Why is Yu Yu held in such high regard?

[Pocket-Gog~]

Why is Yu Yu held in such high regard? Everything before the Dark Tournament was disjointed and rambling with how it was structured and what it tackled, every fight Yuusuke is in is always solved by Yuusuke being strong, the constant power ups were story breaking, and barely led the story into it's conclusion. The Dark Tournament was an average tournament with only one good character, and the Black Chapter Arc started promising, but then failed to do anything interesting with the main characters, and it shat it's pants with the theme of skill > power, and shat it's pants in general with the garbage climax.

And the Demon Tournament was flat out garbage.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

I imagine nostalgia had a major part to play, seeing as how it was aired in the same period of years as the DB series and earlier Pokemon seasons were still around, thus allowing for it to be something those who were attracted towards the anime aesthetic to see as a good gateway series. Same reason you have plenty of people saying DBZ is the best anime they've ever seen, when no matter how you cut it, there are plenty of better series (and DB >> DBZ anyway).

Those who acknowledge the generic aspects of the first two arcs and the poor decisions of the last two tend to follow a common trend of saying it's a series where the character development/writing is what makes it great. Whilst the cast is definitely better than in most Shonen series and most of the main cast have some genuine good development, I wouldn't say any of them were top tier characters, or anywhere close in fleshing out/development to some of the best of Togashi's current work.

I guess when you place it side by side with the series it inspired (Bleach), Yu Yu Hakusho does seem like the golden standard of anime, but now that Togashi has used what good ideas it had within Hunter X Hunter and executed them far better, YYH seems practically dated in some ways.

 

[Papasmurf]

YYH manga is more interesting as a record of Togashi's artistic progress than anything else. The anime is noticeably better mainly due to less scribbling in the Sensui and both tournament arcs, but still has the same inherent flaws of having power inflation that would make :rape's arc blush along with also having a terrible, terrible fucking ending.

 

[Pocket-Gog~]

Those who acknowledge the generic aspects of the first two arcs and the poor decisions of the last two tend to follow a common trend of saying it's a series where the character development/writing is what makes it great. Whilst the cast is definitely better than in most Shonen series and most of the main cast have some genuine good development, I wouldn't say any of them were top tier characters, or anywhere close in fleshing out/development to some of the best of Togashi's current work.

Honestly, Yu Yu's cast of characters outright bored me. Yuuske and the gang may have been fleshed out, and developed, but not were they as characters ever put in interesting situations, not once were they put in any hard situations (that is a lie, there was one time, plant man was forced to kill a child), and not once were they ever broken down like Gon was in the Chimera Ant Arc. So, in the end they just left me uninterested.

 

[sei'taer]

The fact that this is being asked on a DBZ forum puzzles me.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

The fact that this is being asked on a DBZ forum puzzles me.

Why? Not everyone here treats DBZ in high regard either.

 

[Pyro]

There isn't much power inflation and powerscale breakage, so that's good.

 

[Papasmurf]

What? The last 2 arcs in YYH had bullshit haxes and training gains on DBS tier of faggotry.

 

[Pocket-Gog~]

What? The last 2 arcs in YYH had bullshit haxes and training gains on DBS tier of faggotry.

I'll never forget the monumental bullshit of Yuusuke suddenly being revealed to be a demon and getting a million times stronger because of it.

 

[Papasmurf]

What? The last 2 arcs in YYH had bullshit haxes and training gains on DBS tier of faggotry.

I'll never forget the monumental bullshit of Yuusuke suddenly being revealed to be a demon and getting a million times stronger because of it.

Closest thing to foreshadowing of that was his phoenix shaped aura in the anime's DT (which somewhat resembles Puu's demon form), which I later found wasn't even in the manga lol.

 

[Pocket-Gog~]

What? The last 2 arcs in YYH had bullshit haxes and training gains on DBS tier of faggotry.

I'll never forget the monumental bullshit of Yuusuke suddenly being revealed to be a demon and getting a million times stronger because of it.

Closest thing to foreshadowing of that was his phoenix shaped aura in the anime's DT (which somewhat resembles Puu's demon form), which I later found wasn't even in the manga lol.

I wouldn't even consider that foreshadowing, Puu was essentially his spirit beast, without any context you would just assume it's Puu's finial form or some shit. Also, never watched the anime, couldn't be bothered to spend hours watching something average.

 

[Papasmurf]

Yeah if you didn't grow up with the series the anime isn't much of a worthwhile watch.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Honestly, Yu Yu's cast of characters outright bored me. Yuuske and the gang may have been fleshed out, and developed, but not were they as characters ever put in interesting situations, not once were they put in any hard situations (that is a lie, there was one time, plant man was forced to kill a child), and not once were they ever broken down like Gon was in the Chimera Ant Arc. So, in the end they just left me uninterested.

The villains at least had a fair bit of depth to them and difficult situations to overcome. Not to the extent that the Phantom Troupe, Meruem or the Royal Guards did, but still enough to class the likes of Toguro, Sensui and Sakyo as good villains (though the existence of Chrollo and Meruem now make Sensui dated).

I'll never forget the monumental bullshit of Yuusuke suddenly being revealed to be a demon and getting a million times stronger because of it.

Not to mention the 6 DT demons going from Mid/Upper C-Class to being leagues above Sensui from Genkai's training, as well as Yoko Kurama surpassing them by a sizeable amount through....absolutely nothing to our knowledge.

Also, never watched the anime, couldn't be bothered to spend hours watching something average.

I'd say the anime pushes the series from average to decent, since the art's far more consistent, Kurama has an actual character arc and it has a far more solid ending. But yeah, it's only boosting a 5/10 to a 6/10 and there's not much reason to watch it if you've already seen HxH.