Jaganshi Hiei Cels
Series: Yu Yu Hakusho
Typical of an anti-social youkai like Hiei. First he was grouped with Kurama, but they
both split up. Then he was grouped with Yukina, but she split off with the Koorime. Now he's
all alone, and he probably feels considerably more comfortable as a result. Sadly, being
alone is what he's accustomed to.
As many people would no doubt attest to, with much annoyance, I can babble on forever
about this little jerk. He may be a little jerk (ok, he IS one), but I think he's a
sweetheart as well (yes, I am deranged) and he strikes me as the deepest character in the
series.
Hiei's a freak of demonic nature, with a hideous and depressing past. I shouldn't go into
too many details here in the intro, so I'll simply say he was thoroughly ostracised. For
various reasons, particularly a hiruiseki reason, he fought every day, killing constantly,
from a very very young age onward (toddler Hiei with his enormous sword is only somewhat
less adorable than the psychopathic little potato of a baby Hiei). As a result, he became an
A class youkai (highly powerful) by the age of 5. Later he got a Jagan implanted so he could
find his missing sister Yukina. The Jagan absorbed his Youki, leaving him registered as a
mere D superior class youkai when he met Yuusuke. But, as I previously mentioned, Hiei is a
freak so it shouldn't have come as too much of a surprise that he quickly began developing
more power and a higher rating again.
As a Jaganshi (granting him an impressive list of psychic powers) and a practitioner of
fire magic (specifically Ensatsu Ken), Hiei is an impressive fighter. More and more so as
time passes. Something beyond his techniques that makes him exceptional in a battle are
his self-destructiveness, lack of concern for others, and sometimes outright suicidal
nature, all of which can make him quite the reckless loose cannon.
Additionally, Hiei is adorable. You simply have not seen enough cute until you have seen
him barking death threats up at someone 2-3 times his height.
You can see more Hiei in the Scenes and
Group Moments sections,
plus the new Hiei vs Mukuro fight section. I also have a,
er, suggoi (that's it! Not beautiful, but suggoi, *sweat*) Maijin Hiei
fan cel.
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Episode #: 70: Surprising Truth! A New Mystery Appears
Stats: 1 layer, A5
Sketches: 1 matching, unstuck
Comments: Upon learning that Hiei has a sister, Kuwabara pictures what she must
look like. Here's your only chance to see Hiei with lipstick, cleavage, purple high heels,
and a pink head band. I'm torn between this being ridiculously adorable and ridiculously
frightening. ;) The sketch is adorable as well, though Hiei's blue hair didn't turn out in
the scan.
Sketch |
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Episode #: Movie 2
Stats: 1 layer, A27
Size: movie cel, 10" tall x 12" wide
Sketches: 1 matching, unstuck
Comments: During the full length movie, Hiei gets into a little fight (isn't that
a change of pace?) with demon god Raiko. After Raiko tries to control him with a Jagan, Hiei
snorts at him not to underestimate him. This cel is the precise moment of him saying that.
Immediately afterward he not only very adamantly attacks the guy (primarily for hurting
Yukina), he knocks down a tall office building along with Raiko. I knew he was my
hero! |
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Episode #: 28: Small but Strong Enemy! Rinku's Secret Weapon
Stats: 1 layer, A3
Sketches: none
Comments: When Zeru does a bit of strutting at the beginning of the Ankoku
Bujutsukai (throwing off mass youkai and sparkage, at the expense of a chunk of the
audience) to gauge whether Yuusuke is confident or an idiot (how about both?), Hiei gets a
good snarl in and thinks he's impressed that this kind of guy exists in the Ningenkai. I
guess we all know at that point who Hiei will be fighting. This is such a gorgeous cel! I
love the flamelit colouring, and of course I love the outfit. |
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Episode #: 16: Grow, Rei Ken! Kuwabara, a Manly Fight
Stats: 1 layer, A4
Sketches: none
Comments: I long covetted this cel in the Saiyanwolf gallery, and am beyond happy
that she let me nab it. Thank you! So adorable... This is during the Four Sacred Beasts arc,
while pissy little Hiei is showing some of his first signs of emotion. Poor guy! At this
moment, everyone went through their shocked looks over seeing Byakko for the first time.
This, I suppose, would be Hiei's version of that look (he's not very shockable, and is
probably already suffering from expressive overload). As everyone else gapes, he says
Byakko's name (it's clear that Hiei and the sacred beasts at least know about each other,
but no relationship is established) and looks pretty serious about it. |
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Episode #: 34: Impossible Deathmatch! Winning Rate 0.05%
Stats: 2 layers, unstuck, A2 & FX
Sketches: 1 matching, unstuck
Comments:Upon falling from nearly tree-top height down to the ground, Hiei
instinctively reached out to catch his fall with his dead yet agonised right hand. Oops. A
moment that made me exclaim loudly the first time I saw it. I like the way the outline (the
FX layer) adds to the starkness of his moment of agony, so I'm including smaller scans of
both layers.
Layer 1
Layer 2 |
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Episode #: 65: Ambition Disappears with the Amphitheatre
Stats: 2 layers, stuck, B1/C119
Sketches: 1 matching, stuck
Comments: SPOILER!!! Poor Hiei always needs to put up with the antics of baka ningen these
days. Here he's being forced to witness two of the most baka of all ningen during one of
their prime moments: Yuusuke and Kuwabara! To draw out Yuusuke's full potential during his
match with Toguro Otouto, everyone let him believe his best buddy Kuwabara had been killed.
To celebrate still being alive and together afterward, the two friends, clearly much to the
sheer disturbance of Hiei's brain, beat the hell out of each other. I'm not sure why the
sequence # seems to say 119. Before this, you only get sweat dripping down the back of
Hiei's head. During this part of the sequence, Hiei's eye (and eyebrow) bounces a lot...
but it doesn't seem to happen 119 times. *shrug* Isn't this the most adorable cel? I get
squeaky every time I think about it. It also caused my daughter to ask me to buy her a Hiei
cel, which made me a little chokey. Hiei's twitching eyebrow on the B1 layer is stuck up a
bit higher than it should be. |
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Episode #: 8: Keiko in Danger! Jaganshi Hiei
Stats: 2 layers, A1/B1 KEY
Sketches: none
Background: Unstuck, probably doesn't match
Comments: I think every serious Hiei collector should have a Bad Crank Hiei, at
the least because they're so silly-looking. Mine isn't half as silly as some of the ones
I've seen, but I think it's a charmer nonetheless. Bad Crank Hiei is my loving term for
anything Hiei from the first few Hiei, Kurama, and Gouki episodes. His being strung out on
exactly that is the only feasible explanation I've been able to come up with for his
apperance, demeanor, and chronically elevating voice tone in those episodes. Fortunately he
seemed to detox in Reikai Prison afterward, otherwise I would've been doomed to spending the
series laughing at him instead of... er, over his adorable psychosis? This cel is a great
Bad Crank Hiei for me, because I have (with much chagrin) laughed at him every single time
I've seen this scene. After Hiei's haughty claims that Yuusuke can't get Keiko's antidote
from him, Yuusuke simply jumps up there and hits him. Hiei tries to figure out how he could
suddenly move so fast, here he says "Naruhodo" and realises it's because protecting someone
drives Yuusuke to fight better. Maybe it wasn't detox, maybe it was simply being completely
defeated for the first time in his super-youkai life (even if Yuusuke, Botan, and Kurama did
need to gang up on him for it to happen). Naw, I still think it was bad crank. ;) There's no
visible background for this moment as Hiei's face takes up the entire screen. |
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Episode #: 47: Legendary Thief! Youko Kurama
Stats: 1 layer, A3 KEY END
Sketches: none
Comments: This cel was used to make repros, but it is definitely a genuine
production version. Simply a special enough looking one to warrant repros. ;) I LOVE the
dramatic lighting and the one fierce red eye! This is right when Hiei finishes explaining
Kurama and his powers to Kuwabara, after the Youko re-emerged for the first time. He closes
the story by commenting on Kurama having his real power now. Hiei's had the sling on since
his fight with Kuromomotaro, Kurama's now fighting a member of the same team. |
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Episode #: 36: Breaking Evil Down into Pieces! Purification of
Light
Stats: 1 layer, C6
Size: must find the ruler
Sketches: none
Background: Unstuck, doesn't match
Comments: A nice cel of Hiei with his dead hand. And his sword! When Dr. Ichigaki
turns himself into a much bigger demon, Hiei jumps in between him and Yuusuke. They start
with a zoom in on Hiei up close, then pan to the right. Yuusuke is on a sub-layer behind
Hiei's sword. If the truth must be told, I prefer the little cutie with his clothes on...
but since he was parading around half naked the entire time he had a dead hand, this is the
best I'm going to manage. And he's fine shirtless anyway, I'm merely commenting. |
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Episode #: 45: Hiei Go On! Use Kokuryuha!
Stats: 1 layer, A9 KEY
Sketches: 1 matching, unstuck
Comments: Hiei Vs. Kuromomotaro. After Hiei's sword breaks, he zooms in at the
opponent one more time. And realises here that the opponent isn't entirely slow. This
happens a couple of seconds before the below cel (that one should be in the next sequence).
The sketch is included because... I simply felt like scanning a cute Hiei sketch. I'll be
dead soon if I persist in using the word "cute" in relation to him won't I?
Sketch |
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Episode #: 45: Hiei Go On! Use Kokuryuha!
Stats: 1 layer, A4 KEY
Sketches: 1 matching, unstuck
Comments: Hiei Vs. Kuromomotaro. During Kuromomotaro's first transformation (the
shaggy version), Hiei gets in close and dodges a blow. What Hiei's up to at that precise
moment, besides barely moving while casually dodging, though this one got him leaning back
and bugging his eyes, isn't yet clear. |
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Episode #: ?
Stats: 1 layer, B4
Sketches: none
Comments: Ooh! A Hiei cel that I can't immediately identify! Good enough reason
to sit down and watch the series 50 times, right? I have some suspicions of when this cel
might have happened, but it might take me a while to pinpoint it anyway. Especially if my
suspicions prove to be entirely wrong. |
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Episode #: 30: The Unfinished Secret Technique - Ensatsu Kokuryu-ha
Stats: 1 layer, B6
Sketches: none
Comments: Since I have so many Hiei cels (far more than I've scanned), and the
image is small, I scanned this to sell it. I couldn't get the colour hue of his skin to
come out right. As I worked on it, I stared at that cringing face and that fried hand and
those cute little shoes that we don't see often. My mood got worse and worse until,
eventually, I snapped "I give up! I quit!". Not only had I given up on getting the skin
hue right, I had given up on selling the cel. It may be a small image, but it's hardly a
generic moment. And I'm weak, really weak, when it comes to Hiei. (SPOILER) Hiei
sacrificed one arm to test using the Kokuryuha in the Ningen Kai. His opponent, Zeru, was
instantly fried to a black silhouette on the wall. After the obvious win for Hiei is
announced, he sticks his hand in his pocket and, despite cringing from the intense pain,
adopts his cocky mask and tries to appear fine as he walks off stage. You don't see his
head on screen. You see him from the shoulders down with a backdrop (probably the A layer)
of Kuwabara gawking about how powerful and scary Hiei is, and Kurama scowling seriously and
knowingly about how perfectly fine Hiei actually isn't. The lack of head on-screen is yet
another reason to keep this cel, you can't tell he's still cringing without it! |
