SPOILERS AHEAD I decided to start Yuu Yuu Hakusho one day when by chance I found it in the library and had heard good things from my friends and the community. I was just expecting some typical battle shounen that would pass the time during boring classes but it was so much more in every way. Because Yuu Yuu Hakusho is written by the same mangaka as Hunter x Hunter and they are both battle shounens the two are often compared heavily which I understand. However the more I think about it for myself the more I think that Yuu Yuu Hakusho is better in nearly every way. This is due to the extremely well written characters great art with unique character design and such an intriguing plot. Obviously the plot of any story is the most important part and this holds true for Yuu Yuu Hakusho. The main goal of Yuusuke Urameshi changes throughout the story but it begins with literally regaining his life and proving his worthiness in the Spirit Detective arc. This arc was probably a weak point within the story for me just because of how disconnected it feels from the rest of the manga but it was a great way to get me hooked on the characters and by proxy the story as a whole. This arc showed how Yuusuke would do his best to help strangers despite not being the nicest person at a glance like how he helped the boy get over his dogs death and stand up to the bullies by playing the villain himself. It also created solid side characters like Kazuma Kuwabara who had to go through a whole week of getting beaten badly without retaliating against corruption just so his friend could put food on the table for his family. The next arcs only get better the Dark Tournament had even better fight scenes and a cool antagonist with interesting plot twists such as Toguro killing Genkai and then we get the Black Chapter arc. The Black Chapter arc is in my opinion the best battle shounen arc I have ever seen in any manga or anime. This is where the best fight of the whole series comes in which is between the single best antagonist of the series and Yuusuke himself. I can barely even begin to explain why I love this arc so much but the best I can sum it up is: this arc begins to show how well each character has grown from when they first appeared in the story and how everyone acts as one group united by friendship despite them each being their own individuals with their own interests. Finally the last arc and most controversial arc is the Three Kings arc. This arc probably ranked as 3 for me behind Black Chapter and the Dark Tournament but it definitely wasnt bad. It felt somewhat unrealistic when it brought in Yuusukes demon father which left me feeling uneasy but it quickly made up for itself when the whole arc turned into a massive tournament. The thing I like most about this arc was how Yuusuke didnt even come close to winning the largest and final tournament of the manga which caught me extremely off guard because of how unusual that is in most shounens. After his loss the story focused on everyones lives outside of the spirit or demon worlds and briefly reminded me that the story is more focused on the characters than it is on Yuusukes strength. As a romance manga addict the only part of this arc that disappointed me was how I never got to see Yuusuke and Keiko or Kuwabara and Yukinas romantic lives but this is a minor drawback of course. However good a story is the quality can often be boosted or ruined by the quality of the characters. For me the part of Yuu Yuu Hakusho that kept me hooked the best was the wellwritten characters. The main character Yuusuke Urameshi is probably the best example of this. He starts off as a typical shounen protagonist similar to Naruto or Asta but shows subtle characteristics that differentiate him from other shounen protagonists throughout the Spirit Detective arc. As I explained earlier the Spirit Detective arc showed just how deep of a character he is. I could spend a very long time talking about Yuusuke but in reality hes the tip of the iceberg of character depth in Yuu Yuu Hakusho. Kuwabara is one of the less deep characters in Yuu Yuu Hakusho and is more similar to a shounen protagonist than Yuusuke despite being a side character. He acts well as a rival to Yuusuke for a while but eventually falls so far behind in skill he diverts his attention to other things like school instead of high level fights. Hes still a good character despite being more simple. Next up Kurama is one of the most interesting characters in the manga a fox demon who got stuck in a childs body and learned to live and love as a human feels very unique and creates interesting situations in the plot. Unlike most demons he has a family that he cares to defend instead of having nothing to lose. His plantbased powers are also really cool because of how he utilizes them skillfully and turns the tide of a conflict without any warning. Finally for the main four Hiei is probably my favorite character in the manga. This is due to him probably being the character with the most depth and most understandable conflict of any main character. To oversimplify him you could say hes similar to Levi Ackerman from Attack on Titan which is true but doesnt capture his full image. He puts up a badass front where he doesnt seem to care about anything besides fighting and gaining strength but you find out later that he does it all for his sister Yukina who doesnt even know Hiei is her brother. Later in the manga you learn that Hiei was thrown out of his tribe and family at birth because of supposed wrongdoings of his mother and because of this all he wants is to take revenge and massacre his whole tribe but he sees their poor lives and spares them resolving just to find and save his sister. He even entered a contract that would allow him to find his sister but it somewhat tragically prevented him from revealing his identity to his sister. Complicated plot points like these are what solidify Hiei as my favorite character in this manga. The last character I want to mention briefly is Shinobu Senseui the main antagonist of the Black Chapter arc. He was overall an aboveaverage antagonist but what made me come to love him was the large reveal of him being a former spirit detective that creates the thought that Yuusuke might follow the same path to nihilism. Usually when I rate any anime or manga I decide based on plot and characters with art and music as bonus points. The plot and characters were covered thoroughly above and manga doesnt have any music so all thats left is the art. Overall the art in Yuu Yuu Hakusho was pretty average with a few detailed panels here and there like after Kurama was tragically forced to kill Amanuma but what I love most is the character design. The best example of this is Botan who has a relatively simple design but the design looks amazing in the manga with the wide selection of clothes. I havent seen the anime for Yuu Yuu Hakusho but speaking for the manga the characters the plot and art come together to create something amazing that is only matched by very few manga and no other shounen. The thing that makes me feel most confident about my rating of this manga is how Im usually extremely negative and critical towards shounen series yet somehow it came through to earn itself a striking 10/10 in my books.