List of YuYu Hakusho characters

Togashi did not give much thought to the names of the characters. He came up with them by skimming through a dictionary and combining kanji characters he found appealing. The author said the name Yusuke Urameshi is "practically a joke." Viz Media explained that the "Yu" is written with the kanji for "ghost", and "Urameshiii..." is a phrase typically said by wailing ghosts. Togashi came up with Kazuma Kuwabara's name by combining the names of two professional baseball players (Masumi Kuwata and Kazuhiro Kiyohara). Viz Media said that it is also a pun on "Kuwabara kuwabara", a phrase uttered by superstitious people when they are scared. Kurama and Hiei's names came to Togashi on the spur of the moment. Togashi based Hiei's design off of the character Skunky from the manga series Patalliro! by Mineo Maya. Kitayama finds Kurama to be the easiest of the main characters to design due to his well-proportioned features and considers Hiei to be her favorite. Togashi's inspiration for the character Mukuro was Kushana of Torumekia from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. After receiving many letters both praising and criticizing the voice actors, Togashi clarified that he had no involvement in the anime adaptation. The Tagalog dub, produced in the Philippines and titled Ghost Fighter, uses alternate character names. There, Yusuke is Eugene, Kuwabara is Alfred, Hiei is Vincent, Kurama is known as both Denise and Dennis, Genkai is Master Jeremiah, Koenma is Jericho, Keiko (Kayko) is Jenny, and Botan is Charlene. The Tagalog dub of the 2023 TV series uses the original Japanese character names. ==Protagonists==

Yusuke Urameshi : is a fourteen-year-old delinquent who attends Sarayashiki Junior High School. His poor school attendance, constant fighting, and bad habits have earned him the fear of his classmates and the disdain of his teachers and neighbors. This all changes rather abruptly when Yusuke is struck and killed by a car while saving a small child who has wandered into the road. Such an altruistic deed catches even the Underworld ("Spirit World" in the English anime) by surprise, and because they do not have a place for him yet in heaven or hell, he is permitted to return to his body and resume his life. However, while doing so, it is revealed that Yusuke has a particularly strong aura or spirit energy, and Koenma recruits him as an Underworld Detective. Yusuke is charged with investigating supernatural phenomena in the Human World that have connections to the Underworld. Yusuke bears affection for his childhood friend Keiko Yukimura, who initially takes a role as Yusuke's conscience, making sure he comes to class and behaves, and later becomes his romantic interest. Yusuke's alcoholic mother, Atsuko, raised him as a single parent after conceiving him as a young teen. Kazuma Kuwabara : is a classmate of Yusuke's at Sarayashiki Junior High School. Despite his unusual affinity for kittens, he is the second toughest delinquent at the school, constantly picking fights with Yusuke to prove himself stronger, but never succeeding. Eventually, Kuwabara's feelings of anger toward Yusuke become feelings of respect. Although he loves fighting, Kuwabara would never steal or extort money. Kuwabara has a very advanced sixth sense and is highly aware of the supernatural. Kuwabara ends up assisting in most of Yusuke's cases, having gained the ability to form a sword out of his aura called the during the competition to become Genkai's pupil. He learns to develop this power rather quickly; being able to wield two at once after training with Kurama for the Dark Tournament, and create a more powerful sword that boosts his recuperative abilities, acting as both a weapon and shield, by using the Sword of Trials he gets from Suzuki. Kuwabara later obtains the during his fight against Kiyoshi Mitarai, a sleeker and cleaner aura sword that possesses the ability to slice and cut through and between dimensions. This causes him to become the target of Sensui as it will aid in completing the portal to the Demon Plane, and he is captured, and later cuts the force field to chase after Sensui, fully opening the portal. Kuwabara falls in love at first sight of the Ice Maiden Yukina and helps Yusuke rescue her from Gonzo Tarukane. Yukina is very grateful to Kuwabara for saving her from captivity, but is oblivious to his affection. Towards the end of the series, Kuwabara becomes more engrossed in his studies, choosing to cram for his high school exams rather than follow Yusuke and the others into the Demon Plane. In the end, Yukina lives with his family as a homestay. Kuwabara is a popular character with fans, coming in fourth place in the series' first two popularity polls. He came in fifth in the American Shonen Jump poll. and was voted the first place popular male character in both 1994 and 1995. In 2010 Kurama was ranked third best male anime character of the 1990s by the Japanese magazine Newtype. In more recent times, Japan's goo ranking site launched a poll in 2019 for users to vote for the hottest Shonen Jump character of all time, in which Kurama ranked fourth place. Hiei : : is introduced as one of three wanted demons, alongside Kurama and Goki, who stole three treasures from the Underworld. With the , a sword that turns anyone cut by it into a demon, he plans to create an army. As the last of his partners on the run, Hiei kidnaps Keiko in an exchange with Yusuke for the other two treasures. However, he also cuts her with the Conjuring Blade, forcing Yusuke to defeat him to save her, which he does with help from Kurama and Botan. Hiei possesses the implanted in his forehead, which gives him clairvoyance and allows him to control lesser demons and humans with only a glance. He can transform into a form with Evil Eyes all over his body, boosting his powers. While assisting Yusuke in defeating The Four Beasts in exchange for a reduced sentence, Hiei changes and no longer acts solely for his own interest. For associating with humans, Hiei and Kurama are invited to take part in the Dark Tournament on Yusuke and Kuwabara's team. During the Dark Tournament, he debuts the technique known as the , which allows him to summon and control black flames from the Demon Plane. He eventually masters the technique by consuming the flames, which greatly enhances the user's abilities. Although he initially refrains from helping Yusuke and company stop Sensui from opening the portal to the Demon Plane because he wants to return himself, Hiei later joins them when Yusuke offers to let him have The Black Chapter videotape. After watching Yusuke's death by Sensui, Hiei's old demon powers awaken. He is invited to the Demon Plane to join Mukuro. He takes part in the Demon Plane Unification Tournament, losing to Mukuro in the third round. At the end of the series, he is assigned to the special squad in charge of safely returning humans who wander into the Demon Plane. Keiko Yukimura : is Yusuke's childhood friend and classmate and eventually girlfriend. She has known Yusuke for many years and acts as a disciplinary figure, often trying to get him to attend his classes and behave, though usually to no avail. Yusuke attempts to keep his job as spirit detective a secret from Keiko, though she finds out about it. Keiko worries about Yusuke but knows that he is happier fighting demons than having a normal school life. When Yusuke leaves for the Demon Plane, he promises to return and proposes to her. At the end of the series, Keiko is entering college to be a teacher. She came in sixth in the American Shonen Jump poll. Genkai : is an elderly martial arts expert who is famous among both humans and demons and considered one of the top five reiki masters according to her friend Koenma. She first appears holding a tournament to find a successor for her techniques, which Yusuke and Kuwabara both take part in. Having entered the tournament as a detective on a case, Yusuke wins after defeating Rando and is taken on as Genkai's student. Disguising herself as the , Genkai enters the Dark Tournament on Team Urameshi. 50 years earlier, Genkai and Younger Toguro were lovers and teammates in an earlier Dark Tournament. After winning, the two split as Toguro decided to become a demon, while she wanted to grow old together. When using her full power, Genkai's cells revitalize and her body rejuvenates momentarily, causing her to appear as she did in her prime, around 20 years old. During the semifinals against Team Fractured Fairy Tales, Genkai imparts her strength to Yusuke, leaving her much weaker. Now of no use to him, Toguro kills Genkai the day before the finals. After Team Urameshi wins the tournament, Genkai is brought back to life by Koenma for their reward at Toguro's suggestion. She has Asato Kido, Yu Kaito, and Mitsunari Yanagisawa attack Yusuke and friends as a training lesson and to inform them that someone is opening a portal to the Demon Plane. At Kurama's request, Genkai trains Rinku, Chu, Toya, Jin, Shishiwakamaru and Suzuki to balance power in the Demon Plane. At the end of the series, Genkai decides to leave her vast land to Yusuke and his friends. While Genkai had already died during this moment in the manga, in the anime, she is still alive. Genkai is a popular character with fans, coming in seventh place in the series' second popularity poll. In the Tagalog dub of the Philippines (titled Ghost Fighter), the character is male and is named Jeremiah. The voice actors did not learn that Genkai was female until production of the Tagalog dub was made. Accordingly, the Filipino version of the character is male, and a male voice actor was used. Genkai's reveal as a woman in the Dark Tournament story arc confused Filipino viewers. Koenma : King Enma Jr., usually addressed as is the son of King Enma, the one in charge of judging whether a soul goes to heaven or hell. Koenma takes over the responsibilities of his father's work when he is away. Though he is said to be at least 700 years old, Koenma usually appears as a toddler with a pacifier in his mouth and wearing a large hat with the kanji for "king" and the English letters "Jr". He can also transform into a young adult form, retaining his pacifier but losing his hat, showing the letters "Jr" on his forehead. Koenma acts as Yusuke's boss, assigning him his Underworld Detective cases through Botan. His pacifier is a receptacle, which Koenma constantly imbues with his aura so it can create a powerful barrier to fend off a dark age still centuries away. However, after deciding to use it early to stop Sensui, it proves ineffective because of Sensui's Holy Chi. At the end of the series, an investigation by Koenma revealed that his father had been falsifying reports on demon activity against humans to justify keeping the two separated. Having proven that the criminal statistics are much lower, Koenma is now in charge of the Underworld and allows access between the Demon Plane and the Human World. Koenma is a popular character with fans, coming in seventh and fifth place in the series' first two popularity polls. He came in ninth in the American Shonen Jump poll. ==Antagonists==

Genkai Tournament candidates Rando : is a demon of battle who specializes in defeating martial arts masters and monks. Having killed 99 masters so far, he steals their secret techniques and tests them out on humans. Rando participates in Genkai's tournament to select her pupil in order to learn her techniques, and Yusuke is sent to stop him on orders from Koenma. Rando initially disguises himself as , a monk, during the tournament so as not to draw attention to himself. He defeats Kuwabara and is about to beat Yusuke with the same technique. Rando's ignorance of the stolen techniques causes it to backfire on him, and Yusuke defeats him. Botan then arrests him. Rando came in tenth place in the series' first popularity poll. Team Toguro Team Toguro is the fifth and final team that Team Urameshi faces in the Dark Tournament. They are the winners of the previous tournament. Younger Toguro fights the preliminary round alone, while his three teammates sweep the semifinal round. Togashi considers the Toguro Brothers to be his favorite villains in the series because they are "fundamentally unrestrained." The Toguro Brothers came in eleventh place in the series' first popularity poll. In the second, Younger Toguro placed tenth and Elder Toguro eleventh. The brothers came in seventh in the American Shonen Jump poll. Younger Toguro : is first introduced alongside his older brother as , demons who provide monsters for things such as sideshows or assault forces, hired by Gonzo Tarukane to make Yukina cry. However, it is revealed that their actual client was Sakyo, who is also their team sponsor in the Dark Tournament. Younger Toguro is a human-turned-demon and the main antagonist during the Dark Tournament arc. His ability is purely physical strength, able to regulate how much of his maximum power he releases, ranging from 0% to 100%. With each increase comes a burst of demon energy, and his muscles thicken and enlarge. At full power, he needs to feed on aura to maintain such immense power, leading him to absorb the aura of weaker creatures. Once a great martial arts master and Genkai's lover, Toguro was psychologically scarred when a demon named Kairen killed all of his students while inviting him to participate in the Dark Tournament. Toguro defeated Kairen in the final round to win the tournament and decided he did not want to age and lose his power; therefore, he asked to be turned into a demon. 50 years later, he invites Yusuke to the tournament in hopes of finally finding a fighter worthy of his full 100% power. Although he stops Yusuke's final attack in the final round, Toguro's body is destroyed, and he dies. In the afterlife, he is offered a lighter sentence by Koenma due to his time as a martial artist. Toguro refuses and requests the harshest sentence there is: 10,000 years of torture in hell for 10,000 cycles, with his soul ceasing to exist afterward. In the English anime dub, this is changed to him requesting limbo. Feeling it obvious what Team Urameshi would wish for as their prize for winning the tournament, it was Toguro who suggested Koenma resurrect Genkai. Elder Toguro : is first introduced alongside his younger brother as Brokers of Darkness, demons who provide monsters for things such as sideshows or assault forces, hired by Tarukane to make Yukina cry. However, it is revealed that their actual client was Sakyo, who is also their team sponsor in the Dark Tournament. Elder Toguro is a human turned demon shapeshifter. He usually rides on his much larger brother's shoulder and often fights alongside him. Elder Toguro can alter the shape of his body to form weapons and shields or to move his organs to escape harm, and has regenerative abilities, making him nearly immortal. In the second-to-last match of the Dark Tournament, Kuwabara manages to defeat Elder Toguro by squashing him with the Aura Sword (whose shape had been manipulated into that of a flyswatter). In the Dark Tournament's final match between Yusuke and Younger Toguro, Elder Toguro reveals he is still alive and offers to be his brother's weapon. However, Younger Toguro obliterates him with a single punch, saying that the fight will be one-on-one only. After being nearly destroyed by his brother, Elder Toguro slowly regenerated until he was a head found by Sensui. He sought revenge and told Sensui about Yusuke, who decided it was time to begin his plan to destroy humanity. Toguro was later devoured by Sadao Makihara. Toguro easily took control of his body and acquired Makihara's abilities as well as those of Makihara's past victims. In his fight with Kurama, Makihara/Toguro is captured in a parasitic tree that casts illusions, and because of Toguro's immortality, he is stuck fighting Kurama's ghost for eternity. Karasu : is a master-class demon bomber. Like Bui, Karasu fought against the Toguro brothers and lost, and subsequently became a member of Team Toguro. He can use his aura to create and control bombs undetectable by weaker demons. Karasu displays sadistic tendencies, stating that he favors Kurama and becomes depressed when he destroys what he likes, but enjoys being depressed and therefore is looking forward to killing him. He wears a mask over his mouth, which seems to restrict his powers. He can also use his entire body as an explosive. Karasu fights Kurama in the opening match of the final round of the Dark Tournament. Due to letting his guard down, Karasu is killed by Kurama, whose fox demon powers have started to return to his human body. But because Kurama did not get up until after a ten count, Karasu is ruled the winner. Karasu is a popular character with fans, coming in eighth place in the series' second popularity poll. Bui : is a demon warrior with an immense battle aura that even allows him to levitate. He wears heavy armor to suppress his aura and wields an axe larger than his own body. During the second match of the final round of the Dark Tournament, Bui faces Hiei and loses as the latter has mastered the Black Dragon Hellfire. When he was younger, Bui fought Younger Toguro and lost. With the prospect of a rematch, he trained and improved, but so did Toguro. Having lost to Hiei, this proves he will never beat Toguro, so Bui asks Hiei to kill him, which Hiei refuses to do. Sakyo : is first introduced as a young member of the , a group of wealthy humans who deal with demons and compete in high-stakes gambling, betting on whether Yusuke and Kuwabara will succeed in defeating Tarukane's bodyguards, the Toguro brothers, and their men. After winning all bets and bankrupting Tarukane, it is revealed that Sakyo hired the Toguro brothers and had them throw the fight, and that Tarukane originally stole Yukina from Sakyo. Sakyo sponsors Team Toguro in the Dark Tournament. He is a sociopath, who grew up torturing and killing animals and people. He has an affinity and knack for gambling, occasionally putting his life on the line just for the thrill. With his expected monetary winnings from the tournament, Sakyo plans to create a large hole or portal linking the Demon Plane with the Human World, for no reason other than to see what happens. After Younger Toguro's death and having staked his own life on the victory, Sakyo self-destructs the tournament arena and is crushed to death. In the anime, he forms a romantic bond with Shizuru Kuwabara. Sensui Seven The are a group who are trying to open a portal linking the Human World with the Demon Plane. Led by Shinobu Sensui, it is composed of seven individuals referred to by nicknames, which are also the names of their abilities. Sensui used The Black Chapter, a videotape that documents thousands of hours of humanity's atrocities, to recruit the human members in his goal to eradicate humanity for being evil. Shinobu Sensui : , also known as , is a former Underworld Detective and the main antagonist during the Sensui arc. Born with a powerful sixth sense, Sensui was a prodigy aura user and demon hunter from an early age. He was recruited as an Underworld Detective and worked tirelessly as an advocate for justice, believing demons to be humanity's enemy. During a case to stop a small Demon Plane portal created by the Black Book Club, including Sakyo, Sensui found a room where humans were torturing demons and bathing in their blood. After Sensui saw the cruelty of humans, in antithesis of what he believed, he went mad and murdered everyone in the room. He began to question humanity itself and soon disappeared, taking The Black Chapter with him. Sensui waited ten years for a new Underworld Detective to emerge before coming out of hiding and enacting his plan to judge the human race. During his years in hiding, Sensui created six alternate personalities (seven, including himself) to deal with the pressures of battle; Shinobu is the original and central one, while three others deal with matters of combat. Only three of the seven are seen, while a fourth is described, they are: , a talkative, argumentative, and proud speaker who is in control for the majority of the arc; , a sadistic killer with a gun built into his arm who takes over as Yusuke gets the upper hand fighting Minoru; , a shy, naïve and sensitive female personality only spoken of by Itsuki; and Shinobu, the original personality who takes over after Kazuya is beaten by Yusuke for attempting to kill Koenma. Sensui is a master of , a fighting style that uses the upper body for defensive maneuvers that act as transitions for offensive kicks. Sensui also wields , a special type of aura that is said to be the purest of all. After Sensui takes a fatal blow when Raizen, Yusuke's demon ancestor, takes over Yusuke's body briefly, it is revealed that he suffered from aggressive malignant tumors, with only two weeks left to live. Before dying, Sensui states that he longed to have demon heritage, that he created the portal so that he could die in the Demon Plane, and wishes that he be reincarnated as a demon. Itsuki/ Gatekeeper : , also known as , is a demon who was Sensui's partner as an Underworld Detective. They were enemies when they first met, and Itsuki lost the fight, but Sensui spared him after seeing a glimpse of his human side. He anticipated Sensui's madness before it began, based on the quality of his pure soul, and looked forward to watching him sink into despair at the horrors he was unable to rationalize. Itsuki is a , a demon who possesses the , which allows him to traverse dimensions and who can control lesser demons in different dimensions, such as the 2-D demon . He is the one who creates the portal to the Demon Plane. Itsuki has the Inverse Man transport Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei to hyperspace to watch Yusuke's fight with Sensui without interference or escape. After Sensui's death, Itsuki informs Koenma that he can not have Sensui's soul as he does not want to go to the Underworld and takes the body into another dimension. Itsuki is one of Togashi's favorite characters. After the series ended, Togashi stated that he wished he had been able to expand on the character's twisted psyche. He also noted the portion of the plot where Itsuki speaks inside the Inverse Man to be his favorite of the series because it reflects how the manga artist was feeling at the time. Minoru Kamiya / Doctor : , also known as , is a human physician and one of Sensui's comrades. His Doctor ability allows him to use his hands like scalpels, reattach limbs, and create and infect people within his territory with an aura virus. Kamiya also enhanced his physical abilities and can control the adrenaline, so he does not feel pain. He knows that finishing the portal to the Demon Plane will mean the destruction of the Human World and himself, but believes that death by a demon is a fitting end for him over disease or old age. Kamiya is killed by Yusuke, saving those infected by his virus, but is quickly revived by Genkai and then arrested. At the end of the arc, Kamiya escapes from jail, resuscitates Hagiri, and reconstructs his own face to evade police. He later dubbed his ability "psychic healing" and founded the dojo of the Miracle Hand. Kaname Hagiri / Sniper : , also known as , is a seventeen-year-old human and one of Sensui's comrades. His ability, Deathprint bullseye, allows him to "shoot" any object infused with his aura at his enemy. After marking his enemy with targets, these objects will zero in on them without fail. While trying to stop Yusuke from following Sensui and company, Hagiri is seemingly killed by Hiei. But it is later revealed that Hiei was very precise not to kill him, and he was healed by Kamiya. He is last seen alongside his sister, who has an ability akin to psychometry, and sets out after a group of bullies who killed a kitten after being shown these events by his sister. He later disappeared after high school. Kiyoshi Mitarai / Seaman : , also known as , is a fourteen-year-old human and one of Sensui's comrades. His ability, Seaman, allows him to mix his blood with liquids to create shape-shifting, nearly invulnerable creatures made of water. His territory is contained within these creatures that he traps people in to drown. Mitarai is psychologically scarred after watching the Black Chapter videotape and believes that all humans, including himself, are inherently evil and should be wiped out. He attacks Kuwabara and his friends, but is defeated when Kuwabara regains his aura and acquires the new ability to summon the Dimensional Sword. Sensui knew Mitarai was weak and uncertain, and therefore had him bugged with a listening device and tried to kill him alongside Hagiri in Yusuke's apartment. Having been saved by Kuwabara twice and then by Botan, Mitarai rethinks his stance on humans and decides to help in the fight against Sensui. After the final fight, he lives a normal life and gets into his school of choice. He later devotes his time to environmental and international issues. He is voiced by Rica Matsumoto in Japanese and by Justin Pate in English. Tsukihito Amanuma / Game Master : , also known as , is an eleven-year-old human boy and one of Sensui's comrades. His ability Game Master can bring video games to reality, creating them within his territory. To stall Yusuke and company for as long as possible, he recreates a specific game at Sensui's request that requires seven players and can be replayed until it is won, taking on the role of its main character/antagonist. However, Kurama informs Amanuma that Sensui took advantage of the child and chose a game where the antagonist dies if beaten, causing Amanuma to die as well. Shaken, Amanuma loses the final match and Kurama wins, killing the boy. However, Amanuma is brought back to life by Koenma's pacifier, just as Sensui intended for him to waste the power. He later lives a normal life and even makes new friends his age. Sadao Makihara / Gourmet : , also known as , is a human and one of Sensui's comrades. His ability, Gourmet, allows him to eat other beings and gain their powers as his own. At some point, he devoured Shigeru Murota and the regenerating head of Elder Toguro, but the immortal demon ended up taking over Makihara's body. Thus, he can absorb abilities, read minds, and regenerate. Kurama first chops Makihara's head in half then captures him/Toguro in a parasitic tree that casts illusions and because of Toguro's immortality and evil nature, he is stuck fighting Kurama's illusion for eternity. Demon Plane Yomi : is the newest of the three demon kings vying for control of the Demon Plane. He was Kurama's second-in-command as a bandit working to build a nation. Yomi was reckless and brash, and Kurama sent an assassin who blinded him before fleeing. Kurama then left for the Human World and Mukuro and Raizen rose to power. Having equaled them in power and with Raizen dying, Yomi plans to take over both the Demon Plane and the Human World. He calls Kurama to aid him and threatens his human family to get him to stay. After Yusuke proposes the Demon Plane Unification Tournament, Yomi is forced to accept and announce the dissolution of his nation. However, this is initially a bluff until his fighting spirit is roused and he abandons his plans. In the tournament he defeats his young son and Yusuke, before losing to someone else. Mukuro : is one of the three demon kings vying for control of the Demon Plane. She recruits Hiei, who becomes her top warrior. She was born into slavery under a humanoid demon named Chiko, who continuously tormented her, particularly on her birthday, with the implication of sexual abuse. After pouring acid on herself at seven years old, Chiko lost interest, and Mukuro was free. She killed indiscriminately, before finding Hiei's lost Tear of Ice jewel, which had the same calming effect on her as it does him. Despite missing half her body, Mukuro rose to prominence equal to Raizen. She quickly accepts Yusuke's proposal of the Demon Plane Unification Tournament, dissolving her nation. In the tournament, she defeats Hiei before losing to someone else. At the end of the series, Hiei learns that Chiko implanted a single memory of himself being kind into Mukuro's mind, which she remembered every time she thought of getting revenge. He also trapped him in a parasitic plant, which he gave to her on her birthday. In the anime, Mukuro's backstory is changed to exclude the parts about her being a sex slave, and that she was simply an abandoned child found by Chiko and taken in for slavery. Togashi has stated that Mukuro is one of his favorite characters. The author had desired to write more about her abuse before the series ended. Raizen : is one of the three demon kings vying for control of the Demon Plane and Yusuke's ancestral father. Nearly 700 years ago, Raizen, then in the Human World, fell in love with a human woman. She was a "cannibal healer," a shaman who ate the flesh of the diseased to create antidotes to the disease with their blood, who taunted him that if he consumed her, he would be killed by her poisonous body. Raizen immediately falls in love with her, they mate that night, and he vows to himself to never eat human flesh until they meet again. However, they never did as she died giving birth. Raizen summons Yusuke to the Demon Plane as he is on the brink of death from starvation and requires someone to take his throne. During Yusuke's fight with Sensui, he momentarily takes over his body to defeat Sensui. He later dies, making Yusuke king of his domain. Shigure : is a demon osteopath and one of Mukuro's top warriors. He is the one who gave Hiei his Evil Eye, so that he could find the Ice Maiden's country and his Tear of Ice jewel, and taught him basic swordsmanship. Shigure only operates on patients that interest him and takes part in their "life existence" as payment, which in Hiei's case was that he could never reveal his relation to Yukina. Shigure fights Hiei as part of Mukuro's testing of whether Hiei can qualify to be the right-hand man. He wields the large that looks like a large hula hoop. In the quick battle, they both lose an arm, but Shigure also loses the top half of his head. However, Shigure then appears fully healed in the Demon Plane Unification Tournament as an opponent of Kurama, whom he loses to, and is later seen doing patrol work with Hiei at the end of the series. In the anime, after losing to Kurama, he apparently commits suicide, stating that a swordsman never loses twice. ==Other characters==

Atsuko Urameshi : is Yusuke's 29-year-old mother. She is an alcoholic and neglectful mother, whose only known means of making money is by extorting police and yakuza. It is by Yusuke's car accident that she reveals how much she loved him. While she plays a larger supporting role in the manga, she only appears early on in the anime and the later 2018 All or Nothing OVA special. At the end of the series, she is seen with an ex-boyfriend who works for her, who tries to get back together with her, and who mentions how Yusuke used to jump on him when he hit her, implying it is his father. Shizuru Kuwabara : is Kazuma's seventeen-year-old sister. She is an aspiring beautician and has a sixth sense even stronger than her brother's. It is Shizuru who recommends her brother see master Genkai for advice on the side effects of his sixth sense, getting him caught up in her tournament to find a pupil. Considerably down to earth and deadpan in most scenes, her role is mainly to act as the tough mother-figure to Kuwabara. Her role grows somewhat during the Dark Tournament, and appears again at the end of the series. However, in the anime she has a brief romantic connection to Sakyo as he saves her numerous times from demon guards at the stadium, and is given his lighter to remember him by as he dies in the stadium's destruction and takes over the role that Yusuke's mother had in the Sensui arc of the manga. Yoshihiro Togashi named Shizuru his favorite female character of the series "because she keeps her cool." Yukina : is an and twin sister of Hiei, although she is unaware of their relation. As a member of a demonic family of winter spirits, she produces beautiful jewels through her tears. When she found out her brother was cast from the Ice Kingdom she escaped to the Human World. For the last five years Yukina has been held captive by Gonzo Tarukane, a member of the Black Book Club, who has become very wealthy through the jewels he forces her to make. Eventually she hardens her heart so as to prevent herself from crying even under extreme torture, prompting Tarukane to hire the Toguro brothers to aid him. As an Underworld Detective mission, Yusuke and Kuwabara succeed in rescuing Yukina from Tarukane's mansion. Yukina returns attending the Dark Tournament to ask Kuwabara (who has a crush on her) and his friends for help finding her brother, and to offer her healing powers. At the end of the series, Yukina is living with Kuwabara's family as a homestay. Asato Kido : is a fifteen-year-old human who, along with Yu Kaito and Mitsunari Yanagisawa, kidnaps Yusuke and takes him to the Fourth Dimensional Mansion. They developed superhuman powers as a result of the Demon Plane portal opened by Sensui and Itsuki and sought the aid of Genkai, who has them attack Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei. Kido's ability is , which allows him to incapacitate someone by stepping on their shadow. It is shown that he also has some control over his own shadow, using it to spell out his attackers name after he is paralyzed by Kamiya. Yu Kaito : is a seventeen-year-old human who, along with Kido and Yanagisawa, kidnaps Yusuke and takes him to the Fourth Dimensional Mansion. Having written several published philosophical papers and books of literary criticism, he is the smartest student at Meio High School, behind only Kurama. Kido, Yanagisawa and himself developed superhuman powers as a result of the Demon Plane portal opened by Sensui and Itsuki and sought the aid of Genkai, who has them attack Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei. Kaito's ability is , which allows him to create a territory where violence is ineffective and people must not say a forbidden or taboo word set by him, or their soul will be extracted from their body. Although he succeeds in capturing the souls of Hiei, Kuwabara and Botan, he is outplayed by Kurama. His last appearance shows him spending his weekend playing video games and writing. Mitsunari Yanagisawa : is a sixteen-year-old human who, along with Kido and Kaito, kidnaps Yusuke and takes him to the Fourth Dimensional Mansion. They developed superhuman powers as a result of the Demon Plane portal opened by Sensui and Itsuki and sought the aid of Genkai, who has them attack Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei. Yanagisawa's ability is , which allows him to copy the appearance, personality, memories and aura print of anyone he touches. In his last appearance, he is thinking about using his ability on an attractive girl to learn everything about her, and it is revealed that ten years later, he marries the other girl who tries to cheer him up. Pu : or is Yusuke's underworld beast. To return to life Koenma gives Yusuke a Spirit Beast egg. As Yusuke traveled with Botan as a ghost it would feed off of his aura and hatch in a creature whose form and demeanor would depend on how pure Yusuke's actions were. After using all the energy he had accumulated to save Keiko from a fire, Yusuke was returned to his body through an alternate method, while the egg was stored in the Underworld by Koenma. During the semifinals of the Dark Tournament the egg hatches into Pu, a small penguin-like animal with large floppy ears used to fly, a beak and black hair on his head. Yusuke is embarrassed to get such a cute spirit beast but is endeared to Pu after it helps him during Genkai's final discipleship test. After Yusuke is killed by Sensui and revives as a demon, Pu changes into a large bird, resembling a phoenix. Pu came in ninth place in the series' second popularity poll. Jorge Saotome : , also spelled "George" in the Anime Works English dub of the first film, is an ogre and one of Koenma's underlings that only appears in the anime. Koenma often blames him for any problems that may occur, most often problems that Koenma causes himself. While Jorge attempts to act as the voice of reason most of the time, he rarely gets praised for it. In the second to last episode it is revealed that the anime series was an underworld file on Yusuke Urameshi with Jorge as the narrator. He then goes back to hating his job as Koenma's aide. Koto, Juri and Luka Koto : , who resembles a fox or cat, is the initial referee/announcer for the Dark Tournament. She takes the rules of the tournament seriously, and even mildly protests the tournament committee's underhanded manipulations. Juri : In the semifinals, , who resembles an amphibian, takes over as referee while Koto gives the play-by-play commentary. Luka : is a demon who specializes in force fields and is the nurse at the Dark Tournament. At the direction of the tournament organizers, she keeps Hiei and the Masked Fighter from competing in Team Urameshi's round against Team Shadow Channelers under the false guise of them being medically unfit. At the end of the series, all three become widely popular idols on human television together under the name the "Occult Threesome". Kirishima, Okubo and Sawamura ;Kirishima : ;Okubo : ;Sawamura : , and are Kazuma's friends and also allies of Yusuke Urameshi. Okubo's single mother, often ill, does not bring enough money into her household, so Okubo holds a job in order to support the household. All three appear in the Sensui arc where they attend a Megallica concert with Kuwabara. On their way home, they are attacked by Kiyoshi Mitarai and nearly drown in one of his water-based creatures, but are saved by Kuwabara. Afterwards, Kuwabara carries the three, along with Mitarai to Yusuke's apartment before passing out. After Kirishima, Okubo and Sawamura tell Kurama and the others about what happened, their memories are erased. Kirishima came in ninth place in the series' first popularity poll. He came in eleventh in the American Shonen Jump poll. Shigeru Murota : is a human whose ability , allows him to read people's minds. He can hear the thoughts of anyone within his range, and the more emotional, the louder he hears them. Murota plans to use this power to be a professional boxer by anticipating attacks so he can easily avoid them. He is confronted by Yusuke and friends while looking for the person responsible for the Demon Plane portal. After being easily defeated by Yusuke, Murota helps them identify Sensui as the mastermind in a crowd via Wiretap. He is then injured by Hagiri and taken to the hospital where Kamiya is and is infected by one of Kamiya's virus insects. It is later revealed that Murota was consumed by Gourmet. ==References==