| | |  | STUDIO GHIBLI LIBRARY | Home » » » YuYu Hakusho, Vol. 1 | | | | | | | Description: | | In this first volume in one of Japan's most popular graphic novels, it was a typical day for Yusuke - go to school at noon, get kicked out by the teacher, fight with his rival Kuwabara, and head for home in time to wake his mom from her drunken stupor. But when he throws himself in front of a car to save a little kid's life, he becomes Tokyo's toughest teenage ghost! While his childhood friend Keiko grieves over his comatose body, Yusuke has one chance to return to life: raise a "spirit egg" at the behest of the comely Botan (aka Death) and her boss Koenma, lord of the infernal bureaucracy. But the creature that hatches from the spirit egg will be determined by the good or evil in Yusuke's soul - if he's not careful, he could create a monster! | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Yoshihiro Togashi | | Paperback:
| 208 pages | | Publisher:
| VIZ Media LLC | | Publication Date:
| 2003-05 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 1569319049 | | Product Length:
| 7.56 inches | | Product Width:
| 5.02 inches | | Product Height:
| 0.69 inches | | Product Weight:
| 0.49 pounds | | Package Length:
| 7.7 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.06 inches | | Package Height:
| 0.65 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.44 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 18 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 18 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
 Ghost Files RocksMar 14, 2004
YuYu Hakusho is an awesome manga. It is about a kid named Yusuke. Yusuke starts out his day normally. He goes to school, gets kicked out, goes home, gets lectured by his drunken mother, beats up Kuwabara (his rival), and that's just a normal day.
Then Yusuke meets this kid who is playing in the street. Yusuke does one selfless act by saving the kid from a car that would have hit him. Yusuke dies and meets Botan, or death in english.
Yusuke learns that if he wants to live again, then he has to raise an egg. But he needs to do good deeds or the egg will eat him when it hatches. So Yusuke, with the help of Botan, goes around doing selfless acts.
Yusuke encounters a spirit dog and his over-attached owner, Kuwabara his rival, and a "temporary resurection." YuYu Hakusho (ghost files in english) is truly a great manga. Read it.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
One of the better Japanese comics I've read.May 23, 2010
By Armando N. Roman
I first read Yu Yu Hakusho about 10 years ago when I was translating Japanese books and comics as a way of understanding the language better. This volume right here came out of nowhere, not just in how cool the story was, but because the damn thing made me cry twice. TWICE, in the same book! I recently found the version this page is for (volume 1 in English) when going through my closet, and sure enough, those two parts STILL get tears out of me. That's not to make it sound like Yu Yu Hakusho is a depressing or constantly emotional comic, but very rarely do comics get that much out of me. Aside from that, this is an excellent start to the series, and anyone who might've seen the animated series first will love the comics as well.
Yusuke is a ruffian, plain and simple. He skips school a lot, lives at home with his mom who isn't really there for him, and is always getting into fights. One day, he sees a kid chase his ball into the street as a car's coming right at him. For once, Yusuke does a noble thing and runs over and pushes the kid out of the way, dying as a result. He's suddenly seeing the situation from the sky now that he's a spirit in limbo, and he meets Botan, a kind of grim reaper, though she's actually pretty cheerful. This volume covers Yusuke looking down on other people about to die and doing good by helping with the situations, and later covers him dealing with the few people close to him. It's pretty cool, and off the top of my head, I can't think of any other series like this at the time it came out, and even today.
I'm not easily impressed or moved, but like I said earlier, when something moves me to tears, it's gotta be something really good. When Yusuke watches over a little boy who gets bullied by other kids that make fun of his dying dog, that was pretty bad right there, but how it all turns out wasn't sad, but done in a neat way that made me cry because of how sweet it was, and because I was happy. You'll just have to see it for yourself. The art style in these books is great too, and Yoshihiro Togashi does a good job of drawing facial expressions without going all goofy like a lot of other artists would do.
There's only so much I can say about a single volume of Yu Yu Hakusho without ruining everything, so just go ahead and give this volume a shot. These books are cheap, and are something you'll want to read again soon after. This is only the first volume, and it gets even better later on.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 Yu Yu HakushoMar 02, 2005
Yu Yu Hakusho was a very well-planned, well-drawn, and well-figured manga. It was my second manga I've read, and got me really interested in the artwork of Japan. Reading Yu Yu Hakusho caused me to become interested in other mangas, such as Rurouni Kenshin (READ IT), Naruto, and others...the author did very well with it. Read it! Honestly, I'm not joking. You'll like it. Yusuke, the main character, is a work of art and someone you can't help but laugh at...his misfortune and stupid bad luck make the book worth the while reading!
5 of 6 found the following review helpful:
Wonderful with 2 'l's!May 03, 2004
This manga was excellent! I wasn't impressed with the manga, when I saw it in Shounen Jump, because I didn't know what was going on! But when I got this graphic novel, I was reading it every other day, just to feel the thrills of it.
For younger audiences, there are what parents would call 'bad words' in it (as in many manga), so if you don't want your child or yourself, for that matter, to be exposed to these words, then stay away. ;)
I liked the art in this book. And how the artist expresses everyone's feelings so well. Especially how a kid would act when he or she doesn't understand the concept of death. I was sad when I read some parts of it, but some things are humorous, all the same.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
A strong beginning.Mar 05, 2007
By Robert P. Beveridge
"xterminal"
Yoshihiro Togashi, Yuyu Hakusho, vol. 1 (Viz, 1990)
I went the opposite way I normally do with YuYu Hakusho: I caught the first episode of the anime on ColoursTV one night, purely by accident, and was captivated enough to pick up the manga. Now, "picked up the manga" makes it sound like this was a cakewalk. It was not. My library system is of the type who autmatically tosses all graphic novels into the kidlit section, including such toddler-friendly stuff as Preacher, Watchmen, and Hellblazer, so you can imagine how much care they take with the labelling of volumes in the online catalog. (I've been trying to get volume 1 of Love Hina for three years without success.) The first six-- yes, six-- times I ordered this book, I got volume 3. At least they're consistent. I mean, me trying to get my hands on volume 1 of YuYu Hakusho was like Bilbo trying to get Smaug's treasure. Well, without all the adventures. And without Gollum. (Though I sometimes wonder about a few people who work at my branch of the library.) And it took longer. And I hear some of you asking why I didn't just buy it. Come on, I keep getting volume 3 from the library, which is four miles away, I'm gonna trust someone in SEATTLE to come up with the right book? Besides, it's the principle of the thing.
In any case, all that verbiage was there to prompt you to ask me if it was worth it. Go ahead, I'll wait.
...thank you. Yes, yes it was. The story: Yusuke Urameshi is an eighth-grader in Tokyo who spends his time fighting and cutting class. He's bound for hell, until a sudden selfless act saves his soul, but ends his life. Because of the quandary, the afterlife doesn't know what to do with him-- so Koenma, the junior lord of the underworld, offers Yusuke a chance to return to life. With the help of Botan, Yusuke's spirit guide, Yusuke must raise a spirit egg-- and what hatches from that egg will be determined by the good or evil in Yusuke's soul. It's loads of fun, one of the better first issues I've read over the past year or so. *** ½
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