YuYu Hakusho, Volume 11

April 1, 2007
Tough-guy punk Yusuke Urameshi died heroically in a traffic accident one day, surprising everyoneincluding the junior god of death, Koenma. Koenma sends ferry girl Botan to guide Yusuke's soul back to life. Then, Yusuke finds out he's been drafted into Koenma's service as a spirit detective and given special powers. Along with his archrival/friend Kuwabara, Yusuke starts dealing with demons that have escaped into the human world. Along the way, he picks up Kurama and Hiei to join the team and ends up the student of master spiritual warrior Genkai. After the four become famous as demon fighters, they are forced into a team tournament for demons in Volume 6, with the prize being anything they wish, but no one expects them to survive. By Volume 11, they've reached the finals against the high-powered team Toguro. Like a lot of shonen series, fights are long, with named attacks and plenty of standing around and boasting. Togashi writes great characterseven the minor players have clear personalities, and Yusuke is such a fun punk you can't help but root for him; the dialog is clever enough to keep the standard formats interesting. The art is expressive, detailed, and often beautiful. With several strong females, including Yusuke's almost girlfriend, Keiko, and pretty boys, the series is just as popular with girls as boys.Teresa Copeland, Yuma Cty. Lib. Dist., AZ

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.