Yoshihiro Togashi's manga series
YuYu Hakusho contains a widely diverse cast of fictional characters. At the forefront is Yusuke Urameshi, a typical school punk with not-so-typical pastimes. After dying and being reborn Yusuke becomes the detective of paranormal events in the human world. The other predominant characters consist of Yusuke's family, schoolmates, friends, allies in his detective work as well as the higher ups in spirit world who give Yusuke his cases. Yusuke begins his work in the human world, but ends up traveling to the Underworld and then eventually to the demon plane. In each case he undertakes Yusuke meets several new enemies and allies.
Yusuke Urameshi (浦飯 幽助,
Urameshi Yūsuke?) is a student who attends the fictional Sarayashiki Junior High School. His poor attendance, constant fighting, and bad habits have earned him the label of a delinquent among most of his teachers and classmates. This all changes rather abruptly as Yusuke is struck by a car and dies while trying to save a small child who had wandered into the road. Such an altruistic deed catches the underworld by surprise. As they don't have a place for him yet in heaven or hell, he is permitted to return to his body and resume his life. However, while doing so it is revealed that Yusuke has a particularly strong aura, or spirit energy, and Koenma, the son of Enma, lord of the underworld, recruits him as Underworld/Spirit Detective and Yusuke is charged with investigating supernatural phenomena in the human world and capturing criminals dealing in underworld crime. Yusuke bears a bit of affection for his childhood friend Keiko Yukimura, who initially takes a role as Yusuke's conscience, making sure he comes to class and behaves, and later becomes his romantic interest. Yusuke's mother, Atsuko, who is shown constantly drinking throughout the story, raised him as a single mother.
Yusuke's most common attack is the Reigun (霊丸,
Reigan?, means "Spirit Gun," pronounced as "Ray Gun"), or Spirit Gun. Aura/Spirit energy is concentrated into his right index finger and released as a projectile as though his hand were a gun and his finger the barrel. At first he is only able to muster a single shot per day, but as he trains with Genkai he is able to fire multiple shots per day, as well as developing minor variations on the technique. Yusuke is also the son of the demon king Raizen and, ever since his resurrection during the Chapter Black arc, retains his demon side and demon energy more than his human side. At the end of the manga, Yusuke opens up a ramen shop, and also spends time helping humans and demons learn to cooperate.
In the anime television series, Yusuke is voiced by Nozomu Sasaki in Japanese and Justin Cook in English. According to Togashi, the name Yusuke Uramashi is derived from a pun. Justin Kovalsky of
Animerica said "Ever hear the folk song "Bad Leroy Brown," by Jim Croce? Well, Yusuke is like old Leroy, but 14 and Japanese." In the Japanese magazine
Animage Anime Grand Prix popularity poll, Yusuke was ranked as the thirteenth most popular anime character in 1993, the tenth in 1994, and the eighth in 1995. In March 2010, Yusuke was ranked sixteenth best male anime character of the 1990's by the Japanese magazine
Newtype.
Kazuma Kuwabara (桑原 和真,
Kuwabara Kazuma?) is a student who attends the fictional Sarayashiki Junior High School. He is noted as the "second toughest punk at Sarayashiki", despite his unusual affinity for kittens. He is constantly picking fights with Yusuke to prove himself tougher, but never succeeding. Eventually Kuwabara's feelings of anger toward Yusuke become feelings of respect. Kuwabara has a very advanced sixth sense, though not as acute as his older sister Shizuru's. Yusuke uses this to his advantage in his attempt to return to life. Kuwabara ends up assisting in most of Yusuke's cases, gaining power over his own aura which he wields as a sword called the Spirit Sword (霊剣,
Rei Ken?), though compared to Hiei, Kuwabara's swordsmanship is clumsy and more predictable due to the lack of swordsman training. He learns to develop this power rather quickly as well, later being able to wield two at once and creating an extremely powerful sword using the Trial Sword. Kuwabara also obtains the Jigan To during the Chapter Black arc, a sleeker and cleaner spirit sword that possesses the ability to slice and cut through and between dimensions.
Source:
Wikipedia
