Kurama (Yu Yu Hakusho)

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

Kurama is an over-thousand-years-old fox demon and former thief shot to near brink of death by a demon hunter. Unwilling to die, he forced his soul out to swim into the human world and merged with the fetus owned by the nearest pregnant woman he could spot, Shiori Minamino, and reborn as her son, Shuuichi Minamino.

Kurama was eventually targeted by the Spirit World upon him resurfacing his thievery practice, due to his willingness to surrender his actions, Kurama was sentenced for parole, and would have his criminal records waived if he were to aid Yusuke in his Spirit Detective investigations.

Appearance
In his human form, Kurama has bright green eyes, as well as long vibrant red hair, with two long forelocks on either Yokoshoulder and the rest on his back. While in this form, he is occasionally mistaken for a female because of his long hair and delicate features. He often wears his pink school uniform matching pink slacks and a jacket with gold trim.

Towards the end of Season One, he is seen wearing a white martial arts outfit similar to his school uniform with gold trim and a pink sash tied around the left side of his waist and the folded sleeves on both of his sleeves and pants and the high-neck on his uniform are dark blue. He stopped wearing it midway through the 2nd season (presumably because it was ruined in his fights against the first two members of Team Masho). After recovering from his injuries and assisting Yusuke at the end of the Demon Tournament, he was seen wearing a white long sleeve button Cheongsam with purple outlines, black pants and his martial arts shoes.

For the remainder of the series, he often wears a light-colored Chinese-style battle outfit with yellow plane and blue trim. He is also seen in a flashback in the Three Kings Saga, a flashback of him meeting Hiei, where he has short hair. In Chapter Black Saga, he wears his battle outfit during the Dark Tournament Saga but minor changes as the yellow plane and blue trim changed from green plane and pink trim. He also wears a dark blue school uniform.

While in his demon-fox form, he has slanted golden eyes, prominent silver fox-ears, as well as a silver tail and long flowing silver hair. He wears a white sleeveless yukata (that resembles a toga), along with matching martial arts pants and shoes.

In Poltergeist Report Movie, when Kurama was seen shirtless, he had a lean build with a well sculpted chest, biceps, and shoulders, but the bandages cover most of his torso. In later parts of the movie he was seen wearing the same battle outfit in the Dark Tournament as his Chinese battle outfit is a red plane and yellow trim.

In the latest OVA from 2018, Kurama wears the same casual look in the Chapter Black saga but without the leather jacket. He wears a long sleeved pink sweater shirt, blue gray jeans and black leather shoes.

Personality
Kurama is the most calculating, cunning and analytical member of the main characters and perhaps in the whole series. He is able to carefully look past his feelings and see the real situation at hand, which has been demonstrated on more than one occasion. He is extremely perceptive, able to quickly recognize the patterns and mistakes that his opponents make, which gives him an edge. In battle, while his preference is to concoct strategies based on deduction of his opponents' fighting abilities and style, his natural battle instincts are also highly tuned. He is capable of slashing another person's head off in just an instant, relying only on impulse. However, his care for his friends and family are the backbone of his fighting drive, as he would sacrifice just about anything to protect them and thus making him a reliable teammate despite his cunning front. Kurama has a very kind heart, and several villains in the series will use this ploy against him in order to beat him.

In the face of adversity, Kurama has the uncommon ability to shun all emotions and shine a blank slate, thinking three to four steps ahead to clutch the pinch and seize control of the situation. Coupled with his vast intelligence, his detached emotional state is perhaps his greatest asset.

Despite his physical appearance, Kurama has very high durability, shown in almost all of his matches. Because of his analyzation lenience, he is always the most injured in his fights, but manages to pull a trick out of his hat to decide the match. This is well defined in his match with Karasu.

As Yoko Kurama, he is much more cruel, vindictive, and merciless, retaining all of his intellectual capabilities. He enjoys toying with his enemies in a sadistic manner, as shown in the semi-final rounds of the Dark Tournament and against Karasu. The transformation into Yoko was attained inadvertently earlier in the tournament with the age regression technique of Ura Urashima (through Suzuka). Later on in the series after Yusuke's defeat at the hands of Sensui, Kurama seems to take on his demon form, though he states it is just a change in physical appearance due to his exposure to substantial amounts of demon energy (a product of the tunnel's completion). However, he retains his human personality without becoming cruel and merciless.

In the anime, it is portrayed that he and his demon form have different personalities. This is due to the fact that while a demon, his ruthless demeanor along with the change in his voice, make Kurama seem like an entirely different person. However, this misconception is cleared as Kurama states that his demonic spirit, merged with the human spirit of Minamino Shuichi over time. So rather than being a demon inhabiting a human body, he "is both the demon Kurama as well as the human Minamino Shuuichi."

Kurama is on good terms with Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei. He is more closely related with Yusuke and Hiei, because the former spared his life and his human mother's by willingly offering his own life to the Forlorn Hope(one of the Artifacts of Darkness), and the latter because they were once, and still are "partners in crime". He also has a tendency to plan for all possible futures, one that may or may not be, because he believes that nothing is ever certain and that you must be prepared.

Fighting Style

 * Vast Intellective Approach // Unparalleled Precision: Perhaps one of Kurama's most powerful abilities. On countless occasions it has been demonstrated upon the sheer depth of Kurama's intellectual capabilities. Coupled with his inate ability to conceal his emotions in the face of adversity, and his power to summon plants from the demon world, his mind makes Kurama one of the most powerful characters in the series. Along with his centuries of experience as a fighter, Kurama has molded himself into a master strategist, tactician, and analyst. He is frequently the first person to point out or find a weakness in his opponent's abilities or fighting style and exploit them to his advantage. The weakness of this is that in his attempt to understand and come up with a way to defeat his opponent, he tends to go easy on his opponent at first and is often the most injured of the four. Still his ability to think several steps before the enemy almost always ensures his victory. As Yoko, Kurama's body endurance increases substantially. When his Yoko form took the full force of Karasu's bomb his Yoko body took minimal damage with moderate bleeding. He stated had that been his human body, it would have been blown to pieces. It is unknown if Kurama retains his endurance when he transforms without the use of the Fruit of Previous Life.

Known Techniques/Moves

 * Demonic Plant Manipulation: Kurama's primary skillset is the use of his demon energy to manipulate plants. Typically, this is done by taking some inert portion of a plant, like a seed or a flower, and transforming it into either a weapon or a living plant. When choosing the latter option, the plant will typically either be an intrinsically deadly plant native to the Demon World, or a Living World plant that has been drastically altered by Kurama's demon energy.


 * Rose Whip (Bara Kyoku Ben Jin (Rōzu Uippu), Rose Thorn Whip Blade : Kurama's signature technique, where he uses his demon energy to grow a rose from its seed state to its flowering state and then into a long thorny whip that's capable of cutting even through steel. With this he is able to conceal seeds of different plants with such stealth that the opponent doesn't realize it until it has already happened.


 * Rose Whiplash (Kagon Retsuzanshi) , Luster Severe Rending Slash Limb, Thorn Whiplash in the Viz translation) : Kurama swiftly slashes the whip in multiple directions.


 * Chou Kagon Retsuzanshi (Super Luster Severe Rending Slash Limb; Super Thorn Whiplash in the Viz translation : A more devastating form of the Rose Whip. He uses this attack against defense armor Sensui.


 * Rose Whip Thorn Wheel (Fūka Enbu Jin), Wind Luster Waltz Array : Kurama draws the Rose Whip and swings it around him in a circle, as rose petals scatter around and stun his opponents, while the wheel created from the whip unleashes cresent-shaped energy blades.


 * Petals and Thorns (Hanabira to ibara), translated as Petal Whirlwind in the English manga : a executed via a whirlwind of razor-sharp rose petals materializing in the palm of Kurama's hand and then swirling around him. If an opponent/attacker gets within a certain range, the petals attack and rip them to shreds. Kurama mainly uses this technique as a barrier or to take out large numbers of weaker demons.
 * Seed of the Death Plant (Shimaneki Sō), Death-Inviting Grass : This is a small seed that Kurama plants in his opponent's body and can be manipulated using his demon energy. After it has had enough time to secure its roots within the victim's body, the death plant bursts forth from within, killing the opponent. Only used successfully on Roto during the Dark Tournament, unsuccessfully on Karasu, and as an impromptu blade when fighting Toya.


 * Death Tree (Shoku Yō Shokubutsu), Devourer Demon Plant : A Demon World plant, the Death Tree is a root-based plant that contains huge mouths at the end of each root. It is a carnivorous tree with an acidic saliva capable of melting flesh and bone easily. Instinctively it strikes anything that moves. In the series it appears just once, being used only to intimidate Ura Urashima during the Dark Tournament.


 * Ojigi Plant (Makai no Ojigi Sō), Demon Realm Bow Grass : A plant indigenous to South America. When grown with demon energy, it mutates into a creature that responds to movements or heat by closing its leaves around its prey and crushing it to death. It is considered the demon world equivalent of the mimosa plant, but unlike its human world counterpart, which withdraws in response to a presence, this demonic plant actually pursues any heat it notices. Had to be summoned by incantation in the manga and Japanese-language anime; the anime's incantation was, according to official subtitles, "agron tentagram bicheon sabbat adonai", while the manga used nonsense-symbols. Only used to try and kill Karasu during the Final Round of the Dark Tournament.
 * Bloodsucking Plant (Kyūketsu Shokubutsu), Blood-Drinking Weed : A special Demon World plant that can attach itself to its victim and drain them of their blood before blossoming into a beautiful, rose-like, flower once it has drained enough blood from its victim. Only used to kill Karasu during the final round of the Dark Tournament.
 * Accelerated Growth: Kurama is able to speed up the rate of growth of plants, allowing him to create a forest in mere seconds as a means of hiding himself. He can also control the plants he grew to do certain tasks.
 * Lamp Weed (Akaru Zassō), Bright Weed : Plants that act as markers for Kurama to find his way back. Used during the Chapter Black saga, as the Spirit Detectives make their way down to where the tunnel to Demon World is being opened.
 * Smoke Screen: Through his palms, Kurama can jettison smoke to obfuscate and obscure his position. The manga and the script for the anime state that the ability's catalyst is a powder like mold.
 * Sinning Tree (Janen Ju), Tree of Depravity : The tree responds to the memories of the victims, ensnaring the consciousness of the victim with hallucinations of wickedness, and forces them to replay their fears as it feeds off of its victims' life force, never stopping until its host is dead. If, for some reason, the victim continues to struggle, then the tree will generate extra tendrils in order to restrain its victim as it feeds. Only used once, to trap Elder Toguro for eternity, near where the tunnel to Demon World is being opened.
 * Floating Leaf (Fuyōka no Makai Shokubutsu), Floating Leaves from Demon Realm Plant: This plant appears as "wings", similar to that of a butterfly, on Kurama's back that double as a glider. First used to break the descent of Kuwabara's, Hiei's, and his, falls while attempting to avenge Yusuke's death in Demon World. Is used later on to keep him in the air as Yusuke and Sensui clash in Demon World. Is unnamed in the English dub, but Kurama describes it as a leaf of a demon world plant.
 * The Binding Fist of the Demonic Vine (Juryō Yōzan Ken), Wood Spirit Demon Beheading Fist): Similar to the Rose Whip in that it is composed of a vine with thorns, but this time it grows around Kurama's arm and is wielded as a sword-like weapon. Used only as an attempt to attack Sensui when they were fighting in Demon World, although he did use a similar attack, Leaf Blade, in his earlier days. It is speculated that this attack is in fact created by what are essentially rose whips manipulated and entangled around Kurama's arm, creating a sharp piercing weapon.


 * Bamboo Forest (Takenomori), Bamboo forest : An unnamed technique that transforms the plant first into a spear, and then by striking the ground with said spear, a large number of bamboo pikes burst out of the ground and impales the opponent several times. Used by Kurama in the second movie in order to kill an unnamed Netherworld God that impersonated his former partner Kuronue.


 * Pseudo-Creature: Seen only in the manga set after the Demon World Tournament, this parasite merges with its host on the cellular level, instinctively repairing any damage done to the host body. Unless the host's brain is destroyed, the host will stay in a 'half-life' for a very-long time. Its appearance is similar to that of the Sinning Tree, which begs the question of whether or not the two plants are somehow related.
 * Hiei gave the slave trader Chikou, Mukuro's childhood abuser, one of these creatures (which Kurama had supplied him with). He then delivered Chikou's incapacitated body to Mukuro, for her to mutilate as she saw fit; a demonic version of therapy, so to speak.


 * Parrot Grass: Kurama uses this shrub in order to deceive a group of religious terrorists who had taken the Gates of Judgment hostage and used radio check-ins to make sure nothing was going wrong.


 * Leaf Blade: In the Two Shots chapter, Kurama's main weapon was a leaf transformed into a sword. Presumably this was before he was at the level of using his Rose Whip again. In the anime, this is replaced with the Rose Whip.


 * Astral Projection: In the manga, Kurama demonstrates the ability to naturally separate his physical body with his spirit in order to enter the Spirit World.

Trivia

 * As with Hiei, Kurama's name simply "popped into [Togashi's] head" when developing the characters.
 * Kitayama finds Kurama to be the easiest of the main characters to design due to his well-proportioned features.
 * Kurama is revealed to be the real name of the Nine-Tailed Fox sealed within Naruto during the final story arc of the Naruto series; its mangaka Masashi Kishimoto is said to have been inspired from the Yu Yu Hakusho series.
 * David Hayter, who voices Kurama in Yu Yu Hakusho: The Movie, also voiced Solid Snake in the popular video game Metal Gear Solid.
 * In the Hyper Police anime, Kurama made a cameo appearance in the episode 4 when Natsuki is in the house of Sakura.
 * Kurama's original manga color scheme was black hair and a blue uniform; the animators chose a red and pink version instead, possibly to give more color variety to Team Urameshi as Hiei and Yusuke have black hair and Kuwabara already wears a blue uniform.
 * Kurama made a cameo appearance in Yoshihiro Togashi's second, hit manga series Hunter x Hunter. In Volume 8, Chapter 69, as a action figure along side Yusuke and Hiei, inside the room of Milluki Zoldyck.
 * Kurapika, one of the main characters in the manga series Hunter X Hunter, is largely based off of Kurama:
 * Kurapika is a cunning, master strategist who always planned his attacks in advance.
 * He is a boy prodigy who rapidly learned to control his superhuman abilities.
 * He is highly intelligent with a wide knowledge of the world.
 * His androgynous appearance has lead readers to wonder if he was in fact a girl. In one chapter, he is mistaken as being a girl by his archenemy.
 * Chinese-style robes are his main form of clothing.
 * He possesses a calm, collective, and friendly personality that belied his sinister, wrathful, and hateful feelings towards those who had wronged or hurt him in the past.
 * He bore a profound feeling of respect and platonic love towards his friends and family, and would never sacrifice their lives in order to achieve his own personal goals.
 * He is a master martial artist.
 * Just as Kurama could manipulate plants in order to immobilize, capture, attack and kill his enemies, Kurapika had the ability to conjure up a chain from his aura, which was used for the same purposes as Kurama's plants were.
 * In the same way that Kurama was ranked second place for most popular character in the Yu Yu Hakusho manga, Kurapika was also voted in second place in the Hunter X Hunter popularity contest.
 * Both Kurama and Kurapika have the same first two syllables in their names and are the only main characters to do so.
 * Kurama is usually crippled in some way during his fights:
 * Genbu wounds him in the stomach and he could no longer fight for the duration of the mission.
 * Roto holds a button, threatening to send a signal to his demon brother to kill Kurama's mother if he fought back.
 * Gama anchors down Kurama's arms and legs with his paint-based sealing techniques.
 * Toya faces him while his power is sealed away by Gama's final technique.
 * Ura Urashima tricks him into being exposed to the Idun Box (which ultimately works to Kurama's advantage as it transforms him into Yoko Kurama).
 * Kurama is the only fighter on Team Urameshi to techincally lose in the finals against team Toguro.
 * Kurama hides seeds in his hair.
 * During his fight with Elder Toguro/Gourmet, Kurama showed the ability to supress all thought in his mind and fight solely on impulse. He also is capable of hiding his true plans underneath layers of false planning.
 * He had a girl named Maya who became really attached to him when he was 14 (this is not shown in the anime)
 * Kurama met Hiei when he was 14 years old.
 * He seems prone to taking wounds in the stomach.
 * He has an incredible sense of smell and can read lips.
 * Kurama planned to leave Human World to return to Demon World after regaining his strength, but it would take an estimated 10 years to do so. In the end, he never left because of the love he had for his human mother and the rest of his family.
 * During the Three Kings Saga, Kurama's Yōki is stated to be 1,902 (In the manga) and 8,902 (In the anime). When transforming into Yoko Kurama his Yōki is 152,000.
 * This means Kurama has roughly a third of his demon powers in human form. He more than makes up for this weakness through strategy.
 * His seiyu, Megumi Ogata, also voiced Sailor Uranus from Sailor Moon (90's anime only). Coincidentally, Yu Yu Hakusho's mangaka, Yoshihiro Togashi, is married to Naoko Takeuchi, the mangaka for Sailor Moon.
 * In the Korean dub he is named "Cho-Hong" (초홍), which, unlike Hiei's Korean name, is not a hanja translation of his Japanese name. In the Korean sub, he is called "Gurama", but is still called Kurama in the manga translation.
 * It has been stated in latest releases that Kurama's Birthday falls on December 29.
 * The Filipino dub initially called him Denise, because the dubbers thought he was a woman. When they learned the truth, they changed his name to Dennis and explained that he was disguising himself as a woman named Denise.
 * He was Megumi Ogata's debut role.
 * In an interview, Megumi Ogata said that Kurama was one of her most memorable works, along with Sailor Uranus from 'Sailor Moon', Shinji Ikari from 'Neon Genesis Evangelion', and Melvina McGarren in the video game 'Melty Lancer'.
 * In the anime, Kurama's hairstyle bears a resemblance to Feldt Grace's hair from Gundam.
 * Kurama is a popular character among fans of the series.
 * This is likely due to him being the "straight man" in the comedic lunacy of his comrades. In terms of personality, Kurama falls between the loudmouths Yusuke and Kuwabara, and the stoic Hiei.
 * In the Animage Anime Grand Prix, he was ranked as the third most popular male anime character of 1993 and the most popular male character in both 1994 and 1995.
 * His alternate Demon Fox Kurama form was ranked sixteenth in 1994.
 * Yoko Kurama additionally won About.com's "Best Supporting Character" in its 2005 Anime Award Show.
 * Kurama was also ranked the third best male anime character of the 1990s by Newtype.
 * In the manga poll in volume 12, Kurama was placed 2nd by 13,514 votes by fans.
 * Yoko Kurama bears resemblance to another famous anime character, Inuyasha.
 * Like Hiei, Kurama's name comes from the Kurama Mountain, in Kyoto, Japan. It is the location of a famous Buddhist temple. Mt. Hiei stands right beside it.
 * Kurama's human name translates in two parts: the given (Shuichi) means "excellence first", while the surname (Minamino) means "Southern Field" and is also the name of a famous Japanese warrior. To this day, the surname is only allowed to families of nobility or higher social standing.
 * Kurama is the name of a rural town in the northern mountains of Kyoto City, less than one hour from the city center. Kurama town is best known for its temple Kurama-dera and its hot spring, one of the most easily accessible hot springs from Kyoto.
 * Kurama is the only member of team Urameshi to remain undefeated in the Demon world tournament (though he must have either lost or forfeited at some point before the end considering the fact that he did not win).
 * Kurama's Yoki is Purple in color.
 * His name was also used in a sumo wrestler named Kurama Tatsuya.
 * Kurama is possibly the most intelligent character in the series.
 * Kurama is the only main character among the four who doesn't go shirtless during any battle.
 * Kurama (Shuichi Minamino) and Youko Kurama have a resemblance of a fox. Shuichi Minamino (by hair color) represents the Red Fox, which is native to Japan. Youko Kurama himself represents a Silver Fox.
 * In the FUNimation dub, Kurama has a normal voice (Shuichi Minamino) but when he turns into Youko Kurama his voice became deeper.
 * Though never outright stated, the side-effects of the Seed of Decarnation potion Kurama drank at the Dark Tournament left his human and demon sides unbalanced.
 * During the Three Kings Saga, Kurama noted he felt like his old self once a month.
 * He reverts to his demon form whenever he is in extreme danger. Though, in the anime, he uses his sheer willpower to surpress Yoko; he decided not to rely on his old self.
 * The anime shows Kurama reverting to Yoko while gazing at the moon.