Characters / YuYu Hakusho — Other Dark Tournament Participants

YuYu Hakusho Main Character Index
Team Urameshi | Supporting Cast | Allies | Main Antagonists | The Three Kings | Other Dark Tournament Participants | Other Characters

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In General

For details about Team Urameshi and Team Toguro, click and read here and here respectively

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• Opposing Sports Team: Most of the Teams that the heroes go up against are not motivated by evil desires and for the most part participate for the joy of fighting and the right to get a wish granted by the Dark Tournament Committee. The few genuinely evil people they go against, aside from Toguro's team, are Dr. Ichigaki and possibly, if not evil then certainly amoral jerkasses, Roto, Bakken and Kuro Momotaro.
• The Team Benefactor: Each team is sponsored by a member of the Black Black Club, with the exception of Team Urameshi, which is sponsored by Koenma. However, two teams, those being Team Ichigaki and Team Uraotogi, are self-sponsored.

Team Urameshi Opponents

Team Jolly Devil Six

Voiced by:

[Zeru] Mitsuaki Madono (JP), Jeremy Loris (EN), Guillermo Rojas (Latin America), Patrizio Prata (IT)

[Roto] Toshiyuki Morikawa (JP), Sean Schemmel (EN), Luigi Rosa (IT)

[Gaou] Hidenari Ugaki (JP), Phillip Wilburn (EN)

[Imajin] Tomomichi Nishimura (JP), Justin Cook (EN)

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The first team of fighters Team Urameshi fought in the Dark Tournament.

• For tropes about Chu and Rinku, see their entries under the Allies section.

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• Accent Adaptation: Roto is given a heavy Spanish accent in the English dub.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Roto, once Kurama makes his fate clear, tries to claim his threats against Shiori were merely bluffs. Kurama's response? "Die."
• Ambiguously Brown: Gao has the appearance of a well-built African man.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Zeru is gradually revealed to be a hotheaded showoff who enjoys flaunting his fire abilities to the point of not caring who gets killed by them. Hiei quickly makes him regret it.
• Beneath the Mask: Zeru puts on the front of being a B-Class fighter by cultivating his persona as an aloof, serious-minded individual who is quick to the point and wisely scopes out his competition, as shown when he and Rinku visit Team Urameshi the night before the tournament. However, as Hiei eventually reveals, Zeru has quite the temper and can't resist showing off his flame-based abilities to the crowd...with often fatal results. In addition, he loves fighting more than he lets on. Plus, his testing of Yusuke's perception by showing off? That was more him trying to get a reaction out of the spirit detective than anything else, though he was surprised by Yusuke's nonchalantly resting with a powerful enemy so close.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: Roto can form a blade on his hand from one of his fingers.
• Blood Knight: Zeru reveals his enjoyment of a good fight during his match against Hiei. Too bad Hiei was all too willing to humor him.
• Complacent Gaming Syndrome: In-universe non-video game example. Roto's only strategy for winning involves threatening to kill an opponent's loved one if they retaliate.
  Roto: "Why go through all the hard work of becoming a better fighter when all you have to do is to press a button?"
• Cool Shades: Imajin sports a pair.
• Decapitated Army: The demons that do Roto's bidding scatter and flee once Roto is dead, as Hiei senses via his Jagan. Plus, there's Gaou and Imajin trying to run away after Zeru, their second-best fighter, gets obliterated by Hiei.
• Dies Wide Open: Both Gao and Imajin in the anime after Chu kills them for trying to abandon Rinku.
• Dirty Coward: Roto who stoops as low as to try to have relatives of opponents killed via a Familiar and tries to (unsuccessfully) beg Kurama for a reprieve when said attempt was thwarted. Though at least he did make an effort in contrast to Gaou and Imajin who fled the moment Hiei incinerated Zeru.
• Dragged Off to Hell: Possibly Zeru's fate. Hiei says the Dragon of the Darkness Flame can drag a person off to oblivion. Once released, Zeru is smashed against a wall and obscured completely by the flames, leaving only cinders.
• Dragon-in-Chief: Zeru acted as the leader of the team in Chu's stead due to the latter's habitual drunkenness.
• Failed a Spot Check: Exploited. Roto fails to notice Kurama flick a death seed into his chest cavity when the latter uses a pebble to distract the demon; Roto thought it was just Kurama expressing his frustration.
• Hostage Situation: Roto tries doing this to Kurama by using his human mother as the hostage during their fight in the Dark Tournament. It doesn't work for long.
• I Have Your Wife: Mother in this case. Kurama is forced to not retaliate against Roto lest Roto orders the demon stalking his mother to kill her. Kurama manages to immobilize Roto, steal the trigger to signal the demon, then kill him.
• Not Enough to Bury: Zeru is reduced to nothing more than a scorch mark on a wall.
• Obviously Evil: While the rest appear to look like ordinary humans, Roto might as well have the word Evil tattooed on his forehead.
• Off with His Head!: Chu, angry at Gaou and Imajin's cowardice in abandoning Rinku to fight Team Urameshi all on his own, took off their heads in one swift attack. The anime alters their death at Chu's hands as being beaten to death.
• Oh, Crap!: Zeru once Hiei decides to unleash the Dragon of the Darkness Flame. He spends his last moments in panic as he's Dragged Off to Hell. Earlier, Roto knew he was screwed the moment Kurama revealed he literally sowed a seed into the scumbag's heart. His attempts at begging for his life fall on deaf ears. Gaou and Imajin, finally, both know they haven't a prayer after Zeru is killed and try to flee, leaving Rinku, who hadn't finished healing from his own fight, to face Team Urameshi alone. Chu comes along and immediately decapitates them (in the manga) for such a cowardly move.
• Pet the Dog: Zeru, in spite of being a stoic battle-crazy showoff, has enough compassion, apparently, to warn Rinku to dodge Kuwabara's sword during their match.
• Playing with Fire: Zeru's special ability, but it doesn't exactly hold a candle to Hiei's Dragon of the Darkness Flame.
• Power Misidentification: Zeru attempts to confuse Hiei before their battle by using his fire powers to slice a cup in half with no visible flame, making it appear he has Razor Wind or some other cutting power. Hiei isn't fooled, as he notices the edges of the cut are melted.
• Punny Name: In addition to being a reference to a song, Imajin's name is a play on the word "Majin" (meaning either "Demon" or "Evil person" depending on context).
• Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits: Consisting of among other people a yo-yo wielding Child fighter, a Drunken Master, a Blue-skinned murderer and extortionist, and a blond fire wielder.
• Relative Button: Roto threatened to sic his demon companion on Kurama's human mother if he attempted to fight back. Bonus points for using a control that had an actual button. It doesn't end well for him.
• Scary Black Man: Gaou looks like one, but this is subverted when he tries to run away from the tournament with Imajin.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Gaou and Imajin prove that they were only cowards who stuck with the strong upon Zeru's death. They attempt to flee the tournament leaving a still-hurt Rinku behind, only to be beaten to death by Chu for their weakness.
• Shout-Out: Imajin has a strong resemblance to Musician John Lennon and his name is an allusion to his song "Imagine".
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: Zeru's cold exterior hides a battle-hungry nutjob, though not to the same extremes as Karasu.
• The Stoic: Zeru is normally ice cold, but...
  • Not So Stoic: Fighting Hiei quickly reveals that he's very much an arrogant and ill-tempered fighter who likes to, albeit not as loud as some other competitors, put others down and intimidate them with his flames. Once Hiei unleashes the Dragon of the Darkness Flame, he's quick to crap his pants before being obliterated.
    • Gao and Imajin seemed perfectly calm and competent for the most part before Zeru was killed. Afterward, they reveal their true cowardly selves in trying to abandon a still-healing Rinku to fight Team Urameshi by himself. They don't get far before Chu comes along and kills them for their disgraceful actions.
• The Unfought: Gaou and Imajin never fought against Team Urameshi and were swiftly killed by Chu when they cowardly fled to leave the still recovering Rinku to fight against the opposing team all by himself.
• Villains Want Mercy: Roto certainly wanted mercy, but Kurama wasn't going to let him go unpunished.

Team Ichigaki

^{Click to see Dr. Ichigaki's enhanced form} 

Voiced by:

[Dr. Ichigaki] Ryuuji Saikachi (JP), James Fields (EN), Ángel Aragón (Latin America), Enrico Bertorelli

[Yen] Yoshiko Kamei (JP), Chris Cason (EN)

[Ryo] Taro Arakawa (JP), Kyle Hebert (EN)

[Kai] Daiki Nakamura^note Nobuyuki Hiyama in Episode 33 (JP), Mike McFarland (EN)

[M-4] Minoru Inaba (JP), Christopher Bevins (EN)

[M-5] Tomomichi Nishimura (JP), Sonny Strait (EN)

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The second team of Fighters that Team Urameshi fought against in the Dark Tournament.

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• Adaptational Badass: Ichigaki's enhanced form was all for show in the manga and was swiftly dispatched by Yusuke while he was bragging. In the anime, he was able to give Team Urameshi some trouble at first with his stretchable arms before Yusuke pulled himself together and crippled his arms, resulting in a similar beatdown to the manga version.
• Adaptation Name Change: Variation; Kai and Ryō had their names switched around in the anime. The braided-hair man with the mustache, manga Kai, became Ryō whereas the brunette with the cross-shaped scar on his head, manga Ryō, became Kai. The manga wasn't clear about who was who with the exception of Kai when his soul gets affected by Toguro's spirit energy and it wasn't until the release of The Spirit World's Who's Who guide years later that confirmed their proper identities. The 100% Maji Battle smartphone game went with the anime adaptation.
• An Arm and a Leg: M4 loses his right arm, along with his head, thanks to Hiei and Kurama.
• Asian Buck Teeth: Yen has a small tooth sticking out.
• Braids of Action: Ryo, a male example of this trope, wears his hair in a Mandarin Queue.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: What Dr. Ichigaki has done to three humans, via implanting berukis onto them, to use them as test subjects in exchange for healing their ill master, Mitamura, who he was responsible for the poisoning in the first place, to force his students into accepting his deal.
• Broken Record: All they're able to say is "Kill..." They're actually trying to say, "Kill us!"
• The Cameo: Yen, Ryo, and Kai (formerly M1, M2, and M3 respectively) are briefly shown in the bleachers watching the final round of the Dark Tournament. Ryo is one of the people affected by Toguro's soul-sucking aura.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: M4 doesn't take even modicum of effort to take down. Hiei wasn't even using his good arm when decapitating him. M5 also is beaten easily after Gattasval has been neutralized.
• Cyborg: Gattasval, a cyborg demon to be more exact.
• Death by Adaptation: Ichigaki is strongly implied to have been killed in the anime, but the manga showed that he was still alive and witnessed the fight between Yusuke and Toguro. Inverted in the case of M5, who was killed in the manga by Hiei and Kurama, but is spared in the anime after getting them to the ring.
• Evil Redhead: Yen. Subverted in that he is not inclined to evil but has been mentally enslaved by Ichigaki.
• Humans Are Special: Ichigaki is one of the few Demons to recognize the potential of Human Spirit power rather than belittling Humans as being inferior. However he fails to realize the potential of emotions, and firmly believes that Virtue Is Weakness.
• I Cannot Self-Terminate: The three humans are revealed to be horrified at what Ichigaki has turned them into and have been begging their opponents to kill them the entire time.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: What saves the lives of the martial artists in the end. Genkai wouldn't have been able to successfully free them from their berukis if their souls weren't fundamentally good.
• Lizard Folk: Minor characters M4 and M5 are reptilian humanoids.
• Mad Scientist: Dr. Ichigaki. We're not sure what university he got his doctorate from, but where ever he went really should do a better job of screening those people out.
• Meaningful Name: Ichigaki can be translated as "No. 1 Ghoul", which fits him to a T.
• Mercy Kill: What Yen, Ryo, and Kai upon being able to temporarily break through the control of their berukis, ask Yusuke to do to end their suffering, which he obliges. However, it is subverted when Genkai intervenes and uses the Spirit Wave technique's Morality-Guided Attack function to destroy the Berukis without killing the fighters themselves.
• Mind-Control Device: The function of the Berukis.
• Must Make Amends: The three martial artists have stated that they wish to make up for having killed people while under Ichigaki's control. Ryo in particular offered to fight for Team Urameshi as his way to atone for his past actions.
• Off with His Head!: M4 buys the farm from Hiei and Kurama like this plus with his left arm and torso sliced from the waist.
• One-Winged Angel: Upon M1, M2, and M3's defeat, Ichigaki injects himself with a serum to take out retaliation against Yusuke. Instead, the doctor gets his ass handed to him.
• Overly-Long Tongue: M4 and M5 have snakeesque tongues to add to their reptilian nature.
• Put on a Bus: Upon being freed of Ichigaki's control, they return to train with their master and adoptive father Mitamura. Aside from a cameo of them cheering Team Urameshi in the final round of the Dark Tournament, this is their last appearance in the story.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The lizardmen M4 and M5 fit this perfectly. M5, the blue, prefers to stay out of direct combat and relies on Gattasaval to dispose of his foes. Compare this to the red M4, whose reckless charging of Hiei and Kurama quickly spelled his end.
• Rubber Man: Gattasval can stretch its arms and track down its targets until its steel claws cut through them. The anime infers that it was based on Ichigaki's enhanced form's power to stretch his limbs, though not nearly to the same extent as his creation.
• Slasher Smile: Ichigaki shows sadistic glee in seeing others suffer.
• Sympathetic Sentient Weapon: Yen, Ryo, and Kai wouldn't under usual circumstances have accepted being turned into killing machines, except in the hope that Ichigaki would uphold his end of the bargain to heal their master. Kuwabara via a psychic link could tell that they were suffering being Forced to Watch as their bodies were used by Ichigaki to kill other people against their wills and at one point they stopped fighting long enough to ask for Yusuke to kill them.
• This Is Unforgivable!: Inverted in that it is the previously antagonistic Yen, Ryo, and Kai who call themselves out. However, Master Mitamura quickly tells them that they shouldn't blame themselves for being Mentally Enslaved by Ichigaki. Though this is certainly played straight against Ichigaki.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Kai thus has his Beruki in open sight in contrast to his teammates who wear shirts over theirs.
• We Have Reserves: Ichigaki says this about M1, M2, and M3, considering that his real target is using Yusuke as a subject for his experiments. He doesn't care whether they will survive, and even if they were to win the Dark Tournament, he would simply kill them himself anyway.

Team Mashotsukai

^{Click to see Risho without armor} 

Voiced by:

[Gama] Kazuyuki Sogabe (JP), Christopher Sabat (EN), Hans García (Latin America), Oliviero Corbetta (IT)
[Bakken] Hajime Koseki (JP), Andrew Chandler (EN), Alan Miró (Latin America), Massimiliano Lotti (IT)
[Risho] Aruno Tahara (JP), Mike McFarland (EN), Guillermo Rojas (Latin America), Diego Sabre (IT)

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The third team of Fighters that Team Urameshi fought against in the Dark Tournament.

• For tropes about Jin and Touya, see their entries under the Allies section.

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• Ambiguously Brown: Bakken is the only member with a darker complexion, though his being a demon, it may not matter.
• Anti-Villain: The Shadow Channelers only wish to compete in the Tournament to, in Touya's words, "step into the light" to make a new home in the Human world. They qualify as Type IIs in that they regard themselves as True Companions. Completely averted in Bakken's case, though.
• Avenging the Villain: Not any of Team Masho's members' objective, but their sponsor, Butajiri, wants to get back at Tarukane's killers. Subverted in that he didn't give two craps about Tarukane, but Butajiri is a pompous Plutocrat who is pissed off at the audacity of a bunch of downtrodden Delinquents taking out a fellow Corrupt Corporate Executive and now wanting to "put them in their place". Though Sakyo corrects him that he was the one who ordered Toguro to kill Tarukane just before Toguro gave him a well-deserved death as well.
• Bloody Murder: Gama's enchanted body paint is made from his own blood.
• Covered with Scars: Bakken has nasty scars on his face, shoulders, and limbs.
• Creepy Shadowed Undereyes: Risho.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Risho can create a suit of armor by coating his body with clay from the ground.
• The Dragon: Jin serves as this for Risho.
• Dumb Muscle: Bakken as demonstrated by his lack of skill and strategy in contrast to his other teammates. His lack of brains would especially bite him in the ass when Yusuke dispelled his sweat fog.
• Elemental Powers: Gama's is blood-based, Touya is An Ice Person, Jin's is wind-based, and Risho's is Earth-based. Bakken is Super Smoke due to him filling the stadium with fog but may have also been a limited version of Making a Splash since he was using his own sweat.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Again, Risho. Makes for a pretty creepy look, overall.
• Heel–Face Turn: Touya and Jin do this after the team's defeat.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Jin is sanguine-phlegmatic, Risho is choleric, and Touya is melancholic.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Four of them are pretty clearly close and fight together as friends and as a team, but none of them like Bakken for how much of a violent and cowardly bully he is. When Yusuke beats him down in their match, none of the others feel bad for him.
• Groin Attack: In the anime, quick x-ray shots show Bakken's bones breaking as Yusuke beats the crap out of him as punishment for what he did to Kurama. This includes the pelvis, where the groin is located.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Gama may not exactly fit the definition of heroic, but he nonetheless sought to use his dying breath to place a concealment spell on Kurama to help his team achieve victory.
• Honor Before Reason: Toyed with. While Touya keeps to his principles and demands that Risho fight honorably in the face of blatant bribery and rigging of the match in their team's favor, the latter subverts this by choosing to be pragmatic and accept the ruling so that they can get closer to their goal of winning a new home in the Human world.
• Improbable Weapon User: Gama uses a pair of brushes to paint his make-up and body paint both on himself (for a bulk up of muscle) onto his enemies (in order to place spells on them such as weighing them down or locking their spiritual energies in their bodies).
• I Surrender, Suckers: Bakken tries this on Yusuke, shamelessly begging for his life when it becomes clear the Spirit Detective badly outclasses him — only to try to smash his head in with a rock the moment it looks like his guard is down. It accomplishes nothing save guarantee a beat-down from an already pissed-off Yusuke.
• Jerkass: Bakken is an unrepentant thug who is willing to beat down people who can't defend themselves and happily gloat about it. His personality is so grating that even his own teammates regard him as the The Scrappy in-universe. Thankfully, Bakken gets what he deserves from Yusuke. Risho was pretty unpleasant himself, striking Touya for having the nerve to tell him to fight honorably, threatening Koto's life at one point, and his constant bullying of Kuwabara during their match.
• Kick Them While They Are Down: Bakken does this to an unconscious Kurama. Once in the ring himself, Yusuke returns the favor and beats on Bakken for a bit after clearly winning.
• Lean and Mean: Both Gama and Risho to varying degrees.
• Noble Demon: A standout example in the Dark Tournament arc. Team Masho is the only team besides the heroes who seem to care to an extent about each other as a whole (as opposed to individual friendships like Chu and Rinku) — with the exception of Bakken. They are willing to fight and sacrifice themselves for the sake of their comrades, are dedicated to a cause rather than Blood Knight tendencies, are generally respectful and are, all in all, more honorable than most participants — though Risho ultimately proves himself willing to drop honor like a rock if it means achieving his goals.
• Ninja: Or more precisely, "The Shinobi of Spirit World".
• Real Men Wear Pink: Gama is referred to as being a "Master of Make-up," though he detests the associations that humans have made with his art.
• Scary Black Man: Subverted with Bakken, who appears as the most vicious fighter, but he proves himself to be the weakest of Team Masho and is a Dirty Coward to boot.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Bakken. He undeservedly demands to be addressed as "Bakken-sama" (Lord Bakken) even though he is the lowest-ranking member of his team.
• Smoke Out: Bakken can create a smokescreen with the vapor of his sweat.
• Smug Snake: Risho.
• Stripperific: Gama and Bakken wear little else than loin clothes and sandals. Justified as their abilities require their skin to be exposed in order to perform their techniques.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Bakken attempts to pull this on Yusuke once the latter gets the upper hand. Bakken pleads for mercy claiming that his ribs are broken and that he can't remember the beating he gave to Kurama minutes earlier, in which he then tries to smash Yusuke's head with some debris. Yusuke never lowered his guard based on how inauthentic his pleas were and decided to "help remind" Bakken what he did to Kurama.
• Would Hit a Girl: Bakken slaps Koto away when she tries to stop him from brutally beating up Kurama. Risho later threatens her with death when she hesitates to name his team victorious after eliminating Yusuke from fighting.
• Villainous Valor: After being critically injured, rather than use what little energy he had left to heal himself and save his own life, Gama is willing to bleed to death to weaken Kurama, assured that his death will mean the eventual defeat of his enemy. It doesn't, of course, but you have to respect his dedication.

Team Uraotogi

^{Click to see Kuro Momotaro’s Pheasant Form 
Click to see Kuro Momotaro’s Canine Form} 

Voiced by:

[Ura Urashima] Issei Futamata (JP), Vic Mignogna (EN), Ikaro (Latin America), Paolo Sesana (IT)
[Makintaro] Hidenari Ugaki (JP), Shane Ray (EN), Tony Fuochi (IT)
[Kuro Momotaro] Shin Aomori (JP), Justin Cook (EN), Pedro Damián (Latin America), Pino Pirovalle (IT)

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The fourth team of Fighters that Team Urameshi fought against in the Dark Tournament.

• For tropes about Shishiwakamaru and Suzuki, see their entries under the Allies section.

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• Accent Adaptation: Kuro is given a light Brooklyn accent in the English version, though it loses its prominence as he cycles through his Beast Armors.
• Adaptive Ability: Kuro Momotaro uses Steaming Spheres to gain immunity to whatever attack was last used against him. Against Hiei, who, despite being powerful, has a somewhat limited move set, he holds the upper hand for most of the fight until Hiei starts getting creative.
• Ambiguously Brown: Makintaro
• Blade Below the Shoulder: Makintaro's only shown ability is being able to turn his hands into blades.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Ura Urashima tellingly boasts to Kurama that as a "real demon", he would never feel remorseful for the despicable acts he's committed.^note Only in the Japanese version. Earlier, Kuro Momotaro expressly states that he detests those who claim to fight for good and justice.
• Combat Sadomasochist: You can definitely tell by Kuro Momotaro's dialogue from slicing himself with Hiei's sword that he enjoys getting hurt.
• Dirty Coward: Ura Urashima immediately and pathetically begs for his life after he accidentally restores Kurama to his Yoko form whereas he previously spent the first half of their match mocking the latter for his soft-heartedness.
• The Dragon: While Shishiwakamaru appears to be the team's captain, he is revealed to simply be the Frontman for Suzuki.
• Dub Text: Ura Urashima's telepathic deception was completely rewritten in Funimation's dub, where he claims to have joined Team Uraotogi in order to provide for his ill grandmother only to have been roped into a life of violent crime by Shishiwakamaru. The Japanese version, on the other hand, has Ura be more philosophical with the claim that he and his teammates are demonic reincarnations of their classic fairytale namesakes and that over time they became twisted perversions of the protagonists and had killed many humans in the name of the demons that the original stories were written against. Ura pretends to have a Heel Realization for his wickedness and thus...
• Fangs Are Evil: Kuro Momotaro gains some nasty-looking fangs upon using his Wolf Armor, though his previous forms also had this to a lesser extent. Makintaro also had sharper-looking teeth in the manga.
• The Fighting Narcissist: Ura Urashima implies in the original Japanese that he hates those who are taller and better-looking than him and has killed them for this, and tried to do the same to Kurama.
• Fractured Fairy Tale: Its members are based on heroes from Japanese Fairy tales and folklore. Makintaro is based on Kintaro, Kuro Momotaro is based on Momotaro, Ura Urashima is based on Urashima Taro, and Shishiwakamaru is inspired by Oniwakamaru. Onji is the notable exception as he wishes, to paraphrase him, to make his own story. In an interesting coincidence Onji/ Suzuki's name in the original English dub, "Suzuka", is similar to that of the Mythological Suzuka Gongen. In addition, the team's name almost literally translates into English as "Team Fractured Fairy Tales".
• Full-Body Disguise: Two of its members are disguised. Ura Urashima is revealed to be a hairy canine-like humanoid shortly after he is killed by Shishiwakamaru and Onji is actually Suzu-ahem! The Beautiful Suzuki.
• Gone Horribly Right: Ura Urashima uses his Idunn Box to de-age his opponents into defenseless infants. When used on Kurama, it de-ages him too far, back to when he was still Yoko Kurama.
• Gonk: Ura Urashima has rounded frogesque facial features in his humanoid disguise.
• Jerkass: All of them to varying degrees:
  • Shishiwakamaru is pompous and condescending to most, especially Kuwabara. Even after his Heel–Face Turn, he's very much only doing it out of friendship for Suzuki to the point he writes "undecided" when Yusuke has his sitdown with Yomi.
  • Suzuki at first was incredibly vain and had a God Complex, to the point that he'd kill others for jeering him or not referring to him by his full title "The Beautiful Suzuki". His defeat humbles him somewhat, though aside from Shishi he doesn't seem terribly broken up about the death of the rest of his team.
  • Kuro Momotaro is shown not to give a rat's ass about the lives of his teammates as shown when he kicked Makintaro's carcass out of the ring after Hiei killed him. He mentions to Team Urameshi before the semi-finals that he hates do-gooders who are all about justice.
  • Makintaro didn't have much screentime, but what little we see paints him as a bullish, arrogant brute who doesn't think things through and got himself killed quickly for it.
  • Ura Urashima tricks his opponents into feeling sympathy for him with fake sob stories before immobilizing them with his fishing line and using the Idunn Box to revert them to hapless infants before finishing the deal.
• Kick the Dog: Kuro Momotaro does this. The moment he enters the ring to fight against Hiei, instead of kindly moving the body of his fallen comrade who died in the prior fight or at least offering any respects, Kuro Momotaro just coldly kicked his corpse and made a snide remark immediately after. In addition, he purposely dragged out his match with Hiei to show off his prowess, though Onji predicted that he still wouldn't win even if he had taken things seriously.
  • Ura took the time to mock Kurama for falling for his deceptions.^note About wanting to get out of a life of crime in the English dub or thinking that a Card-Carrying Villain like himself would ever feel remorseful for his sins in the original Japanese.
• Killed Off for Real: Makintaro, Kuro Momotaro, and Ura Urashima.
• Large and in Charge: Averted. Makintaro was the biggest member of Team Uraotogi but also the weakest, as demonstrated by his swift defeat.
• The Man Behind the Man: Onji/Suzuki is the true leader for Team Uraotogi.
• Manipulative Bastard: Ura Urashima claims that he was forced into villainy on the pain of his grandmother being killed during his fight against Kurama in order to get him to lower his guard to use his Idunn Box on him.
• Merlin Sickness: What Ura Urashima's Idunn Box inflicts on its targets and unwittingly brought about his defeat and near-death when Kurama reverted to Yoko Kurama.
• More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Kuro Momotaro in his wolf armor form. Lampshaded by Kuwabara.
• No Body Left Behind: Kuro Momotaro was incinerated by Hiei's Sword of the Darkness Flame just before he could properly sink his teeth into the Jagan user.
• Obviously Evil: In the anime, at least, it was blatantly obvious that Ura Urashima was faking his regret at his evil deeds due to his prior snickering at Hiei during his match against Kuro Momotaro.
• Oh, Crap!: Ura Urashima has a spectacular one when he realizes his attack has turned Kurama into Yoko Kurama.
• Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits: They have been empowered thanks to the weapons and equipment made for them by Onji.
• Reincarnation: Four of its members (see Fractured Fairy Tale above) claim to be the reincarnations of famous individuals as Demons. It's implied to be a lie, though.
• Rod And Reel Repurposed: Ura Urashima, naturally, being that he has modeled himself after the fairy tale fisherman Urashima Taro, uses a fishing rod as his weapon, using it as an improvised whip.
• Scary Black Man: Makintaro has the look of one, but much like Gao and Bakken before him, he turns out to be the weakest of his team.
• Self-Made Orphan: Implied (in the English dub) when Urashima reveals his true colors. He tells Kurama that he'll die like his grandma, suggesting that he murdered her just because.
• Telepathy: One of Ura Urashima's abilities.
• Unwitting Pawn: Kuro Momotaro and Makintaro's purpose was only to drain Hiei of his energy, as Shishi smugly stated after their deaths. Zigzagged with Ura Urashima, who was supposedly ideal to be Kurama's bane but valued slightly more, yet was quickly killed by Shishi for almost blabbing Suzuki's true identity.
• Wolverine Claws: All of Kuro's Beast Armors give him sharp talons, especially his wolf form.
• Would Hurt a Child: Weaponized by Ura Urashima's Idunn Box. It regresses whoever breathes in the aroma into a very young child, or even a baby, leaving the victim virtually helpless. Too bad for Ura that Kurama is a very special case.

Other Contestants

Team Makai Kyousenshi

Voiced by:

[Ogyoku] Minoru Inaba (JP), Brice Armstrong (EN), Mario Scarabelli (IT)
[Ragubi] Nobuaki Fukuda (JP), Bob Carter (EN), Riccardo Rovatti (IT)
[Dosukoi] Hidenari Ugaki (JP), Chris Rager (EN), Sergo Romanò (IT)
[Gorira] Tomomichi Nishimura (JP), Ed Blaylock (EN), Marco Balzarotti (IT)
[Babaki] Nobuyuki Hiyama (JP), Brandon White (EN), Aldo Stella (IT)
[Gagaki] Toshiyuki Morikawa (JP), Kyle Hebert (EN), Daniele Demma (IT)

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A team that Younger Toguro fights and slaughters single-handedly.

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• Adaptation Expansion: Ogyoku gets more screen time and characterization in the anime.
• Ascended Extra: Dosukoi was a voiceless prop in the manga, but the anime gives him the most dialogue of his team during the "fight" outside of Ogyoku.
• Bait-and-Switch: Ogyoku is introduced and built up seemingly as Yusuke's next opponent and challenge in The Dark Tournament, only for him and his entire team to get killed by Toguro without even getting a chance to face Yusuke
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Dosukoi is the only member to not use a weapon in his fighting style.
• Canon Foreigner: Ragubi, an alternate for the team, is a character that was created for the anime.
• The Captain: Ogyoku is the leader of the Makai Kyousenshi.
• Dub Name Change: Ogyoku is renamed Topaz in FUNimation's dub.
  • The team's name, translated from Japanese, means "Demon Realm Crazed Warrior Team". The English dub renames them the "Spirit Warriors" based on them flexing their impressive spiritual energy before their match.
• Fish Person: Babaki resembles a humanoid piranha complete with long fangs.
• Horns of Villainy: Gagaki has a big one in the center of his head.
• Intrigued by Humanity: Ragubi states this and more specifically says he has a liking of Human sports, particularly Rugby.
• Large and in Charge: Each of the Makai Kyousenshi members dwarf Younger Toguro, who himself isn't small in stature. Though that ultimately doesn't help them in the end. Rugby, however, averts this, being about the size of an average Human.
• More Teeth than the Osmond Family: As a piranha-like demon, Babaki has large fangs. Ragubi has his chompers on full display and has no lips.
• Noble Demon: Ogyoku objects to Rugby's attempt to kill Yusuke outside of the ring and for that kills him.
• Red Shirt: The entire team is this, though Ogyoku at least gets upgraded to Mauve Shirt in the anime.
• Scary Black Man: Downplayed with Ogyoku, he is the biggest of his team, on top of being Yusuke's enemy, and is quick to kill the disobedient Ragubi, but he has an honorable side that won't allow for dirty tricks. Younger Toguro quickly steals his scare factor when killing him during their match.
• Shout-Out: Dosukoi is a likely reference to E. Honda of Street Fighter fame and even has the "Hundred Hands" fighting style.
  • Ragubi's visor brings Cyclops to mind.
• Spikes of Villainy: Ogyoku wears a collar with spikes on it. Babaki also has one in the manga.
• Stout Strength: Dosukoi by default of being a sumo wrestler.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Ogyoku likes to think that he's this to Yusuke, to the point that he kills Ragubi for being dishonorable enough to try and off the spirit detective between rounds. However, fate has other plans as he finds out the hard way from Younger Toguro, who offs him by asserting that Yusuke is his to end.
• This Cannot Be!: Ogyoku when Toguro No Sells his ax and kills him:
  Ogyoku: But I was supposed to kill Yusuke...!
  Toguro: Must've been a misunderstanding. That boy is reserved for me.

Team Gokai Six

A team of fighters that was defeated by Team Uraotogi during the Dark Tournament.

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• Captain Ersatz: They are basically the creatures from Universal Studio's long-running franchise. They are based on Gill-Man (AKA the Creature from the Black Lagoon), Imhotep (from The Mummy (1932)), Frankenstein's Monster, Wolf Man, and Dracula (the last not being shown in the anime). There is also a member of the team who is a cat man even though there is no such creature among Universal's monsters, though he might not be a completely original creation. The cat demon may actually be a clever reference to The Cat and the Canary, a film that features a psychotic asylum escapee called "the Cat" seeking to kill the protagonist and others.
• Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: As neither Shonen Jump nor Studio Pierrot have any rights to the Universal Horror monsters, the appearances for some of its members' appearances were made to be different from sources of inspiration so as to avoid potential legal action. Notably, the Frankenstein's monster lookalike has a screw on the top of his head instead of two in his neck, the Wolfman Expy has only one eye left (as well as a far more canine head than Universal's Wolfman does), the Dracula one is given unkempt hair, a mustache, and pointy ears, the gray demon based on Imhotep has no wrappings nor Ancient Egyptian-themed clothing, the Gill Man imitator is far more like a cobra in appearance instead of a fish/amphibian-styled appearance, and the cat demon is a literal cat man rather than being a Human serial killer calling himself "The Cat".
• Red Shirt: The Cat, Cobra, and Gray demons were killed by Kuro Momotaro, Makintaro, and Suzuki/Onji respectively. Averted by the other surviving team members who chose to concede to Team Uraotogi rather than seek any sort of post-match retaliation.

Team Gorenja

Voiced by:

[Akarenjya] Mitsuru Miyamoto (JP), Robert McCollum (EN), Claudio Moreno (Latin America), Giuseppe Calvetti (IT)
[Aorenjya] Tomomichi Nishimura (JP), Bob Carter (EN), Paolo Sesana (IT)
[Momorenjya] Megumi Ogata (JP), Susan Huber^note credited as Libby Smith (EN), Irene Scalzi (IT)
[Kirenjya] Hidenari Ugaki (JP), Chris Forbis (EN), Riccardo Lombardo (IT)
[Midorenjya] Takehiro Koyama (JP), Ed Blaylock (EN), Pino Pirovalle (IT)

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A Team of Fighters who were killed in the semi-finals by Team Toguro.

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• Acid Attack: Midorenjya is shown to have acid-based powers.
• The Big Guy: Kirenjya fulfills this role and is also armed with a BFS that is larger than any weapons his other teammates had.
• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Naturally given who Team Gorenja is inspired by. The colors that represent them are red (Akarenjya), blue (Aorenjya), pink (Momorenjya), yellow (Kirenjya), and green (Midorenjya).
• Defiant to the End: Akarenjya; even after all but he and Aorenjya had been killed and they were heavily injured by Team Toguro, Akarenjya refused to give up nor beg for his life as Aorenjya did.
• Dirty Coward: Aorenjya, who eagerly takes up Elder Toguro's offer of begging for mercy, even if it means dooming Akarenja. All it does is get him killed quicker.
• Femme Fatalons: Momorenjya has the practical Wolverine Claws variety.
• Ludicrous Gibs: Kirenjya ends up meeting the business end of Bui's ax, and the results are...less than pretty.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Akarenjya and Momorenjya seem to have this dynamic. When Elder Toguro taunts Team Gorenja about the ways he plans to torture and kill them, Akarenjya is about to lash out when Momorenjya warns him not to let his anger get the best of him.
• Red Shirt: Everyone on the team is this, more or less to show how Badass the other members of Team Toguro are. Though somewhat ironically the red-clad Akarenjya was the last of his team to be killed.
• Shout-Out: They are based on the heroes from Himitsu Sentai Gorenger, the first of the Super Sentai series.
• The Smurfette Principle: Momorenjya is the lone female member of the team and for that matter one of only two known females (the other being Genkai) to participate in the Dark tournament.
• Super-Speed: Akarenjya, Aorenjya, and Momorenjya have this as their main ability. One tactic they were shown to employ was creating Speed Echoes in an effort to confuse opponents into attacking an afterimage while they got in close for an attack. Though Elder Toguro countered this by creating several tendrils that shot out from his body that pierced them from any direction they could attack from.

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