Shishiwakamaru (死々若丸 translates as dear young lion), is a demon that participated in the Dark Tournament. In the English anime his name is presented as Shishi Wakamaru. A former member and the poster-boy of Team Uraotogi, he is now Yusuke's ally.
Shishi's real form is a tiny imp with two horns on the sides of his forehead and grimacing teeth. However, most of the time, he adopts a human form, similar to a samurai in clothing as he wears a white uwagi and a light-blue zubon tied off with a red obi. In human form he is handsome in appearance.
His hair is violet-blue, with long tresses tied in a loose ponytail and two large bangs sticking straight up from a widow's peak before falling back down to frame his face, parted equally on both sides of his face. When he occasionally gets angry or excited, he shows partial traits of his true form, such as horns and fangs. He is also quite handsome and attractive in his usual appearance, that of a male teenager or young adult, which makes him very popular with demon women.
Personality
During his time in the fighting ring or in front of large crowds, Shishiwakamaru would present himself as a calm and charismatic young man, as a means of attracting as many admirers as possible, or "pleasing the public" as he
Shishiwakamaru (Partially transformed) in the manga
puts it. It is explained that Shishi's only reason for participating in the tournament was a means of becoming famous. To do this he was willing to fight Toguro. He was also prone to mocking his opponents and even intimidating them by revealing his horns and fangs. Shishi directly swears to Urameshi, that he shall make him eat his spiteful words and calls Kuwabara a loser and says he is ugly to his face. No less then his other team mates, Shishi was arrogant and overconfident in his own strength.
But despite his arrogant, almost pompous behaviour towards his colleagues and adversaries, Shishiwakamaru was in fact the only true fighter in Team Uraotogi. Genkai remarks that Shishi was far more powerful than Suzuki ever was. He is ruthless in all his battles, but also logical. Shishi only used his Cape of no Return against Kuwabara, knowing that he was weaker than him. But against opponents such as Genkai and the A to S rank participants of the Makai Tournament, he strictly resorted to his demon katana, to insure any chance of a possible victory.
While fighting Genkai in the tournament, Shishiwakamaru seemed to lack any code of honor, seemingly improvising his moments in which he attacked. But in truth, Shishi was smart enough to understand that fighting is not something to laugh about. One must never forget his own reasons for fighting and must never show any signs of weakness. Genkai approves of this, as she claims that she herself is neither good nor evil but merely following her own ambitions. Her honest words ended up touching the demons heart. Shishi admits that in their fight he had developed romantic affections for the old woman and stating that if she was fifty years younger he might of had a chance with her, with Genkai quipping, "Well, aren't I a lucky one."
In his full demon form, he seems a little more excitable, but he regains his composure when returning to his more humanoid form.
Synopsis
Dark Tournament Saga
Shishi conducted a new way to decide what team members would fight in the semi-finals. He would roll two dice, each face having a different members name, with a free space for the team to choose who would go. Shishi steps
Shishiwakamaru vs Genkai.
up to fight Kuwabara, whom he defeats in one turn using the cape of no return. Afterwards, he rolls the dice and chooses to fill in for a free space, and Hiei steps up to take the missing Masked Fighter's place. However, she shows up last second and decides to fight.
Shishi, angered that the mystery of her mask is hiding him from the spotlight, decides to remove it. Everyone is sent into turmoil when they see an aging woman rather than the young girl they had before. Shishi attempts to have her disqualified, but the committee rules it fair. Nobody understands why, until the Younger Toguro announces that she is indeed the human psychicGenkai and her technique was able to halt and temporarily reverse her aging.
Continuing the fight, Shishi uses the chorus of a thousand souls to nearly destroy the audience. Genkai is left running around the stadium, avoiding his attacks. But just as Shishi tries to kill her, Genkai reflects the energy released by the sword back at him, rendering the technique useless. Shishi partially (just enough to be threatening) reveals his true form, but Genkai overpowers him by reflecting his energy on him again and refers to him later as 'the LATE Shishiwakamaru' upon defeating him (despite the fact that he's still alive). Shishiwakamaru appears in the last time in this arc (in the manga) as one of the survivors of previous battles watching over the battle with Yusuke and Toguro. While his teammate Suzuki is on the side full of supporters of Yusuke (i.e. Jin, Chu, M1, M2, M3), Shishiwakamaru is on the other side of survivors who presumably support Toguro (i.e. Dr. Ichigaki, Risho, and strangely Bui).
Three Kings Saga
During the Saga of the Three Kings, Shishiwakamaru trains under Genkai along with Rinku, Chu, Touya, Jin, and
Shishiwakamaru and Suzuki during the Makai Tournament
Suzuki, increasing his power to upper A-class (anime)/middle S Class (manga) levels. He is later seen taking part in the Makai Tournament. Though he made it through the preliminaries, Shishiwakamaru is defeated in the main tournament by Hokushin in the anime. He may not have lost to Hokushin in the manga, however, if he did beat Hokushin he would've eventually lost to Kokou. After the tournament, he says goodbye to Yusuke with the rest of Kurama's demons as they go off to train for the next tournament.
Epilogue
He is last seen on a cliff with Jin, Touya, and Suzuka. He shows confusion when his three training partners sneeze at the exact same time.
Items
The Cape of No Return.
Darkness Item: Cape of No Return (闇アイテム･死出の羽衣, Yami Aitemu: Shide no Hagoromo, translated as Dark Item: Feathery Robe of Deathly Emergence): A clear cloak that Shishi keeps around his shoulders. It has the ability to manipulate space; anyone or anything that gets caught in it is sent to another location in the three worlds.
Banshee Shriek Sword
Banshee Shriek Sword (魔哭鳴斬剣, Ma Koku Mei Zan Ken, translated as Magic Killing-Wail Cutting Sword): Mutating from Suzuka's Trial Sword (試しの剣, Tameshi No Ken, translates as Sword of Trials; The Trial Sword in the English Dub) when exposed to Shishiwakamaru's energy, this weapon is fueled by the spirits of long-dead demons in order to power its attacks. With it's power, Shishiwakamaru is capable of summoning the souls of long since past demons, using these as either projectiles or even materializing them into barriers.
Powers and Abilities
Fighting Style
Bloodlust: Initially, Shishiwakamaru seemed to be a calm, calculating fighter who fights efficiently without any unnecessary motions, teleporting Kuwabara away rather than wasting energy fighting him. This was to maintain his "cool, handsome image" for his fangirls. If he thinks defeating an opponent will improve his reputation (i.e. Genkai), however, he completely changes the way he fights and goes all out. First he limits the opponent's movement by trapping them, and then ruthlessly and brutally attacks without any restraint while laughing maniacally, not caring if his attacks are killing the audience or not. Touya describes him as "fighting to the end, daring and headfirst."
After his training with Genkai, however, he seems much more controlled, as he maintains his composure better while also gaining better aim with his ghosts.
Known Techniques/Moves
Shrill Call of the Reaper
Shrill Call of the Reaper: By rapidly spinning his sword, a horrible sounding wail is emitted from the Banshee Shriek Sword. According to Shishi, those too weak to resist the song will have their souls stolen.
Chorus of a Thousand Skulls
Chorus of a Thousand Skulls (爆吐髑触葬, Baku Tō Doku Shoku Sō, translated as Vomiting Explosive Skull Ramming Burial): By hitting the ground with the reddening blade of the Banshee Shriek Sword, Shishiwakamaru can summon hundreds maybe even thousands of ghoulish spirits of long since dead demons, in order to surround the battle area. They don't discriminate and will destroy anything in their path, though they mainly seem to target weaker demons. Until his training with Genkai, he can only guide the skulls to his target if he has a little amount of energy (due to taking the Spirit Reflection Blast head-on). Otherwise, he loses control and they fly out and attack at random. At the end of Shishiwakamaru's battle with Genkai, he summoned the ghoulish spirits through the ghoulish face of the sword. After his training with Genkai, he learns a more powerful version of this technique called Chorus of Ten Thousand Skulls.
Shishiwakamaru's Cage of Doom
Cage of Hell (怨呼障縛壁, On Ko Shō Baku Heki, translated as Binding Shield Wall of Resentful Shouting): Shishiwakamaru uses the Banshee Shriek Sword to create a cage of demon souls to trap his opponent by calling on the screams of the dead. He's able to freely pass through the cage to attack, but his opponent is unable to pass. It is speculated that crossing the threshold will result in instant death.
He can also transform into his true imp like form when the situation demands it.
Trivia
In the original Japanese dialogue from the manga, during Shishiwakamaru's fight against Genkai, he claims to have actually met the historical figure Saitō Musashibō Benkei. He simply refers to him as the "famous Benkei" and states that once he saw the Banshee Shriek's true form, Benkei had walked away from the fight.
Similarities between Shishiwakamaru and Benkei:
Both have samurai clothing and weaponry. Although Benkei had both a katana and a naginata, Shishi's sword could lengthen itself into a naginata, making him have two weapons in one.
A demonic appearance that is recognizable due to their dark, unkempt hair and large fangs.
Both of them are master swordsmen.
The name Shishiwakamaru, meaning "demon lion child" is a spoof to Benkei's popular title of Oniwakamaru, which literally translates as "demon ogre child".
It is possible that Shishi's Cage of Hell technique might reference his own name. The word maru can be translated as either ward or castle wall, and Shishi's technique slightly resembles a courtyard's walls.
