TV-Series
Description
Rei Isurugi is a fair-skinned adolescent boy of average height, possessing messy black hair with red strands and distinctive red irises. His attire includes a primarily white jacket with black shoulders, navy blue accents, and a hood featuring red drawcords, worn over a dark gray tank top, black jeans, and white-and-red sneakers; small blue ear piercings are also present. The back of his jacket prominently displays a white-and-black Hidari-mitsudomoe symbol overlaid with a red kanji for "seal".
Adopted and trained by the Kidōshū clan from childhood, Rei mastered their Kidō combat style, a fusion of Onmyōdō and Shugendō designed to seal yōkai. His life shattered when the Four Treasonous Generals of Jigoku attacked his village, slaughtering the clan. Discovering his mortally wounded adoptive sister Saya, he learned the attackers' identities before she died. After burying the dead, he swore vengeance against the Generals. This trauma forged a fierce human-supremacist worldview, driving him to see all yōkai as vermin needing extermination; he shows no mercy to yōkai harming humans but refuses to harm human collaborators. He harbors particular scorn for Kitarō, viewing his coexistence with yōkai while protecting humans as hypocrisy.
Rei hunts the Generals using the Kidōshū technique of absorbing yōkai souls to gain their powers. Each absorption brands his arm with a golden kanji of the yōkai's name, and activating a power temporarily grants him physical traits of that yōkai. His known absorptions include Mujina (shapeshifting), Hitotsumebō (a third eye granting enhanced vision, including seeing through walls), Kijin (augmented arm strength and metal-slicing claws), Bake-Bi (fire manipulation and levitation), La Seine (presumed vampiric powers), Ibukimaru (swordsmanship skills), and Nue (transforming his arm into Nue's head to unleash its roar – later lost when he relinquished Nue’s soul). Overusing these powers causes glowing red veins to spread across his body, inducing severe pain; his master warned this could prove fatal, a risk Rei accepts, prioritizing revenge over survival.
His quest leads him to Tokyo, where he repeatedly clashes with Kitarō. Early encounters involve absorbing Mujina's soul after rescuing Neko-Musume and later killing the innocent Nue despite learning Nue wasn't responsible for the Kidōshū massacre. He similarly executes the vampire La Seine, defending the act as necessary to protect humanity. Rei captures Nezumi-Otoko to interrogate suspect Kurobōzu, releasing him only after Kitarō intervenes and proves Kurobōzu's innocence. He later battles Ibukimaru, who reveals Kidōshū spells originated from Oni. Defeated and warned that revenge breeds exhaustion, Rei persists.
His physical deterioration intensifies with each soul absorbed. While pursuing Tamamo-no-Mae, he experiences nightmares of the massacre and visible agony. He captures souls like Konaki-Jijii, Nurikabe, and Sunakake-Babaa, confronts Mana Inuyama to reveal Kitarō’s pact with Enma-Daiō to resurrect Neko-Musume, and uses Mujina's power to disguise himself and confront Tamamo-no-Mae, only to discover an imposter. His arc remains defined by an unwavering fixation on vengeance, showing no indication of ideological change despite the escalating physical and emotional tolls.
Adopted and trained by the Kidōshū clan from childhood, Rei mastered their Kidō combat style, a fusion of Onmyōdō and Shugendō designed to seal yōkai. His life shattered when the Four Treasonous Generals of Jigoku attacked his village, slaughtering the clan. Discovering his mortally wounded adoptive sister Saya, he learned the attackers' identities before she died. After burying the dead, he swore vengeance against the Generals. This trauma forged a fierce human-supremacist worldview, driving him to see all yōkai as vermin needing extermination; he shows no mercy to yōkai harming humans but refuses to harm human collaborators. He harbors particular scorn for Kitarō, viewing his coexistence with yōkai while protecting humans as hypocrisy.
Rei hunts the Generals using the Kidōshū technique of absorbing yōkai souls to gain their powers. Each absorption brands his arm with a golden kanji of the yōkai's name, and activating a power temporarily grants him physical traits of that yōkai. His known absorptions include Mujina (shapeshifting), Hitotsumebō (a third eye granting enhanced vision, including seeing through walls), Kijin (augmented arm strength and metal-slicing claws), Bake-Bi (fire manipulation and levitation), La Seine (presumed vampiric powers), Ibukimaru (swordsmanship skills), and Nue (transforming his arm into Nue's head to unleash its roar – later lost when he relinquished Nue’s soul). Overusing these powers causes glowing red veins to spread across his body, inducing severe pain; his master warned this could prove fatal, a risk Rei accepts, prioritizing revenge over survival.
His quest leads him to Tokyo, where he repeatedly clashes with Kitarō. Early encounters involve absorbing Mujina's soul after rescuing Neko-Musume and later killing the innocent Nue despite learning Nue wasn't responsible for the Kidōshū massacre. He similarly executes the vampire La Seine, defending the act as necessary to protect humanity. Rei captures Nezumi-Otoko to interrogate suspect Kurobōzu, releasing him only after Kitarō intervenes and proves Kurobōzu's innocence. He later battles Ibukimaru, who reveals Kidōshū spells originated from Oni. Defeated and warned that revenge breeds exhaustion, Rei persists.
His physical deterioration intensifies with each soul absorbed. While pursuing Tamamo-no-Mae, he experiences nightmares of the massacre and visible agony. He captures souls like Konaki-Jijii, Nurikabe, and Sunakake-Babaa, confronts Mana Inuyama to reveal Kitarō’s pact with Enma-Daiō to resurrect Neko-Musume, and uses Mujina's power to disguise himself and confront Tamamo-no-Mae, only to discover an imposter. His arc remains defined by an unwavering fixation on vengeance, showing no indication of ideological change despite the escalating physical and emotional tolls.