Mayuri Kurotsuchi
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| Mayuri Kurotsuchi | |
|---|---|
| Bleach character | |
 Mayuri Kurotsuchi by Tite Kubo |
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| Created by | Tite Kubo |
| Voiced by | Ryūsei Nakao (Japanese) Terrence Stone (English) |
| Profile | |
| Gender | Male |
| Date of birth | March 30 |
| Occupation | Soul Reaper |
| Title | Captain of the 12th Division 2nd president of Soul Reaper Research and Development |
| Known relatives | Nemu Kurotsuchi (daughter/creation) |
| Zanpakutō | Ashisogi Jizō |
Mayuri Kurotsuchi (涅 マユリ Kurotsuchi Mayuri?) is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Bleach created by Tite Kubo. He became captain of the 12th Division in the Gotei 13 and 2nd president of Soul Reaper Research and Development after Kisuke Urahara, the former captain and president, was sentenced into exile by Soul Society. His lieutenant is Nemu Kurotsuchi.
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[edit] Character outline
Mayuri Kurotsuchi is a researcher and personifies the stereotype of the mad scientist. In the earlier episodes of the anime, he is displayed as one of the most sadistic and cruel characters in the series. He sees everyone and everything not as a living being, but as an object to be researched—including himself. He has little respect or regard for most others, and was even willing to turn his own men (who were not aware of his plans) into human bombs in an attempt to capture Uryū Ishida and Orihime Inoue for experimentation. He also withheld vital information about the Bount from the other shinigami in order to capture one as a research subject for himself. He takes great pride in his status as a master scientist, and condemns perfection as it makes a scientist's creations obsolete.
With black and white face-paint, as well as a set of prominently-displayed teeth, Mayuri possesses an almost skeletal visage. His fingernails are blue and, with the exception of the fingernail on his right middle finger, are all trimmed. The untrimmed fingernail, in exaggerated contrast, is as long as the finger itself. Along with his captain's uniform, Mayuri also wears a white hat with two extensions that point to his right, as well as a bloated purple cravat around his neck. Without his face-paint, his appearance is like that of a normal human, albeit one with golden eyes and blue hair.[1] He is also heavily scarred and his ears appear to be permanently removed as a consequence of his bodily augmentation.
Mayuri seems to be one of the few characters in Bleach that is ambidextrous, as he wields his zanpakutō in his right hand and his scythe-ear in his left (often simultaneously). In the anime's Bount arc, he briefly wields his zanpakutō left-handed, as well.[2]
Kurotsuchi's last name is one of the few Soul Reaper names in Bleach which uses kanji based on the meaning of the name and not the sound. 'Kurotsuchi' means black soil (kuro - black; tsuchi - soil), as does the kanji (涅). However, the kanji's reading (pronunciation) is ne or so.
[edit] History
When Kisuke Urahara was the leader of the Special Detention Corps, Mayuri was a prisoner under Urahara's watch in a high-security facility known as the "Maggots' Nest" in which dangerous but otherwise innocent shinigami were kept prisoner to prevent disruption in Soul Society, such as is done with insane asylums in the real world. Mayuri was the only inmate considered dangerous enough to be kept in solitary confinement. When Urahara became captain of the 12th Division, he approached Mayuri with a deal to release him:[3] serve as the vice president of the research institute Urahara was creating, with the understanding that he would become its president if anything were to happen to Urahara. This in turn gave him authority over Hiyori in the research department.[4] Nine years later he was 3rd seat in 12th Division.[5]
Years later, Mayuri would succeed Urahara in leading the Shinigami Research Institute as well as becoming captain of the 12th Division. He also experimented on many Quincy, including Sōken Ishida, Uryū's master and grandfather, in his studies.
[edit] Synopsis
During the ryoka invasion of Soul Society, Mayuri attempts to search for the ryoka and use them as test subjects. During the search, Mayuri meets Uryū Ishida. He offhandedly reveals that he was the one who orchestrated the death of Uryū's grandfather, Sōken Ishida. Uryū is angered by the truth of his grandfather's death and removes his sanrei glove to gain the power to defeat Mayuri, though Mayuri escapes using his zanpakutō's final ability. Shortly after he uses this particular ability, Nemu thanks Uryū for not shooting Mayuri through the head (a chest wound being the prompt for her remark), implying that anything less would be incapable of killing him. Alternatively, she may have simply been referring to the quickest method of death he could inflict, as any wound preventing him from stabbing himself would prevent use of the ability. He hears of Isane's announcement of Aizen's treachery after reforming, but refuses to get involved, saying that he is not interested.
Mayuri appears again during the Bount invasion of Karakura Town, and, wanting a Bount test subject, sends Nemu to give Uryū an artifact that will temporarily restore his Quincy powers in exchange for helping the Bount to reach Soul Society. When the other captains begin to suspect him of treason, Mayuri proves his loyalty by defeating one of the Bount, Sawatari, partly motivated by his rage over being tricked into helping them enter Soul Society. The confrontation leaves him severely injured afterwards, largely due to his persistence in trying to capture the Bount alive at first.
Mayuri later appears in Hueco Mundo to assist Renji Abarai and Uryū in dealing with Szayel Aporro Granz alongside his lieutenant Nemu. Mayuri's looks have changed since his last appearance: his ear attachments have become shorter and rounder, his chin has a longer attachment (much like the beard of an Egyptian pharaoh), and he no longer wears a hat. His hair is also styled into "horns," which when viewed from the front looks much like a pharaoh's crown, and his face paint has been patterned differently.
Szayel attempts to use his zanpakutō's voodoo ability, but Mayuri negates it by using fake organs, having studied the technique beforehand using data from bacteria he implanted within Uryū during their last battle. Szayel takes Nemu captive, but Mayuri releases his bankai and devours Szayel with it. Szayel uses the rebirth power of his zanpakutō to recreate himself inside Nemu, but in doing so is affected by poisons contained in Nemu's body. Mayuri, disappointed at Szayel's lack of any further abilities, explains that by recreating himself inside Nemu, he is now dosed with a sense-enhancing poison. The poison increases Szayel's senses to the point that his body falls grossly behind and cannot move, and Mayuri stabs Szayel's heart with his zanpakutō, breaking off the blade as the ultimate torture. He revives Nemu and has her dig out Szayel's laboratory, within which are a pair of bodies suspended from the ceiling.
[edit] Abilities
As the head of the Shinigami Research Institute, Mayuri is a talented inventor and scientist, having created a number of devices or techniques to aid him in battle or otherwise. Although Bleach does not explore his inventions as in-depth as Urahara's, quite a number of them are featured throughout the story.
Mayuri's most prominent invention is his lieutenant and so-called "daughter," Nemu Kurotsuchi. She is an artifical Soul Reaper constructed by Mayuri, the ultimate result of his gigai and artificial soul research. Mayuri uses her as a decoy in combat.
It is implied that Mayuri has done extensive research on modifying bodies, and he has upgraded a variety of his own body parts to function as weapons or otherwise provide him with useful abilities. His left arm can extend like a grappling hook, and he is able to pull part of his ear out of his head to form a scythe attached to a rope-like ligament for use as a kusarigama. He can also blend into his environment with the aid of a topical camouflage which flakes away after he reveals himself.[6] More impressively, he has demonstrated the ability to replace functional internal organs with false ones, a feat he performs on himself and his lieutenant to safeguard them from injury. This particular operation is conceived of and carried out in the span of less than an hour.
Mayuri has otherwise been shown to be an adept chemist, manufacturing a drug that can slow down a person's perception of time. It is able to make one second seem like 100 years for the unfortunate victim to whom it is administered.[7] An undiluted dose of the drug causes the senses to speed up trillions of times while the relatively "slow" body fails to keep up, resulting in paralysis; on the other hand, it is implied that a diluted dose of the drug can greatly enhance the user's reaction speed. Mayuri has also developed a "regenerative serum," which can regrow limbs upon injection.[8] Among his lesser achievements is the creation of a simple Bount sensor in the Bount arc of the anime. Though not as powerful as Urahara's equivalent modsoul versions, it is far more effective once properly calibrated. He also implants his opponents with data-gathering bacteria so as to monitor them afterwards, such as he did with Uryū during their fight.
[edit] Ashisogi Jizō
Mayuri Kurotsuchi's zanpakutō is Ashisogi Jizō (疋殺地蔵, lit. Ksitigarbha's Killer Head, though it has been translated differently, Viz: Leg-Cutting Jizo). Ksitigarbha is a bodhisattva that watches over children and the underworld. In Japan, where he is known as Jizō, he looks rather like a baby dressed as a Buddhist monk. Mayuri's zanpakutō hilt, which appears to be made of folds of metal, is wrapped in cloth, and has several spiky protrusions sticking out right below the blade, which appear to resemble leaves. Unlike most Soul Reapers, his zanpakutō's sheath hangs directly in front of him, instead of to his side as they are commonly worn. Ashisogi Jizō's shikai command is "rip" (掻き毟れ kakimushire?, can also be translated as "scratch out", Viz: "go get him", English TV: "claw out").
In its shikai, Ashisogi Jizō's blade transforms into a deformed trident head with curved, serpentine blades and a guard shaped like a baby's head (as Ksitigarbha is depicted), all mounted on his sword's normal hilt. The weapon spews a poisonous vapor and when Ashisogi Jizō stabs an opponent, the poison cuts off the nerve signals that control limb movement, effectively causing paralysis while allowing the victim to still feel pain. During the Bount arc, it is shown that healing the stab wound doesn't immediately remove the inflicted paralysis.
Ashisogi Jizō's bankai, named Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō (金色疋殺地蔵, lit. Golden Ksitigarbha's Killer Head; Viz: Divine Leg-Cutting Jizō), returns Mayuri's zanpakutō to its sealed state and produces a giant caterpillar in a red cape with a grotesque baby's head and a silver halo. The creature breathes a poisonous derivative of Mayuri's blood which is lethal to anyone who breathes it, aside from Mayuri and Nemu. Mayuri can change the composition of the poison, as well, ensuring that no foolproof antidote can ever be manufactured to cure it, and no immunity developed against it.[9] Mayuri has physically modified Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō itself so that it will self-destruct and return to its sealed state if it were to attack him, implying that it is sentient as well as organic, reminiscent of Captain Retsu Unohana's Minazuki. Numerous blades can also extend from its chest, allowing it to run through opponents, if it does not consume them first.
Finally, should Mayuri be fatally wounded or otherwise unable to defeat a foe, he can reduce himself to a liquid state by stabbing himself with his zanpakutō. This leaves him unable to attack or be attacked, making it an effective escape tool, and allowing him to seep through cracks and flow up walls to evade his enemies. He returns to human form after three days, at which point his wounds are healed. His physical modifications appear to become undone each time he reconstitutes himself.
[edit] References
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