Now I understand what kind of person you are; it's in my guidebook! Rather than be scared or surprised, you yell a lot and tell me I don't know what I'm talking about.
Chief ferry girl across the River Styx, Botan is the perky shinigami sent to retrieve Yusuke's soul after his unexpected death. She initially serves as his guide back to life and becomes his assistant upon his appointment as Spirit Detective.
Action Girl: Specifically in the Four Saint Beasts storyline, where she easily fends off possessed people with a baseball bat and then attempts to save Keiko.
Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: In the English dub, she has a slight English accent which diminishes over the course of the series...then pops back up in random intervals.
Shinigami: A Shinigami with character details (such as the oar she rides on and her blue hair) referencing the Japanese Buddhist myth of the Sanzu River, analogous to the Western River Styx. Her primary function is as a psychopomp, although that appears less and less as the series focuses more on Yusuke's battles with demons.
The English dub has her call herself the Grim Reaper and Guardian of the River Styx instead.
Action Survivor: Has no supernatural powers to defend herself from demonic and powerful forces. She gets by by being plucky and resourceful, shown especially when she and Botan are up against zombies controlled by insects.
All Girls Want Bad Boys: Her and Yusuke. Justified in that while the rest of the school thinks he's some kind of mob boss she knows he's not as bad as he seems because they grew up together.
Armor-Piercing Slap: Especially when Yusuke touches her inappropriately. Yusuke says it hurts more than Kwuabara's punches.
Heroic BSOD: Has a pretty big one when Yusuke gets the tar beaten out of him by Younger Toguro.
I Wished You Were Dead: After being irritated by Yusuke yet again, she furiously snaps "Why don't you just die?!" Shortly after, Yusuke performs his Heroic Sacrifice to save a kid, and Keiko's resultant breakdown is part of what convinces him to work his way back.
Muggle: Keiko and Atsuko are the only characters listed here without any kind of supernatural powers.
Official Couple: With Yusuke since his revival more or less. Cemented at the end.
Plucky Girl: Hiei's Shadow Sword, insect-controlled humans, the Dark Tournament...she's been able to handle it all pretty nicely. Borders on Bad Ass Normal sometimes (the girl's willing to douse herself with water and go through fire to rescue Yusuke's body!)
Shorttank: Even if she is fond of wearing dresses.
Spell My Name with an S: Television closed captions for the English dub spell her name as "Kayko".
Traumatic Haircut: Averted. Getting parts of her hair singed off after rescuing Yusuke from a fire leads to no angst on her part.
Tsundere: Type A towards Yuusuke big time... even moreso in the manga.
Koenma
Species: Spirit Being Main Power: Shapeshifting / Ma Fū Kan
Actually, I'm proud to say that in addition to knowing the greatest secrets of the universe, I am also quite potty-trained.
Voiced by: Mayumi Tanaka (JP), Sean Michael Teague (EN)
Chief administrator of the Spirit World and son of King Yama, Koenma resurrects Yusuke and becomes his employer.
Bad Boss: Played for laughs as he treats the narrator like dirt.
Berserk Button: Being laughed off for resembling a toddler.
Big Good: He is Yusuke's boss and the administrator of the Spirit World.
Chekhov's Gun: His pacifier is a device that creates a barrier strong enough to hold S-Class demons.
Chekhov's Gunman: The Chapter Black Saga forces him out of the sidelines, and into the front field for the first time.
Crossdressing Voices: Voiced by Mrs. Mayumi Tanaka in the original Japanese. Is also often voiced by female actresses in the dubs. In the Latin American dub, Child!Koenma was voiced by a woman; older!Koenma, by a man, and he's also voiced by a man in the English dub.
Averted in the English dub, much to Sean Michael Teague's vindication. He talks on the commentary track about how his voice is so high that he's constantly being mistaken for a woman at drive-throughs, so getting a job because he has a higher-pitched voice was great.
Failure Knight: Is extremely guilt-ridden from his involvement and appointment of Sensui. Enough for him to face him personally, and betray his own father.
Immortal Immaturity: More in the anime than the manga, and usually when he's in his baby form.
Mr. Exposition: Particularly in the anime, where he has a video screen that lets him see everything and a clueless assistant who needs things spelled out to him.
Non-Action Guy: The Koenmatron jetpack is his solution to fighting.
Rage Against the Heavens: Behind the scenes, during the Demon World Unification Tournament, Koenma impeached and overthrew his father for the crimes of manipulating Demons to cause crimes in Human World for centuries.
Really 700 Years Old: Is exactly 700 years old, and appears to be a toddler. He can transform into a bishonen teen form for a few minutes at a time... but doesn't remove his pacifier when he does so.
Stays in teenage form continuously later in the series when it gets more serious. Eventually the pacifier is revealed to be a device to store energy. He keeps the the pacifier in his mouth even after using up its stored energy, presumably because that's how he recharges it.
Sexier Alter Ego: Koenma (usually in the form of an infant with a pacifier) is able to take on an older, more bishounen appearance.
Shout-Out: He is disguised as Tuxedo Mask at the Makai Tournament, probably because Togashi and Takeuchi were dating at the time.
A legendary human psychic that holds a tournament to choose an apprentice to pass on her power to in her old age. With Yusuke's victory, she becomes his mentor, determined to beat skill into him even if he doesn't want it. Unknown to everyone (though not above suspicion), she's also the fifth masked fighter for Team Urameshi during the Dark Tournament. Has something of an interesting past with the younger Toguro brother.
Action Girl: She is still one of these as a 70+ year-old woman, and, when she was younger, she helped Team Toguro with the Dark Tournament, her being the only girl on that team.
Affectionate Nicknames: Yusuke calls her an assortment of names ranging from 'old hag' to 'Grandma'. She, in turn, calls him 'dimwit', among other things.
Brought Down to Normal: The ultimate secret of the Spirit Wave is the Spirit Wave Orb, which she has to pass down to her apprentice. This makes him stronger while it makes her roughly 90% weaker.
Brought Down to Badass: Yet the lil 'ol hag still manages to hold her own quite well against Doctor's territory.
Deadpan Snarker: She will say what's on her mind and she isn't afraid to hold back. Oh, and if you don't like it/can't handle it - too bad, she'll kick your ass too.
Gamer Chick: Because she doesn't have much to do when she's not training besides playing some arcade game she owns. Really.
Killed Off for Real: In the manga, she already passed away at the start of the last chapter. She died after Team Yusuke's last mission at the Gates of Judgment hostage situation.
Little Dead Riding Hood: Was killed by Younger Toguro in her usual red attire. She recovered
Meaningful Name: Genkai generally means "limit" in Japanese. Has quite a few meanings in context of the show, huh? It's a homonym too; her name is written with the kanji for "illusion" and "sea"- "sea of illusion", which is also meaningful as she's an Old Master with a lot of secrets.
Never Mess with Granny: As someone who is a former champion of the Dark Tournament, her fighting skill should be without question. That doesn't stop glory-seeking demons from trying to fight her...
Not So Stoic: Is harsh, disparaging, and domineering to Yusuke to a fault, but almost has an Heroic BSOD when he dies in the Chapter Black saga.
Also, she yells at Toguro-ototo when he's literally about to go to Hell.
And when he continues to deny she is the same person that fought alongside him 50 years ago, she is VERY UPSET.
The Obi-Wan: Toguro kills her to make Yusuke stronger.
She's revived later by Koenma
Old Master: The "just wants a break" version, and badass grandma.
Paper-Thin Disguise: Doubly subverted. Her disguise is her usual outfit with a head covering bandage. Underneath is her younger appearance.
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: She's barely taller then Hiei. In her first episode, she knocks two rude and huge men into a wall just by blinking a wave of energy at them. Be polite to your elders.
Progressively Prettier: When she first appeared, she was downright toad-like, with yellowish skin and gigantic eyelids. As her role expanded, she started letting her hair down, grew eyebrows (??), and dropped a few obvious wrinkles. She still looks worn down and ragged, but you can tell that she was once very pretty.
Renowned Selective Mentor: Holds a tournament to determine her successor. However, she also points out that she doesn't consider morality a factor when selecting a successor, and part of Yusuke's entering is so that Rando will not receive her techniques.
Hiei's twin sister, a fact lost only on Kuwabara and Yukina herself. An ice demon, and the object of Kuwabara's affections. She was kidnapped and kept imprisoned for a time by Tarukane because her tears, which transform into jewels, fetch a high price on the black market.
An Ice Person: She's a lot nicer then Seiryuu at least.
Beware of the Nice Ones: She once told Hiei her real reason for searching her brother: reminding him his promise to kill all the Ice Maidens and lead him where they lived.
Break the Cutie: She experiences this briefly after watching her only two friends, a pair of bluebirds, get murdered in cold blood.
Cuteness Proximity: Her very appearance is enough to turn anyone into a doting big-brother and Cool Big Sis who wants to hug her all day long.
Damsel in Distress: A defiantly dignified one, facing torture with as much dignity as she can unless others are threatened/tortured/killed in front of her.
Which hits you like a sack of bricks when you think of how long she has been tortured until the point of desensitization.
Friend to All Living Things: Portrayed this way in her first appearances. The manga has an off-hand mention of the birds being Reikai messengers, however, and later, one of Hiei's Whole Episode Flashbacks has her make an interesting statement...which makes her a subversion of the trope, if anything.
Healing Hands: But not The Medic. Her powers are good, but she doesn't appear often enough for that.
I'm Taking Her Home with Me!: Kuwabara's first reaction upon seeing her in Koenma's mission video, and just about every good person in the cast when they meet her for the first time. By the end of the series Kuwabara's family does take her home, whether as a little sister or as Kazuma's wife is left uncertain.
Protectorate: Of Kuwabara. Raising a hand to her is a very good way to cause Kuwabara's instant Unstoppable Rage.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: Subverted. She has deep red eyes yet she's anything BUT evil. Then again, she's searching her brother to have him commit a genocide...
Yamato Nadeshiko: In both appearance (long hair, kimono, moderate height) and personality (dignified, strong willed, polite, loving) and just might have become Kuwabara's wife at the end.
Demoted to Extra: She kinda disappears after the anime's Spirit Detective arc. Notably, when Keiko, Botan and Shizuru are discussing the Dark Tournament in the anime, Atsuko is passed out drunk. In the manga, the scene is never shown, but all four show up there together.
Does Not Like Shoes: She never appears to wear any in the anime. Subverted in the manga as she also wears her business attire from time to time.
Dragon Lady: Not shown in the anime, but she seemed to have ties with Yakuza. She and her group threatened the school's principal to let Yusuke come back to school after he came back to life. She also got Yusuke set up a business of his own through her connections at the end of the manga.
All Girls Want Bad Boys: Her and Sakyo in the anime. Thought she doesn't seem to have many illusions about him turning to the side of good, she does listen to his really creepy backstory and show him far more compassion than he deserves. Could be subverted due to just being his looks.
Canon Foreigner: Doesn't appear in the manga, where his function is usually served by Botan or Ayame.
Narrator All Along: It is discovered in the last episodes, although hinted at shortly before, that he was the narrator of the show- since it is revealed that the show itself is the records of the protagonists' adventures that Koenma kept (hence the title, which, while using the original Japanese name, is nonetheless translated by Funimation as "Ghost Files").
Only Known by Their Nickname / No Name Given: The dub credits him as "Blue Ogre" up until Chapter Black, and Koenma addresses him as "Ogre." The Japanese version reveals his name during or near the end of the Dark Tournament, and Koenma just calls him "you" before that.
The Watson: He exists purely for Koenma to abuse and explain things to.
Allies
Toya
Species: Demon Main Power: Ice Manipulation
The Shinobi have done their job for centuries, and done it well. But in recent years, we have caught glimpses of the outside world, and asked; 'Why not us?' Have we not earned the privilege others take for free?
Toya is the ice master of the shinobi of the Spirit World. During the fight for control of the Makai, Toya is one of the demons that Kurama trains to fight for Yomi, though they eventually all disband to fight individually in the Makai tournament.
The Ace: Considered to be the greatest ice master alive.
An Ice Person: A demon ninja with mastery over ice. When he went under Genkai for some Training from Hell, he became powerful enough to freeze a battlefield.
Jin is a demon with mastery over the wind. This grants him the power to fly at great speeds. His signature move is to spin his forearm at high speed, creating a tornado around it, making his punches more powerful, even causing damage when he misses. He enjoys his battles, especially when he has a worthy opponent. He states that when he gets excited about a fight his ears twitch. During the fight for control of the Demon World, Jin is one of the demons that Kurama trains to fight for Yomi, though they disband to fight individually in the Demon World tournament.
Chu is the strongest fighter and leader of team Jolly Devil Six, but ends up as the team alternate after losing at Jan-ken-pon. Chu specializes in the "Drunken Fist", which fuses the alcohol he drinks with his aura. During the fight for control of the Makai, Chu is one of the demons that Kurama trains to fight for Yomi, though they eventually all disband to fight individually in the Makai tournament. At the end of the manga, he begins training with, and falls for, Natsume, the female demon who defeated him in the Makai tournament.
Authority Equals Asskicking: Zig-zagged, it seemed Zeru, the proxy leader was the real threat, however the only reason Chu wasn't in the roster initially is that he lost at Rock-Paper-Scissors. He soon proves his strength soon enough.
Blood Knight: When Yusuke tells him he wants to see if he has more than his drunken fist, he gets very interested
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He shows up tripping over everything, acting dumbly and lazily, and looking like crap. Boy, does he ever turn out to be total badass. It's pointed out soon afterward that he's only the "alternate" because he lost in rock paper scissors.
Drunken Master: Became more dangerous after taking a swig of Ogre Killer. Taken to whole new levels when his most powerful attack actually involves mixing his energy with alcohol to make an energy ball powerful enough that two shots of Yusuke's Spirit Gun couldn't equal it. The first shot weakened the attack and the second shot burst through it, punching a hole in the middle, but not stopping it. Even better, he has a special kind of alcohol that... well... induces vomiting. Once he's emptied his stomach, he gets drunk even faster, which summons more of his demonic energy for him to use. (Tequila?)
Wild Card: He appears without any foreshadowing, and gives Yusuke who had taken training what was intended to be a Curb-Stomp Battle and change it into an equal fight. Even their sponsor lampshades it.
I know a fun new game. I'll throw my yo-yos and you try to stay alive.
Voiced by: Yoshiko Kondo (JP), Kimberly Grant (EN)
Rinku is a young demon who uses yo-yos to attack. Rinku is childish and playful, and often annoys those around him. He controls his yo-yos by channeling his aura through the strings. During the fight for control of the Makai, Rinku is one of the demons that Kurama trains to fight for Yomi, though they eventually all disband to fight individually in the Makai tournament. At the end of the manga, he becomes stricken with Sasuga, a female demon who defeated him in the Makai Tournament, and it is hinted that they are in a relationship together.
Killer Yoyo: Rinku can control four yoyos in each hand and each one attacks independently of the other and obey his will. After his Trainingfrom Hell, he can use eight yoyos.
Shishiwakamaru
Species: Demon Main Power: Shapeshifting / Banshee Shriek
Well, I think the end of the world would have to make a bit of noise.
Shishiwakamaru is a tiny imp demon who can transform into a full human appearance. He is a swordsman who seeks to make himself famous. Suzuki gives him the Sword of Trials, a sword hilt that changes into whatever weapon suits the wielder. For Shishi it becomes the Banshee Shriek, a sword which channels the souls of the dead and materializes them to devour his opponent. During the fight for control of the Makai, Shishi is one of the demons that Kurama trains to fight for Yomi, though they eventually all disband to fight individually in the Makai tournament.
Big Bad Wannabe: For a minute there, it really looked like he'd be the next tough opponent. ...He wasn't.
Heel-Face Turn: Once retconned into surviving his battle with Genkai
It's All About Me: He sort of acts like a celebrity and is obsessed with fame.
Make Me Wanna Shout: His sound's wailing can steal the souls of weaker beings who hear the sound and his attacks are based around sound in general.
Retcon: Shishiwakamaru was clearly meant to be dead after Genkai defeats him. In the original Japanese version, Genkai even refers to him as "the late Shishiwakamaru" in her battle with Suzuki. But in the final Tournament Arc, he's inexplicably alive and a good guy. One wonders if his real-life fangirls had some sort of influence on this decision.
Sleep Mode Size: Maybe. When he reappears to train with Kurama, he's in an inexplicable bird-like form small enough to fit on Suzuki's shoulder. This form and its relative power/use compared to his bishie form are neither commented on nor explained.
Curb-Stomp Battle: After Shishiwakamaru was efficiently disposed of, then it looked like this guy would be the next tough customer... He was even weaker.
Eviler than Thou: Backed down scared rather than face Toguro at a fraction of his full strength.
The Fighting Narcissist: Such is his vanity that he'd actually prefer to be made a legend without his face being shown, so those in the future would forever wonder how "the beautiful Suzuki" looked.
Insistent Terminology: Suzuka demands to be addressed as "the beautiful," and throws a razor playing card at one of the commentators, decapitating an audience member behind her, when she fails to call him that. Also blasts a portion of the stadium that mocked him for not using this. He still insists on this, even after his Heel-Face Turn.
Writing Around Trademarks: Suzuki was renamed Suzuka for the dub, as to not offend the car company. He was changed back to Suzuki in the Blu-Ray re-dub.
Yu Kaito is a human who develops superhuman powers as a result of the demon plane hole opened by Sensui. He is a student at Meioh Private Academy where he constantly attempts to outdo Kurama for top grades. He is a master of the written word, having written several books and enjoys word puzzles.His ability is "Taboo" which allows him to create word games that those within his territory must adhere to or their soul will be extracted from their body. While testing the limits of his power, Kaito breaks his Taboo and has his own soul sucked from his body, prompting Kido and Yanagisawa to consult Genkai to help him and explain their new powers.In the manga, his last appearance shows him spending his day off mostly playing video games and writing.
Badass Pacifist: Literally. His power completely bans violence of any kind, and the only way to beat him is to outsmart him in word games. Considering just how freaking intelligent the guy is, good luck.
Meaningful Name: Yu means ghost and Kaito means thief. One can only wonder why he steals the souls of up to three of our main characters.
The Problem with Pen Island: If he makes a word taboo, anyone who says the syllables for it in succession loses their soul, regardless of whether it's two words formed together, such as "eachother" for "hot".
Asato Kido is a human who develops superhuman powers as a result of the demon plane hole opened by Sensui. His ability, "Shadow", allows him to step on someone's shadow and incapacitate them. Along with Yu Kaito and Yanagisawa he seeks the aid of Genkai when his powers appear. It is shown that he also has limited control over his own shadow, using it to spell out his attackers name after he is paralyzed by Doctor. In his final manga appearance, Kido is shown to have been stood up by his date in a cinema while the narration says he is far too forgiving.
Redemption Demotion: Beaten up by Murota and paralyzed by Doctor within two episodes. (Not that he was really so bad before...)
Couldn't Find a Pen: Uses his Shadow for this to tell Yusuke that Kamiya is the Doctor.
Also receives one from Murota and one from Doctor.
Knight of Cerebus: Two-ways. His appearance marks the point when the series takes a much darker and more mature turn, and when Yusuke comes to the realization that brawn and power alone hardly wins every fight.
Nice Guy: Despite appearing to be a tough thug, he's actually the most polite of his group.
Put on a Bus: Spends most of the Chapter Black saga offscreen in the hospital.
Shadow Pin: Could paralyze people by stepping on their shadows, and managed to hand Yusuke an embarassing defeat by doing just that. He can also control his own shadow independently of the rest of his body.
Mitsunari Yanagisawa
Species: Human Psychic Main Power: Copy
So you picked my pocket with some greenery? You really are a first class freak!
Mitsunari Yanagisawa is a human who develops superhuman powers as a result of the demon plane hole opened by Sensui. His power is "Copy" which allows him to copy the appearance, memories, attributes, abilities, and spirit print of anyone he touches. In his last appearance in the manga, he is too shy to ask an attractive girl out, and it is revealed that ten years later, he marries the girl that tries to cheer him up.
Dare to Be Badass: During Yusuke's fight with Doctor he manages to burn Doctor with chemicals.
Murota is a human who develops physic powers as a result of the demon plane hole opened by Sensui. He is recruited by Yusuke, Genkai, Kido and Yana when they arrive in Mushiyori City, using his abilities for Team Urameshi to gather information on the Sensui Seven. His power is Wiretap, which allows him to read the minds of anyone in a 30 mile radius. He's eaten by Gourmet after Kuwabara was captured
Boxing Battler: Is a boxer. His mind reading power gives him a distinct advantage in fights, albeit not nearly enough to beat Yusuke.
The Chew Toy: Punched out by Yusuke, shot in the head by Sniper as intimidation, and infected by the Doctor's disease all within the space of three episodes.
Combat Clairvoyance: Seeks to use his mind reading skills to become a successful professional boxer.
Dare to Be Badass: During Yusuke's fight with Doctor he reads the Doctor's mind to save Yusuke from his bluff.
He Knows Too Much: He's killed by Gourmet for both his ability and that he knew too much about the plan
Raizen's second-in-command. He first appears to offer Yusuke the chance to go back to demon world to train and take over Raizen's position if he dies. Impressing Yusuke in a fight, Hokushin goes back to demon world waiting for Yusuke's arrival so they can get to training. When Yusuke arrives, he begins training and preparing him towards his true destiny.
Rando is a demon who participated in Genkai's tournament and serves as the main antagonist in Yusuke's second case. He has killed 99 masters and copied their techniques. He disguises himself as Shaolin monk during Genkai's tournament so as not to draw attention to himself. He had planned to win the tournament and make Genkai's Spirit Wave the 100th technique in his arsenal.
Awesome, but Impractical: His Shrinking Curse is basically an instant win if it hits, but requires an absurdly long chant to use and can be defeated by earplugs.
Not just defeated, but deflected back. If the technique is used with no one else around the hear the chant, the spell is cast on the user instead.
The Four Beasts are four demons who rule a part of the Underworld called City of Apparitions and the antagonists for Yusuke's third case. The beasts share their names with the four symbols of Chinese astrology. In the anime adaptation they are known as the Saint Beasts.
Home Field Advantage: The first of the 4 Sacred Beasts, Genbu, can use his powers over earth to meld with the stone that composes the castle and move freely through it.
Monstrosity Equals Weakness: Looks like a turtle Kaju with a troll face, but had the second swiftest defeat,
Rock Monster: He's composed of rock, and can melt into any rock surface. He can also control his rock body at will, and is fond of attacking by turning his body into a swarm of rocks and flying towards his opponent.
Tag Along Kid: A sinister subversion. The reason the other Saint Beasts tolerate him is that he can communicate with the demons, they would've been the Three Saint Beasts a long time ago if that wasn't the case.
Byakko
Species: Demon Main Power: Energy Absorbtion / Summon Beasts / Tiger Scream
An anthropomorphic white tiger who can turn pieces of his hair into lesser beasts, absorb aura energy and fire sonic blasts from his mouth.
Alas, Poor Villain: The story takes a moment to focus on Byakko's shock and horror when he is betrayed and executed by Seiryuu for failing to beat his opponent. This is inspite of being of an arrogant man-eating demon.
Rasputinian Death: Falls from a great height, falls from a great height into lava, but is then ultimately only killed by being frozen and shattered
Smug Super: He views himself highly with justified reason, seeing that he has a powerful Make Me Wanna Shout attack that is legendary in the Demon World, and due to this reason, he didn't even try to come and face Kuwabara, choosing to have his hairs face him instead.
The leader of the Four Beasts. A demon who uses lightning to attack, he is able to split himself into seven separate, yet equally powerful bodies, and can endlessly regenerate his power by reabsorbing the copies.
The Four Gods: He'd be the Phoenix, especially since he can revive himself mutliple times and has a bird for a companion.
Badass: Despite what a bastard he is, Suzuku is undeniably badass. He made Yusuke's training and new techniques look like child's play for most of their fight.
Cold-Blooded Torture: Suzaku is a massive sadist who sits on his chair while his clones electrocute Yusuke, six on one.
Doppelgänger Attack: Like mentioned above, seven clones, each just as strong as him.
Faux Affably Evil: Is infinitely more pleasant, polite, and serene than his allies. However, this politeness and calm persona is a facade to mask his utterly sadistic love of tormenting and torturing others for the sheer, near childlike glee of it all. Such as how he mercilessly tortures Yusuke and forces him to watch while his mind controlled minions were about to kill Keiko and Botan; all the while enjoying himself like he is watching his favorite horror film.
Genre Savvy: His scheme (especially regarding Keiko) is set up like a B-grade horror movie. That isn't lost on him in the slightest.
The Demon Tournament team owned by the ludicrously wealthy Sakyo N., and led by the Toguro Brothers. They each have their own reasons for joining the team and fighting, but they also unanimously want to aid Sakyo in helping him construct an even bigger portal to the Underworld. Because, apparently, life would be more interesting that way.
BADASS: So much that their boss and his second in command can take multiple participants at the Dark Tournament at once, also their direct inferiors can defeat their enemies in a blink in an eye.
Founder and Leader of the Apparition Gang and the captain and star fighter of Team Toguro, Younger Toguro is a former human turned demon and one of the main antagonists of the Rescue Yukina and Dark Tournament arcs. It's been fifty years since he last participated in the tournament, and it appears Yusuke has intrigued him enough to hope he has finally found a fighter worthy of his full 100% power. He has something of an interesting relationship with Genkai, to say the least.
Anti-Villain - Type I. Once he's defeated we find out his true motivations, he lost all of his pupils and sought strength to exact revenge. Once he succeeded, he continued to punish himself by becoming a demon because he felt he could never suffer enough for his failure. And then he attempts to punish himself for his punishment during the main series. Even before that, he was a guy you couldn't help but admire.
Deal with the Devil: Combined with He Who Fights Monsters when he defeats Kairen (a demon who had much the same abilities as the Toguro Brothers) at the Dark Tournament 50 years ago, and, by winning, asks the Tournament Commitee to turn him and his brother into demons.
Death Seeker: He wants to die at the hands of a stronger fighter...
Hell Seeker: So he can go to the deepest pit of hell so he eternally be punished for not having the strength to protect his disciples.
Even Evil Has Standards: Still finds some actions completely distasteful, especially those of his own brother.
Evil Counterpart: To Yusuke, while Sensui is Yusuke's exact opposite; Toguro is more of if Yusuke decided to abandon his good tendencies and love for his True Companions and gave in to his inner Blood Knight. Even his coat is olive green, a darker shade to Yusuke's usual outfit, Not to mention, they also share a Deadpan Snarker trait.
Fallen Hero: He fought evil demons and taught disciples to fight evil...then Kairen showed up and his beliefs were shattered.
The Juggernaut: Spends the majority of his screentime being utterly implacable by even the strongest of fighters. Even Yusuke during the final round of the tournament is thoroughly outclassed during most of the fight, despite two power-ups though the third finally pushes him to Toguro's level.
Kick the Son of a Bitch: Literatelly kicks his older brother, then punches him into yet another temporary death. Ironically, in the dub, "son of a bitch" is what said brother calls Toguro when he does this.
He also kills Gonzo Tarukane by literally kicking him in the back of the head, decapitating him in the process.
Lightning Bruiser: Unlike most beings of his stature, Toguro is every bit as fast as he is strong and muscular, even at his maximum.
Megaton Punch On his brother. Gets one himself when he goes too far.
Muscles Are Meaningless: A complete subversion. As he powers up, he becomes incredibly muscular in the process.
My Greatest Failure: Not protecting his students from Kairen, a powerful demon, and even after defeating him in the previous Dark Tournament, he never let it go, turning himself into a demon and later going to the deepest circle of Hell in order to punish himself for this.
Noble Demon: He's only in it for business and will only be brutal when it's necessary, compared to his sadistic brother
Start of Darkness: goes insane after a demon kills his students, and even after killing him, he felt that he needed to be punished for it for all time.
Stealth Mentor: towards Yusuke, he pushes Yusuke to be stronger and his words during his fight with Yusuke seem to a Secret Test of Character in hindsight, so he won't be completely consumed by battle.
The Stoic: One of his most notable attributes is his constant poker face.
Walking Shirtless Scene: The guy loves to take off his coat. Justified in that his main power is expanding his muscles, so it would be a shame to damage his nice coat.
Co-Leader of the Apparition Gang, and vice-captain of Team Toguro. Elder Toguro is a human turned demon shapeshifter who usually rides on his brother's shoulder, and often fights alongside him. He can alter the shape of his body to form weapons or to move his organs to escape harm, and also has powerful regenerative abilities, almost to the point of immortality. Infamous due to his cruelty and sadism, even for Sakyo's standards.
And I Must Scream: How he's finally taken care of, considering that he simply can't die.
Assimilation Backfire: When Sensui Seven member Gourmet eats Elder Toguro to get his powers, Elder Toguro ends up taking over his body later.
Ax-Crazy: Gets more and more insane throughout the series until he's completely lost it.
Body Horror: His power involves manipulating his body into anything, and shifting his vital organs around. it gets worse when he becomes a parasite after taking over Gourmet's body.
Card-Carrying Villain: Fully aware of the fact that he's depraved, honorless scum and enjoys every second of it.
Dub Text/ Foe Yay: Complains that Kurama's not as pretty in his human form, but only in the English version.
Eaten Alive: Played straight then darkly inverted, he is eaten by Gourmet, but takes over his body from the inside out, causing the latter to commit suicide in order not to be Eaten Alive himself
Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: White skinned, which begs the question on how he and his younger brother are related.
Embarrassing Nickname: Is often called "Toguro's shoulder monkey", in-universe included.
Evil Feels Good: Especially in Gourmet's death, which he notes to be like being on ecstasy
Fate Worse than Death: He is trapped in a hallucinogenic plant that feeds on his life force indefinitely.
Faux Affably Evil: Sure he seemingly presents quite a polite and gentlemen-like demeanor toward his victims, but that's only because he's ravishing in his sadistic nature by torturing them physically and emotionally.
From a Single Cell: He can regenerate from anything which is ultimately used against him.
Grand Theft Me: In a disturbingly parasitic manner, he does this to Gourmet, causing him to commit suicide in order to escape the pain of being Eaten Alive from the inside out.
I Lied: "But unlike my brother, my word is not my bond. So you can die too."
Immortality Seeker: After getting punched by his younger brother, he gains the immortality he's always wanted only to be sealed in a plant that feeds on his never ending life force.
Jerk Ass: While his brother is a Noble Demon, he is so repulsive to every one that Kurama decides that putting him through a "living hell" plant for all eternity because death wouldn't cure of it.
Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: During the Dark Tournament, he promised to spare the lives of two of his opponents, if they begged for their lives. They begged and he killed them anyway.
Kick the Dog: The lying about sparing his competitors, the bird neck snapping and his retelling of Genkai's death
gloating on how he caused Gourmet to commit suicide
His slandering of Genkai's name and earning him a literal kicking out of the story
Recurring Villain: While he isn't the Big Bad by any stretch, he might as well be - he's the most recurring enemy that Yusuke and his crew go up against. During their raid on Tarukane's mansion, he's leader of the Apparition Gang. During the Dark Tournament, he's one of the co-founders of Team Toguro. And during Chapter Black, he's a key member of the Sensui Seven.
Sadist: Fully admits he gets off on the pain of others, he's much more open about it than Karasu.
Villain Ball: While not unnecessary stupid, the Elder tends to be very boastful of how sick he is and his tendency to be sadistic at every single moment is what tests everyone's temper even his younger brother, and which causes the ones he fights who had previously had a major disadvantage to go Unstoppable Rage on him and causes anyone who listens to his twisted drivel to lose any respect they had for him.
My brothers all took honest, white-collar jobs, with wives and kids. If I had their lives, I'd kill myself. Luckily, their fate was not meant for me. I was too smart.
Sakyo is the wealthy owner of Team Toguro and a member of the underground Black-Black Club. While he appears to be calm and charismatic, he is a sociopath who grew up torturing and killing animals and people. He has an affinity and knack for gambling, occasionally putting his own life on the line just for the thrill of it. He accumulates a vast fortune which he plans to use to create a hole to the demon world, for no other reason than to just see what happens. For a short while, he was Shizuru's romantic interest.
Affably Evil: He's very polite and gentlemanly for a villain, especially towards Shizuru.
Bigger Bad: Eventually becomes this after his self-inflicted demise, since his past actions have deep repercussions during Chapter Black, since Itsuki more or less picked up on digging through the tunnel where he left off. Even worse, Sensui had his mental breakdown in one of his mansions, where they were torturing demons and bathing in their blood.
Non-Action Big Bad: He serves as the fifth member of Team Toguro, but acknowledges that he can't fight. His "match" with Koenma ends up being tied to the outcome of Yusuke's match with Toguro, essentially meaning that with Yusuke's team having lost one match and won two, the team who won in that case won the round and the tournament.
Bishōnen: Reasonably attractive, even with the scar on his right eye.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: Gambling on the torture and destruction of demons, and organizing a tournament for this reason, just to earn more money...
Dub Text: Even though the original Japanese Sakyo was still a sociopath, he remembered his happy childhood with a warm fondness, genuinely loved his family ("My parent were decent and kind people; it was what you could call an ideal family") and blamed nobody but himself for how he turned out, the English dub added a lot of changes to his narration, making him hate his parents and swearing he would kill himself if he became a white-collar worker.
Fiction 500: He is able to stake the equivalent of Japan's entire national budget like it was pocket change when betting on the victory of Yusuke and Kuwabara over the Toguro brothers with Torukane Gonzo... but then again, he KNEW Toguro would throw the fight for him and more importantly LIVE to report it.
The dub ups the ante by keeping the figure 66 trillion+, but implying that it's US dollars, as opposed to Japanese Yen, which increased the figure by two orders of magnitude to more than the annual economic output of the entire planet (noted by two members of the Black Black group: one says, "That's more than Japan's Gross National Product," and another adds, "It's more than any nation's product").
For the Evulz: Wants a portal to the Makai to be opened...just so life will be more interesting as the world goes to hell. he gets his wish in the end, but it's not the way he wanted to.
I Gave My Word: For all his flaws, Sakyo is a deeply honorable man whose word is his absolute bond; if he promises you that he'll kill himself for losing a bet, he means it.
The Man Behind the Man: He's in charge of Team Toguro, and is thus the true villain of the Dark Tournament saga.
Nightmare Fetishist: He claims to have been fascinated by death and suffering since childhood.
Non-Action Guy: In a Double Subversion, he reveals himself as the fifth member of Team Toguro... before wagering his life on Toguro so he doesn't have to fight.
Pet the Dog: His interactions with Shizuru (Anime only).
The Sociopath: His backstory tells us how he would torture animals when he ran a pet shop, and only entering the dark underground because he could gamble lives including his own.
Taking You with Me: Sort of a half-hearted, unintentional example. After Team Toguro's defeat, he graciously accepts defeat and sets the stadium to self-destruct with himself inside it...without waiting for anyone to actually get out first.
Karasu
Species: Demon Main Power: Explosive Touch
Your red hair is perfect for that fiery spirit that I admire. You know that's why I've decided to leave your beautiful face unharmed. I may not be able to keep you, but I'll always have the memory of your face to give comfort.
Karasu is a Quest class demon. He is able to use his aura to create bombs undetectable by lower level demons, as well as create bombs within his victims. He wears a mask over his mouth which restricts his unstable powers. He is also able to use his entire body as an explosive. He takes quite a liking to Kurama.
Cool Mask: A gray one with tiny spectacles it acts as a restraint for his powers.
Depraved Homosexual: In love with Kurama and shows this with his desire to kill him.
Dissonant Serenity: What makes him so dangerous other than his powers is that he is so calm and nonchalant than you wouldn't know he was crazy at first sight.
Evil Genius: Take a good look, ladies and gentlemen; this is one of the few men who can outsmart Kurama.
Mad Bomber: His fighting style, utilized by conjuring hand-grenades, dynamite and mines.
Lightning Bruiser: Is extremely fast and swift. He can plant sticks of dynamite on you before you even notice he's moved.
Pyrrhic Victory Despite being killed, he wins his match via a technicality.
Ravens and Crows: His name means "Crow" and his mask and design is similar to that of anthropomorphic japanese crows. When flowing, his longcoat also resembles crow wings.
Shout-Out: Once he enters his Super Mode, Koto makes one to Dragon Ball Z. Seeing how his voice actors are Teen Gohan in the U.S. and Vegeta in Japan, the directors were in on the joke...
Bui is a demon warrior who possesses an immense battle aura. When he was younger Bui fought Younger Toguro and lost. He swore he would train and one day defeat him so Toguro invites Bui to join his team as he trains, but Bui is unable to surpass him. He wears heavy armor to suppress his aura and wields an axe larger than his own body.
Anti-Villain: Even more so then Younger Toguro since we never see him commit any despicable acts like his four teammates and prefers to give his opponents in battle a quick death.
An Axe to Grind: His main weapon, until he uses his battle aura.
Bad Ass: The second-strongest member of Team Toguro, and a master of energy manipulation. His aura is so strong that it literally lifts him off the ground just by releasing it.
Hidden Depths: He looks like a silent brute who wears bulky armour and carries a heavy axe... before losing the axe, taking his armour off, and using his Spirit Energy to fight whilst eloquently chatting with Hiei.
Lightning Bruiser: Significantly faster than his opponent in the semifinals expected.
Power Limiter: His armor acts a power restraint that keeps his battle aura under control.
The Quiet One: Never speaks until his fight with Hiei.
Shend Armor Gain Speed: Not surprising since his armor is a Power Limiter. Even with it on he's faster than he seems, but once he removes it he's capable of flight and even faster.
Villain by Default: Only really consider a bad guy because he's on Toguro's team.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Never seen again after Hiei spares him. The last time we see him in the manga, he's watching Yusuke's fight with Toguro.
A collective of complete psychos who plan to finish Sakyo's work in opening the portal to the Underworld. They however aren't in it for the amusement, but because they personify the whole Humans Are Bastards philosophy, and want absolutely everyone dead. They are lead by former Spirit Detective Shinobu Sensui, a tour de force of sheer crazy. In contrast to Team Urameshi's previous enemies, the Sensui Seven are comprised entirely of humans (save for Gatekeeper), and ironically enough (or because of that) are also their greatest enemies.
Badass Crew: Their mental games and nasty moral dilemmas easily make them Team Urameshi's toughest opponents.
Code Name: They all operate using code designations instead of their real names. (Black Angel, Gatekeeper, Sniper, Seaman, Gamemaster, Gourmet and Doctor). Save for Elder Toguro.
Seven Deadly Sins: Each represents a Sin respectively, Seaman (Envy), Sniper (Pride), Gamemaster (Sloth), Doctor (Wrath), Gourmet (Gluttony), Sniper (Pride), Gatekeeper (Lust) and Elder Toguro (Greed); with Black Angel being without sin unless you count the flawed six other personalities he has
Shinobu Sensui - codename Black Angel - is the previous Sprit World Detective and the main antagonist of the Chapter Black arc. During a routine case Sensui came upon one of Sakyo's hideouts for the then-early Black-Black Club, a mansion where humans were torturing demons, bathing in their blood, and committing other acts of unspeakable evil. Seeing the cruelty of those he was sworn to protect Sensui went mad and slaughtered everyone and everything there. He soon disappeared, taking with him a video known only as Chapter Black, a video tape kept in the vaults of the underworld containing footage of the most evil deeds of humanity. Sensui then waited until Koenma appointed a new Spirit Detective before coming out of hiding, springing his plan to judge the human race.
Affably Evil: His real personality is this. Shinobu is shown to have a kind and polite personality, even wanting to shake Yusuke's hand when they first meet. He even shows genuine remorse after he kills Yusuke, and he is very understanding of Yusuke's friends wanting to seek vengeance. Despite all of this, that does not stop him from wanting to kill all humans.
Evil Plan: Open a portal to Demon World and flood the Earth with demons because he hates humans. His true goal was simply to reach demon world and be killed by a demon because of his guilt at killing them for so long to protect humans that were just as bad if not worse.
The Chessmaster: Yusuke and his friends have become so adept combating evil as warriors that Sensui's cerebral, calculating and ruthlessly intelligent evil renders them completely helpless.
Curb-Stomp Battle: Most fights with him are this, especially the three on one. When fighting seriously he is among the most powerful villain in the series, which is saying something since the rest of them are demons. It takes Raizen, who has been stated to unequivocally the most powerful character in the entire series according to the author, to intervene to finally beat the guy. The real irony? The guy was already dying to begin with.
Dangerously Genre Savvy: More than just his prior Detective experience, Sensui has a fond love of movies and video games - a love his has absolutely no qualms about using to his advantage - from tricking Gamemaster into challenging Yusuke's crew to Goblin City, to perfectly timing the runtime of a Vietnam war flick to his fight with Yusuke....so that Yusuke's death would be immaculately on-sync with the end-credit song. It works, too.
Also when Gourmet/ Elder Toguro proved to be useless as he needed Kuwabara's power to activate with the latter being unable to use it, he goes for Roaring Rampage of Revenge, knowing that he'd do anything to avenge his friend and even cut open Hell itself to do it.
Death Equals Redemption: Sort of, in the anime. He does regret the path he and his other personalities took as he dies and says that Yusuke found balance between demonkind and humanity in a better way than he could have. In the manga, he's unrepentant to the end, and simply dies wishing he'll be reborn as a demon.
Depraved Homosexual Subverted/played around with/deconstructed/possibly inverted.
Does This Remind You of Anything?: The speech he gives before he dies about having to fight demons from a very early age and having to come to terms with it sounds an awful lot like him recalling his Coming-Out Story. Especially in the dub.
Genius Bruiser: Up there with Kurama, Karasu, Kaito, and Yomi as one of the most intelligent characters in the series, as well as the series' most skilled martial artist and first S-Class shown.
Golden Super Mode The main Shinobu personality's Sei-Kou-Ki/Holy Energy.
Kill All Humans: His stated goal and mission though it turns out to be a secondary aim to his true goal of being a Death Seeker.
Knight of Cerebus: If Toguro brought the series to a darker, more serious tone, then Sensui basically brings forth hell, brimming with the worst of humanity and Armaggedon.
Knight Templar: Despite being the most "morally pure" of his personas , his original and strongest personality, Shinobu, fits this trope given that he strictly adheres to a highly inflexible black-and-white belief system regardless of the costs of doing so.
Macho Masochism: Double-subverted. When he takes off his shirt after falling into the lake, the first thing the heroes notice about him are his scars that criss-cross his whole body. They assume at first that it was from all of the demons he had to fight when he was younger; however, it's revealed that he got all those scars training himself. Yusuke lampshades it in the dub:
One of Us: He's the best Goblin City (a popular arcade game) player out there, but it's nothing more than a means to an end.
Person of Mass Destruction: While nothing is totally concrete, Sensui as well as Koenma have implied that S class level fighters can wreck entire planets. Very likely the reason why no S classes ever fought on Earth. And guess what, Sensui was the weakest one.
Psychopathic Manchild: Type B and C. While he does act like an intelligent and sophisticated adult, he still has the immature mindset of child who can't accept the complexities of life.
Pure Is Not Good: If Sensui wasn't so pure as a good guy, he couldn't have become so tainted as a villain. His main 'Shinobu' personality is still pure and innocent after all these years. Sort of.
Seven Deadly Sins: While Kamiya (Wrath), Makihara (Gluttony), Hagiri (Pride), Mitarai (Envy), Amanuma (Sloth), Itsuki (Lust) and Elder Toguro (Greed) represent the seven deadly sins of the Bible, the true Sensui (excluding Kazuya - Wrath), the unnamed female personality (Lust) and Minoru (Pride), is devoid of any true sin, like a fallen angel who still upholds his duties even if they are warped from his original goals. Hence, his Black Angel title.
Serial Escalation: He can manipulate an energy ball that he uses to various, deadly ways, has seven personalities, each with a deadlier power, which is good for a Climax Boss, but reaches ridiculous levels of power with Sacred Energy which can level the planet with its mere presence and shape itself to various kinds of armor.
Significant Birth Date: June 6th. Add in his year of birth (1967, given that the Sensui Arc takes place in 1993), write it numerically (6/6/67), and you get the Number of the Beast with a seven left over.
Split PersonalitySeven including the original, in total after losing it.
Soap Opera Disease: He was suffering from terminal cancer, and had only a few months to live. One of the reasons why he's far more ruthless and efficient with his plan than any other villain - he had only a short time to execute it.
Start of Darkness: Exposure to the depravity of humanity and then the Black Chapter tape
Sympathy for the Devil: His world view was shattered and he spent his whole life trying to understand the creatures he hunted and the resulting guilt of those actions led him to Suicide by Cop
The Unfettered: Even when he is was a good guy, he used the absolute extremes to deal with demons.
TV Genius: Sensui is extremely smart, but he seems to have no clue how to relate to people beyond using and/or killing them. Not Good with People is, in his case, an understatement.
Victorious Loser / Doomed Moral Victor: Sensui, in dying, achieved what he wanted, and in the manga, his ideology colors the rest of the series as we find out more about the diversity of demons. This is lampshaded by Yusuke after his death.
Itsuki - codename Gatekeeper - is a demon who can traverse dimensions and Sensui's left-hand man. He is an immensely powerful psychic capable of tearing open entire holes between dimensions through pure meditation, and as such he's the other necessary key to bring forth Sensui's judgment. Having been with Sensui the longest he has grown very fond of him, stating that he wishes for Sensui to be his lover. Itsuki controls a being known as the Reverse Man, a shadow living between dimensions.
Ax-Crazy: A Dissonant Serenity type who is much worse in the manga when he compares Sensui's downfall to watching a sweet little girl becoming a whore and being intoxicated with this fact.
Corrupt the Cutie: In the manga, his motive for why he started to hang around Sensui. It's still there in the anime (especially the dub), but nowhere near as noticeable or blatant. One of the main reasons why Sensui/Itsuki is a Mind Game Ship.
Dissonant Serenity: Itsuki seems to be a very mellow, quiet guy on the surface - but he will unexpectedly snap, especially when Sensui is about to do something violent (which he agrees with only because of Mad Love). Also, his Ura-otoko is full of dead bodies, airplane wreckage, etc.
Evil Genius: And here's the other man who can outsmart Kurama. Might be played with because it's not clear of he outsmarted Kurama or just out-crazied him.
Moral Myopia: His last speech is filled with this. He calls out Team Urameshi and Spirit World for their crimes in an attempt to justify his and Sensui's goals, despire what he and Sensui did.
The Philosopher: Somewhat of a subversion, as he's bloody crazy.
Psycho Supporter: Itsuki from the anime lovesSensui because... Sensui is beautiful. In all kinds of senses, with a stress on the functional beauty of tremendous power.
In the manga, where Itsuki is more twisted, it's because he's gotten the opportunity to see all that purity get twisted and warped and spit out a shattered genocidal maniac who's more powerful than ever and still charismatic and brilliant. He compares it to "a little girl who believes babies come from storks growing up to star in pornos." He loves that kind of thing. He plays this so straight.
Species: Human Psychic Main Power: Marksmanship / Death Print Bull's Eye
I've got no quarrel with you, stranger.
Voiced by: Eiji Sekiguchi (JP), Aaron Hatch (EN)
Kaname Hagiri - codename Sniper - is a human psychic who acts as Sensui's right-hand man and top field operative, always by his side offering combat support. An extremely cold and efficient assassin and one of Team Urameshi's deadliest opponents, any object he throws within his territory will hit its mark with deadly speed and perfect accuracy.
Always Accurate Attack: His territory allows him to fire objects at incredible speeds and force, and will always home in on their marks, though anyone quick enough can stop them and once stopped they lose the ability to follow their target.
Improbable Aiming Skills: When someone is in his territory, and he can mark them to allow objects to home in on them.
Genkai was on-edge when she realized he shot Murota from 500 yards (five football fields) in the head with a pencil eraser- without killing him.
Bad Ass: Aside from Younger Toguro and Sensui himself, he comes closest to actually killing Yusuke. Genkai was promptly terrified when she realized how he shot Murota.
Cold Sniper: An interesting twist. Per say, he doesn't actually use a real sniper rifle (he does use a pistol), but he can flick objects (marbles, dice, a tank truck filled with fuel) with insane force and accuracy. Moreover, his "territory" lets him imprint enemies with bulls-eyes that attract anything he throws with deathly speed. That said, personality-wise he fits the bill of the Cold Sniper quite well - out of all the Sensui Seven, he's the least emotional and crazy, and fights purely methodically. (Though he can also be Not So Stoic, and after Itsuki he is the most unfalteringly loyal to their leader Sensui.)
Combat Pragmatist: He's not above toying with his victims, but he never lets it go on for too long either.
Curb-Stomp Battle: Yusuke's fight against him was absurdly one-sided. In all his experience, Yusuke was always used to fighting enemies head on, but never against somebody who methodically kept his distance and chipped away at him. If it wasn't for Hiei's big damn heroic moment, Yusuke would've been dead a second time.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: About the only human he truly cares about is his sister - she even somewhat serves as his Morality Pet, not that it deters him from his goals.
For the Evulz: Like Itsuki, Hagiri could care less about the Chapter Black and the evils of humanity. He is mainly motivated by a massive superiority complex: He finds most everyone around him too stupid and not worth the dirt they walk on, and thus they deserve to be replaced with Demons. He does however value his family.
Weak, but Skilled: There's a reason he's called Sniper. For how hax his powers are, he's a regular human, and would be knocked out by a direct him from any main character.
Species: Human Psychic Main Power: Psychic Scalpel / Chemical Manipulation
You can't avoid it any longer. You have to kill me - cross the ultimate line that divides all men - but you've NEVER killed a human and, once you do that, you could never go back to the other side. It's like a narcotic. You have to keep on killing or else the guilt will overcome you. At least that's the case with me.
Minoru Kamiya - codename Doctor - is a human Psychic and one of the Sensui Seven. An extremely deranged and disturbed man, he is fully aware that the goal he strives for will result in his (and everyone else's) death - and he's perfectly fine with that, seeing humanity as a disease that needs to be eradicated. Within his territory he can create viruses, reattach limbs, alter his own body chemistry and wield a psychic scalpel which he uses with surgical accuracy.
Ax-Crazy: He was going to kill every person in an entire hospital, paralyzed Kido, and slashed a woman's torso open. And he did it all with a smile.
Bad Ass: The guy is freaking spry for a doctor! And while he's hardly the strongest opponent Team Urameshi has faced, the situation which he creates for them makes him one of their most dangerous.
Brainwashed and Crazy: One way of looking at his mad acts is that the horrible scenes of humanities' worst crimes on Chapter Black made him decide to have all humanity die
Despair Event Horizon: What he saw on Chapter Black, made him nihilistic enough to wish for the death of all humanity
Facial Horror: Courtesy of Yana. He got better looking in the epilogue
Four Eyes, Zero Soul: He was once of the most sadistic members of Team Sensui, at least before he escapes from prison, changes his face, and founds a clinic to help others.
Healing Factor: He can numb the pain receptors and use his ability to reattach his limbs
Healing Hands: He can reattach limbs with his powers, making him very hard to put down however, he decides to use those powers for others later one
Heel Realization: After a short while after the Sensui incident, he realizes that he was very wrong and decides to help others
Karma Houdini: Despite almost killing an entire hospital and giving an innocent nurse a three-foot-long scar, in the epilogue, he gets to use his skills to become a doctor for the weak and change his face to boot, and this is after admitting to still wanting to complete their goal of creating hell on earth after a well deserved No-Holds-Barred Beatdown from Yusuke
Kiyoshi Mitarai - codenamed Seaman - is a human psychic and one of the Sensui Seven. He had a particularly troubled childhood dealing with bullies, which affected him all the more when he watched the entirety of the Chapter Black tape. Kuwabara's kindness, however, ultimately made him defect and help Team Urameshi - simultaneously making him Sniper's next target]. He has the power to mix his blood with water to create powerful golems.
Bloody Murder: Seaman's power is to create monsters by mixing his blood with water. Which he strangely doesn't use after his Heel-Face Turn, although it can be justified because it needs a large source of water to strengthen it.
Villainous BSOD: The basis for his entire character, from watching the Chapter Black video to discovering people who contradict its contents, it's just one breakdown after another for the poor guy...
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Neither Sensui or Sniper were really bothered with the idea of killing him off immediately the moment Kuwabara took him in.
Unwitting Pawn: That too was a part of Sensui's plan to lure out Kuwabara.
Gamemaster - Tsukihito Amanuma
Species: Human Psychic Main Power: Video Game Materialization
Hold on to whacha got! Drivin' a REAL car is pretty much like the racing game at the arcade.
Tsukihito Amanuma - codenamed Gamemaster - is a human psychic and member of the Sensui Seven. He joined Sensui purely because he thought he was "cool for an adult"; meeting someone who apparently liked video games as much as him, and hated the world as much as him. He works together with Gourmet to kidnap Kuwabara. His territory lets him bring any video game to life, altering the physical and logical laws of reality to be the same as that of any game.
Children Are Innocent: Sensui plays his naivete and cavalier innocence to manipulate him into joining his cause. Even though he claims to be behind Sensui's plan, it's clear he doesn't process it as real in the way the others do, and though he knows demons are going to be released on the world he doesn't really understand what that truly means - seeing it all as a game (likening the worst thing to happen to being the demons "messing with people" and him getting off of school for a while) until he's forced to face the consequences of his actions. He doesn't even have any ill will towards Team Urameshi, and casually promises to throw the game and let them go once enough time has passed and he's had his fun - not realizing at all what that means
Amanuma (tearfully): "I didn't mean for all this stuff to really happen!"
Locked Out of the Loop: While he does know that their plan will kill off the human race, he's either been not told or is too young to understand that the human race includes him and his colleagues as well
The Reveal: Despite his tragic character, this actually serves to be more amusing than anything else as we learn that both Kurama and Genkai are video game nerds.
Reality Warper: His powers allow him to make video games into reality.
Villainous Breakdown: Kurama reveals that he is going to die in order to invoke one of these in him and unnerve him enough to cause him to lose the game. It works, and it's heartbreaking.
Species: Human Psychic Main Power: Gluttonous Absorbtion
Touching, Seaman. You want to save Kuwabara so very badly because he saved you, but at the same time you're terrified of letting Sensui find out how much your new buddy means to you, aren't you?
Voiced by: Atsushi Ishida (JP), E. Bailey (EN)
Sadao Makihara - codename Gourmet - is a human psychic and one of the Sensui Seven. He works together with Gamemaster in kidnapping Kuwabara, and later challenges Kurama directly. His territory is inside his stomach, and any person or being he eats lets him absorb their powers. He ate Elder Toguro, but the latter managed to take over his body
Assimilation Backfire: Gourmet eats Elder Toguro to get his powers, Elder Toguro ends up taking over his body later.
Villainous Glutton: His power is eating people and is very much a glutton, plus he is a part of a group that wants to start the apocalypse and he tried to Mind Rape Kurama Though the latter part was due to be being Elder Toguro being in control
Walking Spoiler: He's actually Elder Toguro using Gourment's body after the latter ate him
We Hardly Knew Ye: We never knew what Makihara was like before Elder Toguro took over, by the time he showed up; it's already Elder Toguro masquerading as him.
Elder Toguro
See Team Toguro folder.
Other Characters
The Three Kings
Yomi
Species: Demon Main Power: Raw Demon Energy
You can never know victory unless you understand defeat.
Yomi is the newest of the Three Kings—he has a bad relationship with both Mukuro and Raizen, but seeks to unify all three sides and end the squabbling. He was once second in command to Kurama's brigand prior to Kurama ending up into the body of a mortal. Yomi, at the time, was reckless, losing countless men in unauthorized raids and direct confrontation, thinking it more exciting that way. Kurama, angered, sent an assassin to blind him as punishment. Yomi then grew extra ears and tuned his senses so acutely he could eventually hear all within his kingdom. He plans to take over both the demon and human planes in an act of unification, calling on Kurama to his side once again.
Badass: To survive in the demon world, you need some level of this trope. To become one of the ruling powers in demon world, you need to be made of this trope!
Handicapped Badass: Was blinded by an assassin hundreds of years ago sent by his former partner, Yoko Kurama, as punishment for being a Leeroy Jenkins. To counteract this, he grew four extra ears to allow him to "hear" his surroundings. Despite his blindness, he manages to grow in power from A to S Class, take over a third of the Makai, curbstomp his cloned son Shura in a fight, and defeat Yusuke during the hero's final fight in the series—credit to Yusuke, though, his fight drained Yomi's Badass tank, causing him to lose in the next round.
The most impressive of all his feats? He manages to force Kurama into an alliance with him, by having one demon threaten to sabotage his parents' honeymoon flight, and having another demon keep track of his beloved stepbrother, all the while flaunting his superior firepower to make sure Kurama doesn't simply try to kill either demon threatening his family or Yomi himself.Magnificent Bastard, indeed.
Disability Superpower: Yomi has grown two extra sets of ears, giving him six in total. His hearing is so acute that he can hear everything within the borders of his country, hear heart rates spike and decrease, as well as accurately guess facial expressions. Oh, and he can fight just fine. You don't need eyes when you're this guy!
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The reason Yomi was able to win against Yusuke during their Cross Counter was he was able to hear his son's voice encouraging him not to give up. Otherwise it would have been ended in a double KO.
Friendly Enemy: He's an enemy in name-only, and has no choice but to scheme and manipulate due to the demon realm being a Crapsack World, and with all that he still always places emphasis on civility and negotiations before violence and plotting. After his fight with Yusuke, he pulls a Heel-Face Turn and even seems to respect him as a friend and rival of sorts.
Heel-Face Turn: He wasn't all that evil to begin with, but in the end decides to spend more time with his son than anything else.
Jerkass Façade: To his son, to make him stronger and more self reliant.
Leeroy Jenkins: He used to be one of these, until he lost his eyes. He seems to imply that he has not once, in a full 1000 years ever again relied on impulse.
Pyrrhic Victory: He wins against Yusuke in their match, but gets defeated in the next round because he exhausted himself.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: When he was younger, he was the Red Oni to Yoko Kurama's Blue Oni. However, he starting developing Blue Oni traits after he lost his eyesight.
Would Hurt a Child: Yomi has no problem at all kicking the ever loving crap out of his own son in battle. Although given how much of a cocky smartass Shura is, it's kind of hard to feel sorry for him.
Mukuro
Species: Demon Main Power: Raw Demon Energy
Hiei, you needn't search for death. Death will find us all soon enough.
Mukuro is one of the three kings of the Demon realm - despised by Yomi as a " chaos preaching tyrant", somewhat liked by Raizen, but more or less feared by everyone for being shady and unpredictable. Discovering Hiei while preparing for war and, after testing his strength against Shigure, Mukuro placed him as second in command. Mukuro is quick to agree when Yusuke proposes the demon world tournament, battling with Hiei and winning but then ending up up losing to Enki in the final round.
Belligerent Sexual Tension: Lampshaded by Kurama himself. He made notice that Hiei and her were enjoying maybe a little too much fighting with each other during the tournament.
Body Horror: Half of her body is horribly scarred and deformed from sexual abuse and self-inflicted acid burns, and one of her legs is prosthetic.
I Was Quite a Looker: That said, from the half that isn't deformed she appears to be drop-dead-gorgeous.
Two-Faced: Mukuro's body had been completely stripped of flesh on one side with strong acid. Though Mukuro is different from most examples, being a not-so evil demon (given a choice between Yomi and Mukuro, Raizen told Yusuke to side with Mukuro) and being female.
Besides, said scars were self-inflicted, as she figured that uglifying herself would be the only way to escape her abusive caretaker (who did abuse her sexually, too).
Raizen is one of the three kings of the Demon World (in fact, he was considered the strongest of the three) and Yusuke's ancestor. After Sensui is defeated, Raizen summons Yusuke to the Demon Realm as he is on the brink of death from starvation and requires someone to take his throne.
Attack! Attack! Attack!: Combined with Combat Pragmatist. If his fight with Sensui while possessing Yusuke's body is any indication, Raizen's fighting style consists of a complete and overwhelming offense, leaving his opponents no chance to properly counter-attack or even defend.
Badass Great Grandpa: At his peak, Raizen is stronger than everyone in the series!
According to Yomi's informants, his offensive power is still the strongest even when almost dead of starvation, and the only reason Yomi and Mukuro can take on him is that his defensive abilities are sub-par due the starvation.
Big Damn Heroes: During Chapter Black, Raizen directly intervenes and temporarily possesses Yusuke's body so that he can defeat Sensui. Yusuke was mad pissed off about this, but when looking at it in hindsight, if he didn't do that, Sensui would've likely killed Yusuke. ...Again.
Curb-Stomp Battle: His three shown "fights" in the series consist of beating the piss out of Sensui, nearly killing Yusuke without even moving, and once again overwhelming Yusuke despite being literally minutes away from death. Only during the third one did his opponent even have a chance at taking him.
Glass Cannon: According to Yomi's informants, his offensive power is ludicrously high even by the Three Kings' standards, but the starvation weakened his defensive abilities a bit too much.
Lightning Bruiser: Back when he had no problem eating humans, he had enough power to dispatch Yomi and Mukuro simultaneously.
World's Strongest Demon: At his peak he was this, and still is: the only reason Yomi and Mukuro can compete with him is that being almost dead by starvation made his defenses subpar.
The more prominent of the two hostesses of the Dark Tournament. Koto resembles a cat or a fox. At the end of the manga, the two and Ruka, the nurse of the Dark Tournament, become the "Cult Trio" and become widely popular on human television. She also has a crush on Toya.
Determinator: Koto takes her job VERY seriously and continues to commentate even when the arena is falling apart around her.
Dub Text: The dub gave her a crush on Kurama, or at least on his demon form.
Even Evil Has Standards: Although she previously came across as somewhat amoral, she seriously objects to the dirty methods used by two of Team Masho's members, and goes surprisingly out of her way to save Juri from the Dragon of the Darkness Flame during Hiei and Bui's fight.
The second of the two hostesses of the Dark Tournament, introduced in the Semi-finals. Juri resembles an amphibian. At the end of the manga, it's revealed that she has a crush on Suzuki.
Bare Your Midriff: Wears a one-piece outfit with a large section around her belly cut out.
Stripperiffic: Starts out in a nurse uniform, strips it off to just cords around her chest and hips, along with high heels and hat. Apparently they can only work uncovered.
Natsume
Action Girl: Among the old drinking and fighting pals of none other than Raizou, a Demon King just like Mukuro.
Kurama's underclassman who seems to have a crush on him and gets accidentally caught in the middle of his struggles. She only appears in the manga and the Drama CD's.
A very powerful and eccentric warrior and combat medic from the Demon World. Who actually implanted the Jagasnishi eye on Hiei's forehead. He battles Kurama in the last Tornament, fighting on Mukuro's side, and loses both the fight and his life.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Very efficient at work. His fees and charges are very... personalized. In the case of Hiei, he first demands to listen to his life story and reasons, and then makes him promise that he will never tell Yukina of their bond.
