Soifon
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| Bleach character | |
|---|---|
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| Soifon | |
| Occupation | Shinigami captain of the 2nd Division; commander of the special forces; former bodyguard of Yoruichi Shihouin |
| Birthday | February 11th |
| Height | 150 cm (4' 11") |
| Weight | 38 kg (84 lb) |
| Zanpakutō | Suzumebachi |
| Seiyū | Tomoko Kawakami |
| Voice actor | Cindy Robinson |
Soifon (砕蜂, Sùifēng in Mandarin Chinese) is a character in the manga and anime series Bleach. She is the leader of the special forces (隠密機動 onmitsukidō?) and the captain of the 2nd Division in the Gotei 13. Her lieutenant is Marechiyo Ōmaeda.
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[edit] Character outline
Soifon is staunchly loyal, firm, and unbending in her beliefs. She is a hard worker and takes a strong moral stand — she particularly believes in following orders. She is generally reserved and not arrogant like her lieutenant. She will not hesitate in the slightest to strike down even her subordinates if they stand in her way. Soifon, like most female shinigami, is a member of the Shinigami Women's Association. In a V-Jump comic, she and Kiyone Kotetsu manage to pin Jūshirō Ukitake to a post in order to snap pictures of him for the association's calendar.
Underneath her standard shinigami captain uniform, Soifon wears the special forces leader's uniform, which has no sleeves or covering for the back. Her hair is worn short with two long braids covered in cloth.
A running gag in Bleach, mainly in the omake chapters, is Soifon's obsession with Yoruichi Shihouin, the former leader of the special forces, which may border on romantic feeling. She also seems to like anything that resembles a black cat, which is Yoruichi's preferred form. This is also evidenced in the Shinigami Illustrated Picture Book (comedic skits at the end of an episode) segment in episode 97, where Rangiku Matsumoto gives her a "Yoruichi" (black cat) stuffed toy as a present from the human world. During the animation of the 7th ending theme she is holding her tenderly. Soifon also tries to give a heart-shaped box of chocolate to Yoruichi in one of the omake chapters that aired on Valentine's Day, but fails to when Yoruichi switches to her feline form. In a VJump omake chapter, the Gotei 13 were asked to give ideas to the Commander-General for a Shinigami video game. Soifon suggested a game with herself and Yoruichi as the main characters. After seeing Urahara's shop, she expresses dismay at Yoruichi's living conditions since leaving Soul Society and comments to Urahara that if anything happens to Yoruichi she will make him pay. Recently, the Shinigami Illustrated Picture Book for episode 117 shows Soifon fawning over pictures of Yoruichi - even one where she's eating like a glutton.
[edit] History
Soifon was born as Fon Shaolin (蜂 梢綾?) into the Fon house, one of the lower noble houses affiliated with the Shihouin noble house. The Fon house traditionally serves the Shihouin house by joining the special forces. Any member who doesn't pass the test to get into the special forces is immediately cut off from the family. As a result, this was an expectation placed on Soifon since her youth. She followed the rest of her family (including five brothers who all died in the service of the special forces) and joined the special forces. Upon her joining the special forces, she adopted her grandmother's codename: Soifon. In the anime, she did not adopt the name voluntarily — a family member gave her the name.
Soifon worked hard and was eventually promoted to become the head of the guard for the leader of the special forces at the time, Yoruichi Shihouin. Yoruichi took the young Soifon under her wing as her protégé, and they developed a close relationship. When Yoruichi eventually left Soul Society in disgrace to help her exiled friend Kisuke Urahara, she was stripped of all her titles. Soifon felt betrayed by Yoruichi's abandonment and the circumstances surrounding them. As a result, she trained herself in order to beat Yoruichi and take the titles she lost.
Soifon was promoted to the captaincy roughly 100 years prior to the start of the Bleach storyline, shortly after Yoruichi's departure from Soul Society.
[edit] Synopsis
[edit] Soul Society arc
During the time of Rukia's execution, Soifon once again meets up with Yoruichi when she grabs her while running off the execution grounds' cliff. Soifon challenges her in an effort to prove that she has improved. In reality, this is due to the conflicting emotions that Soifon has regarding Yoruichi's perceived abandonment of her. At first, she orders a group of special forces members to capture Yoruichi, but Yoruichi dispatches them easily with use of flash steps. Ultimately, Soifon attempts to use a technique that combines hand-to-hand combat with kidō, thinking she invented it (yet had not named it). Yoruichi, however, already created the same technique, calling it flash cry (瞬閧 shunkō?), and knows it much better than Soifon does. Despite clearly outclassing Soifon, Yoruichi doesn't cause her any harm. This prompts Soifon to cry and ask Yoruichi why she didn't take her along, in reference to Yoruichi's leaving Soul Society.
[edit] Bount arc
Early in the Bount arc, Yoruichi and Soifon team up to locate the Bounts, ending up finding a female Bount attacking a human. They drive her off and Soifon returns to Soul Society, while Yoruichi stays to heal the woman who was attacked. Later Soifon comes to the Urahara Shop to share with Kisuke what she's learned. She comments on the poor state of the shop (much to Tessai's anger) and informs Urahara that if anything happens to Yoruichi because of him, she will make him pay.
During the Bount attack on Soul Society, some of Soifon's special forces teams are among the many shinigami that fall under the control of the Bount Mabashi's doll, Ritz. One of Soifon's subordinates throws a dart-like bitto pod at Soifon which contains a "rotten" extracted soul. This substance acts as deadly poison and begins to kill Soifon. During a brief exchange, Soifon places one hornet crest on Mabashi's chest and then becomes too weak to fight. Mabashi gloats and then leaves the scene with intent to return when Soifon is dead. During his absence, Soifon uses Suzumebachi to counteract the poison. When Mabashi finds Soifon again, she appears to be near death. A squad of Soifon's subordinates arrive to protect her but fall under the control of Ritz. Mabashi then intends to use Ritz to control Soifon because the weaker shinigami he has been controlling are being subdued and knocked unconscious. When Ritz attempts to take control, Soifon quickly jumps up and stabs Mabashi in the place she had stabbed previously, resulting in his death and the freeing of the controlled shinigami.
[edit] Suzumebachi
Soifon's zanpakutō is Suzumebachi (雀蜂, lit. Hornet). In its sealed form, it resembles a normal katana with a hilt reminiscent of a Chinese dao. Unlike most shinigami, she wears it on her back. Its initial release is triggered by the command "sting all enemies to death" (尽敵螫殺 jinteki shakusetsu?).[1]
In its initial release, Suzumebachi shrinks into a stinger that is worn on the middle finger of Soifon's right hand. When Soifon stabs someone with Suzumebachi, a butterfly symbol called a hornet's crest (蜂紋華 hōmonka?) spreads from the point of contact, its abdomen acting as the center. If Soifon stabs the same location again, her opponent dies, regardless of how powerful they may be. The crests are maintained by Soifon's will and are impossible to remove unless she wills it; when Yoruichi was still running the special forces, Soifon could only maintain the crests for half an hour.
In the anime's Bount arc, Soifon explains that Suzumebachi's ability is caused by a type of venom it secretes, which also acts as a handy counter-poison. The Bount arc also marks the first time she is seen killing someone with Suzumebachi. The Bount Mabashi manages to survive for slightly longer than two minutes when stabbed the second time, which can be attributed to Mabashi's enhanced power due to the large number of spirit particles in Soul Society. Additionally, the Bount do not simply die as ordinary humans do, but instead glow for a short period and turn to dust. In contrast, Suzumebachi's second hit is instantly fatal to one of the "Dark Ones" in Bleach: Memories of Nobody.
[edit] References
- ^ Bleach manga; chapter 157, page 15.
