Mr. Iwamoto (岩本, Iwamoto) is a teacher at Sarayashiki Junior High and is Yusuke Urameshi's enemy.
Appearance[]
Mr. Iwamoto is a bespectacled man in his 30s with short black hair who wears a green suit with a yellow necktie.
Personality[]
Iwamoto claims to strongly care for the reputation of his school, though actually he seems to care only about himself. He is a hypocrite, as he is extremely critical of delinquents and thinks they are the scum of society who deserve to die, yet, when he sees a valuable fountain pen, in attempting to frame Yusuke, he "appropriates" it (steals it). However, it led to his own downfall.
When Yusuke died, he viewed this as a positive development as Yusuke's selfless sacrifice would improve the reputation of the school, but agreed with Mr. Akashi that it was more likely that he was chasing after the boy and just happened to get hit by the car.
He seems to like Keiko for her consistently good grades and constantly orders her to stop hanging out with Yusuke, while she mocks him behind his back.
Mr. Iwamoto is Yusuke's mortal enemy at Sarayashiki Junior High. Iwamoto hates Yusuke and feels that delinquents like him besmirch the name of Sarayashiki Junior High and should be expelled.
Synopsis[]
Spirit Detective Saga[]
Iwamoto is shown lecturing Yusuke and later insults him at his own funeral with Akashi, being yelled at for it by Takenaka.
Iwamoto vows to get the newly-revived Yusuke expelled from Sarayashiki Jr. High at any cost.
In the anime, it is he who gives Mr. Akashi the idea to intentionally erase Kuwabara's correct answer and replace it with a wrong answer in an attempt to hurt one of his friends' chances of supporting his family.
He insults Yusuke when he is in person and behind his back and also tried to frame him for theft after he returned to life, only to be later struck from behind by Yusuke with his newly acquired Spirit Gun, making him hit the floor hard. He was unaware that Yusuke hit him. Iwamoto is later possessed by a Makai insect and attacks Keiko but she and Botan give him a taste of his own medicine. Though he eventually corners them, Iwamoto is knocked out once Yusuke destroyed the Makai whistle.
Three Kings Saga[]
Despite his theft of the student's belongings in an attempt to frame Yusuke, along with his attack upon Principal Takenaka and Keiko while possessed by the Makai insect (which he was grilled by the police while claiming to not remember), he was strangely not fired and continued to be employed as a teacher (possibly under probation), even in the final season. At the end, he failed to expel Yusuke.
Abilities and powers[]
Iwamoto is durable enough to survive a spirit gun attack from Yusuke with no serious injuries(before Yusuke became stronger), and punches Yusuke hard enough to make him bleed. When infected by the insect and turned into a zombie, Iwamoto retains all of his personality and ability to speak despite all other infected humans being made mindless. He commands the other zombies in the group to attack Botan and Keiko, and would have very soundly defeated them without Yusuke's intervention.
Iwamoto's surprising strength and resistance to the bugs suggests that there may be more to him than what there appears to be, suggesting he was perhaps a demon working with Suzaku. His irrational hatred of Yusuke and desire to continually expel him could be motivated by this, and it could explain why he remains as a teacher for the entire series while his associate, Mr. Akashi, is fired for more minor offenses.
Trivia[]
- He often calls Yusuke and Keiko (at episode 19) "cockroach".
- In the English dub, Mr. Iwamoto provided an accent like Edward G. Robinson, whose catchphrase is “Yeah, See?".