Rukia Kuchiki
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| Rukia Kuchiki | |
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| Occupation | Shinigami Division 13 |
| Birthday | January 14 |
| Height | 144 cm (4' 8½") |
| Weight | 33 kg (73 lb) |
| Zanpakutō | Sode no Shirayuki |
| Theme Song | "Wing-Stock" by Ashley MacIsaac |
| Seiyū | Fumiko Orikasa |
| Voice Actor | Michelle Ruff |
Rukia Kuchiki (朽木 ルキア Kuchiki Rukia?) is a major character in the manga and anime series Bleach, by Tite Kubo. Rukia is a shinigami. She meets Ichigo Kurosaki, an everyday high school student, and through a set of circumstances, he obtains her powers, forcing her to take up residence in his home and him to take her place as a shinigami.
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[edit] Character outline
Initially born into a lower class, she retains her modesty even as an adopted member of the nobility: she is graceful and "clean," yet chooses to talk to ordinary people.
Although she tells Ichigo that she is nearly ten times older than he, she is endearingly clueless about the ways of the world (especially in the case of juice boxes) and learns to speak modern Japanese through the manga she reads.
She is an accomplished actress, being able to act her way through a number of tough situations. Ichigo seems to be the only one to always pick up on it and accuse her of pretending. She also seems to enjoy drawing (rather badly). Rukia loves Chappy the Rabbit and is rather put out when she is unable to obtain Chappy Soul Candy because of its popularity in Soul Society.
Her attitude towards Ichigo varies throughout the series. At times, she is a bickering adversary, and at other times, she worries about him and dispatches advice like a wise old sage. Most scenes are shown with her and Ichigo yelling and making faces at each other. However, there is a deeply serious side to Rukia as well, best shown during the time she was taken back to Soul Society for giving her powers to Ichigo. In her time in Soul Society, which she spent in various holding cells, she is constantly seen resigned to her fate or in deep thought.
She and Ichigo have similar feelings of loss and guilt. Ichigo thought he was responsible for his mother's death and Rukia thought she was responsible for Kaien's death.
[edit] Residence
Due to her circumstances during the early story and the anime Bount arc, Rukia lives in Ichigo's closet with Kon; she uses the bedroom window as an entryway into the Kurosaki household. Additionally, she has obtained casual clothing and school uniforms for her day-to-day activities, some of which were stolen from Ichigo's sister Yuzu, and the rest of which were supplied by Urahara on credit.
Several months after the incidents at the Soul Society, Rukia returns to the living world with five other shinigami to combat the rising arrancar threat. She manages to convince the Kurosaki family to let her stay with them (albeit using a flimsy sob story that instantly convinces Yuzu and Isshin), and moves out of Ichigo's closet and is to share a crowded room with Karin and Yuzu.
[edit] History
Rukia and her older sister, Hisana, were brought together to 78th District of Rukongai after they died in the human world. While Rukia was still a baby, Hisana abandoned her since she could not continue to support them both. Rukia grew up on her own until she met Renji Abarai and other children her age. They worked together to steal food in order to survive and became a family. At this time, Rukia and Renji showed signs of having spiritual power. After ten years, their friends had all died except for both Rukia and Renji. They desired a better life and joined the shinigami academy.
At the shinigami academy, Renji was admitted into the top class and Rukia into the second ranked one. Renji and Rukia started growing further apart as Renji got further ahead in his training due to his elite status. The emotional distance continued until Rukia was asked to join the Kuchiki family. Renji expressed happiness for Rukia's opportunity but both did not admit that they disagreed with the arrangement since they would likely never see each other again. Rukia reluctantly joined the family and was immediately inducted into the 13th Division without having to graduate or take a squad entrance exam. Unknown to Rukia, Byakuya had adopted her in order to fulfill the last wish of his wife who was also Rukia's sister, Hisana Kuchiki.
In the 13th Division, she was not given a seat position. It is later revealed that this was due to Byakuya Kuchiki's influence since he did not want her sent on dangerous missions. She became friends with the division lieutenant, Kaien Shiba and greatly admired his wife, 3rd Seat Miyako Shiba. When Miyako was killed by a hollow; Rukia, Kaien, and the division's captain, Jūshirō Ukitake hunted the hollow down. Kaien faced the hollow alone but the hollow's special ability destroyed his zanpakutō. Rukia attempted to draw her sword and help but was stopped by Ukitake. He told her that Kaien's fight was one of honor rather than a fight for his life. If Rukia helped, Kaien would be saved but his honor would be damaged forever. Meanwhile, the hollow entered Kaien and possessed him. Ukitake faced the hollow but his illness allowed the hollow the opportunity to attack Rukia. Kaien momentarily regained control and thrust himself through Rukia's zanpakutō. He thanked Rukia and Ukitake for letting him fight for his honor and died in Rukia's arms. Rukia brought the corpse to the Shiba family but was afraid to apologize since she felt guilty about her role in Kaien's death.
[edit] Synopsis
[edit] Early story
While patrolling Karakura Town, Rukia enters Ichigo's room to do a soul burial on a spirit that had been following Ichigo. Rukia is caught by surprise when Ichigo kicks her, not expecting a mere human to be able to see and touch a shinigami. A hollow attacks Ichigo's house and Rukia is injured defending Ichigo from the hollow. Unable to fight, she transfers her powers to Ichigo but he takes all her power instead of only half which she had intended. The hollow is defeated and Rukia leaves.
As a result of Ichigo's draining of her powers, Rukia is unable to return to Soul Society and is forced to live in a gigai (faux body) given to her by Kisuke Urahara and wait for her powers to return. During this time, she convinces Ichigo to assume her duties and enrolls in Ichigo's high school. Unfortunately, Ichigo's new duties set off a flurry of activity both in the human and soul worlds. An increased amount of hollows (and at one point, even a Menos Grande) come to the human world and are dispatched in one form or another by Ichigo, Rukia, and eventually a group of friends whose own powers awaken after prolonged exposure to Ichigo's increased abilities.
As Rukia remains longer in the human world, she begins to grow comfortable with the life she is living there. Fearing she is growing too attached to the human world, she runs away from Ichigo's house. Shinigami from Soul Society, in particular her childhood friend Renji Abarai, and older brother, Byakuya Kuchiki, come to arrest her and nearly kill Ichigo in the process. Fearing for Ichigo's safety, she begs him to forget about her, and returns to Soul Society as a prisoner.
[edit] Soul Society arc
Rukia is imprisoned in a holding cell in the 6th Division and is sentenced to death in twenty-five days instead of the normal thirty-five days. Here she meets Hanatarō Yamada who is assigned to clean the cell and tells him about Ichigo and the human world. The circumstances of her sentence begin to look suspicious since the grace period for her execution was reduced by ten days and the Sōkyoku is determined as the mode of execution despite the fact that she is not a captain. Days later, she is moved to the Shrine of Penitence which overlooks the Sōkyoku. Renji oversees the transfer and informs her that one of the intruders that has infiltrated Soul Society is Ichigo.
During her time in the Shrine of Penitence, Rukia sees the intruders enter the Seireitei through the sky, is informed of Renji being defeated, and feels the moment when Ichigo and Kenpachi are both incapacitated. Three days before her execution, Ganju Shiba and Hanatarō Yamada manage to disable the guards of the Shrine of Penitence and break in. Upon seeing Rukia, Ganju realizes the shinigami that killed his brother was Rukia and threatens to kill her. They are interrupted by Byakuya and after some convincing from Hanatarō, Ganju decides to face Byakuya, and is nearly killed. After an interruption by Ichigo, Jūshirō Ukitake, and Yoruichi, Byakuya leaves and Ukitake orders Rukia to be put back in the shrine.
Three days later, Rukia is taken out of the Shrine of Penitence towards the Sōkyoku. Along the way, she senses Renji being defeated again and is confronted by Gin Ichimaru. He offers to save her, Renji, and the intruders but once Rukia begins to regain hope, he admits he is lying. She is brought to the Sōkyoku and as her last wish, asks for the intruders to be brought back to the living world unharmed. The Sōkyoku is released and is about to kill her before Ichigo blocks it with his zanpakutō. Ukitake and Kyōraku arrive and destroy the Sōkyoku while Ichigo destroys the execution grounds. Renji arrives and Ichigo turns Rukia over to him while dealing with the remaining lieutenants and Byakuya.
Renji carries Rukia away but is stopped by Kaname Tōsen who teleports them back to Sōkyoku hill. Aizen, Tōsen, and Ichimaru reveal themselves as traitors and Aizen asks for Renji to turn Rukia over. Renji refuses and is easily defeated before Ichigo shows up. He is also defeated and Aizen reveals that he arranged Rukia's execution in order to retrieve the Orb of Distortion, a device that has the power to combine shinigami powers with hollow powers. The Orb was placed in Rukia when she inhabited the gigai given to her by Urahara. The gigai was untraceable but Rukia was eventually found and sentenced to death. Aizen had planned to retrieve the Orb after Rukia's execution but his plans were changed due to Ichigo's interference. Despite this, he uses another method devised by Urahara to remove the orb.
Now that she is worth nothing to Aizen, he orders Ichimaru to kill Rukia but Byakuya gets in the path of the attack. Suddenly, the remaining captains, humans, and lieutenants arrive but Aizen, Tōsen, and Ichimaru depart for Hueco Mundo. While Byakuya is being healed, he tells Rukia the truth about Rukia's sister and explains his insistence to kill her was due to a vow he made to his parents to never break the law again. As Ishida, Chad, Ichigo, and Inoue prepare to depart for the human world, Rukia decides to finally ask for forgiveness from the Shiba family. She also decides to remain in Soul Society.
[edit] After Soul Society arc
[edit] Manga
Rukia reappears after Ichigo's dismal defeat by the two arrancar. She reignites his ambition to protect his friends and then drags him back to Orihime Inoue who had been previously injured because of Ichigo's failure. Afterwards she makes her way to the Kurosaki household where the rest of the shinigami explain the current situation with Aizen. Later on there is a surprise attack with Grimmjow where Ichigo's resolve is questioned once again and he leaves without informing her of his whereabouts.
Rukia talks to Orihime Inoue when she feels she is a burden due to hard words from Urahara. After Orihime sorts out some business with the vizards, Rukia takes her to Soul Society so they can train together and become stronger. After another attack from the arrancar on Earth she returns ahead of Orihime and soon saves Ichigo from attack by Grimmjow. He soon breaks free and just as she is about to be killed by Grimmjow, Shinji Hirako interferes. Rukia remains curious about Ichigo's interactions with these "new people" (she is not aware of vizard situation), but is too distracted by her communication with Soul Society to do anything more.
Later on she appears in Orihime's apartment to hear about her capture. As Ichigo vows to save Orihime, Rukia is denied that option and is taken back (with the rest of the shinigami) to Soul Society by none other than Byakuya and Kenpachi. However, not long after Ichigo, Ishida and Chad arrive in Hueco Mundo, she and Renji manage to join them and end up saving the three humans from a hollow attack. As usual, she greets Ichigo with a punch, telling him that he should have waited for her and reminding him that they are companions. She also reveals that she received permission from her brother Byakuya (but not from General Yamamoto) to join Ichigo's mission to save Orihime from Aizen and the Espada.
[edit] Bount arc (anime only)
Rukia is ordered to return to the real world to fight hollows, even though she wanted to recover more of her powers first. As she was not informed of the Bount situation, she is surprised when she arrives in the real world during the middle of a fight between Ichigo Kurosaki and Yoshino Sōma. Chad and Inoue then show up and they reacquaint before bringing Rukia up to date with the situation. Rukia also meets Ririn, Nova and Claude who she instantly takes a liking to; saying that the rabbit is cute. Rukia then spends most of her time in the real world with Ichigo and his group and starts to attend Ichigo's high school like she did at the beginning of the story. Subsequently, she helps the group in the numerous fights with the Bount, and in one of the battles, she became temporarily possessed by Mabashi's doll Ritz. Later, she accompanies Ichigo and the others to the Bount cave and finally returns to the Soul Society with the others when the Bount attacks Soul Society. Once back she is on the way to rejoin her squad when she is attacked by Yoshi and with Ririn's help manages to hold her ground until she is eventually rescued by Byakuya Kuchiki.
[edit] Rukia's powers
Rukia, a shinigami of the 13th Division, has a standard array of skills required of shinigami troops. Upon her introduction, she has the basic-level zanpakutō, of which she seemed to have only mastered the rudimentary skills.
Rukia's greatest strength is her knowledge of the demon arts (kidō), a set of magic spells she can use in the performance of her duties; amongst her known skills are those for binding, purifying, and destruction. She is able to use these abilities at a limited level even when in her gigai (though during the Bount Arc, her spells seem to match Renji's in power when he is in spirit form). Renji says that Rukia is also useful because of her speed.
Kisuke Urahara gave her a special gigai body when she gave her shinigami powers to Ichigo. This body is special in that instead of healing the users so he can regain his powers, it decreases their energy until they have no spirit power left, thus turning Rukia into a regular human. This is a result of Urahara choosing to conceal the hōgyoku (lit. Orb of Distortion), a very powerful artifact, inside Rukia's soul. She did not actually know about this, which led her to believe that she was being executed for other crimes, namely giving her shinigami powers to Ichigo and exceeding the allowed time limit in the living world. The actual circumstances behind the planning of her execution were all a part of an elaborate conspiracy by Sōsuke Aizen to retrieve the hōgyoku attached to her soul.
During the anime Bount arc Rukia becomes possessed by Mabashi's doll Ritz, while possessed Ritz forced out Rukia's shinigami form and zanpakutō although she had not recovered much of her powers, she was unable to release her zanpakutō during this incident though, Ritz also used the forced sprit power to double her kidō abilities.
Since the events at the Soul Society, Rukia's shinigami powers have made a near complete recovery and she has revealed that she is fully capable of executing the initial release (shikai) of her zanpakutō.
[edit] Sode no Shirayuki
Considering she lost her shinigami powers to Ichigo, it was also assumed she lost her sword as well. In chapter 201, Tite Kubo finally reveals the name of Rukia's zanpakutō.
Having finally regained enough of her shinigami powers (since she was no longer using Urahara's gigai), Rukia reveals her zanpakutō's name to be Sode no Shirayuki (袖の白雪 or 袖白雪, roughly sleeve of white snow). Sode no Shirayuki is regarded as one of the most beautiful zanpakutō within Soul Society and is completely white, including the hilt, crossguard, and blade. It is an ice element zanpakutō.
The command phrase for its initial release is Mae (舞え, lit. dance!); the blade turns white and a white ribbon forms from the pommel. Like Kaname Tōsen's Suzumushi and Kisuke Urahara's Benihime, Sode no Shirayuki possesses more than one ability.
With the phrase some no mai, tsukishiro (初めの舞、月白, lit. First Dance, White Moon), Rukia can create a circle of influence around her intended target and freeze everything within the circle from the ground upwards until it reaches the sky. This ability was used to kill the arrancar D-Roy.
The command tsugi no mai, hakuren (次の舞、白漣, lit. Next Dance, White Ripple) releases a frontal attack that shoots a massive frozen wave. Several ice layers are formed on the range of the attack. Rukia attempted to use this ability to kill the arrancar Grimmjow Jaggerjack, but fails when he breaks out of the ice. She later uses it against the hollow Lunuganga, this time with success.
[edit] Trivia
- Rukia's inability to draw well (and her taking offence when told as much) is a running gag in the series; her drawings of people seem to resemble teddy bears and rabbits.
- She likes to climb to high places, is drawn to rabbit-themed items (evident when she reveals she wanted a "Chappy the Bunny" soul candy dispenser), and her favourite foods are eggs and cucumbers.
- According to Kubo, when (in book five) the semester final exam scores were announced, Rukia's rank was 302 out of 322. With the exception of Japanese, she failed most of her exams.
- Although Tōshirō Hitsugaya recently usurped her position, Rukia had been consistently the second most popular Bleach character in Shonen Jump's polls.
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| Karakura High School: | Ichigo Kurosaki | Orihime Inoue | Uryū Ishida | Yasutora "Chad" Sado | Tatsuki Arisawa | Keigo Asano |
| Shinigami: | Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai & Chōjirō Sasakibe | Soifon & Marechiyo Ōmaeda | Gin Ichimaru & Izuru Kira | Retsu Unohana, Isane Kotetsu, & Hanatarō Yamada | Sōsuke Aizen & Momo Hinamori | Byakuya Kuchiki & Renji Abarai | Sajin Komamura & Tetsuzaemon Iba | Shunsui Kyōraku & Nanao Ise | Kaname Tōsen & Shūhei Hisagi | Tōshirō Hitsugaya & Rangiku Matsumoto | Kenpachi Zaraki, Yachiru Kusajishi, Ikkaku Madarame, & Yumichika Ayasegawa | Mayuri Kurotsuchi & Nemu Kurotsuchi | Jūshirō Ukitake, Kaien Shiba & Rukia Kuchiki | Kisuke Urahara, Yoruichi Shihouin, & Isshin Kurosaki |
| Vizard: | Shinji Hirako |
| Arrancar: | Ulquiorra | Grimmjow Jaggerjack | Yammy | Wonderwice Margera | Other Arrancar |
| Other characters: | Ganju Shiba | Kon | Ryūken Ishida | Jin Kariya | Other Bounts |
