Yu Yu Hakusho: Season 1

A 14-year-old narcissistic, street-fighting slacker Yusuke Urameshi dies an unlikely hero, after he is hit by a car after saving a young child who was playing with a ball in the street. He soon learns that the child would have lived anyway, and that the Spirit World was not expecting him to die. For this reason, he is then offered the chance to be revived by the mysterious Botan, Guardian of the river Styx. At first, Yusuke initially refuses the proposal, but ultimately accepts after seeing the

Yusuke meets Koenma, son of the ruler of the Spirit World, and is given the task of raising a spirit egg that, when hatched, may return him to his body. Yusuke appears to Keiko in a dream to tell her that he will soon be revived. He later possesses the body of Kuwabara for one hour to find Keiko to inform Atsuko not to have his body cremated since he will attempt to come back to life.

Yusuke discovers that Kuwabara has been forced by a cruel and corrupt teacher into a policy of strict nonviolence for a week, having the risk of one of his own friends losing his after-school job and being unable to support his family. The teacher, witnessing Kuwabara's determination to keep his promise (going so far as not to offer resistance whenever he is harassed by punks), then puts an additional stipulation that Kuwabara must score 50% or higher on the upcoming physical science exam. Yusuk

Keiko goes to Yusuke's house to watch over him. Multiple house fires were reported around the area. It is soon realized that Yusuke's house becomes kindled after Keiko leaves. She returns to try to retrieve him from the flames. Yusuke has to decide between saving the girl he loves most and having any chance of returning to life. Yusuke chooses to throw his spirit egg into the fire to save Keiko, and in so doing, earns the right to return to life.

Yusuke is told by Koenma that, in order to complete his resurrection, he must get someone who cares about him to kiss his body within one day, this being the conduit of his soul back into his body. As he was unable to convince Kuwabara and Atsuko, he manages to get Keiko to do so just in time. Yusuke witnesses Kuwabara falling victim to a gang leader who has kept his pet cat hostage. He catches sight of a demon after defeating the gang leader, as it turns out that Koenma and Botan have other pla

Koenma reveals to Yusuke that he is a spirit detective, and must use his own unique abilities to battle demons and other threats to the Living World. Koenma additionally gives Yusuke a mission to recover three artifacts stolen by master thieves of the Spirit World. Yusuke first encounters Gouki, the first thief who possesses the Orb of Baast: an artifact that enables the user to steal human souls, especially those of children. Gouki proves to be much stronger than Yusuke, threatening to eat him

Gouki retreats after hearing Botan's voice, and Yusuke is brought safely back to his home. Yusuke later fights and defeats Gouki in a forest, recovering his artifact. He then meets with Kurama, the second thief who possesses the Forlorn Hope: an artifact that enables its user to have any wish they want, but at the cost of their own life. Kurama plans to use this artifact to sacrifice himself to save his human mother Shiori, who's currently suffering from a terrible illness. Yusuke, believing tha

The last thief, Hiei, who possesses the Shadow Sword: an artifact that has the power to turn any human it strikes into the lowest level of the demon class, has taken Keiko hostage in order to get both the Orb of Baast and the Forlorn Hope from Yusuke. Making matters worse, Yusuke and Botan are shocked to learn that Hiei had struck Keiko with the Shadow Sword and that she's slowly turning into a demon, which causes Botan to use her own spiritual power to prevent this from happening. Yusuke realiz

Yusuke enters a fighting tournament at Koenma's behest. The winner of the tournament gets to learn the secret techniques of Genkai, a master psychic, and Koenma knows that there is a demon named Rando after Genkai's techniques. To his surprise, Yusuke finds his old rival Kuwabara at the tournament, seeking to learn more about his powers. Yusuke and Kuwabara inadvertently qualify for Genkai's tournament due to their high amount of spirit energy. After a series of arcade games testing the awarenes

The eight remaining finalists are entered into a tournament of one-on-one matches. The first round takes place in a temple of complete darkness. The first match is between a ninja bodyguard named Kazamaru and a licensed hitman, Keroda, in which Kazamaru is victorious. The second match is between a wanderer named Chinpo, and a young psychic named Shorin, in which Shorin wins. In the third match, Kuwabara faces off against Musashi who can cloak his spirit energy. He soon discovers that he has a sp

Although Kibano has the upper hand for most of the fight, Yusuke defeats him by placing Genkai's lit cigarette on him, allowing him to see him and shoot him in the darkness. The semifinal round then takes place on a hill, and a weakened Yusuke has to face Kazamaru who uses shuriken as his preferred weapon, having the ability to home in on their targets. Yusuke ultimately manages to overcome him, by accident, proceeding onto the final round of the tournament.

Kuwabara initially has the upper hand against Shorin, who reveals more that his initial demeanor entails. Using techniques of spirit mediums and masters of centuries past, Shorin is identified to be Rando by Genkai. Rando shrinks Kuwabara in size, proving to be much too powerful for him, as Rando literally almost crushes Kuwabara to death before returning him to normal size. The final battle between Yusuke and Rando ensues. Yusuke is able to break through one of Rando's destructive attacks, seem

Rando reveals his true demonic form to Yusuke, using a barrage of stolen techniques against him. As Yusuke struggles with one of Rando's dangerous attacks, Kuwabara's soul travels to motivate him to keep fighting. Yusuke manages to overcome Rando by tricking him, turning his shrinking technique against him and crushing him with a hard elbow drop, defeating him for good and thereby becoming the student of Genkai for a month (six months in the English dub version). Genkai is also able to heal Kuwa

Yusuke returns from training with Genkai to discover that his home city has been invaded by Makai insects inhabiting humans controlled by the Makai Whistle used by the four Saint Beasts. Yusuke and Kuwabara enter a hidden portal which takes them to the location of the Saint Beasts' castle. Kurama and Hiei, with the offer of pardons from their past crimes, have been sent to help Yusuke and Kuwabara with this new mission. Once inside, the four are faced with holding up a collapsed ceiling, trying

Hiei finds the switch to raise the ceiling, freeing the others from being flattened. Kurama faces off against Genbu, the first of the four Saint Beasts and a master of stone-based abilities. Using his plant abilities and intuition, Kurama splits Genbu apart. However, Genbu is able to reassemble and disassemble as one of his attacks. Kurama is able to defeat him by identifying his weakness in assembling, but is injured in the process.

Botan figures out that the Makai insects can inhabit depressed adults and children. Kuwabara demands to fight the next opponent himself, and encounters Byakko, the second Saint Beast. Byakko summons beasts from within his mane to attack Kuwabara. Nonetheless, Kuwabara uses his spirit sword to stab through each and every beast. With Byakko's ability to absorb spirit energy, Kuwabara's attacks prove fruitless. Determined to win, Kuwabara devises a plan to defeat Byakko.

Byakko is seemingly defeated after absorbing too much spirit energy, yet Byakko appears once more to fight Kuwabara in a room full of molten lava. Kuwabara is faced with the obstacles of being eaten by Byakko and being burned by the lava. Using a new technique, Byakko turns the tables on Kuwabara, who desperately claims victory by sending Byakko into the lava.

As the four travel deeper within the castle, Seiryu, the third Saint Beast, appears. When Byakko weakly arrives and asks for Seiryu's help in fighting against the quartet, Seiryu freezes and shatters him to death after declaring him a failure and a disgrace to the Four Saint Beasts. Hiei chooses to battle Seiryu afterward. Although Seiryu seems to have the advantage, Hiei reveals that he has been merely toying with him, and easily reverses all of his ice attacks. As Seriyu attempts to respond, H

Botan contacts Yusuke and informs him that the Makai-infested civilians are searching for Keiko in an attempt to kill her. As Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei run towards the watchtower in a desperate manner to defeat the last Saint Beast and destroy the Makai Whistle, an army of cultivated humans barricade their entrance. Yusuke jumps into the watchtower to face off against Suzaku, the last of the Saint Beasts, who controls the Makai insects with the Makai Whistle. Despite his determination t

Yusuke tried to snatch the Makai Whistle from Suzaku, but to no avail. Suzaku then reveals his secret technique, which is the ability to split himself into seven entities. Yusuke becomes overwhelmed by the massive attacks Suzaku unleashes. Meanwhile, Botan and Keiko must avoid harm from the Makai-infested civilians. Also, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei are still occupied with the cultivated humans, even when entering the watchtower. Yusuke is reminded of his training under critical condition from Ge

Yusuke uses up almost all of his spirit energy, seemingly murdering Suzaku's entities, to which Suzaku restores the spirit energies of the six. Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei make it to the top of the watchtower. Yusuke, confronted with an image of Keiko with her life threatened by the Makai-infested civilians, finally defeats Suzaku by using the last of his life energy to destroy all of his clones as well as to shatter the Makai Whistle from within the process of his action, reverting the Makai-inf

Hiei gives Yusuke a cassette, sent from Koenma, that will describe his next case. Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Botan are recruited to rescue the ice maiden, Yukina, from the greedy and cruel human crime lord, Gonzo Tarukane, deep within the mountains. Tarukane forces Yukina to cry in order to secrete jewels from the tears of her eyes, which are considered to be highly rare and valuable. It is revealed that Yukina is actually Hiei's sister, in which Hiei plans to kill Tarukane if he arrives before the o

Yusuke and his friends must fight their way through the human and demon guards surrounding Tarukane's stronghold. Meanwhile, Tarukane bets on his human and demon guards killing the protagonist group with his fellow members of the Black Black Club, a human group of cruel and ruthless crime lords. However, Tarukane loses money every round to fellow Black Black Club member Sakyo, who bets on the side of the protagonists.

Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Botan must face off against three specific demons known throughout the Spirit World as the Triad. All three members of the Triad are overwhelmed by the protagonists one by one. At the same time, Sakyo's successful bets on the protagonists have earned him an enormous amount of money.

Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Botan encounter the powerful Younger Toguro and Elder Toguro while Kurama tries to keep Hiei from carrying out his own personal plan of vengeance against Tarukane. At the same time, Sakyo has bet an enormous fortune on the victory of the protagonists, constituting all of his assets. Kuwabara's determination and love for Yukina enables him and Yusuke to defeat the Toguro Brothers, and Yukina prevents Hiei from killing Tarukane.