Toga Yagari

Toga Yagari (夜刈十牙, Yagari Tōga) is the current top ranked vampire hunter and a qualified teacher. Yagari formerly trained Zero Kiryu and to an extent, Ichiru Kiryu, to be a vampire hunter.The meaning of his name: Yagari is a combination of Ya, meaning "night", and gari , meaing "to harvest." Toga means "ten fangs."

Appearance
Yagari has a scar on the same side of his face as his eyepatch which is worn over his right eye after he had lost it while saving Zero from a level E vampire ( In the manga Toga had said that he felt pain in his right eye whenever he thinks of that moment when he killed the level E, stating that it was his fiancee that he had killed). Yagari has long, wavy, jet-black hair, blue eyes and is often seen sporting a wide brimmed cowboy style hat with a cigarette hanging from his mouth. Some of his other memorable features are his height and muscular build. Although he appears to be in his thirties, it is not confirmed to how old he really is. Yagari comes off as a tough and "scary" type yet he is seemingly popular with the younger women in the Day Class (As some of the girls had asked him if he were single or had a girlfriend.)

Personality
Yagari comes across as a no nonsense gruff hunter and subscribes to a tough love attitude. He is realistic and not an unfair judge, but does not trust vampires any more than he has to. He expresses admiration for the Night Class when they stand against the Council, though he warns them against becoming outcasts. He doesn't approve of Kaname's methods and reacts negatively to Kaname's implications of atonement for the sins of the hunters' ancestors.

Yagari has a gruff attitude, but a good heart. He is very professional as a hunter and methodically destroys vampires on his list. He can be merciless because he understands the harm that Level E vampires can do, and he knows that hesitating can cost him his life. He was ready to kill Zero if he showed signs of becoming a Level E, but it’s obvious that he cares about his young apprentice deeply and is glad that he didn’t have to make that call. He is often annoyed by Kaien’s idealistic goals and silly chatter, but he also obviously respects and his loyal to his friend.

He mentions in the most recent arc that his lost eye hurts whenever he remembers the vampire who slashed it out, who was his fiancee, and the school nurse of Zero and Ichiru's elementary school.

He takes his duty as a hunter and protector of the innocent seriously, but in general seems to know where to find the balance between eliminating the dangerous vampires and using threats and psychology to deal with troublemakers who are just young and impulsive rather than being true menaces.

History
Yagari first met Kaien Cross as a child and was rude to the older hunter, perceiving that Kaien had too much vampire DNA in him.

Yagari had great respect for Zero's parents and trained Zero and Ichiru inspite of knowing that the latter was not strong enough to become a vampire hunter. He took in Kaito Takamiya for training after his friend was injured and trained him alongside the twins.

Some time ago, Yagari was engaged to a beautiful doctor from Zero's and Ichiru's elementary school, but she was bitten by a Pureblood and transformed into a vampire. Yagari lost his right eye during an incident when Zero disobeyed Yagari's order to run away, refusing to accept that the kind and beautiful doctor at his elementary school was dangerous, when in reality she was a vampire who had escaped from the control of the aristocrats, she unexpectedly transformed into a vicious Level E and Yagari shielded Zero from her. Despite that the vampire was his fiancee, Yagari, who is a vampire hunter above all else, killed her with his own hands. Zero promised Yagari he would make sure that Yagari would never regret losing his eye to save Zero's life.

Following the killing of Zero's family, he gives Zero to Kaien Cross to look after believing he would never see the boy again after going to investigate the death of the elder Kiryus following his suspicions that it was not above board.

Once, Yagari refers to the Chairman as uncle.

Plot
Yagari showed up at Cross Academy having not seen Zero in four years, he shoots Zero through the shoulder with his anti-vampire gun when Zero almost bites Yuki. He stays at the Academy forced by Kaien Cross to serve as the substitute Ethics teacher for the Night Class (Day Class in the anime), while he decides whether Zero is dangerous or not. He forces Zero with Yuki's help to reassert the boy's desire to live for as long as he is sane.

Yagari returns behind the scenes following Shizuka's death as he confronts the Vampire Hunters Association about the Council of Elders' decision to punish Zero when they had previously acknowleged it couldn't be helped if Zero sought retribution, but the Hunters Association appears unable to interfere.

Yagari later returns on orders from the Hunters Association to apprehend Zero and he notices the ominous new aura surrounding Zero. He places Zero into the former prison on the school grounds, giving the Bloody Rose to Zero after telling him that there is yet another Pureblood vampire near the school. Yagari stays and subsequently joins Kaien in defending the Night Class from the Hunters Association.

Yagari is proud of the Night Class for defending their Day Class students, but warns them they will be in danger of being classed as outcasts for their choices. Yagari reveals that he spent the last four years investigating the circumstances of the Kiryu's death finding out that someone had been manipulating the action behind the scenes interferring with the Council and the Vampire Hunters Association. Kaname tells him that Zero dealt with the perpetrator. Although Yagari agrees the Council was hateful, Yagari is troubled by Kaname's destruction of the Council because of the chaos that will arise without their control and threatens Kaname. Kaname assures Yagari he intends to take responsibility, but doesn't elaborate.

During the next year, Yagari takes on the role of Chairman of Cross Academy in Kaien's absence. He expresses disgust over the sheer amount of paper involved. He gladly turns this role back over to Kaien. It is revealed that he has now become the head of the hunters association, though in secret as Kaien is the public figurehead.



Kaien reveals that Yagari insisted on his former student, Kaito Takamiya's recruitment at the school in order to assist the Hunters Association. Yagari attends the peace meeting along with the other hunters and gets annoyed by Kaname's discussion over the destruction of the Council of Vampires as they had to deal with the fallout and trouble caused by it and he gets further annoyed with Kaname's insinuations that they need to atone for the sins of eating a vampire ancestor, though Kaname apologises for his wording.

Powers & Abilities
Yagari is a powerful hunter, becoming the top hunter in the Hunters' association. He possesses strong abilities in the standard vampire hunter abilities.

Equipment
Yagari is often seen with a an anti-vampire shot gun strapped to his back. He once used this gun on his former student, Zero Kiryu, in a attempt to 'tame' him from becoming a Level E vampire.

Zero Kiryu and Ichiru Kiryu
It was said in the manga that Zero and Ichiru's teacher was Toga's fiancee. She was bitten by a Pureblood and escaped the aristocrat's grasps. When Toga realized there was something terribly wrong with her, he told Zero and Ichiru to run. Their teacher suddenly changed into a Level E and tried to kill Zero, who refused to accept that his tutor was insane. The tutor took a swipe at Zero, but Toga protected him, resulting in losing his right eye. Although Toga dearly loved her, his first priority was a vampire hunter. He killed her, for the sake of the twins' lives. However, he cries out in that his right eye (or where his right eye should have been) hurts when he thinks of his late fiancee, which is some degree of sadness.

The Kiryu Family
Toga respected the Kiryu family, as the family name was plastered all over the vampire hunting world. He took Zero and Ichiru as apprentices, although he knew Ichiru was too weak to become a hunter. When it was time to choose between his fiancee and the twins, he decided to protect the twins. Touga was also deeply distressed once he knew of the deaths of Zero and Ichiru's parents.

Kaien Cross
When Touga Yagari was young, he met Kaien Cross. He sensed the strong vampire DNA within Kaien and rudely asked him, "Hey you. Are you a vampire?" Kaien laughed at this and explained that his blood contained large amounts of the DNA. Once Touga grew up, Kaien and he turned into good friends, although Touga scoffs at Kaien's eccentric dressing styles, as indicated when Kaien wore a pink cat apron.

Quotes

 * "I never thought I'd be killing my dear student with this gun. Curse me with your last breath and die...vampire." (To Zero)


 * "I'm Toga Yagari. I'm the former master of Zero... I'm a vampire hunter." (To Yuki)


 * "I'm Toga Yagari. I'll be your temporary lecturer for this ethics class. Nice to meet you vampires." (To the Night Class)
 * "How good of you. However...there's nothing... a good little girl like you can do." (To Yuki)
 * "Zero, that woman, seems she's alive." (To Zero)
 * "So you decided to stop waiting for me to kill you." (To Zero)
 * "Don't you even remember that day? You swore to me that you would never make me regret loosing me eye to save your life. That was a solemn oath you made to me that day and promised you would always up hold." (To Zero)
 * "Watching you right now made me want to kill you for real. I have no intention of saving a kid that only wants to take the easy way out. Struggle till you can struggle no more. It's your life, even if it is covered in blood; don't run away, Zero." (To Zero)

Trivia

 * Yagari is a combination of ya, meaning "night," and gari, meaning "to harvest." Toga means "ten fangs".
 * Rima Toya secretly nicknamed him "eyepatch" because Yagari wore an eyepatch.
 * He can figure out information about a vampire using only it's ashes
 * He can shoot the vitals of a vampire with one shot and destroy it