YuYu Hakusho is a supernatural, dramatic comedy fighting manga by Yoshihiro Togashi. He's the extremely popular creator of the currently running Hunter X Hunter. YuYu Hakusho stars the unlikely hero, Yusuke Urameshi, delinquent punk turned spirit detective.  He died while saving a young child, surprising heaven and hell. Thus, they allowed him (after a series of tests) to return to life as their agent, protecting the world from demons and other supernatural forces. Yusuke picks up a number of allies along the way, Kuwabara (another punk and ex-rival), Botan (his spirit guide), Kurama (a fox demon) and Hiei (firey demon) among many others. YuYu Hakusho has  strong, unique artwork and a playful, unusual style.

As the series progresses, Togashi only becomes more distinctive, and more prone to end stories unexpectedly. In the later volumes of YuYu Hakusho, shades of his supremely original Hunter X Hunter can be seen. Hakusho, however,  is on the whole lighter fare; quirky heroes fighting mysterious foes in wilder and more creative battles.

YuYu Hakusho Volume 19: And Then…, is the final volume of the series and concludes the tournament to decide the ruler of the Demon Plane. 

The death of Yusuke's father, the demon king Raizen, had caused political unrest in the Underworld. The other two kings Mukuro and Yomi would have fought it out, but Yusuke suggested a tournament to decide. Now the matches have been posted, and the final battles begun. The demon world and the human world are at stake, because the winner could decide to end the shaky truce between the two realms (That consists mostly of Enma keeping demons out of the human realm).
 

Highlights

The Tournament itself wasn't as interesting as expected (although the back of the book isn't kidding when it says "you won't believe who comes out on top") but the rest of the volume contains a number of more entertaining parts for YuYu fans.
 

There's a fun little story (albeit told with too many narrative captions) where Yusuke does some more detective work for his on-again off-again crush and childhood friend Keiko. In the girl's dorm at school, mysterious bloody footprints are appearing. Kurama assists in wrapping up the mystery in a tight, succinct little chapter with the kind of character interaction we haven't seen in a while (and which was sorely absent from most of the Dark Tournament stuff).  It's almost worth the price of admission for the all-too brief gag where Yusuke has to dress up as a girl to be allowed in. (Kurama, however, is mistaken for a girl about four times). In fact, this and the other two chapters with action (Hiei in the demon plane and all the gang going to stop a terrorist cell with a cannon set to blast the human world) are quickly paced, with artwork ranging from some of Togashi's best to his worst. 

My favorite has to be the one with the terrorist cell; the gang works together to defuse one more threat and gets the dramatically satisfying ending the Demon Plane Tournament completely failed to be.

When Yusuke has to decide what button to press to try to disable the cannon at the last moment, he's visited by an old friend.. Then the series of mini epilogues at the end of the book is at times funny and cute. I love how everyone gets a little something. Kano's strip set up in the form of a 4 panel gag strip is inventive, and the art where Yusuke and Keiko splash togther in the ocean is sweet, touching and I'm not ashamed to say I shed a few tears seeing everyone laugh together one last time. It's weird how a volume can have such a narratively lost first half and hit the final, more character driven chapters so well. However, it means this volume is more of a coda to the series than anything else.

Overall

YuYu Hakusho vol 19 is in many ways the sum of its parts.  That's not a malapropism; by itself, this volume comes off lacking. The big tournament that was hyped up ends in two chapters. Many of the characters brought back from the Dark Tournament arc aren't even seen fighting, while others just get one quick match.  In fact, despite having two whole pages showing you the entire set of matchups in the tournaments, you don't ever see or hear about almost any of them. At one point, one of the combatants threatens Yusuke he's going to take him down. He's then summarily defeated in the first round, never actually fighting Yusuke in the second. What's more, despite having long setups, Kurama and Hiei's fights as lieutenants of the other Demon Kings are never even shown. The art varies wildly in quality, going from sketchy to detailed even within the same panel. Large stretches are spent with no background, yet they describe in detail how the arenas have lush, forested, jungle or mountain environments to make the fights more interesting. We only hear what happened in the next chapter set months later as Kurama tells Kuwabara (who stayed in the human realm to study for college; a nice call back to how he learned to like studying.) what happened and how everyone of any note didn't even make it to round three. Buh-wha?

Then they're all waiting to see how Yusuke did in his fight with Yomi; which I won't spoil, but frankly, it's par for the course.If it wasn't for the fact that this series of anti-climaxes fits into the theme of changing the culture of the Demon Realm and not just busting heads it would feel like he just lost steam and ended the arc. That's why the mini epilogues mentioned above are so important. Even though the book misses a step here and there ( the 23 pages of character art has tons of characters I can't recall seeing ever and increasingly disturbing captions that make it sound like they're contemplating suicide) the sweet, fun way Togahi wraps everyone's lives up made reading vol 19 fun despite everything. When I got to the last page with the empty room, and the picture flapped to the ground with the whole gang in it, I knew I was saying goodbye to a group of people I'd remember for a long time. This volume was a bit hit or miss, but I feel comfortable recommending the series as a whole to just about all shonen fans. Togashi's follow up work, Hunter X Hunter is at times even more inspired (and unique), but YuYu Hakusho probably has more mainstream appeal.

 
                       

ComicsOnline gives YuYu Hakusho vol 19: And Then 3.5 out of 5 old friends in a treasured photograph.