Hiei

**Hiei** is one of the main protagonists of the *Yu Yu Hakusho* series. He fought Meta Knight from Kirby in the bonus of Mini Rumble Season 2: Double Pack.

## Description

Hiei is known as "Imiko" ("cursed child") because he is a male fire demon born to a "kōrime" ("ice maiden"), an all-female race. He was born male because his mother "interacted" with a male fire demon outside her isolationist Kōrime community, which led to him being cast out as an infant and thrown over the mountain in which he was born. After surviving his fall down to the surface of Makai, he was found and raised by a gang of bandits, but it didn't last long. After realizing the value of the Tear Stone shed by his mother at his birth, he wore the Stone in full view of everyone, hoping to attract enemies to kill. At the young age of five, prior to his acquisition of the Jagan Eye, Hiei achieved A-Class yo-kai status (according to Mukuro). As he grew older, he killed mostly for fun, causing those that survived to greatly fear and reject him. After he was rejected, he continued to wear his stone in full view, yet gathered an attachment to it, as it gave him a sense of calmness and kinship. Nonetheless, he lost it when he fought a demon, and he vowed to thenceforth search for it.

## Trivia

* The name "Jagan" or evil eye is used by other characters such as Ban Mido from Get Backers and by Alucard from Hellsing.
* Hiei is a popular character among fans of the series. He was ranked as the first, then second, then third most popular male anime character in the *Animage* Anime Grand Prix for the consecutive years of 1993, 1994, and 1995.
	+ The Japanese publication *Newtype* ranked him as the fifth best male anime character of the 1990s.
	+ Hiei was voted 1st in a manga of Yu Yu Hakusho in volume 12 by 20,764 votes from fans.
* Of the five members of his team Hiei was the only one to remain undefeated in the entire dark tournament. (Genkai lost a fight to Toguro before the finals and though it wasn't official still counts as a loss)
* In almost every battle he has participated in, Hiei has lost his shirt either by his own choice or it being destroyed by his opponents. The only times this didn't happen were during his battles with Makintaro, Kuromomtaro, Bui and Sensui.
* Hiei likely never uses his Jaganshi form again because it was simply a crutch to compensate for the loss of power when he had his Jagan was implanted.
	+ As noted by Koenma, Hiei was upper D Class during the Articfacts Arc, but was in Middle B Class after the Dark Tournament.
* Hiei makes three cameo appearances in Yoshihiro Togashi's second hit manga **Hunter X Hunter*:***
	+ In Volume 8, Chapter 69, as an action figure alongside Kurama and Yusuke, in Milluki Zoldyck's room.
	+ In Volume 9, Chapter 80, as a spectator to Gon Freecss's arm wrestling challenge in York Shin city.
	+ In Volume 10, Chapter 85, as a plush toy put on a flea market auction.
* Chuck Huber, the FUNimation's English voice actor for Hiei, once participated in Lanipator's Yu Yu Hakusho Abridged Movie as Raigo the god of Evil. When asked by a fan at an anime convention about his experience, he said it "was a little fun thing to do".
* Hiei is the only character of the main 4 to never resort to using his life energy in a match.
* Hiei was only meant to be a starter villain but he was so popular that he became a main character.
* Mari Kitayama, a lead character designer for the anime adaptation, considers Hiei to be her favorite to design.
* In the video games, he uses a sword technique called "18 Slash Jagan", which seems to be based on the number of times Hiei slashed Seiryu (though it technically should be "16 Slash"). In media such as the recent *J-Stars Victory Vs*, it is also known as **Kōsoku Giri** (高速斬り, literally translated as *High Speed Cutter*).
* In the Korean dub, he was named "Bi-Yung" (비영), which is the Korean hanja equivalent of his Japanese name. In the Korean subs and Korean manga translation, he is still called Hiei (히에이). He was voiced by Hong Bum-Gi (the voice of Kon from Bleach, Rock Lee from Naruto, and Ling Yao from Fullmetal Alchemist), who gave him a much more high pitched, snide-sounding voice.
* Hiei is referenced in the 43rd episode English dub of Crayon Shin Chan (which was also done by Funimation), where Hiro (who is also voiced by Chuck Huber), yells "Sword of the Darkness Flame!" while carrying a normal bamboo sword.
* In the one-shot pilot of Sket Dance, Switch invented an eavesdropping device called Tobikage that resembles a Draco, or a flying lizard. The kanji used for 'Tobikage' is the same as Hiei's name (Draco in Japanese is Tobitokage).
* Yukina's age is speculated to be somewhere between 16 and 99 years old, EoS. This is because the race that he belongs to reaches puberty at 100 years, and Yukina has not reached that point yet. Because Hiei is Yukina's twin, he is somewhere between that age range as well.
* Hiei's personality bears a similar resemblance to Setsuna F. Seiei from Gundam 00. They're both very calm and quiet when it comes to battle.
* Hiei's name in Indonesian manga is changed to "Philip".
* Hiei is also the name of a cruiser and a battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
* Hiei is the name of a mountain in northeast of Kyoto, right beside the Kurama mountain. Mt. Hiei was also shown in the anime Rurouni Kenshin.
* He is representative of some *Dragon Ball* characters. His FUNimation voice actor, Chuck Huber, voices Android 17, making the two sound very similar and both have twin sisters (though unlike Android 18, Yukina is unaware of who her brother is). Also, he shares similar looks and personalities with Vegeta. Finally, he has a third eye, just like Tenshinhan.
	+ Interestingly, Togashi himself has noted the resemblance to Vegeta, as noticed by fans. In *Yoshirin de pon! (*an (in)famous YYH doujin Togashi made and gave out for free at the 1994 Summer Comiket), he draws Vegeta and another *Dragon Ball* character, Dabura, in the final pages, noting Hiei's similarities to Vegeta (this is because *Dragon Ball* was in its Buu arc at the time). However, he humorously reveals at the end that he didn't base Hiei of Vegeta but a character named Scunky instead. Although, in the Spirit Detective Saga, Yusuke's rebounded victory Spirit Gun resembled the Spirit Bomb as it hit Vegeta from being rebounded, and both were in search of items. Scunky is a character from Maya Mineo's shojo manga *Patalliro!* .
* Hiei has fought against many demons who are large sized, such as Seiryu, Makintaro, Kuro Momotaro and Bui.
* Hiei has several songs on the Yu Yu Hakusho soundtrack.
	+ By himself: "Kuchibue ga Kikoeru", "Manazashi no Aria", "Ryuusei no Solitude", and "Tasogare ni Se o Mukete".
	+ With Kurama: "WILD WIND ~Yasei no Kaze no You ni~".
	+ With Youko: "Dark Side Stories".
	+ With Yusuke Urameshi, Kurama, and Kazuma Kuwabara: "Bokutachi no Kisetsu", "Yasashisa wa Nemuranai", "Mienai Mirai E", and "Hikari no Naka de".
	+ With Kurama and Kuwabara: "EYE TO EYE".
* Hiei's Yoki is Yellow/Gold in colour.
* Hiei's height is 4'10" without hair according to Juri in episode 57 before Hiei was battling Bui.
* Hiei seems to lack the ability to create Hiruiseki Stones, as seen in Episode 24 when he sheds a single tear thinking about Yukina and it stays liquid in his hand.