both of his fights, and Butajiri just fixed it so Bakken got to beat on his unconscious body). Then comes Kuwabara, who -- despite suffering from crippling injuries -- [[spoiler:[[ThePowerOfLove easily wipes the floor with Risho]] once he realizes Yukina is watching the fight]].
149* BigBrotherInstinct: Threatening and later possessing Kurama's younger stepbrother was a very, ''very'' stupid move. Threatening Yukina will get you cut up by Hiei pretty quickly.
150* BigGood: Koenma throughout the entire series. Genkai as well from ''Chapter Black'' onward.
151* BigShutUp: Koenma and Botan likes to shed out this phrase a lot. Especially flooded within ''[=YYH=]'s'' drama [=CD=]s.
152* BilingualBonus: The dub is ''littered'' with these for people who speak both Japanese and English. To [[SubbingVersusDubbing sub fans]] who are monolingual in English, these lines sound like straight-up {{Bowdleris|e}}ation -- the most infamous being "A mulberry (''kuwa'') is a tree, and Kuwabara's a man!" It makes more sense when you see the translation of the original line: "Just as a cherry blossom is a flower among flowers, Kuwabara is a man among men!" That's also why there's little pink petals floating down in the scene.
153* BishonenLine: Sensui manifesting his Seikoki (Sacred Energy) into PoweredArmor.
154%%* BlackAndGrayMorality: ''Chapter Black'' Arc.
155* BlackComedy: All over the place. Death, dismemberment and other macabre things are PlayedForLaughs almost as much as they're PlayedForHorror, especially during the Dark Tournament saga.
156* BlandNameProduct: "Megallica" and "Narlboro," at least.
157* BlockingStopsAllDamage:
158** Subverted when Hiei faces an enemy with a weapon far stronger than his sword. Blocking the thing actually cuts his sword and bracing it with his arm cuts his arm. He only gets a draw by taking a hit to make him drop his guard.
159** Also subverted in the final battle between Toguro and Yusuke. Yusuke sends the most powerful attack he could muster against Toguro and he blocks it and eventually stops it after an intense struggle. [[spoiler:Toguro then dies because the strain of blocking it was equal to taking the hit.]]
160* BloodBath: It's revealed in a flashback that the [[spoiler:Black Black Club]] bathed in the blood of the [[DarkIsNotEvil innocent demons]] they had slaughtered, mostly ForTheEvulz.
161* BloodFromTheMouth: The ''Dark Tournament'' is loaded with it. Yomi gets it, too.
162* BloodbathVillainOrigin: Sensui's villain origin involves him walking in on a group of humans [[ColdBloodedTorture torturing]] demons, his worldview is shattered, and in a fit of [[BlackAndWhiteInsanity madness]] he kills everyone there. Also, part of the atrocities the humans committed against the demons was bathing in their blood.
163* BloodlessCarnage: A jarring moment in the ''Chapter Black'' arc. Yusuke blows an opponent's arm off with his Spirit Gun and not one drop of blood is shown. Odd because the ''Dark Tournament'' showed some fairly graphic dismemberments.
164* BloodyMurder: Mitarai's and Gama's powers.
165* BlowYouAway: Jin is a wind master.
166* BoardToDeath: What happens during the ''Dark Tournament'' when [[spoiler:Sakyo reveals his plan to open a gateway to the Spirit World to the rest of the Black Black Club, and then has Toguro kill them when they object]].
167* BodyToJewel: Yukina's tears, apparently part of being an ice demon.
168* BoisterousBruiser: Chu and Jin are the best examples, though Kuwabara counts as well.
169* BoundAndGagged: Kuwabara when Sensui captures him to use his Jigen-tou.
170* {{Bowdlerise}}:
171** Mukuro's back story went from [[spoiler:being her father's sex slave who disfigured herself to keep herself from being molested by him]] in the manga to [[spoiler:being an already cybernetic slave who couldn't remove the shackles from her arms even after she escaped and had to pay for her freedom with the flesh from half her body]]. Still badass either way.
172** Underage vices also took a hit. 14-year-old Yusuke's smoking habit was dropped, while Shizuru was aged up (from 18 to "20+") to cover up both her smoking and drinking.
173** When Cartoon Network aired this as part of Toonami (back when Toonami was a daytime anime series that aired a lot of series that, these days, would air uncut or lightly edited on the Saturday night version that's a part of Creator/AdultSwim), the episode that had Yusuke fighting a female demon who was actually a man had it changed to a {{manipulative b|astard}}itch who faked her injuries so she can weaken any male fighters who [[WouldntHitAGirl have qualms about beating up women.]] Also, Chu (the drunken fighter) was changed to a boisterous Australian who [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass acted like a fool to mask the fact that he was a powerful fighter.]]
174** Similarly, Kurama [[TakingTheBullet Taking the Sword]] in Yusuke's fight against Hiei, deliberately cutting his hand, and throwing his blood in Hiei's eye was toned down to him simply jumping in front of Hiei and backhanding him.
175* BreadEggsMilkSquick: At the end of the ''Dark Tournament'' Arc in the uncensored anime, [[spoiler: right before Genkai comes back to the group,]] Yusuke says: "Back to skipping Detention." Kuwabara says: "Video Games." Kurama says: "My human family." And Hiei finished the series with "Various Crimes."
176%%* BreakfastClub: Sensui's Seven.
177* BreakingTheFourthWall:
178** In the manga, characters verbally refer to previous chapters and their appearance rates.
179** Not to mention Yusuke predicting two page spreads in the next chapter.
180* BrownNote: The Chapter Black tape supposedly makes anyone who watches it despise the entire human race. The tape will cause any human to be disgusted by it but it's worth noting that brain-breaking isn't the tape's use. Come Armageddon, the tape is to be watched along with Chapter White, a tape containing the best of humanity upon which they are judged.
181%%* BuryYourGays: Played with. [[spoiler: Yes, Sensui (KilledOffForReal) and Itsuki (implied to at the end of the arc) die, but it's more of a RedemptionEqualsDeath scenario. Plus, Itsuki, [[ThePhilosopher being]] [[PsychoSupporter who he is,]] tells off Team Urameshi (prompting NotSoDifferentRemark and/or SympathyForTheDevil) before he takes Sensui's corpse and spirit into his own little dimension to spend eternity with him. Because the antagonists [[BatmanGambit got what they wanted all along,]] Yusuke and co. feel as if ''they're'' the ones who have lost.]]
182* BusCrash: Murota. He gets injured not long after his introduction and is out for a while healing. He then is killed offscreen byt he villains for his powers.
183[[/folder]]
184
185[[folder: C]]
186* CallingYourAttacks: "Spirit Gun!"
187* CameBackStrong: Yusuke's death triggers the awakening of his latent spirit powers. [[spoiler: His second death awakens his demonic atavism.]]
188* CantCatchUp:
189** Even Yusuke suffers this after the ''Dark Tournament''. After training with Genkai in the lead up to the tournament and getting progressively stronger during it, by the time of the semi-finals, he seems to realize he is unable to catchup to Toguro, who is still significantly more powerful than him. It takes Genkai giving him all her saved up power, and Yusuke thinking Kuwbara was killed to defeat Toguro, and even that isn't enough to defeat Sensui in the following arc.
190** Kuwabara zig-zags the trope. He is never one of the more powerful fighters and actually loses more than wins in the ''Dark Tournament'' (one time being teleported out of the ring by the same basic ability, used by two different fighters). But he has enough pluck and his spirit awareness continually manifests new abilities that keep him relevant and helpful even though, strictly speaking, he is far from the most powerful fighter. He does seem to surpass Kurama and Hiei by the end of the Chapter Black arc, as he remains standing while the other two are blown clean off their feet by Sensui's aura, but then he quits training to focus on school. By the finale of the series, he's strong enough to be able to beat B class ranked Demons with no issues, but by then all three of his comrades are at least around the strength of an S class Demon.
191* CannotSpitItOut: Subverted, of all couples, by [[spoiler: Yusuke and Keiko]]! According to [[spoiler: Keiko's dad, Yusuke's favorite way to make up with Keiko after a fight]] is to propose marriage.
192* CapitalismIsBad: Though in this case it's plutocrats pissing on [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman demons]] rather than the poor.
193** During the ''Dark Tournament'' arc, demons fight against each other in order to get a wish granted by the human-run committee and to entertain their immoral human sponsors as they [[PassThePopcorn casually gamble large amounts of money.]] When the human businessmen aren't gathering them for the [[BloodSport Dark Tournament,]] they summoned (via human psychics), [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything captured, and bought demons to be kept]] [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil as slaves]] (of whom some female demons are implied to be [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil kept as]] {{Sex Slave}}s). One businessman in particular, Gonzo Tarukane (the founder of the Black Book Club), kidnapped the innocent snow maiden Yukina due to her tears producing rare jewels and tortured her [[ColdBloodedTorture physically]] and [[MindRape emotionally]] to get them and sell them. In the absolute worst case, the Black Book Club [[spoiler: tortured and slaughtered the demons in their possession to [[BloodBath bathe in their blood as part of the Festival of Vices]] [[ForTheEvulz to entertain themselves]]]].
194** In the succeeding ''Chapter Black'' arc, Shinobu Sensui used all of the aforementioned actions that occurred via capitalism [[HumanityOnTrial to make his case]] as to why [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters humans deserved to be wiped off the face of the Earth.]]
195* CastFullOfPrettyBoys: The TrueCompanions' gender ratio is pretty much 50/50 -- somewhat skewed by Atsuko and George Saotome, though -- but the only girls who really get any spotlight and character development are Genkai and Mukuro. The others have their moments, but the guys are pretty much the focus of the show. There aren't many female villains, either.
196* CelestialBureaucracy: It turns out the passage to the afterlife is like a busy office setting, complete with demons running around in a panic with paperwork and yelling into a phone.
197* CerebusSyndrome: The manga starts out as an episodic comedy about Yusuke as a ghost, along with Botan, trying to help the living with their problems. After a couple volumes of this, it abruptly shifts into {{shonen|Demographic}} action mode. This gets far fewer complaints from fans than many CerebusSyndrome victims, however, because most fans know the series from the anime adaptation, which skips the comedic stories from the manga and rushes ahead to the action portion.
198** During the final arc the show suddenly becomes less action oriented and for the first time focuses on how the events actually affect Yusuke and the gang's everyday lives, suddenly showing several episodes filled with lots of character development and quiet drama as opposed to high speed punching and explosions.
199** However the Chapter Black story particularly stands out, with ''numerous'' on-screen fatalities of normal humans, an innocent woman being graphically mutilated by Doctor, Gourmet [[spoiler:''eating'' Murota on-screen, to say nothing of his own gruesome decapitation at Kurama's hands]], the death of [[spoiler:Gamemaster, who is an 11-year-old boy who doesn't truly comprehend what he's mixed up in]] all set against the backdrop of Team Urameshi trying to prevent the apocalypse.
200* ChangedMyMindKid: Hiei leaves the rest of the team early in the Chapter Black arc, claiming he has no loyalty to the human world. Yusuke assures everyone else that: "He'll come and rescue us in the end when we need him the most." He does.
201* CharacterMagneticTeam: At the beginning, it was only Yusuke and Botan. By the ''Dark Tournament'' arc, four more members join to form the team, six more by the end of that arc, three allies by the ''Sensui'' arc and finally over a dozen by the final arc. The majority were [[DefeatMeansFriendship former enemies]] in some form or another.
202* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Some of the contestants in Genkai's tournament are just normal humans, but presumably through training managed to get abilities like a Spirit Gun or bulking up his arm for a super strong strike.
203* ChekhovsGun: Many.
204** The biggest one is when Koenma describes the difference between spirit and life energy to Yusuke in the fifth episode. When drained of spirit energy in the climax of the ''Four Saint Beasts'' arc, Yusuke taps into his life energy for a HeroicSacrifice.
205** There was also "Goblin City" in the ''Chapter Black'' arc, a video game Yusuke plays at the arcade during the time Kuwabara is fighting Seaman. About six episodes later, guess what the team has to play against Game Master?
206** The Mafuukan, ([[spoiler:Koenmna's pacifier. This also explains why he wouldn't let Ogre remove it during the Dark Tournament]].)
207** The egg Yusuke throws into the fire to save Keiko early in the series [[spoiler:is Puu]]! It gets lampshaded when Koenma has to remind Yusuke about the egg during the ''Dark Tournament'' arc, as he'd completely forgotten about it after he came back to life.
208* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Yusuke and Keiko. They've known each other since they were children, and they've been sort of, but not quite, a couple since Yusuke's return from being dead. It takes the end of the series for the two to really, and truly, express their feelings.
209* ChildishOlderSibling: A dark variation comes in play with the Toguro brothers. The Younger Toguro brother is stoic and honorable despite his villainous actions. The Elder Toguro however is a sadistic PsychopathicManchild who throws bouts of rage when things don't go his way.
210* CirclesOfHell: [[spoiler:Younger Toguro goes to the deepest pit of hell out of his own, complex guilt about everything]].
211* ClarkKenting:
212** The "mysterious" masked fighter that comes to the ''Dark Tournament'' as the gang's fifth member is obviously Genkai, even wearing the same robes as her and having her characteristically short stature. Despite this, nobody notices until [[TheReveal unmasking time]] comes... sort of. Kuwabara flat-out asks Yusuke if Mask is Genkai, and Yusuke pretty much tells him: "That's what I thought, but that's not her voice." Kuwabara is pretty firm in thinking this, until the mask gets ripped and young Genkai is shown beneath it. Genkai's fighting style has the body's cells rejuvenated to the time they were strongest when it's used.
213** Right after Yusuke comes back from the dead he explores the town in sunglasses and messed up hair. And goes unnoticed.
214** In that same episode there's also a certain blue-haired fortune teller with a fake sounding accent who knows about Yusuke, so [[SarcasmMode you can understand why]] he couldn't tell it was Botan in disguise.
215* ClearMyName: After coming back to school, Yusuke was framed by one of the teachers in hopes of getting him expelled. Koenma helped clear it up so Yusuke could start his first case.
216* ClothingDamage:
217** Yusuke pretty much loses his upper clothing in almost all of his major fights. His opponents sometimes do as well. Taken to its logical extreme in his fight against Yomi, where after taking a volley of energy blasts, his shirt ''explodes off his body.'' Not a fiery one, mind you, but still. This is flat out pointed out in the actor's commentary for the episode where Justin Cook and co. discuss the characters' tendency to lose their shirts right before the aforementioned shirt explosion. They then wonder what the characters' pants are made of to prevent them from being destroyed as well. It may be justified by the fact that in a fight, attacks will tend to be focused on the torso and head.
218** Hiei's shirt is usually either ripped off or thrown off by the end of most of his battles.
219** {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d by Koto (the announcer cat-girl): "Well, they've burned their skin, shortened their breath, and somehow lost their shirts. All in all, I'd call this a successful fight."
220* ColdSniper: This role is fulfilled by the character of... Sniper. Although he's not a sniper in the traditional sense; he doesn't actually use a sniper rifle and he doesn't do a lot of hiding. He can attach his spirit energy to both his target as well as any random objects, resulting in said objects homing in on the target at incredible speeds. From dice, to rocks, to knives and forks, to even ''[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill gasoline tankers]].'' Later in the fight, however, he opts for a good old fashioned [[MundaneSolution pistol]], albeit at close range.
221* ColorCodedCharacters:
222** Yusuke: Green
223** Kuwabara: Blue
224** Kurama: Red/Pink
225** Hiei: Black
226* ComingOfAgeStory:
227** The ending to the second-to-last episode and essentially the main point to the whole Three Kings Arc is this, as George/the Narrator so explains. Supposedly, now that Yusuke is done kicking ass in Demon World, his next adventure is to allow himself to "grow up". There are also other sprinklings and hints of the "coming of age" theme throughout the series. Though mainly adhering to Yusuke, this applies to Kuwabara and Keiko as well.
228** In-Universe, it's implied that carrying the role of Spirit Detective was this for Kuroko Sanada, as well. She started training for the job while fourteen and rather obese, and through building her skills (and attaining a sudden growth spurt), managed to slim down into something resembling a young, female Sensui, which then led to a pretty successful run on the job. After accomplishing quite a bit during her tenure, she chose to retire so that she could move on and form a family of her own.
229* ContainmentField:
230** The Kekkai barrier is used to separate the Human World from the Demon World. Unfortunately, this ContainmentField only sort of acts like a net to only filter and keep out A- and S-Class-ranked demons. Sounds good, except C- and B-class demons are enough to destroy Earth if they come through en masse.
231** [[SpellMyNameWithAnS L/Ruka]] tries it on Hiei. She somehow manages to live through it.
232* ContagiousLaughter: After Yusuke [[spoiler: comes back from the dead a second time]] and complains his heart isn't beating Kurama and Hiei laugh at him. He joins in, even though he has no idea why they're laughing at him.
233* ContinuityNod:
234** Kurama was a demon fox before he was injured in a botched robbery and reincarnated as a human to recover his energy. When the Spirit World SDF arrive near the end of the Chapter Black arc, several of them mention that one of them was the one who injured him.
235** When Botan sees Yusuke's appearance after his [[spoiler:Mazoku transformation]], she remarks that she's having flashbacks of Rando, a villain from Season 1.
236* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: A mightily pissed off Kurama subjects Elder Toguro to the horror of ''Janenju'', a predatory demon plant that lures in its prey with hallucinations and then feeds on it until it dies. However, due to his endless regenerative abilities, Elder Toguro cannot die, and will thus spend eternity in a nightmare from which he cannot awake. And the illusion the tree used on him? A battle with Kurama he will never win. ''Ever''.
237* CoolOldLady: Genkai, in her 70s, is a badass fighter, wise mentor, and impressively sarcastic.
238* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Sakyou and the rest of the Black Black Club. Their a collection of Human or Demons (series isn't 100% clear) who manipulate things behind the scenes, especially the Dark Tournament. They love to use their wealth to bribe people or even fix matches.
239* CounterAttack: Sensui's Reshuuken fight style.
240* CruelMercy: Why did Hiei spare the Ice Maidens? Because he realized they were dead inside and exterminating them would have put them out of their misery. He also does the same in the Dark Tournament: when a defeated Bui asks Hiei to finish him, Hiei just tells him to kill himself and go away.
241* CurbStompBattle:
242** The first time Hiei fights on the good guys' side, he slashes up the guy that pissed him off before his opponent could even start to attack. Most of Hiei's battles are like that: Hiei's first battle in the Dark Tournament takes a few minutes because he doesn't attack, then he incinerates his FIRE USER foe; later in the Dark Tournament, Hiei faces Makintaro and cuts his arm off the very moment the referee starts the match, and when Makintaro insists on fighting Hiei finishes him with a blade in the brain; against Bui, the two play a little, then, after Bui apparently wins by throwing his DeathOrGloryAttack back at him, Hiei unveils that such an action only powered him up and defeats Bui with a POKE and a punch; Hiei's "battle" with Sniper consists of Hiei appearing from nowhere and piercing him with his blade; also, Hiei's battle with Sensui, only this time Hiei is on the receiving side. Hiei isn't exactly a FragileSpeedster, but he can't take a punch as well as most of the team, and can easily attack someone's vitals, so the only question is which side of the CurbStompBattle he's on.
243** The three members of Team Toguro apart from Younger Toguro, vs. Team Gorenja in the semifinals. Karasu blows one member to pieces before he can do much, Bui instantly slaughters his foe with his axe, and Elder Toguro, taking on the remaining three at once, defeats them all instantly, killing one and weakening the other two so that he can finish them off easily.
244** Yusuke curb stomps Bakken in retribution for [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown his treatment of Kurama]].
245** Genkai's matches against both Shishiwakamaru and Suzuka in the Tournament semi-finals turn out to be this. Made all the more notable because both had been hyped up as sizable threats before then (each had made quick work of Kuwabara, teleporting him outside of the ring). Even Hiei and Kuwabara seemed to treat them as formidable opponents. However, Genkai (despite being severely weakened after giving much of her energy to Yusuke just before) makes quick work out of each of them, without so much as breaking a sweat; she defeats Shishi with her incredible knowledge of techniques (one of which included using HIS energy to power her attacks), then beats Suzuka with nothing but her fists.
246** [[spoiler:Sensui vs. Yusuke (round one, anyway), then Sensui proceeding to kick the collective asses of Youko Kurama, Hiei AND Kuwabara.]]
247** Yusuke, after [[spoiler:awakening his demon half]], kicks the ever loving piss out of Sensui [[spoiler:when it [[SuperpoweredEvilSide takes over]]]].
248** Yusuke's fight against [[ColdSniper Sniper]] was so very much this. In all his experience, Yusuke was always used to fighting enemies head on, but never against somebody who methodically kept his distance and chipped away at him. If it wasn't for Hiei's [[BigDamnHeroes big damn heroic moment]], Yusuke would've been dead a second time.
249** The battle of Shura vs his father Yomi also counts. Shura even tricks Yomi into getting in close, only to blast him point blank in the face with an energy blast that resembled a nuke. [[NoSell Yomi didn't feel a thing.]] Kid never had a chance, and as Yusuke notices that he's closer to Shura's level than Yomi's, he suspects that neither does he.
250** Early in the series, before Yusuke died, he used to hand these out to Kuwabara every time they fought, but Kuwabara keeps coming back for more because he sees Yusuke as his rival.
251** Kuwabara versus Elder Toguro. Elder Toguro [[NoSell No Sold]] a few of Kuwabara's sword attacks and chipped away at him, but didn't manage to land any hits that mattered before Kuwabara literally beat him into the ground.
252** When they first meet, Yusuke tries to fight Raizen only to get completely wrecked without the latter even moving.
253* CustomUniform: Yusuke's school "uniform" is one of these.
254* CuteMonsterGirl: Koto and Juri especially; the former has a fox tail and ears, and the latter has a dragon tail and ears.
255[[/folder]]
256
257[[folder: D]]
258* DangerousForbiddenTechnique:
259** The Dragon of the Darkness Flame, since Hiei has to use his own body as bait to lure the dragon from the depths of Demon World; losing control would mean being devoured. Using it at the start of the Dark Tournament ends up having a major toll on his body for the rest of the arc, and he doesn't fully heal till near the end.
260** The Spirit Wave. According to Genkai, if Yusuke lost control, the energy would destroy him from within.
261%%* DarkActionGirl: [[spoiler:Mukuro]].
262* DarkIsNotEvil: [[spoiler:At worst, most demons play pranks on humans.]] At least in the manga. For most of the series, they do seem extremely bloodthirsty. It's explained away in the manga by [[spoiler:King Yama brainwashing demons in order to set up cases]], but the anime just has Enki "change the system" and the way demons act once he [[spoiler:becomes King of Demon World]].
263* DarkerAndEdgier: Many fans profess that the Chapter Black arc is a ''stark'' contrast with most episodes before it -- and usually for the better. Included, but not limited to are some serious moral dilemmas for the characters, ''considerably'' different kinds of adversaries where simple fisticuffs won't win any fights, a deranged and disturbed villain who's not in it for the good fight, but the absolute success of his agenda and the destruction of the human race, and an overall creepier and more ominous atmosphere. Most fans would cite Chapter Black as the series at its most mature and at its peak.
264** The anime is this compared to the manga. Much of the comedy is tone down and certain characters are treated more seriously.
265* DarkestHour: The Chapter Black arc is where the series takes a [[DarkerAndEdgier darker turn]] in general. Near the end of the arc, [[spoiler:Sensui kills Yusuke (and Puu dies as a result). The tunnel to Demon World becomes complete. Yusuke's HeroicSacrifice awakens greater power in his friends, who attempt to avenge his death in a three-on-one battle against Sensui, but fail nonetheless. At the end of the episode "Attempting Revenge", Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei fall helplessly before Sensui, knowing that even after their friend's sacrifice, they still failed him]].
266* DavidVersusGoliath: Every. Single. One. Of Hiei's fights and most of Yusuke's fights. Hiei is only 4'10".
267* ADayInTheLimelight: Hiei and Kurama each get two episodes in the last arc detailing their backstories in full, and show how they ingratiate themselves to life under their respective Demon Kings (Mukuro for Hiei, Yomi for Kurama).
268* DeadSidekick: Played with during the Dark Tournament arc, where [[spoiler:Yusuke's friends exploit the trope by faking Kuwabara's death at the hands of Toguro so that Yusuke's anger and grief will give him the power needed to defeat Toguro]].
269* DeadToBeginWith: See page quote.
270* DeathByIrony: Gouki, who eats souls to survive, dies by taking a blast of spirit energy into the mouth.
271* DeathFromAbove: Averted with Hiei. He saves the team by pulling a switch to stop a falling ceiling from crushing them (again, this trope averted). When a giant boulder comes from the sky he actually moves out of the way in time. Although in Lanipator's Abridged version of the show he does get crushed, but still doesn't die.
272* DeathGlare: Hiei is really good at these along with being a hostile PerpetualFrowner. However, what is truly impressive is that when really pissed off, both Yusuke and Kurama managed to pull {{Death Glare}}s that make any of Hiei's look like fluff in comparison.
273* DefeatMeansFriendship: Played straight ''and'' subverted.
274** Despite Kuwabara being beaten up by Yusuke on the regular, they don't really become friends until after Yusuke dies.
275** Hiei works with Yusuke as part of his sentence, and they become friends that way.
276** Six demons from the Dark Tournament become friends with Yusuke's team after losing to them.
277** Also in the Dark Tournament, one of the former human minions of Dr. Ichigaki offers himself to replace the injured Kuwabara after their fight, but is politely turned down.
278** Mitarai from Sensui's Seven after Kuwabara {{save|TheVillain}}s him after their fight.
279* DeflectorShields: Yomi's Demon Energy Barrier which completely blocks out demon energy of any sort.
280* DemonOfHumanOrigin: The Toguro brothers were once human, but asked to be transformed into demons as their prize for winning the Dark Tournament.
281* DemotedToExtra:
282** After the Chapter Black Saga, Kuwabara only sits around and studies.
283** Atsuko is another example; her role took a back seat even before the Dark Tournament Saga, even though the first opening showed her attending the tournament.
284** Keiko after the Chapter Black Saga as well.
285* DepravedHomosexual: Subverted, played around with, possibly averted and inverted with [[spoiler:Sensui]]. Played straight with Itsuki and Karasu.
286* DeusExMachina:
287** Some of Yusuke's victories in Genkai's tournament were due to convenient circumstances occurring like slipping in the mud and getting algae in his ears.
288** During Yusuke's fight with Yomi in the Demon World Tournament, Yusuke gains the upper hand when he spontaneously generates a new kind of energy. Hiei at first thinks it's sacred energy, but then Koenma exclaims that "No, it's not! This is something brand new!"
289** Yusuke's revival and subsequent victory over Sensui came totally out of left field when he's randomly revealed to be descended from one of the three S-class kings of the Demon World who can take control of his body at will...
290* DisappearedDad: Yusuke and Kuwabara's dads, but [[spoiler:they are both BackForTheFinale]]. Kurama's human father is also dead, although he does later acquire a stepfather when his mother remarries.
291* DishingOutDirt: Risho is the shinobi "Master of Earth" and can do such things as coating himself in rock-armor.
292* DistressedDude: Happens to both Yusuke and Kuwabara. In the latter case... well, see BoundAndGagged.
293* DivineMisfile: To Yusuke in the first chapter, they ''really'' did not expect him to jump in front of that truck.
294* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything:
295** Gouki's soul-eating tastes (that of little children) is rather close to the edge of pedophilia.
296** Also, [[spoiler:Sensui's speech before he dies sounds a ''lot'' like him recalling [[ComingOutStory coming out to himself]], especially [[DubText in the dub]]]].
297* DramaticThunder: The anime pretty much uses this whenever they can. But it was used to death during the Maze Castle arc. Might have been a way of foreshadowing Suzaku's [[ShockAndAwe power]].
298* DrunkenMaster: Chu becomes more dangerous after taking a swig of Ogre Killer. Taken to whole new levels when his most powerful attack actually involves mixing his energy with alcohol to make an energy ball powerful enough that two shots of Yusuke's Spirit Gun couldn't equal it. The first shot weakened the attack and the second shot burst through it, punching a hole in the middle, but not stopping it. He also has a special kind of alcohol that... well... induces vomiting. Once he's emptied his stomach, he gets drunk even faster, which summons more of his demonic energy for him to use.
299* DubNameChange: To name a few, in the Filipino dub:
300** Yusuke -> Eugene
301** Kazuma -> Alfred
302** Kurama / Shuiichi -> Denise/Dennis (Yes, they thought he was a girl)
303** Hiei -> Vincent
304** Koenma -> Jericho
305** Genkai -> Jeremiah (Yes, they thought she was a guy[[note]]The name Jeremiah is technically unisex, but is usually associated with guys.[[/note]])
306** Keiko -> Jenny
307** Botan -> Sharlene
308** Yukina -> Mikaela
309** A couple minor, "why even bother?" ones in the Creator/FUNimation dub, too.
310** Suzuki -> Suzuka (changed back in the remastered dub)
311** Shuuichi (Kurama's stepbrother) -> Kokoda
312** Kirishima (Kuwabara's friend with brown hair) -> Miyamoto
313** Sawamura (Kuwabara's friend with the buzz cut) -> Komada
314* DubPronunciationChange: In the English dub, Kuwabara's name is pronounced "koo-wah-BA-rah" instead of "koo-WAH-ba-rah" like in the original Japanese. Also, Yusuke's last name, Urameshi, is pronounced Yur-a-mesh-i throughout the English dub, while it's supposed to be pronounced, Oo-ra-me-shi.
315* DubText:
316** Mostly with Itsuki. Some of his lines are completely made up. The bit about stalking Sensui (etc.) was neither in the manga nor in the Japanese version of the anime.
317** Toguro and Genkai's relationship 50 years ago got a RelationshipUpgrade from the manga and original Japanese in the dub.
318** In the dub, Ura Urashima has a different made-up excuse in his ruse against Kurama, telling him he joined Team Uraotogi to provide money for his sick grandmother.
319* DudeLooksLikeALady:
320** During the final chapters of the manga, the usually calm Kurama is mistaken as a girl (more exactly, everyone thinks he's Kuwabara's girlfriend), which really gets under his skin. Later, Keiko and Yusuke ask him to infiltrate a girls-only school to help them solve a case, and he nearly snaps on them.
321[[/folder]]
322
323[[folder: E]]
324* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
325** It's easy to forget that the first few chapters of the manga were episodic, where a ghostly Yusuke and Botan would help people and ghosts with their problems as the delinquent tries to earn the right to come back to life. It's not until Yusuke returns to life 17 chapters in that we get to the more popular Spirit Detective stuff.
326** And even the, the beginning of the Spirit Detective arc was more about investigative stories of paranormal variety, with few fights in-between. It's only after the Four Saint Beasts arc that the story focuses prominently on fights. The Chapter Black arc once more tried a bit more on the investigative stories (or rather, story) side with fights in-between as well, but has a long fight with the boss for the climax.
327** The major characters were drawn with shorter height and rounder faces to reflect their more youthful look. As soon as Yusuke starts having major fights however, the cast are drawn a bit sharper.
328* EldritchLocation: Mushiori City, the hometown where Asato Kido, Yuu Kaito, Mitsunari Yanagisawa, and Shigeru Murota lives, became the doorway to the Demon Realm within the Chapter Black Saga. Due to the opening of the gateway, a good amount of ordinary civilians who inhabit the city would manifest super powers and evolve into Human Psychics. Members of The Sensui Seven are also made of people from this city, but used their newly gained super powers for ill intentions. Large amounts of demons would also start to show up and fly around the city, with demons of smaller ranks [[InvisibleToNormals visible to only those who can see]]; just the sight of it can be really terrifying.
329* ElectionDayEpisode: The final story arc features an invocation of this. While this isn't an election in a conventional sense (as there are no ballots of any kind cast), but the Tournament for the Kingship of Demon world is referred to by Yusuke Urameshi as being a "Presidential election where we cast our votes with our fists".
330* ElementalPowers:
331** Genbu (earth), Seiryuu (ice) and Suzaku (electricity) from the Four Saint Beasts.[[note]]The only one without an elemental power is Byakko, who fights over a lava pit but has no fire-based techniques.[[/note]]
332** Hiei uses different fire-based techniques in the Dark Tournament, where his first opponent (Zeru from Team Rokuyukai) is also a fire user.
333** Jin (wind), Touya (ice), Bakken (water, air and wind)[[note]]Condenses his sweat into a deep mist to make himself invisible to opponents and then sends a torrent of wind to distract their attention before attacking[[/note]] and Risho (earth) from Team Masho.[[note]]As with the Four Saint Beasts, only one member of the team (Gama) does not have elemental powers.[[/note]]
334* EleventhHourSuperpower: Happens twice in the same fight. Yusuke [[spoiler:dies when fighting Sensui]], but [[spoiler:his ancestral demonic blood resurrects him and boosts his power]]. It is revealed that [[spoiler:he is a Mazoku, or a descendant of a demon clan (the Amazaku demons in the English dub), his ancestor Raizen having conceived a child with a human woman]]. [[spoiler:Even with his new demon energy, he still cannot defeat Sensui until he is possessed by Raizen (his demon ancestor) to help control his newfound power.]]
335* EndlessCorridor: When Botan first takes Yusuke to Spirit World she opens the door and reveals a long hallway. Yusuke lampshades it by saying it looks like a giant throat.
336* EsotericMotifs: The Artifacts of Darkness, a Mirror, Sword, and Jewel.
337* EvenEvilHasStandards:
338** Toguro refuses his elder brother's offer for assistance prior to his match with Yusuke in the Dark Tournament finals, right before smacking the crap out of him. When Elder Toguro gets angry and remarks that they sold their souls together, younger Toguro responds, "That may be. [[LampshadeHanging But I never sold my standards]]." The fact that he had basically bad-mouthed his former lover he had killed the previous night and disgraced her memory didn't help at all.
339** Earlier, he openly condemned Botajiri's attempts to rig the match against Team Masho. He specifically wanted Yusuke to level up and give him a good challenge. He didn't care if Yusuke died before that fight, but he didn't want him out of the tournament based on a technicality.
340*** Also, the usually amoral and even sadistic referee Koto seriously objects to two of Team Masho's members' dirty methods of fighting and Botajiri's rigging of the matches. She wants a good fight, but she takes her job seriously and draws the line at just beating up a literally defenseless person.
341** Before his MoralityPet little sister Yukina showed up, Hiei played the TokenEvilTeammate role pretty straight. However, he was so disgusted with Seiryuu killing [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness his teammate]] that he [[ItsPersonal chooses to be the one to take him on]], instead of fighting the BigBad on the next floor, leaving him for Yusuke.
342** Hiei also happens to have the strongest stomach for cruelty and such, but even he got visually pissed off when Bakken was purposefully extending his fight with Kurama. In fact Hiei was so mad, he would've used his Dragon of the Darkness flame again, which would've killed him in his current state.
343* EverybodyKnewAlready: There is no one who is surprised by who the "mysterious masked fighter" is in the Dark Tournament saga.
344* EverybodyWasKungFuFighting: Though it starts off different, it very quickly becomes about the unusual martial arts the protagonists and antagonists use in battle, especially coming into play during the Demon Tournament arc.
345* EvilCounterpart:
346** Sensui, who's also a [[StrawNihilist Nietzsche Wannabe]], a FallenHero, and a DarkMessiah...
347** Less obviously, Toguro, who is what Yusuke would become if he decided to go completely BloodKnight and forget about what he's actually fighting for.
348** Karasu can be one for Kurama; being a SoftSpokenSadist who keeps his cool (for the most part) and is the EvilGenius of his own group as Kurama is TheSmartGuy of his. They also both have AnimalMotifs; Kurama is a kitsune demon, and Karasu has a crow image going on. The difference between them is that while Kurama is genuinely friendly and shows some respect and regret over killing his more worthwhile opponents, Karasu is a pure {{Sadist}} who enjoys torturing his prey under a FauxAffablyEvil facade.
349* ExactlyWhatIAimedAt:
350** In his first fight against Hiei, Yusuke defeats him by [[spoiler:having a Spirit Gun reflect at the Forlorn Hope and hit him from behind]].
351** In the Dark Tournament, Yusuke [[spoiler:shoots a Spirit Gun in a wall outside the ring to make the explosion extinguish Bakken's White Mist. This doesn't hit Bakken directly but plays a big part in his defeat]].
352* ExplainingYourPowerToTheEnemy:
353** Yusuke is forced to fight someone in complete darkness. His opponent has a helmet-type device that allows him to perceive and alter the flow of energy around and inside him, a) letting him see in the dark (which Yusuke has no way of doing), and b) strengthening parts of his body temporarily. He explains all of this during the fight. The viewer is left screaming at the television for the opponent to just beat the shit out of Yusuke, which he can do with impunity thanks to the Night Vision Helmet.
354** {{Subverted|Trope}} in the Chapter Black arc when Yusuke keeps insisting that, had he known of Kido's powers, he could have taken him out easily. Genkai berates him for this, telling him that not all of his enemies will be stupid enough to hand over valuable information like that.
355** For the most part, this is actually an ''averted'' trope. ExplainingYourPowerToTheEnemy, while it makes utterly no sense in-universe, is mainly used so the ''reader/viewer'' can understand the ability being used. In the anime, the ''narrator'' explains the abilities or items characters are using most of the time, and thus this trope stays averted for the most part.
356* ExplodingCalendar: Kurama has this when he's waiting for time to pass before returning to Yomi with the 6 fighters he promised.
357* ExtremityExtremist: The fighting style of the EvilCounterpart listed above.
358[[/folder]]
359
360[[folder: F]]
361* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler: Sakyou]] staked his life on Toguro's victory over Yusuke and is perfectly willing to give it up once Yusuke wins.
362* FaceFault:
363** The [[TournamentArc Dark Tournament arc]] features this several times (most memorably when a contestant abruptly leaves the ring in the middle of his power-up to go vomit), but it is usually reserved for the comic relief characters of Koenma and Jorge. The dub [[LampshadeHanging hangs a lampshade]] on this and [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructs]] it when Koenma yells at Jorge to get up because "surprise time's over" and Jorge replies that his horn got stuck in the floor.
364** Earlier, in the fourth episode Kuwabara and his gang are pressured to pass their next test and if they don't they will all get kicked out of school. The group talks and explains they need to study to get their grades up. When they ask Kuwabara what he got on his last test he sheepishly responds a Seven. Cue Face Fault.
365* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:The younger Toguro and Sensui]] were both heroic individuals before turning evil.
366* FacialMarkings:
367** Sensui's bindi.
368** [[spoiler:Yusuke's tattoos in his demon form (also comes with longer hair)]].
369* FailureGambit: The series's villains have a habit of relying on these, usually in conjunction with [[spoiler:SuicideByCop]].
370** [[spoiler:Toguro, as Genkai's former teammate, seeks his own death at the hands of Yusuke, her student, for reasons only speculated in the series -- perhaps as a form of atonement, or to prove to himself that the decision he made to abandon his humanity was a mistake.]]
371** The third season BigBad, [[spoiler:Sensui, sought to go to the Demon World simply so that he could intentionally die there [[TheAtoner as penance]] after seeing the world inhabited by the creatures he felt remorse over formerly hunting and killing]]. The fact that Yusuke, [[spoiler:a human-demon hybrid, killed him]] was a bonus.
372* FakingTheDead: When Yusuke and Kuwabara fight Younger Toguro at Tarukane's mansion, it seems like Kuwabara has managed to kill him until it's revealed he not only pretended to be dead [[spoiler:but also did it to help Sakyo win a bet against Tarukane and strip him of all his money.]]
373* FamilyEyeResemblance: Hiei and Yukina both have crimson (blood red) eyes while their mother, Hina, doesn't.
374* FateWorseThanDeath:
375** [[spoiler: Elder Toguro, forever bound to the branches of a tree that saps him of his LifeEnergy and tortured with Kurama-related hallucinations. The tree will not let go or stop until the victim's life force is drained, and as Elder Toguro has nearly [[FromASingleCell unlimited regenerative powers]], he will be forever bound, unable to die due to his own healing power.]]
376** [[spoiler: Younger Toguro willingly chooses one of these after his death: being sent to purgatory.]]
377** The demon who blinded Yomi spent 500 years painfully nailed to a wall of Yomi's palace.
378** What Hiei did to Mukuro's father in the manga. Hiei binds a special plant to him, giving him a healing factor not unlike that of Elder Toguro. Hiei gives the putrid shell as a birthday gift to Mukuro to torture for all eternity. Given what the man did to Mukuro, this is a ''very'' [[KarmicDeath karmic]] FateWorseThanDeath.
379** Somewhat averted with [[spoiler: Sensui]]. His fate: [[spoiler: having his soul never leave his body even after death and thus being confined to eternal sleep and no afterlife, would seem like a FateWorseThanDeath to most, but apparently Sensui actually finds this preferable to being judged by Spirit World in the afterlife]].
380* FauxPaw: Botan does this when behaving "catty".
381* FeelingTheirAge:
382** A major character point with regards to the BigBad Younger Toguro. He used to be human but was so afraid of getting older he [[DealWithTheDevil sold his soul]] to become virtually immortal (he later saw [[WhoWantsToLiveForever immortality to be boring]] and so sought for a fighter strong enough to kill him).
383** Suzuka has a vision of old age similar to Younger Toguro's: he despises old people for their natural decay of strength and beauty. However, instead of selling his soul to become immortal, he just wants to die before getting old.
384** [[OldMaster Genkai]] is a formidable fighter despite her years but still far from what she was at her prime.
385* FillerVillain: Yakumo.
386* FinalBattle: The final arc is the Three Kings saga, and the last fight the main characters are involved in is Yusuke vs. Yomi in the Demon World Tournament. [[spoiler: Yomi wins but loses the fight after that.]]
387* FingerGun: The Spirit Gun is one that actually fires. Several characters do the regular version.
388* FiveManBandConcert: The Urameshi team is decked out as a rock band in the "[=YuYu=] Hakusho Music Battle Hen 1" album (album cover [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yuyu_hakusho_music_battel_hen_1.png here]]). Yusuke, the {{antihero}} [[TheLeader leader]], as the vocalist; Kuwabara, the LargeHam [[TheLancer lancer]], as the drummer; Kurama, the [[TheStoic stoic]] [[TheSmartGuy smart guy]], as the guitarist; and Hiei, the petite [[TheBigGuy big guy]], as the bassist.
389* FlashStep: The only main fighter that isn't normally seen to use this is Kuwabara, because he's too slow. He actually does do a flash step in his fight against Rinku. Even though Rinku proves to be faster than he'd let on up to that point, he was clearly already moving too fast for an ordinary person to track, and Kuwabara was faster than even that level. He's just slow compared to his teammates. [[LightningBruiser Hiei]], in particular, uses flash steps a lot.
390** Hiei's speed is much more fun when you consider him cutting the enemy's arm so fast and RETURNING to where he was standing that the enemy did not even know he moved at all. Flash Stepping to your enemy's back? Beginners. Flash Stepping to hurt your enemy and then Flash Stepping back? Expert.
391** Enemies do it too, of course. A non-battle example: after Younger Toguro finishes his IAmNotLeftHanded demonstration for Yusuke, he finishes it off by flash stepping behind Yusuke to tell him about the Dark Tournament and give him an ultimatum to join.
392* FlexibleTourneyRules: Boy, are they ''ever'' -- and intentionally. The Dark Tournament is done as a commercial gig, so teams are allowed to negotiate their own rules and conditions for a match, which adds some variety to the proceedings and makes for a better show. And that's leaving aside the Tournament Committee twisting the rules when bribed.
393* {{Flight}}:
394** Sensui's Seikoki (Sacred Energy) allows him to fly as an angel, which is also why he's also called "Black Angel".
395** Earlier in the series, there's Jin, who controls and shapes wind to make whirlwinds and other various tricks. Flight is as natural to him as walking. In the same tournament, there's Bui, who is the first in the series shown to fly with nothing but his energy.
396** Sensui shows that he can fly just before his fight with Kurama, Hiei, and Kuwabara, and Yusuke gains this ability on [[spoiler:becoming a demon]]. They then have the series' first aerial battle. During the Three Kings saga, numerous high-level demons demonstrate the ability, including the five out of the Dark Tournament Six who weren't Jin; clearly it comes naturally with a high enough power level.
397* FloatingContinent: The Koorime's glacier.
398* FoldSpindleMutilation: Suggested in a flashback of atrocities inflicted by humans upon demons.
399* TheForeignSubtitle: The anime series was known as ''Yu Yu Hakusho: The Afterlife Warriors'' in Spain.
400* {{Foreshadowing}}:
401** The final round of the Dark Tournament is foreshadowed fight by fight in Team Urameshi's first round against Team Rokuyukai.
402*** Kurama: [[spoiler:Has an obvious advantage at the start of both fights (as Suichi vs Roto and as Yoko vs Karasu) but loses it for unexpected reasons. While his sadistic opponent toys with him, Kurama keeps his cool and devises a plan. By distracting both Roto and Karasu and planting a seed in their bodies, Kurama snatches victory from defeat and reduces both his opponents to demon plant fertilizer]].
403*** Hiei: [[spoiler:Is evenly matched to start against Zeru and Bui, but both opponents land a strong blow that appears to utterly destroy Hiei. Instead Hiei not only survives through sheer badassery but counters with his ultimate technique that soundly defeats his opponent]].
404*** Kuwabara: Fights physically weaker opponents Rinku and Elder Toguro but has some difficulty hitting their body and/or his vital organs. Eventually the opponents suspend Kuwabara in the air through some rope or tentacle attack and throw Kuwabara to the ground. [[spoiler:Despite this, Kuwabara fights through the pain but fails to kill his opponents]].
405*** Yusuke: Fights an all-around strong and able warrior in the form of Chuu and Toguro. Yusuke and his opponent reveal surprise after surprise and many secret techniques. [[spoiler:The fight inevitably boils down to a no-holds-bar, winner-take-all confrontation where both warriors use every ounce of their strength to decide a winner.]]
406** During the final match against Toguro, Yusuke's spirit energy takes the form of a giant bird and flies around the stadium before it settles back into him, foreshadowing the form Puu (who is a representation of Yusuke's spirit) will eventually take. Puu also settles down around Yusuke right after taking that form, just like the energy did.
407** When Koenma tells Yusuke that Sensui's tunnel to the demon world is going to open much sooner than he originally thought, Yusuke [[LeeroyJenkins decides to run to the cave and take on the psychics right now.]] Koenma can be heard screaming [[spoiler:"I don't need another rogue agent"]] in the background before the communication device is shut off.
408** From the same episode, Kaito claims that Demon's Door (the cave where the tunnel is being "built") is "where scorned lovers go to die". [[spoiler:This is likely referring to Itsuki's relationship with Sensui.]]
409** In the House of Four Dimensions, Kurama and Kaito engage in a contest of wits within Kaito's territory for the team's dislodged souls. Yanagisawa, as a bystander in Kaito's territory, realizes he shouldn't even risk laughing since uttering the wrong sound could trigger the taboo and remove his own soul. [[spoiler:Kurama's strategy to defeat Kaito turns out to be making him laugh.]]
410** Another one involving Kaitou: when he first appears, he (pretending to be evil) forces the heroes into a battle of wits in his psychic territory, where failure has a horrible price. Though the others are unable to beat him, Kurama eventually wins by getting inside his head and exploiting his weaknesses -- introducing the fact [[HoistByHisOwnPetard that psychics have to play by the same rules in their territories as everyone else.]] Kurama is ultimately forced to deal with the same situation again, with far more deadly results, against [[spoiler:Gamemaster]], and wins in much the same way -- while the things they learned against Kaito come back [[spoiler:as tragic rather than triumphant]].
411** Suzaku repeatedly accuses Yusuke of being inhuman, due to the amount of power and determination Yusuke shows trying to take him down. With Suzaku's dying breath, he admits he was wrong, and that Yusuke's power was due to his humanity, and the desperate strength he draws from his emotions. [[spoiler:Suzaku is actually correct, in that Yusuke has distant demon ancestry, something that only comes out more than a hundred episodes later.]]
412** During the battle against Kaitou in the House of Four Dimensions, Kurama utters this line when Kaitou contemplates out loud what it would do to his soul's color to damage one of the souls he's taken: "I'm warning you. If you so much as bruise what's in your hand, I will show you pain. The hue of your soul will cease to matter because you will not be judged when you die; you will no longer exist." Kurama hints his ability to subject his opponent to AFateWorseThanDeath, which he puts into action against [[spoiler: Elder Toguro.]]
413* ForgottenPhlebotinum: Kuwabara can create two Spirit Swords at once and make a really long one that zigzags to get through an opponent's defenses. These abilities are never used outside of the fight where they're introduced.
414* TheFourGods: The Four Saint Beasts are based on them.
415* FourIsDeath: The Four Saint Beasts, the four members of Team Toguro.
416* FourPhilosophyEnsemble: Yusuke is the Realist (sometimes can be quite the Cynic), Kuwabara is the Optimist, Kurama is the Apathetic and Hiei is the Cynic.
417* FourTemperamentEnsemble:
418** Yusuke '''(Choleric)''' -- short-tempered, cocky, impulsive, and insecure
419** Kuwabara '''(Sanguine)''' -- loyal, clumsy, stubborn, and short-tempered
420** Kurama '''(Phlegmatic)''' -- analytical, calm, calculating, and cunning
421** Hiei '''(Melancholic)''' -- aloof, cold, cynical, and reserved
422* FriendToAllLivingThings: Yukina, [[spoiler:except in regards to the rest of the Ice Maidens. A possible {{subver|tedTrope}}sion of the trope, if anything]].
423%%* FriendlyTarget: Averted and taken advantage of.
424* FromASingleCell: Elder Toguro can regenerate from anything. The only way to will kill him is by destroying his heart or brain, which is a bit difficult as he's able to move around all his organs and body parts to wherever he wants in his body and can even ooze through cracks in the ground.
425* TheFunInFuneral: {{Zig Zagging|Trope}}. Yusuke attends his own funeral as a ghost. To his disgust, he finds that some of his classmates are laughing and smiling, causing him to think that they only came just to get extra credit. Then he sees Keiko crying over his death, and Kuwabara mourning over his death and commenting that he was supposed to be there for him. Then he notices Iwamoto and Akashi, who seem to be rather glad that he was already dead. But Mr. Takanaka confronts the two, and proceeds inside their house. He follows him, and seems to be a little bit surprised to see the teacher mourn his death. He also sees his mother doing the same. The kid whom he saved is also there with his mother, and as they leave the kid tells his mother that he was really a nice guy even though some people there were angry at him. Seeing how much he's missed by his childhood friend Keiko, his mother, his rival Kuwabara, and his principal gives him the resolve necessary to go through some difficult ordeals to get himself resurrected.
426[[/folder]]
427
428[[folder: G-H]]
429* GeniusCripple: Yomi, although blind, didn't let that stop him from being the first person in the series to manipulate Kurama, who's known for being the Franchise/{{Batman}} of the series. And not only that, Yomi gets away with it.
430* GentleGiant:
431** Both Kuwabara and Kurama are the tallest members of Team Urameshi but are very compassionate.
432** Shinobu Sensui stands at least 6' and it would be hard to believe someone like him would ever consider destroying humanity. Though your mileage may vary on how gentle he is, since he's still incredibly sadistic and sociopathic despite his outwardly soft-spoken demeanor.
433* GhostlyGape: Shishiwakamaru can summon ghosts with this kind of face in addition to his sword getting this kind of face via opening its hilt to reveal that it contains strange, [[EvilIsVisceral muscular tissue]] with said face.
434* GivingThemTheStrip: After Hiei [[FlashStep flash-steps]] to evade Makintaro's attack, he no longer has his coat, which was cut together with the afterimage he left to make Makintaro think he killed him.
435* GlowingEyesOfDoom:
436** Yusuke gets these several times; once during his fight with Suzaku when [[spoiler: he's about to use up all his life energy to win]], once while glaring at Younger Toguro from the stands of the Dark Tournament, and occasionally thereafter while powering up or in the middle of a particularly intense fight -- especially when, at the end of the Chapter Black saga, he [[spoiler: is taken over by his ancestor, Raizen, shortly after being killed and returning to life as a demon. Where before Yusuke's Glowing Eyes Of Doom have always been blue, these are red, possibly to signify either his new demonic nature or the foreign presence in his body]].
437** Also Sensui when he releases his sacred energy does it in an eerie and gradual way, followed by a powerful laugh that literally stresses the planet as he powers up.
438* AGodAmI: Yusuke had a moment like this when it turned out that [[spoiler:[[TomatoInTheMirror he's really an]] uber-powerful {{Youkai}}]], shouting "KNEEL DOWN AND WORSHIP ME, YOU INSECTS!!". Subverted in that he immediately reveals it to be [[ItAmusedMe an immature prank]] and says that they should have seen their faces.
439* GoingToGiveItMoreEnergy: In his fight with Byakko, Kuwabara follows this trope to the letter. It almost doesn't work, until we see that the last of Kuwabara's energy was ''just'' enough.
440* {{Gonk}}: Gonzo Tarukane. As ''WebVideo/YuYuHakushoAbridged'' puts it, he looks like a walking ballsack.
441* GoodHairEvilHair: Kuwabara and Yusuke's pompadours signify their {{delinquent|s}} anti-hero status; Sensui's slicked-back hair clues us in to his FaceHeelTurn and the fact he's the BigBad of that arc.
442* GoodIsNotNice: Yusuke and Hiei can be real jerks sometimes, though they are not without their redeeming qualities.
443* GoodScarsEvilScars: Subverted. [[spoiler:Sensui's scars are multiple, as you'd expect of a villain; however, they are entirely covered by his shirt, as you'd expect of a good guy (because he used to be one). Itsuki becomes scarred over his eye from taking Kuwabara's Rei-ken: a simple heroic scar. Mukuro's scars are also "bad guy" scars that cover half of her body; however, seeing how she got them (by pouring acid over herself to prevent her "father" from raping her as a child), as well as her usual hiding of them, makes them "good guy" markings.]]
444* GoshDangItToHeck: The Viz translation is full of hilariously inoffensive language like "holy spit", "dumb cluck", and aloof badass Hiei calling people a bunch of weenies.
445* GreaterScopeVillain: In the manga [[spoiler:King Enma is responsible for just about everything, in the name of keeping his public image as powerful as possible -- after all, Team Urameshi work for him, so if they take out a criminal, he can take credit for it]].
446* GreenThumb: Kurama's abilities generally involve altering plants with spirit energy.
447* TheGrimReaper: Botan is a spirit guide who takes the souls of the departed to the afterlife.
448* GroinAttack: Episode 3 has Yusuke (in his [[AstralProjection ghost state]]) taking control of an unconscious young teenage schoolgirl's body so that he can protect Kuwabara who is on his way to school. During his fight against the school thugs that had tried to attack Kuwabara, Yusuke (in the body of the schoolgirl) is able to battle and defeat each of them with no problem and in the end, he delivers three groin kicks to the last thug before knocking him out with a hard right punch. Afterwards, Yusuke leaves the body of the young teenage schoolgirl, who is quite shocked to see what has transpired.
449* GrowingMusclesSequence:
450** Toguro undergoes different ones, depending on the percentage of his power he unleashes.
451** Byakko has one every time he absorbs Kuwabara's blows.
452** Chu gets a small one from drinking a special supernatural alcohol.
453** Suzuki uses a technique to accomplish this.
454%%* HalfwayPlotSwitch: ''Repeatedly.''
455* HandCannon: Yusuke's Spirit/Rei Gun.
456* HeadPet: Puu perches on top of Yusuke's head.
457* HealingHands: Genkai and Botan, but mostly Yukina.
458* HeavySleeper: Yusuke early in the Dark Tournament. This is explained as Genkai's training being so strenuous that he has to sleep a lot to recover his energies -- though it can be pretty ridiculous when he spends the entire trip to the island, all the way through the first fight in the Tournament, asleep. The smell of alcohol finally wakes him up, because it reminds him of his home.
459* HeelFaceReturn: Hiei gets caught by Yusuke for stealing from his boss, but he returns a couple arcs later as an AntiHero AloofAlly, and stays that way for the rest of the series.
460* HeelFaceTurn: Kurama, Hiei, [[spoiler:Chuu, Rinku, Jin, Touya, Suzuki, Shishiwakamaru]], etc.
461* HellSeeker: [[spoiler:Younger Toguro]] is one of these, in addition to being a DeathSeeker. [[spoiler:He chooses to be punished in the deepest level of Hell, even though he could have gotten off with a lighter sentence, because he feels that he could never be punished enough for what he let happen to his old martial-arts pupils and the aftermath of such.]]
462* HeroicBSOD: During the Dark Tournament final round, where Toguro [[spoiler:pretends to kill Kuwabara in order to bring Yusuke's {{Power Level|s}} to his own level, becoming a WorthyOpponent]]. Interesting though at this time, his BattleAura becomes the polar opposite of Toguro's own BattleAura, which killed well over a quarter of the stadium's spectators.
463* HeroicResolve: Yusuke tends to get a power-up whenever the people he cares for are about to be killed, allowing him to save them (almost) every time.
464* HeroicSacrifice: This story ''loved'' to [[PlayingWithATrope play with]] and {{subvert|edTrope}} this trope as often as it could. Even when it seems it's [[PlayingWithATrope played straight]], there's always a catch. It figures since the whole story is based on a SenselessSacrifice.
465** Best example played straight is Kuwabara in the Dark Tournament, where he sacrifices himself to Toguro to unlock Yusuke's full power.[[note]]Of course it turned out Toguro ''didn't'' kill him (and possibly never intended to), but Kuwabara didn't know that going into it. When he realized he wasn't going to die, [[FakingTheDead he played along anyway]].[[/note]]
466--->'''Kuwabara''': Hey Koenma, you risked your life on Urameshi's fight and now I'm gonna do the same. So make a place for me, and make sure my wake is as good as his.
467** [[spoiler:Yusuke]] attempts to invoke this during the Chapter Black arc after realizing that he's horribly outclassed by Shinobu's (Sensui) Divine Energy. His friends fail as well, though [[spoiler:his Demonic Atavism is awakened by his second death, giving him the strength to fight with Shinobu on equal terms]].
468* HeroismIncentive: Botan bribes Urameshi with wrestling tickets to go compete to become Genkai's apprentice and stop a demon from learning her techniques. It doesn't work out for Yusuke, though, as when he wins the competition, he's informed that he has to stay and train, so he misses the event.
469* HerosEvilPredecessor: Sensui Shinobu. He was the Spirit World Detective before the main character Yusuke Urameshi took the job. Seeing humans committing evil deeds against the demons he was fighting against, he had a FaceHeelTurn and started fighting for the demons instead.
470* HomeFieldAdvantage: The first of the 4 Sacred Beasts, Genbu, can use his powers over earth to meld with the stone that comprises the castle and move freely through it.
471* HonestAdvisor: Yomi recruits Kurama for the purposes of his honest advice. And possibly some revenge, too, but he gives a lot of weight to Kurama's opinions.
472* HopeSpot: Right before [[spoiler:Yusuke's second death]].
473* HorrorHatesARulebreaker: Yuu Kaito from the ''Chapter Black'' StoryArc has an ability called "Taboo" which lets him implement word games that those within his [[FieldPowerEffect territory]] must adhere to or [[YourSoulIsMine their souls will be extracted from their bodies]]. Even he's [[HoistByHisOwnPetard not exempted]] from the rules of his word games.
474* HospitalHottie: During the Dark Tournament, a "nurse" is brought out to inspect Hiei and the Masked Fighter after the fight with the Dr. Ichigaki Team. Koenma orders Ogre to hit him on the head so that he can go see the nurse. Unfortunately for him she wasn't really a nurse and was just wearing a NaughtyNurseOutfit as part of a HoneyTrap.
475* HostageSituation:
476** Roto tries doing this to Kurama by using his human mother as the hostage during their fight in the Dark Tournament. [[spoiler:It doesn't work for long.]]
477** Multiple villains try pulling these on Kurama throughout the series. It's generally [[BerserkButton a very good way]] to get him to kill you painfully. [[spoiler:Unless your name is Yomi. Then you just get a PrecisionFStrike.]]
478* HowDareYouDieOnMe: Kuwabara, at Yusuke's wake. It is just so unfair Yusuke would die before Kuwabara got to beat him up!
479* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Kuwabara and Yukina, [[spoiler:Younger Toguro and Genkai 50 years ago, Enki and Koko]].
480* HumansAreTheRealMonsters:
481** Sensui is ''very'' hung up over this.
482** In a late-series one-shot, Yusuke investigates an apparent case of demonic activity at Keiko's school, but realizes that it's only two of the girls trying to force the third to leave because they don't like her performance or attitude on the team. The narrator concludes that humans are perhaps as bad as demons, and possibly worse, especially when Yusuke sells the uniform he borrowed from Keiko to someone online after she refuses to pay him because Kurama did most of the work. Which then gets subverted when Togashi's editor pointed out that [[spoiler:Yusuke's a demon at that point]].
483* HunterOfMonsters: The "Spirit Detective" job description.
484* HyperAwareness: Yomi has six ears, and they are so sensitive that he can hear every word being spoken within the confines of his kingdom. His other senses are improved as well, to the point that he can tell someone is glaring with loathing from their heart rate and the heat from the blood vessels in their eyes.
485[[/folder]]
486
487[[folder: I-L]]
488* IAmYourOpponent: Pretty much how almost every one-on-one fight is set up.
489* ImAHumanitarian: After Yusuke [[spoiler:becomes a demon]], he no longer regards the casual eating of innocent human beings as an atrocity, and casually tells [[spoiler:his ancestor]] that if eating humans is what will restore his strength, he'll gladly kidnap a few innocent human beings ("really bad ones" in the English dub) and "stuff them down his throat himself" if that's what it takes to get a good fight out of him. He compares it to humans eating hamburgers, saying that a species higher on the food chain preying on one lower is just the natural order, and that humans have simply thought themselves above it.
490* IHaveYourWife: Kurama is forced to not retaliate against Roto lest Roto order the demon stalking his mother to kill her. Kurama manages to immobilize Roto, steal the trigger to signal the demon, then kill him.
491* IKnowMortalKombat: Game Master/Amanuma, in the most literal way possible.
492* IWasQuiteALooker: Everyone who sees the masked fighter's face before she's revealed to be a younger form of Genkai agrees that she's beautiful. Younger Toguro himself very firmly believes this, and much of his frustration with Genkai is how not only beautiful she was, but how strong she was, yet chose not to stay that way.
493* AnIcePerson: Touya is a demon ninja with mastery over ice. When he went under [[OldMaster Genkai]] for some TrainingFromHell, he became powerful enough to freeze a battlefield. Seiryuu, one of the [[TheFourGods Four Saint Beasts]] (and also, ironically, TheDragon to BigBad Suzaku), also had ice powers, but he was a drop in the bucket compared to Touya. There's also Yukina, actually an ice maiden.
494* IdiotBall: Gama's fight with Kurama would've been a lot shorter had he suppressed Kurama's entire energy from the start instead of only making his limbs heavier (which still enabled Kurama to summon the Rose Whip from his hair). It's not even a theory, since Gama himself, as he's profusely bleeding from his wounds and dying, acknowledges he should've done it. [[spoiler:He ends up actually doing it, but at the cost of his life and for a limited amount of time due to his subsequent death.]]
495* ImageSong: Lots of them on the [[NoExportForYou CDs]]. Each of the four main characters has around three or four songs by themselves, at least one song with other characters and most everyone else has at least one song by themselves.
496* InconsistentDub: The dub is somewhat inconsistent with describing Demons. They are usually called Demons, but also Aparitions, and the dub often flip flops between the two without any explanations.
497* IncurableCoughOfDeath: The reason Toguro sold his soul to be a demon.
498* IndyPloy: In the DVD of the anime, Yusuke bounces his Rei/Spirit Gun off the Mirror of the Forlorn Hope [[spoiler:to take Hiei in his true form down]]. He guessed that might work.
499* InfinityPlusOneSword: a non-video game version but given that Kuwabara's dimensional sword can cut space and dimensions, it's heavily implied that his sword can cut through anything or anyone regardless of how durable or strong. Hell, his dimensional sword was the only thing that [[InvincibleVillain Sensui]] had to actively [[NotSoInvincibleAfterAll avoid]] rather than [[NoSell tank like he had been doing to Hiei and Kurama's attacks.]]
500* InstantArmor: Risho the demon-ninja used his power of rocks like this during the Dark Tournament. Sensui's Holy Light armor also qualifies.
501* InterspeciesRomance: Kuwabara/Yukina, [[spoiler:Sensui/Itsuki, Raizen/Lady Doctor]], and, if you really want to stretch it [[spoiler:for a technical half-breed or hybrid, Yusuke/Keiko]].
502* InvincibleHero: Averted. Yusuke's victory is almost ''never'' a ForegoneConclusion, and he's always pushed to the limits of his ability. [[spoiler:[[OurHeroIsDead He actually DIES fighting Sensui]], and he also loses early in the Demon World Tournament to Yomi.]] Sniper also easily had him outclassed in every sense of the word. If it wasn't for Hiei, Yusuke would have died (again).
503* InvisibleParents: Moreso in the anime; the parents are simply not addressed if they're not in the plot.
504** Kuwabara's parents are never mentioned in the show; it's suggested he is raised by his older sister who is in her early 20s in the anime and 18 in the manga. In the manga their father does appear in one chapter toward the very end, to tell Kuwabara, Yusuke, and Kurama that Yukina will be staying with them from now on while she integrates into the human world, but was never mentioned before that.
505** At first it seems that Yusuke's mom completely averts this trope in the beginning, only making it follow DisappearedDad because we don't see his father at all. However, after the 14th episode his mother doesn't have a speaking part and after Episode 27 we never see her again. She's only mentioned once before Yusuke leaves for demon world later. In the manga, she remains a peripheral character who appears for jokes and to watch fights[[note]]She went to the Dark Tournament, while Keiko and Shizuru took her place in the Sensui arc. Notably, she's the one holding Puu when Yusuke dies, not Keiko.[[/note]] , and one of the final wrap-up chapters shows she has a cordial relationship with Yusuke's father, but Yusuke doesn't, because Yusuke resents him for beating her when he was younger.
506** At first it seems Kurama's human mother is a doting parent, but after Episode 7 we never see her featured in an episode again until she gets married, and even then it's merely cameo appearances. It seems Kurama has to lie to her on a regular basis since she doesn't know he's a fox demon but we never see what his excuses are as for why he goes missing for multiple days at a time.
507** Hiei is the most extreme example of this in ''Yu Yu Hakusho'', along with Yukina. For the first 3 seasons he and Yukina have a MysteriousPast. At first it seems it's possible they're fully grown in a demon's sense and on their own, so that's why we never hear from their parents. In a WholeEpisodeFlashback we see Hiei's upbringing. [[spoiler:He was born in a female OneGenderRace where men are forbidden. After it's revealed his mother gave birth to a boy, Hiei is thrown from a cliff to his "death." Not long after his mother killed herself out of grief. It seems only she knew of his father, so his whereabouts are unknown. Because Yukina has not had a child yet, something her entire race does every 100 years without fail, it can be assumed neither of them are full grown. In fact, they're some of the few ambiguously aged characters in the show.]]
508** Even Keiko plays this trope. We know she has parents, but we only see them twice in the entire series. We don't know what they think of her suddenly missing several days of school and not coming home on multiple occasions nor do we ever hear her explanations.
509* InvokedTrope: Toguro invokes [[spoiler:DeadSidekick]] on Yusuke, and Kuwabara ''appears'' to invoke [[spoiler:HeroicSacrifice]] but really went for [[spoiler:DisneyDeath]]. Subverted later when Yusuke tries to [[spoiler:pull a HeroicSacrifice in order to inspire a HeroicSecondWind out of Kuwabara and the others -- which isn't enough to defeat Sensui]].
510* IronicEcho: In the Dark Tournament Arc, Kurama gets into a fight with a demonic bomber named Karasu. Early on in the fight, Karasu seems to have the upper hand and as a result mimics putting a pistol to his head and saying, "Bang", indicating to Kurama that he should just simply shoot himself rather than continue fighting Karasu. About ten seconds later, Kurama transforms into his much more powerful true form, and suddenly it's Karasu who's on the ropes. Guess what gesture Kurama decides to make this time.
511* JerkAss:
512** Yu Kaito seemingly starts out this way, contemplating whether or not to damage the captured souls of Hiei, Botan, and Kuwabara just to mess with Kurama, but later it's revealed [[spoiler:he was on [[TricksterMentor Genkai]]'s side and trying to teach them a lesson about themselves,]] though whether or not he really meant this remains unknown.
513** And then there's Kiyoshi Mitarai, who laughs and acts up like a jumped-up little egomaniac as he's trying to murder Kuwabara and his friends before we learn he has a FreudianExcuse, and he gets better.
514* JerkWithAHeartOfGold:
515** Kuwabara is introduced as a delinquent and is shown doing nothing but repeatedly trying to beat up Yusuke. Later, after Yusuke dies, he sees Kuwabara rescue Keiko from some thugs, let himself get beat up and study his heart out to save a friend's job (thus preventing his family from living on the streets), pulling Keiko out of a fire, and going through humiliating lengths to save a kitten.
516** Yusuke also began like this. He used to be a chain-smoking, gambling, greedy delinquent without a goal in life (and, according to Botan, he was even arrested before), but if him jumping in the way of a runaway car to save a wandering child is any indication, he wasn't all that bad.
517* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: When Elder Toguro tries to kill the last three members of Team Gorenja with a single attack and two of them survive, he tells them they were really worthy of reaching the semifinals and promises to let one of them live. After he makes his choice, he says he's prone to breaking promises and kills the remaining fighter anyway.
518* JustInTime: Hiei saves Yusuke just when a fuel truck chasing him exploded.
519* KarmaHoudini:
520** The arsonist that lit Yusuke and Atsuko's apartment on fire, which nearly killed Keiko in the process during her recovery of Yusuke's body, is never mentioned to have been apprehended.
521** Mr. Iwamoto, despite all of the illegal things he's done in Mr. Takanaka's presence alone, is still employed by the end of the series.
522* KickThemWhileTheyAreDown: Though, he wasn't ''technically'' down. Bakken beats the absolute crap out of an unconscious/already badly injured Kurama in the Dark Tournament, claiming that he's still standing and in the ring and therefore must continue fighting.
523* KillAllHumans: Sensui—subverted because he ''is'' a human, among other reasons.
524* KillerYoyo: Rinku uses psychically controlled yo-yos as his favored weapon. At the Dark Tournament, he has them on each of his fingers; by the time of the Makai Tournament, he has them on his toes too.
525* KissOfLife: Or, Kiss Of Transferred Life Energy, to facilitate Yusuke's resurrection.
526* LadyLand: Ice World or the Glacial Village is home to an all female ice race. (See OneGenderRace) They hate all men. Hina left at one point and ended up giving birth to a boy, Hiei. Males are forbidden in Ice World so he was quickly left for dead, meanwhile his sister Yukina was allowed to live with them.
527* LargeAndInCharge:
528** Younger Toguro in Team Toguro.
529** Chu is the actual leader (and the strongest member) of Team Rokuyukai, having been demoted to substitute due to losing a rock-paper-scissors match with the rest of the team.
530** Topaz in Team Spirit Warriors. In the anime, he even kills a member of his own team after he disobeys his order to stop attacking Yusuke outside of the tournament.
531** Averted by Bakken in Team Masho. Despite being the biggest member, he's not only a non-leader but also the ''weakest'' of the team.
532** Played straight and subverted by Dr. Ichigaki, the leader of Team Ichigaki. In his normal form, he's very short and doesn't even fight, but becomes giant and hulking when unleashed.
533* LargeHam: Kuwabara. Also, "Beautiful" Suzuki before Genkai {{curb stomp|battle}}s him.
534* LaserBlade: Kuwabara's Spirit Sword. Although it is technically made out of his ki, it still greatly resembles and even sounds like a real LaserBlade.
535* LastDisrespects: While Kuwabara goes on a screaming fit about Yusuke dying at his funeral in the start of the manga, [[SubvertedTrope his outburst is a sign of genuine mourning]]. In contrast, their school principal calls out some teachers who are at the funeral making snide comments about both Yusuke and Kuwabara's behavior.
536* LastMinuteHookup: The finale of the manga shows that the three pretty girls from the Dark Tournament (the announcer, the ring girl, and the nurse) each have crushes on Toya, Jin, and Suzuki.
537* LastNameBasis: Nearly everyone except Yusuke who has an established surname is referred to almost exclusively by that instead of their given name by the other characters (and even for Yusuke, he's still mostly called "Urameshi" by anyone who isn't Keiko, Botan, Kurama, Genkai or Koenma). Kuwabara is the most obvious example, but it's so prevalent that the fact that when hiding his true demon name Kurama tends to go by his human alter ego's given name Shuichi instead of his surname is almost surprising.
538* LevelGrinding: Hiei personally slaughtered hundreds of A-Class demons in order to get himself to S-Class level.
539* LighterAndSofter: The Three Kings Tournament compared to the Dark Tournament, since there's virtually no gory, fatal injuries this time around, and only one participant actually dies, committing ritualistic suicide after calmly admitting defeat. Yusuke made it this way by design, since one of the rules is that anyone who kills their opponent is disqualified, resulting in a tournament where almost everyone walks away in one piece, and [[DefeatMeansFriendship a few friendships are formed between some of the opponents]].
540* LightIsNotGood: [[spoiler:In the manga, it turns out the reports of demon attacks were not only greatly exaggerated, they were set up and the "evil" demons were brainwashed to behave that way, THEN were captured and executed before they could talk. When Yusuke wondered how many innocent demons he may have captured, Kurama advised him to "better not think about that". This plot element was cut out in the anime]].
541* LimitedWardrobe: Played with. Most everyone has their regular attire for the average day, but they can and do change clothes often enough depending on the situation. However, their clothes usually remain assigned by color: Yusuke -- green, Kurama -- red, Kuwabara -- blue, and Hiei -- black.
542* LittleMissBadass: Genkai in her younger days.
543* LivingDistantAncestor: Raizen to Yusuke.
544* LoadBearingHero: The heroes run into a trap like this in Maze Castle, calibrated so that it takes the combined strength of all four of them to hold it up, and that anyone running out would survive at the cost of their friends' lives.
545* LockedOutOfTheLoop: The main cast, with the exception of Kuwabara, Yukina, and possibly Keiko (who simply doesn’t have spiritual awareness), knows [[spoiler: Hiei and Yukina are siblings]]. The reason for the group-effort [[SecretKeeper secret keeping]] is to respect Hiei’s wish to conceal this information from Yukina, and to refrain Kuwabara from [[FreakOut freaking out]] due to Hiei being on bad terms with Kuwabara. [[spoiler: Though through an implication in the Sensui Arc, Hiei isn’t shown to be persistent over the group secret keeping if any member wanted to out the information to anyone out of the loop.]]
546* LookWhatICanDoNow: Yusuke shows off his new powers after Genkai's training, and Kuwubara does the same a few episodes later.
547* LoveRedeems: [[spoiler:Raizen and his love for the lady doctor]].
548[[/folder]]
549
550[[folder: M-N]]
551* MadeOfIron:
552** This being a shounen series, of course, practically every single character absorbs insane amounts of punishment, though usually offenses that produce cutting force seem much more effective at putting people down. Kuwabara especially: being not as agile or as quick as Yusuke, Kurama and Hiei are, he tends to get hit a ''lot'' in his fights, which does little if anything to shorten them; no matter how many of his bones you break he just takes it and gets back up for more. This is justified in the Dark Tournament by Rishu, who says that a [[{{Muggles}} normal human's]] body would have died by that point but Kuwabara had been subconsciously using his spirit energy to keep his body alive. He frequently deals out such nasty hits that one foe literally ''ran away'' from him at the prospect of pummeling him over and over again to no effect while attempting to dodge his Reiken (Spirit Sword) for another thirty minutes.
553** A more literal example, Gouki almost literally claiming his skin is as hard as steel.
554* MadScientist: Dr. Ichigaki
555* MagicAIsMagicA: There are a lot of random powers that pop up, but there is a broad sense of consistency in how it works. Overall, the different forms of energy, how they manifest and can be used is well documented, with a good portion of the fighting being about strategy instead of raw strength. [[OldMaster Genkai]] and Koenma often have the job of explaining what is going on and, sometimes, why this new ability is still in line with what was previously said.
556* MagnificentSeven: Subverted and inverted with Sensui's group [[spoiler:and Sensui's own personalities]].
557* MasqueradingAsTheUnseen: Subverted when Team Urameshi are accused of this in the Dark Tournament Arc when the Masked Fighter, previously seen as a young woman, is later seen as an old woman. It is quickly cleared up that both are the same person, and that the old woman could become young.
558* MaybeEverAfter: [[spoiler:Hiei and Mukuro. It was originally intended to be less vague, but shipper backlash caused it to end the way it did]].
559* MayflyDecemberRomance: Yusuke/Keiko, Kuwabara/Yukina, and Raizen/Lady Doctor.
560* MeaningfulFuneral: Yusuke's in the first episode. Seeing how much he truly meant to everybody convinced him to undergo the trials to regain his life.
561* MeaningfulName:
562** "Urameshi" is what Japanese ghosts who are haunting a house wail; "Kuwabara kuwabara" is a charm against ghosts; "Kurama" and "Hiei" are Japanese mountains said to be sites of demon activity; all of the [[TheGrimReaper ferry girls]] have names associated with flowers and plants ("Botan" -- peony, "Ayame" -- iris, "Hinageshi" -- poppy). This plant naming even goes for Sensui, whose name is a kanji anagram of "suisen" (daffodil) and Itsuki (flowering tree), perhaps to note the severity of their FaceHeelTurn.
563** Mt. Hiei was forbidden to women until recent history; Hiei inverted this by being born on a floating mountain where men are the ones who are forbidden.
564* MenDontCry: Completely and utterly averted. During Yusuke's wake, Kuwabara broke down into a hysterical sobbing fit, and his friends had to pick him up and '''''drag''''' him out of the room. Yusuke cries for [[spoiler:Kuwabara's apparent death in the Dark Tournament]].
565* MindRape: Chapter Black is supposed to be watched along with Chapter White to get a balanced look on humanity's potential for great good and great evil. Watching ''just'' Chapter Black by itself will drive you nigh insane.
566* MistakenForQuake: It is announced that the preliminary round of the Dark Tournament will take place on the ferry to the island. When the ship's deck opens to reveal the fighting ring:
567-->'''Kuwabara:''' Aaaah! Earthquake!\
568'''Hiei:''' Fool, there can't be earthquakes on the water!
569* MonochromaticImpactShot: The final hit Yusuke delivers to Bakken (from Team Masho) during the quarterfinals of the Dark Tournament is visualized in a black font where Bakken's bones (colored bright red) break, leading to a strong knockback that pushes his now-lifeless body out of the fight platform.
570* MonstrosityEqualsWeakness:
571** All over the place. Generally, humanoid enemies are real threats, whereas more monstrous ones are just cannon fodder.
572** Inverted by Younger Toguro, who is at his "weakest" when he looks completely human.
573* MookChivalry: The big groups of monsters don't just all attack at the same time, but for drama's sake they always fight one on one.
574* MoralityKitchenSink: Between the main characters and supporting cast alone, we have varying degrees of what would be considered "good". And that's before getting into Chapter Black.
575* MoralityGuidedAttack: One of the functions of Genkai's Spirit Wave technique is demonstrated to have this effect. During the fight against Team Ichigaki, she uses it to expel the [[MindControlDevice Barukis]] that [[MadScientist Dr. Ichigaki]] had attached to [[TheWoobie three marital artists]] [[BrainwashedAndCrazy to make them fight and kill others against their will]]. Yusuke and Kuwabara at first mistakenly assume them to have been killed by her attack, but then once they are conscious she explains that it would only have killed them if they were evil at heart.
576* TheMovie: There are two -- a half-hour one and a feature-length one.
577* MovingTheGoalposts: In an early episode, SadistTeacher Mr. Akashi will do anything to expel students he doesn't like, and make life miserable for others. This is best demonstrated by his treatment of Kuwabara; Kuwabara's friend Okubo is holding down a job after school, and it's normally forbidden for students to do so without a special permit. So Akashi threatens to contact Okubo's boss and have him fired, unless Kuwabara refrains from violence for a certain amount of time, then hires a gang of bullies to try and goad him into a fight. When that doesn't work (Kuwabara just lets them beat him up), Akashi pulls the trope by adding a new condition -- the pair and their two friends have to score high enough on an upcoming test as well. And then he tries it ''again'' by, when Kuwabara actually gets ''just'' high enough a score, erasing one of the correct answers and lowering his grade. Fortunately, the boys' homeroom teacher Mr. Takenaka catches on and intervenes, restoring Kuwabara's correct grade and permitting Okubo to keep his job.
578* MrExposition: Kurama and Hiei, sometimes Genkai or Koenma.
579* {{Muggles}}: Anyone without any or high enough spiritual awareness or sixth sense.
580* MultiArmedAndDangerous: Itsuki and his shadow hands.
581* MultiGenderedSplitPersonalities: The former spirit detective Shinobu Sensui has developed no less than 7 identities, one of which is a girl called Naru, who represents the last remnants of his innocence.
582* MundaneMadeAwesome:
583** Remember that Rock Paper Scissor game? As Kurama notes, "It's a very serious human game."
584** Also the quiz game between Kaito and Game Master. Sure it's a multiple choice test of general knowledge. But then they go to memorizing the whole question database to recognize a certain question with just the first word and press the buzzer or even memorizing the complex formulaic pattern the questions follow to hit the buzzer before even the first word to answer... correctly every time.
585* MusclesAreMeaningless: Played straight and subverted.
586** Kurama and Genkai possess enormous physical strength but both are fairly thin and lean.
587** Bakken is the biggest member of Team Masho (and also CoveredWithScars), but is by far the weakest member of the team.
588** Each time Toguro powers up, his musculature increases and each of his common levels -- 20%, 30%, 45%, 60%, 80% -- give him a relatively identifiable build and power to match. What's odd is that when Toguro powers up completely, Kurama even says, "The structure of those muscles... ingenious." And then absolutely no character around or above Toguro's level follows suit.
589** Unlike a lot of {{shonen|Demographic}}, the general build of each character does not change as they become stronger. In fact, with the exception of Toguro the size of one's muscles has no bearing on actual strength. Explained by Genkai that the physical body has its limitations, but the augmentation of spirit power to their body is crucial and allows one who masters it access to higher physical power than any muscles can release.
590* MyDeathIsOnlyTheBeginning: ''Inverted''. As it turned out, Yusuke's ''resurrection'' was only the beginning.
591%%* MyKungFuIsStrongerThanYours
592%%* MysteriousParent: Raizen.
593* NarratorAllAlong: [[spoiler:The entire show is the recordings of Yusuke's career that Koenma had edited as a documentary. His right hand ogre got the job as narrator]].
594* NeverMessWithGranny: Genkai is in her 70s but she's one of the strongest humans in the series before giving Yusuke most of her power.
595* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Yusuke letting Sensui power up for their battle led directly to [[spoiler:his second death]].
596* NiceJobFixingItVillain:
597** Of course, Yusuke's [[spoiler:second death]] led to him [[spoiler:being revived as an insanely-powerful demon hybrid that later defeated Sensui]].
598** During the [[TournamentArc Dark Tournament]], Elder Toguro could have easily [[CurbStompBattle killed Kuwabara in a single attack]], and he wouldn't have even seen it coming. However, he instead chooses to MindRape him by telling him that [[spoiler: Genkai has been dead for two days and his friends hadn't told him]], and that allows Kuwabara to find the strength to defeat Elder Toguro for Genkai's honor.
599* TheNineties: The manga/anime takes place in the 1990s. Botan bribes Yusuke with a Tokyo Dome events, dated back in 1992. A [[FreezeFrameBonus Spirit World intelligence report on Gonzo Tarukane has the date stamp of 1993.]]
600* NoBadassToHisValet: Kurama and Hiei. Raizen and the Lady Doctor.
601* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: The ''one'' good thing the delinquent Yusuke does gets him ''killed''.
602* NoMoreHoldingBackSpeech: Yusuke gives one every few sagas as he learns what it means to have a sense of responsibility.
603%%* NobleDemon: Hiei, Kurama
604%%** And probably a good half of the demons in the series, particularly in the Three Kings arc.
605* NoShirtLongJacket: Kuwabara does this at lease once. Hiei might count as well, since for the first half of the show he doesn't wear a shirt under his jacket (which he has a habit of taking off see, WalkingShirtlessScene.)
606* NonUniformUniform:
607** Yusuke and Kuwabara are the only male students in their school to wear uniforms with colors other than the standard black.
608** Averted with Kurama and Kaito.
609* NormalFishInATinyPond: The Earth realm is a much smaller place in terms of size and durability. Most of the Demons seen on earth only range from E-C class. While they are dangerous to humans they are small fries at best and living targets at worst for higher level demons in the demon world where the strongest can casually erase mountains with a wave of their hand.
610* NormallyIWouldBeDeadNow: Kuwabara's fight against Rishu. He's tapping into his life energy just to be able to stand.
611* NotAfraidOfHell: Toguro the Younger is given multiple options by Koenma as his sentence after he dies in the Dark Tournament Arc. Technically its not Hell, but his choice of Limbo implies this, as his sentence involves an unimaginable period of pain and suffering that even Koenma seems to think is severe given the circumstances.
612* NotJustATournament: The Dark Tournament arc is already pretty, well, [[DarkerAndEdgier Dark]], but then it is revealed that the ''true'' purpose is for betting and power brokering behind the scenes. The later Demon World Tournament is a complete aversion of this trope, especially considering where it takes place.
613* NotWorthKilling: Suzuki was once soundly defeated by Younger Toguro and demanded to be killed by him, but Toguro refused and said Suzuki wasn't worth it.
614[[/folder]]
615
616[[folder: O-R]]
617* ObliviousYoungerSibling: Shuuichi, Kurama's younger stepbrother, is completely oblivious to his brother's demonic heritage and supernatural activities.
618* OddFriendship: Kuwabara and Hiei. Hiei constantly belittles how much of a dumbass Kuwabara is while Kuwabara keeps up with the [[TheNapoleon short]] jokes. Kurama even jokes about how one day they might even become [[LoveObstructingParents in-laws]].
619* OddlySmallOrganization: The underworld's cleanup squad for when things go wrong consists of one detective and any friends he might make along the way. [[spoiler:Though this is rendered a bit moot by the manga's ending, where it was revealed that Yusuke might not have been needed as badly as we originally thought.]]
620* OfficialCouple:
621** Yusuke and Keiko
622** Also Itsuki and Sensui, by WordOfGod.
623** In the final volume, Togashi pretty much pairs off ''EVERYBODY''. [[spoiler:Hiei and Mukuro is implied but still leaves room for speculation. Kuwabara and Yukina is made much more likely. Yusuke's dad comes back into the picture and gets back with his mom. Chu falls for a new character named Natsume, who eventually returns the sentiment. The trio of Juri, Koto and Ruka admit to loving the trio of Jin, Suzuki and Touya. Koenma and a female reaper also are implied to get together.]]
624* OhCrap:
625** Pretty much any time Toguro shows up is an "Oh crap!" for ''someone''.
626** Bui gets a literal OhCrap moment during his fight against Hiei.
627** Also what happened to Zeru and Ura.
628** The Kuwabara vs. Elder Toguro fight is filled with this on both sides. Kuwabara gets it most of the times that Toguro reforms himself, and Toguro feels it whenever Kuwabara organizes a counterattack with his Spirit Sword. Epitomized greatly when Kuwabara finally defeats Toguro with his "Spirit Flyswatter", as it was the first time that someone was actually able to hit his vital organs.
629* {{Oireland}}: Jin is given an Irish accent in the English dub.
630* OldMaster: Genkai is in her 70s and teaches Yusuke. She's even a previous winner of the Dark Tournament.
631* OnTheNextEpisodeOfCatchPhrase:
632** Yusuke's "The other world's not watching for nothing!", which can only be heard in every Japanese voiced preview with subs. This is also his victory line in many ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' video games.
633** In the Latin American dub this line was replaced by Yusuke saying "Mi existencia ¡No será en vano!" (My existence won't be in vain!).
634** In the Brazilian dub it became "Não conheci o outro mundo por querer!" (I never wished to know the other world!)
635* OnceDoneNeverForgotten: Early in the Chapter Black arc, Team Urameshi got caught in a game of Taboo where the loser could potentially lose his soul. Hiei deliberately disregarded the rules of the game out of impatience, leading to him being the first to lose his soul, which became a frequent source of mockery for him.
636* OneEyedBats: The first creature Yusuke encounters in the Saint Beast's castle is the Eye Bat, which only has one eye. Hilariously, it has a squeaky voice, despite its appearance◊.
637* OneGenderRace: The ice maidens usually reproduce asexually and are all female. [[spoiler: This is apparently because any time they reproduce with males, the resulting child will be only male and be extremely violent. Hiei is such a child.]]
638* OneSteveLimit: Averted. Kurama shares the same human name with his younger stepbrother, Shuuichi.
639* OneTwinMustDie: Ice maidens only give birth to daughters, and will only give birth to sons if they have been with a man, which is completely forbidden in their society. When Hina gives birth she has twins, one boy and one girl, Hiei and Yukina. Because Hiei is a boy he is left for dead and creates a SeparatedAtBirth situation with Yukina.
640* OneWingedAngel:
641** Younger Toguro, [[SerialEscalation who gets repeatedly more monstrous as he increases his power to 100%, and then keeps going]].
642** Subverted with Sensui, who was also conveniently nicknamed "Black Angel."
643* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Kuwabara proclaims this in the very first chapter of the manga and continues to for several arcs.
644* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: The entire series starts with one such moment; Yusuke is a selfish delinquent who doesn't give two hoots about how his actions affect others, only to make the ultimate act of selflessness and sacrifice his life to save a boy from being hit by a car. His peers and family still living are gobsmacked by this -- as well as the afterlife's powers that be, who have no choice but to offer Yusuke a chance to go back to life, since not even they expected him to die by doing this kind of thing, and, as such, there's no place for him there.
645* OptOut: Kuwabara didn't participate in the final arc, instead deciding to focus on his academics.
646* OralFixation: Koenma's pacifier, not so out of place in his infant form but much more noticeable in his older and more {{Bishonen}} guise. Apparently, several centuries of soaking in a junior god's essence also makes it a potent magical object.
647* OrcRaisedByElves: Kurama is a reincarnation of a [[{{youkai}} silver-haired fox demon]] that was reborn into a human child called Shuichi Minamino. In the beginning of his second life, he intended to stay human only long enough to regain his full strength, but the loving care of his human mother made Kurama realize that he genuinely loved her. Kurama abandoned Hiei's plan to build an army of human monsters immediately after securing the magic item he needed to rescue his mother. He then defected fully to Team Urameshi, and later convinced [[HeterosexualLifePartners Hiei]] to do the same.
648* OrganDodge: Elder Toguro could rearrange the organs in his body at will, theoretically making it impossible to strike a fatal blow to him. Kuwabara just finds a way to hit every single point on his body simultaneously. [[spoiler:That is enough to stun Toguro, yet still winds up being nonfatal.]]
649* OrificeEvacuation: Jiaki, the first demon Yusuke caught.
650* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Played with in a highly weird way. The afterlife is based heavily on a bureaucraticized version of hybrid Sinto and Bhuddist depictions, and the beings like Botan that patrol the world looking for souls are explicitly Shinigami, but they also have distinctly angelic traits in their powersets, like the ability to become indistinguishable from humans, as angels do in the Old Testament, and the names of some of the afterlife realms to which they ferry souls of the dead are named after western and middle eastern mythological afterlives. That said, nothing in the show is explicitly called 'angelic' except in grim mockery of a fallen Spirit Detective's power that makes him look like one. However...
651* OurDemonsAreDifferent: "Demon" seems to be a race of beings that live in the Demonic World. Demons don't die of age, but can be killed, and are shown to have souls that go to the afterlife just like humans on earth (except in the movie, where it is revealed they originally went somewhere else). Other than that, there doesn't seem to be anything they all have in common; they may appear with horns and wings, or as anthropomorphic animals, eldritch abominations, or be very human in appearance. Their powers vary similarly, with very few fitting into stock demonic abilities. Most of their powers seem like they'd be more at home in superhero fiction.
652** Our Psychics Are Different, too. In Yu Yu Hakusho, a psychic isn't (merely) someone who can sense spirits or tell the future. They're usually powerful martial artists who are able to harness spirit energy, each in their own unique and amazing way. Overall they seem to be the human equivalent of demons in terms of their capabilities, though far fewer in number and limited by age.
653* OurHeroIsDead:
654** The very first freaking episode! ({{Lampshade|Hanging}}d during [[spoiler:Yusuke]]'s fight with [[spoiler:Sensui]]. Turns out he's [[spoiler:part demon]].)
655** Also during [[spoiler:the fight with Toguro, when Kuwabara [[FakingTheDead "dies"]]]].
656* OutGambitted: Roto's strategy for victory involves threatening to kill an opponent's loved one if they retaliate. Kurama simply has Roto immobilized with a Death Plant before being killed.
657* OvershadowedByAwesome: Kuwabara is an extremely powerful individual in his own right, but his actual combat intelligence and physical power leave him as the least powerful member of the core four characters. In the Dark Tournament saga, he loses more fights than he wins. However, what he lacks in one-on-one combat he makes up for in extremely powerful spiritual awareness (made clear early in the series) and also develops some techniques that keep him useful (his dimension-cutting sword even makes him the pivotal element during Sensui's saga).
658* ParentalAbandonment: Yusuke's dad is out of the picture, and Kuwabara is raised by his big sister.
659* PassiveAggressiveKombat: Kurama, at least twice; at the end of the Four Saint Beasts arc, Hiei mentions how he always has to have the last word; and more [[{{Pun}} literally]] at the beginning of the Sensui Arc.
660* PersonalityPowers: The psychics after the tunnel to Makai (Demon World) is opened.
661* PersonOfMassDestruction: Any S-class being is this, as even a clash between the weakest S-class warriors can alter landscapes on a whim in mere seconds, summon storms with enough strength to kill even A-class demons caught up in, and possibly even destroy entire worlds if Sensui's and Genkai's words are to be taken at face value.
662* PettyChildhoodGrudge: In the NonSerialMovie/special ''The Golden Seal'', Koashura sets his whole plan to throw spirit world into chaos in motion over the fact that, one time, some centuries prior, Koenma upstaged him in front of his crush. Upon the reveal of his motivation, everyone is flabbergasted.
663%%* ThePhilosopher: Itsuki, [[spoiler:Sensui's Minoru personality]].
664* PhysicalGod: Mukuro, Yomi and Raizen. Their power is so great that the class A and most class S are fodder for them.
665* PhysicalScarsPsychologicalScars: [[spoiler:Sensui]] is covered in self-inflicted scars to point out how utterly insane he is.
666* PinkMeansFeminine: It's revealed to [[spoiler: fake]] Kuwabara that Hiei has a sister. He calls her ugly and imagines that she looks just like Hiei, only instead of wearing black like him she must wear pink. [[spoiler: [[DramaticIrony Making it even funnier to the audience since we all know Yukina is Hiei's sister, and Kuwabara likes her.]]]]
667* PintSizedPowerhouse: Hiei and Genkai. Rinku counts, as well. [[spoiler:He actually does beat Kuwabara, albeit by fighting dirty.]]
668* PlayingWithFire: Hiei is a natural fire demon but the Jigan eye was actually artificially implanted and reduced his original power to a fraction of what it once was, but the eye grants him use of the primal darkness flame that constantly threatens to overwhelm even him. Zeru is a more common fire demon and powerful in his own right, but easily incinerated by Hiei "Dragon of the Darkness Flame" attack.
669* PostGameRetaliation: In Genkai's disciple selection test early on, she has all her applicants get lots of paper. If their paper changed color, they could start her selection trials. If not, they were told to leave. Two [[ArrogantKungFuGuy self-proclaimed experts]] angrily attack Genkai over being rejected. She promptly [[KiManipulation blasts them with spirit energy]] across the courtyard and into her entrance gate. (It turns out that her paper lots were not random; they only changed color if those holding them had a certain amount of spirit energy.)
670%%* PostHistoricalTrauma
671* PowerLimiter: Younger Toguro's percentage strength, Karasu's mask, Bui's armor, Hiei's binding bandages on his right arm, Yusuke's Spirit Cuffs, Sensui's personalities, etc.
672* ThePowerOfLove: Rather hilariously referenced when a half-dead Kuwabara went straight from being [[CurbStompBattle owned]] to knocking the other guy halfway out of the stadium with one punch and then quickly regenerating his injuries ''and'' refilling his spiritual power.
673* PowerTattoo: Hiei's Dragon of The Darkness Flame, tattooed on his arm.
674* PrecisionFStrike:
675** Kurama drops one right before subjecting Elder Toguro to a FateWorseThanDeath.
676** [[Awesome/YuYuHakusho "This ends here, you soulless fuck."]]
677* PsychicStatic: Yusuke does this to Murota. It might be considered a slight subversion; he concentrates simply on exactly what he intends to do. Unfortunately for poor Murota, a straight jab from Yusuke is enough to put him through the wall even if he sees it coming.
678* PsychoForHire: Karasu, among others.
679* ThePsychoRangers: Team Yusuke vs. Team Toguro.
680** Yusuke -- Younger Toguro (Team leader, well-balanced)
681** Kuwabara -- Elder Toguro (Closest to the Leader, versatile abilities)
682** Kurama -- Karasu (Intelligent and precision fighters)
683** Hiei -- Bui (Brute force fighters)
684** Koenma -- Sakyo (The team's boss and only participating in the tournament to fill the vacant slots)
685%%* PsychoSupporter: Itsuki. HappinessInSlavery, SubordinateExcuse, and MadLove also apply to him.
686* PutOnABus: Hiei gets this treatment near the start of the Sensui arc, claiming he doesn't care about human world. He does come back several episodes later and even when they march into the cave just after that he's practically DemotedToExtra. Kuwabara gets a similar treatment in the last season when all of the characters move on to demon world, he stays behind. Makes sense, since he's human.
687* RandomPowerRanking: The classifications for power are (in increasing order) D, C, B, A, S. [[note]]The classification is set up by the Spirit World, so S-class means "anything the Spirit World fighters can't handle", which goes from those just above A-class to true warrior gods whose powers make weak S-class demons look like nothing.[[/note]]
688* RankScalesWithAsskicking: The three leaders of the Demon World are all S+ Class demons.
689* RasputinianDeath: Byakko at first seems to explode because Kuwabara overloaded him with the spirit energy absorption, but he turns up later to fight around a lava pit. He is then knocked into the lava pit, and shows up afterwards burned and asks Seiryu for help, who then [[LiterallyShatteredLives freezes and shatters him to pieces]] him [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness for being too weak]]. His severed, frozen head then lives on for another few minutes, giving him time for one last complaint before finally dying for good.
690* ReadingsBlewUpTheScale: In the Three Kings arc, a group of Raizen's old training buddies come out of seclusion to pay their respects and join the new tournament. They collectively flex their power to "see if they've still got it" and Yomi's strategist's energy-reading device goes off the scale before it explodes. Miles away from the energy source.
691* RealMenWearPink: Kurama doesn't look all that impressive at first glance. After all, he is an [[PrettyBoy effeminate-looking red-haired pretty-boy]] that half the time wears a pink school uniform, [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas is something of a mama's boy]], [[SomethingAboutARose and has this thing for roses to boot]]. Guess which character is the biggest badass in the team (to the point that ''Hiei'' is scared of him), rakes up the highest on-screen body count and regularly delivers beat-downs of epic proportions to anyone who pisses him off.
692* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Koenma, who in fact ''is'' 700-years-old. Kurama in his true form is over a thousand.
693%%* RedOniBlueOni: Hiei and Kuwabara.
694* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Genkai not only is unharmed by Suzuki's Rainbow Cyclone, but also steals his clown nose without being noticed and is completely unfazed by his muscle growth technique. She declares his defeat before attacking, telling him he's a genius at creating battle artifacts for his teammates but made the error of mistaking the beauty of his techniques for strength. The CurbStompBattle that follows, with her beating the crap out of him with only punches and kicks, proves she was absolutely right.
695* RedStringOfFate: Kuwabara claims his and Yukina's Red String of Fate will lead the group to her. It ''works'' (though it's most likely just his high spiritual awareness at work).
696* RetiredBadass:
697** Genkai, a medium who retired to seclusion after winning the Dark Tournament 50 years ago.
698** Kuroko Sanada, Yusuke's predecessor as (the first) spiritual detective, who now lives happily on an estate with a husband and two kids. Although from time to time she (or one of her kids) has to kill a demon who dared to trespass.
699* TheRival: Kuwabara, Hiei, and Kurama. Yusuke seems to collect them.
700* RockPaperScissors: First appears as one of Genkai's tests and after that happens with Kuwabara throughout the series. See MundaneMadeAwesome.
701* RuleOfThree:
702** Universe-wise, there are three main worlds separated dimensionally: The human world, the spirit world, and the Makai world; the latter in turn has three major rulers: Mukuro, Yomi, and Raizen ([[spoiler: when the latter one dies, a tournament is run to decide who will rule all three worlds]]). Averted in the second movie, where it's revealed that there is actually a fourth world.
703** On a smaller scale, the three treasures (called "Artifacts of Darkness") the youkai trio (Gouki, Kurama and Hiei) steal in the second arc: the orb of Baast, the Shadow Sword and the Forlorn Hope mirror.
704* RunningGag:
705** Several times Koenma has [[StealthHiBye appeared]] right behind Yusuke (or below his line of sight, or in a form Yusuke doesn't recognize), speaking to and startling him in the process. Botan does this to Yusuke once as well. The entire gag got subverted toward the final matches of the Dark Tournament arc, where Yusuke's spirit energy/reiki level became powerful enough to enable him to detect Koenma's presence as soon as he turned up.
706** Also Yukina being Hiei's sister. But Kuwabara doesn't know. The other characters like to poke fun at this.
707[[/folder]]
708
709[[folder: S]]
710* SacrificialRevivalSpell: This was Kurama's reason for stealing the Forlorn Hope, a magic mirror that grants any wish, but kills the user to do so. He was going to use it to save his terminally ill mother. {{Subverted|Trope}} in that Yusuke prevents this by joining him in the wish, so the Forlorn Hope takes half of each of their lives to save her.
711* SamusIsAGirl:
712** In the Dark Tournament arc, everyone assumes the mysterious masked fighter is a man until the mask is blown off in battle and a young woman is revealed.
713---> '''Kuwabara''': He's--!\
714'''Yusuke''': --a "she!"
715** In the Three Kings arc, it is assumed Mokuro is a man until she reveals herself to Hiei. It's technically the "Two Kings and a Queen" arc.
716* SatelliteLoveInterest: Keiko, whose entire personality seems to be comprised of being angry at Yusuke, being worried about Yusuke, or crying over Yusuke.
717* SaveTheVillain:
718** Subverted when Kurama [[spoiler:tries to convince an almost dead Gama to use his energy to heal his wounds instead of keeping the seal he put on him, to the point of saying he is very skilled and doesn't deserve to die in the Dark Tournament. Gama instead uses his blood to completely seal Kurama's energy and make his next fight much harder, dying shortly afterwards]].
719** Also subverted with Yusuke, who [[spoiler:is only able to defeat Sensui due to Raizen briefly possessing him and comes to his senses right after shooting a giant Spirit Gun as the coup-de-grâce, after which he screams for Sensui to run away from it, to no avail. After learning about the possession, Yusuke is very upset because he wanted to defeat Sensui with his own power]].
720** Kuwabara, on the other hand, was more successful. After being ambushed by [[spoiler:Seaman, one of Sensui's henchmen]], Kuwabara barely wins the fight and drags the villain back with him to Yusuke & co. to be patched up.
721* SavedByThePlatformBelow: Overshadowed by others' badassery, Kuwabara has his second fight with Byakko the White Tiger (to get the latter out of the way to ArtifactOfDoom infesting human world with demon insects) end with both fighters thrown off a small elevated stone plateau down into lava. It's soon revealed that Kuwabara's sash got stuck on a sharp rock protrusion and the guy is hanging there scared shitless, flailing and crying for help as the thing is about to tear.
722* SchoolUniformsAreTheNewBlack: Before [[TournamentArc the Dark Tournament]], Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Kurama would go everywhere in their school uniforms. This includes joining a contest to become the pupil of an OldMaster in the mountains, attacking the castle of demons intending to take over the human world, and raiding the mansion of an evil rich guy to rescue a MysteriousWaif. Yusuke is an interesting example in that his "uniform" is not in fact the school uniform since he specifically wears the wrong color as a form of rebellion.
723* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: Chapter Black, a video documenting every single evil act in the entire history of humanity, is said to run for thousands of hours and Sensui forces the human psychics to watch every second of it in order to drive them insane. However, even if we take a very strict definition of an "evil act" that excludes small cases of cruelty the total time of that compilation should quickly add up to absurd numbers. Consider that every hour something worthy of the tape probably happens somewhere on Earth, so even before considering these things happening simultaneously we can already assume a length of however many years humans have existed. Once you do factor in each act committed by each individual human the true length of Chapter Black is suddenly measured in thousands of thousands of years. Even just a single war (which the tape is explicitly stated to document every act in all of them) stretches out to an amount of time literally too long for any human to possibly comprehend. There is simply no physically possible way any of the young adults claiming to have seen the entire thing could possibly have done that.
724** Potentially a case of FridgeBrilliance as well. Sensui isn't stated to have any sort of time-warping powers but if there was [[YearInsideHourOutside some way to actually allow a human to view all of that footage in such an abbreviated period of time]] (that still left it comprehensible, as merely speeding it up with technology would turn anything that long into nothing but visual noise) that experience would certainly drive just about anyone completely and utterly insane. Given the power and resources of the villains in question this isn't an implausible solution to the problem, even if it probably was just normal writer error.
725* ScunthorpeProblem: Kaito's "Taboo" powers actually includes this - if you say a taboo word, you will be busted as long as the letters you say are in the right order to spell the taboo word. When he has "Hot" as a taboo, Kuwabara and Botan say "Eac'''h ot'''her" and are busted.
726* SecretKeeper: Most of the main, and supporting cast who partook in the case of rescuing Yukina holds the knowledge of Hiei and Yukina being at least, blood siblings. As to the deeper information in regards to the siblings are in fact, ''twin'' siblings depends on how wide the information was circulated between the keepers.
727** Shigure is the first to know of Hiei's background as basis to [[spoiler: review whether Hiei's worthy of receiving the [[MagicalEye Jagan]] implant]]. Once approved, Hiei's disbursement for Shigure's service was [[spoiler: to not reveal his relationship (directly) towards Yukina]]. Therefore, [[spoiler: even if people revealed his relationship to Yukina, [[NobleDemon Hiei would more than likely deny it]]]].
728** Mukuro knew Hiei's entire background due to not only Shigure being her direct subordinate, but also by her [[BirdsOfAFeather fascination towards]] [[LivingEmotionalCrutch Hiei]]; [[spoiler: to the point of holding on to [[OrphansPlotTrinket Hiei’s tear gem necklace]] until the day she met him in person]].
729** Given Hiei being a charged criminal, along in handling Yukina's abduction case, Koenma without a doubt understands the siblings’ entire background. But as to how deep he let Jorge and Botan (who’s infamous for her [[CannotKeepASecret unkept tongue]]) in on the information remains hanging.
730** Shizuru and Botan knows Hiei and Yukina are blood siblings due to being present when Yusuke was receiving his commission tape from Koenma, and sat through the entire video. Shizuru’s brother Kazuma [[LockedOutOfTheLoop lost the knowledge]] due to storming out of the house [[LoveAtFirstSight love stucked]] before the info was presented within the video. Shizuru by default, doesn’t budge in on spiritual cases, nor cause any commotion in the presence of friends without any spiritual awareness (such as [[LockedOutOfTheLoop Keiko]]).
731** Hiei lied to Yusuke that Yukina and himself are half-siblings with different mothers.
732** Kurama knew Hiei and Yukina are twins given the scene where Hiei attempted to ask Kurama the favor of returning [[OrphansPlotTrinket Yukina’s tear gem necklace]] back to her.
733* SecretTestOfCharacter:
734** Played perfectly straight when Yusuke is faced with the dilemma of killing his mentor to learn her ultimate technique. He refuses, but not immediately. Good thing, too, because if he had refused without hesitating, he would have failed the test as it would have indicated a lack of desire to get stronger.
735** Early in the series when Keiko is caught in a fire, Yusuke is told that he could sacrifice the energy he was collecting in his spirit egg (the means by which he could return to life) in order to lead her to safety. He did so without hesitation, which impressed Koenma so much that he offered Yusuke another chance to return to life. Of course, he also had plans to make Yusuke the next Spirit Detective. This test really paid off, as Koenma revealed that the way Yusuke was going, the egg's inhabitant would have devoured his soul.
736* SenselessSacrifice: The absolute worst part of Yusuke's [[spoiler:(first)]] death is that the child he saved ''was supposed to miraculously survive anyway''. Yusuke literally died for nothing. Botan tells him that if Yusuke hadn't shoved the kid out of the way, the little boy would have gotten one less scrape (because his ball would absorb the car crash impact). So Yusuke's sacrifice actually ''made things worse''. Luckily for him, it's the thought that counts.
737* SerialEscalation: Many, MANY times. The younger Toguro maxing his power [[spoiler:to 120%]] is a good one to cite.
738* ShaggyDogStory: The plot starts with Yusuke's completely useless sacrifice.
739* ShapeshifterWeapon:
740** Roto can turn one of his middle fingers into a scythe.
741** Makintaro can turn one of his arms into an axe.
742** Elder Toguro plays this trope straight and subverted. He not only loves to turn his body parts into pointy things to stab people with but also transforms his entire self into weapons for his brother to use.
743* SharedLifeEnergy: Happens to Yusuke during the Saint Beast Arc. While Yusuke was able to defeat the Beasts' leader Suzaku, it used up all of his life energy to do so. Fortunately Kuwabara was able to transfer some of his own life energy, keeping Yusuke from another stint as a ghost.
744* ShipperOnDeck: Kurama for [[spoiler:Hiei and Mukuro]]. Botan for [[spoiler:Koenma and the female reaper]].
745* ShirtlessScene: Too many to count, with both protagonists and antagonists. However, Kurama, the most popular {{Bishonen}}, doesn't have ''any'' of these in the series. He does appear shirtless (completely nude to be accurate) in the movie.
746* ShockAndAwe: Suzaku. Yusuke pretends to try and use the rubber soles of his shoes to absorb his attacks.
747* ShootTheDog: Team Urameshi is stuck playing a video game come to life with a little boy named Amanuma. This means that ''everything'' in the game plays out exactly the same in real life. If Yusuke and the heroes lose, they can just start over until they win; if they win, the villain, Amanuma, dies. Kurama, realizing that this is a trap and that Sensui intends for them to be stuck [[WouldntHurtAChild because they can't kill a kid]], beats him anyway. What's more, he ''tells'' Amanuma ''exactly'' how things will play out to mess with his head, so that he can win faster. Amanuma, being a child, freaks out and loses in an AlasPoorVillain way. [[spoiler: Fortunately, DeathIsCheap and Koenma has a ResetButton handy... which drains his power and prevents from stopping Sensui on his own, which was Sensui's REAL goal in setting the heroes against Amanuma.]]
748* ShootTheShaggyDog:
749** The entire series starts with one; Yusuke threw business in the afterlife out of whack when he sacrificed his life to save a kid from being hit by a kid, since he was not supposed to die. As it turns out, the child Yusuke saved wasn't even going to die; the ball he was playing with would've kept him alive if slightly injured.
750** [[spoiler:The entire Chapter Black saga is an example of this, partially due to Sensui's BatmanGambit above, and partially because Team Urameshi put so much effort into stopping something that the SDF could have done on their own. And Yusuke died, but got better.]]
751%%* {{Shonen}}
752* ShoulderTeammate: Quite literal. The elder of the two villainous Toguro brothers is often seen riding around on his much larger (but younger) brother's back. Kuwabara even insults him by calling him a "shoulder monkey" at one point.
753* ShoutOut: There are actually quite a few. See the [[ShoutOut/YuYuHakusho franchise's subpage]].
754* SingleTargetSexuality: Itsuki is "Sensui-sexual". He even [[spoiler:loves all of Sensui's personalities, no matter how vile. His official favorite is Shinobu, the original one, although Naru -- [[TheCutie a young girl]] who is [[NaiveEverygirl naive and innocent]] -- comes in second]]. It's worth pointing out that Itsuki's manga version talks about how he started hanging around young Sensui because he knew the other would break eventually and he ''loves'' to see [[BreakTheCutie pure things shattered]].
755* SickeningCrunch: Shorin [[spoiler:(Rando in disguise)]] slowly breaking Kuwabara's arm after shrinking him.
756* SinisterShades: Younger Toguro [[http://statici.behindthevoiceactors.com/behindthevoiceactors/_img/chars/toguro-younger-brother-yu-yu-hakusho-6.85.jpg wears them.]]
757* SissyVillain: Suzuka starts out like this, but after [[DefeatMeansFriendship having Genkai beat the crap out of him]], he has a HeelFaceTurn and eventually becomes a genuinely tough fighter under her tutelage.
758* SleepParalysisCreature: In an early chapter when Yusuke is still working to be allowed back into his body, he visits a sleeping Keiko as a spirit to tell her of his plans involving that. While he's not ''trying'' to cause any sleep paralysis discomfort, he decides to talk to her while sitting on her belly and making her visibly strain against the weight, invoking this trope.
759* SleevesAreForWimps: Yusuke in his yellow shirt, Kuwabara without his jacket when he wears a shirt, same for Hiei. Not to mention the countless other fighters like that, Chu, Jin, Kuromomotaro, Yoko Kurama, Toguro when he wears a shirt, etc.
760* SoWhatDoWeDoNow: Yusuke lampshades this by saying life will be boring now that the Dark Tournament is over and even Kurama agrees.
761* SomethingAboutARose: Kurama, with the addition of using it as a weapon.
762* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Every new bad guy the heroes go up against is billed as really strong and evil, but after a while, the show makes you ask why Spirit World placed such top priority against nobodies like Kurama and Hiei in the first season.
763* SparklingStreamOfTears: When Yukina cries, her tears literally become extremely expensive gems.
764* SpectatorCasualty: The Dark Tournament is full of these. Just about every major match has at least one instance where an attack -- deliberate or otherwise -- plows into the audience stands and kills the demon spectators.
765* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Keiko/Kayko. The official romanization of her name is Keiko, but for whatever reason Creator/FUNimation chose to spell it Kayko (which is impossible to spell in any romanization of Japanese).
766* SplitPersonality: [[EverythingsBetterWithSamurai Shishiwakamaru]]. When you see him in the Dark Tournament, you see that bird boy is/can get crazy as hell.
767* SpiritedCompetitor: The biggest example would have to be Jin, but there are many others: Yusuke, Kuwabara, Chu, Younger Toguro...
768* SpoilerOpening: Yes, Kurama and Hiei do become good guys.
769* SpontaneousWeaponCreation:
770** At one point, Hiei uses his ability to create a sword made out of Dark Fire. He's reluctant to use this more than he can help though, since it reminds him too much of Kuwabara's Spirit Sword.
771** Bui can use his energy to create physical giant axes.
772%%* StalkerWithACrush: Karasu.
773* StealthMentor: Hiei and Younger Toguro have aspects of this.
774* StealthPun: Is it an accident that Yusuke's "Rei Gun" is, well... A ray gun?
775%%* StoryArc
776* StoryBreakerPower: As per WordOfGod and in-universe examinations Raizen is acknowledged to have formerly been the most powerful demon in the series. Hundreds of years ago when he was in his prime Raizen had a power level so amazing that he could have easily defeated the other Two Kings of Demon World without batting an eyelid. You'd probably then wonder what is preventing Raizen from [[CurbstompBattle ending the war between the 3 kingdoms by himself]]. Raizen does have the potential to regain his old power level, but since he's a breed of demon who gains his power from eating human flesh Raizen's decision to not eat humans out of love for Yusuke's female ancestor has led to him starving to death. In his weakened state Raizen can't fight like he used to and has retired to his castle waiting for a successor to assume his throne before he dies, Yusuke being said successor. Notably, despite having about a year left before his starvation kills him he can defeat Yusuke's newly acquired S-Class power level with a wave of his hand -- like an adult kicking a child's ass, showing that Yusuke is still a runt in the litter as far as S-Class demons are concerned. Hell, it takes Raizen being literally '''minutes''' away from death plus a year of hard training for Yusuke to fight on par with Raizen.\
777\
778For additional perspective, Kurama makes it a point that though the S-Class rank is still an awe-inspiring rank for a demon to attain, there are some demons in the ranks of Demon World that transcend the ranking system so profoundly that they might as well be considered gods; in fact the classing system of S-Class usually just translates into Spirit World lingo for "Demons too powerful for us to handle," and Kurama claims that such demons are rather offended by being classed in a ranking system when there is no way to comprehend their power. Raizen clearly was one of those demons who transcended the ranking system as old comrades/rivals speak of him in his prime with awe and reverence, that he was the most powerful demon alive in their era, and is arguably the most powerful demon that has ever lived—if the Two Kings that rival Raizen's kingdom saw Raizen fight in his prime they would "piss their pants," showcasing that only Raizen's self-imposed weakness has kept this cold war going.
779* StraightGay: By WordOfGay, and pretty much the only one in anime in existence, [[spoiler:Sensui]].
780* StrongFamilyResemblance: Averted with the Toguro brothers. Younger Toguro is tall, handsome, and muscular. Elder Toguro is small, pale-skinned, and has long scraggly gray hair.
781* SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion: Karasu's "Mad bomb."
782--> '''Mad bomb''': Out of luck, now you're... [smirks and growls]
783* SummonMagic: Used by Rando, Kurama with plants, and Hiei with the Dragon of the Darkness Flame.
784%%* SupernaturalFiction
785* SupernaturalGoldEyes: Kurama may look like a red-haired, green-eyed young man in his human form, but as soon as he drops the human disguise and turns into his real demonic form, his eyes change to this color. Itsuki also has this type of eyes, and they are a hint that he isn't exactly a human psychic. Elder Toguro has them too.
786* SuperpoweredEvilSide:
787** Subverted with Sensui's Kazuya personality which is still technically weaker than his main personality.
788** [[spoiler:Possessed Mazoku Yusuke]]. Not evil, per se, but a whole lot scarier.
789* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: A few during the Three Kings Saga:
790** Yusuke didn't grow up in demon world, so he has no idea why the currency was so important.
791** Yusuke has no organizational skills or interest, so he doesn't put much effort into organizing the tournament aside from the general tone, rules for qualification and the prize. Due to this gap, an ad hoc committee forms to do the finer details of the organizing, finding an MC, etc.
792** Yusuke announces that the tournament is open to every demon in demon world, which has thousands of demons sign up for, including ones that haven't been heard from in centuries. Due to this, his method of choosing opponents by selecting their name-etched on marble-like currency is rendered moot and an ad hoc committee forms to organize a replacement lottery for the qualifying round, and a bracket for those that pass.
793** Three of the participates are former kings, while the throne can technically go to anyone, they have a much stronger chance of winning, since their kingship was based on the fact that they were the strongest around. Many of the other participates who found themselves in a qualifying round with said former king, realized they didn't stand a chance, and turned tail.
794** Yusuke doesn't use his authority as tournament sponsor to do anything but make a specific request: live and let live. Unlike the Dark Tournament, where killing and maiming your opponents is encouraged, he wants everyone to survive in order to join in future tournaments. This upsets some of the audience, since they want to see the carnage, but many see the logic behind his argument.
795** Yusuke has no formal training or practice in public speaking, and is BookDumb, so the speech was made written-by-the-seat of his pants, with a lot of hesitations and heart-filled words.
796* {{Synchronization}}: Between Yusuke and Puu.
797[[/folder]]
798
799[[folder: T-Z]]
800* TakeAThirdOption: This happens quite a few times over the course of the series.
801** [[MadDoctor Doctor Kamiya]] uses his powers to infect the city with a horrible plague. He informs Yusuke that the plague will disappear if he dies or is knocked unconscious, since he is maintaining it with his powers. Doctor turns out to FeelNoPain, making it impossible to knock him out. Doctor orders him to choose: break his ThouShaltNotKill creed, or watch as the innocent people die horribly. Yusuke punches him into the sky, knocking him out of range and unable to maintain the plague.
802** The trope doesn't apply uncut. In the uncut version, Yusuke actually does land a blow that stops his heart, but Genkai revives him with a chest compression. Still, it's enough to break his psychic territory, and although Yusuke is relieved Doctor Kamiya was revived, Genkai assures him that in his case (a policeman's dilemma), [[IDidWhatIHadToDo deadly force]] ''was'' justified.
803** The demon Raizen attempted to devour a beautiful human woman who worked as a medic, only to discover that she [[PoisonousPerson had incorporated all manner of poisons into her body]]. The doctor calmly says that if Raizen devours her he'll die within hours, and adds that, whether he tries to kill her or not, ''not'' eating her would destroy his pride as a man-eater. So between eating her at the cost of his life or not eating her at the cost of his pride, he chose to [[spoiler:[[SexFaceTurn seduce her]], which is how they became Yusuke's ancestors]].
804---> '''Yusuke:''' So what'd you do?\
805'''Raizen:''' I [[spoiler:put the moves on her]].\
806'''Yusuke:''' [[{{Beat}} ...]]
807** [[spoiler: After Hiei's soul gets taken away at the beginning of the Chapter Black arc. Kaito explains that they have two options. Kuwabara decides that they have a third option. To leave Hiei behind and move on without him. This option isn't viable for Kaito however.]]
808* TakingYouWithMe: Kuwabara fights Byakko in a lava pit with stone platforms. Byakko destroys them one by one, forcing Kuwabara to [[spoiler:use his sword to pole vault to Byakko's platform and use the momentum to take Byakko into the lava with him]]. [[spoiler:He ends up being saved at the last moment by his abdominal bandage being stuck in the border of the platform.]]
809* TalkingInYourSleep: Despite sleeping heavily, Yusuke still reacts accordingly to things that happen around him. He can even ''fight'' in his sleep, apparently sleepwalking while dreaming of fighting Genkai; he managed to knock out three opponents who wanted to take advantage of his sleeping state on the ship.
810%%* TeamShot
811* TeamBasedTournament: The Dark Tournament arc is a demonic tournament arc set in the underworld for which Yusuke has to assemble a team of five combatants. They then have to compete as a team against other teams to hopefully win the tournament, as a team.
812* TeenPregnancy: Atsuko is 28 when Yusuke dies, meaning she was only ''14'' when he was born.
813* TeethFlying: Happens off-screen in an early episode of the dub. Kuwabara is set upon by a group of thugs while he's taken a vow not to fight at all, even in his own defense. As Yusuke and Botan watch helplessly from the sidelines, Botan makes the horrified observation, "Is that a tooth?".
814* {{Telepathy}}: Hiei's Jagan eye grants him this power. Kuwabara also displays it with Yukina in the Rescue Yukina arc.
815* TenLittleMurderVictims: During the beginning of the Chapter Black arc, in the house of four dimensions.
816* TerminallyIllCriminal: It is revealed at the end of the Chapter Black StoryArc that the reason why Sensui wanted to open the interdimensional tunnel between the human world and Makai (which in turn allows all demons who live in the latter realm to invade the former) is that he's suffering from a terminal illness, and wants to challenge the strongest demon possible in battle before his passing. The tunnel is opened in the end, but Yusuke, [[spoiler:himself revealed to be the descendant of a powerful demon,]] defeats Sensui afterwards.
817* TestYourStrengthGame: Yusuke and Kuwabara go to Genkai as she's holding exams to find out who will become her student. The second part of the exam involved playing some arcades to secretly gauge their spirit energy, one of which is a punching machine. We see Yusuke get a high score when he plays it, much to Kuwabara's chagrin.
818* ThanatosGambit:
819** Gama has just received deep cuts from Kurama's Rose Whip, is losing a lot of blood and is on the verge of dying. Despite that, he still throws a few more punches that are easily avoided; this seems like a desperate and silly move until he reveals that [[spoiler:his special makeup, with which he had painted seals in Kurama's arms and legs to make them way heavier and thus harder to move, is made from his blood and the punches were just a way to paint another seal, this time to suppress Kurama's entire energy for ten minutes and make his next fight much more difficult]].
820** Sensui's true goal was [[spoiler:to open a portal to the Makai so that he could be killed by a demon stronger than him, to atone for all the demons he had mercilessly killed as a Spirit Detective]].
821* TheWorfEffect: Hiei's sword from the Dark Tournament onward; in the first season he's shown as an incredible swordsmen but by the end of Chapter Black his sword has broken against opponents several times to show they shouldn't be underestimated.
822* ThirdEye: Hiei dramatically reveals one that allows him to react with inhumane speed. Later it is reveals he has extra eyes all over his body.
823* ThisIsForEmphasisBitch: In Episode 80 of the English dub:
824-->'''Hiei:''' You ready?!\
825'''Yusuke:''' Bring it on, bitch!!
826* ThwartedCoupDeGrace:
827** Rando uses the Shrinking Curse on an extremely energy-depleted and defenseless Yusuke, but [[spoiler:he's HoistByHisOwnPetard, being shrunken himself when Yusuke is revealed to having had his ears full of moss from falling in a swamp earlier in the fight]]; as Genkai explains after that, [[spoiler:spoken curses have to be heard by the victim or they will turn on their users]]. Yusuke gets up and [[spoiler:delivers an elbow drop to the shrunken Rando to defeat him]].
828** Karasu pins Kurama to the ground after exploding a field of energy bombs on him and delivers a final energy blast, but Kurama uses the last of his energy to [[spoiler:create a vampire plant that pierces a previously inflicted wound in Karasu's chest and sucks his blood, killing him]].
829* ToServeMan: Demons (usually) eat humans for food. It doesn't say whether ''all'' species of demon have to eat human flesh to survive, though. This leads, later in the series, to [[spoiler:a [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman what measure is a human]] discussion, as well as Raizen's death via [[LoveRedeems starvation for his medieval Japanese human lover]], from whom Yusuke is descended]]...
830* TournamentArc: Three of them: Genkai's Tournament, the Dark Tournament, and the Demon World Tournament.
831* TrainingFromHell: Genkai's specialty. Memorably she made Yusuke balance with one finger on top of a spike.
832* TranquilFury: Kurama's default angry-mode.
833* {{Transflormation}}: The FateWorseThanDeath that Hiei inflicts on Mukuro's [[AbusiveParents abusive father]] in the manga.
834* TransformationSequence: Toguro going to full power [[PowerLevels 100%!!!]]. There is something about someone's skin bulging all over with tendons and convulsing that is [[BodyHorror very creepy]].
835* {{Transvestite}}: [[spoiler:Miyuki.]]
836* TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening:
837** During the climactic final battle of the Dark Tournament arc, Toguro reasons if he kills one of Yusuke's friends, it'll create one for Yusuke. [[spoiler: He ends up being right, although his attack is non-lethal and Kuwabara actually fakes his death]].
838** Yusuke, unable to defeat Sensui, thinks that if he dies fighting Sensui, Kuwabara, Hiei, and Kurama will have one that will give them the edge to defeat him. [[spoiler: When Yusuke does die, all three do indeed awaken some form of a power-up and attack Sensui. They're all promptly defeated anyway, because the simple fact is he's still leagues stronger than them; a simple power-up from ThePowerOfFriendship won't just automatically make you stronger than the enemy.]]
839* ATrueStoryInMyUniverse: In the last few minutes of the second to last episode several hints are given, and then in the preview for the final episode Yusuke says "well, the secret's out" and it's finally revealed: The show you've been watching is a compilation of footage taken by the Spirit World as they monitored Yusuke's adventures.
840* TrulySingleParent: [[spoiler:Yomi clones his son Shura from his own genetic material]]; also, most of the ice maidens ([[spoiler:except, of course, Hiei and Yukina]]).
841* {{Tsundere}}: Keiko is a Type B; i.e., "more deredere". She's a rather nice GirlNextDoor unless provoked. Usually Yusuke provokes her, but a creepy gangster bullying one of her friends caused her to slug him so hard she knocks teeth out. Keiko can be a little bit of a BadassNormal in the strictly human arena.
842* UnknownRival: Kuwabara to Yusuke for some time before the start of the series. Kuwabara is gleeful the first time Yusuke remembers his name.
843* UntoUsASonAndDaughterAreBorn: Hiei and Yukina. Both know they have an opposite-sex twin sibling; Hiei knows Yukina is his twin sister, but she doesn't know Hiei is the twin brother that she's been searching for. As the story closes, their possibility of acknowledging each other is [[LeftHanging totally up to Hiei’s decision]].
844* UntranslatedTitle: Many localizations leave the title as just ''Yu Yu Hakusho''. The English version of the second film had the subtitle ''Poltergeist Report'' and the Funimation dub used the subtitle ''Ghost Files'', both of which are accurate translations of the original title.
845* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Yusuke [[BackFromTheDead suddenly coming back after dying]] a few days ago? Aside from a FreakOut from a small group of students, hardly anyone seems to question it.
846* UpdatedRerelease: The Blu-Ray version for the Funimation dub. As explained by Yusuke himself [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG7X7sp_22s here.]]
847* UrbanFantasy: Largly set in urban Japan staring teenage delinquents, but demons, magic, and the undead all factor in.
848* VictoryIsBoring: Yusuke falls victim to this after [[spoiler: he wins the dark tournament, although he is then punished for his complacency as the next arc starts with him getting kidnapped]]. It then happens AGAIN after [[spoiler: beating Sensui, because being an S-rank demon leaves him as the most powerful fighter in the human world by miles]].
849* VitriolicBestBuds: Yusuke and Kuwabara, most prominently.
850-->'''Kuwabara:''' ''"Dammit Urameshi, listen to me! I [[FakingTheDead did that]] because you... you're you, you moron! Don't you friggin' lose to that jackass! I'll never let you live it down! You're... my best friend!"''
851* VillainBall: Gonzo kidnaps Yukina to make tons of money off of the extremely valuable jewels she cries in place of tears. Even taking into account Yukina's extremely brave nature and her refusal to cry, there were [[PragmaticVillainy much more practical and less needlessly cruel]] ways to get her to shed tears than ColdBloodedTorture. It never once occurred to him to simply make her cut onions.
852* VillainousGlutton:
853** Gonzo Tarukane is fat, ugly, and has a satisfying death scene.
854** Also, Gourmet.
855* WakeUpCall: Up till meeting Toguro, Yusuke manage to pull through his cases fairly well with a bit of luck and ingenuity with his powers. However after Toguro shows that he took a dive in their first encounter, reveals that Yusuke, along with Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei, have been invited to join the Dark Tournament and refusing would be a very bad idea via a demonstration of his strength by utterly totaling the parking lot they're talking in with just a fraction of his power. Yusuke realizes that this matter is extremely serious and willingly goes back to Genkai, fully intent to put his all into his training this time to boost his power so that he can survive what's to come.
856* WaveMotionGun: Hiei's Dragon of the Darkness Flame.
857* WhamLine: ''[[EldritchAbomination That Toguro]]'' is only a '''B''' class Demon?!?!
858* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: In the manga, Hiei taking possession of the Black Chapters tape. It's confirmed he did get his hands on it, but that's all. The anime adds in a scene where he destroys it, probably to head this off.
859* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Played straight on multiple occasions, and also somewhat inverted -- coupled with CarnivoreConfusion -- in the debate over whether ''demons'' have the right to eat ''humans''.
860* WhatTheHellHero: The only reason Toguro targeted [[spoiler:Kuwabara]] is because Genkai [[IWillPunishYourFriendForYourFailure told him that making Yusuke watch him kill one of his friends would unlock his true power]].
861* WolfMan: Kuro Momotaro uses one of his Steaming Spheres to transform into his last Beast Armor: the Armor of the Wolf, which resembles a werewolf.
862* WhyWontYouDie:
863** It's almost comical how Byakko manages to survive not one but two near-death experiences against Kuwabara, with the latter expressing particular shock that the beast was able to survive ''getting pushed into molten lava''. That said, Seiryu is quick to [[KilledOffForReal kill him off for real]] after deeming him a [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness disgrace to the villains]].
864** Exactly what Elder Toguro says [[spoiler:after being forced to fight an illusion of Kurama for the rest of his life -- for all eternity, actually, since he can't die]].
865* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Shinobu Sensui was a heroic spirit detective, but had a mental breakdown after [[spoiler:discovering humans torturing demons, throwing his life's work of protecting humans into question -- one that isn't helped by his subscription to BlackAndWhiteMorality]]. His mind, now fractured into seven {{split personalit|y}}ies, embarked on a plan to destroy humanity as a way of ending the confusion and guilt, along with a [[spoiler:SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum over his terminal illness]].
866* WorldOfSnark: The whole main and supporting cast with the exception of Yukina. Even some of the villains can turn out snarky at times.
867* WorldsStrongestMan:
868** [[spoiler:Sensui.]]
869** After [[spoiler:Sensui]] dies, Kuwabara is confirmed to be the WorldsStrongestMan. Possessing [[spoiler:A-Class power]] and [[spoiler:a sword that can cut through dimensions]] will do that to you. Unfortunately, Kuwabara is in the same boat as [[Anime/DragonBallZ Krillin]]. Being the WorldsStrongestMan is meaningless when you CantCatchUp.
870* WouldHitAGirl: Unlike Kuwabara, Yusuke has no problem hitting women who challenge him in a fight. Yusuke fights against Miyuki, [[spoiler:who, ironically, in the manga and uncensored anime, [[ShesAManInJapan wasn't a girl]]]], much to Yusuke's horror and disgust. He also occasionally hits Botan for annoying him.
871* WouldHurtAChild: Ura Urashima's modus operandi is [[spoiler:using the Idunn Box to revert the enemy to a state before childhood and then killing it]].
872* WouldntHitAGirl: Kuwabara when trying to beat up Miyuki, [[spoiler:who, ironically, in the manga and uncensored anime, [[ShesAManInJapan wasn't a girl]]]].
873* WrapItUp: Togashi had plans for the final arc of the manga that Jump rejected; as such, he quickly threw together a short tournament arc and an epilogue to conclude the story. The anime mitigated this by fleshing out the tournament storyline and giving a (somewhat) more thorough finale.
874* XanatosGambit:
875** Sensui [[spoiler:sets up 11-year-old Amanuma so that the only way the heroes can advance is to kill him. If they let him live, the Makai Tunnel opens without a hitch, and Sensui can die happily. If they kill him (which they do), Sensui knows that Koenma will [[BatmanGambit feel guilty and drain his energy resurrecting the kid, thereby rendering him unable to defeat Sensui]], and the Makai Tunnel ''still'' opens without a hitch and Sensui dies happily]]. Either way he buys himself time.
876** It's implied that Mr. Akashi was hoping Kuwabara would hit him for changing his test to give him a failing grade, so that even if his deception came to light, Kuwabara would still have violated his end of the bargain.
877* XanatosSpeedChess: Just about all of Kurama's fights. While he usually has a vague [[ThePlan plan]] going in, he almost always has to rely on a stroke of genius to save the day.
878* YinYangBomb: Toward the end of the series, [[spoiler:Yusuke mixes human energy and demon energy]]. The resulting combination is far more powerful than the two were separately.
879* YouHaveFailedMe:
880** After [[spoiler:Zeru is obliterated by Hiei's [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Dragon of the Darkness Flame]]]], Gaou and Imajin, two other Team Rokuyukai members, attempt to flee the arena out of fear but are [[spoiler:killed by Chu]].
881** After being cornered by Youko Kurama during their fight in the Dark Tournament, Ura Urashima [[spoiler:starts to reveal a secret about Team Uraotogi but is killed when Shishiwakamaru [[ConvenientlyTimedAttackFromBehind throws his sword at him from out of the ring]]]].
882* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: After Sakyo succeeds in stripping Tarukane of all his money, he orders Younger Toguro to kill him.
883* {{Youkai}}: Nearly 80% of all the antagonists in the series and 3/5 of the [[TrueCompanions Nakama]].
884[[/folder]]
885
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