Mayuri Kurotsuchi

Mayuri Kurotsuchi is a anime and manga male character who features in Bleach.

Biography

Origin

Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi.

Mayuri Kurotsuchi (Japanese: 涅 マユリ, Hepburn: Kurotsuchi Mayuri) was a male being who was an inhabitant of the Soul Society. His past was not fully known except that around 110 years ago where he was a prisoner of the Maggot's Nest who considered him dangerous enough to be kept confined in a small prison cell with him being chained to the wall by his ankle. One day, he was visited by Kisuke Urahara who was looking for a scientific genius that could join him as Vice-President of the newly formed Shinigami Research and Development Institute (技術開発局, Gijutsukaihatsu Kyoku; lit. "Technological Development Department", English Dub: The Department of Research and Development). At first, Mayuri refused but relented when Kisuke told Kurotsuchi that there was little for him to accomplish in his prison cell whereas as Vice-President he would inherit everything of Uhara's one day. During this time, he was known to have had read a book about the Soul King that spoke of the capabilities of his different arms. He came to work under Captain Urahara as a researcher on various projects where 9 years later he accompanied Kisuke during a trip through the Seireitei. At the time, he accompanied Kisuke Urahara and Hiyori Sarugaki whee hey were greeted by two members of the 5th Division. These were Captain Shinji Hirako and his Lieutenant Sōsuke Aizen where Mayuri expressed distaste at the former referring to him by his first name as he felt it was too familiar for Kurotsuchi's liking. During the meeting, it was explained that the 9th Division had been sent on a special investigation into a series of disappearances occurring in the Rukongai.

During her brief time as a member of the institute, Hiyori served as a lab manager, which resulted in clashes with Mayuri, who was then 3rd Seat & Vice-President of the Shinigami Research and Development Institute, over who had more authority under the captain. The two constantly got into an ongoing argument about who was in charge, prompting Hiyori to call in Urahara. He explained to her that with the disappearances occurring he had created a new type of Gigai. Before Hiyori could respond they were interrupted by the arrival of Tōdō Izaemon, the 6th Seat of the 9th Division. Urahara agreed to send a researcher over to the investigation site as per the request of Captain Kensei Muguruma of the 9th Division. Urahara elected Hiyori to go to the site, to which she became irritated and asked why he couldn't send someone less important, referring to lab assistant Akon. He questioned if she should continue being a lieutenant prompting Hiyori to attack him, though he simply dodged her. Though reluctant, Hiyori gave in once Urahara explained that she was the only one that he could trust with the task. After an incident that got Urahara and Tessai Tsukabishi banished and several captains and seated officers Hollowfied, Mayuri later succeeded Urahara in leading the Research and Development Institute. At some point, Mayuri began developing the Nemuri Project, which he used to modify his Zanpakutō. This development allowed him to succeed Urahara as captain of the 12th Division of the Gotei 13. In the project, he eventually created new life from 'godly soul cells' in the form of Nemu, which made him extremely happy. Though he claimed that creating new souls from nothing was the dream of any Shinigami, Mayuri believed that having a dream while awake was foolish and reflected that in the ironic name of the project. Years later, after the issue of Shinigami being killed in Naruki City was solved, Mayuri listened to Isshin Shiba's report about his findings in a captains' meeting. Although the Captain-Commander was willing to overlook Isshin's violation of rules, Mayuri expressed his displeasure at how Isshin couldn't bring back the body of the 'Mysterious Hollow'. He also experimented on Quincy, including Sōken Ishida, Uryū's master and grandfather, in his studies. He was disappointed to learn that Uryū was a Quincy because he considered his study of the Quincy complete and did not want any further Quincy specimens.

Soul Society

He then decided to seek out the Ryoka within the city in order to capture them for his experiments. For the task, he enlisted some of his subordinates which he secretly implanted with biological bombs. They were then dispatched to assist the Ryoka who were disguised as shinigami warriors. Once near their target, Kurotsuchi activated his bombs but the Ryoka were saved when Orihime Inoue used her powers to shield herself and her team mate Uryū Ishida. After disposing of the last of the implanted subordinates, he confronted the two intruders where he expressed an interest in taking Orihime away for study and asked her if she would become his research subject. He attempted to offer incentives such as not performing such experiments that were painful. It was then he was attacked by Uryū Ishida using a mystical arrow with Mayuri commenting that his opponent was fast for a Quincy. Though a rare breed now, Kurotsuchi had no interest in Ishida despite Quincy's not being seen in years as he said that he had learnt all he could about their kind. He later expressed disbelief that the two intruders knew so little of Soul Society and revealed that he was one of the Gotei 13 where he highlighted his name, rank and position. Ishida then had Orihime depart whilst he stayed behind to fight the shinigami captain and even thwarted Mayuri's attempts at using an extendable limb to capture Inoue. After regenerating his limb, he decided to focus his attention on Uryū as he said that he could always track Orihime down at a later point. Evading Ishida's attacks, he came to take note of the advanced Quincy techniques used by Uryū and was resolved to kill him. He then used his lieutenant Nemu to tackle Ishida so that he could stab both of them with his Shikai but only came to hurt his target's arm after his creation let go of the target.

When Nemu begins to beg for medical help, he becomes enraged and goes over to her and begins to stomp on her for her insolence. When Uryū protests at Mayuri's treatment of his own subordinate, Mayuri claims that she won't die from her injuries as he created her body himself and tells Uryū that she is a construct entirely of his making and therefore his "daughter". He then tells Uryū not to dare try and tell him how to treat her, but Uryū still screams out in protest only to realize that his arm is paralyzed. Mayuri proceeds to tell him what the special ability of his Zanpakutō is, and then stabs Uryū in his arm once again causing him to scream out in pain. Mayuri then tells Nemu to kill him, but then realizes that she is paralyzed because of the attack as well and stomps on her again. Before he stabs her again with his Zanpakutō, Uryū screams that he should stop, prompting Mayuri to question whether his philosophy has to do with the Quincy pride that his people were always talking about before they died. Uryū asks what he is talking about and Mayuri details how once he studied the Quincy and had ended his study years ago. He sneers that before dying they would always swear on the pride of the Quincy. Uryū listens on in absolute shock as he hears of the butchering of his people. Mayuri then offhandedly reveals that he was the one who orchestrated the death of Uryū's grandfather, Sōken Ishida, and even shows Uryū a photograph of him. Uryū is enraged by the truth of his grandfather's death and swears on the pride of the Quincy to kill Mayuri. He then uses an advanced and rare Quincy technique called Ransōtengai, to control his paralyzed body like a puppet. Mayuri notes that he had never actually seen the technique in any of the 2661 Quincy he studied and is surprised that someone so young can use it. Mayuri then takes out his hidden Kusarigama and resolves that since he is starting to find Uryū interesting, he will keep him alive to study as well. But much to Mayuri's surprise, Uryū removes his Sanrei Glove to gain the power to defeat the captain.

Mayuri is utterly surprised as he has never seen this technique before and is unsure of what even happened. He then notices that Uryū is absorbing the surrounding structures, then deduces that since everything in Soul Society is made of Reishi, he is absorbing them and turning them into strength. Mayuri tells Uryū that he has gone far beyond the limits of Humans, but Uryū's only response is the creation of a complex bow construct, from which he fires a spiritual arrow, which Mayuri dodges. To his surprise, Uryū appears above him and shoots him, causing a large explosion. Uryū offers to spare Mayuri if he begs for mercy and never appears in front of him again. He threatens to shoot him with a spiritual arrow three times stronger than the last shot if he does not. The previous arrow grievously injured Mayuri, having destroyed his left arm. Now enraged, he chastises Uryū for his arrogance and declares that he could match his power, and laughs. After doing so, he releases his Bankai. Mayuri explains that the poison his Bankai releases would surely kill him, though Uryū states that his arrow will reach Mayuri long before his Bankai's fatal poison can be released. Mayuri sends his creature charging at Uryū, who fires his arrow, splitting it in half and shooting a hole through Mayuri's abdomen. Despite the fatal injuries, Mayuri still lived and much to Uryū's surprise, stabbed himself in the throat with his Zanpakutō, allowing him to use its ability to turn himself into liquid so that he could escape, seeping into the cracks of the area. Later, he came to hears of Isane Kotetsu's announcement of Aizen's treachery after reforming, but upon being asked by Nemu he refuses to get involved saying that he was not interested.

Hueco Mundo

Kurotsuchi was among the Captains that were deployed to Hueco Mundo in order to deal with the threat of the Espada. Using his surveillance bacteria, he came to witness Uryū Ishida and Renji Abarai in a battle against an Arrancar named Szayel Aporro Granz. Szayelaporro attempts to use his Resurrección's voodoo ability and, at first, seemed to have easily beaten Mayuri. Suddenly, Mayuri stands up and taunts Szayelaporro which causes the Espada to continue to destroy organs, but this time it has no effect. This was because Captain Kurotsuchi had come prepared for the confrontation with the Espada by creating duplicate organs and tactics to fight his foe. He then arrived on the battlefield where he decided to toy with the Arrancar who was overconfident in his abilities and thought to test them against a Shinigami Captain. Szayelaporro then takes Nemu captive, but Mayuri releases his Bankai and devours Szayelaporro with it. Szayelaporro uses the rebirth power of his Resurrección to recreate himself inside Nemu, but in doing so is affected by chemicals contained inside Nemu's body. By doing this, Szayelaporro declares that this makes him the perfect life form. Mayuri is highly intrigued by this new power, and requests to see what other powers his opponent has. To give him what he asked for, Szayelaporro uses his possession ability to control Mayuri's Bankai, but Mayuri already had countermeasures set in place for just that possibility; his Bankai self-destructed thus reverting back to its sealed state.

Mayuri, disappointed at Szayelaporro's lack of any further abilities, explained that by recreating himself inside Nemu, Szayelaporro is now dosed with one of many special drugs placed inside her body. The one he just absorbed is a sense-enhancing chemical that he instantly names a 'superhuman drug', as it were. The drug increases Szayelaporro's senses to the point that his body falls grossly behind and cannot move. Mayrui explains that what Szayelaporro absorbed was the undiluted version of the drug, paralyzing him as seconds become centuries. Mayuri then berates Szayelaporro for his statement as a scientist that he was the perfect being. He then proceeds to pierce Szayelaporro's hand and continues to slowly thrust his Zanpakutō through to Szayelaporro's heart, wishing him a pleasant eternity, before breaking off the blade as the ultimate torture for Szayelaporro and also as punishment for his Zanpakutō striking at its master. Mayuri then berates the dead Espada for declaring himself perfect when he should have known that perfection is a dead end for scientists. After searching for Szayelaporro's laboratory throughout the rubble, he realizes that he cannot ask Nemu for help. Musing that she is such a "pain in the ass", he revives Nemu with rather odd and possibly very explicit means and has her dig out Szayelaporro's laboratory, within which are a pair of bodies suspended from the ceiling. After this he continues to heal Uryū and Renji, the latter being healed first so he could go and help in the other concurrent fights. Once he is finished healing Uryū, he gave him an anti-Arrancar mine that he invented.

When Byakuya Kuchiki tells Ichigo Kurosaki to go back to Karakura Town, Ichigo complains that he could not get back that easily on his own, and that Kisuke Urahara was not there to open the Garganta. Mayuri then suddenly appears behind the group with Nemu pushing a loaded wagon behind him and complains about the fact that Ichigo is constantly fixated on Urahara. He then notes how Ichigo used no honorifics to address him, but muses about the fact that he was better than Byakuya and Zaraki, whom Ichigo would only address using their given names. Byakuya takes notice of his unusually lenient mood and asks if it has something to do with the wagon behind him. Mayuri confirms this and tells him that he is in a good mood because, not only has he found some "spoils of war", but at the same place he was also able to analyze the structure of the Garganta. When Ichigo questions his statement, Mayuri begins to rant about what he had learned and orders Nemu to make preparations to send the substitute Shinigami to the Human world. When Ichigo further complains, Mayuri explains to Ichigo that this process was an experiment, and that Ichigo is "Test Subject Number 1" and therefore, he has no right to refuse or to accept. Retsu Unohana then arrives and says she'll accompany Ichigo back. Mayuri is surprised that she'd offer to be a test subject too, but she smiles and says that she has faith in him and that she believes the experiment will be a success. Besides that, if Mayuri failed to make a Garganta, even after analyzing information found in Hueco Mundo, then Urahara would laugh at him. Mayuri reminds her that he could close the Garganta during the transfer, which she merely acknowledges as being true. Unohana only says that she expects no less. He then opens the Garganta to let both Ichigo and Unohana through. Before Ichigo leaves with Unohana, Ichigo tells Mayuri how he is similar to Kisuke, which infuriates him. After Ichigo leaves, Mayuri comments to himself how fascinating Ichigo is and how he will formulate a plan to torment Ichigo. Byakuya then asks Mayuri why he didn't go to the Human World as well. Mayuri merely replies that there are multiple more interesting specimens in Hueco Mundo and will simply use the Garganta after the war to study the Living World more. Byakuya then suggests that Mayuri has faith in Ichigo's abilities to end the war. Mayuri oversees the checking of the pillars to determine if they are all free of anomalies. As check is completed he initiates the activation of the world shifting bond posts. He is interrupted by one of his subordinates who tells him that he needs to wait as there are Shinigami in the town and a material world transfer without the aid of a Senkai gate is dangerous. Mayuri decides that he will give them time and count to ten as his subordinate calls for every Shinigami to get out of town before they are killed. Later, Mayuri begins doing regular research in Hueco Mundo.

Thousand Year Blood War

Mayuri was at the SRDI, while in an emergency situation. More and more Hollows kept disappearing with Kurotsuchi claiming to know the identity of the culprits. Akon asks Mayuri if it's the certain group he's thinking about and Mayuri confirms that it's only 'them' who could do this. Later, Mayuri and Akon attend the captain's meeting, where they explain about the Wandenreich's infiltration in Soul Society and confirm that they are Quincy. Before he can finish his explanation, he is interrupted by Yamamoto, asking him the location of the enemies' headquarters. When Mayuri states that they still don't know, Yamamoto asks all of the captains to prepare for battle. Following the captain's meeting, Mayuri has a private conversation with Yamamoto where he confirms that he ordered his Division to kill 28,000 Rukongai citizens to correct the balance of souls. Yamamoto asks why he did not attain permission, noting that given the seriousness of the situation, he would have attained it. Mayuri responds that he would have had to take responsibility if things got worse. Yamamoto states that the situation would not have been so bad if the SRDI had reported the problem sooner. This prompts Mayuri to remind Yamamoto that he had dismissed Mayuri's warning when Uryū Ishida entered Soul Society and states that the Captain-Commander was responsible for the current events as he failed to kill 'that man' a thousand years ago. After the Wandenreich invade Seireitei, an angry Mayuri receives word from Rangiku Matsumoto that the enemy has the ability to steal Bankai. He curses his fellow captains for not waiting until he had completed his analysis. Mayuri was later notified via transmitter swords along with the other captains and lieutenants by Rin Tsubokura that Ichigo is currently heading to Soul Society, and comments that Akon must have acted on his own accord again. Some point afterwards, he and several other members of the Gotei 13 are surprised to sense Yamamoto's Reiatsu resonate throughout Seireitei as their Captain-Commander enters the front lines. Mayuri and other members of the Gotei 13 are then later surprised to detect Ichigo Kurosaki entering Soul Society. After the enemies leave Soul Society, Mayuri requests for Ichigo to meet with him regarding his Zanpakutō, Zangetsu. As the captain explains to the Substitute Shinigami that usually it is impossible for a Bankai to be restored once broken, he explains that he did not fix his own Zanpakutō, but remodeled it. After quieting Kon, he learns that the Zero Division has arrived and brings Ichigo to witness their arrival.

When Senjumaru Shutara later brings a number of orbs to the Royal Guard's Tenchūren, Mayuri notices Tensa Zangetsu in one of them. He asks Senjumaru if she broke in to his lab, but she states that she simply placed her hand on the door and it opened, noting that the lock was easy to open. Kon then appears, acting as a projector for a communication system installed by Urahara to talk to Ichigo from Hueco Mundo. Both annoyed to see Urahara and intrigued by how the former captain modified Kon, he grabs the Mod Soul, applying much pressure to his eyes, prompting Urahara to, noting he has found the switches, state he has already turned them off. At some point, Mayuri and Nemu stabilize a grievously wounded Izuru Kira and prop up his damaged torso with thick rods. After the Royal Guard leave, Mayuri and Nemu return to the SRDI and lock themselves in his room, with all the surveillance bugs inactive. They begin reviving a dead Arrancar, which a spying Akon and Niko Kuna are completely shocked by. During the Wandenreich's second invasion, Mayuri and Nemu finally emerge from within their room and find the SRDI completely transformed. Confirming Askin Nakk Le Vaar's explanation of the nature behind the shadows, Mayuri goes on to explain that in the time between the invasions he and Nemu had created a room completely without shadows, including their attire. Responding to the Sternritter's doubts of their intellect, Mayuri assures him that he'll be able to find the answer before going home. Askin suddenly decides to retreat. When questioned, Askin responds that he doesn't want to spend time figuring out different strategies to get Mayuri to die. Mayuri decides to let him leave, preferring to analyze his Reiatsu and not get lured into Askin's territory. Mayuri then senses Suì-Fēng dealing a hard blow to her opponent. Askin responds by saying that, as his majesty expected, the captains who had their Bankai stolen found new ways to fight. Mayuri points out the implications of Askin's statements, saying that Yhwach anticipated this. Askin confirms this suspicion and admits that the captains are powerful. Mayuri later notices how the Reiatsu of two captains had disappeared, and one of his subordinates confirms that it was Hitsugaya and Suì-Fēng. As he states that he is the only one who can fight the Quincy without Bankai, he is contacted by Kisuke Urahara, who informs Mayuri that he has found a way to recover a stolen Bankai. As Mayuri listens to Urahara saying that he has found a weakness in the Quincy's Bankai stealing, he gets angry that Urahara has installed a communications device in his clothes without his knowledge. When Mayuri tries to deactivate the device, Urahara suddenly arrives through a Senkaimon. Urahara proposes that the two cooperate, and Mayuri reluctantly agrees. Urahara then explains that an Arrancar's Resurrección is similar to a Bankai and therefore the Wandenreich should also be able to steal them, but they have not done so. Mayuri then concludes that either the Wandenreich can't steal a Resurrección or there would be a demerit for the Quincy in doing so, and that the latter is more likely. Mayuri then speculates that Quincy are particularly vulnerable to Hollows, so vulnerable that only being near a Hollow would be extremely dangerous to them.

Overview

Personality and attributes

In appearance, Mayuri Kurotsuchi was a humanoid who had a skeletal look with a skull-like visage where he painted his face entirely white whilst the inner portion of his face being black with the exception of his nose. His eyes were shown to be golden in colour and he bared his teeth giving the appearance that he was constantly smiling.

Mayuri only had an interest in his experiments and took notice of new specimens for study. He often was dismissive of people that had no interest to him. In some cases, he offered to treat potential test subjects well if they worked for him. He claimed that he was gentle with female subjects and gave top class special treatment for those that interested him. Mayuri had said that for such people he would only drug them eight times a day and conduct only four hours of machine operations a day. In addition, they would eat with their mouths and have opportunity to sleep as well as have clothes. He also promised to stay away from life-threatening operations. Kurotsuchi had said that this was a special offer that he never offered a test subject with this being made to Orihime Inoue.

As a scientist, he had said that the concept of perfection was a goal that could never be achieved. Instead, it was a dream that an individual sought and used to constantly improve themselves. However, he scoffed at the idea of a person claiming to be perfect as it meant that they would not improve themselves afterwards. In fact, he considered those people claiming to had attained perfection were not true scientists.

He was spiteful in the sense that he sought to take some meaning of revenge for those that demeaned him as was the case when he tried to delete information on the Bounts rather then give it to a fellow Captain who had insulted him. In another case, he broke the blade of his Zanpakutō and left it in his foe as he was angered at his Bankai briefly turning against him.

Kurotsuchi was shown to enjoy mocking his foes and having fun to trick them. Against Szayelaporro, he pretended to had fallen prey to his special technique and acted like he was defeated. However, this was all a deception that was done so for his own amusement. He came to quickly discard this trickery though when he grew bored with it and decided to finish the fight.

Mayuri created an artificial entity known as Nemu Kurotsuchi (涅 ネム, Kurotsuchi Nemu) who served as his daughter. Despite that, he seemed to show no concern over her wellbeing and she could be injured yet he seemed to show no issue with the matter.

Powers and abilities

He had the most intelligent, scientific, and inventive mind in Soul Society. Such was his skill that Kisuke Urahara saw him as an invaluable mind that could serve the Soul Society as a researcher.

Kurotsuchi was known to had heavily modified his own body and upgraded various body parts to function as weapons for use in combat. Another weapon was his Jabarakaina (蛇腹腕, Snake Belly Arm) whereby his left arm could extend out like a grappling hook. When the arm was attacked it exploded on impact though Mayuri could use regenerative serums to restore it. He was also able to pull out a kusarigama from his ear that was attached to his body by a rope-like ligament allowing him to use it for a short-ranged attack. The scythe-like blade was noted for being sharp as a Zanpakutō with Mayuri quite skilled in its use. He was also able to use the Nisehada (贋膚, False Skin) ability allowing him to meld into the environment thus hiding him from sight whereby he was able to use topical camouflage to disguise himself in the Soul Society until he was ready to reveal himself. He was able to create duplicate organs within his body in preparation for a fight allowing him to be injured yet not incapacitate him. These replacement functional organs safeguarded him from harm with it being conceived perform within an hour.

His Zanpakutō was called Ashisogi Jizō (疋殺地蔵, Leg-Cutting Jizō) whose guard he typically wrapped in cloth and had several spiky protrusions sticking out right below the blade that resembled leaves. The sheath hung directly in front of him instead of to th side as was commonly seen where it was visibly modified into a hook at the end of the hilt. Mayuri was noted to had also installed a sensor that caused his blade to automatically block all sword attacks within 2 feet of his body at an angle of sixty degrees or greater. The Shikai (始解, Initial Release) was said to be "Rip" (掻き毟れ, kakimushire; Viz "Claw Out") whereby the blade glowed and transformed into a deformed trident with curved, serpentine blades. Its middle blade was straighter and longer than the side blades were it appeared to rise from the guard that was shaped like a baby's head with hands clasped in prayer. The blades were mounted on his sword's normal hilt that had a more ornate spiky protrusions on the sides that resembled golden leaves right below the guard. The baby-shaped mouth guard was known to secret a poisonous vapor on occasion with Mayuri's weapon working as akin to a venomous spider bite. Those stabbed with the sword led to the target's neural impulses being severed thus preventing the brain signals controlling the limbs of their body. Thus, it limited their movements regardless of where they were struck but it did not stop the sensations experienced by pain receptors and nerve endings. Thus, unlike regular paralysis, the sword limited movements but allowed them to experience all the pains from any injury to their body. It was shown that healing any stab wounds did not remove the effects of the paralysis. By sticking his fingers in one eye of the baby headed guard, Mayuri was able to initiate the Ashisogi Jizō, Kyōdo Yon (疋殺地蔵 恐度四, Leg-Cutting Jizō, Terror Magnitude 4) whereby it began to leak a dark fluid with the face screaming in the process. Anyone not of Kurotsuchi's blood that heard the scream were paralysed for 4 seconds with this being different from his Shikai as it paralysed all biological processes in the body. Mayuri had said that so long as the hilt remained intact then he could always repair the blade.

From his research, he produced a number of creations that included:

• Nikubakudan (肉爆弾, Flesh Bomb) : biological bombs that were implanted into the bodies of others such as his subordinates without their knowledge. A remote detonator was used to set the explosives off in order to destroy anyone and anything around the bomb wielder.
• Hojiku-Zai (補肉剤, Flesh-mending Drug; Viz "Flesh-Healing Medicine") : a green-coloured regenerative serum that when injected into a wound was able to regrow lost limbs or even less severe injuries. Pain was noted to be experienced as a result of the serum's effects.
• Data-gathering Bacteria (監視用の菌, Kanshiyō no Kin; lit. "Monitoring/Surveillance-Use Bacteria"; Viz "Surveillance Bacterium") : he was able to plant microscopic bacteria onto others allowing him to monitor them and gather data for him. This allowed him to observe a person and witness their opponents giving him plenty of time to prepare against a particular enemy.
• Superhuman Drug (超人薬, Chōjin'yaku) :

Kurotsuchi had developed medication whereby he could repair a person's entire body with an injection. He had also created a variety of drug many of which he had intended to test. One of these improved a person's senses to the point that time seemed to slow for them. However, this slowed down the responses between the brain and the body causing a person to have a slow ability to react to a situation. In fact, time was said to slow to the point that it seemed to the person that a century had passed where they simply yearned to die.

Within Soul Society, he served captain of the 12th Division in the Gotei 13 and 2nd president of the Shinigami Research Institute. As a Captain, he boasted a great amount of spiritual power with this pressure coming out in waves.

Notes

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

In other media

Television

• In Bleach, Mayuri Kurotsuchi appeared in the setting of the anime adaptation where he was voiced by Japanese voice actress Ryūsei Nakao and English voice actor Terrence Stone in the dub. During the Bount arc, Mayuri came to find information erased from the archives about these mysterious attackers and briefed the Captains about them. He was also responsible for providing the means for Uryū to temporarily regain his powers in exchange for allowing the Bount to invade the Soul Society. As a result, General Yamamoto began to suspect Mayuri of treason and sent Byakuya to search in his families archives for information on the Bounts. Later, the Bounts did invade the Soul Society with Mayuri deciding to prove his loyalty by battling the Bount Sawatari. At first, Kurotsuchi wanted to keep his opponent alive but after being injured he was forced to use his Bankai to eliminate his opponent. Later on, Captain Kurotsuchi was in attendance on Sōkyoku Hill when an emergency meeting of many ranking Shinigami is called. However, he openly complains about the Captain-Commander ordering the meeting at such a late hour. When Muramasa makes himself known to the Shinigami, he announces that Captain Yamamoto is no longer there. Captain Sajin Komamura is disturbed by this news and attacks Muramasa, only to see his own Bankai go rogue and attack him instead. Witnessing this turn of events, many captains and lieutenants attempt to release their own Zanpakutō, but fail. Upon inspecting his own katana, Kurotsuchi notes that he can no longer feel its Reiatsu. As President of the Shinigami Research and Development Institute, he is intrigued by Muramasa's powers and eagerly asks what he has done to accomplish such a feat. Muramasa flatly explains that he has cast a spell which "freed" the Zanpakutō Spirits from their "prisons." Shortly thereafter, Ashisogi Jizō materializes out of thin air in front of a dumbfounded Mayuri. But after a brief inspection of the spirit, the captain appeared relaxes, wearing a contented smile, a feeling not shared by any of the others present. Later, while experimenting on himself, Mayuri discovers that the Zanpakutō have become completely different entities from the Shinigami. After experimenting on the captured Zanpakutō Spirit, Gegetsuburi, he discovers that if a Shinigami defeats or kills their respective Zanpakutō, the Zanpakutō will return to them, but if it is defeated by somebody else, it will not. If it's killed by someone else, it will revert to Shikai form, break in half. After the Zanpakutō Spirits and Captain Byakuya Kuchiki attack the Sixth Division's headquarters, Kurotsuchi arrives and detonates Ashisogi Jizō as it is restrained by Kenpachi, effectively subduing his Zanpakutō. As Kurotsuchi attempts to "treat" Ichigo of Ashisogi Jizō's poison, Unohana appears to take over from the fellow captain. He explains that he will use the broken Zanpakutō to learn about how Muramasa's brain-washing technique works. Later, Kurotsuchi completes his analysis of Muramasa's powers and begins undoing the brainwashing of the Zanpakutō Spirits, allowing the freed ones to rejoin their Shinigami partners in the Real World to fight Muramasa. During everyone's rest and partying from the recent chaos, strange beings appear at the Kuchiki Manor and cause much destruction. After killing one of them, Byakuya and Rukia go to Kurotsuchi for answers. Mayuri reveals that he never stated that the Zanpakutō Spirits would be returned to their original state. He calls out a restored Ashisogi Jizō to show that they can still be summoned. He explains that several of the spirits that Muramasa manifested were not recaptured and were able to kill their masters. Kurotsuchi goes on to say that rather than dying with their partners, they changed into new creatures he deemed "Tōjū". After warning them that these rogue spirits can access their full power, equal to a Bankai, at any time, he asks them with great delight to bring back one, alive, for him to analyze. Later, Rukia succeeds in capturing one and has it sent to Kurotsuchi, who responds with great glee. Despite his joy in analyzing them, he holds no interest in actually reversing the process from Tōjū to Zanpakutō, until he feels obligating by accepting various sweets as a bribe from Lieutenant Nanao Ise. As he begins his research, he notices something about the broken Tōjū sword that catches his interest. Mayuri later accompanies the staff of the SDRI on field research. Upon their return, they discover that the SDRI's buildings have been ruined by Senbonzakura and Zabimaru, greatly annoying Mayuri.

Appearances

• Bleach:

External Link

• Bleach Wiki Entry
• Comicvine Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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