Kurama (YuYu Hakusho)

Kurama is a fictional character from the manga YuYu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi. A Fox Demon (妖狐) reborn as the human Shuichi Minamino (南野 秀一) in modern life, he is introduced as a thief who stole a supernatural mirror to save his dying mother from death. Although Kurama is initially portrayed as a villain, he becomes a supporting character to aid the protagonist Yusuke Urameshi in the next arc. Across his fights are revealed events from his past life as a demon, into which he becomes able to transform for a limited time. The character has also appeared in the anime adaptation, the two movies, and other related works.

Kurama was modeled after a friend that Togashi found interesting. Already during his introduction Togashi planned to have him become an ally to the main characters despite being a villain. As the next arcs, which primarily relieve on action, Kurama became a prominent fighter much to Togashi's pressure since he was not used to writing fighting series. He was voiced by Megumi Ogata in Japanese and Shigeru Nakahara in his demon persona. Several voice actors have voiced Kurama in English. The character was well received by the media often due to his sex appeal and prominent role in the series as a supporting character. Ogata's performance was also the subject of positive response despite early negative backlash by viewers of the anime.

Creation
Kurama was modeled after a friend that manga author Yoshihiro Togashi has. Togashi was impressed by such a person for claiming to be a French aristocrat even though he was Japanese. His name was rumored to be from Mount Kurama. However, Togashi denied it, claiming he applied the kanji to the sounds he chose "based on my senses". In his characterization, Togashi labeled him as "the typical "desu ne (ですね)" archetype who is usually polite, but scary when he gets angry. The surname, Minamino, comes from the singer Youko Minamino.There were other surname candidates such as the Japanese celebrities whose first names are also Youko. Meanwhile, the name Kurama's name came to Togashi on the spur of the moment. Although Kurama and Hiei were introduced as enemies that the protagonist Yusuke Urameshi had to fight, Togashi planned from the beginning to turn Kurama into a supporting character afterwards. According to editors from the magazine, Kurama went on to become one of the most popular characters in the series, which Togashi intended due to the way he drew him.

As the YuYu Hakusho transitioned from a comedy to a fighting series, Togashi expressed pressure when incorporating Kurama and Hiei as main characters. For the Four Holy Beasts story arc, Togashi made four enemies on impulse, but the only humans were Yusuke and Kuwabara. When it became clear that they were not strong enough to take on two demons each, Hiei and Kurama appeared on the scene, making their introductions as protagonists. There were also many instances where Togashi would create nearly entire manuscripts by himself, such as the battle between Kurama and Karasu. Mari Kitayama finds Kurama to be the easiest of the main characters to design due to his well-proportioned features.

Casting
Kurama was Megumi Ogata's first voice-acting role. She stated that while auditioning it was a requirement by the anime's production company that the character's voice sound like a 17-year-old male but also like that of a member of Takarazuka Revue, an all-female musical theatre group that portrays both men and women. Shigeru Nakahara takes over the role of Kurama for his demon form.

For the English adaptation, John Burgmeier voices Kurama in the TV series and first film from the Funimation dubs, Candice Moore in the TV Series from the Animax Asia dub, Chris Orbach for the second film in Central Park Media dub, and David Hayter in the first film from the Anime Works dub.

Kurama was also portrayed by Hiroki Suzuki in the stage play and Jun Shison in the TV drama.

In YuYu Hakusho
Fifteen years before the series began, Yoko Kurama was a fox youkai and notorious thief; cool-headed, clever and ruthless. A resident of the Makai (Demon World), he was among the highest classes of demons in terms of power and led a gang of other youkai thieves. Despite his cunning and strength, in time Kurama was mortally wounded by a pursuer, potentially one of his victims. To avoid death, his spirit managed to enter the Ningenkai (Human World) and implanted his essence within the embryo of a pregnant human woman, Shiori Minamino, before the embryo gained a soul of its own; this allowed him to be reborn as the human Shuichi Minamino (南野 秀一). Despite now being generally human, Kurama still retained a minor amount of his power and all of his memories, as well as his cold, calculating demeanor. It was his intention to remain in the Human World for ten years until he had sufficiently recovered enough of his demonic powers, by which time he would return to the Demon World. However, when Kurama was still very young, an incident occurred, during which his mother saved him from serious harm, hurting herself in the process. Kurama was genuinely shocked at her selfless act, done out of love for her child, and he felt guilty for the scars she received trying to protect him.

When she later became gravely ill from an unknown malady, Kurama realized that he had come to love his mother as her own son would have, and he could not bear to leave her all alone. Having teamed up with two other demons, Hiei (a former acquaintance) and Goki (a soul-devouring demon), to steal three treasures of the Reikai (Spirit World), Kurama became a target of the series protagonist, Reikai detective Yusuke Urameshi. However, he abandoned his partners and departed with one of the treasures: the Mirror of Darkness (暗黒鏡). This mirror was capable, under a full moon, of granting the user's desire at the cost of the user's life. Kurama intended to use it to cure his mother of her illness, having felt that the trade of life was worth it, as his mother would have her then-boyfriend to care for her, ignorant of the fact that she would mourn Kurama, her son's, death. After learning of the fox youkai's past and reasons, Yusuke agreed to help Kurama, with both of them giving half of their lifeforces to pay the mirror's cost, allowing both to survive and Kurama's mother to be saved (in the Funimation dubbed anime, the mirror cancels the sacrifice due to Yusuke's kindness).

Kurama, alongside Hiei, would then begin assisting Yusuke, helping to defeat the Makai entities known as The Four Beasts in exchange for a reduced sentence for his crime. It is revealed in this story arc that Kurama's youkai abilities lie in manipulating his energy to craft weapons from plants and plant parts; these plants are implied to be tucked up into Kurama's hair until needed. This includes his signature weapon, the Rose Whip, a thorned, fragrant weapon capable of cutting through steel. After the mission of the Four Beasts is concluded, while Yusuke, Kuwabara, Botan and Hiei all went to save Hiei's twin sister, Yukina, from a corrupt, human businessman, Kurama remained in the Reikai with Koenma until the group had completed their objective.

For associating with humans, Kurama and Hiei were invited to take part in the Dark Tournament on Yusuke and Kuwabara's team. It is shown in one match that Kurama does not rely on physical touch to alter plants; so long as Kurama can access his youkai energy, any type of verdure in Kurama's vicinity becomes dangerous to an adversary. In one case, when his energy was sealed off, Kurama implanted seeds within his own bloodstream in order to weaponize them and save himself. During this story arc, initially (and accidentally) through the machinations of an opponent, Kurama was able to temporarily revert to his original form: Youko Kurama. As a full-fledged youkai once more, Kurama's powers were greater than those of his Shuichi guise, capable of creating much deadlier and larger variants of his plant arsenal. Kurama was later gifted the source of the opponent's time-reversing abilities, which allowed him to change back into his youkai self, though for a duration of ten minutes at most. As the series progressed, Kurama became strong enough to change from his human form to Youko Kurama and back on his own.

Following their victory against Toguro's team at the end of the Dark Tournament, Yusuke was abducted by humans who had developed their own special powers; Kurama and the others went to rescue him and learned that the source of the humans' new abilities was a portal to the Makai. This portal was being crafted by Sensui, Yusuke's predecessor as an agent of the Reikai, who became disillusioned with humanity and sought their destruction by unleashing youkai into the world. While infiltrating Sensui's lair, Kurama finally subdued the Elder Toguro (who had survived the Dark Tournament and joined forces with Sensui, only to be devoured by Sensui's ally, Gourmet). He was also forced to face Amanuma/Game Master, a child able to bring video games to life. Kurama, aware that winning the game would literally kill Amanuma, proceeded nonetheless, but showed great remorse and anger at taking the child's life. After watching Yusuke's death at Sensui's hands, Kurama reverted to Youko Kurama without the aid of any weapon or other stimulant. With Hiei and Kuwabara, he traveled through the portal to the Makai, witnessing Yusuke's rebirth as a demon and Sensui's death at the revived detective's hands. At the end of the arc, he presents the Black Video (a VHS tape containing all of the worst crimes of humanity) to Hiei, but the latter, who initially desired the item for his own benefit, destroys the tape without a second thought.

Soon after the return from the Makai, Shiori, Kurama's mother, remarried, and Kurama gained a human stepfather and stepbrother. Due to his shifts to his demon form, Kurama became torn about whether to remain with his family or finally leave the Human World. However, he was invited to the Demon Plane to join his old partner Yomi, now one of the three most powerful demon rulers of the Makai. Kurama was reluctant at first, but was forced to join Yomi when, after revealing that he had known Youko Kurama had blinded him and once tried to kill him, Yomi threatened the lives of Shuichi's family. With no other choice, Kurama becomes Yomi's second-in-command, and proceeded to recruit former allies from the Dark Tournament to join as well. However, due to Yusuke's tactics, Kurama and the others become free to take part in the Demon Plane Unification Tournament as individuals, not as underlings for any overlords. However, Kurama ultimately loses the tournament in the third round, though this allows him to return to the Human World and start a new life. At the end of the series, he is shown working at his stepfather's company.

In other media
Kurama appears as a supporting character in Yu Yu Hakusho: The Movie on a mission to rescue Koenma who was taken by the demons Koashura and Garuga. The second film, Yu Yu Hakusho the Movie: Poltergeist Report, Kurama battles the Netherworld's forces. Kurama faces one of Yakumo's servants, who impersonates one of his deceased friends, Kuronue. On finding out about the impersonation and that henchman had tried to pervert the friendship between him and Kuronue, an enraged Kurama summons a whole forest of sharp-edged bamboo, which pierces the imposter and kills him. Kurama later assists Yusuke in his final battle against Yakumo; Kurama's energy grants Yusuke's Spirit Gun blast versatility, causing it to bend like his Rose Whip.

A spin-off was also written which shows the first meeting of Kurama and Hiei, and how they become allies before the series' start. The character is also playable in multiple video games, including Yu Yu Hakusho Makyō Tōitsusen, Yu Yu Hakusho: Dark Tournament and Yu Yu Hakusho: Tournament Tactics.

Reception
Kurama is a popular character with fans, coming in third and second place in the series' first two popularity polls. He came in second in the American Shonen Jump poll. In Animage's 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 form was ranked sixteenth in 1994. Demon 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 an "Anime! Anime!" poll, Kurama was rated as the most popular character voiced by Megumi Ogata. In Japanese website goo poll, Kurama was voted as the fourth most sexually appealing character in Shonen Jump. In another poll from Goo, Kurama was voted as the most beautiful of men with long hair. Manga author Masashi Kishimoto was mainly inspired to create the Naruto character with the same name, Kurama, based on Togashi's character.

Kurama and Hiei's popularity in the series led to demand to introduce their characters earlier in the anime. However, the fact that Kurama was voiced by woman rather than a man generated controversy in Japan when the series first aired. Director Noriyuki Abe said it must have been a lot of pressure on Ogata. However, as the anime went on, the actor's charms were brought out and more fans were born rather those who disliked it. Animerica's Justin Kovalsky found Kurama and the others as suitable supporting characters for a fighting anime. THEM Anime Reviews found Kurama appealing especially when interacting with Hiei.

Comic Book Resources also enjoyed Kurama's characterization most notably when fighting in the Dark Tournament due to his darker side being exposed when becoming his past demon persona as well as his several styles of fighting. Anime News Network favorited Kurama's tactics in the early episodes of the Black Chapter arc for standing out as one of the most intelligent characters. Despite the Three Kings arc being panned for being the series' worst story arc, Anime News Network praised it for exploring more of Kurama's dark characterization. DVD Talk agreed for the bigger focus on Kurama's character that was briefly explored in previous arcs. Fandom Post liked the balance that both Kurama and Hiei's sidestories bring to Yusuke's in the final arc but felt they were overshadowed by Hiei's side as the series had not properly explored his backstory before.

General
Entire manga
 * Togashi, Yoshihiro. 幽☆遊☆白書 [YuYu Hakusho] (in Japanese). 19 vols. Tokyo: Shueisha, 1991–1994.
 * Togashi, Yoshihiro. YuYu Hakusho. 19 vols. San Francisco: Viz Media, 2003–2010.

Individual volumes