Maki Ichinose

former member of the 11th Division, under the former captain that Kenpachi Zaraki defeated and replaced.

Appearance
Maki has Raven black hair that is not parted, but a large portion of it hangs in the middle of his face. He wears the Shinigami uniform with no sleeves and a hooded shirt underneath.

History
Introduced in the anime's Bount arc, Maki belonged to the 11th Division until Kenpachi Zaraki killed the previous captain in a duel. Maki refused to acknowledge the new captain and left Soul Society, although he retains his Shinigami abilities. While in Soul Society, he shared many ideals with Kaname Tōsen. He then traveled the human world, but one day, while in a weakened state in a desert, he fell upon a hollow who almost killed him; the hollow was subdued by Jin Kariya, who allowed Maki to kill it. Maki swore his loyalty to Jin after that, breaking the vow only once to fight Kenpachi instead of stopping Ichigo and his friends as he was expected to.

Synopsis
When Rukia Kuchiki infiltrated the mansion, Maki was ordered to guard the prisoners. He easily deflected her kidō and was about to begin fighting when he senses Jin Kariya was in danger, and left. He killed Ryō Utagawa for betraying them, then fought Ichigo briefly.

He was responsible for deleting the information from the Department of Research and Development in the Soul Society. As a result, Mayuri Kurotsuchi was enraged and began investigated the Bounts. Little did he know however, much of the information was still in the public library, a fact discovered by Jūshirō Ukitake.

Mayuri sent his daughter, Nemu Kurotsuchi to give Uryū Ishida the Quincy Bangle so he could regain his powers. This was all part of Kariya's plan, and after opening a Senkaimon, Uryū shot it with one of his new arrows. Now, they were able to enter the Soul Society. Once there, he, Koga, and Kariya persuaded those of Kusajishi to help them open the gate to the Seireitei. After which, Kariya killed the citizens.

Maki was once again supposed to stop Ichigo Kurosaki and his friends from following Kariya. He released his Zanpakutō and began to attack the Shinigami, only to be stopped by Kenpachi Zaraki. Kenpachi goaded him into a fight, and helped Ichigo to escape. Maki nearly defeats Kenpachi with Saigyoku Nijigasumi, but Kenpachi takes off his eye patch to save himself. Out of options, he charges Kenpachi, only to get cut down.

Later, he intervenes in a fight between Ichigo and Kariya. He threatened to kill Kariya if he didn't use the power of the crest to change the Soul Society for the better. Annoyed, Kariya impales Maki and kills him. His Zanpakutō is left behind, which acts as a lightning rod, saving Ichigo from a lethal attack.

Powers & Abilities
Despite not belonging to or having a rank in the Gotei 13, Maki is a Captain-level fighter. This is proven when he fights on equal footing with Ichigo Kurosaki, and when he crosses swords with Tōshirō Hitsugaya; neither Ichigo nor Maki are able to push each other back.

Expert Swordsmanship Specialist: Due to constant training, Maki was capable of holding his own against Kenpachi Zaraki for a short while.

Flash Steps Expert: Ichinose has considerable speed, as shown when he was able to fight on equal footing with Ichigo while using Flash Steps.

Kidō Expert: While it is unknown how well-versed in this art Maki was, he was able to use this skill to create a passage for the Bount to safely enter the Soul Society (albiet it still required Quincy powers to complete it).

Immense Spiritual Pressure: Appearing to be multicolored, Maki's spiritual pressure was on par with Kenpachi's during their battle (though Kenpachi kept his eyepatch on throughout most of their fight). Using Saigyoku Nijigasumi, this is heightened.

Zanpakutō

 * an average katana with a simple rectangular handguard with a circle around the blade and two inward curved lines stretching to each corner the long way and greyish-blue hilt.


 * Shikai: It is activated by the command..


 * Shikai Special Ability: When Nijigasumi is drenched with his spiritual energy it is able to create limitless amounts of light. When Nijigasumi shines it melds with all other light. When he releases it he can use that light to take control of shadows and attack his opponent with them. Nijigasumi's ability also allows it to manipulate light for other various effects, such as:


 * Invisibility: Ability to make Maki invisible to the naked eye, by surrounding him with light.


 * Blinding Light: Ability to create a large area of bright around opponents disrupting their visual perceptions, causing confusion and decreasing their chance to fight back against attack.


 * Illusions: Ability to use light to alter another's perceptions, allowing him to make his opponent see what he wants him to see.


 * Blade of Light: Dissolves his actual blade and replaces it with a blade made of pure light. If the blade is broken it can completely covers it to allow the battle to continue.


 * Causes a multitude of twinkling lights to appear which then form together around an opponent creating a huge sphere which engulfs everything within a significant radius. Anyone within that radius will potentially get caught in it. Immediately following that the sphere collapses in on itself using the compressed light to crush everything within it.


 * Bankai: Not Achieved

Trivia

 * Despite being a former member of the 11th Division, Ichinose's Zanpakutō is based heavily on Kido. This is most likely because the rule of using Zanpakutō only for combat did not apply until Kenpachi Zaraki became Captain, which was when he decided to make that rule for the 11th Division.
 * Ichinose's loyalty to Kariya is akin to Ulquiorra Cifer's loyalty to Sosuke Aizen. Another similarity between the two and their relationship to their masters is that both their masters did not really care for them, and simply used them as a pawn in their ultimate goal.

Navigation
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