With this title, he must investigate various cases involving demons and apparitions in the Human World, with the manga gradually becoming more focused on martial arts battles and tournaments as it progresses.

Togashi began creating YuYu Hakusho around November 1990, basing the series on his interests in the occult and horror films and an influence of Buddhist mythology.

YuYu Hakusho follows Yusuke Urameshi, a 14-year-old street-brawling delinquent who, in an uncharacteristic act of altruism, is hit by a car and killed in an attempt to save a young boy by pushing him out of the way.

[2][3][4] His ghost is greeted by Botan, a woman who introduces herself as the pilot of the Sanzu River, who ferries souls to the Underworld (霊界, Reikai, "Spirit World" in the English anime dub) where they may be judged for the afterlife.

Thus Koenma, son of the Underworld's ruler King Enma, offers Yusuke a chance to return to his body through a series of tests.

Yusuke uses the competition as a cover to search for Rando, a demon who steals the techniques of martial arts masters and kills them.

[4] Yusuke defeats Rando in the final round of the tournament and trains with Genkai for several months, gaining more mastery over his aura.

After the tournament, Yusuke returns home but has little time to rest as he is challenged to a fight by three teenagers possessing superhuman powers who take the detective hostage.

It is disclosed that Shinobu Sensui, Yusuke's predecessor as Underworld Detective, has recruited six other powerful beings to help him take over where Sakyo left off, opening a hole to the Demon Plane to cause genocide of the human race.

Raizen, desiring a successor to his territory, is on the brink of dying of starvation, a death that would topple the delicate political balance of the three ruling powers of the Demon Plane.

However, a series with a similar name (Chin-Yu-Ki) had already begun publication, so Togashi quickly created an alternative: "YuYu Hakusho" (Poltergeist Report).

"Yusuke Urameshi" is a pun, "Kazuma Kuwabara" is a combination of two professional baseball players, and "Hiei" and "Kurama" are "just names that popped into [Togashi's] head.

[6][7] The manga's shift from occult detective fiction to the martial arts genre after Yusuke's death and revival in the early chapters was planned by Togashi from the beginning.

He stated that he was greatly impressed by Shigeru Chiba's voice depiction of Kuwabara, admitting that the actor understood the character better than Togashi himself.

[44][45] Some of the show's original depictions of mature content including violence, sexual humor, and coarse language, as well as some controversial cultural discrepancies were edited out for broadcast.

[70] Cook has stated that the production staff made minor improvements to their recordings, such as redubbing certain lines, cleaning up the dialogue, and removing "arrant anomalies".

[74][75] In the movie, the protagonists Yusuke and Kuwabara are on a mission to rescue a kidnapped Koenma from a pair of demons who desire the Golden Seal, a stamp used for finalizing the sentencing of souls in the afterlife.

[3] AnimeWorks released an English dubbed version of the half-hour film on VHS in both English-dubbed and subtitled formats on May 5, 1998, and on DVD on January 30, 2001.

[75][78] The plot revolves around Yusuke and his friends defending the Human World against inhabitants of a fourth plane of existence called the "Netherworld".

When Funimation gained rights to the series, English language versions of each of these songs were produced and arranged by musician Carl Finch.

The series stars Takumi Kitamura as Yusuke Urameshi,[116] Shuhei Uesugi as Kazuma Kuwabara,[117] Jun Shison as Kurama,[118] and Kanata Hongō as Hiei.

[122] It is composed of pieces of artwork from the series, including illustrations created for the kanzenban edition reprints and an index of print material where each image was first used.

[72] In North America, the series saw licensing for apparel from ODM, lines of action figures by IF Labs and Jakks Pacific,[130][131][132] a Skannerz electronic toy from Radica Games,[133][134] and an activities book from Scholastic.

[140] By 2013, YuYu Hakusho had over 50 million copies in circulation in Japan alone, making it one of Weekly Shonen Jump's best-selling manga series.

[141] Patricia Duffield, a columnist for Animerica Extra, acknowledged the manga as "one of the kings of popularity in the mid-1990s" in the region where it saw mass availability from large bookstore chains to small train station kiosks.

Martin Ouellette of the Canadian Protoculture Addicts compared the progression of the series to Dragon Ball Z and stated, "Togashi's art, while simple, is extremely efficient and the story is really fun.

"[151] An older article by the same reviewer disagreed with the notion that YuYu Hakusho was similar to Dragon Ball, stating that the former franchise has better-developed characters, more interesting action sequences, and more humor.

"[152] Dan Polley, a staff reviewer of Manga Life, gave an average grade to the fifth volume, which entails Yusuke's battle with Suzaku, the leader of the Four Beasts.

[166][167][168][169] Todd Douglass Jr. of DVD Talk declared, "It's a fun show with a great cast, a sense of humor, and a lot of action so there's no excuse not to at least give it a chance."

[170][171][172][173] N. S. Davidson of IGN concluded that having several concurrent plot branches is not enough for an anime to succeed, but that good writing, interesting characters, and action are also necessary.