Yusuke Urameshi is one of the most interesting main characters in anime. One of the most foul mouth main characters who also strayed far from the path of a goody two shoes hero.
His story starts out as he was a school bully who surprisingly saved a little boy from being run over. He completes a trial to get his life back, only to be employed into the service of the spirit world as their detective.
It didn’t take him long to learn how to shoot magic energy out of his finger due to the advice of a magical toddler.
Soon enough, he was fighting demons and winning
But he would always have to earn his victories.
I really enjoyed watching him during the Genkai tournament.
His student–master relationship with Genkai was definitely really interesting. In many ways they loathed each other, but they also cared so deeply for each other when tragedy would strike.
He did well against the Four Saint Beasts though that fight seemed to last forever.
His best moments started after he took the job to save the secret sister of Hiei.
The dark tournament was so good.
He usually had the best fights, the fight against Jin was really good in my opinion.
The fight against Toguro at the end was very epic. Definitely the highlight of the series by far.
The fight against Sensui was good but not quite as impressive as the saga before. That fight went on way too long.
I think Cartoon Network actually took it out of its regular programming because viewers got upset that it was taking too long, and we never got to see his second death on the network, but the English dub definitely does exist all the way to the last episode.
I thought it was interesting he was a mixed race demon but his demon ancestor was from centuries before. After his second death, he was reborn with demon energy.
Turns out his ancestor took control of his body during that fight with Sensui at the end and he was pissed about it.
When he meets his ancestor Raizen, they have a very bitter relationship. Turns out he was one of the three most powerful demons ever, but was dying due to him not eating anymore. He called himself Yusuke’s father which made some fans incorrectly believe that he was Yusuke’s actual dad and not his ancestor. Yusuke’s father actually shows up at the end of the manga.
The anime implies that Yusuke has a chance against Yomi, but in the manga he definitely was far weaker. So it makes sense for him to propose a giant demon tournament for control of the demon world.
And of course, his last battle was against Yomi. Not a bad fight, I will admit.
And he lost… But demon world control was won by a pretty nice demon at the end of the tournament, so he kind of won anyway.
At the end he comes back to Keiko and they resume their romance. But it is implied that he would return to demon world for the next tournament.