Yuu Yuu Hakusho

This series (also known as The Poltergeist Report) starts out really well, when the delinquent hero Yuusuke dies in a traffic accident and becomes a "Spirit World Detective." If it had continued along those lines, YYH might have become one of my favorite animes, but unfortunately it mutated into a one-on-one martial-arts-tournament anime, following in the much-worn path of far too many other series.

I still like the art and the characters (especially Botan, can you tell?), and I enjoyed the series quite a bit, but I will always think with regret of the series YYH "might have been." If only its imagination and visual inventiveness had been better spent...