Arigatou gozaimasu! During its virtual fan event Geeked Week, Netflix finally decided to release the first trailer for its highly anticipated anime adaptation Yu Yu Hakusho. Based on the classic series by legendary mangaka Yoshihiro Togashi, the live-action series centers around Yusuke Urameshi (Takumi Kitamura), a problematic kid who dies so suddenly that not even the spiritual world was prepared for his arrival. He is then made into a supernatural detective who solves demon cases. The series premieres on December 14.
The trailer for Yu Yu Hakusho hits all the right notes for fans. It shows the core characters from the manga and anime series with their characteristic outfits and reveals some beats of action scenes that suggest the live-action series will excel when it comes to fight scenes involving Kazuma Kuwabara (Shuhei Uesugi), Kurama (Jun Shison) and Hiei (Kanata Hongo). It’s all there: Kurama’s rose whip, Hiei’s third eye and, of course, Yusuke’s trademark Rei-gun.
The Yu Yu Hakuso trailer also brings plenty of surprises for die-hard fans, revealing characters that, at this point, we weren’t sure were going to be featured in the series. We now know that the Toguro brothers (played by Kenichi Takito and Go Ayano) will be brought pretty early into the mix, Koenma (Keita Machida) will retain his “hunk” look – pacifier included – and Botan (Kotone Furukawa) will be there to guide Yusuke through the spirit world.
‘Yu Yu Hakusho’ and ‘Kill Bill’ Collide
Perhaps the biggest surprise from the YuYu Hakusho trailer is that Yusuke’s super-strong mentor Genkai will be played by none other than the legendary Meiko Kaji. The award-winning actor was the star of Japanese classic film Lady Snowblood – which was a major inspiration for Quentin Tarantino’s masterpiece Kill Bill. Not by chance, the filmmaker included Meiko Kaji songs on the Kill Bill soundtrack.
The visual effects of Yu Yu Hakusho also seem like they’ll stun viewers: They were handled by Scanline VFX, that also was responsible for bringing to life special effects from titles such as Disney+’s Andor, The Batman and Marvel’s Eternals, as well as upcoming and highly anticipated Joker: Foliè a Deux, Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon and the live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Known as one of the titles that, along with hit series One Piece, helped popularize anime culture around the world, Yu Yu Hakusho was first published on manga magazine Shonen Jump in 1990 and is considered one of the basis of shounen series – anime series that are aimed at teenage audiences.
Netflix premieres Yu Yu Hakusho on December 14. Check out the trailer below:
via Collider