Kensei Muguruma

is a Vizard and a previous Captain in the Gotei 13. He served as the 9th Division Captain with his lieutenant, Mashiro Kuna.

Appearance
Kensei is a tall, muscular man with sharp features, short light-gray/silver hair and golden eyes (brown in the anime). He has a 69 tattoo on his chest (the "6" for his last name, "Muguruma", which uses the kanji for "6" in it; the "9" for 9th Division). He wears a blue and white trimmed A-shirt with green cargo pants as well as black combat boots and orange fingerless gloves.He has also acquired a series of golden piercings in his time as a Vizard, one in his eyebrow and three on his left ear. When he was a captain, he wore a standard but customized shihakusho, that exposed his chest with a rope belt and a sleeveless haori with fingerless black gloves that extend up the forearm.

Personality
Kensei is portrayed as a much more mature, serious, and decisive individual, though he is easily annoyed and rather temperamental, often to a fault. He is also greatly annoyed by the very concept of immaturity, evident when Orihime infiltrates the Vizard's hideout, asking where the bathroom is and subsequently saying "just kidding", resulting in Lisa Yadōmaru and Love Aikawa calming him down. A skilled and respected battlefield commander, he has a rather brutal fighting style, and quite often blasts his opponents apart.

When not fighting, he has a blunt and slightly aggressive attitude, trying to cheer up a tearful Hisagi in a manner reminiscent of an army drill sergeant by yelling at him to "Cheer up, dammit!!", though he seems more passive and somewhat melancholic as a Vizard. He is most frequently irritated by his former lieutenant Mashiro Kuna, due to her childish manner, and once noted that she had the uncanny ability to aggravate him even when asleep. Despite this, and though he says otherwise, Kensei does care for Mashiro to some degree, as shown when he blocked Wonderweiss' attacks for her. Kensei is also quite analytical when watching a fight, noticing just how scared Ichigo was to call out his hollow mask.

History
Approximately 110 years ago, Kensei was the captain of the 9th Division, with Mashiro Kuna serving as his lieutenant. He attended the promotion ceremony of the 2nd Division's 3rd Seat Kisuke Urahara to 12th Division Captain. 9 years later Kensei is sent alongside his lieutenant Mashiro Kuna and his 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th seats; to investigate the mysterious disappearances in Rukongai. Mashiro constantly complains about the fact that they have to investigate something and not even know what they have to investigate, noting that a vanguard of 10 others were already sent prior to their arrival. Her incessant whining only irritates Kensei forcing his subordinates to physically restrain him from attacking her. Kensei plainly tells her that she wasn't even asked to come along, and tells her to just go home. She responds that she is his lieutenant so she has to follow him. She then falls down on the ground and goes into a temper tantrum, screaming about how hungry she is. Kensei decides to ignore her. Kensei is then alerted by a hollow attack. Kensei and his men proceed to attack the large hollow to protect the citizens of the Rukongai. Kensei releases his Shikai and completely obliterates the hollow. He notices a small boy on the ground near him and tries to cheer the crying boy up, though in a commanding and somewhat hostile way. He asks the boy his name and the boy tells him that he is Shūhei Hisagi, whose family had apparently been killed by a giant hollow. Kensei then addresses Mashiro who while absent from the battle finds 10 empty shihakusho close to where the hollow creature attacked. Kensei ponders what could have possibly happened to the men that wore the shihakusho. He then gives orders to his men to contact central command, request a researcher from the 12th Division and then has his men set up a camp for the night. Kensei resolves that if there is someone or something attacking the Shinigami they will eventually go after the Seireitei and that whoever or whatever it may be, must be stopped before then. When his 5th seat, Kaname Tōsen asks what he should do, Kensei tells him to come along with him to search the area.

Later that night while resting with his 3rd seat, Kasaki; he observes Mashiro sleeping soundly, much to his annoyance. Kensei states he can't fathom how she is able to sleep during such tension. When Kensei tries to fix her shirt so that she isn't exposing herself, she calls him a pervert, though she is somewhat still asleep. Which makes Kensei note that she is even annoying while asleep. He and Kasaki then hear a scream, and run out of the tent to assess the situation. He sees all of his men lying on the ground and notices his Sixth Seat still standing. Kensei immediately assumes it was Todo responsible for killing the others, but just then Todo also falls to the ground. He tells Kasaki to watch his back and yells for Mashiro to wake up, but before he realizes it Kasaki is killed. Kensei is then enveloped by a black sphere and is stabbed from behind. He turns slightly and recognizes his assailant.

Sometime later a team of various captains and lieutenants are sent to investigate the disappearance of Kensei's squad. Kensei is revealed to be the Hollowfied creature trying to attack 12th Division lieutenant, Hiyori Sarugaki. Just when he is about to deal her a devastating blow his attack is deflected by the arrival of Shinji Hirako. Upon the arrival of Love Aikawa, Rōjūrō Otoribashi, and Lisa Yadomaru a battle begins. Love goes to attack the Hollowfied Kensei but is caught off guard by his speed as he easily appears behind him. Kensei hits him with a powerful energized punch that produces a lot of smoke in it's wake, which attracts the attention of Rose and Lisa. Though when Kensei goes for a second attack Love blocks it with his sword. As the smoke clears Love has managed to withstand the attack despite a significant part of his garments being destroyed and him suffering some burns. Love calmly admits that he is strong therefore it's obviously Kensei. Lisa goes to attack Kensei alongside Rose but he is quickly taken out from behind by a Hollowfied Mashiro. While Kensei continues to fight Love it is not long before the arrival of Kidō lieutenant Hachigen Ushōda of the Kidō Corps, who uses Bakudō #63. "Sajo Sabaku" to restrain him as well. To Hachi's surprise Kensei uses the incredible strength of his new form to rip out of the ropes. Kensei then proceeds to attack Lisa totally overwhelming her until he is attacked by Rose with a Kidō blast, stated that the Kensei he knew was not the sort of 'weakling' who would attack a woman. Before Kensei can go to attack Rose, Hachi stops him by using Bakudō #99. "Kin".

The investigation team gathers after the fight and talks about the situation. It is within that moment Hiyori starts coughing and becomes Hollowfied herself. It is then that a darkness falls around the rescue squad and they are attacked by an unseen assailant.

The assailant is then found to be Tōsen, Kensei's 6th seat, who is acting under the orders of Sōsuke Aizen who is the one behind the disappearances and Hollowfication experiments. Just as Aizen gives the order to kill the Hollowfied Shinigami 12th Division captain Kisuke Urahara and Kidō captain Tessai Tsukabishi show up and save them from destruction. Aizen, Ichimaru, and Tōsen make there escape and Tessai uses Forbidden Kidō to preserve and transport them to the 12th Division barracks. In his lab, Urahara tries to reverse the process using his created item, the "Hōgyoku". Unfortunately, it ends up as a failed process, not having the desired effect Urahara expected.

The next day, Urahara and Tessai were arrested under the orders of the Central 46 Chambers. The Hollowfied Shinigami are sentenced to execution as Hollows. But before any of their sentences could be executed, both were rescued by 2nd Division captain Yoruichi Shihōin, who brings them to a secret underground area.

In the secluded area, she had also brought Kensei and the other Hollowfied Shinigami, along with the prototype for the new Gigai that Urahara was working on. With that epiphany, Urahara resolves to make ten Reiatsu-blocking Gigai to aid him, Tessai, and the eight victims to escape to the real world, where they would find a way to undo the Hollowfication process.

Arrancar arc
Kensei first appears when Ichigo Kurosaki arrives at the Vizards' warehouse, planning to "use" them to help him control his inner Hollow. Kensei watches as Ichigo and Shinji begin to fight, when Love makes note of him being scared, causing Mashiro to ask what Ichigo is scared of, Kensei explains that Ichigo is scared of his inner hollow. Kensei then makes note that fighting in a bad situation without calling on your inner Hollow is a bad idea, calling him a punk for being so weak. Shortly after Hiyori jumps into a fight with Ichigo, Kensei is standing around watching it's progress. He is alerted when Ichigo's inner hollow takes over and attacks Hiyori. He witnesses Ichigo's inner Hollow nearly choking Hiyori to death, he, as well as the other Vizard, quickly restrain Ichigo before he can kill her.

While Ichigo is training on his own, the other Vizard are sitting around. Kensei asks Lisa if she is on guard duty can she make sure to watch Ichigo. Lisa tells him that she is keeping an eye on him even though she is more concerned with reading her manga and tells Kensei to leave her alone. Kensei simply states that he knows that she isn't paying attention cause she is more concerned with reading her porn magazine.

Kensei later goes with the other Vizard down into his underground training area. While Lisa is fighting a Hollowfied Ichigo inside a barrier erected by Hachi, Kensei is counting down the minutes till it's his turn, he then asks Hachi to open the barrier. As Lisa finishes up her time fighting against the Hollowfied Ichigo, before he can attack her, Kensei steps in and attacks Ichigo, telling Lisa it's time they switch. When Ichigo gets up to attack again, Kensei takes out Tachikaze already in Shikai, and tells Ichigo he is Kensei Muguruma and he is going to kill him. Kensei stabs Ichigo in the left shoulder causing a large wound, but he then notices the wound heals and realizes it's high speed regeneration. In anticipation of further attacks Kensei uses Tachikaze's special ability, blasting Ichigo away causing his left arm to detach from his body entirely. Kensei is surprised when a hollow monster-like entity explodes out of the wound and proceeds to attack him, putting Kensei on the defensive. Kensei uses another energy blast to blow the creature up, Ichigo stands fully Hollowfied. Kensei tells him that his Hollowfication was faster then he expected.

As Love fights the possessed Ichigo, Lisa asks the other Vizard what's the longest time any of them have ever taken in the inner hollow subjugation battles. Kensei notes to her that Hiyori took sixty-nine minutes and 2 seconds and tells her that Ichigo is up to sixty-eight minutes and 44 seconds. Kensei witnesses as the hollow Ichigo prepares to fire a Cero at Love. But before the fight can go further, Ichigo's hollow form begins to rupture. Kensei looks on when Ichigo defeats his inner hollow and gains back control over his body as he passes out.

Later while Ichigo is training with Hiyori, Kensei is timing how long he can maintain his Hollow Mask. Mashiro asks why is it that Ichigo has to do this, to which Kensei explains that he has to for practice in order for him to maintain his Hollow Mask longer, telling her that she had to do it too. Mashiro simply tells him that she didn't, causing Kensei to become irritated but Shinji tells him its true. Since Mashiro could maintain her Hollow Mask for 15 hours right from the start, she alone has never had to undergo the hollow retention training. Kensei admits he had forgotten all about it. Mashiro begins to make fun of him enraging him even further causing him to have to be calmed down by Hachi.

When Hachi becomes alerted as he detects someone has slipped inside his barrier, the other Vizard are surprised. Orihime Inoue then shows up and is revealed to Hachi and the other Vizard to be the culprit. They are shown to be quite shocked to see that a simple human could perform such a feat. When Orihime makes a small joke, Kensei becomes irritated causing Lisa to ask him not to kill her. Mashiro is shown having a temper tantrum because Hachi is helping Orihime fix her powers, complaining that she is so annoying. This causes Kensei to once again become irritated, but they are both calmed down by Rose who states that it is very rare to come across others with powers similar to theirs and that he feels as though their family is growing.

Shortly after Orihime leaves, Kensei asks who Orihime was with Rose and Lisa giving their views on it. But Kensei becomes even more upset when he learns that Shinji knows who she is. Kensei later cooks dinner and tells the other Vizard it's time to eat.

Kensei is later seen leaving the warehouse with the other Vizard to fight in the upcoming conflict.

Fake Karakura Town arc
He is then seen with the rest of the Vizard arriving at the fake Karakura Town, intercepting Aizen, Gin, and Tōsen's release from Yamamoto's fire prison. When Shinji asks his fellow Vizard if they have anyone in the Gotei 13 whom they want to speak to, Kensei states that he doesn't care. When Shinji returns from speaking to Captain-Commander Yamamoto the huge hollow creature spews forth a large horde of Gillian-class Menos from its mouth, Kensei is among the Vizard when they put on their masks to prepare for battle.

Kensei stands ready for battle as the other Vizard draw their Zanpakutō and attack the Gillian. Kensei displays his increased power when he uses a multitude of punches to smash a Gillian's mask causing the hollow to explode. When another Gillian tries to attack him from behind he stabs it directly in the mask with Tachikaze and uses its special ability to blow its head up.

In his battle against the Menos, Kensei brings down scores of them in hand-to-hand combat. After killing the last Gillian, Mashiro complains that she wanted to take the last one, to which Kensei tells her to shut up as he is giving her the big one so she should quit complaining.

While Mashiro's attention is diverted, Wonderweiss awakens, prompting Kensei to yell at her trying to catch her attention. She plainly tells him that she knows and kicks Wonderweiss in the face sending him flying blocks away into the various buildings. Kensei tells her that fighting this level of opponent will quickly exhaust her. He also warns her that she better take off her mask before she runs out of time. Mashiro tells Kensei that he is dumb and he has no idea how long she can stay Hollowfied. She states that she can keep her mask on for 15 hours and thus she can keep her mask on all night. Wonderweiss and Mashiro engage in battle but the Arrancar quickly gains the upper hand when her Hollow mask shatters and falls apart. Wonderweiss takes the opportunity to attack landing brutal punches to Mashiro's face, but before he can continue his hand is stopped by Kensei, who has an unconscious Mashiro in his other arm. He then tells Wonderweiss he is sorry, but he is not the sort of adult who goes easy on kids. He then throws Wonderweiss sending him flying down into the buildings below. Kensei sets down on a nearby building and lays Mashiro down, and she weakly asks if he was going to avenge her as she tries to smile. He looks down at her asks her what she is smiling at, noting she is a dumbass for ending up the way she is and how she could have avoided it if she had listened to his warnings. He then takes his Shikai out of his pants pocket and states that he is going to give that annoying little kid a taste of his fists, not to avenge Mashiro, but instead because the brat got above himself. As Wonderweiss approaches him, Kensei releases his Bankai and the two face off, resulting in a huge explosion.

Powers & Abilities
Master Swordsmanship Specialist: The fact that Kensei can still fight effectively with his blade at close-range when it's sealed and its Shikai form is smaller than most Zanpakutō, as evidenced by his battle against Hollow Ichigo (who was using his Bankai) during the Vizard's training, is a testament to his skill. He is known to constantly use his Shikai in combat.

Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Despite the skill and power he has in his Zanpakutō, Kensei takes more pride in his hand-to-hand combat prowess, which can be seen in his physique. During Ichigo's transformation into a hollow, Kensei is able to knock him away at a good distance with just an elbow strike. He then dodges all of Hollow Ichigo's attacks, despite the latter's use of Tensa Zangetsu, and manages to kick him. The only times he uses Tachikaze in this fight are when he cuts Ichigo once and twice more to fire his spiritual energy. He uses hand-to-hand combat to take a bunch of gillian-menos class hollows.

Enhanced Strength: It has been implied by his fellow Vizard, back when they were captains, that his strength was high, even before his Hollowfication.

Highly Perceptive Combatant: Despite his short-tempered nature, Kensei has shown to be a very perceptive fighter. Knowing the best way to combat and counter against hollow attacks. He can even gauge their abilities and how to effectively gain the upper hand.

Immense Spiritual Power: As a captain, he must have had great spiritual power. Being a Vizard Kensei possesses a dual type spiritual energy, part Shinigami and part Hollow.

Zanpakutō

 * When sealed, it is shown as a short katana with a rectangular guard in an 'H' shape and white hilt weaving.


 * Shikai: Kensei's Shikai is triggered by the command in which air currents swirl around Kensei in a circle up to his Tachikaze. It then transforms into a survival/combat knife with a black guard and small ring on the hilt's blunt edge. He commonly keeps this released form active rather than sealed and keeps it in the pocket of his cargo pants.


 * Shikai Special Ability: In this form, Kensei has demonstrated the ability to manipulate wind while mixing it with his spiritual energy for devastating effects.


 * Air Blades: Making slashes allows him to release transparent blades of wind to cut enemies from a distance. It appears to be extremely powerful, easily severing and killing a giant hollow.


 * Energy Blast: Kensei charges spiritual energy in Tachikaze and fires white energy blasts from his hand with extreme force. This blast is quite devastating as it was shown blowing off the arm of Ichigo's Hollow form and blow up the heads of Gillian-class Menos.


 * Bankai: : Tekken Tachikaze transforms from a single combat knife to a pair of large knuckle blades that he holds in each hand. Each blade has a silver edge along the outer edge of the blade, tapering off into an outward point on both sides. A single segmented band wraps itself upwards around each of his arms, much like armor, extending up into an arch behind him. Two small flat protusions appear beneath his shoulders.


 * Bankai Special Ability: It appears that it highly augments his strength, as he is able to cause a large explosion upon attacking Wonderweiss.

Hollowfication
Hollow Mask: His hollow mask resembles a flat hockey face guard with six slitted eye holes in two columns and three extensions on each side which wrap around and connect to cover the sides and back of his head.


 * Power Augmentation: While wearing the mask, Kensei's Hollow powers supplement his Shinigami powers, giving him a vast increase in both strength, durability and speed.


 * Enhanced Strength: With his mask on, Kensei's strength is greatly enhanced, as he was able to smash a Menos' mask using only his fists, with ease.


 * Enhanced Speed: With his mask on, Kensei's speed increases greatly, as shown when he rapidly dealt punches to a Menos Grande during the winter war.

Hollowfied Form: When transformed into a hollow, he is a large, muscular and bulky humanoid with armored hands and skeletal feet with a number of thick cylindrical protrusions on its back and forearms. In addition, the cylinders on his back seem to make him a hunchback in his hollow form.


 * Enhanced Strength: In terms of physical might, Kensei's hollow form was shown to give him vast superhuman strength and speed as evident from his ability to effortlessly punch massive craters into the ground. His strength is considerably augmented allowing him the ability to break out of high level binding kidō using solely brute strength, something never before seen by Hachigen Ushōda.


 * Enhanced Speed: His speed was highly increased to the point of taking his fellow captains by surprise when he attacked them.


 * Enhanced Durability: He was able to block a sword blow from Love in this form with nothing but his arm.


 * Energized Punches: He is able to sheath his fists with spiritual energy and use it as a attack when he punches an opponent causing more damage then he would at a normal attack.

Appearance in Other Media
It shown in Bleach: Heat the Soul 6, Kensei can use an Energy Sphere. This could be seen in the game Heat the Soul 6 as a Combo for him and his Lieutenant. Kensei focuses his Reiatsu and traps the enemy in an Energy Sphere, which implodes to deal massive damage to the enemy. It is not yet confirmed whether he could use this in the manga or the anime.

Quotes

 * "I'm Kensei Muguruma and I'm gonna crush you."
 * (Referring to Ichigo Kurosaki) "Are we seriously considering accepting this kid?"
 * (To a young Shūhei Hisagi) "Smile, damn it!"
 * (To Wonderweiss Margera) "Sorry, but I'm not the sort of adult who goes easy on kids!"

Trivia

 * Kensei is one of the few characters to show his sword's release before revealing its name.
 * Kensei is also one of the only characters to keep his sword released for extended amounts of time without it being a constant release sword.

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