Hiei

Hiei is one of the main characters from the Yu Yu Hakusho anime and manga.

Hiei

Appearance
Hiei is the shortest of the four main characters at only 4' 10" during the Dark Tournament(excluding his hair) as stated by Juri. At the end of the series, an artbook puts him at 5' 3". His height is never mentioned in the anime or manga, aside from the DT reference. Despite his short size, he has a lean, muscular build to him. He wears a white headband that conceals his Jagan Eye, which is placed on his forehead and has a purple iris. His eyes are crimson (blood red), with an angular and slightly slanted shape, giving him a very sinister look in the beginning of the series. He has spiky black hair (reminiscent of Vegeta from the Dragon Ball franchise) with blue outlining and white streaks. His skin complexion is regular peach-tan. Despite the similarity to Vegeta in appearance and personality, Hiei was actually based off of the character Scunky from Patarillo!.

Living up to his classic villainous persona, he usually dresses entirely in black. He wears a long black cloak-like jacket (with a white collar) and black pants tucked into black boots. In its initial appearance, he wears nothing beneath his cloak-like jacket and has a red tie at the center of his black pants but it was soon changes into two white belts where he frequently carries a sword with him that was strapped across his back. He later wears a black (and sometimes pale blue) sleeveless undershirt beneath the cloak-like jacket. He is the only one of the four main characters to never change his primary 'costume' during the series. The only exception was when he briefly wore light-colored Chinese battle costume at the start of the Dark Tournament.

Before mastering the Dragon of the Darkness Flame, he kept his right arm covered in bandages and bindings to keep the dragon from escaping. After gaining full control over it, a dragon tattoo now covers the arm and is visible when the bandages are removed.

In his battle against Bui at the Dark Tournament and through the near end of the Chapter Black saga, his black pants was updated as it shows its socks from his black boots and the white belt now gained five straps with a purple buckle.

In the Three Kings Saga, Hiei has minor changes from his primary attire with the exception of his black cloak-like jacket. His black pants is similar to ninja tights and his black boots are replaced with black martial arts shoes and white long shins which is tucked into his pants. He also regains his red belt from his initial appearance and is now rolled up into two.

Personality
Hiei prefers to keep his distance from others, so he often comes across as aloof and elusive. He has a rather cynical and even misanthropic view of the world around him, often belittling and mocking humans and their emotions and the significance they place on friendship and life. And while he is relatively taciturn, he occasionally squabbles with and insults his teammates, especially Kuwabara. It is obvious that deep down he holds a certain amount of respect and kinship for his teammates, but seems to be closest to Kurama and Yusuke. While he holds an affinity of kinship towards demons, this goes as equally far as his preference for humans, despising weaker demons, including braggarts and "tourists" who lack impetus for a degree of respect from him.

As a fighter, Hiei is very unbiased when it comes to his enemies. He shows the same degree of ruthlessness to his foes - regardless of age or gender. This is seen when he terrorizes Ruka and the Masked-Fighter with threats of death as his power is returning. According to Kurama, however, he has an honor code that prevents him from going all out against an opponent he perceives as weaker than himself. In battle, Hiei has killed the most opponents on the team- often making good on a threat he made at the outset. He is also phenomenally arrogant, and has a tendency to underestimate his opponents; this was noted to be one of his greatest weak points, which people such as Genkai were very aware of, that lead to Hiei's defeat against Yū Kaitō's Power of Taboo. Apparently, this later invoked heavy irony as Hiei mocked Yusuke for being able to defeat Toguro, yet was able to get easily captured by humans, only for Hiei to experience the same result which was contradictory to Yusuke's expectations. Despite belittling Kuwabara's intelligence at every opportunity he gets, he himself is not a terribly cerebral fighter. His basic tendency in battle is to charge in at full power and simply overwhelm his opponent. However, he can still be quite a clever combatant when the situation calls for it. However, he shows a surprising degree of sincerity, warmth, and protectiveness when around Yukina.

It is made clear in both the anime and the manga that he holds the demoness Mukuro in high esteem, perhaps higher than any other character. He respects her for her power and accomplishments. At the end of the series, there is clearly a bond between them, as it is made clear that its by his choice that he remains at her side. He also goes out of his way to free her from her past, breaking her shackle in the anime and delivering her abusive father to her as a birthday present in the manga.

Hiei prefers to work on his own agenda, and has a notorious reputation in Demon World as a killer even when he was a D Class demon. Despite this, deep down he has struggled with his identity as a loner and his abandonment.

Fighting Style
Swordsman: Compared to the more calculating Kurama who tends to try to figure out his opponents, the merciless Hiei rarely employs any strategy in his battles and rushes in with a "take no prisoners" mentality, often overwhelming his opponents with sheer brute force and superior speed. He tends to use his sword to quickly defeat weaker enemies at a close range, but will use his much more powerful dark flame manipulation abilities if he views his target as a worthy opponent, or wishes to destroy a large number of enemies at once.

Abilities

 * Elemental Resistance: Hiei is resistant to both extreme heat and severe cold (in the anime). This is demonstrated by Hiei's ability to withstand a direct hit from Seiryu the Blue Dragon's Ice Dragon technique, an attack which turned Byakko, another Saint Beast, into a giant ice cube. It has been speculated that Hiei was completely unaffected by the subzero temperature of the surrounding air, and even when Seiryu's attack contacted his body. This was due in part to his formidable speed. Also, due to his nature as a fire demon, Hiei is unable to be burned by weaker fire-based attacks. During the Dark Tournament, Hiei takes the full brunt of Zeru's flame attacks which seem to bore Hiei rather than hurt him. In the manga, Zeru comments that he had thought it impossible for anyone to survive his demonic fire, Hiei having proven him wrong. It is speculated that this may be because he has a unique physiology  as the son of a Koorime and presumably a male fire demon.


 * Enhanced Strength: Hiei is an incredibly strong person for his figure, even without his sword. As a C-Class demon he was able to lift a giant pillar, during the dark tournament he was able to catch a giant axe thrown by Bui. And during the Chapter Black Saga he was able to trade blows with Yusuke, a man who was able to knock out an amateur boxer with a shockwave using one third of his power.


 * Super Speed: Hiei is one of the fastest characters in the Yu Yu Hakusho universe, being able to slice an opponent sixteen times in a blink of an eye. This has caused some to mistakenly believe he can teleport, when in fact he is just moving very fast. This incredible speed gives him an edge in battle against slower or close-range fighters.


 * Afterimage: A side effect of his extreme speed, Hiei can produce afterimages of himself in order to confuse opponents who are unable to follow his movements. He uses this technique in his first fight against Yusuke in the manga, and although the afterimages are not explicitly seen in the anime adaptation, it is more than likely he employed the technique against Yusuke. He also utilizes afterimages in his fight against Sensui and in his brief encounter with Sniper. While he does have control over afterimages, Hiei usually moves so quickly that he afterimages inadvertently. In nearly every fight he's been in, he has used an afterimage to fool his oppents into thinking they have killed him in one blow, only to appear unharmed somewhere else.


 * Enhanced Durability: Hiei is an extremely durable fighter for his size, even as an infant he survived being thrown over a mountain, he was unscathed from Sensui's attacks which could create tornados. Last but not least he could survive an attack from Mukuro which he states as the power of a nuke.


 * Master Swordsman: Hiei is adept in the art of swordsmanship and carries his trademark "bushido-style" katana. At some point prior to acquiring the Jagan, he acquired a taste for bladed combat, and received lessons in sword technique from Shigure. In the time since then, Hiei presumably developed his own style and exhibits an incredible degree of skill as a swordsman, being capable of delivering multiple precision strikes at lightning-fast speed. Combined with his hyperspeed he attacks his opponent with his sword and if successful can hit up to sixteen times in a second, as just C class, which improves vastly as his powers emerge. Also, Hiei is shown to be able to throw his sword with pin-point accuracy, as evidenced by his using it as an anchor for Kurama's rose whip in Maze castle, or even stab through an opponent, completely missing every vital organ and muscle. In the anime, Hiei is shown to be able to cut through and, by extension, redirect Seiryu's energy by using sword combined with an energy barrier. Near the end of the series, Hiei uses his sword to cut through Mukuro's energy geysers.


 * Jagan Eye (Ja Gan, translated as Evil Eye): With his surgically-implanted third eye, thanks to the demonic osteopath Shigure, Hiei can display wide array psychic abilities- including telepathy, telekinesis, remote-viewing, and erasing memories. The eye also allows him to control the minds of both weaker demons and humans. Hiei's abilities with this eye are formidable. It's been noticed that whenever he uses any of his flame techniques, the Jagan opens. This suggests a need to use this implant as a way to bridge his nature, as a fire demon, with his blood from a Koorime.


 * Jaganshi Form: The Jagan also allows Hiei to transform into something called the Jaganshi (literally translated as Evil Eye Expert) form. In this state, his skin turns green and eyes sprout all over his body. In this form, the power of his Jagan is greatly increased, enhancing his already-great speed, allowing him to paralyze his foes with a binding curse, bolstering his physical strength, and giving him the capacity to summon multiple dragons. Its weakness is that, if anything blinds the Jagan while Hiei is in this form, he will be unable to utilize its powers to the fullest extent. Hiei never assumes this form after his initial fight with Yusuke and only once during the Second Movie, but occasionally references are made to it, the likely reason is that he relies more on the Dragon of the Darkness Flame to fight, and cannot waste as much demon energy. Kurama mistakenly referred to this as Hiei's "true form" when it is actually an enhanced form.


 * Jagan Binding Curse (Jagan Tie Curse in the anime): While in his Jaganshi form, Hiei utilizes the enhanced power of the Jagan to completely paralyze Yusuke's body, binding his arms and legs in a rigid position. When this occurs, a series of concentric rings of energy are seen surrounding Yusuke's body, constricting his movements. In the manga, the Detective's body appears to be encased in a net of electricity. After Yusuke's attempts to escape what he describes as a "cocoon"-like state, Hiei tightens the curse and telekinetically lifts him into the air before slamming him violently to the ground. Although it is only used once in the series, this curse is shown to be highly effective as it is only broken when Kurama splashes his blood over the Jagan Eye on Hiei's forehead, temporarily crippling his powers. It has been noted that Hiei's lapse in concentration at that point may have contributed to the release of Yusuke, which would suggest that Hiei needs a constant flow of energy to maintain the curse.


 * Teleportation: Hiei has shown on numerous occasions the ability to teleport.

Techniques
Dragon of the Darkness Flame (Jaō Ensatsu Kokuryūha, translated as Wicked King Immolation Black Dragon Wave; VIZ translation, Black Dragon Hellfire): Hiei uses his demon energy to lure the flames of Demon World and create a dragon from them. The dragon cannot be controlled, unless the user is capable of absorbing it, but it can be more or less directed at a target. Dragon Absorption: When he turns the dragon on himself, Hiei gains a massive boost in power, defense, and speed. Kurama says that in order to do this, Hiei had to have had consumed and trapped the dragon within him, binding it to his will. When he first used this technique against Bui, he demonstrated an inability to feel pain, but this may have only been because it was the first time that he had ever used this technique in such a way. This may be confirmed by the fact that Hiei felt pain after using this technique during his fight with Sensui in Demon World, though it may have been that Sensui was able to pierce Hiei's enhanced defense, as he is obviously stronger than Bui. In this form he can shoot bursts of dark flame from his hands, as well as surround himself with the flames of the dragon to leap high into the air, resembling a "Rising Dragon". Fist of the Mortal Flame (Jaō Ensatsu Rengoku Shō, translated as Wicked King Immolation Purgatory Scorch; VIZ translation, Purgatory Scorch): Hiei can channel the less-powerful flames of Human World into one or both of his hands. He uses this technique to enhance his hand-to-hand combat abilities, and it also allows him to disintegrate objects merely by touch, as shown by Bui's axe. There seems to be some degree of difference in how the single-handed and two-handed versions of the attack work, since Kuro Momotaru had to gain immunity to both of them. In other media such as the video games, Hiei can channel either flames (human-realm or demon-realm) into this attack, and like when he first used it, the attack is often used as a rushing flurry of rapid punches engulfed with flame, with varying degrees of effect. Sword of the Darkness Flame (Jaō Ensatsu Ken, translated as Wicked King Immolation Sword, VIZ translation, Blazing Sword): Rather than sustain the damage to his arm after using the Dragon the first time, he instead channeled the flames of the Dragon into the hilt of his broken sword. In the English manga and Japanese version, the Dragon is not mentioned to be involved with this technique's creation, where instead Hiei uses the same type of demonic flame. Black Dragon Wave: In his Jaganshi form, Hiei is able to release multiple dragons, which results in massive amounts of destruction. It is unknown if this technique was ever mastered. Hiei might have mastered this attack after he achieved S-class energy levels. In this form, he appears to have gained better control over the dragon, given how he can now actually control who the dragons attack. His first and last time using this move was in the second movie against the Netherworld God known as Raigō. If one considers the movie canon, this is Hiei's most powerful attack (though the instance in which he uses it is not when he is S-Class). Black Dragon Wave is actually a more literal translation of Kokuryuuha (Dragon of the Darkness Flame). This technique wasn't given a different name in the Japanese version.
 * Initially, it damaged his arm horribly, but Hiei has surpassed that by discovering that in order to completely control the dragon's power, and have its power at his full disposal, he had to trap it within his own being. Because it composed entirely of black, demonic flames, it completely consumes all it devours. Essentially, it sends its targets to oblivion as a result. Hiei is the only demon to have ever mastered this technique, which is a form of summoning technique, harnessing both the elemental power of a rushing flame and the demonic power of evil.
 * Only Bui, Mukuro, Sensui and, to a lesser extent, Yakumo (who merely survived it), have been seen to be able to repel this creature. Mukuro managed to split the creature in half entirely; however, the attack wasn't meant to kill her in that instance. Sensui, by cocooning himself in his Sacred Energy, was able to effortlessly keep the Dragon from harming him and instead of killing him, the Dragon merely pushed him through a tunnel he had created between Demon World and Human World. Once the Dragon had pushed him into the kekkai barrier net in the Psuedo-Space, between Human and Demon World, the Dragon burned out upon impacting the net.
 * In the original Japanese version, Hiei and Kurama refer to the technique as Jaō Ensatsu-ken(translating to Evil King Immolation Fist) when the former uses it for the first time. This may be a sub-technique required to prepare the Dragon, or presumably the technique which allows Hiei to control the black flames in the first place.
 * This is not to be confused with Hiei's Sword of the Darkness Flames.
 * This technique appears to have been an infamous one, given how Koenma mentions that his father, King Enma, had told him about it and that he hadn't thought anyone could actually use this technique. This infamous reputation is only reinforced when Hiei mentions how countless masters, over the centuries, had attempted to harness the power of the black dragon. None of them had succeeded.
 * Curiously, in the original Japanese, it is only when Hiei used this technique on Mukuro that he uses its full name. To all other opponents, he only used Ensatsu Kokuryūha (literally translated as Immolation Black Dragon Wave) while using it.
 * There is a drawback, however, in that this technique uses so much power and stamina that Hiei must go into a state of hibernation for a while, at some point after using it, especially if he's made use of the Dragon Absorption. This is often represented in the video games as Hiei being unable to move/being instantly stunned after a while during his powered-up state.
 * Flamethrower: The flame of the human world can also be used as a flamethrower to create a ranged attack. It is used on Bui, but it is proved ineffective. Strangely Hiei uses this technique in the final opening, while Kurama and Kuwabara use their most powerful techniques (Yoko Kurama and Dimension Blade respectively), though it may have been an error in the coloration.
 * He's only used this technique as a last resort, and only twice in the entire series, apparently because he finds it cowardly to limit such great power to the form of a sword (English Dub only) and also completely devoid of any taste or artistry, because of the concept's association with Kuwabara. He successfully used it against Kuro Momotaro when Kuro Momotaro was in his third form. He used this again in two different ways when fighting Sensui in Demon World, but it was ineffective. In the first fight, Hiei first channeled the flames of the Dragon into his sword. In the second try, Hiei created a sword purely from the darkness flame.
 * In the game Jump Ultimate Stars, Hiei has two variations of this move for both his 4 Koma and 5 Koma Special A. The Jaō Shunsatsu Ken (literally translated as Wicked King Flicker Killing Sword) involves Hiei slashing through the foe forward in dark trailing fire. The Jaō Rensatsu Ken (literally translated as Wicked King Chain Killing Sword) has him slashing diagonally upwards with normal fire, unleashing several fiery cross-slashes that rip the area around him at once.

Astral Projection: In the manga, Hiei demonstrates the ability to naturally separate his physical body with his spirit.

Trivia

 * The name "Jagan" or evil eye is used by other character Ban Mido from Get Backers and by Alucard (Hellsing) from Hellsing.
 * Hiei is a popular character among fans of the series. He was ranked as the first, then second, then third most popular male anime character in the Animage Anime Grand Prix for the consecutive years of 1993, 1994, and 1995.
 * The Japanese publication Newtype ranked him as the fifth best male anime character of the 1990s.
 * Hiei was voted 1st in a manga of Yu Yu Hakusho in volume 12 by 20,764 votes from fans.
 * Of the five members of his team Hiei was the only one to remain undefeated in the entire dark tournament. (Genkai lost a fight to Toguro before the finals and though it wasn't offical still counts as a loss)
 * In almost every battle he has participated in, Hiei has lost his shirt either by his own choice or it being destroyed by his opponents. The only times this didn't happen were during his battles with Makintaro, Kuromomtaro, Bui and Sensui.
 * Hiei likely never uses his Jaganshi form again because it was simply a crutch to compensate for the loss of power when he had his Jagan was implanted.
 * As noted by Koenma, Hiei was upper D Class during the Articfacts Arc, but was in lower B Class after the Dark Tournament.
 * Hiei makes three cameo appearances in Yoshihiro Togashi's second hit manga Hunter X Hunter:
 * In Volume 8, Chapter 69, as an action figure along side Kurama and Yusuke, in Milluki Zoldyck's room.
 * In Volume 9, Chapter 80, as a spectator to Gon Freecss's arm wrestling challenge in York Shin city.
 * In Volume 10, Chapter 85, as a plush toy put on a flea market auction.
 * Chuck Huber, the FUNimation's English voice actor for Hiei, once participated in Lanipator's Yu Yu Hakusho Abridged Movie as Raigo the god of Evil. When asked by a fan at an anime convention about his experience, he said it "was a little fun thing to do".
 * Hiei is the only character of the main 4 to never resort to using his life energy in a match.
 * Hiei was only meant to be a starter villain but he was so popular that he became a main character.
 * Mari Kitayama, a lead character designer for the anime adaptation, considers Hiei to be her favorite to design.
 * In the video games, he uses a sword technique called "18 Slash Jagan", which seems to be based on the number of times Hiei slashed Seiryu (though it technically should be "16 Slash"). In media such as the recent J-Stars Victory Vs, it is also known as Kōsoku Giri (literally translated as High Speed Cutter).
 * In the Korean dub, he was named "Bi-Yung", which is the Korean hanja equivalent of his Japanese name. In the Korean subs and Korean manga translation, he is still called Hiei. He was voiced by Hong Bum-Gi (the voice of Kon from Bleach, Rock Lee from Naruto, and Ling Yao from Fullmetal Alchemist), who gave him a much more high pitched, snide-sounding voice.
 * Hiei is referenced in the 43rd episode English dub of Crayon Shin Chan (which was also done by Funimation), where Hiro (who is also voiced by Chuck Huber), yells "Sword of the Darkness Flame!" while carrying a normal bamboo sword.
 * In the one-shot pilot of Sket Dance, Switch invented an eavesdropping device called Tobikage that resembles a Draco, or a flying lizard. The kanji used for 'Tobikage' is the same as Hiei's name (Draco in Japanese is Tobitokage).
 * Yukina's age is speculated to be somewhere between 16 and 99 years old, EoS. This is because the race that he belongs to reaches puberty at 100 years, and Yukina has not reached that point yet. Because Hiei is Yukina's twin, he is somewhere between that age range as well.
 * Hiei's personality bears a similar resemblance to Setsuna F. Seiei from Gundam 00. They're both very calm and quiet when it comes to battle.
 * Hiei's name in Indonesian manga is changed to "Philip"
 * Hiei is also the name of a cruiser and a battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
 * Hiei is the name of a mountain in northeast of Kyoto, right beside the Kurama mountain. Mt. Hiei was also shown in the anime Rurouni Kenshin.
 * He is representative of some Dragon Ball characters. His FUNimation voice actor, Chuck Huber, voices Android 17, making the two sound very similar and both have twin sisters (though unlike Android 18, Yukina is unaware of who her brother is). Also, he shares similar looks and personalities with Vegeta. Finally, he has a third eye, just like Tenshinhan.
 * Interestingly, Togashi himself has noted the resemblance to Vegeta, as noticed by fans. In Yoshirin de pon! (an (in)famous YYH doujin Togashi made and gave out for free at the 1994 Summer Comiket), he draws Vegeta and another Dragon Ball character, Dabura, in the final pages, noting Hiei's similarities to Vegeta (this is because Dragon Ball was in its Buu arc at the time). However, he humorously reveals at the end that he didn't base Hiei of Vegeta but a character named Scunky instead. Although, in the Spirit Detective Saga, Yusuke's rebounded victory Spirit Gun resembled the Spirit Bomb as it hit Vegeta from being rebounded, and both were in search of items. Scunky is a character from Maya Mineo's shojo manga Patalliro!. It's famous for including many shonen-ai/yaoi elements, which might explain Togashi's initial plan for Hiei and Kurama to be a couple.
 * Hiei has fought against many demons who are large sized, such as Seiryu, Makintaro, Kuro Momotaro and Bui.
 * Hiei has several songs on the Yu Yu Hakusho soundtrack.
 * By himself: "Kuchibue ga Kikoeru", "Manazashi no Aria", "Ryuusei no Solitude", and "Tasogare ni Se o Mukete".
 * With Kurama: "WILD WIND ~Yasei no Kaze no You ni~".
 * With Youko: "Dark Side Stories".
 * With Yusuke Urameshi, Kurama, and Kazuma Kuwabara: "Bokutachi no Kisetsu", "Yasashisa wa Nemuranai", "Mienai Mirai E", and "Hikari no Naka de".
 * With Kurama and Kuwabara: "EYE TO EYE".
 * Hiei's Yoki is Yellow/Gold in colour.
 * Hiei's height is 4'10" without hair according to Juri in episode 57 before Hiei was battling Bui .


 * He is called "Hiei of the Evil Eye" in the Viz manga and Vincent in Filipino dub.