Hiei's actions in his debut are rather simple to understand, he was meant to be a one off villain but was brought back and changed to be sustainable as a character
That the author didn't know Hiei would be coming back may be the real answer, but I think the fanon explanation is generally accepted to be that the demonic sword he stole was negatively influencing his actions. Yusuke pretty much saved Hiei's sanity by beating him up.
He’s the archetype for the chuunibyou character. The demon eye. The bandages. The sword. The dragon power that he can’t fully control. And yet instead of being tiring and boring he’s refreshing
The OOC moment in the earlier part of the series could be explains away as "he was never intended to be more than a one off". I am guessing they judged fan reception on this and decided to make him a permanent member after the fact. In order for this to occur he would need to make a large shift one one go.
'Even though he never did get his wish to kill the tournament committee' By the time he voiced it, Toguro had already killed them on Sakyo's order. Sakyo was the last member by the end, and he committed suicide.
I actually wouldnt mind getting followup part 2 videos for at least the final arc. I think Yusuke's perception of demons and kurama and hiei's relationships with their factions leader's would be interesting to talk about.
I wouldn't say hiei is the strongest fight, but rather the one who will push himself the farthest. He takes himself out of subsequent fights and causes himself more harm with the goal of efficiency, while Karama gets hurt by being kind and overly cautious and kuabara because he's dense/honorable. Hiei is always showing strength and will risk his own limbs and even his life to maintain it. To me it always just read as a tough front.
Honestly hiei is textbook chaotic. Even if the dark tournament only has general fights. By the end he really only makes choices he wants to make good or evil
The best way Hiei has been described is he is basically a feral cat. And it really feels like that at least as a Lancer because he only really respects Yusuke.
@@ramirezthesilvite I think Kuwabara becomes more of the big guy after the dark tournament cause he becomes less prominent due to power creep and focusing on his education
Missing out on the crucial character development and insight of Hiei during the Chapter Black and Three Kings arcs just makes this alignment video for this and the rest of the Yu Yu Hakusho characters incomplete.
If we try to fit team Urameshi into the 5 man band they would fit like this Leader: Yusuke, duh Lancer: Kuwabara. The Lancer is kind of a reflection of the Leader and is often a rival character. Kuwabara fits this pretty well Smart Guy: Kurama. You just have to watch ANY one of his fights to understand this one Big Guy: Hiei. The Big Guy's point is to be big, strong, and be able to take a punch. Hiei lacks that last quality, and so is a bit of an atypical Big Guy but put him in a straight up fight and my money would almost always be on Hiei to win. And that makes him the Big Guy in my books. The Heart (also known by the title "The Girl"): The Heart is the emotional center of the 5 man band, but traditionally was also the token girl of the group. At first this was loosely filled by Keiko and/or Botan. But by the Dark Tournament Ark Genkai slots into this role fairly well. If anyone wants to say Hiei is the Lancer and Kuwabara is the Big Guy... I won't argue. But I think they fill the above roles better.
Id LOVE to see 2 or 3 videos based on The Legacy of Kain franchise: "What alignment is Kain?", "What alignment is Raziel?" and "What alignment is Moebius?". The franchise is a story and character masterpiece (imo) and I would do anything for you to make them.
Don't know if you already did some episodes on it yet, but if we're talking demon exorcist shows, might I suggest Demon Slayer? Nezuko is a pretty interesting character to examine, considering that how oni (the demons from the show) are created in traditional Japanese mythology by doingn the unthinkable and unforgivable, forever tainting them, Nezuko remains one of the most human characters in the show by never fully giving in to her demon instincts. She never goes full oni.
I agree that Hiei is a cool character. When I saw Yu Yu Hakusho for the first time I kind of latched onto Hiei because of his personality. He just seemed like a better Vegeta to me. He actually won fights and seemed like he could be on par with Yusuke. If you want to understand Hiei's actions in the beginning of the series, from what I understand Hiei was going to be a starter villain for Yusuke and wasn't going to be coming back. He ended up being really popular though and this is what caused him to become one of the main characters as a result. Honestly I think that the Young Toguro would be really interesting to do a video on because of what he did. I think that Genkai would be cool too because she is the master character to Yusuke. For anyone who for some reason hasn't seen this anime, please go watch it. It's really good and worth the watch. This was a great video so please keep up the amazing work.
I'd argue he should get the odd evil tick for some of the murderous indulgence he display's during his fights in the tournament, but still overall a great video.
Hiei's action with The Shadow Sword, while definitely Chaotic Evil, isn't completely outside of his character and honor code. Simply put, he wanted to fight and defeat Yuskei. And in order to guarantee he stayed and fought Hiei not only took a hostage but also set up a "Fail Condition" that required Yusuke to defeat him to prevent it. Which, after he is defeated, Hiei reversed whatever affliction was put on Keiko just as he said he would. Which, in my opinion, would warrant an additional Lawful Evil ding for sticking to his agreement.
Beginning: Hiei is a very obvious and simple villain of the week for Yusuke and hates humans. Dark Tournament: Still dark and brooding, but also actually cool and likes his "comrades" despite still hating humans. Also gets one of the coolest attacks ever. Later after DT in the Shisui arc: Reaches his best when he finally admits he does have "friends" he cares about when *SPOILER* Yusuke dies from an attack he lets hit him that proves fatal, leading to the entire gang exploding in anger and power against the villain as Hiei powers up his strongest ever attack and screams the most emotion I have ever heard from him that cracks my soul: "DRAGON OF THE DARKNESS FLAAAAAAAAAAAAME!!! HERE'S A ONE-WAY TICKET STRAIGHT TO HELL YOU BASTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Now for Hiei first appearance. I do agree it does seem out of character for him to do what he did. However if we take a look at the 4 Kings Arc that happened after Sensui and where we get a lot more of Hiei's backstory I think it makes a lot of sense. Since the Hiei we meet there is fresh from the demon world, we learn that the upper echelon of Spirit World is actually rather corrupt when it comes to dealing with demons. Preferring eradication rather then rehabilitation. The fact he was offered his life at all must have come as a shock to him in exchange for fighting the Saint Beasts and doing more chores for Spirit World. Kuruma himself says that Hiei has shown cruelty on par to what Seiryu did, but what he did angered Hiei. Hiei has his own sense of justice, a code even if his demon tendencies. One of those is clearly the fact that anyone he deems worthy to team up with he will be there ally. He doesn't believe in backstabbing people, or abandoning them. He does have honor that's true, but nothing about how he fights or acts I think contradicts the idea that he would lie to an enemy to hold an advantage over them. Especially in his more blood thirsty moments. Which is where I would argue where he was at the time of that encounter. During the 4 Kings Arc during his trail with his future Bae he did talk about how he was losing himself to being a blood thirsty creature again. However that is just my theory on it. The most true thing is that Togashi hadn't figured him out 100% of the way.
I'd also like to add that I believe I once heard that hiei was supposed to be a one off antagonist which is why we don't see him use his full demon form after his first appearance
Love all your breakdowns. Question! I know you've done the 95 Mortal Kombat movie, any interest in doing the 90's live action Street Fighter? I'd love to see you breakdown Raul Julia's version of M Bison
Honestly one of my favorite genres of anime (shonen or otherwise). Dealing with demons, spirits, etc If you're open to other demon/exorcist type ones, I think Malevolent Spirits Mononogatari and Ghost Hunt might be solid choices
What Alignment is Dinobot from Beast Wars Kain and Raziel from The Legacy of Kain series (maybe collab with Strictly Fantasy?) Silver from Treasure Planet The Party in The Black Cauldron
I another case for hiei being evil at the start. Now I be remembering this wrong but hiei would wear his mother jewel a super valuable gem and use that as bait to instigate fights. Hiei pretty put on Facebook he won the lotto and waited at his house with a shotgun to kill the intruders. I am all for self-defense but there is point where you clearly trying to start shit to get away with murder.
Why are all of these stopping at the Dark Tournament? Every character has a ton of growth after the tournament. This really does everybody a disservice. Edit: very happy that so many people are commenting on this. The crew will see this for sure.
SEVERELY DISSAPOINTED you didnt mention any of Hieis moments in the manga where he woos the shit out of murkuro. his "Happy birthday" pannel is fucking perfect.
This is probably one of the more egregious examples of how the points system used by this channel and the research on the characters is just plain terrible. Hiei is chaotic evil. He's one of the best examples of chaotic evil in anime. Saying he isn't evil or chaotic because he has the brains to work with powerful allies who have proven their strength to him is like saying the Joker isn't chaotic evil because he's never outright killed Batman. Hiei works with the other characters because he recognizes their strength and knows their value. Plus, all the women that tag along with them are good company for his sister, whom he wants to keep at a distance from him to protect her. Those facts show his cognitive functionality but don't disprove his chaotic evil alignment. Look up the lore fluff behind dragon of the darkness flame. That attack summons the fires of the abyss to utterly destroy the target and suck their soul into the deepest darkest pit in hell. In some translations, it simply destroys the souls of his enemies. This is his main go-to attack by the mid point of the series. This soul destroying move is the only move he uses in the last two arcs of the series. He doesn't do anything else. Chuds love to debate whether or not creating undead is an evil act in and of itself. Even the most clueless moral relativist can admit destroying souls or sending them to the depths of hell counts is an objectively evil act. Labeling any use of Dragon of the Darkness Flame as "neutral" automatically invalidates your analysis of alignments and requires you to hand in your D&D Alignment Chart Memes license.
![Character Conversions - Hiei [Yu Yu Hakusho]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/j6pElPdfreM/mqdefault.jpg)
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Abridged
Hiei's actions in his debut are rather simple to understand, he was meant to be a one off villain but was brought back and changed to be sustainable as a character
That the author didn't know Hiei would be coming back may be the real answer, but I think the fanon explanation is generally accepted to be that the demonic sword he stole was negatively influencing his actions. Yusuke pretty much saved Hiei's sanity by beating him up.
Another thing that might be a possible explanation is that Hiei is one of the demons King Yama brainwashed.
He’s the archetype for the chuunibyou character. The demon eye. The bandages. The sword. The dragon power that he can’t fully control. And yet instead of being tiring and boring he’s refreshing
Honestly disappointed this didn't go through the rest of the show. Hiei's character develops a lot more as the series progresses.
The myth, the demon, the legendary black dragon Hiei! God, I love all 4 main characters of Yu Yu Hakusho. Such a fantastic anime
I concur
The OOC moment in the earlier part of the series could be explains away as "he was never intended to be more than a one off". I am guessing they judged fan reception on this and decided to make him a permanent member after the fact. In order for this to occur he would need to make a large shift one one go.
'Even though he never did get his wish to kill the tournament committee'
By the time he voiced it, Toguro had already killed them on Sakyo's order. Sakyo was the last member by the end, and he committed suicide.
I actually wouldnt mind getting followup part 2 videos for at least the final arc. I think Yusuke's perception of demons and kurama and hiei's relationships with their factions leader's would be interesting to talk about.
I wouldn't say hiei is the strongest fight, but rather the one who will push himself the farthest. He takes himself out of subsequent fights and causes himself more harm with the goal of efficiency, while Karama gets hurt by being kind and overly cautious and kuabara because he's dense/honorable. Hiei is always showing strength and will risk his own limbs and even his life to maintain it. To me it always just read as a tough front.
Honestly hiei is textbook chaotic. Even if the dark tournament only has general fights. By the end he really only makes choices he wants to make good or evil
I really hope you do the rest of the series for the demon trio of YYH.
There is SO much development in the last 2 arcs for those 3 characters. 😊
Yeah, man gets even better character arks
The best way Hiei has been described is he is basically a feral cat. And it really feels like that at least as a Lancer because he only really respects Yusuke.
Kuwabara's the Lancer, Hiei's the Big Guy.
@@ramirezthesilvite I think Kuwabara becomes more of the big guy after the dark tournament cause he becomes less prominent due to power creep and focusing on his education
Missing out on the crucial character development and insight of Hiei during the Chapter Black and Three Kings arcs just makes this alignment video for this and the rest of the Yu Yu Hakusho characters incomplete.
If we try to fit team Urameshi into the 5 man band they would fit like this
Leader: Yusuke, duh
Lancer: Kuwabara. The Lancer is kind of a reflection of the Leader and is often a rival character. Kuwabara fits this pretty well
Smart Guy: Kurama. You just have to watch ANY one of his fights to understand this one
Big Guy: Hiei. The Big Guy's point is to be big, strong, and be able to take a punch. Hiei lacks that last quality, and so is a bit of an atypical Big Guy but put him in a straight up fight and my money would almost always be on Hiei to win. And that makes him the Big Guy in my books.
The Heart (also known by the title "The Girl"): The Heart is the emotional center of the 5 man band, but traditionally was also the token girl of the group. At first this was loosely filled by Keiko and/or Botan. But by the Dark Tournament Ark Genkai slots into this role fairly well.
If anyone wants to say Hiei is the Lancer and Kuwabara is the Big Guy... I won't argue. But I think they fill the above roles better.
Really disappointed there isn’t chapter black and 3 kings because there’s a lot more character stuff there
I know your only going up to the toguro arc but i think both hiei and kurama get a lot of development during the last season and should be noted
Seriously. I don't get it
i would love videos on Sensui and Toguro!
12:12 oh Stuart, you sweet summer child. Thinking you were going to do daily livestreams this month.
To use a Baseball analogy: Yuusuke might be the team captain, but Hiei bats cleanup.
Id LOVE to see 2 or 3 videos based on The Legacy of Kain franchise: "What alignment is Kain?", "What alignment is Raziel?" and "What alignment is Moebius?". The franchise is a story and character masterpiece (imo) and I would do anything for you to make them.
Hmm, I wonder - would you be keen on making the alignment videos on the "Shaman King" characters?
Heie is also a great example of an edgy character, that does not insist they are Chaotic-neutral/evil.
It's honestly a shame they didn't go through the Three Kings arcs. Hiei, Kurama, and Yusuke reach the end of their character arc beautifully
Wait wasn't there a whole other arc in the demon world where they had to fight the literal demon lords? Why wasn't that covered?
Don't know if you already did some episodes on it yet, but if we're talking demon exorcist shows, might I suggest Demon Slayer? Nezuko is a pretty interesting character to examine, considering that how oni (the demons from the show) are created in traditional Japanese mythology by doingn the unthinkable and unforgivable, forever tainting them, Nezuko remains one of the most human characters in the show by never fully giving in to her demon instincts. She never goes full oni.
Hahaha Virgil 0.8, not bad of a analogy Stuart, also the true Neutral 😅
I know you’re only doing the main 4, but I’d love a video of the Toguro brothers.
Lol, and right after I unpause from leaving this comment!
That would be interesting. Older is definitely chaotic evil for sure.
I think there's little enough on Elder you may be able to fit both in one video, though Younger obviously outshines Elder.
i'd be down!
I was drinking my coffee earlier when this got privated/removed and it was hilarious because I heard an alignment ding and then it was silent.
Loving this dive onto Yuyu Hakusho cant wait for Yusuke
Hiei will always be my all time favorite character from the show.
I agree that Hiei is a cool character. When I saw Yu Yu Hakusho for the first time I kind of latched onto Hiei because of his personality. He just seemed like a better Vegeta to me. He actually won fights and seemed like he could be on par with Yusuke. If you want to understand Hiei's actions in the beginning of the series, from what I understand Hiei was going to be a starter villain for Yusuke and wasn't going to be coming back. He ended up being really popular though and this is what caused him to become one of the main characters as a result. Honestly I think that the Young Toguro would be really interesting to do a video on because of what he did. I think that Genkai would be cool too because she is the master character to Yusuke. For anyone who for some reason hasn't seen this anime, please go watch it. It's really good and worth the watch. This was a great video so please keep up the amazing work.
this one would be a tough ask but, Adventure Time: Finn, Jake, Princess Bubblegum, Marceline
I'd argue he should get the odd evil tick for some of the murderous indulgence he display's during his fights in the tournament, but still overall a great video.
as for the beginning of this episode, DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF HORNY BARDS!
Since you asked for Demon suggestions:
Crowley from good omens (and Aziraphale of course)
Hiei's action with The Shadow Sword, while definitely Chaotic Evil, isn't completely outside of his character and honor code. Simply put, he wanted to fight and defeat Yuskei. And in order to guarantee he stayed and fought Hiei not only took a hostage but also set up a "Fail Condition" that required Yusuke to defeat him to prevent it. Which, after he is defeated, Hiei reversed whatever affliction was put on Keiko just as he said he would. Which, in my opinion, would warrant an additional Lawful Evil ding for sticking to his agreement.
Technically Karama and yuskue simply took the formula from the swords hilt while heie was unconscious
Beginning: Hiei is a very obvious and simple villain of the week for Yusuke and hates humans.
Dark Tournament: Still dark and brooding, but also actually cool and likes his "comrades" despite still hating humans. Also gets one of the coolest attacks ever.
Later after DT in the Shisui arc: Reaches his best when he finally admits he does have "friends" he cares about when *SPOILER* Yusuke dies from an attack he lets hit him that proves fatal, leading to the entire gang exploding in anger and power against the villain as Hiei powers up his strongest ever attack and screams the most emotion I have ever heard from him that cracks my soul: "DRAGON OF THE DARKNESS FLAAAAAAAAAAAAME!!! HERE'S A ONE-WAY TICKET STRAIGHT TO HELL YOU BASTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Now for Hiei first appearance. I do agree it does seem out of character for him to do what he did.
However if we take a look at the 4 Kings Arc that happened after Sensui and where we get a lot more of Hiei's backstory I think it makes a lot of sense.
Since the Hiei we meet there is fresh from the demon world, we learn that the upper echelon of Spirit World is actually rather corrupt when it comes to dealing with demons. Preferring eradication rather then rehabilitation. The fact he was offered his life at all must have come as a shock to him in exchange for fighting the Saint Beasts and doing more chores for Spirit World.
Kuruma himself says that Hiei has shown cruelty on par to what Seiryu did, but what he did angered Hiei.
Hiei has his own sense of justice, a code even if his demon tendencies. One of those is clearly the fact that anyone he deems worthy to team up with he will be there ally. He doesn't believe in backstabbing people, or abandoning them.
He does have honor that's true, but nothing about how he fights or acts I think contradicts the idea that he would lie to an enemy to hold an advantage over them. Especially in his more blood thirsty moments. Which is where I would argue where he was at the time of that encounter.
During the 4 Kings Arc during his trail with his future Bae he did talk about how he was losing himself to being a blood thirsty creature again.
However that is just my theory on it. The most true thing is that Togashi hadn't figured him out 100% of the way.
I'd also like to add that I believe I once heard that hiei was supposed to be a one off antagonist which is why we don't see him use his full demon form after his first appearance
Loving the series dive. Yuyu Hakusho is one of my favorites. After the Slayers lol
Love all your breakdowns.
Question!
I know you've done the 95 Mortal Kombat movie, any interest in doing the 90's live action Street Fighter? I'd love to see you breakdown Raul Julia's version of M Bison
Honestly one of my favorite genres of anime (shonen or otherwise). Dealing with demons, spirits, etc
If you're open to other demon/exorcist type ones, I think Malevolent Spirits Mononogatari and Ghost Hunt might be solid choices
Just wanted to say, as a fan of the dub, I appreciated the 4 saint beats reference in the written script.
A good video, looking forward to the second halves.
What Alignment is
Dinobot from Beast Wars
Kain and Raziel from The Legacy of Kain series (maybe collab with Strictly Fantasy?)
Silver from Treasure Planet
The Party in The Black Cauldron
Someday it would be interesting if you did the other arcs of this show to see if they change alignment
Let’s get one for Sensui & Toguro
been waiting for this one
What Alignment is Ainz Ooal Gown and the floor Guardians from Overlord?
Mfer said "various crime" 💀💀💀
I wouldn't say Hiei starts at Neutral Evil, but rather Lawful Evil, with inclinations towards Lawful Neutral
So he never gets Worfed essentially.
I another case for hiei being evil at the start. Now I be remembering this wrong but hiei would wear his mother jewel a super valuable gem and use that as bait to instigate fights. Hiei pretty put on Facebook he won the lotto and waited at his house with a shotgun to kill the intruders. I am all for self-defense but there is point where you clearly trying to start shit to get away with murder.
I find i odd. Noone talks about yu yu after the datk tournament
Why aren't you covering the Three Kings Ark for Yu Yu Hakusho?
dark tournament is the end of the show :P
@@TheLoadingCrew oof how bad is the 3 Kings ark?
it's alright. few good moments. but it's kinda dumb
Hiei is Chaotic Potato.
You know I'm right.
Why are all of these stopping at the Dark Tournament? Every character has a ton of growth after the tournament. This really does everybody a disservice.
Edit: very happy that so many people are commenting on this. The crew will see this for sure.
A video on Violet Evergarden please! I beg of you!
SEVERELY DISSAPOINTED you didnt mention any of Hieis moments in the manga where he woos the shit out of murkuro. his "Happy birthday" pannel is fucking perfect.
Great vid
00:58 D-did he say “Yu-sook”? 😭
kek
Where's yusukes?
first minute of the video mate
@@TheLoadingCrewyou say you've already covered him, but you haven't yet. His still needs to be released. (Quick edit, didn't see that message)
0:52
first minute of the video
Please do deku
*Insert incessant comment asking for Sasuke Uchiha (Naruto) here.*
hahahah! that's fine
This is probably one of the more egregious examples of how the points system used by this channel and the research on the characters is just plain terrible.
Hiei is chaotic evil. He's one of the best examples of chaotic evil in anime.
Saying he isn't evil or chaotic because he has the brains to work with powerful allies who have proven their strength to him is like saying the Joker isn't chaotic evil because he's never outright killed Batman.
Hiei works with the other characters because he recognizes their strength and knows their value. Plus, all the women that tag along with them are good company for his sister, whom he wants to keep at a distance from him to protect her. Those facts show his cognitive functionality but don't disprove his chaotic evil alignment.
Look up the lore fluff behind dragon of the darkness flame. That attack summons the fires of the abyss to utterly destroy the target and suck their soul into the deepest darkest pit in hell. In some translations, it simply destroys the souls of his enemies. This is his main go-to attack by the mid point of the series. This soul destroying move is the only move he uses in the last two arcs of the series. He doesn't do anything else.
Chuds love to debate whether or not creating undead is an evil act in and of itself. Even the most clueless moral relativist can admit destroying souls or sending them to the depths of hell counts is an objectively evil act.
Labeling any use of Dragon of the Darkness Flame as "neutral" automatically invalidates your analysis of alignments and requires you to hand in your D&D Alignment Chart Memes license.
The cast of hinomaru sumo 😁