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"Just as the cherry blossom is a flower among flowers, Kuwabara is a man among men!"
— Kazuma Kuwabara


Kazuma Kuwabara (桑原和真 Kuwabara Kazuma?), more commonly known by his last name as Kuwabara, is one of the main protagonists of the series, along with Yusuke Urameshi, Kurama and Hiei. He is the younger brother of Shizuru Kuwabara. He also seeks to become Yukina's lover.

Appearance

Kuwabara has a defined muscular build with broad shoulders. He is the tallest member of the team, standing at about six feet—making him exceptionally tall by typical Japanese height standards, as this is considered well above average. He has thick red-orange hair that is greased back into a pompadour-type hairstyle that is popular with delinquents. He has an angular face with narrow gray eyes (revealed in The Cape of No Return), high cheekbones and a slender pointed nose. His live-action appearance has his hair color changed from red-orange to ginger and his pompadour style haircut is replaced with a crew cut which was brushed back and has brown eyes instead of gray.

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Manga-exclusive outfit from the Genkai Tournament.

His overall appearance, as well as his dress sense, are likely a homage to the classic Japanese 'bad boy' mythology from the 1950s. While in school, he wears a light blue jumpsuit, in contrast with Yusuke's green one and the dark blue ones worn by rest of the male students in Sarayashiki Junior High. In the live-action adaptation like Yusuke, his school jacket is open to reveal his white tank top and his jumpsuit is blue with the interior being gold and black. In his initial appearance, he has a purple open loose button-up with gold and black flower designs within his white tank top.

In the anime series, he wears his school uniform most of the time for the first few major parts of the story (in fact, for all of the first season and half of the second). In the manga, he wore street clothes during Genkai's Tournament— including a baseball jersey inscribed with things like Motor Head and Iron Fist written on it.

In several episodes, it can be seen that he preemptively binds his abs with bandages, much like a classic brawler. This look is also seen in the live-action adaptation where he mastered the Spirit Sword by forming Spirit Energy on the wood branch he had wielded to slash a rock in half. He also occasionally dons headbands, such as his "Fighting Headband of Love" when he set out to rescue Yukina.

In later parts of the story, for particularly significant battles (such as the finals in the Dark Tournament competition), he dresses up as a Bosozoku, an old-fashioned stereotypical Japanese biker thug. This outfit includes a full length white military overcoat, with his family name emblazoned on the back in kanji, white pants tucked into black jackboots, and bandages wrapped around his abs. His use of his spirit sword in this costume is likely a homage to the fact that Bōsōzoku were rumored to have wielded wooden Kendo swords as weapons.

During Chapter Black Saga, Kuwabara wears different casual outfits. When he and his friends watch a rock concert and struggles to battle Seaman on his territory, Kuwabara wears a long sleeved openly white hoodie as the length of his jacket is the same as his white military overcoat with an orange trim, a dark blue short sleeved undershirt, blue jeans with a black belt around his waist and black sneakers. This outfit was also ruined when he was attacked by Mitarai.

As he was captured by Sensui, he only wears a blue gray short sleeve loose shirt, navy blue jeans and black sneakers. His outfit is similar to Yusuke's outfit but in different colors.

In All or Nothing, Kuwabara wears the same look in the Chapter Black saga where he battles Mitarai but in a minor color change; his hoodie is now yellowish brown, his short sleeved undershirt is white and his jeans became darker.

Personality

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A typical interaction between Hiei and Kuwabara

Kuwabara is consistently described as being stupid and ugly. However, he is extremely loyal to his friends and has a very strict code of honor. He would do anything for his friends and for love. He can be clumsy, reckless, rude and is also stubborn, persistent, and also has a great sense of humor. He doesn't give up a fight, even if he is injured. He has a temper, but it is not as bad as Yusuke's. He has a kind heart (being considered the kindest of the four main characters) and an honest nature. Also, he dislikes fighting girls.

Despite his clumsiness, Kuwabara has demonstrated that he can be clever and a quick thinker. While not an intellectual genius like Kurama, Kuwabara is more than competent thanks to his hard work and being quite persistent. When having to pass a science exam with at least a score of 50 points, as a part of the condition to save Okubo's part time job, Kuwabara spent all his time studying reading books of science, and as a result he managed to sucessfully pass the exam. He also has a great intuition. While being trapped in a room trying to save Yusuke, Kuwabara considered the posibility that the drinks in that place were poisoned, something Kaito, one of the greatest students at Kurama's academy who is capable of being on pair of Kurama's intellect, recognized and admitted he didn't even consider that posibility.

He is deeply in love with the ice apparition Yukina, whom he fell in love with at first sight. However, Kuwabara's romantic gestures and phrasing goes over her head due to Yukina not understanding what love is. Despite this, there is a strong bond between them as he was able to telepathically converse with her and is healed more efficiently by her healing powers.

Background

Kuwabara is the second-toughest kid and self-proclaimed punk at Sarayashiki Junior High School, and he is always trying to usurp Yusuke Urameshi's position as the toughest. He claims to have never lost a fight until he met Yusuke. He leads a gang consisting of himself, Kirishima, Okubo, and Sawamura (renamed Komada in the English dub). He has a soft spot for kittens (including his own, Eikichi) and an iron clad code of honor. When he first meets Botan, he temporarily develops a minor crush on her (in the anime only), but later harbors intense feelings for the ice apparition Yukina, but is unaware that she is Hiei's twin sister.[1]

Kuwabara has a tough older sister named Shizuru. She and Yukina are the only characters known to call him by his given name. In the anime, Kazuma and Shizuru's parents never appear, though their mother is referenced occasionally. Mr. Kuwabara makes a brief appearance in the final volume of the manga to reveal that Yukina is going to be living with them, and appears to be aware of the Spirit World, etc. As the show progress, Kuwabara's and Yusuke's relationship evolves from rivals to best friends, although the two still disagree constantly. Kuwabara and Kurama are quite cordial with each other and Kuwabara respects him as a wise and trustworthy friend, but Kuwabara shares no love for Hiei, and both will readily mention their hatred of and distaste for the other, although in truth deep down they are friends.

Kuwabara's most unusual ability is his sensitivity to Reiki, or Spirit Awareness, which he and his band of friends call "the Tickle". Kuwabara has always had the ability to sense when ghosts and other paranormal beings are around. Kuwabara can also sense the emotions and intentions of others. In some cases, this ability has resulted in him having visions of past events (a notable example during the Dark Tournament saga, the night before the fight against Team Ichigaki, Kuwabara had a dream about the heavily ill master Metamura, and how his three best disciples, Kai, En and Ryo, were turned into mindless killer warriors by Dr. Ichigaki under the latter's promise to cure Metamura's disease).

Synopsis

Spirit Detective Saga

Yusuke's Revival

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Kuwabara's first appeareance

Kuwabara is first introduced as Yusuke's perpetual opponent, always losing to him, but always returning to try again. After Yusuke's death, a heartbroken Kuwabara crashes his wake, struggling against his friends' attempts to hold him back to reach the casket and calling Yusuke a coward for dying before they had a chance to settle their rivalry once and for all. Two of the high school teachers openly insult Kuwabara's behavior, only for the principal to silence them, saying that Kuwabara is showing more honest emotion at the loss of his rival than either of them.

During the early part of the saga, Kuwabara's high Spirit Awareness let him become one of the people that Yusuke could communicate with as a ghost, which allowed him to help Kuwabara pass an exam so that his friend Okubo could keep his job. In the manga only, after Yusuke was temporarily revived for a day, Kuwabara encountered him when he went to rescue Keiko from some thugs and arrived after Yusuke defeated them. After learning what happened, Kuwabara agreed to keep this information from Keiko and take credit for rescuing her (though Keiko pretended to be knocked out and heard everything). Kuwabara later helped save Keiko from Yusuke's burning apartment and when Yusuke needed to be revived through a transfer of life energy through a kiss, Kuwabara ignored the dream due to the sensitivity of the matter, although Keiko ultimately did so in his place.

Rando Arc

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Kuwbara at Genkai's Tournament

Later, when Yusuke tries to track down the demon Rando at Genkai's Tournament, Kuwabara shows up, saying that he had come so he can learn to control his increased Spiritual Awareness after hearing about Genkai's reputation (in the manga, Kuwabara mentions that it was his sister Shizuru who informed him about Genkai). He was largely unaware of what was going on, having only went to find a way to deal with his increased spiritual awareness. After entering in the selection process and making it through the preliminaries, Kuwabara battles against Musashi (a modern era samurai), in the dark, where he gains his Spirit Sword for the first time.

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Kuwabara vs Rando

He makes it to the semifinals, where he faces Shorin, who ultimately reveals himself to be Rando, the demon Yusuke had been searching for. Though Kuwabara seems to have the upper hand early on, the disguised Rando is able to beat him using an incantation he stole from a psychic, which caused Kuwabara to shrink in the middle of the fight. Yusuke fights him next, but almost dies from drowning. Luckily, Kuwabara transfers his remaining spirit energy to save him (as well as goading him), which is enough for Yusuke to defeat Rando.

Four Saint Beasts Arc

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Kuwabara before facing off with Byakko.

Soon after the Four Saint Beasts send a swarm of Demon World Insects to Human World, Kuwabara tags along with Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei (both of whom are on parole), and travels to the Demon City to prevent the Saint Beasts' imminent invasion of Human World.

There, to allow Yusuke to reach Suzaku in time, Kuwabara fights the Saint Beast Byakko, who absorbs Kuwabara's spirit attacks in order to become stronger. Kuwabara defeats the Saint Beast twice— first by overloading him with Spirit Energy, and then the other by knocking him into a lava pit. However, while very badly injured, Byakko doesn't actually die until his teammate, Seiryu, kills him.

After Yusuke defeated Suzaku, Kuwabara channeled a portion of his life energy into Yusuke to save him.

Yukina Rescue Arc

Yusuke & Kuwabara infiltrating Tarukanes mansion

Kuwabara and Yusuke crashing Tarukane's mansion

Initially, when Yusuke is given a tape by Koenma for his next mission; rescuing a kidnapped apparition from a crime lord called Gonzo Tarukane. Kuwabara initially refuses to go along. However, when he sees a picture of the girl they are trying to rescue, he jumps at the chance. He helps lead them to Yukina, by means of a "pinky string" that connects the two with love (a play on the 'red thread of fate'). Tarukane has hired an elite gang of demons called the Apparition Gang (led by the Toguro Brothers) to act as enforcers for him. When one of their members is killed, the Younger Toguro comments that he knows about Yusuke and Kuwabara and their abilities.

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Fighting against Toguro

Tarukane contacts the members of an underworld organization called the Black Book Club and sets up a betting pool in hope of conning money out of his fellow members. Kuwabara aids Yusuke in defeating the members of the gang, including the elite trio of demons called The Triad. Tarukane's plan is foiled at every turn when one of the members, Sakyo, bets on the two humans at every turn. In a final showdown, Kuwabara and Yusuke go up against the Toguro Brothers. The combination of the Younger Toguro's massive strength and Elder Toguro's shapeshifting powers quickly proves too much for them. Kuwabara forms a plan and charges both of them. Yusuke fires his Spirit Gun and launches Kuwabara into them, allowing him to impale Younger Toguro with his Spirit Sword. Despite their win, Kuwabara is saddened by everything that's happened. Yukina approaches him and consoles him, saying that in spite of things she doesn't hate humans. Relieved, Kuwabara falls silent and takes solace in the ice maiden's company.

It is later revealed that their victory was a fluke, set up by both the Toguro brothers and Sakyo, who were using them as a means to con Yukina's captor, Gonzo Tarukane, out of his fortune.

Dark Tournament Saga

During the Dark Tournament, Kuwabara engages in more full matches than the rest of his teammates. While he loses often, they are all ringouts. He's never disqualified or properly defeated and all of his victories are by knockouts/ten counts.

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Kuwabara fighting against Rinku.

At the start of the first round, he stands in as Team Captain while Yusuke is sleeping. He narrowly looses his fight with Rinku by ringout. The next round, he fights alongside Yusuke and the Masked Fighter in a three-on-three battle. Realizing that their opponents are being controlled, he refuses to fight back and ends up being badly injured. Because of a corrupt ruling, Yusuke's team is then forced to fight in the next round right away- and without Hiei and the Masked Fighter. Despite this, they take the lead— Kurama defeats the first two members of Team Masho before passing out and Yusuke takes out two more. However, another corrupt ruling disqualifies Yusuke from fighting again. Despite being badly injured, Kuwabara desperately insists on fighting Masho's leader, Risho, to keep their team from losing. In the English dub, Kuwabara admits that Ruka reminded him he was still eligible for combat. Risho effortlessly dominates the fight, but Kuwabara refuses to give up. At the last moment, Yukina arrives and Kuwabara's powers suddenly return - allowing him to turn the tables and win.

Near the end of the Tournament, both Kuwabara and Kurama are approached by Suzuki (Suzuka in the English dub), the former leader of Team Uratogi. Suzuki gives Kuwabara an item to help him in the finals against Team Toguro. This item is revealed as the Tameshi no Ken, or "Trial Sword", which helps him defeat Elder Toguro. During Yusuke's battle with the Younger Toguro, Kuwabara fakes his own death in order to draw out Yusuke's full potential.

Chapter Black Saga

During the first half of the Chapter Black Storyline, Kuwabara is unable to use his powers. He suspects that, like Suzuki told him, it was a side effect from using the Trial Sword. However, Genkai knows the truth: that Kuwabara's spirit awareness is so high that his own body was aware of Sensui's plan months before it happened, and has undergone a transformation to prepare for it.

Kuwabara is unable to access his powers during his fight against Kiyoshi Mitarai (aka Seaman), a human teenager gifted with the ability to create indestructible monsters made of water. Faced with the possible death of his friends, Kuwabara's powers awaken and he gains the power to slice through dimensional barriers with a new type of energy sword called the Jigen Tou, or Dimensional Blade. With it, he slices through the monster and wounds Sea Man, saving himself and his friends. Out of kindness, Kuwabara also spares the life of Sea Man, causing the teenager to turn good. This powerful sword, however, is just what Sensui needs to destroy the barrier stopping Demon World's strongest denizens from entering the Human World.

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Kuwabara restrained by Gourmet.

Sensui soon attacks and Kuwabara is captured. Realizing that Kuwabara would never slice the barrier willingly, Sensui plans to have his follower Gourmet, another human psychic, eat Kuwabara and gain his power.

However, Yusuke and team enter Sensui's lair and, after a series of ordeals, and manage to rescue their friend. Shortly afterwards, Yusuke is killed in his battle against Sensui. Having watched his friend being beaten and finally killed, Kuwabara's emotions erupt, triggering the activation of the Jigen Tou.

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Kuwabara slicing through the barrier.

A vengeful Kuwabara leads the others in pursuing Sensui, slicing through the barrier to get to him. Kuwabara, along with Hiei and Kurama, arrive in Demon World. Hiei and Kurama go with Kuwabara into Demon world, and together the three fight the powerful Sensui.

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Team Urameshi watching Yusuke and Sensui's fight

Despite their best efforts, Hiei, Kurama, and Kuwabara are no match for Sensui, though he is eventually killed by the newly-resurrected Yusuke, after he is possessed by Raizen, Yusuke's demon ancestor.

Three Kings Saga

Some time after the battle against Sensui is over, and the Spirit Detectives had returned to Human World, Kuwabara learns of Yusuke's plans to go back to Demon World. His first instinct is to go with his friend, but his older sister Shizuru convinces him to stay in Human World and study for an exam so that he can get into a good high school. With this coaxing, Kuwabara decides to retire from fighting and focus on his academics, allowing him to live a normal life rather than continuing to fighting demons for the rest of his life. Nonetheless, he does make a brief appearance in the anime during the Demon World Tournament, in a spiritual form in Kurama's mind, cheering Yusuke's undying fighting spirit.

Epilogue

Anime
Kuwabara successfully entered an institute during the time-skip. Now, Kuwabara is a second year high school student at the University's prep school, called Gai Tech (short for Gaikou Fuzoku High School). He has numerous female admirers, although he remains faithful to his beloved Yukina. Curiously, he has become a local celebrity when he used his sixth sense to predict a dangerous earthquake. He is also studying for his college entrance exams as of the return of Yusuke to Human World.

All or Nothing

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Kuwabara uses his Dimension Sword in a mission.

In this special, when Spirit World's residents are held captive by a religious group lead by former SDF commander (now enemy) Ootake, Shunjun appeared before Yusuke. After hearing the news, Yusuke requested the captain and also Enki to gather his old friends. As Team Urameshi was gathered, they left their bodies and went into the Spirit World. During their infiltration, Kuwabara was convinced to use his Dimension Sword once more to let him, Yusuke, Kurama and Hiei infiltrate Spirit World successfully, taking out all the guards.

After that, they made their way the hostage room and launched a surprise attack, taking all of the terrorists. Yusuke wanted to know how can they stop the cannon that was aimed at the Human World, more specifically Sarayashiki district (Yusuke's hometown), but the terrorist leader just said they were three colored buttons which marked three options. Finally, Yusuke then told everyone to evacuate, so Kuwabara and Kurama return to the Human World and, with other Yusuke's allies, they tell everyone they know to evacuate as well.

At the end, fortunately, Yusuke ended up pushing the blue button, which ended up being the correct one. As a result, the mission was successful and both Spirit World and Human World were sound and safe 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
It is verified by Koenma that Kuwabara is the strongest fully-human fighter on Earth. In the manga, he learns that Yukina will be living at his family's house, to which Yusuke says will make his grades go down significantly.

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. In the manga, Kuwabara and the rest were laughing about this, except for Keiko who finally notices Yusuke's true feelings for her. She then chases Yusuke far out in the beach and happily plays with him with the ocean waves.

Eizou Hakusho

In the bonus OVA, it is revealed that he enters the second Demon World Tournament with Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei by his side, confirming that Kuwabara is the first human to be allowed to participate in this competition.

All or Nothing

When Spirit World's residents are held captive by a religious group lead by former SDF commander Ootake, he uses his Dimension Sword to let him, Yusuke, Kurama and Hiei infiltrate Spirit World successfully.

As seen in Eizou Hakusho, when the second Demon World Tournament begins he participates in it with Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei.

Powers and Abilities

  • Superhuman Physical Strength & Endurance: Kuwabara possesses raw physical strength to a superhuman degree, as seen in the Poltergeist Report movie where he defeated the demon god Majari with a single punch after tricking the apparition into exhausting his Demon Energy. This was also seen during his fight with Risho in the Dark Tournament, where he took the shinobi demon's strongest blows with very little Spirit Energy left in his body, and was able to keep getting up. Many times throughout the series he is shown to take the most brutal beatings out of all the main characters, yet continues to get up and fight on many occasions, such as with his fights with Byakko in the Demon World or his Dark Tournament battle with Rinku, where he left his opponent literally frightened at the sight of him standing. Kuwabara was able to withstand a kick from Rinku, which according to the latter was strong enough to break a person's neck.

Fighting Style

Though Kuwabara is more of a brawler-type fighter who rushes in clumsily, he initially considers the greatest defense to be a good offense. In later battles he often wins (or at least counters) by using the versatility of his spirit blades, finding a unique application to it that would be most appropriate to the situation (i.e. bat to Rando, whip-sword to Rinku, swatter to Toguro).

His high sixth sense rarely plays a role in his battles, though he has used it to avoid foes and sense danger. As the moral core of the team, he is more prone than Yusuke to become stronger when his friends and innocents are present or in danger, as those he cared about played a role in his victory over Risho. Unfortunately, Kuwabara's lack of any kind of formal training in swordsmanship leads to him swinging his weapon about with reckless abandon, which allows experienced fighters to easily dodge his attacks.

Abilities

  • High Spirit Awareness (霊感, Reikan, literally translated as Spirit Intuition): As described by Genkai during the Chapter Black saga, Kuwabara's Spirit Awareness is unparalleled. His sister Shizuru, who has shown to possess similar talent in this area as well, may have more talent in this area if she ever bothered to refine it. It has yet to be said which sibling possesses greater talent in this area, but both have been shown to be extraordinarily talented in it. Though it was never confirmed if Shizuru is able to see ghosts like Kuwabara, it is believed that she can, as she was able to view an encrypted tape that Koenma sent to Yusuke, which detailed his mission to rescue Hiei's sister, Yukina (in the manga, this is confirmed, as she could see Yusuke's ghost as well sense his intentions). During the early part of the series, Kuwabara is stated as being able to hear and feel the presence of ghosts, but are only able to see them when asleep. As the series progresses, the usage and amount of his spiritual abilities and energy becomes stronger, enabling him to form increasingly powerful spiritual "swords" to fight his enemies. It seems to be that Kuwabara's energy only emerges at full power whenever he is close to death, in a very dangerous situation, or both; in the battle with Risho, Kuwabara was nearly beaten to death by his opponent because of his spiritual energy not working, but upon seeing Yukina his energy activated again and he was able to defeat Risho.
  • Immense Spiritual Power: Thanks in part to his naturally high Spiritual Awareness, Kuwabara already possessed far more spiritual energy than most humans, which is best demonstrated by his ability to shape his raw energy into his signature Spirit Sword. Said energy would only increase in size through his training for both the Dark Tournament and later the clash with Sensui, where his overall power rose to A-Class levels upon witnessing the death of Yusuke. Despite semi-retiring from battle to focus on his studies, Kuwabara's power would grow even further over the next several years, eventually reaching S Class, effectively making Kuwabara the strongest human in existence and potentially even more powerful than Sensui.
  • Telepathy: The ability to mentally read and project thoughts. Kuwabara was shown to be able communicate via this method twice in episode 24, "The Deadly Triad", to notify Yukina of his presence, and in the Dark Tournament Saga to say farewell to his friends when he tried to attempt a last-resort suicidal attack on Risho.
  • Precognition: Later on in the series, it is shown that Kuwabara is able to see visions of future events and of events surrounding circumstances; the first example was being able to see the events surrounding the human fighters who were competing on the Dr. Ichigaki Team, during the Dark Tournament Saga.

Known Techniques and Moves

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The Spirit Sword

  • Spirit Sword (霊剣, Rei Ken, Aura Sword in the Viz translation): This is Kuwabara's signature attack, where he creates a sword comprised only of his Spirit Energy. Its strength depends on how much energy Kuwabara focuses into it, and it has been known to break if Kuwabara holds back too much (such as during the anime-only battle against Gokumonki, where he was afraid he'd hit Botan who was being held hostage if he used too much power). It is first used in the Genkai Tournament when Kuwabara uses a piece of a special spiritually-powerful wooden sword used by Musashi, his first opponent. Without his even being aware of it, the broken piece allowed Kuwabara to channel his energy into it, causing the spirit sword to emerge for the first time. After the tournament is over, Kuwabara does some training and learns how to manifest it at will, no longer needing the broken swordpiece's focusing power as a medium. Kuwabara, however, is not trained as a swordsman, so his swings are rather clumsy, unlike the speed and grace of Hiei's sword strikes.
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Batter up!

  • Energy Deflection: He can use the sword to repel energy-based techniques by swinging it like a baseball bat. The most notable instance where this occurs is during Kuwabara's semi-final fight against Shorin, who has his own technique, Circles of Inferno, deflected back at him. In some video games, it can even reflect the Dragon of the Darkness Flame, so that Hiei can absorb it.
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Kuwabara's Spirit Sword Javelin

  • Spirit Sword Javelin (伸びろ, 霊剣, Nobiro, Rei Ken, translates as Spirit Sword, Extend!; Aura Sword Extend in the Viz translation): After learning to control his Spirit Sword, at first Kuwabara is only capable of just lengthening his sword. After training with Kurama in preparation for the Dark Tournament, Kuwabara is now able to both bend and lengthen his sword at will (making it similar to a whip-sword or johyo). This attack enables him to attack his opponent from a distance (as seen in his fight with Rinku), and also act as a javelin or a pole vault in order to both leap great distances or survive falls from great heights (as seen in his fight with Byakko). In the English dub, Kuwabara activates this ability by saying, "Sword, get longer".
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Monster Beast Donut

  • Spirit Sword Monster Beast Donut: This attack is derived from Kuwabara's Spirit Sword javelin. In his battle with Byakko's beasts, Kuwabara lures the chained beasts into a circular formation on an upper platform of Maze castle. He then proceeds to "twist and seal" the two ends of his extended spirit sword together essentially creating a donut-shaped sword which effectively immobilizes the beasts, forcing Byakko to destroy them in his rage.
Rei Ken Nitōryū

Kuwabara's Double Spirit Sword

  • Double Spirit Sword (霊剣二刀流, Rei Ken Nitōryū, translates as Spirit Sword Two Blade Style; Double Aura Sword in the Viz translation): During his training before the Dark Tournament under Kurama and Hiei, Kuwabara develops the ability to materialize two swords at once, one for each hand. In the anime it is used only once, when he was fighting Rinku. In the manga, it was used twice, the first time being the battle against the demons on the boat to the Dark Tournament. This occurrence suggests the technique was developed by Kuwabara to augment his ability to defend against simultaneous attacks from multiple directions as well as to increase his offensive capability.
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Spirit "whip-sword"

  • Spiritual Strike: Kuwabara extends his Spirit Sword and uses his advanced Spirit Awareness to manipulate the weapon's flexibility so that it exhibits a type of tracking feature in order to hit its target. He first uses this attack on Rinku during the Dark Tournament.
Rei Shuriken

Kuwabara's Spirit Sword Shards

  • Spirit Sword Shards (霊手裏剣, Rei Shuriken, translates as Spirit Throwing Knives): This is a technique where Kuwabara produces small bolts of energy from his hands, similar to shuriken, and shoots the smaller spirit blades at the opponent. This can be considered Kuwabara's analogue of the Spirit Shotgun, since it is a multiple projectile attack, and weaker than the Spirit Sword.
  • During the Poltergeist Movie, Kuwabara uses an attack in which he summons all his Spirit Energy to form a giant sword resembling a large column of Spirit Energy which he then strikes his opponent with. This is similar to Yusuke's Spirit Gun Mega as it is all of his remaining spirit energy focused into one final attack, and leaves him drained of spirit energy, causing him to resort to his fists after using it.
  • Energy Blade Storm is used in Yu Yu Hakusho: Tournament Tactics. It is a long ranged attack where Kuwabara fires multiple orange spirit blasts at his enemy. It may be another name for his Spirit Sword Shards or is based off of it.
Tameshi No Ken

Kuwabara's Trial Sword

  • Trial Sword (試しの剣, Tameshi No Ken, translates as Sword of Trials; The Trial Sword in the English Dub): While preparing for the finals of the Dark Tournament, Suzuka gives him the sword handle that Shishiwakamaru used; though, Suzuka explains, it will absorb Kuwabara's energy and turn into a form unique to him. With some practice, he is able to create a massive prismatic blade, of pure Spirit Energy, which also generates a unique, almost-electrical, aura that crackles around his entire body and improve both his offense and defense.
Kyodai Reikibō

Kuwabara's Spirit Flyswatter

  • Kuwabara is also able to make the blade change shape as well, turning it into what he calls the Spirit Flyswatter (巨大霊気棒, Kyodai Reikibō, translated as Giant Spirit Energy Staff), which he used to pummel and defeat Elder Toguro, who could not be killed because he could shift his vital organs around his body, in the final round of the Dark Tournament. Unnamed in the Viz Manga.
Dimension Sword (2018 OVA) 1

Kuwabara's Dimension Sword

  • Dimension Sword (次元刀, Jigen Tō, translates as Dimension Blade; Dimensional Sword in the Viz translation): An enhanced version of Kuwabara's Spirit Sword that enables him to literally cut through dimensional barriers and psychic territory. An immense energy is concentrated into his spirit sword, improving its strength tremendously. This sword's visual shape greatly resembles a western medieval sword complete with crossguard, is fully streamlined (perhaps to emphasize its perfection level, unlike the jagged appearances sported by the previous forms), and shines in a greenish-yellow hue (contrasting with the previous pure yellow). During the Chapter Black Saga, a period of time in which his spiritual awareness and abilities retreated and did not respond to him, his awareness had sensed the threat of Demon World opening to Human World and had refined themselves in order to manifest itself in this form. Initially, he had trouble summoning it and it would only appear in dire situations, but he eventually could summon it at will. This is a very rare ability that Sensui was looking for during the Chapter Black Saga. Kuwabara first acquired this ability during his battle with Seaman, but wasn't able to manifest it at will until his final battle against Sensui. The Dimension Sword is also hinted at being the ultimate offensive power; as it can cleave space, it can theoretically cut through anything. This is supported by the fact that, while Sensui had no problems receiving any of Hiei's or Kurama's attacks, he actively had to avoid any attacks from Kuwabara's Dimension Sword, even though he was protected by his Defensive Sacred Energy Armor.
Halve

Kuwabara halving distances

  • In the manga, Kuwabara is seen using the Dimension Sword to halve distances, effectively making a shortcut in order to stop a terrorist attack on the Spirit World, suggesting an ability to generate a space-time tear as a type of wormhole. It also appears to be able to seal itself up afterwards, suggesting that this technique does not scar reality.
Spirit kick

Spirit Kick.

  • Spirit Kick: Along with Yusuke, he is seen surrounding his foot with energy to strengthen his kicks to knock out the Third Ogre. In the manga it is just a regular kick, and Gokumonki was just weak. This was carried off into the GBA game as his counterpart to Yusuke's Spirit Punch.
Spirit transfer

Spirit Transfer.

  • Spirit Transfusion: Kuwabara is skilled at manipulating his spirit energy. After Yusuke defeats Suzaku at the end of the Four Saint Beasts arc, Kuwabara transfers some of his spirit energy into his badly beaten friend's body so that he doesn't die, being able to transfer such a large amount that Kuwabara was knocked out as well. He also exhibits the ability to reabsorb small amounts of spirit energy released in maintaining his Spirit Sword after his battle with Byakko.

Movie-exclusive Techniques

Giant Spirit Sword YYH

Kuwabara's "Giant" Spirit word.

  • Giant Spirit Sword: After being injured in his battle with Majari, Kuwabara summoned all of his Spirit Energy to form a giant sword resembling a large column of Spirit Energy to strike Majari.

Character Relationships

Trivia

Kuwabara guy ep40 (DBGT) 1

Kuwabara-like guy in Episode 40 of Dragon Ball GT.

  • His family name, Kuwabara, means "mulberry field". According to Chinese legend, mulberry trees cannot be struck by lightning. Saying "kuwabara" twice is supposed to ward off lightning bolts. It is also sometimes spoken as a means of warding off ghosts in Japan.
  • His name, Kazuma, means peace and truth.[2]
  • In both the Japanese and English dub versions of the anime, Kuwabara's Spirit Sword, when activated, has a similar sound effect to the lightsaber weapon of the Star Wars franchise. This also happens in the live-action series.
  • Togashi came up with the character's name by combining the names of two professional baseball players. Coincidentally, a few baseball references were used in the series as well for Kuwabara. The manga version of the Genkai Tournament had Kuwabara wear street clothes, with a baseball jersey, as opposed to the anime where he wore his school uniform. Also Kuwabara had used his sword as a baseball bat on two occasions.
  • Kuwabara is the only member of Team Urameshi to participate in every round of the Dark Tournament.
  • Mari Kitayama, a lead character designer for the anime adaptation, has stated that she considers Kuwabara to be the most difficult character to design[8].
  • Kuwabara's birthday is sometime around February 27.
  • In the commentary, Christopher Sabat makes fun of Kuwabara's absence in the majority of last season by claiming Kuwabara left due to the growing insanity around him saying (in the Kuwabara voice) "This is weird, I'm taking off" and "When life gets tough, don't be in the last saga!"
  • A lookalike of Kuwabara makes a cameo appearance in Dragon Ball GT and is also voiced in the same manner by Christopher Sabat.
  • In one episode of Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-Chan, a guy just like Kuwabara is in a bathroom while Dokuro-Chan was trying to find Sakura-Kun.
  • Kuwabara is the only one of the four main characters of Team Urameshi that never killed a demon that was named.
  • Kuwabara has yellow reiki, except when using the Dimensional Sword, which shows a greenish-yellow reiki. In the live-action series, his reiki is light blue instead of yellow.
  • Most of Kuwabara's opponents who fought against him survived their fights.
  • He is the only member of the four main protagonists to be entirely human.
  • Okuyasu Nijimura from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure bears resemblance to Kuwabara, along with sharing some character traits.
  • One of the biker trio who appears sporadically in Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni bears a resemblance to Kuwabara with the same hairstyle. The character is voiced in English by Kyle Hebert, who also portrays Kuwabara's gang member Okubo.
  • The kanji on the back of his jacket translates to "Health/Safety Comes First". While those on his fighting headband of love translates to "Yukina's Life".
  • Kuwabara is the only one of the four main characters who is unaware that Yukina is the sister of Hiei.
  • In Kuwabara's room, a poster for Oingo Boingo can be seen; although its detail is simple and basic, the skulls that adorn it may reference one of their hit albums and singles, "Dead Man's Party".

English version

  • As the movies are produced by different English companies for a U.S. release, there are a couple slight edits to Kuwabara in those versions.
    • When the second YuYu Hakusho movie was subtitled, and then later dubbed, Kuwabara's family name was changed to Kuwahara because that was a direct transliteration of the kanji that made up his family name.
    • In the original Japanese and English dub, Kuwabara prefers to address Yusuke as Urameshi. However, in the English dubs of both movies, he always addresses Yusuke by his given name.

References

  1. Yu Yu Hakusho manga; Chapter 1
  2. Wikipedia.Org List of YuYu Hakusho characters, Kuwabara

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Members: Yusuke Urameshi | Kazuma Kuwabara | Kurama | Hiei | Koenma | Genkai
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