Genkai

Genkai (幻海) is a fictional character in the anime and manga series YuYu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi. Her seiyū is provided by Hisako Kyōda (Older), Megumi Hayashibara (Younger). Her English voice actors are Linda Young (FUNimation) and Caryl Marder (US Manga Corps).


Genkai first appears when she holds a tournament to decide who would be her successor. Yusuke Urameshi wins and defeats the demon, Rando. She trains Yusuke in the Spirit Light Wave Fist (Reikō Hadō Ken) aka the Spirit Wave in the English dub and coaches him to the extreme. Though she may appears nasty towards Yusuke and the others, she truly cares about all of them, and tries to lead them down the right road.

In the past, she was one of the most powerful human fighters ever to be known in both Ningenkai (Human Realm) and Makai (Demon Realm), alongside with her fighting partner Younger Toguro. However, Toguro became depressed and changed after a yōkai named Kairen (there are alternate spellings between the English and Japanese versions) killed all of his students that he taught at his dojo. When he was invited to the Dark Tournament by Kairen, he and Genkai along with some others fought and won. His wish was to be given a powerful body, the body of a yōkai. Because of this, Genkai became angry and her wish was simply never to be involved in the tournament again.

She left to her own temple, and did not speak to Toguro until he pushed her apprentice Yusuke into the Dark Tournament. But due to her reputation she chooses to go in disguise to avoid becoming a target for the yōkai at the Tournament. During the second round Genkai recognized the three human fighters as she is an acquaintance of their master and helped free them from Dr. Ichigaki's control. Later Genkai had Yusuke come with her to a secluded cave and revealed that she was the masked fighter all along. Knowing that Yusuke was still not strong enough to defeat Toguro and that she was too old to defeat him, Genkai was willing to risk Yusuke's life by transferring most of her Reiki through the Reiko Gyoku into him so he could become strong enough to face Toguro.

Genkai left to the semifinals and was able to defeat Shishiwakamaru and Suzuki advancing Team Urameshi to the finals. After that she confronts Younger Toguro and he kills her, but is able to explain to Yusuke her connection to Younger Toguro and warns him not to follow the same path as Toguro. During Yusuke's battle against Younger Toguro she briefly possessed Yusuke's Reikaiju beast(or Spirit Beast in the English version) Pu and urged Toguro to kill one of Yusuke's friends to draw his true power. After the battle was over, Genkai briefly appeared to Younger Toguro in her younger form to try to convince him of not going to the Darkest Hell (Limbo in the English version) for his final destination. After that she was resurrected due to Yusuke's wish of wanting to see her again.

For the remainder of the series Genkai played a supporting role. First in the Chapter Black saga where three high school students, Asato Kido, Yuu Kaito, and Yanagisawa Mitsunari appeared before her with strange powers. Knowing that Yusuke was going to get involved in this mission, Genkai arranges for the three boys to kidnap Yusuke and test his friends in the hopes of training them to the idea that they couldn't jump into this new mission irrationally because they didn't know who their new enemies were or what powers they had. After that Genkai, Kaito, Kido, and Yanagisawa assist the group in finding the mastermind Shinobu Sensui. At the end of the saga, when Genkai and Yusuke were saying farewell to Kaito, Kido, and Yanagisawa, Genkai advised them never to use their powers again otherwise they could never live a normal life in the Human Realm.

During the Three Kings saga when Yusuke was going through some personal problems, Genkai directed him to Sutou Kuroko, a former Spirit Realm Detective in hopes of her being able to talk with him and then had everyone gather at Genkai's temple where he said his goodbyes to Genkai and everyone else before leaving for the Demon Realm. Six months later, Kurama had Genkai aid him by having her train Rinku, Chu, Touya, Jin, Shishiwakmaru, and Suzuka for six months in hopes of fulfilling his promise to Yomi of delivering six powerful A class fighters. In the final episode Genkai called everyone to her temple and announced her decision that should anything happen to her then Yusuke, Kazuma Kuwabara, Shizuru Kuwabara, Yukina, Keiko Yukimura, Kurama, Botan, and Koenma would inherit her temple as her dream was to have it become a home for any yōkai that chose to live peacefully in the Human Realm.

Genkai has also appeared in the movie Yu Yu Hakusho: Poltergeist Report, where her temple was used as a base for Team Urameshi during the Netherworlds invasion.

One of Genkai's special powers is when she manipulates Reiki to a certain extent, Genkai can temporarily revert to the state of a twenty year old woman. This was explained by Toguro in Episode 48 that she automatically shifts to the form of the time in her life when the Genkai was at the peak of their power.

Although Genkai is of advanced age, and her physical and spiritual strength had gone down, she is still a fighter to be respected and feared, Even after she gave up most of her power to Yusuke, she still is capable of using some Reiki notably during the Chapter Black saga in Episode 79 when she healed the Botan and Shizuru's injuries after the attack on Yusuke's apartment by Sensui.



Techniques

Like Yusuke, Genkai is also capable of using the Rei Gun and Rei Kō Ha techniques (although she only uses them during the Dark Tournament Saga), here is a listing of her exclusive attacks.

* Shuu no Ken (修の拳, translated as Fist of Mastery) or Spirit Wave in the English Dub: During the second round of the Dark Tournament against Team Ichigaki, knowing that M1, M2, and M3 were under Dr. Ichigaki's control Genkai used this baptism technique to free them. If they were truly evil then this technique would have killed them, but since they had good hearts but were under an evil influence this technique was able to destroy the Ichigaki's blood-pumping humps (Verrucae in the English Dub) without killing them. Though this is a powerful technique it requires of lot of Reiki to be able to use it.

* Reikou Gyoku (霊光玉, translated as Spirit Light Sphere) or Spirit Wave Orb in the English Dub: When Genkai was planning to transfer most of her Reiki into Yusuke, she compressed it into this orb to do so. Genkai originally wanted to wait ten years before it was completely safe for Yusuke to absorb it, but with the Dark Tournament finals approaching she had little choice. It was only because of Yusuke's determination to protect Puu from a cave in that enabled for him to absorb the Reiko Gyoku into his body.

* Reikou Kyou HanShou (霊光鏡反衝, translated as Spirit Light Mirror Counter-Strike) or Spirit Reflection Blast in the English Dub: Used against Shishiwakamaru during the Team Uratogi match. This is where Genkai can absorb the power of any ki that is used against her and channel it back at the attacker though it puts a considerable strain on her. Knowing that she needed to conserve her Reiki for when she would fight Toguro, Genkai is able to absorb Shishiwakamaru's yōki through his sword and rechannel in a blast allowing her to defeat Shishiwakmaru and temporarily revert back to her younger form

* Juryoujou Shuu no Yu (呪霊錠 修の行, translated as Spell of Spirit Shackles Master Training) or Spirit Cuffs in the English Dub: Just before passing on the Reiko Gyoku to Yusuke, Genkai uses this technique as an additional training boost to help improve Yusuke's Reiki. It seals Yusuke's Reiki within his body and is incapable of moving without combining his Reiki and physical strength. The chant to remove them is Ante (Avitus in the English Dub). Once they are removed it allows for Yusuke to use be able to use all the Reiki in his body.

* Rei Kō Dan (霊光弾, translated as Spirit Light Bullet) or more commonly known as the Spirit Wave in the English Dub, Aura Blast in the English manga. Used a few times in the anime, more memorable when two angered wannabes tried to force Genkai to take them as students, after failing her special first test. Once again before the finals of the Dark Tournament, against Toguro before he killed her. It was not as powerful as her originals due to having lost the majority of her reiki when she gave Yusuke the "Orb". Focusing all of one's reiki throughout their body, into their preferred fist, in a pose, before attacking. The Rei Kō Dan can be used as either a close combat punch, or fired off as a powerful cannon-like version of the Rei Gan; either way very powerful. However, its power is stronger if used at point-blank range as a punch; as the power diminishes slightly over the distance it travels. It is Genkai's ultimate and secret technique, the one she most famous for, and is the foundation of her entire style. At first, Genkai did not want to teach Yusuke this technique, even after learning all others; the reason being is that it takes a greater toll on his body than the Rei Gun. However, he proved himself worthy in his training before the Dark Tournament, which allowed him to use against Jin, the Wind Master later on in the saga.