organic farm-grown soy boy

(Yusuke was fairly easy to redesign, his hair has a thicker texture and styled with a fade. I didn't realize he would end up so adorable- but even though he's got a tough-guy attitude and a reputation as a punk, who winds up fighting literal demons, he's still a 14 year old with a funny side, and having a genuine sweet smile doesn't make him any less strong. for Keiko, I was thinking about some of the hairstyles I saw with different music/movie stars in the 80s/early 90s, so she has her hair short, with an a-symmetrical part, with lots of tiny curls. while all these characters are now Black and Japanese, for Keiko and Yusuke specifically; as they grew up, the a-hole adults around them would wrongfully judge Yusuke before he even started misbehaving... and perhaps that even added to it. despite the divide other people tried to impose on them, Keiko never let that interfere with how much she cared about Yusuke. this negative double-standard is even more harsh with Hiei and Yukina; they're twins, but he was immediately rejected by their community, while she was accepted- Hiei also gave that negative energy right back to world for a long time, but along with the others, he literally becomes one of the most important people in MULTIPLE worlds, helping to save the existence of billions. they're MORE than "good enough", and they didn't have to somehow "stop being who they are" along the way. for most of these kids, this is something they all have to kinda deal with in the backgrounds of their lives.

for Kurama, I gave him thick braided locs that still follow the original "shape and flow" of his hairstyle, pulled into a larger braid behind his head before letting the lengths fall down his back, a little darker at the tips. Hiei's hair is done in thick, wide coils that all have a distinct shine to them. Kuwabara was fairly easy, I changed his skin-tone and features slightly, and added more definition to his curly hair, plus a gradient to show that he dyes it a bright orange/red up top. Botan was a lot of fun, I love her so much! she's one of my favorite anime girls ever, so I wanted to do her justice; her hair has a thicker texture and is a darker blue at the roots, she has little bairds trailing down by her ears, and several more tiny braids where he hair is pulled back into a ponytail. finally is Koenma, who doesn't have a lot of details, he was already a chibi-baby, but I still wanted to convey certain things in this redesign, so he's got some little finger coils sticking out from under his hat.