Yu Yu Hakusho was created by Yoshihiro Togashi in 1990, and spans 112 anime episodes and 19 volumes of manga. The name Yu Yu Hakusho roughly translates to Poltergeist Report, but Ghost Files is also an acceptable interpretation. The manga and the anime have slightly different beginnings. The opening volume's of the manga's storyline are of Yusuke as a spirit, attempting to do good deeds to redeem his blackened soul; thereby avoiding a spirit monster devouring him. Further, in the seventh volume of the manga, there is a side-story examining how Kurama and Hiei first met.

When the manga ended in 1994, the story was incomplete; seemingly from conflicts with the creator, publishers, and sponsors (as rumors suggest). However, when the anime aired in Japan, the producers added 5 episodes to the series to give it a deserving ending.