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Mun
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Character
Name: Ichigo Kurosaki
Fandom: Bleach (manga)
Gender: male
Age: 16
Time Period: Chapter 382, page 10
Wing Color: Left wing - coverts and lining are black, primaries and secondaries are black fade to white fade to red on tips (reminiscent of his bankai coat’s edging)
Right wing - coverts and lining are white, primaries and secondaries are white fade to black fade to red on tips (reminiscent of his Hollow form)
History: Canon History as it pertains to Ichigo. Basically the history/plot up through citation 298 under "Fake Karakura Town arc" near the picture of Ichigo looking like he’s going to fall on Aizen’s head and nothing that contains "(anime only)".
Personality: Ichigo's entire being revolves around protecting others no matter the cost to himself. He wanted to protect his family, so he ran himself through and became a Shinigami. He wanted to protect his friends so he jumped headfirst into danger and charged into two separate worlds with an army of five at most. He wanted to protect his town so he blindly jumped through an experimental Garganta that very possibly might not have entirely stable to get back in time to do so. He wanted to protect that little girl along the river and rushed down to the water's edge... but he couldn't protect his mother when she went after him. Because of that, Ichigo also has a guilt complex.
Yes, Grand Fisher is no more, and yes, Ichigo knows that he wasn't the one who ultimately killed her, but he still sees her death as a failure and strives to protect others like he was unable to do for her.
As a child, he was all smiles and sunshine, due largely in part to his mother who was the center of his world. Her death when he was nine shook him to his very core, and from then on, that happy child was no more. He grew up trying to be the strong one and did his best to look out for his siblings, despite the guilt that ate away at him over having been the reason for his mother’s death. That was when he adopted his “tough guy” image.
Stubborn, hot-headed, short-tempered, and impulsive, though also caring and compassionate, he's a lively kid but can be serious and even downright depressed at others. It isn't the norm, though. Usually when his mood changes, there's something big causing it, and the moment he's over that hurdle, he's back on track as his usual self. He's generally seen with a scowl in place, but it's part of the image he's worked hard to perfect since Masaki’s death, and doesn't reflect what he's really like... unless he’s actually feeling scowly. Even when he’s smiling, his brow is still drawn, and at one point even Kon remarks that it’s hard to pretend to be Ichigo during those times when he’s taking the boy’s place because it’s difficult to keep scowling all the time.
Ichigo doesn't buy into the popular crowd. He doesn't care what someone is, he cares who someone is. In fact, his closest friends are pulled from the ranks of the "odd" kids, from the freakishly tall gentle giant Chad and the standoffish sewing machine Ishida to the quirky and bubbly Orihime and the dead-and-loving-it Rukia, even flaily Keigo and quietly perverse Mizuiro. When he considers someone a friend, they immediately fall into the category of "people I want to protect". He doesn't really discriminate at all, and even if the person happens to be an enemy, he tries to see the reason behind why they would do whatever it is they're doing. This does NOT, however, apply to actual battle times.
In battle, nicety goes out the window. If his friends are injured, he will go for blood and exact revenge on their behalf. The closest thing his personality can be likened to in these times is "an eye for an eye". He will trash-talk an opponent if that opponent displays any behavior that Ichigo sees as deplorable (such as dissing their own allies), and will fight for all that he's worth, however, he draws the line at cheating. If a fight can't be fought in a fair and legitimate manner, he wants no part of it. He'd even refused aid from his inner Hollow because it would tip the scales unfairly in his favor. If he's going to lose, then he wants to lose by his own power and if he's going to win, he won't accept aid that will be seen as an unfair advantage. He’s not the type to be out to kill, just out to knock the other down and beat them into submission. Death might actually be a little kinder in some regards...
There are times when he falters, though. If he loses a major battle, he has a tendency to fall into a depression and self-loathing (usually stemming from his guilt complex because he failed in protecting whoever it was he was trying to help) and his performance suffers. In those times, it takes a strong push to get him back on track, but it can be done.
He fails hard when it comes to remembering names and faces, is incredibly shy and a little uncomfortable when it comes to sexual situations and scantily clad or naked women, and really doesn't have much “respect” for authority figures -he refers to them just like he refers to everyone else: by name/nickname. There are no titles with him, but if you’re lucky, you might get an honorific. He's also incredibly bad with names and faces when it comes to people he isn't familiar with.
In addition to all of this, Ichigo comes with an unnaturally high spiritual pressure (reiatsu) which he doesn’t know how to control that allows him to see and converse with spirits and ghosts just as well as he can with any living person. He’s never really questioned it and doesn’t seem to care about the whys, just accepting it as the way things are and making the most of it.
And yes, his hair is orange. He insists it's natural.
Strengths:
Physical
- Hand-to-hand/Martial Arts: Ichigo's been trained in the martial arts since he was a child, and when he wasn't doing that, he was (unbeknownst to him) being 'trained' by his father who is the world's most loving and caring daddy... and has the strangest way of showing it. Physically speaking, he's in peak condition and is not afraid to use his skills to stand up for those who can't defend themselves for whatever reason.
- Stamina/endurance: Whether human or shinigami, Ichigo's said to have rather high stamina and physical endurance, able to take blows that should knock down others and fight groups of people without wearing down easily. In his human body, an example of this is seen in flashbacks when he takes on a group of bullies to get Chad's necklace back. In his shinigami form, it's evident in almost every battle he fights in, when he gets knocked down but still manages to keep going (ie. the fights with Kenpachi, Renji, Byakuya, Grimmjow, etc.)
- Spiritual/Physical strength: As a Shinigami, he’s shown to be rather strong, doing things such as lifting and throwing Rukia (who is admittedly teeny) with one hand from the execution setup on Sokyoku down to Renji as if she were a stuffed toy, blocking attacks from larger opponents such as Yammy, and going toe to toe with Kenpachi who was at full power to the point where they were forced into what could really only be termed a draw (and Ichigo wasn’t even well-versed in what he was capable of at the time). He also managed to hold back Sokyoku's full power after it was unleashed to strike down Rukia with the flat of his sword and take down three vice-captains armed with released zanpakuto using just hand-to-hand combat.
- Shunpo (flash steps): the o~nly way to travel for a Shinigami. Ichigo is listed (on the Wiki) as an expert, though everything he knows, he learned through trial and error, so he hasn’t had formal training with it. It’s basically a means of using speed to get from point A to point B in the least amount of steps possible and moving faster than the eye can follow so that it almost resembles teleportation.
- Zanpakuto: Listing this here, since the zanpakuto is a part of the wielder, thus it’s a “strength” for him, which helps in the physical aspects of ‘rawr I am strong’. As Yoruichi pointed out to him during bankai training, he has both a shikai (first release) and bankai (second release), though his shikai is the sword’s normal state. The bankai increases his speed, changes his kimono into a pimpcoat without the fur, and turns the sword from a giant cleaver into a black katana-like sword. Whether bankai or shikai, the sword is as long as he is tall... which is roughly 5‘9“-5‘11“, so it’s pretty big.
- Visored/Vaizard Hollowfication: The ability to temporarily summon the mask of the Hollow that resides within him and gain its abilities. It amplifies his usual abilities and makes them stronger (as seen in the fight with Grimmjow’s released form... and every other fight he gets into where he uses it), but he can only hold it for 11 seconds. It also makes his voice sound like he’s talking into a fan, and if you’ve never tried that before, it’s really kinda neat.
Mental/Emotional
- A functioning brain! Yes, you heard right. He has a brain! And he uses it, though sometimes it really doesn't seem like it. He's usually near the top of his class in terms of grades (and he keeps them up even while running around town as a Shinigami), and he's able to come up with his own tactical and defensive concepts as well as plan and adjust for attacks on the fly during combat. He’s also incredibly adaptable incredibly quickly -as Yoruichi points out during his Bankai training, his growth happens at an alarming rate.
- His family and friends: They are one of his greatest strengths, giving him the will to keep going despite everything, and he will go out of his way to ensure their safety. This is shown when he senses Chad’s reiatsu dissappear in Soul Society while fighting Kenpachi -it reinforces his desire to win so that he can help his friends; it’s seen when he thrusts a sword through his own chest in order to protect his family at the very beginning; it’s present when he pushes himself to get back up in the fight against Kenpachi after suffering a blow that could have taken him out of the fight; his thoughts of them and the support they give are present in each and every fight, from Soul Society to Karakura to Hueco Mundo.
- His determination and drive: If it weren’t for this, nothing his family and friends could do would have had any effect. Ichigo had it impressed upon him at a very young age that he was a “protector”. As his father told him, his name means “one who protects”, and thus he holds that meaning very close to his heart. Because of that, he won’t allow himself to give up -it’s a matter of pride.
Weaknesses
Physical
- Hollowfication: This is his single biggest physical weakness. If he is injured to the point of death or is facing blackout, there is the possibility that the pesky little monster that resides inside will come out to play. The reason this is a weakness is that if it gets out, it’s no longer Ichigo in control. If it’s a partial Hollowfication (and not him donning his mask as a V-whatchamaspelling), there’s the chance of him regaining control without too much property damage in the process (ie. the fight with Byakuya on Sokyoku). If it’s a full Hollowfication (in which case, he’ll resemble a wannabe minotaur) all bets of him regaining control easily are off and there WILL be property damage... from both ceros and sword. Oh, if it's a full Hollowfication, he can't tell friend from foe and will single-mindedly attack anyone and everyone save for the one thing that called out the Hollow in the first place (ie. the fight against Ulquiorra in which Inoue's pleas for help called it out, but it also attacked Ishida who tried to intervene to keep him from killing the Espada).
- That annoying thing called mortality: He can die. Because of his little “friend” (see above), it’s made difficult, but he can die.
Mental/Emotional
- His friends and family: When one or more of them is in danger of any sort, he will rush in in an attempt to save the day. Screw caution, screw planning, screw actually having initial backup that numbers more than 4. Healing items? Who needs ‘em! Those are for sissies! And this is why he usually gets thrashed and has to rely on said backup to patch him up. He skewered himself to help his family with no thought of “what if this doesn’t work”, he fronted an army of 5 into Soul Society with no real planning outside of “we go, we save Rukia, we come back”, and he was 1 of a whopping 3 to charge into Hueco Mundo to get Orihime... with no real care for what might be waiting on the other side of the Garganta aside from “Inoue’s there, so we’re going”.
- The thought of failure in any way, shape, or form: This is usually what leads to him getting beaten, or to his generally short-lived bouts of depression. When he starts to doubt himself, he falters. When he shows fear toward the Hollow inside, he holds himself back. When he’s faced with an opponent or situation in which his own abilities seem pitiful, trivial, or useless and he can’t see a way out of it despite his abilities, he loses faith in himself. If, for any reason, he can’t help someone and something happens to them as a result of his inability to help them, he slips into depression. This seems to stem from that one thing he was told as a child: that ‘Ichigo’ means “one who protects”. It’s as though he’s terrified of being unable to live up to it, thus losing someone else important to him, just like he lost his mother all those years ago.
Samples
First Person: I’d like to request the Q&A, please.
Third Person: Something was not right. The black of the Garganta’s insides were supposed to give way to the blue skies above Karakura Town, not that of some sleepy-looking village nestled in some sort of valley between mountains and seaside. There was supposed to be the massed forces of the Gotei 13 waiting, not people meandering about on their way here and there, seemingly without a care in the world. He was supposed to be stepping from the blackness, lit only by the glow of reiatsu used to create the pathway on which he’d been running, into a war zone, not into some cute little town scene from a movie. There should have been Arrancar and Espada and Shinigami, not open skies and emptiness.
Something was definitely not right.
Had he taken a wrong turn somewhere? Had Kurotsuchi’s makeshift Garganta thrown them out at an entirely different point in time, back before the invasion? Was this even Karakura at all? It certainly didn’t look like it, now that he thought about it. Had they gone back in time so far that Karakura hadn’t even become an actual town yet? ...And was that even possible?
“Ne, Unohana-san...” He glanced back over his shoulder to look for the 4th Division Captain, only to find nobody at all.
But... wasn’t she right behind him? Had he lost her? Had his path fallen apart and she dropped down into the Garganta somewhere? Had he taken the wrong path?
“Unohana-san? Unohana-san! ......shit.”
Well, this sucked. How was he supposed to protect his home town from the invading hordes if he couldn’t even figure out how to get to his town? So many people counting on him -his family, his friends, the other Shinigami- and as far as he knew, he’d just let them all down unless he could somehow figure out where he was and how to get to Karakura from there. Irritated and unwilling to let his situation get the best of him yet, Ichigo put his hands on his hips... and that was when he realized that there was absolutely, positively, without a doubt, something very much wrong with this picture.
He’d been holding Tensa Zangetsu and clothed in his bankai’s shihakusho, not holding nothing, barefoot, and dressed in plain white pajama-esque pants. He most certainly had not had any sort of book tucked into the waistband of said pants, so either Kurotsuchi’s Garganta was a malfunctioning piece of junk or something had gone horribly wrong in transition. Come to think of it, why did it feel like there was something against his back..? Kind of softish... like...
Twisting his body and peering over his shoulder down his back, the verdict that something had gone wrong was cemented with the sight of feathers. Wings. Why did he have wings? Where did they come from? How had he not felt them in the first place? Sure, he was still feeling a little sore from everything in Hueco Mundo, but he’d thought it was just a lingering effects of having a hole blown through him that Inoue’s healing hadn’t been able to get rid of, not that he was turning into some sort of bird-thing! Was that why he didn’t have his shihakusho? Had it been swallowed up by a stupid pair of wings that looked too small to do anything with?
His initial concerns were momentarily forgotten as he made a point of checking his hands and feet for webbing of any sort and run a hand over his face to be sure he didn’t have a beak. When nothing was found, Ichigo dropped to the ground in the direction of that sleepy-looking town and sighed. First, he needed to find out where he was. Locating his clothes, his zanpakuto, and pawning the book would also be acceptable. After that, it was a matter of ditching the wings and figuring out how to get back to Karakura while there was still a Karakura left to return to. Hopefully it wouldn’t take too long...