Studio Pierrot Unveils Special 'Yu Yu Hakusho,' 'Naruto' Artwork

Studio Pierrot, a studio that's produced some of the most notable anime of all time, will soon be [...]

By Nick Valdez

Studio Pierrot, a studio that's produced some of the most notable anime of all time, will soon be celebrating its 40th Anniversary by highlighting many of the series it helped bring to life over its tenure.

The first part of this celebration will bring specialty goods to Jump Festa 2019, and that means new artwork for series such as Yu Yu Hakusho, Naruto, Bleach, and Hikaru no Go.

Studio Pierrot will be having a special booth for its company during Jump Festa 2019 (taking place December 22-23 in Japan), and for this has shown off some of the posters and art they'll be selling to interested fans. These include cool new posters for Yu Yu Hakusho, Bleach, Naruto, and even Hikaru no Go. The most surprising inclusion here is definitely for Hikaru no Go, which hasn't received much attention since the anime came to an end many years ago.

It wasn't too popular in the United States either as many of its broadcasts were featured on Toonami's short lived online streaming platform Jetstream. On top of this, it was focused around a strategy game, Go, that was not too popular in the West in the early 2000s when the series debuted. The series followed the titular Hikaru who stumbled on a Go board haunted by Fujiwara-no-Sai, who ends up sharing a body with Hikaru as the two play Go in search of the "Divine" move.

The other series had a much bigger following in the United States with Naruto still continuing on with its spiritual successor Boruto (which Studio Pierrot is also producing), and Bleach fans asking for the final arc to be continued in anime form some day. As for Yu Yu Hakusho, the series celebrated its own anniversary recently.

Yu Yu Hakusho brought in its 25th Anniversary with a return OVA special featuring the returning staff of director Noriyuki Abe, and the voice cast of Nozomu Sasaki as Yusuke Urameshi, Shigeru Chiba as Kazuma Kuwabara, Megumi Ogata as Kurama, and Nobuyuki Hiyama as Hiei. Covering two different stories, the OVA adapts "Two Shots," which is a side-manga story revealing how Kurama and Hiei first met, and "All or Nothing," the second-to-last chapter of Yoshihiro Togashi's original manga which sees Yusuke and the gang try and solve a major terrorist crisis.

Yu Yu Hakusho was originally created by Yoshihiro Togashi for Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in 1990. The story follows 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.

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