Itsuki (樹 Itsuki?) was a member of Sensui's Seven during the Chapter Black Saga. He was known as the Gatekeeper (闇撫の樹, Yaminade no Itsuki, lit. "Itsuki the Dark Comfort") within the Sensui Seven.
Appearance[]
Itsuki has white pale skin, long, teal hair that is parted down the middle with short bangs pushed to the sides of his face. He wears a red sleeveless undershirt, white sleeveless loose tunic, and a yellow obi sash tied around his waist.
In flashbacks, he is seen with his hair tied back in a ponytail adorned with a ribbon and wears a traditional Chinese-style outfit reminiscent of Hiei and Kurama's clothes in the Dark Tournament but in a traditional Japanese-style. He wears a purple long Japanese vest with a pale yellow long sleeved traditional kimono shirt, a pair of matching traditional pants, white tabi and a matching pair of geta sandals.
In his first meeting with Sensui in his high school years, his hair is loose like his current self and he wears a modern casual outfit.
Personality[]
Itsuki is renowned for his unwavering love and loyalty to Sensui, which budded from a morbid fascination with the young man’s ruthless methods of eradicating demons and his immaculate moral character. Itsuki is familiar with all of Sensui’s personalities, stating that he's especially fond of his arrogant and stubborn personality. However, this does not rival his affection for Sensui’s original, bloody personality. Sensui never visibly reciprocates Itsuki's love on screen. Itsuki displays an externally stoic, relaxed, and philosophical demeanor, rarely showing signs of agitation.
Itsuki also has a twisted sense of humor and enjoyment, as he states that as Sensui's mind became more and more twisted after Sensui's last Spirit Detective case, Itsuki did nothing as he enjoyed watching his soul darken.
Background[]
Itsuki was the first demon which Sensui spared from death. After having beaten Itsuki into submission, Sensui offered the demon one request before he could kill him. Itsuki replied that his favourite television show was going to air its final episode the next day and as such wishes to be left alive long enough so that he may view the series finale. This request sparked an interest towards the demon since Sensui was also watching that same television series. Impressed by Itsuki's laid-back and matter-of-fact behaviour, Sensui decided to let the demon live, slowly the two became best friends and partners against other demons. It was Itsuki who told Sensui of the Demon World and also of the portals which connected it with the Human World.
Itsuki had accompanied Sensui on his final mission as spirit detective: stopping the Black Black Club's underground demon trade ring. The two had successfully infiltrated the headquarters of the Black Black Club and decided to split up to cover more ground. When Itsuki had regrouped with his partner, he had found Sensui drenched in the blood of the club members. Sensui had murdered every member who had participated in the Black Black Club's yearly ritual of bathing in the blood of several demons which they had tortured to death. From that moment on, Itsuki remained a close friend and confidant of the mentally disturbed Sensui, who had developed an ardent hatred towards humanity and several personalities. They spent years planning the extermination of the entire human race by means of a portal that would allow A and S class demons to enter the human world.
Synopsis[]
Chapter Black Saga[]
Itsuki's objective is to open and stabilize the portal that would lead the demons into Human World. He doesn't participate in the battles, but keeps Yusuke's friends contained in an alternate dimension while Sensui fought Yusuke. He explains his feelings for Sensui, as well as the truth behind his separate personalities. After Sensui is defeated by the Raizen possessed Yusuke, Itsuki took Sensui's body into his void so they could be together for the rest of eternity.
Techniques/Moves[]
- Gatekeep (闇撫・の・樹, Yaminade no Ki, literally translated as Establishment of Dark Comfort): Itsuki is the last of a kind of powerful and enigmatic demon race known as Yamanade, beings that once guarded the inner depths of Demon World. Yamanade exist within the folds of different spatial and spacial dimensions, where they are able to lurk from afar unnoticed within different realms and are able to traverse and cross through boundaries that cannot be normally done by other beings.
- Dimensional Travel (・トラベル , Dimenshon Toraberu , translated as Dimension Travel): Itsuki possesses the shadow hands, a powerful demon ability unique to Yamanate, as Kurama calls him in the anime, that allows him to travel between dimensions and to create dimensional portals. It also allows him to control demons from different dimensions, such as in the fight between Yusuke and Sensui. These shadow hands are also why he is nicknamed the Dark Night Stroker. In some video games he can actually strike people with the shadow hands, as well as heal himself.
- Uraotoko: Called Ura Otoko (裏・男, translated as Reverse Man) in the original Japanese, this vaguely-humanoid creature is Itsuki's pet and bears a startling resemblance to the Umibōzu (海坊主, literally translated as Sea Buddhist Monk) of legend and is a veritable pocket-dimension unto itself. Given all the debris seen within it, it can be inferred that this creature has existed for a long time. It was only defeated when Kuwabara was finally able to call out his Jigen Tō and cut through both Itsuki and the Uraotoko in his attempt to escape it.
- Telekinesis: Itsuki briefly demonstrated this ability when he, apparently through psychic means, mentally lifted a late Sensui into mid-air; ceasing when he was able to cradle the spirit detective's body in a bridal position.
- Morph: As seen just before Yusuke fought Sensui, he can merge with whatever he comes in contact with, taking on its properties as he does so.
Trivia[]
- Itsuki is one of author Togashi's favorite characters; he stated after the series ended that he wishes he had been able to expand on the character's twisted psyche. He also noted the portion of the plot where Itsuki speaks inside the Reverse Man to be his favorite of the series because it reflects how the mangaka was feeling at the time.
- Harry McDougal, from Outlaw Star, is similar to Itsuki in appearance.
- Since Sensui's Seven each represent one of the seven deadly sins, Itsuki represents lust in his desire for Sensui and obsession to manipulate him into the path of depravity.
- Itsuki, aside from Elder Toguro through Gourmet, is the only demon in Sensui's Seven.
- Itsuki is the only member of Sensui Seven that does not fight the main characters. His fighting ability is relatively unknown, although he is a playable character in several Yu Yu Hakusho fighting games.
- Itsuki is also similar to one of Togashi's characters from Hunter x Hunter, Knov, whose powers allowed him to create portals in another dimension by his will.
- It is implied that Itsuki, along with Tsukihito Amanuma and Elder Toguro, were the only members of the Sensui Seven not to have seen Chapter Black. Instead, Itsuki followed Shinobu Sensui due to his obsession, love and lust for him.
- His explanation for his fanatical obsession with Sensui's personality and descent into deranged madness is portrayed differently in the anime and the manga; in the anime, Itsuki uses the symbolic metaphor of the whitest of paper being slowly taken with drops of the darkest black ink to describe this; in the manga, Itsuki uses a more explicit example of seeing how a young innocent girl who thinks babies come from storks grows up twisted and tainted into a reveling whore with a career starring in hardcore porn.
[]
e v | Sensui Seven | |
Members: | Shinobu Sensui | Itsuki | Kaname Hagiri | Minoru Kamiya | Kiyoshi Mitarai | Tsukihito Amanuma | Sadao Makihara | Elder Toguro |