Horohoro

Horokeu "Horohoro" Usui
Shaman King character
Horo Horo by Hiroyuki Takei
Voiced by	Yuji Ueda (Japanese) Mike Sinterniklaas (English)
Profile
Nicknames	Trey in English dub
Gender	Male
Species	Human, Shaman
Date of birth	November 27, 1985[1]
Occupation	Shaman
Known relatives	Pirika (sister) Oyaji (Father)
Information
Team Affiliation	The Ren
Teammates	Tao Ren Joco
Spirit Allies	Kororo Spirit of Rain

Horohoro (ホロホロ) is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Shaman King. In the English anime, his real name is Horohoro but he prefers to be called Trey Racer. In the Japanese anime and the manga, his real name is Horokeu Usui (碓氷ホロケウUsui Horokeu), and Horohoro is a nickname.

Character

Horohoro is an Ainu from Hokkaidō, a prefecture in Japan. In the English anime, he is described as from "the Northern Woods" instead of from Hokkaidō. Horohoro's main goal in the Shaman Fight is to save the Koro Pokkuru ("Minutians" in the English anime), a tiny spirit people. As part of this goal, he intends to plant a vast field of Butterbur. His guardian ghost is Kororo ("Corey" in the English anime), a spirit who is smitten with Manta Oyamada. Also in the manga, he becomes the third strongest of the Five Elemental Warriors and gains the Spirit of Rain. His furyoku is 120,000 (as seen in chapter 276)^[2] This, oddly, makes him "technically" stronger than both Yoh and Tao Ren, who have more importance in the series than him, who only have 108,000 and 100,001 furyoku respectively.

Horohoro is good-natured and cheerful, but he gets serious in dangerous situations. He argues constantly with his teammate Tao Ren, and they do not seem to get along at all. However, it is shown that he really does care for him when, in the manga, he tells Yoh Asakura that if he can't save Ren, as his friend, HoroHoro would never forgive him.^[3] Horohoro is also very secretive about his past not willing to talk about it even to his friends. In addition, Horohoro can also get very competitive, even going so far as to turn Ryu's arms to ice and shatter them during the fight between The Ren and Funbari Onsen. Horohoro's name sounds and is spelled (in Katakana) like "boroboro," which means "crap" Characters mispronouncing/misspelling his name is a running gag in the series. It's later reveled that Horohoro's real name is Usui Horokeu.

Background

Horohoro was in love with a girl nicknamed Damuko (whose real name is Kurobe Tamiko) who went to his school. They became friends over time until Horohoro's grandfather told him not to associate with her. He then stopped talking to her from that point on. Half a year later, Horohoro still ignored her. One day, when she ran after him as he went to the mountains, she had an accident in the mountains and froze to death. He blames himself for her death. However unknown to Horohoro, she was turned into a koropukkuru named Kororo, and has been with Horohoro the whole time. It's revealed that Horohoro's true reason for wanting to become Shaman King is to apologize to Damuko and create a huge field of fuki because she loved them. It's also revealed that she gave Horohoro his nickname.

Family

His younger sister, Pirika (Pilica in the English anime and Pirika in Viz's translation of the manga) trains him harshly, similar to how Anna trains her fiancé, Yoh Asakura. Despite this, Horohoro certainly cares for his sister, and he fights for both of their dreams. As for his parents, his father is only seen in his the manga. While shown to be a burly man with a heavy beard, he reveals during Horohoro's fight with Blocken that he is merely a salaryman working for a hotel. Like Ren, his relationship with his father is rather estranged and distant, as he thinks of himself as a "dumb, unworthy son"^[4]. His father also shows his uncaring for his son by stating while Horohoro fights Hao's minions that "[He] could always have another son," adding that he only came because "Pirika begged [him] to come after him."^[5].

Kororo

For his first Oversoul he channels Kororo into his snowboard. The snowboard sprouts Kororo's eyes and mouth and is covered in a blue aura. He can also attach his snowboard Oversoul to his arm and use an attack called the Nipopo Punch. Horohoro mainly uses his Oversoul to freeze water vapor into ice and use it to attack his opponents. He also forms an oversoul by channeling Kororo into an Ikupasui given to him by Pirika. The Oversoul creates an icy blue shield with eyes and six blades. Like most of the characters, he achieves Giant Over Soul in the anime. In the manga he develops an armor Oversoul alled the Nipopo Tekumpe (Nipopo Gauntlets) after being taught by Pascal Avaf. This Oversoul can manipulate moisture in the air so intensly that it can cause limbs or an entire body to shatter in the blink of an eye. Horohoro's attacks with this Oversouls are Haraki Hoku: Wose (Left Husband: Little Regret) in which he puches the air with his left gauntlet freezing solid and then shattering anything that is in the linear path of the hand even if out of arms reach, Shimon Mataki: Rupushika Tek (Right Wife: Freezing Hand) in which Horohoro freezes and shatters anything he touches with the right gauntlet but this is a defensive technique, and Shiushiuwatki: Kamuiranke Opukeni (Howling Wind: The fist that God offered) an offensive version of the previous technique in which Horohoro punches the target and flash freezes them at the same time which causes them to shatter, making this his most powerful attack. In the manga, he becomes one of the Five Elemental Warriors and gains the Spirit of Rain.

References