We're Finally Getting the English Dub to Two 'Yu Yu Hakusho' OVAs

A popular anime from the '90s, Yu Yu Hakusho, has been a hit with fans for years. In this series, we follow a teenager named Yusuke Urameshi who is essentially in limbo after getting hit by a car in order to save someone else's life. He's then informed he has a chance to live again if he can pass a series of tests.

Since the show was released, a number of original video animations (OVAs) for Yu Yu Hakusho have been made. But how many does the series have overall? This decades-old anime is once again getting new life years after its last episode aired.

According to the Yu Yu Hakusho Fandom, there are currently six OVAs released in a set titled Eizō Hakusho along with the series' movie, Yu Yu Hakusho: The Movie. Like OVAs for other series, these were short glimpses into aspects of the lives of the main characters. The box set on Amazon is selling for hundreds of dollars. But luckily, they are all available subbed on YouTube for free with a quick search on the platform.

Fans of Yu Yu Hakusho have been loving the OVAs for years, and news of the English dub has been circulating for a while now. They were originally released in Japan, but in 2019, Funimation announced the English dub was coming to the U.S. Unfortunately, they didn't materialize and there weren't many updates on what was going with them for years, according to ComicBook.com.

But now, fans who have been waiting patiently for a dub are getting what they have been waiting for.

In June 2022, there were reports that the English cast of Yu Yu Hakusho is coming back to record the voiceovers of two OVAs. Titled "Two Shots" and "All or Nothing," these were originally released in a Blu-ray box set that was only available in Japan, per ComicBook.com. It came out in the country in October 2018 for the series' 25th anniversary.

The OVA "Two Shots" is about how Kurama and Hiei met and is based on the extra chapter of the manga of the same name. "All or Nothing" is about the main characters working together to solve a hostage situation in the spirt world. This one is based on Chapter 174 and the final chapter of the manga.

On June 15, 2022, the English actor for Botan, Cynthia Cranz, posted on Twitter that she will be lending her voice back to the character. "Yu Yu Hakusho Fans: I have it on good authority that we will be recording to the two OVAs soon," her post reads. And she tagged Crunchyroll in the tweet. So even though dubs were announced before that we never got, this time it seems more legit since Crunchyroll is apparently involved.

Plus, Chuck Huber who voiced Hiei in Yu Yu Hakusho, responded to a fan who asked if he was coming back and he confirmed he was.

As of now, there's no word on when the two Engish dubs will be released aside from Cranz saying it will be "soon."

You can watch Yu Yu Hakusho on Hulu and Crunchyroll.