This versus episode has been a long time coming. I mean the Jdrama came out last year and I watched the anime over 20 years ago. IT IS ABOUT TIME I DID A VERSUS EPISODE ON THIS! Since I had not seen the anime in years so, I decided to rewatch the anime before watching the live adaption. Rewatching the anime was a nostalgic journey. I had forgotten a bunch of what I had watched, and I also realized that there were later seasons that I had never seen.
So, the VERSUS SHOWDOWN blogposts are not new to the blog. I have done a couple of other blogposts and podcast episodes of them. You can check out the "My Happy Marriage" one here and the "Parasyte" one here. As I just said, I also made both of these blogposts into podcast episodes and those episodes are live now. This Yu Yu Hakusho blogpost is also a podcast episode.
As a reminder the format for a VERSUS SHOWDOWN is I will give a mini review of both the anime and the Japanese movie first. After, I will go into the VERSUS portion of the blogpost. This is where I will compare and contrast both the anime/live adaptions. I will talk about the differences I saw between the two as well as the things that stood out to me that were similar and/or the exact same. Now, I am almost positive that I will not name EVERY difference and EVERY similarity so, if you want to play along - give me that I might have missed. That all being said - THERE WILL BE SPOILERS IN THIS BLOGPOST FOR BOTH THE ANIME AND THE LIVE ADAPTION! I can't go into depth about these similarities and differences without revealing spoilers of both the anime and live adaption.
FIRST OFF: THE MINI REVIEWS - As I said, I watched the anime YEARS ago. I mean it was one of the first anime I ever watched. This anime aired in the early 90s. I remember turning on Saturday morning cartoons and watching episodes along with Sailor Moon. I had not watched the anime in probably 20 years or more. When Netflix announced a live adaption, I GOT SO EXCITED! The anime is one of my favorites of all time so, I just hoped the live adaption did the anime justice. So, I rewatched the anime and then immediately binged the Netflix live adaption once I completed my rewatch of the anime.
YU YU HAKUSHO (anime) - As I said already, this anime is EXTREMELY nostalgic for me. I gave this anime a 9/10 but nostalgia might play a part in this rating. I found myself exclaiming "OH YEAH, I REMEMBER THAT NOW!" as I rewatched this anime. It is a classic for a reason. If you are a fan of shonen anime and have not watched this anime, it holds up. The only thing that did not hold up though were the jokes, some did not age well. There were jokes in the anime that would not fly in 2024. I watched all 4 seasons and some of the later seasons I had never seen so, that was fun. I loved the lead and his attitude. I loved how he made friends and the growth of his friend group. I still don't get the romance of this anime. It was sort of a secondary story until it wasn't in the last season. It seemed to come out of nowhere for me.
YU YU HAKUSHO (Jdrama) - I gave the Jdrama a rating of 7.5/10. Now, I recommend if you have not watched the anime, watch the Jdrama first. I think this rating came about BECAUSE I am such a fan of the anime. If you go into this drama, not knowing the anime and have nothing base it off of, you will like this Jdrama more. I recommend you watch the Jdrama first and then if you liked the Jdrama, go and check out the anime. If you have seen the anime already, you will be disappointed by this live adaption. It was just okay. First, it moves at LIGHTNING SPEED! This Jdrama burns through 60 episodes of anime in 5 episodes. The Jdrama hits all of the major plot points (almost all of them) but it moves really fast. So, if you are familiar with the story and those plot points, you will notice what has been changed or left out. It had good acting and the Jdrama did the anime characters justice. It needed more episodes.
OVERALL - I liked the anime a lot more. I probably would have liked the live adaption more if I was not familiar with the anime. The live adaption changed a lot from the anime's story. The Jdrama wasn't horrible, it just could have been better. The Jdrama is still entertaining and worth the watch, just if you have seen the anime and/or love the anime, just know what to expect from it.
NOW THE VERSUS SECTION - I am first going to discuss the similarities and then dive into the differences between the anime and the Japanese live adaption.
SPOILERS AHEAD - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!
SIMILARITIES BETWEEN YU YU HAKUSHO (anime) & YU YU HAKUSHO (Jdrama)
Characters & Character Designs - Whether you watch the anime or the live adaption first, you will recognize the characters when you watch the one you did not start with. Both have pretty much the same characters. The designs of the characters in the live adaption were faithful to the anime as well. So, the characters are recognizable. I think the live adaption did the characters and captured their looks and essence well. It translated well onto the screen. The actors also acted well so, they captured their characters' personality in the live adaption.
The Beginning - Both the Anime and the Live Adaption starts out the same. The live adaption may have changed some minor details, but the major plot points were hit. The beginning plot points were overall faithful to the anime in the live adaption. Yusuke gets hit by a car/truck, saves a child and dies. The things that happen as his funeral. His family has to rescue his body from a burning house. Pretty much the first arc in the anime where Yusuke discovers he is dead and has to return to the land of the living is intact from the anime to the live adaption. It is condensed and sped up in the live adaption. This means not every detail is included BUT the beginning is pretty much the same.
Romance - The romance pretty much plays out the same in both the anime and the live adaption. In both the anime and the live adaption, it is a secondary storyline that pops up once in a while. In the anime, you will see random scenes that hint at a romance. The last couple episodes of the anime throw the romance in your face. In the live adaption it is implied by one liner and is a major motivator for Yusuke. I will say the romance seems to take a little bit more of a front seat in the live adaptation but not by much. I mean Yusuke does go to Sakyo's compound to save her at the end.
Character Powers - Just like the character designs, all of the powers you see in the anime for the characters are in the live adaption. So, if you are familiar with each characters' powers, you will easily identify them in the live adaption. I do wish we got to see more of the powers in the live adaption BUT we were only working with 5 episodes.
The 4 major fights - While the dark tournament did not exist in the live adaption, the show did still show the main 4 fights (with little differences) from the dark tournament in the live adaption. A lot of the fights also were play by play the same from the anime to the live adaption. So, if you are disappointed that the dark tournament is not in the live adaption, you still get to see the satisfying fights (with a few minor changes) from the dark tournament with the mostly the same match ups in the live adaption.
Major Story Points - The anime was 112 episodes in total. The live adaption had the first 60 or so episodes in it. The live adaption was condensed and rushed. It did delete some of the major plots from the anime. It also changed some things instead of eliminating them all together BUT a lot of the major plot points and fights from the first 60 episodes of the anime were present in the live adaption. If you watched the anime, you would recognize the major plot points (especially the action and fight scenes) from the live adaption. You can follow the story easily and recognize a lot of it from the anime. It is not a scene-by-scene adaption though, some things were completely removed or sped up to fit into 5 episodes.
Both violent/gory - This entire story is about a high schooler who dies and then has to fights demons both protecting himself and his friends but also the world. IT WILL BE VIOLENT AND GORY! There is a lot fighting. The anime's animation is over 30 years old so, it isn't as bad as newer anime BUT it still can get violent and gory. The live adaption is the same. It can get violent and gory mainly due to all of the action and fighting scenes. In terms of being gory, I have seen worse.
Fight Scenes/Action - If you love action and fight scenes, the anime and live adaption will deliver. Even though the anime is over 30 years old, the animation and fight scenes hold up. It was exciting to rewatch. The live adaption is all action scenes and fight scenes. The fight choreography is great and the CGI for the powers is done well.
Side Characters - In both the anime and the live adaption, there are characters that are designated to the sidelines that could have been used more. As I watched the anime, I always thought that Kuwabara's sister Shizuru could have been used more. It was clear that she could also sense things just like her brother. She also can fight and was a strong female that could have done a lot of cool things. Instead, she is sidelined to look cool and maybe getting in some good one liners in. Since the live adaption is only 5 episodes, a lot of the side characters were fleshed out like they were in the anime. So, both the anime and live adaptions had characters that I wish got more backstory or were explained more.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN YU YU HAKUSHO (anime) & YU YU HAKUSHO (Jdrama)
Plot points altered or deleted - The live adaption was only 5 episodes. There is only so much you can fit into 5 episodes, especially if you are adapting a 112-episode anime. The live adaption condenses entire story arcs into episodes or even half an episode. They also eliminated major plot points all together. I am not going to list off EVERY SINGLE change but here are some that I noticed and didn't have to google to figure it out. A big one that I think everyone noticed who had watched the anime was the live adaption eliminated the dark tournament all together. The anime has the dark tournament. A fight in the demon realm that Yusuke and his friends are forced to join and then win. We got the 4 major fights that occurred in the dark tournament in the live adaption, but it wasn't under the guise of a tournament. The main characters were just trying to save their friends and get out of the compound. The dark tournament is probably a lot of people's favorite storyline from the anime so, I was said to not see it there. Another major plot point that was eliminated due to the limited episodes was Genkai's tournament to find her successor. It did not happen in the live adaption. Yusuke and Kuwabara just became her students. Also, his training happened over a few weeks where in the anime it took much longer. Some other smaller changes I noticed the driver that hit Yusuke in the beginning of the live adaption got possessed by the makai insect and caused the accident. In the anime, it was just an accident and had nothing to do with the supernatural. The hole connecting the spirit/demon world exists in the anime but the whole storyline that Yusuke has to defeat Toguro in order for Koenma to close the hole does not exist in the anime. That all plays out very differently in the anime and also in a completely different season. I could go on and on about minor changes and things, but I go into some of them in more detail in other differences on this list.
Ending - Due to the live adaption condensing things and/or eliminating plot points. The endings for the anime and live adaption were drastically different. The biggest difference is the anime had 60+ more episodes that the live adaption could use. Let's take that out of the equation though. Even if the anime only had about 60 episodes to adapt. The live adaption still changed enough that the endings were completely different As I said above, the dark tournament did not exist in the live adaption which changed the ending. The whole ending of the live adaption where Sakyo completed the portal between the human world and the Demon world but is stopped by Koenma does not happen in the anime at all. If we were just talking about the first 60 or so episodes of the anime, the dark tournament happens and then Yusuke goes back to the human realm. There is no saving the world at that point in the anime.
Spirit Detective more fleshed out in anime - One of my favorite parts of the Anime is in the first season when Yusuke is a Spirit Detective. The live adaption really has no Spirit detective action in it. What it does have is very condensed to maybe half to 1 episode. I know this live adaption was only 5 episodes but still it was one of my favorite parts of the anime.
Koenma - So, in the anime, Koenma's usual form is a baby and when he has to go mingle among the humans or in the demon realm, he grows into an adult. In the anime this leads to some funny moments and explains why he has a pacifier in his mouth whether his form is a baby or an adult. In the live adaption, he is just an adult the entire time with a pacifier in his mouth so, that might seem weird to a lot of people who have never watched the anime.
Jdrama is rushed - I know I said this a lot. The Jdrama only is 5 episodes, so the creators had to condense a lot of the storyline or even eliminate it all together. What is kept in the Jdrama also is very rushed. It seems rushed to the audience at least. It just jumped from one action scene to the next with little or no rest. That does make it exciting the entire time, but you do notice that it is rushed.
Main Villain - In the live adaption, Sakyo is painted as the main villain. While I do agree that he is A villain in the anime, I would not say he is the MAIN villain. Toguro has a much larger part in the anime with lots of emotion behind him and his character. He is relegated to a lackey in the live adaption which isn't really true in the anime. Also, since the live adaption straight up deletes complete storylines from it, it deletes other villains. There are villains from the various seasons of the anime that are not present in the live adaption.
Anime had more emotion - Since the Anime was more drawn out and was a slow burn, this allowed for more story to be written and more background/context to be given to the characters. You got to see these characters become friends and allies. You got to see them start to care for one another. Since these bonds were formed, the emotion that came out of the scenes when something bad happened or someone died, had more impact.
Anime allowed for more attachment to Characters - Since the Anime was more drawn out and was a slow burn, it allowed the audience members to connect with the characters. So, when things happened to the characters, the audience members actually cared for them. This allowed for the audience members to be more affected when a character died or was severely hurt in the anime.
Yusuke older in live adaption - In the anime, Yusuke was only 14 years old. In the live adaption he was like 17 or 18 years old. So, they aged him off for the live adaption.
Live Adaption is only half the anime - As I said earlier, there are 2 seasons of the anime that are not in the live adaption. There is definitely more story to tell. I doubt that the live adaption will be renewed for a season 2. Especially when it did not adapt the Dark Tournament really and has all of that build up, they could do as well. It was clear this adaption only had 1 season to put the story into a live adaption. WHY COULD IT NOT HAVE BEEN 10 OR MORE EPISODES! Just to give it a little breathing room.
Dark Tournament nowhere in sight - I said this once and I will say it again, the dark tournament is nowhere in sight in the live adaption. So, if you are a fan of the anime and you expect to see the dark tournament in the live adaption, you will be very disappointed. There are no teams fighting it out in the preliminaries or semifinals. Genkai isn't even on the island for the fight. In the anime, she actually participates in the fighting and tournament. She is killed later in the anime during the tournament, MUCH LATER! In the live adaption she is killed even before the supposed tournament was supposed to start, very early on. Her death was major turning point for Yusuke in the anime and it just did not have the same emotional weight at all in the live adaption. You did get the main 4 fights from the tournament in the live adaption but even those were changed a bit such as in the anime the final fight was just Yusuke and Toguro, no one else helped.
Side Characters - Due to the dark tournament not happening, a lot of the side characters you got from the dark tournament were not present at all in the live adaption.
My Advice: Watch Live Adaption first - If you have not seen the anime OR the live adaption yet, I would advise you to watch the live adaption first. I think you will still enjoy it because it is a fast paced, action filled ride. You can test out if you like the characters and story. If you do watch it and end up liking it, you can dive into the anime afterwards to get more depth and context to the characters and stories. You will also have 2 extra seasons to watch as well.
Overall, I am SO GLAD I finally finished my rewatch of the anime Yu Yu Hakusho and was able to watch the live adaption. I got to go down nostalgia lane and you isn't happy to do that. I definitely have seen worse live adaptions of anime so; I am not mad about the Yu Yu Hakusho NETFLIX live adaption. I would just advise you to watch it first before the anime and don't click play with expectations. Just enjoy it for what it is. Yu Yu Hakusho will always be one of my favorite anime so, the live adaption had big shoes to fill. I knew going into it that it would not beat the anime for me.
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