Jin Kariya

Jin Kariya (狩矢 神, Kariya Jin) was created by Tite Kubo for the Bount arc, an anime-only filler arc, which he is the leader of the vampiric Bounts. As such, he is, undoubtedly, the strongest member of the Bounts and is Ichigo Kurosaki's main rival throughout the Bount arc, having fought the latter three times over the course of the arc. Kariya is also the chief antagonist of the Bount arc, temporarily replacing Sōsuke Aizen.

Character outline
Jin Kariya's original name is Eugene Currier, but he adopts a Japanese-style name later in his life. He has a scar on his chin caused by a slash from a hollow when he was young, short white hair, long upward-curving eyebrows and bright red eyes. He is the most powerful member of the Bount group. In a flashback, it is revealed that Kariya had brown hair and brown eyes when he was a young boy. His hair colour and eye colour changed when he first merged with his doll.

When first introduced, Kariya's goal was to acquire massive numbers of living spirits to increase the power of himself and his followers, most notably through the summoning of the bitto. The techniques used had a 50% chance of ripping open the barrier between the mortal world and Hueco Mundo.

This initial plan, however, has been revealed as merely a means to an end. His ultimate goal is not simply to increase his power, but rather to invade and overthrow Soul Society. To accomplish that, Kariya has obtained a device (Jōkaishō) from the Shinigami Research Institute which he claimed would allow him to obliterate Seireitei. However this could also be a means to end his eternal existence.

Kariya seems to be very knowledgeable and intelligent as he has great knowledge of Soul Society. He knew who Byakuya Kuchiki, Rukia Kuchiki and Ichigo Kurosaki were before even meeting them. He was aware of the Four Great Noble Houses of Soul Society, and knew of existence of the Jōkaishō in the Shinigami Research Institute in Seireitei. He is also able to speak both German and Japanese.

Kariya is revealed to have no emotional attachment to any of his subordinates, as he mentions that he sees them only as pawns to achieve his own ends.

History
Kariya was first created by an experimental error which occurred in Seireitei. Later, in the Bounts' Cave in the material world, he was saved by Ran'Tao from the Shinigami who were trying to eliminate the Bounts. Right before Ran'tao told him to run away while she deals with the Shinigami, Ran'Tao gave Kariya his Doll, Messer ("knife", in German). Kariya merged with the doll when fighting Hollows, and since then his attitude changed, and he became determined to create a paradise for Bounts. Later, Kariya was against proposals to use the Quincy to return to Soul Society to live, thinking the Shinigami would use the Bount as servants. He witnessed a war between the Bount and the Quincy, where the Shinigami from Soul Society suddenly came and started to massacre the Bount. Kariya was deeply angered by this, and ever since then, he held a strong grudge against the Shinigami and Soul Society in general. He also decided to give up on weak Bounts, forming his plan to gather all the remaining strong Bounts to him to destroy Soul Society. He perfected doll summoning from being hit-or-miss to a method that would sort out the strong Bounts from the weak, with failure resulting in death. In that way, the Bounts that were power-hungry stayed with Kariya. Sometime in his life, he learned that the Shinigami were the ones who created the Bount. Knowing that the Shinigami created his race just to destroy them, his grudge against the Shinigami only became worse. He later married another Bount, Yoshino Sōma, after stopping her from committing suicide, though he never truly loved her. He was merely trying to gather the Bounts from all over the world in order for him to be able to achieve his goal of annihilating Seireitei.

Kariya was close friends with fellow Bount Gō Koga for a long time. At some point, Kariya asked Koga to take care of a young Bount, Cain for him. Koga ended up failing when Cain was killed by his doll. At another point in time, Kariya and Koga saved a Shinigami, Maki Ichinose, from a hollow in a desert. Ever since then, Maki became loyal to Kariya.

Bount arc
Kariya makes his first appearance after his right hand man, Ryō Utagawa, takes Kariya's lover, Yoshino Sōma, back to the Bount mansion after she ventures out without authorization. In the mansion, Kariya reveals that his relationship with Yoshino is not what it once was, and observes that Karakura Town is beautiful because it is being absorbed by darkness.

One day later, Kariya orders two young Bounts, Hō and Ban, to attack Ichigo and his friends.

Later, Kariya tries to persuade Uryū Ishida to join forces with the Bount after Koga captures him. He is planning to use Uryū's Quincy powers in order to create a special gate which will allow him and the rest of the Bount to enter Soul Society. Uryū refuses, and Kariya orders him to be kept inside a room in his mansion.

When Ichigo and his friends arrive at the Bount mansion to rescue Ishida, Kariya introduces himself to Ichigo's group, and reveals that he knows Ichigo's and Rukia's names. Ryō Udagawa engages in combat with Ichigo, but in the middle of the fight, Ryō tries to overthrow Kariya by stealing his seal, disabling his ability to unleash his Doll. Unfortunately for Ryō, however, the seal was already released when he stole it from Kariya, so Kariya is still able to deflect an attack from Ryō's Doll, Fried. Maki Ichinose then appears and kills Ryō with his shikai, becoming Kariya's new right hand man. Maki then starts to battle with Ichigo until Kariya interrupts and tries to persuade Ichigo to join the Bount. When Ichigo refuses, Kariya proceeds to pummel him badly, revealing his considerable stregth: he is able to stop Ichigo with a single finger. Fortunately, Kisuke Urahara, Jinta, Ururu and Yoruichi Shihōin appear to rescue Ichigo.

On the next day, Kariya is confronted by Yoshino Sōma in the ruins of the Bount mansion. They proceed to fight, and in a desperate bid to try and defeat Kariya, Yoshino merges with her Doll and the two engage in a fierce battle in the sky above the mansion. Sadly, everything goes according to Kariya's plans: he kills her easily and transmutes her soul to create new Dolls, called bitto. The Bitto collect and distill human souls, which can be absorbed by the Bount to gain power. Kariya then takes his subordinates to a special cave which masks their spirit energy and introduces them to the new Dolls. The Bount are all excited about gaining new powers by drinking the human souls absorbed by the Bitto, except for Mabashi, who insists on not breaking the law of their race, which says that one should not absorb a living human's soul. Despite his protests, Kariya easily overpowers Mabashi and forces him to drink the souls gathered by the Bitto. Mabashi is instantly addicted and appears to lose his sanity. As the Bount prepare their gate to Soul Society, Ichigo finds Kariya inside the cave and attempts to fight him, but is easily defeated. Kariya then tells Ichigo that the Bount's true goal is to destroy Seireitei. After Kariya attempts to stab Ichigo with Zangetsu, Ichigo recovers and is able to fight Kariya on equal terms by activating his bankai. Uryū then appears, with his Quincy powers restored. Uryu fires an arrow into the dimensional gate, allowing the Bount to enter Soul Society. When confronted by his shocked comrades, Uryū explains that the reason he opened the gate was so he could defeat Kariya in Soul Society, as the Quincy are stronger there.

Upon entering Soul Society, Kariya and Koga defeat two shinigami, Tetsuzaemon Iba and Marechiyo Ōmaeda. Kariya then enters a gambling place in Kusajishi, the 79th district of Rukongai. He bets his life that he will win a card game, and he wins. Frightened, his opponent tries to kill him with a knife, but Kariya defeats him easily. Then Kariya, Koga and Maki beat up everyone in the place, and then convince them to join forces with the Bount to annihilate Seireitei.

Kariya then encounters Byakuya Kuchiki in the forest and attempts to kill him in order to cause an uproar in Seireitei. They begin to fight, and are later joined by Ichigo. Eventually, Rantao, the one of the creators of the Bount, appears and interrupts the battle. Kariya swears that he will kill her after he annihilates Seireitei. Koga then appears and helps Kariya retreat as he was being overpowered by both Byakuya's and Ichigo's bankai.

Kariya, his subordinates, and the inhabitants of Kusajishi next appear before one of Seireitei's four gates. The inhabitants of Kusajishi open the gate with siege engines, as it is made of sekki sekki rock and spirit attacks cannot damage it. Once the gate is opened, Kariya betrays the Kusajishi people and attacks them, saying that they are of no further use to him. Kariya then sends the other Bount to disrupt the shinigami forces while he acquires a special object from the Shinigami Research Institute.

Kariya enters the Shinigami Research Institute in Seireitei and gains immense power from a seal called Jōkaishō. He announces that he currently has the power to destroy Seireitei completely whenever he wants to, but he wants all of Soul Society to fear for their lives for a day before doing so. Some research by Shunsui Kyōraku and Jūshirō Ukitake later reveals that Kariya lied, and in reality, he needed to wait for one day after first activating the Jōkaishō in order to destroy Seireitei with it.

Disturbed by Kariya's steadfast determination to destroy all of Soul Society and the fact that many of his comrades have died, Koga argues with Kariya, saying he shouldn't go through with his plan, going as far as slamming him into a wall. Kariya stabs him through the stomach and leaves, giving his thanks for all the years of his servitude. He then waits until the next day to destroy Seireitei.

While waiting, Rantao appears to confront him. After a brief fight using a kidō gun, Rantao explains to Kariya that she had always been trying to save the Bounts, especially Kariya, but Kariya does not recall any of that at first. After his wind blast knocks Rantao down onto the ground, Kariya has a flashback of the events during the Bount massacre. When he finishes recounting the past, he comments that "for [him] to have forgotten the false hope and endless suffering [Rantao has] caused must be because of Jōkaishō", demonstrating that he viewed Rantao's efforts to save the Bounts as attempts to torment the Bount.

Uryū appears to save Rantao, and with full mastery over his Quincy battle accessory, is able to fight Kariya as an equal. However, his battle accessory becomes increasingly unstable, and begins to break. Uryū eventually finds an opening, and is prepared to kill Kariya until Kariya sends a wind blast at Rantao. Unwilling to let Rantao die, Uryū uses his last shot from his battle accessory to save Rantao. As Kariya prepares to kill the two, Ichigo arrives, and the two move to Sōkyoku hill.

Maki Ichinose appears and fights Ichigo temporarily. He then turns on Kariya, saying his revenge by destroying Seireitei won't help him, and if he doesn't stand down, he'll kill Kariya. Kariya gets annoyed and impales him. As of this moment all Kariya's comrades are dead (except for Koga, who was saved by Rantao). Ichigo gets angry at seeing Kariya kill his comrade. Kariya replies that Ichinose was just a pawn in his plan, like all the others.

Ichigo then defeats Kariya in a powerful and climatic sword fight even though Kariya uses some of Jōkaishō's power to boost his own. Before disintegrating into dust, Kariya mentions he regrets not being able to watch whether Ichigo will choose to take the same path as he did.

Arrancar arc
Kariya makes a brief reappearance during the anime's rendition of Ichigo's training to control his inner hollow, manifesting as a mental apparition formed by Ichigo's regret of slaying him. Kariya briefly battles with Ichigo, then tells him that regretting the death of his enemies will only make him weak and that if Ichigo cannot overcome his mental weakness he will be unable to withstand the ever-stronger foes he must face in the future. Though given derisively, these words aid Ichigo in helping him regain his resolve.

Doll
Kariya's Doll is Messer (メッサー, Messā, German for "knife"). The first time he was able to use this doll was when he used a device given to him from Rantao, the co-creator of the Bount. It takes the form of a sword in the shape of the Bount crest with a wind blade. By gathering static electricity in the air he can change this blade to a condensed lightning blade, which can also shoot electricity. Boosted by the infinite amounts of spirit particles, it is powerful enough to contend with Zangetsu.

It is originally shown that unreleased, Kariya's doll is a pack of cards. It is later shown that unlike the other Bounts, Kariya can use the abilities of his doll without it being called out, which is what his tattoo (seal) on his upper body indicates; the doll's ability is the manipulation of wind. This would explain why he is able to deflect other dolls' attacks. Kariya also has hidden powers, which allow him to easily defeat hollows and other dolls. He is also able to deflect attacks and immobilize opponents with a single touch. He creates wind barriers using the manipulation of his doll, but the barriers seem to be penetrable after countless attacks from Byakuya using his zanpakutō Senbonzakura's bankai. The only people shown capable of cutting through his barriers are Ichigo, Byakuya, and Ishida. Some of his wind attacks include Windestanz (German for "Wind Dance"), a chanting attack which allows him to summon tornados, and Wind Licht Schneide ("Wind Light Edge"), which is Kariya's equivalent of Ichigo's getsuga tenshō. Messer's true form can produce friction of the wind in the atmosphere to create static electricity, which then calls forth lightning, as seen in the last battle between him and Ichigo.

In other media
Kariya has his Bleach Beat Collection Second Session album, although he is a filler charcter. His Seiyū, Toru Ohkawa performs song entitled "Looking For..." on this album. He shares the album with his fellow filler characters - Ririn, Noba and Kurōdo. Up to date, Kariya does not appear in any Bleach video game.