Awesome / YuYu Hakusho

YuYu Hakusho has been known to have its Awesome Moments here and there. Why not take a look?

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Spirit Detective Saga

• Takanaka chewing Akashi and Iwamoto out for being insensitive dickheads at Yusuke's wake, joking to themselves about how Yusuke probably was trying to mug the kid and saved him by accident, and right after Kuwabara basically went through all five stages of grief simultaneously yelling at Yusuke's picture while fighting back tears, wishing the car that had killed Yusuke had been big enough to crash into Kuwabara's gang too. Cue Takanaka's hand on their shoulders.
  Takanaka: What do you suppose is more disgraceful, that boy shouting in misery, or your insensitive and idiotic words!?
• The scene where Kuwabara willingly let a gang of ruffians kick his ass so his friend could keep his job?
  • And then in the anime version of that, when some thugs are going to do it again, which this time would make him late for an important test he has to pass, Yusuke decides he's had enough, possesses an unconscious, scrawny schoolgirl, and beats the living shit out of them, at one point going so far as to drive one of their heads through a goddamned fence, all so they can't stop Kuwabara from making it to his test.
  • Kuwabara loses it after discovering that Akashi and Iwamoto erase his last answer on his test sheet and tries to punch out Akashi. Yusuke stops him at the last moment, reminding him of all his efforts to help his friend Okubo keep his job, and that punching Akashi will only erase said effort. This is what gets Kuwabara to calm down and walk away from a gloating Akashi.
    • Mr. Takanaka shows up thereafter to threaten Akashi into fixing Kuwabara's score. Whenever Akashi and Iwamoto are being dicks, expect Takanaka to give them rightful scoldings. The above example, and episode 1 when he rips into them for openly mocking Yusuke at his funeral are prime examples of this.
  Takanaka: Find something funny, Mr. Akashi?
  Akashi: Did you see that, Mr. Takanaka? That hoodlum nearly rang my neck!
  Takanaka: Yes, and I think if someone had corrupted my answer sheet the way you and Mr. Iwamoto did to that boy, I would've rung your neck, too.
  Akashi: BUT WAIT! I-I don't know what you mean!
  Takanaka (restraining his anger): I'm sure that you know how precious the honor system is at this junior high, so I'd appreciate it greatly if you didn't lie to my face! Now, you're going to correct that score immediately!
  Akashi: O-Of course!
• During Hiei's and Kurama's origin chapter in the manga, it showed that the two were a perfect duo from the beginning. Their teamwork against Yatsude was simply beautiful and must be read to be believed.
• Botan whacking demons around with a metal baseball bat. And karate kicking one of the possessed humans as well.
• The (second) time Kuwabara killed Byakko. Kuwabara has run out of platforms above the magma that he's capable of jumping to, and with Byakko's projectile coming for the one he's standing on, he's forced to try a jump toward the demon's own platform. The jump turns out to be too short, but before Kuwabara can fall into the lava, he uses his spirit sword as a pole vault to reach his opponent and deliver a flying punch that knocks them both off the platform. He survives only because his bandages get snagged in a crack in the rock.
  Kuwabara: "I'm just glad I got to hit you. Now let's go to Hell together!"
  • Monster Beast Donut anyone?
  • Kuwabara's real Moment of Awesome is the fact that he's easily the least popular and weakest of the main four, yet has the most crowning moments listed here.
  • And one for Byakko: he survived, climbed out of the magma, and followed our heroes Seiryu's chamber. He was more dead than alive by that point, but had Seiryu given him some ki he could have recovered...
• Hiei's fight with Seiryu. Despite being The Dragon to Suzaku, the Saint Beast is taken out within a span of a few minutes, without even registering an actual hit.
• Yusuke's defeat of Suzaku, where he exhausted tactic after tactic trying to give the guy what he had coming to him for endangering Keiko, after being repeatedly (and painfully) subjected to Suzaku's ultimate technique. The clincher? As he lay dying on the ground, Suzaku laments that he finally understands Yusuke. "You didn't defeat me because you weren't human. It's because you were."
  • Ironically the penulimate arc would reveal that Yusuke had demon ancestry.
  • During the Makai insect infestation on Earth, there was one adult in Yusuke's school that was able to resist being infected/parasitized/possessed: Principal Takanaka. While he was strict on Yusuke about attending school, he was still a decent man who praised Yusuke's Heroic Sacrifice to save a child, got back on a teacher who changed Kuwabara's grades out of spite, and wasn't a maximum douche hiding behind a veneer of "morality" like Iwamoto.
• When Yusuke and Kuwabara went to free Yukina, Tarukane decided to organize a betting pool on their battles against his guards, knowing they'd lose the money first betting on the outmatched guards on the first and second round and then betting on the intruders on the third match only for the Toguro Brothers to win. This became a moment of awesomeness for Sakyo. Why? Easy: not only he knew that Yusuke and Kuwabara were stronger than the guards and thus bet on them, but the Toguros actually worked for him, allowing to ruin Tarukane by betting an outrageous amount of money and having the Toguros throw the match. Then, after Yusuke and co. had left, he completed the moment by having the still alive Toguros kill Tarukane (who had gone crazy for what Sakyo did him and a pissed Hiei showing up).
  • Some Moments of Awesome when Yusuke and Kuwabara casually rip through Toguro's demon mercenaries. First, there's the moment when Toguro notes that six of his fighters' energies vanished at once; Yusuke and Kuwabara easily beat the grunts. Then a round of mine explosions fails to put a scratch on them. Tarukane's horrified expression is priceless there. And then they beat the Demon Triad, Toguro's elite force, with only minor difficulty.
• The defining Kuwabara Crowning Moment was the stuff he says to Tarukane after seeing how he tormented Yukina so much.
  Kuwabara: "Disgraceful! And you call yourself a man?"
• Toguro very handily establishes himself as a threat, setting the stage for the Dark Tournament to follow. Despite sandbagging at 20% of his power, he spends most of the fight with Yusuke and Kuwabara mopping the floor with them. It takes a desperate gambit of Yusuke Reigunning Kuwabara in the back to boost him enough to stab Toguro, a gambit Toguro is heartily impressed by.
• And of course there's what happens when Hiei finally shows up right at Tarukane's door. When the guards draw their guns on him, he effortlessly kills them in 3 seconds and proceeds to beat the complete shit out of Tarukane, thus rescuing Yukina and ruining Tarukane's back-up plan (and by extension his life as well).
  Hiei: "The game is over, you ugly old fool. I saw the talisman cards hung in the tower, that explains why I couldn't find her with my Jagan Eye. But you can't run from death forever."

Dark Tournament Saga

• YuYu Hakusho has Hiei debuting the Dragon of the Darkness Flame (Black Dragon Flame in the original Japanese, or Blazing Fist of the Overlord: Black Dragon Hell Fire) and reducing Zeru, who had been build up as a powerful opponent, to a victim shadow on the wall of the arena. Well, that was quick.
  • Technique's actual translation from the Kanji? Jaō Ensatsu Kokuryūha?, lit. Tyrant-King's Blaze-Murdering Black-Dragon-Wave, otherwise Tyrant-Emperor Jao Blaze Murdering Black Dragon Wave. Longwinded, ain't it?
  • There's a lot of different translations, made all the more confusing by anime Kuwabara's bumbling.
  • Before that, Kurama hitting Roto with the Death Plant. Buh-bye!
    Roto: "You believe in mercy, don't you?!"
    Kurama: "No."
    Roto: *instant flowerbed*
    Kurama: "What irony. Such beauty sprung from such an ugly soil."
    • In the original, Roto was rambling off some excuses, ending with:
      Roto: "I was only kidd—"
      Kurama: "Die."
      Roto: *instant flowerbed*
  • Also, when Hiei absorbs the freaking attack and destroying half the stadium. It gets kinda hard to beat that. Except maybe when Bui SENDS IT BACK and thinks he killed Hiei, only to find out that the Black Dragon is NOT an attack but actually a way to take a level in badass. Hiei then beats the crap out of him, refuses to kill him, and faints.
    Hiei: "Only I had the strength, the courage, and the ABANDON to realize its glorious potential."
• In the fight against Team Masho, Team Urameshi has been suffering setbacks by the corrupt fight committee issuing unfair rulings against them in a deliberate effort to disqualify them. In response Hiei proposes that he and Yusuke proceed with screwing the rules and engage in a Roaring Rampage of Revenge that involves tearing the entire stadium and every apparition in the audience completely apart. Yusuke is more then ready to go along with the idea.
• Another one is Kuwabara's fight against the Brainwashed and Crazy martial artists in the Tournament. He may have lost, but he still was willing to die to save them and break their brainwashing, and he was able to temporarily get through to them. Thank God Yusuke and Genkai finished the job for him.
  • And when he singlehandedly carries the entire team through in their final fight versus Team Masho. Think about it—up until a certain point, Kuwabara's on the ropes—and right when you think he's gonna whip out the Heroic Sacrifice, he hears someone call his name... and just like that he backhand-slaps Risho across the stage. You already know who's gonna walk away winning (metaphorically, because he didn't really walk off the stage afterwards) after that scene, as anti-climactic as it was.
    • It wasn't entirely anti-climactic; Kuwabara had fallen out of the ring as he KOed Risho, and had to make his way back into the ring within the 10 count. As you expect, he did make it back, but he avoided falling to Love Makes You Dumb by doing so.
      Kuwabara: "You're just a no-good cheater Risho! So get out of my ring!!"
  • What about when Risho does the worst thing and calls Kuwabara's feelings as "babbling"? Kuwabara proceeds to pimp slap Risho out of the stage.
    Kuwabara: "I'M NOT BABBLING! SHE'S MY GIRLFRIEND!!"
  • Even more awesome in the manga: Kuwabara is about to use a suicide attack to try and kill Risho, then he hears Yukina calling for him, and suddenly Kuwabara casually punches Risho out, making him fly in the stands, while too busy swooing over Yukina to look at who he was defeating. Poor Risho couldn't believe it... And still couldn't when he was seen in an hospital bed right before the finals.
• Yusuke’s fight against Chu. Chu is a master of drunken style fighting who loves to fight as much as Yusuke. It’s made clear soon that they’re at a stalemate. So what do they do? They exhaust their power quickly so they decide to settle it with a knife edge death match! Like Kuwabara puts it, “they’re both fist fighting like they’re on a cliff!” Both are fighting so earnestly and on such a level that it truly feels like a duel between equals.
• Kurama's fights against the first two members of Team Masho. In the first fight, he's chained down by Gama's curse. Unable to use his arms or legs, he summons his rose whip using his hair and turns the tables in an instant. Gama seals off Kurama's spirit energy before he dies, leaving Kurama unable to use even his rose whip in the next fight. Even after he's severely injured by Toya, Kurama still manages to win by planting a death seed inside his own wounds and sprouting it to create an improvised blade. Now that's badass.
• When Yusuke steps into the ring after Kurama's defeat to Bakken, he proceeds to destroy the man's technique and then beats him around like a rag doll for what he did to Kurama. Seeing Yusuke throw his own words back in is face before punching him through the arena wall is incredibly cathartic.
• Hiei versus Makintaro in the Dark Tournament. It starts with Makintaro daring Hiei to attack... And Hiei producing Makintaro's arm he cut in the split second between the start of the match and Makintaro opening his mouth. But Makintaro doesn't get it, he attacks... And Hiei dodges so fast he leaves an afterimage and then puts his sword in his brain.
• Yusuke absorbing the Spirit Wave Orb and saving Puu with a super charged kick!
• Old Master Genkai's is when she beats the crap out of the Uraotogi Team in the Dark Tournament. After she's given most of her power to Yusuke. 70+ year old Action Girl, anyone?
  • The Badass Boast that enrages Shishiwakamaru is just perfect.
    Shishi: Idealists like you who fight for justice make me retch. Stardom is the purest fuel for strength and that's how it should always be; you softies are only crowding the room!
    Genkai: Where'd you get the idea that I'm kind of crime-fighting hero? I thought you were familiar with my past.
    Shishi: Yes, like every other apparition in this stadium who cares one inkling for history, and the choice you're famous for is an insult I will replace! I WILL BE A BIG STAR!
    Genkai: [smirking] And I already am one, pretty boy. Pay attention, you'll learn something.
  • Particularly notable is that she defeats the final opponent Suzuka, who was at the time buffed up to bodybuilder levels (AKA about three times her size), with nothing more than her BARE HANDS. His face pretty much looked like ground hamburger by the time she was done.
  • What she says while beating Suzuka's face in. "YOU JUST DON'T HAVE WHAT IT TAKES!" And then softly. "That's enough!"
• Elder Toguro singlehandedly curb stomping three fighters in the Dark Tournament. Up until this point, he is thought to be completely helpless without his much more physically imposing brother to protect him, and has the in-universe Embarrassing Nickname of "Toguro's shoulder monkey." This is where he proved that he was not to be taken lightly.
• Team Urameshi's resolve as they head into the final match of the Dark Tournament. They even participate in a bit of a Team Power Walk on their way to the arena.
  Yusuke: It's time to kick some ass.
  Kuwabara: Right!
  Kurama: (nods stoically)
  Hiei: (tilts head to the side and smiles) Hmm.
• Oh God. Kurama and Karasu's fight. With the emergence of Yoko, Karasu's bombs, Kurama's ingenuity and tactics—combined with the fact that this is the first time that you see Kurama nigh desperate to win really gets to you.
  • "Do you know a plant called the mimosa? It's annual plant from South America that closes up its leaves in response to fire, physical contact, and vibrations. The mimosa of Makai are a bit more short-tempered than the normal variety."
    • Note that in the manga he says something slightly different, but the general effect is the same.
  • After the potion Kurama took wears off and he reverts back to his human form, he is seen injured, standing outside of the ring but on the rubble of part of the ring that was destroyed, and you can tell he's in deep shit. Karasu, being the creepy unhinged man that he is, taunts Kurama for not even having enough energy to create another one of his roses. He points out that Kurama could no longer even see his Youki, meaning he wouldn't be able to tell where Karasu's bombs were anymore. Cue Kurama promptly flipping back into the stadium, charging at Karasu headlong, and employing deadly punches and kicks we've never seen him use before. He actually manages to successfully dodge one of Karasu's bombs and get a hit in for himself, despite being a long-range fighter, weakened, and it being extremely dangerous and difficult to get that close to Karasu, let alone touch him.
    Kurama: "I will not be afraid of something that I cannot see!"
  • And just when you think he attacked Karasu to put the Death Plant in his body, that's not it. Kurama only did it to draw blood for his real attack to work. He then summons a Bloodsucking Plant from the Demon World that absolutely no one saw coming, and the only reason he lost was because of a technicality.
    • His inner monologue as he slowly rises from the ground, realizing his growth in strength.
      Kurama: I'm alive? I don't understand... how did I make it? I gave all of my life energy. Of course, each time I take the potion, the duration of its effects shorten, shorten because every time I transform into Yoko Kurama I retain some of his power. That's how I survived.
• Kuwabara's victory over Elder Toguro, probably the most monstrous bad guy in the series up to that point. Anyone who says that Kuwabara is any lesser a badass than the rest of the team can SUCK IT. The fact that it's accomplished with one of the more hilariously-named attacks in the entire series is a huge bonus.
  Kuwabara: "SPIRIT FLYSWATTER!"
  Elder Toguro: *screams, is squashed into pudding*
  • "You have no soul... You're just a nasty little waste of space! NOW, DIIIIIEEEEE!!!"
  • Kuwabara's debut of his improved spirit sword, taking almost everyone aback. Even Hiei's jaw drops at the powerup.
  • Even at his lowest point in the fight, when Toguro has him planted on the ground and is explaining how it's nearly impossible to pierce Toguro's vital organs, Kuwabara is still able to make an uncharacteristically calm Badass Boast.
    Kuwabara: Whether it's in this fight or the next one, Toguro, know this - I will beat you.
  • All of this is made even better by how almost nobody In-Universe, not even his own teammates, thought he'd survive. The crowd reaction to his victory is pure surprise.
    "Always expecting nothin' outta me. Just makes for a better surprise..."
• If "A mulberry's a tree, Kuwabara's a man!" ("Just as the cherry blossom is a flower among flowers, Kuwabara is a man amongst men!") and the subsequent suicide charge wasn't enough, Toguro doesn't actually kill Kuwabara. He's still smart enough to sell it, though, and gets everybody to act like he's dead in order to motivate Yusuke. And he doesn't expose the ruse until Yusuke has fallen down crying over his inability to save his True Companions. And he exposes it by jumping up and down, dancing around like a lunatic.
• Yusuke spends the first half of the fight on the ropes, until it's revealed that he was wearing spirit cuffs to train up his spirit energy. After using the release word, his aura takes the form of Puu's matured form, flies a lap around the arena, and enters his body in a spectacular fashion. You then know that the real fight is about to start.
• Toguro's power going to 100% over 100%.
  • The dub changes Toguro's explanation a bit, so Toguro's Crowning Moment is when he deflates to 0% power, before jumping immediately to 100%, which is every bit as powerful as it was made out to be.
  Dub!Toguro: "What I said was 100 was more like 85."
  • Yusuke punching out Toguro and causing him to be flung like a rag doll and when he finally gets up, Yusuke had fired the biggest Spirit Gun thus far at him, cue Oh, Crap!. Even more impressive, since he had undergone a severe No-Holds-Barred Beatdown just earlier.
  • The final moments of the fight make for wonderful bits of tension, with Juri getting a close look to see who is still alive from the final blast, only to see that Toguro's corpse has decayed to a pale, hollow shell. Cue individual reaction shots of shock and pride from Koenma, Chu, Toya and Jin, Kurama, Hiei, Shizuru and Yukina, and Botan. Juri is told to turn around so that both she and the audience can see... Yusuke slowly standing up, triumphant at last. Bad. Ass.

Chapter Black Saga

• The very opening episode of the Chapter Black Saga ends with something beyond absurd happening: Yusuke Urameshi, winner of the Dark Tournament, boogeyman of all demon-kind, the guy who beat Younger Toguro, and acknowledged as one of the most powerful fighters alive...gets kidnapped by three high-schoolers, and he can't even put up a fight against them. Sets the stage pretty damn well for the rest of the arc.
  • Kaitou then tops this by baiting Hiei into breaking the "Taboo" he set on the house he and his buddies are holding Yusuke in, thus stealing his soul. Kuwabara then trips over the hidden rule that they also can't say two words which together spell the taboo, and Botan scores an own goal by breaking the taboo while pointing out that Kuwabara hadn't (it seemed) broken the taboo. If it weren't for Kurama (see below for his moment) Kaitou would have had a clean sweep right there.
  • Kurama's "fight" with Kaitou also deserves a mention. Kurama's not just a badass, he's a clever badass. He proposes a contest of wits where, periodically, a letter will become taboo until all letters are taboo (in the original Japanese, a katakana, which is a character representing a specific sound rather than a letter that can represent multiple sounds, becomes taboo after each interval). But what happens to be taboo at any given moment is beside the point. Aided by the ticking clock, Kurama ratchets up the tension until Kaitou is ready to snap. Then, just at the end, Kaitou turns around to gloat over his victory...and sees Kurama's face, which catches him totally off guard at the moment his overtaxed system most needs a laugh, and he cracks up.
    • At one point, Kurama gets around the no-violence rule by picking up Yana with his plants, then dropping him on his head.
    • Kurama is so badass that he can turn making a funny face into an awesome, soul-stealing final attack.
• During Yusuke's fight with Doctor, at one point a nurse falls out of a room as Yusuke is about to kill him, Doctor grabs the nurse holding his scalpel to her throat. He then starts a Motive Rant about how humans can only be saved by death, the nurse responds to this with "Then just die already!" and throws chemicals at his face. Doctor attacks the nurse who is revealed to be Yana, who copied a nurse's appearance. Doctor then offers Yusuke the cure to the disease of his power as a Wounded Gazelle Gambit to save his life and an opportunity for him to kill Yusuke only for Murota to appear, having read the Doctor's mind, revealing his lie.
  • The cold, cold look on Yusuke's face as he says, "Your last chance just flew out the window." And he proceeds to beat him just enough to technically kill him (thus breaking his curse and saving the hospital). Genkai then proceeds to revive him with a chest compression and reassure Yusuke that he was right to have been reluctant but that, in this instance, he had done the necessary thing.
• Or the time Kuwabara manifested his Jigen-Tou/Dimensional Sword the first time, then carried the unconscious forms of all three of his friends, plus the kid who attacked them, back to Yusuke's house by himself?
  • What he said when said kid asked why did he spare him. "Yeah. I could've let you die there. I almost wanted to. But I could sense it. You needed help so bad that I just couldn't leave you down there".
  • He later saves said kid from being shot full of projectiles. Compounded by the fact that he is the one who realizes that the kid is in danger in the first place and gets to him just in time to flying-tackle him out of the line of fire.
  • These are some of Kuwabara's best Establishing Character Moments. They perfectly illustrate the idea of manliness being putting Honor Before Reason and doing what you know is right, especially if it's not easy, rather than the stereotypical shonen, Hot-Blooded definition of the term.
  • Mitarai standing up to Game Master's breaking speech without breaking his stride in a tennis game.
• Kurama using the Janen Juu/Sinning Tree against Elder Toguro. Hell, pretty much anything Kurama does.
  • From Kurama's fight with Elder Toguro, there is this:
    Elder Toguro: (after impaling Kurama with his fingers) "I've done it! A fatal wound!"
    Kurama: "I'm sorry. Was that supposed to hurt me?"
  • It's especially awesome, because the "fight" was over before it even began, and Kurama knew that. He had implanted the Sinning Tree seed into Elder Toguro when he used his rose whip to behead Gourmet, and then created a smoke screen as a catalyst for the Sinning Tree's illusion to take effect, so Elder Toguro will forever believe that he is fighting Kurama and is unable to kill him, no matter what he does.
• Anytime Sensui switched off personalities. And all of Itsuki's deranged Fauxlosophic Narration speeches, especially the one where he explains how he and Sensui met, or the one he gives when Sensui dies.
• The ultimate Kuwabara Moment of Awesome (coupled a truly tearjerking Heartwarming Moment) was Kuwabara's second manifestation of his Dimensional Sword: Watching Helplessly as Yusuke is beaten to death by Sensui, Kuwabara weeps for his rival and best friend to not die, so that HE may be the one to defeat him. He tearfully looks back to all the times Yusuke has saved him, mustering the courage and will to bring forth his world-cutting blade, splitting the extra-dimensional beast that entrapped the True Companions to join Yusuke in battle.
  • It is such a crowning moment of epic that not even Itsuki, the friggin' master of dimensions, can hold it back.
    Itsuki: I've done all I can, FINISH HIM, SENSUI!
• Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei charging at Sensui after he temporarily kills Yusuke. Even Hiei, the coldest and most uncaring of the group, is enraged, and shows it by opening with his Dragon of the Darkness Flame.
  Hiei: "Here's a one way ticket for you straight to hell, YOU BASTARD!!! "
  • Earlier, another sign of unusual emotion from Hiei (alongside Kurama) was when Kuwabara was weeping inside of Itsuki's dimension realizing that Yusuke is planning on dying. After this goes on, Hiei and Kurama finally turn to Itsuki and pull out their weapons, demanding to be let out or they'll torture him in any possible way until he releases them.
• Yusuke after being possessed by Raizen in the final fight with Sensui. It's probably one of the most one-sided fights in shonen history. The sheer brutality is breathtaking. There are no pauses to take stock or exchange banter. Just Yusuke/Raizen mercilessly pounding on Sensui until he's thoroughly beaten, then tossing him into the air to finish him off with a Spirit Gun.
  • Here's a link to a video of that. And a particularly awesome AMV.
  • A bit earlier, he scared the piss out of some stuck up Spirit Police, which is directly followed by Koenma's finest moment in the dub.
    "And you can tell King Daddy he can fire me, or disown me, or put me up for adoption!"
    • Koenma's Moment of Awesome was even earlier than that, when he confronted Sensui and delivered the ultimatum of "Stop, or I'll trap us both here for eternity." Unfortunately Sensui had already manipulated Koenma into draining his power; if he hadn't, we would have had Koenma defeating Sensui and taking full responsibility for the whole affair. The fact that his secret weapon was his pacifier was icing on the cake.
  • Despite the fact that he doesn't stand a chance against them, Mitarai standing up to the Spirit Police on Yusuke's behalf even after they attack him, twice.

Three Kings Saga

• On the way from the portal to Raizen's palace (a days-long run), Hokushin deliberately tries to leave Yusuke behind as a sort of test. Yusuke not only keeps up, but when they arrive, he isn't even winded or sweating, unlike Hokushin, who is the stronger fighter at the time.
• Yomi's informants give one to Raizen: even with him literally dying from starvation, his offensive power is still the highest by far of the Three Kings, and the only reason the others can take him on is that centuries of starvation weakened his defenses too much. Enki later boasts that Raizen in his prime could have mopped the floor with Yomi and Mukuro for a reason...
  • And we actually get evidence: when literally minutes away from dying, Raizen assaults Yusuke... And completely overwhelms him before he recovers his senses. And Yusuke didn't have time to get any stronger before the tournament where he'd go toe-on-toe with Yomi...
• Kurama fulfilling Yomi's need for new fighters by getting 6 of the surviving fighters/rivals that Team Urameshi beat in the Dark Tournament (namely, Chu, Rinku, Jin, Touya, Shishiwakamaru, and Suzuki), and having them train rigorously under Genkai for 6 months. By the time they're done, we find out that each one of them has power levels above 120,000, which dwarfs the combined power of Yomi's previously existing army. Also awesome for the fighters, too, who all go from being footnote arc villains to a legitimate badass supporting roster willing to fight to the death on behalf of Kurama and Yusuke, if necessary. And they all end up performing admirably in the Demon King tournament, too. Talk about a reward for turning to the side of good.
• Yusuke singlehandedly turning an impending world war into a tournament that can serve as a means for a (semi-)peaceful transfer of power. You expect Yusuke to beat people up; you don't expect him to remake political structures on a whim.
  • Amazingly, the other high-level demons love it. They enjoy getting together on a regular basis and putting their all into a contest to see who should be in charge. And the general attitude is, "If we don't like how things are being done, it's our own fault for not winning."
• Yomi senses the explosion of energy from Raizen's old friends powering up and gets the restless urge to prove himself as a warrior, causing him to abandon his plan to use his son to gain an edge in the tournament.
• The final fight against Yomi when Yusuke starts firing demon gun shots at Yomi, who is blocking it with a shield that absorbs all demonic energy. As Kurama, Hiei, and Koenma watch on, commenting how foolish the action is, cracks start to form in the shield as we see small sparkles of blue spirit energy in the demon energy and Yusuke's plan is finally revealed: he's mixing spirit energy with demon energy to pierce Yomi's barrier. Cue shock from the most cynical and unfazeable pair of fighters in the series and from Koenma as they comment on what a brilliant move it is.
  • Yusuke vs. Yomi. This fight is an Offscreen Moment of Awesome in the manga and THIS one for the animators in making it one of THE best fights in the ENTIRE anime.
    (Yusuke is enveloped in a golden light)
    Kurama: "What's that?!"
    Hiei: "Sensui's Sacred Energy..."
    Koenma: "No, it's not! This is something brand new!"
  • Even the fight in the manga is worth noting, despite being almost entirely offscreen. Why? It's stated in the next chapter that despite Yusuke being outclassed by Yomi in every aspect possible, their fight lasted for 60 hours, or two and a half days. Even by demon standards, Yusuke's stamina is absolutely enormous.
  • The fight is so awesome that two guys even mention that no matter who win the fight, the winner totally deserve it.
• Yusuke's Heroic Second Wind (both of them) during his fights with Yomi. First, Yusuke despairing that he forgot what he's fighting for worrying that he's become like Toguro and Sensui only to be talked out of it by the spirit of Raizen who reminds him that he has Keiko. The next showing off Yusuke being cheered on by all the major characters of the series in the most awesome way possible.
  • Kuwabara cheering Yusuke on in spirit. Even if Kurama was the only one to notice. Also counts as a heartwarming moment.
  "He's gonna kick your ass like a regular-named guy in a wrestling match!"
• The aftermath: Yusuke wakes up in the clinic. Kurama and the others walk in, relieved to know he's awake. They soon fill him in: Yomi finally won that titanic duel...barely. Pushing past Yusuke's last gasp had pretty much forced him to uncork everything he had, and after that titanic collision, Yomi still almost fainted right after Yusuke. Everyone was unanimous in saying, knowing the caliber of his opponent, Yusuke still put up a hell of a fight (just as everyone else had). Indeed, the fight proved to be an epiphany for both of them. For quite a while, Yusuke had wondered if he could ever put his all into something; the fight proved he could, and it proved to be the point he adopted a more mature outlook. Meanwhile, Yomi, in having to tap everything to beat Yusuke, literally had nothing left in the tank and was beaten in the next round; he was forced to admit there was more to life than ambition and conquest and that he could still improve.
  • More than this, other demon contestants sensed the fight and, realizing that Yusuke and Yomi were using everything they had instead of trying to save some strength for later, were inspired to do the same. This led directly to Mukuro wearing herself out so she lost to Enki in the final round, resulting in him outlawing demons making trouble in Human World.

Films

• From the second movie, the battles against the Meikai Gods:
  • Kuwabara versus Majari: Kuwabara was fighting an enemy capable of copying all his techniques and was slightly stronger in terms of spiritual energy, so he improvised a technique that exhausted all of his energy. Majari copied that too, both were with no spiritual energy... At which point Kuwabara reveals it was Just as Planned and kills him with a couple punches. Made even more awesome because he's the only one of the heroes to defeat a Meikai God on the first battle;
  • Kurama versus Kuronue: for a while Kurama just takes it and tries to convince his old friend he had not tried to murder him, then realizes that this Kuronue is actually the Meikai God Kaiki using his face and creates a forest of bamboo to impale him;
  • Hiei versus Raigo: Raigo has a powerful Jagan, and when Hiei seems to gain the upper hand in their battle he uses it to hypnotize Hiei. Hiei goes in the demon form he had never used since his battle against Yusuke and co., fires a barrage of Ensatsu Kokuryuhas at his friends... Then switches back to his normal form, declares that he was not hypnotized and hits Raigo with all the Kokuryuhas. And our other heroes weren't even singed;
  • Yusuke versus Yakumo: Yakumo seemed undefeatable after having extracted the Power Sphere from Botan, shrugging off all of Yusuke's attacks... Only he loses the Power Sphere for a moment, and an exhausted Yusuke decides to use it to fuel a last attack. Yakumo laughs because only he can survive its energy... Then Yusuke does just that and fires the mother of all Rei Guns at him, made more powerful and versatile by Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei adding their remaining strength at it. Yakumo survives, albeith much weakened, and attacks Yusuke to take back his McGuffin... At which point Yusuke finishes him and destroys the Power Sphere with a final Rei Gun.

General/Unsorted

• Even Keiko gets a few, though they tend to be limited to the manga.
  • In one chapter, she demands that the thug who pushed her friend apologize, and then slaps him so hard he falls to the ground bleeding from the mouth when he taunts her. His friend yells at her and she says that the guy had it coming. When Kuwabara's gang (sans Kuwabara) show up and tell the girls to split while they take care of things, Keiko has to be dragged away by her two friends because the thug has still not apologized. A second moment comes almost immediately after when a third thug shows up and makes quick work of Kuwabara's gang and then kicks them while they're down for good measure. Keiko, unable to leave the guys this way, whacks the thug upside the head with her school bag and tells him to back off. Arguably as awesome is when she goes along with the thugs quietly to keep them from hurting the guys or her friends further.
  • Only mentioned by Botan, but Keiko's offscreen Crowning Moment was when Botan told her about the Dark Tournament, her response was to say "Take me there!" without blinking, flinching, or fainting at all. This moment is actually shown onscreen in the anime but diminished by Keiko feeling faint for a few seconds upon hearing the news.
  • The scene in the manga where Atsuko, Keiko, Shizuru, Yukina, and Botan are trying to get into see the tournament. The demon bouncer indicates he might be willing to let Botan and Yukina (the latter being a demon, the former... well, she's not human, so she's good) in for a fee, but the human women aren't having it. In one motion, Atsuko kicks him in the gut, Keiko socks him, and Shizuru smashes a bottle over his head. Botan, who is a Shinigami previously seen whacking demons around with a baseball bat, and Yukina, a demon with extensive powers over snow and ice, just sort of laugh nervously as they go around into stadium. What really sells it, though, is Keiko's miffed look at her knuckles, noting that she's out of practice... while Atsuko and Shizuru keep beating the crap out of the poor dude in the background. The equivalent scene in the anime, while it elevated Shizuru to levels of badass hitherto unequaled by any girl on the show, was incredibly disappointing to fans of Keiko. There, the demon bouncer kind of leans in suggestively, and Keiko gives the typical "eww, pervert!" shriek and accidentally delivers a slap. Hear that, Studio Pierrot?
• Name one, just one, incident in the anime when Keiko and Yusuke meet face-to-face, and he isn't lying on the ground, dead, or otherwise flattened by Keiko. The man is afraid of a little bitty girl, and he's the Prince of Demons!
  • Can't forget Keiko running into a burning building to save Yusuke's body, can we? And her calling out everyone who was against her going in as "cowards!" Badass even in the anime.
  • A smaller moment for her was her talk with Yusuke after the Dark Tournament's third round, which consisted of her chewing him out for abandoning her again, giving him a brutal slap, and finishing the ensuing conversation with
    Keiko: "If you die, I swear I'll kill you. (Does spirit gun gesture) Bang."
• Shizuru also gets plenty of these, especially in the Dark Tournament Arc when she and the other girls have to fight through crowds of demons just to stay and watch. At one point, she saves Keiko from a demon by burning him with a cigarette.

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