Karasu

**Karasu** (鴉?) was a member of Team Toguro, during the events of the the Dark Tournament.

He is voiced by Ryo Horikawa in Japanese and by Kyle Hebert in the FUNimation English dub. In the Filipino Dub, his named is spelled as **Karaso**.

## Appearance

Karasu is a tall, slender demon male, with his ten-foot teammate Toguro dwarfing him by only a few inches. He resembles a young, Japanese adult male, having very long, straight, jet-black hair and violet eyes with pointy eyelids. Some of his hair bangs are messily arched above his head and on his face. Karasu is slightly flamboyant, as he wears a long, wavy black coat with a red inside, which appears as if it's flying while he is running or jumping, since the jacket mirrors a pair of bat wings. On the bottom half of his face lies a metallic mask, with a couple strands of tape to help keep the mask on, eight breathing holes and a pair of horizontal triangular lenses akin to tiny reading glasses. This mask allows him to speak normally, and plays a more essential part during his fights, since it restrains his demon energy to a minimum. Karasu also wears a pair of dress slacks and shoes which compliment his look making him appear almost "business-like" at times.

When the mask is removed, Karasu changes his hair color from jet black to hyper glow blond.

## Personality

Karasu is calm and collected, not getting rattled by his opponents. He is quiet and polite, as he does not speak often, but he does speak formally when addressing others. He noticeably dislikes opponents who are cowardly, instead preferring opponents who are brave enough to face him. He also seems to dislike opponents who are weaker than him, prefering to face opponents who possess either the same level of skill as him or are a bit stronger than him.

Karasu comes off as being very dark. When he had first met Kurama, he told him that Kurama is weak, but is fragile, as he views humans that way. He admits that Kurama makes him happy but then states that he enjoys being blue so whenever he encounters someone who makes him happy he has to kill them. Karasu claims to enjoy the relationship between victim and murderer, stating that before the murderer kills their victim the two share a level of intimacy which is too deep for words. He also views love as a sadomasochistic relationship, believing that lovers care deeply for each other and yet hurt each other whenever they are together.

When his mask is removed however, Karasu's true personality shines through. He laughs maniacally as he charges his attack to attack Kurama in his Yoko form. Younger Toguro states Karasu has no loyalties, so he'd be willing to kill his own teammates if they get caught in the crossfire. He is also noticeably ruder than before, mockingly telling Kurama to pray to his God and ask how he flawed with him.

In spite of his calm attitude, a trait shared with Bui, Karasu had a deep hatred for the Toguro Brothers, who had defeated him in a fight several years prior to the Dark Tournament. Upon defeating him, they made him into their slave and told him that he will belong to them until he becomes strong enough to defeat them in battle. Elder Toguro notes that Karasu joined Team Toguro in the hopes that after they win the tournament he can settle the score with the demonic brothers.

Karasu and Bui have a different relationship from the Toguro Brothers. Unlike the Toguro Brothers, who are very close, Karasu and Bui seem detatched from each other. Karasu and Bui respect each other but when Karasu died at Kurama's hands Bui was indifferent. It can be assumed that if Bui had died first Karasu would be indifferent as well.

## Techniques/Moves

* Like Kurama, Karasu uses his demon energy in order to manipulate objects. However, given the fact that he is a **Quest-class** (支配者級 [クエスト･クラス], *Shihaisha-kyū [Kuesuto Kurasu]*, translated as *Governor-rank*) demon, Karasu's powers can affect the intangible world. This means that he is able to literally create any object he desires purely out of his demon energy. After releasing his energy, Karasu can either create an item in thin air, or inside any form of matter, whether it be an inanimate object or the body of a living being. Depending on the strength and spiritual awareness of his adversary, Karasu's demon energy can be detected without him having to directly materialize it. Given his sadistic nature, Karasu prefers to create bombs by using his powers. These explosives include:

* **Explosive Touch:**This is Karasu's primary method of attack. Karasu creates small explosive bombs using his demon energy, strong enough to blow away body parts, but weak enough to prevent huge explosions. He first used this technique on Mideorenja where he blew both his arms off before destroying his whole body. This technique, though deadly, is more or less pointless as Karasu admitted he didn't need to touch his opponents to use his power, rather he called it "One of the perks." The bombs he places in his opponent can be suspended in the air and controlled at will, as seen during his fight with Kurama.

* **Deleterious Bomb**: Resembling three sticks of green, organic dynamite that are bound together, with a timer attached to it. The explosion that this technique caused was powerful enough to take out a chunk of the stadium housing both the final and semifinal rounds of the Dark Tournament. Never named in the original Japanese.

* **Trace-Eyes** (追跡爆弾 （トレースアイ）, *Tsuiseki Bakudan [Torēsu Ai]*, translated as *Pursuit Bombs*): Flying balls of explosives outfitted with traditional string fuses, bat wings, and a single orange eye. These act much like seeker missiles.

* **Grenade**: When facing Kurama's Ojigi Plant, he uses this to try to stop them, but the explosion proves ineffective. It looks like a regular Human World grenade, colored gray.

* **Demonic Grenade**: When facing Kurama's Ojigi Plant, he uses this to try to stop them, but this explosion also proves ineffective. Looks like a Human World grenade, but has a skull design on it and is colored green, instead of gray.

* **Mad Bomb** (地下爆弾（マッディボム）, *Chika Bakudan (Madi Bomu)*, translated as *Underground Bomb*): Acting much like a bear trap, it latches onto the leg of an opponent before exploding. This technique is also Karasu's only officially-classified technique.

* **Vanishing:** During his fights Karasu showed he could vanish from the sight of his adversaries and appear from above them. It's not clear he can do it due his speed because he disappeared slowly in the anime while performing this technique.

* After removing his mask, Karasu's hair can turn blond if he inhales the energy around him, and it's an external sign that he is reaching the peak of his power. Then his body itself can be used as an explosion, multiple times, until he returns to normal, depending on the amount of energy he uses.

* **Full Body Explosion**: After Karasu gets trapped in Kurama's Ojigi Plant he releases his energy all around in order to create a large explosion.

* **Flight**: Shown when he used his Full Body Explosion attack/technique.

## TMNT X Pokemon

Karasu is one of the many villains you'll face throughout the game. He's somewhat hard on the difficulty scale.

## Trivia

* **Karasu**is Japanese for crow, a black bird that is well known for being a *necrophagist* (corpse eater).
* Like most demons and demon orientated scenery, Karasu's bombs were visually inspired off of the surrealist, nightmarish art style of H. R. Giger.
* Yoshihiro Togashi's next manga series, Hunter X Hunter, features several characters who appear to be based off of Karasu:

1. **Feitan**, a member of the Phantom Troupe, physically resembles him the most as he has pointy eye lids with violet colored eyes and straight, jet-black hair, the same way Karasu does. He also wears a long coat, but with a tall collar that covers his mouth entirely, mimicking both Karasu's mask and his jacket. However, Feitan has neck-length hair, and stands at only 5 foot 1 inches tall.
2. **The Bomb Devils** are a trio of human beings who can place aura crafted bombs onto other living beings. Although none of them resembles Karasu physically, and their powers actually required them to touch people in order to place bombs, they shared many of Karasu's personality traits. They would immobilize their targets by blowing up various body parts and they would even take great pleasure when killing people.

* In the Japanese dub, Karasu had a tendency to use English words when speaking. When talking to Kurama for the first time he specifically says "treatment" and "cool".
* Due to Karasu's distracting intimate comments toward Kurama, many fans have been led to believe that he is in fact homosexual.
* It is interesting to note that without his mask he greatly resembles Alucard from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
* In the hit anime/manga series, Naruto Shippuden, an antagonist named Deidara bears a loose resemblance to Karasu.
	+ Both are users of explosives and are able to fight at a distance.
	+ They are very confident in their abilities and love to see their opponents explode.
	+ Both have blond hair (though this only when Karasu absorbs his own energy).
	+ Both can turn themselves and their energy into an explosive.
	+ They are both great strategist that sometimes play with their opponents.
	+ Both cover one of their sensory organs (Deidara with his eye, and Karasu with his mouth).
	+ Both only joined their group after being defeated by one of the members and train to kill the member that beat them (Itachi for Deidara and Toguro for Karasu). Both members were also silent but one of the most powerful members of the group.
	+ Both are skilled at fighting from a distance and close up.
	+ Both can form beings that can explode (Deidara from his clay and Karasu from his Youki).
	+ Both wanted to defeat a character named Kurama (Deidara wanted to capture the Kyūbi while Karasu wanted to kill Kurama) and they both failed.
	+ Both killed many beings and were feared for their skills.
	+ Both of them wore black and red.
* Also in the hit anime/manga series, Bleach, an antagonist named Äs Nödt bares a loose resemblance to Karasu.
	+ Ironically, many fans think of Äs Nödt (in his unreleased state) as a hybrid of both Karasu and Illumi Zoldyck from Hunter x Hunter.
	+ Both have very long, straight, jet-black hair.
	+ Both wear a metallic mask that covers bottom half of their face.
	+ Both are very confident in their abilities.
	+ Both are known to intimidate their opponents, mainly the main characters, in a similar fashion.
* Karasu bares some resemblance to Jackie Estacado, the protagonist from The Darkness comics and video games.
	+ Jackie has long black hair and wears a very similar style of mask over his mouth when in his armor.
	+ Interestingly, Jackie Estacado's powers are also 'demonic' in nature; the host of a demonic symbiotic entity known as "The Darkness", Jackie has incredible and seemingly limitless power and strength as long as he remains in the shadows.
* Karasu's fighting style and attire are similar to *Street Fighter* character Doctrine Dark, as both are homicidal maniacs who use explosives and wear breathing masks.
* In the blu-ray release of the English dub, a muffled effect was given to Karasu's voice during all scenes with his mask on whereas it was not present in the original version.
* The "Doctrine Dark" character from Street Fighter EX Series have resemblance with Karasu as the characters that wearing mask.

## References

* Karasu slightly bears physical resemblance to **Feitan** of Hunter x Hunter