Jin (陣) is a yōkai who makes his first appearance during the Dark Tournament Saga as part of Team Masho (named only in the English anime, Shadow Channelers in the English manga, and Team Mashotsukai in the original Japanese version), the team's true title being the Shinobi of Spirit World. Jin, following his team's theme of having elemental-based powers, is a master at controlling the air and wind that surrounds him. Jin is truly the strongest member of his team, but Risho was leader simply because of his intelligence and leadership skills. He was called Ginda in the Filipino Dub of the anime. In the anime television series, Jin is voiced by Kappei Yamaguchi in Japanese and Jerry Jewell in English.
Appearance
Jin's Shinobi Robes
His shinobi robe is a black cloak like the rest of his team wears, with a pointy hood which bears a white pentagon symbol on it. Without the robes on Jin reveals his true identity. Jin looks similar to an imp and even a sprite, having a small horn in the middle of his forehead and long, pointed ears which become more elf-like when he is excited, like during his battle with Yusuke Urameshi. He also has an overbite, with a canine tooth on his left side resting on his lower lip. He has thick, shoulder-length, red hair and blue eyes. He is also bigger than Toya, being nearly a foot taller in height. He wears a white garment, resembling a toga, with white, baggy pants which are held up by a blue obi sash and arm guards, both sporting a prominent red gem in the center. He is given an Irish accent in the English dub in an attempt to mirror his hard-to-understand dialect in the Japanese version.
Personality
Jin has a cheerful and up-beat personality. Jin speaks with a strong Irish accent (in the English dub) and has a serious disdain for his team-mate, the brutish Bakken. He tells Yusuke that a fighter shouldn't bring outside hostilities and anger into a match, and that they should enjoy themselves, especially when they are battling for their lives. Despite his sunny disposition, or perhaps because of it, Jin is an incredibly talented fighter who throws himself whole-heartedly into a match. Also in the English dub, he has low respect for teachers or anyone who tells him what to do, and similarly to Yusuke, even develops his own techniques to prove he doesn't need teachers.
He is assumed friends with Toya, since one is almost never seen independent of the other, except when fighting,
Jin and Toya supporting Team Urameshi in the finals
and they stick together after the Dark Tournament. His relationship with his other team members is unknown. Before fighting Yusuke in the manga, he tells him that Bakken "Really was a big, dumb jerk," but not to tell Risho he said that.
As noted by both Kurama and Hiei, Jin resembles Yusuke in many ways, something Jin admits in the English dub. This made fighting each other relatively impossible, as they both take risks and love to have fun in battle. Their similarities have led the two to become great friends.
Synopsis
Dark Tournament Saga
Despite wearing large, black outfits in order to conceal their identity, Jin swiftly removes his robe, revealing
Jin relaxes ringside while watching his team fight
that his team was in fact the Shinobi of Spirit World. As he steps up in front of Team Urameshi's captain, he proposes a set of classic one on one fights, with the first team to gain four matches won advancing in the tournament. Urameshi accepted but was suspicious of the demon. Although he intended on fighting first, Jin immediately refuses after noticing that Urameshi's team members Hiei and Masked Fighter had been imprisoned in a force field by Ruka. While going to rest, Jin is stopped by Bakken, who insisted that he should fight first; Jin refuses regardless and warns Bakken to never tell him what to do and sits down near a wall. Throughout the first two fights, Jin remains silent and uninterested until he witnesses how Yusuke mercilessly defeated Bakken for senselessly pummeling a comatose Kurama. He then delightfully jumps in the ring, thanks Yusuke for getting rid of Bakken, and begins his fight.
Jin fighting Yusuke.
After deciding to fight Yusuke within the fifth match, Jin takes flight. Seemingly impossible to defeat Jin while in the air, Yusuke fires a spirit gun. However, being that Jin controls air, and projectile attacks have to travel through the air, he is able to deflect it. Then employing the tornado fist technique, Jin flies at an amazing speed towards Yusuke, only for Yusuke to dodge, and be blown off the stadium.
Yusuke vs Jin
In order to step up the fight, Jin doubles the tornado fist, covering both of his wrists. Knowing that there is no other way, Yusuke uses Genkai's spirit wave technique, one which he hadn't yet mastered. It works, though, and Yusuke defeats Jin. Under Butajiri's lies, the committee ruled the fight between Yusuke and Jin a draw, because Koto delayed in her counting. Afterwards, Yusuke goes through training to control the technique.
The Three Kings Saga
Jin using Tornado Fist Explosion on Souketsu.
Following the Dark Tournament, Jin later appears in the Makai Tournament. He was recruited by the demon Kurama to work for one of the three Demon Lords, Yomi in the Demon Plane. Jin trains under Genkai before entering the Makai Tournament, and goes from an upper C Class to an upper A Class (anime)/middle S Class (manga). During the tournament itself (in the anime), Jin ends up fighting Souketsu who was a former friend and rival of Yusuke's ancestral father, the battle God Raizen. Interestingly, a flashback is shown where Souketsu is defeated by the deceased king (Raizen), only to be pummelled. Though defeated, Jin shows his strong will by standing even while unconscious. Jin swears to return in the next tournament to face Yusuke. In the manga, he wouldn't have fought Souketsu due to not being in the same block as him, but most likely lost to another of Raizen's friends, Den-Hou.
Epilogue
He is seen sneezing in Demon World when Ruka mentions her crush on him in a Human World television interview. (In the Korean translation, due to different superstitions, Jin simply shows annoyance).
His silhouette can be seen in the OVA, along with Chu and Suzuki, moments before the second Demon World Tournament begins, along with two featureless shadows that are presumably Toya and Shishiwakamaru.
Powers and Abilities
Fighting Style
Aerokinesis: Jin's most obvious power is his ability to manipulate wind. He is able to control wind to such an extent that he can produce it as a show of power, flight, barrier or powerful wind-based punches. Jin's wind based speed has a limit, as he cannot exceed the speed of the wind itself. However, his own speed more than makes up for this flaw. Jin mainly uses quick melee attacks in battle, often employing hit and run tactics, flying away to avoid potentially dangerous situations. He can easily defend himself from long range as well, making him a difficult opponent. By the time of the Makai tournament, Jin has learned more long range attacks, allowing him to fight from a distance, and making up for his weakness of having to charge at his foes.
Known Techniques/Moves
Jin takes flight.
- Flight: Jin is able to manipulate the wind to give him the ability to fly. While this gives him an advantage over slower ground based opponents, he can only fly as fast as the wind can take him.
Tornado Fist
- Tornado Fist (修羅旋風拳, Shura Senpūken, translated as Asura Whirlwind Fist): By spinning his arms in a circular motion with great speed, a small twister forms around his wrist. The middle is hollow, allowing him to punch the opponent. Should the target dodge, the force of the wind would knock them back, if not wound them and it can be used as a shield against point-black attacks. Jin can use this technique with both fists.
Double Tornado Fist
- Double Tornado Fist (ダブル修羅旋風拳, Daburu Shura Senpūken): Jin uses this attack in his match against Yusuke after Yusuke blocks the first and single Tornado Fist with his Spirit Gun. He charges up Tornado Fists on both arms, making it more difficult to evade. Never truly named, in either the original Japanese, or the English dub.
Wall of Wind.
- Wind Barrier (爆風障壁, Bakufū Shōheki, translated as Blasting Wind Barrier): Jin summons wind around him to form a Tornado to protect him from Yusuke's Spirit Gun or any other attack. Never officially named in the English dub but named in Yu Yu Hakusho Dark Tournament; Jin uses this technique to deflect a Spirit Gun blast from Yusuke.
Tornado Fist Explosion
- Tornado Fist Explosion (修羅電撃旋風拳, Shura Dengeki Senpūken, translated as Asura Electric Attack Whirlwind Fist): Jin uses this attack in the Demon World Tournament to release a gigantic tornado from his fist to attack the opponent. There also is an electrical component to this technique, as seen from the crackling electricity around the tornado when Jin unleashed this technique in the preliminaries. This attack is highly explosive due to the wind and lightning combined. This attack was even powerful enough to knock down one of the most powerful S-Class demons in the Makai down temporarily.
- Teleportation: Shown during his fight with Souketsu.
Video Game Techniques
- Tornado Raid: In Tournament Tactics, Jin unleashes a small whirlwind as a projectile weapon.
Relationships
Yusuke: Before he even meets Yusuke face to face in the ring, Jin comments that he enjoyed the beating Yusuke gave Bakken, and then says as much when he steps into the ring. This sets Yusuke off laughing and the two instantly see each other as honorable fighters on equal terms. Throughout their match, Yusuke and Jin indirectly complement each other and a bond begins to form during the heat of battle. By the end of their fight, the two seem to have forged a friendship, and Kuwabara offhandedly describes them as "twins." Their friendly rivalry remains in place from then on.
Toya: Jin seems to have been friends with Toya for quite some time prior to the Dark Tournament due to them both being a part of the same shinobi sect. The two demonstrate many similar qualities, such as the respect they treat their opponents with and their sense of honor. After their team is eliminated, they are seen sitting together, watching Team Urameshi's battles in the later matches of the competition. Later in the series, they are seen training in close proximity under master Genkai. It is no stretch to say that the two are constantly pulling for each other during fights as former demon world shinobi, and both have the goal of beating Team Urameshi in what would surely be friendly martial arts matches.
Bakken: Jin and Bakken have an antagonistic relationship and Jin despises Bakken. This seems to stem from Bakken's cowardly tatics. Jin even says that he enjoyed the beating Yusuke gave Bakken.
Trivia
- Jin may be a reference to wind affinity djinns, or genies of Middle Eastern mythology, though his physical features have more in common with an oni, or the Kijimuna demons of Okinawa
- The kanji for his name: 陣 means "gale" or "gust" but can also be translated as "battle formation."
- Jin's Japanese Tohoku dialect suggests he is from the northern parts of the Japanese mainland.
- During the Makai Tournament, Jin has a Youki of 120,800.
- In Yu Yu Hakusho video games, Jin and Chu have the most appearances as playable characters among Kurama's six demons, possibly due to their rivalries with Yusuke. These two were also the guesses Kuwabara made when he was pondering who their new fifth member was.
- In one variant of the English dub, Souketsu refers to Jin as the son of Raizen.
- The character Phinks from Togashi's latest work, Hunter x Hunter has an ability called Ripper Cyclotron which is identical to Tornado Fist. Ironically, both techniques involve the characters winding their arm in a clockwise direction, as aura increases in both Jin and Phinks' fist with every rotation. The power generated by the number of rotations of their arms was more than enough for them to completely destroy their enemies.
Quotes
- "Lucky eyes you've got..."
- "A damn-near pleasant wind be filling the air now..."
- "That's the spirit! Let's have some fun!"
- "And I thought I was crazy, Urameshi, but you take the prize!! The hell was that?! You don't make bombs go boom in your face!!"
- "I'm to be beaten by Yusuke's hands alone!"
- "A friend to the end I say."
- You lost to Kurama and Kurama lost to a dead guy how's that for being lame?
- Aye that was a pretty good fight.
- He took a punch just to try and hit me. He's a crazy rat for sure.
- Don'tcha ever put your gritty hands on me again!
- Ah. I don't give a damn. Somebody else go.
- One in one on one on one,till I'm standing a tower holding the five!
- I'm to be changing my mind with a fix like this.
- I wouldn't mind if it weren't for the ears.
- It's no wonder biggie took a dive. Yusske having punches like that is enough to kill anyone.
- Always underestimating the wind!
References
| e v | Team Masho | |
| Members: | Jin | Touya | Bakken | Risho | Gama | |