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YuYu Hakusho

Author: Yoshihiro Togashi

Volumes: 19 (Complete at 175 chapters)

Publisher: Shonen Jump [click HERE for digital chapters]

YuYu Hakusho is such a memorable series. Partly because there just hasn’t been anything quite like it before or since, and that’s really the greatest charm to Togashi’s works; This series pretty much rewrote the tournament format as we know it.

Yusuke Urameshi starts the series off having just died after being hit by a car. Despite living the life of a delinquent he selflessly dashes out to save a young boy from being hit, and though it’s revealed to him that the boy would have survived, Enma had not foreseen such an event happening, and so Yusuke is given the chance to come back to life for his uncharacteristically good deed.

The animated series races to the end goal of the first arc, but the comic thankfully spends more time with Yusuke as a ghost before he ultimately becomes a spirit detective in service of Enma. We get to see how Yusuke’s world view changes before he comes back to life, and we get to appreciate alongside him the value of a second chance.

While at times the series can feel a little run of the mill, in ways that apparently even frustrated Togashi himself, it nevertheless put him on the map as an author capable of taking shonen protagonists that one step further than they had ever been before.

A personal favourite character of mine is Kurama, I’ve always loved intelligent characters that do more than just appear intelligent. I’m also a massive fan of his spiritual successor Kurapika, from Hunter X Hunter too, but we’ll save that for when that appears in the list.