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YuYu Hakusho

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For YMMV items relating to the live action adaptation, see here. See here for Makyō Tōitsusen/Sunset Fighters

  • Adaptation Displacement:
    • The anime is much more well-known than the manga. Reasons for this that are cited are Studio Pierrot's practice of Adaptation Distillation and, to some extent Pragmatic Adaptation in compressing the manga's Early-Installment Weirdness of Yusuke's pre-resurrection errands (which lasted for two volumes in the manga, but only five episodes in the anime), omitting certain details that were considered unnecessary grittiness (for example, in the manga, Yusuke, who is a teenager, was established as being a smoker; the anime completely removes this aspect of his character, even if only to avoid controversy with public moral censors) and even some degree of Adaptation Expansion in turning minor plot points into mini-subplots.
    • Kurama has black hair in the manga, but good luck trying to find a fan-art that doesn't feature him with the anime’s Significant Green-Eyed Redhead color scheme.
  • Alternative Character Interpretation:
    • Kurama: Is Kurama really as sweet as he seems, or is he really a Manipulative Bastard who is willing to do anything to get what he wants, but plays as being nice since it's easier to get what he wants rather than being overtly evil. Is he The Atoner, who is trying to make amends for his past immoral actions, or was he initially bad, but gradually became nicer via his mother, but especially his friends. How much of difference there between his past self and his current self- are they separate entities in the same body or different aspects of the whole Kurama? In the Dark Tournament, Yoko Kurama acts more openly smug and sadistic compared to the reserved and cautious Shuichi, but by the Chapter Black, Kurama is able to act like his normal self even as his Yoko self. Or he is ultimately a multifacted individual who can be sweet or merciless depending on the situation, but otherwise has a deep-rooted conflict of identity that isn't resovled till the Three Kings saga.
    • Younger Toguro: was he truly steeped in his Blood Knight philosophies and satisfied with his death at the hands of a Worthy Opponent, a man tormented by his guilt of several regrets feeling the need to die at the hands of another hero, believing himself to be the same monster as the one who shattered his beliefs, or a man who saw a young man and secretly tested him so that the boy wouldn't go down the same path as he did? Perhaps a combination of all three, but deep down, a man with a broken heart. At the same time, Toguro's attempts at redemption led to him ruining several lives, including forcing Bui into slavery and murdering several Proud Warrior Race demons with no remorse. Not to mention he kept his brother around with him to murder carelessly and was taking part in a plan to destroy mankind that would've succeeded had Yusuke not been strong enough to beat him, so attempting to see him as a martyr falls rather flat to some viewers. Younger Toguro himself, in the main story, considers himself to be Beyond Redemption, firmly disagreeing with others trying to sugarcoat his actions.
    • The fact that Yusuke and his mother Atsuko are despised far more than would be normal for an Alcoholic Parent and her delinquent son (especially by Yusuke's teachers), plus the fact that they descend from a woman who ingested corpses to provide her medical services (something ritually impure according to Shinto) has created a very minor fanon about the Urameshis being members of the heavily discriminated burakumin group. The fact that Atsuko has yakuza connections in the manga doesn't help, since burakumin men make 60% of the yakuza membership (due to how hard it is for them to find better work).
  • Alternate Self Shipping: Youko Kurama×Shuuichi Kurama is seen occasionally in fanfic, but they're not usually portrayed as the same person.
  • Anti-Climax Boss:
    • After showing off his powers for a bit, Hagiri is suddenly defeated in one panel by Hiei's arrival. Gourmet, or rather Elder Toguro wearing his body is taken out in a similarly quick manner.
    • Dr. Ichigaki turns into a One-Winged Angel form, but gets taken out in one punch from Yusuke in the manga, or after a slightly longer but mostly one-sided beatdown in the anime. Of course, nobody was complaining.
    • In the manga, it's none other than Yomi. After a brief exchange in the fight, the story jumps to some time later, with Yusuke commenting on what happened. The "Anticlimax" part doesn't come from Yomi not living up to his hype — he defeats Yusuke but loses the next round due to exhausting himself — but from not seeing the fight.
    • For being strong enough to make it to the semi-finals of the Dark Tournament, Shishiwakamaru and Suzuki each go down very quickly against Genkai, despite the latter being in a severely weakened state. Suzuki especially seemed to be set up as a legitimate threat, earning some wariness from Kurama and Hiei.
    • Bui, despite being presented as an absurdly powerful member of Team Toguro, is the only member of his team whose fight is completely one-sided against him. Hiei pretty much toys with him the entire fight, takes basically no damage, and even when Bui goes full power, his only achievement is throwing the Dragon of the Darkness Flame back at Hiei, which Hiei just absorbed and came back even stronger. Compared to Hiei's fight with Kuro Momotaro, who legitimately challenged Hiei, Bui's fight feels like a letdown considering how hard everyone else on the team was for the heroes to win against, and like it was just meant to show off how cool Hiei is.
    • Sei-Sei Shinto/The Armed Church of the True Disciples, formed from the more corrupt members of the Special Defense Forces of the overthrown King Enma. Despite their goal to utilize a specialized spirit cannon to destroy Yusuke's hometown, which gives a personal high stakes for a final mission- they prove to be laughably weak, as they are So Last Season with all of the heroes managing to defeat them with ease, being especially underwhelming compared to Yomi, Sensui, Younger Toguro, or even some of Yusuke's earlier enemies. One of the better received elements of the anime finale was removing both this plot point and the revelation of King Enma's villainy.
    • King Enma himself. Despite being the Greater-Scope Villain of the franchise due to his actions corrupting demons, causing almost all of the dilemmas prior to the Three Kings arc, he is disposed off-screen easily by his son. Much like the Sei-Sei Shinto element, the removal of the overtly villainous aspect of the character was among the better recieved elements of the final arc.
  • Ass Pull:
    • At the end of his fight with Karasu, Kurama uses a plant that kills Karasu in exchange for using his own lifeforce as a catalyst to do so, explicitly stating it will kill him. However, a moment after he does so and the fight ends, he gets up alive and well with no issues, and the only downside is that he "loses" the fight by virtue of being knocked out before Karasu was killed. The story justifies this by saying that the power of Kurama's normal form increased each time he used his Yoko form, hence why he survived, but this is never hinted at being a thing prior, so it comes out of nowhere to ensure he survives. This is a particularly awkward fix because the story would have worked fine had Kurama's attack been explained to be simply very risky and dangerous rather than outright suicidal.
    • Sensui’s having split personalities came right out of nowhere. While Murota had read his mind to be very deranged, and he said to have snapped after his world-shattering experience that altered his ideology- nothing indicated that it wasn’t backstory material to explain how he went from an idealist to a nihilistic, manipulative mastermind. Certainly, it didn’t indicate that it fractured his mind into not two, but seven personalities including the original. It didn’t help that it wasn’t executed smoothly as four of those seven didn’t get any role in the plot outside of description- with only one mentioned in-story. And the other three included a violent thug who had minimal screen time, the manipulator who was thought to be the only Sensui, and the original who acts slightly different than the manipulator, except genuinely nicer and nuanced. It also robs Sensui of being a fully explored character due to the climax essentially swapping entire characters in the manner of two episodes before solidifying with the one best suited for the finale, despite being technically the same person.
    • Sensui having Sacred Energy and being a S-Class. Nothing in the story up to that point indicates that a third type of energy even existed, even with the flimsy explanation of its difficult and nigh-impossible mastery to retroactively detail why no one else was shown with this type of energy, it's more to do with damage control rather than organically tie into the narrative. And nothing in its portrayal indicates why, visually, it is unique- being identical to the other two aside from the yellow aura/battle suits. And for Sensui being a S-Class, Sensui’s danger had been up to that point, his tactical mind, years of experience as a former spirit detective, and refined technique, but nothing that hinted that he was anything more than a human slightly below Yusuke in terms of power. Nothing implied that he was two whole levels stronger than Younger Toguro, and only serves to build escalation to make Sensui stronger than the last enemy. This and the split personality disorder are the reasons why Sensui can be seen as a polarizing character.
    • Yusuke being part-demon came right smack out of nowhere with no foreshadowing whatsoever and led the Sensui arc to a very anti-climactic conclusion. Never once was it hinted that Yusuke's family history was important, and it goes against how he was originally a Badass Normal dragged into the events of the series because he sacrificed his life to do good. It also robbed the others of a chance to take down the Big Bad on their own, which was seemingly what the original intent was. The following arc explores the idea, but it feels more like an attempt to explain the twist instead of naturally following up on it.
    • The reveal at the end of the story that the majority of demon-related crimes in the human world were caused by King Enma brainwashing demons and setting them loose to be caught so that Enma's administration could pad their numbers of closed cases. It's revealed that, though there were occasional, actually criminal demons, most demon-related killings before Enma's brainwashing started came from contracts with humans using them to assassinate other humans. This flies in the face of literally the entire story as almost universally every demon that has been seen has hated humanity and generally been blood thirsty, and the Chapter Black arc's main threat was a doorway to the demon world opening, allowing them to flood Earth and feed on humanity. Yet in the aforementioned chapter, it's noted that the entire barrier between the human and demon world has been removed entirely. It is rumored that Togashi wanted the series to end and was worried that he either would be forced to stay on it or another writer might be put on to continue it, so possibly he chose to have an ending that wouldn't allow for any possible continuation. The anime removes this controversial concept in favor of the Spirit World being morally gray, but ultimately on the heroes’ side, and demons being genuinely violent/chaotic, but having the budding potential to eventually become more civil with Enki in charge. Fans prefer this ending over the manga due to its more mature approach and tying into a Bookends to how Yusuke, a delinquent that no one expected to be redeemable, becomes a better man and now applies it to a race seen as irredeemable monsters.
  • Base-Breaking Character: Shinobu Sensui. Some like him as a suave, intellectual, clever Fallen Hero turned Misanthropic Villain, though detractors feel that he is ridiculously over-intelligent and overpowered to the point of absurdity, especially due to how he tends to reveal those powers without any prior build-up whenever it seems like he's cornered.
  • Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The subplot of Mr. Iwamoto trying to frame Yusuke for stealing from his classmates in Episode 6. There was really no purpose to it other than letting Yusuke use the Psychic Spyglass, which was ultimately its only use in the story.
  • Broken Base: The meaning of the "Forever Fornever" text that appears at the last caption in the anime finale has been debated for years, and no one is sure what it is, if there is really any.
  • Catharsis Factor: The series showcases the very worst aspects of both demons and humans, so it's very satisfying when the heroes give them the beating that these lowest of the low richly deserve after committing atrocities while getting away with it due to their power and influence:
    • Gonzo Tarukane is a ruthless, cruel, and greedy gangster who tortures Yukina for her rare and highly valuable pearl tears and is willing to do anything for profit, no matter how horrible. So seeing him lose his fortune on a bet that was rigged in Sakyo's favor and being laughed at by the other Black Black Club members for it, getting bloodily beaten into unconsciousness by Hiei, and then going insane before being executed by Younger Toguro is incredibly satisfying.
    • Dr. Ichigaki getting curb-stomped after everything he did is rather satisfying to watch, whether it's Yusuke taking him out in one punch in the manga or giving him a beatdown while dedicating a punch to each of his crimes.
    • Elder Toguro's ultimate fate of being trapped inside the Sinning Tree and relieving his worst nightmare of being unable to hurt Kurama no matter how much he slashes and cuts him up also counts, given what a depraved sociopath he was. Another example of Elder Toguro is the fact that right after being defeated by Kuwabara from within their Dark Tournament finals match, his own younger brother, who finally had enough of him and his dishonorable tactics, brutally takes him out in just two hits that came very close to killing him.
    • The Dark Tournament spectators (sans Team Urameshi's friends) having their lives drained by Younger Toguro after spending the entire arc in wanting to see Team Urameshi get brutally killed and for Team Toguro to kill them is incredibly satisfying to watch. Especially when the survivors wisen up and finally cheer for Team Urameshi as they realize that Younger Toguro was going to kill them if he won, and it's better to root for someone who will ensure their safety.
    • Even with the knowledge that he had pre-planned outs to have Genkai revived and only faked killing Kuwabara, after killing Genkai while insulting her entire life choices, going as far as separating her from her past life as some unnatural replacement, killing some of the audience members to fuel his 100% form, threatening to kill Yusuke's friends, and giving Yusuke a brutal beating, Yusuke punching Younger Toguro as he skids like a ragdoll before launching a massive Spirit Gun while he's getting up was very satisfying to watch.
    • Witnessing a Raizen-possessed Yusuke give Sensui an epic No-Holds-Barred Beatdown was very cathartic to see, especially after the latter had deliberately threw a child's life away as a stalling tactic to demoralize the protagonists, having manipulated said child into the role with the child himself being unaware of his real purpose, setting up his subordinates to die with no care towards them, giving Yusuke a brutal thrashing to the point he killed him before the latter revived, and being an absurdly invincible villain who kept getting sudden overpowered abilities with no foreshadowing beforehand to pull him out of any situation that seemed to finally be going the heroes' way before he snatches away, while giving nihilistic drivel, to which Yusuke finally puts the arrogant fallen agent in his place even if he desired the outcome.
    • After giving an unconscious Kurama a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to the point that Koto, the normally bloodthirsty announcer, is disgusted by it, Yusuke giving Bakken a humiliating beating is especially cathartic, especially when Bakken tries to cowardly attack Yusuke after having the audacity to beg for his life.
    • After torturing Kuwabara who was shrunk thanks to one of his stolen techniques, Yusuke gives Rando (who was disguised as Shorin) a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown, giving some well-deserved satisfying punishment to a cruel and vicious demon. A little while later, Rando manages to get a taste of his own medicine as Yusuke unintentionally gets seaweed stuck in his ears due to Rando's arrogant/cruel tactics, forcing the demon to be shrunk by his own technique and then crushed under Yusuke's right elbow as a helpless little thing.
  • Common Knowledge: Everyone "knows" that Mr. Takenaka is Yusuke's school principal. Actually, he's Yusuke's homeroom teacher; the fact that he's shown scolding other teachers for being disrespectful to Yusuke gives the understandable but inaccurate impression that he has some kind of authority over them.
  • Complete Monster:
    • Elder Toguro, in contrast to his honorable younger brother, is a depraved sadist who cast aside his humanity to become a demon. During the Dark Tournament, Elder Toguro promises two bested opponents that he'll spare one depending on who wants it more. When one begs for his life, Elder Toguro kills him, then murders the other because he hates keeping promises. During his match against Kuwabara, Elder Toguro uses his shapeshifting powers to torture the latter both physically and emotionally by reenacting the murder of his friend Genkai. Nearly being killed by his brother for his dishonorable tactics, Elder Toguro allies with the genocidal Sensui. Tricking a psychic named Gourmet into eating him so he can hijack his body, Elder Toguro torturously eats him alive from the inside out, reveling in his fear as he drives him to suicide. Gaining his host's ability to absorb the power of whomever he cannibalizes, Elder Toguro eats the telepath Murota alive and intends to do the same to Kuwabara, with the end goal of using Kuwabara's power to open the barrier to the Demon World and allow the demons to Kill All Humans.
    • Gonzo Tarukane in the English dub was given more crimes than in the original Japanese. While Tarukane desires wealth above all, he kidnaps the innocent snow maiden Yukina due to her tears producing rare jewels and tortures her physically and emotionally, even having the man who tried to rescue her gunned down. Adding to his crimes, Tarukane puts animals through horrible genetic experiments and founded the sinister Black Black club, making him responsible for the torture and murder of countless innocent demons. Tarukane shows that that humans can be just as vile as even the worst of demons.
    • Chikou is the "father"/owner of Mukuro, the Makai ruler. He outfitted her with cybernetics to turn her into his sex-slave at birth, and started raping her as soon as the procedure was complete. This continued throughout her childhood until she disfigured herself with acid so she'd be too unattractive for him to be interested, at which point he simply threw her out. Just to make sure she wouldn't try to kill him later on, he implanted Mukuro with false memories of him having been nice to her before. He had to implant these memories because he'd never shown her any kindness in her life.
  • Creepy Awesome: Due to the series' visuals being heavily inspired by the art of H.G. Giger, the villains have both awesome abilities yet an underlying disturbing aspect:
    • The Toguro Brothers. Their powers involve intense Body Horror, with the Younger becoming increasingly muscular till he's essentially living exposed muscle in the form of a humanoid, and the Elder is a shape-shifter who can manipulate his body in very grotesque ways. Both always manage to wow the audience, both in and out of the universe, with their powers, though less so with Elder Toguro because of his repulsive personality.
    • Karasu isn't as overtly nightmarish as the Toguro Brothers, has a mysterious vibe, while having a cool wardrobe of a black long coat with a Cool Mask, coupled with a very creative power to create bombs from thin air. He is also a mentally disturbing individual whose obsession with Kurama paints him as a creepy Serial Killer who wants to kill Kurama due to his obsession. Due to this surprisingly creepy personality and aesthetic, he is seen as one of the iconic villains of the franchise.
    • Shinobu Sensui is a nihilistic and legitimately insane individual whose trauma caused his mind to fracture into seven personalities, including the original, and some of the most terrifying elements of the Chapter Black arc are delving into his very deranged mind. Due to this, and being a very effective Evil Genius, he is seen as a very memorable villain, almost on the same level as Younger Toguro.
  • Crossover Ship:
    • Pairing Botan with Soma Cruz from Castlevania is popular since they are Death/Dracula in teenager form.
    • Yusuke and Usagi Tsukino, since the creators are married in real life.
  • Cult Classic: Not nearly as popular as Dragon Ball Z, its rival at the time in the west, but it has a fierce following.
  • Diagnosed by the Audience: Sakyo, mostly in the anime. He barely emotes even at the most extreme situations and rarely seems satisfied with his misdeeds, with his ubiquitous empty smile being rather proof of it than against it, and although he is rationally aware of the extent of his own villainy, he seems to genuinely lack the ability to comprehend it. While it is made evident that Sakyo is mentally disturbed, his personality brings echoes of a neurodevelopmental disorder.
  • Die for Our Ship:
    • Yoshihiro Togashi actually wanted Mukuro and Hiei to be in a relationship, but many Hiei/Kurama shippers hated the ship, partially because of this trope and partially because Mukuro had the misfortune of being introduced near the end of the series' run.
    • Maya Kitajima from the manga and OVA also has this to some extent. Almost 90% of the few mentions she gets in the fandom are about how much of a "bitch" and a "slut" she is... merely for having a crush on her classmate Kurama!
  • Draco in Leather Pants: Several of the villains are notably attractive and at times, due to their sympathetic backgrounds or lackthereof, get much more pity than what the narrative implies about them:
    • Sakyo is a roguish man with a scar that is suave, having a personal code, and charming, even managing to woo Shizuru of all people. This is despite his goal to cause the apocalypse via demon invasion because he's bored, and on a personal level, he is a self-admitted sociopath who killed animals prior to becoming a risk-obsessed criminal mastermind who is closely tied to the Black Black Club that harms innocent demons and caused Sensui's Start of Darkness.
    • Sensui is very attractive and is deeply contemplative over his flawed worldview proven wrong, seeking atonement for his crimes via death by the demons he thoughtlessly hunted down. He's also a madman who is legitimately insane with seven fully self-aware split personae, having a goal to punish humanity via a demon invasion apocalypse, and willing to put his subordinates, including a child in dangerous situations with guaranteed death to punish his enemies.
    • While more of a Hunk, Younger Toguro is a very guilt-ridden man who is driven by his prior losses and deep self-loathing over the monster he became, and orchestrated a plan to have Yusuke kill him. Despite this, he's also an extreme Blood Knight willing to stoop to any low to get the fight he wants, doesn't bat an enemy when his teammates die, mocks his former lover by treating her as an inferior existence to her prime due to aging, and was willingly associating with Sakyo to get a fight with strong demons despite it causing the apocalypse.
    • Karasu is very attractive (objectively less so when he takes off the mask) and has a suave persona. He's also a depraved sadist who wants to kill Kurama painfully due to his warped view of love and lacks any Freudian Excuse like Toguro or Sensui, being an unrepentant monster who toys with his favored victims.
    • Shishiwakamaru is just as unpleasant as his fellow teammates, but he, along with his teammate, Suzuka/Suzuki, is not only spared, but becomes a part of Yusuke's extended allies. This is especially notable as he, unlike the rest of those said allies who either changed for the better/were decent folks on the wrong side, remains the same narcissistic jerk as when he was a villain with no humanizing traits. His aforementioned good looks played a major part in how he was spared.
    • Kaname Hagiri/Sniper, is a handsome-looking young man, but is just as bad as most of his contemporaries in the Sensui Seven, going as far as to try and kill Yusuke via increasingly violent means and being a staunch follower of Sensui's vision. He gets spared alongside Doctor, Seaman, and Gamemaster, but unlike them, who at least tried to live decent lives to atone for their crimes, Sniper is largely unrepentant and walks away, not punished for his prior actions.
  • Ending Fatigue: The final arc and epilogue somehow managed to drag on and feel rushed at the same time. The Three Kings arc ends right in the middle of Yusuke and Yomi's fight, with all the outcomes of the tournament simply told to the reader after the fact. And then after that is the multi-chapter epilogue that's basically just a large series of unnecessary one-shots (enough to take up an entire tankobon), ending with one more conflict that's resolved easily, but once again ends right in the middle. Not to mention that Genkai's second and final death occurs off-panel during this part, and what would've been her very last appearance in the manga is after the cut-off point.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse:
    • Koto, the first judge of the Dark Tournament, was popular enough that she returned during the Three Kings arc and was given a big entrance.
    • Oddly enough, the second judge during the Dark Tournament saga, Juri, proved to be a decently popular character despite only being in the show for the last quarter of that arc.
    • Not to mention Chu and Jin, two characters who remain popular despite comparatively little screentime. Of course, one of the factors of Chu's darkhorseness is because of his voice being Norio Wakamoto. As well as being a Wild Card badass, turning the trope of the usual Training from Hell results into a balanced and unpredictable fight with a fighting style that complements his drunkard nature. And as for Jin, he manages to be a uniquely laidback and carefree individual who manages to get along with Yusuke while being able to fight with an unorthodox approach to wind manipulation.
    • And of course, there's Hiei, who, according to Word of God was just supposed to be a Starter Villain (clear with his more psychotic personality and "true demon form" showing), but whose popularity launched him to the status of one of the four main characters. Word of God mused this was especially true of the manga incarnation, whereas Kurama seemed to be the fan-favorite in the anime adaptation.
    • Kirishima, one of Kuwabara's friends, was ranked in 9th place in the first popularity poll despite his minor role.
  • Evil Is Cool: Yu Yu Hakusho is a series that explores the evil of both demons and humanity, but some stand out as being very iconic in how awesome their powers and personalities are:
    • Younger Toguro, he's essentially just a demon whose power is Hulking Out via percentages, but his unique blend of composed demeanor, very tactical mind, and monstrously grotesque manner in which this is displayed, especially at 100%, makes him be seen as the series' most iconic villain.
    • Sakyo also deserves props for managing to still be a compelling Non-Action Big Bad in a World of Badass, especially with Younger Toguro as his Dragon-in-Chief due to his charisma, collected personality, and admittedly good looks that manage to gloss over the fact he's a sociopath who switched from killing animals to taking risks with his planned goal of causing a demon-world apocalypse via a portal due to curiosity, which also ruined the lives of the few non-aggressive demons.
    • Karasu. He is a tactical and strategic combatant who managed to frighten Kurama of all people into desperate measures to take him down, but still manages to catch him off guard several times in the match itself, despite the preparation. This, combined with his slick attire combined with his unique powers and disturbing mindset, makes him one of the most memorable villains of the series.
    • Sensui. He's a nihilistic former Spirit Detective who legitimately went insane after his world-shattering revelation. But due to his very calculating mind, diverse abilities, and unpredictable insanity that kept the heroes on the back foot due to how he placed them into tailored situations to make them doubt humanity’s salvation, he became a villain that could fill the shoes left behind in Younger Toguro’s absence.
  • Fan-Disliked Explanation: Some viewers dislike the reveal that the Toguro brothers were only Class B-ranked Demons in the Chapter Black arc, feeling that it was a cheap way of trying to raise the stakes by using a Sorting Algorithm of Evil to make Sensui's goals more dangerous than initially presented. It doesn't help that it makes the brothers' claims of having been made the "strongest class of Demons" feel weird in retrospect, since the story doesn't address that statement, nor that the final arc doesn't make the supposedly more powerful Demons feel as powerful as the brothers.
  • Fashion-Victim Villain: Even the most hardcore fans will usually admit that Sensui's first Sacred Energy Armor, with its crude golden pieces and baggy undersuit with ribbons (as can be seen here), looks terribly campy, if not straight out of a completely different anime. His other Sacred Energy Armor, which places emphasis on speed and offense, is more likely to be an aversion, even if still looking like a superhero costume.
  • Franchise Original Sin: While an iconic series that redefined the Shōnen genre, it also had issues from the start, which eventually snowballed into major problems in the latter arcs in the series.
    • The Disney Death aspect of the show. Initially, Yusuke was indeed dead, but was eventually revived. However, this came after a long trial to test his moral character. Later on, Genkai and Kuwabara seemingly die convincing final deaths, only for them to be reversed or not be real. While somewhat egregious, it was in-character for the person who committed them, having Genkai's body being saved, knowing that she'd be revived the moment Yusuke won the tournament and had faked killing Kuwabara for motivation. It really became hard to defend when Yusuke inexplicably managed to revive as a half-demon after Sensui kills him, something that had not been in the series' mechanics of revival, making it out of left field compared to the above examples.
    • The use of I Am Not Left-Handed in fights. Earlier, it was justified as the opponents were demons, with the main draw being how each one would slowly reveal their full arsenal, especially Younger Toguro's percentages, but they were at the very least hinted at before their reveals. It only became polarizing with Shinobu Sensui, who was a Spirit Detective, with an implied detailed report of how he fought from those who fought him. Despite this, he not only managed to reveal he had six other personalities with their own fighting styles, but also an entirely different energy to fall back on with complete mastery over. While the demons could get away with it due to their nature as non-humans, compared to how Humans fight with their signature style, while having variations, it is their only tool. Sensui's reveal of powers thus comes across less as an intriguing revelation and more as an example of New Powers as the Plot Demands to keep Sensui relevant. Togashi realized this mistake as in his next work, he would make sure his power system was thoroughly explored and make sure each have limitations for how to use said power, with any deviations requiring severe costs as a necessary price to achieve it.
    • The Monster of the Week format of the fights. It worked in the Spirit Detective and Dark Tournament as the interest came from the surprise of unexpected enemies for the heroes to fight, which worked due to their memorable personalities/abilities to varying degrees. Once Sensui was introduced, the problem began to arise, mainly due to there being no prior hint as to why this powerful figure came out of nowhere to be a threat, let alone the fact that Yusuke wasn't the first Spirit Detective. While it was slightly justified as the Spirit World would try to cover for a major blunder on their end, it added further confusion for why Sensui, who was a prominent Spirit Detective, was never referenced, even by other demons, who would've been as afraid of him as much as Genkai, if not more so. The problem really ballooned with the Three Kings- the three undisputed rulers of the entire Makai, only being referenced in the final arc. This is particularly egregious as any demon the heroes fought never mentioned their rulers, let alone the Spirit World mentioning them, due to this trio likely being major parts of the lore of the worlds, which all parties should be informed of.
    • The Humans Are the Real Monsters aspect of the series. While it was there from the beginning, the involved people were the Harmless Villain type as they were merely obstacles to prove the heroes' innate goodness. It started to become more relevant with the Black Black Club, but at the time, they were the Non-Action Big Bad types, with the main threat being the demons, with their evils at worst, being emotional abuse of demons, black market deals, and underhanded cheating- which made them evil, but more in the lines of cartoonish villainy. It really became a problem during the Chapter Black arc, which began to explore the concepts of very depraved humans that could really push the heroes to their moral limits and there was much of an emphasis on how terrible humans could be. However, at the time, Togashi was limited with what he could do in the medium, which he wanted to explore his own thoughts on how depraved humans were, so the concept wasn't explored other than making the arc edgier before undoing most of the damage to make the perpetrators more redeemable despite their actions. Togashi would truly be able to explore the monstrous depths of humanity he always wanted to explore in his next manga however.
    • The Easily Forgiven aspect of the series. Before, demons and humans, to a lesser degree, would be punished via death or being humiliated to varying degrees, with Hiei and Kurama being the exceptions. At the time, it was justified as the former was Brainwashed and Crazy either from the implied use of the Shadow Sword or by King Enma's brainwashing means and the latter was already a decent person by the time we met him. And this continued through the Spirit Detective Saga. However, this changed with the Dark Tournament, but it wasn't as egregious as Chu, Rinku, Toya, and Jin were already decent individuals compared to their corrupt peers. It became questionable when Shishiwakamaru and Suzuki- the Beautiful Suzuki, who were far more unpleasant, were given the same redemption treatment despite nothing indicating at the time that they weren't anything other than cruel demons. Younger Toguro and Sensui managed to receive redemption, but this was only after they died as vile villains, finally exposing their tragic reasons by others/themselves because they didn't have to bother with pretenses with their deaths. It really became a problem when Yomi, an implied tyrant with megalomaniacal machinations, even compared to his peers, was given a chance to live a peaceful life despite showing no indication beforehand of being anything other than evil, which differed from the above examples.
    • The increased sympathy for Demons as the story went on. At the beginning, Demons were portrayed as Always Chaotic Evil, with the exceptions being Hiei, who was both gradually becoming nicer due to the human influence and being heavily implied to have been brainwashed for differing reasons depending on the medium, the Shadow Sword or by the Spirit World's brainwashing program as revealed later in the series; and Kurama who became a kinder soul due to human influence. The implication was that Demons were inherently evil, but under rare circumstances, could they be reformed by human influence, which ironically was the case for Raizen due to his lover being a Human, which led to him being anti-human consumption. And this was indeed the case for the majority of the Spirit Detective Saga, with the other demons being irredeemable, regardless of honor they had to a degree. This notion became blurred with Yukina, who was otherwise a mostly benign/innocent girl outside of her desire to remind Hiei to kill their heartless Ice Maiden race, who was implied to be kind even without human intervention. This notion of Demons being Always Chaotic Evil became even more blurred with the introduction of Chu, Toya, Jin, and eventually the trio of Rinku, Suzuki, and Shishiwakamaru- the latter to a much lesser extent, being amicable Demons with no implied human redemption influence, which gave rise to the notion of Demons being just as nuanced as Humans- with there being good and bad individuals, but they were the minority of a mostly evil race. Then Chapter Black occurs and Demons become incredibly sympathetic due to the Black Black Club actually torturing them in ways worse than any shown Demon, mixed in with depictions of actual monstrous demons including Itsuki, which continued the gray notion of Demons being essentially like Humans, but looking different and being raised in a cutthroat environment as well as being persecuted by Humans and Spirit World for just being different, when they weren't causing havoc to the Humans. The anime even ends on the notion that under new leadership, Demons will eventually become civilized and able to cooperate with Humans. Something the Big Bad of the Chapter Black agrees with, having decided that his Knight Templar behavior made him blind to the potential connections he could've made if he were more open-minded. The manga goes to the end result of demon sympathy by making them brainwashed victims of Spirit World, which is revealed to be running a Monster Protection Racket to control the Human World, which removed the nuance of the conversation, making it a very controversial subject by the end.
    • While it didn't directly affect the series itself, it managed to ripple into the next manga's infamous tendency of extended explanations to the finest detail. Itsuki's tendency to go on long rants about Sensui, which were very out of place compared to the direct yet nuanced dialogue of characters before and after him. At the time, it was excusable due to Itsuki being a clear nutjob who wasn't supposed to be seen positively. However, in the following manga, Hunter X Hunter, by the Chimera Ant Arc, characters, but especially the narrator, began to give long monologues about the situation, going into entire paragraphs about the situations, explanation of abilities, decisions, or general world-views that made the series very wordy.
  • Friendly Fandoms:
    • With JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, due to the Diamond is Unbreakable arc of JoJo and Yu Yu both running in Weekly Shonen Jump at around the same time, both manga sharing similar characterizations and themes, and their authors being friends. Yusuke's name being close to Josuke, with both of them dressing as delinquents and having the kinda slow Kuwabara and Okuyasu as their friends, helps comparisons.
    • The same could be said for Dragon Ball fans, due to them both concurrently during The '90s as well as the Funimation English dubs that came out on Toonami during the early 2000s, making fans of both series come together.
    • With Inuyasha. Crossovers between the two are popular due to the similarity of their subject matters. Yu Yu Hakusho even provides an explanation why Inuyasha shows demons as common in feudal Japan, while almost nonexistent in modern Japan.
  • Germans Love David Hasselhoff:
    • Though it was renamed Ghost Fighter, many Filipino '90s kids fondly enjoyed and remembered this show as one of the few animes that aired on local television prior to the rise of cable TV and internet in the mid-'90s. Because of its popularity in the country, it earned high ratings in the primetime block over local and foreign soap operas, and was rerun several times on GMA Network (the channel that broadcast the show) from time to time.
    • The series is also fondly remembered by Brazilian anime fans who grew up with it in the '90s. Along with it airing in Rede Manchete (a channel which went defunct in 1998, but to this day is remembered as the main anime and tokusatsu hub at the time), it is also remembered for its dub, which contained plenty of local slangs and phrases which became memetic (see below).
  • Growing the Beard:
    • For the series, the Four Saint Beasts arc. This was when the main quartet (Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei) came together for the first time and kicked ass against the eponymous antagonists of the arc itself, all while establishing their own distinct personalities and fighting styles.
    • For the manga, it was when Yusuke got revived and became a Spirit Detective.
    • The dub version was Growing the Beard for Funimation, who worried some fans because of the massive changes seen in their previous English dub of Dragon Ball Z. Sticking close to the original script and having voice actors with more experience (due to DBZ) helped put them on top of the anime dubbing community.
  • Harsher in Hindsight:
    • The Armed Church of the True Disciples, who appeared in the next-to-last chapter of the manga, are eerily similar to modern-day religiously-motivated terrorist groups, most notably Aum Shinrikyo, who committed the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack only months later. In retrospect, omitting that chapter was wise on Studio Pierrot's part.
    • After the Dark Tournament, Kuwabara wonders if Yusuke lost his powers after his fight with Toguro. In Yoshihiro Togashi's next long-runner, Hunter × Hunter, Gon loses his ability to use Nen after a heated battle after the Chimera Ant Arc.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
    • Yusuke dying by getting hit with a truck/vehicle when selflessly saving a child (and finding out that he's Not Quite Dead and has a chance for revival) was a rather unique concept for its time. Years later, the premise of 'dying via truck' ends up being overused and parodied as a tool to get reincarnated to another world, creating a whole genre. Yusuke hilariously becomes the codifier of modern Isekai anime, with the truck that hit him being the prototype of the memetic Truck-kun.note 
    • In the Dark Tournament, Kuwabara (who is voiced by Shigeru Chiba) fights and loses to Suzuki, who while initially posing as an old man, is later revealed to be dressed in clown garb after he removes his initial disguise. Chiba would eventually go on to voice Buggy, a clown pirate and recurring villain in One Piece.
  • Ho Yay: Tons. YuYu Hakusho is the granddaddy of shonen series using this trope to grab at the female demographic.
  • Informed Wrongness:
    • In the Chapter Black Arc, Kuwabara bails on a mission to go to a concert instead, which is painted as a selfish and irresponsible move by the rest of Team Urameshi. Normally, it would be, but Kuwabara's powers suddenly stopped working at the start of the arc, and he doesn't like Yusuke treating him as helpless on top of that. So his decision not to help at first, while flawed, makes sense at the time.
    • Early in the Three Kings Arc, Yusuke gets scolded and rejected by Kuroko because he told a demon that he didn't fault him for eating humans. The thing is, Yusuke didn't say it was okay for him to eat humans, but rather, he understood why, because some demons need to eat humans to live.
  • Jerkass Woobie:
    • Hiei. It's not revealed until the third and final arc, though. He was abandoned at birth to his death by his heartless Ice Maiden tribe for being born to a male fire demon-Ice Maiden union. He managed to survive, but had to be cutthroat and closed himself off from others as they either tried to kill him or leave him due to fearing his strength. This left him with an untrusting and aggressively guarded personality for most of his appearance, mainly due to fearing being taken advantage of and killed if his guard was down. He only becomes slightly nicer due to the influence of his friends and later Mukuro breaking through his layers of being guarded.
    • Yusuke, to a lesser extent. When Yusuke initially turns down the chance to come back to life, Botan is pretty alarmed to discover that, at 14 years old no less, Yusuke's totally convinced that everyone he knows, including his own mother, will be glad that he's dead. It's attending his own wake and being shown that he's dead wrong that convinces him to come back.
  • Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: In a show with vile pieces of work such as Elder Toguro, Dr. Ichigaki, and Chikou, the most hated characters are Mr. Akashi and Mr. Iwamoto. The former for sabotaging Kuwabara's test so that he would fail, causing Okubo to potentially lose his job, the latter for framing Yusuke for petty theft, and both for insulting Yusuke at his own wake.
  • Love to Hate: Elder Toguro is a completely dishonorable, monstrous, and sadistic villain in the series, in complete opposition to his far more pragmatic and noble younger brother. However, it’s due to how unapologetically vile he is at what he does that he is seen as one of the most memorable antagonists in the show.
  • Magnificent Bastard:
    • Kurama was once an infamous demon bandit named Yoko Kurama until he was nearly killed by a Demon Hunter and was forced to reincarnate into the human fetus of the nearest human woman living as Shuichi Minamino. Upon joining Team Urameshi and aiding Yusuke in his missions, he would win his battles not just with power but through intelligence, making him a master planner when it comes to fighting his enemies, even before the fight begins. Manipulating his enemies into thinking they have the advantage when in reality they were already defeated, leading to instant deaths or fates worse than death. Even when forced to work for Yomi, he still shows his strategic side when dealing with Yomi’s arrogant second in command by turning his minion against him and relaying false information, taking both his position and his life in the process. Intelligent and ruthless, Kurama has proven himself to be one of Yusuke’s most loyal allies.
    • Sakyo is a charming, charismatic member of the Black Black Club who came up from nothing. A born sociopath who despised his honest, loving family, Sakyo graduated from torturing animals into high-stakes gambling, where he amassed a fortune to join the demon-trafficking and torturing Black Black Club. Deciding to advance even further, Sakyo plays the group's founder Gonzo Tarukane by secretly paying off the Toguro brothers when Tarukane hires them as bodyguards, rigging the gambles he makes with Tarukane by having the Toguro brothers take a dive against Team Urameshi. Setting up his team to fight in the Dark Tournament, Sakyo takes a curious liking to Shizuru Kuwabara and protects her during the events while also manipulating and eventually disposing of the rest of the Black Black Club, before gambling his own life on Toguro's victory to ensure he can see a portal opened to the Demon World out of sheer morbid curiosity. When Toguro is defeated, Sakyo immediately offers his life without complaint, bidding a last fond farewell to Shizuru first.
    • The Younger Toguro brother sold his soul 50 years ago to become a powerful demon after winning the Dark Tournament in despair over the deaths of his students and the knowledge of his impending mortality. In the present, having grown disillusioned with his life, he manipulates the events with Gonzo Tarukane to see if Yusuke Urameshi is a worthy adversary and forces him and his team to join the Dark Tournament. Toguro manipulates Yusuke into becoming stronger while also keeping him from making Toguro's mistakes before the final match. After killing Yusuke's mentor, his former teammate and lover Genkai, Toguro is dissatisfied with Yusuke's strength and seemingly murders his friend Kuwabara to force him to fight all out, only to reveal he faked Kuwabara's death. Unlike his twisted elder brother, Toguro never sold his pride along with his soul and displays a true sense of honor, grateful to give his all against a final worthy adversary.
    • Shinobu Sensui, the "Black Angel", was once a brilliant young Spirit Detective whose idealistic view of humans was shattered by the Black Black Club. Years later, Sensui uses the depraved Chapter Black tape to recruit a group of psychics to his side as Team Urameshi goes after him, manipulating all his enemies and allies alike to achieve his goals and weaken Yusuke's team. In one instance, Sensui forces Kurama to duel in a game against a little boy, with the boy not knowing he will die if he loses. Sensui is aware that Kurama will do it, but knows it will shake him up too much to be of use in fighting Sensui at his best later, while also knowing a guilt-stricken Koenma will use up too much power restoring the boy to life. Sensui also uses his multiple personalities to bear the burdens of his crimes, revealing his true self in time to defeat and even kill Yusuke before opening a path to the demon world, with his true goal being an elaborate suicide attempt to die at the hands of a powerful demon to atone for taking so many demon lives in the past. Passing as a dark mirror to Yusuke himself, Sensui remains one of his most sympathetic and fascinating enemies.
    • Yomi is one of The Three Kings of the demon world and is the central antagonist during the Three Kings Saga. Originally serving Kurama back in his days as Yoko, he was an impatient and headstrong thief whose recklessness eventually caught up with him, costing him his sight. After learning from his mistake, he would eventually become one of the most powerful and intelligent demons in existence and carve out his own empire. Upon Raizen's upcoming death, Yomi begins his plan to conquer not only the demon world but also the human and spirit worlds as well, hoping to end the squabbling. He would be one of the few people who could outsmart Kurama by holding his family hostage and testing him to see if he was worthy of becoming his second in command while competing with the current one. After meeting with Yusuke and hearing his proposal to have a fighting tournament rather than a war, he reluctantly agrees to his terms for the Makai Tournament. His warrior's spirit is reawakened, and he decides that he wants to achieve his goal of ruling the three worlds if he can earn it. When he loses the tournament, he accepts the loss with grace and goes on a journey with his son, leaving his empire behind, parting as friends with Kurama.
  • Memetic Molester: Compared to other examples, Risho gets a mild variation of this. It's rare to find a fanfic starring Team Masho that doesn't at least mention him molesting Touya, even more so if the said fanfic in question is a Jin/Touya one...
  • Memetic Mutation:
    • "Words Can't Hurt Me These Shades Are Gucci." explanation
    • "That guy's got horns... That's not normal. Well, not gonna ruin my day." explanation
    • Several from the Filipino dub:
      • Gusto mo bang makita ang aking isandaang porsyentong lakas?! explanation
      • Anong gentle-gentle? explanation
      • Mga mahihinang nilalang! explanation
      • Tapusin! Tapusin! explanation
    • "You shouldn't talk. It makes you sound stupid." explanation
    • Ah, eu sou Toguro! explanation
    • Duelo a muerte con cuchillosexplanation
    • "Oh, no! He's hot!" explanation
  • Moral Event Horizon:
    • Even with his Freudian Excuse, some fans still can't forgive Toguro for his brutal murder of Genkai, massacring half the tournament stadium, and even his false-killing of Kuwabara.
    • Elder Toguro crosses it with the Genkai puppet show, showing Kuwabara how she died in a gruesome manner that was pointlessly sadistic to emotionally hurt him, as well as rub it in how his team didn't tell him about her death. Even Sakyo is grossed by it. And it's very telling that his younger brother decides to cut all ties with him after this.
      • Arguably taking over Makihara's body and torturing/killing him from the inside. And enjoying it thoroughly. As posing as Gourmet, he ate the mind reader, Murota, who had helped Yusuke and company out earlier. Both of which earn him an And I Must Scream fate from Kurama.
    • Ichigaki crosses when he reveals that he is the one who plagued M1, M2, and M3's master in order to get them to work for him in the first place.
    • Despite being fairly minor in comparison to later episodes, Mr. Akashi certainly crossed this in Episode 3 when he nearly takes away a member of Kuwabara's gang's job which his family needs to survive for attacking a group of thugs harassing Keiko, only relenting when Kuwabara promises not to fight for a week. After Kuwabara stays true to his word and takes beating after beating, he adds the condition that all the members must pass their biology test with full knowledge that they're Book Dumb. And when they all pass thanks to Yusuke helping Kuwabara study from beyond the grave, he erases one of Kuwabara's answers, bringing him down to failing, then proceeds to rub it in his face that he failed his friends. This backfires as Mr. Takenaka was there when he edited the answer sheet, resulting in him being scolded and forced to bump his grade back up.
    • Both Mr. Akashi and Mr. Iwamoto crossed this in the first episode, where they insulted Yusuke at his own funeral, believing that he only saved the child because he was trying to mug him. They only stop because Mr. Takenaka chews them out. Mr. Iwamoto only goes downhill from there in Episode 6 when he frames Yusuke for stealing from his classmates, assaults him when he denies it, and insults his mother to goad him into hitting him, giving him an excuse to expel him. When Yusuke outs him as the thief, he claims that he must have planted the items on him.
    • Sensui crossed it when he manipulated Amanuma, a 12-year-old boy, into working for him and deliberately left out the negative consequences of his power just to serve as a distraction to Team Urameshi, leading to his death. Kurama, in particular, was infuriated by this action.
  • Narm:
    • Sensui's first sacred energy armor with a witch hat, golden shoulder armor, and beige pants. Not only does it look bizarre, overdesigned, and ugly, but he just had to make it worse by saying, "I'm a living, breathing, sentient tank!" When Yusuke manages to overcome it, Sensui thankfully exchanges it for a much more streamlined, darker-colored, and cooler-looking iteration.
    • Funimation's dub had Yusuke's near-constant use of calling something "Stupid X" (ex: "I'm here to kick your stupid ass!") in the earlier episodes. This was gradually phased out around the time of the Dark Tournament arc.
    • Both Latin American and European Spanish dubs had their problems dubbing this show:
      • The European one, while featuring some decent voice acting with what they had, becomes unintentionally funny due to the horrid translation of the dialogue, the miscast of several voice actors, and the fact that its dub director Joaquín Gómez insisted in voicing almost half of the male characters of the series by himself (which was especially notable because Gómez is not exactly a man of a thousand voices, which makes all his characters sound awfully similar).
      • The first Latin American Spanish dub, while not having the same problems of miscasting or a single actor doing too many voices at once, on the other hand, fails in both translation and voice acting at the same time. This is partly because the show was one of the earlier dub jobs done in Estudios Pegaso in Cuernavaca, rather than Mexico City, and many of their voice actors were rookies with very few roles under their belts at the time, and it shows, to the point the quality of the dub was one of the reasons YYH failed to made a good impression to Latin American audiences, and having to made a newer dub, this time in Mexico City, to replace the Cuernavaca one.
  • Narm Charm:
    • Funimation's dub has a lot of odd choices from a voice perspective, including weird accents like Jin's Irish-sounding accent, and a number of the voice actors have weird line deliveries or sound really flat at times. In spite of all that, the dub is widely held in high regard because not only do many of these moments make characters more memorable or funny, but the dub is still really good even with those aspects.
    • The Beautiful. Suzuki. Just watch Episode 50. Watching an old lady royally kick a gay clown's ass all over the place with nothing but her bare hands is pretty damn hilarious. Suzuki's antics, along with Genkai's responses to them, are really what make it work.
    • And of course, how the concept of The Beautiful Suzuki is a flamboyant, garish-colored clown to be worshipped as a god due to his narcissism would be the most off-putting element that would take away any immersion in the Semi-Final Match if it were taken seriously. However, it works because everyone in-universe sees him for the ridiculous fool he is. His narcissism is so absurd in how he envisions himself in the same vein as a deity in how mysteriously awe-inspiring they are while having knee-jerk violence to any lack of mention of his beauty, and gliteringly sparkles associated with handsome figures in juxtaposition to his weird appearance lead to a memorably entertaining figure to watch instead of an irritating annoyance to get rid of.
    • The Viz localization of the manga is an odd case - while it doesn't shy away from the more adult elements of the source material, the way that the characters talk can be... odd, at times. Hiei calling Yusuke "Po'dnah", Kuwabara threatening to "Haul [Byakko's] tuckus down here" the vibe can veer closer to "Your Gen-X uncle trying to be cool" than "demons and street toughs". Thankfully, this almost always happens in moments that leaned comedic anyway, so it can lend a kind of off-kilter charm.
  • Not Badass Enough for Fans: Keiko gets this for being one of the few characters who don't have any powers, as well as getting emotional in distressing situations. Some of her detractors would go so far as to ignore and outright deny anything good she's ever done in the series. Yoshihiro Togashi himself revealing that he didn't like her as a character doesn't help.
  • The Problem with Licensed Games: With the exception of Makyō Tōitsusen, none of the games stand out as particularly noteworthy, but some of them (such as Tournament Tactics and most infamously Spirit Detective, the both of them being released for the Game Boy Advance and both leaving Japan) range from either mediocre to terrible at best.
  • Questionable Casting: The most criticized aspect of the Spanish dub, aside from the awful translation and overuse of Joaquín Gómez's voice, is the voice casting for the main characters. Detractors typically point out that Kuwabara and Hiei sound too much like elderly men, Yusuke's voice is just too funny to be taken seriously in dramatic moments, and for Kurama, while his voice actress sounds really a lot like Megumi Ogata, it's painfully clear that she had no previous experience voicing male characters at that point. In contrast, the first dub of the second movie, which was done by a different cast, is felt to have much better casting choices, although conversely, whether they live it up acting wise is very hotly debated.
  • Retroactive Recognition:
    • A crapton, with a few good examples listed above. Most notable is Vic Mignogna as Uraurashima and Bui (though, for the latter, you wouldn't tell that was him just by listening to him), though Travis Willingham as Yanagisawa is notable as well.
    • Before she was Pikachu and Tony Tony Chopper? Ikue Otani did the voice of Shura, Fubuki Sato and the boy Yusuke saved.
    • Ed Blaylock, who voiced Mr. Iwamoto, would later be much more recognizable as the voice of King Bradley.
  • The Scrappy: Mr. Iwamoto, who is disliked for being a Sadist Teacher who seems to dislike Yusuke and Kuwabara just for existing. While he should be considered a Hate Sink, he's also hated for being a huge Karma Houdini after he tried to frame Yusuke for stealing (and in the anime, giving Mr. Akashi the idea to erase Kuwabara's test answer).
  • Seasonal Rot: The Three Kings arc, which Togashi was forced to do by his editor's order, suffers from this. Common criticism involves Kuwabara being Demoted to Extra, the heroes not being heroic, and an attempt to replicate the Dark Tournament arc, but made most of the fights anti-climactic. The manga has it even worse, as it shows about five battles that were very short.
  • Signature Scene: Yusuke's Heroic Sacrifice at the beginning of the series is remembered by everyone.
  • Slow-Paced Beginning: The first two volumes of the manga consisted of Yusuke doing good deeds as a ghost until he was brought back to life. Not many lost sleep over the majority of those chapters getting cut from the anime.
  • Strawman Has a Point:
    • He's completely ridiculous in every other respect, but Suzuki is right that people tend to aggrandize things that are shrouded in mystery, this being the reason he gives for keeping his "beautiful" face hidden under clown makeup.
    • The Koorime are made to appear to us as heartless bitches who would willingly condemn a child to death just because his mother made him with someone from a different race and he looks "a little" creepy at birth. Even his sister, by far the purest creature from the series, thinks their whole kind deserves to be killed for what they did to her, her mother, and her brother (although she also expresses that she sees it as a form of Mercy Kill). The problem is, their point is completely valid. All the male offspring so far have killed many Koorime, who can only reproduce at intervals of over a century. And Hiei was only saved by The Power of Friendship. Although they never seem to question if perhaps it's their shunning of the child that causes the violent retribution in the first place.
    • A minor example from the Dark Tournament arc is George suggesting Hiei attack Bui while the latter is busy removing his armor. While the girls chew him out for suggesting such a dishonorable act, they seem to forget a very important detail. The tournament isn't an officially-sanctioned martial arts competition. It's Blood Sport, where the only consistent rules are 1) No interfering with the match. 2) Stay in the ring. When most matches are won by killing your opponent, every fighter should be a Combat Pragmatist. There's also the fact that Botan said that Hiei would never do something so dishonorable. Umm, did she forget that he used to be a murderous criminal in the past and at one time tried to turn her best friend Keiko into a demon during his first battle against Yusuke?
    • Mr. Akashi and Mr. Iwamoto are no doubt irredeemable jerk asses, but their attempts to get Yusuke and Kuwabara expelled aren't unjustified, as they weren't exactly model students. While Kuwabara made an effort to be a straight-A student and avoid his delinquent lifestyle, it was implied that Yusuke never improved his school life.
  • Superlative Dubbing:
    • Funimation's English dub of the series is one of the earliest examples. While there were some issues, like name pronunciations and the occasional Dub-Induced Plot Hole, the voice acting is well done, and it has plenty of amusing Woolseyisms. It's widely agreed that, regardless of the quality of the voice acting, the dub has the better script; some fans even prefer the English dub over the original Japanese version, even in the years since it was made.
    • The Brazilian dub is still fondly remembered by anime fans for its natural-sounding performances and use of local slang and jokes, some of which became memes.
  • They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
    • Some reactions when the show was ported to Toonami from [adult swim] as the shift to weekday afternoons meant it had to be edited, losing some of the luster of the fights that come off as awkward without the uncut content. Even worse was that the show only reached the Saint Beasts Arc when it was on Adult Swim, denying fans of seeing the Dark Tournament and Chapter Black arc uncut on TV.
    • The Meikai Shito Hen movie was released in Spain many years before the anime itself, and featured a completely different voice cast, which got replaced by the series' when the movie was redubbed. Although the latter is the most known dub, among other things for having a (very slightly) better translation and voice acting, many people feel the first dub had way better casting choices (see Questionable Casting below)
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
    • Early on, we are introduced to Rando, a very sadistic demon who steals other peoples' fighting techniques and then kills them so that he can be the only one who knows said techniques. He is the main antagonist of the series' first arc and nearly kills both Yusuke and Kuwabara. However, he is defeated when one of his techniques backfires, and he is never seen again, even though he is not killed or permanently incapacitated. Rando could've been a recurring villain who had new techniques every time he was seen, always itching to torture and kill Yusuke for humiliating him and handing him his first defeat, but he never came back.
    • Mr. Takenaka, Yusuke's homeroom teacher. He was the only person at Sarayashiki Junior High who believed in Yusuke and Kuwabara's potential to better and improve themselves. There was a lot of potential for him to even be a father figure for Yusuke himself.
    • Some fans were disappointed that Bui, the only surviving member of Team Toguro, did not show up for and compete in the final arc, having become more powerful like Chu, Jin, and others had become.
    • Kuwabara's friends, Kirishima, Okubo, and Sawamura. They don't provide any real value to the story, and none of them get much characterization. This is despite there being a good chance to give Kuwabara some focus or provide new characters as allies for later chapters, but the most relevance they have is being hostages to motivate Kuwabara to reawaken his powers in the Sensui arc. After that, they don't make any real appearance.
    • Similarly, the Psychics, Kaito, Yana, Kido, and Murota, didn't have their potentials explored. Out of all of them, only Kaito actually played a part in the final battle during the Chapter Black Saga, as Kido spent most of the arc in the hospital, Yana stayed outside of the cave with Botan, and Murota was unceremoniously eaten by Gourmet. After the Chapter Black arc, they were ordered by Genkai to never use their powers again.
    • Kuroko was introduced early in the Saga of the Three Kings as the first Spirit Detective and Sensui's predecessor. She and her family are shown to have interesting character traits, and yet she is quickly written out of the series after Yusuke decides to go to Demon World.
    • Kuwabara is written out of the story during the Three King's arc despite being in the series longer than everyone but Yusuke, with the reason being that as a human, he would be in danger in the Demon World, but many have criticized this for writing him out of the story when he should be part of it. Kuwabara being the only human of the team offers a unique perspective the arc lacks, and it doesn't help that the previous arc built him up as a major player in it, only to sideline him for Yusuke at the end.
    • The Armed Church of the True Disciples could have been an interesting Knight Templar faction among the good guys. Instead, they're dealt with rather easily in the penultimate chapter of the manga, show barely any personality, and present less of a threat than the Wire Dilemma they force Yusuke to solve.
  • Too Cool to Live:
    • Raizen, who was the strongest demon, was even on his deathbed, and even at the end of the series, no one surpassed him in his weakened state, let alone his prime. He was still able to trounce the Big Bad in Yusuke's body and then did the same to his descendant even minutes from death.
    • Younger Toguro and Karasu are villainous examples, with the former being a demon with both extreme brute strength and an overwhelming presence, while the latter is one of the few people who outsmarts Kurama, as well as managing his overwhelming power with elegant grace.
    • Sensui despite his hate, is both this and Too Powerful to Live, due to being so effective as a mastermind and fighter who mastered a unique energy that far outstripped the cast at the time, and that it took the aforementioned Raizen to take him down. And all the impressive feats he did were in the final stages of cancer, meaning he was fighting at a very limited capacity compared to his prime.
  • Tough Act to Follow:
    • While Sensui has fans and is seen as a solid antagonist, he is often seen as a weaker villain than Younger Toguro. Though Sensui has more overall impact in terms of world-building thanks to being the previous Spirit Detective, Younger Toguro's rivalry with Yusuke, his tragic history with Genkai, and his compelling relationships with Elder Toguro and Sakyo is more memorable, and he has a consistent personality that is gradually fleshed out organically compared to Sensui. It doesn't help Sensui that the final battle against him has the extremely controversial Ass Pull that Yusuke had Demon heritage, making the battle feel anticlimactic compared to the more natural build-up and usage of Genkai and her Spirit Orb, complete with Kuwabara's seeming death to trigger Yusuke's powers. And Sensui himself is a controversial character with his seven personalities with separate powers and Sacred Energy, with no build-up to those reveals, to make Sensui stronger than Younger Toguro, with his characterization going through drastic changes before settling on a more nuanced version of his initial portrayal, which overall was inorganic and contrived compared to what had come before. It's likely the reason why Sensui, despite being more powerful than Toguro, is never used in crossovers or celebrations compared to Younger Toguro.
    • The Three Kings arc is viewed by many to have failed to live up to the standards set by the Dark Tournament and Chapter Black arcs. That Togashi had not planned to even conceive and write this arc but was made to do so by the mandates of his publishers and editors is very transparent in how the arc's events play out. The manga version skips out on the major fights in favor of a controversial revelation of King Enma being responsible for most of the demon cases via brainwashing to maintain control of the human World, and dealing with terrorists who were much less powerful/interesting than anything beforehand- being an anticlimax to the story with a rushed resolution. The anime version is only slightly more favorable, with fights shown that give conclusions to major characters, but the pacing was much shorter than both arcs combined, and had a more relaxed competitive vibe despite the higher stakes being the prevention of the three worlds being taken over by one of the more villainous factions. As well as fleshing out Kurama and Hiei's characters, in addition concludes Yusuke's personal issues in a manner that feels well-earned.
  • Unintentionally Sympathetic: Bui. From a narrative standpoint, he is merely an obstacle for Hiei to overcome by thwarting his usual trump card and becoming the victim of Hiei's power-up, not appearing again afterwards. However, unlike Karasu, who was a legitimate sociopath whose servitude to Younger Toguro was arguably a positive outcome, as it prevented the madman from going on a rampage, Bui was shown to be nothing more than an earnest martial artist dedicated to his craft, with no indication of the usual demon sadism/arrogance. With his forced servitude into Younger Toguro's group being essentially enslavement with the sunglass demon explicitly stating to be the case. And Bui's prime motivation is essentially to defeat his owner to regain his freedom. With his subsequent disrespect, mental breakdown, and humiliation at his enemy's hands, it came across as disproportionately excessive compared to his teammates who suffered much less so. It didn't help that, unlike his teammates, he doesn't have a sadistic side- preferring to give his enemies a quick death rather than prolong the torture, and is actually both respectful towards Hiei/takes him seriously as a Worthy Opponent, unlike his peers who disrespect their enemies to varying degrees. It doesn't help matters that he doesn't appear afterwards, not even in the Demon World Tournament, which saw the return of almost all of the surviving Dark Tournament cast.
  • Values Dissonance: While definitely a classic with themes that are still resonant even today, it is a product of the '90s, which has elements that do not hold up, especially as the decades followed into the new millennium, with some situations that could raise eyebrows nowadays:
    • As noted here, the series dates from a time when heteronormatism was the status quo. There's a few off-color jokes about Homoerotic Subtext and Yusuke once mocks minor villain Miyuki for being transgender ("You're not a real crossdresser, you just can't make up your mind!"), neither of which would pass muster nowadays.
    • While Yusuke and Keiko's relationship has aged well for the most part, some of his actions towards her would be classified as sexual harassment. While the series does acknowledge his behavior as not acceptable in-universe to an extent, as he is frequently slapped by Keiko for his advances, it's unlikely that any woman would find this kind of behavior endearing or acceptable today.
    • In one instance, when Yusuke is knocked out, Botan cheerfully advises Keiko to capitalize on the chance to take his virginity, which the context seems to treat as just a juvenile joke, presumably on the basis of it being woman on man. Joking or not, a heroic character casually proposing to commit a rape would certainly not fly so easily today.
    • During the Cartoon Network broadcasts, the Non-Nazi Swastika on Kazemaru's forehead was removed. The censors were unaware that it was the traditional Buddhist manji, not a Nazi hakenkreuz. The English translation of the manga instead just adds a Note from Ed. in the margin explaining it.
    • When Yusuke sees the crowd of people lining up to be Genkai's next student, the dub changed his line to him comparing them to the freaks at a comic book convention. While it does fit his character to make such a comment, it would instead come off as insulting the audience, who are more likely to go to such events. Especially after The New '10s when comic-book conventions started to become less stigmatized.
    • Out of all the scary black men that show up in the Dark Tournament arc, Makintaro looks the most like a blackface caricature, complete with Sambo lips. Stereotypes of black people were and still are acceptable in Japan, unlike in the West.
    • Also Bakken, who happens to be even worse, as he looks like a much more realistic depiction of a man of African descent. It doesn't help that, unlike Makintaro, who dies quickly with a much more overtly monstrous appearance/power to offset his unfortunate appearance, Bakken is fleshed out more in personality as a violent, cowardly brute whose comeuppance comes from the light-skinned protagonist with no one liking him, not even his teammates. Retroactively, it's an awkward experience to sit through beyond the Hate Sink trait he's supposed to embody, with some skipping it in favor of the much more favorable fight of Yusuke vs Jin.
  • Viewer Gender Confusion:
    • Touya is a very pretty boy, which would be fine. But he's also an ice demon, and the best-known race of ice demons has been established to be entirely female. He is established to be a different species, but it's still enough that some fans swear he's female.
    • Kurama is infamous for this, to the point where the Filipino dub thought he was a girl and named him "Denise." Of course, they later caught on to it and retconned his name as "Dennis." Even in the original manga, he's mistaken for Kuwabara's girlfriend. It doesn't help that both forms of his are very effeminate.
    • Karasu on first glance, looks very effeminate, especially with his facial mask, which accentuates these traits.
    • Genkai is easy to mistake for an old man for first-time viewers. This is mostly due to her lack of feminine features. Like with Kurama, the Filipino dub mistook Genkai for the opposite sex and named her "Jeremiah." She does eventually become more identifiable as a woman as she becomes Progressively Prettier, being someone that one could tell was once beautiful.
  • What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: The series depicts a lot of death, violence, increasingly morbid subject matter on the darker matter of humanity, and sexual humor...but it was published in a Shonen magazine (Shonen Jump, specifically). In fact, in 2004, an American kid got in trouble for buying the manga at a school book fair due to its sex and violence.
  • The Woobie:
    • Yukina, in her introductory arc, secretes jewels when she cries, which leads to her getting held captive by Tarukane in order to make money off her tear jewels. For five years, Tarukane put her through physical and emotional torture to make her cry in order to sate his greed.
    • Kiyoshi Mitarai, a.k.a. Seaman, was bullied to the point of physical and mental torture by his classmates, watched the infamous Chapter Black tape (featuring the most horrendous acts performed by humans) ends up joining with Sensui, and then was given special powers that involved cutting himself and using his own blood to create monsters...
  • Woolseyism:
    • The implied romance between Younger Toguro and Genkai is much more accentuated in the dub, making their scenes far more heart-wrenching.
    • Toguro's final form was described as being him powered up to being "100% of 100%", or "100% over", which seemed to mean he had gone beyond his limits, but it is a bit confusing and weird to accept, as Younger Toguro had mentioned no one had managed to match him at 100% power, which is heavily implied to be his max limit. The dub changes it to "more like 85%" and TRUE 100% to make a bit more sense, as Younger Toguro was testing Yusuke if he could handle it before really giving it his all at 100%, which feels like his maximum.
    • During the flashback of Itsuki meeting Sensui, Sensui asks if Itsuki has any regrets, and Itsuki names a TV show and a (at the time) celebrity who would be performing on it, which surprised Sensui because he watched the show too, and realized how similar Youkai were. They obviously couldn't name the TV show or celebrity in the dub because people wouldn't catch it; but they still get the point across by having Itsuki say, "My favorite TV show will be airing its final episode tomorrow, and I want to see how it ends".
    • Both the English dub and the translation of the manga do an excellent job of translating Kurama's challenge to Kaito, in which if they say any of the forbidden letters — one is added from the back of the alphabet each minute.
    • Watching the dub while having more literally translated English subtitles enabled, it is apparent that the dub script is often more colorful and, in the case of Botan and Koenma's explanation of plot points early on, better at getting certain aspects of the plot (specifically, just how the show's depiction of the afterlife and revival process works) across.
    • In Episode 3, part of the conflict was Okubo losing his permission to have a job. In Japan, students can't get jobs unless they have permission from their school because it could interfere with their studies. Naturally, the school having authority over a student's employment might have some Americans scratching their heads. So, in the dub, it was mentioned that Okubo's job was working at the school, which makes a little more sense to American viewers (for example, work-study).
    • The dub localized "Youkai" as "Demon. While this isn't entirely accurate (as youkai aren't entirely malevolent like demons traditionally are), it actually does fit the context in which Youkai were used in this particular manga.

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