It seems like Netflix has managed to break its anime curse, as proved by one of its latest offerings, YuYu Hakusho Season 1. The show may not have reached the heights of the live-action One Piece series, but it proves that the mammoth success of Matt Owens and Steven Maeda’s creation was not a fluke at all.
Premiered on December 14, the live-action YuYu Hakusho series has mostly received a positive reception among viewers and critics, with significant praise directed towards its action sequences and CGI work. Though, it did receive some criticism for its rushed storytelling. Still, it has a ‘fresh’ Rotten Tomatoes rating of 71%, which can be considered an achievement for Netflix.
In addition, Season 1 of YuYu Hakusho has reached the top spot of Netflix’s Global Top Ten (Non-English Shows) list, with over 6.2 million views and more than 26.1 million viewing hours. These stats are significantly low compared to the live-action One Piece series, which earned over 18.5 million views and over 140 million viewing hours in its first week. But we should also consider that One Piece is nothing short of a global phenomenon. On the other hand, YuYu Hakusho is one of the most underrated anime series ever. It did not receive a longer anime run like One Piece, ending with only a total of 112 episodes between October 1992 and December 1994. The reason behind this scenario was its manga series, written by Yoshihiro Togashi, which was only 19 volumes long (1990-1994), unlike Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece, which now has 107 volumes.
YuYu Hakusho’s success also raises our hopes for Netflix’s upcoming live-action adaptations of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Death Note, My Hero Academia, and more. Albert Kim created the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender, consisting of eight episodes. In addition, Stranger Things’ Duffer Brothers will take care of Death Note for Netflix. Furthermore, Joby Harold will oversee the live-action adaptation of My Hero Academia. Harold is best known for his work in the Disney+ Kenobi series, Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead, and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. Stay tuned for more updates.
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