Danica Davidson
November 13, 2023 
Netflix has had a mixed history with their live-action adaptations of anime and manga, with titles like Death Note and Cowboy Bebop not doing well, while their One Piece adaptation has been a hit. How will it be with Netflix’s live-action Yu Yu Hakusho? We’ll know soon enough as the series will premiere globally in just over a month, on December 14. Meanwhile an English-subtitled trailer has dropped.
The adaptation is part of a deal TOHO Studios and Netflix have inked. It’s being directed by Sho Tsukikawa, who helmed the live-action Let Me Eat Your Pancreas. Credit for script writing goes to Tatsurō Mishima. Looking toward the cast, it stars Takumi Kitamura, Jun Shison, Kanata Hongō, Shūhei Uesugi, Kenichi Takito, Goro Inagaki, and Go Ayano.
VIZ Media releases the original Yu Yu Hakusho manga in English and gave this description for the first volume:
Yusuke Urameshi was a tough teen delinquent until one selfless act changed his life…by ending it. When he died saving a little kid from a speeding car, the afterlife didn’t know what to do with him, so it gave him a second chance at life. Now, Yusuke is a ghost with a mission, performing good deeds at the beshest of Botan, the spirit guide of the dead, and Koenma, her pacifier-sucking boss from the “other side.” But what strange things await him on the borderline between life and death?
Yu Yu Hakusho debuted as a manga in 1990, created by Yoshihiro Togashi, who is also the mangaka behind Hunter x Hunter. The manga series concluded in 1994, but has remained a major and popular title. The franchise also has an anime TV series, anime movies and two OVAs. Funimation, Media Blasters and Central Park Media have all been involved in releasing the anime show and movies in North America.
Source: ANN
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
