Rinku (鈴駒, Rinku) is a child-like demon who fights in the Dark Tournament, is a close friend of Chū's, and currently an ally of Yusuke Urameshi. He was called Ringo in the Filipino dub of the anime. He is voiced by Yoshiko Kondo in the original Japanese and Kimberly Grant in the FUNimation English dub.
Rinku has brown hair, parted down the middle, with each section spiked at an angle. He has three pink stars tattooed just below his left eye. He wears a long-sleeve yellow shirt, with a red sleeveless one over it. He also wears jeans, sneakers and occasionally a large, red and yellow striped cap on his head, with a blue, puff ball on the
top. He wears the hat to the side and also carries a pouch containing his unique weapons. Rinku is one of the most human-looking demons in the entire series, with no physical demonic traits whatsoever.
Personality
Rinku has a rather child-like personality. He called fist fighting "playing" and only uses his yo-yos when he is fighting seriously. He greatly underestimated Kuwabara and called Yusuke an idiot, making him sound like a bratty kid. In the fight between Yusuke and Chū, he is seen on the side lines throwing annoying and smart mouth remarks, playfully stating that Yusuke didn't stand a chance against Chū. At the end of the fight, Yusuke manages to gain Chū's and Rinku's respect. In a later episode, he is seen with Chū, Touya and Jin saving Keiko and an unconscious Yusuke from a horde of glory-hungry demons. Although he isn't quite the bratty little kid he used to be, his boyish attitude has not left. Despite this, he seems kind. He can be quite critical of others, especially Chū which often results in him getting smacked by the much taller demon. In the Three Kings Saga, even though he was ashamed at Chū for falling in love with his opponent and losing, hypocritically the exact same happens to him.
Synopsis
Dark Tournament Saga
As the first round begins, Rinku and Kuwabara step into the ring first
. Kuwabara takes his stance, and Rinku flies into the air acrobatically to perform a barrage of kicks. Kuwabara however, finds that Rinku was leaving a trail. Kuwabara manages to counter, though, punching Rinku on the top of his head. Seemingly, the attacks are too much for Rinku, but it turns out he was only pretending to be struggling to provide an entertaining match for the crowd. He quickly moves behind Kuwabara and kicks him in the back of the head much to Team Urameshi's chagrin. Rinku thought that he broke Kuwabara's neck with the effort, but Kuwabara gets up, shocking Rinku and silencing the crowd. Angry, Rinku, changes tactics and reveals his "real weapon", eight yo-yos, as he prepares to get serious.
Kuwabara thinks he has the upper hand and attempts to slash the yo-yos with his Double Spirit Sword, but the strings curve and move around Kuwabara to attack him as Rinku is controlling them with his demon energy. Rinku attacks with the toys called the Serpent Yo-yos, and then uses the strings to tie up Kuwabara's limbs. He lifts Kuwabara up into the air high above the stadium, then drops him as per the crowds request, down to the ground. Initially, Kuwabara seems resigned to an untimely demise, but then surprises everyone by extending his spirit sword downward toward the ring and using it as a pole vault to absorb the impact of the fall and attack Rinku. They hit each other at the same time with their weapons after Kuwabara miraculously shows the ability to bend his spirit sword so it behaves in a way similar to Rinku's yo-yo strings, catching him off guard. This clash results in them knocking each other out of the ring. Koto starts the ten count and Rinku gets back in the ring after 5 counts, just as Kuwabara prepares to get into the ring, Rinku immobilizes him by wrapping him in his Yo-yo strings for enough time for a ten count, leaving Rinku the winner.
After his team loses the match, Rinku is seen in several recurring appearances throughout the saga including helping protect Keiko and the unconscious Yusuke during the semi-finals from several demons and attending to watch Yusuke fight Younger Toguro in the final match.
Three Kings Saga
Rinku is later seen training under Genkai, along with Chū, Shishiwakamaru, Jin, Touya, and Suzuka. His fighting techniques improve greatly, and he becomes an A-class (anime)/S-Class (manga) demon. He enters into the Makai Tournament, but doesn't get past the first round, after the preliminaries. According to Touya, Rinku was seduced by his opponent, Sasuga and lost. Later on in the series, although it is not shown, he goes on to help train other fighters.
Epilogue
In the manga, he and Sasuga watch Chū's training with Natsume, to which both of them agree Chū should give up.
Powers and Abilities
Fighting Style
Trickster // Long Range Grappling: Rinku tends to toy with his opponents, initially pretending to be much weaker than he actually is. Once his opponent belittles him, Rinku then shows his true strength. Though he is quite strong physically, he is still relatively weak compared to other demons and mainly attacks from a long range to compensate, making him effective against close to mid-range fighters. He binds opponents with his Yo-Yos, so they will be unable to properly fight back.
Known Techniques/Moves
Serpent Yo-Yos
Serpent Yo-Yos (魔妖妖（デビルヨーヨー）, Mayōyō (Debiru Yōyō), translated as Devil Yo-Yo): Rinku's yo-yos are not mere toys, as they actually respond to his demon energy. In his own words to Kuwabara, "you trying to cut them down with that sword is like... grabbing snakes bare handed" (Kuwabara imagines a giant snake behind Rinku, when he says this). When the opponent is hit, it appears that they are being shocked with electrical surges. He can manipulate the strings, curving them, and wrapping them around the opponent. He seems to take a huge liking to lifting them up to extremely high places up in the air, and then making them come crashing down. Rinku's yo-yos are powerful enough to smash through tall, thick rock structures. The English Video Game Yu Yu Hakusho Dark Tournament and Viz Manga version uses the original Japanese name for this technique. Rinku's yo-yos can poison (perhaps due to the serpent theme) and electrocute foes in the Tournament Tactics Video game.
Walking the Dog
Walking the Dog: Rinku makes the Yo-yos ride the ground towards the opponent with a lot of destructive force.
Around the World
Around the World: By wrapping the Yo-Yos around his opponent Rinku can lift the opponent then slam them back into the ground.
Sixteen Serpent Yo-Yo's (Sixteen Devil Yo-Yo's): At first he could only control his eight yo-yos with his ten fingers, but after becoming an middle S-class demon, he learns to control eight additional yo-yos, using his toes. While he trained for, and later participated in the Demon World Tournament, he doesn't advance very far.
Video Game Techniques
Rinku's Imagined Serpent
Serpent Calling: In the Tournament Tactics video game, Rinku actually summons the giant serpent Kuwabara imagines behind him to crush foes that are surrounding Rinku.
Relationships
Chū: Rinku first met Chū when the drunk demon saved the kid from a band of demon thugs. Although they're friends, Rinku and Chū are often seen quarreling, with Rinku making fun of him, and Chū smacking him in retribution.
Kuwabara: The first person Rinku fights in the entire series, Rinku has little to no respect for Kuwabara. Although Kuwabara demands a rematch, scaring Rinku as he has never seen someone so determined to beat him. The two never interact after Rinku wins the match.
Yusuke: While he was cheering for Chū, Rinku took it upon him to go out of this way to throw smart ass remarks at Yusuke's expense, saying that Chū was the toughest one on the (Rokuyukai) team, and that Yusuke didn't stand a chance. When Yusuke beats Chū and stands up for him against a crowd of blood thirsty demons, Rinku gains a large amount of respect for him. They go on to become friends.
Kotei/Sasuga: Rinku's love interest in the series, but she would have none of it. She finds him very annoying, but flattering while he chases her around the stadium during the Demon World Tournament. She is seen casually hanging out with him, while Natsume is training Chū.
Trivia
Rinku's name translates to "Bell Piece."
In Volume 18 of the English manga his name is translated as Link.
Contrary to popular belief, Rinku and the other 5 fighters recruited for Yomi are not A Class Demons and are actually S Class. This is proven as Shachi, Hokushin and Kirin, S Class Makai Generals have Yōki of 36,000-89,500 while Jin, Chū, Toya, Shishiwakamaru, Suzuka and Rinku all have Yōki of over 100,000.
Rinku is between 200 and 240 years old- likely 237.
Strangely, throughout all of Yu Yu Hakusho manga, Rinku getting defeated was never shown (only mentioned by Touya). In the anime, however, he is shown getting beat up in a flashback.
In the English dub, Rinku's name is once mispronounced as RENku.
Rinku is similar to Chiaotzu from Dragon Ball. Both are children of short stature and their eyes are small, friends are a big guy (Tien and Chū respectively), were opponents of the heroes in the tournament and then became friends, their voices in the dubbing of Latin America is similar.
Quotes
"Hey there, Zeru! I was just saying how-di-do to our enemies."
"You trying to cut 'em down with that sword is like...grabbing snakes bare handed."
"And now that he's powering up, you'll be just another chalk mark on his wall."
"This is it! Finish that idiot, Chū!"
"Say, guess we'll have to fix that, won't we?"
"Man what a hypocrite he turned out to be. Ever since the Dark Tournament all he said was 'I gotta train so I can beat Urameshi!' Then he gives it all up for what? Only a nice pair of legs and a cute butt, that's what!"
