Rangiku Matsumoto
Rangiku Matsumoto is a female anime and manga character who features in Bleach.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Rangiku Matsumoto (Japanese: 松本 乱菊, Hepburn: Matsumoto Rangiku) was a female being who came to reside in the Soul Society where she lived in Rukongai. When she was a child, she wandered the streets and suffered from starvation where she collapsed but was saved by another wandering child named Gin Ichimaru. He found her on the roadside and told her that if she collapsed from hunger then it meant that she had spiritual power. Rangiku came to sense that Gin also had spiritual power of his own which he confirmed and introduced himself. As he departed, Matsumoto came to note that she found his name to be a weird one. After this encounter, the two became best friends where they began to live together. In these years, Gin often left the house without telling Rangiku where he was going with this usually leaving her upset. During this time, Gin came to inquire about Rangiku's birthday but she did not know as she had never counted the days until she met him. This led to him deciding that the day the pair met would be counted as her birthday. Later on, she came to see Gin dressed in a shihakushō where she asked him why he was dressed like a Shinigami. He responded by saying that he had decided to become a Shinigami to ensure that he would never see her cry again. This saw Rangiku joining the Shin'ō Academy as well where she came to graduate at some point. Sometime afterwards, she was in the market when she encountered a young soul named Tōshirō Hitsugaya who was being berated by a shop keeper. Rangiku came to yellow at the shop keeper for being rude and then told Tōshirō off for not standing up for himself like a man. He came to run away from her with Matsumoto managing to track him down to his house and woke him up at the night. She noted that the young soul struggled to control the Reiatsu flowing from him where it emerged as cold from his body during his sleep. This had the unintended effect of nearly killing his grandmother due to the cold coming from him at night. Rangiku told Hitsugaya that he needed to control his spiritual pressure an suggested that he become a Shinigami as his sheer power meant that he needed to learn to manage his spiritual pressure better for the safety of everyone around him. At first, Tōshirō was unsure but Rangiku assured him and helped in making his decision leading to him undergoing training as a Shinigami.
Soul Society
Lieutenant Matsumoto later came to attend an emergency meeting of the lieutenants where she interrupted a conversation between Momo Hinamori and Renji Abarai. Later on, a report came in that intruders have breached the outer walls of the Seiretei with Rangiku being among those that attended the emergency meeting as they looked to inform all members of the Gotei 13 of this matter. Afterwards, she was among those who heard Momo's scream as she found the dead body of 5th Division Captain Sōsuke Aizen. She was the one who had to restrain Momo after her brief fight with Izuru Kira after Captain Hitsugaya ordered them arrested for the disturbance. Afterwards, Momo was kept in a cell at the 5th Division where Rangiku handed her a letter found from the late Captain Aizen that contained the final words for his lieutenant. Later on, a fight erupted between Captain Ichimaru and Hitsugaya where the former attempted to kill an unconscious Momo after she had attacked Gin under the belief that he killed Aizen. Rangiku though was there to deflect the attack which saved lieutenant Hinamori's life and looked to dispel the conflict but warned Gin that if he continued then she would become his opponent. This led to Captain Ichimaru ending any further fighting and simply retreating from the scene with lieutenant Matsumoto wondering what his next step would be after this point. It was then that an announcement came through the Jigokuchō that Rukia Kuchiki's execution was to be brought forward. The recent events led to her captain deciding the investigate the matter further as he wanted to uncover the truth behind Aizen's murder and to stop the execution of Rukia Kuchiki.
Upon arriving at the Central Underground Assembly Hall Hitsugaya and Matsumoto discover all 46 members are dead. Hitsugaya surmises they have been dead for at least 2 days, but he is concerned about when as Soul Society has been under martial law and their Headquarters had been locked down since Renji's defeat. Further than that, the 13 seals of protection were still active and there were no signs of intrusion. Then Hitsugaya realizes the only possible scenario is that they were killed before they were sealed in and that all the recent orders have been in fact false. It was then that he realized that such a plot would be far too elaborate for Gin to carry out by himself. He then was interrupted by Izuru and he and Matsumoto give chase. Asking Izuru if he was behind the Central 46's death, Izuru told him no and that he arrived just after he did. He also informed Hitsugaya that instead of chasing him, he should be protecting Momo. He then goes on to explain that she escaped the 10th Division Barracks and how she accomplished it. Realizing now that Hinamori has been following him and Matsumoto the entire time he turned back and ordered Matsumoto to handle Izuru. When Izuru realizes that Rangiku is now after him and Hitsugaya has gone he stops running. When Rangiku asks him if he was done running, he explains that he has a mission to keep her there. When she asks who gave him that mission he tells her that Gin did. Rangiku tries to reason with him, but Izuru refuses to answer her further. He then told her that the reason he refuses to answer her is because she is about to die where it was then that he released his Shikai. He then asked Rangiku if she knew about his Zanpakutō's special ability. Rangiku plainly tells him that she did not and she assumed no one does as he never spoken about it. Izuru explained that in fact his former classmates Renji and Momo know of it, but he assures her she will now know it as well. The two face off and Rangiku realizes that her Zanpakutō has become too heavy for her to hold up. Izuru explains the power of his Zanpakutō and tells her how it has affected hers. He notes that she could not carry around that weight. Rangiku explained that if her Zanpakutō is too heavy she just would not carry it. Rangiku then reveals that his weight-affecting Zanpakutō is rendered useless by her Zanpakutō's ability to dissolve into ash.
Arrancar
The threat of the Arrancar led to the Soul Society deciding to deploy an advance force of the Gotei 13 into the world of the living to protect Karakura Town from future attacks. This force was led by Captain Tōshirō Hitsugaya and consisted of Rangiku Matsumoto, Yumichika Ayasegawa, Ikkaku Madarame, Renji Abarai, and Rukia Kuchiki. Reaching the World of the Living, they took on human form where they decided to disguise themselves as students at Ichigo Kurosaki's school.
Fake Karakura Town
She later joined the rest of the Gotei 13 who had orchestrated an ambush for Aizen and his Espada. This saw her joining her Captain as they travelled to the world of the living when the real Karakura Town had been substituted with a fake as it was a target of Aizen. The traitorous former shinigami had intended to sacrifice the town in order to make the Oken Key but he and his forces were confronted by the Gotei 13. She witnessed the Gotei 13 successfully defend the pillars that maintained the safety of the real Karakura Town where this saw four of Baraggan Louisenbairn's Fracción being killed in the resultant battles. It was then that Rangiku faced off against all three of Tier Harribel's Fracción whilst her captain fought their leader.
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, Rangiku Matsumoto was a beautiful woman with long wavy blond hair, blue eyes, full lips, and a beauty mark located under the right side of her mouth. She was well known for her curvaceous figure with her large breasts being a distinctive feature. She tended to wear a scarf that was tied into a knot around her neck.
Rangiku was slacker who disliked paperwork and loved to drink. She often used her beauty and cleavage to avoid work to go shopping or drinking with her fellow lieutenants
Though seemingly self-centred, she was shown to be sensitive to the feelings of others.
Matsumoto was shown to be very serious and thoughtful as a lieutenant where she offered advice to her Captain. In addition, she was skilled enough to overwhelm another strong lieutenant or hold her own against Arrancars.
It was noted that her favorite food were dried persimmon just like that of Ichimaru. She also liked to drink and when she felt like drinking she often looked to find free people that she invited to join her. This was in order to have them treat her to drinks as she lacked money to spend on her drinks.
She was a childhood friend of Gin Ichimaru who helped save her when she was starving on the streets of Rukongai. On Gin, she noted that he never left any keepsake of himself for her as he thought that this would allow Rangiku to move on after his death. To her, this was his way of being thoughtful and was the reason why she had loved him.
Powers and abilities
Rangiku Matsumoto was a soul (魂魄, Konpaku) and thus a spiritual being in the afterlife where as a shinigami (死神, death god(s); Viz "Soul Reaper(s)") she could control and channel spiritual pressure to achieve various feats. As a Gotei 13 lieutenant, she was noted for possessing a high level of spiritual energy that manifested as white energy.
She was capable of using the high-speed movement technique that was Shunpo (瞬歩, Flash Steps). With it, she was able to out-maneuver opponents that were at a lieutenant-level and keep up with her captain in the field. Rangiku was also able to engage in close-combat fighting style that was Hakuda (白打, White Hits; Viz "Hand-to-Hand Combat").
Her position as a lieutenant meant that she had enough of an understanding of Kidō spells to identify them upon sight. Among those she was shown to use included Bakudō #77 without incantation and Hadō #31. The kido spells she was shown to had used included:
- Bakudō #77. Tenteikūra (天挺空羅, Heavenly Rickshaws in Silken Air; Viz "Heavenly Charged Sky Net") :
- Hadō #31. Shakkahō (赤火砲, Red Fire Cannon; Viz "Red Flame Cannon") :
She wielded her own Zanpakutō (斬魄刀, Soul-Cutter Sword; Viz "Soul Slayer") that was named Haineko (灰猫, Ash Cat) that was a straight-bladed katana where the tsuba took the shape of a cat's head. There two triangles on the top half curving into ear-points, and the bottom half tapering down into a single point with it having a dark red handle. Typically, Rangiku was shown to keep Haineko behind her clipped onto her waist obi. Her Shikai release command was the word "Growl" (唸れ, unare) where the blade turned to ash, and with a flick of the hilt she was able to cut anywhere the ash has landed on. She typically used the ash to surround her opponent with it effectively being her sword where she controlled it through simple hand gestures. With a thought, she could control where the ash went and command it to take on a variety of forms where each particle was effectively a tiny blade.
Among the techniques known to her included:
- Neko Rinbu (猫輪舞, Cat Round Dance) : created an enveloping cloud that she could use to enclose around her opponents thus turning it into a deadly tornado. This gave her a particular advantage when fighting groups of enemies.
- House (ハウス, Hausu) : with this move, Rangiku was able to create a multilayer wall of ash. The move was useful in the stabilization of Tōshirō Hitsugaya's Shinkū Tasō Hyōheki technique
Due to her laziness, it was noted that she had difficulty achieving bankai.
As a Shinigami, she came to be a member of the Gotei 13 (護廷十三隊, Goteijūsantai; lit. "13 Division Imperial Guards"; Viz "Thirteen Court Guard Companies") where she rose to the rank of Lieutenant of the Tenth Division (十番隊, jūbantai; "Squad 10" in the English Dub).
Notes
- Rangiku Matsumoto was created by Tite Kubo where she featured in the setting of the Bleach universe.
- In an interview, Tite Kubo commented that Rangiku was one of his top two favourite characters in the series and that he, ""has a lot of fun drawing her and creating stories with her."
In other media
Television
- In Bleach, Rangiku Matsumoto appeared in the setting of the anime television adaptation where she was voiced by Japanese actress Kaya Matsutani whilst English actress Megan Hollingshead voiced her in the dub.
Films
Video games
Appearances
- Bleach:
External Links
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