Hiei (YuYu Hakusho)

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Hiei (飛影) is one of the four main characters of the Japanese anime and manga series YuYu Hakusho created by Yoshihiro Togashi. Nobuyuki Hiyama is Hiei's seiyū in the original Japanese anime. His English voice actors are Chuck Huber in the FUNimation Dubs, Kirk Thornton, in the dub of Yu Yu Hakusho: The Movie, and James Stanley in the second movie, Yu Yu Hakusho: Poltergeist Report.

In the English-language manga Hiei is called Hiei of the Evil Eye. In the Japanese versions Hiei is often called Hiei Jaganshi (邪眼師); "Jaganshi" is a title rather than an actual last name.

Hiei is a hybrid fire and ice demon (yōkai). He has some pyrokinetic powers, which grants him amazing resitance to extreme temperatures cold, ice based attacks, and even those of fire as well. He is known as the Forbidden One because he is a male fire demon born to a koorime (氷女 ice maiden), who are all females. He was born male because his mother interacted with a male outside the isolationist koorime community. After being cast out as an infant, he was raised by a gang of bandits, until he grew older and killed most of them for fun. The rest rejected him out of fear.

He possesses a third eye in the middle of his forehead, called a Jagan (邪眼, literally evil eye), which amplifies his power and enables him to summon the fires of his homeland, the Makai (魔界 Demon Realm); the Jagan translates into "evil eye", which, coincidently, is what its called in the English-language manga.

Hiei's Evil Eye also gives him hypnokinetic (especially on humans), telepathic, and remote viewing powers. He hides it behind a bandana, revealing it only when he needs to use it.

Under orders by Hiei, Shigure, the demon surgeon, implant the Jagan within him after he succeeded in attaining his asked price and telling him an interesting story, Hiei's own life. However, despite the fact that it would drain Hiei of all his former strength (Hiei was an A-Class demon before the surgery) and would be incredibly painful, he went through with it. He did this because he wanted to find the jewel he lost, the very same one created from his mother's tears. (However, that mission would change later on when he found his half sister, Yukina, and would use it to watch over her.)

After the surgery, Hiei chose to accept Shigure's lessons in the art of swordsmanship in order to survive. (His original level of power was reduced to a lower Class D because of the surgery.) The payment for the operation's success and his teachings, Shigure had Hiei promise never to tell Yukina that he was her half brother. However, Hiei claimed that he wasn't going to tell her anyway.

Eventually, Hiei used the Jagan to find the Glacial Village where he was originally born. There, he found Rui, his mother's friend and the woman who was forced to cast Hiei off the glacier village and into a river. He was looking for his mother, Hina, but found that she had died years ago, shortly after his own "death". Rui said, "Hina had committed suicide after her son was killed many years ago." It was also here, from Rui, that he learned of his sister, Yukina, who left the glacier without explanation, but more than likely to seek her brother out. After she finished, and he turned to leave without another word, Rui quickly figured who this stranger is, that he was Hina's son.

After that moment, Hiei traveled everywhere, intent on finding his sister, Yukina. His search eventually took him to the Human Realm, and it was during this time that he first met the human form of Yoko Kurama. This took him from his quest briefly, in the form of planned robbery of the Spirit World's artifact vault. Together with another demon named Gouki, the three stole three dangerous weapons from the Reikai (霊界, lit. spirit world), and became the targets of Yusuke Urameshi's first case.

After being betrayed by Kurama and arrested by Yusuke, Hiei became a valuable ally in the spirit detective's third case, helping to fight against the Four Saint Beasts. During Urameshi's fourth mission -- to rescue Yukina -- he was given the task of giving Yusuke the tape with the mission briefing. Koenma gave him this task to keep Hiei from knowing the details, knowing that Hiei would certainly kill Tarukane, the man holding his sister. Hiei would be severely punished if he were to succeed in killing the evil human, since youkai are forbidden from killing ANY humans.

Hiei found out the details anyway, and almost succeeded in killing Tarukane, but Yukina stopped him, saying that she did not want any more violence and bloodshed, despite the cruelty that Tarukane had shown her. She also said that Hiei seemed familiar, but she couldn't place him. Hiei told her nothing, not only to uphold his promise to Shigure, but because he was afraid that his sister would be ashamed that what her brother had done in the past.

During the Ankoku Būtsukai (Dark Tournament) saga, Hiei was able to master the Kokuryuha, a Jaou Ensatsu technique, winning his match in a short amount of time thanks to his Jagan. However, because it was his first time using this attack, especially the Jaou Ensatsu Kokuryuha, it crippled his arm. A feat on its own as anyone else attempting this would have had their arm blown off after using it. Because of this, he only got to fight in four matches during the entire tournament. During the tournaments Third Round he was tricked and captured in a force-field of youki making him unable to participate in that round. However, this ambush worked against the demon ninjas, because the field had an unusual effect on Hiei's arm, it healed it back to 100% health.

During the Chapter Black saga, Hiei did not want to join the group in their mission against Shinobu Sensui at first because he felt it did not involve him in any way. Later, after saving Yusuke from Sensui's follower Sniper (Kaname Hagiri), Hiei fought against Yusuke again in order to help calm him down, since Yusuke was in a rage over Sensui kidnapping Kuwabara. Afterwards, Yusuke bribed Hiei with the Chapter Black tape, a VHS tape said to contain on record all of the crimes mankind has ever done onto itself and others, in exchange for helping to defeat Sensui. Hiei managed to gain possession of the tape in the end, only to destroy it without ever watching it.

During the Three Kings Saga, Hiei is invited by Mukuro to travel to her territory and become a part of her army. For six months Hiei was put to a survival test by Mukuro and then faced off against Shigure, the one who implanted him with his Jagan. Hiei was able to defeat Shigure, but lost most of his left arm (it was cut off), and mortally wounding him in the process. Afterwards, per Mukuro's wishes, his arm was restored and he was healed, Hiei continued to train under her. When Raizen died, Hiei traveled to Yomi's territory to meet up with Yusuke.

It was here that Yusuke announced his decision to hold a tournament to determine the Demon Realm's new ruler, rather than to have individual territories. Hiei entered and was among one of the many competitors. Hiei was able to make it through the preliminaries and first round, but lost to Mukuro in his final round. However, whether he lost on purpose or because he was not yet strong enough remains a mystery. As the two spend more and more time with each other, and their relationship progresses, Hiei begins to think of Mukuro as a sister or mother. After being pitted against Mukuro during the tournament, Hiei's two main goals in this match are: 1, defeat Mukuro in the ring and continue on to the next round and also release her from her chains, or 2, if he cannot defeat Mukuro, he must at least unchain her. He unleashed a Black Dragon at Mukuro, though it is not known if it was a full strength or not, since he did not do it to kill her, but free her. The Dragon destroyed the indestructable metal cuffs that bound Mukuro to her past as a former slave, and to her own hate; thus saving her from herself.

In the final episode, Hiei chose to remain in the Demon Realm, and took up the task of escorting humans who have accidentally wandered into the Demon Realm, back to the Human Realm.

Hiei typically squabbles with Kazuma Kuwabara, but seems to hold a certain amount of respect for all his teammates. He prefers to work on his own agenda, and has a notorious reputation in the Demon Realm. Yet, despite this, he is very honorable and always keeps his word. He does not tend to show his emotions, and doesn't always let his teammates know that he does actually care about them, and that they are his friends. However, one thing that you can look to see his emotions in is his eyes. Hiei doesn't always show his emotions through his eyes, but sometimes he lets it slip and you are able to see them. Hiei can be kind and compassionate, but really doesn't know how to show such things because where he grew up, it could be a harsh, cruel place. There, he learned to care for himself, and only himself, but didn't completely close off his emotions, and is still able to care for others.

Other than being a master swordsman from the skills that he learned from Shigure, Hiei is also lightning fast, able to move at speeds faster than the human eye, sometimes even faster than most demon's eyes. He is a master of the Jaou Ensatsu Kokuryu, black dragons which he tamed and summons from the Demon Realm for his use through the tattoo on his right arm.

[edit] Attacks

• Jaō Ensatsu Kokuryuha (邪王炎殺黒龍波 literally Evil-King's Blaze-Murdering Black-Dragon-Wave).

Black Dragon Spirit in the Philippine dub.
Black Dragon Hell Fire in the English manga.
Black Dragon Wave in the English dub done by U.S. Manga Corps.
Dragon of the Darkness Flame in the English dub done by Funimation.

This technique involves Hiei luring the dragons of the demon world using his demon energy to him and then releasing them in the direction of his foe. The dragon cannot be controlled directly once released, however eventually Hiei learns to absorb the dragon once it is stopped and thrown back at him. This puts him in a temporary state of incredible power. As the series progresses, Hiei can use the dragon at will without seriously damaging his arm, whereas it initally paralyzes his entire arm from pain. This is one of the strongest attacks in the Yu Yu Hakusho universe.

• Jaō Ensatsu Rengoku Shou (邪王炎殺煉獄焦 Evil-King's Blaze-Murdering Purgatory Scorch)

Fist of the Mortal Flames in the English Dub.
Blazing Fist of the Overlord in the English Manga.

Hiei draws the lesser flame of the human world into his fists, creating a fire based close range attack.

• Jaō Ensatsu Ken (邪王炎殺剣 Evil-King's Blaze-Murdering Sword)

Sword of the Darkness Flame in the English Dub.
Black Fire Sword in the Philippine Dub.

Hiei lures the dragons of spirit world using his demon energy again, but channels them into his sword instead of fully releasing them, making it less dangerous for him and his body (In the Japanese version Hiei just creates this attack by merging his yoki with the Demonic Flames). Hiei notes his distaste for this particular attack (since it is similar to Kuwabara's). He eventually learns to create the sword without a channeling point, as Kuwabara does.

[edit] Cultural references

• Hiei's name in the Philippines dub of the series was changed to "Vincent".
• Hiei's name in Indonesian manga is changed to "Philip"
• Hiei's name means "flying shadow."
• 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.
• 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".

YuYu Hakusho
Characters
Yusuke Urameshi | Kazuma Kuwabara | Keiko Yukimura (Kayko Yukimura) | Koenma | Botan | Hiei | Kurama | Genkai | Yukina
Story Arcs
Spirit Detective Saga | Dark Tournament Saga | Chapter Black Saga | Saga of the Three Kings | The Movie | Poltergeist Report
Other
YuYu Hakusho characters | Ability list | Demon ranks | Manga chapters | Makai | Episodes | Trading Card Game