Yu Yu Hakusho Vol. #05

By Dani Moure     September 13, 2006
Release Date: August 07, 2006



What They Say
Get ready for one of the most exciting anime of all time as FUNimation, the company that introduced Dragon Ball Z to the USA, and Pierrot, creators of Fushigi Yuugi, Lum the Invader Girl and Key the Metal Idol team up to bring you...Yu Yu Hakushoi!

One of Yusuke's teammates has been badly injured, and Kuwabara insists on fighting the next enemy all by himself. Before the bickering group can disagree, a ferocious roar slices through the castle. Byakko, the second Saint Beast, is waiting!

Now Kuwabara must stay true to his word and face the great White Tiger alone. Even if his new-and-improved Spirit Sword is enough to defeat this monster, many more dangers still await the team in Maze Castle!

Episodes:
16. Byakko, the White Tiger
17. Byakko's Lair
18. Seiryu, the Blue Dragon

The Review!
After eight months we finally get more Yu Yu, but the waits are becoming more and more excruciating, especially as the episode count drops to 3.

Audio:
I listened to the Japanese track for the most part for my main reviewing, and enjoyed the performances from the voice actors, particularly Yusuke and Kuwabara on this disc. The stereo mix is basic, as you'd expect for an old show, but I noticed no dropouts or distortions during regular playback.

I also sampled the disc in English for an episode, and the dub continues to be very entertaining, and one that I continue to think would be very well suited to TV. I noticed no technical problems with the portions I listened to.

As this is a FUNimation production, we also get dubbed openings and endings. And as they almost always are, these are really good. They're not particularly accurate to the original translations, but that's a lot more difficult with songs than it is regular dialogue. They do capture the spirit of the originals well though, and it's a practice I enjoy an awful lot so I'll always give kudos to FUNimation for being one of the few companies that still dubs their songs.

Video:
With this being an older show, it shows signs of age. I didn't notice any macroblocking or aliasing during regular playback, though the transfer isn't the sharpest (which seems more down to the relative age of the source materials), and there's a bit of grain throughout. Colours are quite well reproduced, and I didn't notice any instances of cross-colouration. Nevertheless, for a show made long before DVD was a consideration, the transfer comes across quite well.

We also get alternate angles for the openings and endings. This means that you can either watch the translated, English credits in the opening, or the original Japanese opening with kanji, and the same for the ending, depending on which language you select from the menu. Unfortunately, FUNimation don't credit the Japanese voice actors at all on the English translation angle, which is very annoying to say the least. Other than that, this is a practice I really like and would like to see many other studios adopt.

Subtitles are in a nice yellow font, as opposed to the white font used on the US discs, and I didn't notice any major grammatical or spelling errors.

Packaging:
No packaging was included as this was a check disc.

Menu:
The menus are simple but functional, with the main menu screen sporting an image of Kurama down the left side, with the episode selections and sub-menu options, as well as the series logo and disc title on the right hand side. All the menus are static, and only the main menu has music playing (the ending theme in this case). The system is simple but functional, and does look quite nice and is fitting with the style of the rest of the packaging.

A major oversight that continues to be carried over from earlier discs is that Madman have only added a chapter stop after the episode title screen appears in each episode (just after a brief recap), and not one at the eyecatch, meaning the chapter for the meat of the episodes lasts almost twenty minutes. This is an annoying practice that I hope is corrected soon.

Extras:
Extras are essentially the same as the last disc. More textless openings and endings, another lot of textual character profiles which are decent if short, and another set of brief translations for the character names. While it's not a great selection, at least some effort is being made to put something on the discs.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Once again we have to wait for more Yu Yu Hakusho. After an understandable (to a degree) delay on the last volume, this one came a whopping eight months after the last volume. At this point it's talking forever to get even through the first season, and my hopes of seeing more released here look increasingly unlikely by the day. Honestly, two volumes in thirteen months is just preposterous, as I fail to understand how this show is supposed to build any momentum whatsoever.

Nevertheless, it was easy to get back into the series again even after such a long wait, as things pick up from where they left off at the end of the last volume. After defeating Genbu, Yusuke, along with Kuwabara, Hiei and Kurama continue in to the Maze Castle, where the next Beast awaits. This time it's Byakko, who represents an opportunity for Kuwabara to show his worth after all the training he has undergone. From that perspective, the episode works really well. Kuwabara gives it his all against his opponent, demanding that Yusuke doesn't get involved in the fight under any circumstances. On several occasions as well, he manages to overcome what looks to be a big problem by actually thinking about what is happening and outwitting Byakko.

Yes, Kuwabara shows he has come a long way. A great example is how he realises the lack of effect just slashing his spirit sword would have against the beasts that are split up, and instead he gets them to chase him across a bridge so he only has to face them one at a time (and the way he beats them ends up being quite funny to boot). But of course it's never going to be easy in a big fight like this, and Byakko certainly isn't one to go down easily by any means. For every time he slashes the tiger, Byakko seems to get stronger " he feeds off Kuwabara's spirit energy. Despite this, Kuwabara continues his attacks...

Again, Kuwabara is actually outwitting Byakko, and at the start of the second episode on the disc he Byakko explodes from absorbing too much energy. The other guys are suitably impressed at how Kuwabara managed to win without any help at all, and you get the feeling he's really earned a bit of respect, or at least the chance to be taken seriously, by how well he fought. After briefly seeing how Botan is struggling in the real world with what is going on, the four reach a lava lair, but it turns out Byakko wasn't actually as dead as they thought, in fact this is his true fight. This is also much tougher since Byakko is totally at home in his environment, and his attacks could prove deadly for Kuwabara.

By the end of this episode, you know who's going to win (as you inevitably do in shows like these), but for a longer fight I really thought this one played out well. Not only does Kuwabara show his worth to the three onlookers but also to us, as we can see that he can use his brains when necessary and he really means business. Although we know a lot of his character traits already it was nice to see it come together in an important battle like this. The only downside to these two episodes though is how the rest of the cast are mostly sidelined and relegated to the odd comments as onlookers. At the moment though, that is simply how the series is structured for this story arc as every couple of episodes finds the spotlight on a different member of the group.

Sure enough, the final episode on this disc sees the group on a path that leads to the next beast, Seiryu. As they come face to face with the ice dragon, Byakko reappears again (yes, he just refuses to die) but this time he feels the wrath of Seiryu, who freezes him before killing him for good. Kuwabara is angry about it, but Hiei steps in to be the one to avenge him. This ends up being a more straightforward encounter than you might expect given the difficulties Byakko gave Kuwabara, but Hiei is a more seasoned fighter. It's all over in a matter of seconds, with the first main blow resulting in Hiei attacking with his sword but getting frozen instead. But just when everyone thinks Seiryu has the upper hand, blood pours down his face and he dies. It turns out that Hiei slashed him sixteen times with his sword in the blink of an eye to finish him off. With this battle out the way, we see more trouble stirring with Botan as well as getting our first look Suzaku, the leader of the beasts.

I liked this episode as a change of pace from the last two, but the same reason I liked it is a bit of an annoyance as well. While the length of the fight made a change after the several encounters with Byakko, it did seem as though it was over a little too soon and, while it did demonstrate the difference in level between Kuwabara and Hiei, it also made him look a bit bad since he never actually did finish Byakko off properly himself. Still, it was nice to get the confirmation that Hiei has really grown to trust this group.
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In Summary:
I continue to enjoy Yu Yu Hakusho a great deal with each new episode, and though this sort of show isn't to everyone's tastes, if you like a good fighting show this is one of the best examples out there. However, its release in the UK is becoming increasingly frustrating to the point of making me want to drop watching it all together. Every time I get into the series again, I have to wait even longer for the next disc. Eight months is a ridiculous wait and to then only get three more episodes (out of over 100 total) it seems like a bit of a slap in the face. MVM have made so many leaps and bounds over the past few years, I just wish they'd sort this series out.

Features
Japanese Language (2.0),English Language (2.0),English Subtitles,Textless Opening and Ending,Name Translations,Character Profiles

Review Equipment
Philips 28" Pure Flat Widescreen TV, Pioneer DV-464 code free DVD player, JVC gold-plated RGB SCART cable, standard stereo sound.