Gallery/Asato Kido
Asato Kido (木戸 亜沙斗 Kido Asato?) is a semi-major character in Yu Yu Hakusho who develops demon-like powers during the Chapter Black Saga.. When Itsuki begins to create the tunnel to Makai, Kido gains psychic powers to control shadows. Kido can paralyze opponents by stepping on their shadows and can also manipulate his own to anything if his actual body can't. Kido, along with his two best friends Mitsunari Yanagisawa and Yu Kaito, all reside in Mushiyori City. In the anime television series, Kido is voiced by Takehito Koyasu in Japanese and Iman Nazemzadeh in English.
Appearance
Considerably tall and slightly built, Kido possesses a rather intimidating aura, in spite of his less-than-menacing physique. This braggadocio can be attributed to his facial composition, distinguished by charismatic eyes and a quite angular jaw, while his thin eyebrows, miniature nose, and insubstantial lips compose the rest of his sharp-cornered visage. Resting atop his v-shaped head are thick, short, and messy strands of blond hair, complemented by the shades of black and white present on his attire. The more prominent of these two colors is black, which acts as the only existent hue on both his button-down long-sleeve shirt and his fairly taut slacks. Beneath his black shirt lies an untucked white button-down, which extends out from under the bottom of his outer garment down to his upper-thigh. The last notable aspect of Kido's attire is the presence of his round, gold buttons on his torso that not only piece together his black shirt, but also further enhance the vivacity of his his blond hair.
Personality
In his first four appearances, due to his posing as a villian, Kido had a very arrogant attitude. He remained very cool and "evil" in the episodes where he had Yusuke captured, often mocking him and the power he held over the frozen detective. When he was revealed to have been just acting like a calculating villain and really was a good guy undergoing training from Genkai, Kido's personality changes to a polite, reserved, and somewhat soft-hearted young man who cares about his city. Generally, in public, Kido puts on a facade of an arrogant thug, and acts like he is powerful and intelligent, but when he is isolated with his friends, Kido acts in a friendly and sociable manner. He is rather apologetic, immediately begging for forgiveness to Yusuke for hurting his friends the moment the facade was over, revealing that he did not want to harm them (in the English dub, this was changed to Kido apologizing to Genkai for failing to defeat Yusuke's group). Despite his hesitant nature, he does become resolute when lives are in danger.
Synopsis
Chapter Black Saga
Kido, along with Yana and Kaito who had also received special powers, goes to the master psychic Genkai, who had trained Yusuke, for answers. Genkai explains the whole situation to Kido, Yana, and Kaito and decides to prepare Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei and Kurama for the threat by having Kido and the others capture Yusuke as good training practice. So Kido confronts Yusuke and Yusuke easily beats him up until he steps on Yusuke's shadow after releasing his territory, capturing him. Kido takes Yusuke to the top of the House of Four Dimensions and leaves a threatening note for Yusuke's friends. Kido waits with Yusuke for Kuwabara, Hiei and Kurama to defeat Kaito and Yana in their dangerous taboo and staircase games until he springs his own. Botan, Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei all reach the top of the mansion to discover Kido and Yusuke. However, Kido reveals that Yana has impersonating powers and one of the rescuers is a fake and Yusuke will be let go if he figures which one it is within 10 minutes.
Asato Kido
Yusuke guesses correctly that Kuwabara was really Yana and with the heroes successful, Kido, Yana, Kaito and Genkai explain the purpose of the kidnapping and the new tunnel to Makai. So Kido, Yusuke, Genkai and Yana (while the others go off to find clues) go to Kido's home city to discover any psychics that may be involved in the problem or to recruit. They come upon a mind reader named Murota and Kido decides to see if Murota is telling the truth. Kido thinks in his mind that he will step on Murota's shadow, paralyzing him, and when he goes to do this, Murota dodges, revealing that he is a real mind reader. When Yana uses his ability to discover Murota is not a bad guy, they recruit him to the cause.
One of the mysterious seven bad psychics, Sniper, hits Murota with a pencil eraser damaging him severely. Kido, Genkai, Yusuke and Yana take him to the city hospital where strange bugs spread disease to many people there, including Murota and Yana. The others figure out that one of the seven psychics, Doctor, is a fake doctor working in the hospital. Yusuke, Genkai and Kido split up to discover who it is. Kido runs upon a nurse and tells her about the fake doctor, when the nurse's boss Doctor Kamiya arrives and orders him to leave his staff. Kamiya tells Kido that he knows all the staff and that he will help Kido find the fake. However when the nurse asks Kamiya why he is here when it isn't his shift, Kido realizes he is the fake.
Kamiya uses his Scalpel powers and medical knowledge to knock Kido down and sever him ruthlessly, before killing the nurse. When another nurse arrives and Kamiya pretends that he didn't do it, a huge chaos of staff run around to try and help Kido, with Kamiya pretending to try and examine him and help him out. Yusuke finds the center of attention and sees his ally down and wonders which one is the fake. Kido tries and tells Yusuke that it is Kamiya but Yusuke can't hear him so Kido manipulates his shadow to write Kamiya's name in the blood he emitted. Thus, results into a huge showdown between Yusuke and Doctor. Yusuke is successful and with the others continue to defeat Sensui's Seven, but Kido, not only having severe injuries, but even greater strain from manipulating his shadow, is incapicitated and can't help with the mission anymore.
As Kido anxiously waits for news and is treated, Yusuke and the others are finally able to defeat the mastermind of troubles, Sensui, and the war is over. With no more troubles, Kido, Yana and Kaito say their goodbyes to Yusuke and Genkai, but not before Genkai warns the three to never use their powers again unless a life and death emergency approaches. Kido thanks them and along with Yana and Kaito, goes off to live a normal and happy life.
Epilogue
He is shown getting stood up at the movies and being too polite to actually ask why, convincing himself that she had to leave due to a stomach ache.
Powers/Abilities
Fighting Style
Immobilization: Kido has distinct and unique power over shadows. Kido has the ability to manipulate his or anybody's shadow to do his will, although a lot of restrictions apply. Kido also has above average martial arts capability, for a human, when it comes to pure fighting. There are main two techniques Kido utilizes through his power of Territory. Because he needs to step on a shadow to paralyze them, he needs to be close to his opponent for his powers to be effective. Once he does however, all he needs to do is cover the nose and mouth of the victim to ensure his foe's death (though it is unlikely that Kido's soft-heartedness will allow him to do so).
Shadow Paralysis
- Shadow Paralysis: By stepping on his opponents's shadow, he can immobilize them, preventing muscular movement in their legs and arms, although other body parts can be moved. The second Kido stops stepping on his opponent's shadow, they become free. Kido first uses this technique to capture Yusuke and later attempts to use it on the mind reader Murota.
Shadow Manipulation
- Shadow Tangibility: Kido can control his own shadow, manipulating it to touch and move ground-based objects when his physical body is incapable of doing so. Kido does this when Doctor has Kido's body knocked down and Yusuke is trying to find which doctor is the fake, so Kido uses his shadow to write Kamiya's name with the blood he lost in the attack.
Trivia
- Both Jyaki and Asato Kido share the same seiyuu.
- Kido shares very similar powers with the Nara Clan such as Shikamaru Nara from the Naruto franchise.
- In the edited dub, instead of using his shadow to write Kamiya's (The Doctor) name with his blood to inform Yusuke, Kido whispers it to him instead.