In the early episodes of Yu Yu Hakusho, the character Goki is a demon whose primary goal is to feed on human souls. His victims, therefore, are the humans he targets with his stolen artifact, the Orb of Baast. The narrative focuses most intently on the group of children who fall prey to him, as they are central to the plot of his encounter with the series protagonist, Yusuke Urameshi.

These victims are typically young children, whom Goki specifically targets to satisfy his hunger, viewing them as easy prey. He shows no remorse for his actions and considers the souls of children to be little more than a daytime snack. Using the Orb of Baast, a glowing green sphere that facilitates the taking of human souls, Goki extracts the souls from his victims, leaving their physical bodies in a comatose, near-death state in the human world. News reports within the series mention that several children had fallen into comas in a town not far from where Yusuke lives, and it is explained that the digestion process of a soul in Goki's stomach takes about a day. This creates a sense of urgency for Yusuke, who must defeat Goki and retrieve the orb before the consumed souls are lost forever.

The role of these victims in the story is primarily to establish Goki as a cruel and immediate threat, demonstrating his lack of respect for human life and his selfish, bloodthirsty nature. Their plight serves as the direct motivation for Yusuke in his first official mission as a Spirit Detective, pushing him to grow stronger and more determined. In one notable instance, Goki is seen playing with the Orb of Baast when a young boy returns it to him; Goki then promptly takes the boy's soul as a reward. This act directly leads to Yusuke intervening and the final confrontation. There is also an instance where a child who Yusuke had previously saved distracts Goki, leading to the child's own soul being stolen and giving Yusuke an opening to attack.

The victims themselves do not have distinct personalities or character development, as they serve primarily as a narrative device. Their individual identities are not explored, and they are portrayed as innocent bystanders caught in a supernatural conflict. The key relationship involving the victims is the one they have with Goki as his prey, and with Yusuke as the person who fights to save them. Their only notable "ability" is to return to life, awakening from their comas, once their souls are freed from Goki's control after his defeat. There is no development for the victims as characters, but their collective suffering is resolved when Yusuke defeats Goki by firing his Spirit Gun into the demon's open mouth, causing the orb to release all the souls it had collected.