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Japanese manga series by Yoshihiro Togashi

YuYu Hakusho (幽☆遊☆白書) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi. It tells the story of Yusuke Urameshi, a teenage delinquent who is struck and killed by a car while attempting to save a child's life. After a number of tests presented to him by Koenma, the son of the ruler of the afterlife, Yusuke is revived and appointed the title of "Underworld Detective". With this title he must investigate various cases involving demons and apparitions in the Human World, with the manga gradually becoming more focused on martial arts battles and tournaments as it progresses. Togashi began creating YuYu Hakusho around November 1990, basing the series on his interests in the occult and horror films and an influence of Buddhist mythology. The manga was originally serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from December 1990 to July 1994. It consists of 175 chapters collected in 19 volumes. In North America, the manga is licensed by Viz Media, who first serialized it in Shonen Jump from January 2003 to January 2010. An anime adaptation consisting of 112 television episodes was directed by Noriyuki Abe and co produced by Fuji Television, Yomiko Advertising, and Studio Pierrot. The anime series originally aired on Japan's Fuji TV network from October 1992 to December 1994, and was later licensed in North America by Funimation in 2001, where it aired on Cartoon Network blocks including Adult Swim and later Toonami. The series has also been published and broadcast in various other countries around the world. The YuYu Hakusho franchise has spawned two animated films, a series of original video animations (OVAs), a live action television series, audio albums, video games, and other merchandise. YuYu Hakusho has been well received; the manga has over 78 million copies in circulation worldwide, making it one of the best selling manga series of all time. It also won the 39th Shogakukan Manga Award for the category in 1993. The animated series won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize for best anime in 1994 and 1995. The series has been well received by a large audience in Japan and a wide range of age groups in the United States. The anime has been given mostly positive reviews by critics in North America, complimenting its writing, characters, comedy, and amount of action.

YuYu Hakusho follows Yusuke Urameshi, a 14 year old street brawling delinquent who, in an uncharacteristic act of altruism, is hit by a car and killed in an attempt to save a young boy by pushing him out of the way. His ghost is greeted by Botan, a woman who introduces herself as the pilot of the Sanzu River, who ferries souls to the Underworld (霊界) where they may be judged for the afterlife. Botan informs Yusuke that his act had caught even the Underworld by surprise and that there was not yet a place made for him in either heaven or hell. Thus Koenma, son of the Underworld's ruler King Enma, offers Yusuke a chance to return to his body through a series of tests. He had recently completed the serialization of his romantic comedy Ten de Shōwaru Cupid in Weekly Shōnen Jump. Having felt somewhat intimidated by some of his more popular fellow authors during this manga's run, Togashi realized he would need to create a fighting manga to both gain popularity and write something he enjoyed. As a fan of the occult and horror films, he desired to write and illustrate a new manga based on his interests. Togashi had previously published an occult detective fiction manga titled Occult Tanteidan, of which he referenced positive reception from readers as a reason for continuing to create manga. When first producing YuYu Hakusho, he did not have a clear idea of what he wanted to call it. He used the tentative title "How to be a Ghost" while presenting rough drafts to his editors. Once given the go ahead to begin publication, Togashi proposed "YuYu Ki" (Poltergeist Chronicles) for the title, as there would be battles with demons and it would be a play on the title SaiYu Ki. However, a series with a similar name (Chin Yu Ki) had already begun publication, so Togashi quickly created an alternative: "YuYu Hakusho" (Poltergeist Report). He commented that he could have used "Den" (Legend) or "Monogatari" (Story), but "Hakusho" (Report) was the first thing that came to his mind. He contiguously developed the names of the main characters by skimming through a dictionary and taking out kanji characters he found appealing. "Yusuke Urameshi" is a pun, "Kazuma Kuwabara" is a combination of two professional baseball players, and "Hiei" and "Kurama" are "just names that popped into [Togashi's] head." For his drawing materials, Togashi used drafting ink and Kabura pens throughout the creation of the series. While his style of artwork began with screentone, he gradually developed into minimalism. As the series progressed, he would draw figures and faces very detailed or "cartoony, sketchy and jumping with action" whenever he desired such effects. He wrote in his own dōjinshi Yoshirin de Pon! that he stopped the production on YuYu Hakusho out of selfishness. The author had originally wanted to end the manga in December 1993, at the climax of the Sensui arc.

The YuYu Hakusho manga series was written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi and originally serialized by Shueisha in the manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from December 3, 1990, to July 25, 1994. The manga consists of 175 chapters spanning 19 with the first one being released on April 10, 1991, and the last one released on December 12, 1994. Between August 4, 2004, and March 4, 2005, Shueisha released the (complete) editions of the manga. Each of the 15 kanzenban volumes features a new cover and more chapters than the tankōbon edition. YuYu Hakusho has also been published as part of the Shueisha Jump Remix series of magazine style books. Nine volumes were released between December 22, 2008, and April 27, 2009. A version began publication on November 18, 2010, and was finished on October 18, 2011. An English translation of the YuYu Hakusho manga was serialized in North America by Viz Media in the American Shonen Jump magazine, where it debuted in its inaugural January 2003 issue and ended in January 2010. Viz released all 19 collected volumes of the English manga between May 1, 2003, and March 2, 2010. A total of 176 chapters exist in this format due to Viz treating the extra non numbered chapter "YuYu Hakusho Tales: Two Shot" found in volume seven (which tells the story of how Hiei and Kurama first met) as the 64th chapter. Viz later re released the series digitally as part of their digital manga releases between August 20, 2013, and February 25, 2014, and later added it to ComiXology's digital releases. The YuYu Hakusho manga has additionally been licensed and published across Asia and Europe. A French translation from Kana, for example, began publication in 1997. The series, consisting of 112 episodes, aired from October 10, 1992, to December 17, 1994, on Fuji Television. The episodes were released on 23 video cassettes by Pony Canyon from January 1, 1995, to December 6, 1995. They were also released on 28 DVD volumes by Beam Entertainment, with volumes 8–14 being released on March 25, 2002, volumes 15–21 being released on April 25, 2002, and volumes 22–28 being released on May 25, 2002. The anime differed from its manga source material by containing different levels of violence and profanity, as well as minor variations in art style from one to the other. In early 2001, the series was acquired by Funimation Entertainment for North American distribution as Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files. Funimation's production saw a significant contribution from voice actor Justin Cook, who not only directed the dub but also voiced the protagonist Yusuke. The American produced English dubbed episodes aired from February 23, 2002, to April 1, 2006, on Cartoon Network. Initially, the series was shown on the channel's Adult Swim programming block from February 2002 to April 2003, but was later moved to Toonami. Some of the show's original depictions of mature content including violence, sexual humor, and coarse language, as well as some controversial cultural discrepancies were edited out for broadcast. Yu Yu Hakusho was taken off Toonami around March 2005 and moved to an early Saturday morning time slot that October where the series finished its run. It was also aired uncut as part of the Funimation programming block on Colours TV in 2006 and the Funimation Channel in high definition in 2011. Following Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll, the series was moved to Crunchyroll. The series was distributed in the United Kingdom by MVM Films and in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment. In India the English language version of the series was released as Ghost Fighter. Yu Yu Hakusho was localized in the Philippines as Ghost Fighter and aired on IBC in the mid 1990s, as well as on GMA Network in 1999. This version of the dub localized the characters' names, such as changing "Yusuke" to "Eugene". Funimation separated the series into four "seasons", that each compose their own story arc, which they refer to as "sagas". In North America, 32 DVD compilations have been released by Funimation for the four sagas, with the first released on April 16, 2002, and the last on July 19, 2005. The episodes have been released in both edited and uncut formats. In addition, DVD collection boxes have been released for all four sagas, each containing all the episodes of that particular saga, with the exception of the Dark Tournament Saga, which was split into two collection boxes. Funimation released season box sets of the anime starting with season one on July 8, 2008, and ending with season four on January 13, 2009. Each set contains four DVDs which have 28 episodes, or one quarter of the whole series. Funimation began releasing the seasons on Blu ray Disc on May 31, 2011. Cook has stated that the production staff made minor improvements to their recordings, such as redubbing certain lines, cleaning up the dialogue, and removing "arrant anomalies". In Japan, three separate multi disc DVD box sets were released, as well as 28 DVDs totaling all 112 episodes of the series. Japanese home video distributor Bandai Visual began releasing the series on Blu ray Disc on October 27, 2009, with the first set containing a picture drama set after the end of the series that saw cast members reunite to record new dialogue.

Two animated films based on Yu Yu Hakusho have been produced. Both films have original storyline content that is not canonical to the manga. The first, simply titled Yu Yu Hakusho was released in Japan on July 10, 1993, as part of a seasonal film festival. In the movie, the protagonists Yusuke and Kuwabara are on a mission to rescue a kidnapped Koenma from a pair of demons who desire the Golden Seal, a stamp used for finalizing the sentencing of souls in the afterlife. Yu Yu Hakusho: Chapter of Underworld's Carnage – Bonds of Fire (幽☆遊☆白書 冥界死闘篇 炎の絆), was released in Japanese theaters on April 9, 1994. The plot revolves around Yusuke and his friends defending the Human World against inhabitants of a fourth plane of existence called the "Netherworld". A series of Yu Yu Hakusho OVAs collectively titled Eizou Hakusho (映像白書) was released in Japan in VHS format between 1994 and 1996. The OVAs feature very short clips that take place after the end of the series. They also contain video montages from the anime, image songs, voice actor interviews, and satirical animated shorts focusing on the four protagonists. The OVAs consist of three volumes as well as an opening and ending encyclopedia. A four DVD box set containing this series was released in Japan by Pony Canyon on December 15, 2004.) and (re)dubbed the first theatrical film with their original cast from the anime, and released them both in North America in a two disc DVD bundle titled Yu Yu Hakusho: The Movie & Eizou Hakusho on December 13, 2011. This version splits up parts of the OVAs and does not include the Japanese voice actor interviews. A brand new OVA of Yu Yu Hakusho was released with a Blu ray box set of the series on October 26, 2018, in Japan. It adapts the "Two Shot" bonus chapter from the manga's seventh volume and the manga's penultimate chapter "All or Nothing". In October 2019, Funimation announced the OVA release with an English dub.

The music for the Yu Yu Hakusho anime adaptation was composed by Yusuke Honma. The localized opening theme is sung by Sara White and the closing themes are sung by members of the English cast including Stephanie Nadolny, Jerry Jewell, and Meredith McCoy. Also released on that day is Yū Yū Hakusho: Music Battle, a series of three albums featuring vocal tracks sung by the Japanese voice actors as their corresponding characters. Compilations of vocal songs including Yū Yū Hakusho Super Covers, Yū Yū Hakusho Super Dance Mix, and Legend of Yu Yu Hakusho: "Sai Kyou" Best Selection Album were released on December 16, 1995, March 21, 1996, and March 21, 1997, respectively. Yū Yū Hakusho: Collective Songs and Yū Yū Hakusho: Collective Rare Trax, which contain covers of the theme songs performed by the series' voice actors, were both released on March 17, 1999. Two drama albums have been released by Shueisha, the first of which has an audio adaptation of the chapter "Yu Yu Hakusho Tales: Two Shot". A CD soundtrack for the second film and a maxi single with the vocal songs of Mawatari and Takahashi have also been published.

A number of video games have been developed that tie to the YuYu Hakusho series, most of which have been produced for and released exclusively in Japan. Prior to the launch of the franchise in North America, games were released on the Game Boy, Super Famicom, Sega consoles, and various platforms. North America only saw three video game releases. Two releases for the Nintendo's Game Boy Advanced handheld console, and one release for Sony's PlayStation 2 console. A single Mega Drive game, Yū Yū Hakusho Makyō Tōitsusen, was published in Brazil by Tectoy in 1999 under the title YuYu Hakusho: Sunset Fighters. When Atari gained publishing rights to Yu Yu Hakusho video games in 2003, the company created and released three games in these regions: Yu Yu Hakusho: Spirit Detective, an action adventure game for the Game Boy Advance; Yu Yu Hakusho: Tournament Tactics, a tactical role playing game also for the Game Boy Advance; and Yu Yu Hakusho: Dark Tournament, a 3D fighting game for the PlayStation 2. Yu Yu Hakusho characters were also featured in the Weekly Shōnen Jump crossover fighting games J Stars Victory VS and Jump Force. Yusuke, Hiei, and Toguro are playable in both games.

On December 16, 2020, a Japanese live action series adaptation was announced. It is streaming on Netflix worldwide, with Netflix contents acquisition director Kazutaka Sakamoto serving as executive producer and Akira Morii producing the series at Robot. On July 15, 2022, it was reported that Shō Tsukikawa will serve as the series director, with Tatsurō Mishima handling the script and Ryō Sakaguchi serving as the VFX supervisor. The series stars Takumi Kitamura as Yusuke Urameshi, Shuhei Uesugi as Kazuma Kuwabara, Jun Shison as Kurama, and Kanata Hongō as Hiei. It premiered on December 14, 2023.

An encyclopedia titled Official Yū Yū Hakusho Who's Who Underworld Character Book (幽☆遊☆白書　公式キャラクターズブック　霊界紳士録) was published by Shueisha on March 4, 2005. It contains extensive character profiles, story summaries, and an exclusive interview with Yoshihiro Togashi. An art book, Yu Yu Hakusho Illustrations (幽☆遊☆白書 画集), was published by Shueisha on April 27, 2005. It is composed of pieces of artwork from the series, including illustrations created for the kanzenban edition reprints and an index of print material where each image was first used. Shueisha has also released two volumes of a guide book titled Yū Yū Hakusho Perfect File (幽☆遊☆白書 パーフェクトファイル) and books based on both films, each containing screenshots organized in manga style panels. In Japan, various collectibles such as trading figures, plush dolls, and gashapon toys also exist. A collectible card game based on the franchise was released by Movic. a Skannerz electronic toy from Radica Games, and an activities book from Scholastic. Score Entertainment created the Yu Yu Hakusho Trading Card Game for release in the United States. An English guidebook to the series titled Yu Yu Hakusho Uncovered: The Unofficial Guide was published by Cocoro Books on October 12, 2004. A stage play adaptation produced by Office Endless was announced in May 2019. The play is written and directed by Chūji Mikasano, a screenwriter for the Tokyo Ghoul anime series. The play ran from August 8 to September 22, 2019, in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and Aichi. In September 2019, YuYu Hakusho joined the Universal Fighting System CCG, this marked the second anime license to make it into the system.