Ikkaku Madarame

Ikkaku Madarame is a male anime ad manga character who features in Bleach.

Biography

Ikkaku Madarame (Japanese: 斑目 一角, Hepburn: Madarame Ikkaku)

At some point, he met Yumichika Ayasegawa while traveling the streets of Rukongai, and the two became friends. The two would frequently go from village to village, looking for opponents for Ikkaku to face in combat.

They had an encounter with Kenpachi Zaraki and Yachiru Kusajishi before they entered Seireitei. Yachiru told him messing with Zaraki while he was in a good mood was a bad idea, but Ikkaku did not take the warning seriously. When face to face with Zaraki, he, becoming alarmed by his Reiatsu, was happy to finally have a real challenge. Zaraki attacked with enough force to crater the ground under Ikkaku, which somewhat alarmed Yumichika. Due to Zaraki's strength, Ikkaku, forced on the defensive, held off his relentless strikes. The two continued to battle, with Ikkaku trying to overwhelm Zaraki, though unable to wear him down, only succeeding in receiving wounds while Zaraki remained untouched by his blade. Stating he was having fun, Zaraki decided to finish Ikkaku with one strike, resulting in Ikkaku losing the fight. As Ikkaku became mad Zaraki would just walk away without finishing him off, Zaraki, telling him he had no interest in weaklings who cannot fight, states he did not have any obligation to finish Ikkaku off. When Ikkaku, thinking he was toying with him, demanded Zaraki kill him, Zaraki, losing his patience, grabbed hold of Ikkaku. Asking why he was screaming for death if he loved to fight so much, Zaraki explained to him a philosophy to follow for people like them: only admit defeat after death, and when you survive, consider yourself lucky and only think about killing the man who failed to kill you. Smiling at him, Zaraki stated it was not like he went easy on him; he was just lucky to escape death. He said Ikkaku should live and come back to kill him. As Zaraki left, Ikkaku, asking him his name, was told he was Kenpachi from Zaraki.

Afterwards, when he had rehabilitated from his wounds, Ikkaku, searching everywhere for Zaraki in order to challenge him, could never find him, until one day when Yumichika came to him with some news. He had heard Zaraki had beaten the captain of the 11th Division of the Gotei 13 in a single blow, which made him the new captain of this division. Taken aback by this revelation, having seen protecting others as not really Zaraki's style, Ikkaku set out to find his old opponent. During an address to his division, Zaraki was greeted by Ikkaku and Yumichika, who had become Shinigami and joined the division. Ikkaku told Zaraki he had come back just as he had suggested, which prompted Zaraki to smile. Later, they were present when the division battled a caterpillar-like Hollow. After the division lost several members, Ikkaku, showing up to fight it, was stopped by Zaraki, who decided to kill it himself. After the Hollow was dispatched, more came, which prompted Ikkaku and Yumichika to join in the fight. Initially against it, Zaraki was persuaded upon realizing the two had fighting traits similar to his own.

Overview

Personality and attributes

In appearance, Ikkaku Madarame was a tall, lean-built man noted for his bald head.

Ikkaku was bald with him often being made fun of by his peers for it. The 11th Division lieutenant, Yachiru Kusajishi, calls him either "cue-ball" or "pachinko head", a result of her fondness for giving people nicknames or when he questions her direction skills. As a result of the constant ridicule he gets, Ikkaku is very self-conscious about his baldness, to the point where he will threaten anyone that points it out. Ikkaku's bald scalp is reflective, which causes members of the 8th and 11th Divisions to mistake it as a full moon in one of the anime's omake segments, much to Ikkaku's annoyance. He also has distinctive small red markings near his eyes. Unlike most shinigami, he doesn't wear tabi with his sandals.

In terms of attitude, Ikkaku is a stereotypical 11th Division member — violent, fight-loving, and rude; this has been noted by Tetsuzaemon Iba, among others. He loves fighting so much that he is unwilling to travel anywhere without a sword, resorting to carrying a wooden one when posing as a student at Ichigo's school. He does have a sense of loyalty and responsibility, however, unlike many of the lower-ranked 11th Division members. Ikkaku is fiercely loyal to Kenpachi, under whose command he wants to fight and eventually die.

Ikkaku has many personality traits in common with his division's captain Kenpachi Zaraki, which is why they seem to have so much respect for one another. Ikkaku considers fighting fun and tries to get as much "fun" as he can out of his opponents, so much so that he will take deadly risks to drag out the fight for as long as possible. During a fight with a challenging opponent, he is almost constantly smiling, much like Kenpachi does. Like all 11th Division members, he considers the only honorable battles to be those fought one-on-one and even the threat of death is not a reason to ignore this fact, since as a rule the winner is only determined when the other is dead. However he does consider surviving an otherwise lost battle good luck, and he's also sensible enough to carry a styptic ointment in the hilt of his zanpakutō.

Powers and abilities

Ikkaku Madarame was a Soul (魂魄, Konpaku) that were spiritual beings which resided in the afterlife. This meant that he had the ability to channel and manipulate his spiritual pressure to achieve various feats.

Despite being ranked as 3rd seat officer in his division, his rank does not reflect his fighting abilities, which easily surpass lieutenant level. According to Yumichika Ayasegawa, Ikkaku is the 2nd strongest man in the 11th Division.

Ikkaku had even achieved the bankai of his zanpakutō, putting him at a level beyond most of Soul Society's lieutenants. Ikkaku intentionally hides this fact from everyone, with the exception of those he trusts to keep it a secret. The reason he does so is to stay in the 11th Division and one day die under Kenpachi, since he believes he might be promoted or forced into becoming a captain if anyone else knew, and does not want to deal with people asking him to become one.

Notes

• Ikkaku Madarame was created by Tite Kubo where he featured in the setting of the Bleach universe.

Appearances

• Bleach:

External Links

• Bleach Wiki Entry

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