Disclaimer: Despite my attitude later, I am a fallible agent who makes mistakes so don’t get too upset if you disagree. Features art by Midorynn, find them on Tumbler and Twitter! Of course spoilers for the entirety of Yu Yu Hakusho.

“Art is never finished, only abandoned.”- Leonardo Da Vinci

Yu Yu Hakusho is one of the best series to watch as a young boy. Its charming thug with a heart of gold MC, an attractive magic assistant who whisk him away to a life of adventure, dorky best friend, and cute but spunky childhood friend make up a remarkably entertaining cast who can easily keep a kids attention. The fun zany ghost adventures which transition into a barrage of non-stop action practically embody the word fun. All the sleek power-ups which grab the imagination, especially in comparison with the rather bland transformations of Dragon Ball’s main cast, crescendo’s into one final ultimate battle between good and evil in an arena; the makings of a contender for greatest tournament arc of all time.

Indeed a child couldn’t ask for a better conclusion to a series they love so dearly.

So why does Yu Yu Hakusho keep going?

The cynic says money. Indeed, Hakusho’s financial success is undeniable, and if one were to assume Shueisha wouldn’t take full advantage and pressure a creator to create more of such a successful series then you’d have to assume they understood nothing of the cut-throat nature of the industry- perhaps for the better in terms of their piece of mind. In fact, I believe the Dark Tournament WAS where the series was supposed to end, given the clear thematic divide between pre and post-Dark Tournament arc in the story as well as the author’s own comments about his dissatisfaction with how the series ends(1). It should be no surprise to anyone that Togashi would portray Shueisha as a mafia(2) in his most popular series which seems to be virtually uncancellable due to its amazing sales(3). This man was broken in body, disillusioned from his passion as a result of corporate meddling, and likely questioning near every choice he had made up until that point. However, these stories defined his life, both his own and those he read, and he would use them as well as the blossoming romance between him and his future wife to keep himself going through all the hardship he faced. Yu Yu Hakusho was more than just a series meant to appeal to a mass audience for him. Hakusho became his outlet for these emotions, & the story was certainly not an unconscious effort of his part, but an attempt to understand and come to terms with his situation.

Romantic love, for example, never played as major a role in a shounen action series as it did in Yu Yu Hakusho up until that point. All attempts made by a Shounen Jump title to ever actually address relationships before this point were from Romantic-Comedies. Which makes sense and is completely fine. After all, they’re different genres for a reason. They address different emotional needs. In terms of providing entertainment or lessons for young boys, you couldn’t ask for much better of a lineup. But for personal and corporate reasons, Togashi is a man who thinks of absolutely everything in terms of manga, 365 days a year- 7 days a week(4). Simply put it was inevitable that Togashi when writing his first big series, would incorporate all the different flavors and feelings of life, and because he’s a genius they all flow seamlessly together within the narrative.

So why did Yu Yu Hakusho continue? Simply put there was still a story to be told. A story that pushes away some viewers by opposing the reasons they came to the series in the first place. Perhaps it’s not a story that anyone but the author, much-less kids, could understand. It is a story about death of all kinds, and the ghosts that remain after. A story that would become part specter itself. That’s just one of the many explains of the accidental genius in regards to this series. It’s arrogant of me to be sure, but I wish to form an elaborate a comprehensive understanding of this lingering essence of Togashi’s past. To create a ghost file if you will. In our dead past, we find the origins of our mortal future. In Yu Yu Hakusho we find the origins of an immortal philosophy.

Essence IS Existence: The Existentialism of Yu Yu Hakusho’s First Act

The thing that most fascinates me about ToGODshi (and that’s thousands of things) is that the mysteries behind him will likely never be fully solved, and to a certain extent that’s precisely because there IS nothing to decipher. He has a level of intellect that far surpasses anyone in his field, and he has wholeheartedly adopted the Epicurean (western Buddhist) lifestyle. He has no complex ego of which to grasp and come to terms with, which ironically makes him irreducibly complicated, as there is no real “him” but in fact, just the world filtered a manga making machine. So in order to even get a glimpse of an understanding of this colossal figure, it is no exaggeration to say we must first get a grasp of what existence is itself. Luckily Togashi already struggled with this very thing himself, as I will seek to prove today by examining the story of Yu Yu Hakusho up till the Dark Tournament. Long-standing questions such as “Why did Toguro choose limbo?”(5) “why did they bring back Genkai?” and most importantly to me “Why is Dark Tournament considered the best arc of the series to this day, and what causes people to dislike the last to arcs?” will be answered.

I’d like to start off by saying there is only 1 way to read these series. My Way.

Get it? Got it? Good, now pay attention.

I always found it odd how people in the west (not sure of eastern opinions) rated Dark Tournament so highly, even calling it the best tournament arc in history, while completely ignoring or disliking the latter better-written arcs(6). At first, I shrugged it off as Nostalgia & Action Fixation, and while those factors do play a role, it’s not the case that such a thing has never happened in a jump story with not nearly as wide of a discrepancy between the opinion of different arcs. If StoryBrain(7) has taught me anything is that you have to look at the outside emotional factors, what he calls Alpha Factors, to determine at least half of why a piece of art is rated as it is. My first assumption in this regard was that people didn’t like the misanthropy showcased in the Sensui arc and found politics that don’t have the overt risk of death like in Game of Thrones boring.

However, there were several problems with that take. For one, people absolutely adore the Chimera Ant arc of HxH, which contains the biggest middle finger to humanity in fiction(8). And the election arc in HxH is similarly loved by thousands. And this is the exact same author, with a massive overlap in audiences (again in the west) despite the time difference in release dates. Then it hit me. The alpha factors didn’t have to do with the content of the arcs themselves, but rather in how each story framed the narrative that came before with these arcs. As Youtuber MathWiz explained in his “The Undervalued Greatness of Early Hunter x Hunter”(9), as well as Youtuber Aleczandxr in his “In Defense of Genthru: An Analysis of Hunter x Hunter’s Arc Structure – Part 2 of 2: Themes/Villains”(10), the emotional core and mechanics of HxH does not change overall. Some arcs are lighter or darker, but what made HxH what it was is never questioned. In short, throughout the series, the essence of HxH is maintained. However, the essence of Yu Yu Hakusho, existentialism, was not only challenged by the last 2 arcs of the series but completely destroyed. Cognitive Dissonance was evitable if you bought wholly into the conceit of the first few arcs, and things like more strategic fights and changes in animation and storytelling are just byproducts of this shift.

I was only able to avoid such a faith as, knowing and connecting deeply to where ToGODshi eventually ends up rather than the path he took to get there, I never really got into the beginnings of Yu Yu Hakusho and in fact, they are my least favorite part. As horrid as it is on one hand, on the other the abuse Togashi faced and jump forced him to evolve, and so did he ever with the last arcs feeling much more in tune with the style he is most known for today as a direct result of him growing and rejecting his past self.

So who is this past self that millions grew attached too and refused to let go off, and what does any of this have to do with the big philosophy boi word of “existentialism?”

Remember how I described Togashi in the beginning? Well picture the opposite of that and you have a hint of the answer.

Togashi Yoshihiro is no ordinary man. His panels ooze emotion and every word is trying to communicate something more than just its mere meaning. He wants to inspire, to stimulate attention, to help the reader feel. He unflinchingly and unrelentingly attempts to question the status quo and provoke thinking. So blessed and immortal is he that he can insult the very people he works for basically in front of millions and there will not be even a whisper of punishment. Basically, he’s Yusuke at the END of his arc. So we must go back to the beginnings of Yusuke’s journey and follow it to its conclusions to map out a profile.

Yusuke & the Struggle of Existence

Yusuke is a character with no real identity outside of being a punk at the start. Sure he may be the coolest punk around but a mere punk nonetheless. He has a neglectful mother, is not particularly smart nor dumb, his only real talent is fighting so he gets into fights quite a bit but because that’s not a trait valued by his society outside of certain sports context he is looked down upon by others and lectured by his teachers constantly. The one person he’s on good terms with, Keiko, he feels he’s not worthy enough to be around, as he feels he will only cause her trouble, not to mention opening up and being honest about his feelings is something else on the long list of things he’s not good at. By the time he comes across a small child with a ball on the street, he desires nothing more to feel appreciated by someone. And by amusing that boy he gets exactly what he wants. Is it any wonder why he was so willing to jump in front of a car just moments later?

“Slow your role!” I hear you say. “Yusuke sacrificed himself because he’s a good guy deep down!” so you say, and putting aside everything else we know about a person when we here a story about a teen saving a young child from a car that is most people’s default assumption. However, given Yusuke is a character in a fictional story, a well written one at that, we can assume there is a bit more going on.

There are 2 general ways we can look at the situation. Either Yusuke was ALWAYS going to jump and save the child because of who he is, or it was motivated. The more discerning of you will already have noticed the false dichotomy. However, we will be using this framework of different philosophers, such as Jean-Paul Sartre, to examine character motives for what I’ll be calling the “First Act” of Yu Yu Hakusho which goes from the beginning of the series to the end of the Dark Tournament, and this is how Sartre would conceptualize it.

We’ll go with the Sartrian interpretation for now because it seems validated by what happens later that episode. Yusuke is convinced to become a spirit detective after seeing how much he meant to others. Once again his existence is validated. Why does the once seemly apathetic Yusuke now care so much about others that he’s willing to risk his life for them and proceed to basically become a servant to come back? We shall take a look at Sartre’s philosophy to explain.

The Bad Faith of Being Stuck in the Hell That is Other People

“Every person’s existence is unique, which in turn gives us all our own unique essence. This means that the first and only thing humans can be 100% sure of is our own existence and consciousness. For Sartre, individual consciousness is the answer to the existentialist riddle, and proof humans possess free will.”- Michael Saba (11)

I made a whole playlist of people explaining the meaning of the quote “Hell is Other People”(12) but the long and short of it in regards to how it relates here is that for the entire spirit detective saga Yusuke has essentially been living in what Sartre calls “bad faith” and it is only by living true to himself that the egg meant to bring him back to life can save him. Bad faith in existentialist philosophy is a refusal to confront facts or choices and Yusuke’s arc is learning to overcome that. There are countless examples of Yusuke suppressing his emotions so he doesn’t have to care about anything and thus he doesn’t have to become anything outside of the roles emplaced on him. This way he cannot fail at “becoming”, and this attitude always backfires on him. I find the best moments are documented well by SuperEyePatchWolf in his “Why You Should Watch Yu Yu Hakusho”(13) video. Compare this to Kuwabara, who despite being an idiot most consistently lives in good faith, most iconically when he exclaimed his famous “Just as the cherry blossom is a flower among flowers, Kuwabara is a man among men!” quote.

I’d love to get into how these ideas relate to nearly every character in the show from the first act, from Kurama to Hiei to Genkai to Yukina to Shizuru, as all are fascinating and worthwhile explorations in themselves (Perhaps another time). But for the sake of time, I have to focus on the most important character in this regard, Toguro, due to how he mirrors Yusuke. People have made deep dives into Toguro’s character and still not fully understand one important thing; why he choose to go to limbo(14). The answer is that Hell is Other People.

I will now explain- though there is no proof- the main reason why I think a Young Togashi got way too into Sartre (although if he came to all this on his own it only proves just how much of a genius he is so I win either way). In Limbo, all sensation except for pain is cleared away. Why would someone choose such a life? Well, we have to understand why he did anything, and like a good villain should he parallels with the hero in this regard; bad faith. Toguro started running a dojo with Genkai and working to become stronger. With the death of all his pupils by the hands of an extremely powerful demon, however, he had an existential crisis on his hands. No from a Sartrean perspective, this is where the differences between Yusuke and Toguro become important. Yusuke was a teen who hadn’t yet truly shaped out an identity for himself. Toguro, however, did have an identity he made, one of the strongest human. Yet here he was having failed.

Remember for Sartre, an Atheist Existentialist, humans manufacture themselves. Therefore any failure is a failure of your own self-creation. Toguro isn’t strong enough to protect those he loves? He must abandon his weak existence as a human obviously! But wait, what if he’s living in bad faith? Giving up a mere human body doesn’t mean your consciousness or free will is gone after all. By all accounts, in spirit at least, Toguro was still human. That left him open to the hell that is other people, the constant gaze which we use to construct ourselves with, the authority we give others over our lives. What if the human will was always enough? Then he’s made a terrible mistake, overwhelming guilt for all his actions to become this monster are all that must be left for his conscious existence. But an even worst faith awaited should he truly be stronger and better than all humans now. He would be left with no one to validate his existence. The gaze is hell but so long as we have all our sensations we can’t live without it. Demons are no kin for the human-born Tugoro despite his talk. So he was left with only one choice, wait for or make a human strong enough to defeat him, strong enough to be a genuine mirror for him. Only then would he truly know.

From this perspective, of course, Toguro would pick limbo. It was the only opportunity for him to finally be free from the gaze. No longer would he have to deal with the guilt of what he had down, which hurt more than any pain limbo could give him. In a strange way he picked the option where he would be most happy, even if others, audience included, couldn’t make sense of it. That’s why he smiles when he says goodbye to Genkai.

Yusuke was living in Bad Faith and beats Toguro when he takes responsibility. Inspired by friends his existence finally forms an essence, one which defeats threats against those he loves. The egg didn’t just bring him back, it has now hatched and revealed the soft cuddly guy he is deep down. Sartre said existentialism is a humanism(15). The Dark Tournament is the ultimate existential tale, which is why it is so beloved, especially by those who saw it as a teen.

Perhaps unfortunately for them, humanity would become something ToGODshi quickly grew to despise.

Death & Materialism: Thermodynamic Ghost

“The important thing is not abiding by the rules, but to break the current sense of security, that’s how it is.”-ToGODshi

So how did ToGODshi’s writings go from being most in line with a self-proclaimed French Marxist intellectual to keeping more in tune with the works of a Nazi political theorist? Well, strap in everyone because I’m about to take you on the dangerous yet enlightening ride that is examining gaming and back pain, as we change course forever with the Epicurean Shift.

Let’s start with gaming. At this point in the series (after the Dark Tournament) references to gaming increase dramatically, and this habit of Togashi would only increase with time to the point where his very next series would be called “Level E” and become a gaming reference extravaganza. And I don’t have to explain to anyone who has seen hxh how essential “gaming” is as a metaphor in the series. However, we know from interviews(16) that ToGODshi was always a gamer so why the sudden increase of it in his art? And it is common knowledge that Togashi suffers from very severe back pain, that became such an issue for him that writing Yu Yu Hakusho. How does all this fit in with his change in philosophy? I hereby hypothesize it was these factors to shifted ToGODshi away from Idealist Existentialism and into Epicurean Materialism.

The Vital Role & Transformation of Puu

I love Puu. He’s an absolutely adorable ball of utter cuteness the likes of which the world has rarely seen. It’s a damn good thing for me then that he plays such a pivotal role in the Philosophical transition away from Existentialism in the series. Yes, you thought he was just a cute side character with some minor badass moments but in fact he is quite literally the most important character in the series outside of Yusuke, Genki, and the villains. Yes, he is that important. Why?

The special thing about video in the philosophical sense (I’m sure someone has sprouted this all before someone but I thought of this all on my own so link me anything similar sounding) is that it is the first mass medium to have the audience involved in crafting the narrative to this extent. There is a physicality to video games that isn’t there with movies or even books. For this reason, I feel (again just my personal experience) that people who game alot start to view the world differently. Myths pervade our society, it’s how such large groups of people are even able to come together in the first place. The myth of money, the state, law, even language, all these things we depend on don’t really have the power we usually perceive them to if you look at things in a purely physical sense. And video games make the fact that these and many other things are really just abstractions more evident than ever, perhaps even subconsciously.

A few games does not a materialist make obviously, but with a few other factors, like say serious injury, they can really help bring home the predominance of our senses in our understanding of the world. Which brings me finally, at long last, to the most important figure in ToGODshi’s philosophy, Epicurus. Now again I want to point out that I do not know ToGODshi’s reading list, but whether knowingly or not Epicurus is THE philosopher through which you can analyze all of ToGODshi’s work and have it make sense. I’ll do a much deeper dive into his philosophy in part 2 of this series. The most important thing to note for now is that around this time is when ToGODshi first started showing these proclivities, and a the big to note about Epicurus as it relates here is that he was a materialist.

Materialism is a position which holds that matter is the fundamental substance in nature, and that all things, including mental aspects, are results of material interactions. In Idealism, mind and consciousness are first-order realities to which matter is subject and secondary (Thanks Wikipedia). Now don’t misunderstand, I do not wish to conflate existentialism with idealism as they are quite different in many areas. I’m not even saying Sartre is an idealist, as the claim at the heart of his philosophy- that the only thing we can know is our own consciousness- is an Epistemological (a question of what we can know) one which he then uses to justify his ethics. But a focus on material, rather than mind and thus ideas, is where one can come into major conflict with Sartre. It’s not a coincidence that the robot based on Sartre in Nier: Automata (a video game btw) is a dick. People in real life who have tried to follow Sartre’s philosophy end up being very self-centered and confrontational(17). The philosophy just lends itself to that and is even reflected in certain moments of cruelty from early Yusuke, even though as Puu demonstrates and we see time and again he is at heart a nice guy.

For the Sartrean meaning is infused through existence. This lends itself to a morality that is egocentric. For Materialists such as Marx and Epicurus however (though Epicurus did influence Marx) a radical amorality become apparent. ANd this is where I feel ToGODshi and Sartre break. ToGODshi found emotional closure through Toguro’s arc but had to keep going with the story even still. At the same time, he couldn’t make the series at a quality he wanted due to back pain. Is he supposed to blame this on his failure to live freely as a thinking subject independent of others? His back was in pain. No amount of philosophizing was going to change that fact. The senses he felt then, the friends he had to help him through hardship, those were what existed.

“If you do not on every occasion refer each of your actions to the end ordained by nature, but instead stop short at something else when considering whether to go after something or avoid it, your actions will not be in keeping with your theories.”- Epicurus

Something cannot exist without having an essence, and nothing can be said of an essence which has no material reference. For ToGODshi all true philosophy has its base in materialism. But then how does this mesh with any useful concept of the soul, which is a major factor in both hxh and Hakusho? Energy. From Spirit and Demon to Nen ToGODshi always has an explanation in place for why conscience can be where there is nobody. If as Einstein proved Matter and Energy are fundamentally the same thing, so long as the properties of some energies are such that they interact differently with other types of energy as matter does with matter, there is no contradiction. It is fiction that makes the exploration of such an idea possible.

Yu Yu Hakusho is a story about death. The death of the individual human body, the death of the human spirit, and if you watch the English Dub the death of chill. Ghost and Shintoism abound naturally(18). But with this change in Togashi’s philosophy what these forces represent in the narrative also changed. In a meta-textual sense the work itself started off just existing, its elements only around to placate and gain interest from the masses, and as such had near unlimited freedom to define its essence. However, just as the narrative is ultimately directed by the driving force that is the author, so too in Yu Yu Hakusho is this supposed Sartrean free will shown to be an illusion. Let us return then to Yusuke’s first death. To the egg and what it represents.

Yusuke sacrifices himself to save a child from an oncoming car. Yusuke was always going to save the child because he would always be motivated to. Spirit world, the fallible agents they are, make a goof and didn’t account for this, for even if everything is pre-determined, we cannot know with 100% certainty what will happen in the future, as it would take a computer bigger than the universe to calculate it. And so, preferring the known world of humans to the unknowns of spirit world, as is the natural human tendency, as well as seeing that he was actually in relatively good standing with his neighbors, he agrees to work for spirit world in order to prove himself to them and come back to life. He’s a spirit detective because he investigates the human spirit. He’s not a good one by the design of the spirit world, as they have their agenda and don’t want their “employees” questioning it, unbeknownst to Yusuke at the time.

Through this reading, the egg becomes a tool for control. The false philosophy of the spirit world government. Puu begins to represent not only Yusuke’s inner-self but also how existentialism itself is a mere ornament, appealing but useless until Yusuke is forced to transform his inner self into someone who strives beyond mere self-validation. This creature who had to be carried by others and then by Yusuke himself now can completely fly on its own by the end of the Chapter Black Saga. It is a masterclass in symbolism from Togashi, Taking what once represented something distinct and then completely reworking it into something majestic, while still having all the previous symbolism make sense.

Mastering Misanthropy: Reexamining Toguro via Sensui

Time to go over Toguro’s file one more time and perhaps write up a new report. Unlike Puu whose’s relevance purely thematic, the villains of Yu Yu Hakusho are so important because of both the themes they represent and how they move the plot. As I explained earlier, people have lack-luster opinions on the arc’s after the Dark Tournament, mostly stemming from the change in how battles take place. Less prevalent are improved DBZ like fights and instead we get the more strategic fights like we’ll see in Yu Yu Hakusho, which I enjoy but a few others didn’t appreciate. Even fewer still were willing to tell me any narrative issues they had with the arcs, mostly citing the length since last viewing and memory which I believe. There is one comment I found interesting however from my inner circle, which I will leave anonymous since my point isn’t to bully anyone (yet) but to demonstrate something.

“The dark humanity bits with Sensui just get dropped and nothing is done with them after meticulous focus on them prior other than him holding the stance that humans suck…Chapter Black as a concept is not given enough weight thematically. It forms the crux of Sensui’s motivations, which is cool, but we can’t connect with it other than through the fact of conceptually agreeing that humans are terrible because we live in reality. It is not a relevant focus even though the early arc spent much time on it. Look at how CA follows through with that in comparison. And you can lean on the cop-out of ‘you can’t compare it to perfection’ if you want but it’s not productive.”

To which another friend replied that it works perfectly as a narrative device when you consider that YYH is also a horror series and part of the allure is the dark depraved under bits you can never truly see and can only imagine, not to mention many of the horrifying aspects of the tape itself are reflected in the narrative. While I completely agree with that assessment I have a different response; every single arc in Yu Yu Hakusho is meant to build off what came before in every way, and therefore so long as writing quality has not degraded, which no one I asked has said, the series can only be said to be getting better as it goes on. Now you meant contest that any good series should do so comparing later arcs to earlier arcs when there is no downgrade in writing quality is pointless. Indeed that is my opinion generally but I think in Yu Yu Hakusho that is especially the case. And I hope that using this masterpiece of a series I can convince you that this at least a valid, if not the preferred way, to go about arc comparisons.

Everything about Yu Yu Hakusho is about the loss of humanity, in body, spirit, and conception, & how that is a good thing. Yusuke is the vehicle through which we shall experience this. Yusuke is not the character who is supposed to stay true to a certain code through to the end like in most shounen battle series. The series is about building him up as a person, and then tearing him down till all that is left is the synthesis of lessons he took from the villains. He never gains a moral victory against them until the very end of the series, and his development is always dependent on him being broken, because without this he will just accept the doctrines placed onto him by the last guy. In this way, we completely deconstruct every aspect of homo sapiens and very little is left for reconstruction except friendship, effort, and victory.

In one sense Toguro learned a lesson on the importance of living in good faith. From another perspective, however, Toguro was a case study in how merely increasing hardware specs doesn’t make for an entirely new console. This is where the gaming metaphors become prevalent and important in ToGODshi’s writing. It marks the transition from him needing to work through the emotions of his real life to those based on his gaming obsession, forming a clear shift in the narratives from here on out. No longer was Toguro the tragic existential villain, rather one who fails to commit to the campaign against humanity, thus becoming baffling & at the same time incredibly appealing in terms of the ‘mystery’ surrounding him.

If Toguro is a half measure in this reading then it becomes obvious what comes next; a new challenger appears to attack the spiritual foundation of mankind.

Shinobu Sensui

With the DT arc completed ToGODshi had an opportunity no one had or has had before or since. Because there was a specter haunting the conclusion. The neat little bow was being pulled by a force no one could see but him. That ghost was the singular question, the antithesis that came about necessarily from this dialectical, “If Toguro is the reject of the human as a physical being, what would be the result of a creature rejecting homo sapiens as a moral one?” From this Sensui is created, the near opposite of Toguro. Where Toguro was ugly at full power Sensui was beautiful. Where Toguro was Secluded from society with friends and then abandoned them becoming an agent of someone else, Sensui started out an agent and then Secluded himself with friends. Comparisons abound, Parallels striking. The key though lies in their deaths.

Sensui destroyed the moralizing of the last arc. It drove a wedge between those who favored the DT legacy and himself. ToGODshi gave up some of the mass appeal he garnered and even admits as much. I quote:

“I knew that Jump dropped a manga after 10 weeks if the readers’ surveys proved it to be unpopular, and I knew this when I started working for them. This system proved encouraging for me, and I learned a lot by being aware of readers reactions. But I ended up wanting to draw manga for myself, without thinking about anyone’s reactions.”- Yoshihiro Togashi

Here we see the Epicurean sensibility once again. Quote: “Frankly speaking I would prefer, when discoursing on nature, to utter useful things even if no one should understand, rather than conform to popular opinion and thus gain the constant praise that comes from the many.”- Epicurus.

Toguro killed the human form. Sensui killed the human spirit. 3 Kings killed the concept of humanity. 1 is most morally palpable, after all, who doesn’t want argumentation? 2 can be accepted by some, and because it’s a story and DT is so long, sunk cost kicks in hard, not to mention the writing remains excellent throughout. Nobody even acknowledges 3 Kings. After all, who would sign off so completely on abandoning everything about their humanity? It would mean telling Every Single Human they come across that you think they are ultimately worth nothing in the grand scheme. Every child and old woman, Every family member and friend, Who I ask has the guts to tell them “you are irrelevant” at any time? Only those who have surpassed humanity themselves.

So let us finish up this report, shall we?

The Beginning of the End

“Schmitt’s conception of the political stands in opposition to his conception of “political romanticism,” the subject of one of his early books. Political romanticism is characterized as a stance of occasionalist ironism, such that there is no last word on anything. Political romanticism is the doctrine of the autonomous, isolated, and solitary individual, whose absolute stance toward himself gives a world in which nothing is connecting to anything else. Political romanticism is thus at the root of what Schmitt sees as the liberal tendency to substitute perpetual discussion for the political.”

“The driving force behind this argument lies in its claim that politics cannot be made safe and that the attempt to make politics safe will result in the abandonment of the state to private interests and to ‘society.’… There is here, however, a deeper claim, a claim that the political defines what it is to be a human being in the modern world and that those who would diminish the political diminish humanity.”- Tracy B. Strong, The Concept of the Political by Carl Schmitt

What makes us human is our ability to organize into large-scale society. In the bast there were a great many other humanoids similar to us, some both stronger and with bigger brains, but it was Homo-Sapien who tapped into the power of the political. We’re like ants only on a much larger scale and far worse. So naturally, if ToGODshi was to showcase the death of humanity he would have to showcase how humanity fails in this regard as well.

Now obviously ToGODshi can’t have a nuclear war go off or something like that because as interesting as it would be to humans unwittingly fuck themselves over after they had just been saved it probably wouldn’t have flown with Jump back then not to mention it would be virtually impossible to get Yusuke involved in any way that made a lick of sense. This is why I can more easily accept that Yusuke is not just part demon but a descendant of a demon king. As contrived as it is it would be well worth it if ToGODshi could give a spectacular payoff and GODDAMN DID HE EVER PAY IT OFF! We see Yusuke not only single handily save the superior species from all-out war with reason, something impossible with humans, but we also get a political thrill ride that is somehow also shounen AF. I could go on for days about how impressive the political machinations of all the factors were without being bogged down by needing to understand bureaucracy, and how the power politics of the demon world show both how much of a genius Yusuke is when it comes to fighting and how much he’s learned from Sensui, but we’d be here for years.

Most important in terms of this discussion is how ToGODshi frames the political. Like the German Philosopher, Carl Schmitt ToGODshi is able to explain the concept of the political in terms of an understanding of one’s friends and enemies. It makes sense he would go this route considering he writes for Shounen Jump whose motto is “Friendship, Effort, and Victory”. Wisecrack and Philosophy Tube(19)(20) break down the concept best I feel but to sum it up in the same way philosophers ask “what is Good?” Schmitt wanted to figure out “What is Political?” & the conclusion he came to is “the decision of who is my enemy (an existential threat) and who is my friend (someone who will help me fight my enemy if need be)”.

“What is important about this distinction is not so much the “who is on my side” quality, but the claim that only by means of this distinction does the question of our willingness to take responsibility for our own lives arise.”- Tracy B. Strong

At the beginning of the arc, the first Spirit Detective Kuroko resigns Yusuke to his faith, even after first choosing not to kill him, because he was not immediately repulsed by the idea of demons eating humans. This speaks volumes for the tone and themes of the arc. This is, for Schmitt, a given quality of “the political.” It also makes sense from a materialist perspective. Scholar Paul Cockshott(21) puts forward a conception of history which states that life and societies tend to organize themselves in such a way as to maximize the energy flow through a system. This leads to a probabilistic directionality to history, one that “rewards”, for lack of a better term, the Collectivization of efforts. The problem with humans in this framework then is the individuality which breaks the chains of solidarity and the failure of a force powerful enough to unite humanity under one banner, be that an enemy or a state. ToGODshi would return to this again in his later work of Hunter x Hunter, but even as early as the last arc of Yu Yu Hakusho, he was considering it.

It also makes sense from a materialist perspective. Scholar Paul Cockshott(20) puts forward a conception of history which states that life and societies tend to organize themselves in such a way as to maximize the energy flow through a system. This leads to a probabilistic directionality to history, one that “rewards”, for lack of a better term, the Collectivization of efforts. The problem with humans in this framework then is the individuality which breaks the chains of solidarity and the failure of a force powerful enough to unite humanity under one banner, be that an enemy or a state. ToGODshi would return to this again in his later work of Hunter x Hunter, but even as early as the last arc of Yu Yu Hakusho, he was considering it.

The problem, ToGODshi says, is human weakness. He returns to this time and time again. He despises human weakness. In his thought, if we could be strong and powerful, our problems would work themselves out. It is because we are so weak that we can be so cruel. And given ToGODshi would go on to influence all of Shounen Jump it is perhaps no surprise that series which fail to take this belief to the logical conclusion would later be called out by the Shounen Deconstruction that is Medaka Box.

ToGODshi’s goal is to erode the moral foundation upholding society. He is unflinchingly and unrelentingly attempting to question the status quo and provoke thinking. ToGODshi knows a lot about how humans work, and by understanding systems, he likes to manipulate them to get what he wants. He planned to be a teacher, and from personal experience, I’m sure you all know that the best teachers don’t just know their field but can break it down into its component parts and allow their students to play with them. Through him, the dogma of the sovereignty of the people is challenged. The objectification is given supremacy(22).

“From this standpoint, Schmitt came to the following conclusions about modern bourgeois politics. First, it is a system which rests on compromise; hence all of its solutions are in the end temporary, occasional, never decisive. Second, such arrangements can never resolve the claims of equality inherent in democracy. By the universalism implicit in its claims for equality, democracy challenges the legitimacy of the political order, as liberal legitimacy rests on discussion and the compromise of shifting majority rules. Third, liberalism will tend to undermine the possibility of the political in that it wishes to substitute procedure for struggle. Thus, last, legitimacy and legality cannot be the same; indeed, they stand in contradiction to each other.”- Tracy B. Strong

Demon world was a world ruled by 3 nations evenly, then unified. Part of the reason is that even most of the weaker demons have the power of a small tank and can dodge or tank bullets. No one could dominate with tools that are weaker than a nuke, which demons do not create for various and obvious reasons. Thus it became a world where strengthed ruled. This plus the permanent enemies in humans and the lack of anarchy due to the existence of spirit world allowed for the introduction of a true democracy. Voting with violence, the penultimate political display.

“As Herbert Marcuse noted, “Carl Schmitt inquires into the reason for such sacrifice: ‘There is no rational end, no norm however correct, no program however exemplary, no social ideal however beautiful, and no legitimacy or legality that could justify men’s killing one another.’ What, then, remains as a possible justification? Only this: that there is a state of affairs that through its very existence and presence is exempt from all justification, i.e. an ‘existential,’ ‘ontological’ state of affairs,-justification by mere existence.’ ”

Something cannot exist without having an essence, and nothing can be said of an essence which has no material reference. For humans, absolute power is a legal fiction. The physical limit to power is the will of the multitude. You upset that mass enough and they’ll pull you down and cut off your head. Whosoever has the power has the right, and the sovereign doesn’t necessarily have the power at all times. The multitude is frequently irrational, by nature dictates we side with the multitude, not out of love but for necessity. In Yu Yu Hakusho, however, just across the dimension line there is a world of demons ruled by a singular entity. They’re stronger, more moral, and don’t have to fret over politics. On the human side, there is a young man and his friends who live life happily, the best the can, who are nevertheless haunted by memories of this world. They’re strong enough to look back happily on them. I have to wonder how true that is for the rest of us though…

I’ve had enough existentialism to last me a lifetime. There was much more I wanted to add, some I cut cause it fit better in the other parts, but mostly I had to put this out because if I didn’t stop it would go on forever. I want to be able to watch Daredevil Season 3. I ended the post because of my own selfishness, I’m sorry.

Part 2: https://elevenxheaven.wordpress.com/2018/10/31/the-philosophy-of-togodshi-part-2-level-e-and-the-correct-way-to-live/

Sources:

“On Finishing The Serialization of Yu Yu Hakusho”- https://www.reddit.com/r/HunterXHunter/comments/2ga6as/togashis_long_written_piece_found_in_the_yyh/ “Did ‘Hunter x Hunter’s Comeback Take A Jab At Shueisha?”- https://comicbook.com/anime/2018/01/29/hunter-x-hunter-comeback-shueisha-shout-out/ “HxH Volume 36 First Week Sales” https://www.reddit.com/r/HunterXHunter/comments/9n8bl1/hxh_volume_36_tops_the_weekly_charts_with_498k/?utm_source=reddit-android “My Hero Academia & The Quest For the Perfect Shounen Anime” by Digibro https://youtu.be/zAV1uv3lPBQ “Greatest Anime/Manga Villains- Toguro – Absolute Strength!” by KingofLighting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDAgaNuxf9I Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Wiki, English, Poll on Favorite Saga- http://yuyuhakusho.wikia.com/wiki/YuYu_Hakusho_Wiki “The Alpha Theory: Why Great Artists Die Poor & Art History is Wrong” by StoryBrain- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPfy6X8mCok&list=PLrA1E2Li0c39B6m4Q92h8nJujPsinGTBR “We are far worse” from Huter x Hunter 2011- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkEIaAC2SLI “The Undervalued Greatness of Early Hunter x Hunter”- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78vuFy6kT5s “In Defense of Genthru: An Analysis of Hunter x Hunter’s Arc Structure – Part 2 of 2: Themes/Villains” by Aleczandxr- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TU3c6ZmhAE “How Nier: Automata Tells the Ultimate Humanist Fable” by Micheal Saba- https://youtu.be/63PzQIbTrM8 “Hell is Other People Explained” playlist- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoPy6nHDeEkXs1ksBqFIgYAL9C5xUGJLr Why You Should Watch Yu Yu Hakusho” by Supereyepatchwolf- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DHEr87uwgE “Toguro: A Wounded Heart, A Broken Dream” by Aleczandxr- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37uc7raOVzA “Jean-Paul Sartre | Existentialism is a Humanism | Existentialist Philosophy & Literature” by Gregory Sadler- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBjJstjBJlw “North American Shounen Jump’s interview with Yoshihiro Togashi”- http://hunterxhunter.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:MrGenial11/North_American_Shonen_Jump%27s_interview_with_Yoshihiro_Togashi “My “Sartreian Phase” – Philosophical Development and Commitments” by Gregory Sadler “Yu Yu Hakusho Shinto Case Study”- https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/arisky/yu-yu-hakusho-shinto-case-study Wisecracks and Olly’s videos on Schmitt- https://youtu.be/1XJhZVmORlM https://youtu.be/0BcsKdvERZA “Modes of production” by Paul Cockshott-https://youtu.be/HbjZlKqDCMA “In Praise of Objectification” by Geotrickster- https://wp.me/p60ccW-EY