One of the very first series that I ever followed on a regular basis (besides Sailor Moon) was Yu Yu Hakusho because it came on every day during the Toonami television programming block (usually after Sailor Moon). While Sailor Moon was my first foray into shoujo, Yu Yu Hakusho was my first experience with battle shonen and I am grateful to it for showing me new possibilities.
In December 2020, Netflix announced they would produce a live-action series adapting the original manga, but very little has been said about it ever since. It seems that Netflix will play the long game with this one (perhaps learning from previous mistakes) by only recently revealing that the series won’t even be streamed on the service until December 2023.
Now, there might be a certain segment of you who don’t remember what Yu Yu Hakusho is, which is a shame. So once again, let’s take a trip way back in time to the distant past of the 1990s. In this manga series which ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from the very end of 1990 to the middle of 1994, the main character is a teenage delinquent named Yusuke who sacrifices his life to save a kid from being hit by a car.
Unfortunately, this was so out of character for him that the afterlife doesn’t really know what to do with him. So instead of letting him pass on to the afterlife, Yusuke is revived on Earth with the title ‘Spirit Detective’ and must deal with appearances of monsters and demons in the human world. While the manga series lasted for nineteen volumes, it was eventually adapted into a 112 episode anime produced by Studio Pierrot, which aired in Japan from 1992 to 1994.
In terms of who will bring the live-action Netflix adaptation to life, all we know for certain is that the series will feature two Japanese producers; Netflix contents acquisition director Kazutaka Sakamoto as the executive producer and Akira Morii as a producer at Robot. They will film the series in Japan at Toho Studios.
This is another one of those series where I’m not willing to commit one way or the other until I see a trailer of some kind. It’s possible that this will be a rare surprise from Netflix, but until I see some production shots or a promotional video, I’m putting this one squarely in the ‘wait and see’ category.
Source: Anime News Network
