The official Netflix Twitter account revealed on July 18, 2022, that Japanese actor and voice actor Kanata Hongo will play the role of Hiei in the Yu Yu Hakusho live-action series.

Character visual and actor comment was also released by Netflix along with the announcement.

Comment by Kanata Hongo:

“I intend to assemble it with the consciousness of Hiei so that people who like Hiei can be convinced of the fighting style that makes the most of speed, the cool but actually friendly personality.”

It was previously announced that Takumi Kitamura will play Yusuke Urameshi, while Jun Shison will play the role of Kurama.

Yu Yu Hakusho live-action series will be released worldwide on Netflix in December 2023. Studio Robot is in charge of the live-action series.

The staff involved includes:

• Director: Sho Tsukikawa
• Script: Tatsurō Mishima
• Original creator: Yoshihiro Togashi
• Executive producer: Kazutaka Sakamoto
• Producer: Akira Morii
• VFX Supervisor: Ryō Sakaguchi

YuYu Hakusho is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi.

The series tells the story of Yusuke Urameshi, a teenage delinquent who is struck and killed by a car while attempting to save a child’s life. After a number of tests presented to him by Koenma, the son of the ruler of the afterlife Underworld, Yusuke is revived and appointed the title of “Underworld Detective”, with which he must investigate various cases involving demons and apparitions in the Human World.

The manga becomes more focused on martial arts battles and tournaments as it progresses. Togashi began creating YuYu Hakusho around November 1990, basing the series on his interests in the occult and horror films and an influence of Buddhist mythology.

The manga was originally serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shōnen Jump from December 1990 to July 1994. The series consists of 175 chapters collected in 19 tankōbon volumes.

An anime adaptation consisting of 112 television episodes was directed by Noriyuki Abe and co-produced by Fuji Television, Yomiko Advertising, and Studio Pierrot. The television series originally aired on Japan’s Fuji TV network from October 1992 to December 1994. It was later licensed in North America by Funimation in 2001, where it aired on popular Cartoon Network blocks including Adult Swim and later Toonami.

The YuYu Hakusho franchise has spawned two animated films, a series of original video animations (OVAs), audio albums, video games, and other merchandise.

YuYu Hakusho has been well received, with the manga selling over 50 million copies in Japan alone and winning the prestigious Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen manga in 1993. The animated series won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize for best anime in 1994 and 1995.

Source: Twitter