After watching a few episodes on Cartoon Network's run of Yu Yu Hakusho, I decided to pick up the first DVD volume and give it a shot. And for the most part, I'm very pleased with this purchase! And if you are wondering, this disc is uncut, and contains both an English and Japanese audio track. Yu Yu Hakusho (YYH) hasn't really presented itself as being a ground breaking so far, but what it does offer is some good characters in a variety of fun situations. As with most series, the first few episodes introduce us to the characters and let us get to know the world they inhabit.
Of course, when the lead character dies in the first episode, you know something's up! I won't go into the details of the story, but a synopsis is due. Yusuke is somewhat of an outcast who doesn't really display a care for anything. The only thing he seems good at is beating up on other middle school gangs. But one day, he saves a kid from being hit by a car, only to have himself hit instead! Now, our anti-hero lead is stuck between Heaven and Hell as a ghost since the higher beings don't know what to make of him. He is then offered a chance to return back to life, which is all well and good, except that Yusuke doesn't really care to go back. That is until he realizes how many people truly cared for him. And so the tale unfolds.
YYH showcases a good mixing of several different genres; everything from fighting, supernatural and even some good old-fashion romance. YYH also borrows some aspects heavily from Dragonball Z. I personally do not care much for DBZ (though I do thoroughly enjoy the earlier part of Dragonball), but I found myself warming up a bit more to this series.
I found myself liking the character designs as they remind me of older series from the 80s. A good break from the styles being pushed out these days. The animation is fair, but since this is such a long running series, that can only be expected. The palette of colors used is also pretty minimal and kind of drab. But ultimately I'm in for the show, and not the eye candy.
As for the localization, I'd say it's pretty good. I enjoy English dub tracks, so I didn't have a lot trouble adapting to this one. Some of the characters, such as Yusuke, are well portrayed while others come off as too cartoony sounding (Kuwabara). I should note that the actual recording job of the dub could of been handled a little more professionally. Some of the dialog gets clipped slightly when things get loud, and there were also a few instances of microphone *puff* sounds. FUNimation went the extra mile and dubbed the opening and closing songs, which is always a plus in my book. And fear not, the original songs are present on the Japanese audio side.
The adapted dub script follows the original Japanese dialog fairly well, with only minimal changes here and there. Thankfully, FUNimation included subtitles for both the English and the Japanese tracks (Most studios skimp out on subtitling the English track). But unfortunately, they aren't the best subs out there as they are white instead of the normal yellow. Alas, they are functional and well timed. Missing is a subtitle track devoted to translations of the onscreen Japanese writing, which is a real shame.
This disc features decent audio and video; it's not terrible, but nothing to write home about. Depending on your equipment, you may or may not notice some of the macroblocking "squishy". The disc also features some good extras. For starters you get a clean (textless) opening and ending sequence in both English and Japanese. The profiles do a good job of fleshing out a few characters without being riddled with spoilers. Although, they are annoyingly tilted at a 30 degree angle, making them difficult to read. Yama's Notebook is a welcome section that explains some of the Japanese meanings for names as well as translations for some of the kanji used in the show. There are a few trailers for Dragonball related material, and one for Blue Gender.
So would I recommend this disc? Probably, but make sure you know what your getting into first. While the DVDs are cheaper than most anime DVDs, you're also getting less content. The discs will be released with 4 episodes for the first few discs, then most likely drop down to 3. With a series this long (over 100 episodes in total) that's going to require quite a commitment on your part. Another problem with the length of the series is that there will no doubt be long drawn out stretches of lulls in the later episodes; something that turned me off with Dragonball Z. These first few episodes were good, but there's no telling where it'll be by episode 50.
But hey, try out the first few volumes and form your own opinion. What you think is far more important than any jaded reviewer :)
