WOW GOODNESS OKAY

I. Well I do NOT have the time to answer back everyone but...thanks for the replies? I guess? A lot of you. A lot of the rest of you.....Mm. Well it's reddit i guess ;;

Also as a note--I'm sorry to confuse! I wasn't saying this because I'd like to look like Yusuke! He is a wonderful boy and I love him and I love watching him, but I was genuinely just shocked to see how fluid and undefined he appeared despite him being VERY rigidly masculine in every other aspect of his character, especially given the setting and tone of the series. I have heard people say that about him though! I guess I just didn't realize why they latched onto him in particular and it was more just a visual thing, until I sat down and watched it. I was a fool..... I suppose it was because I've seen him lumped in with that very particular Style™ from 90s anime, so I thought he was in there because he was a prime example of it. But hey, asses and assuming and all that ;;

Thanks to everyone who was nice! Fuck you to everyone else! I'll see if I can't respond to some messages directly when I have a bit more time!

I've been watching the show for the first time recently since it's been on Netflix, 'cause when I was little and it was showing on Adult Swim I never went through it (I always managed to stumble across Samurai Champloo and the same episode of FMA instead). For how much I love it, there are a LOT of quintessential anime I never watched (DBZ, Sailor Moon, Inuyasha, so on), and I feel like I missed out on a formative baby weeb experience. So I wanted to watch this while I could

I love it. I love it! I'm not terribly far in (about 30 episodes) and I really didn't expect to love it or have nearly as much fun with it as I am. I don't really gravitate towards action anime specifically (if you looked at my history you'd call me a dirty rotten liar), but I think it's just 'cause there's a really particular kind of action I want. Like my favorite series are Cardcaptor Sakura, Chobits, Princess Jellyfish, Mushishi....but also Samurai Champloo, Devilman Crybaby, Trigun, One Punch Man, and (if you count movies) Promare. Style is super important to me, and I think soundtracks mean a lot more than I realize. And given the way I've always seen Yu Yu Hakusho presented, I never figured it would hit the marks that I think pull me in, and I have--FUCKING SOMEHOW--managed to avoid spoilers for 20 years. A huge motivation for watching it is because I knew I would have been absolutely fucking obsessed with Kurama when I was younger, and I owed it to little me.

Well, I WAS VERY WRONG!!! I laugh out loud bare minimum once an episode because of all the out-of-pocket lines they throw out, and I think I could watch Kuwabara just do his thing all day long. I love seeing the characters interact with each other. Admittedly I do need to take it slow because I just space out if there's too much combat, but then I'm always so excited to watch the next episode.

ALL THAT IS TO SAY--I honest-to-fuck have a hard time focusing on what Yusuke is doing because--why is he like that. Why is he LIKE THAT. Like I said, I came in with absolutely zero expectations. Yusuke had his spirit gun and Kuwabara had a big sword and Kurama was pretty and Hiei was Vegeta and they fought monsters. That's all I knew!!! I saw it as one of those like--when you listed off the kinds of anime a TV station would think boys would like, that was at the top.

So then imagine my surprise when I turn it on and almost immediately Yusuke is setting off 🌈alarm bells🌈 in my head. I kept on telling myself I was just being silly, but like--it was OVERPOWERING in the episodes where he was dead and trying to come back, and it just keeps on creeping up every time he goes one-on-one with someone. When he was trying to reach Keiko in her dreams, all I could think in that scene was how much it felt like two girls having a sleepover. And the way he's drawn is so....soft?? Like yeah, a bunch of the tough guys get pretty eyes and there are definitely bishounen all over the place, but it's really overt. I feel like the message that's supposed to be sent with their design is pretty clear. Yeah, it could be that he's supposed to look small up against all of these big enemies, but Hiei is right there. And it's not that that's just how guys his age are supposed to look! He's surrounded by super-different looking dudes that are meant to look roughly his age. We KNOW he doesn't have to be like that, Yusuke is just different.

I don't think the show is super queer--I don't think I could, what with the tit groping and "you're not a real woman" bit and the whole vibe in general--but that makes it....more confusing??? That this feels so present all the time, but it's never acknowledged? And it's not just with him. Kurama and Hiei act like a married couple, Yusuke and Kuwabara have their own very intense something going on, there's something about Botan... Like the scene I just watched, even, where Keiko says that she doesn't want to see Yusuke yet because this is the first time she's ever seen him truly happy and she doesn't want to remind him of the place he came from--like HOOOOOOOO boy, HO buddy, there is a whole rich and complicated history about the intersection between queer stories, monster stories, and finding where you belong, not to mention like... The only way I can put it is the reasons why I've seen given by trans people explaining why they love HALO so much.

I know this is a lot, but I am just--I am confused, I am delighted, I am entranced. I am having SO MUCH FUCKING FUN watching this show, and also, love that little angry green fuck with all his oddness and chutzpah and floofy hair. Wonderful. I know this was a long post but I'm just having a GREAT time with it and I'm also so happy to find something I never thought I would <3<3<3