Kurohime (manga)

is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masanori Katakura. The manga began its run in 2000 and was serialized in ''Monthly Shōnen Jump'' until 2007. The series was transferred to ''Jump Square'' website in 2007 and finished in 2011. Shueisha collected its chapters into eighteen ''tankōbon'' volumes. In North America, Viz Media licensed the series for English release in 2007. Viz stopped the series publication after the release of fourteen volumes.

Plot

Ten years prior to the story's beginning, Kurohime brought an end to a massive war fought to own and rebuild the Tower of the Gods, which once completed would allow the builder to become a god themselves. Upon completion, Kurohime destroyed the tower and entered the realm of the gods to slaughter them, as they were the ones who started the war in the first place. Through a combination of deception and brutality, the gods captured and split her into two beings, one representing her rage, and the other representing her compassion.

The being representing her rage, in a form of a small girl named 'Himeko', seeks to regain her body and powers, and attempt to take down the gods again; however, the curse can only be undone with love. Throughout the course of the manga, Kurohime is able to regain her ability to love through her relationship with Zero, causing her to evolve into different incarnations throughout the various story arcs.

Characters

Protagonists

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:Kurohime is the most powerful witch-gunslinger in the world; such as the ability to summon and control a wide variety of dragons. Ten years ago, she challenged the gods and failed, and was split into two beings as punishment, one representing her rage, and the other representing her compassion. The form representing her rage, appearing as a child named 'Himeko', seeks to regain her appearance and powers, which can only be done through the power of love. This becomes difficult as Kurohime has become cruel and vain, responding to feelings from most men by using them to further her own goals.
: is Kurohime's childlike form, between the ages of 8 and 10. Her ability to feel love stripped away, following her split at the gods' hands, Shirohime forced Kurohime into a more harmless form, under the condition that she can only change back when she feels love. Greedy and self-centered, Himeko also lacks the power of Kurohime and originally considers Zero to be her "lap-dog". After spending time with Zero however, Himeko slowly began to regain the ability to love and feel compassion, allowing her to randomly regain the form of Kurohime for a few brief moments and then permanently during the battle with Darkray.
: is Kurohime's second alternate form, between the ages of 13 and 15. With Shirohime slain by Dark Rei, the original curse on Kurohime was broken. Unfortunately, the trauma of losing Zero resulted in Kurohime unable to access her full powers and limiting the recovery of her proper form. Informed by Yamatohime that reviving Zero will enable her to fully regain her power and form, Kurohime received a magical Lotus, which when plucked, will cause her to briefly transform into Kurohime, at the cost of losing a memory of Zero. She also receives a sword blade called Yamato-Dachi, which once empowered with the magic of the four spirit kings, will be able to resurrect Zero. Upon reception, Yamoto-Dachi promptly fuses with Senryu, changing it into Yamato Senryu which can assume the form of either a gun or a katana. Kurohime was then launched from Yamatohime's prison inside of a giant peach which was found by an old couple, who upon finding her inside gave her the name Momohime (peach princess), a name which Kurohime finds exceedingly annoying. As Momohime's magic is slightly stronger than Himeko but still heavily inferior to that of her true form. She also is a bit more mature than Himeko, willingly repaying kindness and helping those in need, but still has quite a temper to those who irritate her.
: is Kurohime's third alternate form. After having most of her memories of Zero stripped away from her by Dark Zero, Kurohime reverts to an age between 16 and 18. In this form, the majority of Kurohime's powers have been restored, allowing her to fight her enemies without sacrificing her final two memories of Zero. Sent back in time by Kairyu to learn the truth about Zero's past, Kurohime adopted a third alias to prevent Zero from learning her identity and thereby altering the past. As Kurohime's Himekojo form is slightly more "girly" than her other incarnations (her first thought upon arriving in the past is how cute the child version of Zero must be) but is also prone to vanity, taking furious offense at Ray's comments about her being ugly. Upon learning that the Zero she fell in love with is in fact Ray, Himekojo's love for him grew even stronger, and is intend to save Ray from the darkness in the present, as she failed to do so in the past. She still refers him as "Zero", despite knowing his true name. After a brutal fight with Ray, Kurohime allows herself to be consumed by the River of Death, apparently dying in the process, but also finally succeeding in returning Ray to his human form. However, it is shown that the Kurohime's soul was absorbed by the black tree which emerges from the River of Death. Yamato-hime then sacrifices herself to imbue the tree with her remaining energy, transforming the black tree into a white tree and Kurohime is reborn. She uses the ultimate blade to kill Yashahime and is reunited with Ray. It is revealed that she has the power to create a new world and that the white tree contains most of the souls of those who died. Using the white trees power to travel into space, Kurohime embraces Ray and says that one day, even if it takes an eternity, they will find a new world and be reborn so that they can start over. Four billion years later, on an Earth-like world, Kurohime, reincarnated as a male gunslinger saves Ray's life, revealed to have been reincarnated as a young woman.
: is Kurohime's other half who was split into two persona by Sword. While Kurohime was banished back to earth, Shirohime became the Goddess of Benevolence. Unlike the other "younger" incarnations of Kurohime, Shirohime is calm and collected, even to death. She was killed by Darkray when defending her other half.
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:Zero is a young boy saved by Kurohime in his childhood. Over ten years, he trained and became a gunslinger. He uses four guns and is known for his incredible speed. He is very loyal to Kurohime, and although he finds her difficult to handle as a child, he is still very much in love with her. Kurohime often berates him for his naivety and open kindness, but it is also what she fell in love with. His personal morals and sense of justice stems from his past:after witnessing Kurohime's power when she saved him, he vowed only to use his guns to protect and save the innocent. In order not to kill anyone, he aims mostly to disarm his aggressors with his shots. Throughout the story, he suffers great - and almost fatal - physical damage in order to save his beloved Kurohime, despite her often insensitive and ungrateful behavior. His love for Kurohime was so strong that he willingly sacrificed his own life to save her from the River of Death.
:Near the end of the time traveling arc, it is revealed that the true Zero was killed after a situation forced Zero to resurrect. His soul was destroyed by the Shinigami Angels and that in reality the Zero Kurohime knows is actually Zero's brother Ray posing as Zero in penance.
:Zero's soul is taken to the underworld by Yashahime and there he is resurrected as the new God of Death. The two later confront Kurohime at the prison of the Spirit King Byako and attack her, even though she is not willing to fight him. After taking back his signature blue scarf from Kurohime, he tears out most of the petals that comprise her soul lotus, leaving one behind. This single lotus petal contains the memories of the love Kurohime has for Zero, and the pain of losing him. This act causes Zero to remember his true memories and he transforms into his full Death God form. It is revealed that Zero holds much darkness in his heart, as the "Good Zero" is told to be just "an image created by an idealistic youth". Zero continues the fight but later retreats with Yashahime after she was severely injured by Kurohime. While Kurohime was gone into Zero's past, Dark Zero declared that he would wipe out humanity, and would ask the Supreme God, Igudo, to commence with the apocalypse.
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:Despite being so small, Ray is actually Zero's older twin brother, a quiet young boy that keeps to himself. After seeing his mother murdered by Doc, he loses the will to speak, as well as stopped growing, and follows Doc around looking for a chance to kill him. He will not allow anyone else to kill Doc but himself, therefore protecting him from other attempts at his life. Unlike his younger brother Zero, or his later persona of Zero, the original Ray is rude and somewhat violent, calling Kurohime a "hag" and assaulting her when he considered her annoying.
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:The original Zero was the younger twin brother of Ray. As this Zero did not witness their mother's death at the hands of Doc, he continued to grow and was not rendered mute. His skills at quick drawing has earned him the moniker "Quick Draw Zero". He was killed by the Vengeance Knights when Doc betrayed the group. When Ray committed suicide after being awakened as a Shinigami and then returned to human by Himekojo, Zero's spirit spoke to Himekojo, requesting her to resurrect him with the forbidden spell as an angel, and returning Ray's soul to his body. After much painful decision, Himekojo agreed, and shortly after saving Ray, Zero's soul was torn apart by Sword and her comrades.
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:Onimaru is a heavyset gunslinger in pursuit of Kurohime. He was once her most loyal soldier and his back bears a large tattoo of the kanji for "dog", with the kanji for "Kurohime" branded near it. Feeling betrayed by the apparently selfish witch, he swore revenge on her, and intends to take it now that she has been stripped of her magical powers. Ironically enough, he is still attracted to her.
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:Tsucchi is an alternate form of Onimaru. In a bid to take down Kurohime, the leader of the "Death Angel" squad, Sword, seduces Onimaru and compels him to kiss her leg, and he nearly became a hideously grotesque man-snake. However, his sheer willpower prevents the transformation from fully occurring, and he becomes a mute miniature lizard;his personality and intelligence also survive this change. After learning of Kurohime's true motivations from Shirohime, he convinces her to break the curse placed on Kurohime and afterward tags along with Himeko and Asura in their quest to Yamato. By the time for the final battle between Zero and Kurohime, Tsucchi was reverted to normal by Sword into Onimaru, and he gave Kurohime the strength to fight on by expressing his love for her.
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:Yuka is a beautiful girl who first ran into Barahime, a once seductive witch who has been drained of her magical powers by Kurohime. Barahime possessed Yuka and used the girl to help drain men of their life force to continue to be young and beautiful. However, this possession can only happen at night, as by day time, Yuka is in control of her own body. With the help of Zero and Kurohime, Barahime was extracted from Yuka. This possession has left Yuka with some magical powers, and she started to develop them.
:After Zero's demise, Barahime, who was set ablaze in hellfire by Kurohime to burn forever, was saved by Sword. Barahime then possesses Yuka again, this time completely, and follows Kurohime into the past in attempt for revenge. However, Kurohime completely kills Barahime, saving Yuka. Since then, Yuka follows her savior.
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:Asura is a beautiful looking woman. The people of that land call her and her kind, demons. She is extremely powerful, possessing incredible magical powers, whose destructive properties rivals a god. She is first introduced as a mysterious character who plays a subtle hand in aiding Kurohime and Zero defeat a witch. She is next seen fighting a Mountain God and is severely wounded while protecting Zero and Kurohime. Shortly after being tended to by Zero, they are attacked again by the Mountain God, and Kurohime and Asura team up together to destroy their enemy.
:She is attuned to the element of fire, and much of her magic revolves around flames. She also has a demonic form that allows her to use her powers more efficiently. However, as a demon of fire, she is vulnerable to water and cannot swim. She was initially reluctant in having anything to do with Zero and Kurohime, but after being saved by Zero and witnessing the power of a vengeful Kurohime, she has a change of heart, and tells Kurohime about her master who seems intent on helping Kurohime regain her full power.
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:Tokugawa Kazuma is the prince of the Big Edo City. He is a powerful swordsman, being able to strike with lightning speed. Later, he was given a necklace that has stones imbued with the power of the three out of four Spirit Kings by his father. This grants him great powers, but using it would require him to provide his life force to Yamatohime as an exchange;this led his hair to turn white and his health to deteriorate. Kurohime noted that Kazuma's personality is exactly the same to that of Zero and has seemingly fallen in love with Kurohime.
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:Yukionna and Yukiotoko are the goddess and god of snow, respectively. They are childhood friends, and Yukio has fallen in love with Yuki, but Yuki was determined to fill her heart with more than one man, which led her to capture many men and freeze them solid, keeping them in her vault. Despite this, Yukio is still deeply in love with her, and is willing to do anything for her. The two of them has been assigned to guard the Spirit King Byakko, but were ultimately defeated by Kurohime. During this clash, in which Yukio has taken a formed a friendship to Kurohime, Yuki was able to realize her mistake, and showed that she truly loves Yukio, and the two reconciled. The two, indebted to Kurohime, defied Yashahime and helped Kurohime, Asura, Kazuma, and Tsucchi all the way throughout the battle against the Kurohime Punishment Squad in Big Edo City, and against the Gods when Yashahime tried to devour the planet.
:In combat, Yuki has command of the element of snow and ice, while Yukio can into a sleek and combat-adept abominable snowman