We're still in the Dark Tournament in YuYu Hakusho volume 8. This wraps up the fight with Team Ichigaki and covers four out of five bouts with those shinobi/Ninja demons called the Shadow Channelers. The matches between Team Urameshi and the Shadow Channelers are as follows:

a. Kurama versus Gama, Master of Ritual Adornment

b. Kurama versus Toya the Ice Master

c. Kurama, then Yusuke, versus Bakuken the Fog-Bearer

d. Yusuke versus Jin the Wind Master.

Team Urameshi has been doing better than the demons like. The Shadow Channelers' sponsor, Mr. Butajiri, is more than willing to cheat. A demon 'nurse' named Luka is sent to give Hiei and the Masked Fighter a check-up. They don't like her findings.

Gama and Toya are serious and honorable as well as powerful. Bakuken is a thug. Jin is a perky fellow. That one fang peeping out like a cat's is so cute. Team Urameshi's cheering section is notably missing, but they get an addition at the end.

If you're interested, the kanji (Chinese characters) on the back of the boy's swim trunks on the title page are 'Ni' and 'Hon' which together are "Nippon," (Japan).

Expect cartoons or sketches of girls at the end of chapters. Also expect another cliffhanger ending.

My great thanks to the YuYu Hakusho Wiki character section for Bakuken's title. (Their sponsor's name and Risho's title I got from volume nine.) ( )

Well Into the dark tournament the team is getting shafted big time.

We get a look at the unfairness and the true muddling’s of this game. It shows how money and power can influence the rules and even change them for a difference outcome. ( It drives me crazy! But it makes the story all the more fun)

Aging the art work has improved; with each volume it just keeps steeping up and looks more like the anime then in the beginning.

I like how Hiei and Kurama are drawn in the manga, more so then in the anime, I can’t quite pin point why, don’t worry I’m working on it.

Again the fighting is drawn beautifully, skillfully, and everything moves at a fast, yet steady pace.

I'm loving the manga, with each one I read I get more and more excited! If you want a great story with lots of fighting and paranormal goodness, give this manga a shot. Because remember, reading is reading, no matter what form it comes in.

Happy Reading

-Emily
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