New 'Yu Yu Hakusho' Anime Special Reveals Key Visual

Like many classic anime series celebrating anniversaries in 2018, Yu Yu Hakusho is also [...]

By Nick Valdez

Like many classic anime series celebrating anniversaries in 2018, Yu Yu Hakusho is also celebrating its 25th Anniversary in a big way. Not only will the series get a blu-ray re-release in Japan, but is also debuting a new OVA special bundled with it.

But what will the new Yu Yu Hakusho OVA adapt? Details had been scarce until now, but now fans will get to see a never before seen story between Kurama and Hiei.

The new OVA special will be titled "Two Shots," and will tell the story of how Hiei and Kurama met before their eventual tango with the spiritual detective Yusuke Urameshi that sets the story in motion. Fans should be looking forward to this as the anime never explored their past in this respect before, as the two of them originally appeared in the story with little fanfare.

While the series has explored their individual pasts, it never adapted this integral moment between the two and definitely now is going to be tough to wait for.

Yu Yu Hakusho was as known for its fashion sense as it was for its story and well animated fights. It is also one of the few anime series where the fandom is often evenly split between the original Japanese language release and the English dub. The fact it's returning in some form will definitely be a huge get for fans who have been fondly looking back on the series for years now.

For those unfamiliar with Yu Yu Hakusho, the series was originally created by Yoshihiro Togashiand follows the story of Yusuke Urameshi, a teenage delinquent who loses his life when he is hit by a car trying to save a child's life. After passing a series of tests, Yusuke is allowed to return to the living world but with a few caveats. With the gained ability to see spirits and demons, Yusuke is given the title of "Underworld Detective" and must solve various cases of spirits running amok in the living world.

The series ran in Shuiesha's Weekly Shonen Jump from December 1990 to July 1994. It has been collected into 19 volumes, and was licensed for an English language release by Viz Media from 2003 to 2010. It was adapted into an anime series by Fuji Television, Yomiko Advertising, and Studio Pierrot and aired from October 1992 to December 1994 for 112 episodes.

It was licensed in North America by Funimation in 2001 where it first aired on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block, but later transferred to Toonami under the name Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files. The manga has sold over 50 million copies in Japan and was praised by both critics and fans for its writing. Unfortunately, production faced its own share of issues as Togashi was public about his stresses and health issues when drawing the manga and had ended the series on his own terms.

Excited for more Yu Yu Hakusho? Let us know in the comments or talk to me @Valdezology!

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