Last May I took a look at season 1 of the classic Shonen series (Read here), Yu Yu Hakusho. Long story short: I really liked it! The voice acting, story, and characters weren’t exactly the strongest, but I found the worldbuilding to be surprisingly engaging. After waiting for nearly a year, I’ve finally managed to sit down & watch the second season. Tensions are higher, danger is stronger, and characters are put to the ultimate test.....but do I still like it? Well, let’s not waste anymore time, and let’s take a look at Yu Yu Hakushi season 2. Let the review begin!
Story/Setup
Taken from the box:
“From cutting classes to brawling in the streets, Yusuke Urameshi is not your typical role model. In fact, this kid’s nothing more than a fourteen-year-old delinquent with a talent for trouble. But in a single selfless act Yusuke dies while saving another. For such noble sacrifice he is given a second chance at life, but it’s to be a life far different than the one left behind. Now a Spirit Detective, the young man must track down demons and humans alike who desire to rule over the three realms of reality.
Survival is the order of the day as Yusuke and his allies face off against the worst that the Demon World has to offer. Locked into a competition set up by the criminal underground, more than the fighters’ lives are on the line as the Dark Tournament unfolds round by brutal round. Pain and suffering are redefined, a demon from the past is reawakened, and the mysterious masked fighter will step forth. Their situation is worse than grim as the Tournament Finals are set to begin.”
Like I said in my review of the first season, the story in that part of the series was the trial run. The story & it’s characters are given a basic establishment, and we’re given a basic view of YYH’s world. Season 2 definitely gives us a hell of a lot more, as more things unfold during the course of this brutal fighting championship. The world expands out much more, despite most of this season being confined to an arena (2 arenas technically), and we find out a bit more about how things work in the Spirit Realm. We also find out that things aren’t quite as black & white as they were in season 1, and this is going to be a huge issue for me when I get to season 3 (More on that in the eventual review). If there was one issue I had with this season’s story, it would be the copious usage of screwjobs. Like in every good & stereotypical Shonen series, the bad guys attempt to screw over our heroes, and that’s no exception here. The problem is that the villains attempt to mess with Yusuke & his crew far too often, making it almost rather tiring to see the good guys getting screwed. The first 1 to 2 times was good (Even clever in one case), but when it gets to what I believe is half a dozen screwjobs, I almost threw my hands up in the air! Other than that, season 2's story is good. Definitely kept me glued to my seat, that’s for sure!
Animation
(See review of season 1 for details)
Voice Acting
For the most part, the voice acting in season 2 hasn’t changed all that much when compared to the 1st season. There are a host of new characters (More on that below), but the same rules still apply: voice acting doesn’t sound good at first, but is actually better than it’s first listening to. Like I said above, nothing really different changes here.
Characters
So here’s where things gets interesting. Season 2 has a considerably beefier cast of characters, which is good & bad. This is good because while the characters we’re introduced to in season 1 were nice, we didn’t actually meet that many people. That was definitely fixed here! We’re introduced to a much higher number of characters, and because of that the world of YYH expands considerably. Good guys, bad guys, and anybody else in between are all given time to shine. My particular favorite character that was added was Jin the Wind Master. In addition to having an Irish accent & being kinda cute (Don’t judge!), he was a hell of a fighter, and was actually a really fun character to watch. Where things fail is that most of the new characters we’re introduced to.....don’t really have that much depth to them. There are a couple of them that do have some more to their personality & character, but for the most part just about everybody else are rather one-dimensional. What makes this worse is that a bunch of them die during the tournament, and so they don’t stick around in our heads for long. Whether this persists into the 3rd & 4th season, I’m not sure.
And then we have our original cast. Everybody gets a bit of an upgrade, as they go through a lot more trial & tribulation in this season. They become stronger through training and their opponents, but their also go through some genuinely tough emotional spots. I won’t get into spoilers for those who haven’t watched yet, but you’ll definitely feel a lot for Yusuke by the time things are done. If there was one thing I’d complain about with the characters (And by extension the story, which I’ll potentially elaborate in my reviews for season 3 & 4), it would be that things get a bit too melodramatic at times. Some of the melodrama actually works well, while other moments just had me rolling my eyes. It’s really confusing, but with the core characters it works better than the newer cast.
Availability & Pricing ***
Before I get to the actual pricing, I got a funny story about how I got this collection. It was Katsucon 2020. I was going through the behemoth that was the dealer’s room on Saturday or Sunday (Can’t remember the specific day), and I hadn’t bought any shows yet. Lo & Behold, Funimation’s big booth of DVDs had a sale where I believe certain titles were 20 dollars. Seeing an opportunity, I managed to spot Season 2 of this series (Along with 3 & 4), and swooped in to pick them up. The rest.....is obviously history.
As to how you can actually acquire it, you can actually find it easily. FYE and Best Buy easily has copies, as does Amazon. On that site, new copies range from $27.99 to $29.99, and that makes for a relatively well-priced purchase.
Overall Impression & Rating
Yu Yu Hakusho: Season 2 is definitely a hell of a ride. While a couple cracks do start to form here, it’s still a thrilling and entertaining show. The story advances, characters grow, and the stakes were raised considerably higher. Will this level of quality advance when we make our way to Season 3, and will I be enjoying this series as much as I am right now? We’ll find out......later this year!
Yu Yu Hakusho: Season 2 gets a 8 to 9 out of 10.
And that was my review for season 2 of YYH. It stumbles just a little, but the overall quality still holds fast. I’ll start watching season 3 as soon as I can. In the meantime, March is about to hit us, and I got some goodies planned. See you all then! 0
***
If you’re curious about my view on Katsucon from last year, check out my review below:
Convention Review: Katsucon 2020
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