Today is Anime Day at Netflix Japan Festival and the announcements just keep on coming. And the latest news is that the Netflix live-action adaptation of the legendary 90s manga by Yoshihiro Togashi, YU YU HAKUSHO – will be released in December 2023. The live-action series was first announced in December 2020.
An anime series adaptation, of 112 episodes, originally aired from 1992-1994. The manga volumes have sold over 50 million copies in Japan alone. The series follows a teenage delinquent named Yasuke who is killed and becomes an Underworld Detective, investigating demons and apparitions in the human world.
As the manga series progressed, it became more interested in martial arts battles and tournaments, so it remains to be seen if this will be a feature of the live-action series. The series will presumably be fairly CGI heavy in order to depict the various demons that Yasuke must defeat.
No casting details have been officially announced, but unofficial reports suggest that filming began in June 2021 and that Takumi Kitamura is playing Yasuke. Kitamura appeared in the live-action adaptations of Let Me Eat Your Pancreas and Tokyo Revengers. These suppositions are based on tweets from fans who are local to the filming locations.
Netflix Geeked made an announcement tweet today with the release date;
Welcome to the spirit world.
Based on the legendary manga by Yoshihiro Togashi, YU YU HAKUSHO – the live action series – arrives December 2023! pic.twitter.com/Wyu4RNiXo1
— Netflix Geeked (@NetflixGeeked) November 9, 2021
As well as the anime series – two animated films, video games, an encyclopedia, a collectible card game and even a stage play have been spawned from Yu Yu Hakusho.
Netflix have become quite a reliable home for anime, with popular shows such as Castlevania, Demon Slayer, Violet Evergarden, Aggretsuko and Neon Genesis Evangelion available on the service. While their selection of Japanese live-action shows isn’t as extensive, this looks like an area that they want to branch into more.