In Yu Yu Hakusho, Raizen was a powerful demon that was called the Mazoku (loosely meaning “Tribe of Demons,” which is translated to Demonkin in the subtitles of FUNimation’s version of the original Japanese animation).

Also, he was one of The Three Kings of Makai as well as Yusuke Urameshi’s maternal father. In the manga, prior to Yusuke’s return to the Demon World, Raizen is named Toshin by Hokushin. Because it can be translated as Battle God, it is probably a nickname, not an actual surname. He’s also known as “Master of War” or “Warrior God” in accordance with the meaning.

Appearance Raizen Yu Yu Hakusho

Even though he’s hundreds of years old, Raizen’s body is youthful and robust, consisting of a muscular yet lean appearance. As time went on, Raizen was becoming more dehydrated due to the fact that he was starving himself due to his experiences in Ningenkai. His attire includes a yellow headband and an obi sash of yellow as well as white pants. With long, white hair, his facial features include an oversized thin nose, thin teeth, tattoos beneath the left eye and a gnarly, aching smile. In his flashbacks, the actor wore an untidy blue sleeveless loose yukata.

Check Out : Koenma Yu Yu Hakusho : Everything You Need To Know

Personality Raizen Yu Yu Hakusho

In Yu Yu Hakusho, while he was once a fan of humans for food, Raizen, after falling in love with a female, vows to never consume humans again. In keeping with his vow, his body starts to slowly consume itself until death, eventually leading to the sound of his stomach being heard throughout the Demon World, according to Hokushin.

Despite his reputation for being brutal as a warrior and wild beast that feeds off people, Raizen is perceptive enough to recognize the magnitude of his abilities and motives held by the two other kings. He also is a very caring and compassionate character, as shown when he asked Yusuke to be the leader of Hokushin as well as the rest of his subordinates to be in Raizen’s direction. Even though it might appear to be a bit aloof, he’s an honest man who lives by his word and respect, and he keeps his word even when the person who he made a promise to is not there to keep the promise.

He has decided to fulfill his word that he will never eat a human again to the one woman he’s ever adored over food and staying strong, thus retaining greater influence and control over the Demon World for the rest of his life. Yusuke didn’t realize how proud he felt of his father until he was told by Raizen’s fellow comrades about how great his character was.

Even after the end, Raizen is always there to provide the best advice he can offer Yusuke and help guide his descendant in the right path. It is believed that Yusuke believes that Raizen is the closest father figure that he has never had, given the fact that his biological father was not around for the entirety of his early years. Yusuke even said to him “dad”.

Also Read : Botan Yu Yu Hakusho : Everything You Need To Know

History Raizen Yu Yu Hakusho

In the days when humans and demons were in a relationship, Raizen was the most powerful of the Demon Kings, but was taken prisoner by a group of demons. Enki stated that, when he was at his most powerful, Raizen was the most powerful demon ever to have existed, claiming that Raizen was even Yomi and Mukuro were powerless against Raizen. He was badly injured, and was tended to health and recovery by a gorgeous young woman.

At first, he was unable to resist his desire to eat her. Eventually, she assured him that she was willing to let him but at the cost of her blood-tainted flesh in his own intestines. They had a baby instead and Raizen was forced to leave her and promised that he would never consume any other human until he saw her again. She died eventually and Raizen was true to his promise that he would never eat another human.

Storyline Raizen Yu Yu Hakusho

Chapter Black Saga

At the end of the fight between Yusuke and the ex-spirit detective Shinobu Sensui, Raizen assumes control over Yusuke’s body, which causes his descendant to acquire appearances that resemble the demons of Raizen. After taking control of Yusuke’s body entirely, Raizen begins to fight against Sensui and with greater power, Raizen easily and ruthlessly beats Sensui.

As Raizen shoots a fatal shot with Yusuke’s recently acquired Demon Gun towards Sensui, Yusuke begins to take control of his body and urges Sensui to step away from the bullet. However, his gesture is ineffective, as the bullet strikes the target and killed Sensui.

Following the murder by Sensui, Yusuke, never imagining himself to be this cruel, is aware that someone took control over his body in the course of the battle even though he’s not aware of who that person could be. While these thoughts remain in his mind, Yusuke travels back to the human world, stripped of his previous status as a ghost detective.

Check Out : Who Is The Strongest Anime characters : Our Top 10 +

Three Kings Saga

Excited to meet his son to the throne, Raizen dispatches two demons of the A class and one S-class to locate Yusuke. Yusuke does not want to go and fights the demons. Then, Yusuke goes with them together with Kurama and Hiei along with Raizen’s adversaries Yomi along with Mukuro.

Yusuke is engaged in a fight with Raizen and is surprised to learn that Raizen’s strength is much more powerful than his own and Raizen insisting on the difference in power between them, despite his strength being at its lowest, and possibly having only one year of life because of the decline. Yusuke works hard in conjunction with Hokushin until they decide that he’s suitable to fight Raizen. Raizen however, is dying of hunger due to not eating humans. When Yusuke is finally able to meet Raizen, he has trouble controlling his hunger and nearly kills Yusuke while doing so.

Then, he reveals to Yusuke the reason behind his starvation, and dies minutes afterward. To stop the conflict, Yusuke starts the Demon World Tournament. In the lead-up to this tournament, Yusuke encounters two of Raizen’s allies, Enki along with his wife Koko, while the former is grieving over their leader’s passing as Enki speaks of Raizen as a powerful fighter to Yusuke. After the event, Enki is declared the winner and becomes the leader over the Demon World.

Yusuke goes to Raizen’s grave and takes the decision of returning to The Human World to meet Keiko one last time. Raizen’s spirit comes out of his grave and gives Yusuke some suggestions and also his own personal responsibility prior to Yusuke leaves.

Techniques / Moves Raizen Yu Yu Hakusho

While Raizen’s battles in the series have not shown his true strength, it is acknowledged by a lot of individuals that Raizen is the strongest fighter in the entire series.

After abstaining from eating human flesh for hundreds of years and losing more strength, his strength was sufficient to ensure that he was able to compete with Yomi and Mukuro, who each dared not directly fight Raizen or their rivals without a pause, lest the last King could fall victim to the third one and thus keep the battle in a three-way stalemate. It was said that, at his peak, Raizen was strong enough to move the earth, while powering up.

• Superior S Class Demon Energy: Being an upper-S class Mazoku, Raizen can be incredibly powerful, and is a similarly skilled warrior. The power of Raizen in his peak is way beyond those of the other upper S class demons, both in power and overall power. Even in his weakest state, he is equal to Yomi as well as Mukuro.
• Amazing power: In the fight against Sensui and Yusuke, when Raizen is possessed by Yusuke, his attacks are so powerful that friction statics or even tendrils of lightning occur during his attacks, just as during the time Yusuke used the spirit gun and gun during the battle. Since this has never been seen with Yusuke’s abilities before or after it has happened, it is possible that this is a characteristic or strength of Raizen (or perhaps as an in-joke on the name of his character).
• Lightning Empowerment: When Raizen was in possession of Yusuke, lightning bolts were visible attacking Yusuke’s Spirit Gun, and Spirit Punch. This has not been seen in the past or since, suggesting that this is a skill or ability of Raizen and not Yusuke’s. This could also be an allusion to the name (Raizen: Rai =Lightning / Zen = Meditation)
• Energy Cutter: The first time he had an encounter in the presence of Yusuke, Raizen demonstrated the ability to generate an energy beam with the shape of a blade energy through the flick of his fingers. This could be an indication as proof that he’s so strong that you can cut someone using his fingers, even if they’re far away. The attack was, as Raizen admitted, was not serious, could have caused an incision into Yusuke’s chest.

• Fury Palm Rush: In a frenzied, wild situation, Raizen grasps Yusuke’s face in his left hand and forcefully drives him into and through the walls that is his castle. He continues to make sure to push Yusuke back, delivering a powerful explosion of green energy, launching him across the terrain before launching him into a huge rock formation, by squeezing the head of Yusuke’s in his grasp. In this sequence, it’s clear that Raizen can fly. He was able to push Yusuke away from his throne tower and push him to a considerable distance.
• Flight: As seen in the video of Fury Palm Rush (unofficial name), and was completely covered in green energy while he was pulling him in mid-air. This could mean as indicating that his power is so effective that his jump spanned the distance of this before falling. It can also mean as a sign that he’s able to fly. Yusuke and Sensui were able to fly in the fight when they were enveloped in spiritual energy.
• Energy Blast: As seen in the flashback to Souketsu’s memories, Raizen, during his peak, employed an attack of white energy that was demonic, sending Souketsu backwards into the wall.

• Possession: When he is in control of Yusuke’s body, Raizen is able to control and possess his descendants, and transfer their power via them.
• Amazing Speed: Shown as he is frenzied, he is fighting Yusuke.