A final do Torneio das Trevas chega e o ápice da batalha derradeira entre Yusuke e Toguro atinge níveis de força sem precedentes. Ao vencedor, um desejo, ao perdedor a aniquilação. Quem será o mais forte?
Yoshihiro Togashi (冨樫義博) is a manga artist. Credited in Chinese translations as Fu Jian Yi Bo.
He began drawing manga at an early age; while he attended college, the publisher Shueisha recognized his talent. Togashi has authored numerous manga series in different genres during the past three decades. He is perhaps best known for writing and illustrating the YuYu Hakusho and Hunter × Hunter series, both of which have been published in the popular Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine. Togashi is married to Naoko Takeuchi, the author of Sailor Moon.
O volume 13 é uma edição que encerra o arco do torneio das trevas, e inicia o novo arco, que não falarei muito porque tem spoilers. Mas no geral, foi uma edição que serviu para encerrar o arco do torneio que estava bem hypado e ter uma "calmaria" até o próximo, pois as edições aqui compiladas servem apenas para mencionar os problemas a serem enfrentados no próximo arco.
No que tange o encerramento do torneio, ele foi bom, mas achei anticlimax deixar bem o final para uma edição a parte da anterior, pois ficou estranho ter na edição 13 direto a finalização da luta. Também, achei a finalização de Urameshi um pouco conveniente demais, mas que foi melhor trabalhado depois que descobrimos o passado de Toguro, que aliás, foi um vilão com uma boa construção, principalmente ao saber de seu passado.
Posteriormente, nas edições decorrentes do torneio, nós somos apresentados a um problema na terra, em que os humanos estão recebendo poderes. E a partir daí, o próximo arco se inicia.
This was a pretty solid volume. Only one chapter wraps up most of the Dark Tournament. We get a winner, a surprise return of someone, and a happy ending. That is until three regular humans show up and KIDNAP Yusuke! This leaves his friends to go and save him.
This was a pretty fun volume in the sense not a lot of fighting but actually test and figuring out who was bad and who was good, outsmarting them, and a nice build up towards the new big bad. Overall, a fun volume that was the blueprint for Hunter x Hunter without a doubt.
Esse volume vai dos cap 110 ao 118 e finaliza o arco do torneio das trevas com a última luta entre Yusuke e Toguro de forma épica que momentos meus amigos Yusuke disparando seu Leigun mais poderoso e derrotando o monstro com 120% de poder e assim salvando todos de forma magistral e tivemos início do arco do Sensui que pra muito é muito fraco mais eu particularmente gosto e com esse arco entramos no penúltimo da obra aí passou tão rápido essa releitura.
The Ankoku Bujutsukai comes to a close, and Chapter Black starts!
The majority of the Yusuke/Toguro fight happened last volume, so what we see here is basically the very end. As you can tell by the fact that there are still six more volumes, Yusuke survived and won! I'm ashamed to have forgotten so much, but Toguro was largely redeemed here, proving to be not very evil at all, or at least only as "bad" as guys like Son Goku or Vegeta.... His next reunion with Genkai was more heartwarming than I recalled, as well.
As further evidence of my shitty memory, the foes faced in the second half of this volume turn out . This series of encounters serves to show our heroes that not all battles will be tests of strength, that even the winners of the Dark Tournament may be bested by weaker guys with trickier abilities. I've always felt Togashi was borrowing from Araki here, but I'd now say it's true we're witnessing early drafts for potential Nen powers.
I've been neglectful for YYH, but something I've liked to do for other manga was write my thoughts on completed story arcs for the volumes in which said arcs end. In this case, it would be for the Dark Tournament. In re-reading the manga this year, I was mildly disappointed at the Tournament early on, having decided it reached a brief peak with the artwork in the Chuu battle, but farted around with some less-interesting foes elsewhere, namely Roto and Gama, who are given "uglier" appearances, as if to say "Don't mind these guys too much." That is, both men called to my mind the octopus fellow from the start of the Yukina arc. Contrast Rinku or Jin, who are infinitely more expressive. As I continued reading, I started to view this arc less like an analogue for the Tenkaichi Budoukai of Dragon Ball, and more like the Gold Saints arc in Saint Seiya; the way the contestants are seeded, Team Urameshi must fight more rounds than any other team. Put another way, the tournament is designed for our heroes to fight most other contestants. As the arc was introduced as Toguro Otouto's desire to rematch Yusuke, we have no reason to believe anyone other than Team Toguro would make it to the finals to face Team Urameshi; thus, anyone else fighting Team Toguro must necessarily lose; thus, it's irresponsible to have them fight too much. Indeed, a structure more closely resembling the Twelve Temples may have made more sense than a tournament like this. However, as the tournament features teams of five fighters, the setting necessarily makes for more foes than the mere twelve Gold Saints, and the structure ends up feeling less "bloated" than if it were a more straightforward "boss rush." Anyway, another reason for the arc is to rapidly evolve our heroes' abilities, which I might alternatively say it actually shows us what Hiei can do as a fire-spirit. From what we know of earlier battles, Yusuke is a good brawler and has the Reigan, Kuwabara has the Reiken, Kurama has his plants, and Hiei... uh, also uses a sword. He defeated Seiryuu too soon for us to see anything other than raw swordplay. We might assume his greater powers would involve the Jagan, but instead Togashi gives us the Kokuryuuha. I rather enjoy the way we see Hiei's new skillset evolve, going from a blast of flame to a concentration of energy around his fist to a projection of his own take on Reiken to the complete absorption of the Kokuryuuha into his body (with fire-dragon aura!). Yusuke and Kuwabara seem to simply grow in power-level without changing their abilities too much. Interestingly, Yusuke's daily number of Reigan is still somewhat limited, rather than allowing him to shit out attacks willy-nilly. Kuwabara initially needed a bit of sword to act as medium for his Reiken, before learning to summon it freely; Suzuki gives him a special sword-hilt to retrain his abilities, meaning he uses a physical medium again, before relearning not to need a medium, then using it again (then seemingly losing his power...). Kurama is a bit tricky, as technically we're mostly just seeing him use new and different Makai plants than the roses and grass he used previously, but we finally see his true demon form, only hinted at previously. At the end of the day, it's mostly only the Chuu and Toguro Otouto fights that truly excel in terms of fighting-in-itself, but both - the latter especially - show Togashi's talent for battle manga, and I might argue set a standard impossible for future mangaka to exceed, not least Togashi himself in his later Hunter x Hunter. Indeed, when I first started reading HxH, I felt the manga had a certain disadvantage compared to its predecessor, as YYH carried around it a feeling of Nostalgia for when I watched and read it earlier in childhood; today, I've grown to appreciate earlier HxH arcs more than initially, and was afraid to re-read YYH lest I find I like it less than HxH, which was turning out to be the case before the Dark Tournament began, only to budge a bit during the Chuu fight; by now, having re-read the Toguro Otouto fight, I feel it more than makes up for the lightspeed pace of the early part of the manga, as well as for the rockiness of the end of the future Sensui arc and the following stillbirth of the Three Kings arc.
One of my big reading goals for the new year is to read a bunch of my childhood favorite manga for the first time in nearly 20 years to relive the nostalgia and see how they hold up. First up is Yu Yu Hakusho!
Yusuke Urameshi is a hardass teen delinquent that loves skipping classes, smoking cigarettes, disrespecting authority and throwing hands with the toughest gangs in the halls and on the streets. He’s hated by almost everyone around him and he knows it. When he’s killed after pushing a child out of the way of an oncoming car, he’s surprised to find from the afterlife that he has more people that love him than he ever realized after attending his own funeral as a ghost.
Against all odds, Yusuke makes a deal with the angel of death to turn his deviant behavior around in exchange for giving him another chance at life with his friends. He must prove himself that he’s worthy of being brought back to life by becoming a spirit detective, saving the lost souls of sorrowful ghosts one good deed at a time.
The spirit world is more complex than Yusuke realizes, however. He’s soon wrapped up in a world of cutthroat demons, evil spirits and other dark beings that have a bone to pick with him. While performing good deeds to save the living and the dead, Yusuke also finds the chance to put his supernaturally-enhanced martial arts abilities to use by fighting powerful paranormal foes from underworld societies.
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Yu Yu Hakusho is extremely nostalgic and has a lot of appealing factors. The hilarious banter between Yusuke and his band of badass bros is the forefront of the series. Kuwabara is a lovable goofball who tries to mimic the tough guy antics of Yusuke while constantly revealing himself to be a huge softy with a heart bigger than his fake ego. Hiei is the classic edgy antihero that softens up and becomes gradually more sympathetic as you learn more about his tough upbringing. Kurama is pure class and elegance, his wits and tongue are as sharp as his looks. Then there’s the sassy, beautiful and hilarious Botan who acts as the grim reaper and leading lady. Quite the memorable crew.
Another great thing about the series that may seem odd to point out is the beautifully drawn 80’s inspired fashion. The characters change outfits almost every chapter and they always look clean and refined. It’s hard not to appreciate the style throughout the series. This coupled with the witty banter, crazy martial art demon fights, self-aware humor and fast paced story arcs with lots of action make it a pretty fun series.
While the series is simple and enjoyable, the story, world and villains aren’t that well made in my opinion. Everything seems made up on the fly with little logic or build up. The story and battle arcs get very repetitive and the second half of the series feels like a massive rehashing of everything we’ve already seen. The final arc and ending were unsatisfying and anticlimactic in my opinion. It introduced a bunch of new concepts out of nowhere and then did absolutely nothing with them. Then the series ends with a big cliffhanger with no real resolution.
Overall, I actually enjoyed the calm and relaxed chapters and subplots where it focuses on the main cast of characters bonding and hanging out with each other over the main plot, the battle arcs and the forgettable second half. I think the first arc of the story where it’s just Yusuke and Botan solving mysteries and saving the lives of lost souls was actually the best part of the entire series. The constant focus on battling mundane villains, training arcs and tournament arcs took away from the otherwise lovable group of protagonists.
Not as good as I remember from my childhood, but a fun and engaging series overall that’s easy to read and can lift your spirits when you’re feeling down.
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A fitting end to the Dark Tournament arc and a smooth transition to the Black Chapter arc.
Learning about Toguro's past was sad and is the final piece to the puzzle in understanding his motivations and ideology. I'm glad the the series doesn't try to push readers to forgive him or try to excuse his actions, rather paint him as an emotionally broken man obsessed with power. His final exchange with Genkai was bittersweet, but appropriate for their relationship.
As for the intro to the Black Chapter arc, I will say that the powers present in this arc are some of the most interesting in the series. As much as I'm nostalgic for this series, it's very clear that the powers most demons and humans have are unoriginal and mostly there to look cool. Not that this is necessarily bad, but the fights are pretty much just power struggles with little to no creativity. I don't remember all of the territory powers, so it'll be fun to read this arc and rediscover them.
Nice ending to the tournament overall (I find Toguro's motivations and actions a bit inconsistent though, there's a lot of flip flopping her) and honestly an even better and refreshing mini arc directly afterwards. I'm starting to think Togashi is actually just better at doing mini arcs than anything else. The big grand stories, at least at this time in his career, don't seem to be his thing. He's much better when stories are grounded and small scale. This is definitely a standout volume because of it, feeling a bit more like it has that down to earth magic that the early volumes had. I think, for me, this is actually the best one since maybe Volumes 1 & 2
I’m approaching the end of the mangas I own and I need to place an order pretty soon. This volume marked the conclusion of the Dark Tournament and the end of Toguro’s ark. Along with this, it is a stepping stone towards their next adventure and I have to admit, what is to come is the one I have the most gaps in my memory, character wise. What bothered me about this one was how fast it jumped from Toguro’s end to the beginning of a new journey, a new mission. I know there is a bit of a breather, and an exposition where certain things are explained but let them breathe a bit.
Junto con el emocionante final del Torneo, vemos un poco sobre dos personajes en el mundo espiritual, y la verdad que me emocionó bastante, no esperaba la resiliencia de uno de ellos. Además, empieza otro arco en el que distintas personas de la ciudad comienzan a tener poderes espirituales de los más diversos. Me encantó que vemos al resto del grupo de Yusuke en acción, ya que esta vez ellos deben rescatarlo a él de un secuestro, y nos encontramos con que cierta persona que no esperaba para nada estaba detrás de los culpables.
The Dark Tournament comes to an end, and the final confrontation (and follow-up) of Yusuke and Toguro's fight is incredible. The rest of the volumes falls a bit flat as I think things tied up too quickly, and while the new arc/prologue has some neat abilities (really remind me of how specific nen abilities can be in HxH) there isn't the same tension, or real humour in there. I could have used a break after the Dark Tournament or something but being thrown into 'here are weird abilities that are sort of a trick room I guess' didn't scratch the same itch.
The conclusion of the Dark Tournament arc is a brilliant segment that more than pays off for the long buildup. It humanizes Toguro fantastically and caps things off very nicely. Phenomenal stuff.
The second half follows up a big tournament arc in a great way, introducing creative new kinds of conflict that is much more cerebral. It is only let down by the twist of who set up those conflicts in the first place, but it ends up not being that big of a letdown in the long run, I suppose. Either way, it's still a great volume.
This volume has a smooth transition from ending the Dark Tournament to starting the Chapter Black saga. There is just no rest for the Urameshi team as a new threat seeks to challenge them. Kurama is the real highlight in this volume, as I'm a big fan of his resolve, and watching him reason through problems is always a delight.
a togashi no se le olvidó cuidar el humor de la serie. me divertí mucho con el estilo clásico de caricatura para exagerar las reacciones y como se ve solo el pelo de hiei cuando está parado al lado los otro cuatro. son detalles que hicieron la lectura rápida y entretenida. me pareció un excelente tomo de transición al siguiente arco importante.
Everything good present in the previous 2 volumes was erased in this volume, where we learn that it was all a joke (or almost). Every emotionally intense event was just fiction; nothing bad had really happened.
Seiring berjalannya turnamen kegelapan serial ini semakin menarik diikuti. Togashi sensei juga memberikan pandangan sisi lain dri karakter Toguro yg barangkali tidak sejahat yg dipikirkan