Netflix’s ‘Yu Yu Hakusho’ Live Action Casts Leading Role
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Netflix is plowing ahead with their live-action anime adaptations right now. Despite the failure of past adaptations like Cowboy Bebop and Death Note, they have a determination to keep trying. Certainly, the occasional successes of adaptations like Alice In Borderland and Rurouni Kenshin are propelling them forward. Thus, the classic 90s anime Yu Yu Hakusho is still getting its Netflix live-action debut. Yet, as of just recently, we finally have confirmation for the lead of the upcoming Netflix original.
The Lead Of Yu Yu Hakusho
The main character of Yu Yu Hakusho is Yusuke Urameshi. He’s a high school student and spirit detective with the responsibility of protecting the material world from other-worldly threats. In the live-action adaptation, his actor will be Takumi Kitamura. Kitamura has done a number of successful live-action adaptations of popular anime in the past. Most notably, major characters in Tokyo Revengers and Let Me Eat Your Pancreas (yes, that’s actually the name and it’s as strange as it sounds).
Rumors have been flying about Kitamura playing Yusuke for a while now as set photos slowly began to leak. Recently, we got the official confirmation.
The staying power of Yu Yu Hakusho is impressive. It remains in the conversation for great anime and manga to this day, despite only running for less than half a decade in the early 90s. It likely helps that the author of the manga, Yoshihiro Togashi, went on to create Hunter X Hunter. Hunter X Hunter is one of the best-selling manga of all time and one of the most popular anime of the last decade. As new fans flock to Hunter X Hunter, it’s only natural for some to stumble across Togashi’s initial breakout success.
Netflix & Anime
Netflix is clearly wanting to put a lot into their Japanese content. They have a number of upcoming projects in the world of anime and live-action anime adaptations. Thankfully, many of the adaptations are Japanese-made, as many of the American-made adaptations tend to be the messiest. Yu Yu Hakusho is going to be a Japanese-made adaptation, which has many fans hopeful that it will be one of the better adaptations on the platform. It’s been over 25 years since there was any new Yu Yu Hakusho content. So longtime fans of the popular anime and manga are full of excitement to be getting anything new at all, even if they’re still a tad wary due to Netflix’s rocky history with these adaptations.
The live-action adaptation of Yu Yu Hakusho is currently set to hit Netflix in the latter half of 2023.