Why Mukuro?
by Morgan
D.
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Answer to a question
from namyiwen@pacific.net.sg sent
by email: "y do u choose Mukuro of all characters?"
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A cautious note here: I love all Yu Yu Hakusho characters. Really, from the bottom of my heart. If I start listing all the characters I really-really like, the average YYH fan will go, "Huh? Who are those?"... I even like the one-track-minded villains like Toguro Ani and Gonzou Taroukane. So please, fans of Keiko, Botan, Yukina... don't take me wrong. Everyone has favorites. Mine are Hiei and Mukuro. But I can't picture YYH without any of the others.
So... Why Mukuro?
The first thing I should say about this matter is that I love STRONG female characters, the ones who take their lives in their hands and lead them to wherever they wish. And I tend to frown on the girls that are always the victims, the damsels in distress, the typical girl that, while the hero who loves her fights against the bad guy who wants to ravish her, hides behind a tree biting her lower lip.
And unfortunately, Togashi seemed to have put a lot more effort in building his male characters than the female ones in YYH. Think about the Dark Tournament, for example. Basically, the boys fight while the girls watch, and that's it. Only three women are seen as competitors: Genkai, the girl of the Ichigaki Team and the she-demon in the Gorenja Team ¾ and the last two weren't even gifted with a name. Apparently, fighting is a man's job.
My favorite Botan is the one from episode 014, dressed in red velvet and whacking demons' heads with a baseball bat. She was an active player then, and one to be feared ^__^ It was sad to see her vanishing in the background afterwards. Already in the mission to rescue Yukina, Botan seems to be more an obstacle than a help to Yusuke and Kuwabara. After that, she became mostly the girl watching and cheering and providing comical release, while the boys do the hard work.
No one suffers more with this discrimination than Keiko. She's the only one in the gang with no powers whatsoever. The poor girl has to see her boyfriend and friends getting in deep trouble and even dying, and she can do nothing but try to stay out of the way. She can't even heal like Botan and Yukina, or predict dangerous situations, like Shizuru. She needs to be protected all the way by Yusuke, Botan (during the Four Beasts mission) or Shizuru (the hospital incident), and in the end she's left back in Ningenkai, waiting for her fiancé for three years.
She could have become "the great woman behind the great man". But Keiko is too attached to her own world, and hardly understands Yusuke's actions or his honor code. It's hard to support someone you really don't understand, no matter how much you love him.
Keiko's worst moment is probably the Honohoo no Kizuna movie: the only reason why she's in the plot is to be accidentally injured by Yakumo, so Yusuke would be really pissed off — and even then he seems more worried about Botan, who's after all guarding the Meikai Sphere, the key for the destruction of Ningenkai.
So even if I like her as a character, I'd hate to know someone like her in Real Life. Someone who's main job is to be the hero's girlfriend and liability (both Suzaku and Hiei decide to hurt/blackmail Yusuke by threatening Keiko). I'd probably feel like slapping her head and yelling, "Come on, girl! Get a life of your own and stop living Yusuke's!"
Little Yukina isn't in such a better situation... I rather think she's not as frail and helpless as she seems. She had the guts to leave the Glacier to look for her brother, traveled by Makai all by herself, and withstood years of torture in Taroukane's mansion. There must be more of her brother in her than just the ruby melancholic eyes.
But those are my assumptions. It's also my assumption that Yukina knows very well where her brother is, and she's just waiting for Hiei to be ready to "find" him. But the manga/anime won't say any of it. Hence, she's my favorite female character to write fanfiction about — there are many gaps in her story that I feel tempted to fill with a few ideas of my own. However, I find hard to identify with her innocence and naïveté. Those who know me will understand. I'm about to complete 28 years of bittersweet existence, and I'm more than a tiny bit skeptical about human (demonic?) nature. Yukina's perpetual good will frightens me. Too unreal for my world.
Shizuru Kuwabara is closer to my style. She has her opinions and isn't shy to state them; she's practical and realistic — and she can kick ass ^___^ She makes sure the girls won't be kept from entering the stadium and watching the Dark Tournament, and she does her best to protect Keiko from Kamiya's insects in the hospital. She even convinces her brother Kazu to quit the fighting and stick to a responsible life! And her relationship with Sakyo is fascinating.
Too bad she's also mainly a watcher in the whole plot, instead of being an active player. Even with her psychic powers — which sometimes seem more aware then Kazuma's — she doesn't take part of the main conflicts. After all, what do we know about Shizuru? Does she go to college? What does she study? Does she have any friends of her own? What does she do in a Saturday night? If her life really revolves around her brother and her brother's friends, her situation is just as bad as Keiko's.
I can't say much about Atsuko. My Japanese is not good enough to allow me to read the manga, and many of her scenes were cut in the anime version — she doesn't go to the Ankoku Island and there's no mention to her connections to the Yakuza. I'm pretty sure she's a much more interesting character than I think she is, but these are my limitations.
I have no "buts" about Genkai. I feel deep respect and admiration for this character, not only for her fighting abilities, but also for her perspective of life. For the average Western/Christian reader/viewer, YYH is full of subtle morality issues, and many of them relate to Genkai's character. Right from the start: she convokes a competition to elect her successor, and she will train the winner no matter his intentions (yes, his; there are no female contestants in that competition. See what I mean?). She repeatedly states that she's not a justice paladin; she's not in the fight out of her good, generous heart. She doesn't quite act like what I would expect from a Martial Arts Master either (and I like her style). Her relationship with Toguro Otouto is one of the most priceless treasures of the YYH plot.
And this particular quote won my heart, Genkai says this to Yusuke (in episode 95, if I'm not mistaken) while beating him mercilessly on a video game: "Grow up, boy. Stop being so dependant. It's time for you to deal with your problems on your own. I'm not interested in what you're going to do from now on. Even if you decide to destroy this world, I can't stop you. Some people in a bad mood may destroy things, like toys, pets, relatives, parents... But you're different, very different from ordinary people. Come to me when you decide to destroy everything. All I can give you is my life."
For those who don't know or don't think much about Genkai, I recommend an attentive look on episode 052. In my humble opinion, it's one of the best of the whole anime series.
So at this point I need to answer the "Why Mukuro?" question not by pointing out the "buts" in the others, but the "plusses" in Mukuro.
Abandoned as a baby, she was raised/enslaved by a merchant who abused her regularly, using her as the subject of his sexual and sadistic whims. But Mukuro isn't one to accept that passively, or one to simply seek sanctuary in death. No, she decides to own her life and destiny and mangles her amazing beauty in order to preserve her identity.
Years later she manages to escape from captivity and starts her journey towards the power that would allow her never to be hurt or controlled again. During that journey she wins the respect of several powerful demons that volunteer to serve and follow her. In a relatively short time (we're talking about long-living demons after all), she becomes as strong as Raizen and conquers her vast territory in the Makai.
And still she's a lady. Think of the flower she gave Yusuke to be put on Raizen's grave. Think of the way she fights: sober, elegant, detached. Think of how she saves Hiei and Shigure.
The banter scenes with Hiei... The way she keeps teasing him out of his aloof façade, the way she tries to make Hiei confront his own scars of the past. And it's interesting how she finds Hiei. Not by hazard or chance. She chooses him. He comes not as the knight in shining armor to save the damsel distressed by her awful memories, but as a younger copy of herself that needs to be taught what she knows best: that one must be the master of one's fate, no matter how hard it hurts. And she seems so genuinely surprised when Hiei returns the favor by releasing her from her shackles (and metaphorically speaking, from the need of remembering the past to justify the present)!
And think of how quickly she agreed to take part in the Tournament proposed by Yusuke — while Yomi still held hopes to lead the Makai to the war they had been preparing for since the "triumvirate" was complete. How many people would be so bold to accept the changes brought by an alien factor (Yusuke, I mean) and plummet headfirst in a new unpredictable game?
So... Mukuro... A woman who traces her own path. A challenge to the formal beauty dictatorship. A fighter who didn't lose her femininity. A strong personality and a dramatic psyche, the kind of character that ficwriters like me dream about. How could I resist her, if not even Hiei did?
February 14th, 2001