Shrieker

is a Hollow born from a serial killer. He was defeated by Ichigo Kurosaki and sent to Hell.

Appearance
Shrieker has features resembling a frog and retractable bat wings on his arms. He has fur on his head and shoulders, and a skullish face, common of a Hollow.

Personality
Shrieker is a Hollow with high intelligence. Like many other Hollows, he is driven to kill; however, he also reveals that he was a serial killer before he died. He is extremely manipulative and sadistic, as he lies to Yūichi Shibata that he would revive his mother if he can run away from him for 3 months, just for the pleasure of killing anyone who gets involved with him; even as a human, Shrieker savored killing as something fun, and found thrill of how Yūichi's mother desperately protected her own son from being stabbed. He also uses underhanded tactics in battle, as he threatens to blow up Yūichi's cage to prevent Yasutora Sado from giving chase while he hunts down Rukia Kuchiki.

History
About 4 or 5 years prior to encountering Ichigo Kurosaki, Shrieker was once a serial killer, that killed 7 or 8 people. He roamed around various places killing people using what looked like a butcher knife. Yūichi Shibata's mother was his last victim. He stabbed her multiple times while she protected her son, eventually following her out to the veranda. As he was about to stab her for the last time Yūichi grabbed onto his shoelaces, causing him to lose his balance and subsequently fall out of a high story window.

This event led to Shrieker's death as a Human, but also his inevitable transformation into a Hollow, still holding a grudge against Yūichi for killing him. Shrieker decided to play a game with Yūichi, taking his soul out of his body, and placing it inside a parakeet. He told the boy that if he could run away from the Hollow in his current form for 3 months, he would restore his mother to life. Shrieker only started the game to gain more victims as no Hollow or other creature can restore life to someone who has died.

Attempting to save the boy's soul, two Shinigami were already eaten by Shrieker.

Agent of the Shinigami arc
Eventually the bird storing Yūichi's soul comes into Chad's ownership. Over the next day, Shrieker repeatedly attacks Chad in discreet ways such as dropping a steel beam on him, aiming a motorcycle at him and later involving him in a traffic accident.

Soon after, Shrieker injures Chad while he continues protecting the bird. While pursuing him, he comes into conflict with Rukia Kuchiki, who had been trying to help Chad. Deciding to eat her, Shrieker attacks but fails to kill her with the first blow. As she fights back with Kidō, Shrieker realizes she's a Shinigami. Claiming to have already eaten two Shinigami who tried to help the parakeet, Shrieker offers to tell her why he's after it if she lets him eat her. Pinning Rukia to the wall, Shrieker asks why she hasn't shed her Gigai, after which he is immediately punched by Chad. Realizing Chad can't actually see him, Shrieker takes to the sky, but is knocked down quickly by Chad who hits him with an electrical pole.

When it seems like he would be defeated, Shrieker gains the upper hand thanks to his Targets, having them pin Rukia and Chad to the ground. As he is about to devour them, Chad breaks free and helps Rukia do so too by kicking the Targets off her, much to Shrieker's surprise. As he takes to the skies again, Rukia teams up with Chad and launches herself at him. Feigning defeat, Shrieker causes her to plummet down through the use of his leeches, which subsequently explode. Though Chad prepares to retaliate, Shrieker reveals he's captured the parakeet, forcing Chad not to move. Rukia attempts to escape, causing him to start chasing her around, all the while injuring her with his leeches.

Soon after, Ichigo Kurosaki arrives and takes over the fight. As the two battle, Ichigo soon puts his Zanpakutō to Shrieker's head, asking him if he was the one who killed Yūichi's mother. Shrieker tells Ichigo his story as well as his subsequent game with Yūichi, lamenting how he was unable to kill his victim's child before death, but expressing joy about killing those two tried to help the parakeet. Ripping out his tongue, Ichigo then defeats the Hollow, cutting his head in two. However, unlike most Hollows that are cleansed of all sins upon purification, Shrieker's great sins as a Human cause the gates of Hell to open and take him inside.

Equipment

 * Knife: While he was still alive as a human, Shrieker wielded a chef's knife wrapped in gauze, to carry out his serial killings.

Powers and Abilities



 * Shrieker can control little creatures he describes as his Target. These creatures are Shrieker's primary weapon against his opponents, and can hold someone of Rukia's strength down (while in her Gigai). At first glance they seem like miniature Hollows, but they are merely creations from Shrieker's own body like secretions. They cannot feel pain and have some willpower.


 * : The creatures can also shoot leeches out of their heads that attach to anything they hit.

Since the leeches reside inside of the creatures Shrieker creates, when using his tongue's vibrations the creatures can also explode, but only upon being cut.

Flight: Using his wings Shrieker can fly in order to escape enemies, staying just out of reach, or to gain the advantage by shooting Targets from afar.

Appearances in Other Media
Shrieker and his Targets, who in the game are called "Familiars," appear as minor enemies and playable characters in Bleach: Dark Souls. One of his attacks allows him to summon up to 3 Targets. Shrieker and his Targets also appear in Bleach: The 3rd Phantom as minor enemies; however, his Targets act as normal Hollows instead of being spawned from him, and Shrieker is renamed Screamer.

4th Movie Tie-in
In Episode 299, a special episode designed to promote the 4th Bleach movie, Bleach: The Hell Verse, Shrieker makes a comeback in the form of a Togabito. As a Togabito, Shrieker was stronger than he was when he was a Hollow, possessing new abilities as well, such as speed able to catch an officer-level Shinigami off-guard, and concealing his Explosive Leeches in his body and firing them through the wrappings of his arm as explosive projectiles. He attacks and devours several Shinigami in Karakura Town until he comes across Rukia Kuchiki, who was the object of his vendetta. He severely wounds Zennosuke Kurumadani and Rukia but Renji Abarai's Bankai abilities prove too strong for him and he is then slashed by Rukia. As he falls to the ground he opens up a portal and disappears back into Hell while promising to return and finish his revenge. It is later revealed his arrival in the Human World was an experiment conducted by a much stronger Togabito, Gunjō. The experiment was declared a success and Shrieker was silenced since he was no longer of use.

Censorship

 * When Shrieker's leeches explode, they produced blood. In the anime however, green fluid is produced instead.
 * When Ichigo Kurosaki first engaged Shrieker, he slashed the Hollow's neck and left shoulder. In the anime however, Shrieker wasn't shown to be wounded despite Ichigo drawing blood from him.
 * During a flashback, when Shrieker killed Yūichi Shibata's mother, she was bleeding from the stab wounds on her back while protecting her son, with blood with visible when the former killed her completely. In the anime however, all the aforementioned blood was omitted.
 * Shrieker's teeth are less broken in the anime, with his tongue not being visible, compared to the manga after Ichigo shoves the Hollow's leeches back into the former's mouth.
 * Despite Ichigo and Shrieker's silhouettes being shown, in both manga and anime, Shrieker's severed tongue wasn't producing blood or shown as much in the anime as it was in the manga, when Ichigo ripped it out of the Hollow's mouth.
 * In the manga, after Ichigo ripped out Shrieker's tongue, he impaled his leg, which the latter proceeded to sever before attempting to flee before being slain by Ichigo. In the anime however, this was all omitted.
 * When Shrieker was impaled by the Kushanāda and dragged into hell, he wasn't bleeding profusely in the anime, compared to the manga.

Trivia

 * Shrieker's bounty was set at 5000 Kan, as seen when Rukia attempts to pay for her items at the Urahara Shop through bounty rewards. This scene is omitted from the anime.

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