Younger Toguro (Character)

Younger Toguro

CHARACTER

The younger of the Toguro brothers is a major antagonist in the YuYu Hakusho series.

Overview

Younger Toguro more commonly known as Toguro, was the main antagonist of the Dark Tournament Saga, he served as the leader of both the Apparition Gang and Team Toguro, along side Elder Toguro.He is voiced by Tessho Genda in Japanese and by Dameon Clarke in the English FUNimation dub.

Appearance

Toguro is a tall man, standing easily over nine feet, being so large that his brother can sit on his shoulders and look vastly smaller in comparison. His appearance is remarkably similar to that of a Central-Asian man, bearing a noticeable, yellowish skin color, as well as pointy eyelids. Toguro sports a crew cut, similar to those worn by military service-members and has a long, pointy chin. He is often seen wearing sharp, black sunglasses and an olive green trench coat and matching pants, that help to conceal his Olympic-level muscular physique.

When Toguro releases his demon energy into his muscles, his body becomes greater in size and strength, exponentially gaining the physical strength necessary to lift objects that weigh entire tons. During this transformation, Toguro's body develops a tree branch like mutation on his chest, inevitably leading him to develop bluish-green skin with a tree bark appearance, a humongous muscular structure and a pair of tube-like appendages coming out of his shoulders.

Personality

Throughout the series, Toguro displays a calm, relaxed attitude, hardly ever showing any signs of emotion. His only accentuated facial expressions are present when he is either very happy, usually during an exciting fight, or very angry, against posers and dishonorable people. He mostly speaks plainly and firmly to others, but is never afraid to speak his mind out loud. However, underneath this composed exterior, lies a man with a powerful, self-applying moral code, as well as a personal, and dependable code of honor. Toguro prefers not to take the lives of anyone, unless the job demands it, and usually ends up apologizing for his actions afterwards. He is also very loyal to his employer, as long as he is under contract. But while in the presence of individuals who behave dishonorably, cheat, mock, or otherwise do not follow the rules, he displays a ruthless and highly brutal behavioral pattern. For example, during the time of the tournament's finals, Toguro literally kicks his older brother off the island and into the nearby ocean, after the older sibling had sadistically mocked Genkai for her decisions in life in front of the tournament's entire audience.

Throughout the Dark Tournament, while it seemed that Sakyo was pulling the strings, it is slowly revealed that Toguro was the real one who manipulated the Tournament to his own ends; in order to be killed at full strength by Yusuke. Toguro's desire for death in mortal combat at the hands of a human being is later revealed to be a philosophical and psychological phenomenon, possibly derived from the trauma caused by the deaths of his students, many years prior to the series. The murderer of his students was of course the previous Champion of The Dark Tournament, a demon called Kairen. After killing the demon champion during the next tournament, Toguro wished to become a demon similar to Kairen, so that he would never lose his strength because of aging, and so that he himself would one day get killed in the same manner by another human, as a means of repenting for his vindictive actions.

During his trial in Spirit World, Toguro asks that he be sent to Hell (Limbo in the FUNimation dub.), insisting that he had thought a great deal about his actions and that no other place would be suited for him. However, Koenma directly tells Toguro that his actions were never atrocious enough as to condemn him to an eternal damnation.

Before entering Limbo, Genkai approaches Toguro and talk about his actions in the Dark Tournament, where she reveals that she considers Yusuke as being to closest thing she had to a son. In his own odd way, Toguro also thought the same way and says that he truly cared about Yusuke.

According to Elder Toguro, Genkai and Younger Toguro were also said to have been a couple of very intimate lovers when the latter was still a human. Even though they have severed ties due to the Toguro brothers wishing to become demons after defeating Kairen in the Dark Tournament, with Genkai disgusted by such a request, the Younger Toguro still seemed to harbor feelings for her, despite mocking her old age prior to killing her. This was shown when his brother insulted her death, which resulted in him sending his brother flying off the island with a devastating kick.

Despite his strong sense of honor, the evidence suggests that the more of his demon form's power he shows, the less honorable he becomes, going so far as to kill members of the audience, devouring their souls, simply to maintain his highest demon energy levels. In his faux full-power form, he is prepared to do anything, and even pretends to kill Kuwabara, in order to bring out Yusuke's full potential. This is symbolic of the deepening of his soul's corruption.

History

Fifty years before the start of the series, Toguro, along with his older brother, and Genkai, his "wildcat" of a lover, built a dojo together and had several people attending. However all of this was ruined when a demon named Kairen who was the favored contestant in the Dark Tournament fifty years prior, had massacred and swallowed all of Younger Toguro's pupils and colleagues, forcing Younger Toguro into the Dark Tournament as a "guest". For three months Younger Toguro disappeared, but returned the day before the tournament with a formed team; which included his brother and Genkai.

Younger Toguro and Kairen worked their way to the Final Rounds, and each fought the other, with Younger Toguro coming out as the victor; which greatly resembled Yusuke Urameshi and Younger Toguro's fight. Younger Toguro's mind, however, had been incredibly warped. When given a chosen prize, both he and his brother chose to be demons, while Genkai, out of anger, wished to never be involved in the tournament ever again.

The two of them later enlisted their opponents into their group of followers, under the premise that they will one day have a rematch. Sometime after this, the brothers met Karasu and Bui, whom they had easily defeated. Either before or after this, Karasu and Bui had worked their way into Sakyo's forces.

It is also known that during Toguro's life as a demon warrior, along side his team, he had met the rambunctious, child warrior Tanaka. After defeating his opponent with no more then 3% of his strength, Toguro spared Tanaka's life, referring to him as being spineless and unworthy of being killed by his hands. It was years later that Tanaka had grown up to become Suzuki, leader of Team Uraotogi, and swore to defeat Toguro in a fight. Unfortunately, Suzuki had never made it into the finals, nor did he become strong enough in order to accomplish his goal.

Spirit Detective Saga

When Tarakune kidnapped Yukina, the ice apparition, he hires the Toguro brothers and their demon mercenary group, the Apparition Gang to help make her cry in order to produce the valuable hiruseki stones. Toguro slaps her but with no effect, and she only relented and began to cry when Toguro's older brother had strangled a few of the ice maiden's birds that had befriended her. Before leaving, he tells Yukina that she could make it a lot less painful for herself and simply give up hope.

Later that day, after Yusuke and Kuwabara had successfully defeated all of Tarukane's guards and the entire Apparition Gang,(including their elite unit the Triad), the Toguro brothers served as a last resort. The Older Toguro brother transforms himself into a sword as a means to combat Kuwabara's spirit sword. Younger Toguro is later saved by his sibling after Yusuke fires a spirit gun blast point-blank at his face. However, he survived the attack thanks to his brother, who transforms into a shield. Luckily, with the "power of love" Kuwabara steps back up and uses his spirit sword in order to combat his opponents. Toguro is able to contend with Kuwabara, and punch him hard enough to knock him out of the fight. Yusuke attempts to shoot him with a spirit gun, but Toguro dodges. Realizing it could be his last chance, Yusuke charges him and shoots a blast at point-blank range. As the Toguro brothers where about to finish the spirit detective and his companion, Kuwabara and Yusuke decide to combine their attacks. After Yusuke gives Kuwabara a boost of speed by firing his spirit gun directly in his back side, Kuwabara was able to stab Toguro right through the stomach, seemingly leaving the demon for dead.

Shortly after the mission was over, Koenma & Botan started celebrating Toguro's defeat at the hands of Yusuke, only to have an ogre come running into the room screaming frantically while waving a video tape around. The said video reveals that Toguro had not been actually killed. In truth, Toguro was strong enough to withstand Kuwabara sword. Sakyo makes an appearance via a video conference, rejoicing in Toguro's success as a double agent. It is explained that Toguro had been working for Sakyo the whole time, he had intentionally lost the fight so that Sakyo could win Tarukane's entire fortune, which had been wagered on Toguro winning against the spirit detective. Toguro express interest in Yusuke's strength and announces that he shall enjoy fighting him within the Dark Tournament. The video ends with Toguro decapitating an insanity-driven Tarukane, with a swift kick.

Synopsis

n the anime, as Yusuke is on a reluctant date with Keiko, they notice a large crowd of people in front of a building that had been vandalized. The building in question had a giant hole on its side wall, appearing to have been hit by a large object. Yusuke notices a suspicious biker near the seen of the crime and attempts to interrogate him. The man reveals himself to be Toguro, who shoots an air bullet at Yusuke, which merely cuts through his school jacket. Taking the hint, Yusuke behaves around him and follows Toguro to a construction sight. Once there, Toguro reveals 60% of his power, destroys the entire building that was still unfinished and immediately threatens to kill Yusuke unless the spirit detective agrees participate within the Dark Tournament, along Kuwabara and three other members. Yusuke accepts the invitation, shortly after Toguro departs with a feeling satisfaction. Incidentally, Kuwabara had witnessed Toguro's strength from a distance, and also begins fearing the demon.

After leaving the construction sight, Toguro meets up with Kurama and Hiei. He informs them that they are already members of the Urameshi team, that demons who side with humans will get no sympathy, and that they should look for a fifth member in order to complete the number of participants needed to enter the Dark Tournament.

Throughout the Dark Tournament, Younger Toguro made several minor appearances, commenting on matches and single-handedly winning those for his own team. He also was ordered by Sakyo to kill several people, including the tournament committee and the owner of Team Masho, the scheming cheater, Butajiri. Just after the semifinals, Younger Toguro faced off in a battle with destiny against his old friend, Genkai, and managed to kill her at 80% of his power, much to Yusuke's sorrow and regret over not being able to protect her.Younger Toguro's role came at its height when he fought a very lengthy battle against Yusuke Urameshi. For a while each of them kept increasing their strength until Younger Toguro reached 100%, and killed several audience members. Realizing many could die, Genkai possessed Pu and told Younger Toguro to kill Kazuma Kuwabara so that Yusuke's complete strength could be brought out in their fight out of rage and anger. After doing so, although Kuwabara was secretly alive, Yusuke began to gain the advantage, so much Younger Toguro was forced to go beyond his normal limits to 100% of his 100% form (In the Japanese version Toguro had powered himself up to 120%, whereas in the English dub he reveals that what he initially had said was 100% was more like 85%) where they each sent a major blow to each other, though Younger Toguro was unaffected by Yusuke's Rei-Gun at full power. Having used too much of his power, including his life force, by blocking Yusuke's attack, Younger Toguro's muscles crumble, and he dies.

Before he died, he thanked Yusuke for allowing him to use such great strength. In the afterlife, Koenma offered Younger Toguro a light punishment because of his beneficent deeds had helped him atone for his past sins (Toguro was a noble and honorable fighter who was only looking for stronger opponent to defeat him); Toguro refused and asked to be sent to the last cycle of hell (where you go under 10,000 years of torture repeated for 10,000 cycles, then your soul ceases to exist) or Limbo in the English anime version. On his way, he chatted shortly with Genkai, who attempted to persuade him not to go to hell. Toguro asked Genkai to watch over Yusuke to ensure that he doesn't go down the same path that he did, and apologized to her for "being so much trouble" expressing his belief that they could have had a beautiful life if things had gone differently, before going into hell.

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