http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/BleachThirteenCourtGuardSquads8To13

Characters that appeared in Tite Kubo's Bleach. This page is for the present members of the eighth to thirteenth squads of Thirteen Court Guard Squads (Goteijūsantai).

Contains unmarked spoilers

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Squad 8

Shunsui Sakuranosuke Jirō Kyōraku

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bbs_kyouraku.png

^{Thousand-Year Blood War appearance}

"Getting caught up in style and throwing away victory is something for the lower ranks to do. Captains can't even think about doing such a carefree thing. Don't try to be a good guy. It doesn't matter who owes whom. From the instant they enter into a war, both sides are evil."

Species: Soul Reaper

Zanpakuto: Katen Kyōkotsu (Shikai); Katen Kyōkotsu: Karamatsu Shinjū (Bankai)

Voiced by: Akio Ōtsuka (JP), Ayane Sakura (JP, as a child) Steve Kramer (ENG), Jorge Ornelas (Latin American Spanish)

The current Captain-Commander of Thirteen Court Guard Squads and former Captain of the 8th Division, he is best friends with Ukitake, both of whom were personally trained by Yamamoto himself. Shunsui was one of the first Academy graduates to become a captain, along with Ukitake. Though a pervert, he never goes too far in his attempts to hit on women, as Nanao can attest to on both accounts. He abhors senseless fighting, but he's not above underhanded tactics if it meant winning a fight quickly. Oh, and he wears a women's kimono and likes being showered with cherry blossom petals.

His zanpakuto is Katen Kyokotsu, one of the very few dual Zanpakutos. Their power is to make children's games real, which grants him various strange abilities, from "playing word games" with his opponents to seemingly hiding within shadows themselves. His bankai is Katen Kyokotsu: Kuromatsu Shinjuu. Its powers are fairly obscure: Utilizing four tragic stories, it can cast four terrifying curses upon anyone within its range — allies and himself included, making his Bankai exceptionally difficult to unleash.

Agent Peacock: He likes to enter a fight in a swirl of rose petals and he wears a flowery, pink woman's kimono that once belonged to his sister-in-law. According to the SOULS character book, he is officially Soul Society's biggest dandy. Befitting this trope, he is also a captain and therefore in a position of Rank Scales with Asskicking. On one occasion, he tries to make sure his flowery kimono doesn't get damaged in battle, only to deliberately ruin part of his actual uniform.
Awesome, but Impractical: His Bankai is one of the most powerful abilities in the entire series, being almost unavoidable since it forces the target to endure a play where each act forces powerful effects based on the play chosen, with the only one shown in the series ranging from forcing both to share wounds, to an unavoidable attack. The issue is that his Bankai effects everyone the same, including himself, and it has to follow the structure of the play being performed, meaning if any of the acts are not followed properly, the abilities don't work and the Bankai ends. The only time he uses it in the series is when he has no other choice left, he moves as far away from anyone but himself and his foe, and he uses his foe's lack of knowledge on the ability to ensure he falls for each step. It only fails to kill Lille Barro because, being the first Sternritter to have been given a Schrift, he ascends into a Physical God, preventing it from killing him. Ukitake even warns him against using it in his fight with Starrk for how impractical it is.
Badass Boast: When Kyoraku clarifies how he fooled Lille's Reikaku, Lille scoffs at the idea he could ever be fooled in such a way. Kyoraku's response is to straighten out of his usual slouch, release his full Reiatsu, and remind Lille in no uncertain terms exactly who it is that Lille is currently fighting.
"You'd be wise to remember who it is you're talking to... I am Captain-General of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads... Kyoraku Shunsui."
Beware the Nice Ones: He's almost always found sleeping, hitting on women, drinking, and passing off his paperwork to Nanao. Hell, even if you're an opponent, he'll do his best to avoid fighting you, and will even joke around with you and offer you to drink with him. But when he realizes he has to kill you, he WILL take potshots, stab you in the back, and metaphorically throw sand in your eyes if it means getting a free hit on you.
Big Good: In the final arc of the series, Yamamoto is killed by Yhwach during the Vandenreich's invasion of Sereitei. Kyoraku ascends to the position of Captain-Commander having been handpicked by Yamamoto himself, and leads the Thirteen Court Guard Squad into battle during the war against the Vandenreich for the rest of the series.
Blow You Away: Kyoraku can swing his swords to create a spinning circle of air (like how children spin tops on the street) and launch it at his enemy. Its name is Bushogoma.
Brilliant, but Lazy: One of the most powerful captains in the Thirteen Court Guard Squads but he would rather just lie down and have his saké. Needless to say, there's a reason why he was Yamamoto's hand-picked successor to be Captain-General in the event of his death, and why it's heavily suggested that this was the plan for YEARS.
Calling Your Attacks: Like most Soul Reapers, he calls his attacks. However, the nature of his powers means he has to call the attack as part of the "game" his Shikai is playing.
Carpet of Virility: To go with his Chivalrous Pervert persona. Nanao threatened to cut it off if he died fighting Lille, leading Shinsui to joke that he'd be unrecognizable.
Casanova Wannabe: Kyoraku is notorious for being a huge flirt. During his academy days, he spent most of his time chasing after girls. In his Squad Recruitment Brochure, he specifically states that only women are allowed in his Squad. Most of his interactions with his female lieutenant are him flirting with her.
Casting a Shadow: One of Kyoraku's games that he utilizes often in battle is Kageoni, where by stabbing his sword into the opponent's shadow, a shadow blade attacks them. Kageoni also allows him to hide in the shadows themselves for sneak attacks or repositioning. Another game, Kageokuri, is based on how you can still see a shadow's afterimage by staring long enough at it. In Kyoraku's case, he can fool opponents with afterimages so good they even trick their spiritual senses. He also uses the shadows to perform a Doppelgänger Attack on Lille.
The Chains of Commanding: Upon becoming Captain General, Kyoraku is noticeably not happy about the circumstances. He knows they are currently in a time of war, and he now has to make some hard decisions. His first order is to have Unohana instruct Kenpachi in swordsmanship, fully aware that one of them will die. Kyoraku then negotiates for Aizen's temporary release, something that infuriates not just Central 46 but his fellow officers as well. Kyoraku accepts their anger while cooly stating they don't have any other options if they want to protect the Soul Society.
Chivalrous Pervert: To Nanao. Teases and embarrasses her mercilessly, but if she truly needs his help, he'll promptly give her a non-grabby hand. He also used to have a similar relationship with Lisa Yadomaru.
Coat Cape: He wears his captain's haori properly, but the woman's kimono he wears on top of that is always slung over his shoulders like a cape.
The Coats Are Off: He always wears two coats. His captain's haori and a woman's kimono. He never takes either one off. And then he fights Starrk. When the fight finally gets serious, he tosses the woman's kimono to Ukitake for safe-keeping. A short while later, just to show the fight has become even more serious than it already was, he discards his captain's haori as well. Yes, his fight was so serious, the coats came off twice.
Combat Pragmatist: For a Martial Pacifist, Shunsui certainly isn't above fighting dirty if he needs to and lectures others about the need to not be limited by heroic ideals in battle since war makes both sides evil. During his fight with Starrk, he throws his hat (while Starrk is arguing with Lilinette, at that) and later his captain coat as a distraction, with the latter helping him land the finishing blow on the Espada. As the second Vandenreich assault begins, Kyoraku remarks to Nanao that he expected another sudden assault and prepared dirty tricks accordingly...but he wasn't expecting to get bodily torn out of the Seireitei so his preparations might not be adequate.
Confusion Fu: Kyoraku's Shikai weaponizes children's games, encouraging a child-like mentality that allows him to switch games on a whim. He tells Lille that his opponent has to spot when the games swap and even that multiple games might be playing at the same time. It's how he defeats Starrk; Starrk didn't realise just how many "games" were in play at the same time. When he complains about Kyoraku behaving in an uncharacteristic way for men of their type, Kyoraku lampshades the trope by explaining they're not the kindred spirits Starrk thinks they are.
Starrk: I thought I told you not to do uncharacteristic things, Captain-san!
Kyoraku: It's not good to keep forcing this characteristic thing, Espada-san. And, if you're going to talk about characteristic, not having a characteristic behaviour is characteristic of me.
Creepy Uncle: The revelation that Nanao is his niece makes his, shall we say, questionable behavior to her a lot creepier in hindsight.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Kyoraku is a lazy, philandering dandy mostly content to spend his days drinking sake in the shade. He's also a terrifying, borderline-eldritch force of nature in combat and the natural first choice to ascend to command of the entire Soul Society.
The Dandy: He really doesn't like to fight and avoids it as much as possible. When he is forced to fight, he prefers to be as lazy as possible and has even been known to only enter a fight after he's been announced with floating flower petals. According to the Souls character book, he's officially Soul Society's biggest dandy.
Dark and Troubled Past: It's revealed towards the end of the series that people who get close to Kyouraku tend to die in rather tragic ways. He laments that he has a history of people dear to him dying and passing onto him some sort of clenod or responsibility - starting with his brother and sister-in-law dying and giving him his hairpins and kimono, and later losing both Yamamoto and Ukitake in quick succession and being forced into a role of leadership.
Dirty Old Man: He tends to make a pass at Nanao whenever he can. In the Bootleg, which reveals the divisional recruitment letters, Kyoraku states he wants only women to join his division and that he'll have late-night drinking parties with them.
- The later reveal that Nanao is his niece puts into question whether it's actually flirting and not just Shunsui teasing her / suffering Cuteness Proximity.
Dual Wielding: Katen Kyokotsu is one of the only Zanpakuto that take the form of two swords. During the filler Zanpakuto spirits arc, each one manifests as its own spirit. It is also the only Zanpakuto that exists in two forms when sealed. In the end the reason for this is revealed to be due to Sakuranosuke, the manifestation of his Zanpakuto, creating Kyokotsu to hold and hide Nanao's Zanpakuto, Shinken Hakkyoken.
Enemy Mine: When Yhwach reaches the Royal Realm, Kyoraku has gotten so desperate that he's become willing to free Aizen from Muken on the condition that he helps them. The members of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads are not happy when they find out about this.
Establishing Character Moment: Kyoraku resisted fighting until forced to fight Chad. However, he refused to allow Chad to be killed and did not accept Chad could be blamed for the death of Aizen. He wanted the matter properly investigated and the invaders kept alive for questioning.
Explaining Your Power to the Enemy: He has to explain the rules of the "games" that are in play if he thinks the opponent may not know them to ensure the "game" can be properly played. The amount of information he declares is therefore strategically chosen to ensure his Shikai's power can play out while withholding certain information to retain the advantage. If he has to, he will coax his opponent into explaining their powers, too.
Eye Scream: Gets shot in the right eye by Sternritter Robert Accutrone when the Vandenreich first invades the Soul Society. This doesn't elicit more than a "That's bad, huh?" reaction from him.
Eyepatch of Power: Sports an eyepatch after being shot in the eye, and is promoted to Captain-General of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. As he shows later on, he's well worthy of the title.
Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Non-violently. When Soifon is lashing out at everyone after the first invasion of Soul Society due to Yamamoto's death, he is the one who manages to calm her down by reminding her that the Thirteen Court Guard Squads exists as a military force to protect the Soul Society.
Good Is Not Soft: He's laid-back, lazy and Soul Society's biggest dandy. However, once he decides to fight, he believes that battle makes both sides evil, so he'll do what it takes to win—even if it means sacrificing honour and stabbing his opponents in the back. He's even willing to send his colleagues to their death if he knows their death will achieve his end-goal. As Captain-General, he bullies the Central 46, sends Unohana to her death to unseal Kenpachi's power, and partially unseals Aizen to fight Yhwach. When the Thirteen Court Guard Squads object, he tells them to discard their pride and fight evil (Yhwach) with evil (Aizen). If it weren't for the fact that Yhwach's body still contained massive amounts of Reiatsu, Kyoraku also would have sacrificed Ichigo to replace the Soul King for the sake protecting all of existence.
Heterosexual Life-Partners: He and Ukitake go a very long way back, having formed their bond while in the academy together. They've been captains for centuries, spend a lot of time together, and are a renowned partnership even on the battlefield.
I Am Not Left-Handed: He and Starrk pull this on one another—repeatedly—though this is a rare example where they're both well aware their opponent is hiding something, they're just not always sure what. A literal inversion too; he's ambidextrous.
Like a Son to Me: Kyoraku and Ukitake were the first graduates of Yamamoto's academy to become captains, earning the pride of their teacher. "Yama-jii" outright says he considers them his own sons during their confrontation, and from the way they address him, the sentiment is clearly mutual, making it all the more painful when the two have apparently betrayed the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. Both men are later shaken when they sense Yamamoto's death.
Major Injury Underreaction: His reaction to getting shot in the eye? "That's bad, huh"?
Manchild: His Shikai invokes this trope. Like a child, he starts playing "games" with you out of nowhere, and once you've started playing them, you are at the mercy of his whims. He can start playing any game he wants at any time, and combine the rules of games with other games, much like an overly-excited child who can't stay focused.
Martial Pacifist: He hates fighting and would prefer to spend a fight talking or drinking with his opponent instead, play-fighting at worst. However, when he does fight, he's a Combat Pragmatist that believes both sides are evil.
Meaningful Name: Kyoraku is a pun on the Japanese word for "enjoyment."
Odd Couple: With his serious and straitlaced lieutenant, "Nanao-chan."
Pay Evil unto Evil: Kyoraku believes that, in war, both sides are evil. However, he also believes that using evil to defeat evil is not itself an evil act, and he's willing to plan accordingly in the battle against the Vandenreich. When weighing up what the Thirteen Court Guard Squads need to defeat the threat of Yhwach, he concludes that they can't win without Aizen's help. He takes Aizen out of prison because he believes that even Aizen doesn't want Yhwach to succeed.
Perma-Stubble: Like so many badasses. Although in the Turn Back the Pendulum arc, his stubble disappears in a few panels in the manga, despite being present elsewehere.
Pragmatic Hero: Kyoraku does not believe that morals have anything to do with winning a battle. If the enemy he's facing is evil, he is more than willing to become just as evil to defeat them, although unlike an actual Unscrupulous Hero, he will do everything in his power to avoid things coming to that point.
Rank Scales with Asskicking: He's one of the top four captains who has been in post for over 200 years. After Yamamoto's death, he gets a Rank Up to Captain-General, a threat Yhwach takes seriously enough to send Haschwalth himself out to face him.
Real Men Wear Pink: Shunsui wears a pink, flowered lady's kimono over his captain's uniform. He is also a skilled and at times very ruthless fighter.
Reasonable Authority Figure: During the Soul Society arc, Kyoraku is one of the few officers not to blindly attack the intruders just because he was ordered to. Instead, when he confronts Sado, Kyoraku questions him about his connection to Rukia and purpose in coming to Seireitei and realizes something doesn't add up. Once Sado has been defeated, Kyoraku makes sure he and other the captured intruders are kept alive and secure, refusing to automatically assume they are responsible for Aizen's "death" without a proper investigation. It comes full circle when he succeeds the fallen Yamamoto as Captain-Commander. He comes off as much more approachable to his subordinates, and he also makes it a point to visit Karakura personally and inform Ichigo's family and close friends that there's a chance he may not be able to return to the human world in the event that his reiatsu could be too strong outside of the Soul Society, and gives them all permanent passes to the Soul Society so they can still see him. Fortunately, this doesn't come to pass, but it's still a far more gentle thing than his predecessor would have done.
Recurring Element: For whatever reason (maybe he's just unlucky), but in most major story arcs Kyōraku has the unfortunate penchant of doing battle against the enemy faction's resident gunslinger. During the Hueco Mundo arc, he goes up against the strongest of Espada, Coyote Stark, who used a pair of powerful handguns. During the Wandenreich's first blitz, he nearly gets killed (and ultimately loses an eye) by the pistol-wielding Robert Accutrone. And lastly, during the battle in Wahrwelt, he faces his most powerful opponent yet: The Cold Sniper Lille Barro and his gigantic rifle. It's a little surprising that it isn't lampshaded at any point.
Slasher Smile: When Lille attempts to understand Kyoraku's power, Kyoraku's entire body is encased in shadow except for a gleaming, evil grin. He goes on to explain that Lille's reasoning isn't completely correct; that gleaming grin returns with increasing frequency as he begins to successfully drag his reluctant opponent into the growing madness of his Shikai's power.
Sinister Scimitar: Aversion. Kyoraku is decent enough, but he is a Combat Pragmatist who believes all participants in battle are evil.
Star-Crossed Lovers: Fitting the theme of his bankai, the love of Shunsui's life is his own zanpakuto - but the two are unable to be together as Shunsui can only see her when he activates his bankai (something which seems to harm him and people around him and he therefore seldom does).
Stepford Smiler: Kyoraku is seen with a laidback, carefree demeanor in general, but he has quite a few chips on his shoulder. In his youth, his older brother died of a curse from his wife, who then entrusted Shunsui with her family's treasure and was subsequently executed. It's also implied during his reunion with Lisa, his former lieutenant, he feels a little guilty about sending her on the mission that led to her Visored transformation and exile. Come the war with Vandenreich, Kyoraku's mentor and father figure Yamamoto dies, and he is subsequently promoted to the latter's position. Ukitake dies later as well, and the final chapter of the original manga shows Kyoraku tending to his friend's grave with a melancholy smile. Even his Bankai seems to reflect Kyoraku's inner darkness, as it generates a gloomy, depressing aura upon activation and tells a tale of tragedy throughout its acts.
Suicide Pact: The central theme of his Bankai imitates Shinjū: a Feudal Japan-style lovers' suicide pact. Like in theatrical representations of Shinjuu, Kyoraku recites a short "michiyuki" (exposition poem) as they go through the ritual.
Tragic Keepsake: His hairpins and the woman's kimono that he wears used to belong to his brother and sister-in-law who were both killed shortly after Nanao was born.
Tranquil Fury: When Wonderweiss stabs his best friend Ukitake straight through the chest, Kyoraku's whole demeanor turns murderous and he doesn't waste a second in trying to kill the young Arrancar. It's his most violent moment in the whole series.
Warrior Poet: He likes publishing stories, although he's not aware of how unpopular his works actually are.
What the Hell, Hero?: The lengths Kyoraku is willing to go to in order to defeat Yhwach force the Thirteen Court Guard Squads to confront him with true anger and betrayal. He tells them that they need to completely discard their pride and accept that evil has to be fought with evil if they are to win. He doesn't mind if they kick his arse over it, but only if they do it after he's finished protecting the Seireitei. His release of Aizen from prison to fight Yhwach insults the entire Thirteen Court Guard Squads, not just the majority of Thirteen Court Guard Squads.
World's Best Warrior: He is easily one of the most skilled Soul Reapers in the series, being a former student of Yamamoto and able to hold his own against him alongside Ukitake in battle. Kyoraku also fights on par with Starrk, the Primera Espada, and eventually defeats him with only his Shikai whereas Soi Fon and Toshiro had to resort to Bankai in their battles with Baraggan and Harribel, respectively. He is eventually promoted to Captain General upon Yamamoto's death.
Would Hurt a Child: In contrast to Ukitake, he was willing to attack (with intent to kill) the childlike Wonderweiss. Even Yamamoto expressed concern about having to fight an enemy that looked like a child. Kyoraku did not.

Nanao Ise

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bbs_nanao.png

^{Thousand-Year Blood War appearance}

Species: Soul Reaper

Zanpakuto: Shinken Hakkyōken (Shikai)

Voiced by: Hitomi Nabatame (JP), Kate Higgins (ENG), Alma Juárez (Latin-American Spanish)

Kyouraku's lieutenant. She is very strict and dutiful, always doing her captain's paperwork. She is the vice-president of the Soul Reaper Women's Association. Her zanpakuto's is Shinken Hakkyōken. It was passed down her family, and is used for rituals where the divine intervenes. As such, it is considered a "godslayer" — it reflects divine light and deals grievous damage to holy beings.

Ancestral Weapon: Her Zanpakuto isn't actually her own, but is instead passed down to the heads of the Ise family. It's supposedly powerful enough to scatter the divine, but it comes with a personal curse. Nanao didn't have access to it for a long time because her mother made Kyouraku promise to hide it within his own Zanpakuto.
Attack Reflector: Shinken Hakkyōken's power can deflect the power of godly beings. As such she's the only one able to defeat Lille at his full power.
Barrier Warrior: Her Kido speciality; Kyoraku claims it's why she made Lieutenant but she cryptically states that's not the only reason, which he doesn't want to discuss. Her barriers even impress Haschwalth, who admits breaking it took longer than expected; he also indicates he's been holding back while doing it.
By-the-Book Cop: She's very serious and gets antsy when Kyoraku appears to be operating outside of general procedure during the Soul Society arc, though she sticks with him despite her reservations.
The Comically Serious: In some omake chapters.
The Dreaded: Seeing her without her glasses is nearly as terrifying as Unohana's special smile.
Fashionable Asymmetry: Her hair is arranged in an asymmetrical fringe that is longer on the right than the left.
Girl Friday: She's more Kyoraku's assistant than an actual combatant or anything of the sort.
Improbable Weapon User: If Mayuri's word in an omake is to be believed, she can kill you with the temples of her glasses.
Love Confessor: How she announces her feelings for Kyoraku, pretending to be confessing to him about someone else, but making it pretty clear that he's the subject in question.
Love Confession: Nanao, looking at Kyouraku, refers to "the person [I] yearn for". Since Japanese culture has a very strong taboo about actually saying the words "I love you", this is as close to a love confession as it gets.
Miko: Nanao comes from a long line of Shinto priestesses, though she wears the black kosode and hakama of the Soul Reaper.
Non-Action Guy: She never fights until the very last arc. In fact her battle against Lille Barro is her first sword fight ever.
Nothing Up My Sleeve: She keeps a short sword in there.
Only Sane Woman: Often relegated to this role in the Soul Reaper Cup shorts.
Satellite Character: Nanao is Shunsui's no-nonsense lieutenant and little else other than that. She has essentially no notable relationships with anyone in the main storyline (beyond being someone Lisa Yadomaru would read bedtime stories to when she herself was Kyoraku's lieutenant). Expanded Universe material would give her a bit more via the Shinagami Woman's Club, being their Vice-President and acting as the Only Sane Man to the rest of the clubs eccentricities, Yachiru and Rangiku in particular.
Subordinate Excuse: The reason Nanao can put up with Kyoraku's bad manners and behaviour and the Nanao is never seen on the front lines? The in-universe rumour mill believes it's because their feelings for each other are less than professional and that Kyoraku simply can't bear to have her on the front lines in battle. And when the readers learn what happened to his previous vice-captain, this begins to make sense. When Nanao's Kido barriers are all that stands between Kyoraku and Haschwalth, he almost admits it. She's also his niece by his older brother and he feels an inherent need to protect her because of it.
Surprise Incest: She develops feelings for Kyoraku, not knowing that he is her uncle on her father's side, and only finds out they're related when he gives her Shinken Hakkyōken.
Try Not to Die: During his fight with Lille, she threatens to shave all the hair on Kyoraku's corpse's chest if he dies while out of her presence.
You Can't Fight Fate: Her mother tried very hard to protect her from the family curse despite having found out for herself that it seems to be inescapable. Nanao accepts the inevitability of the curse, but does think the curse itself is ridiculous. She mentions that the person she's chosen to love would probably say the same thing.

Lisa Yadomaru

Current captain of Squad 8. She was previously the division's lieutenant a century ago. She was promoted to captain some time after Yhwach's defeat. For more information, see Visoreds and Exiled Soul Reapers.

Yuyu Yayahara

Species: Soul Reaper

Zanpakuto: Unnamed

Current lieutenant of Squad 8. A small young woman with a fascination with Earth's gyaru culture. She is very playful and energetic, which makes its way into her fighting style.

Airplane Arms: Runs with her arms extended straight out.
Alliterative Name: Yuyu Yayahara
Animal Motifs: Bears. The attacks of her Zanpakuto summon a bear to bite through enemies, her given name roughly means "bear-like" and she herself has a set of jagged teeth.
Bears Are Bad News: Her Zanpakuto summons the image of a bear which can bite the head off of a gigantic Hollow.
Femme Fatalons: Yuyu's Zanpakuto seems to be embedded into her fingernails, giving her long claws which are reminiscent of a bear's fangs.
Gyaru Girl: Explicitly styles herself as one, with tanned skin, dyed hair, loose socks, and a much more fashionable look to her outfit than other Soul Reapers.
Ms. Fanservice: Her shihakusho is heavily modified to show quite a bit of her stomach. Renji and Ichigo note that she’s Lisa Yadomaru’s lieutenant after all.
Selfie Fiend: Carries a cell phone around at all times so she can take selfies, even when she's supposed to be hunting Hollows.

Squad 9

Kaname Tosen

Debuted as Captain of Squad 9, but had deserted after revealing his true colors in the Soul Society arc's final stage. For more information, see Aizen and His Cohorts.

Kensei Muguruma

Current captain of Squad 9. He was also its previous captain a century ago. He reprises his role after Aizen's defeat. For more information, see Visoreds and Exiled Soul Reapers.

Shuhei Hisagi

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bbs_shuhei_0.png

^{TYBW/CFYOW appearance}

^Bankai

"He who does not fear the sword he holds is not worthy of holding a sword."

Species: Soul Reaper

Zanpakuto: Kazeshini (Shikai); Fushi No Kōjyō (Bankai)

Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi (JP), Yuu Kobayashi (JP, as a child), Steve Staley (ENG), Edson Matus and Nacho Rodríguez (Latin-American Spanish), Claudia Motta (Latin-American Spanish, as a child)

Shuhei is the lieutenant of Squad 9, formerly serving under Kaname Tosen, whom he greatly admired and who taught him everything he believes in. His most notable trait is the "69" tattoo he has on his cheek, which he got from his idol, Kensei Muguruma, the current captain of the same squad. He is quite the drinker, and usually drinks with Izuru Kira and Rangiku Matsumoto. He seems to have a crush on Rangiku, but nothing ever comes of it in the series proper, apart from some omakes and a filler episode.

His zanpakuto is Kazeshini (Death's Wind), a pair of chained scythes though this is revealed to be only half of Kazeshini's Shikai. Once Shuhei unlocks his true power, the full, it's revealed that the scythes represent death, while the chain represents life. While fighting an opponent, more chains from Kazeshini wrap around the opponent; whilst the chains can connect with his opponent, any injury Shuhei sustains, fatal or otherwise, is immediately repaired as chains course through Shuhei's body and repair the injury. The power of his Bankai was not shown in the manga, but was revealed in the light novel Bleach: Can't Fear Your Own World. It's name is Fushi No Kōjyō (Undying Hangman's Noose). It takes the form of a large jet black ball of chains in the sky connecting one chain around Hisagi's neck like a noose, extending upward (as if he were actually hanging), with various individual chains extending from Hisagi's person; the scythes themselves remain unchanged.

Anime Hair: Has unrealistically spiky hair, with the spikes never budging.
Ascended Fanboy: Once Kensei agreed to be reinstated as Captain of the 9th Division, Hisagi was stated to have become the happiest he had ever been since becoming a Lieutenant.
Badass Biker: Has an image of a badass (or at least attempts it) and owns a pretty spiffy and nice motorcycle he worked hard to buy. Ginjo notes the irony and impracticality of owning a bike in a world without gasoline (the Soul Society), but Hisagi somehow manages to get by.
Badass Bookworm: Various omake have played his job as a writer for the Seireitei Bulletin for laughs, but the post-manga novels show why he has that job in the first place: he's more than a competent investigative journalist and sleuth as his skills become integral in the story.
Blade on a Rope: In its Shikai form, Hisagi's zanpakuto takes the form of two double-bladed scythes connected by a long chain.
Blind Weaponmaster: Played with. In the light novel Can't Fear Your Own World, Hisagi ends up having to fight the main villain Tokinada with his eyes closed; Tokinada has a zanpakuto that allows him to mimic the abilities of other zanpakuto and had used the ability of Kyoka Suigetsu to cause the good guys to fall into an illusion. Hisagi is initially unaffected as hadn't arrived yet when he used Kyoka Suigetsu.
Chained by Fashion: He wears a loop of chain wrapped around each arm and his neck. They are apparently explosives that he can take off and flip at his enemy. His Bankai is made almost entirely of numerous chains, some of which form a noose around his neck, while others simply hang off of his person.
Character Development: The light novel Bleach: Can't Fear Your Own World features him as the protagonist and focuses heavily on his character development. At the start of the novel Hisagi is indecisive, emotionally triggered by Kaname Tosen's betrayal, and unsure of how to reconcile his Zanpakutō's abilities with his own personal philosophy. By the end, he's decisive, confident, able to reconcile and understand Tosen's motivation and actions even while disapproving of his overall betrayal, and comes to terms with the abilities of his zanpakuto. Through understanding Tosen's betrayal, he's even able to hold on to Tosen's overall philosophy regarding justice, even if he doesn't approve of the betrayal itself. He even plays a major role taking down a villain that's considerably more powerful than he is.
Chivalrous Pervert: Filler episodes often see him trying to reign in pervy thoughts of Rangiku to hilarious comedic effect.
Combat Pragmatist: Hisagi follows Squad 9's beliefs that battle is terrible and monstrous and thus you should get it over with as quickly as possible and with the most survivors on your side as you can.
The Determinator: In the Fake Karakura arc, after getting slashed down his chest and impaled through the chest, he forces himself up to continue fighting both times.
Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Near the end of his light novel, Shuhei is fighting Hikone, a being with the abilities of Shinigami, Quincy, Hollows, and Fullbrings. Just as it appears Hikone easily one shots him, he is shocked to find Hisagi still alive... and uninjured. Hikone then begins to panic as he repeatedly gives Hisagi fatal injuries, with each one immediately repairing itself, with Shuhei eventually giving him a short lecture before activating his Bankai.
Drowning My Sorrows: Drinking his woes away is something he seems to turn to, notably when Tosen betrays him.
Dual Wielding: In Can't Fear Your Own World, several characters point out that Shuhei's Shikai is similar to Ukitake, Kyoraku, and now Ichigo's zanpakuto, taking the otherwise unique form of a dual-wielded weapon, two scythes connected via chain. Hisagi denies this however, and in the end his zanpakuto is considered only a single weapon, a single chain with two scythes at the end of it. It can be noted that unlike the examples that play this trope straight, Shuhei only has a single spiritual representation of his zanpakuto where the other examples have two, as well as special circumstances allowing such an occurrence.
Eldritch Location: The realm where his zanpakuto spirit resides is revealed to be one. It's described as having a windmill, under which the grass is perpetually growing healthy and then withering away as the various spokes of the windmill pass above. This turns out to be a major hint to Kazeshini's true nature; while Shuhei initially only sees it as a spirit of death, when he is finally ready to understand, Kazeshini explains that, like the windmill, he is both life and death.
Face of a Thug: Has a punk-like face, contradicting his calm and mature personality.
Following in Their Rescuer's Footsteps: Was saved by Kensei when he was just a child. After seeing his rescuer (and the "69" tattoo he sported), Shuhei later endeavored to not only becoming a Shinigami (taking the exam three times before finally succeeding) but join the same division as his savior, even sporting his own "69" tattoo. By the time he'd joined, however, Kensei had been exiled for circumstances beyond his control. After a later Time Skip, however, Shuhei finally achieves his goal and serves as Kensei's Lieutenant.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: He has a few scars near his right eye from back when he was attacked as a cadet. The scars don't diminish his visuals, establishing him as one of the good guys post-Soul Society arc.
Hidden Depths: Hisagi is a gentle person who hates fighting all out and who fears his own sword in battle. Zanpakuto reflect the Shinigami's inner self, and Hisagi's is a weapon that is, in his own words, "shaped like something meant to take life". He also loves to play the guitar, and takes lessons from Chad during omakes for the Soul Society Arc. Additionally, he's able to have a polite and intelligent philosophical discussion about that differing views on the nature of justice, even with someone who's own view on the matter runs almost entirely opposite to his.
Immortality Inducer: His true Shikai's ability functions like this. As long as he has energy to spare, his Shikai's chains will restore him from even fatal wounds, including dismemberment or decapitation. His Bankai turns this function into an Immortality Field, drawing on Hisagi and his opponent's spiritual energy to induce the same effect. However, he can't heal wounds inflicted before he performs either release.
Instant Chucks: Hisagi's Zanpakuto transforms into a kusarigama that possesses a blade at either end of the chain instead of a blade at one end and a counterweight at the other. As a chain weapon, he requires two hands to wield it properly and, because it has two blades instead of the normal one, it's a particularly lethal weapon.
I Owe You My Life: Hisagi has felt indebted to Kensei ever since the latter saved him from a Hollow, and he treats him with much respect when they become captain and vice-captain.
Last-Name Basis: Like many of his peers, he refers to the other vice-captains besides his crush Rangiku by their surnames. Most of them return the favour.
Madeof Iron: Even for a lieutenant, Hisagi is very durable. Fighting a Fraccion, Ayon and even his own former captain despite being grievously injured and manages to defeat him alongside Komamura.
Martial Pacifist: Prefers to avoid fighting, and even when using his sword, which he hates anyway, makes a habit of not attacking with excessive force.
Nice Guy: His thug and punkish like design would make you think he's actually rude and aloof. Yet Hisagi is a very compassionate, honorable and mature person and one of the most reliable of all the lieutenants.
Noose Necktie: Played with. When Hisagi activates his Bankai, the scythes of Kazeshini remain; however, a noose appears around his neck. Instead of obeying the laws of gravity though, this noose actually continues to extend upward, making it seem as if Hisagi is actually hanging from gallows with infinite length.
Perpetual Frowner: He usually has a stern and unrelaxed look on his face, especially in a fight.
Personality Powers: Due to Tosen's teachings, Hisagi has, in equal measures, feared death; he feared himself dying, but he also fears his opponent dying. When Hisagi's Bankai is finally shown, he explains that it is an extension of this fear, and that his opponent cannot die anymore than he can.
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "Finally afraid? You're my equal at last."
Reasonable Authority Figure: After Kaname Tosen's betrayal, but before Kensei Muguruma resumes his duties as captain of the ninth division, Shuhei acts as head of the division, and treats the position fairly seriously. He even has one of the most even handed, professional, and less goofy recruitment ads on the Bleach Bootleg.
Secret-Keeper: He is the only person alive who knows about Yumichika's true zanpakuto (which he's extremely determined to keep a secret). Yumichika is shown to have threatened him to not reveal it to anyone (especially Squad 11) during their fight.
Sinister Scythe: "I don't like the shape. Look at it. It's shaped like something meant to take life, isn't it?" Subverted when we learn that this is only half of his Shikai's ability; the scythe does indeed represent death, but the chains that connect the scythes represent life, and grant Shuhei the ability to recover from fatal injuries.
Sleeves Are for Wimps: Like his admired Kensei, he wears sleeveless clothing.
Spectacular Spinning: Hisagi himself lampshades his power by casually letting his weapon spin at both ends at the same time while lecturing his opponent. And that's before we get to the way he spins the weapon when actually attacking. He also activates his Bankai by spinning his scythes upward, which them form a spinning helix.
Supreme Chef: He claims in the omakes that he's excellent at cooking, although Nanao is left unimpressed when he makes her some onigiri. Interestingly, Kensei is apparently a good cook too...
Unrequited Love: In the manga omakes he has a crush on Rangiku that is Played for Laughs since she clearly sees him nothing more than a friend. The anime enjoys playing this up for comedy as a result. However, Rangiku has mentioned she is attracted to him, but her unresolved feelings for Gin complicates her ability to move on.
Took a Level in Badass: Happens literally over the course of a few moments. In his light novel, Hisagi attempts to fight an opponent who is vastly more powerful than himself. When said villain mortally wounds him in a single strike, Shuhei is transported to his zanpakuto's realm. His Zanpakuto, finally ready to lend Shuhei the full extent of his power, allows him to access the full breadth of his Shikai. Suddenly, Shuhei is revived without injuries, and has become nigh-impossible to kill.
The Un-Reveal: Played straight for years with the manga material, which never reveals Hisagi's Bankai despite the big buildup for it (him being one of the few lieutenants to achieve it and being multiple fights in the last arc); even Matsumoto and Hitsugaya (and his own captain) make jabs at him for never seeing his Bankai. Eventually averted in the light novel Bleach: Can't Fear Your Own World, where his ability to harness it eventually becomes a major plot point.
Variable-Length Chain: The chain of his zanpakuto's Shikai form seems to vary in length depending on the scene.
Was It All a Lie?: When he learns Tousen's a traitor, he asks Tousen if all the beliefs he had preached were a lie. Tousen's response is a sword to the gut.
Yin-Yang Bomb: For the majority of the series, Shuhei is hamstrung by his dislike of the killing nature of his Zanpakutō. However, once Kazeshini finally acknowledges Shuhei's resolve, it reveals the truth: Kazeshini does not represent just death, but governs life and death. The blades of Kazeshini represent death, while the chains represent life. Finally harnessing this allows Shuhei to become considerably more powerful than he was before.

Mashiro Kuna

The self proclaimed super lieutenant of Squad 9. She was also its previous lieutenant a century ago. She reprises her role with Kensei after Aizen's defeat. For more information, see Visoreds and Exiled Soul Reapers.

Squad 10

Isshin Shiba

The former head of the Shiba clan who resigned from his post after rescuing Masaki Kurosaki from a mutant Hollow. For more information, see Bleach: Visored & Exiled Soul Reapers.

Toshiro Hitsugaya

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bbs_hitsugaya.png

^{The Lost Agent appearance}
^{Thousand-Year Blood War appearance}

"There we go again, old men and their stupid arguments. What a pain."

Species: Soul Reaper

Zanpakuto: Hyorinmaru (Shikai); Daiguren Hyorinmaru (Bankai)

Voiced by: Romi Park (JP), Steve Staley (ENG), Luis Fernando Orozco (Latin-American Spanish)

The Captain of Squad 10. A child prodigy, he is the youngest Captain in the Soul Society, though still much older than he looks. To prevent people from treating him like a kid, Hitsugaya is always a very serious and focused Captain quite contrary to how he acted before becoming an officer. He likes getting the job done and thus ends up handling a lot of paperwork that most captains leave to their subordinates.

His Zanpakuto is Hyorinmaru, the strongest of the ice-based Zanpakuto. His youth means his power is unmastered and immature, placing severe limits on his abilities. His Bankai is Daiguren Hyorinmaru, which enhances the volume of ice his weapon and attacks can produce. When fully mastered, his Bankai can prevent opponents from using their powers by freezing reishi.

Actually a Doombot: Harribel enters her Resurreccíon and seems to immediately slice him in half, only to get assaulted by him a moment later. What she actually cut was a block of ice projecting his image, which he admits won't fool her twice.
All of the Other Reindeer: In his own words, when he was much younger: "They're scared of me. It's not like I did anything bad to them, but... even then, I could tell they were afraid of me." The databook indicates that he's much more popular now, but making captain and leading his Squad well could be seen as his won't-you-guide-my-sleigh-tonight moment.
Anime Hair: Funny thing though, his hair hangs down in flashbacks and after the time skip, which seems to imply that he styles it for the majority of the series.
The Berserker: Partially; whenever Toshiro gets severely enraged, he tends to fly off the handle and attacks in a reckless fashion. However it tends to do him more harm than good as he will often leave himself open for counter attacks.
Beware the Nice Ones: While he acts cold and serious most of the time, he's very reasonable and can be pretty nice when he's in a good mood. That said, he is brought to the point, he can be pretty vicious.
Blade Run: When he fights Gin, at one point he manages to do this to Gin's blade.
Blue Is Heroic: Toshiro has turquoise eyes and wears a turquoise Scarf of Asskicking during the final two arcs. His ice attacks are also colored blue.
Blush Sticker: Gets these at one point during Episode 230 of the Anime.
Break the Cutie: From the moment Aizen and Hitsugaya are introduced into the story, Aizen seems to be plotting to emotionally undermine Hitsugaya. In the Soul Society arc, he ensures Hinamori is brainwashed into believing Hitsugaya killed him, forcing them to turn their blades on each other. It leaves Hitsugaya emotionally unprepared for dealing with the truth. During the Arrancar Arc, Aizen mocks Hitsugaya's hatred of him and then uses his illusion powers to trick Hitsugaya into stabbing Hinamori. Hitsugaya breaking leads to a devastating Unstoppable Rage.
Childhood Friend: He and Hinamori were raised by the same woman whom they both call "grandmother".
Child Prodigy: He's the youngest Captain in Soul Society history and one of the youngest Soul Reapers in the story. It's lampshaded in-universe when Captain Kyoraku, who's been around for many centuries admits to an enemy that Captain Hitsugaya is a prodigy who will probably have surpassed him in a century's time.
The Comically Serious: He's perpetually serious and aloof despite the antics of both Rangiku and to an extent Momo. He also gets thrown into various situations where nobody takes him as seriously as he'd like. As such, even the usually stoic Byakuya is visibly taken aback when Toshiro attempts to banter and quip during battle against Gerard.
Curb-Stomp Battle: When Giselle brings out her zombies, Hitsugaya fights ruthlessly to defeat his opponents effortlessly. As a zombie, he cuts down Ikkaku, Yumichika and Charlotte. Mayuri observes that his zombification didn't hinder his movements or abilities at all.
Crash-Into Hello: He meets Rangiku for the first time by running into her chest.
Deadpan Snarker: Apart from the time before he became a Soul Reaper at all, Hitsugaya has always been rather grumpy and snarky, though professional. Before becoming a captain, he was less intent on being absolutely professional.
Declaration of Protection: To his childhood friend Hinamori. Definitely did not work out as planned.
Delinquents: He is thought of as being this by one of Karin's friends in a Filler Episode of the Anime due to his white hair.
Elemental Baggage: As long as there is water, Hyorinmaru never runs out of power.
Elemental Eye Colours: His piercing, icy blue eyes fit well with his ice powers.
Elemental Hair Colors: He has had white hair throughout his childhood. His powers are based on ice and snow, allowing him to freeze anything that is water-based, even the moisture in the air. His colour scheme fits these powers, being white accented with turquoise (a shade associated with icy, polar waters).
Exact Words: Hitsugaya states that even after he completes his Bankai, he still can't use it to its full power due to his young and immature body. Thus, the ice petals represent a time limit to the moment that his Bankai becomes too much for his body to handle. Which means Daiguren Hyorinmaru forces him to get around this limitation by aging him to maturity.
Flower Motif: His Zanpakuto can produce ice-flowers in different kinds of attacks. The ice-flowers tend to take the form of the Glory-of-the-Snow, a flower associated with blooming in the snow because it's such an early spring flower.
Holding Back the Phlebotinum: Probably the poster boy for this trope, as he almost never uses Tensho Jurin, the strongest power of his Zanpakuto and the hardest to control. The two times he does use it, he tries it in Shikai against Gin and waits for his Bankai to be half-gone before trying it against Harribel. In both cases, the restrictions on his use were an attempt to keep the power under control.
Human Popsicle: He's fond of this move, though in a series with as low a body count as Bleach it doesn't stick very often.
Hypercompetent Sidekick: Was this to his former captain Isshin as the Third Seat of Squad 10. As he and Rangiku are very lazy and he tended to the paperwork.
Hypocritical Humor: Wants to be called "Captain Hitsugaya", despite never addressing his colleagues by their ranks. See the following exchange, shared between him and Momo, keeping in mind that he actually liked Aizen before his treachery became apparent.
Toshiro: What are Momo and Aizen doing here?
Momo: Toshiro! That's Captain Aizen.
Toshiro: Then call me Captain Hitsugaya.
An Ice Person: Hitsugaya weilds Hyorinmaru, which is said to have the most powerful ice-based Zanpakuto in the Soul Society. In Shikai, he is able to control water and ice for both offense and defense. He can create ice dragons and freeze his opponents. His Bankai, Daiguren Hyorinmaru, enhances his powers to control all the water in the atmosphere, and gives him a pair of cryokinetic wings.
Icy Blue Eyes: Fits with his ice powers, along with his general no-nonsense personality compared to his free-spirited lieutenant.
Implausible Hair Colour: Hitsugaya has naturally white hair despite being only a child.
Insistent Terminology: To Momo and Ichigo. "It's Captain Hitsugaya!" as he tries to correct them, when they call him by first name.
Intergenerational Friendship: Several, pretty much by necessity since he's much younger than anyone else he hangs out with on a daily basis, after all. The most obvious are his lieutenant, Matsumoto, and fellow captain Ukitake, whose constant gifts of candy are not well-received.
Irony: Hitsugaya finally completes his Bankai... only to have it stolen the next time he tries to use it. In the Soul Society arc, Hitsugaya vowed to kill anyone who made Hinamori bleed. In the Arrancar Arc, Aizen tricks Hitsugaya into stabbing Momo, giving her the worst injury she's ever received which required organ transplant technology from the 12th division to fix.
It's Personal: Momo is Hitsugaya's closest friend. When he has Momo arrested for trying to attack Gin Ichimaru under the belief that he murdered Captain Aizen, he vows to Gin that he will kill him if Hinamori gets hurt. When Hitsugaya learns of Aizen's true nature, and seeing that he had greiviously wounded Momo, Hitsugaya flies into a rage and activates his Bankai with full intention on killing him. He later tells Aizen that even if he has to lose his position of Captain, he will kill Aizen.
Last-Name Basis: Insists that he refer to everyone by surname and that everyone else returns the favour (alongside his title). Since he also usually excludes addressing anyone by their ranks, this makes him appear very formal. His most Egregious case was when he doesn't call Byakuya and Rukia "Captain and Lieutenant Kuchiki"; it's flat-out "Kuchiki and Kuchiki", which Ikkaku even calls him out on.
Like Brother and Sister: His feelings for Momo are described as familial. He doesn't give her any special treatment during his usual duties, insisting that she address him by his position instead of "Shiro-chan" and arresting her for lashing out at Gin under the belief that he killed the fake Aizen corpse, but threatens to kill Gin afterward if he makes her lose even a drop of blood.
Mask of Power: He briefly dons a partial Hollow mask when Urahara gives him a Shin'eiyaku pill, which temporarily Hollowfies him and enables him to regain his Bankai from the Quincy who stole it.
Mental Time Travel: He becomes trapped in a "Groundhog Day" Loop, forced to repeat the same fight over and over again. Every time he kills his enemy, the loop resets to his original starting point with his memories of previous loops intact. After too many loops, he becomes paralysed. Though the "time travel" is actually just a drug manipulating his memory and spatial awareness, the paralysis it causes is very real.
Mythical Motifs: Dragons. His Shikai can release a blast of ice shaped like a Chinese dragon and Hyorinmaru briefly takes the form of a winged dragon in the Beast Swords filler arc.
Ninja Log: When Harribel steps up the threat level in battle, she takes out Hitsugaya in one swing. However, she quickly discovers that all she cut was an ice clone when the real Hitsugaya attacks her from behind.
Odd Couple: He's the overly serious workaholic to the easy-going laziness of Rangiku.
Only Sane Man: He stays grounded even when those around him are spiraling into insanity—particularly noticeable in filler where everyone else shown will gleefully turn, say, a card game into Serious Business while he looks on in dismay and resignation.
Older Alter Ego: When Byakuya expresses sincere concern about his Bankai's time limit running out, Toshiro responds that he never stated the ice petals marked a limit to how long it could be active for. When the last petal on the ice flower breaks, the full power of his Bankai is instead unleashed, transforming him into an older-looking teenaged form. Ch.685 shows it to not be a permanent transformation, however.
Our Dragons Are Different: His Zanpakuto's spirit looks like a white eastern-style dragon.
Perpetual Frowner: Even as a kid before becoming a captain he was fairly grumpy, but now he seems to go out of his way to be as grumpy as possible so that people will take him more seriously. After recovering from zombification, he makes an effort to be more humorous that even Byakuya finds out of character.
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Toshiro's height and age belies his immense strength and skill as a Gotei 13 captain.
Power Gives You Wings: His Bankai is marked by ice growing on his back into draconic wings. His complete Bankai has detached wings more angelic in design, which combined with the Vandenreich outfit Giselle made him wear, resembles a Vollstandig.
Power Incontinence: Initially it's assumed that the ice petals floating behind his Bankai form represent a limit for how long he can keep his incomplete Bankai active.
Power Limiter: Tenso Juurin is Hyorinmaru's most basic, yet most powerful, ability. However, he also cannot control it perfectly, so he only ever uses it when he's in a position to place a limit on his power. The limit helps him control the ability and prevent it getting out of hand.
Power of the Storm: His Zanpakuto's most powerful ability, Tenso Juurin, can control the weather and can be used in both Shikai and Bankai.
Putting on the Reich: During the Thousand-Year Blood War arc, Giselle changes his clothes from his usual shihakusho and haori to a sleek Vandenreich military uniform after she zombifies him, complete with military overcoat. He stays in the uniform for the rest the series, though he does lose the coat in the battle against Gerard Valkyrie.
Reasonable Authority Figure: According to the Bleach Bootleg, he carefully observes the soldiers in his division and maintains the division meticulously to ensure that everyone does their share of work (though Matsumoto manages to weasel her way out quite often). Nonetheless, the members of the division find both him and their lieutenant very approachable and have a good amount of respect for both.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: He tells Aizen that a Captain should raise their blade in duty, not anger, and that swinging an angry blade is just violence. He then admits that he doesn't care if he loses his seat for doing violence to Aizen, he's just that pissed for what he did to Momo.
Scarf of Asskicking: Gets one during the timeskip. It's the same colour as his eyes, and fits in with his ice powers.
Semantic Superpower: Daiguren Hyorinmaru's true power is the ability to "freeze" things. This includes special abilities and powers. Thus, while in its most powerful and mature form, no other abilities can be used, triggered or activated while everything is "frozen".
Straight Man: Usually for Rangiku. When he was in the real world, it was for almost everyone, to great comical effect. He's even been stuck as the Straight Man caught between the Men's and Women's Soul Reaper Associations in filler. Flashbacks reveal he was the straight man to his previous captain as well.
Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: With Rangiku.
Willfully Weak: His Zanpakuto's most powerful and most basic ability can be used in either Shikai or Bankai. However, he traditionally avoids using it in Bankai even when he needs to because his inexpert control over it and wide area of effect would drag in too many bystanders/allies. Against Harribel, he only decides to use it when his Bankai is half-gone, allowing him better control than he would have had when his Bankai was at full power.
Wise Beyond Their Years: He doesn't behave like a typical child his age due to having been thrust into the role of youngest captain in history. Aizen works out that the truth is obscured and that Hitsugaya does actually have the in-built weaknesses associated with his biological youth (such as lacking both the life expectancy and emotional maturity of a grown adult). When Aizen triggers this weakness, the ignition of Hitsugaya's emotions into an Unstoppable Rage (and the other captains' inability to have foreseen this weakness) spells disaster for everyone.
Worthy Opponent: Bleach characters, much like ancient samurai, ask for their opponents names and rank to acknowledge that they are facing an equal. Toshiro is the most notable adherer to this. When he faces Halibel after a long solo duel, Hitsugaya prepares to use his ultimate attack, and the scene quiets as he asks for her name. She obliges, and he returns the favor before bringing (that portion of) their battle to a conclusion.

Rangiku Matsumoto

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bbs_rangiku.png

Species: Soul Reaper

Zanpakuto: Haineko (Shikai)

Voiced by: Kaya Matsutani (JP), Megan Hollingshead (ENG), Wendee Lee (ENG, Bleach: Soul Resurreccion), Irene Jiménez (Latin-American Spanish)

Lieutenant of Squad 10. Rangiku is Bleach's epitome of Ms. Fanservice, with her having the biggest breasts, and wearing her uniform in a way that emphasises them. She is a stark contrast to her no-nonsense captain, often sleeping during the day and going out for drinks at night, brushing off all her assigned duties. She has a past with former Captain of Squad 3 Gin Ichimaru.

Her Zanpakuto is Haineko, which dissolves into razor-sharp ash which she can control.

Action Girl: Oh yes. She's a surprisingly effective fighter despite her lazy attitude.
Adaptation Dye-Job: Her hair is blond in the manga but strawberry blond in the anime. Oddly, she gets her original hair color back for a filler, Episode 304. In 2022, for the Thousand Year War anime, her hair turns manga accurate, fully blonde.
Adaptation Expansion: This is true for many other characters but Matsumoto in particular greatly benefited from the anime original arcs and filler episodes, especially those with humorous tones, where her extrovert personality and eye candy qualities are given free reign to be as recurring as possible; in contrast, the original manga with its more straightforward nature towards action only has a few breather moments where Matsumoto can have any meaningful appearances, since Matsumoto doesn’t have many battles on her name.
All Women Are Lustful: Considering how her hobbies involve seducing men with her breasts.
Ashes to Ashes: Her zanpakuto Haineko can dissolve into ash, with each particle a tiny blade that she can make take different forms, and move the ash using the sword's hilt to cut targets.
Berserk Button: She dislikes being called "old" or a "hag" as shown in Filler episodes. Haineko frequently uses these as insults against her during their "Beast Swords" arc and Shota calling her both pisses her off so much that she smothers him with her breasts.
Brilliant, but Lazy: Rangiku's a smart, skilled and loyal officer, that just so happens to love getting drunk, slacking off while on-duty, shopping for tons of stylish clothes, sneaking her way out of work and deviously getting her captain to pay and work for her. In the past she was actually much more active due to the previous captain being the lazy one. Double Subverted as she didn't want to do the work herself.
Big-Breast Pride: Very fond of showing off her boobs, but she's more or less just a harmless, gentle-hearted tease about it.
Boob-Based Gag: The anime has a field day using Matsumoto's chest for comedy. There's even one omake (turned into an episode) where the Soul Reapers are at the beach and she begins training Orihime in the art of carrying water with breasts instead of buckets—much to horror of Ichigo (manga) and/or Nanao (anime).
Brought Down to Badass: In her backstory, she was assaulted by a mysterious figure (later revealed to be Aizen) and part of her soul was sheared away to form the Hogyoku, an esoteric artifact capable of granting whomever wields it the ability to warp reality to reflect the user's desire. It turns out that Matsumoto was either birthed or formed by a piece of the Soul King, which would have made her a being on the same level as the strongest Sternritters, Ichigo, or Yhwach himself. Despite this early loss of power, she's still a capable (when she wants to be) Soul Reaper and one of the stronger Lieutenants still active as of the final arc. Ironically, losing that power likely spared her from the horrific fate that happened to other characters empowered by the Soul King's body parts.
Buxom Beauty Standard: She's has a ample bust and is well aware of the appeal her breasts have. She is not above using said appeal to help her get what she wants, such as the time she tried to convince Ichigo to let her sleep at his house by unbuttoning her blouse. Her breasts are used in a comedic way to embarrass the teenaged Captain Hitsugaya but the small-breasted Apacci insults her for being a "cow" when they fight at Karakura Town. The omakes and anime takes this much further and has a field day using Matsumoto's chest as actual weapons to help her manipulate men, especially Hisagi. There's even one omake where the Soul Reapers are at the beach and she begins training the equally buxom Orihime in the art of carrying water with breasts instead of buckets—much to Ichigo's horror (the anime replaces Ichigo with Nanao for the scene).
Childhood Friend: Gin saved her life when they were younger and they were very close, leaving her somewhat conflicted over his defection, though she never considers going with him.
Cool Big Sis: To Orihime, Haineko (in the anime) and Hinamori.
Death by a Thousand Cuts: Her Shikai, in which Haineko turns into a cloud of razor sharp ash she can control.
Dude Magnet: Hisagi has a crush on her and she is quite popular among the other Gotei 13 men as well.
Erotic Eating: Licks a long Popsicle in the Beach Episode, but makes sure to hold it horizontally to keep it from being too explicit.
Everyone Loves Blondes: According to the Bootleg, she's the sexiest woman in the Thirteen Court Guard Squads and apparently not a single man can defy her.
Expository Hair Style Change: Cuts her hair short by the Thousand Year Arc, it marks Matsumoto’s final appearances in the manga, and strikingly she has little to no more moments of humor on her name anymore; her character arc with Gin has been over, and in singular artworks done by Kubo over the years short-haired Matsumoto is her main looks now.
First-Name Basis: She refers to most people her rank or under by their first names and most do the same in return, showing her friendly and lax nature. She and Gin are also on a first name basis even after he becomes a captain, indicating their close relationship and long history together.
Flanderization: The personality of her Gigai in the World of the Living is basically a more sex-crazed version of her usual self.
Fun Personified: If you wanna have a great party, she's the girl for the job.
Good Bad Girl: Her gigai, definitely, though she herself is just flirty.
Hair Color Dissonance: A weird case for her. In the manga, it's blonde, in the anime however, it's orange like Ichigo... except for one filler episode^note(Episode 304, the Halloween one) where she's a Hot Witch.
Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Loves her drinks and can handle her alcohol well.
Hot Witch: Wore such a costume in a filler episode and manga spread... for some reason, she gains her original blonde hair color too, at least in the anime.
Hypocritical Humor: When Yumichika complains about his Zanpakuto being stuck-up and vain, she points out that it's an accurate reflection of its owner. She then starts complaining about how lazy and moody her own Zanpakuto is, provoking Yumichika to throw her own words back at her. She also often chastised her previous captain Isshin for lazing around and going out and about without telling anyone in advance because it deprived her of opportunities to slack off.
I Am Not Left-Handed: Pulls this against Kira in the Soul Society arc. When he uses Wabisuke's Gravity Master powers on her Zanpakuto, Matsumoto simply activates Haineko's special abilities and it turns into ash, freeing herself and enabling her to defeat him offscreen.
I Have Boobs, You Must Obey!: When Ichigo tries to turf Hitsugaya's team out of his house, Rangiku retaliates by beginning to unbutton her blouse. Ichigo tries to resist, but peeks through his fingers.
Intimate Marks: As a high-ranking Shinigami, she must wear a Power Limiter whenever she enters the Living World, which takes the form of a flower mark on her breasts.
Laborious Laziness: While Isshin Shiba is 10th Division captain, there is a constant battle between him and his lieutenant, Rangiku, to push work onto the other to avoid doing any themselves. Shiba goes to enormous lengths to find new places around Soul Society to hide, while Rangiku goes to even greater lengths to track him down, drag him back to the office and make him do the work. In the time it takes them to do all this, the work gets completed by Third Seat Hitsugaya, while the effort to avoid it leaves Shiba and Rangiku tired, bruised and sweaty.
Lascivious Beauty Mark: She has a beauty mark below the corner of her mouth and is in-universe dubbed the "sexiest woman of Sereitei" because of her flirtatious nature and her ample bosom that she takes pride in by showing it off liberally. She's shown a willingness to use her sex appeal to get her way and in omakes, she's flanderized into a Lovable Sex Maniac, whose favorite pastime is seducing men.
Last-Name Basis: While she and many people refer to each other by first names to show how casual she is, she's still on a surname-basis with some lieutenants (typically when they don't know each other as well or want to remain on polite but friendly terms).
Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Dark Feminine to Orihime and Hinamori, due to her being a happy-go-lucky Hard-Drinking Party Girl.
Lovable Sex Maniac: The anime really enjoys making her look like an unabashed perv. In an omake, she convinces Hisagi and Kira to model for her, with every other snapshot showing them with progressively less clothing (and Rangiku, um, enthusiastically voicing her support). Once they are stripped down to their loincloths, Rangiku asks if they would remove those as well. When Hisagi and Kira understandably object, Rangiku runs towards Kira, grabs his loincloth and pulls it away, while continuing to take snapshots of Kira's crotch. Nanao is deeply disturbed by the results of Rangiku's pictures and decides to omit them from usage. At one point, another omake (for the Beach Episode) really makes her seem like an exhibitionist; she considers stripping naked if no one compliments her on her skimpy swimsuit.
Marshmallow Hell:
- Hitsugaya stands at the perfect height for having his face smashed into Rangiku's breasts whenever she decides to hug him to her chest. She does it deliberately, which annoys him intensely.
- In episode 128 of the anime, she does this to Shota as punishment for him calling her an "old hag".
Ms. Fanservice: In-universe she has a reputation for being the sexiest woman in Seireitei. Much of the female fanservice comes from her, thanks to her hourglass body and her habit of showing it off or teasing others.
Navel-Deep Neckline: Downplayed. She wears her uniform to expose her cleavage, but it only includes a small triangle of skin at the top of her abdomen.
Nice Girl: She has a reputation for being lazy, but she's also well-known for being loyal, compassionate and friendly.
Offhand Backhand: Her way of dealing with Kon and Keigo when they try to glomp her.
One of the Boys: Busty and feminine, and gets along very well with the ladies around her, but she simply prefers hanging out with guys (especially Yumichika, Ikkaku and Hisagi) when she's not on duty. Conversely, most guys of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads treat her as one of those due to her fun-loving, easygoing personality.
Pieces of God: In Bleach: Cannot Fear Your Own World it's revealed that Rangiku was an incarnation of the Soul King, though Aizen ripped that part of her soul out and fed it to his Hōgyoku when she was young. It's noted that the fact that she survived, let alone was still powerful enough to become a lieutenant, is remarkable.
Pink Is Erotic: She wears a pink scarf and is one of the most notable uses of fanservice in the manga. She is very flirtatious and has a buxom figure that she shamelessly flaunts when given the opportunity.
Pink Means Feminine: She's often associated with the colour pink, mostly due to the pink scarf she's worn ever since her early Soul Reaper days. She's also considered the ideal beauty and is very typically girly compared.
Proud Beauty: Rangiku knows she has a large bust, and she flaunts it pretty shamelessly, usually for comedic purposes due to being The Tease. On at least one occasion, she's even tried getting Ichigo to change his mind by hiking up her skirt and unbuttoning her blouse.
Sad Clown: She's actually deeply troubled, at least by Gin's behavior. You wouldn't know about her sad past from her attitude today.
Scarf of Asskicking: A strong Soul Reaper who wears a pink scarf (which she's had since she first met a child Hitsugaya). A Filler episode has her using it as part of a strategy to defeat an evil copy of Kira, making it a literal application of this trope.
Shameless Fanservice Girl: She's not at all ashamed to show off her boobs. She's also not above teasing men (namely Ichigo) by unbuttoning her blouse or hiking up her skirt.
Significant Birth Date: She only started counting the days once she met Gin, and Gin even considered the day she met him as her birthday.
The Slacker: When not in action, she tends to laze about and avoid all work. Hitsugaya's predecessor was even lazier and, to her horror, was far better at dumping his responsibilities onto her than she was at dumping hers onto him.
Statuesque Stunner: She's not quite as tall as Isane, but she's one of the taller Bleach ladies at 172cm (about 5'7'').
The Tease: She deliberately arranges her clothing to expose her cleavage, which is guaranteed to have an impact on men. Any man who tries to take advantage of this, however, will get kicked or elbowed in the face for his trouble. She may encourage "window shopping" but grabbing the goods is not allowed.
Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: At 172cm (about 5'7"), she's much taller than the Japanese average height for women (5'2") and towers over Hitsugaya, her captain who stands at 133cm (about 4'4'') and is often mistaken for an elementary school boy in the human world.
Unresolved Sexual Tension: It's clear there was something between her and Gin and that they both harbored feelings for each other. Tragically, due to Gin's reclusive nature, along with him betraying her and all of Soul Society by working with Aizen, in an effort to get revenge for her after what he did to her, Gin dies without either of them fully resolving their feelings for each other and the only thing Gin leaves behind for her is a broken heart.
Verbal Tic: Her gigai always end her sentences with "-beshii", so as to sound hornier and sexier.
World's Most Beautiful Woman: She is easily one of, if not the most attractive female character in the series, though she seems to be unconsciously unaware of it.

Squad 11

Kenpachi Zaraki

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bbs_kenpachi_4.png

^{The Lost Agent appearance}

"Everyone who searches for power, without exception, searches for battle! Do you fight in order to become more powerful? Or do you want more power so you can fight?"

Species: Soul Reaper

Zanpakuto: Nozarashi (Shikai); Unnamed Bankai

Voiced by: Fumihiko Tachiki (JP), David Lodge (ENG, Episodes 20-202), Patrick Seitz (ENG, Episodes 244+), César Arias (Latin American Spanish)

The rough and wild captain of Squad 11, Kenpachi's immense spiritual power enabled him to achieve captain rank without unlocking his Zanpakuto's name or power. He's the only captain in history who has achieved captaincy without requiring Bankai to do so. He enjoys fighting and will hold back in various ways to make the fight last as long as possible. Due to his love of fighting, he is a wild card for Soul Society, being willing to turn on them if it gives him the chance to have a great fight.

He is the guardian of his lieutenant Yachiru whom he named after someone from his past that he greatly admired.

His Zanpakuto is Nozarashi, and its Shikai turns it into an enormous cleaver that he claims can cut anything, even intangible items. Its Bankai (currently unnamed) is unique in that while the size of his sword decreases, his skin turns red and he enters an unstoppable berserker state.

Absurd Cutting Power: Although most Zanpakuto are capable of cutting with unnatural ability even in a sealed state, Nozorashi's entire power is based on cutting. In base state, it can cut things other Zanpakuto can only handle when unsealed. Kenpachi claims there's nothing his Shikai cannot cut and demonstrates by first reducing a falling meteor to rubble with a single strike before going on to cut his way through outer space. His Bankai possesses even more cutting power despite being tiny, especially when compared to his massive Shikai.
Achey Scars: When Zaraki was young, he fought Unohana, who at the time was the original Kenpachi. He received a scar from her during that fight. Ever since, it aches whenever Unohana speaks.
Achievements in Ignorance: All of them, from his ability to become a captain to his sudden mastery of Bankai. Kenpachi has managed to keep up with Soul Society's best and brightest without going through a single day of formal training.
Anime Hair: His hair looks spiky beyond all belief, but that is only because he goes through a lot of trouble to style it like that. When left to its own devices it hangs down.
Anti-Hero: Of the Sociopathic Hero variety. Though he is more than capable of empathy, and he clearly cares about his subordinates, if anybody except Yachiru gets in the way of one of his fights he goes right through them at best, or straight up kills them at worst. Even if the people getting in his way are protagonists, he won't hesitate to turn on them if they're in his way.
Atop a Mountain of Corpses: A flashback of Unohana's past involves her encountering a mountain of corpses. At the top of the pile, a young wild child suddenly appears, brandishing a sword that is longer than he is tall. The child is Zaraki, and it's how he and Unohana first met.
Attack! Attack! Attack!: His basic strategy is to have no strategy. He doesn't even really bother with defence most of the time. Even when he stalls during a fight to think of a strategy, he usually gives up and just resorts to doing what he does best: cutting things with his sword. His sword's Shikai power is based on this very concept; it's designed to cut absolutely anything that's thrown its way. He doesn't even consider an alternate approach when fighting Pernida, whose power he has determined to mutilate anyone that gets too close after already losing an arm, or Gerard, who gets bigger and stronger the more he's injured.
Ax-Crazy: He lives for violence and bloodshed, and he will even go through ridiculous lengths to instigate a fight if it means he can let loose his insanity. He betrays Soul Society by freeing Ichigo's friends and helping them find Ichigo just for the chance to fight Ichigo again. This means he has to fight other captains along the way. Tosen lampshades it by telling him he's lost his sanity, but Kenpachi retorts he was never sane to begin with.
Kenpachi: Sanity? I never had such a useless thing in the first place.
Badass and Child Duo: Kenpachi is so powerful he was capable of achieving the captain rank without learning how to release his Zanpakuto's power, and the "Kenpachi" position is one only the strongest captain in a generation can hold. When he releases his Power Limiter (his Eye Patch Of Power), he can cut a building in half with the air pressure of a single swing. Yachiru has been by his side since she was a baby, and yet she's never had trouble handling his immense spiritual pressure. She's barely more than a child, but she's already a lieutenant, in an organisation that gives rank based on merit.
Barbarian Longhair: Weirdly zig zagged. Zaraki styles his hair into stiff strands with small bells attached at the tips. This process is very time consuming. Then we get a Flash Back to the time before Zaraki became the captain of Squad 11.◊ After the Time Skip, Zaraki has once again started wearing his hair down. It would seem that the more Zaraki embraces his naturally savage fighting style, the more unkempt his hair is.
Barefoot Poverty: While living in the poverty-stricken 80th district Zaraki, like other residents of the district, has no access to luxuries such as footwear.
Battle Aura: When he goes all-out against Ichigo his Reiatsu flares around him in the shape of a skull.
The Berserker: His berserker nature makes him happy in battle, to the point where getting cut makes him laugh and the more he gets cut, the more he laughs. He's an example of someone who is technically on the good guys' side who is unrepentant about his violent nature. He likes being that way. Allies and opponents alike find him extremely unnerving to be around on the battlefield. When he unleashes his Bankai it puts him in an unthinking berserker state. His skin turns red, he stops speaking, and he attacks mindlessly and without much pause whereas usually he either bemoans a boring fight or laughs in enjoyment of a good fight.
BFS: Nozarashi's sealed form is a nodachi with a chipped blade. When it transforms into Shikai, it takes the form of a giant cleaver whose blade dwarfs even Kenpachi's large frame. In contrast, his Bankai - which normally expand the sword's size - is a small cleaver.
The Big Guy: At 202 centimeters, Kenpachi is the second-tallest Captain after Komamura, and his brute strength is insane even by Captain's standards. Aside from cutting buildings in half and slicing up Nnoitora with his sword, Kenpachi easily tosses Gerald off of him and Toshiro when he's gigantic and trying to step on them.
Blood Knight: Kenpachi lives for fighting. Fighting is his only reason for living and he will deliberately handicap himself in battle to ensure a good fight. He turns on his own people to help Ichigo, not because he believes in Ichigo's cause, but just because it'll get him close enough to Ichigo to instigate another fight with him. As a child, when it turned out he was already stronger than his tougher opponent, Unohana, he subconsciously began putting limiters on his ability so that he would be able to continue to enjoy fighting. The only way to fix this mistake is for Unohana to repetitively kill and revive him over and over again, as he only gets stronger when he's at the point of death.
Boisterous Bruiser: He fights and LOVES it with his constant cackling about how much fun he's having.
Boring, but Practical: Most Captains save their Bankai or a technique that their Bankai uses as an ace in the hole for when the fight goes south. Kenpachi's equivalent of this is holding his sword two-handed and using Kendo, rather than swinging one-handed like a madman. The boringness is explicitly the reason he doesn't use it often.
Boxing Lessons for Superman: Without formal training in Zanjutsu or Kendo, Kenpachi functions at the level of a Captain despite not having a Bankai. Shunsui's first act as Captain-General is to overturn the Central 46's secret ban on allowing Kenpachi to receive formal training in the martial techniques every Soul Reaper is supposed to have in a deliberate attempt to invoke this trope.
Combat Sadomasochist: He didn't make his way through the ranks by excelling in the Shinigami Academy or being born into nobility like the other captains of the Gotei 13. He gained his position due to his notoriety as a murderer who only killed due to the pleasure he found in fighting. Even as a captain, he willfully skimps out on his duties to put his life (and his mission's success) in danger for the sole purpose of finding a good fight. He seldom finds joy in killing disproportionately weaker opponents. Instead he, being the sadomasochistic madman that he is, preemptively handicaps himself for his death matches; he wears bells in his hair that give away his position, purposefully uses a one handed sword style despite the size of his Zanpakuto, and willfully covers one of his eye's with a monster that he had custom made to passively consume the majority of his energy. Why does he go to such lengths? He does this in order to increase the chances of his opponent actually wounding him during a death match.
Covered with Scars: Due to his love for fighting, his body is absolutely covered in scars. His overall strategy seems to be that dodging is for sissies.
Deliberate Injury Gambit: Kenpachi naturally decides getting intentionally injured is the best tactic against Tosen's Bankai, which cuts him off from all the senses except touch. Hey, if he gets stabbed, he knows where the person wielding the sword is, right? This advice comes from (an Imagine Spot) Yumichika of all people; Yumichika tells him to give up beautifully, and after a moment of disgust Kenpachi suddenly realises how effective this plan actually is — after all, a Blood Knight would think quitting fighting just to tank a sword solely to defeat the opponent is indeed "giving up beautifully".
Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Kenpachi is the title of the top ranked warrior in the Soul Society. Zaraki is the name of the place he's from. In the end, he doesn't really have a name. Not quite.
Excalibur in the Rust: His Zanpakuto is dull, rusted, and pitted. It's also one of the most powerful blades in Soul Society.
Expository Hairstyle Change: In the timeskip he lets his hair down.
Eyepatch of Power: Kenpachi enjoys fighting, and wants to savor every second of a battle. He had the Research and Development Bureau of Soul Society create a Power Limiter that resembled an eyepatch to consume his Spirit Energy, willingly handicapping himself to give his opponent a better chance.
Fangs Are Evil: He's not necessarily evil, but he is an Ax-Crazy Anti-Hero who will happily turn on anyone, friend or foe, who will give him a good fight, and his pronounced canines accent his feral nature.
Godzilla Threshold: He is this for the entire Soul Society. The Central 46 enacted a secret law forbidding anyone from teaching him even the most basic of proper combat techniques for fear that if he ever chose to rebel, there would be no one to stop him. They were forced to overturn that ban out of desperation for some sort of trump card once Yamamoto died.
Gold-Colored Superiority: When fully unleashing his absolutely immense spiritual power, it manifests as a golden glow around his body.
Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Kenpachi's Blood Knight tendencies are often Played for Laughs in the anime, although sometimes in the manga as well. Most of the time, however, they're used to emphasize there's something deeply unnatural about his fighting style and urges.
Heroic RRoD: When Kenpachi first achieves Bankai, his entire body transforms in the process and he's pushed into a berserker frenzy where he fights without conscious thought. He only stops fighting when he attempts to swing his sword-arm in response to his opponent's latest power-up. As his arm swings, it is torn apart by his own power. Yachiru comments that his body isn't yet capable of handling the new level of power output.
Horned Humanoid: During the battle with Gerard Valkyrie, Kenpachi is visited by Yachiru, who is revealed to be his Bankai spirit. Yachiru awakens his Bankai, which transforms him into a creature resembling an Oni, a yokai from Japanese mythology that had red skin and horns.
Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Kenpachi (202 cm 6'7.5") is perhaps the most masculine character in the series, being a very strong and physically imposing man who is ridiculously obsessed with the adrenaline rush of battle. Meanwhile, his constant companion Yachiru (109 cm 3'7") is a (seemingly) sweet little girl. As lieutenant of the combat-renowned 11th Division, she's more than earned the right to be second-in-command, but the reason she can ride around on Kenpachi's back is because she's so very tiny compared to his great size.
I Am Not Left-Handed: He puts bells in his hair so people can hear him coming, wears an eyepatch that eats some his power and just swings his sword around madly with one hand instead of anything resembling proper technique unless he absolutely has to. He even does this subconsciously; after his first fight with Unohana, in which he proved to be the stronger of the duo, he limited his own power so he'd have someone strong to fight against, to the point that she needs to keep landing fatal blows to get him to fight at full strength.
Improbable Hairstyle: His hair is tied up into spikes with bells at the ends. The purpose of the bells is to let his opponents know where he is.
In-Series Nickname: The Soul Reaper that possesses the title "Kenpachi" tends to be nicknamed, "The Man who Cannot Fall". Kenpachi Zaraki itself is an alias, since he never knew his real name.
Incompletely Trained: Shockingly enough, his swordsmanship isn't even at its maximum potential for most of the series. Much of his strength as a fighter is from raw power and pure instincts — he otherwise lacks basic Kendo skills, and Yamamoto gave up training him after a day. This was actually intentional by the Soul Society, who feared if he completed his training that he would be unstoppable if he went rogue. The first thing Kyoraku does as Captain-General is to make Unohana train Kenpachi so he can be even more powerful and have a better chance of taking down the Quincies, much to Central 46's chagrin.
Irony: Kenpachi has a daughter with a huge sweet tooth, but he doesn't know what cookies are.
It Was with You All Along: Most of his goal throughout the series is to unlock the true power of his Zanpakuto but can never seem to get it to respond or reveal itself to him. In the final arc, he find out it was Yachiru the entire time who was waiting until he was strong and focused enough to finally wield her power, even at the expense of losing her corporal form. In the final chapters, he's shown to accept this, knowing she'll be (literally) right be his side forever.
Klingon Promotion: Kenpachi did this accidentally! A common way of becoming the Captain of Squad 11 (and the only way to become a captain at all without having Bankai, is by killing the previous Captain in a one on one fight with at least 200 witnesses from the division. That's how he became the Squad 11 captain; by killing his predecessor out of want for a good fight. That's the guy's cloak he wears.
The Law of Diminishing Defensive Effort: He hardly ever bothers with dodging since he can tank a lot of damage.
Large Ham: Kenpachi's idea of a good fight includes hamming up his enjoyment of it—and encouraging his opponent to descend into hamminess as well.
Leeroy Jenkins: Kenpachi loves a good fight, and couldn't care less about formulating plans.
Life-or-Limb Decision: When he realises his opponent has taken control of the nerves in his right arm, he rips the arm off to break the control. The characters note that the attack would have spread to his whole body if he hadn't discarded the limb.
Manly Tears: He sheds a single tear when he realizes he's facing the reality of never being able to achieve his dream. When Unohana is about to kill him, he admits he's always admired her and dying before he could ever defeat her really sucks.
Moe Couplet: His interactions with Yachiru are often very cute and/or funny.
Never Given a Name: He is unaware of his true, original name and was never given one in Soul Society.
No-Sell:
- Gremmy's Imagination-Based Superpower cannot overcome Kenpachi even when he imagines crazy attacks such as meteor strikes to the city. Kenpachi explains that there is nothing Gremmy can imagine that Kenpachi cannot cut. Kenpachi fully believes he can cut anything that can ever be imagined.
- Gets a famous one much earlier during his first fight of the series against Ichigo. To provide a handicap for Ichigo, who is nowhere near his level at that point, Kenpachi opens his haori and offers to let Ichigo strike him anywhere he likes - if he dies in one hit as a result, no hard feelings. With some goading, Ichigo slashes at Kenpachi as hard as he can...only to find that not only has Zangetsu not even scratched Kenpachi, his own hand is bleeding instead! Kenpachi explains this as being the natural outcome of a clash between two spiritual forces of unequal power - the weaker one always takes the brunt of the impact, and Ichigo's concentrated power at that point is weaker than Kenpachi's own unconscious, unfocused power.
No Sense of Direction: The Seireitei streets are like a labyrinth, making it easy to get lost. Kenpachi has a terrible sense of direction and always gets lost very easily. As a result, he relies heavily on Yachiru to direct him. Unfortunately, she always gets lost herself and her directions lead Kenpachi even further astray.
Oh, Crap!: The expression he wears when he is defeated by Yachiru^note, who is the only person he has ever genuinely feared.
Older Than They Look: Despite being treated as a "younger" Captain by Yamamoto, the flashback of when Kenpachi met Unohana takes place when she was still Captain of the Eleventh Division and the First Kenpachi, which was centuries ago. Furthermore, the anime adaptation shows that Unohana had her scar during the war with the Quincies, implying that Kenpachi has been alive since around the time of the original Captains.
One Free Hit: Tends to offer opponents a free shot at the start of a fight, both to get himself into it and as a way to gauge their strength. Due to Kenpachi's immense strength, sometimes the opponent does more damage to themselves than to Kenpachi with that free hit.
The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: He's willing to turn on Soul Society to save Ichigo's life just because he wants a rematch.
Open Shirt Taunt: Kenpachi does this for Ichigo in their first encounter.
Papa Wolf: When Nnoitra tried to kill Yachiru, Kenpachi became much more serious in battle. When she disappears in the Final Arc, he's distraught and refuses to listen to his men when they point out that his order to find her is problematic because they don't have a Reiatsu trail to follow. He eventually refocuses on his Captain duties only when Nanao confronts him about his lack of professionalism.
Parental Substitute: Found baby Yachiru in the streets and took her in, as he was impressed that his bloodshed didn't scare her off.
Perpetual Frowner: Fighting a challenging opponent is all he cares about. Literally anything else just bores him, evident by his uninterested facial expression in contrast to his Slasher Smile when in the midst of battle.
Please Wake Up: The one person Kenpachi didn't want to see die elicits this response from him. Upon defeating Unohana, he realizes she's dying and screams at her to wake up while cradling her.
Power Incontinence: He cannot properly control his Reiatsu or fine-tune the amount he's suppressing or releasing, so he wears a special eyepatch that acts as an artificial Power Limiter, something he only chooses to release when he has to. A traumatic experience as a child caused him to subconsciously shackle his power to protect the first Worthy Opponent he ever met, and it's only many years later that she fixes the problem. Even then, the first time he achieves a Bankai-level of power, his arm gets torn apart by the power he's using. Yachiru observes his body has not yet adapted to the new power levels.
Real Men Wear Pink: Despite his generally barbaric behavior, he spends hours doing his hair and he sometimes has tea parties with Yachiru. The reason he dislikes Chojiro so much is because Chojiro once recommended him a shampoo that ruined his favorite hairstyle.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: During the Lost Agent arc, Kenpachi is paired up with Giriko, much to his displeasure as he believes he will be a weak opponent. He is proven correct when he easily one-shots him. Afterwards he declares he's bored and wants to go home, but Yachiru stops him.
Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Byakuya and Kenpachi seem to have recurring verbal clashes from the first scene they're shown interacting with each other. Byakuya considers Kenpachi an uncultured brute who should mind his own business, Kenpachi enjoys riling Byakuya up in interest of a good fight (and maybe knocking him off his high horse). In the aforementioned scene, Gin intervenes when it seems like the confrontation is about to shift away from just verbal, and in Hueco Mundo, the two get so fed up with each other they pummel Yammy aside almost as an afterthought while set on fighting each other.
Skeleton Motif: When fighting Ichigo, his spiritual power manifests as a golden skull.
Slasher Smile: Kenpachi thrives on violence and bloodshed, therefore he always has a vicious grin on his face when fighting an opponent that provides a legitimate challenge to him. Otherwise, he usually has bored, uninterested expression on his face.
Smarter Than You Look: Much as he prefers just fighting without thinking, Kenpachi shows some level of observational skills every now and then. He determines correctly that Tosen's Bankai shuts down all of his senses except for touch and manages to avoid taking lethal hits while swinging his own sword with increasing accuracy. He also figures out Gremmy's Imagination-Based Superpower ceases to affect things when he shifts attention elsewhere, allowing Kenpachi to save Yachiru without breaking her bones. Even in his introductory scene, Kenpachi notes that Ichimaru and Tosen are the only two Captains afraid of dying and how Rukia's apparent criminal status can tarnish the Kuchiki family name. Byakuya half-sardonically comments on this perceptiveness.
Sparing the Aces: Kenpachi spared the original Yachiru's life. It was an unconscious act, a subconscious decision based on the fear of being deprived of a Worthy Opponent who had a unique enough level of fighting talent that he was able to feel the thrill of fear in battle for the very first time.
Super Mode: During his fight against the Sternritter Gerard Valkryie, Kenpachi awakens his Bankai for the first time. It trades his sanity for a no-nonsense, murderous rage and his axe for a smaller cleaver, and immediately demonstrates his new-found strength by ragdolling the near-godlike Gerard around, ripping his arm off with his teeth, and effortlessly cutting him in half. However, it has a negative side-effect in that it can tear his body apart if left on for to long due to the overwhelming power.
Training from Hell: During the Vandenreich's first invasion, Kenpachi's defeat results in him going through horrendous training to improve himself. Kyoraku orders Unohana to train him in a fight to the death. This training involves fatally wounding and magically healing Kenpachi over and over again in a duel to the death until he's too strong for her to kill anymore.
Turns Red: Activating his Bankai his skin becomes bright red and he becomes an unstoppable berserker.
Underestimating Badassery: Goes both ways during his fight against Nnoitra. Nnoitra was completely unprepared for the badass mass of insanity that was Kenpachi, while Kenpachi himself was completely underestimating the damage Nnoitra was inflicting to his body. It took him bleeding to death to realize that he'd better get serious or he'll really die.
Unskilled, but Strong: Kenpachi has no clue on how to truly fight properly, but his raw power is enough to defeat almost any opponent. Until the final arc, his equivalent to the other Captains' Shikai and Bankai was removing his eyepatch and holding his sword two-handed and using what little Kendo Yamamoto forced him to learn. It is eventually revealed this is a combination of his dislike of formal martial philosophy and the Central 46 preferring to keep him untrained so he's not too powerful should he ever rebel. Even as a child, he was able to defeat the Eleventh Division Kenpachi, who was considered to be the most skilled swordsman and one of the most powerful captains in Soul Society. When he eventually gains his full power in the final arc (both Shikai and Bankai), he's able to fight some of the most broken characters in the story, with his Bankai transforming him into a red-skinned raving beast of a fighter that can literally rip the arms off a giant Quincy with his bare teeth, before said power becomes too much for his body to handle, and he is unable to continue fighting. Even by the end of the series, it's made clear that Kenpachi still has to learn to control his power now that he has access to it.
Victory Is Boring: He holds back in battle because of the fear that there would be nothing for him to enjoy should this ever happen. It's such an unconscious fear that he doesn't even know he's shackled his own power to avoid killing any Worthy Opponent he does meet.
Willfully Weak: Kenpachi was actually much stronger as a child (with his raw strength and savagery surpassing that of the best swordsman in Soul Society at the time), but because of his Blood Knight tendencies and the impression the first Kenpachi left on him, he would always subconsciously hold back himself in order to enjoy fights for longer periods. This mentality would eventually diminish his potential along the years and result in his loss to Yhwach during the Blood Quincy War. It is only then that he is put under formal training (i.e. repeat deaths and ressurections) with the same first Kenpachi in order to bypass this mental restraint and unlock his lost strength.
The Worf Effect: Even The Man Who Cannot Fall is not immune. He is defeated off-page by Royd Lloyd, who is mimicking both Yhwach's appearance and memories. It's the first clear clue of Yhwach's power level that someone just copying him is capable of beating one of the stronger Captains.
Worf Had the Flu: Kenpachi goes into one of his fights having lampshaded that he's sporting damaged internal organs that are making him cough up blood. He's defeated in two blows without ever managing to get in a successful hit. The four female Sternritters who defeat him also make it clear that their strategy depends on attacking him while he's worn out from his battle with Gremmy—although the amount of damage they deal to him is incredible in its own right.
World's Strongest Man: He is said to be the strongest Soul Reaper due to his love of fighting strong opponents, and he wears a special eye patch to control his immeasurable Reiatsu. He is however, second only to Yamamoto in Spiritual Power and Reiatsu. During the Thousand Year Blood War, he goes through some training with the first Kenpachi, Retsu Unohana, to become stronger and manages to surpass her. His Spiritual Power is so great, not even Gremmy, who is unquestionably one of the strongest Quincies next to Yhwach, was able to handle the sheer amount of raw power when attempted to replicate it, and in his bankai state, Kenpachi was able to rip off Gerard Valkyrie’s arm with his teeth and then cut him with a single slash. He was also listed as one of the Five Special War Powers for his specialty for combat.
Worthy Opponent: He loves to fight but struggles to find someone strong enough to give him the kind of battle he craves. When he does find one, he latches onto them as someone he can return to time and again for his idea of "fun". His very first, and most idolised, worthy opponent was a woman called Yachiru whom he named his lieutenant after. After his failure to defeat Ichigo in battle when they first met, he has become obsessed with Ichigo's strength as well. He also acknowledges Nnoitra as one due to the 5th Espada actually forcing him to take the fight dead serious, and is completely dismissive of Yammy when he fails to do the same despite being the so-called 0th Espada and Kenpachi going in still wounded from the previous fight. He is so afraid of ending a fight before he's had a chance to enjoy it that he deliberately de-powers himself so that he fights below par. As a result, it takes a very long time for him to achieve his full potential.
The X of Y: While living in the Rukongai, Kenpachi, originally nameless, eventually named himself by taking the title of the strongest Soul Reapers (the Kenpachi) and the district he was originally from (Zaraki district). He would therefore introduce himself as Kenpachi of Zaraki. By the time he's 11th division captain, however, the name has contracted into Kenpachi Zaraki.

Gosuke Kiganjo

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gosuke_kiganj.png

Species: Soul Reaper

Zanpakuto: Unknown

Voiced by: Takahiro Fujiwara

He's the 10th Kenpachi, the one that Zaraki killed before becoming captain. Although mentioned in the early chapters of Turn Back The Pendulum, he finally made an official, if brief, debut in Bleach #527.

All There in the Manual: We learned of his height, name, weight, birthday and design in the Masked databook.
Klingon Promotion: He killed the previous Kenpachi to become captain of the 11th division. The other captains weren't very impressed with him.
Large and in Charge: He was 7'3, and weighed 695 pounds back when he was the captain of the eleventh division.
Lazy Bum: According to Shinji, he's lazy almost to the point of being apathetic.
Posthumous Character: The reason Zaraki is the story's current Kenpachi is because he killed Kiganjo many years before the first chapter occurs. The references to him and the single scene that briefly shows him are therefore either posthumous comments or flashbacks to times when he was still alive.
Sketchy Successor: Compared to previous holders of the Kenpachi title such as Unohana, Kuruyashiki and Azashiro he comes as being a major downgrade. Shinji Hirako stated Kiganjō was a slacker who, as usual, did not listen to what he was told, was a "pain in the ass" and wondered why "such a piggish guy" had been allowed to become a captain while Rose snarks that if anyone is to be blamed for Kiganjō's presence among them, it is the previous Kenpachi for dying to Kiganjō, implying that Kiganjō was not even particuarly powerful for someone holding the title of Kenpachi. When the much more powerful and true Blood Knight that is Zaraki killed him and took his role as the captain of the 11th division, the reaction to Kiganjō's death among the captains seemed to be "meh, and nothing of value was lost."

Yachiru Kusajishi

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bbs_yachiru.png

^{Thousand-Year Blood War appearance}

"We'll get stronger, Ken-chan. Together, let's get stronger. I know that Ken-chan is the best. So let's get stronger! You and me together."

Species: Zanpakuto Spirit (disguised as a Soul Reaper)

Zanpakuto: Sanpo Kenju (Shikai)

Voiced by: Hisayo Mochizuki (JP), Dina Sherman (credited as Stevie Bloch) (ENG), Monserrat Mendoza and Angélica Villa (Latin American Spanish)

Kenpachi's pink-haired sidekick and best friend, whom he adopted before becoming a Soul Reaper. She is one of the most hyperactive characters in the series and will stick by Kenpachi no matter what. She can be a little annoying to others, as seen in the Omakes. She is also President of the Soul Reaper Women's Association.

Kenpachi named her Yachiru after the only person he ever admired and her last name is taken from the district he first encountered her in. She is later revealed to be the manifestation of Zaraki's Bankai.

Her Zanpakuto appears to be Sanpo Kenju which she claims summons two sword wielding creatures that mimic her movements.

Animal Battle Aura: When repeatedly annoyed by a messenger, she snaps for him to leave her alone and manifests her Reiatsu in the shape of a snarling cat.
Attack Animal: Her Zanpakuto is apparently unique in that it summons two living creatures while itself remaining unchanged. These two creatures wield swords of their own and mimic her every movement, "Boney" the tall skeletal one moving slightly after she does, and "Lumpy" the plump furry one moving slightly before.
Badass and Child Duo: The child to Kenpachi's badass. She appears to be pretty badass herself though, being a lieutenant and all.
Badass Adorable: She's small, cute and very dangerous. She has a reputation for speed and is the lieutenant of the strongest combat division. Bankai-capable Ikkaku is terrified of her. In the final arc, she is finally allowed to fight and reveal why her reputation is so formidable.
Big Eater: Her big appetite is shown often enough to the point that it's a Running Gag. One omake shows her indulging in a gigantic bowl of what appears to be ice-cream and fruit whilst surrounded by numerous empty bowls and plates, and a series of omakes show her pestering several captains for snacks.
The Blind Leading the Blind: This comes into play whenever she gives directions to Kenpachi despite her being just as bad at directions as he is.
Blush Sticker: She sports two permanent pink blush stickers. It goes with her hyperactive, cheerful persona.
Catchphrase: Seems to have a fondness for "Aye aye, sir!".
Cheerful Child: She is constantly upbeat and cheerful, especially when Kenpachi is having fun in a fight, and especially when she has access to sweets.
Curtains Match the Window: Yachiru's hair and eyes are pink. This makes her stand out as something cute and unusual creating a dissonance with the hint that there's something really quite dark and wrong to her.
Cute and Psycho: She's cute and cheerful, but she's also powerful and violent enough to scare Ikkaku.
Cute Bruiser: She's small enough to easily ride on Kenpachi's shoulder, yet can easily pick him up and jump up two stories while holding him without breaking a sweat. And when she runs at full speed she digs divots out of stone pavement. She's also as able to cope with captain-class Reiatsu as any other vice-captain.
Effortless Amazonian Lift: Can carry Kenpachi on her shoulder while jumping from building to building, which is quite the indication that she isn't really just cute and harmless.
Expository Hairstyle Change: Cuts her hair shorter and wears a crossbone decoration in her hair after the timeskip.
Fountain of Youth: invoked Kubo explains that Yachiru is not the normal form of Nozarashi, but that of Zaraki's Bankai, and that much like the Quincy aspect of Tensa Zangetsu, her Bankai appearance causes her to become younger. Normal Nozarashi instead looks like a grown woman.
Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Kenpachi (202 cm/6'7.5") is perhaps the most masculine character in the series, being a very strong and physically imposing man who is ridiculously obsessed with the adrenaline rush of battle. Meanwhile, his constant companion Yachiru (109 cm/3'7") is a (seemingly) sweet little girl. As lieutenant of the combat-renowned 11th Division, she's more than earned the right to be second-in-command, but the reason she can ride around on Kenpachi's back is because she's so very tiny compared to his great size.
In Love with Your Carnage: She enjoys watching violence, whether it is from Kenpachi or his opponent. In fact she was like this when she was a baby, attracted by Kenpachi's sword in the midst of a bloody massacre. Makes sense, since she is Kenpachi's zanpakuto spirit.
Literal Split Personality: In a blog post, Kubo clarified that Yachiru is the manifestation of Zaraki's Zanpakuto in its Bankai, somehow split off from her older-looking Shikai form.
Living Weapon: Reveals herself as the manifestation of Zaraki's Bankai near the end of the series. Once she does this, she goes to sword form full time since he can now wield his sword's power.
Moe Couplet: Pairing her, the cute and hyperactive child, with her guardian Kenpachi, the big rough and tough guy, results in rather endearing and humorous father/daughter-like interactions. The Reveal that she's his zanpakuto spirit puts another layer onto their interactions, though Kenpachi never realized it until the final arc.
Named After Somebody Famous: Kenpachi gave her the name "Yachiru" after the only person he ever admired, and it means "someone who has mastered all forms and styles of sword combat". The original Yachiru was the founder of the 11th division and the first, and strongest, Kenpachi to ever lead that division. Her real name is unknown. It is later revealed her true name is Nozarashi, as she is the spirit of Kenpachi's Zanpakto.
Nested Ownership: During the final arc, Yachiru is forced to draw her sword. Isane is baffled by the weapon as it doesn't behave like any Zanpakuto she's ever heard of. Yachiru is eventually revealed to be the manifestation of Zaraki's Bankai; while most sword spirits will manifest copies of their master's sword (i.e., themselves in sword-form), Yachiru uses a unique sword of her own that bears no resemblance to the weapon Zaraki himself wields.
The Nicknamer: Some of her names are harmless enough to be regarded as nothing more than an In-Series Nickname (such as "Yumichee" for Yumichika or Ken-chan/Kenny for Kenpachi). However, most of her names are regarded as an Embarrassing Nickname instead (such as Boobies for Orihime, Pachinko-Head/Baldy for Ikkaku or Maki-Maki for Arimaki).
No Sense of Direction: Is hopeless when it comes to directions. Even so, Kenpachi asks her for help with this.
Only Known by Their Nickname: Her current name is one given to her by Zaraki the day he found her, named after the woman he admired and the district she was found in. Her actual name is the same as Zaraki's Bankai, which has yet to be officially named.
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: While she looks like a small child, she's just as bloodthirsty as Kenpachi and is both strong and fast. The reason she doesn't take part in fights like other lieutenants is because she doesn't want to interrupt Kenpachi's fun and likes watching him fight.
The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Lieutenants fight and/or administrate. Except for Yachiru, that is. She mostly plays, eats sweets and watches Kenpachi's fights from the side-lines, only very rarely doing anything related to her actual duties. Both the third and fifth seats of her division carry the title "proxy lieutenant", the same as the two third seats of the formerly lieutenant-less 13th Division.
Really 700 Years Old: She looks like she's around 6-8 years old. Considering the fact that Hitsugaya, who looks around 13 years old, has been around for at least 40 years (confirmed, most likely longer, but that's unconfirmed), it's very hard to say how old she is. What is known is that she was around long before he became a captain. The Reveal that she's Kenpachi's zanpakuto means that she's at most as old as he is.
The Reveal: After disappearing in mysterious circumstances, Yachiru returns in chapter 668. As Kenpachi is taking a heavy beating from Gerard, despite being in Shikai, Yachiru appears to offer him her hand and tells him it's time to use the power of Bankai. She triggers his Bankai, revealing herself to be his true Bankai spirit in the process.
Rose-Haired Sweetie: Pink-haired, hyperactive, Yachiru is the cheerful and optimistic version, always smiling, especially when Zaraki is enjoying his fights.
Satellite Character: In the distant past, she first appeared in front of Kenpachi under mysterious circumstances, and has remained by his side ever since. She is rarely separated from him, and her main role in the story is to encourage Kenpachi to keep fighting and get stronger. Although she gets a slightly larger role in omakes, the manga eventually reveals the real reason why Kenpachi is her whole world. She is the true spirit of his Bankai.
Sweet Tooth: Yachiru is addicted to sweets which is played up in the anime; she will do anything for sweets, even disrupting captain meetings to obtain them. Yamamoto has a secret stash he keeps in his rooms at all time, so whenever Yachiru turns up, he gives her the bag and she leaves with minimal fuss. In the slice of life stories, Byakuya learns to do this, too.
Undying Loyalty: Her entire focus is on Kenpachi. She is constantly with him and encourages him to get stronger and keep fighting. In return, he protects her like a father protects a child. She once describes him as being her whole world and is eventually revealed to be the true spirit of his Bankai.
With Catlike Tread: She continues to be her usual boisterous self while sneaking through the Sternritter's territory for supplies, much to Isane's horror.

Ikkaku Madarame

^{The Lost Agent appearance}

"No man's life is worth more than another! If you're gonna put your life on the line, you do it as equals! I don't care if you're brothers, or master and apprentice, or whatever! You should only die for a guy who'd die for you! There's nothing honourable about throwing your life away as though it's nothing! That's just showing off like a kid!"

Species: Soul Reaper

Zanpakuto: Hōzukimaru (Shikai); Ryūmon Hōzukimaru (Bankai)

Voiced by: Nobuyuki Hiyama (JP), Vic Mignogna (ENG, Original Series), Sam Riegel (ENG, Episodes 104-105), Todd Haberkorn (EN, Thousand-Year Blood War), Óscar Flores (Latin American Spanish)

Current vice-captain and former 3rd seat of Squad 11 and one of the most Hot-Blooded characters here. In the past, Ikkaku fought Kenpachi, but ended up losing. He followed Kenpachi to Seireitei and vowed to someday fight and die under his command. He is the first person Ichigo fights when he gets inside the Seireitei. After their fight, they become minor rivals.

His Zanpakuto is Hōzukimaru, a three section staff with a blade on the end. His Bankai is Ryūmon Hōzukimaru, a set of three enormous blades which grow in offensive strength the longer he fights.

Almighty Janitor: Third Seat Ikkaku Madarame is known for being vice-captain-class or even higher despite his lower rank. What's less well-known is the fact he's hiding Bankai, only someone who possesses the talent to one day achieve captain-class can achieve (to the point Renji begs him to take Aizen's position as Captain after the latter's betrayal). Ikkaku, however, has no interest in leaving Kenpachi's side, so he sticks to his division.
Awesome, but Impractical: His Bankai drastically increases his power and the longer he uses it the stronger he gets. However, not only is it so brittle that it starts breaking when he actually scores a direct hit, but it actually takes him a fairly significant amount of time before his weapon even finishes waking up. Finally, it doesn't increase his speed.
Badass Boast: After he fights Shishigawara with his bare fists and defeats him with a massive headbutt, he grins with his face covered in blood and gives a pretty awesome and boastful speech.
"You had a bad opponent. You were a lucky man, but I'm the luckiest bastard in the entire Thirteen Court Guard Squads!"
Bald Head of Toughness: One of two characters in Soul Society that's bald and is a member of the squad where Might Makes Right, Authority Equals Asskicking, and everyone is a Blood Knight. Though originally the 3rd seat, he was also widely known as having vice-captain level abilities. Making fun of his baldness however does get under his skin. In a bit of a subversion, when he finally develops his Bankai it's a Glass Cannon, trading in defensive durability for offensive power.
Berserk Button: His baldness is a sensitive subject, to say the least. He will become overly aggressive or even threaten others whenever they mention he's bald, even if there's no malicious intent whatsoever.
Beware the Silly Ones: He's cueball bald (and sensitive about it), has No Indoor Voice and does a ridiculous "lucky dance" before battle. That being said, he's third seat in the squad notorious for their fighting prowess and Klingon Promotion methodology, and has a secret Bankai. That puts him above most vice-captains, and level with some Captains, in terms of raw physical power and skill.
BFS: Despite all others having one, his Bankai definitely stands out as it is a giant weapon about three times his size with three chain-linked blades that seem like huge, modified monk's spades and guandaos.
Bifurcated Weapon: Ikkaku combines his sword and sheath together to create his Shikai.
Bishie Sparkle: Parodied. Keigo's sister Mizuho finds him very attractive because she likes men who shave their head. Thus, she sees him more as a regular bishounen than the badass he is. Cue the sparkles!
Blade on a Rope: In Bankai form, Ikkaku's zanpakuto becomes a monk's spade and a guandao which are connected to a center section which is shaped like an axe blade.
Blood Knight: Typical of the 11th Division, he loves to fight.
Everybody Knew Already: He is willing to throw fights to avoid revealing his Bankai, despite having willingly told Yumichika, Renji and Keigo. When chastising Ikkaku for his attitude, Iba reveals he's always known. Komamura accidentally overhears but promises to keep his mouth shut. Later on, Mayuri's comment to Ichigo that he and Akon once patched up Ikkaku's broken Bankai reminds Mayuri he wasn't supposed to reveal the secret. He concludes he doesn't care.
Facial Markings: His eyes each have a small red marking at the outer corner.
Fashionable Asymmetry: After the time-skip, he wears no sleeve on the right and a full sleeve on the left. He also has his right shoulder and upper arm encased in armour but there's none on his left side.
Gathering Steam: Ikkaku's Empathic Weapon Houzukimaru slowly increases in spiritual power after it's unleashed in combat because, in his words, it's "lazy" and takes time to wake up all the way.
Glass Cannon: His zanpakuto is powerful but also lacks defence. His Shikai is a snake of a weapon being unpredictable and dangerous, but it's also made of wood and breaks easily. His Bankai is hideously powerful but the sheer force of its own power makes it brittle. It's heavily implied that the only reason his zanpakuto is a Glass Cannon in any form is because he's abusing his power and not using it properly. Ikkaku himself, however, is not this trope.
Hand-or-Object Underwear: Mizuho causes this situation in Episode 229 when she walks in on him getting ready for his bath and a conveniently-placed object hide his private parts from the audience while he freaks out.
Honor Before Reason: If he has to choose between dying or using his Bankai in a way that it would become public knowledge, he would prefer to do the former because he wants to die under Kenpachi's command and not risk being transferred to another division as its Captain. Not only does this lead to his defeat in the fight against Poww, which Iba calls him out on, it's also been shown there are several Soul Reapers who have Bankai such as Renji and Sasakibe that haven't been pushed into a captaincy position even after Aizen and his cohorts betray Soul Society. Sasakibe in particular has had the same feelings towards Yamamoto as Ikkaku has to Kenpachi for much longer, and his solution was just to say "no" to any captaincy offers. In the face of that evidence, Ikkaku's worries come off as unfounded at best.
Hot-Blooded: Incredibly excitable and easily fired up, especially when it comes to fighting. Look at his seiyuu.
I Am Not Left-Handed: Knows Bankai, but hides it in fear of being told to leave Kenpachi's service. Eventually he nearly gets himself killed for holding back and at about the same time it's made clear that he hasn't done such a great job of protecting his secret anyway.
Insistent Terminology: He's naturally hairless up top, not shaved, but he insists repeatedly that he isn't bald.
Instant Chucks: Ikkaku's Bankai transforms his three-section staff into three giant blades loosely based on the monk's spade connected by a huge chain. As with Hisagi, his weapon is technically a chain weapon that requires two hands to use. His three Bankai blades have been noticed to be exceptionally powerful but fragile because he chooses not to use his power correctly for the sake of fun.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite his boisterous, cocky, battle-loving nature, Ikkaku is strangely not that difficult to get along with, especially when off-duty, and will sometimes help strangers, especially if they wish to become better fighters.
Large Ham: Ikkaku Madarame is not a quiet man.
Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards: The only true example among the whole cast. Although he's an excellent fighter, he has no capability in Kido, and never catches up with the rest of the cast after being the first Soul Reaper Ichigo beats, despite his division's reputation as the strongest. What keeps him from defying this is that he also doesn't have the monstrous spiritual pressure of his captain and Ichigo that allow them to get by with just melee.
Odd Friendship: Ikkaku is boisterous, foul-mouthed and short-tempered. Yumichika is a narcissistic Pretty Boy, refined and hates getting dirty. Despite their different personalities and interests, they've been friends for a long time, confide in one another and are rarely seen apart. Although they respect the squad policy to only engage in one-on-one fights, both show concern if the other is in danger and may even attempt to intervene.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: During the Vandenreich's second invasion of Soul Society, the survival stakes become so high that Ikkaku finally breaks the squad's combat rules regarding one-on-one combat and Kido tolerance. When Yumichika enters his fight to help him, he doesn't object. Even though Yumichika's support is Kido based, Ikkaku unusually relies heavily on it. The only time he objects to Yumichika using Kido is in a situation where he doesn't believe Yumichika can win and stopping Yumichika makes him the target instead.
Pain & Gain: The effect of his Bankai is that it's "asleep," and slowly "wakes up" over the course of a battle, granting him more power. Any battle damage Ikkaku recieves will awaken the Bankai faster.
Rank Up: He becomes the vice-captain after the ten year timeskip after Yachiru (aka Nozarashi) disappears.
Shipper on Deck: Like Momo, he thinks a relationship between Renji and Rukia would be a good thing.
Skewed Priorities: He'd rather be killed than reveal he has a Bankai, as that would get him removed from Kenpachi's division. Iba calls him on the fact that as a Thirteen Court Guard Squads member, Ikkaku is failing in his duties whenever he loses thanks to his holding back. Specifically, his loss in the Fake Karakura arc ran the risk of thousands of innocent humans getting dragged onto the battleground, because Ikkaku doesn't want a promotion.
Submissive Badass: A big part of why only a few of his closest friends (and Mayuri) are aware of his Bankai is because even though he's a Captain level soldier, he neither wants a promotion nor wants to serve anyone but Zaraki. As it turns out, he has nothing to worry about, as a few other lieutenants (Sasakibe, Renji, and later, Hisagi) have achieved it as well and are allowed to stay in their positions.
Those Two Guys: With Yumichika.
Training from Hell: In the anime, he helps train a high school kendo club full of wimps by putting them through an extremely intense warrior regimen. It's so brutal that all the club members but one are too physically and psychologically broken afterwards to compete.
Underestimating Badassery: Ikkaku always goes into a fight with a smile, save for his battle against Shishigawara—expecting a quick throwdown against a human. Compared to the rest of the Soul Society reinforcements, he gets bloodied up the most. This was, in part, because he wanted to be, however.
Undying Loyalty: Pre-time skip this was his major characteristic given that he's hiding his true power simply so that he can fight and die under Kenpachi's command. After the time-skip, however, it's implied by his Warrior Therapist speech to Shishigawara that he's taken a less delusional approach to this trope.
Use Your Head: Ikkaku is seen headbutting others to inflict damage twice in the series, and is not affected in either instances.
- Done for comedy when he's made to wear a cutesy shirt from Mizuho, which leaves Yumichika in stitches. Pissed off, Ikkaku headbutts him, knocking him out until Matsumoto sneaks up on them.
- When he breaks his zanpakuto against Shishigawara, he turns to arm-to-arm combat. After delivering and receiving a number of blows, he finally ends the fight by giving his opponent a big headbutt. Shishigawara is promptly defeated as Ikkaku boasts that he's the luckiest man in the Thirteen Court Guard Squads.
Warrior Therapist: When Ikkaku learns of Shishigawara's motivation for having Undying Loyalty towards Tsukishima, he lectures him on everything that is wrong with his thinking.
"No man's life is worth more than another! If you're gonna put your life on the line, you do it as equals! I don't care if you're brothers, or master and apprentice, or whatever! You should only die for a guy who'd die for you! There's nothing honorable about throwing your life away as though it's nothing! That's just showing off like a kid!"
Warrior Monk: His aesthetic. He's bald, and his Shikai turns his zanpakutō into a naginata, the preferred weapon of Japanese Sohei monks, which can also be used as a sansetsukan, a weapon trained by the Chinese Shaolin monks. In Bankai, parts of his weapon resemble the monk's spade and yanyuedao, which are other Shaolin weapons. The red tassels found on both forms are characteristic of Chinese weapons as well.
Willfully Weak: He refuses to publicise his Bankai because he's afraid he'll be put under pressure to develop towards being a captain, which would ultimately force him to leave Squad 11. All he wants to do is fight and die under Kenpachi's command. As a result, he'll avoid activating Bankai even if it means getting defeated or killed, if there's no way for him to activate Bankai without his possession of it becoming public knowledge.

Yumichika Ayasegawa

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yumichika_ayesegawa.png

^{Thousand-Year Blood War appearance}

"I refuse to look upon something so hideous."

Species: Soul Reaper

Zanpakuto: Fuji Kujaku (False Shikai); Ruri'iro Kujaku (True Shikai)

Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama (JP), Brian Beacock (ENG), Moisés Iván Mora (Latin American Spanish)

Yumichika is the apparently narcissistic current third and former fifth seat in Squad 11. He isn't the fourth seat because he hates the number four (and who wouldn't?) and apparently didn't want to share the third seat with Ikkaku. His most distinguishing feature is his right eye which has two pairs of brightly coloured feathers accentuating it. Yumichika is first seen fighting Ganju Shiba during the Soul Society arc and losing, mainly due to having his precious hair messed up. Despite his vain appearance, he's actually an even match to Ikkaku.

His Zanpakuto is "nicknamed" Fuji Kujaku (just to annoy him), and it takes the form of a multi-bladed falx resembling a fan. It lets him sap his opponents of their energy and stamina. When called upon by its real name, Ruri'iro Kujaku, its powers drastically increase.

Adaptation Dye-Job: His feathers are multi-hued in the manga. The anime changes this to one pair of solid red feathers and one pair of solid yellow feathers.
Agent Peacock: Aside from his Animal Motif being an actual peacock, Yumichika fits this trope to a T. True to this, he's a preening pretty boy among a squad of brutish, boorish fighters (and Yachiru) and is The Fashionista amongst the Eleventh Squad. However, he's also an incredibly dangerous fighter who's much more powerful than his relatively middling rank would suggest: if he's really pushed into using it, his true power is able to One-Hit KO opponents with no trouble.
Almighty Janitor: He's officially the fifth seat (later promoted to third seat) of the strongest combat division. No one has the fourth seat because he won't take it and no one can defeat him to take it, which makes him the fourth strongest member of the division. He's officially expected to take on enemies and responsibilities that only captains and vice-captains are supposed to be assigned to. All this is based on his publicly acknowledged abilities. Now factor in the abilities he's keeping secret that allow him to win fights in a single strike when he uses them.
Animal Motif: The peacock—every aspect of the Asian symbology, which includes not just the beauty, vanity and pride, but also the loyalty, rejuvenation, resurrection, and watchfulness themes, too.
Awesomeness by Analysis: He correctly deduces that Giselle's blood is dangerous from her attempts to provoke Ikkaku into attacking her. He also figures out Bambietta's ability to turn things into bombs rather than shoot bombs.
Berserk Button: Yumichika is obsessed with beauty. Anyone who calls him ugly earns his enmity at best and an attempt to kill them at worst. His zanpakuto hates the colour purple. Yumichika tries to hide his taboo Functional Magic abilities from his Blood Knight division; He constantly insults his zanpakuto by giving it a purple-themed nickname; it angrily refuses to unleash its power in battle, allowing him to keep his power secret.
Bishie Sparkle: Even when his Berserk Button is pressed, he'll sparkle.
Blood Knight: Don't let his obsession with beauty and his bishounen looks fool you. He loves fighting as much as any 11th division member.
Blood Lust: In the anime-only Invasion Arc, one of the clones is revealed to have this. Yumichika can't attack his clone because he thinks his clone is far too beautiful. However, his clone has no qualms about tearing Yumichika to shreds precisely because he thinks he'd look even more beautiful covered in blood.
Color-Coded Eyes: Wisteria-coloured eyes, a shade of purple very similar to (and often confused with) lavender. Zanpakuto represent their wielders' true nature and his hates the colour of wisteria-purple which itself raises questions about Yumichika's true personality. A straight example of this trope, his true strength and nature is a mystery. Superficially narcissistic, he's hiding the fact he's sacrificing his true strength to adhere to his division's martial philosophy. The very few times his true abilities have been used, he's won in a single strike, meaning his full strength has never been tested or even acknowledged. And he's working hard to keep it that way.
Combat Tentacles: Yumichika's true Shikai transforms his sword into a mass of vines that capture and restrain the enemy while at the same time draining the enemy to death. As a twist, Yumichika is a protagonist, not a villain.
Cover-Blowing Superpower: His true abilities could get him kicked out of his division if it became common knowledge. At the very least, it'll disgrace him.
Cultured Badass: He's a beautiful, refined, and rather savvy young man, Blood Knight tendencies notwithstanding. In fact, his gender is pretty much the only reason why he doesn't apply for Lady of War.
The Dandy: He will avert the part of the trope that says a dandy doesn't like fighting, but if his clothes get torn in a fight, he will prioritise getting a fresh set of clothing over an enemy invasion of the city he's trained to protect. And he's been known to lose a fight just because his hair got messed up.
Determinator: He'd rather die than let his division find out the truth, so, even though it's not his natural style, he'll keep fighting—hiding his power—for as long as he can to protect his secret... or die. The final arc hints that his attitude may be changing.
Diagnosis from Dr. Badass: After one punch by Charlotte, Yumichika can immediately tell his arm is broken in three separate places. He keeps fighting regardless.
Dramatic Pause: When Yumichika thanks Charlotte, the anime doesn't just emphasise it with Glowing Eyes of Doom. They give the moment a Dramatic Pause as well.
Empathic Weapon: Yumichika's is actually unique: his Zanpakuto's name is based on its favourite colour, Ruri'iro Kujaku (Azure Peacock) but Yumichika has nicknamed it based on its most hated colour, Fuji Kujaku (Wisteria-Purple Peacock). His Zanpakuto retaliates to the nickname by only partially releasing to deny Yumichika its shikai power and appearance. Yumichika takes advantage of this to disguise his Kido-type Zanpakuto as a combat-type Zanpakuto so his squad won't ostracise for him for possessing a taboo weapon. It means he's fighting with a fake shikai in battle.
Energy Absorption: The basis of how his Shikai works is by draining away the life-force of his opponent. After the fight is over, he is free to choose to use the stolen life-force to heal any wounds he may have sustained in the fight, giving his shikai optional Vampiric Draining properties, too.
Explaining Your Power to the Enemy: Averted. In a manga where almost everyone introduces themselves at the start of a fight and explains their abilities just before launching their described attack, Yumichika stands out as one of the few who doesn't do either. The only time we've ever seen him describe his power, he waited until his opponent was already too badly damaged by the attack to be able to escape, and he finished explaining just in time for his opponent to die.
Fashionable Asymmetry: He accessorises his right eye with feathers and his right arm is clothed in orange, and is attached to his neck ruff on the right side only. After the time-skip, he discarded the orange in favour of white, retaining the asymmetry of a clothed right arm and unclothed left arm. He's also got a cloth running vertically over his right shoulder, giving him a sash look on the right-handed side from the front and the appearance of having an all-white (right) sleeve from the back. On top of that, he's also rearranged his hair to have a long plait on the right-hand side of his hair, and slightly longer strands of hair than his left-hand side.
The Fighting Narcissist: He loves himself and his beauty and always makes sure he looks his best when kicking ass.
Fluffy Fashion Feathers: As a beauty-obsessed man, Yumichika wears feathers around the eyes before the time-skip, and the both around the eyes and ears after the time-skip.
Flower Motif: His Shikai produces lilies which are, appropriately, symbols of rejuvenation, death and beauty.
Funny Afro: As a result of Ganju throwing a firework at his head, Yumichika is mortified to find himself sporting one of these. Ikkaku finds it hilarious.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: The moment Yumichika turns the tables on Charlotte is accompanied by this in the anime.
Hidden Depths: He's narcissistic on the surface, until it's revealed that he's sacrificing everything that he is for the sake of his division's philosophy. He's also implied to have sacrificed the chance to become third seat simply because Ikkaku wanted it. That's before we get to the subject of his Blood Knight persona hiding a Magic Knight reality.
Honor Before Reason: Given the choice between having his division learn the truth or dying, he will choose death.
I Am Not Left-Handed: He always fights with an imperfect release of his sword, because he is afraid that his squad mates will shun him for having a Kido-based release. The only exception is when he is absolutely certain that no one from the 11th Squad can see him; Charlotte Cuulhorne unfortunately finds out the hard way after trapping Yumichika with his Rosa Blanca, a technique that hides his opponent and himself.
Let's Get Dangerous!: Whenever Yumichika can get away with using his true Shikai without being discovered, his fights always transform into this.
Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Notorious for his beauty and his obsession with beauty, he used to have long hair that was fashionably styled until he joined the Soul Reapers, whereupon he cut his hair to chin-length.
Magic Is Feminine: Yumichika is the third seat of Squad 11, a Gotei 13 squad that favors brute force and physical combat. In contrast to most of his squad mates who tend to be hardcore manly, Yumichika is obsessed with beauty and making sure he looks good in battle. He is the only confirmed Kido user in a squad that seems to be full of Magically Inept Fighters and the only one with a Kido-type Zanpakuto, a fact he prefers to keep a secret. Yumichika is no less of a Blood Knight than his squadmates nor is he any less deadly.
Magic Knight: In the manga, it's revealed that the Kido abilities he's hiding are his Zanpakuto's true abilities. However, the anime takes this a stage further in the Zanpakuto Arc and makes him a full-blown Kido user. The manga eventually confirms that he really is a full-blown Kido expert when he begins openly using Kido in battle during the final arc.
Mundane Made Awesome: What do you mean "thank you" isn't an awesome phrase? If it wasn't impressive enough in the manga, the anime cranks it up by giving Yumichika Glowing Eyes of Doom and a dramatic music pause as he says it.
Noble Bigot: While narcissistic, he's every bit as brave, loyal and aggressive as anyone in his squad. However, he's also not only transphobic, but incredibly crude about it when fighting Giselle.
The Nose Knows:
- He sensed the coming of Grimmjow's group by catching the unusually strange hollow scent they gave off. When he alerted Ikkaku, he was told to ignore it, but he continued to privately think it strange. When Hitsugaya's team is finally attacked, Yumichika is the only one who is not surprised.
- He claims to have uncovered the secret that Giselle is a man because she smells of semen. It drives Giselle into a fury and, for the rest of their fight, Yumichika continues to bait her with the subject.
Obfuscating Stupidity: Knows his way around Kido very well, but hides it to not offend his much more martial arts-geared squad mates.
Odd Friendship: Yumichika is a narcissistic Pretty Boy, refined and hates getting dirty. Ikkaku is boisterous, foul-mouthed and short-tempered. Despite their different personalities and interests, they've been friends for a long time, confide in one another and are rarely seen apart. Although they respect the squad policy to only engage in one-on-one fights, both show concern if the other is in danger and may even attempt to intervene.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: During the Vandenreich's second invasion of Soul Society, the survival stakes become so high that Yumichika finally breaks the squad's combat rules regarding one-on-one combat and Kido use. He enters Ikkaku's battle to support him, and Ikkaku (also unusually) accepts it. His support consists of Kido and, when they both fall to an unexpected enemy, Yumichika openly calls for his true Shikai. However, he is interrupted before he can finish speaking Ruri'iro Kujaku's name.
Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: Every time Yumichika uses his Shikai he gets one, including one of the simplest of any character in Bleach: "Thank you".
Pretty Boy: He's a handsome and slim young man, known for being very dedicated to his beauty. And damn, does he like to remind people.
Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Yumichika Ayasegawa, with his pale skin and raven hair, is well-known, notorious even, for both his beauty and his obsession with beauty. Although he is genuinely one of the best looking and most fashionable male Soul Reaper in Soul Society, his biggest fan is actually... himself.
Secret-Keeper: Is one of the few people Ikkaku has confided his Bankai ability to.
Those Two Guys: With Ikkaku.
Undying Loyalty: On the surface, his defining personality trait appears to be narcissism. As a result of his determination to conform to 11th division philosophy, he would rather die than publicly display his true strength. He's content to remain in a subordinate position, sacrificing his abilities to make sure he doesn't do anything that would harm Kenpachi or Ikkaku's faith in him as an 11th division warrior.
Vampiric Draining: His Shikai's true ability is Energy Absorption. It absorbs the spiritual energy of its enemy, transferring it to Yumichika. Yumichika can then decide whether or not he wants to use that stolen energy to restore himself back to full health.
Willfully Weak: He's deliberately using a crippled version of his Shikai in battle. As a result, he struggles against opponents who release their power precisely because he's suppressing his own. When he does choose to stop suppressing his power and release it, I Am Not Left-Handed and Let's Get Dangerous! moments inevitably occur.

Squad 12

Kirio Hikifune

The former Captain of Squad 12 until she was promoted to the Zero Division. For more information, see Bleach: Squad Zero

Kisuke Urahara

Creator of the Hogyoku among other developments. For more information, see Bleach: Visored & Exiled Soul Reapers

Mayuri Kurotsuchi

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bbs_mayuri.png

^{Hueco Mundo appearance}
^{Initial Thousand-Year Blood War appearance.}
^{Final Thousand-Year Blood War appearance.}

"Test subjects shouldn't run their mouths so much. This is an experiment and you are test subject No.1. You don't have the right to refuse or to make any decisions!"

Species: Soul Reaper

Zanpakuto: Ashisogi Jizo (Shikai); Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō (Bankai); Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō Matai Fukuin Shōtai (Modified Bankai)

Voiced by: Ryūsei Nakao (JP), Terrence Stone (ENG), Juan Alfonso Carralero (Latin American Spanish)

The eccentric, cruel and outright psychopathic Captain of Squad 12, as well as the current president of the Research and Technology Institute. Mayuri is a unique type of character in that, despite aiding the protagonists and thus far entertaining no notions of betrayal, he is so cold and sadistic that he could pass as a bad guy. Well, at least he was like that in the Soul Society Arc. Aside from his sadism, he's notable for being Crazy-Prepared and Awesome by Analysis. In short, Mayuri is a man who does everything For Science!... however he's been more of a Sociopathic Hero since then and Mayuri's pragmatic genius, coupled with his many technological contributions to Soul Society, make him a valuable ally.

His Zanpakuto is Ashisogi Jizo, an oddly shaped weapon that is capable of paralyzing and poisoning his opponents. His Bankai is Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō, a huge monster that appears to be a monstrous hybrid of caterpillar and baby; it can instantly kill his opponents with its deadly toxins or simply crush them under its immense size. After extensive modification of his own Zanpakuto, Mayuri is able to used a modified version of his Bankai called Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō Matai Fukuin Shōtai; it transforms into an obese, dark-skinned baby that Mayuri can program with data to give birth to other modified Bankais.

Abusive Parents: Mayuri is not a pleasent father to his creation Nemu. Mayuri uses Nemu as a human shield and their tag-team strategy is that he cuts through her to get at opponents with his poisoned sword. When she asked for the antidote, he started kicking her and states that he made her too well to die from such petty wounds, so by his logic, she was insulting his intelligence.
Adaptive Ability: In the Thousand-Year Blood War while on Wahrwelt, he reveals he modified his Bankai to give it this ability. His Bankai is able to spawn a creature most suited to fighting his opponent after analyzing sufficient data on them. Keyword there being "sufficient"; when used against Pernida, the resulting creature proved immune to the Quincy's primary ability that it kept spamming, but it was swiftly destroyed when Pernida switched gears and just used the standard Quincy reishi bow and arrows.
Admiring the Abomination: Pernida easily ruins Kenpachi's arm and horrifies Ikkaku and Yumichika with its alien appearance and nature. Thrilled by the discovery of something he's never before encountered, Mayuri back-stabs Kenpachi so he can confront Pernida alone. Pernida is very seriously fighting to right the wrongs Soul Reapers have committed against Quincies, but all Mayuri cares about is the fact that everything Pernida does is the most amazing research experience he's ever had.
And Then What?: After killing Szayel, he chastises him for declaring himself "perfect", viewing perfection as despair for scientists because there is no longer any point in research.
Antagonist Abilities: In his first known battle, he's characterized as a drastically unfair enemy to Uryu Ishida. As noted below in The Paralyzer, Poisoned Weapons and Sinister Surveillance, he has several abilities which exist to take the fight out of an opponent, torment them, and break their spirit. After that even, however, he's been a Nominal Hero.
Anti-Hero: He starts out as a full-on antagonist, but even after the Conspiracy Redemption he still remains as a Token Evil Teammate Mad Scientist.
The Atoner: Implied; after Nemu dies, he shows genuine sadness and remorse and promises to rebuild her. He brings her back to life as a clone and treats her much better than he treated the original Nemu.
Ax-Crazy: Mayuri is a deranged scientist who is always happy to use people as guninea pigs for his sick and twisted experiments. This is most obvious during his fight with Uryu, in which he blows up several subordinates, attacks his own daughter for petty reasons, and describes in vivid detail how he experimented on the Quincies. It’s been slightly toned down since then, but he’s still all too eager to dissect anyone, friend or foe, who he finds interesting. Before Urahara recruited him into the 12th squad, he was imprisoned in the Maggot’s Nest, a jail for Shinigami who have the potential to become dangerous to Soul Society, and he needed to be kept in his own isolated cell.
Bad Boss: Mayuri has absolutely no concern for the well-being of his men. In his introduction alone, he blows up three of his subordinates (one in the anime) using the excuse 'bombs aren't supposed to come back'. He's extremely abusive to his lieutenant, who is also his daughter; he once stabs, then savagely kicks her for letting go of his target instead of sacrificing her arm to keep the target pinned. He'll turn even allies into experiments, only saving Uryu and Renji for the chance to fill them with experimental drugs.
Berserk Button: Mayuri harbors a largely one-sided rivalry with Urahara in scientific progress, and responds poorly to anyone comparing him to his former captain. He threatened to subject Ichigo to excruciating pain and terror simply because the latter innocently commented that he and Urahara both sat on high ground while opening a Garganta.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Mayuri will experiment on anyone and everything, even without their permission and even if it ends their life or destroys their personality, even if it turns subordinates into walking bombs and captains into experimental zombies. He has experimented on himself and therefore has artificial attachments, body scars and missing ears, and encourages his subordinates to do the same to themselves. He will dismiss and ignore calls to duty if the duty is less interesting to him than any scientific experiments he's currently focused on. Originally, he was locked up in Maggot's Nest, a place that does not incarcerate law-breakers but instead incarcerates anyone deemed a possible future threat to Soul Society. He was released by Urahara who felt his talents could be extremely useful to Soul Society. Mayuri is therefore recognised by the other captains as a dangerous wild card who always prioritizes science, but he remains a captain because he's quite simply far too creative, intelligent and useful to remove. He shows up with a new facial paint design each arc, and spends much of the last wearing an extremely luminescent coat to remove any shadows that the Vandenreich could use, with Yumichika noting that even without hearing his voice, only Mayuri would wear something that gaudy.
Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Mayuri is willing to abusively punish Nemu to within an inch of her life, but he's not willing to kill her. As the seventh, and first successful, attempt to create an artificial life, Akon views Nemu as Mayuri's scientific masterpiece, and Mayuri acknowledges it would be a pain in the ass for him to make another like her. Nemu's understanding is that this is as close to petting the dog as Mayuri is capable of.
Cassandra Truth: When Ishida first appeared in Soul Society, Mayuri realized that the Soul Society was vulnerable to Quincy attacks, and because Yamamoto had failed to kill an old enemy in the past, a Quincy attack is precisely what was going to happen. Yamamoto dismissed Mayuri's advice as paranoia. A tragically bad choice, elder one.
Characterization Marches On: His introduction portrays him as an absolute sociopath who turns his unwitting subordinates into bombs, then slashes through his lieutenant/daughter with his poisonous Shikai and berates her for asking for treatment for her punctured lungs because he views it as an insult that his own creation can't handle that level of injury. Later on, he's still a complete psycho to his enemies, but his behavior toward his allies is played more comedically and doesn't usually get any more serious than threats.
Cloudcuckoolander: Cruelty aside, he seems to have some rather odd thought processes going on when relaxed as well as a rather strange sense of humor.
Comedic Sociopathy: This is what his antics are meant to be seen as.
Complete Immortality: When he stabs himself with his Zanpakuto, he turns into an invincible liquid that's purely for escape.
Covered with Scars: Underneath his makeup.
Crazy-Prepared: Given enough foreknowledge of his opponent he can create appropriate responses to kill them with minimal difficulty. Even without that, his frequent experimentation on himself and Nemu has led to the defeat of at least one enemy who made the mistake of underestimating Mayuri. Though even he can't prepare for an enemy that is just too powerful for him to reasonably predict, as seen when he got his ass kicked by Uryu using the Quincy: Letzt Stil.
Devil's Pitchfork: His three-pronged shikai, although it has a very short shaft. The more important part is that it exudes a paralyzing poison.
Domestic Abuse: Mayuri has zero qualms about cutting through his creation/daughter with a sword in order to hit the enemy (in fact, its one of his strategies); savagely kicks her when she starts complaining about being injured and sick. He sees Nemu entirely as his property to do with as he will, and treats her like a slave. He has performed experiments on her too.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Mayuri is a cruel sociopath who does not like it when people try to impose their moral standards on him. When Ishida calls him out on how he treats his lieutenant, Mayuri (after revealing said lieutenant is both his creation, and his daughter) angrily asks him what right he has to tell him how to treat her, accusing the two of them of thinking he's stupid, and warns him not to wave his "creepy sense of justice around here."
Evil Is Hammy: The maddest he is, the louder he talks and the more he overacts.
For Science!: His defining characteristic over nearly everything he does. He will even dissect the bodies of his allies if given the chance.
Friendly Fireproof: Averted. Not only are his subordinates vulnerable to his poison (apart from Nemu's resistance to his Bankai) but he's largely unconcerned with even bothering to try to miss them.
Hair-Trigger Temper: His initial introduction to the story included showing him lashing out at anything he interpreted as provocative. He's calmed down a lot since those early days.
Heroic BSoD: For a given value of "heroic", he is stunned silent when Nemu is blown to bits by Pernida after she had seemingly won the fight. An apparition of Szayelaporro then appears in his mind to mock him for showing despair toward her demise, as he had apparently convinced himself that she was a perfect artificial daughter after berating the Espada for valuing perfection, which Mayuri views as a dead end for a scientist. Mayuri soon regains his composure and simply decides to produce a newer, better Nemu.
Heroic Comedic Sociopath: His experimentation of his own allies is toned down considerably from his fight with Uryu, when he'd blow up his subordinates and cut through his daughter. He's still largely apathetic toward others' well-being, such as ignoring Uryu's complaints about having surveillance bacteria put in his body without his knowledge, and throws threats of painful deaths toward anyone who even slightly upsets him, like Ichigo insinuating that he's more similar to Urahara than he'd care to admit.
I Did What I Had to Do: Mayuri's response when interrogated by Yamamoto regarding why he exterminated twenty-eight thousand residents of Soul Society.
I Warned You: He was the first to realize that Quincies would eventually attack Soul Society again after Uryu's infiltration, but Yamamoto dismissed him as paranoid and thus did nothing to prepare. Come the Thousand-Year Blood War arc, Yhwach and the Vandenreich attack Soul Society just as Mayuri feared, and when Yamamoto tries to blame Mayuri for the mess, Mayuri quickly turns it around by reminding Yamamoto that he warned him that such a thing would happen, stating outright that the current situation is entirely Yamamoto's fault for not listening to him in the first place.
Yamamoto: If your Research and Development Department had reported and managed it more promptly, this situation may have been avoidable.
Mayuri: That is not true. I foresaw and suggested this situation the moment Uryu Ishida, the Quincy, infiltrated the Soul Society as a Ryoka. It was you who disregarded that as being absurd. Isn't the principal cause of this situation you, Captain-General?
Ignored Expert: Although Mayuri's knowledge of Quincies was deeply shaken by his encounter with Ishida, he's the closest thing to an expert on the Quincies and their powers that the Soul Reapers have. Yamamoto even briefly tried a Cassandra Did It argument on Mayuri for allowing the situation to happen, but Mayuri gave him a badass "The Reason You Suck" Speech by way of retaliation.
Intimate Healing: To his daughter. Played for laughs, even; we never actually got to see exactly what the hell he did to her, but were treated to a rather amusing shot of Uryu and Renji's shocked/disgusted reactions while Nemu moaned in ecstasy off-screen. When Ishida tries to call him out on that, Mayuri appears confused by the accusation.
"I would never do anything unsuitable for family viewing! Get your mind out of the gutter!"
Jerkass Has a Point: During the Thousand-Year Blood War, he tells Yamamoto point-blank that the current situation is entirely his fault because he dismissed Mayuri's warnings that the Quincies would eventually attack Soul Society again as paranoia, which left them unprepared when Yhwach attacked. Yamamoto cannot deny it.
Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Mayuri has no hidden heart of gold because everything he does is For Science!. When Szayelaporro resurrects himself by draining Mayuri's daughter and lieutenant's life-force, Mayuri initially seems shocked and dismayed as he crouches over her withered body. A moment later, instead of showing remorse or swearing revenge, he grins broadly and compliments Szayelaporro on possessing such a fascinating technique. This gets zigzagged from there as what does basically set him off is Szayelaporro claiming to achieve perfection, as to him, science is about making further research and improvements, which can't be possible if something is already perfect. Later on, where he does actually show concern for her at some points and is genuinely shocked to see her actually get killed, prompting a small Heroic BSoD that inspires him to create a new daughter where he can further improve on what she managed to accomplish.
Karma Houdini: The manga ends with Mayuri getting away scot-free with all of the terrible things he has done, and even without him ever thinking he has done anything wrong ever, despite being every bit as evil (or even more evil) in most respects than many outright antagonists who suffered various brutal or unpleasant deaths. The series seems to go out of its way to never even try to explain why so many characters whose morals and principles should keep them from being able to even tolerate Mayuri's presence instead are willing to work with him with little complaint and zero effort to ever make him answer for his crimes. He admittedly rarely interacts with the most blatantly heroic characters after the Soul Society arc, but when he does his past actions are always ignored, even by Uryu, despite Mayuri having blatantly admitted he tortured and dissected his grandfather. Even his usefulness to Soul Society is not much of an explanation for how he is treated, as it still doesn't explain why little real effort is made to monitor or control his activities.
Lack of Empathy: Mayuri sees people not as living beings, but objects of research. He seems honestly surprised when people get angry at him for his cruelty or reject his offers to be research specimens. He will even get angry if someone tries to impose their moral standards on him, as he did with Uryu, who took issue with the way he treated his daughter. He then goes on to describe the sadistic torture thinly disguised as "experiments" that he performed on countless captured Quincy, right in front of Uryu, a Quincy himself. He even shows Uryu a picture of his dismembered grandfather in a casual manner. Uryu is understandably furious.
Large Ham: Toyed with. He's very bombastic and hammy, to the point of being an Attention Whore, and Especially during his battle with Szayel. When the Vandenreich show up, however, he's completely serious and direct... and then he faces Giselle Gewelle, and while still being serious and to the point, his Nightmare Faces make up for it.
Laughably Evil: His audacious, trollish, even sadistic behavior was played often for comedy and comedic sociopathy during the Hueco Mundo arc. He's mostly calmed down on it, though, following his appearances in the final arc.
Leaning on the Fourth Wall: When called out on how he... "revived" Nemu after his battle with Szayel. "Everything I do is suitable for family viewing."
Mad Doctor: He's well-versed in medicine and has made scientific and technological advancements for Soul Society, but he's every bit as horrific about its utilization as he is regarding his usual experiments. The medical specialist Fourth Division rely on him to provide organ replacement surgery when Soul Reapers are very badly injured, and the Thirteen Court Guard Squads relies heavily on him for medical solutions. When he is the only solution for the Vandenreich making zombies out of defeated Soul Reapers, Mayuri injects his own concoctions that don't simply help the Soul Reapers. They turn the zombified Soul Reapers into a different kind of zombie that is under Mayuri's control, just so he can explore the concept of zombification for his own scientific interest. Even defeated captains Kensei and Rose fall under Mayuri's sway. When Mayuri "rescues" Hitsugaya from Giselle's zombification power, he does so by testing a drug that causes Hitsugaya to experience the same sequence of events over and over again like a mini-groundhog day. Although Hitsugaya is eventually restored to his own self, it comes at the expense of a vastly reduced potential lifespan.
Mad Scientist: Mayuri's entire outlook on life is defined between what he can and cannot do For Science! He will torture Quincies just to learn how their powers work. He will experiment on his own body and the bodies of others, just to explore the limits of the human body and technology. As a result, he has no ear lobes, his body is covered in scars, he can use injections to regenerate his arms whenever they're cut off, and can also extend his arms on the end of a technological extension cable for grabbing things that are beyond human reach. He offers Orihime the opportunity to become his lab rat because he's so fascinated by her strange abilities, and says that the offer to permit her limited privacy and permission to wear clothes is the kind of deal he never gives his research subjects. He even turns his own subordinates into human bombs just to trap his opponents. If his human bombs try to avoid their fate, he'll blow them up anyway.
Master Poisoner: Able to alter his Bankai's poison to prevent people from creating a antidote and also creates various medicines to use in battle.
Moral Myopia: He tells Uryu not to whine about the observatory bacteria he put in his body, yet promises a cruel death to Urahara for simply highjacking his communication device.
Noodle Incident: In Episode 314's Soul Reaper Cup ending his subordinates find something that turns his face scarlet. Yamamoto cites it as an example of where Bankai should never be used but doesn't explain what happened.
Nominal Hero: Mayuri's sole interest is to work for the advancement of scientific discovery and much of his science does prove beneficial to Soul Society. For example, he's the person the Fourth Division goes to when a patient needs organ transplants. However, he's a sociopath who doesn't care at all for his subordinates and sees everybody as either a tool or a research experiment (which are often cruel and sadistic in nature); he'll go to any lengths for science. Ironically this also makes him one of the most loyal members of Soul Society; he'll do whatever it takes to achieve victory for Soul Society, even if it is only because of his own self-interests, with the final arc in particular showing this. Word of God states he's an example of necessary evil.
Omnidisciplinary Scientist: He has no narrow scientific expertise. Mayuri has created computers, poisons, body modifications, genetic enhancements, and fake organs. He has also performed self-surgery to implant those organs, and modified both his Shikai and Bankai to be more efficient and adaptive weapons. But nothing makes him more proud than Nemu, whom he considers his scientific masterpiece: a fully artificial lifeform created from a combination of cloning, gigai technology, and genetic modification.
Organ Dodge: The deliberate version shows up in the fight between Mayuri and Szayelaporro Granz. Szayel had the ability to make dolls of people containing bits labelled with organs, then break them to destroy the corresponding organs in their actual bodies. Mayuri heard about this power in advance and prepared for it by replacing all of his organs, so Szayel would instead just break the old ones.
The Paralyzer: His Zanpakuto, Ashisogi Jizo's Shikai ability lets him deactivate the brain signals of anyone he cuts, making their limbs immobile, but still able to feel pain, befitting his sadistic nature.
Pay Evil unto Evil:
- Mayuri kills Szayel by using him as a test subject for a drug that makes Szayel feel like he's experiencing a slow, agonizing death over a century. Despite Szayel's torture of Renji and Uryu and his forcible impregnation of Nemu, Mayuri feels Szayel's cardinal sin is to seek, and claim to have found, perfection - for which he believes a torturous death via an experimental drug is an acceptable way to die.
- Giselle Gewelle is an abusive, sadistic troll who gleefully transforms people into her zombie slaves. Mayuri, using the blood of his Arrancar zombies, actually reprograms Giselle's zombies into his zombies, which then turn on her and leave her Impaled with Extreme Prejudice.
Poisoned Weapons: His initial release completely paralyses opponents upon cutting them, without dulling their sense of pain. His Bankai simply releases a toxin that slowly kills anyone who is caught in its noxious purple cloud with the exception of himself and Nemu.
Professor Guinea Pig: Mayuri sees everything as an object to be experimented on, including himself. He often tests his self-experiments during his fights.
Properly Paranoid: When Uryu infiltrated Soul Society, Mayuri realized that they were vulnerable to future Quincy assaults, but Yamamoto blew off his concerns. Come the Thousand Year Blood War arc, Mayuri's paranoia is proven valid when Yhwach attacks, and Soul Society is unprepared to defend against him. When Yamamoto tries to invoke Cassandra Did It, Mayuri rightfully shoots back that he warned him that something like this would happen and Yamamoto did nothing.
Psycho for Hire: One of Soul Society's two pet psychos, along with Kenpachi. Which is ironic when you consider that they hate each other.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: This speech of Mayuri's is more of a mixture/hybridization of An Aesop and The Reason You Suck Speech trope itself. Apparently, Mayuri has very specific ideas for what science is and what it is not.
"The 'perfect being' you said? In this secular existence, perfection is an illusion. Regardless of all those who utter contrary, this is the reality. Common man seeks it out... they aspire to achieve it as if it were some tangible thing. But the fact of the matter is, perfection is a hollow shell. It is... devoid... of any substance. I spit on perfection! Perfection, after all, implies you've reached the summit. No trial and error, no ability to conceptualize. An omniscient being would have no need for such superfluous things. Am I making myself clear? For people who dabble in the sciences, such as ourselves... perfection would render us obsolete. Many magnificent things have been and will continue to come into existence. And yet, every last one of them will fall short of perfection's finish line. Our function as men of science relies on their many shortcomings. Then, and only then, can we apply the fruits of our labor. To put it simply... as soon as you began that nonsense about being an immaculate being, you had already lost! ....That's assuming you're a scientist..."
Reminiscing About Your Victims: Mayuri reveals to Uryu that he had studied the Quincies by launching into a long speech about all the things he did to the Quincies he'd captured in order to study responses to mental and physical stimuli. It's a speech that reveals just how far down the road of Mad Scientist he's willing to go For Science!.
Sadist: Many of his attacks are designed to inflict maximum pain even on a helpless opponent - such as his paralysis ability he uses on Ishida (which Mayuri notes does not numb the user from pain - which he demonstrates by stabbing the defenceless Ishida in the shoulder) or the painfully slow death he uses to finish off Szayel. He is quite fond of taunting and bullying his enemies in battle too (as well as his allies). The manga goes further by detailing the nature of the experiments he performed on the captive Quincy- essentially, he tortured them all in horrifically cruel and senseless ways, or forced them to kill each other in the most violent ways possible. Even Giselle Gewelle accuses him of being a sadist when he asked her what's the fun in controlling someone if they aren't aware.
Saying Too Much: Played for Laughs. When Byakuya asks why he didn't accompany Ichigo back to Karakura Town during the battle with Aizen, Mayuri said that he didn't need to. The people already there will open a path back once the battle is over and he can then examine the spoils (read: corpses) at his leisure. Byakuya points out this means he must believe in Ichigo, if sending him will win the battle, annoying Mayuri greatly.
Scars Are Forever: Without his makeup on, you can see that his body has a large number of scars. At least some of those scars are confirmed to be related to alterations he's made to his body; for example, he has no ears because he's placed weapons technology in his masks that are located where his ears would have been.
Science Wizard: Mayuri is an expert at body modification which he has used on himself and was able to create the Artificial Human Nemu, and spent decades experimenting on Quincies; his most significant fight occurs when he intervenes in the battle Uryu Ishida and Renji Abarai are losing against the Espada, Szayelaporro. Like Mayuri, Szayelaporro is a Mad Scientist who uses Functional Magic to enhance his scientific endeavours, which also includes body modification. Their battle ends up being waged inside Nemu's body, ultimately leading to Szayelaporro's defeat via a unique drug that Mayuri had invented and infected Nemu's body with, just in case anyone ever tried to weaponize her body against him.
Secret-Keeper: Comedic aversion. Everyone else who knew about Ikkaku's Bankai have kept their mouths shut. Not so Mayuri. We first learn he's known about Ikkaku's Bankai since the Edorad fight when he's talking to Ichigo about the durability of Bankai. It's only when Ichigo expresses surprise at Ikkaku having a Bankai that Mayuri remembers Ikkaku wanted it kept secret. He then dismisses it as something he doesn't care about.
Self-Destruct Mechanism: Mayuri has remodelled his Zanpakuto to be capable of exploding should his Bankai ever be used against him. In the final arc, he's willing to wear exploding armour just in case it becomes useful in a tight spot.
Self-Made Superpowers: Being a scientist first and foremost but needing combat prowess he used his brilliant mind to upgrade his abilities. He can liquefy and become immune to any attack, has a grappling hook in his arm and a scythe that extends from his ear. He used the prototype for Nemu. Additionally, he installed a motion sensor on his sword that can perfectly block any attack, making up for his lack of swordsmanship skills.
Shadow Archetype: He's very similar to Kisuke Urahara, but he absolutely hates it when people compare him to Urahara. They are both scientists who are willing to do some horrible stuff to accomplish their goals, but whereas Urahara genuinely regrets it when he does something wrong and will apologize, Mayuri is a truly demented psychopath who couldn't care less.
Shut Up, Hannibal!: When he hits his lowest moment, a hallucination of Szayelaporro starts mocking him, taunting his sorrow over Nemu's sacrifice, turning his tirade against perfection back on him and accusing him of being a hypocrite. Mayuri responds with a Facepalm of Doom.
Sinister Surveillance: He is able to prepare in advance for his fight with Szayel because he infected Uryu with surveillance bacteria at some point during the Soul Society arc. Uryu is horrified to learn Mayuri has been watching everything he's done since that point.
Slasher Smile: He tends to have a wide, vicious grin on his face except when bored.
The Sociopath: Mayuri introduces himself by blowing up his own subordinates, and then blowing up the one who didn't explode because "a bomb isn't supposed to come back". He then goes on to describe in horrific detail the experiments he carried out on the Quincies, right in front of Uryu. He's also heavily abusive towards his own daughter and creation, Nemu. He's sadistic, cruel, has no regard for others' safety and well-being, and only cares about something or someone if they pique his scientific interest, which is not a good thing. Despite all this however, it is shown that he does hold some degree of affection for Nemu, as he is shown to be distraught at her death.
Technicolor Toxin: Ashisogi Jizo releases the classical purple venomous mist. The infected victims slowly turn purple as well.
Token Evil Teammate: While he's technically on the side of the heroes, that doen't change the fact that he is an utterly vile Mad Scientist.
Tombstone Teeth: Likely as a result of his self-experimentation, Mayuri's teeth are uniformly rectangular in shape and are far too long — emphasizing his nature as an unfettered mad scientist.
Troll: He can be this at times, such as pretending to be affected by Szayell's powers or when he talks down to Pernida. The first was a prank while his facial expression during the latter make it clear he is enjoying himself.
Uncanny Valley Makeup: The black and white makeup he puts on every morning and takes off before he goes to bed.
The Unfettered: So long as his actions further science, anything is acceptable. He shows no hesitation in committing atrocities to further his understanding of the soul. Unlike Gin, he never hid this personality trait, which is likely why he ended up being imprisoned in the Maggot's nest before he joined the Thirteen Court Guard Squads.
Villainous BSoD: Despite his lecture to Szayel that true scientists should never seek perfection because that will destroy the point of science, he believed that Nemu was his greatest creation. When she dies, he shuts down briefly, overcome by the contradiction that if she had been truly perfect, she could never have failed against Pernida. A hallucination of Szayel mocks his despair, throwing the lecture back in Mayuri's face. This forces Mayuri to confront his own hubris; he is able to separate his feelings for Nemu from his scientific ego, and overcome his momentary despair.
We Have Reserves: He turns a number of subordinates into living bombs without them knowing it, and tells them to simply convince two protagonists to come with them. Instead, he detonates them while they're standing around the protagonists, including one who survives his comrades exploding because "a bomb isn't supposed to come back after being used."
Weak, but Skilled: Mayuri observes that, as someone who spends most of his time in a lab, his opponents would probably dismiss his ability to able read an opponent's movements and strategy in battle. He complains that his one use of Shunpo against Uryu was quite taxing, even though many lower-ranked Shinigami can use the technique over and over again, and has relied on Nemu to quickly pull him out of harm's way more than once. Confessing that this is actually the case, he admits he has adapted his Zanpakuto to act as a motion sensor to compensate for his lack of battle skills. Hitsugaya can defeat him in physical combat simply by entering Bankai. However, Mayuri's scientific expertise and pre-battle preparations more than compensate for his relatively poor combat skills. The only fight he outright loses in the series is specifically because his opponent, Uryu, pulled a Dangerous Forbidden Technique that Mayuri had no way of preparing for, every other fight he wins by using his sheer intelligence and back-up plans to counter the enemy.
The Worf Effect: Not Mayuri himself, but his Bankai. Even when he was the first to demonstrate the power of Bankai to the audience, Uryu still blew him away. Every time he has used it since, his Bankai has been easily defeated or had its powers used against him.
Would You Like to Hear How They Died?: Mayuri ends his reminiscing to Uryu about his Quincy studies with the story of the very last Quincy he ever studied and how he died. He shows Uryu a graphic photograph of the state of the body was left in by the time his studies were done. That old man was, as Mayuri well knew, Uryu's grandfather and mentor, Souen. Uryu's response to this is far more than Mayuri could handle.

Hiyori Sarugaki

Former lieutenant of Squad 12 until she was turned into a Visored. For more information, see Bleach: Visored & Exiled Soul Reapers

Nemu Kurotsuchi

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bbs_nemu.png

Species: Artificial Soul Reaper

Zanpakuto: None

Voiced by: Rie Kugimiya (JP), Megan Hollingshead (ENG), Adriana Núñez (Latin-American Spanish)

The Lieutenant of Squad 12 and Mayuri's daughter. She is a reserved woman who is often the first to suffer when her father becomes enraged. Having been artificially created by Mayuri to function as both the perfect lieutenant and daughter, she takes the abuse in stride and rarely acts independently from his orders. She has the ability to shave off and consume portions of her soul in exchange for absurdly powerful physical and Kido attacks.

Artificial Human: Mayuri set up the Nemuri Project to experiment with the creation of an artificial lifeform. His seventh attempt produced Nemuri Nanagou (Sleeping Number Seven) which Mayuri regards as his greatest achievement. She becomes his right hand in all matters, successfully functioning as his lieutenant under the name Nemu Kurotsuchi.
Badass Creed: Mayuri created Nemu with the mission to learn and develop, and to never act outside his orders. When Mayuri struggles in battle against Pernida, she enters the fight without waiting for his orders and saves his life. She dismisses his anger at disobeying his orders and putting his research (her creation and existence) at risk, by stating she's realized what her mission really is: the only way she can truly prove to Mayuri how much she's learned and developed is by using all of her abilities to protect his life. After this declaration, Mayuri reluctantly accepts he has to let her fight Pernida on his behalf.
Blunt Metaphors Trauma: She says "Butter" when she takes a picture of Byakuya in an omake, even after Isane corrects that.
Combat Stilettos: Not as extreme as other cases, but her sandals do have a noticeable heel.
Dangerous Forbidden Technique: She can perform a technique that permits her to weaponize part of her soul by cutting it off, but it pushes her existence to a limit she can only sustain for 400 seconds. Mayuri objects when he learns she is capable of this, but she explains that risking her life to protect him is the natural outcome of her mission to grow and evolve.
Extreme Doormat: She puts up with her captain's abuse without a word of complaint and regards her reason for existence to use the full range of her abilities to save his life at the cost of her own.
Healing Factor: The fatal flaw in the technology used to create Nemu is that the cells only have a lifespan of two years. As a result, Mayuri had to program the cells to be capable of perpetual, aggressive regeneration, just for Nemu to continue existing beyond the natural lifespan of the gikon technology. To prevent this cell regeneration from becoming uncontrollable, Mayuri designed Nemu's brain to function as a control switch. If any opponent consumes Nemu's body but does not have access to her brain, her constant cell regeneration infects the attacker's entire body like an extremely aggressive cancer, explosively destroying every cell in the attacker's body.
Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Nemu, much like famed Kenpachi Zaraki, is perfectly capable of holding her own in battle with strong enemies without the use of Kido or a zanpakuto ability, or even any form of weapon at all. She noticeably does better in battle, on the rare occasions she gets involved, than her master does. One wonders why he doesn't augment his own body to be as tough as hers, given he's fairly squishy by captain standards.
The Immodest Orgasm: When Mayuri finishes... um, healing her, Nemu screams with pleasure.
Magic Skirt: Honestly, she wears a frigging miniskirt; she should be making panty shots just by standing!
Male Gaze: When she muffled Ishida in the Hueco Mundo arc, her largely-shaped rear end wiggles at the camera.
Marshmallow Hell: Mayuri tells her to muffle Ishida with them so he can shut up and get healed. Also done in the Zanpaktou Filler Arc, only this time with Ichigo.
Mayuri: If he dies, he dies happy.
Ms. Fanservice: Her miniskirt really shows off her long, smooth legs, her large butt wiggles at the camera when she holds Ishida down in Hueco Mundo, and she's also worn an outfit that emphasises her cleavage.
Nice Girl: One of the most... quirky examples, to say it simply. Nonetheless, she's very kind, helpful, and forgiving - a stark contrast to her captain and creator, Mayuri.
Not So Stoic: In extreme circumstances, usually when Mayuri's life is threatened or she is in agony, she'll begin to demonstrate some emotion or concern.
Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: She is quite beautiful and the daughter of Mad Scientist Mayuri Kurotsuchi. She is also calm and nice despite her oddities, unlike her dad. For bonus points, Nemu doesn't have a mother, she was created by Mayuri from his own genetic material, making her his opposite sex clone as well as his daughter.
Opposite-Sex Clone: Her body is a gigai that is at least partially constructed out of Mayuri's genetic material. This makes her immune to the effects of his Bankai, though his Shikai does work on her.
Satellite Character: She's rarely seen away from Mayuri and her purpose is to carry out his every order; she's actually under orders to not act upon her own desires. As Mayuri's artificial creation, her purpose is officially to grow and evolve. She eventually interprets this purpose as a mission to protect Mayuri, as proof of her ability to grow and evolve. She only disobeys the order to not act upon her own desires when protecting Mayuri is necessary.
The Stoic: She is usually non-expressive with her emotions, speaking flatly and plainly, and obeying Mayuri's orders with detachment and objectivity.
Super-Strength: Even by Soul Reaper standards she is very strong.
Super-Toughness: Nemu is unlike other Soul Reapers. Mayuri built her to be very hard to seriously damage or destroy, leaving her able to take all the abuse she goes through. It's still extremely painful, though. The anime tends to downplay the level of damage she takes, such as in the battle with Szayelaporro. In the manga, she gets a hole torn through her. In the anime, she just looks withered and drained.
Taking the Bullet: When Mayuri is unable to dodge Pernida's arrow, Nemu intervenes to catch it. She immediately cuts off the arm that touched the arrow before Pernida's power can take control of her nerves. Unable to stand on air in the Quincy-controlled environment, her leap to save Mayuri causes her to fall towards ground controlled by Pernida's abilities. Mayuri is forced to save her in return.
Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: Twice, Mayuri's opponents suffer greatly from invading her body.
- Szayelaporro impregnates her with a new body after Mayuri's Bankai consumes him, which exposes the Espada to drugs that Mayuri keeps in her body, notably a superhuman drug that enhances senses but not the body (unless properly diluted).
- Pernida blows her to pieces and consumes the remains, which causes him to integrate her cell regeneration factor but not the part of her brain that keeps it under control, leading to him exploding in a cancerous mess.
Yamato Nadeshiko: She's a lot more eccentric than your average example of this trope, but she fits all the requirements outside of that. She not only has the looks (moderate height, long black hair, etc) but is always calm, soft-spoken/quiet, polite, very submissive (to everyone, but primarily to Mayuri who is her father figure) except when it comes to defending Mayuri (because he is her father figure). Even though she's typically an Emotionless Girl, she has a better moral compass than her father ever will have.
You Are Number 6: Nemu's full name is Nemuri Nanagou, which loosely translates to "sleeping number seven". She is the seventh creation of the Nemuri Project to create a shinigami lifeform. As the first successful creation, her existence surpassed even Mayuri's expectations. Akon calls her Mayuri's masterpiece. In the epilogue she is replaced by (or given that her brain was preserved, possibly reborn as) Nemuri Hachigo ("sleeping number eight").

Akon

^{Thousand-Year Blood War appearance}

Species: Soul Reaper

Zanpakuto: Unknown

Voiced by: Keiji Okuda (JP), Kaya Miyake (JP, as a child), Travis Willingham (Episode 43-321), Gavin Harrison (Thousand Year Blood War onwards) (ENG), Karen Strassman (ENG, As a child) Javier Olguín (Latin-American Spanish, as an adult and a child) and Andrés Gutiérrez Coto (Latin-American Spanish, second adult voice)

The current Vice Captain of Squad 12 and former third seat of Squad 12, originally picked up and recruited by Urahara when he was a Captain in Turn Back The Pendulum from the Maggot's Nest. His colleagues include Hiyosu and Rin Tsubokura. In the Soul Society arc, he was the one that discovered that Rukia's gigai couldn't have been developed by anyone currently in the Soul Society, correctly deducing that an exile is the only other type of person that would've had access to such technology.

He often functions as mission control.

Acid Attack: In the Echoing Jaws of Hell arc, Akon is shown for the first time on the battlefield, melting some Hollows with acid from a vial spilled on the enemy.
Audience Surrogate: When Mayuri shows up a glowing sun-themed outfit in chapter 547, Akon ends up lampshading the Narm.
Enfant Terrible: Implied. Akon was an inmate at the Maggot's Nest when he was still just a child. That place is exclusive to dangerous people.
Horned Humanoid: According to the databooks, he's an individual who, just as Mayuri himself has done, will experiment on himself For Science! although the purpose of the experiment that gave him horns isn't revealed.
Mission Control: He often appears to be responsible for getting critical information to people and relaying orders.
Nonchalant Dodge: Does this to Hiyori when she tries to kick him, never losing his poker face for a second.
Number Two: The second-in-command of the Shinigami Research and Development Institute, though not of his actual squad. Eventually replaces Nemu as Vice-Captain after her death.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Blue Oni to Hiyori during the Turn Back the Pendulum arc.
Secret-Keeper: He's known about Ikkaku's Bankai since the fight with Edorad.
The Stoic: Usually stays calm and composed ever since he was a kid. Even when he's clearly feeling desperate, he refrains from panicking. Hiyosu comments that there are only two things that can make him lose his composure: Mayuri and Urahara.

Rin Tsubokura

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bbs_rin.png

Species: Soul Reaper

Zanpakuto: Unknown

Voiced by: Miho Saiki (JP), Julie Ann Taylor (ENG), Norma Iturbe and Daniel Lacy (Latin-American Spanish)

An unseated officer from the 12th Division, who works mostly with Akon and Hiyosu. Looks very effeminate and doesn't seem to be nearly as morally ambiguous as his squadmates.

Butt-Monkey: The story doesn't take Rin seriously at all.
Canon Immigrant: He first appears in Episode 68 of the anime, at the start of the Bount arc. In the manga, the kid doesn't show up until the Arrancar arc.
The Klutz: Rin is incredibly clumsy.
Nervous Wreck: Tends to be very ill at ease in his duties. Considering which squad he works in, though, can you blame him?
Mission Control: Like Akon, he's responsible for relaying orders and communications.
Sweet Tooth: He is obsessed with sweets. In anime filler, he only accepts a mission to the World of the Living because of the opportunity to sample sweets that Soul Society doesn't have. He sabotages a mission because he's too busy chasing after sweets, and he ends up getting himself into a quest to help a deceased baker because he wants to try western-style cakes.
Tears of Joy: As he spreads the word that Ichigo is coming to help Soul Society, he cries with relief.
Token Good Teammate: Seems to be the least... morally ambiguous of the whole division (Mayuri is Mayuri, Nemu follows every order given to her, Hiyosu has creepy molester vibes, and Akon was involved in the Quincy experiments).

Hiyosu

Species: Soul Reaper

Zanpakuto: Unknown

Voiced by: Kouhei Matsumoto (JP); Michael McConnohie, Kirk Thornton (EN, Original Series)

An unseated officer of Squad 12, commonly seen working alongside Akon and Rin Tsubokura. He has a bald head with a scar down the middle, and a crank on the left side of his head.

Adaptation Dye-Job: His skin is inconsistently coloured green in the anime's original run.
Bald of Evil: He's a cyborg Mad Scientist with an unusually-shaped bald head, who performed horrendous experiments on Quincies — including Uryū's grandfather — under Mayuri's orders, and gleefully ogles Rukia's nude gigai alongside several of his colleagues. His subsequent appearances are significantly less creepy.
Cyborg: He has a crank on the left side of his head, and can use it to extend his left eye out of its socket, which he does while ogling what's strongly implied to be Rukia's gigai's butt.
Gonk: He has Tombstone Teeth, bulging eyes, no neck, slits for nostrils, and a scar on his head.
Perverted Drooling: He — along with several of his colleagues — literally drools over Rukia's naked gigai after Squad 12 finally gets their hands on it.
Professor Guinea Pig: Like Mayuri, it's strongly implied he performed experiments on himself that led to his grotesque appearance, as in flashbacks to the past he had a visible neck.
Tombstone Teeth: Like Mayuri and some of his colleagues, he has uniformly-shaped teeth that add to his disturbing appearance.

Squad 13

Jushiro Ukitake

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bbs_ukitake.png

"My life was saved from certain death. If I can offer it for the sake of the Gotei 13, I have no regrets."

Species: Soul Reaper

Zanpakuto: Sōgyo no Kotowari (Shikai)

Voiced by: Hideo Ishikawa (JP), Liam O'Brien (ENG, Original Series), Kim Strauss (ENG, Episode 40), Aleks Le (ENG, Thousand Year Blood War), Gerardo Reyero (Latin America)

Ukitake is the late captain of Squad 13 and was one of the oldest in the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. As a young child, Ukitake was afflicted with a dreadful lung disease which turned his hair white. Although he has managed to become a captain, he coughed up blood frequently and was often too ill to administrate or fight. At the beginning of the story he had no lieutenant following the death of Kaien Shiba, so those duties are fulfilled by his two third seat officers.

His zanpakuto is named Sōgyo no Kotowari, one of the very few dual zanpakuto. One sword lets him absorb any energy-based attack, and fire it back with the other sword.

Achilles' Heel: He is one of the oldest and most powerful captains, but he was afflicted with an incurable lung disease as a young child. He is unable to function for prolonged periods because of his frequent sickness. He's living on borrowed time as his parents made a deal to prevent his death at the age of three. Even with that pact, he is still frequently unable to attend to administrative duties, let alone reliably fight.
Adaptation Dye-Job: His eyes are brown in both the manga and anime. However, for a colour cover special in chapter 335 that possessed the theme "green on white", Kubo changed his eyes to green to match the theme.
Attack Reflector: Coyote Starrk observes his Shikai and deduces that this is how it works, which Ukitake confirms. Sogyo no Kotowari allows Ukitake to absorb any attack that is thrown at him with one of his dual blades. The two blades are connected at the hilt by a rope-chain. The attack is transfered through the chain to the other blade and is shot back out to his opponant with twice the speed. He demonstrates this by using Starrk's Ceros against him.
Bargain with Heaven: He should have died at the age of three due to an incurable lung disease. However, his superstitious parents went to the outskirts of the East Rukongai to pray to a being that they believed was a god. Mimihagi-sama did not cure Ukitake completely, but did give him both life and the opportunity to become a Soul Reaper. Mimihagi-sama is the right arm of the Soul King, which fell from the sky aeons ago, and who agreed to save Ukitake on the understanding that it would ask for that life back one day. When the Soul King dies, Ukitake summons Mimihagi-sama to complete the bargain; his life is consumed to transform him into the Soul King's Right Hand and stop Soul Society from collapsing.
Beware the Nice Ones: According to the Starrk fight, for similar reasons as Kyouraku. His participation doesn't last long but leaves the impression that he's far more competent and shrewd than his Honor Before Reason philosophy and mild-mannered nature would imply. Even back during the Soul Society arc he had absolutely no intention of allowing Rukia to be executed, so he's fortunate that Ichigo and the others helped start what was nearly a civil war in Soul Society.
Big Brother Is Watching: According to Ginjo, Ukitake created the Substitutes' badge to allow the Soul Society to communicate with, analyze, monitor, and control the Reiatsu of their Substitutes, hence how Ichigo's Reiatsu came out of the badge itself when he first used Fullbring. Ginjo also claims that Ukitake can use the badge to execute a Substitute, if necessary. Ichigo himself claims that he didn't need Ginjo to tell him any of this as he'd already realized that Ukitake had dropped hints to enable him to work it out for himself.
Blessing: Mimihagi, the right hand of the Soul King, blessed Captain Ukitake with extended life after sacrificing his diseased lung.
Blood from the Mouth: He suffers from an unindentified lung disease that will frequently cause him cough up blood. He should have died from the disease as a child, but his parents made a bargain with a transcendent being to serve as a life support. However, this doesn't stop him from having coughing fits from time to time, such as when the Hollow Metastacia took control of Kaien's body, making him unable to kill the Hollow-possessed Kaien.
Catch and Return: How his Shikai, Sogyo no Kotowari, functions. It can absorb energy attacks through one blade, transfer it through a rope-chain that connects the two blades, and shoot it out the other, amplifying their speed and power in the process.
Disease Bleach: He was diagnosed with a condition that caused him to cough up blood as a child. Over the course of three days, the stress and shock of the diagnosis turned his hair white.
Dual Wielding: Sogyo no Kotowari is one of only two sets of twin-blade Zanpakuto at the start of the series. In Can't Fear Your Own World it's revealed that this is due to Mimihagi's presence within Ukitake.
Early-Bird Cameo: Want to win at Bleach trivia? Ask which of the 13 captains we saw first. The obvious answer is Byakuya, right? Well the actual answer is Ukitake, who makes a very brief appearance earlier in the Subsitute Soul Reaper Arc when Rukia flashes back to his speech about the fights to protect honor during the Grand Fisher fight.
Energy Absorption: His Shikai ability absorbs spirit energy based attacks and send them right back. He demonstrates this when fight against Starrk, absorbing several of his Ceros and sending it back at him.
Explaining Your Power to the Enemy: Averted. Tells Starrk outright to work it out for himself. Unlike Kyoraku, he doesn't drop hints or show any openings before Wonderweiss interferes. Then again, his powers are simple enough that Starrk can work them out easily anyway.
A Father to His Men: Ukitake cares deeply for his subordinates and won't hesitate to defend them, making him a comforting and fatherly leader (especially to Rukia who struggled to bond with Byakuya at first). Part of the reason why he doesn't kill Hanataro is because he risked his life for Rukia. On the day that Rukia is to be executed, he chooses to rebel against the law to save his subordinate's life.
Handicapped Badass: A three-year old Ukitake was afflicted with a fatal lung disease. He struggles daily with the disease, often confined to his bed, requiring a lieutenant who can manage the division for him, and has been debilitated in battle by bloody coughing fits. He has still managed to become one of the longest-serving captains, and other captains have observed that, like Aizen, Ukitake's reiatsu is unusually powerful even by captain standards. However, it's permanently channeled into keeping him alive and functioning. When he was three, his parents made a bargain with Mimihagi, the Right Hand of the Soul King. Mimihagi merged with Ukitake's lungs to keep him alive in return for Ukitake sacrificing his life for Soul Society on the day the Soul King is killed.
Heroic Sacrifice: Ukitake contracts a fatal lung disease when he is three years old. His parents appeal to an ancient transcendent being called Mimihagi that is rumored to be the Right Hand of the Soul King. Mimihagi enters Ukitake to keep him alive, but does not cure the lung disease, and with the expectation that Ukitake will one day have to give up this life. When Yhwach kills the Soul King, Ukitake voluntarily frees Mimihagi to temporarily stabilize the three worlds, knowing that the act will cost him his life.
Heterosexual Life-Partners: He and Kyoraku go a very long way back, having formed their bond while in the academy together. They've been captains for centuries and are a renowned partnership even on the battlefield.
Honor Before Reason: Ukitake believes "there are two kinds of fights: fights to defend your life, and fights to defend your pride". A person should never interfere in a fight to protect pride as it will destroy the pride of the combatant even if it saves their life. As a result, he delays entering battle to help Kaien avenge Kaien's murdered wife. Only when Kaien is possessed does he enter battle to try and save Kaien's life. By then, it's too late.
Incurable Cough of Death: He has had an incurable lung disease since childhood. Whenever it flares up, he collapses in a fit of coughing. He actually should have died at the age of three but received powerful divine intervention to prolong his life... with the understanding that, one day, he would have to give up the life he was borrowing.
Living on Borrowed Time: When he was a toddler, he became terminally ill. His parents bartered with Mimihagi, the deific right arm of the Soul King, to prolong Ukitake's life. As such, he was able to live into adulthood, but still suffered from his illness. During the Thousand-Year Blood War, he sacrificed himself in an ultimately futile attempt to protect the Soul King, admitting that he'd known all along that one day he'd have to give up his life.
Like a Son to Me: Kyoraku and Ukitake were the first graduates of Yamamoto's academy to become captains, earning the pride of their teacher. "Yama-jii" outright says he considers them his own sons during their confrontation, and from the way they address him, the sentiment is clearly mutual, making it all the more painful when the two have apparently betrayed the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. Both men are later shaken when they sense Yamamoto's death.
Long-Haired Pretty Boy: He has waist length white hair and is considered gentle, kind, and attractive. His Heterosexual Life-Partner, Kyoraku, keeps referring to him as a ladykiller because female Soul Reapers can be reduced to blushing jelly if he so much as smiles at them. His female third seat, Kiyone, is hopelessly in love with him.
Massive Numbered Siblings: He has five younger brothers and two younger sisters, all of whom he essentially supports by himself.
Nice Guy: Ukitake is a warm, compassionate man who greatly values the lives of his subordinates. He saves Hanataro even though he went against the law of Soul Society, and has Ganju, an invader, healed and taken care of. Even when fighting an enemy, he is polite to them as shown during his fight with Lilynette, even encouraging her to try harder.
Noble Male, Roguish Male: Ukitake is the Noble Male to his friend Kyoraku and his former lieutenant Kaien. Ukitake conducts himself with the grace expected of a nobleman and military leader, while Kyoraku is Fun Personified and Kaien is an everyman.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Despite his compassion and long life of good deeds, it's revealed that he ended up in Hell due to being a captain-level Shinigami. Though he seems to have an actual role in the place instead of simple eternal suffering.
Reasonable Authority Figure: He's willing to hear out those who invade Soul Society or who help the invaders to try and understand what is happening. He also questions the reason for Rukia's execution and attempts to find a way to resolve it that won't involve killing her. Even Ukitake's Big Brother Is Watching surveillance on Ichigo can be seen this way: Ichigo is dangerously powerful and unpredictable, and it's reasonable (if somewhat amoral) to want to be able to keep tabs on him at all times.
Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Ukitake cooperates with the authorities during the Soul Society arc and even re-imprisons Rukia when Ganju rescues her from her cell. However, he only continues to obey until he hears back regarding his appeal attempt on her behalf. When it is rejected, he reveals that he never had any intention of allowing her to be executed. Unlike captains such as Unohana or Hitsugaya who had suspicions regarding the goings-on but remained silent about them, Ukitake simply goes forward to protect his subordinate and destroy the Sokyoku itself.
Technician Versus Performer: The Technician to Kyoraku's Performer. Due to his fluctuating helth, Ukitake makes sure to only use precisely as much force in combat as necessary while Kyoraku is far more flamboyant in battle.
Worf Had the Flu: The reason Ukitake could not save Kaien's life all those years ago was because his lung disease acted up in the middle of the fight with Kaien's killer. He was forced to order Rukia to kill the possessed Kaien to save her own life because he was too busy coughing up blood to fight any further.
Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Upon meeting anyone who looks like a child he'll immediately offer them candy or invite them to play a game, even if they are far older than they appear to be. He tries to convince Lilinette to go home because he cannot fight a child; when she points out that she's a Hollow and therefore such concerns are irrelevant, Ukitake admits that he knows that but he cannot help but treat her as a child regardless.

Kaien Shiba

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bbs_kaien.png

"Remember that as long as you're in my division, I will stand by you even if I die."

Species: Soul Reaper

Zanpakuto: Nejibana (Shikai)

Voiced by: Toshihiko Seki (JP), Kim Strauss (ENG, Episode 49), Dave Mallow (ENG, Episode 153+), Kyle Hebert (ENG, Bleach: The 3rd Phantom); José Gilberto Vilchis (Latin American Spanish)

He was the former lieutenant to Ukitake, as well as Rukia's mentor. His Zanpakuto was Nejibana. His body was then taken over by the Hollow that killed his wife Miyako in the same manner, forcing Rukia to kill both him and the Hollow. He seems to have survived long enough to thank his killer in front of his family much to their confusion. Some time after, Kaien was eaten and assimilated by Aaroniero Arruruerie alongside Metastacia when the latter Hollow respawned in Hueco Mundo while still possessing him, giving Aaroniero access to Kaien's appearance, skills, abilities and memories. Multiple characters have noted his similarity to Ichigo, which saved him very early in the manga when Byakuya was unwilling to kill him in front of his already desperate sister.

His zanpakuto was Nejibana, a trident which let him launch water-based attacks.

Big Brother Mentor: Was an admirable and caring older brother figure to both to his siblings and his subordinates, especially Rukia.
Dance Battler: His fighting style is said to resemble traditional Japanese dances.
Death by Origin Story: His death is the reason for why Rukia values her life so little and submits so easily to execution.
Dying as Yourself: When his attempt to avenge his wife Miyako's murder failed, Kaien became possessed by the Hollow that murdered her, and Rukia was forced to kill him to stop its rampage in his body. As he was dying Kaien thanked her for killing him and apologized to her.
Family-Unfriendly Death: Impaled by a girl who was implied to have a crush on him while possessed and freakish-looking.
Go Out with a Smile: He dies with a smile and a thank you for Rukia.
Making a Splash: His Zanpakuto, Nejibana, was water-based.
Plot-Triggering Death: One of 4 characters^*including Masaki, Souken, and Hisana whose deaths combine to shape the first two arcs of the story. Due to the impact of his death on Rukia, and Ichigo's resemblance to Kaien, Rukia lends Ichigo her power in Chapter 1. Her guilt over killing Kaien leads Rukia to accept her death sentence without argument. Kaien's love for Shinigami and the way he died influences Ganju's willingness to help Ichigo enter Seireitei and Kukaku's willingness to forgive Rukia for what happened. It also influences Ukitake's decision to rescue Rukia and the specific method he uses to do so.
Posthumous Character: He died years before the series begins and all scenes with him are flashbacks.
This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself: Ukitake stopped Rukia from helping Kaien avenging Miyako's murder, explaining to her that letting him fight alone was necessary for him to fight for his pride. Unfortunately this did not go as planned.
Uncanny Family Resemblance: If not for his black hair, he could be Ichigo's twin. The likeness is noticed in-universe by characters such as Byakuya, Rukia, Ukitake and Aizen. Byakuya and Ukitake show that their personalities are also similar. It's eventually confirmed that Kaien and Ichigo are cousins.

Miyako Shiba

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/miyako001_5723.png

Species: Soul Reaper

Zanpakuto: Unknown

Voiced by: Sumi Shimamoto (JP), Cindy Robinson (ENG), Connie Madera (Latin American Spanish)

Kaien's beautiful and ladylike wife, Rukia's first idol, and the former 3rd seat. She was sent on a mission to investigate a nearby Hollow, but she was killed by it. In the anime, the Hollow possessed her, forcing Kaien to kill her. Kaien then went on to fight the Hollow who did this to her.

Death by Origin Story: Her death started a chain that ended up taking out both her and the lieutenant Kaien and saddling Rukia with immense guilt.
Onee-sama: Rukia idolized Miyako (or "Miyako-dono") as the perfect woman, as she was a beautiful and talented seated officer in their division. Miyako was also one of the few who treated Rukia kindly and without discrimination.
Posthumous Character: She died years ago in a hollow attack prior to the series.
Yamato Nadeshiko: The reason Rukia adored Miyako was because Miyako was ladylike, elegant and gentle.

Rukia Kuchiki

The current captain of the squad and former Lieutenant. For more information, see Ichigo's Companions.

Kiyone Kotetsu and Sentaro Kotsubaki

Kiyone Kotetsu & Sentaro Kotsubaki

Species: Soul Reaper

Zanpakuto: Unknown

Kiyone voiced by: Chinami Nishimura (JP), Cindy Robinson (ENG), Isabel Martiñón (Latin-American Spanish)

Sentaro voiced by: Koichi Tochika (JP), Patrick Seitz (ENG), Michael Lindsay (ENG, Episode 41), Alfonso Obregón Inclán (Latin American Spanish)

The two co-3rd seats of the 13th division before Kiyone was promoted. They usually bicker on about who is more loyal to Ukitake, since both want to be the solo lieutenant.

Adaptation Dye-Job: In the anime, Kiyone's hair is much more red than the manga, where she is definitely a blonde.
No Indoor Voice: Sentaro is nearly always yelling or speaking a lot louder than necessary, even when indoors. Kiyone can sometimes be seen covering her ears in annoyance behind him.
Sibling Yin-Yang: Kiyone is very boisterous and prone to arguing with the likes of Sentaro; in contrast, her older sister is meek, more level-headed and tries hard to get along with everyone.
Rank Up: After the timeskip, Kiyone becomes vice captain of the 4th Division, with her big sister Isane as captain. Two years later (in the "No Breathes From Hell" chapter), Sentaro is shown as having become the 13th Division's new vice captain.
Undying Loyalty: To Ukitake, obviously.
Volleying Insults: The two co-3rd seats frequently hurl verbal abuse at each other, especially when trying to one-up one another to impress their beloved captain.

Hidetomo Kajomaru

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/imageedit_2_6432224491.png

Species: Soul Reaper

Zanpakuto: Unknown

Voiced by: Wataru Hatano (JP), Christopher Swindle (EN)

The sixth seat of the Thirteenth Squad, killed shortly after his introduction in the manga. His first appearance involves meeting Shino (who has a crush on him) and Yuki, who asks about the war with the Quincies. Kajomaru takes the time to explain the Soul Society's perspective of the Quincy war and clarify the "balance of souls" that the Soul Society kept preaching about, capping it off by saying that, ultimately, both sides were right.

Not too long later, Kajomaru was killed by Haschwalth.

Half the Man He Used to Be: Haschwald casually slices him in half vertically.
Mr. Exposition: Explains to Yuki and Shino the major differences between Quincies and Soul Society, the bad blood between them and the "balance of souls" that led to the war.
Oh, Crap!: When he identifies the location of the Quincies. The moment he realises the Emperor is inside the Seireitei, the Emperor proceeds to annihilate about half of the 13th Division.
Pretty Boy: Pretty looks, but not to the level of being effeminate.
Sacrificial Lamb: Poor guy pretty much existed just to show how ruthless the Stern Ritter are and to remind the readers that the Quincies and the Soul Reapers both believe strongly in their world views which is why they're at war with each other.
We Hardly Knew Ye: Introduced and killed in six chapters/two episodes.

Ryunosuke Yuki

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ryunosuke1202.png

Species: Soul Reaper

Zanpakuto: Unknown

Voiced by: Daiki Yamashita (JP), Aleks Le (EN)

One of the two young Soul Reapers who replace Kurumadani as Karakura guards in the manga. He's a rookie from the 13th Squad. According to the Bleach: 13 Blades fanbook and the We Do Knot Always Love You novel, he's the younger brother of Renji's friend and subordinate Rikichi.

Butt-Monkey: Tends to get abused by Shino for laughs.
Naïve Newcomer: Especially when it concerns war.
Oh, Crap!: When he identifies the location of the Quincies. He's the one who spots that Yhwach is in fact inside the soul barrier around the Seireitei.
Shrinking Violet: In contrast to his partner, he's a lot more timid.
Sleepy Head: Kurumadani scolds him for sleeping while explaining what he and Shino have to do.

Shino Madarame

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shino1201.png

Species: Soul Reaper

Zanpakuto: Unknown

Voiced by: Asami Seto (JP), Amber Lee Connors (EN)

The other young Soul Reaper who, alongside Yuki, replaced Kurumadani as Karakura guards in the manga. She's a rookie from the 13th Squad who has a crush on Kajomaru. The Light Novel; Can't Fear Your Own World reveals she's the younger sister of Squad 11's Ikkaku Madarame

A-Cup Angst: Doesn't like it when someone remarks on her flat chest.
All There in the Manual: Her surname Madarame and relation to Ikkaku was revealed in the light novel Bleach: Can't Fear Your Own World before it was canonized in the anime adaptation of the Thousand-Year Blood War arc.
Big "NO!": Let's out a loud "no" when Kajomaru is killed in front of her and the rest of the Division.
Hot-Blooded: She's very aggressive and reckless.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's very hard on Ryunosuke but it's because she cares a lot about him. When he's badly injured, she's worried sick about him.
Naïve Newcomer: Shows up at the beginning of the Vandenreich arc in order to both get stomped in a fight and then get some exposition.
Tsundere: Aggressive and violent towards Ryunosuke, but also cares for his wellbeing. When he wakes up from his injuries, she tears up seeing he's okay and then immediately pummels him.
Wrestler in All of Us: Her reaction to poor Ryunosuke waking up after being unconscious for a full day? Hit him with a Lariat.

Characters / Bleach: Thirteen Court Guard Squads 8-13
aka: Bleach Gotei 13 Squads 8 To 13

Contains unmarked spoilers

Squad 8

Shunsui Sakuranosuke Jirō Kyōraku

Nanao Ise

Yuyu Yayahara

Squad 9

Shuhei Hisagi

Squad 10

Toshiro Hitsugaya

Rangiku Matsumoto

Squad 11

Kenpachi Zaraki

Gosuke Kiganjo

Yachiru Kusajishi

Ikkaku Madarame

Yumichika Ayasegawa

Squad 12

Mayuri Kurotsuchi

Nemu Kurotsuchi

Akon

Rin Tsubokura

Squad 13

Jushiro Ukitake

Kaien Shiba

Kiyone Kotetsu & Sentaro Kotsubaki

Alternative Title(s): Bleach Gotei 13 Squads 8 To 13, Bleach Squad 11, Bleach Squad 12

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Characters / Bleach: Thirteen Court Guard Squads 8-13 aka: Bleach Gotei 13 Squads 8 To 13

Edit Locked

Contains unmarked spoilers

Squad 8

Shunsui Sakuranosuke Jirō Kyōraku

Nanao Ise

Yuyu Yayahara

Squad 9

Shuhei Hisagi

Squad 10

Toshiro Hitsugaya

Rangiku Matsumoto

Squad 11

Kenpachi Zaraki

Gosuke Kiganjo

Yachiru Kusajishi

Ikkaku Madarame

Yumichika Ayasegawa

Squad 12

Mayuri Kurotsuchi

Nemu Kurotsuchi

Akon

Rin Tsubokura

Squad 13

Jushiro Ukitake

Kaien Shiba

Kiyone Kotetsu & Sentaro Kotsubaki

Alternative Title(s): Bleach Gotei 13 Squads 8 To 13, Bleach Squad 11, Bleach Squad 12

Previous

Index

Next

Characters / Bleach: Thirteen Court Guard Squads 8-13
aka: Bleach Gotei 13 Squads 8 To 13