Gin Ichimaru

Latest revision as of 08:42, 21 February 2023

Gin Ichimaru is a male anime and manga character who features in Bleach.

Biography

Origin

Gin Ichimaru in Bleach v1 #20.

Gin Ichimaru (Japanese: 市丸 ギン, Hepburn: Ichimaru Gin) was a male shinigami who came to be an inhabitant of the Soul Society. As a child, he was living in Rukongai where he found a young girl named Rangiku Matsumoto who had collapsed on the ground. Gin came to offer her some dried persimmon that he was carrying and told her to eat it as she would collapse from the hunger. He then recognise that she had a notable spiritual pressure to her with Rangiku noting that Gin possessed a similar energy himself. He then introduced himself to Rangiku where she commented on the strange nature of his first name. One day, Rangiku was beset upon by a trio of shinigami who left her unconscious and stole a portion of her spirit energy. Looking to get revenge, Gin came to follow them and spied on them as they met their benefactor. From the shadows, he came to spy the shinigami rendezvousing with Sōsuke Aizen where they came to give him a ball of pink energy. Gin came to determine that the man was their leader and resolved himself as he vowed to kill Aizen. In this time, Ichimaru had a habit of disappearing for periods of a time and not telling Rangiku of his whereabouts. On one such day, she came to find Gin draped in a Shinigami's shihakushō with blood on his face. When Rangiku asked him what he was up to, he replied that he had decided to become a Shinigami and change things so they would end without Rangiku having to cry. In the aftermath, the pair came to join the Shin'ō Academy together as the pair worked to become shinigami. Around 100 years ago, he came to graduate from the Academy after only one year and was given a seated position within the 5th Division. One night, he came to battle and kill the 3rd Seat of the division when he was found by Aizen who praised him for his skill. Aizen came to inquire about Gin's impressions on the former 3rd Seat to which Ichimaru said that the warrior was worthless. This saw Gin being immediately promoted to the rank of 3rd Seat and hid the death of the previous holder of the position. Around 9 years later, Gin came to be a close subordinate to Aizen where he was privy to his superiors experiments in Hollowification of high ranking Shinigami in the Soul Society. This culminated in the Hollowification of the investigation team that had been sent by Captain-Commander Yamamoto.

It was noted that around 49 years ago that Gin came to rise to the position of captain of the 3rd division around the same time as Byakuya Kuchiki came to head the 6th division. Despite his advancement, he maintained his close ties to Aizen and even still referred to him as 'captain'. During this time, he accompanied Aizen and Tōsen as they secretly travelled to Hueco Mundo in order to establish a bas of operations there for Sōsuke's future plans. This led them to them confronting Baraggan Louisenbairn who ruled as the King of Hueco Mundo and Lord of Las Noches. Aizen attempted to enlist the Hollow's loyalty but Baraggan refused an alliance leading to Gin and Tōsen decimating his army. Thus, Baraggan was forced to swear loyalty to Aizen who began the next stage of his plan in secret in Heuco Mundo. Around 20 years ago, both Gin and Tōsen were by Aizen's side as he continued to conduct Hollowfication experiments whilst attempting to locate Shinji Hirako's group. When asked about their current progress, he told Aizen they had made none. Observing an ensuing fight between Isshin Shiba and a Hollow creature on a monitor. Gin noted that the captain left without permission, remarking that this could mean trouble. Dismissing his concern, Aizen requested a closer look where the three later arrived at the scene of the battle with the others all whilst three wearing Reiatsu-concealing cloaks where Gin watched as Aizen cut down Isshin. Afterwards, Gin notes that Isshin realized the Hollow was not the one who cut him, and asked Aizen if it was okay to leave while Isshin was still alive and suspicious of what happened.

Soul Society

Many years later, he was present in the Soul Society where he joined Kenpachi Zaraki in teasing Byakuya Kuchiki over his sister Rukia Kuchiki being sentenced to death. Byakuya came to brush them aside with this leading to Kenpachi looking to fight him but Gin took Zaraki away from the scene to prevent a battle being waged between the two captains. Gin came to be by the gate of the Soul Society when the gatekeeper Jidanbō Ikkanzaka decided to let trespassers in the form of Ichigo Kurosaki and his friends in after being defeated by the human. The group intended to infiltrate the Soul Society in order to save their friend Rukia but Gin was present on the other side waiting for them. He came to use his sword technique to badly injure Jidanbō and force the humans out this preventing them from entering past the gates. Despite his efforts, the humans managed to find another way into the Seireitei where Gin was asked during a meeting of the captains on why he did not eliminate them. Captain Ichimaru though responded that it was simply a mistake on his part and brushed the matter aside. After the meeting, Gin and Aizen had a scripted exchange with one another with the intention that Tōshirō Hitsugaya would overhear them. The intention was for Captain Hitsugaya to develop a suspicion that Ichimaru had an intention to murder Aizen. This resulted in Tōshirō confiding in Aizen's lieutenant Momo Hinamori and warning her that Gin's entire squad might be traitors. She would later find Captain Aizen's dead body in the courtyard where she immediately suspected Captain Ichimaru with this only magnifying when Gin had a carefree attitude and showing no concerns over his comrades death. In a rage, Momo Hinamori attacked Gin but his lieutenant Izuru Kira intervened to protect his captain. Lieutenant Hinamori then unleashed her Zanpakutō but this curved away from her target. This saw lieutenant Kira releasing his Zanpakutō in turn but the fight was interrupted by Captain Hitsugaya who had both the lieutenants arrested. Tōshirō though came to notice that Gin was prepared to kill Momo though Ichimaru denied it. It was then that Captain Hitsugaya threatened to kill Gin if he even shed a drop of Hinamori's blood.

After Gin releases Izuru from his cell, Tōshirō becomes suspicious and confronts the lieutenant and captain together. He is interrupted by Momo, who now thinks that Tōshirō murdered Aizen, and subsequently tries to kill him. She grips her sword so tightly that her hands bleed. Tōshirō acts upon his earlier threat and attacks Gin, releasing his Zanpakutō and warning Kira to get out of the way. During their fight, Tōshirō successfully froze Gin's left arm causing him to open his eyes and drop his smile for the first time. Upon being trapped by Tōshirō, he attempted to kill Momo as a distraction, but his attack was blocked by Rangiku Matsumoto. She threatened to fight him if he did not stop with Gin relenting and disappearing without saying a word. Rangiku remembered that Gin had also disappeared in such a way in the past, leaving her to wonder what he was up to. Later, as Rukia is being led to her execution, Gin briefly appears on the bridge to tease her by giving her hope that he would stop the execution if she asked, only to admit he was lying after doing so, thus destroying Rukia's hard-built peace over her coming execution and showing just how sadistic he can be. It is at this point that Rukia mentions her fear of him. This serves only to increase suspicions that Gin was the orchestrator of her execution. As Aizen watches Hollowfied Ichigo fighting Byakuya from S.R.D.I., Gin approaches him, wondering if Ichigo already undergone Hollowfication. However, Ichigo is able to regain control over his body, which makes Gin disappointed. But Aizen tells him that there is nothing to worry about as everything is going according to his plan, and that it all begins now. When Aizen is revealed to be the mastermind behind the entire conspiracy, Gin is revealed to be nothing more than a subordinate and decoy. As Aizen extracts the Hōgyoku from Rukia's body, he instructs Gin to kill her. Gin releases his Zanpakutō, but Byakuya appears and rescues Rukia, taking the hit in her place. Aizen, Gin, and Kaname Tōsen are then cornered by most of the other lieutenants and captains. Gin is captured by his friend, Rangiku. However, the three escape to Hueco Mundo with the help of the Menos Grande and are deemed traitors to Soul Society. Before leaving, a downbeat Gin tells Rangiku he would have liked to be held by her a little while longer, and apologizes to her.

Hueco Mundo

The group later gathered at Los Noches in Heuco Mundo as Aizen returned and took control of the Espada.

He saw from the shadows as Aizen oversaw Kaname bringing Grimmjow back to Hueco Mundo with him commenting to his lord on how he liked to have his subordinates fight one another thus keeping them in check.

Fake Karakura Town

Rangiku then arrived where she screamed Gin's name as she held him in her arms and cried. Gin's injuries were fatal where he thought on how he failed in the end and was unable to give back what was taken from Rangiku. Despite that, he was glad that he managed to say he was sorry to her back when he first left the Soul Society. At that point, Ichigo arrived at the scene where the dying Gin could see in his eyes that the substitute shinigami had gained new strength. This power was strong enough for him to fight and win with Gin taking solace that he could die and entrust the task of killing Aizen to Ichigo Kurosaki.

Overview

Personality and attributes

In appearance, Gin Ichimaru was a male shinigami in his early to mid twenty-year-old person where he was unusually thin and tall with very sharp features that gave him a skeletal appearance along with unusual silver hair. He also keeps his face set in a wide mocking smile that he only wipe off on rare occasions of annoyance, surprise, confusion, or even sadness. Tus, normally, he kept his eyes constantly narrowed to slits and rarely ever opened his eyes enough to reveal their bright sky blue-color. Typically, he was fairly ordinary in terms of clothing and did not wear any unique items.

Ichigo claimed that normally he could read a person's thoughts and intentions in the way they battled but in the case of Gin he could not pick up anything from him. Thus, he said that he could not gauge the reasons why Ichimaru fought.

As a captain, Ichimaru was shown to go out for walks around the Seireitei in his free time. It was claimed that this was part of his hobby which was watching people. However, in reality, he enjoyed hunting around and searching for an opportunity to create mischief for anyone who spied upon.

On himself, Gin compared himself to a snake who was cold of flesh and devoid of heart. With his flickering tongue, he said he would go back and forth ever in search of new prey with anything he liked he swallowed whole.

Rukia Kuchiki and Wonderweiss Margela were both shown to had been rather frightened of him. In fact, Rukia came to note that whenever Gin spoke she felt like she was being strangled by snakes even if he was not speaking to her directly.

Since childhood, it was shown that his favourite food were dried persimmons. He once told Ulquiorra Cifer that he was not too fond of sad stories.

Powers and abilities

It was said that he was a child prodigy who had surpassed the previous holder of the position Kaien Shiba. From a young age, he was shown to had progressed rapidly within the Soul Society to the point that he graduated from the Academy after only a year and secured a position within the 5th Division after graduation. In fact, his skill was great enough that he easily was able to best the 3rd Seat of the Division who he remarked as being a worthless fighter and saw his promotion to the position. He was also a master at toying with his opponent's mind and weakening their resolve.

He was capable of using Shunpo (瞬歩, Flash Steps) hat was a movement technique which allowed him to move faster than the eye could follow. It was shown that he could use this to retreat from a fight or even match the likes of Ichigo Kurosaki in his Bankai state.

Gin was also knowledgeable on Kido with the spells he knew including:

• Hakufuku (白伏, White Crawl; Viz "White Concealment") : a concealment spell which created an illusion of purple cherry blossoms to fall with anyone seeing them suffering from their vision going blurry and them becoming unfocused until their consciousness became muddled, disoriented and confused. The target of the spell that blacked out and awoke some time later with unclear memories on what happened to them.
• Sentan Hakuja (千反白蛇, Thousand-Coil White Snake) : this technique resulted in a long, white piece of cloth being spun around to encompass targets within its coils. As the cloth tightened, a white flash emerged and the people encased were teleported to another location.

He was a wielder of a Zanpakutō (斬魄刀, Soul-Cutter Sword; Viz "Soul Slayer") that was called Shinsō (神鎗, Shinsō, literally "God Spear") that in its unsealed state took the form of a wakizashi where the guard was shaped like an 'S'. He could trigger his shikai by saying the command phrase 'Shoot to Kill' (射殺せ, ikorose). his caused the blade to glow white and extend is length to up-to one hundred sword lengths with this occurring at such high speed that it could impale his opponents. This made it to be a deadly long-range weapon but it also carried with it tremendous force without effecting Gin. As such, it became a useful tool in dislodging heavy objects due to the force behind the blade upon impact. Once extended, Gin was able to maintain the blade's length and swing Shinsō in wide arcs allowing him to simultaneously strike multiple targets with speed and ease.

Gin's bankai Kamishini no Yari (神殺鎗, Kamishini no Yari, literally "God-Slaying Spear") whereby the length of his sword was greatly increased. Originally, he claimed that his blade could go up-to 13 kilometers (8.07 miles) where its length and force behind it was able to bisect a whole stock of buildings through a single swing whilst being far away. The speed trough which he could extend and contract his sword was said to be 500 times the speed of sound (171,500 meters per second). It was able to reach its full length in less than 1/10 of a second making it the fastest zanpakutō. Gin though downplayed the speed of his sword and instead emphasised its length and cutting power in order to distract his opponent and catch them off-guard thus giving him a psychological advantage.

A further trait of his zanpakutō that he could embed a piece of it within an enemy after stabbing them. This piece then dissolved where it produced a deadly poison that broke down cells slowly killing his quarry.

Notes

• Gin Ichimaru was created by Tite Kubo where he featured in the setting of Bleach.

In other media

Television

• In Bleach, Gin Ichimaru appeared in the setting of the anime television series adaptation where he was voice by Japanese actor Kōji Yusa and English actor Doug Erholtz in the dub.

Video games

Appearances

• Bleach:

External Links

• Bleach Wiki Entry
• Comicvine Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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