The Yu Yu Hakusho cast embodies the idea of seeming cliché because the anime did its job so well, everyone who came after copied you. They had the brash lead, the cool guy, the tough guy, and the intelligent pretty boy. How many series do a variation on those characters even to this day?
For this list, we’re looking at the so-called “pretty boy” of the group, Kurama. One of the earliest allies to Yusuke Urameshi, Kurama has the longest and most complex background in the story. Don’t let his looks and his reliance on botanical-based weapons fool you: Kurama may not be the most powerful, but he’s certainly the deadliest member of the group.
10 He TAKES THE WORST INJURIES OF THE GROUP
Arguably, Kurama is the best member of the main cast of Yu Yu Hakusho. He’s smarter than everyone else in the group. He’s got more experience in combat than all of them combined, especially considering his age as a youkai and how much he'd done before he ever met them. But none of that seems to matter in combat.
Though Kurama has no problem actually winning, his kind human nature often wins out over his ruthless youkai side, resulting in him offering too much mercy. Of course, when his mercy runs out he has no problem putting down his enemies permanently but he still walks away with more grievous injuries than anyone else, possibly because he can recover so fast.
9 HIS HUMAN NAME IS SHUUICHI
Because Kurama became such a notorious thief, he was eventually hunted down by some Elite Hunters from the Spirit World. While on the run, he became grievously wounded and ran into the human world to escape.
To recover, he merged his soul with that of an unborn child and became the son of Shiori Minamoto, Shuuichi. Though he planned to only stay for ten years, eventually he began to love Shiori for how much she cared for him, and he now chooses to live both as Shuuichi Minamoto and Yoko Kurama.
8 He RESEMBLES KURAPIKA
Togashi’s second series, Hunter x Hunter, also features four main characters of different backgrounds brought together by their job. But for the most part, that’s where the similarities stop for the rest of the cast. There’s no Yusuke or Kuwabara equivalent in that series, for instance.
But Kurapika and Kurama are both very similar: often mistaken for women because of their feminine appearances, utterly ruthless in battle, violently protective of their families, and generally the most intelligent members of their groups. They also tend to fight using long-range weaponry--Kurapika specializing in chains while Kurama uses vine whips. Even their choice in Chinese-style clothing is similar. Perhaps Togashi simply liked him enough that he wanted to do another spin on the character?
7 He WAS NAMED DENISE IN THE FILIPINO DUB
Setting aside the war of subs vs. dubs, dubbing can sometimes result in weird changes. Some countries take additional liberties and change the names to ones easier to pronounce and adapt to for new audiences.
In the Phillipines, this happened frequently, with the entire cast getting localized names. In Yu Yu Hakusho, Kurama’s name was originally Denise, as the dubbers believed he was a woman. When it was confirmed Kurama was male, they changed it to Dennis, then said he had been working in disguise as a woman.
6 He HAS THE SAME VOICE ACTRESS AS SAILOR URANUS
Kurama’s Japanese voice actor was a woman named Megumi Ogata, who was responsible for voicing Sailor Uranus in the original 90’s version of Sailor Moon. This tracks, considering both characters were fairly androgynous in their respective series. These were also two of Ms. Ogata’s favorite roles, which isn’t surprising considering Kurama was actually the very first voice acting role she was ever given.
Kurama’s dub voice actor, John Burgmeier, is actually the voice actor for Tien Shinhan, which is some pretty incredible range considering those characters have nothing in common.
5 He WAS A MASTER THIEF
Long before Shuuichi Minamoto came into the picture, Kurama was considered the “Legendary Bandit”. He would frequently steal items from supposedly secure locations alongside his partner Yomi, and was eventually the leader of a band of thieves.After watching too many of his men die on certain missions, Kurama eventually decided to work alone. Though this would be the reason he would eventually have to become human, it was also the reason he was able to save his mother, as he helped Hiei and Gouki steal treasures from the Spirit World, including the Forlorn Hope.
4 He APPEARED IN THE ANIME SERIES HYPER POLICE
Hyper Police is a comedy series from the late 90’s set in a time where humans have been largely replaced by monsters and beings from Japanese mythology. In the fourth episode, Kurama makes an appearance...but he seems to have fallen on hard times.
When we see him, he’s sleeping in a slum in his Youko form next to a woman, cuddling up for warmth. Considering how Yu Yu Hakusho ended, this could be like the far future ending for series. If that’s the case, it seems like Kurama needs to go back to being a proper thief so he can at least live in an actual house again.
3 HIS NAME COMES FROM A FAMOUS MOUNTAIN
Though supposedly the name for Kurama just popped into Yoshihiro Togashi’s head, the character was specifically named after Kurama Mountain, found in Kyoto Japan.
The mountain is well known for having a famous Buddhist temple next to it and is also known for having Mount Hiei beside it. We guess that explains why it always felt like we never saw Kurama without Hiei and vice-versa after the two were introduced. Considering this, it’s also likely not a coincidence that the Nine-Tailed Fox in Naruto is always referred to as Kurama.
2 He IS OVER 1000 YEARS OLD
As a demon, there’s seemingly no upper age limit on how long most of them can live. Yusuke’s ancestor Raizen was alive for quite sometime before he met the human half of Yusuke’s bloodline, and would have lived for quite some time afterward if he hadn’t decided to suddenly give up on his primary method of gaining sustenance.
Even after that, he remained alive for decades. With Kurama having no such limitation, we know for a fact that he was around 1000 years old before he reincarnated into the body of a human. Since his soul moved into a new body and merged with that, who knows how many more years he has?
1 He was the ONLY MEMBER TO LOSE DURING THE DARK TOURNAMENT FINALS
At the end of the Dark Tournament Finals, things could have only ended one way: Team Urameshi vs. Team Toguro. And of course, Team Urameshi had to survive by defeating all of Team Toguro for them to go home. But only one member of Team Urameshi actually loses their match, despite also being the only one to kill their opponent.
Due to Kurama having been on the ground for longer than ten seconds while he was enacting his plan against Karasu, he wound up eliminated on a technicality, giving Team Toguro their first victory. They say to this day Yusuke is wondering how a dead guy can win in a tournament.