Friday, August 28, 2009

Top 11 Moments of Yu Yu Hakusho

Top 11 Moments of Yu Yu Hakusho


SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS

11. Kuwabara "Dies" by Toguro.
Now no matter who you are, this moment was a big fucking deal. Either you were crying in sorrow, your were crying in joy, or your crying because I kicked you in the balls, you know that this was one hell of a moment. As far as anyone knew, Kuwabara had died. This wasn't a little death either, this was blood bursting out your back bad. And yeah it's cliche now for action animes to do this, but bear in mind that YYH comes from the early nineties. So it was pretty much this and Dragon Ball Z that were THE premiere fighting animes(and still are to this day, Mecha be damned).

Number 10
The Dragon of the Darknes Flames owns Zeru

This was the moment that gave you so much hope for the Dark Tournament, Both Hiei and Zeru had tried to give the appearance of being bad ass, but when that dragon shows up, you feel its presence. And then you stop feeling Zeru's as he is deep fried, with not even a bone left for the dog demons. Truly prolific moment.



Number 9
The doctor kills people left and right

This is just one of those straight up, holy shit moments where this series lives up to its name for being the best straight up action anime. When the doctor first slices into someone you see the blood fly and you actually feel some fear for the supporting characters lives. He pushes you into wondering what the hell is going to happen. There is no question how strong this opponent is. The best bit is that up to this point the blood as been rather understated unless its an important battle, but here we are 6 episodes into a new arc and the blood is flying, The doctor does what bullseye proposed to do to daredevil, "put the fear in him".


Number 8
they let Gamer die.

This is one of the awesome moments that is clearly fucked over by what is likely an editorial retcon. I'm referring to just a few episodes later where it turns out that Koenma saved him. coughBullshitcough. But I digress. This is by and far one of those moments where you know they have been pushed to their limits and corrupted. Especially Kurama. This is the beginning of the end for our heroes being able to be called good without some hesitation. I mean, these are supposed to be the good guys, since when do the good guys just let little kids die, Fuck you Roland the Gunslinger you be quiet.


Nummber 7(a tie)
Yomi beats Yusuke
Enki wins the Makai tournament

This was as much a two way tie as a double whammy what the fuck moment. first we find out via flashback that Yusuke lost. Which for an action anime that's impressive. And since he's the main character and this is an elimination tournament that's even more impressive that the main character LOSES. It was pretty typical up to this point that the hero wouldn't lose a major tournament that c(w)ould change the fate of the worlds. and then add on that we then suddenly find out that one of Raizens old friends and all around nice guys, Enki, went on to win the tournament. From the shows final arc, this isn't quite what is expected. But its also one of those moments where you know exactly why you love this show.


Number 6
Genkai's ruse


This is such a fun twist that I couldn't not include it. When it is revealed that these characters that had been introduced and displayed as what was going to be the arc's villains turns out to just be the flunkies of none other than Genkai, its another of those moments that says, hey this Sensui arc might be different.

Number Five
Yusuke owns Kuroda the mind reader

Now going into this list, I knew I could rely solely on the touching and the whiskey Tango Foxtrots. I knew I'd need to have moments of Comedy because that was more than half of this show. It was an action/comedy. So I thought about it and my fave moment was the "I'll throw a straight right hook and stop just before I hit his face" moment. Not only does it catch the audience off guard, it catches a guy who can read minds off balance. This is also one of those hilarious little bits that sets up this guy as an asshole, and certainly not a good guy, or at least not a hero(hence why after the doctor's bit, we never see him again despite his obvious usefulness). I'm also just going to mention a related fave moment of Kuroda's: "she's going to make out with her teacher! he have to stop her!...Or watch!"



Number four
Yuu Kaito's and Kuramas' battle of wits

this falls into a similar place as number five. It was with this awesome sequence that the creators were looking at their audience and saying, HEY, this will be both cool and different. Finally proving once and for all that Kurama really is this brilliant tactician and on top of that getting one of the most hilarious Hiei gets owned for his own stupidity moments, this section has the laughs and the tension. The other cool bit? The show decides to prove that this is equally a team show by having Yusuke sit out this sub arc.

Number three
Kurama mind fucks Elder Toguro

If you don't know what this moment is, go rewatch Kurama's anger. When Kurama loses his cool, you know shit is going to go down. And it does.

Number two
Raizen takes over Yusuke

If you didn't see this moment making this list, you weren't watching the same show, its one thing to have your main character die and come back stronger than ever. ITs quite another for even that not to be enough to kill the bad guy. So when Yusuke's Demon ancestor the Mazoku comes back to inhabit his body and just beat the snot out of of sensui, only to have yusuke take over at the last minute (and fuel a rage and empties that would drive Yusuke next arc) you've done a pretty impressive job with a moment that could have been crappy. Plus, how creepy was Yusuke as a possessed demon?


and the number one moment of Yu Yu Hakusho is....


Yusuke dies in the first 5 minutes.



Holy panda hell. that was my first reaction to seeing that first episode, not knowing what the show was about, and to watch a main character die in the first five minutes and go on to keep narating and explain things, I knew this show would be something special. It may not be much, but it is the defining moment of Yu Yu Hakusho, telling you that while death may not be permanent, the stories that can be told and the emotion from those moments will have an effect,



Here are some of the other moments that are clearly awesome too, but I had to cut down my fave 21 moments down to 11 so There it is.


The Death Of Genkai
Chu's Knife edge death Match
Yusuke vs Jin, a battle of Friends
Sniper Owns Kuroda the Mind Reader
Hiei vs Yusuke:The REmatch
Yusuke Dies again.
Yuskue and puu both evolve
Hiei cuts open Shigures head
Mukuro's a chick
Chu, Rinku, Toyua, Shikki, Jinn and The Beautiful Suzuka return!
The Kiss of Legend(Yusuke+Keiko)


So thats it, the complete top 11 awesome moments of Yu Yu Hakusho.

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