Yusuke Urameshi
Yusuke Urameshi (浦飯幽助, Urameshi Yūsuke) is one of the main four characters of the popular anime and manga series YuYu Hakusho created by Yoshihiro Togashi.
His seiyū is Nozomu Sasaki. His English Voice Actor in the FUNimation dub is Justin Cook. In the English version of the first movie he is voiced by Jonathan Fahn and the English version of Yu Yu Hakusho: Poltergeist Report he is voiced by Rik Nagel. In the Brazilian version, his voice actor is Marco Ribeiro. In the Hebrew dub, Yusuke Urameshi's name is changed to 'YuYu Hakusho' (The name of the show), and he is voiced by Guy Roshiniak, Bonner Dytoc and Erie Resurreccion in Filipino Dub.
Story
Spirit Detective Saga
Yusuke, who is 14 at the start of the manga, is the toughest pupil in his school, Sarayashiki Junior High School, and is the rival, of Kazuma Kuwabara, the second toughest pupil. He is known to be a stereotypical bad seed; having a spotty attendance record, doing poorly in class, and picking fights with many other students. Additionally, in the manga, he smokes, drinks, and gambles.
While skipping school and being berated by his mother, Yusuke loafs around the town. Yusuke entertains a child by making silly faces, but when the kid wanders into the street in front of an oncoming car, Yusuke shoves him out of the way. He is struck by the car, and killed. As a ghost, Yusuke is greeted by a typical version of the Grim Reaper; a bubbly, cheerful young woman named Botan. She remarks that they weren't expecting Yusuke to selflessly save the kid's life: even if he didn't, the kid would have one less bruise on his shoulder. Thus, they have no place for him in the afterlife. She remarks that Yusuke can return to life, but he initially declines.
Yusuke's mind changes after he attends his wake, where people he knows pay their condolences to his mother. Atsuko is extremely distraught about losing her son. Keiko Yukimura (his classmate and childhood friend) sobs uncontrollably, yelling Yusuke's name. Kuwabara shows up, angry and upset that Yusuke died before they could finish their battles. When two of Yusuke's teachers belittle him at the wake, Mr. Takenaka, another teacher, berates them for insulting him. He pays his respects to Atsuko and sobs at Yusuke's passing. Understanding that he meant more to others than he let on, he decides to come back.
Yusuke is given an egg by Koenma, lord of Spirit World, and is told that it will hatch a Spirit Beast, which will help him get back to life. However, he must be a genuinely good person. If he is evil, the beast will devour him. Yusuke sacrifices the beast to save Keiko, who had received dreams and messages from Yusuke's ghost that he would be returning to life, and she needed to take care of his body so that he would be able to return to it. However, a fire starts in Yusuke's home and his body runs the risk of being incinerated. Keiko runs into the fire to protect it, but nearly passes out from the strain, even when Kuwabara tries to help her. In a desperate move, Yusuke sacrifices the egg to save her. Impressed at this selflessness, Koenma allows Yusuke to return to his body without the beast, provided someone who wants him back gives him some life energy through a kiss. Keiko manages to do this, and Yusuke is returned.
After returning, Yusuke is surprised to notice a demon inhabiting the body of a street punk. Botan shows up and tells Yusuke that his experience with death allowed him to do these things. He is to become Earth's Spirit Detective, and protect the human race from demons.
Yusuke engages in many difficult trials in his first assignments as Detective. The first is to recover three stolen artifacts from Spirit World. Koenma trains him by teaching him how to fire his spirit energy, energy possessed by humans and spirits, as a weapon. This is Yusuke's signature attack, the Spirit Gun. Yusuke attempts to combat these three thieves: Hiei, who stole the Sword of Shadows; Kurama, who stole a mirror called the Forlorn Hope; and Gouki, who stole a soul-stealing article called the Orb of Baast. Yusuke was able to defeat Gouki with the aid of Botan and his Spirit Gun. Kurama willingly turns over the Forlorn Hope, as he only wanted to use its power to save his mother's life. Kurama intended to sacrifice his life for the mirror to save hers, but Yusuke selflessly asked the mirror to take his so Kurama can enjoy his mother's life. The mirror granted Kurama's wish and spared both of their lives, and Yusuke took the mirror. Yusuke and Botan then went to fight Hiei, who kidnapped Keiko and tried to turn her into a demon. While Botan staved off the transformation, Yusuke fought the extremely fast demon, and managed to defeat him by reflecting his Spirit Gun off of the Forlorn Hope, intentionally missing Hiei to strike it and causing the arrogant demon to believe Yusuke missed.
Yusuke then was sent to the compound of Master Genkai, an aged fighter who was looking for a successor to her powerful Spirit Wave technique. Botan warned that a demon, Rando, would probably try to inherit her technique. Yusuke fought through her tournament and defeated Rando in the end, becoming her successor.
Yusuke was then sent to Maze Castle to defeat the four Saint Beasts and stop them from taking over the human race with demon parasites. Kuwabara decided to go with Yusuke, and Koenma sent Kurama and Hiei, who were on probation in the human world, to assist. Yusuke fought his way to Suzaku, the leader of the group, and managed to defeat him, but at the cost of his own life energy. Only Kuwabara, the only human of the group, could save him.
Yusuke then goes with Kuwabara and Botan to rescue a beautful ice apparition named Yukina, of whom Kuwabara becomes smitten. However, Yukina is actually Hiei's twin sister, a fact that Kuwabara and even Yukina herself is unaware of. Yusuke fights all the way to the Toguro brothers. Yusuke and Kuwabara defeat them with teamwork and rescue the maiden, but it turns out that the Toguros threw the fight on purpose. The younger Toguro brother coerces Yusuke to join the Dark Tournament (Ankoku Būtsukai or Black Martial Arts Tournament in the original Japanese) and defeat him in a real fight there.
Dark Tournament Saga
Several months later, and after another training regime with Genkai, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei, along with Genkai as 'The Masked Fighter', enter the Dark Tournament as the guest team, Team Urameshi. Often at times barely escaping out of the fights alive, and despite heavy bias against them by the tournament committee, they fight their way to the final of the tournament to face Team Toguro.
During the semis, Genkai gives him most of her Reiki so Yusuke can stand a chance against Younger Toguro. Before the finals begin, Genkai and Toguro face off in an attempt to kill one another. It is revealed that Toguro was Genkai's partner from a previous tournament. After suffering a mortal wound, Genkai, with the last of her strength, explains that when they won the tournament fifty years ago, Toguro, who was once human, had his body become a yōkai's in order to preserve his strength and youth. Before dying, Genkai warns Yusuke not to become like Toguro. Yusuke becomes furious with Toguro over his master's death and vows to defeat him. Yusuke wages the final battle with Toguro and emerges victorious.
The others he fought in previous rounds were: Round 1 - Chu. Round 2 - Assisted fighting M1, M2, and M3. Round 3 - Jin. Round 4 - Absent(was receiving Spirit Orb from Genkai). Finals - Younger Toguro.
Chapter Black Saga
In the Chapter Black Saga, Yusuke must stop Shinobu Sensui from opening a gate to demon world while defeating six other humans with newly awakened psychic powers. When he realizes he cannot defeat Sensui's true self, he decides to have Sensui kill him to awake Hiei, Kurama, and Kuwabara awaken their hidden potential. After he dies, his ancestrial demonic blood resurects him. It is revealed that he is a Mazoku, or a descendant of a Yōkai Clan (the Amazaku demons in the English anime), his ancestor Raizen having conceived a child with a human woman. Raizen made it so that when the stars reach a certain alignment, and his descendant is worthy of awakening, they would become a yōkai. It was Yusuke's first death that awoke his potential, and awoke his hidden reiki powers. It was his subsequent missions afterwards, especially his fight against the younger Toguro, that helped begin to awaken his dormant yōkai blood. However, in the end, it was his death at the hands of Sensui that pushed his change over the edge and completely changed him, allowing demonic kinship symbols to emerge all over his body. After this transformation, he fights Sensui on even footing until he is then possessed by his anscestor Raizen to help control his new-found power and as a result Raizen, through Yusuke's, body kills Sensui which upsets Yusuke greatly.
3 Kings Saga
In the Three Kings saga, Yusuke is removed from his position as Spirit Detective because he is considered too dangerous for the Human Realm. The Great Emperor Enma (King Yama in the English anime) wants Yusuke dead so that he does not become as dangerous as Sensui. Even going to the home of former Spirit Detective Kuroko Sutou does not help much, since she partly agrees with Enma's judgement after Hokushin, Raizen's second-in-command shows up demanding that Yusuke come to the Demon Realm to help Raizen because Raizen is dying. Yusuke agrees to do so since Raizen interrupted his match against Sensui. He has everyone meet at Genkai's temple for a farewell and promises Keiko that he will return in three years time. After meeting Raizen, he learns that Raizen is dying because he needs to eat humans to survive, which he gave up after he met female doctor and Yusuke's ancestor. Yusuke fights him, but loses to him quite easily; then learns that Mukuro and Yomi are just as strong as the current, and weak, Raizen.
After a year of training Yusuke, Raizen dies, but reveals to Yusuke that if he had eaten humans he would have already been the strongest yōkai. Yusuke chooses to hold a tournament, since he knows he is incapable of ruling Raizen's territory. During his match against Yomi, Yusuke suddenly realizes he has lost his purpose, and questions why he is fighting. He used to fight because as a child, he had been angry and neglected, and took out his anger by fighting. Then he became a Spirit Detective and fought powerful men such as Toguro and Sensui to save the world, although they were actually looking for someone more powerful to defeat them. Yusuke wonders whether he is now just waiting for someone to defeat him, now that his anger is gone and all he has is fighting, but Raizen's voices comes back and refreshes his mind. He remembers that he is fighting, not just to find his own identity, but for the sake of his friends as well. From this renewed strength, Yusuke discovers a new seikouki, and the fight between him and Yomi comes down to one punch. Rushing at each other, the fight would have been a tie, except that Yomi was able to continue standing because of an impromptu shout from Shoru. Yusuke falls unconscious and doesn't awaken until after the tournament ends. Afterwards Yusuke stays in Makai for the next few years and reunites with his old friends and Keiko at Genkai's temple.
His relationship with Keiko is very strong, and most likely that they have loved each other for a very long time. After all, Yusuke is coming back just for Keiko, and Keiko is willing to wait for him, "forever."
Attacks
- Reigun (霊丸 Reigan, Translated as Spirit Sphere)
Spirit Gun in the English anime dub.
Yusuke tends to give English names to his attacks, so Rei Gan becomes Raygun (レイガン). This is Yusuke's most common attack. He concentrates his Spirit Energy into his right index finger and releases it as a projectile. It can be from a small shot to a full-sized cannon blast. Its only weakness is that Yusuke can only use it a certain number of times per day in the beginning. At first he can only use it once per day, but by the beginning of the Dark Tournament (Ankoku Būtsukai), after much training under Genkai, Yusuke can use it four times per day. After he is reborn as a half demon, Yusuke's spirit energy is combined with demon energy, and as such, his Spirit Gun becomes the, You Gan in the Japanese version, Shotgun in the English manga, and Demon Gun in the English anime. His "shotgun" can be fired as long as Yusuke has demon energy to use, unlike the reigun.
- Rei Kō Ha(霊光波 Translated as Spirit Light Wave) / Shotgun
The technique is taught to him by Genkai. Yusuke gathers spirit energy into his fist to form a large blast of spirit energy from it shot out in less powerful but many blasts. While the technique is not as powerful as the spirit gun, a few advantages it has is that the shots are wide spread, which makes it highly effective against quick or invisible opponents or large numbers of weak enemies.
- Renshā (連射 Translated as Double Blast or Rei Gun Rapid-Fire)
Spirit Gun Double in the English Dub.
Yusuke learns to shoot all the blasts of his rei gun rapidly. This technique was only used in against Chu in the finals of the first round of the Dark Tournament by using both of Yusuke's remaining reigun shots together
- Rei Kō Dan (霊光弾 Translated as Spirit Light Bullet)
Spirit Wave in the English anime.
Aura Blast in the English manga.
Genkai's trade mark move, it has many abilities. Yusuke uses it to turn his entire body into a spirit gun. Instead of his index finger being channeled into, his entire body is. This makes for extremely powerful close range attacks, but it is extremely difficult and dangerous to use.
- Sei Kō Ki (Translated as Holy Light Energy)
Sacred Energy in the English Dub.
During his fight against Yomi, Yusuke, remembering all of his friends supporting him, is able to mix his body's Yōki (demon energy) and Reiki (spirit energy) together to be able to generate his own version of Seikouki, different from the version that was previously used by Sensui. It is just as powerful but hard to maintain for more than a few hours, more than enough time for Yusuke's battle with Yomi in the final arc of the anime.
- Shot Gun Double Barrel
Yusuke channels his shotgun attack into both of his fists, and releases his energy out both at the same time. This creates twice the spread. This attack is only used in the first movie.
Cultural references
- "Urameshi" is a word that is said by dead spirits, and the Yū in Yusuke's name means "ghost." 浦飯 literally means "shore rice" and 幽助 means "ghost help."
- Yū from Yusuke and Rei from Reigun make Yūrei, another Japanese word for ghost.
- Yusuke has several songs on the soundtrack. By himself: "All Right!", "Akatsuki no Chikai ~Rising Sun~", "Dead or Alive ~Toushin~", "FIRE", "Kokoro o Tsunaide", "TOUGH", and "Tsukanoma no Sunset". With Keiko Yukimura: "Omoide o Tsubasa ni Shite". With Kurama, Hiei, and Kazuma Kuwabara: "Bokutachi no Kisetsu", "Hikari no Naka de", and "Yasashisa wa Nemuranai". There are also remixes of "Unbalance na Kiss o Shite" and "Taiyou ga Mata Kagayaku Toki" with him singing.
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