Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files (TV)

When Yu Yu Hakusho was still running in Japan, it was second behind Dragonball Z in popularity.

Kurama was the most popular anime character in Japan for two years. He beat out the extremely popular Goku from Dragonball fame.

Yu Yu Hakusho spawned 112 Episodes,19 Manga Volumes, and 129 Manga Chapters.

Episode 24. In-joke. Urameshi and Kuwabara attack Gokumonki with "Shonen Jump". The manga of Yu Yu Hakusho was originally serialized in Shonen Jump Weekly.

Kuwabara's name is a combination of two of Yoshihiro Togashi's favorite baseball players.

Kurama and Hiei are both mountains in Japan.

Several references to the Sailor Moon metaseries are found throughout Yu Yu Hakusho, perhaps because series creator Yoshihiro Togashi was dating Sailor Moon creator Naoko Takeuchi at the time (whom he later married). In The Three Kings saga, Koenma appears at the tournament dressed incognito as Sailor Moon's Tuxedo Mask. In chapter 44 of the manga, Kurama states: "Just call me Tuxedo Mask." after breaking up a fight by throwing a rose. In the final episode of the series, two of Keiko's classmates bear strong resemblances to Haruka Tenoh (Sailor Uranus) and Michiru Kaioh (Sailor Neptune)

In the final episode, while Kurama is speaking to Kuwabara on the train, a sign on a building reads in English "YUYUHAKUSHOEND!". 

Also in the final episode, in the scene where Keiko is walking home, a truck drives by with the name "Narlboro" on the side, a reference to the cigarette brand Marlboro.

The kanji that were used by the author to spell Yuu Yuu Hakusho have 2 possible meanings. 1 is "Astral Visit Report", and the other is "Chronicle of Yuusukes Journey". The second is supported by the fact that the same kanji is used for the Yuu in the title, as for the Yuu in Yuusukes name (Yuusuke means lit. "Ghost Helper", Hakusho translates roughly to document, white paper, or report). The second meaning is also supported by the end of the anime, which states that the show is nothing but a record of Yuusukes travels, recorded by rei-kai intelligence.

Kuwabara's favourite band is Megallica, the "Gods of Heavy Metal" as he calls them, in the Chapter Black Saga; Megallica may possibly be a tribute/parody of both Megadeth and Metallica.

In episode 6, the words "Mad Piero" can be seen as graffiti on one of the walls. This is a self-reference from the anime studio behind the production of the series, Pierrot, whose name is pronounced as Piero, and is the Japanese word for clown, derived from the French language. A villain by the name of "Mad Piero" also appears in the anime title Cowboy Bebop.

In episode 9, The Successor to Genkai! The Tournament Begins, background characters that look remarkably like Zangief, Dhalsim and E.Honda from the fighting game franchise Street Fighter appear behind Yusuke and Kuwabara.

In episode 9 a character that resembles Chun Li, from the back, appears in the line to draw lots.

In episode 21, when Yusuke reawakens in Kuwabara's room after the Maze Castle battle, we discover that he has an Oingo Boingo (American New Wave rock band started in the 1980s) poster on his wall in the background.

In episode 22, when Yusuke, Botan, Kuwabara and his sister Shizuru were watching a video (VHS) (sent by Hiei under orders from Koenma) about Yukina, Koenma spoofed (with trademarks of his own name) Columbia Pictures, with Koenma posing and holding a torch. Shortly afterwards, a stunted male oni appeared, meowing inside the name 'Koenma' as a parody of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lion.

An inconsistency that occurred during the Saga of the Three Kings story arc was that in episode 26 of both the English and Japanese versions, Hiei says that he and his sister are half siblings and have different mothers. Yet in episode 100 in his reflections of his life, they have the same mother.

In The Three Kings saga there are some pretty obvious references to Star Wars. One of these occurs in episode 99 (Unforgettable Memory) in which Mukuro replies to Hiei "I won’t say something like 'I Am Your Father'”. Another parody is in episode 101 (The Makai Thief) when Yomi’s assistant, a short, old ,one colore and wrinkled demon, Yoda appears.

In episode 112, in the scene where Kurama and Kuwabara are talking in the train, there is a sign on a building with a message that reads: YUYUHAKUSHOEND (the end of Yu Yu Hakusho).