Yu Yu Hakusho: Kazuma Kuwabara (ESFJ)

Most assume that Kuwabara from Yu Yu Hakusho is an ESFP, which is understandable. His character isn’t given much depth. However, after observing Kuwabara, we think there’s a better case for ESFJ, albeit he’s a dumb one. We did consider ESFP for Kuwabara, along with ENFJ, but ESFJ is ultimately where we landed. We hope this makes sense! If you’re interested in reading other Yu Yu Hakusho character analyses, we’ve already published Yusuke Urameshi and Kurama. We will be publishing Hiei and Genkai in the near future.

Fe:

“When men do what they’re supposed to do, it’s not always about what they want.”

“And I suppose you think it’d be noble if we all died as a team.” – Hiei to Kuwabara

“What’s with you people? Doesn’t anybody know how to write notes when they leave?”

“With all of us fighting together, we can watch each other’s backs.”

“There’s nothing wrong with guys needing each other.”

Kuwabara is rather impulsive, which many would use to claim that Kuwabara is a Se dominant. However, imbalanced extraverts are prone to being impulsive. While Kuwabara is most certainly a feeler, and has a strong value focus, his values are actually collective in nature. For instance, Kuwabara is extremely loyal to anyone he considers a friend or a teammate. This is shown right away with his school friends, when he can’t hit one of them for the sake of saving his cat. He even develops a camaraderie and rivalry with Yusuke, prior to actually working with him, due to their frequent brawls. As a result, he ends up heartbroken at Yusuke’s wake (at the beginning of the show).

Kuwabara highly values teamwork and cohesion, which is displayed prominently during the Dark Tournament arc. He desires to be the group leader, or the anchor of the team, a title that he tries to claim after beating Risho. He tries to encourage team meetings, and even keep the peace during them. Furthermore, he expects everyone to communicate with each other, such as sharing their whereabouts. When the rest of the team hides Genkai’s death from him, Kuwabara takes it badly, feeling as if they’d excluded him from the group. He makes statements such as “I thought we were a team”, which places the focus on his lack of belonging rather than his individual value.

Kuwabara lives life by a code, and has a strong sense of duty. Many like to associate this tendency with SJs specifically, but it’s really a high extraverted judging tendency (Fe or Te). Kuwabara feels obligated to act in a self-sacrificial way. This is shown right from the beginning of the show, when he’s getting beaten up for the sake of his friends. Kuwabara is also very empathetic toward others, even to the extent that he saves an enemy who had tried to kill his friends only moments before.

Si:

“Are you serious? We don’t know Jack squat about that guy. What if he loses, and we get booted from the tournament?”

“Don’t you think we oughta have some kind of team meeting? I mean, I’m worried about our next fight.”

When a situation starts to get serious, Kuwabara begins to demonstrate a desire to be more prepared. Usually, he’s overconfident in their abilities and his own, but occasionally he’s shown getting afraid of how events will play out. When that happens during the tournament, he suggests that they have a team meeting to prepare for the next fight. On the other hand, he’s also shown rehearsing less serious scenarios, such as, at the beginning of the series, when he makes a dummy replica of Yusuke to practice beating him up. The dummy he makes is a fairly detailed recreation, from the way Yusuke dresses to the three hairs on his forehead.

Kuwabara values concrete experience, and reacts hesitantly in scenarios where that is lacking. For instance, when Suzuki gives him the Trial Sword, Kuwabara instantly wants to reject it, fearing the potential, unknown consequences. Similarly, he acts shocked that Kurama is willing to try out the Fruit of the Previous Life potion, seeing it as potentially dangerous. As another slightly different example, Kuwabara initially struggles to accept the masked Genkai as a member of their team in the Dark Tournament. He expresses concern about the fact that they don’t know who “he” is, and if “he’ll” just end up getting them all booted from the tournament.

Ne:

“It just so happens I know a secret remedy that can cure all kinds of sickness! Let me think. First you hang upside down for a while, then you eat five large lemons, drink some two day old tea with pepper in it, and wrap your body in seaweed.”

“It’s not often a guy gets a chance like this. Maybe they’ll name a city block after me.”

Low Ne often manifests as a fear of the unknown, which was touched on in the previous section. Kuwabara’s low Ne makes him hesitant to accept things that are unfamiliar, or come with too many unknown factors, such as the Trial Sword and their masked teammate. When that happens, he usually posits “what if” statements to demonstrate the problem. He can also get rather paranoid about these possibilities. He worries that his teammates are doing things behind his back, and even that they’ll get poisoned by the free drinks in their room at the Dark Tournament. (He brought his own drink, just in case.)

However, his Ne also occasionally comes in as more wishful thinking, such as jokingly suggesting that they’ll name a city block after him if he’s successful in a major battle at the Dark Tournament. In addition, Kuwabara shows his Ne, when he shares a cure for sickness with Yusuke, who commented that Genkai wasn’t feeling well. Kuwabara lists out a detailed process, which also demonstrates his Si, but not before claiming that it is essentially a universal cure for any kind of illness.

Ti:

“You always have to be there, Urameshi. Don’t you get it? If you’re not, then who am I?”

“You guys can talk your logic all you want, but I’m sticking with the trusty old aluminum.”

Kuwabara bases his identity on other people, namely Yusuke Urameshi. This is not immediately obvious in the show, but becomes apparent when Yusuke is getting ready to sacrifice himself during his battle with Sensui. When realizing what Yusuke is about to do, Kuwabara goes into crisis. He thinks back on all his moments with Yusuke, struggling to imagine a future without him. He questions who he is without Urameshi, which brings new meaning to why he was so upset at his Yusuke’s first death, since at the time, they appeared to merely be rivals. Unbeknownst to Yusuke, their relationship had always held a much deeper meaning for Kuwabara, rather than just being a competition over who was the better fighter.

Kuwabara tends to openly devalue logic, in favor of what he trusts. While in their room at the Dark Tournament, Kuwabara expresses fear that their drinks might be poisoned. Kurama explains why that wouldn’t make any sense, giving him solid reasoning. Kuwabara brushes it off, essentially claiming that the logic is irrelevant.