Kurama (YuYu Hakusho)

Kurama
YuYu Hakusho character
Kurama as illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi
First appearance	YuYu Hakusho manga chapter 20: "The Deadly Trio!!"
Created by	Yoshihiro Togashi
Portrayed by	Jun Shison
Voiced by	Japanese Megumi Ogata (human) Shigeru Nakahara (demon) English John Burgmeier (Funimation dub) Candice Moore (Animax Asia dub) Chris Orbach (Central Park Media dub) David Hayter (Anime Works dub)
In-universe information
Alias	Shuichi Minamino (human name)
Family	List Unnamed father (deceased) Shiori Hatanaka (mother) Kazuya Hatanaka (stepfather) Shuichi Hatanaka (stepbrother)

Kurama (Japanese: 蔵（くら）馬（ま）, /ˈkuːrɑːmɑː/ KOO-rah-mah) is a fictional character from the manga YuYu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi. A Fox Demon (妖狐, Yōko) reborn as the human Shuichi Minamino (南野 秀一, Minamino Shūichi) in modern life,^[ch. 21] he is introduced as a thief who stole a supernatural mirror to save his dying mother from death. Although Kurama is initially portrayed as a villain, he becomes a supporting character to aid the protagonist Yusuke Urameshi in the next arc. Across his fights are revealed events from his past life as a demon, into which he becomes able to transform for a limited time. The character has also appeared in the anime adaptation, the two movies, and other related works.

Kurama was modeled after a friend that Togashi found interesting. Already during his introduction Togashi planned to have him become an ally to the main characters despite being a villain. As the next arcs, which primarily relieve on action, Kurama became a prominent fighter much to Togashi's pressure since he was not used to writing fighting series. He was voiced by Megumi Ogata in Japanese and Shigeru Nakahara in his demon persona. Several voice actors have voiced Kurama in English. The character was well received by the media often due to his sex appeal and prominent role in the series as a supporting character. Ogata's performance was also the subject of positive response despite early negative backlash by viewers of the anime.