Splendorocity application
Player Information:
Name: Luce
Journal: loobywibble
Method of Contact: AIM: luceisonnow, or by PMing my character journal
Previous characters: N/A
Character Information:
Full Name: Urahara Kisuke
Series: Bleach
Canon point: Chapter 422.
Age: Never given, but definitely older than 110.
Species: Shinigami
Appearance/PB: Urahara’s appearance is unassuming in the utmost; he has all the grooming and poise of a laid back bum. His hair is light blonde and shaggy, with locks perpetually falling into his eyes. He appears to usually forego shaving as he always sports a stubbly chin. He is very rarely seen without the company of his trusty, trademark green and white bucket hat, which is pulled down low and casts most of his face into shadow. The actual colour of his eyes are a topic for debate- the anime makes them grey/blue while manga colour pages suggest that they’re anything from green to gold. As the anime’s colouring is more consistent, his eyes will be grey. He’s of an athletic build and stands quite tall for a man of his presumably Japanese origins at 6’0”. Despite being over a hundred years old, he looks to be in his late twenties or early thirties at the very most.
Appearance upon arrival: Due to the fact that he has been involved in a very gruelling battle against a powerful enemy, and taken several damaging hits, Urahara does not look his lovely best. He is worn out, dirtied and bruised, and entirely lacking in his signature hat.
History:
Previous RP memories: None
Bringing someone along?: No, unless Benihime counts.
Character History: Urahara Kisuke came to prominence in Soul Society- the Bleach series' take on the afterlife- over 100 years before the story began. As a Shinigami (soul reaper), Urahara presumably cut his teeth in active service reaping the souls of Hollow, who are souls corrupted by loneliness to prey upon the souls of the living and the dead in monstrous form. He was promoted to the Captaincy of the Twelfth division of the Gotei 13 after serving as the third seat of the Second Division under his childhood friend Shihouin Yoruichi, and also as Commander of the Detention Unit. Somewhat awkward as he began his tenure, Urahara found himself in his element and in his capacity as Captain of the Twelfth, he founded the Department of Research and Development. For nine years, he was happy in his work, until he stumbled across Aizen Sousuke’s plan to overthrow the King of Soul Society.
When eight officers of the Gotei 13 were transformed into monstrous Hollow/Shinigami hybrids, Urahara was caught at the scene trying to help his comrades and was framed by Aizen and accused of performing inhumane and abhorrent experiments on them. The testimony was only supported by the fact that the eight victims of Aizen’s experiments were found in Urahara's lab where he was trying to cure them with his invention, the Hougyoku (literally: breakdown orb), which he had developed in his research on strengthening the soul. He had reasoned that giving a Shinigami Hollow powers through Hollowfication with the aid of the Hougyoku was one way to gain power, but soon realised how dangerous an idea this was and sealed it to prevent it being misused. With this in mind, Central 46 (the equivalent of the governing body and High Court of Soul Society) found it easy to condemn him for the crime of turning his fellow officers into Hollows. Sentenced to exile and having his powers stripped, he and Tessai Tsukabishi (who was tried and found guilty of using forbidden techniques while attempting to help) were rescued by Yoruichi and then hid in Karakura Town, where Urahara took it upon himself to try and stop Aizen’s schemes and cure the Vizard, as Aizen’s eight victims came to be known. He crafted untraceable gigai (artificial bodies) for all of the exiles and set to work trying to unravel what Aizen was up to.
Urahara worked out that he couldn’t afford to keep the Hougyoku and tried to destroy it, but found it indestructible. As a last ditch attempt, he sought to hide it forever by hiding it in the depths of Kuchiki Rukia’s soul after he came across her in the aftermath of her power transferral to Kurosaki Ichigo. He provided her with a gigai, in which he hid the Hougyoku, which would turn the Shinigami mortal and leave her untraceable to Soul Society while gradually turning her human. He continued to keep an eye on Rukia and Ichigo, lending his aid to them and supplying Rukia with black market goods to ‘keep her gigai functioning’ as well as selling her the mod soul Kon to occupy Ichigo’s body when he was performing his Shinigami duties. However, when Rukia was taken back to Soul Society to answer crimes of treason for giving her powers to a human, Urahara- who had been previously shown as nothing more than a shady shopkeeper surrounded in mystery- took a more active role. He used his expertise to train Ichigo into awakening his own latent Shinigami abilities and then trained him to be an adept enough warrior to storm Soul Society to rescue Rukia. Even though he was not present in the attack, his presence was still very much felt. He was able to open the way up to Ichigo and his friends to break into Soul Society and get the rescue mission underway. His best friend Yoruichi took over Ichigo’s training in the secret room that Urahara had built for them both in their youth, and used his methods to bring Ichigo up to Bankai (the most powerful state for a Shinigami) in record time.
When Aizen’s betrayal is revealed, and Urahara’s part in it is exposed by extension, Urahara appears genuinely remorseful for the trouble he has caused, admitting that he did not tell Ichigo the extent of his involvement for fear that it would cause the boy to balk at the task ahead. On the night when Grand Fisher (the Hollow who killed Ichigo’s mother) returns to Karakura to get revenge with his newly acquired Arrancar powers, Urahara witnesses Kurosaki Isshin take revenge for his wife’s murder, suggesting that Urahara has been aware of Ichigo’s potential for far longer than was initially presumed. With the threat of Aizen growing daily, Urahara once again took up the role of teacher, supervising the training of both Abarai Renji and Sado Yasutora in his store’s secret basement in order to combat the threat posed by Aizen and his Arrancar forces after both Ichigo and Chad were easily defeated. His and Yoruichi’s interference was enough to cause Ulquiorra Cifer and Yammy Riyalgo to retreat during the initial Arrancar infiltration of Karakura town. He was also enough to fend off further attack when they returned to provide a distraction for Inoue Orihime’s abduction to Hueco Mudo (literally 'Hollow World,' a space between the Living World and Soul Society where Hollow dwell).
With Ichigo, Ishida and Chad resolved to go to Hueco Mundo to rescue Orihime, Urahara was seen opening a portal called a ‘garganta’ to send them on their way, and allowing Mizuiro, Keigo and Tatsuki to witness it in the process so that they could understand what was affecting their friend and to better grasp the situation that had befallen their classmates. At this point in time, Urahara had been working with Soul Society under Soutaichou Yamamoto Genryuusai’s orders to help send more Shinigami to Hueco Mundo to help rescue Orihime and to set up defences for Karakura Town for when Aizen mounted his assault against the town in an attempt to destroy it and create a new key to the King’s Realm. Following a gruelling battle, with many serious blows dealt to the Shinigami side and Aizen’s, Urahara finally entered the battle in order to aid the remaining resisting force of just Ichigo and his father Isshin.
Urahara’s part in the battle was fundamentally what turned the tide for the Shinigami side. With the aid of Isshin and Yoruichi, he was able to land some good strong hits on Aizen while using high level kidou against him as well as many of the attacks from Benihime’s shikai. His key role in this assault was to use a brand new kidou attack against Aizen, which he was able to execute successfully by distracting his opponent with an advanced level 90 kidou attack . However, Urahara's new kidou did not seem to have any effect. Aizen had managed to absorb the Hougyoku and as a result had become considerably stronger. With this increase in strength, Aizen was able to temporarily knock the trio unconscious, leaving for the real Karakura with Ichimaru Gin. Ichigo and Isshin gave chase. Urahara was not beaten, however, and he returned to confront his enemy after Ichigo had managed to deal a decisive blow to him using his newly acquired Mugetsu form. The seemingly ineffectual kidou that Urahara had developed specifically with sealing the Hogyoku and Aizen in mind finally activated due to Aizen's greatly weakened state and the will of the Hogyoku, leaving Aizen to curse Urahara and question his loyalties to the Soul King, against whom the turncoat captain had been waging his war.
[A more comprehensive history for the character can be found here, although I am disregarding anime continuity as I am taking him strictly from the manga.]
Personality:
At first glance, Urahara Kisuke will come off as an affable, facetious man. He’s outwardly cheerful, polite to a fault, but it could be difficult to tell whether he is being sincere or not. While he is a very laid back, easy going character, his harmless slacker appearance and demeanour is actually a very convincing facade that he presents to the world to detract from the fact that he is, in fact, the very antithesis of harmless.
Urahara can be manipulative, deceptive and downright immoral at times, due in part to his brilliant mind and sometimes ruthless pursuit of scientific development. He very much operates according to his own agenda, as can be seen from his use of Kuchiki Rukia as a vessel to hide the Hogyoku without her knowledge or consent. He hides these duplicitous aspects of his character by playing aloof and somewhat simple minded to the casual observer. This provides a very convincing cover for his shrewd and calculating personality, and many people are unable to distinguish what he is thinking; it is arguable that Yoruichi is the only one capable of seeing right through him. He is a genius, but he is also incredibly laid back most of the time and downright lazy for the rest of it. He claims to be ‘a mere honest, handsome and perverted business man,’ but has been known to overcharge for services rendered, as is shown with his behaviour towards Rukia.
Urahara will likely present an image of a simple, carefree man, but it will mainly serve as camouflage to disguise his true intent from friend and foe alike. He will try to seem flaky and lazy at work, and will doubtlessly be hiding his true nature to discover the city’s- and the people’s- more interesting qualities and secrets. He will avoid conflict if he can, but is more than capable of kicking ass and taking names in a fight, especially if he regards it as his fight. While he is not shown to be the most ruthless of the fighters in the series, he is resourceful and decisive in battle; he makes his attacks diligently, and does not only rely on his sword’s abilities but his other skills such as kidou. Even in battle he continues to hide behind fronts, a fact which Aizen called both he and Yoruichi out for as they seemed to be making a great show of bickering in front of him to provide what he believed to be a distraction.
It is interesting to note that Urahara very rarely loses his composure. There have only been three examples of him losing his cool in the ten year course of the manga; these have been when he interrupted a Captain’s meeting with concerns about his Lieutenant Sarugaki Hiyori, when he was being accused for playing a part in turning the Vizard into Hollows by Central 46 and when Yoruichi was in danger of being injured by Aizen during the battle in Fake Karakura. This suggests that even the seemingly unflappable Urahara can be affected by things that are beyond his control and concern for his comrades and loved ones.
Extra:
Character Abilities:
Urahara is a magnificent chess master with a brilliant mind; one is never quite sure what he’s thinking or just how far ahead of you he has thought, but his mind and wits alone are enough to make him a worthy opponent. When this particular trait is taken into consideration along with his formidable combat abilities, you would find yourself with a very dangerous and unpredictable adversary should you choose to engage him in battle.
Urahara is well heeled in the arts of the Gotei 13, that is to say he is able to use the four basic fighting styles required of Shinigami to a high level of efficiency; these are sword fighting (zanjutsu), high speed fighting movements (hohou), hand to hand combat (hakuda) and advanced spells requiring strong spiritual power (kidou). It is arguable that his speciality is in Zanjutsu, as it is in this area he coaches Kurosaki Ichigo and displays unbelievable skill- just hearing that Ichigo was trained by Urahara is enough for seasoned Shinigami (soul reaper) opponents to take the pupil seriously as a real threat. Urahara's former position as a captain means that he is possessed of very strong reiatsu (spiritual power), and is very good at keeping that reiatsu hidden. As a former member of the Second Division, he is adept at hand-to-hand combat and is able to defeat strong opponents with one hand only (as is shown in the Maggot’s Nest in the Turn Back the Pendulum arc). While his physical prowess is implied to be great, it seems that his preferred style of fighting is using his Zanpakutou (soul slayer).
Urahara’s Zanpakuto Benihime is one of his strongest weapons, and is quite possibly the strongest, as her full potential has yet to be elaborated on in canon. Usually she is disguised as a shikomizue (sword cane), but takes the form of a guard-less katana with a bent handle when in shikai (inital release form), and Urahara himself describes her as ‘not nice’. Her abilities are not fully disclosed, but she is a very powerful weapon and is capable of holding off high class Arrancar in her shikai form alone while other Shinigami of Captain level reiatsu are forced to draw on their bankai (second- and most powerful- release form) to defeat opponents several levels lower. From what is known about his bankai, it’s not ‘suited for training people or lending them strength,’ implying that it could be an extremely dangerous and/or powerful technique. Benihime’s abilities are as follows:
Nake, Benihime (啼け紅姫, Sing, Crimson Princess): Benihime fires off destructive blasts of bright red energy.
Chikasumi no Tate (血霞の盾, Blood Mist Shield): Benihime’s defensive ability. It is initiated with the same command as the offensive ability above, yet takes the form of a hexagonal crimson shield that is able to withstand powerful attacks.
Shibari, Benihime (縛り紅姫, Binding, Crimson Princess): This ability condenses the energy from Benihime into the form of a net, which Urahara is able to manipulate into trapping his opponent.
Hiasobi, Benihime (火遊紅姫, Fire-Playing, Crimson Princess): Explosive fireballs are fired from Benihime’s tip, which when combined with Shibari, Benihime creates...
Juzutsunagi (数珠繋, Beaded Mesh): The combination of Shibari, Benihime and Hiasobi, Benihime creates a vast explosion of great destructive power.
Aside from being a very capable fighter, Urahara is also something of a genius. He was the founder of the Department of Research and Development and has invented many remarkable gadgets and doohickeys such as the inflatable gigai (an artificial body in which the soul of a shinigami can reside during time in the living world), the tenshintai (a bankai training doll that, when stabbed with a Zanpakutou, forcibly draws out the Zanpakutou's spirit and gives it material form), and... the Hougyoku, which is a device Urahara invented to break down the barriers between Shinigami and Hollow powers, and is otherwise known as the key plot device which has enabled Aizen to mount his attack against the forces of Soul Society by creating the Arrancar (Hollows who have gained Shinigami like abilities through removing their masks). In short, it appears as though every bad thing that has gone wrong is due largely in part to the work of Urahara Kisuke.
Possessions: The clothes on his back, and his Zanpakutou Benihime. He will be distraught at the loss of his hat; its status is unknown after the last battle
Anything else: Nope!
Samples:
Action/Communication thread/post sample: Here.
Log/Prose sample: For a moment, everything was still.
This almost unearthly calm extended to Urahara Kisuke, bruised and battered though he was. He was pretty sure that one of his ribs was broken; it hurt to breathe on his left side. Some well applied healing kidou would soon sort that out, he supposed. After the pummelling he had taken, he was certainly due a trip to see Unohana-san or one of her underlings in the Fourth Division. He would certainly be headed there before too long, even if it wasn't for himself. Yoruichi had taken quite a pummelling. He would make sure that she was seen to, and even if by some chance her wounds were superficial there was an excellent possibility that she would be waiting for news on Soi Fong. If he were being sensible- a habit that Urahara very rarely fell into- he would be headed in that direction right now.
Instead, after Kurosaki Ichigo had hurriedly returned to Soul Society to ensure that everyone was safe, Urahara found himself walking around the silent, empty shell of Fake Karakura looking for a green and white striped bucket hat.
It had fallen as a casualty of the battle, and despite the fact that there were surely more important things to be doing than the mundane task of sifting through the debris of a partly destroyed replica of the town that had been his home for the better part of a century, Urahara found himself looking for his hat. He was treating the quest as something of an exercise in the mundane. It was, after all, the first time in a century that he had set out to do something without the formerly omnipresent threat of Aizen Sousuke hanging over his head. It was strange, to think that after so long, this particular chapter of his life was now closed, and a new one was beginning. He didn't believe for one moment that Aizen was out of the picture permanently; Central 46 still had their ruling to pass after all, and Urahara was a cynical man for all of his outwardly sunny disposition. Besides that, Central 46 had yet to redeem themselves in his eyes for refusing to believe him or look objectively at the evidence during that sham of a trial which had seen him , and his dearest friends, exiled. And Aizen still had an axe to grind against the Soul King. It would be foolish to underestimate the man, even if he was now awaiting a very long stint in Hell, seemingly defeated.
Kisuke would be waiting. Again. Kurosaki Ichigo may no longer have had the power to stand up against him, should Aizen return, but Urahara was not out of resources yet. It was time to regroup, rebuild, and resume.
But first, he would need his hat.
The only sound that broke the eerie silence was the surprisingly cheery chiming of what sounded like a xylophone or... a music box perhaps? The tune was pretty, surprisingly cheerful and delicate amidst the destruction. Urahara's geta clacked in time to the music, betting with himself about the odds of finding the hat or the source of the music first.
Name: Luce
Journal: loobywibble
Method of Contact: AIM: luceisonnow, or by PMing my character journal
Previous characters: N/A
Character Information:
Full Name: Urahara Kisuke
Series: Bleach
Canon point: Chapter 422.
Age: Never given, but definitely older than 110.
Species: Shinigami
Appearance/PB: Urahara’s appearance is unassuming in the utmost; he has all the grooming and poise of a laid back bum. His hair is light blonde and shaggy, with locks perpetually falling into his eyes. He appears to usually forego shaving as he always sports a stubbly chin. He is very rarely seen without the company of his trusty, trademark green and white bucket hat, which is pulled down low and casts most of his face into shadow. The actual colour of his eyes are a topic for debate- the anime makes them grey/blue while manga colour pages suggest that they’re anything from green to gold. As the anime’s colouring is more consistent, his eyes will be grey. He’s of an athletic build and stands quite tall for a man of his presumably Japanese origins at 6’0”. Despite being over a hundred years old, he looks to be in his late twenties or early thirties at the very most.
Appearance upon arrival: Due to the fact that he has been involved in a very gruelling battle against a powerful enemy, and taken several damaging hits, Urahara does not look his lovely best. He is worn out, dirtied and bruised, and entirely lacking in his signature hat.
History:
Previous RP memories: None
Bringing someone along?: No, unless Benihime counts.
Character History: Urahara Kisuke came to prominence in Soul Society- the Bleach series' take on the afterlife- over 100 years before the story began. As a Shinigami (soul reaper), Urahara presumably cut his teeth in active service reaping the souls of Hollow, who are souls corrupted by loneliness to prey upon the souls of the living and the dead in monstrous form. He was promoted to the Captaincy of the Twelfth division of the Gotei 13 after serving as the third seat of the Second Division under his childhood friend Shihouin Yoruichi, and also as Commander of the Detention Unit. Somewhat awkward as he began his tenure, Urahara found himself in his element and in his capacity as Captain of the Twelfth, he founded the Department of Research and Development. For nine years, he was happy in his work, until he stumbled across Aizen Sousuke’s plan to overthrow the King of Soul Society.
When eight officers of the Gotei 13 were transformed into monstrous Hollow/Shinigami hybrids, Urahara was caught at the scene trying to help his comrades and was framed by Aizen and accused of performing inhumane and abhorrent experiments on them. The testimony was only supported by the fact that the eight victims of Aizen’s experiments were found in Urahara's lab where he was trying to cure them with his invention, the Hougyoku (literally: breakdown orb), which he had developed in his research on strengthening the soul. He had reasoned that giving a Shinigami Hollow powers through Hollowfication with the aid of the Hougyoku was one way to gain power, but soon realised how dangerous an idea this was and sealed it to prevent it being misused. With this in mind, Central 46 (the equivalent of the governing body and High Court of Soul Society) found it easy to condemn him for the crime of turning his fellow officers into Hollows. Sentenced to exile and having his powers stripped, he and Tessai Tsukabishi (who was tried and found guilty of using forbidden techniques while attempting to help) were rescued by Yoruichi and then hid in Karakura Town, where Urahara took it upon himself to try and stop Aizen’s schemes and cure the Vizard, as Aizen’s eight victims came to be known. He crafted untraceable gigai (artificial bodies) for all of the exiles and set to work trying to unravel what Aizen was up to.
Urahara worked out that he couldn’t afford to keep the Hougyoku and tried to destroy it, but found it indestructible. As a last ditch attempt, he sought to hide it forever by hiding it in the depths of Kuchiki Rukia’s soul after he came across her in the aftermath of her power transferral to Kurosaki Ichigo. He provided her with a gigai, in which he hid the Hougyoku, which would turn the Shinigami mortal and leave her untraceable to Soul Society while gradually turning her human. He continued to keep an eye on Rukia and Ichigo, lending his aid to them and supplying Rukia with black market goods to ‘keep her gigai functioning’ as well as selling her the mod soul Kon to occupy Ichigo’s body when he was performing his Shinigami duties. However, when Rukia was taken back to Soul Society to answer crimes of treason for giving her powers to a human, Urahara- who had been previously shown as nothing more than a shady shopkeeper surrounded in mystery- took a more active role. He used his expertise to train Ichigo into awakening his own latent Shinigami abilities and then trained him to be an adept enough warrior to storm Soul Society to rescue Rukia. Even though he was not present in the attack, his presence was still very much felt. He was able to open the way up to Ichigo and his friends to break into Soul Society and get the rescue mission underway. His best friend Yoruichi took over Ichigo’s training in the secret room that Urahara had built for them both in their youth, and used his methods to bring Ichigo up to Bankai (the most powerful state for a Shinigami) in record time.
When Aizen’s betrayal is revealed, and Urahara’s part in it is exposed by extension, Urahara appears genuinely remorseful for the trouble he has caused, admitting that he did not tell Ichigo the extent of his involvement for fear that it would cause the boy to balk at the task ahead. On the night when Grand Fisher (the Hollow who killed Ichigo’s mother) returns to Karakura to get revenge with his newly acquired Arrancar powers, Urahara witnesses Kurosaki Isshin take revenge for his wife’s murder, suggesting that Urahara has been aware of Ichigo’s potential for far longer than was initially presumed. With the threat of Aizen growing daily, Urahara once again took up the role of teacher, supervising the training of both Abarai Renji and Sado Yasutora in his store’s secret basement in order to combat the threat posed by Aizen and his Arrancar forces after both Ichigo and Chad were easily defeated. His and Yoruichi’s interference was enough to cause Ulquiorra Cifer and Yammy Riyalgo to retreat during the initial Arrancar infiltration of Karakura town. He was also enough to fend off further attack when they returned to provide a distraction for Inoue Orihime’s abduction to Hueco Mudo (literally 'Hollow World,' a space between the Living World and Soul Society where Hollow dwell).
With Ichigo, Ishida and Chad resolved to go to Hueco Mundo to rescue Orihime, Urahara was seen opening a portal called a ‘garganta’ to send them on their way, and allowing Mizuiro, Keigo and Tatsuki to witness it in the process so that they could understand what was affecting their friend and to better grasp the situation that had befallen their classmates. At this point in time, Urahara had been working with Soul Society under Soutaichou Yamamoto Genryuusai’s orders to help send more Shinigami to Hueco Mundo to help rescue Orihime and to set up defences for Karakura Town for when Aizen mounted his assault against the town in an attempt to destroy it and create a new key to the King’s Realm. Following a gruelling battle, with many serious blows dealt to the Shinigami side and Aizen’s, Urahara finally entered the battle in order to aid the remaining resisting force of just Ichigo and his father Isshin.
Urahara’s part in the battle was fundamentally what turned the tide for the Shinigami side. With the aid of Isshin and Yoruichi, he was able to land some good strong hits on Aizen while using high level kidou against him as well as many of the attacks from Benihime’s shikai. His key role in this assault was to use a brand new kidou attack against Aizen, which he was able to execute successfully by distracting his opponent with an advanced level 90 kidou attack . However, Urahara's new kidou did not seem to have any effect. Aizen had managed to absorb the Hougyoku and as a result had become considerably stronger. With this increase in strength, Aizen was able to temporarily knock the trio unconscious, leaving for the real Karakura with Ichimaru Gin. Ichigo and Isshin gave chase. Urahara was not beaten, however, and he returned to confront his enemy after Ichigo had managed to deal a decisive blow to him using his newly acquired Mugetsu form. The seemingly ineffectual kidou that Urahara had developed specifically with sealing the Hogyoku and Aizen in mind finally activated due to Aizen's greatly weakened state and the will of the Hogyoku, leaving Aizen to curse Urahara and question his loyalties to the Soul King, against whom the turncoat captain had been waging his war.
[A more comprehensive history for the character can be found here, although I am disregarding anime continuity as I am taking him strictly from the manga.]
Personality:
At first glance, Urahara Kisuke will come off as an affable, facetious man. He’s outwardly cheerful, polite to a fault, but it could be difficult to tell whether he is being sincere or not. While he is a very laid back, easy going character, his harmless slacker appearance and demeanour is actually a very convincing facade that he presents to the world to detract from the fact that he is, in fact, the very antithesis of harmless.
Urahara can be manipulative, deceptive and downright immoral at times, due in part to his brilliant mind and sometimes ruthless pursuit of scientific development. He very much operates according to his own agenda, as can be seen from his use of Kuchiki Rukia as a vessel to hide the Hogyoku without her knowledge or consent. He hides these duplicitous aspects of his character by playing aloof and somewhat simple minded to the casual observer. This provides a very convincing cover for his shrewd and calculating personality, and many people are unable to distinguish what he is thinking; it is arguable that Yoruichi is the only one capable of seeing right through him. He is a genius, but he is also incredibly laid back most of the time and downright lazy for the rest of it. He claims to be ‘a mere honest, handsome and perverted business man,’ but has been known to overcharge for services rendered, as is shown with his behaviour towards Rukia.
Urahara will likely present an image of a simple, carefree man, but it will mainly serve as camouflage to disguise his true intent from friend and foe alike. He will try to seem flaky and lazy at work, and will doubtlessly be hiding his true nature to discover the city’s- and the people’s- more interesting qualities and secrets. He will avoid conflict if he can, but is more than capable of kicking ass and taking names in a fight, especially if he regards it as his fight. While he is not shown to be the most ruthless of the fighters in the series, he is resourceful and decisive in battle; he makes his attacks diligently, and does not only rely on his sword’s abilities but his other skills such as kidou. Even in battle he continues to hide behind fronts, a fact which Aizen called both he and Yoruichi out for as they seemed to be making a great show of bickering in front of him to provide what he believed to be a distraction.
It is interesting to note that Urahara very rarely loses his composure. There have only been three examples of him losing his cool in the ten year course of the manga; these have been when he interrupted a Captain’s meeting with concerns about his Lieutenant Sarugaki Hiyori, when he was being accused for playing a part in turning the Vizard into Hollows by Central 46 and when Yoruichi was in danger of being injured by Aizen during the battle in Fake Karakura. This suggests that even the seemingly unflappable Urahara can be affected by things that are beyond his control and concern for his comrades and loved ones.
Extra:
Character Abilities:
Urahara is a magnificent chess master with a brilliant mind; one is never quite sure what he’s thinking or just how far ahead of you he has thought, but his mind and wits alone are enough to make him a worthy opponent. When this particular trait is taken into consideration along with his formidable combat abilities, you would find yourself with a very dangerous and unpredictable adversary should you choose to engage him in battle.
Urahara is well heeled in the arts of the Gotei 13, that is to say he is able to use the four basic fighting styles required of Shinigami to a high level of efficiency; these are sword fighting (zanjutsu), high speed fighting movements (hohou), hand to hand combat (hakuda) and advanced spells requiring strong spiritual power (kidou). It is arguable that his speciality is in Zanjutsu, as it is in this area he coaches Kurosaki Ichigo and displays unbelievable skill- just hearing that Ichigo was trained by Urahara is enough for seasoned Shinigami (soul reaper) opponents to take the pupil seriously as a real threat. Urahara's former position as a captain means that he is possessed of very strong reiatsu (spiritual power), and is very good at keeping that reiatsu hidden. As a former member of the Second Division, he is adept at hand-to-hand combat and is able to defeat strong opponents with one hand only (as is shown in the Maggot’s Nest in the Turn Back the Pendulum arc). While his physical prowess is implied to be great, it seems that his preferred style of fighting is using his Zanpakutou (soul slayer).
Urahara’s Zanpakuto Benihime is one of his strongest weapons, and is quite possibly the strongest, as her full potential has yet to be elaborated on in canon. Usually she is disguised as a shikomizue (sword cane), but takes the form of a guard-less katana with a bent handle when in shikai (inital release form), and Urahara himself describes her as ‘not nice’. Her abilities are not fully disclosed, but she is a very powerful weapon and is capable of holding off high class Arrancar in her shikai form alone while other Shinigami of Captain level reiatsu are forced to draw on their bankai (second- and most powerful- release form) to defeat opponents several levels lower. From what is known about his bankai, it’s not ‘suited for training people or lending them strength,’ implying that it could be an extremely dangerous and/or powerful technique. Benihime’s abilities are as follows:
Nake, Benihime (啼け紅姫, Sing, Crimson Princess): Benihime fires off destructive blasts of bright red energy.
Chikasumi no Tate (血霞の盾, Blood Mist Shield): Benihime’s defensive ability. It is initiated with the same command as the offensive ability above, yet takes the form of a hexagonal crimson shield that is able to withstand powerful attacks.
Shibari, Benihime (縛り紅姫, Binding, Crimson Princess): This ability condenses the energy from Benihime into the form of a net, which Urahara is able to manipulate into trapping his opponent.
Hiasobi, Benihime (火遊紅姫, Fire-Playing, Crimson Princess): Explosive fireballs are fired from Benihime’s tip, which when combined with Shibari, Benihime creates...
Juzutsunagi (数珠繋, Beaded Mesh): The combination of Shibari, Benihime and Hiasobi, Benihime creates a vast explosion of great destructive power.
Aside from being a very capable fighter, Urahara is also something of a genius. He was the founder of the Department of Research and Development and has invented many remarkable gadgets and doohickeys such as the inflatable gigai (an artificial body in which the soul of a shinigami can reside during time in the living world), the tenshintai (a bankai training doll that, when stabbed with a Zanpakutou, forcibly draws out the Zanpakutou's spirit and gives it material form), and... the Hougyoku, which is a device Urahara invented to break down the barriers between Shinigami and Hollow powers, and is otherwise known as the key plot device which has enabled Aizen to mount his attack against the forces of Soul Society by creating the Arrancar (Hollows who have gained Shinigami like abilities through removing their masks). In short, it appears as though every bad thing that has gone wrong is due largely in part to the work of Urahara Kisuke.
Possessions: The clothes on his back, and his Zanpakutou Benihime. He will be distraught at the loss of his hat; its status is unknown after the last battle
Anything else: Nope!
Samples:
Action/Communication thread/post sample: Here.
Log/Prose sample: For a moment, everything was still.
This almost unearthly calm extended to Urahara Kisuke, bruised and battered though he was. He was pretty sure that one of his ribs was broken; it hurt to breathe on his left side. Some well applied healing kidou would soon sort that out, he supposed. After the pummelling he had taken, he was certainly due a trip to see Unohana-san or one of her underlings in the Fourth Division. He would certainly be headed there before too long, even if it wasn't for himself. Yoruichi had taken quite a pummelling. He would make sure that she was seen to, and even if by some chance her wounds were superficial there was an excellent possibility that she would be waiting for news on Soi Fong. If he were being sensible- a habit that Urahara very rarely fell into- he would be headed in that direction right now.
Instead, after Kurosaki Ichigo had hurriedly returned to Soul Society to ensure that everyone was safe, Urahara found himself walking around the silent, empty shell of Fake Karakura looking for a green and white striped bucket hat.
It had fallen as a casualty of the battle, and despite the fact that there were surely more important things to be doing than the mundane task of sifting through the debris of a partly destroyed replica of the town that had been his home for the better part of a century, Urahara found himself looking for his hat. He was treating the quest as something of an exercise in the mundane. It was, after all, the first time in a century that he had set out to do something without the formerly omnipresent threat of Aizen Sousuke hanging over his head. It was strange, to think that after so long, this particular chapter of his life was now closed, and a new one was beginning. He didn't believe for one moment that Aizen was out of the picture permanently; Central 46 still had their ruling to pass after all, and Urahara was a cynical man for all of his outwardly sunny disposition. Besides that, Central 46 had yet to redeem themselves in his eyes for refusing to believe him or look objectively at the evidence during that sham of a trial which had seen him , and his dearest friends, exiled. And Aizen still had an axe to grind against the Soul King. It would be foolish to underestimate the man, even if he was now awaiting a very long stint in Hell, seemingly defeated.
Kisuke would be waiting. Again. Kurosaki Ichigo may no longer have had the power to stand up against him, should Aizen return, but Urahara was not out of resources yet. It was time to regroup, rebuild, and resume.
But first, he would need his hat.
The only sound that broke the eerie silence was the surprisingly cheery chiming of what sounded like a xylophone or... a music box perhaps? The tune was pretty, surprisingly cheerful and delicate amidst the destruction. Urahara's geta clacked in time to the music, betting with himself about the odds of finding the hat or the source of the music first.