Here's Why Yu Yu Hakusho Deserves A Shoutout During Pride Month

Posted by Zora Stowers on Monday, May 13, 2024

The anime genre is filled with hidden gems that tend to go overlooked. While that's most often applicable, there may be one sequence that deserves some recognition during Pride Month, and that is the reason Yu Yu Hakusho.

Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files is without doubt one of the lesser-known animes, however the sequence' cult following has kept it alive over time. The show facilities around Yusuke Yurameshi, a Spirit Detective who winds up in a whole heap of trouble after sacrificing his life to save lots of a kid. The adventure from there takes Yusuke through Spirit World, Demon World, and his personal homeworld crammed right between them.

On one of his first missions, Yusuke and his friends come across the Apparition Gang's elite workforce, The Triad. The first member to appear is Miyuki, a humanoid demon with a penchant for close-combat.

LGBTQ Characters In Yu Yu Hakusho

Following their introduction, Miyuki begins attacking the gang. During the struggle, however, Yusuke pulls a slightly tasteless transfer to determine Miyuki's gender. He does so, after which the target audience learns that she's a transgender girl.

What's interesting is Yusuke's reaction. Instead of going simple on her, he starts pummelling Miyuki mercilessly. He slams her into a wall, throws her down a hallway in a not-so gentlemanly type, it is bad. Miyuki reacts to the brutal beating through accusing Yususke of handiest fighting so savagely because she's a freak to him. The freshman Spirit Detective, alternatively, sees the situation another way.

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The reputedly dimwitted Yusuke explains that he fought Miyuki the way in which he'd fight anyone else. Her gender didn't matter—that is why he fought so ferociously—to meet her on an excellent playing field.

While beating a trans woman into the ground isn't acceptable underneath any circumstances, Yusuke's level is a truthful one. He shouldn't treat her any differently, and because they have been in a wrestle scenario, he did the suitable factor. Had Yusuke fought Miyuki otherwise in accordance with her gender on my own, it could've just bolstered the misconception that transgender individuals shouldn't get the similar treatment as cisgender other people.

In addition to featuring a transgender personality—way earlier than it turned into acceptable in society—Yu Yu Hakusho additionally offered a few other characters who could be considered contributors of the LGBTQ neighborhood as neatly.

Yu Yu Hakusho's Ambiguous Array Of Characters

First up, there is Kurama. The half-human half-demon hybrid identified as a male, though his appearance came off as androgynous. In truth, on a couple of instance, background characters would notice that they concept Kurama was a woman.

In a cool animated film, it is tricky to decide gender, particularly when the nature designs are very identical. So when the emphasis is placed on one thing inconspicuous—like Kurama's appearance—there is a explanation why for it.

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In Kurama's case, the writers most likely called consideration to his look to provide the audience the affect that he is not as masculine as anyone like Kuwabara. It's by no means explicitly stated, however bearing in mind how time and again Kurama will get flawed for a woman, I'd say the producers intended to feature a full spectrum of characters who constitute the LGBTQ neighborhood.

Were These Characters In The Closet?

The problem is, at the time of newsletter, even lesser-known animes like Yu Yu Hakusho could not outright characteristic homosexual characters. It was very taboo for anything else entertainment-related to characteristic depictions of LGBTQ characters, so if the writers wanted to, they possibly had to keep persona identities ambiguous.

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The idea continues to be unproven, however there may be been hypothesis over the years that Yu Yu Hakusho included more LGBTQ representation. One of the characters suspected of being homosexual is Koenma. His dating with Jorge Saotome originated in a paintings setting, however by the tip of the sequence, Koenma was once calling his trustworthy significant other by means of his proper name. Perhaps it was once carried out out of comradery for a friend, or maybe now not. Either manner, their developing relationship perceived to hint at them being greater than a prince and his ogre servant.

Koenma additionally had a variety of spirits and apparitions working for him, but for whatever reason, he stored Jorge around. And regardless of berating his incompetent servant continuously for his shoddy paintings, Koenma by no means replaced his ogre. He could have simply found a replacement to fill the spot, yet Jorge remained by means of Koenma's aspect throughout the entire collection; makes one think why the prince of Spirit World would do such a factor.

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