Yu Yu Hakusho VS Hunter X Hunter
- Thread starter Yoshi
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Yu Yu because of nostalgia, the fact I can still quote it years later since I last watched it, and everyone felt different from the other.
Yu Yu Hakusho imo. I feel like it's complete and the characters and story are more catchy. The only thing I resent is that during the tournament there was a lot of unnecessary talking. I didn't notice that back then. And yes the nostalgia is huge.
Hunter x Hunter 99's version seemed really ok to me, but it's incomplete. I believe they abandoned the production and left it like that, because the story didn't feel like ended. The 2011 version just didn't grow on me as much. Something felt childish and I stopped during the confrontation with the Spiders. That was 2 years ago so I cannot remember exactly what put me off about it.
Hunter x Hunter 99's version seemed really ok to me, but it's incomplete. I believe they abandoned the production and left it like that, because the story didn't feel like ended. The 2011 version just didn't grow on me as much. Something felt childish and I stopped during the confrontation with the Spiders. That was 2 years ago so I cannot remember exactly what put me off about it.
I haven't seen much of the '99 Hunter x Hunter, only the first ten episodes, but otherwise I've seen both anime fully, I've read both manga to completion (or as complete as you can get with Hunter x Hunter), I've seen all the movies from them (they had two each, for a total of four movies that aren't worth watching), and some other additonal animations made about them (like the Hunter x Hunter pilot or Yu Yu Hakusho's Picture Drama). I'm a huge Yoshihiro Togashi fan, well-versed in both this series, and it's not even close I like Hunter x Hunter a lot more.
There are several things I do like about Yu Yu Hakusho more though. Anime specific, Yu Yu Hakusho has a much better dub than Hunter x Hunter, and Smile Bomb is better than Departure as the never-ending OP that both shows have. Granted, Smile Bomb doesn't fit Yu Yu Hakusho after like episode five but I love that song, I don't care. But to the series themselves, Yu Yu Hakusho has a far stronger start than Hunter x Hunter. If we're talking about the anime adaptions, I kinda hate the first episode in the 2011 anime, whereas Yu Yu Hakusho might have the strongest first episode I've seen. Like damn, what an emotional gut-punch. The principals words to Yusuke get me the most. And I like Yusuke more than Gon. Gon's a more interesting character, but Yusuke's just more likable as a lead. And this is technically something it does better, but I just want to mention Hiei is like, the most effortlessly cool character in existence.
Beyond that, I like Hunter x Hunter more in most regards. It's my favourite series, in large part due to the Chimera Ant arc, which is my favourite story ever told. One of the reasons I love Togashi's works so much is because they host a ton of variety within them. Like Yu Yu Hakusho starts off as like episodic misadventures with Yusuke doing ghostly good deeds (probably my favourite part of the series, it's like two volumes in the manga and the anime skipped most of it). But with the exception of maybe Wicked Cupid which only have five chapters in English anywhere online, Yu Yu Hakusho is his most repetitive series because it has three tournament arcs. The Rando tournament, the Dark Tournament, and then the Tournament for the Demon World. The Dark Tournament has some hype fights but it's kind of exhausting. Like the fights are distinct and the change of venue helps but it's still kind of a just a slog of battles. And the final tournament is massively disappointing because the Three Kings arc sets up a really interesting three way struggle with complex character dynamics, and it just throws it all away for a third tournament, that we barely seen any (especially in the manga, we get a couple pages of Yomi vs. Yusuke in the manga at most, the anime fight was filler because Togashi literally just gave up [he has basically admitted that]).
Meanwhile, Hunter x Hunter has a ton of variety, every arc is different, including even the main cast. For example, out of the four leads, only Kurapika is involved in the current arc in the manga, Gon & Killua are completely absent from the story arc, which is about 40 chapters in I believe. But Hunter x Hunter arcs range from like neo-noir crime thrillers with the Yorknew City, to an Isekai with Greed Island, to a full-blown war drama with Chimera Ant. I also love that Hunter x Hunter isn't that action-orientated. Battles mostly only happen when they're necessary to advance the plot, and often times the arcs will resolve without a climactic battle, instead choosing to favour giving the characters emotional weight rather than just a victory in combat. It's easily the least formulaic of any shonen series I've seen. Internal variety is one of the most important things to me. As is allowing character depth for the whole cast, and Hunter x Hunter does that better than most. Anyway when Hunter x Hunter does have fights, they tend to be excellent, better than most fights in other series. Because they follow the JoJo model of being more strategic, and because Nen is the best battle system ever. It's the most fully-realized one out there, there's so much intricate detail and applications existing outside of people's specific super powers (or their Hatsu), that it just feels more tangible.
Honestly, Yu Yu Hakusho might not even be my second favourite of Togashi's work, because Level E is also really excellent.
There are several things I do like about Yu Yu Hakusho more though. Anime specific, Yu Yu Hakusho has a much better dub than Hunter x Hunter, and Smile Bomb is better than Departure as the never-ending OP that both shows have. Granted, Smile Bomb doesn't fit Yu Yu Hakusho after like episode five but I love that song, I don't care. But to the series themselves, Yu Yu Hakusho has a far stronger start than Hunter x Hunter. If we're talking about the anime adaptions, I kinda hate the first episode in the 2011 anime, whereas Yu Yu Hakusho might have the strongest first episode I've seen. Like damn, what an emotional gut-punch. The principals words to Yusuke get me the most. And I like Yusuke more than Gon. Gon's a more interesting character, but Yusuke's just more likable as a lead. And this is technically something it does better, but I just want to mention Hiei is like, the most effortlessly cool character in existence.
Beyond that, I like Hunter x Hunter more in most regards. It's my favourite series, in large part due to the Chimera Ant arc, which is my favourite story ever told. One of the reasons I love Togashi's works so much is because they host a ton of variety within them. Like Yu Yu Hakusho starts off as like episodic misadventures with Yusuke doing ghostly good deeds (probably my favourite part of the series, it's like two volumes in the manga and the anime skipped most of it). But with the exception of maybe Wicked Cupid which only have five chapters in English anywhere online, Yu Yu Hakusho is his most repetitive series because it has three tournament arcs. The Rando tournament, the Dark Tournament, and then the Tournament for the Demon World. The Dark Tournament has some hype fights but it's kind of exhausting. Like the fights are distinct and the change of venue helps but it's still kind of a just a slog of battles. And the final tournament is massively disappointing because the Three Kings arc sets up a really interesting three way struggle with complex character dynamics, and it just throws it all away for a third tournament, that we barely seen any (especially in the manga, we get a couple pages of Yomi vs. Yusuke in the manga at most, the anime fight was filler because Togashi literally just gave up [he has basically admitted that]).
Meanwhile, Hunter x Hunter has a ton of variety, every arc is different, including even the main cast. For example, out of the four leads, only Kurapika is involved in the current arc in the manga, Gon & Killua are completely absent from the story arc, which is about 40 chapters in I believe. But Hunter x Hunter arcs range from like neo-noir crime thrillers with the Yorknew City, to an Isekai with Greed Island, to a full-blown war drama with Chimera Ant. I also love that Hunter x Hunter isn't that action-orientated. Battles mostly only happen when they're necessary to advance the plot, and often times the arcs will resolve without a climactic battle, instead choosing to favour giving the characters emotional weight rather than just a victory in combat. It's easily the least formulaic of any shonen series I've seen. Internal variety is one of the most important things to me. As is allowing character depth for the whole cast, and Hunter x Hunter does that better than most. Anyway when Hunter x Hunter does have fights, they tend to be excellent, better than most fights in other series. Because they follow the JoJo model of being more strategic, and because Nen is the best battle system ever. It's the most fully-realized one out there, there's so much intricate detail and applications existing outside of people's specific super powers (or their Hatsu), that it just feels more tangible.
Honestly, Yu Yu Hakusho might not even be my second favourite of Togashi's work, because Level E is also really excellent.