New ‘Yu Yu Hakusho’ Anime Special Reveals Ending Sequence

Yu Yu Hakusho celebrated its 25th anniversary by releasing a new OVA along with new home video releases of the anime in Japan. As captured by Moetron News, fans can now check out the anniversary OVA’s ending sequence for themselves below.

It should instantly feel familiar to fans of the original series thanks to its use of “Smile Bomb,” as performed by Matsuko Mawatari.

The OVA has a much different animation style from the original series, as clips of the special reveal that it still retains smooth action and character animation despite losing the edgy and rougher look of the 90s anime series. Still, the use of the iconic opening theme for the original series as the ending theme should bring tears to fans eyes. Especially since it’s being supported by new art (and updates) on fan favorite side characters in the series.

Produced by Studio Pierrot, who animated the original anime series as well, the anniversary OVA features 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.

Unfortunately, there is no legal way to watch the anniversary OVA in the United States as the special was bundled along with the fourth volume of special edition Blu-ray collection released for the series’ 25th Anniversary. Separating into four different volumes — the Spirit Detective arc (the first 26 episodes) along with both movie, the Dark Tournament arc, the 28-episode Chapter Black arc, and the final arc of the series, Demon World Tournament — fans are hoping the collection and packed in special make their way over to the United States someday.

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.