Team Uraotogi (裏御伽, literally translated as Reverse Bedtime Stories, translated as Team Fractured Fairy Tales or Myth Begotten Manglers by VIZ) are a group of five demons who participate in the Dark Tournament and fight against Team Urameshi during the event's semi-finals.
Characteristics[]
This team was founded by its captain, Suzuki, in order for him to participate in the Dark Tournament where, despite his masquerade as the aspiring "Beautiful Suzuki," his true goal seems to be to defeat Toguro in single combat, a goal which, if realized, would serve to redeem his humiliating defeat some years prior. He intended to accumulate a vast amount of fame and loyal followers. He would then use them in order to build up his reputation as the greatest fighter of all time, and eventually, to proclaim himself as a deity to the entire world; he believed achieving this status would support his becoming an enigmatic "legend eternitus", postmortem. Aside from Suzuki, and Shishiwakamaru to an extent, the team's other members were nothing more than second hand fighters and lower level demons, with most of their powers originating from the magical items that Suzuki had specially crafted for each of them.
While participating in the tournament, four of the team's members (Makintaro, Kuro Momotaro, Ura Urashima and Shishiwakamaru) were using perverted aliases and corrupted appearances of famous, Japanese fairy tale characters. Their attacks and martial arts were mimicking scenes from the stories in question.
Each member of the team, unlike the other teams that Team Urameshi faced, all shared the same traits: arrogance, narcissism, and a general disregard for their teammates. Examples of this include the instance when Kuro Momotaro insulted and disrespected Makintaro's corpse and also when Shishiwakamaru kills Ura Urashima without hesitation or remorse, in order to prevent him from revealing the secret source of their team's powers. The easy defeats of the much weaker teams in swift matches in the tournament's early rounds made them overconfident enough to view Team Urameshi and Team Toguro as stepping stones towards their ambitions; however, the latter looked down on them for their inferior power and arrogant attitudes. This overestimation of their own abilities causes them to lose easily to their opponents before they could even realize it (as seen with Makintaro and Kuro Momotaro, although the latter put up more of a fight before going down), be ruined by their devices and forced to beg for mercy (Ura Urashima), or be humiliated for their hubris of egotism (Shishiwakamaru and Suzuki) by a more experienced adversary. Kuwabara is the only exception to this pattern, as he easily falls into their traps again and again, unable to see through even the simplest of ruses put forth by the team.
Members[]
Makintaro (Kintaro = Golden Boy)[]
The largest and tallest member of Team Uraotogi, Makintaro fights by mutating one of his hands into a battle-axe, capable of slicing through flesh like a knife through butter. He is also the weakest member of the team due in large part to his incredible naïvety, which leads him to constantly overestimate himself and underestimate his opponents.
Kuro Momotaro (Momotaro = Peach Boy)[]
The second largest member of the team, Kuro Momotaro intentionally exposes his body to small doses of his opponent's attacks, in order to develop immunity to the attacks in question through his ability to memorize the pain caused by injury. He uses magical dumplings, called Steaming Spheres, in order to further augment his immunity and make himself impervious to any damage caused by his adversaries' offense.
Ura Urashima (Urashima Taro)[]
Despicable and cunning, Ura Urashima uses his fishing pole as a whip-like weapon and a force-field generator in order to distract his opponents attention. Once trapped in the seemingly unbreakable barrier, Ura releases the rejuvenating mist of the Idunn Box, in order to transform his opponents' bodies into a state from an earlier stage of their lives (ideally early childhood/ infancy), rendering them incapable of fighting effectively. As seen in his fight in the Dark Tournament, he uses his fishing rod as a whip to slay his adversaries. Ura Urashima also possesses telepathic powers.
Shishiwakamaru (Ushiwakamaru)[]
The poster boy of the team, Shishiwakamaru is very popular among the demon ladies. He utilizes two items while in combat: a magical, semi-transparent blanket that can teleport Shishi's adversaries anywhere he desires, and an ancient demonic sword which can summon the restless spirits and ghosts of the dead. These spirits can either be used as a form of attack or as a defensive system.
Suzuki / Onji[]
A master of disguise, Suzuki possesses a bizarre type of shapeshifting ability, that manifests itself as a fake skin over a second layer of jet-black skin, and a cloud of purple smoke that reverts him back into his original youthful appearance. He is also an exceptional weapon crafter, who designed all of the magical items that gave his teammates their spiritual powers and techniques. In addition, he himself is able to replicate some of the powers that the weapons had, such as the teleportation ability of the Cape of No Return. Although he wasn't a real fighter, Suzuki does have a well-built body structure, a small degree of super speed and a few personal attack formations, but other than that he is quickly made to look like a talentless hack when facing off with a master martial artist, such as Genkai.
Matches[]
vs. Team Gokai Six[]
Kuro Momotaro vs. Gokai 1 - Win
Makintaro vs. Gokai 2 - Win
Onji vs. Gokai 3 - Win
Final Result: Win
vs. Team Urameshi[]
Makintaro vs. Hiei - Loss
Kuro Momotaro vs. Hiei - Loss
Ura Urashima vs. Kurama - Loss
Shishiwakamaru vs. Kuwabara - Win
Shishiwakamaru vs. Genkai - Loss
Onji vs. Kuwabara - Win
Beautiful Suzuki vs. Genkai - Loss
Final Result: Loss
Synopsis[]
History[]
Suzuki (Suzuka in the English dub), a master creator of battle items, had assembled a team of demon fighters in order to participate in the upcoming Dark Tournament, hoping to prove his superiority over the Younger Toguro brother. This ambition was merely an act of vengeance; Suzuki, who back then called himself Tanaka had previously encountered Toguro during his childhood, where Toguro had easily defeated and humiliated Suzuki using only three percent of his strength. Devastated after Toguro claimed that Suzuki was not worth killing, the young craftsman began his battle strategy. He only trained his body superficially, in order to simply appear as if he was a body builder. And as a young adult, Suzuki gathered four team members, Shishiwakamaru, a young and charismatic demon, as well as Makintaro, Kuro Momotaro and Ura Urashima, all lower-class demons. Suzuki designed magical weapons and items which when used properly, augmented the strength and skill of each of these warriors, and then intentionally fashioned for each of them an appearance and a name that parodied famous Japanese fairy tales and folklore. He names his team "Uraotogi" as a means of pointing out that they represented the direct opposite of fairy tale heroes, and that Suzuki planned on building up a legend about himself.
Sometime after Toguro defeating him and prior to his preparations for the Dark Tournament, Suzuki developed an even greater ego than he had when he was a child, becoming egocentric and developing both a god complex and a superiority complex.
Dark Tournament Saga[]
Throughout the tournament, Suzuki disguises himself as a elderly veteran, fighting and going by the alias of Onji. He claims, at the time of his fight with Genkai, that disguising himself as something he despises so much was a clever way to provide additional motivation to push himself further to achieve victory. Meanwhile, the rest of Team Uraotogi was utilizing Suzuki's battle items, experiencing great success during the primary stages of the tournament, and quickly knocking out opposing teams en route to an appearance in the semi-finals against Team Urameshi.
Team Urameshi, however, proves to be much stronger than Team Uraotogi's previous opponents, despite the absence of two of their fighters, Yusuke and the Masked Fighter. In the first match of the semifinals, Hiei humiliates the massive demon Makintaro by killing him within a minute of the fight's commencement. During the round's second match, Hiei fights with only half of his normal strength, but eventually managed to successfully use the Sword of the Darkness Flame and slay his opponent, Kuro Momotaro. Despite the fact that Kuro Momotaro could heal any wound that had been inflicted upon his body by using the Steaming Spheres, which also gave him unnatural defensive and offensive abilities, he was ultimately unable to deliver any serious blows, with the exception of a large wolf bite across Hiei's upper torso. Nonetheless, he inevitably falls to pieces, burned to death by Hiei.
Looking to put his team on the board, Ura Urashima faces off against Kurama in the third match of the fight. Although he was not as strong or skilled with a whip as Kurama was, Ura Urashima used his fishing pole to create a force-field around the ring, so as to prevent Kurama's escape and limit the size of the battle ground. Using the Idunn Box, Urashima planned on turning Kurama into a baby or even a fetus, but instead managed to revert him even further back, into his extremely powerful Yoko Kurama demon form. With this new power, Kurama easily forced Urashima to reveal the truth about Team Uratogi's origins, but his opponent is killed immediately by Shishiwakamaru in order to protect that secret. The only information given to Kurama was that none of the team's members were actually strong by nature, and that their names were fabricated as a stunt. With Urashima dead, the score became 3-0 in the semifinals. Afterwards, Shishiwakamaru, one of two last living members of Team Uraotogi finally achieved his team's first victory during his match against Kuwabara, whom Shishi transports halfway across the island through a dimensional portal using his Cape of No Return.
Team Uraotogi's success, however, is short-lived, as the Masked Fighter, who recently arrived from administering Yusuke's final test, defeats Shishi without the use of the Spirit Wave Orb, and puts Team Urameshi within one victory of advancing to the finals. However Onji, who was the last and oldest man of Team Uraotogi, proves perhaps to be the toughest of his team, by quickly defeating Kuwabara in the round's sixth match. He teleports him the same way and to the same location as did Shishi. Onji's next opponent is Genkai (without her masked fighter guise), who immediately knows that he is a fraud, and demands for him to reveal his true form. Realizing that he has been exposed, Onji unveils his true form and identity as a young, flamboyant, clown costumed fighter by the name of Suzuki. Supremely overconfident, Suzuki underestimates Genkai, who refused to use her Spirit Energy against him, claiming him to be a fool who doesn't know his place. She then skillfully defeats and even humiliates her arrogant and inferior opponent, pummeling him repeatedly until no one could distinguish his facial features thus destroying Team Uraotogi's chances of ever becoming the Dark Tournament's champions.
Before the tournament's final match, featuring Team Urameshi versus Team Toguro, Suzuki approaches Kurama and Kuwabara, offering them items that would greatly augment their abilities. Kurama was given a magical fruit that turned him back into a younger stage of his life, ultimately reverting him to his original incarnation as Yoko Kurama. Meanwhile, Kuwabara got a magical sword hilt that gave him a greater, and more profound level of control over his materialization abilities. These weapons proved to have been vital assets against Karasu and Elder Toguro, respectively.
During the final rounds of the tournament, both Shishiwakamaru and Suzuki had viewed Yusuke's match against the Younger Toguro brother, but were not seen after Team Toguro's manager, Sakyo, had destroyed the stadium.
Three Kings Saga[]
Although Team Uraotogi was abolished, Shishiwakamaru and Suzuki continued working together and had teamed up with former Dark Tournament participants, Chu, Rinku, Jin and Touya, in order to train under master Genkai. They all raised their Demon Energy levels and eventually became low S-Class demons, eventually joining forces with the third demon king Yomi. This was a short lived alliance however, since Yusuke, now replacing king Raizen, had declared a free-for-all tournament in order to decide the supreme ruler of Demon World.
Although both warriors progressed to the second round, Shishi and Suzuki were defeated. After the tournament had ended, both warriors went of to continue training in hopes that one day they will be able to defeat Yusuke and his group.
Trivia[]
- Team Uraotogi makes a last appearance with all of its members together during the third ending sequence of the anime's credits.
- Team Uraotogi and Team Ichigaki are implied to be the only teams in the final eight to be self-sponsored, with it being likely that Suzuki as Onji is the one who boosted their reputation and powers in order to make it to the finals.
- The members of this team all disguise themselves as parodies/homages of Japanese folk tales and legends, and possess items associated with the aforementioned legends. They claim to be demonic reincarnations of those characters, but are in fact just weaker demons enhanced by Suzuki's weapons. With the exception of Suzuki, who is trying to make his own story - coincidentally, Suzuki's dub name, Suzuka, is the name of a legendary figure in Japanese folk tales, Suzuka Gozen.
- The English dub pronounces Team Uraotogi as Team Yureeyatogi.
- In their semifinals match against Team Urameshi, Team Uraotogi's only victories were against Kuwabara, the weakest Team Urameshi member.
References[]
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e v | Team Uraotogi | |
Members: | Makintaro | Kuro Momotaro | Ura Urashima | Shishiwakamaru | Suzuki |