Manten

was a fearsome yōkai and the younger brother of Hiten. They formed the duo feared throughout Japan as the Thunder Brothers. He is not as powerful as his brother Hiten, but he can also shoot flames from his mouth. Manten once kidnapped Kagome, intending to create a hair growth potion from her skin. He is killed when Inuyasha throws Tessaiga at him, impaling Manten. He often traveled using a floating dark cloud.

History
Manten was the second child born to a humanoid father, and a reptilian mother, from whom he inherits many physical characteristics. In time Manten and Hiten became merciless warriors, known throughout Japan by other demons for their ruthlessness and kidnapping (they often stole beautiful women for the purposes of eating them). They also had a younger sister named Sōten, who took after their father.

During the story
After the Shikon no Tama was scattered into many shards, Manten and Hiten began their quest to obtain all of them by taking them from other Yōkai. Among them was the father of the kitsune Shippō. He was killed, and his pelt was adorned over Manten's waist. It was at this point that they had collected five shards with Manten in possession of two of them.

As the Thunder Brothers increased in strength, they began to enjoy making unnecessary displays of their power, and would often go out on "hunts" and destroy entire armies of samurai just for sport. Yet even slaughter on this scale could hardly satisfy their lust for battle, and they grew restless. Eventually, Manten went off to look for more jewels. He was sitting by a lake and staring at his reflection in the water. He wished that he had hair like his brother. Shippō came across him. He noticed the fox pelt that Manten was wearing around his waist. He mocked Shippō by saying how warm his father's fur was. Shippō became furious and attacked Manten to avenge his father, but was easily pushed back. Manten then noticed the bottle that contained the Shikon Jewel shards that Shippō has stolen from Kagome and Inuyasha. He stepped on Shippō's tail and demanded that he hand over the shards. He was about to use his thunder breath attack on him, but he stopped after he was struck across the nose by Kagome's arrow. She ordered Manten not to move, or her next arrow would go through his head. As Manten froze is surprise, Kagome ordered Shippō to run to her. Manten then pursued Shippō in order to get the shards. Kagome fired her arrow at Manten's forehead where his jewel shards resided. She just missed her target, but it caused Manten to lose two of the three hairs on his head. He became distraught for losing his hair, and launched his Thunder Breath attack at them as they ran away. His attack missed, but it caused Kagome to be knocked out. Shippō ran away as Manten was closing in on them. Once he got good look at Kagome, Manten decided to take her back home with him.

As Kagome awoke, she saw Manten was boiling something. She was under the impression that he was planning to eat her, but Manten wanted to use Kagome as an ingredient for a hair growth potion. Kagome exclaimed that she would rather be eaten. Manten pleaded with her to be quiet or his brother Hiten would hear her and devour her himself. Hiten suddenly barged into the room. He found that Manten had returned early with Kagome. Hiten asked who she was and Manten defensively claimed that she was his own spoils. Hiten allayed his brother's fears by assuring him that he had no need for the girl, as he had a much better one with him. He proceeded to ask Manten if he had succeeded in his search for more shards, but Manten reluctantly informed his older brother that he had one, but lost it. Hiten flew into a rage, assuming that Manten had lost it because he had become distracted by Kagome. To vent his anger, he maliciously killed his mistress.

Manten informed Hiten that it was Shippō who had taken the jewel from him through deception. Hiten resolved to find Shippō, but Kagome attempted to slip away and was nearly butchered by Manten. Pleading for her life, Kagome urged the Thunder Brothers to use her as a hostage, and bargain with Inuyasha, a hanyō who she claimed was madly in love with her. She disclosed to them that Inuyasha had most of the Shikon Jewel shards, and would eagerly give them up to rescue Kagome. Despite Manten's misgivings, Hiten was willing to believe her due to his eagerness for more jewel shards. He ordered Kagome to lead them to Inuyasha, threatening to deal with her in the same way he had killed the vixen if they discovered she was lying.

With Kagome riding on Manten's thundercloud, the Thunder Brothers waylaid Inuyasha and Shippō. Hiten demanded that Inuyasha hand over his Shikon Jewel shard or he would never see his lover again. Inuyasha denied that he was in love with Kagome and refused to ransom her. As Kagome told Inuyasha not to be shy of admitting his true feelings, Manten patted down Kagome's head and stated that he knew that she was fibbing about being his lover. Kagome acted coy during Manten's statement. Inuyasha refused to surrender the jewel shards for Kagome. She was infuriated and insisted that she was more important than a couple of jewels. Nevertheless, through the quarrel, Hiten inferred that Inuyasha did indeed have shards of the jewel as Kagome had said. Since Inuyasha refused to hand them over willing, Hiten settled for battling it out with Inuyasha and force him to hand over the jewels. He and Inuyasha engaged in combat. Manten soon decided to aid in his brother's fight. Kagome was angry that Manten would gang up on Inuyasha and knocked him off his cloud as he launched his Thunder Breath. This caused Kagome to fall from the sky immediately after. She landed on Manten in the crater from his attack. He awoke and began pursuing Kagome. She tripped and was about to be caught, but she was saved by Shippō. He used his fox magic to launch his spinning top on Manten's head. This distracted Manten long enough for Kagome to quickly get away. Since they attack was an illusion, however, it quickly wore off. Manten regained his composure, but Shippō attack caused him to lose the last hair on his head. He continuously unleashed his Thunder Breath out of rage for losing his hair. It devastated the surrounding area

Kagome and Shippō hid from Manten. She though of taking back the arrow across his nose to use against him. She had Shippō disguise himself as her and pretend to be unconscious from Manten's attack. When Manten approached Shippō in disguise, he revealed his deception and trapped Manten's arms with his illusionary hair. Kagome was able to take back arrow. She was about to spear Manten's jewel shard with it, but he managed to break free. He pushed back Shippō and began to choke Kagome.

Inuyasha and Hiten continued to spar. It was during this battle when Inuyasha's sword, the Tessaiga, fell by the wayside in the process. Manten became preoccupied with Kagome. He wanted to take his time choking her. Shippō tried to attack, but he was easily pushed back. Manten exclaimed that he would come for Shippō once he was done killing Kagome. Hiten commended Manten for his viciousness when the latter told Shippō that he would use the fox-child's toes as a new pair of earrings, telling the younger brother he was becoming "quite the villain", which flattered Manten. Shippō rushed towards Manten and bit down on him. This proved to be useless against Manten, but Shippō refused to let go no matter what. Manten began beating Shippō's head in order for him to let go.

Inuyasha used his Hijin Kessō technique to occupy Hiten, while he ran towards Tessaiga. Grabbing it, Inuyasha leaped in the air and threw it, Hiten narrowly dodging. Hiten proceeded to mock Inuyasha for the lousy shot, before realizing that Inuyasha had not been aiming for him at all. The Tessaiga cut through the night air, penetrating Manten's back. Kagome was about to take Shippō and Tessaiga, but Shippō pleased with her to take his father's pelt as well. Hiten panicked and flew over to his brother's side, angrily swatting Shippō and Kagome aside. Together, the two brothers had an uncharacteristically warm parting. As he knelt next to him, Manten began to regret that all his hair had fallen out and that he had not inherited more of his father's looks, as Hiten had. Hiten tried to comfort his brother by telling him that he loved him as he was, baldness included. Manten did not believe his claims, but thanked him anyway. As he lay dying, Manten asked Hiten to pray that he would be reincarnated as a fuzzy caterpillar, with hair all over. Then Manten thought better of it, saying that he would rather be bald again if it meant he could remain Hiten's brother. After their touching moment together, Manten passed.

Legacy
Hiten intended to avenge his brother, but he too was killed in the end by Inuyasha. After their deaths, the Thunder Brothers' younger sister Sōten was the last surviving member of the Thunder Demon Tribe. She was quite young, even by demon standards, and as such was very small. To make up for her diminutive stature and lack of strength, Sōten developed her mind and trained herself to use thunder magic, a close analogue to fox magic. Together with her dragon, Kōryū, she concocted a complex plan for revenge. Knowing she could never defeat Inuyasha, Sōten challenged Shippō instead, sending Kōryū to trap Shippō's allies and kidnapping him, bringing the fox-child back to the Thunder Brothers' castle. Despite her wish to kill Shippō slowly, Sōten allowed Shippō to duel her in the hopes that she could claim his s. Inuyasha interrupted their duel before a victor could be decided, and Shippō, upon learning that Sōten was a girl, gave her his crayons and left, refusing to fight and telling her not to pursue revenge anymore. Sōten ended up admiring Shippō for his chivalry and abandoned her hopes of vengeance.

Personality
Manten, like his brother, is a cruel and fearsome demon. He murders Shippō's father and wears his pelt around his waist, and often references this fact while speaking with Shippō, further upsetting the already devastated Kitsune.

Manten is rather self-conscious about his appearance, specifically his lack of hair; he almost has an obsession with gaining more hair. Manten goes into an angered frenzy after Kagome knocks out two of his strands of hair with her sacred arrow, vowing to kill her.

Physical description
Manten is a rather ugly demon, with almost reptilian features and a large bald head. He is envious of his brother's hair, and believes that he would attract more women if he had the same. He does however have a small braid at the back of his head.

Outfit
Manten wears very elaborate armor, which is near identical to that worn by his brother, although his shoulder pads and other portions of his outfit are blue, whereas Hiten's are orange. It is fitted around his torso and padding on top of this. His shoulder pads are roughly shaped like cogs, with spikes roughly in the shape of the letter "Z." He also has two pads on his forearms which extend all the way to his wrists. These are bound by graphite rings that encircle his wrist and elbow. They are covered by armored plates on which a kanji from name is inscribed, meaning "Heaven" or "Sky." Each plate has a jewel that is set near the wrists with the right one blue and the left one red. He has thick metal bands around his upper arms. A series of lavender sashes are tied together in bows and are connected from his shoulder pads to his waist. The ends at his waist are hidden by the pelt of Shippō's father that he wears around it. Manten wears earrings on both ears. They are gold, double tassels linked to a gold disk, which is joined to the ear and identical to those worn by Hiten.

Powers & Abilities

 * Thunder Breath: Manten is able to fire thunder from his mouth, which generates an intense blast, creating a large crater and setting anything within the vicinity to burst into flames.
 * Flight: Manten is able to fly by sitting on top of a thunder cloud that he creates.

Relationships
Despite the blatant maliciousness evident in the Thunder Brothers' general behavior, the relationship between Manten and his older brother appears to be one of mutual fondness and brotherly affection, give or take a few squabbles here and there. This is particularly exemplified in Manten's last moments; he expresses genuine gratitude for simply being able to have lived his life as Hiten's brother while the other is grief-stricken at the loss and vows to avenge his younger sibling at any cost.
 * Hiten

The relationship between Manten and his younger sister is not entirely clear as the latter was introduced after her brothers' demise. Given Sōten's behavior regarding them however, it is reasonable to assume that the brothers cared just as much about their little sister as they did each other.
 * Sōten

Manga vs. Anime

 * The dream that Manten has with him having a full head of luxurious hair while being surrounded by beautiful women is not present in the manga.
 * In the manga, Hiten does not share a tender moment with Manten before his younger brother passes, Manten having died before Hiten reaches his body.
 * In the anime, Hiten only bites into Manten's forehead to gain his powers and jewel shards after his death. In the manga, he devours Manten's heart.

Media appearances
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Manga

 * Chapter 28
 * Chapter 29
 * Chapter 30
 * Chapter 31
 * Chapter 32
 * Chapter 33
 * Chapter 34

Anime
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 * Episode 9
 * Episode 10
 * Episode 56
 * Episode 68
 * Episode 100
 * Episode 148
 * Episode 3 (FA)
 * Episode 20 (FA)