I don’t know about you, but I didn’t have “Netflix would learn how to make live-action anime adaptions that aren’t terrible” on my 2023 bingo card. But they seemed to have done the impossible. Not only was the One Piece live-action adaption pretty enjoyable to watch, but I was surprised to see that Yu Yu Hakusho was equally amazing. What kind of bizarro world are we living in?
Why Do Anime Fans Hate Live-Action Adaptions?
As I’ve written before, anime fans seem to universally hate all attempts to re-create 2D animated works in our imperfect flesh-and-blood world. The reasons include:
- Anime can easily depict anything imaginable, but to do this in real life requires actors to wear ridiculous prosthetics and sport unnatural hair colors.
- Anime is all about action and battles, but to do this with live-action requires the overuse of CGI, which gets tiring after a while.
- All too often, studios make decisions that anger fans, such as casting a Westerner in the role of a Japanese character. This is confusing to actual Japanese people, who would much rather see Brad Pitt or Scarlett Johansson on-screen than the 137th role of Ken Watanabe.
There are some good reasons why anime live-action adaptions keep getting made, the most obvious of which is that they usually make money, and creators are always happy to see their works translated for a new audience. Also, some stories are downright amazing in live-action form, such as Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys.
What can studios learn from the failure of the Cowboy Bebop live-action adaption? Read my blog post here!
How Did I Like the Yu Yu Hakusho Live Action Adaption?
Considering how much I enjoyed the Netflix One Piece, I went into this work with an open mind. And it was…surprisingly enjoyable to watch. The performances were great, and having the characters played by charismatic actors like Takumi Kitamura and Shuhei Uesugi gave my body an adrenaline boost I didn’t expect.
The story follows Yuusuke Urameshi, a delinquent youth who doesn’t bother going to school. When he unexpectedly saves the life of a boy at the cost of his own, the authorities in the spirit realm aren’t sure what to do with him…so he becomes a detective for youkai spirits, with the help of shinigami sidekick Botan.
So why was Yu Yu Hakusho’s live-action a success, were so many others (Death Note, Dragon Ball: Evolution, Cowboy Bebop) failed? Let’s explore some of the reasons!
It was a 100% Japanese production. The series was made by Robot Communications, a Japanese production company that’s made several successful anime adaptions in the past. They also produced, along with Toho, the outstanding Godzilla Minus One. It’s refreshingly free from any “Western” themes that weren’t in the original.
They approached the work with humility. Whereas the creators of the Cowboy Bebop live-action actually said “We fixed what was wrong with the original,” you can feel how seriously the creators of the live-action Yu Yu Hakusho adaption took their responsibility. Obviously, they had to boil the story down quite a bit to create five hour-long episodes, but I think they did a great job.
It celebrates strong men. Being part of the ’80s cultural movement that brought us Bebop High School and Sukeban Deka, this is a story of super-strong young men trying to find their way in a changing world. This kind of story has fallen out of favor in some parts of the world. In Japanese, these delinquents are called yankii. This is a bastardization of the word Yankee because they famously dye their hair blonde. This gives them a connection to Americans, somehow.
What Does This Mean For the Future of Live-Action Anime Adaptions?
The success of the Yu Yu Hakusho means the studios are learning, and that’s a good thing. Considering that we’ll never be free from having live-action anime adaptations, we might as well hope that studios start making something we can enjoy watching. And which leads younger fans to the original anime or manga work that we’ve loved for years. Let’s hope the positive trend continues.
Thanks for reading this blog post about the surprisingly good Yu Yu Hakusho live-action adaption by Netflix. Do you think that anime live-action adaptions will continue to get better going forward? Tell us your views below!
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