List of YuYu Hakusho characters
The YuYu Hakusho manga series features a diverse cast of characters created by Yoshihiro Togashi. It follows a fourteen-year-old junior high school delinquent Yusuke Urameshi, who dies but is resurrected to become the Underworld's detective of paranormal events in the Human World. He begins his work in the Human World, but ends up traveling to the Underworld and then eventually to the Demon Plane. In each case he undertakes, Yusuke meets several new enemies and allies. Other predominant characters include Yusuke's rival delinquent Kazuma Kuwabara, the fox demon Kurama, and the sword-wielding fire demon Hiei. While several characters are humans, many are demons, and both have different supernatural abilities due to harnessing their Reiki, one's own aura or life energy.
Creation and conception
Togashi did not give much thought to the names of the characters. He came up with them by skimming through a dictionary and combining kanji characters he found appealing. The author said the name Yusuke Urameshi is "practically a joke." Viz Media explained that the "Yu" is written with the kanji for "ghost", and "Urameshiii..." is a phrase typically said by wailing ghosts.Togashi came up with Kazuma Kuwabara's name by combining the names of two professional baseball players. Viz Media said that it is also a pun on "Kuwabara kuwabara", a phrase uttered by superstitious people when they are scared. Mari Kitayama, a lead character designer for the anime adaptation of Yu Yu Hakusho, stated that she considers Kuwabara to be the most difficult character to design.
Kurama and Hiei's names came to Togashi on the spur of the moment. When the two were introduced, the author had early plans to make Kurama a main character but was uncertain about Hiei. Togashi based Hiei's design off of the character Skunky from the manga series Patalliro! by Mineo Maya. Kitayama finds Kurama to be the easiest of the main characters to design due to his well-proportioned features and considers Hiei to be her favorite.
The names of Yusuke's school, Sarayashiki, and the rival Kasanegafuchi Junior High are both named after haunted mansions in famous ghost stories; Banchō Sarayashiki and Kaidan Kasanegafuchi.
The names of the characters [|Roto] and [|Rinku] are taken from video game characters of the same names, the former from Dragon Quest and the latter from The Legend of Zelda.
Togashi's inspiration for the character [|Mukuro] was Kushana of Torumekia from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.
After receiving many letters both praising and criticizing the voice actors, Togashi clarified that he had no involvement in the anime adaptation.
The Tagalog dub, produced in the Philippines and titled Ghost Fighter, uses alternate character names. There, Yusuke is Eugene, Kuwabara is Alfred, Hiei is Vincent, Kurama is known as both Denise and Dennis, Genkai is Master Jeremiah, Koenma is Jericho, Keiko is Jenny, and Botan is Charlene. The Tagalog dub of the 2023 TV series uses the original Japanese character names.
Protagonists
Yusuke Urameshi
Yusuke Urameshi is a fourteen-year-old delinquent who attends Sarayashiki Junior High School. His poor school attendance, constant fighting, and bad habits have earned him the fear of his classmates and the disdain of his teachers and neighbors. This all changes rather abruptly when Yusuke is struck and killed by a car while saving a small child who has wandered into the road. Such an altruistic deed catches even the Underworld by surprise, and because they do not 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 recruits him as an Underworld Detective. Yusuke is charged with investigating supernatural phenomena in the Human World that have connections to the Underworld. Yusuke bears 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 alcoholic mother, [|Atsuko], raised him as a single parent after conceiving him as a young teen.Kazuma Kuwabara
Kazuma Kuwabara is a classmate of Yusuke's at Sarayashiki Junior High School. Despite his unusual affinity for kittens, he is the second toughest delinquent at the school, constantly picking fights with Yusuke to prove himself stronger, but never succeeding. Eventually, Kuwabara's feelings of anger toward Yusuke become feelings of respect. Although he loves fighting, Kuwabara would never steal or extort money. Kuwabara has a very advanced sixth sense and is highly aware of the supernatural. Kuwabara ends up assisting in most of Yusuke's cases, having gained the ability to form a sword out of his aura called the Aura Sword during the competition to become Genkai's pupil. He learns to develop this power rather quickly; being able to wield two at once after training with Kurama for the Dark Tournament, and create a more powerful sword that boosts his recuperative abilities, acting as both a weapon and shield, by using the Sword of Trials he gets from [|Suzuki]. Kuwabara later obtains the Dimensional Sword during his fight against [|Kiyoshi Mitarai], a sleeker and cleaner aura sword that possesses the ability to slice and cut through and between dimensions. This causes him to become the target of Sensui as it will aid in completing the portal to the Demon Plane, and he is captured, and later cuts the force field to chase after Sensui, fully opening the portal.Kuwabara falls in love at first sight of the Ice Maiden [|Yukina] and helps Yusuke rescue her from Gonzo Tarukane. Yukina is very grateful to Kuwabara for saving her from captivity, but is oblivious to his affection. Towards the end of the series, 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. In the end, Yukina lives with his family as a homestay. Kuwabara is a popular character with fans, coming in fourth place in the series' first two popularity polls. He came in fifth in the American Shonen Jump poll.
Kurama
Kurama is a Kitsune and former thief, who specialized in undoing seals and stealing ancient treasures. Fifteen years before the series began, he was badly injured and escaped to the Human World in soul form, where he entered an embryo in a pregnant human woman, becoming Shuichi Minamino at birth. Within ten or so years, his powers would return, and his body would become inhuman, at which point he planned to leave. However, Kurama comes to love his now-single human mother, and when she becomes gravely ill, he cannot bear to leave her all alone and remains as Shuichi in the Human World. Having teamed up with Hiei and Goki to steal three Underworld treasures, Kurama becomes a target of Yusuke Urameshi. However, he betrays his partners and takes the Mirror of Darkness, a mirror capable of granting the user's desire at the cost of the user's life, to cure his mother of her deadly illness. Yusuke saves Kurama's life with both of them giving some of their life forces; therefore, they both survive. This act bonds Yusuke and Kurama as friends and allies. He begins assisting Yusuke in defeating [|The Four Beasts] in exchange for a reduced sentence.Kurama is one of the most popular characters in the series, particularly in Japan. In Animage's Anime Grand Prix, he was ranked as the third most popular male anime character of 1993, and was voted the first place popular male character in both 1994 and 1995. In 2010 Kurama was ranked third best male anime character of the 1990s by the Japanese magazine Newtype. In more recent times, Japan's goo ranking site launched a poll in 2019 for users to vote for the hottest Shonen Jump character of all time, in which Kurama ranked fourth place.