The fight scenes and CGI are mostly great (Elder Toguro was very well executed), but the story is so rushed that the key moments from the manga/anime lose all impact in the live action. The musical score is downright bad. The music of the anime added so much emotion, but the live action includes nothing similar. "Smile Bomb", "Struggle of Sadness", and "Sad Song" all should have had at least an homage.
Story wise, they basically combined the first two arcs of YYH into one season. It's the Spirit Detective arc story in terms of the group forming and searching for Hiei's sister Yukina, but instead of fighting the Four Saint Beasts, they immediately fight Team Toguro like in the final round of the Dark Tournament saga.
I understand that they did this because they knew they probably would not get a season 2, but it's still a bit disappointing. A big part of why YYH is good is the character arcs and the gradual power ramping, and the live action just blows through it all immediately, leaving very little emotional response to the major moments of the story. Kurama goes to his Yoko form and Hiei summons the Dragon of Darkness Flame by EPISODE 4!
As a fan of the anime, it is still neat to see those moments adapted, but the live action fails to capture the heart and humor that made YYH the anime great.
The studio definitely showed its potential though. The fight scenes and CGI were better than I anticipated. It would have been great to see both the Spirit Detective Arc and Dark Tournament get the time they deserve. Those two arcs are probably the pinnacle of shonen anime.
Story wise, they basically combined the first two arcs of YYH into one season. It's the Spirit Detective arc story in terms of the group forming and searching for Hiei's sister Yukina, but instead of fighting the Four Saint Beasts, they immediately fight Team Toguro like in the final round of the Dark Tournament saga.
I understand that they did this because they knew they probably would not get a season 2, but it's still a bit disappointing. A big part of why YYH is good is the character arcs and the gradual power ramping, and the live action just blows through it all immediately, leaving very little emotional response to the major moments of the story. Kurama goes to his Yoko form and Hiei summons the Dragon of Darkness Flame by EPISODE 4!
As a fan of the anime, it is still neat to see those moments adapted, but the live action fails to capture the heart and humor that made YYH the anime great.
The studio definitely showed its potential though. The fight scenes and CGI were better than I anticipated. It would have been great to see both the Spirit Detective Arc and Dark Tournament get the time they deserve. Those two arcs are probably the pinnacle of shonen anime.