Hiei (YuYu Hakusho)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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); which is a title rather than an actual family name. It is given only to those who have mastered the "Jagan". So far, Hiei has been the only one to claim it.

Contents 1 Hiei's personality, heritage and powers 2 In the human world 3 Dark Tournament, Chapter Black, Three Kings arcs 4 Special Techniques 5 Trivia

[edit] Hiei's personality, heritage and powers

Hiei is a hybrid fire and ice demon (yōkai). He has some pyrokinetic and cryokinetic powers, which grant him amazing resistance to extreme temperatures of heat and cold, as well as limited immunity against fire and ice based attacks. He is known as the Forbidden One, because he is a male fire demon born to an ice maiden (otherwise known as a Koorime), an all born female race. He was born male because his mother "interacted" with a male demon outside her isolationist Koorime community, which led to him being cast out as an infant. After surviving his fall down, he was found and raised by a gang of bandits, but it didn't last long. As he grew older, he killed mostly for fun, causing those that survived to greatly fear him and reject him.

He possesses an implanted third eye in the middle of his forehead, called a Jagan (邪眼, literally Evil Eye), which amplifies all his natural powers and enables him to summon the hellacious fires of his homeland, Makai (魔界 Demon Realm). The "Ja-gan" translates into "Evil-eye", which is the term used in the English-language manga when referring to it.

Hiei's Evil Eye not only amplifies his powers, but also gives him several other abilities, such as: Hypnosis (especially on humans), Telepathy, and Remote Viewing powers. He hides it behind a special sutra bandana, the same kind he uses to wrap up the Black Dragon on his right arm. The bandana forces it to "sleep" and lessen its drain on his reserves of yōki, but is ready to be revealed whenever he needs to use it.

Under orders from Hiei, Shigure, the demon surgeon, implanted the Jagan within him after he succeeded in attaining his asked price: telling him an interesting story. Which Hiei did, by telling Shigure the story of his life. Despite the warning that the surgery would drain Hiei of all his (former) strength and that it would be incredibly painful, he went through with it. Afterwards, he chose to accept Shigure's lessons in the art of swordsmanship in order to survive. He did so due to the fact that his original level of power, that of an A-Class demon, was reduced to that of a lower D-Class.

During his stay and training with the demon surgeon, Hiei decided to use his implant for what he originally wanted it for. To find the special jewel that he had lost in a battle with another demon, the very same one created from his mother's tears when he was a baby. However, instead of finding his jewel, Hiei found his way back to the Glacial Village where he was originally born in. Once there, he decided to find his mother, Hina, but would find her friend, Rui, the woman who was forced to cast him off the village and into a river below. From her, he found out that his mother had died years ago, she had committed suicide due to the depression of losing her son and witnessing his "death".

It was also here, from Rui, that Hiei learned of the existence of his twin sister, Yukina, who left the village without explanation a few years ago. Whom she also told him that it was assumed by her fellow villagers that Yukina's reasons for leaving were more than likely due to discovering that she had a twin brother, and decided to seek him out. After she finished answering his questions, Hiei turned to leave without another word. However, before he did, Rui quickly figured who he was, that he was Hina's son, and asked him to kill her for her part in his fate. He refused.

On his way back to Shigure, Hiei decided from then on to use his Jagan to watch over his sister, rather than finding his jewel. So it was, upon his return, he decided to pay Shigure for his services as both a doctor and sensei. However, as payment for the operation and his teachings, Shigure had Hiei promise never to tell Yukina that he was her brother. Hiei accepted the terms, and claimed that he wasn't going to tell her anyway.

[edit] In the human world

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, Shuichi Minamino. 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, defeating Seiryuu. 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. Hiei agreed to her plea, and stated that he didn't even think Tarukane was worth killing. Afterwards, she said that Hiei seemed familiar to her, but she couldn't place him. Hiei remained quiet and told her nothing, not only upholding his oath to Shigure, but also because he was afraid that she would be ashamed of his past.

[edit] Dark Tournament, Chapter Black, Three Kings arcs

During the Dark Tournament, Hiei was able to master the Flame of Dark Dragon technique, a Jaou Ensatsu technique, winning his match against Zeru in the first round in a short amount of time thanks to his Jagan. However, because it was his first time using this attack, especially the Flame of Darkness Dragon, 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 an experienced demon force-field maker 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, as it healed it back to 100% health. Later, he masters the technique to and is able to use it against Bui of Team Toguro in the last round and beat him, wrecking half the stadium in the process.

During the Chapter Black arc, 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 arc, 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 which was cut off and also ended up being mortally wounded in the process (in the manga, he was literally cut in half at the waist). Afterwards, per Mukuro's wishes, his arm was restored and he was healed, and 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 more than a mere ally. After being pitted against Mukuro during the tournament, Hiei's two main goals in this match are to defeat Mukuro in the ring and continue on to the next round and also release her from her chains, or 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 indestructible metal cuffs that bound Mukuro to her past as a former slave, and to her own hate; thus saving her from herself.

In the manga, he frees her from her past by kidnapping the demon who once enslaved her and trapping him with a plant obtained from Kurama. The plant continually healed any injuries the man endured, and Hiei left him with a smiling Mukuro to slice up at her leisure, and kill when she was done with him.

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. Hiei can be kind and compassionate, but really doesn't know how to show such things because of where he grew up and the atmosphere there. There, he learned to care for himself, and only himself, but didn't completely close off his emotions as he 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, and sometimes even faster than most demon's eyes. He is a master of the Jaou Ensatsu Kokuryu, the black dragons which he tamed and summons from the Demon Realm for his use through the mystical tattoo on his right arm.

[edit] Special Techniques

• 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.

"dragon of the blackest flame" in the english dub done by GMV This technique involves Hiei luring the dragons of the demon world using his demon energy (youki) to him and then releasing them in the direction of his target/enemy. 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 super state with access to incredible power. As the series progresses, Hiei can use the dragon at will without seriously damaging his arm. Whereas it initially crippled his entire right arm the first time he used it, but thankfully was later accidentally healed by an enemies attack. 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, one or both, of his fists, and utilizes his lightning speed to create an incredible fire based close range multi-striking 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 creates this attack by merging his yoki with the flames of Demon World). 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] Trivia

• 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." This is probably the reason for his speed.
• In the Opening Ending Encyclopedia Hiei returns to Human World to return Yukina's ice gem saying that her brother has been dead for years, but Yukina tells him to keep the gem saying that if her brother were still alive she would have wanted him to be just like him.
• 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~", "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 | Manga chapters | Makai | Episodes | Trading Card Game