Kon (Bleach)
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| Kon | |
|---|---|
| Bleach character | |
 Kon by Tite Kubo |
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| Created by | Tite Kubo |
| Voiced by | Mitsuaki Madono (Japanese) Tite Kubo (Memories in the Rain OVA) Quinton Flynn (English) |
| Profile | |
| Date of birth | December 30[1] |
| Occupation | Modified soul |
Kon (コン?) is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Bleach created by Tite Kubo. His name is short for Kaizō Konpaku (改造魂魄? modified soul). Kon originally wanted the name "Kai" ("Mod" in the official English dub) because it sounded cooler, but Ichigo Kurosaki decided his name was going to be Kon for that very reason. Kon is an artificial soul (modsoul) designed to inhabit Ichigo's body when Ichigo is in his Soul Reaper form; when not serving that purpose, Kon usually inhabits a stuffed lion doll.
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[edit] Character outline
Kon primarily serves as a comedic foil in the series; when not inhabiting Ichigo's body, his normal plushie body is treated with little respect and much disdain. The humorously cruel treatment he is always subjected to provides the comic relief in Bleach. One of the only people who gives him any respect is Chad; however, Chad ignores him most of the time. His plushie body is a knock-off of the main character of the popular TV show Carnivore Kingdom, named "Ponkichi", which happens to be Chad's favorite show. It was a prize from the shooting game in the Karakura Town Festival.[2] He is constantly stepped on and torn, at which point Ichigo will have Uryū Ishida repair the plushie. Uryū usually adds something unwanted or unnecessary when doing so, such as dressing Kon up like a designer doll. Uryū also sewed a Quincy cross on the back of Kon's head as revenge after Kon attacked Uryū for turning him into a doll. Kon is currently unaware of the cross since Ichigo and Uryu keep it to themselves, though other people seem not to notice.
Kon is quite perverted and often takes advantage of his form to get girls to hug him to their chest, which rarely goes as planned. After Ichigo becomes less dependent on Kon to transform when he receives the substitute badge from Jushiro Ukitake, Kon comments on how he wouldn't mind taking Ichigo's body out for a spin again, saying that he'd like to go pulling up skirts because, as he puts it, "It's Ichigo's reputation that gets sullied". Kon is very fond of Rukia, calling her "sister", though this extends to basically any pretty girl, especially Orihime Inoue and Rangiku Matsumoto. He is also attracted to girls with big breasts. Kon is also quite vain, using "ore-sama" as his personal pronoun (a very boastful way of referring to oneself), and despite initially opposing being put into a plushie, refers to it as his "sexy body."
Kon also serves as the host of various omake segments in the anime, which are shown after the ending credits and preview of each episode beginning with the Soul Society arc. The first, called the "Shinigami Illustrated Picture Book", has Kon introducing various Soul Reapers by name and rank, followed by a short one-liner about them. These segments run from episodes 14 to 49, after which there is a four-episode break. Starting with episode 54, the ending segment is renamed "Shinigami Illustrated Picture Book: Golden", which shows comical situations with the series characters. Kon does not host these, though he is featured prominently in quite a few, but rather is part of the screen wipe that opens into them. A sub-group of these sketches, running from episode 119 to 124, is called "Kon-sama's Erotic Conquest of Soul Society", where Kon takes over Hanatarō Yamada's gigai in order to move about Soul Society in order to observe the female Soul Reapers, only to find that his choice is less than helpful for his intended goals.
[edit] Creation
Kon's first appearance is shortly after Rukia Kuchiki and Ichigo obtain an item known as gikongan (Soul Candy) from the Urahara Shop, which are candy-like orbs stored in dispensers similar to those PEZ come in. The Soul Candy, when ingested, forces Ichigo's soul out of his body and replaces it with an artificial, pre-programmed soul, allowing Ichigo to transform if Rukia is not around. Unbeknownst to everyone (including the Urahara Shop's employees), the particular Soul Candy dispenser Urahara gives Rukia had been declared defective by Soul Society, as it was made from a batch meant to be turned in for destruction. These pills contained modsouls, artificially created souls designed to combat hollows. Additionally, these souls have personalities, unlike the common artificial souls. Each modified soul was designed to have their own special strengths; in Kon's case, his legs. Upon first testing the item, Ichigo and Rukia leave it to its own devices while they go to fight a hollow.
The modsoul, now free and having no desire to return to its pill form, goes on a mischievous and damaging (to Ichigo's reputation) rampage, making advances on Ichigo's female classmates and breaking the video games that some elementary school students are playing after witnessing one of them destroy a video game monster he thought was useless. Ichigo and Rukia are distracted by a report of a hollow coming in, but catch up with the modsoul when the hollow is spotted near his location. The modsoul acts on its instincts, attacking the hollow and giving Ichigo the time to defeat it, but almost takes a dangerous fall when he kicks it into the air to prevent it from falling on some ants. Afterwards, Ichigo has a talk with the modsoul, who explains that he just wants to be free and experience life, similar to that of a real soul, and for that reason, cannot take anyone's life. Taking pity on him, Rukia and Ichigo ignore the standing directive to destroy all modsouls; they instead stick the modsoul into a lion plushie that they find on the side of the road, giving it life. Ichigo gives the modsoul the name of Kon shortly thereafter, despite Kon's protests.
[edit] Synopsis
Kon's main role after being put into plushie form is a recurring comic relief character, trying to run away from Ichigo's sister, Yuzu, while in plushie form and trying to stay clear of Kisuke Urahara's employees while in Ichigo's body. In the meantime, Kon is recruited by Don Kanonji as Captain Karakura in his Karakura Superheroes, serving as a soccer ball for Karin. His Karakura Superhero name is "Karakura King". Kon also follows the others into the Soul Society in fear of falling victim to Don Kanonji, though never arrives in time for any battles.
In the Anime, Kon also becomes jealous of fellow modified souls, Ririn, Kuroud, and Noba, during the Bount invasion, and doesn't get along with his new companions. He ususally clashes with Ririn, as their attitudes are similar; while feeling jealousy towards Kuroud and Noba because the female characters being attracted to them.
During the Arrancar arc, Kon takes Ichigo's body in an attempt to have a little fun in town only to be hunted by Grand Fisher, though the timely arrival of Isshin Kurosaki, Ichigo's father who has secretly been protecting Kon from danger, saves Kon.
[edit] Abilities
During the few times that Kon is in combat, he has proven to be able to hold his own — in addition to possessing all the combat abilities of Ichigo's well-trained body, he was designed to have exceptionally powerful leg strength. He was able to fend Ichigo off in combat by using just kick-attacks and leg-blocks, and is able to kick aside massive hollows. He can run 100 meters in 3.8 seconds while in his plushie form, out running Ryo Kuneida, Karakura High's fastest runner, who can run the distance in 12 seconds. When in Ichigo's body, he is capable of jumping over 13 meters and 56 cm from standing position.[1]
In the Bleach: Blade Battlers series, Kon is given many abilities. The most common is the ability to summon soccer balls. In Blade Battlers, Kon summons a regular sized soccer ball that he kicks with the strength of a tiger at the opponent, through a goal. In Blade Battlers 2, Kon summons a large soccer ball that, on impact, separates into numerous, smaller soccer balls that decrease in size and increase in numbers with each impact. Lesser attacks involves him throwing items such as explosives or bones, and the ability to set bear traps and red, mine-like auras that release large pillars of fire on contact.
He is also given an ability named "Tensen", in which he rapidly enlarges to the size of a tall individual as a super form. His large stature gives him much additional strength and the ability to discharge spiritual energy as an offensive and defensive force field. In Blade Battlers 2, he can enter this form with an energy drink-like beverage. He is far much larger and now appears to be higher than a city. Also he gains bright, glowing eyes that can fire lasers, this being an additional ability.
[edit] Appearances in other Media
Aside from the initial anime and manga, Kon appears in the Memories in the Rain OAV[3], the Sealed Sword Frenzy OAV[4] and also in the feature lenghted movie, Memories of Nobody[5]. Kon appears in the Bleach video games such as Blade Battlers & Hanatareshi Yabou[6] being playable and also the Heat The Soul series where he is a support character.[7][8] He also has his own Bleach Beat Collection appearing along side Hanataro.[9]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Bleach manga; Volume 4, page 190
- ^ Weekly Shonen Jump interview, year 2004, issue 42.
- ^ Anime News Network - Bleach: Memories in the Rain
- ^ Anime News Network - Bleach: The Sealed Sword Frenzy
- ^ Anime News Network - Bleach: Memories of Nobody
- ^ Bleach Blade Battlers Main Page
- ^ Bleach Heat The Soul 4 Main Page
- ^ Bleach Heat The Soul 5 Main Page
- ^ Bleach Beat Collection Page
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