Kurei

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Flame of Recca Character
Kurei
Kurei with Kurenai
Name:	Kurei
Dub Names:	Cray
Gender:	Male
Age:	20
Date of Birth:	Unknown
Madogu:	N/A. Purple Flame powers innate, embodied with the spirit of Phoenix
Element:	Fire
Affiliations:	Uruha-Hokage
First Appearance (anime):	Episode 5
First Appearance (manga):	Volume 2
Voice Actors:	Ryotaro Okiayu (Japanese) Jonathan Love (English)]]) Danny Deopante (Tagalog

Kurei is one of the antagonists in the Japanese anime and manga series Flame of Recca (烈火の炎 Rekka no Honoo in Japan). He was born into the ninja clan Hokage. Supposedly, he possessed cursed purple flame, and pursued his half brother Recca Hanabishi through a time travelling portal for revenge. It is eventually revealed that it was Recca who had the cursed flame and kurei was the real next flame master. He is usually accompanied with his flame angel Kurenai. As the series progresses, Kurei eventually takes the role of anti-hero as opposed of being a total antagonist.

1 Biography
2 Trivia
3 External links

[edit] Biography

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Kurei is an iron-hearted man, due to a lot of hardships he went through his life. He's also ruthless and have very little sense of humor, as his life was filled with strictness. However, beneath the rough exterior lies a caring heart and impressive charisma. He led a group of elite fighters named Uruha.

[edit] Days at the Hokage

Kurei was born as the first son of Ohka, the leader of the Hokage Ninja, from his concubine Reina. Possessing flame powers, Kurei was believed to be the next clan leader. However, around four years later, Ohka's wife Kagerou gave birth to Recca, and he also possessed flame powers. As the law of Hokage decreed, two Flame Masters would bring misfortune and one of them must be killed. The Hokage elders feared Kurei's flames, which came in form of Phoenix with the power of claiming the souls of the dead, and thus deemed Kurei to die. However, Ohka and Kagerou managed to change the outcome of his fate. As a result, Kurei was forced to live as an outcast along with his mother. Throughout his life, he was constantly tortured and abused, being called 'cursed child'. Ohka expressed that he was very sorry as a father, since he had to act like a leader. Reina never blamed Ohka either, but she said that they wouldn't suffer if Recca wasn't born. Kurei's mind twisted and decided to kill Recca, so they didn't need to suffer anymore. He snuck on Recca's home and attempted to kill him with dagger, but he could only make a scar on Recca's cheek. Before he could do more, the other ninjas apprehended him and sentenced him to the prison for his lifetime. On the other hand, Reina was not condemned.

Not long afterwards, Oda Nobunaga rallied his troops to destroy the Hokage village to obtain their mystic weapons, the Madogu. The prison area was ignored during the battle and was caught in flames. Kurei was about to die when suddenly Reina rescued him, albeit suffering a fatal wounds. Unfortunately, she couldn't escape together and urged him to go on without her. She instilled strength on him, saying that tears represented weakness and to live he needed to trample those who get in his way, and as long as he lived, Hokage would never perish. As a final word, she told him to make her death his strength to live on.

With his mother dead, Kurei harbored much more hatred to Recca, and also hated Nobunaga for the massacre. When running on the woods, he found Kagerou using the forbidden spell Jikuryuuri to transport Recca to another timeline through a time portal. Kurei jumped into the portal as well, determined to finish his revenge once and for all.

[edit] Present Day

Waking up in the present day, Kurei was found by a kind woman, Tsukino Mori. She took him as her own child, raising him with care. However, her husband Kouran Mori could be said as the most evil man alive. When Kurei began to show his flame power, Kouran took him in and began training him as his emotionless right hand man, by force. To do so, he took Tsukino as a hostage and planted a bomb in her body. In case Kurei would do anything crazy, he would blow Tsukino up.

Kurei was given a villa to stay while he resumed his training for being a ruthless assassin. He was given a personal servant, Raiha, who would become attached to him, and also brought in three sisters, Neon, Miki and Aki, as his maids. One day, Kouran introduced him to Kurenai, a girl who would be staying alongside Kurei in his mansion. The cold hearted Kurei slowly started to fall in love with Kurenai, and he also started smiling, something he hadn't done in years.

However, when Kouran learnt what happened, he started beating up Kurei and forced him to kill her with his own hands. Kurei was extremely hesitant on this and didn't do it, although he formerly said 'Whatever happened to this woman is none of my business'. On the top of that, Kouran took a switch and pressed it. It turned out that he planted Kurenai with the same bomb he planted to Tsukino and this killed her outright. Kurei was deeply saddened on this. Kurenai also stated that she'd like to be with him forever, even though she might get a little ugly. As a response, Kurei used his flame to turn Kurenai into his flame spirit in form of an angel. He felt responsible for taking Kurenai's life away, so as a first act, he ordered Kurenai to burn part of his face.

As time passed, Kurei returned to his usual cold hearted personality, resuming the role as a 'son' to protect his mother, donning a mask to cover his face. However, his charisma remained intact. He started the search for various Madogu and almost collected all of them. Kouran formed the group Uruha to help him in his task, and amongst them Kurei appointed 10 individuals to be called his 'Ten Gods' or 'Jyuushinshu' as his strongest subordinates. The lineup was Raiha, Neon, Jishou, Genjurou, Joker (joined rather late), Kai, Noroi, Mikoto, Rasen and Meguri Kyouza. However, only the first 8 other than Joker would be the ones who showed up in public the most. He's known to be the defending champion of the dark tournament called Ura Butou Satsujin, sponsored by his 'father'. Little did he know that some of the Uruha spied on him for the sake of Kouran.

[edit] Kurei Mansion Saga

Eventually, Kurei was given another mansion, which resembled more like a castle filled with traps and a research center. Since Kouran put up a mask as a kind donating philanthropist, Kurei also acted as his 'gentle hearted son'. Eventually, one day Kouran revealed his true desire : Immortal life. He was desperately seeking a way to achieve it, and eventually found his way to achieve it... A girl with healing powers, Sakoshita Yanagi. Kurei was given the task to capture her. He also received another task to capture Tatesako Fumio, a teacher with deep knowledge on Madogu, but he sent an Uruha junior member Kaoru Koganei and an Uruha underling Mokuren Nagai to do the job. However, coincidentally they captured both Tatesako and Yanagi.

Kurei made his researchers interrogate Tatesako, while he put up experiments on Yanagi, testing her healing powers. However, Yanagi's friends were coming to rescue her: Domon Ishijima, Fuuko Kirisawa, Tokiya Mikagami and finally Recca Hanabishi. Kurei first thought that this Recca was the one he hunted long ago, and it proved to be true. When the group reached him, Kurei displayed his sheer power and obliterated them one by one. However, Recca, with the help of Kagerou, unleashed his hidden flame, the 8 Karyu. Taken by surprise, Kurei took a blow, but could still go on. However, he was interrupted by Raiha, Neon, Jishou and Genjurou, who bore a message that Kouran requested his audience. Kurei then spared Recca and went off. Outside, he found Koganei defecting, but he spared the boy too.

[edit] Ura Butou Satsujin Saga

As a next move to capture Yanagi, Kurei requested Kouran to open the third Ura Butou Satsujin, invite Recca and the group and make Yanagi as their prize. Kurei organized his group to consist himself, Mikoto, Kai and Noroi as Uruha Kurenai. However, he secretly put Joker as the fifth member of his team. The plan was going rather well, but when he heard Recca managed to defeat Genjurou, he became rather interested on how Recca had grown. However, Genjurou died after being exposed as a traitor.

Afterwards, he sent Joker to infiltrate on Recca's group, the Hokage. Soon after, he heard that Neon was defeated by Recca again. For some reason, Kurei didn't punish her. He also became interested with a new Uruha division, Uruha Ma, led by the mysterious Magensha. Neon informed that Magensha killed Jishou. Although Kurei brushed off the information at first, he was rather crushed hearing it. As a result, he used his flame again to turn Jishou into his flame spirit in similar fashion like he did to Kurenai.

He had to face his loyal servant Raiha, sole member of the one-man team Uruha Rai, in the semifinals. But Raiha held back and eventually forfeited the match. Not long afterwards, Kurei learnt that Magensha was hiding something from him. To cover Joker's presence, Kurei brought in a pawn named J-Keeper, and they both interrogated Magensha once he lost to Domon. It turned out that Magensha was secretly going away from the match to capture Yanagi and deliver her to Kouran Mori. Disgusted, Kurei stated that he could do the job himself, and as a punishment for that, he ordered J-Keeper to kill Magensha. The rest of Uruha Ma were spared. Recca soon came and the two brothers came into a brief fight. Kurei was in a good mood so he left them, although he claimed that he was a bit disappointed on Recca's strength. But when he realized that Recca's attack caused him to bleed, he laughed like a maniac.

In the night before the final match, Kurei instructed Joker to do his ultimate task, kill Koganei who joined Hokage and dispose J-Keeper as he became useless anyway. However, Joker ended up wounding Saichou of Kuu instead. In the same time, he heard Neon telling his past to Recca. Angered, he began beating her up, but in the end spared her life again.

During the final match, Kurei didn't even show up, confident that Noroi alone would be enough to destroy the Hokage. However, when he learnt Noroi was losing and eventually defeated by Domon, Kurei showed up and gave a rare compliment, which ended as an insult regarding on the recent attack on Saichou. Recca was soon taken away, and Kurei watched as his team fought Recca's. However, Kai lost his life, and Mikoto was showing some disrespectful behavior, even though they gave score to his team. But, Joker was defeated by Koganei, and Recca didn't even show up. After listening Koganei's reason to fight, Kurei instead proceeded to beat him up, causing the other members to fight him, with the permission of Kouran. But even though he's surrounded, Kurei was still far stronger. Eventually, Recca showed up and the proper final match could begin. Kurei also deemed this as the battle to decide who shall be the inheritor of the leader title of Hokage.

The battle turned out to be very brutal, to the point that both Flame Masters couldn't even use their flames. In the midst of battle, Kurei found out that he wasn't the only one fighting with the burden to preserve his mother. Recca was also fighting to cure Kagerou's immortality and to protect the one he sworn to protect, preventing himself to turn into the ninth Flame Dragon. In the end, Kurei ended up defeated. However, deep inside he felt rather calm.

Just a short moment after his defeat, Kouran betrayed him and gunned him down. He introduced Renge, the clone of Kurei and Kurenai, and learnt that Kouran never trusted him and used Ura Butou Satsujin as a way to kill Kurei. On the top of that, he 'disbanded' Kurei's Uruha and claimed that he would take everything dear to Kurei away. As a final act, Kouran pressed the switch to explode the bomb in Tsukino's body. Thinking that his mother was dead, Kurei screamed in rage and attempted to attack him again. Renge was about to intercept and kill him, when suddenly Neon rushed in and saved him. As a result, both fell through a cliff and were presumed dead.

[edit] Sealed Land Saga

For several days, Kurei stayed unconscious until he had a nightmare that woke him up. He found himself inside an old church, and Neon had been nursing him to the point that she became rather pale and skipped eating (but she dismissed it with the excuse being on a diet). Kurei showed a rather rare concern on her, but when he remembered the betrayal, he fell into a depression, claiming that when he fights, he'll lose something dear. However, Neon suggested that he could stop fighting and if they wanted, they could live in a far away place. Moved by emotion, Kurei pushed her on the bed and they shared a genuine kiss.

During the night, Kurei was thinking of Neon's words and was considering to lead a peaceful life. However, Mori's assassin Ma-Kun attacked him. Neon attempted to help him but was helplessly tossed aside and was about to be killed. Kurei became angry and for a moment, he was agreeing with Recca's philosophy of fighting to protect. He thought that he's never allowed to have a peaceful life. When Ma-Kun got too arrogant, Kurei ripped away his limbs and burnt his body (after asking how he liked to be burnt : raw, medium or well done, as if cooking a steak). He decided to go on fighting and claim his revenge on Mori. He left Neon on a clinic and left her a message 'You must live a happy live, even without me'. His next move was to get into the house where his mother used to stay. But the place was infested with Mori's men and Tsukino wasn't around. And thus, he burnt the place down and slaughtered everyone in there.

Arriving at the Sealed Land and escorted by Joker, Kurei met Kouran after fusing with Tendou Jigoku, fighting Recca. He faced Kouran, but brushed Recca aside, stating that he got in the way. He was also reunited with Raiha, who successfully rescued Tsukino and defused the bomb in her body. For a while, Kurei unwillingly fought alongside Recca against a common foe. Eventually, Kouran fled, and Kurei left. However, he stated that he's now fighting under 'Uruha Hokage', to honor his clan, and after he's done with his former father, he'll be targeting Recca next.

[edit] SODOM Saga

Several weeks passed, and Kurei was having a dream on his childhood and his father, whom he respected. When he knew Kouran's hideout at the fortress city of SODOM, Kurei bid farewell to Tsukino and went ahead to the city, accompanied with Joker. On the other hand, Raiha and Neon were also heading there.

While passing on a forest, Kurei found the corpses of various Kuu fighters, killed by one of the Uruha Shishiten group leaders, Kadotsu. Acknowledging their deaths, Kurei temporarily made them his flame spirits. When he met Kadotsu, he unleashed the flame spirits to burn the monstrous man to death. He was going after Saichou next, under the pretense that Saichou was following Recca and thus must die. But Joker stopped him, telling him to preserve his flames for someone else he wanted more. Kurei moved on, sparing Saichou.

Eventually he separated with Joker, but he later felt like Joker was gone from the world. Regardless, he moved on.

Coming closer to the final chamber, he faced his clone, Renge. Disgusted with her naivety and her existence, considering it an insult to him and Kurenai, Kurei put up a lot of insults on her and severely beat her up. He gave a chance for Renge to burn him, motivating her. However, he found her flame even inferior to Recca's. Just when he was about to finish her off, he was distracted with Kouran Mori's voice. This chance was used for Renge to escape, but Kurei didn't care, as he claimed that her fate had been set. Soon after, Renge was betrayed and killed by Tendou Jigoku.

When Kurei arrived at the final chamber, he found Recca under great sorrow that Yanagi had 'died'. He started expressing his disappointment, while ignoring everything Tendou Jigoku boasted to him (although he did attack him, even though it was futile). Eventually, Kurei said that Recca was experiencing something similar to him: losing a beloved one. He said that his answer was the flame spirit of Kurenai and asked for Recca's answer. And the next thing Recca did was summoning Resshin and turning Yanagi into his flame spirit. With that, Kurei gave Recca his full respect and brushed aside Tendou Jigoku. As Yanagi removed all of Tendou Jigoku's strength, Kurei obliterated the majority of his body, and Recca ultimately destroyed him.

As the spirits of Flame Dragons were ascending to heavens, Resshin (Ohka) apologized to Kurei, and he bowed to his father in respect. The power of Hokage was fading. Kurei then bid farewell to the spirits of Jishou and Kurenai, who would also ascend to heaven. Before he lost all the power of Hokage, he activated Jikuryuuri, stating that he had an unfinished business. However, at this rate, he wouldn't become immortal. He gave his thanks to Raiha and Neon, and officially disbanded Uruha. In the same time, he made peace with Recca. As he jumped to the portal, Koganei followed him.

Kurei returned to the Warring States Era, exactly when Akechi Mitsuhide pulled the coup that would be known as Incident at Honnōji. He snuck into Nobunaga's chamber and killed him, fulfilling his final revenge for his clan. He then lived his life in the past, accompanied with Koganei.

[edit] Trivia

Kurei has different masks during the Mansion Saga, Ura Butou Satsujin Saga and Sealed Land Saga.
In the Japanese Gameboy Advance fighting game, Kurei's name is spelled as "Crey" in English text.
In the anime, Kurei's flames are "dark" or purple; while in the manga, it is stated as crimson colored. This was proven in the Gameboy Advance game that was based on the manga rather than the anime, resulting in Kurea having red flames in the game.