YUU☆YUU☆HAKUSHO: EIZOU HAKUSHO II

DESCRIPTION

CAST

ANIME ActionYuu☆Yuu☆Hakusho
OVA ActionYuu☆Yuu☆Hakusho: Eizou Hakusho

REVIEWS

• 

  Xelrog

  60/100
  Less fun for the English fans, but a neat collection of songs from the whole Yu Yu cast.

  The first two Eizou Hakusho OVA episodes were a clip show series recapping and summarizing some of the key fights in the Dark Tournament arc of Yu Yu Hakusho. These four OVA episodes are... a bit more interesting. Each of these episodes is themed around one of the four main characters: Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei; and each episode is composed of a series of music videos sung by the characters themselves, sometimes in groups.

  Writing: That said, there's not really much to say story-wise here. There's not a whole of continuity you can pull from a series of music videos... it's more about developing characters which were already fairly well-developed in the original series a little bit further. And these episodes do accomplish that. If you haven't seen the series, you won't likely be able to figure out what it's about from these episodes alone, but you might get a gist of the characters and their unique personalities.

  Art: In terms of artwork, these OVA's do go a little farther than the main series did. Mind, the general style of the artwork of the animation is the same as that in the original series, which has become a little bit dated... but most music videos are stylized by nature, and these are no exception. The artists had plenty of fun playing with camera angles and dynamic effects to match the songs better, and the end result is pretty nice. There are even a few videos where the art style changes almost completely, such as Kuwabara's opening song (which is about the sweetest thing ever), and that does enhance the feel of the shorts.

  Sound: Now, this is the most important thing about the OVA's... I mentioned it in my first Eizou Hakusho review, and just from hearing what the series is about, you may have guessed that there is no dub here. As fun as it would be to hear Justin Cook and Chris Sabat attempt a duet, that's aiming a little high, and I can understand why it wasn't worth the cost, so this series is Japanese-only. Even so, it's fun to hear the Japanese voice actors all singing in character, and there's no shortage of songs--at least four for each character, and many of them cross over (Yusuke and Kuwabara have a duet, Kurama and Hiei have multiple, and there's at least one song involving the entire cast), so any diehard fans of the Japanese dub are liable to orgasm while the rest of us still have a pretty good time jivin' to the shorts.

  While drama CD's and seiyuu singing in-character isn't that uncommon on the islands, we don't often see that kind of material released in the West, so it's a treat to have it readily available... and to have fully-animated videos for each number is pretty awesome, too. You won't find a whole lot of series which have gone so far to please their fanbase as Yu Yu Hakusho has demonstrated, and for that, I applaud this OVA series.

  Definitely a must-see for anyone who enjoys the Japanese version and still a fun, worthwhile watch for those who are more familiar with the English.

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