Fujii Yakumo

Real Name: Fujii Yakumo (Yakumo is his personal name, Fujii his family name)

Identity/Class: Undead (Pai's "Wu")

Occupation: High school student turned immortal servant; waiter; would-be chef

Affiliations: Pai

Enemies: Anyone who threatens Pai

Known Relatives: Unnamed father (deceased)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Mobile, wherever Pai goes.

First Appearance: Young Magazine Pirate Edition (Kodansha, 14th December 1987)

Powers/Abilities: Ever since Pai made Fujii her Wu, Yakumo is linked to her, and as long as she is alive, he is immortal. He can feel pain but he won't die, and he will regenerate from any wound, no matter how severe. He has been shot, dropped from great heights and disembowelled and nonetheless remained alive. Even dismembered limbs can grow back - he once cut off his own hand to stop it being forced to hurt Pai.

History: Professor Fujii was an archaeology professor and would-be monster hunter, who visited Tibet to research the legends of the immortal Sanjiyans. There he met Pai, a relatively youthful member of that mythical race, and he made a promise to help her become human. However he fell ill while trying to depart the Chinese province of Yunnan, and died shortly after completing a letter to his son, asking him to take over helping Pai with her quest.

Four years passed. In Tokyo the professor's son Yakumo had grown into a normal high school student, who paid the bills working as a cross-dressing waiter in a gay bar. Witnessing the mugging of a young girl while heading to work, he intervened, and managed to retrieve the girl's stolen backpack, but not her cane. He took the bedraggled waif to his work to allow her to clean up, but when she heard his name, she revealed herself to be Pai, and gave him his father's last letter. Pai, struck by her beauty, agreed to help even though he didn't really believe his father's claims that she was some kind of immortal monster.

Their discussion was interrupted by news reports of a giant monster flying over the city. Pai recognised the creature as her pet Takuhi, who must have been released from his home in Pai's cane by the thief, and was now hunting for her. Pai set out to retrieve him, with Yakumo close behind. But when Yakumo saw Takuhi fly towards Pai, the lad mistook the beast's welcome for an attack, and shoved Pai out the way; immediately Takuhi ripped into the lad, fatally wounding him. Unwilling to lose the boy she had been hunting for and just located, Pai's third eye opened, and she absorbed his soul. Yakumo became inextricably linked to her, immortal and unkillable so long as Pai is alive. He had become her "wu" (which means nothingness in Chinese), and the Chinese ideoglyph for that word appeared on his forehead to show this. He can only become human again when she becomes human. In the way of this goal are hordes of monsters and demons from the Shadow World, some desiring Pai's powers, others who seek the Ningen for their own. And to complicate matters further, Yakumo has long since fallen in love with Pai.

Comments: Created by Yuzo Takada.

Originally published by Kodansha in their weekly publication, Young Magazine, Sazan Eyes has been collected into several compilations. It was adapted into an OAV in 1991 by Bandai Visual. Some of the manga series has been reprinted in English by Innovation and then by Dark Horse.

Thanks to Vesa Lehtinen for most of the above.

CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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