Before I begin, I'd just like to say upfront that I don't wish to offend anyone with my viewpoint. Now...
Yu Yu Hakusho's dub was Funimation's second work, and seems to be a favorite among fans. People count it among the truly great dubs, and even those who have seen the Japanese version seem to agree that the dub is superior.
My question is...why?
I realize I'm in a minority, but I don't understand how this dub can be put on the same level as stuff like Fullmetal Alchemist, or Cowboy Bebop. I'm not even saying it's bad, because it isn't...I just don't understand why it's lauded so much.
This isn't even about the voice actors. Let's disregard that, and focus on the script. The dub script is very, very liberal with the dialogue and oftentimes, you can count on something completely different being said between versions. Even when that isn't the case, there's a need to "spice up" the dialogue to make it sound more clever. Here's an example:
Konema (to Yusuke after
Same scene in English" "So are you gonna let me go? Or are we gonna do the tango?"
Keep in mind this is a serious and dramatic scene.
Even disregarding this liberal approach to the script, there's quite a bit of imperfections among it. The terms "reiki" and "yoki" are combined into one term--"spirit energy." The different realms in the afterlife--the Spirit Realm, the Demon Realm--are combined into just "Spirit World" until later, when the show requires them to be different. Techniques are given English names that sometimes are a good match, but are just as often completely different (which leads to two techniques being called the "Spirit Wave"--oops). A (false) origin behind a team of bad guys is completely changed, but sloppily, because the original story is referenced in the next episode (I'm talking about Ura Urashima, by the way).
I can understand liking the dub--heck, I can even understand it being good for its time. But liking it more than the Japanese version and putting it among the best of dubs--that's what I can't understand.
I would like to emphasize that this is not an accusatory post. I want to know what people like about the dub, purely for the sake of discussion. I know I have an unpopular opinion--I simply want to share it and see how other people feel. 
I personally like the dub a lot more than the Japanese version. Even if we disregard the voice acting and focus on the script liberties that were taken, I still much prefer it. In my personal opinion, the liberties that FUNi took with YYH's script helped to add more color to the character's personalities and make them feel more real. Yes, this led to a handful of inconsistencies, but they managed to smooth most of them over a bit to the point that I was easily able to disregard them.
But maybe that's just me.
The only thing that really bugs me is the whole Demon World/Spirit World and Demon Energy/Spirit Energy mix up.
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Ther will always be changes in the eng dub script as compaired to the orginal lololololololololol script, no getting around that. They make some changes to add some flavor to scene. The one looneygamemaster used is just one example. AndI personaly don't think it took anything away from the emotion of it. Listening to how Koenma and Yusuke act to each other it sounded natural. Over all this is my favorite anime series and really have no problems with anything with it. Outside of a few loose ends I wish they would have tied up.
Raika's energy mix up issue did kinda bother me too. How they refered to Heiei and Kurama using Spirit energy when they used Demon energy.
Over all though this sereis was excelent in my books.
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I think that this stuff is just part of getting it ready for an American audience. Overall there are a few moments like this that just make me think why would they say that, but that's with every show.
I think it was a fairly good job with a couple of stumbles, but some of the best voice acting.
Looney you know I'm one of few with you liking the Japanese better, remember my failed topic on the old boards, but I never made it very far in them, kind burned myself out on YYH before I tried, but that's pretty much the only way I'll watch it now, rarely revisiting the dub.
I think that part of it is because, a lot of fans (myself included) grew up with the YYH dub just like we did with DBZ. However, where the DBZ dub was admittedly pretty awful at some parts and one grows up and realizes this eventually, sometimes - the YYH dub however, was never THAT bad. It wasn't perfect, but you can easily watch it without cringing from line reads. Because of that, it never rubs some of us the wrong way enough to check out the original.
Heck, the only YYH I've watched subbed besides a few of the OVAs, is the second movie, due to me finding most of that film's dub horrendous. And I quickly found that I greatly disliked Japanese Kuwabara's voice. That said though, I've since discovered a great love for that actor (Shigeru Chiba's) other roles in Dragon Ball, and I'm a lot more versed in subs now, so...I could probably bear YYH subbed now. I don't know whether I'll ever watch it as such though, since I have no real problems with the dub.
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I still don't understand why GYT dislikes Chiba's Kuwabara. I think he's amazing in anything, especially here. I much prefer it to Sabat's. Sabat is good in many roles. Kuwabara wasn't one of them.
I prefer the original japanese. The dub is good. Unlike DBZ, the changes they make aren't typically childish.
I think even those that are satisfied with the dub should check out the original. I prefer most of the original voices and their acting to the dub. I marked out when I discovered that the JPN VA for Hiei did the voice of Link for the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of TIme.
That being said, by the time YYH came around, the FUNi VAs had experience and a bigger talent pool.
This is an older thread, but I am posting for the sake of being the only one to agree with the topic creator. I can't stand the dub. I watch almost all my anime in dub, I prefer dubs, however this is a rare exception. I can't get through it without cringing, there are so many stupid jokes. Maybe it is because I didn't grow up with the dub, but I am definitely in the minority for hating this dub.
Have you given the dub on the Blu-rays a try? I remember hearing they went through and made some improvements to the original English track.
I would have posted this a long time ago, but the forums have been seriously messed up.
This is my first time watching Yu Yu Hakusho, and it is on the blu-rays. You're saying that this is the improved dub? Good god, I can only imagine how bad the original must be. The blu-rays still have the stupid jokes, for example:
Yusuke is trapped in red energy rings, and he says to the enemy "couldn't you have picked a color that didn't clash with my clothes?". That might not be the exact wording, I tried to block it out of my mind.
It's the stuff like that that I can't stand. I'm so glad that modern dubbing has improved so much!’
There really isn't that much difference. From what I've heard, the Blu-ray dub re-records some performances and half-heartedly attempts to give a character back his proper name (Suzuki instead of Suzuka).
That actually irritates me more then the original dub itself. This is just my opinion, but if you're not going to fix the script, why bother re-dubbing at all? Leave it as a time capsule.
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