Characters / Black Clover: Yami Sukehiro

All spoilers regarding the first 159 chapters are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

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Black Clover Main Character Index
Asta | Yuno Grinberryall | Noelle Silva | Clover Kingdom (Wizard Kings [Julius Novachrono], Black Bulls [Yami Sukehiro, Nacht Faust, Secre Swallowtail/Nero], Golden Dawn, Silver Eagles, Crimson Lion Kings) | Diamond Kingdom | Spade Kingdom | Land of the Sun | Eye of the Midnight Sun | Elf Tribe | Devils | Others

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Yami Sukehiro

Lord of Destruction

Voiced by: Jun'ichi Suwabe (Japanese), Christopher Sabat (English), Stephen Fu (English, young, episode 34)^note Other Languages: Nacho Rodríguez (Latin American Spanish)

Debut: Chapter 2 (Manga), Episode 4 (Anime)

Magic Attribute: Dark

"Surpass your limits. Right here. Right now."

The Captain of the Black Bulls. A foreigner from an eastern country, he was welcomed into the Magic Knights by the current Wizard King, Julius. Trusted by his squad, Yami is a rough man with strange ways of leadership who's reliable in an emergency.

Yami uses Dark Magic, which can cover his blade in darkness to launch black crescent-shaped blasts or suck magical attacks into a black hole. He uses it in combination with his ki sensing to fight.

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# — D

• Ability Mixing: After the six month time skip, Yami can combine reading ki with Mana Zone, letting him react to moves before they're made.
• Absurd Phobia: After Asta's blasted to the Land of the Sun by a Lucius-controlled Sister Lily, Ryuya tells Asta that Yami's scared of moths.
• Accidental Hero: Yami outright stated that he didn't care if Vanessa came with him or not after he accidentally broke through her life-long birdcage when he was being chased in the Forest of Witches. However, his statement that he doesn't care about fate and Vanessa should control her own destiny gave her the courage to leave with him, escaping from her mother and joining the Black Bulls, her true family. And it's later revealed that he broke Charlotte's childhood curse when he got annoyed after her out-of-control vines spilled his pasta soup, and he went to see what the ruckus was about. His recognition of her strength and offer to help her so that she doesn't have to shoulder all her burdens herself led Charlotte to fall in love with him, breaking her curse.
• Achievements in Ignorance: Yami managed to recruit a squad of quite a few Arcane Stages, very rare mages with inexplicable powers, in Asta, Vanessa, Grey, and Nero all because he liked them. Dante even admits that he's jealous of Yami for this.
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: This is Yami's trademark of showing affection towards his squad members, patting them on the head whenever he's proud of them.
• The Alcoholic: Yami has a penchant for drinking, with a preference for sake.
• The Alleged Boss: While Yami is the captain of the Black Bulls and has his squad's respect, he only disciplines them whenever they personally annoy him. Like his squad, he shirked his duties so much that he was fine with them being the worst-ranked squad among the Magic Knights for years and their destructive tendencies. The Black Bulls are even surprised that he's doing his job when he reprimands them for fooling around at the beach. They only get their act together when Asta, who inspires them to take their duties more seriously, joins. This is one the reasons that Nacht hates Yami, seeing him as a good-for-nothing along with most of the rest of the Black Bulls.
• All Men Are Perverts: A believer in this. He convinces the other males at the hot spring, except Asta and Yuno, to be this, stating that peeping on women is something a man must do. That said, his motivation comes off as more For the Lulz than personal perversion.
• All of the Other Reindeer: Due to his foreigner status, Yami was treated very much like an outsider by the Clover Kingdom residents. This only worsened when he gained his grimoire and Dark Magic, with others calling it a repulsive power that would bring down misfortune. Despite this, Julius treated him kindly and invited him to join his squad the Gray Deer. When he was promoted to Captain, Yami specifically wanted to form a squad of outcasts like himself to give them a place to belong. Having formed the Black Bulls, he thinks to himself that he may have actually been the one to find a place to belong.
• Always Accurate Attack: When Yami condenses his Mana Zone and thickens the mana, his iai quick-draw techniques inside it never miss.
• Always Someone Better: Even Dante, who's very narcissistic, concedes that Yami's battle instincts and techniques surpass his own and openly admits his jealousy, calling Yami magnificent. This is downplayed in that, thanks to his enhanced Body Magic, Dante cannot die and considers himself unbeatable, believing that he'll crush Yami when they fight.
• Amazon Chaser: "I prefer women who are strong" in comparison to those who just act like it. Fortunately for him, strong women prefer him too.
• Animal Motifs:
  • Bulls, being depicted with the skull of a bull on the cover of Chapter 50, the leader of the Black Bulls, has his katana hilt in the shape of a bull's head, and a tough, large, and stubborn man. In other words, Yami is bull-headed.
  • Crows, associated with bad omen and death, appear as a visual effect when Yami uses Dark Cloaked Dimension Slash — Equinox in Episode 151.
• Anti-Anti-Christ: Experienced a lot of hate within the kingdom for having dark magic thought to be ghastly and ominous, and was nicknamed the "Magic Knight Heretic" for his magic. After joining the Magic Knights, Morgen pointed out to Yami that a magic is defined by the user, and following Morgen's death Yami decided to form the Black Bulls for misfits like himself. Morris describes Yami as the Chosen One to bring despair and death to the world with his magic's power of the underworld, despite it being shown that Yami is beloved by his squad for being their captain and giving them a home, saving him from being the Apocalypse Maiden used as a Human Sacrifice to form the Tree of Qliphoth that'll bring devils to the world.
• Anti-Hero: As stated by Nacht, Yami is rough, violent, savage, irresponsible, unprincipled, and unfaithful. In spite of this, he is the Captain of a Magic Knights squad who cares deeply for his squadmates, despite his rough demeanor, and fights for the safety of the kingdom.
• Apocalypse Maiden: With Yami's Dark Magic combined with Vangeance's World Tree Magic, they can form the Tree of Qliphoth, which would bring devils to the living world and kill over 90% of the continent's population. Morris describes Yami as the Chosen One who'll bring death and despair to the world with darkness.
• Apologetic Attacker: Yami apologizes to Dante when his Death Thrust blows away his entire torso. To Yami's shock, he entirely regenerates from it using his devil power-enhanced Body Magic.
• Badass Cape: Yami wore a black cloak cape in his later years as a member of the Gray Deer, seen when he rescued Vanessa and Charlotte, and when he spoke with Nacht at Morgen's grave.
• Badass in Distress: After Yami and Asta defeat Dante, Zenon arrives and captures him despite the Black Bulls' efforts. His squad comes to rescue him from Morris after the Dark Triad is defeated.
• Bad Powers, Good People: Dark Magic isn't seen highly in the kingdom, with Yami being ostracized for it as a teenager and labelled the "Magic Knight Heretic" for it as a result. And it's stated by Morris to have the power of the underworld that will bring death and despair into the world. Despite this, and his roughness and leadership of a squad of misfits, Yami is still very much a good, heroic person who formed a squad of misfits to create a home for each of them. This was pointed out to Yami by Morgen after he first joined the magic knights.
  Morgen (to Yami): Even the most fearsome magic is defined by the person who uses it.
• Baritone of Strength: He speaks with a deep, gruff voice, and is a Magic Knights captain and powerful mage who fights with a katana.
• Bash Brothers:
  • With Jack. The two may argue a lot, but they're drinking buddies and acknowledge each other as worthy rivals, making them an effective duo when they fight together against Latry.
  • Yami and Nacht go back to being this after their friendship is repaired, with the two teaming up against Lucifero.
• Because You Were Nice to Me:
  • This is the reason for his loyalty to Julius, who taught him the Clover Kingdom's language and mentored him while he was a member of the Gray Deer, despite the xenophobia he faced as a foreigner.
  • In turn this is why the Black Bulls are so loyal to Yami even if they shirk their duties a lot — he was willing to accept them into the Black Bulls despite them being shunned by society for their flaws.
• Benevolent Boss: In spite of Yami's rudeness and crudity at times and tendency for comedic intimidation to get them to listen to what he says, he genuinely cares about each of the Black Bulls deeply, praising them when they do a good job like at the Underwater Temple and Elf Invasion and fiercely protecting them from threats like Vetto and Dante, even willing to make an enemy of the kingdom's parliament if needed to save Asta and Nero. His root cause in founding the Black Bulls was to create a home for people like him who were disdained by the rest of society. As a result, they all respect him greatly for accepting them when no one else would. His words before getting captured by Zenon are to tell them to live the lives they want, and when they shout that they love him that much when saving him he replies that it's mutual.

• Be Yourself: One of the reasons he created the Black Bulls. He wanted to create a squad where those rejected by society would have a place to belong. It's later revealed that this is the last thing he told his squad before he was captured by Zenon to their horror as they watched:
  "Live however you want!"
• Big Brother Instinct: For his younger sister Ichika as a child, protecting her from being beaten by their alcoholic father, who hated her for being a weak girl. It's later revealed that he took the blame for her massacring their clan when she was drugged by their father with the clan's demon soul pill.
• Big Brother Mentor: Yami, as captain of the Black Bulls and the oldest member, serves as this for the rest of the squad in his own strange way. He teaches Asta how to sense ki by making him fight against Valtos, making fun of him for actually being able to learn it, as well as sending the Black Bulls on dangerous missions with the hope that they'll become stronger as a result, confident that they'll succeed.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Just before Vetto attempts his Last Breath Bullet, Yami saunters in after cutting through the prison he was left in. After congratulating everyone for their hard work, and secretly musing about how their effort inspired him, he invents a new spell and subsequently one-shots their foe with it.
    Yami: Hey, you idiots. How've you been?
  • From far away, unbeknownst to anyone near the target, he uses his Mana Zone to cast his Dark Cloaked Slash — Equinox, slicing Zagred vertically in half. Asta takes advantage of this to land the killing blow.
• The Big Guy: In addition to being the captain of the Black Bulls, Yami is by far both the most muscular and strongest member, using destructive Dark Magic combined with his swordsmanship.
• Birds of a Feather: Nacht befriended Yami shortly after getting his grimoire because of their similar magics and rough personalities, with the two causing trouble together.
• Blade Spam: Yami can swing his katana fast enough to unleash multiple slashes of his Dark Magic simultaneously.
• Blood Knight: Yami loves a good fight. He's pretty pleased when he finds a challenging opponent in Licht, eerily smiling and charging up his magic. He also smiles as he fights Dante, with Finral noting that it looks like he's having fun even under the circumstances.
• Blood Upgrade: Being nearly killed by Dante's Gravity Singularity leaves Yami bleeding profusely from his left arm and face, which prompts him to surpass his limits by condensing his Mana Zone into his arm to use Death Thrust and destroy Dante's torso.
• Blunt "Yes": Makes no effort to hide his suspicion toward Vangeance that he's really Licht, noting that they have the same build, voice, and ki.
• Boots of Toughness: Yami wears black boots that cover most of his calves and is one hell of a Magic Knights captain who fights with great swordsmanship combined with powerful dark magic.
• Brutal Honesty: He has no filter. If he thinks about something, he's going to say it. When he tests Asta's resolve at the Magic Knights Entrance Exam, Yami harshly tells him that no one wants him because he has no magical powers.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He often shirks his duties as a captain, is very crass, and spends unusually long amounts of time on the toilet. He's still one of the strongest Magic Knights in the kingdom who wields the very powerful, rare Dark Magic.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday:
  • The reason Vanessa is in Black Bulls and not in her mother's cage? Yami was being chased in the Forest of Witches and broke through the bars. Yami didn't care if Vanessa joined him in escaping but told her to control her own fate, which convinced her to leave with him.
  • He broke Charlotte's curse because it flung his pasta soup, causing him to try to stop her. His words about relying on others led her to fall in love with him and break the curse, with him completely oblivious to it.
• Cain and Abel: To her, Yami is the Cain to his younger sister Ichika's Abel for allegedly killing their father and entire clan and then abandoning her when fleeing, calling him scum of the lowest order and a Demon-God even worse than their father. It's flipped on its head when it's revealed Ichika massacred their clan when she was given a demon soul pill by their father that spiked up her urge to kill and yoryoku, and Yami took the blame to prevent her from learning the cruel truth.
• Came Back Strong: After getting left at near death from being used as a Human Sacrifice for the Qliphoth, as Grey heals him she notices that Yami's brimming with power and his body's changed despite being physically torn up, and promptly puts that surge in magical power to use in the fight against Lucifero.
• The Captain: Of the Black Bulls. Although Yami usually doesn't discipline his rambunctious squad, he shows himself to be a very competent captain in a tight situation and deeply cares for them. He also sets standards for himself as a captain — he'd be a lousy captain if he tells his squad members to surpass their limits if he couldn't do that himself in front of them, before using a new technique to condense his Mana Zone and thrust it to obliterate Dante's torso.
• Casting a Shadow: His Dark Magic allows him to create waves of darkness to attack foes and block attacks.
• Character Catchphrase: Let's see...
  • Fighting the bad guy? "Surpass your limits. Right here. Right now."
  • Facing death? "Surpass your limits. Right here. Right now."
  • Throwing the final attack? "Right here. Right now, I'm gonna surpass my limits."
  • Taking a really stubborn dump? Well, duh. "Surpass your limits."
  • While Yami is undeniably iconic for this phrase and its variations, Asta and several other Black Bulls have also uttered it in various situations. One could say this is the squad's catchphrase.
• Charged Attack: Dark Magic is infamously slow to cast because it requires time to cast spells. But if given enough time, Yami can make the most out of his magic. With incredible focus, he uses Mana Zone to unleash a vertical slash that travels a huge distance to slice Zagred.
• Childhood Friends:
  • With Nacht, becoming friends due to being young delinquents with similar magics and getting into trouble together. This friendship lasted until Nacht caused the death of his twin brother Morgen, Yami's squadmate in the Gray Deer, with Nacht feeling guilt for taking Morgen from Yami and Yami reminding Nacht of his past self that he came to hate. Their friendship is saved when Yami still calls Nacht his friend and tells him to keep living and save people for Morgen when Nacht says that he doesn't care if he dies and shouldn't be saved.
  • He was also one to the Shogun of the Land of the Sun, Ryudo Ryuya. They haven't seen each other since Yami was thirteen years old, however.
• Cigarette of Anxiety: Yami has an angry look on his face and ashtray completely filled with cigarettes at the captains meeting after Lucius reveals himself to be in Julius's body and an enemy not just against Clover Kingdom, but humanity as a whole who's attacked and seemingly killed Asta.
• Combat Clairvoyance:
  • Coming from the Land of the Sun, he knows how to sense ki, allowing him to predict enemy attacks and movements. He teaches it to Asta.
  • After the six month time skip, he can combine it with Mana Zone to react to moves before they're made. Yami notes that he isn't on Julius's former level though.
• Combination Attack:
  • He has a series of these with Jack and Finral against Latry, the elf possessing Langris, with Jack and Yami slicing up Latry's Spatial Magic and Finral teleporting them.
  • With Nacht while fighting Lucifero, using Shadow Magic x Dark Magic: Kids' Playground through their Mana Zones to form the buildings they caused trouble through as kids, with the dark spreading shadows and shadows creating darkness for infinite synergy between their magics.
• Cool Sword: Yami wields a custom-made katana with the symbol of the Black Bulls embedded in the hilt.
• Cosmic Motifs: The Moon. He's associated with one half of a black moon on the Chapter 326 color spread (the other half associated with Nacht), his name means "dark", he can use a spell called "Black Moon", and uses dark magic.
• Dare to Be Badass: Yami often tells his squad to surpass their limits during dangerous situations that have them fighting against formidable foes. They certainly live up to their captain's words, becoming stronger and managing to defeat powerful enemies — even sometimes learning new spells in the process.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Parodied. After Patry gives a stereotypical Freudian Excuse speech about the Elf Massacre in his viewpoint, Yami's own story amounts to: "I was born far away. I fell off the boat in a storm. I washed up in a foreign land. I beat the crap out of anyone who gave me a hard time and adjusted." From the tone of the story and considering that it's Yami talking, it's almost certainly meant as a "The Reason You Suck" Speech and essentially him saying, "Wah-wah, boo hoo. Hey crybaby, get off your cross and use it to build a bridge so you can move the hell on." To his credit, his story was Metaphorically True, since the worst he did even back then was to take the blame for Ichika slaughtering his clan.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Called the "Magic Knight Heretic" and wields Dark Magic in combat, but for all his rough exterior he is firmly on the side of the heroes.
• Darkness Von Gothick Name: Yami's name literally means "darkness" and he's an intimidating mage with powerful Dark Magic.
• Deadpan Snarker: Yami often makes sarcastic remarks about others in a completely dry tone. He calls Asta creepy when he learns to read ki and when it's revealed his anti-magic comes from a devil, and asks Nozel if he has enough time to braid his bangs.
• Death Glare:
  • He is introduced with one. He gives one whenever he is annoyed, usually over something trivial, and is more than enough to make Asta freeze in his tracks.
  • Yami gives a murderous one to Dante when he sees that he injured Asta and Gauche after returning from the captains' meeting.
• Department of Redundancy Department: Yami tells his troops to engage the leader of the Eye of the Midnight Sun, but tells them not to die in his own special way:
  Yami: I'll kill you if you die.
• Deus Exit Machina: Invoked in Chapter 60, when the Black Bulls attempt the Ocean Palace temple. The Water Priest excludes him from his challenges, and flat out tells him he's too powerful for them, and if he competes then the challenges won't be any fun. That said, it's subverted when the Eye of the Midnight Sun interrupts, elevates the threat level, and he's allowed to intervene.
• Dimensional Cutter: Yami's spells "Dark Cloaked Dimension Slash" and its stronger variant "Dark Cloaked Dimension Slash — Equinox" are named such and described to be this. They can cut through spatial barriers, have great range, and because of Dark Magic's properties they can affect the underworld.
• Disintegrator Ray: Yami's aptly-named spell Death Thrust is this, condensing his Mana Zone into his arm and thrusting his mana at the enemy like a cannon. It has enough power to obliterate Dante's entire torso.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Tends to dish this out no matter how minor the slight:
  Yami: [to Asta after he politely apologizes for bumping into Yami] Looks like you're ready to die!
• Domain Holder: Yami can use Mana Zone, controlling the mana in the area around him. He uses it to increase his spells' power and range. After the six month timeskip, he combines it with reading ki, and can form an overhead Black Hole that absorbs enemy spells.
• The Dreaded: A heroic one, but Yami is a fearsome mage whose squad fears but respects him, and has gained an infamous reputation in the Clover Kingdom, being known as the "Lord of Destruction" and "Magic Knight Heretic" for his powerful Dark Magic. Exerting his magical power at the Magic Knights Entrance Exam induces fear in many of the participants.
• Drink-Based Characterization: Yami likes sake, which fits with him being from the Land of the Sun.
• Dumb Muscle: He's not completely stupid, but he's not all there either. Trying to come up with his next move during his fight with Licht short circuits his brain, and he just decides to leave survival up to him 5 minutes from now. Note that if Licht had succeeded in nuking them, he wouldn't have lived that long anyway.

E — N

• Elemental Barrier: His spell Black Cocoon forms a protective shell of darkness around himself.
• Elemental Eye Colors: He has dark gray eyes to go with his darkness powers.
• Elemental Hair Colors: Yami has messy black hair and uses the rare Dark Magic.
• Energy Absorption: Yami can absorb enemies' magic by using his Dark Magic to form small black holes, with an especially good affinity for Light Magic. He's able to combine his black hole with Mana Zone to expand the absorption range, letting him stand up to Dante's Gravity Magic while the other Black Bulls can't help but be pushed down by his gravity.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Yami doesn't take Lucius being Julius and an enemy to the kingdom well who seemingly killed Asta well to say the least, smoking through countless cigarettes during the subsequent captains meeting and having an angry, serious expression.
• Excellent Judge of Character: Was told by Morgen that he has a good eye for people, which would make him a great captain. And this turned out to be true for Yami who, despite intentionally creating a squad of misfits so that they could have a home, recruited the Black Bulls who, in spite of their personal flaws and penchant for destruction, are at heart courageous, selfless people willing to risk their lives to save others and come to save him due to their love for him.
• Explaining Your Power to the Enemy: Played for Laughs. When Licht deduces that Yami's combat style cloaks his weapon in darkness and uses Reinforcement Magic to compensate for its slow speed, he tells him that he's correct, with an incredulous Asta noting that it sounds like he's bragging.
• Face Framed in Shadow: Throughout his fight with Licht, Yami's face is covered in shadows, making him seem much more ominous and menacing as he attacks him with his Dark Magic. It helps contrast his Dark Is Not Evil motif with Licht's Light Is Not Good.
• Face of a Thug: Asta says that he has the eyes of a killer when he first meets him. He's definitely crude and threatens to kill Asta when he bumps into him, but is still a Magic Knight captain who cares greatly about his squad.
• Family Eye Resemblance: He has the same eyes as his sister Ichika. It gets especially obvious when she gives him a similar Death Glare as her brother did to Asta on their first meeting.
• Fastball Special: He subjects Asta to one in order to save Noelle when her magic went out of control. He does this again on several occasions when he feels it's appropriate.
• A Father to His Men: He's oftentimes crude and hates being talked back to, but always has his group's best interests at heart and is fiercely protective of them when they're threatened. As a result, he commands their absolute loyalty and respect, no thanks to forming a squad where societal rejects like them and himself have a place where they belong and can live the lives they want. So much so that the Black Bulls proclaim their love for Yami when they rescue him from Morris.
• Fish out of Water: He was this in his backstory, being shipwrecked in the Clover Kingdom and unable to return to his home country. Yami faced much discrimination for being a foreigner but Julius accepted him, inviting Yami to join the Magic Knights and teaching him the language and culture of the kingdom.
• Flower Motifs: Red spider lilies, symbolic of death, are visually featured when Yami uses Dark Cloaked Dimension Slash — Equinox in the anime. He first uses it to bisect Zagred, helping Asta to destroy his heart and kill him.
• Foil:
  • To Licht. Both care about their subordinates and are incredibly powerful sorcerers who wield rare magics, but the similarities end there. Yami is crude and foul-mouthed, is one of the Clover Kingdom's most powerful knights, and wields Dark Magic. Licht is unfailingly polite and civil, hates the Clover Kingdom, and wields powerful Light Magic. Licht is also a well-dressed Bishōnen who wears flowing robes like the traditional image of a mage and fights at long-range while Yami is a Hunk with Perma-Stubble wears just as tank top and pants and enters close combat with his katana. As it turns out, even their similarity of caring about their henchmen doesn't exist.
  • With Vangeance. Both were outcasts taken in by Julius into the Gray Deer. Vangeance was born the illegitimate son of a nobleman and Yami was a foreigner from the Land of the Sun. Yami is the captain of the Black Bulls, the lowest-ranked squad; Vangeance is the captain of the Golden Dawn, the highest-ranked squad. Yami is crass and rude while Vangeance is polite and soft-spoken. While Vangeance betrays Julius by letting Licht take over his body, Yami promises him that he will defend the country as he dies.
  • To Nacht. Yami is the captain of the Black Bulls while Nacht is the vice captain. Yami uses Dark Magic while Nacht wields Shadow Magic. Yami established the Black Bulls to create a refuge for societal misfits. Nacht detests the Black Bulls for their flaws, so much so that he never came to the squad's base. Yami is a gruff man whose uncouthness hides a deep care for his subordinates. Nacht, on the other hand, is a Perpetual Smiler who easily hates others. Yami’s creed is for the Black Bulls to surpass their limits and become stronger by being placed in dangerous situations. Nacht is fully aware of the limits of his power as well as Asta's, and trains him for days so that he may master his devil's powers.
• Former Teen Rebel: As a young teen, Yami was a delinquent who would cause trouble with Nacht, no thanks to being discriminated against for being a foreigner and having Dark Magic, which was seen as a repulsive magic. However, he mellowed out after joining the Magic Knights, in part thanks to the influence of Nacht's twin brother Morgen, who told Yami that he'd make a great captain and isn't defined by his Dark Magic. After Morgen's death, Yami formed the Black Bulls and recruited a mournful, guilty Nacht. Deconstructed even way back then where he defended Ichika from his abusive dad who was going to kill her because she (supposedly) can't fight, and Ichika went onto killing his former clan with him taking the blame before he ran to Clover Kingdom where Lucius/Julius found him.
• Friend to All Living Things: As uncouth as Yami may be, he has a soft spot for animals, keeping a collection of wild beasts as pets in the dungeon of the Black Bulls' hideout. The anime reveals he took them in as babies after their parents were killed.
• From Zero to Hero: He started off as the son of fishermen from a foreign country who became stranded in the Clover Kingdom and gained a grimoire with Dark Magic, suffering discrimination for being a foreigner and having his ghastly magic. He then went on to join the Magic Knights thanks to Julius, becoming powerful enough to defeat many enemies and eventually become a Magic Knight captain. The fishermen part was later revealed to be false because he was actually born to a clan of warriors, although he did enjoy fishing when he was young.
• Fundoshi: Worn by Yami in order to emphasize his manliness, wearing one in combination with a happi during the Festival Episode. Fundoshi also seem to be Yami's underwear of choice.
• Funny Foreigner: Yami is disparagingly referred to as "foreigner" by Nozel, being originally from the Land of the Sun and stranded in the Clover Kingdom. He is also a source of comedy in the story thanks to his sarcasm and tendency to mess with people.
• The Gadfly: The biggest in the series by a wide margin. It's easier to list the scenes where he isn't rubbing sarcasm in everyone's faces, scaring people for fun, or laughing like a hyena at someone's misfortune. He's even the only one willing to mess with Mereoleona repeatedly despite not being strong enough to get away with it. For the record, Zora gave up after one try.
• Generation Xerox: Asta has a lot of parallels with his mentor and captain Yami, both being muscled swordsmen who faced a lot of discrimination (Asta for being a magic-less peasant and Yami for being a shipwrecked foreigner) with dark powers associated with evil (Asta's Anti-Magic coming from a devil and Yami's Dark Magic seen as an ill omen) whose goals as Magic Knights is to help the marginalized (Asta wanting to become the Wizard King to end the kingdom's discrimination and Yami forming the Black Bulls as a refuge for fellow societal rejects). Yami later passes onto Asta his katana during their fight against Dante, with it becoming Asta's Demon-Slasher Katana after Yami is captured, with his physical resemblance to Yami becoming more apparent when he wields it and is now wearing a sleeveless tank top with belted pants like Yami's own outfit. Asta's Demon-Slasher — Infinite Slash Equinox technique when wielding the katana is based off of Yami's Dark Cloaked Dimension Slash — Equinox spell, complete with referential poses of Yami's while using it. He uses it to save him, with the editor's note stating that Asta surpassed a mentor.
• Genocide from the Inside: He's accused of having massacred their father and entire Yami clan at the age of 13 and then fleeing the Land of the Sun by his younger sister Ichika, who saw him standing over the corpses of their fellow clans-members with a bloody katana. Asta doesn't believe it and refuses to back down on it to Ichika and turns out to be right when it's revealed that Ichika went onto a rampage when her father drugged her with the clan's secret demon soul pill and killed all of them and Ryuya covered it up to not make it too painful for her.
• Genre Savvy: Yami often tries to get his squad to "surpass [their] limits", understanding how in a battle shōnen characters get stronger in dire situations. This also makes sense within the setting, as mages can learn new spells corresponding to their personal development at the time while having intense motivation during a crisis.
• Given Name Reveal: In the final arc it's revealed with the introduction of his younger sister, Yami Ichika, that his first name is actually Sukehiro, not Yami.
• Good Is Not Nice: In spite of being a Magic Knights captain who has the loyalty of his squad and fights on behalf of the Clover Kingdom, Yami is rough, hypocritical, and bluntly rude to most people. Nacht calls out all these negative traits of Yami's when stating that he's not worth saving, angering Asta.
• Good Is Not Soft: He's the captain of the Black Bulls but very much willing to go for lethal blows against enemies if needed. He has no hesitation slicing Vetto in half after he breaks out of the spatial prison. And when fighting Dante, Yami uses deadly attacks, blowing holes in Dante's torso with his Death Thrust that would kill him if not for his Body Magic.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Yami has a short temper, threatening to kill Asta for accidentally bumping into him when they first meet, whenever anyone interrupts him on the toilet, and annoys him in general.
• Has a Type: According to the Volume 12 Questions Brigade, Yami likes women who can drink with and fight alongside him.
• The Heart: Despite his rude and blunt disposition, Yami acts as this towards the other Magic Knight Captains. During meetings when they start to get tense, he breaks the ice by saying or doing something to deliberately anger them, momentarily forgetting what had been bothering them and directing all of their anger onto him.
• Henohenomoheji: His face as a child is drawn like this, except the nose and mouth are replaced by "やみ"^note yami.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: A major supporting character who serves as a mentor to Asta, and wields a katana through which he channels his Dark Magic to make up for its slow casting time.
• Heroic Build: According to the Volume 10 Questions Brigade, Yami is the most muscular character. It shows through him wearing a tank top and his physical style of fighting.
• Hidden Depths:
  • While he can seem like an absolute asshole to most people, he really does care about the well-being of his squad and the other squads. Thus, he's pissed after the Big Bad admits that Fuegoleon was lured into a trap, causing Yami to respond, "I'm sure you did. Because there's no way in hell he'd lose to this wimpy ass attack of yours!"
  • Despite his uncouth behavior, Yami is actually a talented artist, creating a detailed figurine in the second light novel. Among the cast, in skill and taste in art he's second only to Rill, a passionate painter who uses Picture Magic.
  • Despite being a jerk a lot of the time, Yami has a soft spot for fellow societal misfits like him, having been discriminated against for being a foreigner when he was shipwrecked in the Clover Kingdom as a teenager. He essentially formed the Black Bulls as a safe haven where other outcasts like himself could find a family. It's revealed that Yami made Nacht his Vice Captain in a gesture of empathy after Morgen's death.
• Human Sacrifice: Him and Vangeance will serve as the core of the ritual of the Advent of Qliphoth as sacrificial offerings. When the seven gates for the levels of the underworld are fully opened, as catalysts for the event they will die.
• Hunk: Tall, muscular, manly, and attractive, for all his behavior.
• Hypocritical Humor: Reprimands his team for destroying large sections of their base, while smashing the wall behind him in annoyance.
• Iaijutsu Practitioner: His spell Dark Cloaked Iai Slash which has him sheathe his sword while he condenses his Black Moon, then coating his sword in his Dark Magic and drawing it to attack. It's strong enough to make Dante use his second magic to heal himself.
• Icy Gray Eyes: Gray eyes, strong-willed, cold at times, and can be very serious and dangerous in battle.
• Impossible Task: Can be quite demanding at times, as seen when he tells Asta to copy him after Yami spent several minutes deflecting dozens of beams of light from the Big Bad:
  Yami: Hey, kid. Were you watching that?
  Asta: [in awe] Y…Yessir!!
  Yami: Great. Try doing it then.
  Asta: [sarcastic and in shock] Yessir… Wha… Like I could?!!!
• Insane Troll Logic: On meeting Mereleona for the first time, he reasons that since her brother is Fuegoleon, she must be named Sisgoleon, having assumed "goleon" was just a common suffix for members of their family.
• It Amused Me: The reason he recruited quite a few Arcane Stages into the Black Bulls? Not because he wanted them to serve him, but because he liked them, telling a jealous Dante this.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Frequently insults his own squad and scares the crap out of them over menial things. But the reason he founded the Black Bulls was to create a home for other misfits like himself, having been discriminated against for being a foreigner in the kingdom. He also looks out for their well-being in his own unusual ways and is the first adult to acknowledge Asta's aspirations and potential to become the Wizard King.
• Katanas Are Just Better: His katana is his personal weapon. Because he's from a distant land, it's a special custom order.
• Kid Hero All Grown-Up: Yami joined the Gray Deer at a young age after being shipwrecked at the Clover Kingdom. It's implied on a number of occasions that Yami went on a series of his own adventures in the past, similar to what Asta's doing now.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Yami is well-aware of the societal corruption in the kingdom, having been discriminated against for being a foreigner after getting shipwrecked. Despite this, and his unconventional, hands-off approach at times, he's fully dedicated to protecting the Clover Kingdom and acting as a captain when needed. This sense of duty stems from Julius, who took him into the Magic Knights and taught him the country's language in spite of his foreigner status, which later inspired Yami to form the Black Bulls to give other misfits like himself a home where they can belong. It's for this reason that Yami, although knowing that Licht has a point in the societal distortions of the Clover Kingdom, is fully intent on stopping him and his mission to kill every human in the country. As a thirteen-year old he called Ryuya a know-nothin' for his dream of the people of the Land of the Sun living happily together regardless of rank or yoryoku, but did acknowledge that his dream was nice.
• Lantern Jaw of Justice: Yami has a prominent jaw, and is the captain of the Black Bulls and serves as a mentor figure to Asta.
• Large and in Charge: Zig-Zagged. Yami is 6' (183 cm) and taller than most of the Black Bulls while being their captain. However, Henry and Gordon are taller than him, but Yami evens it out with his larger, more muscular build.
• Last-Name Basis: Yami is actually his surname and his first name is actually "Sukehiro".
• Lead You Can Relate To: While he isn't the main character, Yami is a Japanese-styled man living in a Western-styled country. This gives the Japanese audience a relatable character. In addition, his mentor relationship with Asta and the way he teaches him Ki heavily influences him.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: When Rhya uses his Copy Magic on his Dark Magic:
  "Hey! Don't go ripping off people's magic!! I'm gonna sue you for copyright infringement!"
• Leitmotif: A distinctly Japanese, samurai-esque theme plays for Yami when he fights against Dante in the anime.
• Light/Darkness Juxtaposition:
  • Licht is the Light to Yami's Darkness, which is highlighted when they fight. Licht uses Light Magic to form light blades and move at incredible speed. Yami uses Dark Magic, which is slow to cast spells, to envelop his katana and unleash beams of darkness. Licht is a polite bishōnen who leads the Eye of the Midnight Sun, a group of terrorists who want to destroy the Clover Kingdom. Yami is a crude hunk who's the captain of the Black Bulls, a squad of social misfits who're much more moral than they seem.
  • He was also this with Morgen, Nacht's younger twin brother, when they worked together as Magic Knights in the Gray Deer, with Nacht calling them a dynamic duo of Light and Dark.
• Lightning Bruiser: To make up for his slow magic, Yami has incredible physical strength and speed which is supplemented by ki reading and Reinforcement Magic, channeling Dark Magic through his katana. This allows him to react fast against enemy attacks as well as unleash powerful dark slashes able to slice through giant boulders and fly through the air.
• MacGuffin Super-Person: He's wanted by the Dark Triad for his Dark Magic. Combined with Vangeance's World Tree Magic, they can create the Tree of Qliphoth to bring devils to the world.
• Manchild: Gets affectionally called this by Nacht after Yami tells him, after he said that he doesn't care if he dies and to not save him out of guilt for causing Morgen's death, to keep living and help enough people for Morgen, stating people don't need a reason to save a friend anyways.
  Nacht: You're too old to be talking like a kid... Yami!
  Yami: Deep down, men stay kids forever, you moron.
  Nacht: Shut up. Grow up already, loser.
• Magic Knight: Yami describes himself as a "magic swordsman", using swordsmanship in combination with his magic as his fighting style. He can cover his katana in Dark Magic, using it to launch crescent beams of darkness.
• Magnetic Hero: Despite his rough demeanor and seeming hard to approach, as captain of the Black Bulls Yami managed to amass a group of Ragtag Bunch of Misfits who all have Undying Loyalty towards him thanks to providing them with a home when they were abandoned by the rest of society. The Black Bulls all adore him and respect him as a result. So much so that they all thank Yami when coming to rescue him from the Tree of Qliphoth, and when he asks them if they like him that much all the Black Bulls yell that they love him.
• Manly Facial Hair: Has a prominent stubble on his face, and is one of the most traditionally masculine characters in the story.
• Manly Man: Yami's a muscled Magic Knight captain in a tank top who smokes and uses his katana with dark magic. He's always urging his squad members to get stronger and surpass their limits. Yami's manliness is one of the reasons Magna respects him so much.
• Master-Apprentice Chain: Julius was Yami's captain, taking him into the Gray Deer and teaching him the country's language and social customs, with Yami in turn becoming the captain of Asta.
• Master Swordsman: He is definitely this, using his katana as the primary weapon in his fighting style. He uses his dark magic mostly as a supplement to his swordsmanship.
• Meaningful Name:
  • "Yami" means darkness in Japanese and he uses Dark Magic.
  • "Sukehiro" includes the kanji for night, mediate, and large, which all fit him well.
• Men Are Uncultured: Yami is acknowledged as being very manly by other characters like Magna and Asta, and wears a white tank top, smokes, nonchalantly brings up that he needs to use the toilet, and threatens people at the slightest provocation.
• Messy Hair: Yami's black hair sticks out messily to contribute to his rough image.
• Midfight Weapon Exchange: When Dante ensnares Asta's anti-magic swords with his Body Magic, Yami passes his katana to Asta, with his transformed right arm coating it in anti-magic. Asta uses it to land the defeating attack on Dante just before the time he can use his right arm runs out.
• Mr. Fanservice: He's attractive, tall, and muscular, which gets showed off by his tank top that he always wears.
• Muscles Are Meaningful: According to the Volume 10 Questions Brigade, he's the most muscular character. It shows in the physical power of his swordsmanship.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Being named after the Japanese word for "darkness" discourages anyone from screwing with him.
• Nerves of Steel: When he's fighting against powerful enemies and trying to save his squad, Yami maintains a calm, collected composure. Even faced with the possibility of dying to Licht's spell does not faze him, and he calmly accepts the chance that he will perish.
• The Nicknamer: For starters, he calls Jack "String Bean Scythe", Charlotte "Prickly Queen", and Mereoleona "Sisgoleon", much to their chagrin. He also nicknames the elf possessing Charlotte "Prickly Queen 2.0", on account of their similar personalities.
• Noble Male, Roguish Male: Vangeance is the Noble Male to Yami's Roguish Male. Vangeance is a polite, soft-spoken nobleman who leads the most prestigious squad of Magic Knights. Yami is a rough, uncouth foreigner who's the captain of a band of misfit Magic Knights ranked dead-last.
• Not So Above It All: Despite yelling at his squad for causing trouble, Yami himself has a disregard for the rules and is prone to doing those very same things. Most notably, when he reprimands them for destroying parts of the base he smashes a wall out of anger.

O — Z

• Oblivious to Love: Yami's completely unaware that Charlotte is hopelessly in love with him despite her blushing and shyness. He interprets Charlotte's uncomfortableness around him as her not standing him. When her squad hears this, they thinks he's an "ultra-dense boor of a man". He finally finds out when Finral tells him that Charlotte told Yami she loves him when he was at death's door, with Yami confused that her weird reactions were affection all along and she's been running away out of embarassment.
• Odd Name Out: He's the only character until the introduction of his homeland whose name sounds Japanese and so is clearly a foreigner. This is made even more obvious when he says in his backstory that he's from the Land of the Sun. Also following real-life Japanese name ordering, he's the only member of the Clover Kingdom to go by his family name "Yami" instead of his actual give name "Sukehiro", treating Yami as his first name.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: It's not seen on-screen, but he manages to break through the Eye of the Midnight Sun's barrier at the Underwater Temple by learning a new spell, with the beaten up member who was maintaining the barrier and a huge vertical cut of the temple seen. He then comes just in time and uses that new spell to kill a self-destructing Vetto.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: When inviting Asta to join the Black Bulls, Yami tells him that he doesn't have the right to refuse with a scary look on his face.
• One-Hit Kill: By condensing his Mana Zone even further to cover only his arm, he can unleash his attack Death Thrust, which destroys Dante's entire torso. It would have killed him if not for his boosted Body Magic.
• Only Sane Man: Despite being not so normal himself, Yami often takes up this role as the captain in a squad as quirky as the Black Bulls, reminding the squad to stop destroying the hideout, that they're on a mission and not a beach trip, and commenting that they're working harder on finding a cure for Asta's cursed arms than at their actual jobs as Magic Knights.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The Black Bulls realize how important their mission to retrieve the magic stone from the Underwater Temple is when Yami's actually seriously doing his job and reprimands them for goofing around at the beach.
• Papa Wolf: As crass as Yami may be about it, he cares greatly for his squad and will fiercely protect them whenever needed. When Dante defeats Asta and heavily injures Gauche, he's livid.
• Perma-Stubble: His goatee is a stubble.
• Personality Powers: Zig-Zagged. Yami has dark magic fitting with his stoic and intimidating personality with a disregard for the rules. However, his backstory reveals that he faced a lot of hate for having dark magic seen as repulsive and bringing misfortune on top of being a foreigner. Morgen, who thought that Yami would make a good captain, pointed out to him that even the most fearsome magic is defined by the user, and after Morgen's death Yami decided to become a captain and form the Black Bulls.
• Person of Mass Destruction: The source of his epithet "Lord of Destruction". To compensate for its slow casting time, Yami's Dark Magic is very destructive when used, with his dark slashes destroying much of the cave him and Licht fight in.
• Potty Emergency: Yami has a really bad bowel, spending long amounts of time on the toilet. So much so that a Running Gag has him be interrupted while using the bathroom. He often asks Finral to use his Spatial Magic to send him to the toilet.
• Power of the Void:
  • His Dark Magic can absorb spells, especially from Light Magic, by forming small black holes or through dark spells.
  • After the time skip, he can combine this with Mana Zone to cast Dark Moon, forming a space where he chooses which spells are absorbed.
• Purple Is Powerful: His mana is purple and he has very large amounts of magic, only outclassed by very powerful royals in the Clover Kingdom.
• Purple Is the New Black: Although Yami's Dark Magic spells are black, his mana itself is colored purple.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: As a Magic Knight Captain, he is considered equal to a hundred normal mages, and is powerful enough to match the Big Bad in close combat when the latter overwhelmed Asta with ease.
• Real Men Wear Pink: The Order of Knights light novel reveals that Yami, despite being a chain-smoking, muscular swordsman who wears a tank-top, is actually a very talented artist, creating a detailed figurine of the first Wizard King.
• Recruited from the Gutter:
  • Facing much persecution for being a shipwrecked foreigner in the xenophobic Clover Kingdom, Julius was kind enough to teach Yami the country's language and customs and later extend to Yami membership in the Gray Deer as a Magic Knight.
  • Yami himself does this plenty as captain of the Black Bulls to give fellow outsiders a home. He did this for Henry to keep him alive by recruiting other mages to live in his mansion, Gauche who had broken out of jail, Vanessa after he accidentally freed her from her lifelong cage, Zora while he was beating up Magic Knights and unsuccessfully tried to beat up Yami, a transformed Grey mistrusted by others because he found her amusing, Noelle who was rejected from the Silver Eagles for being her family's disgrace, other Black Bulls like Asta and Luck who didn't have any other offers from other squads, Nero when she's tried as a scapegoat for the elf reincarnation, and a mourning and guilt-ridden Nacht after he caused his brother Morgen's death.
• Recruitment by Rescue: How Yami recruited some of the Black Bulls. He recruited Gauche when he broke out of prison (and would use his membership in the Black Bulls to stay out), Vanessa after he inadvertently broke her out of her life-long cage at the hands of the Witch Queen and convinced her to choose her own fate, Henry when he was on the verge of death due to his illness and recruited the Black Bulls to live in his home so that he may live, and Nero when she was being tried for the elf reincarnation when he and the other Black Bulls barged into the courthouse to save her and Asta.
• Red Baron:
  • His epithet "Lord of Destruction" tells you that Yami's not someone to be messed with.
  • He's also known as the "Magic Knight Heretic" for using Dark Magic.
• Rescue Romance: Charlotte fell for him after he rescued her from her House's "curse".
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: After encountering Licht in person, he suspects him and Vangeance to be the same person due to them having the same ki. He confronts Vangeance about this and thinks that he's disproven when Vangeance removes his mask, showing a large facial scar. It's later revealed that Yami was correct to an extent — Licht and Vangeance are two different souls in the same body.
• Rule of Cool: His Black Bulls robe is tattered, in contrast with the rest of his squad whose robes are in good condition, because he thinks it looks cooler that way.
• The Scapegoat: After his father drugged Ichika and she slaughtered his clan, Ryuya decided to not tell Ichika the truth just to not make her feel bad and Yami fled to Clover Kingdom after taking the blame for the massacre. It seems like he made himself the scapegoat for the incident rather than him being actively accused by others.
• Screw Destiny: What he told Vanessa the first time she met him when she told Yami that she's fated to stay in her cage:
  "Huh? Fate says you have to be here? Oh. Yeah, yeah. Good ol' fate. I hate that stuff. Who'd listen to it anyway? Even if I have to crush fate, I'll do whatever I want."
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Finral is the Sensitive Guy to Yami's Manly Man, being a coward with low self-esteem who can't fight offensively while Yami is an uncouth, powerful mage who smokes and fights with a katana. As a result, Yami often uses Finral as a human taxi to his begrudging reluctance.
• Shared Family Quirks: Like Yami Ichika is unfriendly to Asta when first meeting him, threatening him when he approaches her and grabbing him by his face just like her older brother.
• Sink or Swim Mentor: Yami makes Asta learn to sense ki while they're fighting the Eye of Midnight Sun, with Yami forcing Asta to hone it by fighting against Valtos. He even pretends to be surprised when Asta manages to do it, calling him creepy.
• Sleeves Are for Wimps: Yami wears a white tank top that shows off his muscled arms, and he's a tough swordsman who wields powerful Dark Magic.
• Smarter Than You Look: Although he acts uncouth most of the time, he's quite perceptive in battle, figuring out Licht's Light Magic in short time.
• Smoking Is Cool: He can usually be seen with a cigarette in his mouth and is easily one of the most popular supporting characters. It's later revealed that he took up his smoking habit after Morgen's death when Nacht, who used to smoke cigarettes, gave up his own smoking habit as part of his grief over his twin's passing.
• So Proud of You:
  • His reaction to the Black Bulls for managing to defeat the members of the Eye of the Midnight Sun and Vetto at the Underwater Temple, complete with head pats.
  • Yami tells Asta he did well when they defeat Dante with the power of Asta's new devil arm. It doesn't last long as Zenon teleports to the scene and captures Yami soon after.
• Spell Blade: Yami's Dark Magic is notoriously slow to cast. To compensate for this, he mainly uses it to envelop his sword, using his magic as a means of reinforcing his strikes and shielding himself by absorbing the brunt of magical attacks.
• Stock Light-Novel Hero: Despite serving a mentor role in a shōnen story, Yami funnily enough has many of the traits of the archetype in his backstory. He's a snarky, typically stoic, black-haired man who is originally from the Land of the Sun and got stranded in the Clover Kingdom. He was originally looked down on for being a foreigner but manifested the very rare and powerful Dark Magic, rising in power to become one of the strongest people of the country. In the process, he obtained the attraction of some women including Charlotte, who's considered the kingdom's most beautiful woman and acts as a tsundere towards him. It's for this reason that fans often joke that he's a (retired) isekai main character.
• The Stoic: Yami generally keeps a collected, impassive demeanor even when threatening others for small inconveniences. However, his short temper shows that at times he's Not So Stoic.
• Strong and Skilled: Has a powerful magic with incredible destructive potential, Ki sensing for anticipating his enemies, and top tier combat skills with his katana. He's also got surprisingly keen tactical senses in combat, exploiting his magic's nature in numerous ways and quickly grasping how best to employ it against opponents.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Yami is usually standoffish, blunt, and can be quite rude, but shows a softer, more fatherly side around his squad and likes to comedically mess with others at times.
• Superpower Lottery: Yami has the rare, powerful Dark Magic, which has immense destructive potential with the only downside being its slow casting time. Which Yami can usually work around because he himself is quite fast and a skilled swordsman, allowing him to cover his katana with dark magic to enhance its power for the duration of a battle instead of needing to cast multiple slow spells.
• Sword And Sorceror: Is the sword to Nacht's sorcery. While both have Casting a Shadow powers, Yami uses it to enhance the destructive power of his sword, being primarily a close ranged Lightning Bruiser, whereas Nacht uses his Shadow Magic for mobility and ranged options, on top of several Devils for a variety of forms for different optinos in combat.
• Sword Beam:
  • Can shoot beams made of darkness as massive crescent waves.
  • His spell Dark Cloaked Dimension Slash unleashes a vertical slash with great range and cutting power, even moreso when combined with Mana Zone.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: 183 cm (6') tall, black hair, and ruggedly handsome with a muscular build.
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky: Tall, black hair, and a sarcastic attitude especially towards his squad.
• Team Dad: A rather strange example, but when his true colors shine through, it really shows. He tends to shirk disciplining his squad, but he's reliable in a pinch and a source of wisdom and reassurance for the Black Bulls whenever they need it. Not to mention he formed a squad of Ragtag Bunch of Misfits so that they could all have a people they could call family. When they come to rescue him, Yami asks if they like him that much, with the Black Bulls replying that they love him.
• Tempting Fate: After defeating Dante, he states that nabbing the enemy's top devil host will making for a decent happy ending. Then comes Zenon emerging from a portal right next to Yami.
• This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman:
  • Although Dark Magic is far from being useless, it's slow to cast and Yami usually uses it more as a supplement for his swordsmanship. However, because the attribute is the polar opposite of light, it becomes highly effective when he fights against Licht, with his magic absorbing his spells by creating small black holes.
  • It's also highly effective against devils due to its power to affect the underworld. His magic is very useful in the fight against Zagred, whose Word Soul Magic can't block it, and when the Black Bulls fight Dante.
• Toilet Humor: A Running Gag is that Yami has to use the toilet for long periods of time, and someone will face his anger if they're interrupting him while using it.
• Too Many Belts: He wears three belts around his waist, contributing to his rough, manly appearance.
• Too Much Alike: Nacht's hatred of Yami is revealed to be because of their similarities as young, irresponsible delinquents when they were younger and friends, with Nacht coming to hate their formerly shared personality traits after he recklessly went through with the Devil-Binding Ritual that led to his brother's death. Nacht messes with Asta using his shadow arms when he points out his similarity to Yami, noting that Yami reminds himself of who he used to be.
• Tough Love: His belief. He sends his squad members on tough missions and put them in very dangerous situations in hopes that they'll get stronger.
• Toxic Friend Influence: He became friends with Nacht when they were fifteen because of their similar magics, with the two causing trouble together. Played for Drama when Nacht stated that he would "surpass [his] limits" when going through with the Devil-Binding Ritual to summon Lucifugus despite his brother Morgen's attempt to stop Nacht, which led to his tragic death.
• Tranquil Fury: When seeing that Dante injured Asta and Gauche after returning from the captains' meeting, Yami maintains his cool while it being clear that he's furious, telling him that "nobody messes with [his] people" before they fight.
• Undying Loyalty: He's very loyal to Julius, who treated him kindly after he became stranded in the Clover Kingdom, took him into his squad, and taught him the kingdom's language. After Julius seemingly dies, Yami declares that he'll help protect the kingdom in his stead.
• Unsportsmanlike Gloating: After the Black Bulls win second place in the rankings, the first thing he does is rub the fact in his fellow captains' faces while laughing like a child.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Yami and Jack squabble with each other often and try to outdo one another, but are still drinking buddies and acknowledge each other as worthy rivals. So much so that when Yami is captured by the Dark Triad, Jack is very adamant on rescuing him.
• We Used to Be Friends: As a teenager, he was friends with Nacht, bonding with him over their similar magics and troublemaking. However, in the present-day Nacht hates Yami, which is heavily implied to be because his influence on Nacht led him to recklessly go through with the Devil-Binding Ritual that caused Morgen's death, on top of Yami's own negative personality traits which Nacht came to disdain after his brother's death. Their friendship gets repaired when Yami tells him to keep living to help enough people for Morgen and acknowledges Nacht as still being his friend, helping Nacht get over his guilt for taking Morgen from Yami and Yami being a reminder for Nacht of his past self that he hates.
• Wisdom from the Gutter: Despite not being the most conventionally intelligent person out there, with his brain short-circuiting when thinking about what to do next against Licht and his tendency to go for physical solutions, Yami is often a source of reassurance and wisdom for his squad:
  • Upon finding an escaped-convict Gauche and after beating him up, Yami told him to protect what's precious to him and that it'll lead him to protecting something else. This led Gauche to join the Black Bulls to provide for his sister and eventually come to care for the squad as well.
  • Him telling Vanessa to disregard fate and find her own destiny gave her the courage to escape her cage which led to her joining the Black Bulls, her true family.
  • Downtrodden after learning that he was too weak to learn the Heart Kingdom's Mana Method technique, Magna asked Yami why he chose him to join the Black Bulls. Yami told him it's because he looked like the gutsiest one out there, which gave a depressed Magna the motivation to learn from Zora his rune technique and eventually perfect his Soul Chain Death Match.
  • He gave a mournful, guilt-ridden Nacht after causing the death of his twin brother Morgen new purpose in his life by telling him that he'd create his own squad and make him his vice captain, stating that they could get laughed at together.
• Wooden Katanas Are Even Better: Gets the Mistilteinn Blade, a wooden katana, from Vangeance to fight against Lucifero. After the battle is over and he scolds Asta for trashing his old katana, he formally gives Asta it now that he has a new one.
• Worthy Opponent: Dante calls Yami magnificent for being a human who made him need to use his Body Magic, acknowledging Yami's battle techniques and instincts as greater than his own.
• Wrecked Weapon: Has his katana broken in half by Vetto. It's reforged by the time of the Underwater Temple Arc.
  "Why, you little...!! I had this katana custom made! It was crazy expensive!! You better pay me back, loser!!"
• Wrong Context Magic: Thanks to his Dark Magic's power to affect dimensions, Yami is classified as an Arcane Stage, a mage with inexplicable powers, on the Magic Stages scale. As a result, the Dark Triad try to capture him and Vangeance for theirs magics to form the Tree of Qliphoth.
• Wutai: Hails from such named the Land of the Sun and so is considered a foreigner. That katana he uses is a special custom order because no one else in the Clover Kingdom uses them. When Asta washes up there after being teleported by a Paladin Sister Lily under Lucius's control, he meets Yami's Childhood Friend Ryuya, the country's shogun, and younger sister Ichika.
• You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: Yami refers to Asta as "kid" all the time. He calls Asta by his name when he asks for his help against Dante, pushing him to get up after previously being defeated and fight alongside Yami.

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"Someday, I'm gonna make my own brigade. I bet the other brigades will look after the decent types and the brilliant ones, so... The ones destiny didn't choose. The ones who got chained down. The lost ones. The ones burdened with crimes. A brigade where people who haven't been able to wield the power they've got can rampage around. I'll get stronger too... So I can keep those idiots together."

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