New ‘Yu Yu Hakusho’ Anime Special Shares First Character Designs

Are you ready for some brand-new Yu Yu Hakusho? It has been nearly 24 years since the series’ anime put out a new episode but that doesn’t mean its content well is dry. This year, fans will get two anime specials, and the world just got a look at one of the OVA’s surprising designs.

Over on Twitter, J-World Tokyo dropped a new look at the Yu Yu Hakusho OVAs to the delight of fans. As the park prepares for one of its top conventions, the classic supernatural series wanted to hype fans for its anime comeback, and it did so by highlight a very young Kurama and Hiei.

As you can see below, the character design for Kurama is the most different by far. The character’s vivid red hair is much shorter in this OVA prequel, and he’s dressed conservatively in a blue uniform. Paired with white sneakers, Kurama looks pretty traditional in this first-look, and Hiei is as edgy as ever.

Seriously, just take a look at the character’s black-and-white outfit? How can you not look cool with a headband like that? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics, k-pop, and anime!

As for this Yu Yu Hakusho comeback, it will contain two new OVA specials will cover two different stories. The first is “Two Shots,” which is a side-manga story that reveals how Kurama and Hiei first met and is represented by the brand new key visual above (which is a recreation of the cover page to the “Two Shots” manga entry), and the second is “All or Nothing” which will adapt the second-to-last chapter of Yoshihiro Togashi’s original manga.

The new special will be bundled along with the fourth part of its 25th Anniversary Blu-ray, with part four shipping in October (which includes the final Demon World arc of the series). The first release covers the Spirit Detective arc (the first 26 episodes) along with both movies, and will ship on July 27. The second release covers the entire Dark Tournament arc, and ships on August 28, and the third set includes the 28-episode Chapter Black arc, and ships on September 26 in Japan.

For those unfamiliar with Yu Yu Hakusho, the series was originally created by Yoshihiro Togashi and 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.