History Main / Oni

* A sub-variant of oni includes the namahage, wild men who wear oni masks and wield [[MacheteMayhem overly-large]] [[KnifeNut kitchen knives]] and hunt down bad kids, threatening to take them away and eat them if they don't change their ways and are seen as Japan's answer to the Krampus or Bogeyman. In some stories, they sometimes go after newly wed couples and warn them they'll do the same thing if either of them become unfaithful to each other.

* Red Magnus from ''VideoGame/Disgaea5AllianceOfVengeance'' isn't mentioned to be any specific type of demon, but is clearly modeled after one of these.

''[[NightParadeOfOneHundredDemons Hyakki Yakou]]'', the Japanese equivalent of TheWildHunt, literally translates as "Night Parade of 100 Oni", though this usage is metaphorical (most depictions of the Parade include a wide variety of {{Youkai}}) and is usually glossed as "demons" even when ''oni'' is otherwise left untranslated. That said, it has lead to a number of works that use some variant of "Hyakki" ([[UpToEleven or worse]], "Senki"[[note]]"1,000 oni"[[/note]]) as [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast a name or title for a particularly powerful oni]]; in more literal cases they may even be [[MindHive 100 demons fused together]] into an EldritchAbomination.

* Lum from ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'' is an alien, but her race is obviously based on folktale Oni. They have (very small) horns and wear tiger-striped clothing, but [[RubberForeheadAliens otherwise look like humans]] save for the green hair. Judging by Lum's father, the men are a bit more monstrous, with fangs and sharp fingernails, and are slightly larger.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'', Kaidou, one of the Four Emperors, has a very strong Oni motif: he's an enormous, muscular man with wild hair, huge horns, a fondness for saké and wields a kanabo as his weapon of choice. He has taken over the Japan-lookalike of Wano and even resides in the island of "Onigashima" (Ogre Island), where he rules over a giant amound of underlings, all wearing horns to emulate him. His child Yamato is a HornedHumanoid as well and during a brief battle, Kaidou himself claims that Yamato is a "Oni Child", though it's unclear if Kaidou was being literal or metaphorical (after all, Kaidou himself is demonically ruthless).

* In ''Literature/{{Tinker}}'', "Oni" is a catchall term for the inhabitants of a dimension bent on the conquest of Earth and Elfhome. {{Tengu}} and {{kitsune}} are included under this term but only one true Oni is seen, Lord Tomtom portrayed as a large, whitefurred apelike creature who is brutal but of high inteligence. [[OurOrcsAreDifferent There are also lesser Oni who look like very large, red headed humans and function as Lord Tomtom's mooks.]] The kitsune, tengu and lesser Oni have all been created through [[{{Magitek}} magical gentic engineering]] to serve the true Oni.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' expands on the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' depiction of oni by making them evil incorporeal spirits who manifest into material form, using various humanoid races as templates. The traditional ogre mage, of course, is based on ogres, while the most powerful Oni are the yai, based on giants. There's also oni based on humans, {{tengu}}, and {{kitsune}}, with the latter two drawing from negative characteristics attributed to the {{youkai}} their normal counterparts lack.

* From the same Mangaka as ''Magi'', ''Orient'' features the Oni as evil, grotesque monsters who require human sacrifices and slave labor to procure ore, which they consume to gain power. In this story, Oni have taken over the Japan-expy of Hinamoto, defeated the Bushi protecting it and using GodGuise to make human work for them willingly. Most Oni appear as pathetic or harmless, but can transform into much more monstrous forms once they've eaten metal.

* In ''TabletopGame/LegendOfTheFiveRings'', Oni are demons that enter the mortal world either through some poor fool summoning them, or through the [[{{Hellgate}} Festering Pit of Fu Leng]] that connects the mortal and demon realms. They have an endless array of forms, some of which resemble the traditional Oni. One manual even includes a series of random generator tables to create your own Oni.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Kuon}}'', [[spoiler: Abe no Seimei]] can use her spells to summon either Zenki or Goki to protect herself.

* A reoccurring villain from ''Anime/SmilePrettyCure'' is Akaoni, a brutish red oni who carries a club and wears tiger-striped clothes. He didn't have a blue oni, but did encounter one in one episode... though just a human actor/stuntman who's wearing a blue oni costume.

* ''Franchise/{{Anpanman}}'' has Onion Oni. His head's an onion (with two sprouts as his horns), and he's still a little boy, so he's a bit of a crybaby (but doesn't want to admit this).

* A sub-variant of oni includes the namahage, wild men who wear oni masks and hunt down bad kids, threatening to take them away and eat them if they don't change their ways and are seen as Japan's answer to the Krampus or Bogeyman. In some stories, they sometimes go after newly wed couples and warn them they'll do the same thing if either of them become unfaithful to each other.

''Hyakki Yakou'', the Japanese equivalent of TheWildHunt, literally translates as "Night Parade of 100 Oni", though this usage is metaphorical (most depictions of the Parade include a wide variety of {{Youkai}}) and is usually glossed as "demons" even when ''oni'' is otherwise left untranslated. That said, it has lead to a number of works that use some variant of "Hyakki" ([[UpToEleven or worse]], "Senki"[[note]]"1,000 oni"[[/note]]) as [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast a name or title for a particularly powerful oni]]; in more literal cases they may even be [[MindHive 100 demons fused together]] into an EldritchAbomination.

Oni are brutish mountain {{Youkai}} superficially similar to [[AllTrollsAreDifferent Trolls]] and {{O|urOgresAreHungrier}}gres, [[HornedHumanoid with either one or two horns]] (which in some depictions are the source of their power). The word is almost always translated into English as "demons" or mistranslated (by tradition) as "ogres". Contrary to the common mistranslation, Oni starkly differ from traditional depictions of western ogres. While still large, strong, and often brutish, Oni are known for possessing powerful magic and being far smarter than ogres. Further, certain types are very calm and introspective, and female oni being very beautiful who can get along well with (and sometimes marry) humans. They are sometimes depicted as good and sometimes as bad, but are usually [[ChaoticNeutral morally neutral and interested in their own affairs]] rather than the usually outright malevolent ogres. They prefer huge [[CarryABigStick bludgeoning weapons (iron clubs called kanabō being the most common)]] and hide loincloths (usually tiger-striped). They are also shown to really love their alcohol, which can make them even more rowdy. Sometimes blamed for streaks of misfortune or violent weather. Others work jobs in FireAndBrimstoneHell as {{big red devil}}s.

Compare HornedHumanoid. For western counterparts, see OurOgresAreHungrier and AllTrollsAreDifferent (and occasionally OurDemonsAreDifferent).

** The Imagin of ''Series/KamenRiderDenO'' are basically an updated version of Oni, being proud and highly idiosyncratic monsters caused by time travel that perform mischief while possessing series hero Ryotaro.

* ''VideoGame/{{Smite}}[='s=] depiction of Raijin and Fuujin are that of a red oni and blue oni respectively. Their lore mention them competing against one another to see who is the strongest.

* ''VideoGame/{{Smite}}]]'s depiction of Raijin and Fuujin are that of a red oni and blue oni respectively. Their lore mention them competing against one another to see who is the strongest.

* Oni of various kinds appear in ''VideoGame/MuramasaTheDemonBlade''. One of Momohime's bosses is a huge, orange Great Oni, the boss of all the Oni.

Particularly powerful oni may be described as ''kishin'' (literally "oni god"; the "ki" is an AlternateCharacterReading of "oni"), a term used in Japanese Buddhism to refer to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrathful_deities Wrathful Deities]]. Incidentally, the Japanese word for [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]] (''kyuuketsuki'') can be translated as "blood-sucking oni"; [[OurVampiresAreDifferent/AnimeAndManga see here for details.]]

* ''Manga/InuYasha'' has plenty of Oni, ranging from massive, horned humanoids to witch-like beings like Urasue, the one who revives Kikyo as a clay puppet.

* Oni are briefly detailed in the ''Gods and Monsters'' supplement for ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension: 20th Anniversary Edition''.

* In ''TabletopGame/LegendOfTheFiveRings'', Oni are demons that enter the mortal world either through some poor fool summoning them, or through the [[{{Hellgate}} Festering Pit of Fu Leng]] that connects the mortal and demon realms. They have an endless array of forms, some of which resemble the traditional Oni.