Botan (ぼたん?) is a guide to the Spirit World and close friend to Yusuke Urameshi. She is a spirit charged with ferrying souls of the deceased to the Spirit World to face their final judgment. As opposed to the idea of there only being a single one, she is one of many grim reapers.
Appearance[]
Although she is a Grim Reaper, she looks nothing like what people usually imagine. Botan has long cyan (light-blue) hair pulled up into a ponytail and light purple eyes (blue in the manga). In the manga tankōbon covers, she has blonde hair and green eyes. Her physical appearance generally doesn't change, but at the end of the series her ponytail and bangs have grown a bit longer. She is usually clad in a light-pink kimono with a white obi sash when on duty, but she has also been known to wear human clothes. When she's masquerading as the Urameshi team's trainer during the Dark tournament, she dresses formally with a long-sleeve yellow shirt with an orange-yellow camisole underneath, brown slacks, and matching shoes. Early in the series, she disguises herself in the uniform for Sarayashiki Junior High girls, a blue blouse with a yellow scarf with a blue skirt, usually with white socks or knee socks and dark-colored dress shoes.
Her live-action appearance depicts her long cyan hair with a full fringe styled in a hime-cut and instead of a ponytail, she has a long topknot hairstyle. Her footwear now consists of white open-toed boots rather than tabi with sandals.
Personality[]
Botan is genuinely helpful and well-meaning, while also somewhat clumsy and short-sighted. She's also bubbly and has a cheery demeanor, while cautiously optimistic, but can also be a bit of a scaredy-cat. She sometimes tends to be a motormouth. She used to view Yusuke as an interesting subject to study until she develops a bond with him, and becomes a valuable ally and close friend. Later, as Yusuke teamed up with Kuwabara, Hiei, and Kurama, Botan helps the whole team as well.
Synopsis[]
Spirit Detective Saga[]
She is the one assigned to guide Yusuke in his test so his soul can come back again to his body, thereby resurrecting him. At first, she is somewhat skeptical of Yusuke but finally came to realize that Yusuke really has a good heart. When Keiko grew worried when her mother fell ill and decided to stay with her the whole night and thereby jeopardized the last requirement Yusuke needs to be revived, Botan possessed Keiko's mother's body and tells her that Yusuke needs her more at the moment. This prompted Keiko to rush back to Yusuke's house to kiss his body just in time.
After Yusuke's revival, Yusuke is surprised to notice a demon inhabiting the body of a street punk he just beat. Botan shows up and tells Yusuke that his experience with death and with his special ability, he is able to see them. Yusuke is now thus chosen as a Spirit Detective of the Spirit World. She acts as Yusuke's assistant and trainer as he starts out his tenure as underworld detective. She takes a form of a human being in order to do this. She is one who usually gives Yusuke his missions as a Spirit Detective. She teaches him how to use various detective tools, communicates messages from Koenma, and often guides him to different destinations pertaining to his cases. She gave him the Psychic Spyglass, the Demon Compass, the Concentration Ring, and the Communication Mirror.
When Keiko was slashed by Hiei with the Shadow Sword in order to turn her to a demon, Botan suppressed Keiko's demonification process for a while. Keiko was ultimately saved when Yusuke defeated Hiei and administering to her the antidote stored in the hilt of the Shadow Sword.
She accompanies to give moral support for Yusuke and Kuwabara during the match-up at Genkai 's Tournament. Kuwabara at first was infatuated with Botan but this was replaced when he saw Yukina in a later mission.
Botan is the one to brief Yusuke regarding the Makai insects which can infect human beings, thereby producing insect-possessed humans. To eliminate them, Yusuke must destroy the Makai Whistle controlled by the Four Saint Beasts and leads Yusuke and Kuwabara to a hidden portal to the Maze Castle. Botan remained in the Human World meanwhile to destroy some Makai insects by the use of a repellant made in the Spirit World and by knocking down some already infected human beings. They used the Communication Mirror with Yusuke so they could still talk with one another even though they are apart.
Botan then protects Keiko from the insect-possessed humans and with her tries to escape from the pursuers. At first, Keiko is jealous towards Botan for she has seen her several times with Yusuke, but Botan clarifies to Keiko that Yusuke is all hers and that their relationship with Yusuke is not romantic. Botan was later injured by one of the insect-possessed humans and fell unconscious in the arms of Keiko. They were ultimately cornered by the humans possessed by Makai Insects of Suzaku, but they were saved when Yusuke finally defeats Suzaku and destroys the Makai whistle. Later, she regained consciousness and tricked Yusuke into believing that she and Keiko were killed by the insect-possessed humans.
Botan is again present when Yusuke, along with Kuwabara, are briefed by Koenma in a video tape referring them to their next mission of saving Yukina from Tarukane. She joins Yusuke and Kuwabara in saving Yukina from the Apparition Gang and their elite Triad. In the manga, however, Botan only briefed Yusuke and Kuwabara regarding the mission; she did not accompany them in the mission itself.
Dark Tournament Saga[]
At first, Botan tried to hide the fact that Yusuke is a Spirit Detective from Keiko and says to her that Yusuke is an apprentice trying to become a normal detective. But when Yusuke and Kuwabara were gone for long due to their participation in the Dark Tournament, she finally tells the truth to Keiko and Shizuru and brings them along to the tournament for them to be able to see Yusuke and Kuwabara. In the manga, Botan is not confronted by Keiko and Shizuru and she also brought Yusuke's mother Atsuko Urameshi to the tournament as well.
She acts as the team coach in the Dark Tournament. She is the grim reaper to ferry Genkai's soul when she died in the hands of Toguro and is very sad for the incident.
Chapter Black Saga[]
In the beginning of the Chapter Black Saga, Botan is assigned to explain to Yusuke the new threat the world faces and this time not by demons but by humans. Before she was fully able to explain to Yusuke this new threat, Yusuke was kidnapped by Kido, Yanagisawa, and Kaito. She then teamed up with Kuwabara and Kurama to rescue Yusuke. She assisted Kuwabara and Kurama first in trying to track Hiei. When Hiei later appears, she struck a deal with Hiei to limit his probation by the Spirit World, to which Hiei agrees. Her soul was captured from her body when she accidentally said the taboo word ("hot") inside Kaito's territory, but her, Hiei's, and Kuwabara's souls were saved by when Kurama defeated Kaito in forcing him to say a taboo word. She joined Kurama, Kuwabara, and Hiei again after they defeated Kaito until they rescued Yusuke, only to find out that the kidnapping was masterminded by Genkai to test them.
Botan is present in the meetings of Yusuke and the team. She saves an injured and recovering Seaman (saved by Kuwabara after he is hit by the Dimension Sword) from a falling bookshelf when they were attacked by Sniper, which increases Seaman's trust for humans to do good. She fell unconscious due to the injury but was healed by Genkai.
Later, Botan is given the grim task by Koenma to report to his father, King Enma, if a grave situation happens to him when he faces Sensui in trying to trap him in a barrier. When Botan returned to the Human World after reporting to Great King Enma, she saw Keiko and Shizuru and said that Yusuke is still alive after hearing from them that Pu evolved. When Yusuke and the team emerged from the cave after defeating Sensui, Botan is one of the people present waiting for their return.
Three Kings Saga[]
In this saga, Botan accompanies Koenma in watching the Demon World Tournament which will determine who will reign as the supreme leader of the Demon World. They're both intringued in what Yusuke had in his mind in order to organize this tournament to which they finally agreed that "he wasn't thinking at all." Later on, after the Tournament finished and Enki was proclaimed as victor, both say goodbye to Yusuke, who remained some more time.
Epilogue / All or Nothing[]
Yusuke's last case in both the manga (chapter 174 — second to the last chapter of the manga) and this OVA is similar. Here, Shunjun appeared before Yusuke. He told the news to the young Spirit Detective that the Gate of Judgement has been seized and he has to save Koenma, Botan and a hundred other spirits when a radical Spirit World religious sect took over the Gates of Judgment in the Spirit World to "purify" the Human World. So, Yusuke called Demon World ruler Enki and requested him to gather his old friends. As Team Urameshi was gathered, they left their bodies and went into the Spirit World.
Yusuke and his team infiltrate the Gates of Judgment and manage to defeat the terrorists. Yusuke needed to press the correct colored button in order to stop the cannon that was aimed at the Human World, but the terrorist leader just said they were three colored buttons which marked three options. Yusuke then told everyone to evacuate. Botan helped to transport some of the ogres and left with the rest of people. However, Yusuke, Koenma, and Pu (being possessed by Genkai) are seen remaining secretly at the Gates while he deliberated. Yusuke's decision which button to push was revealed next chapter.
Anime ending version
In the end, Yusuke ended up pushing the blue button, which ended up being the correct one. As a result, Yusuke ended up successfully completing the mission and both Spirit World and Human World were safe and sound once more.
Yusuke returns again to the Human World and meets up with Keiko on a beach, where they kiss together at the conclusion of the anime series.
Manga finale version
In the final chapter of the manga (Chapter 175), while Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, Keiko, Botan, and Yukina were on a beach, Kuwabara explained to Keiko and the others (while Yusuke is far out in the beach away from them) that Yusuke chose the blue colored button. Yusuke's reason was simple: Blue is Keiko's favorite color. Yusuke said that if the kidnappers have their "god", then he has his own "goddess" (the term he used to refer to Keiko). Therefore, he chose the blue button. Luckily, it was the right button to stop the Laser. Glad to knowing this, Keiko then chases Yusuke far out in the beach and happily plays with him with the ocean waves. This is where the kissing scene in the last episode of the anime could have happened.
She is present in the final episode of the anime and is with Kuwabara, Kurama, Keiko, Yukina, and Shizuru on Genkai's Temple and on the beach, where Yusuke finally shows up again and reunites with Keiko after he was gone for almost a year and a half.
Manga and Anime Differences[]
In the manga, Botan did not help out Yusuke as often as she did in the anime, such as when she helped Yusuke against Gouki, and accompanied Yusuke and Kuwabara during the battle against the Apparition Gang in the anime, but not the manga.
Also, she and Koenma did not travel to Demon World during the tournament to observe it in disguise like she did in the anime.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Flight: As a navigator of the River Styx, she manifests an oar for quick travel through flight, as well as transportation between Human World and Spirit World.
- Spiritual Power: Botan has mild healing abilities, which include slowing down the rate of demonification, but not enough to completely stop or reverse it.
- Physical Power: She is seen using a baseball bat, a mop, and bug spray as weapons during the Maze Castle incident.
- Telepathy: She has displayed the ability to read minds early on in the series.
Known Techniques/Moves[]
- Spirit Gun: One of the earlier chapter covers in the manga implies that she can use the Spirit Gun as she is making the gesture and noise is coming out of the end of the finger, though she never demonstrates this ability. However, she may still be able to use a weaker version of it due to her saying during the Chapter Black Saga that she could blast down walls with the Concentration Ring in order to look for Hiei. This could also imply that anyone who uses spirit energy could use the Concentration Ring to form the Spirit Gun.
- Power Sphere: Botan holds in her body an artifact known as the Power Sphere, which is the key to the Netherworld's power. It also allows warriors to fuse their powers into one.
Trivia[]
- Her name means "peony" in Japanese.
- She is a shinigami - a Japanese spirit of death. In the English dub version, she is referred to as a Grim Reaper.
- In the manga, it is said that Botan's favorite holiday is Christmas.
- A running gag is she often makes a cat face when being sly, very similar to Killua Zoldyck from Hunter X Hunter, Togashi's second popular manga series.
- Botan’s birthdate is unknown according to the manga.
- Botan's ability to stay in the physical realm is changed ever so slightly in the anime, when compared to the manga. In the anime, she mentions she has a "human body", implying it's a container which allows her soul to interact, yet when called back to the Spirit Realm, she simply changes her clothes and flies back. In the manga, however, the container body is left behind, immobile while her spirit flies back, only reanimating once she comes back.
- It's possible that in the anime, Botan has the ability to make herself tangible to interact with the Human World; when she needs to go back to the Spirit World, she becomes ghostly again.
- Because those of the Reikai age slowly, and as evidenced by her comment during the meeting between the group -minus Hiei- and Koenma, about Sensui, Botan is a new and young grim reaper. She was just starting out a few years before the show began, during Yusuke's early childhood.
- Botan is the first person from Spirit World to accompany a Spirit Detective:
- Kuroko Sanada went on cases solo.
- Shinobu Sensui was accompanied by Itsuki, sometime after he was given the title by Koenma. Koenma was also aware of the partnership.
- Botan was ranked as the seventh most popular female anime character in 1993 Animage Anime Grand Prix, the eighth in 1994, and the eleventh in 1995.
- 'Bingo' seems to be Botan's catchphrase in the English Dub.
- In the FUNimation dub, Botan speaks with a Transatlantic accent (also known as the Mid-Atlantic accent), an accent traditionally known for mixing American and British English pronunciation that was commonly used for radio messaging and by television/movie stars in the early 20th century. This is possibly due to her position as a Grim Reaper; meeting many people across the world and guiding them through the River Styx.
- According to the manga, her favorite hobby is floating around in the sky.
- Botan is also based on Charon the Ferryman of the River Styx from Greek Mythology
- According to the English preview for Episode 82, she has the high score on "Ms. Pac-Man".
Quotes[]
- "Too bad Hiei's not here. We could use his Jagan eye to find himself.” - Episode 67 (Silly Sauce).
- "Oh my, a perfect ending for a perfect day!" - Episode 112.