Yusuke Urameshi, the teenaged delinquent-turned-Spirit Detective, finally confronts Sensui in this all-out climactic DVD volume for YuYu Hakusho: Ghost Files - Seven Sins. Sensui is Yusuke's predecessor as a Spirit Detective. Sensui was charged with the hunting and killing of demons, but over time he felt as if the humans he was supposed to protect were even worse than the monsters he had to exterminate.
Sensui decided to open a portal between the demon and human world realms that would effectively bring chaos and the ultimate end to civilization. Of course, that means the new spirit detective, Yusuke Urameshi and his team consisting of Hiei, Kurama, and Kuwabara must stop him.
By the beginning of this volume, the team has defeated Elder Toguro who survived the Dark Tournament. Sensui has finally managed to open the portal that bridges the human and demon worlds. Yusuke's allies are then promptly stranded in an alternate dimension and are forced to watch as Sensui goes to town on a clearly out-matched Yusuke.
This volume finally sees the end of the dark and violent Sensui saga. Like similar Shounen and fighting/martial arts shows of this sort, it takes quite a while to wrap up and the fights run rather long. Tey often feel rather one-sided. In a surprising revelation, it turns out the normally cool and composed Sensui is actually a quite tortured schizophrenic who created multiple personalities in order to cope with the killing involved with his work.
These episodes go too much out of the way to make the villains sympathetic characters. It is a little tiresome after a similar thing was done with the main antagonist, Toguro, from the Dark Tournament saga. Unfortunately, it brings down the plot and scheme of everything, and at the end you wonder why the heroes and the bad guys were fighting each other at all.
Seven Sins does do a good job wrapping up and concluding the arcs of the many psychic characters introduced in this storyline, such as the sinister Doctor Kamiya, and Genkai's telepathic proteges. But Yusuke's journey is far from over when a shocking fact regarding his lineage is revealed.
Score: 7 out of 10
Video and Presentation
The episodes in this DVD set are presented with a 4:3 full screen transfer. The show does have some noticeable scratches, speckles, and artifacts here and there. This is an older show that first came around a while ago, and FUNimation didn't spring for a big digital clean-up for this release as in the Dragon Ball Z uncut season sets. However, the animation and designs still come off well -- considering the time in which it originated.
Score: 7 out of 10
Languages and Audio
Like the previous release, Sixth Sense, the English and Japanese audio tracks are included in 2.0 stereo. I like a lot of the takes on the characters by the English voice actors in the dub, but at times the altered ADR feels a little too cute and smart aleck, like they felt the need to punch it up more. Audio quality runs strong despite only being in 2.0
Score: 7 out of 10
Packaging and Extras
Seven Sins is packaged in a black clamshell case. Yusuke in his altered demon form is on the cover. ere are the available extras on disc two of this release:
- Trailers
Like the last two disc set releases, for the most part, it contains more episodes instead of bonus features. The character profiles do give some background on the new characters that debut in the later episodes. But this set is really just for the hardcore YuYu Hakusho fan who wants a large collection of episodes on only two discs.
Score: 2 out of 10
The Bottom Line
One storyline ends and another begins for Yu Yu Hakusho. While the conflict with Sensui may finally be over, Yusuke must now confront this new and almost frightening side of him.
