YUYU HAKUSHO

Plot

See also: List of YuYu Hakusho characters

YuYu Hakusho follows Yusuke Urameshi, a street-brawling delinquent who, in an uncharacteristic act of altruism, is hit by a car and killed in an attempt to save a young boy by pushing him out of the way.^[2][3][4] His ghost is greeted by Botan, a woman who introduces herself as the pilot of the River Styx, who ferries souls to the “Underworld” where they may be judged for the afterlife. Botan informs Yusuke that his act had caught even the Underworld by surprise and that there was not yet a place made for him in either heaven or hell. Thus Koenma, son of the Underworld’s ruler King Enma, offers Yusuke a chance to return to his body through a series of tests.^[2][3][4] Yusuke succeeds with the help of his friend Keiko. After returning to life, Koenma grants Yusuke the title of “Underworld Detective”, charging him with investigating supernatural activity within the human world. Soon Yusuke is off on his first case, retrieving three treasures stolen from the Underworld by a gang of demons: Hiei, Kurama and Goki.^[3] Yusuke collects the three treasures with the aid of his new technique, the “Rei Gun”, a shot of aura energy fired mentally from his index finger.^[2][4] He then travels to the mountains in search of the aged, female martial artist Genkai. Together with his rival Kazuma Kuwabara, Yusuke fights through a tournament organized by Genkai to find her successor. Yusuke uses the competition as a cover to search for Rando, a demon who steals the techniques of martial arts masters and kills them.^[3] Yusuke defeats Rando in the final round of the tournament and trains with Genkai for several months, gaining more mastery over his aura.^[2] Yusuke is then sent to Maze Castle in the Underworld where Kuwabara and the newly reformed Kurama and Hiei assist him in defeating the Four Beasts, a quartet of demons attempting to blackmail Koenma into removing the barrier keeping them out of the human world.
Yusuke’s next case sends him on a rescue mission, where he meets Toguro, a human turned into the strongest of demons. In order to test his strength, Toguro invites Yusuke to the “Dark Tournament”, an event put on by corrupt, rich humans in which teams of demons, and occasionally humans, fight fierce battles for the chance to receive any wish they desire. Team Urameshi, consisting of Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, Hiei and a disguised Genkai, traverse through the strenuous early rounds to face Team Toguro in the finals and win the tournament. They learn that Team Toguro’s owner, Sakyo, was attempting to win in order to create a large hole from the human world to the “Demon Plane”, a third world occupied solely by countless demons.^[2] With his loss, Sakyo destroys the tournament arena, killing himself in the process.
After the tournament, Yusuke returns home, but has little time to rest as he is challenged to a fight by three teenagers possessing superhuman powers and who end up taking the detective hostage. Kuwabara and the others rescue him and learn that the whole scenario was a test put on by Genkai. It is disclosed that Shinobu Sensui, Yusuke’s predecessor as Underworld Detective, has recruited six other powerful beings to help him take over where Sakyo left off, opening a hole to the Demon Plane in order to cause genocide of the human race. Yusuke and his friends challenge and defeat Sensui’s associates one-by-one, culminating in a final battle between the two detectives. Sensui kills Yusuke then retreats into the newly opened portal to the Demon Plane. Yusuke is reborn as a partial demon, discovering that his ancestor passed down a recessive gene that would hide until an heir with sufficient power surfaced, when his demonic lineage would be revealed.^[2] Yusuke travels to the Demon Plane and defeats Sensui with the aid of the spirit of his ancestor who takes control of Yusuke’s body to finish the fight.
As they return to the human world, Yusuke is stripped of his detective title as King Enma orders he be captured and executed in fear that Yusuke’s demon blood could cause him to go on a rampage in the human world. Yusuke, unsettled at having been controlled by his ancestor Raizen, accepts an offer by Raizen’s followers to return to the Demon Plane. Raizen, desiring a successor to his territory, is on the brink of dying of starvation, a death that would topple the delicate political balance of the three ruling powers of the Demon Plane. Hiei and Kurama are summoned by the other two rulers, Mukuro and Yomi, respectively, to prepare for an inevitable war.^[2] The three protagonists train in the realm for one year, during which time Raizen dies and Yusuke inherits his territory. Yusuke takes initiative and proposes a fighting tournament to name the true ruler of the Demon Plane, which is agreed upon by Mukuro and Yomi. During the tournament, Yusuke and Yomi meet in the second elimination round where Yusuke is defeated and knocked unconscious. Yusuke awakens days later to find that the tournament has ended and that a similar competition is to be held every so often to determine the Demon Plane’s ruler. Yusuke stays in the Demon Plane for a while longer, but eventually returns to the human world to be with Keiko.^[2]

Yusuke Urameshi
Yusuke Urameshi (浦飯 幽助, Urameshi Yūsuke^?) is a student who attends the fictional Sarayashiki Junior High School. His poor attendance, constant fighting, and bad habits have earned him the label of a delinquent among most of his teachers and classmates. This all changes rather abruptly as Yusuke is struck by a car and dies while trying to save a small child who had wandered into the road. Such an altruistic deed catches the underworld by surprise. As they don’t have a place for him yet in heaven or hell, he is permitted to return to his body and resume his life. However, while doing so it is revealed that Yusuke has a particularly strong aura, or spirit energy, and Koenma, the son of Enma, lord of the underworld, recruits him as Underworld/Spirit Detective and Yusuke is charged with investigating supernatural phenomena in the human world and capturing criminals dealing in underworld crime. Yusuke bears a bit of affection for his childhood friend Keiko Yukimura, who initially takes a role as Yusuke’s conscience, making sure he comes to class and behaves, and later becomes his romantic interest. Yusuke’s mother, Atsuko, who is shown constantly drinking throughout the story, raised him as a single mother.
Yusuke’s most common attack is the Reigun (霊丸, Reigan^?, means “Spirit Gun,” pronounced as “Ray Gun”^[1]), or Spirit Gun. Aura/Spirit energy is concentrated into his right index finger and released as a projectile as though his hand were a gun and his finger the barrel. At first he is only able to muster a single shot per day, but as he trains with Genkai he is able to fire multiple shots per day, as well as developing minor variations on the technique. Yusuke is also the son of the demon king Raizen and, ever since his resurrection during the Chapter Black arc, retains his demon side and demon energy more than his human side. At the end of the manga, Yusuke opens up a ramen shop, and also spends time helping humans and demons learn to cooperate.
In the anime television series, Yusuke is voiced by Nozomu Sasaki in Japanese and Justin Cook in English.^[2] According to Togashi, the name Yusuke Uramashi is derived from a pun.^[3] Justin Kovalsky of Animerica said “Ever hear the folk song “Bad Leroy Brown,” by Jim Croce? Well, Yusuke is like old Leroy, but 14 and Japanese.”^[1] In the Japanese magazine Animage Anime Grand Prix popularity poll, Yusuke was ranked as the thirteenth most popular anime character in 1993, the tenth in 1994, and the eighth in 1995.^[4][5][6] In March 2010, Yusuke was ranked sixteenth best male anime character of the 1990′s by the Japanese magazine Newtype.^[7]

Kurama
Kurama (蔵馬^?) is a demon thief who, after being fatally wounded, fuses with the unborn child of Shiori Minamino. He is born as Shuichi Minamino (南野 秀一, Minamino Shūichi^?), a human, though he retains his demon powers at a much lower level. Kurama had originally planned to return to his demon form after regenerating his powers. However, while he has an accident his mother saves him; injuring herself in the process. This forms a bond of love and loyalty which Kurama cannot bear to break and stays as Shuichi to keep Shiori happy. He attends the fictional Meioh Private Academy (私立盟王学園, Shiritsu Meiō Gakkō^?) where his grades are the highest in his year. He meets Yusuke Urameshi in the first season as a part of a trio of demons who steal three dark artifacts from Spirit World. However, he uses the “Forlorn Hope” (known as the “Ankoku-Kyō” (暗黒鏡, lit. Dark Mirror^?) in the Japanese version), a mirror capable of granting the user’s desire at the cost of the user’s life, to cure his mother of a deadly illness. Yusuke saves Kurama’s life by offering up his own life to the mirror and thereby canceling the sacrifice out of his kindness (though in the English manga^[9] and Japanese versions they both sacrifice half of their own lifeforce to fulfill the wish without either of them dying). This act bonds Yusuke and Kurama as friends and allies. During the Dark Tournament Kurama is temporarily reverted back to his original form, referred to in the English anime as “Yoko (Yoko meaning “Demon Fox”) Kurama” and in the English manga as “Demon Fox Kurama.” Kurama uses his aura to control plants, including his signature weapon, a rose he keeps in his hair which he turns into a whip of thorns capable of cutting through steel. He also possesses a skill for analytical thinking which allows him to gauge his opponents’ strengths and weaknesses and formulate effective strategies. As Demon Fox Kurama, his powers are far greater and he is capable of creating demonic plants which possess various attributes and highly formidable powers. At the end of the manga, he is shown working at his stepfather’s company. In the Human World Kurama goes by “Shuichi Minamino” with long red/magenta hair. When he is the Demon Fox, Yoko Kurama, he has long white hair, is taller, and has a tail.
Kurama is voiced by Megumi Ogata (Shūichi) and Shigeru Nakahara (Demon Fox) in Japanese and John Burgmeier in English.^[2] As with Hiei, Kurama’s name simply “popped into [Togashi's] head” when developing the characters.^[3] Kitayama finds Kurama to be the easiest of the main characters to design due to his well-proportioned features.^[8] Kurama is a popular character among fans of the series. In the Animage Anime Grand Prix, he was ranked as the third most popular male anime character of 1993 and the most popular male character in both 1994 and 1995. His alternate Demon Fox Kurama form was ranked sixteenth in 1994.^[4][5][6] Yoko Kurama additionally won About.com‘s “Best Supporting Character” in its 2005 Anime Award Show.^[10] Kurama was also ranked the third best male anime character of the 1990s by Newtype.^[7]

Hiei
Hiei (飛影^?) is a male fire demon born to a race of female Ice Maidens. The Ice Maidens reproduce every 100 years asexually, always giving birth to a female. A male child is born only if the Maiden has had sex with a male, which is forbidden in their society. Hiei was born as one of the twin children of the Ice Maiden Hina. As her children were born, Hina wept two tears which crystallized and were given to the babies. Hiei was thrown from the floating Ice Domain by Hina’s closest friend Rie, to his supposed doom. He managed to survive, though, and grew up in the wilderness where he developed a thirst for killing. The only times he found peace were while looking at the tear-gem from his mother. He later decided to find the ice domain in order to take revenge on the women who cast him out. He loses his tear-gem during a battle and, realizing he must now find the stone as well as the Ice Domain, went to the Osteopath Shigure and has the Evil Eye (Jagan in Japanese, referred to as the Jagan Eye in the English anime dub) implanted in his forehead which gives him many powers, including hypnosis, telepathy, and clairvoyance or remote viewing. Even with the Jagan Hiei cannot find his tear stone, though he easily finds the Ice Maidens’ glacier home. When he gets there he finds his mother’s grave and his lust for revenge fades. He is told his twin sister has run away and decides to search for her as well. Hiei is an expert with a Katana due to the environment in which he grew up. He also has superhuman speed and can produce and control fire. During the Dark Tournament he taps into the unruly fires of hell, known as the Dark Flame of the Overlord, or in the English dub, “Dragon of the Darkness Flame”, which he eventually masters. At the end of the manga, he is assigned as one of the guardians of the portals between the human and demons realms.
In the anime television series, Hiei is voiced by Nobuyuki Hiyama in Japanese and Chuck Huber in English.^[2] Togashi was not certain as whether or not he wanted to make Hiei a main character when beginning the manga.^[3] Kitayama considers Hiei to be her favorite to design.^[8] Hiei is a popular character among fans of the series. He was ranked as the first, then second, then third most popular male anime character in the Animage Anime Grand Prix for the consecutive years of 1993, 1994, and 1995.^[4][5][6] The Japanese publication Newtype ranked him as the fifth best male anime character of the 1990s.^[7]

Kazuma Kuwabara
Kazuma Kuwabara (桑原 和真, Kuwabara Kazuma^?) is a student who attends the fictional Sarayashiki Junior High School. He is noted as the “second toughest punk at Sarayashiki”, despite his unusual affinity for kittens. He is constantly picking fights with Yusuke to prove himself tougher, but never succeeding. Eventually Kuwabara’s feelings of anger toward Yusuke become feelings of respect. Kuwabara has a very advanced sixth sense, though not as acute as his older sister Shizuru’s. Yusuke uses this to his advantage in his attempt to return to life. Kuwabara ends up assisting in most of Yusuke’s cases, gaining power over his own aura which he wields as a sword called the Spirit Sword (霊剣, Rei Ken^?), though compared to Hiei, Kuwabara’s swordsmanship is clumsy and more predictable due to the lack of swordsman training. He learns to develop this power rather quickly as well, later being able to wield two at once and creating an extremely powerful sword using the Trial Sword. Kuwabara also obtains the Jigan To during the Chapter Black arc, a sleeker and cleaner spirit sword that possesses the ability to slice and cut through and between dimensions.
During an early case he meets the ice apparition Yukina and instantly falls in love. Yukina is very appreciative to Kuwabara for saving her from captivity, but is oblivious to his affection. As the story progresses Kuwabara becomes more engrossed in his studies, choosing to cram for his high school exams rather than follow Yusuke and the others into the Demon plane, although he still chooses to do so out of curiosity and being felt as if he were left behind. In the anime television series, Kuwabara is voiced by Shigeru Chiba in Japanese and Christopher Sabat in English.^[2] Togashi came up with the character’s name by combining the names of two professional baseball players.^[3] Mari Kitayama, a lead character designer for the anime adaptation, has stated that she considers Kuwabara to be the most difficult character to design.^[8]