@Wagomu:
I never really noticed anything like that. Maybe I have to give the series another rewatch, or maybe I'm just biased by my first impressions, but none of that really takes away from Kuwabara's character for me. Sure it would have been cool to see him get a few more victories, or use his power-ups more, but the best parts of his character weren't about how he kicked ass in battle, but how he was himself in battle. That's what made the Elder Toguro fight so good; between the catharsis of him taking on one of the baddest guys, and the fact that he did it with a move he called "Spirit Flyswatter," you can't help but cheer him on. It would feel a lot less good if Kuwabara was just in badass mode all the time.
Hiei was a demon with centuries of battle experience and evil black fire dragons that he could summon from his arm. Kuwabara was a dude with a little energy sword. He was the most human of the group (in time literally, in addition to figuratively), and that's what colored him as a character.
I completely agree about your points as to why Kuwabara was likable. But it still doesn't justify the fact that he deserved more authentic wins as a main character who could fight. The fact that he's such a likable character while, say, Kurama's personality tends to be a blank slate of being generically intelligent (outside of his Oedipus moments and that one time he got pissed off after being forced to kill a kid with a video game), makes it all the more frustrating. I would take fun Kuwabara over a bland Kuwabara who always won, but why couldn't we have both? He can still lose here and there, but throw the guy a solid bone he can show off with pride like Usopp's wins in Alabasta, Thriller Bark, and Dressrosa.
Togashi built up Kuwabara's power up enough that it wasn't a complete ass pull (though in the context of the series, it's def weird that Kuwabara got it at all). What I remember about the fight, though, is the resolution, where Kuwabara, battered from the fight and having defeated Mitarai, drags him and his passed out friends on his back to bring them to get help.
Oh yeah, that was cool. A great sign of why Kuwabara's character interactions were great.
It's just that the fight itself isn't anything special at all. It only highlights how pathetic Kuwabara's battling ability is. It wasn't a complete asspull since Sensui's group kept hyping up Kuwabara's usefulness for slicing through dimensions. But even then, the fight still could have been more interesting. Plot-convenient power-ups do not and really shouldn't earn you a one-shot win as soon as they're unlocked. They can give you a momentary advantage, but the author should have fun with gradually changing the tides of the battle than pulling a rushed convenient 180 to an instant victory with little effort right from imminent despair. That way, the character still earns their win despite the plot-convenience at play. Seeing Kuwabara gradually get a hang of the Dimensional Sword mid-battle and figuring out how to get in a good hit after breaking free rather than Seaman being a cocky glass cannon for the sake of it would have really cool to see. Almost as if Togashi knew that if Kuwabara unlocked the Dimensional Sword OUTSIDE of Seaman's water body, then he would have actually lost without contrived luck.
Come to think of it, Kuwabara is a lot like Okuyasu to the point where I feel Togashi must have based his character after the Jobro. Their personalities and powers are similar, and Okuyasu was definitely the king of getting sidelined.
That makes a lot more sense than I want it to. Does this mean Leorio is also a spiritual reincarnation of Okuyasu?
Kuwabara's broken ability was something that just felt good for him to get. Even if it is sorta bullshit that a random human got sweet dimension cutting powers, I was happy to see him get something that he could call his own. It doesn't get a lot of use, but it's a key plot point for the Chapter Black arc, and conceptually cool.
And it probably felt so good for him to get because all Togashi likes doing most of the time is pulling the rug from under him as a sadist author lol. It's a cool plot point and concept, but it was never actually useful in combat. The execution was abysmally lacking.
I'd have a hard time defending a lot of YYH from the Sensui fight on, but I was never too dissatisfied with Kuwabara's place in the series. Your comments are definitely a reality check, and it's hard not to notice that he never got much of the glory that Hiei or Kurama got (they were always the most popular, from what I recall, and that may have influenced things), but I think that Kuwabara just stands out enough to me in other regards that I never felt robbed.
I actually got into Yu Yu Hakusho in 2015 due to wanting to check out both of Togashi's hyped up shonen series. I would have watched it years earlier in my childhood before Toonami was cancelled, but I only saw one episode of the show before the timeslot got moved to later at night or something. I always wished I could see more of it since it had an interesting premise, and something about the character designs appeal to me with how vintage they look. And Spirit Bomb is easily one of these best intros I have ever listened to, and I adore all of the ending credit songs.
And honestly, the anime can stand the test of time pretty well in certain regards. Mainly in terms of characterization and cathartic moments when it comes to Yusuke, Kuwabara, Genkai, and Toguro, as well as animation-wise surprisingly. The plot itself is nothing special though, of course, but it still worked alright up to Sensui (besides the Dark Tournament's pacing). I totally get why you feel that Kuwabara's integrity wasn't truly tarnished though. I always love characters that seem to initially start off as bully caricatures and end up having depth and character development as they bond with the protagonist.