Grimmjow

Grimmjow Jeagerjaques or Jaegerjaques (グリムジョー・ジャガージャック) is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Bleach created by Tite Kubo. He is an arrancar in Sōsuke Aizen's army, and the 6th Espada. He was recently voted the 4th most popular Bleach character in the latest Shonen Jump polls after receiving 4987 votes.

Conception and development
In a recent issue of Shonen Jump, Tite Kubo said the character's name stems from Nicholas Grimshaw, an architect.

Character outline
Grimmjow has light blue hair and eyes, which have blue/green lines below them similar to the eye markings on the Panthera genus of cats as well as the red marks on Ikkaku Madarame's eyes. Grimmjow's attire consists of a white hakama and a black sash; his white jacket is ragged with an upturned collar. The inner lining is black, the sleeves are rolled up, and Grimmjow wears it open, leaving his chest revealed. The remains of his hollow mask consist of the right jawbone, and his hollow hole has moved to his abdomen.

Grimmjow appears to be a laid back and irreverent individual at first glance, but this scruffy exterior hides an impulsive, excessively violent personality and a lethally short temper. Grimmjow is blunt, rude, and quite sadistic, revealing a psychotic grin whenever he becomes excited, much like Kenpachi Zaraki. He displays little respect for authority and says whatever is on his mind, regardless of whether or not it is appropriate. This attitude leads to conflicts with Kaname Tōsen, who holds Grimmjow in the same low regard as he did Zaraki. He also has conflicts with Ulquiorra Schiffer, the 4th Espada, usually because Ulquiorra interrupts his battles or otherwise clashes with Grimmjow's ideals, and confidently believes Ulquiorra's powers to be weaker than his, a point he is eager to make clear to him. He additionally develops a grudge against Ichigo Kurosaki for wounding him during their first and second fights, and is eager to return the favor. He purposefully kept the large scar on his chest from their first battle as a reminder of this. Grimmjow is also infuriated by Ichigo's belief that he can defeat him regardless of how badly he is injured, which Grimmjow sees as Ichigo looking down on him.

Grimmjow is the Sexta Espada in Sōsuke Aizen's army of arrancar, meaning he is ranked sixth in terms of strength. Grimmjow was the first character to be revealed as an Espada in the series. A crooked number 6 is tattooed on his back just above and to the right of his hollow hole, personally placed on him by Aizen as a mark of his rank and ability among the Espada. After Kaname Tōsen cuts off and burns his arm, Grimmjow is demoted and quickly replaced by Luppi, much to his annoyance. After Orihime Inoue heals his arm, he brutally butchers Luppi to regain his rank, impaling him on his newly restored arm and then vaporizing Luppi's torso with a cero blast.

Grimmjow is a very rude and disrespectful character. He uses none of the honorifics in the Japanese language, except when addressing Aizen (though he is quick to discard the formality when Aizen is not around), and refers to Orihime as woman in conversation. However, he does appear to have some sort of a code of honor, as he is unwilling to fight an injured Ichigo, bringing Orihime to heal him beforehand so their battle will be a fair one. He also saves Orihime from two female arrancar beating her to repay the debt of restoring his arm, though he immediately asks for another favor afterwards. Despite his aggression and obvious bloodlust in battle, he possesses a feral cunning and has a knack for quickly exploiting any opening his opponent reveals.

History
Before Grimmjow became an arrancar, he was a panther-like adjuchas-class menos. At one point, he met up with Shawlong Koufang, Edrad Liones, Yylfordt Granz, Nakeem, and Di Roy while attacking the latter. Shawlong suggested that Grimmjow lead their group in their quest to evolve into vasto lordes, offering to follow him as their "king" should he accept. When Shawlong realized that their evolution could go no further, he asked Grimmjow to 'devour' them, which in context referred to only a piece of them being eaten. Grimmjow, calling them cowards, did as asked. When they were all turned into arrancar by Aizen, the five acted as Grimmjow's Fracción.

Synopsis
Grimmjow is first introduced scolding Ulquiorra Schiffer for not killing Ichigo Kurosaki, believing that he might become a threat in the future, and, to rectify Ulquiorra's "mistake", leads his Fracción to Karakura Town in an unauthorized mission to kill anyone with even the slightest spiritual pressure. While his team is defeated, Grimmjow himself is able to defeat Ichigo with relative ease, only suffering injury from Ichigo's desperate black getsuga tenshō attack. Kaname Tōsen interrupts and brings Grimmjow back to be punished. When Aizen refuses to punish Grimmjow, Kaname severs and incinerates Grimmjow's arm so he would be demoted.

During the next invasion, which Aizen personally sends Grimmjow on, Grimmjow tracks down and fights Ichigo once more. Ichigo's newly-gained vizard powers give him the upper hand at first, but his inexperience with his new powers and inability to maintain the mask for very long leads to his defeat. Shinji Hirako arrives to rescue him, proving more than a match for the injured Grimmjow. Before Grimmjow releases his true form, Grimmjow is forced into retreat by Ulquiorra before a victor can be decided.

Once back in Las Noches, Aizen has Orihime Inoue restore Grimmjow's arm as a demonstration of her power. Grimmjow has her bring back his Espada tattoo, as well, and kills Luppi to regain his rank once she finishes. After learning about Ichigo's defeat by Ulquiorra, Grimmjow makes Orihime heal Ichigo so they can battle once more, ending in Grimmjow's defeat. Grimmjow rises once more to challenge Ichigo, but Nnoitra Jiruga strikes him down. Nnoitra tries to finish off Grimmjow, but Ichigo protects him.

Abilities
Grimmjow is the Sexta Espada, making him the sixth most powerful arrancar under Aizen's control. Aside from his zanpakutō, he has demonstrated no unique personal abilities, but makes liberal use of the generic hollow abilities, such as cero, which he fires from his palm, when in combat. As an Espada, he is able to use the Espada-exclusive attack, Gran Rey Cero, which produces a larger and more powerful version of the normal cero. He is fairly powerful for his rank, able to at the very least fight on par with and subdue Ulquiorra, two ranks higher than he.

Pantera
The name of Grimmjow's zanpakutō is Pantera (豹王（パンテラ）). His zanpakutō's tsuba resembles a crooked "S", while the sheath and handle are light blue. The release command for his zanpakutō is "grind" (軋れ).

After releasing his zanpakutō, Grimmjow's appearance becomes feline and predatory, taking on features such as jagged teeth, clawed hands, paws for feet, and a tail that can be used as a powerful whip. His hair becomes long and flowing, and his eye markings enlarge, extending to the tips of his ears, which also become cat-like. He loses his trademark jaw mask, which is replaced by a sort of crown on his forehead. His clothing changes to a form-fitting white outfit covered in stripes, similar to his original hollow form.

Aside from his already impressive speed and power, Grimmjow's released state augments his speed drastically and gives him animal-like agility and movements to match. When released, he can roar loudly enough to create shockwaves in the air. He can also fire a large number of "darts" from his elbows with enough force to demolish large buildings, as well as creating long energy claws called Desgarrón (豹王の爪（デスガロン）) from his fingertips, which is his strongest attack.

Appearances in other media
Grimmjow is a playable character in several different fighting games, and also has his own character album as part of the Bleach Beat Collection 3rd Session. The two vocal tracks are entitled BrEaK and Six feelings.

Notes and references
Bleach Grimmjow Jeaguerjaques Grimmjow Jeagerjaques Grimmjow Jeagerjaques Grimmjow Jaggerjack Grimmjow Jeagerjaques