Hao Asakura

wo-faced, calm, unflappable, and possessive. As your older twin brother and ancestor, Hao is much like you physically: you both have dark brown hair and brown eyes. Unlike his younger twin, Hao's hair is much longer and reaches his waist, while yours is down to his shoulder blades. He often wears a pale yellow poncho cloak that only covers his upper body, with nothing underneath. He wears a pair of black and red lined fingerless gloves with four small protrusions on the knuckles with his own name imprinted on them, as well as a pair of dark red baggy trousers with two sections of three straps on each leg and boots with two spikes protruding from the toes. He also wears a belt with a Five-Pointed Star, and the belts are also panelled with it. The Five-Pointed Star is also featured on the medium-sized stud earrings he wears. When Hao uses the Above Soul Jutsu or Yin-Yang Jutsu, his hair is folded into several spikes. In public, Hao wears dark blue jeans and a white button-down shirt with a large collar and cuffs. Personality Hao is a complex and multi-layered personality, shaped by a number of harsh circumstances in his life. During the Heian era, he lived a life of uncertainty as a corrupt and uncaring nobility plunged the country into chaos and poverty. The world seemed bleak and dark to him until he met a small demon named Ohachiyo, who taught him all the positive aspects of life. However, after an accident involving Hao's first Over Soul, Ohachiyo became a permanent part of Hao and cursed him with a dangerous ability of Reishi. In his teen years, having witnessed the corruption and greed in the capital, Hao was aloof to those around him, but as he grew into an adult, he became a relatively peaceful man who sought to help the people around him, and thanks to him the Asakura Family prospered. It was because of this gentle and kind nature that he took in the cat Matamune, whom he considered his only friend. Hao grew misanthropic over time, as his Reishi abilities became too strong and eventually went beyond his control. The negative emotions and thoughts of others were constantly overwhelming him and, since he was unable to turn his Reishi off, the deluge of negativity eventually created an "Oni" inside his own heart. The internal confusion and disorder that was created eventually led to his desire of creating the Shaman Kingdom on Earth and drove him to become the Shaman King in order to reach this main goal. Nonetheless it was the unjust death of his mother that caused the initial spark on his hatred for humanity. In his third and most current incarnation, Hao is usually calm, cruel, and always smiles. The occasions when he is really angry is very rare and when he is angry with someone, that person is usually killed off and burned to death down to their soul by The Spirit Of Fire. He also likes to watch the Shaman Fights, particularly those that involve strong Shamans, and Asakura Yoh. He is not only interested in that, but he also proclaims that when Yoh reaches his limits, he will become one with him to become the strongest Shaman. Hao regards money as a primary reason behind the corruption in society. He refuses to use it and has his group follow the philosophy of being completely self-sufficient - even if it means stealing something to obtain it. When treating Yoh for coffee, Hao menacingly glared at the Patch in charge when asking about the bill, until the Patch relented out of fear of being killed. Hao is shown to be rather duplicitous as well. While generally polite and respectful towards his followers who all venerate him due to in large part because he saved many of their lives, Hao in fact cares very little for them and views them purely as a tool to achieve his goals. He has no qualms about even devouring their souls if it means getting more power as he once tried to with Hana-Gumi. Hao in fact, scorns the vast majority of his followers, knowing from his Reishi that they secretly fear him, an experience he has long endured even during his origins as the people around him were both afraid and hateful to him, which fuels his disgust. True enough, their faith on Hao collapsed once they learned that he could read their minds the entire time and never told them. The sole exception to this are Luchist and Opacho whom Hao views favorably. The former because of his tremendous mental fortitude as he stays by Hao's side despite knowing of his mind reading abilities. The latter because she is pure of heart and follows him out of genuine loyalty. This somewhat extends to the first anime series in which Hao is portrayed differently. In this continuity the majority of Hao's background (like his Reishi) is not explained, with his misanthropy being attributed to people fearing him like a monster, due to his Shamanic strength. Hao believes this to be caused by humanity's fragile willed nature, and thus scorns on humanity due to their mental and spiritual weakness, thinking it the source of conflict and discord and thus wishes to purge humanity and create his Shaman Kingdom to achieve his vision of peace. It is as a result of this that Hao is obsessed over Shamans he consider to be strong, even engaging in purging acts as he had the Spirit of Fire melt ice from atop a mountain to cause a flood to cull the strong from the weak. Nearing the end of this series, Hao bestowed a power up to his followers, and revealed to Manta that he cared very little over those that died as a result of the overload, as it would prove they were weak and thus useless to his vision. He even scorned on Opacho herself when his usually calm demeanor fell apart, exposing his hatred causing her to be afraid of him. In both the original manga and 2021 anime, Hao is portrayed in a far more sympathetic light, as it is revealed that despite his cruelty and his destructive acts, that he is in fact a deeply vulnerable person unable to move onwards due to his obsessions. Using an analogy, Anna described Hao as a "Princess who was caught by the Demon Lord of hatred" with the only means to defeat him being to save him from himself. Hao in fact, mourns his mother to this day and laments her loss and the lack of her company, something he keeps entirely to himself. When seen crying by X-Laws who attempted an attack on him, Hao erupted in a murderous fit of rage as it was a side of his that he did not want exposed. It was, ultimately thanks to his mother's spirit intervention that he ultimately desisted from his darker impulses.