Kisuke Urahara

Kisuke Urahara (浦原 喜助 Urahara Kisuke) is the owner of the Urahara Shoten, which sells various Shinigami items. The shop is maintained by Urahara himself as well as Ururu Tsumugiya, Jinta Hanakari, and Tessai Tsukabishi. He made it into the top ten most popular characters in every popularity poll taken, scoring 8th place and 3,676 votes in the previous one.

Character outline
Kisuke Urahara always wears traditional Japanese wooden sandals and a bucket hat, which has earned him the nickname "sandal-hat" (ゲタ帽子 geta-bōsh, "Mr. Hat-and-Clogs" in the English version). He is generally a laid-back, jovial fellow, although he can be dead serious when the situation warrants it. Despite his carefree attitude, his speech is always polite, though it is sometimes sarcastic. He can also seem serious, but his tone doesn't seem so. Yoruichi Shihouin notes that he tends to go over the top with whatever he becomes passionate about. He once described himself as a "mere honest, handsome, perverted businessman." During the Bount arc of the anime, when Ganju Shiba calls Urahara an "old man," Urahara replies that he is the same age as Ganju's sister, Kūkaku Shiba.

Urahara can usually be found near the scene of an important event, most of the time when it's a bit too late, but will rarely step in to intervene, preferring to be in control from outside. After the event is over (i.e. the battle between Ichigo Kurosaki and Renji Abarai), he kindly pops up and helps the side he deems fit. Thus far, it has tended to be the side of the protagonists. He often knows more than he reveals and tends to have some form of relationship with most of the story's characters. While he is a major driving force throughout much of the story, he is usually only the catalyst, making others to do the work for him. Despite his appearance, Urahara is an extremely skilled fighter, using a combination of powerful attacks and cunning deceptions, and has been capable of toying with Yammy, an Espada-level Arrancar with nothing more than his shikai. He also likes building large underground training spaces in secret. He built the first one under the Sōkyoku hill in Soul Society with Yoruichi for their training, and created a second one under his shop in the mortal realm for a similar purpose.

History
Kisuke Urahara is a former captain of the 12th Division of the Gotei 13. He is also the founder and the first president of the Shinigami Research Institute. Mayuri Kurotsuchi succeeded him in both positions.

At some point (about 100 years before the main Bleach storyline), Urahara was sentenced to exile by Soul Society for creating an untraceable Gigai which caused the spiritual power of the shinigami inside it to deteriorate, as well as the Orb of Distortion. Yoruichi Shihouin helped him escape and, for reasons currently unknown, ran away with him as well. He also seems to be an acquaintance of Isshin Kurosaki, Ichigo Kurosaki's father, and is aware of Ryūken Ishida's existence.

Early Story
Soon after Rukia Kuchiki gives all her powers to Ichigo Kurosaki, Urahara gives Rukia the special gigai that would slowly drain her into a human, hiding the Hōgyoku within her forever. Rukia later buys some Gikongan from Urahara to make Ichigo's job as a shinigami, more specifically lowering his family and friends suspicions, easier, though this goes horribly wrong and leads to the creation of Kon. During Don Kanonji's first trip to Karakura Town, Urahara transforms Ichigo into his shinigami form when Rukia was unable to do so.

When Rukia goes to Urahara for information of the Quincy, Urahara reveals to her their histroy together. Following Orihime Inoue and Chad's battles with hollows, Urahara takes them to his shop and explains to them about their powers, Ichigo's shinigami activities, and the connection between the Quincy and shinigami. While Uryū Ishida and Ichigo battle a Menos Grande, Urahara stops Rukia from interfering, telling her that the battle will be important to both of them. After the battle, Urahara has the other workers fill the hole to the Huenco Mundo, and also realizes that the Soul Society has begun to track Rukia.

The next day Yoruichi Shihouin, in cat form, visits Urahara, and the two discuss Byakuya Kuchiki and Renji Abarai, the two shinigami chasing Rukia. When the two begin to capture her, Urahara transforms Ichigo into a shinigami, though he later reveals he only did this to show Ichigo how little a chance he had fighting them.

Soul Society arc
Following Ichigo's loss to Byakuya and Renji, Urahara appears and heals both Uryū and Ichigo, though he has to take Ichigo to his shop due to the extent of his injuries. While there, Urahara reveals to Ichigo just how much time he has to save Rukia, and also begins to train Ichigo so he will be capable of training her. Before Ichigo leaves, Urahara gives Ichigo a special medicine that will heal his wounds at unbelievable speed.

The next day, Ichigo, now fully healed, begins his training with Urahara, who takes him to the underground training camp under his shop. Urahara has Ururu battle Ichigo while Ichigo is in Konpaku form, so Ichigo will be able to regain some of his speed. After Ichigo passes this, Urahara has Tessai cut off Ichigo's Soul Chain, and sends Ichigo into a large hole in the ground that will speed up Ichigo's Encroachment, to force Ichigo into a shinigami state quickly before Ichigo becomes a Hollow.

Three days later, he, Jinta, and Ururu watch as Ichigo begins to transform into a Hollow, and are suprised at how he has resistance. During the process, Ichigo begains his shinigami abilities, though the very moment he does his Encroachment ends, giving him both a shinigami Shika-Kushô and a Hollow mask. Ichigo, however, removes his mask and becomes a shinigami. Because of this, however, Ichigo is now a vizard, shinigami who illegally have Hollow powers.

Urahara then begins Ichigo's third test, which has him battling Ichigo, with Ichigo winning should he knock off his hat. The point of this, however, is so that Ichigo will learn his Shikai. During the battle, Ichigo thinks that Urahara's sword, being from inside his cane, can't be a zanpakutō, and willing lets it cut him. This backfires, however, as Urahara reveals it is indeed a zanpakutō and initiates his own shikai. Urahara then easily fights off Ichigo with his shikai, almost killing Ichigo, though Ichigo learns his zanpakutō's name (Zangetsu) at the last second, and knocks off Urahara's hat.

Due to how Ichigo passes all three test so quickly, however, they still have another five days of training left, during which Urahara reveals to Ichigo more about zanpakutō and how he can only win should he resolve to kill his opponent, despite whoever it is. Urahara then begins to create a Senkai Mon, a tunnel to the Soul Society. Urahara sends Ichigo, Orihime, Chad, and Uryū a rather hilarious message, telling them to go to the Urahara Shoten, and sends the four, along with Yoruichi, into the Soul Society.

Inventions
Having founded the research institute in Soul Society, Urahara has developed a number of unique items. The notable ones are below:
 * Gikongan (義魂丸) – More commonly known as Soul Candy, this item is an artificial soul in the form of a green ball of candy. When ingested, it forces the user's soul out of their body. The artificial soul then operates in a preprogrammed manner while inhabiting a body. Its name was changed to "Soul Candy" after its creation because the Shinigami Women Organization complained that the name gikongan wasn't cute.
 * Tenshintai (転神体, lit change [death] god body, Viz: "Divine Transfer Body") – This item is a vaguely human-shaped, man-sized doll used to forcibly materialize the spirit of a zanpakutō into the real world when stabbed by the zanpakutō. In doing so, the user can subjugate the spirit and attain the Bankai of their zanpakutō. The materialization lasts for about one day, after which the spirit reverts back into the doll that spawned it. Without this invention, achieving the bankai takes at least ten years, not to mention the many years of combat experience needed. This method, however, is very dangerous due to the fact that it forcibly materializes the zanpakutō's spirit. If used more than three times consecutively, it is possibly fatal to the user.
 * Hōgyoku (崩玉, lit. Crumbling Orb, translated as Orb of Distortion, Viz: "Breakdown Sphere") – This item is a small orb that dissolves the boundary between a shinigami and a hollow. It can allow a shinigami to use hollow powers and vice-versa. As Sōsuke Aizen reveals to Orihime Inoue, continued use of the orb seems to weaken it.
 * Variations of gigai (faux bodies) – Having experimented with gigai at length, Urahara has created at least two variations. The most notable one is an untraceable gigai which drains the user's spiritual power instead of restoring it, effectively making them human if used long enough. He also developed an inflatable gigai for use as a decoy in combat.

In addition, Urahara has also developed several novel techniques throughout the course of his research as the captain of the 12th Division, most notably the technique to bury matter within a soul and later remove it without any damage to the bearer. This was used by Aizen to remove the Orb of Distortion from Rukia.

Benihime
Kisuke Urahara's zanpakutō is Benihime (紅姫, lit. Crimson Princess). It is one of the few known female zanpakutō. When sealed, Benihime takes the form of a shikomizue (a blade hidden inside Urahara's cane). The shaft of the cane is able to separate a soul from a body, much like Rukia Kuchiki's glove. The Shikai command of Benihime is "wake up" (起きろ okiro).

In its shikai, Benihime's blade becomes a bit wider than that of a sealed zanpakutō and the hilt curves, adding a crimson ribbon and other elaborate decorations around it. Benihime has two known special abilities, one for offense and one for defense, both of which are activated by the command "sing" (啼け nake, "scream" in the English version). Benihime's defensive ability forms an oval-shaped "blood mist shield" in front of Urahara. The barrier is able to block Ichigo's first use of his getsuga tenshō while only slightly eroding, after which Urahara comments that he would have lost an arm were it not for the shield. Benihime's offensive ability fires crimson-colored energy blasts which is similar to a Cero as Urahara was easily able to cancel out the blast by the Espada Yammy by striking it head-on with this attack.

Benihime's Bankai has yet to be revealed, but has been vaguely commented upon. Yoruichi comments that Urahara managed to learn bankai using the very same three day method he created. When Yasutora Sado comes to Urahara for training, he instead gives the task to Renji Abarai, remarking that Sado needs to face the strength of a bankai to improve. When Renji asks why Urahara, who also possesses one, does not train Sado himself, he states that his bankai is not fit for training others or lending power to them.