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indigo_league) wrote2016-05-03 09:48 pm
indigo_league) wrote2016-05-03 09:48 pm
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Kurama / Shuichi Minamino 🌹 Yu Yu Hakusho
Name: Remedy
E-mail: TransmutedSelf@gmail.com
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Timezone: I spend parts of the year in Eastern and Central time, but my active tagging periods are all over the place.
Current Characters in Victory Road: None
Character
Name: Shuichi Minamino | Kurama
Series: Yu Yu Hakusho
Timeline: Post All Or Nothing OVA
Canon Resource Links: Wiki Link. There are a few discrepancies between manga and anime canon, so some of this information will not apply to Kurama as I play him. Details as minor as "black vs red hair" or as major as the anime changing Kurama's relationship with his demon identity. However, since he's powerless and human in VR (also taken post-canon), I don't think it will really influence how he'll function in game here, anyway.
Personality: This section is full of spoilers for anyone who might want to skip those on a recently revived 30-year-old canon.
We’re introduced to Kurama in the series as a demon bandit who stole an important artifact from Spirit World. Not much is known about him at this point in the series, Spirit World lacks any real intel outside of the name Kurama, and they certainly aren't aware that he’s the legendary fox spirit who died fifteen years prior.
In his previous life as a spirit fox, Yoko grew bored without the presence of some kind of challenge, he learned to break codes and seals - delighting in stealing ancient treasures and honing his skills to pass the time. After awhile, he grew strong enough to lead a legendary band of thieves that stole for the thrill of the accomplishment, the ability to pull off great heists. Yoko had a right-hand man who was still immature and reckless enough to go on jobs that he couldn’t handle, despite the risks he took and lives he lost doing so, Yoko always saved him. After a number of incidents, when he continued to stubbornly behave this way, endangering the lives of others and getting so many of their men killed hunting artifacts, Yoko set up a trap. He hired someone to take him out, and this time he left him for dead. While this is often cited as an example of his cutthroat and selfish nature, the fact that Yoko cared about him so much that he let him get away with continuously endangering the rest of the crew - that he saved his life, bringing him back again and again - suggests instead a compassionate and caring person has always been at his core. At least, as much of one as could be expected from bandits in the demon world.
Ultimately, Yoko choosing to stop protecting him from the consequences of his own actions by putting an end to them is an example of the pragmatic approach he continues to demonstrate even later, in his human body. A selfish and personally motivated leader would have killed him for his incompetence before giving him so many chances to improve.
This isn't the only time we see evidence of his compassion, even as a demon. Yoko also tried - and failed - to save another friend of his, during a different (likely earlier) period of his life. He did run to save himself eventually, leaving his friend for dead despite his own protests, but only at Kuronue’s insistence.
At Maze Castle, Kurama comments on the lack of loyalty present in the Saint Beasts, as if it's notable even by demon standards that these particularly creatures feel nothing for each other. Kurama has always had a loyal nature, but it could be argued that it was being forced to live in the human world, and raised by Shiori Minamino, that truly enabled it to blossom. Upon meeting Gouki, Kurama even points out that he has new priorities to protect and how far he’s willing to go in the name of protecting them.
After one last heist gone wrong, Yoko was chased down by a powerful adversary and left for dead. Kurama’s ability to wait things out in order to achieve his goals is a defining trait that is frequently demonstrated throughout the series, even to the frustration of others. As cunning as he was, that certainly wasn’t going to be the last of him, and Yoko hid himself in the human world by merging with the embryo of a pregnant woman, intent on biding his time and patiently waiting to regain his strength.
He was then reborn, with his memories and intelligence intact, Shuichi Minamino.
Kurama is a forgiving and empathetic person, immeasurably loyal to anyone he forms strong bonds with. He cares about others and is capable of so much compassion and forgiveness that not only does he patch up a demon who attacked him unprovoked as a human pre-teen, he later tries to reason with another after their battle against each other. Refusing to kill him at the end of the fight, Kurama instead urges him to find a nobler purpose in his life and be a better person moving forward, the same as he’d wished to.
He is repeatedly shown going so far as to sacrifice his own life for those he cares about, first his human mother after she fell ill with some terminal sickness. Again, later, if it means winning the fight against Karasu for his team. Kurama’s loyalty and devotion may very well be his biggest weakness. It’s that dedication to his human mother that arms several demons throughout the series with the upper hand against him. Granted, these situations are generally short-lived as Kurama outsmarts his opponents or finds other ways out of whatever trap his family is put in, but it is still an option frequently enough exploited, nonetheless.
While his original plan had been to patiently wait, regain his strength in human world, and then leave once his spirit energy was restored (roughly ten years after his human body’s birth), things changed. His human father passed away, his mother raised him with such compassion and love - even harming herself to protect him, falling ill from what he believes was the strain of raising a child more cunning and intelligent than she could ever hope to be, and viewing her as inferior - he couldn’t help but find himself loving her back. Willing to sacrifice for her and wanting to make up for the harm that he’d caused by being her child. He seems to irrationally fear that he's no different than a species that eat their own mothers, having that guilt and those complicated feelings kept him by her side, rather than following through with his original plan.
Kurama is analytical, intelligent and adaptable. Despite being on a path to become a better person, he’s not unwilling to go back to certain old ways - with the purest of intentions - if it means accomplishing his goals. It turns out, the only reason he stole the artifact was to use the mirror’s powers to save his mother’s life, even with the knowledge that doing so would cost him his own in exchange, as payment. Kurama is willing to throw all of his work away, forfeiting his own future for her's.
A lot of what we know about Kurama is told to the audience through other characters in his life. Hiei admits that he chose to partner up with Kurama because he’d rather not risk being his enemy, instead. Throughout the series, he talks up Kurama’s strengths and abilities, painting him as a ruthless and cutthroat fighter. This isn’t demonstrated often in the series and one might almost think that a lot of this information is uninformed hype, until Kurama is shown to be pushed beyond his limits.
He’s strategic, hanging back in most of his fights and observing his opponents with that trademark patience before forming a plan to defeat them. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the wisest move as it can give his competition the upperhand, especially with his habit of underestimating those he’s up against. Kurama is extremely smart and skilled, he’s powerful and he knows it, Koenma even refers to him as the team's most intelligent fighter. This hubris can sometimes cost him, with near-death experiences and lost fights littering his proverbial resume. While he has been said to be the most powerful fighter on their team, he’s also the one that seems to push himself past the limits of his human body the most often. There are few fights he doesn’t come out of bloody and unconscious by the time he’s done.
Kurama is always shown to be handling his own problems, never leaning on the others, asking for help or mentioning whatever he is going through during the series. The only thing he willingly seems to share is happy news about his mother, at one point mentioning she would be getting married in the summer even when the timing was not the most appropriate to bring it up. After three back-to-back fights in which he ends up losing consciousness, when Yusuke checks in on him to see how he’s doing, Kurama only apologizes for not being more help and taking out the last guy he’d been hoping to fight. His only focus was on how he’d failed to make things easier for Yusuke and not his injuries or wellbeing. He often downplays how badly he’s hurt with dismissive quips and will change the subject, not against teasing if it will provide adequate distraction.
Kurama is two sides of a coin, he’s serious and smart. A quiet bookworm of a kid as Shuichi, a cunning and professional thief as Yoko. As Kurama, he’s both of these entities at once, an incredibly skilled and adaptable fighter, combining the physical strength and raw power of his demon energy with the emotional intelligence he’d learned in the human world. Yet, there’s another “side” to him, as well. Kurama is a kitsune after all, they’re notoriously playful creatures and Kurama is no exception. He’s a tease, and his favorite hobby seems to be tormenting his teammates with quick wit and a bit of dramatics. He’s fast to jump in when someone is giving another member of the team a hard time, but he also instigates his own light hearted banter, even when the jokes are truly dark in nature (like pretending Keiko and Botan had died as a prank, refusing to help Kuwabara out of a lava pit because being helped “went against Kuwabara’s code”.) He also torments Hiei mercilessly, in particular by implying he’s about to reveal a secret of his to the rest of the group.
On the other hand, when put into a position where the only way out of a situation required killing a child, Kurama not only figured out the answer, he stepped forward to act on it. He was able to deduce that the child was an unknowing pawn in a bigger scheme all on his own and used that information to manipulate the kid into losing against him. This wasn’t something that was done lightly, the human world needed to be saved and they were losing precious time to do it. Thus, Kurama did the only thing that would get them out, something he knew that his team wouldn’t have agreed to do if informed of his plan in advance.
After being released to move on to their next goal, Kurama internalizes his feelings about what just happened, despite radiating with clear and sharp anger over it. He basically brushes Yusuke off when the teen tries to comfort him for doing what ultimately had to be done.
The rage and emotional turmoil of committing to such an act fueled his next attack, and he’s able to use even that to his advantage. Shutting off his mind and relying on instinct alone to take out their next opponent. Just because Yoko had a questionable and checkered past, did not mean Kurama was okay being put into such a position, regardless of what Hiei seemed to think after it happened.
Despite all of this, Kurama is adaptable. He does bounce back, and returns to his chipper normal self before the series ends. While ultimately, he chooses to remain as Shuichi instead of returning to life as Yoko, he continues working with the Spirit World and helping out as needed. His final thoughts on the matter of who he is, and how he chooses to live his life is that he never lets go of anything entirely, and Yoko is still a part of him regardless of his choice to remain human going forward.
Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Team Rocket
Starter: Zorua, Vulpix
Password: Atomic Fireball
Samples Apologies in advance for the overkill.
Network Sample: with Kuwabara on the TDM.
Action Sample: Rocket Bootcamp with Duo on the TDM.
TDM Top-Level: Multple 5+ comment threads, and at least one with Botan is over 300 words.
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