#yukimura keiko

[sarayashikidays]

the thrilling sequel to 'Yuusuke resales Kuwabara's shirts to Kurama'

bonus: Kurama is caught red handed

[koalatysleep]

YYH is actually a LGBTQ romantic tragic comedy masterfully told through subtext

In a nutshell, Canon uses very sophisticated show-don't-tell techniques to SHOW us Yusuke and Kuwabara are in love with each other, while outright TELLING us the narrative misdirection that they're supposedly in love with Keiko & Yukina (almost every canon character mistakenly thinks this & tells us this deliberate misdirection), so much so that even Yusuke and Kuwabara themselves believed the other really is in love with their supposed female love interests!

Canon had to use such show-don't-tell techniques + misdirection in order to sneak in the Kuwameshi Love Story in 90's Japanese mainstream media where there's no tolerance for outright LGBTQ representation, especially in its heroes, but it's been more than 30 years after YYH was first created, so it's a frigging tragedy if people still think the love story is between the two heroes and their supposed female love interests who are barely in the story other than as narrative misdirections, so LET'S PEEL BACK THE LAYERS AND DIVE INTO THE HEART OF THINGS!

As always, proper meta with proof points, screencaps & larger canon context at this Kuwameshi meta series on AO3!

The latest addition to the series Two Steps Forward, One Step Back - Kuwabara's Retreat from Love is now up!

Now on to the post that sums up the romantic tragi-comedy of YYH!

In the above heartbreaking scene where Yusuke silently says goodbye to Kuwabara, Yusuke is wearing the same green jacket that he had on during Genkai's succession trials, when Yusuke and Kuwabara had their Arcade Date as per the Kuwameshi undercover love story meta, and both realized they're falling in love with each other 😭😭😭😭

Yusuke's sartorial choices had gradually matured throughout the series until we saw him wearing more grown up clothes such as this dashing ensemble just before the heartbreaking goodbye scene:

So the sudden reversion to the green jacket is a deliberate choice by Anime Studio Pierrot to tell us that this heartbreaking scene is Yusuke saying a romantic farewell to Kuwabara 😭😭😭😭.

In fact, Yusuke is wearing the exact same ensemble he had on after he first came back to life post car accident (green jacket with yellow vest over red flannel), when the first thing he did was to save Kuwabara's cat in a really sweet romantic gesture as per the Kuwameshi undercover love story meta. This symbolizes how Yusuke is now at the start of another journey just like he was after his first revival post car accident, and foreshadows how he'll promise Kuwabara to check in on him first thing after Yusuke comes back from the Makai, to see whether Kuwa got into the school he's aiming for, as a way to tell us Kuwa'll still be Yusuke's romantic interest even after the Makai separation. But I digress!!

To recap, when we last saw this green jacket, it was when Yusuke and Kuwabara first went all out to show off for each other in peak courting behavior :

This was when Yusuke initiated their first hug!!! Look at Yusuke throwing himself bodily at Kuwabara!!!

This was when Yusuke outright tried to kill Rando for hurting Kuwabara!! It's worthwhile to note Yusuke doesn't actually outright want to kill anyone else, apart from Toguro, because that was the only way to stop him! Both times are because Kuwa's hurt!! (Yusuke didn't want to kill that territory arc Dr Kamiya either, until he was forced to do so to save the entire hospital who were on verge of dying). This tells us that Kuwa is so important to Yusuke that Yusuke would actually break his own moral code (to avoid killing), if it was for Kuwa!!! This is canon literally showing us Yusuke would do anything for Kuwa!

As per play-by-play proof points in The Chocolate Shake Date meta, after Genkai's succession trials when Yusuke started to realize his romantic feelings for Kuwabara, it's implied that he phoned Kuwabara for what he hoped was a 1-1 date, and Yusuke was actually trying to get Kuwabara alone all throughout that hilarious fiasco after Keiko unknowingly became the third wheel by crashing Yusuke's hoped-for date with Kuwabara after she bumped into Yusuke by pure chance!

Coupled with the fact that Yusuke was seriously creeped out by Keiko trying to kiss his unconscious body when he was still a spirit + the fact that Yusuke has never shown any romantic interest in any girl + many more canon proof points that I will add to the meta series in the future + the fact that my canon may have vastly different dialogue/meaning from your canon, I read Yusuke as gay (but feel free to interpret Yusuke as whatever orientation floats your boat, I just personally read him as gay as per the canon versions I got & reasons stated in meta).

Yusuke was always in love with Kuwabara from the start, which is why Yusuke was actually romantically pursuing Kuwabara in The Chocolate Shake Date!

Unfortunately Keiko's romantic interest in Yusuke (which was not reciprocated by Yusuke) threw a spanner into the works and prevented Yusuke from getting together with Kuwabara all throughout canon, as symbolized & foreshadowed by Keiko crashing The Chocolate Shake Date! (sorry Keiko, but I have faith you eventually figured it out & moved on happier!)

Thus, even though Kuwabara got an inkling that Yusuke may not be romantically interested in Keiko during The Chocolate Shake Date and Kuwabara started romantically pursuing Yusuke all throughout the 4 beasts arc as per proof points in Two Steps Forward, One Step Back - Kuwabara's Retreat from Love, Kuwabara mistakenly thought Yusuke was in love with Keiko after Yusuke gave his life to save the girls from Suzaku. That's right, Kuwa's 'prank' on Yusuke about the girls not making it post-Suzaku-fight was actually Kuwa testing Yusuke to see his unfiltered reactions so Kuwa could ascertain one last time how Yusuke really feels about Keiko! Unfortunately Kuwa mistook Yusuke's panic for the girls as romantic love for Keiko,

And so Kuwa Retreated from Love with Yusuke so he doesn't get in the way of what he thought was reciprocal romantic love between Yusuke and Keiko (just like he offered to let them be alone during The Chocolate Shake Date), because that's how nobly and selflessly Kuwa loves Yusuke - he wants him to be happy even if it breaks his own heart,

And thereafter Kuwa throws himself at Yukina as a way to try to get over his heartbreak and to process/express his emotions for Yusuke which he thinks he cannot show Yusuke (Denial & Transference are hallmarks of Kuwa's psyche),

Which prompted Yusuke to think Kuwabara really was in love with Yukina, and so Yusuke Retreated from Love with Kuwa because Yusuke is also a noble idiot in love who wants Kuwa to be happy even if it breaks his heart,

And even though they each got an inkling after the events of the Dark Tournament that the other might be in love with them, and they're almost on the verge of stopping their Retreat from Love with each other, especially Yusuke,

Sensui hit them with his shit and Yusuke sacrificed himself nobly so he can save Kuwa, all his friends and the entire human realm, and even though this is when Kuwa finally breaks through his Denial and his Transference which are hallmarks of Kuwa's psyche and outright admits that Yusuke's the one he's been in love with from the beginning as per proof points in It's All in the Eyes + Denial is a river that runs long and deep meta,

Yusuke was reborn as a Mazoku who is so much stronger than Kuwa felt he could ever become as a human (Kuwa has felt inadequate since 4 beasts arc), that Kuwa felt he could no longer protect Yusuke against the S-class opponents he'd face, and since fighting to protect Yusuke was one of the reasons (in Kuwa's mind) that Kuwa could 'legitimately' be with Yusuke even though he's supposed to give Yusuke space with Keiko (because fighting to protect Yusuke is something that Kuwa could do for Yusuke that Keiko can't), and so Kuwa Retreated from Love again, this time into studying,

While Yusuke knows he cannot afford to lose Kuwa after having lost Kuwa in the Dark Tournament and nearly a second time to Sensui, and at this point in time Yusuke just felt that he's Bad News for the one he loves (Kuwa), he only puts Kuwa in danger and stress, and he can't keep Kuwa safe from an unknown S-class ancestor demon who could take over Yusuke's mind at any time, just like he felt he failed to protect Kuwa against Toguro and Sensui,

And so Yusuke Retreats from Love yet again and goes alone to the Makai in this heartbreaking goodbye scene, even though his yearning and longing for Kuwabara to be with him is SO FUCKING PALPABLE I FELT IT IN MY HEART WHILE WATCHING THIS EVEN BEFORE I CLUED INTO KUWAMESHI!!!!

FUCKING HELL!!!! WHY ARE THESE TWO IDIOTS SO FUCKING NOBLE IN LOVE?!??!??!

And that in a nutshell is how our two idiots in love are in a romantic tragi-comedy all throughout canon!!!!!!

WHAT I WOULDN"T GIVE TO SEE YUSUKE AND KUWABARA GET TOGETHER I TELL YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Check out the Kuwameshi Meta Series if you wanna, because I WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO SCREAM ENOUGH ABOUT THESE TWO!!!!!!

If you'd like to see them fulfill their romantic potential with each other in fic, check out The Good Fight which guarantees a much more satisfying narrative than the bittersweet one we got in canon!

Not that I'm complaining about canon, because IT IS FUCKING MASTERFUL I TELL YOU! So much so that it managed to sneak in one of the greatest love story of all time under the radar in uber conservative 90's Japan mainstream media where LGBTQ love stories were not allowed any representation, and it did it in such a rich subtextual way that holds up to the most stringent literary analysis and character analysis, that most heteronormative audiences over the past 30+ years since YYH was created still doesn't realize the real love story is between Yusuke and Kuwabara!!!

Now, THAT is Great ART! 😭😭

❤️❤️🌈🌈🐦🐦❤️❤️🌈🌈🐦🐦

[tsundereition]

aa it's a very messy sketch but a while ago i read a yuu yuu hakusho fic set in a maid cafe au and i couldn't stop thinking about it... botan actually doesn't appear in it but i love her and i thought it looked nice having the 3 girls like this :) this is my first yyh fanart too btw haha and the first time that i make fanart inspired by a fic!

this is the fic btw, it's kuwabara x yukina with background yuusuke x keiko and very fluffy and cute!! 10/10 a+ would recommend.

[minalyce]

you can't give up!

[eikichi-supremacy]

hey so do you think wtv keiko had to deal with growing up with yusuke could be considered a type of parentification

[duckymcdoorknob]

MAJOR YU YU HAKUSHO SPOILERS UNDERNEATH! DO NOT CLICK IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED THE CHAPTER BLACK ARC!!! 🗣️🗣️🗣️

I adore how he goes from

Yusuke “I do not have a crush on her! She’s just a childhood friend!” Episode 3 Urameshi

To

Yusuke “I’ll be back in three years, and we’ll get married. Okay?” Episode 97 Urameshi

[choujinx]

YUU☆YUU☆HAKUSHO (1990-1994) by togashi yoshihiro

[yu-yu-hakusho-memes]

Forgot to mention in the review but *SPOILERS*

the makai insects (the one that Suzaku controls with the bagpipe looking thing in the anime) appear in ep 1. It was super interesting to see it play out and I enjoyed it. The insect is also way bigger than I thought it would be. I thought it would be the size of a mosquito but nah

Yusuke’s death is way more aggressive and bloodier compared to both the anime and manga it shocked me so much I had to do a double take 😆

I also like how the truck driver is listening to Hohoemi no Bakudan 🥰 it’s only a small part but I literally got chills when I heard it (in a good way) this is also from the first episode.

Koenma and Botan are PERFECT

Yusuke eating ramen at the Yukimura restaurant (run by Keiko’s family and she works there)

Elder Toguro shapeshifting into Hiei to kidnap Keiko… wasn’t expecting that but it was terrifying

TOGURO BROTHERS ESPECIALLY ELDER TOGURO ARE TERRIFYING

Shizuru (Kuwabara’s sister) unfortunately doesn’t make an appearance in the series but Atsuko (Yusuke’s mother) does

Keiko is way more involved in the series

Hiei and Kuwabara still banter at times which I love

* super tired when I did the review it was midnight *

[ikebanaka]

Okay so I generally believe that what Yusuke and Keiko have is real and meaningful and I ship them, because they're both weird and also arospec, in a way where they both decided to have romantic feelings about each other and called it day and for some reason that actually worked

But Yusuke is also a raging bisexual and is fully aware of that, so he has 100% had gay thoughts about all of his teammates but especially Kuwabara, which he masks by making fun of him because unlike Kurama and Hiei, he's known this guy for years and he's both straight and oblivious. Admitting to thinking he's hot would put him firmly in loser territory, because having years to put the moves on a guy and coming out the other side with the guy having zero interest in you that way is just embarrassing. Like, he's obsessed with you and still isn't into you like that. Hasn't even questioned his sexuality once in relation to you. Bad. Awful. That brief moment where Kuwabara got flustered by Kurama because he looked like a cute girl haunts Yusuke.

Keiko has to put up with this rant once a month and doesn't really get it because she has like. Negative interest in how hot people are. The hottest man alive in accordance with her preferences would mean nothing to her. But she's fine with it because Yusuke deserves to suffer sometimes lol

[luckychild]

(If this has already been asked before, sorry! Feel free to just say that) Did you ever consider having NQK be reborn as a different character instead? So like a Not-Quite-Yusuke. What made you chose Keiko, or was it not even a question from the start?

It was always Keiko. I still have screenshots of the conversation where I came up with the idea to use her. It was an experiment to see if I could do something interesting with the character a lot of fans claim to hate for the crime of being "useless."

(This isn't her fault; it's Togashi's, and I stand by that.)

And also this show is full of mass murderers and terrible people, and if KEIKO of all people is someone's most hated character? They're probably a misogynist tbh. I will not be accepting criticism for that statement.

Briefly I did toy with the idea of using Maya from Kurama's past instead, but Keiko's longterm presence in the story felt way more interesting to me/provided way more fodder for the story overall.

[sarayashikidays]

Uploading a LOT of 7 to 15 year old Kuwabara and Yuusuke stuff because I've been going thru old folders on my laptop

[koalatysleep]

What?! Even Keiko kissing Yusuke on the beach at the end of YYH anime has Kuwameshi subtext?!? 🤣🤣

Yup you heard that right! 🤣🤣 Let's break it down!

The anime uses masterful Show-Don't-Tell techniques as I wrote about in this breakdown of The Chocolate Shake Date.

A big part of this technique is the body language tells and non-verbal cues, which the anime does a SUPERB job of.

(SERIOUSLY THE ANIMATION TEAM IS AMAZING FOR PUTTING IN SO MUCH EFFORT!!! HUGE SHOUT OUT TO THEM!!!! )

If you watch this beach scene, you can see how taken aback Yusuke is at Keiko throwing herself at him, and despite his lightning fast reflexes, he doesn't catch her at all or even return her hug, he lets himself fall to the ground with his arms wide open to the sides, without touching her at all.

Then when she initiates the kiss, Yusuke freezes with his eyes wide open in fear like a deer caught in headlights the entire time! You can see he only blinked twice during her kiss in a shocked "oh-shit-I-can't-stop-this-from-happening" way!

This is NOT the reaction of someone in love with Keiko who's been pining for Keiko for years in the makai, if that was really the case, he would have closed his eyes to kiss back! Or at the very least, returned her hug!

This is the reaction of someone who's totally taken aback because he doesn't have romantic feelings for Keiko, yet he loves her platonically as his found family and cares for her deeply, so he doesn't wanna hurt her in front of everyone else by outright pushing her away or stopping her kiss while everyone's watching.

Which is why he uses the excuse of the wave crashing over them to move FAR away from Keiko the first chance he gets!

Like, given the wave is washing over them at a 90 degree angle, it would not have been possible for the wave to move them back from each other, it would at most have tumbled them over each other or dislodged her off him a little. Which you know, if he had romantic feelings for her, he could easily have still kept her close with a hand on her back. But he doesn't do any of those things. In fact he sat her up and then scrambled back from her, under the cover of the wave!!

If you look at the screencap above and the physical distance between them, and the fact that they were literally doused with water (like someone doused your flames of passion with a bucket of cold water over your head), it's NOT a visual analogy of two people getting together, it's the opposite!

I also wonder whether Yusuke used Reiki to make the wave way bigger than the rest of the tiny gentle waves that have been lapping at the beach this entire scene .. in the above image of the wave, you can see Yusuke's left hand is raised into the air as the wave grows in size..

The English dub also hinted at what this scene is about when Yusuke tells Keiko "you stole that lip time from me!" / "you know I can dump this whole ocean on you if I wanted!". This dialogue is not in the Chinese or English subtitles for the original Japanese dialogue (which is more subtle in dialogue but has same subtext in the show-don't-tell techniques, body language, Reiki wave, etc), so I feel like the English dubbers also noticed the same thing about the body language cues and this one wave being abnormally bigger than the rest of the gentle lapping waves, and their dubbed English dialogue was them subtly telling us what this scene was about. 🤣🤣

Given the above, this is how I read this scene:

Keiko kissing him was her last attempt at confirming for once and for all how he feels about her, and when she feels him not kissing back and actually moving away from her under the cover of the wave, she knows he's not romantically interested in her and has subtly rejected her.

Yusuke knows Keiko knows, and they stare at each other for a moment, Yusuke worrying whether this will end their platonic found family relationship which is very important to him, and Keiko processing her emotions.

Then Keiko, god bless her soul, smiles at Yusuke even though she was romantically rejected, because Keiko really IS genuinely happy Yusuke's back, and that she finally got a clear answer so she can move on romantically!!!

Yusuke smiles back, happy and relieved he still has her in his life, and Keiko is happy she has Yusuke in hers. I'M MOVED TO TEARS I TELL YOU!!! Yusuke needs all the family he can get!!!

Like she already had a lot of doubts about them as a romantic pair before he went Makai (she wrote "anxiety", "hesitation", "doubt" in her room when studying for English and thinking about Yusuke romantically), so i think she's glad to finally resolve her own doubts once and for all and move on romantically!

That's why i think they'll be totally good as platonic found family after the anime ending, and they won't actually start dating.

I think Yusuke has been hesitant about outright telling her he doesn't have romantic feelings for her throughout the entire series, even though he knows his own feelings from the start of the series (as evident from his freaked-out reaction when she almost kissed his unconscious body when he was a spirit in the house fire episode back when they were 14, and him wanting to go on a date with Kuwabara in The Chocolate Shake date episode), because he was afraid of losing Keiko as his found family, which would have been so devastating for him, because Keiko and Atsuko are all the family he's got.

Narratively, Togashi/anime studio use Keiko's character as a romantic misdirection so they can tell the real Kuwameshi love story, because most heteronormative audience members and even all other characters in the show (with the exception of Genkai and Toguro of all people) just assumes Yusuke is in love with Keiko, but actually it's clear to me that Yusuke himself has never viewed Keiko romantically!

But i digress! This scene also mirrors The Chocolate Shake Date back in Episode 14 when our boys first started to realize their feelings for each other!!!

When Keiko and Yusuke are splashing each other in the waves in this beach scene, YUSUKE DRAWS IN KUWA BY SPLASHING HIM IN THE FACE, just like Yusuke drew in Kuwa in The Chocolate Shake Date!

And Kuwa, who has been giving Yusuke and Keiko space during this beach scene as well as throughout the series, responds immediately to jump into the water with Yusuke and grabs Yusuke into a headlock that mirrors The Chocolate Shake Date headlock!

Kuwa was watching them splash each other with a genuinely happy laugh (because he really loves Yusuke that much and just wants him to be happy even if he's not romantically with Kuwa, although I personally feel the animators were trying to hint at a bit of pained romantic angst in Kuwa's expression), then he gets shocked out of it with the water in his face, and then Yusuke mirrors what Keiko did to him during the Dark Tournament when Keiko was in love with him - he points at Kuwa with a finger gun and says Bang, as though saying you're the one!

Look at Yusuke using the opportunity to hold Kuwa's wrist during the headlock! Kuwa is also using the excuse of the headlock to touch Yusuke's cheeks just like he did in The Chocolate Shake Date! (I think Kuwa has a thing for Yusuke's soft skin okay LOL). Look at how it mirrors The Chocolate Shake Date scene!

Look at how happy Yusuke looks!!!!!

Look at how Kuwa throwing his leg over Yusuke mirrors how Yusuke threw a leg over Kuwa post Dark Tournament when he needled Kuwa for food, when our boys were almost on the verge of getting together before the whole Sensui shit hit the fan!

Food is a symbol for romantic desire / love, I'll meta another time about a HILARIOUS time in anime when the animators made Kuwa mime jerking off when he was eating with Yusuke I KID YOU NOT!!

ANYWAY!!

I think this anime ending is such a hopeful one for all the characters involved!!!! It clues us into the romantic direction Yusuke and Kuwa's relationship can head in, while telling us Keiko and Yusuke's relationship will be platonic, and that Keiko can finally move on.

And prior to this beach scene, we see that Kuwa's fixation on Yukina has reduced in intensity (I personally read Kuwa's fixation on Yukina as a desperate move on Kuwa's end to try to get over Yusuke, but I'll meta about this another time), and of course Yukina being aromantic (that's how I read her character) will be totally happy Kuwa can finally get together with Yusuke!

I JUST THINK THIS IS A VERY HOPEFUL ENDING OKAY!!! After all the sacrifices our heroes had to make in order to save others / the world, they deserve to be happy and together at long last!!!

AHHHHH What I wouldn't give just to see Kuwameshi get together and be happy at last!!

[southpauz]

YU YU HAKUSHO TIME

[polmcarts]

[choujinx]

YUU☆YUU☆HAKUSHO (1990-1994) by togashi yoshihiro