Black Clover Creator Shares Their Love for Yu Yu Hakusho's Hiei

Black Clover is now one of the most successful manga running in the pages of Shueisha's Weekly [...]

By Nick Valdez

Black Clover is now one of the most successful manga running in the pages of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump these days, but did you know series creator Yuki Tabata is actually a huge fan of another Shonen Jump classic, Yoshihiro Togashi's Yu Yu Hakusho? In a recently resurfaced info page from the creator spotted by @Cer_clover on Twitter, Tabata revealed to fans that he was actually a huge fan of the classic action series. Specifically Tabata dished about his love of the character Hiei, and noted how this villain turned hero was a huge influence on his own series.

When discussing how much he loved the series, Tabata then broke into how Hiei was his favorite above all else, "I was super hooked on Yu Yu Hakusho as a child, and I read all the volumes on my bookshelf so many times they're all rugged now! I loved Hiei the most!" The more hilarious bit comes from why he loves Hiei because Tabata revealed that Hiei now directly influences some of his design choices, "The evil eye, the Black Dragon King Flame, his cool personality, and his strength despite his height!" I even copied Hiei and added some evil eye charactes in my manga! ...and I still am now."

If you have read Black Clover, then these quirks should sound familiar. It's not a direct connection, but titles such as Wizard King, Asta being short yet strong, and the admitted evil eye characters (like with the Eye of Midnight Sun's Devil power reveals) all seem to have started with Yu Yu Hakusho. Considering the series is still held in high regard by many, there are definitely worse things to be inspired by!

Yu Yu Hakusho might be gone (at least until those OVA specials finally get an English language release), but at least its spirit lives on within series like Black Clover! But what do you think? Have you caught any of the similarities between Yuki Tabata's Black Clover and Yoshihiro Togashi's Yu Yu Hakusho? Did you catch the three eyed characters and think of Hiei? Which lessons do you think Black Clover has learned from Yu Yu Hakusho's run? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or you can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!

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