Touya (凍矢 Tōya?) is a former member of Team Mashoutsukai and now an ally of Yusuke Urameshi.
Appearance[]
Fitting with his power over ice, Touya has slicked-back bluish-purple hair in a turbanesque shape, with four jade color strands jutting downwards on the left side of his face. He is short of stature but mature with his facial expression, head up straight with composure and with pointy eyelids and low, angular blue eye-brows, giving the impression that he is always keeping his sight on a certain object. He wears a long-sleeve fishnet undershirt and over it a dark blue shirt with lighter blue pants. In his first appearance in the Dark Tournament, he wears a one-shouldered white tunic with a lavender gem on the shoulder, and his purple belt is also decorated with a lavender gem. His shinobi robe is black with a pointy hood that is decorated with a green cross. In the Saga of the Three Kings, he's abandoned the white tunic and the gems, which could signify that he's no longer employed as a shinobi. In the glimpses of his training under Genkai, he is seen wearing a form-fitting white shirt.
Personality[]
While fighting Kurama, he was shown as a very stoic and merciless fighter, as he attacked him despite him being under Gama's spell. He also seemed to be rather arrogant, claiming to win every last one of his fights against his opponents. This cocky behavior seemed to derive from his compassion, noticeable as he swore to defeat Kurama as to avenge Gama's death. Touya displayed a calm exterior when he was fighting, being intelligent enough as to not underestimate his enemy, even if they happened to be handicapped. He attacks with the same level of strategy as his opponent, always thinking of what the opponent might plan next.
Touya and Jin's friendship.
It is assumed that Jin and Touya were already friends because they are rarely seen separated from each other's company. They are fellow Shinobi, but it is never openly stated that they are friends. It is stated by Jin during a short conversation with Team Urameshi that Touya is a prodigy amongst prodigies. Touya has a more rocky relationship with team leader, Risho, as he berates him for cheating in the tournament, but Risho silences him by backhanding him with a fully rock covered fist. Touya respects Kurama, after Kurama chooses to save his life, and agrees to join Kurama's team of demons for the sake of the stability of the Demon World.
Despite his social flaws, Touya appeared to hide a much more profound and philosophical side. When Kurama asks Touya as to what his shinobi clan would do should they obtain the island (and eventually spread their reach over the entire human world), he merely and quite metaphorically stated that his ninja clan would obtain "the light". This seemed to reference the fact that his clan did not possess a certain degree of freedom. As the ninjas had been hiding in the shadows for so long, they wished to finally be acknowledged and spread their influence. During the events of the Three Kings Saga, Touya admits to Kurama that through fighting Team Urameshi he feels that he has become freed to believe what he wanted and wants to continue to fight to the fullest, to the point that he could prove himself of his existence. In a way, he has finally obtained the light.
Synopsis[]
Dark Tournament Saga[]
Touya's Shinobi Robes.
Fighting on the side of Team Mashoutsukai, Touya was chosen to fight Kurama after his near defeat against Gama. In order to steal some time until the blood seals wore off, Kurama asks Touya about Team Mashoutsukai's intentions. Touya takes that time to explain that the shinobi clan had planned on obtaining Hanging Neck Island as a base of operations. Their main goal was freedom. After he explains his motives, Touya immediately started the fight and lashed out towards Kurama.
Touya prepares to finish off Kurama
During the match, Kurama mostly ran around the stadium, waiting for the energy binding seal that was placed on him to wear off. Hiei, while watching the fight, comments that Touya is probably the foremost master in controlling ice, and that even Kurama will have a hard time defeating him. Continuing to attack, Touya seems to have the upper hand; he shot multiple times with his ice bullets and had planned to end the fight by impaling Kurama on his ice crafted sword. However, Kurama plants the death seed within the wound he got from deliberately being slashed across the arm by Touya. When the plant sprouted, it stabbed Touya directly through the chest and held his sword, preventing the final blow which did not kill the ice apparition. As Touya was left wounded and lying on the ground, an unconscious Kurama was declared the winner.
Touya crawled off the arena and remained silent for the rest of the Masho vs. Urameshi fights, until it was declared that Yusuke's match against Jin was declared a draw. Touya confronts Team Mashoutsukai's leader, Risho, whom he claimed had cheated by allowing his manager to influence the call of the match, and as such had broken the ninja's code of honor, and mocked Gama's sacrifice. Risho simply responds that he had done everything in his power in order to achieve their team's chance at victory, while Touya could not handle the responsibility. After Touya questioned his honor again, Risho proceeded to backhand him away from his side, calling him a mere grunt.
After Team Mashoutsukai had lost the match against Team Urameshi, they where left with only three surviving members, Touya, Jin and Risho. As such, Touya and Jin stood together as a two man team, while Risho remained alone and in the sick room during the remainder of the tournament, hinting out that the three warriors had abolished their former ninja clan. Touya, alongside Jin, seemed to have befriended former Team Rokuyukai members Chu and Rinku. The four of them would rescue Keiko and an unconscious Yusuke Urameshi from a trio of low class demons during the time of the Urameshi Team vs. Uraotogi Team.
During the Dark Tournament finals, Touya and Jin viewed the fight between Yusuke and the Younger Toguro brother. As Toguro began absorbing the souls of the audience in order to fuel his inhuman strength, Jin protects Touya by means of a wind barrier. After Toguro's death at the hands of Yusuke, Sakyo activates the stadium's self destruct sequence, forcing Touya and Jin to flee the tournament. The former ninjas expressed their desire to battle Urameshi's group in the future tournament. They are not seen afterwards, until the last saga.
Three Kings Saga[]
Touya's match against Kujou.
Touya, along with Jin, Shishiwakamaru, Chu, Rinku and Suzuki trained with Genkai and are now at the upper A-class (anime)/middle S Class level. Together, they travel to Makai with Kurama, to join Yomi's side in the tournament. One by one his friends lose, and their hopes rest on Touya, until they switched from Yomi's side to Yusuke's side from now on. However, in the anime, he loses his battle to Kujou, one of Raizen's old friends, due to a loss of energy. In the manga he wasn't paired in the same block as Kujou, yet still lost at some point in the tournament. After the tournament, he said goodbye to Urameshi and Kurama alongside the rest of Yusuke's allies and Kurama's demons as they train for the next tournament.
Epilogue[]
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Shishiwakamaru, Jin, Suzuki and Touya's final appearance in All or Nothing special.
Both in the final chapter of the manga and in the Two Shots / All or Nothing 2018 OVA, Touya is seen in some part of Demon World after the events of the Three Kings Saga. He appears accompanied by Jin, Suzuki, and Shishiwakamaru. He sneezes as it is revealed that Koto has a crush on him (this is based on a Japanese superstition that you sneeze when someone talks about you behind your back). In the Korean translation, due to different superstitions, Touya simply shows annoyance.
Powers and Abilities[]
Fighting Style[]
- Defensive / Deadly Sniper: Touya understands the importance of making the battlefield work in his favor, and thus covers the battlefield in ice before he begins to fight, giving him an elemental advantage while at the same making it difficult for his opponent to maneuver around the frozen terrain. In the beginning, Touya tends to strike his opponent with quick projectiles from afar, ensuring as much damage as possible, while he himself is relatively safe. Once he believes his enemy is too weak to counter, he will close in on them and impale them with a finishing move. After his training with Genkai, he uses his ice to drain energy, giving him another method to weaken his foes before finishing them. True to his fighting style, his main weakness is his low stamina: one attack from Kurama felled him, and he lost to Kujou from simple, sudden exhaustion. It appears that using the ice sword tires him out more than the shards of winter, which is why he uses the shards more, until he's desperate to end a fight.
Abilities[]
- Flight: a special ability where the user manipulates their Energy so that they can levitate or fly. During his training with Genkai, he, along his comrades, demonstrated limited levitation by surrounding his body with Demon Energy.
Known Techniques/Moves[]
Touya's Frozen Hell
- Cursed Ice Use (呪氷使, Ju Hyō Tsuka): Also known as Frozen Hell (極寒地獄, Gokkan Jigoku) and Lethal Frigid Attack, this technique freezes water vapor into ice. He uses this to create a barrier of ice, providing the opponent with fewer options for escape. He extends his aura to freeze surrounding areas. Weaker demons are instantly frozen, giving him an easy win in the Makai tournament. The range of this move increases as he moves from upper C class to middle S class, as seen when Touya casually freezes the island sized Okenenju Tree. Before, in the Dark Tournament, he could only freeze the arena.
Touya's Shards of Winter
- Shards of Winter (魔笛霰弾射, Ma Teki Sandan Sha, translated as Magic Flute Sleet Bullet Shoot): By surrounding his palm with his demon energy and blowing into it, much like blowing into a flute, Touya freezes the water molecules in the air into sharp crystals and sends them slicing at high speeds towards his opponents.
- There's a pun in this technique name, because "sandan", when written as (散弾), means "buckshot" and the fact that when this technique is used, it acts much like a shotgun blast.
Touya's Ice Blade
- Ice Cutlass (呪氷剣, Ju Hyō Ken, literally translated as Cursed Ice Sword): By freezing the water molecules around his palm, Touya creates a sword composed entirely of ice. It was shown to be strong enough to crush rocks. Unnamed in the English dub (described by Koto as a "sword of ice"), but is called as such in the card game. His swordsmanship is likely above Kuwabara's, but below Hiei's.
Anime-Only Techniques[]
- Ice Absorption: The true name of this attack is never given, but it is an enhancement to his frozen hell technique. He learns it during his training with Genkai. In this attack, Touya causes the opponent to be surrounded by ice. The ice then freezes parts of their body and their energy is then sucked from them. Moreover, they are rendered partially/fully immobile and open from an attack from Touya. He uses this attack in the Demon World Tournament, against Kujou, though Kujou actually allow himself to be caught. His energy is willfully drained to the point that his energy level is just above Touya's. As useful as this attack is, breaking out is possible if Touya's enemy has a higher energy level than him, as shown by Kujou, even though he only had slightly more energy than Touya, after the attack.
Video Game Techniques[]
- In Tournament Tactics, Touya can strike with two ice blades (Ice Driver), impale his foes with giant ice spires from the ground (Cold Spires), or summon icicles to attack from above (Icicle Falls).
- In YYH and YYH3: Tokubetsuhen, for the SNES, he can shoot an ice cyclone on the ground, which freezes his opponent- Freeze Charm Running Calamity Wave. He also has an ice shield which is based on Cursed Ice Use. that can shoot out his youki, in pure or solid form- Freeze Charm Light Crystal Wall,
Relationships[]
Jin: The only member of Touya's team to which he seems to have any personal attachment is Jin. This is likely because both have a true respect for honor and for those they fight against. The two remain friends even after their team dissolves and their ninja sect is disbanded.
Kurama: Initially Touya viewed Kurama as a worthy but deadly foe, and asked Kurama to kill him when he was defeated, but Kurama refused, which had a profound effect on Touya. As his battle and conversation with Kurama is what changed him and his outlook on life, Touya holds tremendous respect for Kurama, which carries over to the rest of Team Urameshi as well. Kurama was the one Touya confided his new philosophy of life to, fighting to the fullest so he can prove himself of his existence, showing the level of trust between them.
Yusuke: During Team Uraotogi and Team Urameshi's match, Touya, alongside Chu, Jin and Rinku were saving Keiko and an unconscious Yusuke from a trio of demons. In the finals of the Dark Tournament during the Dark Tournament Saga, Touya, alongside Chu, Rinku and Jin (also M1, M2 and M3 were also supporting Yusuke as well. Suzuki were also supporting Urameshi, but weren't seen in the episode where the Tournament Stadium was destroyed.) came to watch the last match of Team Urameshi vs. Team Toguro as supporters of Yusuke and Team Urameshi while Urameshi fights Younger Toguro. In the Saga of the Three Kings, Touya, along with the others were later seen training under Genkai while Yusuke prepares for the Makai Tournament. During the Makai Tournament arc, he enters the tournament, but didn't pass the first round after the preliminaries where he lost against Kujou, a former friend of Raizen who allied and sided with Yusuke. After the tournament, he, Chu, Rinku, Jin, Shishi and Suzuki said goodbye to both Kurama and Yusuke as they train for the second Makai Tournament, hoping to beat Yusuke and his team the next time they meet.
Koto: Admits to having a crush on Touya in the manga.
Trivia[]
- The kanji reading for Touya's name: 凍矢 translate to "frozen arrow", fitting his element and his determination.
- During the Makai/Demon World Tournament, Touya has a Rei-Ki of 123,000.
- Touya's personality and abilities are similar to Toran from Inuyasha.
- He is called Torio in the Filipino adaptation.
- Despite not having met or spoken with Yusuke at all (like Rinku, Suzuki, Shishiwakamaru, M1, M2, Saizou, Kujou, Shu, Souketsu, Natsume, Tetsuzan, Den-Hou) until the Makai Tournament arc of the Saga of the Three Kings, Touya was loyal and respectful to Yusuke and was on Urameshi's side every now and then.
Quotes[]
Dialogue[]
Kurama: “Please, answer me one thing first; Why? The Shinobi have always dealt with their affairs in secret, why expose yourselves now?”
Touya: “For light.”
Kurama: “Explain.”
Touya: “It’s simple. Even the strongest tree would die if left in the dark. I find that to be the best way to describe us. A giant oak crashing through a dark soil bringing order to an otherwise chaotic land. The Shinobi have done their job for centuries— and done it well. But in recent years, we have caught glimpses of the outside world and asked; Why not us? Have we not earned the privilege others take for free? We are entering a new era, and we will begin with the land of our own; this island. It has already been arranged that if we win this tournament, hanging neck island will be our prize. And once this blinding light pours over us all, like branches, we will cover the world.” -Episode 38
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| e v | Team Masho | |
| Members: | Jin | Touya | Bakken | Risho | Gama | |