Kuwabara was my favorite character and I can't deny any of him getting screwed,but your totally wrong about Hiei
He switched sides sort of like how a criminal will testify against his boss for protection,it's that kind of thing. Then he came to begrudgingly respect Yusuke. So after all those times,of course Yusuke would trust him. And frankly the Dark Tournament is nothing but morally ambiguous,he has Type V Anti Hero painted all over him,maybe Type IV.
As for Kurama,the final arc is very much about deciding between humanity or demonhood,with him ultimately choosing his mother
Hiei was supposed to be a Starter Villain,but he proved to popular
Sensui was unstable from day one even when he was Spirit Detective,he was Black And White Insanity,it didn't take much for him to fall like that
As for the fights,gimme an effing break,most of them that don't involve Hiei are always pretty fair,there is always 50/50. Especially this is the case in the Dark Tournament.
Can't argue about the arcs,they are hit and miss and frankly I didn't like the 3rd season much either,the final one was kinda hit and miss,but the first two seasons were superlative. They alone are why the show deserves every bit of praise it gets
I'm not tainted by Nostalgia,I only discovered this series while here at college.
and Kurama (who was stabbed by Hiei)
Uh, Kurama jumped in the way of the sword stab that was meant for Yusuke. Even Hiei was shocked that he did that and actually felt betrayed: it wasn't Hiei's choice to stab him.
And another thing,it's in Kurama's character to be businessman-like at all times,he's The Spock is he not?
(1) Yusuke does not start to trust Hiei implicitly until after they have been teammates for a while.
(2) Yusuke remains "fun and snarky" throughout the series, and was an adrenaline junkie the whole time.
(3) The only time you could argue for Kurama "loosing his humanity" in full demon form was when under the influence of the fruit of the previous life. Other times, his body is shifting to show an increase in power, so he does not undergo any personality changes.
(4) I would hardly say that being the driving motivation for an arc counts as not really mattering, so meeting Yomi definitely mattered. If you were referring to Kuronue and the movie, that was a filler movie.
(5) The Forlorn Hope explicitly stated that it did not take the offered sacrifice from Yusuke and Kurama, as a reward for noble actions. So, no, Kurama did not loose half his soul.
(6) I agree that Kuwabara is slightly underused, although sitting out the last arc was the most logical choice for his character. It showed he was growing up, and frankly he was a human and had no place in demonic politics.
(7) Sensui went insane because seeing humans torture demons broke his worldview. For Sensue, it had always been humans=all good, demons=all evil. Then Itsuki started wearing away at that by being a (relatively) good demon, and seeing the feast of human vices, followed by watching Chapter Black, broke him completely. Additionally, the whole destroy humanity thing was at most a fringe benefit of his real plan, which was to escape to demon world and die by a demon's hands, allowing him to atone.
" I get irritated by forums that constantly whine and bitch about how "original" this series is compared to more modern day shonen with little to know explaination. "
A case of Seinfeld is Unfunny here. The reason so much of this is considered original is due to the fact that it's pretty much set the bar for modern-day shonen. Of course it seems dated now, but when you compare it to other series around the same time (which is really just DBZ), Yu Yu Hakusho was noticeably different. Yu Yu Hakusho took the tournament/fighting focus of DBZ and added characters and growth to it and voila! You have a whole genre of shonen with a focus on nakama and team spirit and getting stronger and stronger. Neither Naruto or Bleach would exist without Yu Yu Hakusho there.
As for the characters - they may not be everyone's cup of team but there's a reason that Yuusuke, Hiei, and Kurama especially consistently rate high in Shonen Jump favorites polls. People still like them.
May or may not have been raised by egregious Brazilian wolves.
"Whine and bitch"? So you're saying that people are going on forums saying how upset they are about how original YYH is? Or you just wanted an excuse to say something snide about the fans?
^ people were liking something they didn\'t, we can\'t have that can we.
I know this was forever ago but Hiei was forced to be on the team
I can understand how you feel, and honestly it was how Hiei turned from a Villainof The Week to one of the good guys was a bit abrupt, but I feel that his characterization afterwards was more consistent. And for me, despite watching some shonen (I’m not that big into Shonen or anime in general but I’ve watched One Piece, Hunter x Hunter and some DBZ) and despite seeing commonly used elements (tournament arc, stock shonen rival) I like the way they were presented.
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A Generic Series Tainted by Nostalgia
I constantly see reviewers praising this series saying that it is the best thing since sliced bread.I find this series to be highly overrated. I get irritated by forums that constantly whine and bitch about how "original" this series is compared to more modern day shonen with little to know explaination.
To begin with the characters feel wooden. Hiei is the biggest offender. I think of Hiei as a stray dog that only needs to take one punch to be housebroken. Seriously, he gets beaten once and then joins Team Yusuke and never commits any morally ambiguous action again. We later learn about his very convoluted back story that contradicts the logic of his first appearance. This is made even worse when you consider how easily Yusuke ( whose girlfriend Hiei abducted) and Kurama (who was stabbed by Hiei)seem to trust him implicitly.
Yusuke starts out fun and snarky but his character devolves into an adrenaline junkie as the series develops. In fact by the end of the story he turns into Goku from Dragonball Z, enjoying fighting but thinking everyone can be friends.
Kurama is also an interesting charcter at first but never grows in any direction, his character growth remaining stagnant throughout the story with several chances to have the spotlight focus on his struggles ignored. Didn't Kurama lose his humanity in full demon form? Not important. Kurama met his partner in crime from his previous life, did it really matter? Not really. Kurama sacrifices half his soul with Yusuke but niether are affected by this action. In fact, Kurama doesn't actually seem to be close to them in spite of risking his life for them. He feels more like a coworker who just happens to slay demons with the rest of the team rather than a friend.
I won't talk about Kuwabara because most people including the author don't care about him seeing as he doesn't get much screen time and is kicked out of the final arc; but I do feel he was the best developed.
The arcs range from decent to downright terrible. Many of the fights are downright slugfests with power ups scattered between punches. The series also contains some pretty poorly implemented plot twists like Sensui hating humanity because a few humans torture demons or an entire military coup happening offscreen!!! Honestly, if this was the best shonen had to offer I would quit manga altogether. What a disappointment!