Mashiro Kuna

This article is about the Ninth Division Lieutenant Mashiro Kuna. For the SRDI researcher, see Niko Kuna.

is the co-lieutenant of the 9th Division, currently under Kensei Muguruma and is currently a member of the Visored.

Appearance
Mashiro's appearance is that of a young woman with hazel eyes. She wears a white bodysuit with orange gloves, boots and scarf, along with a set of goggles atop her lime green hair. Her overall style of dress is reminiscent of the costumes worn by the Tokusatsu superheroes in late 1970s Japanese television shows.

During her time in Soul Society, she wore the standard Shinigami robes, though her sleeves were very long. She also wore a pink scarf and a pair of glasses perched atop of her hair, which was wavier then.

Seventeen months after the defeat of Sōsuke Aizen and having returned to Soul Society, Mashiro's hair is much longer. She wears the standard Shinigami shihakusho, while keeping her goggles, orange gloves and boots from her time in the Human World. She also wears a custom made badge on her arm that has a 9 on it and the word Super.

Personality
Despite having formerly attained a position in the elite Gotei 13, Mashiro has very childish and immature mannerisms. She is portrayed as rather flighty and rarely takes note of the bigger picture around her. She is prone to throwing fits over the smallest of things, such as Orihime Inoue befriending Hachigen Ushōda or when Kensei insisted on following his subordinates into battle. Her childish personality frequently irritates her Captain Kensei, causing him to question why he kept her as a lieutenant at the time; he has noted she is capable of annoying him even while asleep.

She often calls Ichigo "Berry-tan" (Berry Boy in the English manga, Carrot-Top in the English dub anime), a play on Ichigo's name. She seems to be good friends with Hachi, instantly disliking it when Orihime befriends him.

In battle, she is somewhat more serious though, acting slightly like a superhero while attacking and after winning.

The Thousand-Year Blood War arc
While in a forest outside Seireitei, Captain Kensei Muguruma hosts a training session for Shūhei Hisagi. Kensei then commands Shūhei to use his Bankai stating that they are in need of people capable of using Bankai in case of Kensei's Bankai being stolen. Mashiro leaps out and at Kensei's command, she dons her Hollow mask. As Shūhei protests, Mashiro attacks him and tells Hisagi that he should not disobey her as she is the "super lieutenant."

Powers & Abilities
Hakuda Master: Mashiro's primary method of combat revolves around various powerful kicks, which she excels at. While in the advanced state of Hollowfication, Mashiro proved to be quite aggressive as well as highly proficient in hand-to-hand combat. She demonstrates her skill and agility in this area by launching a devastating attack against 3rd Division Captain Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi.


 * Mashiro perform a front kick. This technique proved powerful enough to shatter the masks of multiple Gillians while Mashiro was wearing her Hollow mask.


 * After crouching, Mashiro performs a powerful upward kick. This technique was potent enough to instantly kill the giant Hollow creature Hooleer while Mashiro was wearing her Hollow mask.


 * Mashiro drops feet-first downward upon her target from above with enough force to crater the ground and destroy the surrounding area upon impact.

High Spiritual Power: Mashiro possesses Lieutenant-level Reiryoku. Being a Visored, Mashiro possesses a dual type spiritual energy, part Shinigami and part Hollow.

Zanpakutō
Mashiro's Zanpakutō is an average sized katana with a green hilt-wrapping, rectangular tsuba with circles on each corner of the rectangle, and silver sheath. During her Shinigami days she wore it by her waist like many others, but as a Visored she carries it around in her hands. Excluding holding down the Hollowfied Ichigo to prevent him from killing Hiyori, she has never used her Zanpakutō. While fighting the Gillians in Fake Karakura Town, she discards her still sheathed Zanpakutō and engages the Gillians unarmed.


 * Shikai: Not Revealed


 * Bankai: Not Yet Achieved

Hollowfication
Hollow Mask: Her Hollow Mask takes the form of a hornet or bee. Compared to the other Visored, Mashiro is uniquely in touch with her inner Hollow; from the start of her Hollowfication, she was able to maintain her Hollow Mask for fifteen hours without practice of any kind, which in turn meant that she did not have to train to maintain the mask like her fellow Visored. However, this seems to be under unique circumstances outside of battle. Against opponents of higher caliber, her time limit is considerably shorter, proven when her mask shatters during her battle with Wonderweiss Margela.


 * Power Augmentation: While wearing the mask, Mashiro's Hollow powers supplement her Shinigami powers, giving her a vast increase in both strength and speed. The transformation gives her legs great strength and speed. While in Visored form, her attacks seem to focus almost exclusively on powerful kicks.


 * Enhanced Strength: This increase in power and style is carried over to her Visored powers, as shown by the fact that she can break a Gillian mask and destroy Hooleer, both in a single kick.


 * Enhanced Durability: With her mask on, Mashiro becomes more durable, shown when she is thrown across several city blocks and comes out from the attack relatively unscathed.


 * Mashiro can fire a very fast lime-green Cero by kicking in the air towards her target. The Cero is wide and follows the arc made by her leg during the kicking motion.

Hollowfied Form: When transformed into a Hollow, her mask remains the same as in her Visored form, instead of covering her entire head as it usually does with a normal Hollow transformation. Her legs are transformed, gaining an insect- like appearance.


 * Enhanced Speed: Her transformation allowed her to possess increased speed.


 * Enhanced Strength: Her transformation allowed her to possess increased strength.

Appearances in Other Media

 * In Heat the Soul 7, Mashiro can don her Hollow mask in battle. While wearing her Hollow mask, she utilizes her "Mashiro Super Cero" as one of her special attacks.
 * She features in the fourth volume of Bleach "B" Station's fifth season.
 * BuriCon - Bleach Concept Covers features Mashiro performing "Tabidatsu Kimi e" alongside Lisa Yadōmaru and Hiyori Sarugaki.

Trivia

 * Mashiro was voted the 40th most popular Shinigami character in the fifth character popularity poll.

Quotes

 * (To Kensei Muguruma) "Bahhhhhh! What are you, Kensei, stupid~? How long d'you think I can stay in Hollow form for, huh?! It's fifteen hours, okay? Fifteen hours! I could stay like this right into the night if I wanted to!"


 * (To Wonderweiss Margela) "How dare you. You ruined my precious scarf! I'm not forgiving you now!!"


 * (To Kensei Muguruma) "K... Kensei...... Are you gonna... avenge me......? Heheh..."

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