When Dragonball Z was making waves in Japan, there was hardly any series that could keep pace with it. That is, except one: Yu Yu Hakusho. You have to respect any series that could go head to head with DBZ, but here’s the question you may be thinking: Is it any good? Well Yu Yu packs as much action as any other anime series, and it has good charcters to boot. As it stands, YYH is a series much like DBZ and Flame of Recca, so fans of those two will want to check this series out, while others are also encouraged to give this series a shot.

Action
The main character, Yusuke really likes to fight. In fact, that’s about the only thing that he does like. With his rival Kuwabara always trying to prove that he is stronger than Yusuke, and a bunch of demons to defeat, you can bet that Yu Yu Hakusho is an action packed anime. The fights in Yu Yu Hakusho can stand against those in any anime series. There is also a good variety of fights in YYH, to keep things interesting. Also of note, then length of the fights can be very longs, spanning many episodes. But like most fighting anime, it can quickly get repetitive if the story is not involving, read the story section if you don’t know what I mean. All in all, YYH should be able to please those who love good (and sometimes long) fighting.

Story
If there is one part of Yu Yu Hakusho that falls flat, I would have to say that it’s the story. For the most part, the story is just average. There are not that many twists and turns as in other anime, but there are a few good ones in there. The major problem I have with YYH is the way that it handles a characters death, as well as character development. *SPOILER* Put simply, no main character dies. If one does appear to die, then he/she gets brought back to life. There are so many possibilities when a character dies, but YYH doesn’t seem to explore any of them as DBZ did. Also, YYH tends to build up characters, only to revert back to Yusuke saving the day at the end. Around episode 70, Kuwabara is giving his dimension sword, which is supposed to be a big deal. But it proves to be nothing, and Yusuke ends up saving the day again. Not only that, but Kuwabara practically disappears for the rest of the series. *SPOILER ENDS*Why build him up, only to throw him back to the ground and have him disappear? It makes no sense to me. It’s ironic that during that saga, I feel YYH peaks, and then begins to go down hill. The last saga is just weird (though not nearly as bad as Kenshin). There we so many possibilities for YYH’s story, it’s a pity that none of them were explored.

Personal Opinion
As I said earlier, you have to respect any series that could go head to head with DBZ in Japan. I certainly do, plus the fact that I do really like the series. Good fights, good music, not to mention that there is quite a bit of humor thrown into the mix for good measure. But a mediocre story hurts my overall view on the series, which is the only reason why it didn’t get a 10 in this category.

Conclusion
Yu Yu Hakusho is a pretty difficult series to review, as shown by the unbalanced scores. It scores high in some aspects, but does not so well in others. But don’t misunderstand me, I think this review is going to be one of the more accurate ones out there. Yu Yu stands as one of my favorite anime series. Fans who enjoyed DBZ will probably enjoy YYH too and it is not a bad place to start if are new to the anime scene (though there are better ones out there).