YuYu Hakusho Volume 19 ~ review

We have come to the end of the manga series! I know this is an old series but...oh well, it's still pretty exciting to finally review the final volume (Volume 19) of YuYu Hakusho. What would become of our four protagonists; Urameshi Yuusuke, Kurama, Hiei and Kuwabara? How would it all end? This review will contain spoilers (not just for this volume but for past volumes as well) but if you don't mind spoilers, you may continue to read ahead. I also want to apologize for procrastinating to do this post. Now that I finally post it, I hope you enjoy my review on this manga series and if you want to see my review on previous volumes for this manga, please click the YuYu Hakusho label and it will take you there. Okay, now let's get started.

Let's rewind a bit and recap what had happened in this final story arc. Yuusuke, Kurama and Hiei were each visited by representatives of powerful demons that rule the Demon World. Yuusuke then join his demon blood-related ancestor Raizen; Kurama joined the blind demon Yomi; while Hiei joined Mukuro. Not long after that, Raizen passed away and Yuusuke inherited his throne, and suggested to held the Demon World United Fighting Tournament (that is not the official English name by the way, I directly translated it to English from the Malay-translated manga that I bought in my country) which anyone can enter, and whoever wins will rule the Demon World. The preliminaries had begun and the final 128 contestants will move on to the final stage where they will have a one-on-one fight. So what happen next?

YuYu Hakusho Volume 18 ~ review

The final story arc continue on in Volume 18 of YuYu Hakusho manga. Will the friendship between Yuusuke, Hiei, Kurama and Kuwabara crumbles under the pressure of the powerful demons that are now conquering the Demon World? How will the story develop? Here's my review of the penultimate volume of the manga series.

This review will contain spoilers, so if you haven't read the manga and planned to do so, please stay away from this post if you don't want the story spoiled for you.

Just to recap, this final story arc began in Volume 17 with Yuusuke, Hiei and Kurama were each visited by representatives of three powerful demons that are currently fighting for supremacy in the Demon World. Each of them were invited to join the respective group/clan to strengthen their territory that they each conquered and finally take over all of the Demon World. Yuusuke then decided to join his "demon blood-related father" Raizen, Kurama joined the blind demon Yomi, while Hiei went to join Mukuro's group. So what has our protagonists been up to in the Demon World within each group?

There are altogether 9 chapters for this volume, and the first 4 chapters are interestingly different than the others, which set up the stage beautifully for this volume. In the first two chapters, we get to see how's Hiei been doing with Mukuro's group/clan. Although Hiei had been a very popular character in the manga (at least based on the readers poll), we don't really know much about his character, or more specifically his past, and in this two chapters we got the chance to do that. It's interesting to learn and explore his dark past, and even though it was not much, at least we get to know more about his background and the history behind his cold behaviour.

YuYu Hakusho Volume 17 ~ review

Continuing my review for the manga series, here is the review for YuYu Hakusho Volume 17. Attention to those who haven't read the manga (either this volume or previous volumes), this review will contain spoilers on the plot, so please click on another post if you want to avoid spoilers. But for those who have read the manga or don't mind spoilers (this is an old manga series anyway), you may continue reading this post.

So where did we left off? Oh yes, Kurama, Hiei and Kuwabara were fighting with Sensui (the main villain for this story arc) at the Demon world. So what happened to them? Sadly to say, they were losing to Sensui, and badly injured too. To be honest, it didn't look good for the trio. But just as we feel that there is no more hope for them to win, Yuusuke (together with Koenma riding on the back of Buu - Yuusuke's "spiritual" animal) came to the rescue! As revealed in Volume 16, Yuusuke died but he came back to life with more powerful strength. Even though he became stronger and was finally at the same level with Sensui in terms of strength, Yuusuke still can't beat Sensui. They fought for quite awhile and eventually Sensui is defeated. But technically it wasn't Yuusuke who killed Sensui. During the fight, 'someone' managed to take control of Yuusuke's body and unleashed a powerful attack against Sensui that managed to kill him, and that 'someone' was Yuusuke's ancestor who was a demon. And so that was the end of Sensui. His body (and soul I assumed) was taken by Itsuki (Sensui's loyal friend/follower and the only 'family' he had left) to another dimension and, as what Isuki said, they will 'remain together peacefully'.

Such a tragic end for Sensui. But on to the next story arc. After the fight and after all of them returned to the human world, Yuusuke, Hiei and Kurama were each visited by representatives from the leaders of the demon world; Yuusuke with representatives from his own ancestor, Raizen; Hiei with representatives from Mukuro; while Kurama were visited by representatives from his old ally, Yomi. According to legend (which turned out to be true), these three leaders had wage wars on each other for supremacy in the demon world for 500 years. And now Yuusuke, Hiei and Kurama were invited to join the leaders as each of them seek stronger ally to win the war. Surprisingly all three of them decided they would join the leaders respectively which disappointed Kuwabara who felt that they were no different than Sensui and Toguro (past villains of the manga series). How would the fight between these three leaders progress with Yuusuke, Hiei and Kurama joined each team? And would this fight for dominance of the demon world affect the friendship between these four friends?

YuYu Hakusho Volume 16 ~ review

Here's my review for YuYu Hakusho Volume 16. As usual, spoilers are scattered all over this review, so if you haven't read the manga yet, you have been warned. But if you don't mind spoilers (since this is an old series after all), then feel free to continue reading this post.

Volume 16 starts where Volume 15 left off, which is Yuusuke and his friends finally meeting Sensui, the main villain of this story arc, in his hideout along with his trusted friend and accomplice, Itsuki. There are long fight scenes in this volume not only between Yuusuke and Sensui, but also between Sensui and the other there protagonists; Kurama, Kuwabara and Hiei. Koenma, the person who appointed Yuusuke as the Spiritual detective of the Underworld, also made an appearance during one of the fight scene to try and stop Sensui but it seems he was too strong for any of them to handle. To make things worse, one of our hero was badly injured and died (for real this time!) and the gateway to the underword that Sensui and his accomplice had been trying to open had finally been opened! Is this the end of the human world? Would Yuusuke and his friends be able to stop this madness? Well, the fight was not over yet and at the end of this manga, we see Yuusuke and his friends chasing Sensui all the way to the underworld. The fight will continue there in volume 17.

I like this volume for its revelation of the main villain, Sensui, and also the main hero, Yuusuke. It turns out that Sensui suffered from multiple personality disorder. All this while, when Sensui said "the 7 of us", he didn't meant him and his accomplices, but in fact he meant himself and his other 6 personalities. Itsuki did mentioned that this multiple personalities was a tragic result of fighting all these years, but personally I think he created these personalities as a way to escape from all the horror and cruelty that he had witnessed throughout these years (maybe that was what Itsuki trying to say anyway). That just surprised me when I first read it, and this revelation truly changed my view on him from just a simple villain to a more tragic character. He is truly a tragic character, and I can see the author trying to made readers sympathize to him just like he did with the previous villain, Younger Toguro. Well, I don't think this is a bad thing, to sympathize with a villain I mean, as this does helps bring depth to the character.

As for Yuusuke, it turns out that he had demon blood in him, as his ancestor is a demon. While this revelation was a surprise as well, I feel that it didn't bring too much impact as the Sensui revelation. But don't worry, this demonic ancestry will be further explored in the next volume as we go to the next story arc. And I think as this story arc coming close to an end, it's only logical that the author wants to focus more on the villain than the rest of the characters. But as I mentioned before, the fight with Sensui will be continued in the next volume, so we still have some little time left with Sensui before we move on to the next main villain.

Overall, YuYu Hakusho Volume 16 is a great read (as usual) and it will be interesting to see how this fight will end. See you again soon for the review of Volume 17.

Image from Amazon.

YuYu Hakusho Volume 15 ~ review

Continuing on with my review for YuYu Hakusho manga series, here is the review for Volume 15. This review will contain spoilers, so if somehow you haven't read the manga and would not like your story spoiled, please leave this post now.

For Volume 15, the story continues with the former detective of the Underworld, Sensui, getting closer to open the hole that connects the human world with the demon world. He and his team have also kidnaps Kuwabara, who has the ability to use an aura sword that can cut through dimensions, an ability that Sensui surely needs to complete his mission. Along the way to rescue Kuwabara and stop Sensui from opening the hole, Yuusuke and his friends have to fight Sensui's followers'; Makihara (code name: Gobbler), Kaname Hagiri (Sniper) and Amanuma (Game Master). One of them however, Kiyoshi Mitarai (Seaman) decided to join team Yuusuke and help show them the way to the hole site (where Itsuki the Gate Keeper is performing a ritual to open the hole). With time running out, could Yuusuke, Kurama, Hiei and the others stop Sensui before it is too late?

This volume definitely has a lot of great moments; Kuwabara kidnapping, Yuusuke's fight with Hagiri, Amanuma sad ending, and Kurama's fight with Elder Toguro, who by the way made a special appearance in the final chapter of this volume. I am personally in love with scenes where Yuusuke and his friends have to fight against Amanuma. The scenes have a different vibe or rather a sad tone compared to the other fights which are more fast-paced and action-packed. There are some gory drawings too in the last chapter in the manga (the one involving Elder Toguro) but since the story involves demons, I guess it's kind of normal. But for those who are concerned, then you better keep this volume away from your minors. This volume, although slightly more serious compared to the previous volumes, still has jokes here and there (usually in regards to Yuusuke) which I think in line with what YuYu Hakusho is quite popularly known for; its humorous jokes. Overall, I personally think this is one of the best volumes in the series so far when it comes to the story.

What will happen next? Stay tune for my review of Volume 16 coming soon. Thank you for reading.

Image source from Amazon.

YuYu Hakusho Volume 14 ~ review

Here's my review for the manga YuYu Hakusho Volume 14. Spoilers alert! If you haven't read this, please be aware that this review will contain spoilers.

A lot of revelations in this volume of YuYu Hakusho. First, readers were re-introduced to the people that abducted Yuusuke in Volume 13; Asato Kido, Mitsunari Yanagisawa and Yuu Kaito. They are not the bad guys and it was actually Genkai (Yuusuke's mentor) who asked them to abduct Yuusuke to test their powers. Then it was revealed that someone had been trying to break the spell surrounding the borders between the human world and the demon world and create a hole between them. If the spell breaks and the hole was created, then demons can easily enter the human world and create chaos. Then Yuusuke and the team found out that "someone" who was trying to break the spell is actually a group of 7 people. Yuusuke team managed to defeat two of them; "Doctor" who can infect other people with deadly virus, and "Seaman" who can manipulate water with a drop of his blood. Finally, it was revealed to Yuusuke team that the leader of this group (and the main villain of this story arc) is Sensui, the former detective of the Underworld, which is the role that Yuusuke currently held. In the last chapter of this volume, Yuusuke finally came face-to-face with Sensui but can he defeat him? The last 3 members of Sensui's team were also revealed with code names "Sniper", "Gobbler" and "Game Master" (another member "Gate Keeper" had been introduced to readers in the first chapter of this volume).

I was satisfied with this volume of YuYu Hakusho because it was balanced between dialogue scenes and action scenes. I like the fight scenes between Yuusuke's team and "Doctor" who seems a bit psychotic. I also like the introduction of a video tape called "Black Chapter" which Sensui used to recruit members to his team. The story behind the video tape brings a bit of a dark aspect to the manga which I love. Another scenes that I love is the backstory of Sensui told by Koenma and why he changed from being a good guy into a bad guy. It somehow made readers sympathetic towards Sensui and shows that he is not just a regular villain who wants to take over the world but someone with a dark past that somehow changed him into who he was today.

It will truly become more intense in Volume 15 as Yuusuke team try to find out the location of Sensui's hideout. Can they defeat him and prevent the hole between the two worlds from being created? All will be revealed in YuYu Hakusho Volume 15.

Image from Amazon.

YuYu Hakusho Volume 13 ~ review

Wow, a gap of more than 2 years between this post and previous post about YuYu Hakusho manga. What a lazy bum I am! No worries, I'm determined to finish writing for all the volumes in the YuYu Hakusho manga series. And here's what happened in Volume 13. Heads up! Spoilers ahead!

The early pages of the manga brought us back to the final round of the Dark Tournament between Urameshi Yuusuke  and Younger Toguro. And as usual, the good guy won (yes, I know, spoiler. Didn't I warned you?) Yuusuke managed to defeat him with the last of his strength. And to put the cherry on top of the cake, Genkai who was supposed to be dead in the last volume had been brought back to life by Koenma. But, what's more interesting is the story of Younger Toguro that were revealed to the readers through conversation between Koenma and his assistant. Apparently, he's not such a bad guy after all. There's a reason behind his rage and anger. 

With the tournament ended, everything become peace and quiet again, right? Wrong! A new threat emerged! Three high school boys with magical abilities had kidnapped Yuusuke (gasp!). It's up to Botan, Kurama, Hiei  and Kuwabara to save him. They were lead to a strange house and must unravel the mysteries behind these guys' abilities before they can save Yuusuke. The highlight for me is the fight (well, it's not a fight really, just a dangerous mind game) between Kurama and one of the boys named Kaito. The scenes were pretty well done and once again we get to see Kurama with his plants-controlling ability and smart thinking in defeating this guy. Kurama is such a great character, I love him!

But a bigger threat is coming. In the last page of the manga, a new antagonist is introduced (only his face, not his name yet) and will be the main bad guy in the next story arc. What are his plans? Everything will be revealed in YuYu Hakusho Volume 14.

Image source from Amazon.

Rasukan Siluman by Imai Yasue ~ review

What is Rasukan Siluman in English? Honestly, I don't know but you can find this manga translated in Malay in Malaysia and Brunei. This manga by Imai Yasue, originally published in Japan as Watashi No Naka Ni Akuma Ga Iru, has 7 different stories with different horror elements in it. The first story is about a young girl who were trapped in a town where everybody suddenly becomes lazy and selfish, and how the world collapses because of it. The second story tells about twin sisters who can literally feel and experience what their other half felt. To make things worst, they fall for the same guy and begin to hate each other because of it. The third story is about a female student who was selected as one of the candidates who must survive on a deserted island along with several other students. On the island, she suddenly loses control of herself and were afflicted with the 7 deadly sins.

The fourth story is a compilation of 3 short episodes that were all started at a railway station. The first and second episodes don't really have a plot, but the third episode has a quite interesting story about a girl who falls in love with the wrong man. The fifth story is about a young girl who saves a magic cat and were granted 3 wishes. Because of her frustration with her life, she begins to make strange wishes which turn out deadly.

The sixth story is about a young girl who suddenly became a target of a town when she was announced as a murder suspect in a local news. Together with a friend, she made a run from the crowd and try to clear her name. The seventh and last story in the manga, and also my favourite chapter, is about a girl who steal some sort of pills from her friend in which she believes can make her swim faster and become champion in swimming competition. But will the pills cause harm to her body?

Although the artwork in the manga doesn't look very scary and frightening, but the stories do have that eerie feeling of horror as you read them. In fact, the images doesn't have to look scary because the stories already are. But for those horror fans who are looking for gory type of stories like the one you found in Junji Ito's manga would be disappointed. I was confused with the front cover artwork as it was not related to any of the stories in the manga. Maybe it was just an indication to show that this is a horror type of manga. I also notice some error in the drawing but it was really minor and was not obvious. Besides, I enjoy the stories and that what really matters for me.

Overall, Rasukan Siluman is a good horror manga with decent artwork and good stories. If you don't like to read manga with a long story and enjoy reading short chapters of different stories, then Rasukan Siluman is a suitable choice for you.

You can find more info on this manga and other interesting manga titles at Gempak Starz website.

Image from Gempak Starz.

The beautiful Butterfly Cloud

I do not read as much shōjo manga as I would like to because of several personal reasons but I can point out one of the mangaka of this genre that I like, and that is Ashihara Hinako. Although her drawings are somewhat similar to other shōjo mangaka, her stories however really stood out the most. And the way she complements her drawings with the emotions of the story are really what caught me the most. One of her manga that show this skills is Awan Kupu-Kupu (translated in English as Butterfly Cloud).

Awan Kupu-Kupu, or in Japanese is called Chouchou Kumo, is a love story between four childhood friends. Complications and conflicts occur when a friend loves the other one, and another one got jealous, and another one trying to fix things up. Accidents happens and they start breaking apart. Heartbreak is a must but what's more important is to let things go. It's confusing I know, but that's what one look forward to in a love story. Besides, I'm not going to spoil the story for you. Set on an island, the story revolves around the four friends during their childhood up to their teenage years. Once you read the manga, you will feel the emotions straight from the pages, and that's what I love about Ashihara Hinako's manga, you can always 'feel' her stories.

Aside from the main story, there are 3 more short stories that come together with this manga, each with new protagonists and new conflicts. While the short stories are not up to par with Buttefly Cloud, but they are still enjoyable and worth to spend time with.

Overall, Awan Kupu-Kupu is a fun read and a must have for those who love shōjo manga, and also for those who are a fan of Ashihara Hinako's work.

The final fight of the Dark Tournament

Here's my review of the manga YuYu Hakusho Volume 12. Caution: this review has plenty of spoilers. If you hate spoilers, then better skip this post.

I will keep this review simple and short. The first chapter for this volume shows the result for the previous fight (continued from Volume 11) between Kuwabara and Elder Toguro. Elder Toguro has a unique ability with his body but Kuwabara has a few tricks up his sleeves as well. But will he be able to defeat Elder Toguro?

Then after the fight between Kuwabara and Elder Toguro, Sakio steps up on the arena and announces that he bets on his life that the younger Toguro will win in the next fight, which will be the final fight in the Dark Tournament, between younger Toguro and Yuusuke. This means that whoever win in the final round, his team would also win the Dark Tournament. After Sakio announcement, Koenma also bets on his life that Yuusuke would win in the final round.

And so the final round begins. The fight took about 3/4 out of the total pages of the volume, and it did not even finish yet! The result will only be revealed in Volume 13. There is also a flashback showing Genkai and Yuusuke at the start of their training, and what Genkai did to increase Yuusuke's strength.

A lot of damages, blood, and lost of lives (among the devil spectators of course) involved. Yuusuke is obviously overwhelmed by Toguro's powerful attacks. Can he beat that monster? Oh, wait, one main character is killed too (gasp!). But do not worry, all will be revealed in Volume 13.

Until the next review, take care!

The final round of Dark Tournament begins!

Image source: Coverbrowser

It's been awhile since I last wrote about YuYu Hakusho. Let's continue from where we left off. There might be spoilers so stop reading if you do not want me to kill the fun.

The final round of the Dark Tournament started in Volume 11 of YuYu Hakusho. But before that, we get to see what were the characters up to before the final round begin. Hiei was practising his ultimate moves for his final fight; Kurama and Kuwabara got some help from a former rival to enhance their spirit powers; while Yuusuke finally overcame his grief over the death of his mentor, Genkai, in the previous volume.

The 2 teams who reached the grand finals of the Dark Tournament were, you guessed it, Team Urameshi and Team Toguro. Since each team needed to have 5 members, Team Urameshi added Koenma into their team while Team Toguro added Sakio in theirs. Both contestants however stated that they will not participate in the fight (they would not have the strength to do so anyway).

The 1st round was Kurama vs Karasu. It was an interesting and long fight. We get to see Kurama in his full glory as he fought his heart out against the bomb user, Karasu. So basically it was plants vs bombs in this round.

The 2nd round was Hiei vs Bui. The fight was rather short but it was a violent fight. Hiei showed his greatest skill yet while Bui shed his heavy armors to unleash his full strength. We get to see Bui's face for the first time too (he's quite a good-looking fella ;-P)

The 3rd fight was Kuwabara vs Older Toguro. Although he looks like a small kid, but Older Toguro is a cunning and vicious little man. The fight was quite difficult for Kuwabara. As the situation got tense, Kuwabara finally showed his inner strength and double-up his effort in the fight. But was it worth it? Will Kuwabara win in this round?

The tournament is far from over. The fights and final result of Kuwabara vs Older Toguro will be revealed in Volume 12 of YuYu Hakusho.

Team Urameshi...from 5 to 4

Yup, you read that right. In Volume 10 of the manga YuYu Hakusho, Team Urameshi lost a contestant. Not because of withdrawal or injury, but because of death. Yes, a contestant in Team Urameshi died. A lot of spoilers here, so stop reading if you want to find it out yourself.

Vol. 10 continues on the semi-final round between Team Urameshi and Team Otogi Ura. So far Hiei has won 2 fights (in Vol. 9). We get to see the rest of the action in the 3rd fight between Kurama and Urashima Ura. Kurama in his demon fox form (thanks to the fog released by Urashima Ura) intended to force some answers out from Urashima Ura about the secrets of the fog but to avoid him from spilling any more secrets, Shishi Wakamaru killed him instead. And so, Kurama won the 3rd fight. He turned back to his human form after the fog had gone.

The 4th fight between Shishi Wakamaru and Kuwabara was short where Wakamaru transported Kuwabara to another place using a cloak. The 5th fight took quite some time where Genkai returned to the arena to fight Shishi Wakamaru. Having her mask torn during the fight, all the audience knew then that Mask was actually Genkai. She had quite a reputation in the demon world for killing a lot of powerful demons when she was young. The fight ended with Genkai winning it even though she had just transfered most of her power to Yuusuke.

The short 6th fight was between Kuwabara (who had just got back from where he was transported) and the Otogi Ura team leader, Onzii. Again, Kuwabara was transported to another place and lost the fight. He was quite unlucky in this semi-final round I must say. The last fight was between Genkai and Onzii, who revealed himself to all that he was actually Suzuki, the 'beautiful' demon fighter. He was quite funny during the fight, and he was easily defeated by Genkai. And so Team Urameshi won the semi-final round and moved on to the finals.

After that, we get to see the Toguro team in action during their semi-final round. It was short, brief and cruel because the difference of strength between the 2 teams was quite big. Well, at least we get a taste of what we will see in the finals. The one I'm looking forward to is Karasu, his power is quite mysterious.

Then, the major event in Vol. 10 appears nearly at the end of the manga. Genkai met with the younger Toguro in a forest...to fight! They actually know each other, in fact they were lovers!!! Toguro wished to become a demon when he won the Dark Tournament 50 years ago so that he would become young, live longer and will always be strong. They had quite a fight but Toguro was too strong for Genkai and she was defeated. Yuusuke managed to get to Genkai to hear her last words. He tried to fight with Toguro but he was punched so hard he was sent flying to the other side of the forest. And that's the end for Vol. 10 of YuYu Hakusho.

Stay tune because I will be back with the review of Vol. 11 where the final round begins.

The true face behind the mask

YuYu Hakusho Vol. 9 starts off with the result of Yuusuke Vs Zin the wind master. Who won it? The host announced that Yuusuke was the winner but the organizer has a dirty trick up his sleeve. He claimed that Yuusuke was out of the borders far too long and the host count was too slow. So it was a tie.

It seemed like Team Urameshi had lost because Yuusuke and Kurama were defeated and Hiei and Mask were detained for so-called injuries. And all the fighters in Team Masho had lost except one, their leader Risho. So it means that Team Masho won right? Wrong! They forgot about Kuwabara! He was unconscious before but now he was awake and ready to fight. He was badly injured from the previous fights (between Team Dr. Ichigaki) but he insisted to continue the last match because he was their only hope. He can't even use his aura-infused sword and almost lost to Risho. But he didn't give up and kept on standing back after beaten to the ground. Then, something happened. He spotted Yukina (his crush!) in the crowd and hit Risho so hard he was thrown away from the fighting arena. It was indeed the power of love (the scene was funny and I had fun reading it). And so Team Urameshi will enter the semi-final of the Dark Tournament.

For those who have been reading YuYu Hakusho, you guys should know about the egg right? In the beginning of the series, Koenma, the son of the spirit realm ruler, gave an egg to Yuusuke. It fed on Yuusuke's spirit energy and will eventually hatch into a spirit beast and will take form based on the energy that it had consumed. If Yuusuke had bad evil energy, it will hatch into a monster (that what Botan was afraid of). And the egg hatched in this volume! And it turned out to be a cute bird-like creature. So Yuusuke didn't have bad spirit energy afterall. They named it Pu.

Then, back to business. Mask called Yuusuke to a secluded place and revealed herself, she was Genkai! She passed on her spirit energy to (her successor) Yuusuke but the spirit energy was too powerful and Yuusuke's body started trembling and bleeding. If Yuusuke can survive this, he will have the power but if he don't, he will die. It's more like a gamble to me. But they had no other choice, Genkai was old and she needs to pass on her power. Furthermore, in his current state, Yuusuke would never win against Toguro.

The semi-final day arrived. With Yuusuke still struggling (and suffering) with his new power, and Genkai waiting for him, the rest of the team members went to the stadium to begin the fight. This time they will face Team Otogi Ura. It's 3 Vs 5, can they win this?

Hiei fought in the first 2 fights. The 1st one against Makin Taro was quick, but he struggled in the 2nd match against Kuromomo Taro but managed to win it too. The 3rd round was between Kurama (yay!) and Urashima Ura. Urashima tricked Kurama and used an evil device to produce smog to turned him into a baby and kill him. Fortunately the smog turned Kurama into his former self (before he infused himself into a human body and became a human), the infamous thief Fox Demon Kurama!!!

Urashima Ura was in deep trouble. We will find out what happen to him in YuYu Hakusho Volume 10. Overall, this volume had a lot of good fight scenes and my favourite in this volume is the match between Hiei and Kuromomo Taro. Hiei had such great techniques! But will they survive this round? Until next review....

Plants Vs Ice!

It's been awhile since I last wrote about YuYu Hakusho. So let's continue on the journey. Here's what happen in Vol. 8.

The battle continues on between Team Urameshi and Team Dr Ichigaki. Kurama and Hiei finally showed their faces at the stadium after being absent before. They revealed the truth about Dr Ichigaki's plot who was controlling the 3 humans who were fighting for his team. Kuwabara was so angry after he knew about this but was not able to do anything and was beaten to the ground. Finally it was Mask (y'know, the mystery masked fighter, I like to just call her Mask) who managed to free the 3 humans from Dr Ichigaki's control. And Dr Ichigaki was beaten (and destroyed!) by the estranged Yuusuke. He deserved it.

They thought the battle was over but they were forced to begin the next round and fight Team Masho (in Malay, this team is called Pakar Syaitan loosely translated as Devil Experts). And the organizer even tricked Urameshi Team by not allowing Hiei and Mask from competing, they were considered injured. Yeah right! With Kuwabara badly injured, it was up to Kurama and Yuusuke to fight Team Masho. Can they win this time???

My favourite fight in this volume is Kurama VS Toya, the ice master. I just love to see Kurama in action. And Toya has cool techniques too. But the fight was short, I wish it was longer. Kurama was badly injured too. Luckily he's a strong-willed person. Go Kurama!

The volume ends with Yuusuke VS Zin, the wind master. And the result is...mmm...no result yet actually. You have to buy Vol. 9 to find out that one.

Hunters VS Chimera Ants

This is the latest manga of Hunter X Hunter that is available in Malaysia, which is Vol. 25 (sorry for the blur pic). This is one of my favorite manga series so waiting for the next issue to come out is kinda painful. The hiatus that have been associated with this series makes it worst. From what I read, the latest hiatus started in mid-May 2008 and the series will return in October 2008. I hope this is true because I'm dying to know what happen next.

For those who are new to the series, Hunter X Hunter tells the story of our young protagonist, Gon and his adventures to become a great hunter and also to find his long-lost father, Ging. Other main characters include Kirua, a young fighter from a famous family of assassins; Kurapika, the only survivor of the Kurta clan; and Leorio, a street smart Hunter who wants to become a doctor to help the poor.

The latest story arc is about a group of Chimera Ants that has taken over a country. They are actually some type of human + animal hybrid and are very powerful and dangerous. The Ant King wants to take over the world and the Hunters must stop him and his Royal Guards and other minions.

In the latest issue, Vol. 25, the Hunters start to infiltrate the King palace and battle the Ants. It's going to be tough fighting the 3 Royal Guards, and I'm not even sure if they can kill the Ant King. Things are definitely going to be more interesting in the next volume. I wonder who will win?

I hope I don't have to wait long for the next issue.

Midori no Hibi manga is here!

Previously, this manga was serialized in Kreko or Arena magazine (I'm not sure which) in Malaysia. And now finally we had it in volume format. Thank you Gangstarz! Although the anime series had already been in the market for quite a while now, I bet fans still flocking to buy this one since the story for manga is longer compare to the anime. Plus, the size is much bigger. Although it is a little bit expensive, RM6.50 each, compared to other famous manga published in Malaysia like Naruto and One Piece but it's still worth it.

Volume 2 and 3 has already been published too, and I just bought volume 2 a few days ago. So guys, don't forget to buy this if you're a fan.

Urameshi Team stays strong

From Vol.1 until Vol. 7, this is by far my favourite cover.

The Dark Tournament continues on with Kurama and Hiei fighting their opponents. Then, it's Yuusuke's turn to fight the last member from the opponent's team. They win the first round. Things doesn't look good for Hiei though, and Yuusuke too. They had sustained quite a lot of damage and may affect their performance in the next round.

They will face Dr. Ichigaki's team in the 2nd round. There are humans in this team, which is weird since human seldom participate in the Dark Tournament, except for Urameshi's Team of course (they were forced!). Things doesn't look good for Urameshi's Team (again!) because Hiei and Kurama are absent. Where are they?

Things are getting more interesting....

This volume also contain a short story at the back of the manga. It features Hiei and Kurama and tells the story of how they first met. Kurama looks cute in short hair. :-)

Okay, move on to Vol. 8 now.

The Dark Tournament begins!

Now, the moment that I've been waiting for. The Dark Tournament begins!!! Hooray!!! Now I can see a lot of cool moves by Yuusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei and my favourite, Kurama. Oh, by the way, there's another member in their team, a mysterious woman with a mask. Let just call her Mask. The Toguro brothers and Yukina, Hiei's sister, also made their first appearance in this volume.

This volume starts off with Yuusuke and Kuwabara heading off to save Yukina from a gangster mob, wait...not gangster. More like brokers if you ask me. They are billionaires and they deal with demons. Then after defeating the Toguro brothers (or so they thought) who were hired by one of the brokers, they were invited to participate in the Dark Tournament by the Toguro brothers. They need five members in a team (a sixth member is optional for back-up), and so we have Yuusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, Kurama and the mysterious lady, Mask. Then the 1st battle begins. It's Kuwabara Vs Rinku from the Jolly Devil Six team and it ends with a tie...or is it?

We will find out the answer in Volume 7.

Yuusuke Vs Suzaku

Finally, I had finished reading YuYu Hakusho Vol. 5.

If in Vol. 4, we see Kurama Vs Genbu, the rock-like creature, then in this volume we get to see the battles of the rest of the team members.

First to fight was Kuwabara. His opponent is Byakko, a devil resembles a giant tiger. It sure hard for Kuwabara to defeat him. Next, Hiei Vs Seiryu. This is the shortest battle in this volume, proving that you don't mess with Hiei. The last battle would be Yuusuke Vs Suzaku, the evil leader. He was a snake, sending his evil army to kill Keiko and broadcast the events to crush Yuusuke's spirit. Dirty play. However, Yuusuke being the hero (and so cannot be killed easily) defeated him although with much struggle and nearly killed.

Ah...now I can't wait for the Dark Tournament to start. I've already bought Vol. 6 and Vol. 7. Now, if only I can find some strength to finish reading them.

The perfect 4

And so I continued my journey through YuYu Hakusho. I’m now at volume 4. Still a long way to go. The plot is getting more interesting and complicated. Mmm…I like it!

The half part of the manga showed the exam (or battle) to determine who will become the apprentice to the great Genkai. No surprise here. I’m sure everyone knows who will win this. Then the next half of the manga showed Urameshi and Kuwabara team up with Kurama and Hiei to face the 4 evil leaders that had been causing chaos in the human world. Well, actually it was not chaos, more like small disturbances. Some evil leaders…heh.

What I’m so excited about this volume is the assemble of the main characters to form a team (a strong one too) and also, most importantly, to see Kurama in action for the first time! Gotta love that rose whip. I wish I had one (…chuckles).

I know I’m a little slow in finishing this manga but I had so many things to do, and so many other mangas to read! I just hope I won’t get broke by overspending on these mangas.

Okay, time to buy volume 5.