Netflix's Yu Yu Hakusho Star Breaks Silence on Joining New Live-Action Series

Exclusive: Netflix's Yu Yu Hakusho: Live-Action Manga Adaptation Reveals its Star

We've gotten our first await at Yusuke.

Netflix has found the star of its upcoming live-action adaptation of classic manga Yu Yu Hakusho. IGN tin can exclusively reveal that the main character, Yusuke Urameshi, will exist played by Tokyo Revengers' Takumi Kitamura.

Netflix appear the adaptation concluding year, which will present a new version of the 1990 manga in which a teenage boy, Yusuke, dies and begins a new afterlife as an underworld detective. Kitamura (Let Me Consume Your Pancreas, Tokyo Revengers) will play Yusuke, and you can encounter a first look at him in costume below:

Takumi Kitamura as Yusuku in Netflix's Yu Yu Hakusho. (Image credit: Netflix)

Takumi Kitamura every bit Yusuku in Netflix'due south Yu Yu Hakusho. (Image credit: Netflix)

"The original piece of work is a universal and unique masterpiece and a reason why Japan is and so proud of its stiff manga and anime culture. I am happy to share the masterpiece of Yu Yu Hakusho with the world and I promise nosotros can create something people everywhere will bask," Kitamura tells IGN.

Kitamura is the but fellow member of the cast announced and then far. Netflix's synopsis of the manga and evidence follows:

"The manga revolves effectually Yusuke Urameshi, a inferior loftier school student who spends his days getting into fights and dies in an blow while trying to protect a immature kid. As he grapples with the fact that he is looking down on his dead body, a adult female named Botan, who calls herself a guide to the spirit world, relays to him the shocking truth: no one expected a delinquent like Yusuke to dice performing an act of goodness, and at that place was no identify for him in either heaven or hell. Thus, Yusuke is given a chance to exist revived, and after passing his trial, he becomes an Underworld Detective. From there, Yusuke becomes entwined in a mystery that envelopes the human, demon and spirit worlds. The spectacular gamble of Yusuke will now get a live action series on Netflix."

Netflix appears to be diligent about calling this a manga accommodation, although Yu Yu Hakusho has besides been adapted every bit an anime in the past. Information technology was a dearest version of the story, and we've previously called it one of the best anime series of all time.

"When I first heard about Yu Yu Hakusho receiving a alive-action adaptation, I honestly wondered if information technology would even exist possible—just after being presented with the producer's vision and possibilities with Netflix, my expectations grew and I plant myself burning with passion to make this projection come to life. More than anything, I think the appeal of Yu Yu Hakusho comes from its characters, which is why I wanted to highlight the appealing relationships and battles in Yu Yu Hakusho," director Sho Tsukikawa tells IGN.

Tsukikawa says that the show will include "plenty of action scenes."

"The visual effects we use are quite avant-garde, as nosotros employ cut-edge technology, aimed for the best quality we tin can achieve. Lastly, from the very starting time, we were strongly aware of creating a series for a global audience. But similar when I offset heard near this adaptation, at that place may be people out there who feel it's an incommunicable undertaking, but no matter how many means I express how I feel, I believe the work volition speak for itself and prove information technology's possible. I volition go on to cascade my center and soul into the project to evangelize the best entertainment from Japan to the globe," he says.

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Netflix's Yu Yu Hakusho will be released in December 2023. Information technology will be directed by Tsukikawa, written by Tatsuro Mishima and produced by Akira Morii.

Joe Skrebels is the Executive Editor of News at IGN.