Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez

, originally romanized as Grimmjow Jeagerjaques or Jaegerjaques, is a prominent member in the Aizen-affiliated army of Arrancar, and the sexta (6th) Espada. He is often considered to be Ichigo Kurosaki's rival in terms of personality, and is one of the series' central antagonists. He was recently voted the 4th most popular Bleach character in the latest Shōnen Jump polls after receiving 4987 votes.

Appearance
Grimmjow has light-blue spiky hair and eyes, and also has green lines below them, similar to the eye markings on the Panthera genus of cats, as well as the red marks on Ikkaku Madarame's eyes. Grimmjow's attire consists of a white hakama and a black sash; his white jacket is ragged with an upturned collar. The inner lining is black, the sleeves are rolled up, and Grimmjow wears it open, leaving his chest revealed. The remains of his Hollow mask consist of the right jawbone, and his Hollow hole has moved to his abdomen. His tattoo number (6) is located at his back, near the right side of his Hollow hole.

Personality
Grimmjow appears to be a laid-back and irreverent individual at first glance, but this scruffy exterior hides a brutal, impulsive, excessively-violent personality and lethally-short temper. Grimmjow is blunt, rude, sarcastic, witty, and quite sadistic, revealing a psychotic grin whenever he becomes excited, much like Kenpachi Zaraki. He displays little respect for authority and says whatever is on his mind, regardless of whether or not it is appropriate. This attitude leads to conflicts with Kaname Tōsen, who holds Grimmjow in the same low regard as he did Zaraki. He also has conflicts with Ulquiorra Cifer, the 4th Espada, usually because Ulquiorra interrupts his battles or otherwise clashes with Grimmjow's ideals, and confidently believes Ulquiorra's powers to be weaker than his, a point he is eager to make clear to him. He additionally develops a grudge against Ichigo Kurosaki for wounding him during their first and second fights, and is eager to return the favor. He purposefully kept the large scar on his chest from their first battle as a reminder of this. Grimmjow is also infuriated by Ichigo's belief that he can defeat him regardless of how badly he is injured, which Grimmjow sees as Ichigo looking down on him.

Grimmjow is a very rude and disrespectful character. He uses none of the honorifics in the Japanese language, except when addressing Aizen (though he is quick to discard the formality when Aizen is not around), and refers to Orihime as woman in conversation. However, he does appear to have some sort of a code of honor, as he is unwilling to fight an injured Ichigo, bringing Orihime to heal him beforehand so their battle will be a fair one. He also saves Orihime from Loly and Menoly, who were beating her up to repay the debt of restoring his arm, though he immediately asks for another favor afterwards. Despite his aggression and obvious bloodlust in battle, he possesses a feral cunning and has a knack for quickly exploiting any opening his opponent reveals.

History
Before Grimmjow became an Arrancar, he was a panther-like Adjuchas-class Menos. At one point, he met up with Shawlong Kūfang, Edrad Liones, Yylfordt Granz, Nakeem Greendina, Di Roy Linker, and two other unnamed Adjuchas while attacking the latter. After Grimmjow damaged Di Roy and killed the two unknowns from the group, Shawlong then suggested that Grimmjow should lead their group in their quest to evolve into Vasto Lordes, offering to follow him as their "king" should he accept.

When Shawlong realized that their evolution could go no further, he asked Grimmjow to "eat" them, which in context referred to only a piece of them being eaten. Grimmjow, calling them cowards, did as asked. When they were all turned into Arrancar by Aizen, the five acted as Grimmjow's Fracción. He was the second oldest Número after Shawlong Kūfang as he held the rank of the 12th Arrancar.

Arrancar arc
Grimmjow is first introduced scolding Ulquiorra Cifer for not killing Ichigo Kurosaki, believing that he might become a threat in the future, and to rectify Ulquiorra's "mistake", leads his Fracción to Karakura Town in an unauthorized mission to kill anyone with even the slightest Spiritual Pressure. While his team is defeated, Grimmjow himself is able to defeat Ichigo with relative ease, slamming Ichigo upward with punches, only suffering injury from Ichigo's desperate black Getsuga Tenshō attack. Kaname Tōsen interrupts and brings Grimmjow back to be punished. When Aizen refuses to punish Grimmjow, Kaname severs and incinerates Grimmjow's arm so he would be demoted.

During the next invasion, which Aizen personally sends Grimmjow on, Grimmjow tracks down and fights Ichigo once more. Ichigo's newly-gained Vizard powers give him the upper hand at first, but his inexperience with his new powers and inability to maintain the mask for long lengths of time leads to his defeat. Shinji Hirako arrives to rescue him, proving more than a match for the injured Grimmjow. Before Grimmjow releases his true form, Grimmjow is forced into retreat by Ulquiorra before a victor could be decided.

Hueco Mundo arc
Once back in Las Noches, Aizen has Orihime Inoue restore Grimmjow's arm as a demonstration of her power. Grimmjow has her bring back his Espada tattoo, as well, and kills Luppi to regain his rank once she finishes. After learning about Ichigo's defeat by Ulquiorra, Grimmjow makes Orihime heal Ichigo so they can battle once more. Once they both arrive where Ichigo was defeated, he tells Orihime to heal him. But then, Ulquiorra appears, and they start to fight. Ulquiorra questions Grimmjow's reason for being there, and starts walking towards him demanding an answer. Grimmjow smirks, not saying anything. Ulquiorra then asks Grimmjow to hand Orihime over, stating that she is to be in his care. Grimmjow, refusing to hand her over, quickly attacks Ulquiorra, saying how he's afraid to fight him because they could crush each other. Using a Cero, Grimmjow blasts Ulquiorra in the air but deflects the attack. Then, Ulquiorra uses Sonído to appear above Grimmjow and fire his own Cero. Grimmjow blocks it, and the tower explodes. Grimmjow then uses Caja Negación to seal away Ulquiorra to begin the battle with Ichigo.

During the battle, Grimmjow releases his true form and proves to be on par with Ichigo despite his Vizard powers. He is about to kill Ichigo but after hearing Orihime beg for him to not get hurt anymore, Ichigo deftly catches Grimmjow's fist without looking, and slashes his shoulder. Grimmjow gets up after this, enraged at the injury, and impales Ichigo in the stomach. He then uses his most powerful attack, but the battle still ends in his defeat. Grimmjow rises once more to challenge Ichigo, but Nnoitra Jiruga strikes him down. Nnoitra tries to finish off Grimmjow, but Ichigo protects him. His current fate is unknown.

Powers & Abilities
Grimmjow is the Sexta Espada, making him the sixth most powerful Arrancar under Aizen's control. Aside from his zanpakutō, he has demonstrated no unique personal abilities, but makes liberal use of the generic Hollow abilities.

Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant: He is a very proficient hand-to-hand combatant, possessing considerable strength and flexibility, capable of out-fighting Ichigo's Bankai during their first two fights, even with one arm during the second battle. He is also fairly powerful for his rank, as he is able to at the very least subdue an unreleased Ulquiorra, an Espada two ranks higher than himself.

Pesquisa: Grimmjow has demonstrated this ability when he and his Fracción invaded Karakura Town.

Hierro: As the Sexta Espada, Grimmjow has the passive ability known as Hierro. As seen in initial fight with Ichigo Kurosaki, Grimmjow was able to grab Ichigo's Bankai and block with his arms and fists without receiving any damage at all, though Ichigo's Getsuga Tenshō attack was strong enough to leave a scar. Later, after increasing his own power, Ichigo is able to cut Grimmjow.

Great Spiritual Power: His spirit energy is very high, noted by Rukia to be "worlds apart" from his Fracción and making her wonder if he was even the same species. However, he is easily overwhelmed by Aizen's spiritual pressure and is not under the same release restraints as the top four Espada. He is capable of exerting Spiritual Pressure of overwhelming power.

Cero: Grimmjow makes liberal use of Cero in battle, firing them from the palm of his hand. In the anime, it is commonly colored red, although in the games, it is often colored blue. He also has a habit of firing at point blank range to increase lethality even though he sometimes gets caught in the backlash. His Cero is powerful enough to neutralize the Cero of fellow Espada Uliquiorra Cifer during their brief scuffle, even though it badly burned his right arm from his hand to his elbow. Grimmjow has also shown the ability to fire one Cero from each hand, but it is unclear whether this is a unique ability.

Gran Rey Cero: As an Espada, he is able to use this Espada-exclusive Cero variant, which produces a much larger and more powerful version of the normal Cero, enough potentially to cause great damage to Las Noches itself. For this Aizen banned its use, although Grimmjow clearly ignored this during his last battle with Ichigo. In order to fire it seems Grimmjow must first cut his own hand on his zanpakutō, mixing his blood with the Cero. Grimmjow's Gran Rey Cero is colored blue in the anime.

Bala: He has demonstrated the ability to use Bala, another common Arrancar power, but he seems to prefer the somewhat slower and more powerful Cero.

Garganta: Garganta is how Arrancar move to and from Hueco Mundo. Grimmjow demonstrated this ability during his own personal invasion of Karakura Town. It literally tears open the dimensional fabric separating the worlds, revealing a tunnel of whirling, torrential energy that must be focused and solidified to create a discernible pathway.

Sonído Master: As the 6th Espada, Grimmjow is very proficient in the use of Sonído. Even in his unreleased state, he is able to keep up with Ichigo Kurosaki while using Tensa Zangetsu.

Zanpakutō
. His zanpakutō's guard resembles a crooked "S," while the sheath and handle are light blue.


 * Resurrección: his release command for his Zanpakutō is, referring to grinding one's teeth. To release his zanpakutō, he holds it up, like the start of a low sweep stroke, with his right hand. The sword glows as he puts his left hand up to it. He then rakes his hand along the the length of the blade, with a swift motion, while calling out its release command, in turn releasing a torrent of spiritual power that causes tremendous gusts of wind in the immediate vicinity. Grimmjow's appearance changes drastically to something more feline and predatory. His teeth become jagged and sharp, his hands turn into black claws and his feet become black clawed paws, similar to that of a cat, along with a slender whip-like tail. His hair becomes very long and flowing, and the markings around his eyes enlarge and extend to the tips of his ears, which become cat-like. He loses his distinctive jaw mask, which is replaced by a sort of crown on his forehead. His clothing changes to become a form-fitting white segmented armor, similar to his original Adjuchas-Hollow form. He has blades protruding from his forearms and his calves.


 * Resurrección Special Ability: His abilities while released include:


 * Enhanced Hierro: Grimmjow's Hierro receives an augmentation as well. He was hit by a pointblank Getsuga Tenshō from Ichigo Kurosaki in his Vizard state and received no visible damage.


 * Enhanced Speed & Agility: Complimenting his already impressive speed and power, Grimmjow's released state augments his speed drastically, giving him animal-like agility and movement to match.


 * Enhanced Strength: His strikes pack enough power to incidentally destroy large skyscraper-sized pillars in Las Noches via collateral damage during the fight with Ichigo. His strength was also enough to send Ichigo through several buildings with one strike, as well as send him flying hundreds of feet with, merely with a few light punches and kicks.


 * Shockwaves: When in his released form, he can roar loudly enough to create shockwaves in the air and surrounding area, powerful enough to throw off his opponents.


 * Darts: He can also fire a large number of explosive "darts" from his elbows with enough charge to demolish huge buildings. They look somewhat similar to an axe blade, but with an indention in the middle. A Hollow Mask-enhanced Ichigo was somewhat able to withstand 5 of them, and continue fighting.


 * His strongest attack; His claws glow and then he makes a slashing motion that creates giant "claws" of solidified energy, each about a kilometer long, from the end of each finger. The attacks act as a ranged claw attack, which he controls like his regular claw attacks, by using slashing motions. The power and force behind them is considerable and Ichigo was only able to deflect and shatter them through sheer force of will.

Fracción

 * is the 11th Arrancar in Sōsuke Aizen's army. He was a member, and apparently the leader, of Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez' Fracción. His position as the 11th Arrancar before his death, implies that he was the oldest living Números. He was killed by Tōshirō Hitsugaya.


 * is the 13th Arrancar in Sōsuke Aizen's army and a member of Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez' Fracción. He was killed by Ikkaku Madarame.


 * is the 14th Arrancar in Sōsuke Aizen's army and a member of Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez' Fracción . He is killed by Rangiku Matsumoto.


 * is the 15th Arrancar in Sōsuke Aizen's army, as well as a member of Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez' Fracción. He was killed by Renji Abarai.


 * or D-Roy as he is also known, is the 16th Arrancar in Sōsuke Aizen's army and a member of Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez' Fracción. He is killed by Rukia Kuchiki.

Appearances in other media
Grimmjow is a playable character in several different Bleach Video Games. He appears in Bleach: Heat the Soul 4, Bleach: Heat the Soul 5, and Bleach: Heat the Soul 6 of the Bleach: Heat the Soul series. He also appears Bleach: Shattered Blade and Bleach: Versus Crusade of the Nintendo home console series, and Bleach: Blade Battlers 2nd of the Bleach: Blade Battlers series. He also has a cameo and artwork in Bleach: Dark Souls and appears in the RPG Bleach: The 3rd Phantom. The newer installments, Bleach: Heat the Soul 5, Bleach: Heat the Soul 6, and Bleach: Versus Crusade feature Grimmjow in his released state as well. He also has his own character album as part of the Bleach Beat Collection 3rd Session. The two vocal tracks are entitled BrEaK and Six feelings.

Ichigo Kurosaki
Grimmjow has developed a vendetta against Ichigo because of the injuries he had received from their initial fights. Therefore, he purposefully kept the scar on his chest made by Ichigo's Getsuga Tenshō attack during their first encounter. Moreover, Grimmjow wants to prove Ichigo that he is stronger and is furious with Ichigo because he thinks that Ichigo is looking down on him. Interestingly enough, the two have very similar traits in terms of personality: both of them are reckless, stubborn, rude, witty, sarcastic, self-confident and blunt.

Ulquiorra Cifer
Grimmjow is not on good terms with Ulquiorra due to his perceived notion that Ulquiorra is preventing him from achieving his ideals. In addition, Grimmjow was against Ulquiorra's logic about sparing Ichigo and when Aizen took Ulquiorra's point into consideration, Grimmjow initiated an invasion on Karakura Town with his Fracción in order to kill everybody "with the slightest reiatsu". He also confidently believes Ulquiorra's powers to be weaker than his, a point he is eager to make clear to him.

Sōsuke Aizen
Grimmjow seems to be obedient and respectful to Aizen to a certain degree, but it does not prevent him to act according to his own beliefs and ideas. Aizen is the only person that Grimmjow uses honorifics while addressing him, but he quickly disregards the honorifics when Aizen is not around. It is unknown if Aizen now views Grimmjow as a traitor due to his decisions regarding Ichigo; his fight with Ulquiorra, a fellow Espada, is enough for Aizen to consider him as such. Although Aizen may not even care, one way or the other, if Grimmjow disobeyed him as his ultimate fate after his last fight with Ichigo is still unknown.

Kaname Tōsen
Tōsen holds Grimmjow in the same low regard as he did Kenpachi Zaraki due to their blood lust and refusal to adhere to the "law". He wanted Grimmjow executed for invading Karakura Town without orders, believing that Grimmjow was doing nothing more than attempting slaughter, but Aizen denies Tōsen's request. Instead, Tōsen cuts off Grimmjow's arm, knowing he would be demoted. Grimmjow is well aware that Tōsen doesn't like him and nearly attacks him for cutting off his arm, only to be restrained by Aizen, who states that "[he] won't be able to forgive [him] if he attacks Kaname".

His Fracción
They were obedient and loyal to Grimmjow, but did not use any honorifics while referring to him. After they were killed during their invasion of Karakura Town, Grimmjow showed no signs of anger or sorrow, just surprise at the fact that an entire squad of Arrancar (excluding himself) was eliminated by "a bunch of low-level Shinigami".

Quotes

 * "Nice to meet you, Shinigami. I am Arrancar Number 6, Grimmjow."
 * "Grind, Pantera!"
 * (To Ichigo) "Hey! Who do you think I am? I don't come here to butcher lambs. I'm taking it easy on you. Hurry up and unleash your Bankai, otherwise you're gonna be full of holes like that lump of Shinigami over there!!"
 * (To Ichigo) "Don't disappoint me, Shinigami!"
 * (To Ichigo) [Laughs] "Bring it on, Shinigami! Now I can say that there is a reason to kill you!"
 * (To Ichigo in the Dub) "Don't forget my name Soul Reaper, and you better pray that you never hear it again! Grimmjow Jaegerjaques.....because the next time you hear my name, you'll be a dead man....I promise."
 * (To Luppi) "Later, ex-number six!"
 * (About Ulquiorra) "I'll teach him what happens when you steal someone else's prey."
 * (To Ichigo) "...Eat this! This is...the strongest Cero which only the Espada are allowed to use. Gran Ray Cero!!!"
 * (To Ichigo) "I... I'll never go down... TO SOMEONE LIKE YOU!"
 * "I am...I am the king!"
 * (To Ichigo) "I don't care if you're a human, a Shinigami or an Arrancar! I'll crush anybody who looks down on me! And you, Kurosaki....will be the first to go!"

Trivia

 * Grimmjow was recently voted the 4th most popular Bleach character in the latest Shōnen Jump polls after receiving 4987 votes.


 * Grimmjow is the first Arrancar to be revealed as an Espada and have his Espada tattoo shown, as well as his whole name. Although, Ulquiorra Cifer and Yammy Rialgo are the first Espada to appear in the series. However, their Espada status weren't revealed until later.


 * The theme song Tite Kubo chose for Grimmjow is "Bomb LA(A Bombs) - Step Inside" from [And Just Constantly Rotating]


 * Grimmjow has a lot of traits similar to the protagonist Gamma Akutabi in Tite Kubo's other serial, Zombie Powder. In particular, his released form greatly resembles him. His pose on the cover of Volume 24 is strikingly similar to the first Zombie Powder volume cover.


 * Grimmjow, along with fellow Espada Ulquiorra Cifer, was one of the first Arrancar featured in a video game before premiering in the English dubbed version of the anime.


 * Grimmjow claimed to have kept the scar from his initial fight with Ichigo. However, when he got it, it was slanted. When he was shown later, it was straight.


 * In Bleach: Shattered Blade, Grimmjow can fire up to six Bala blasts at once. It is unknown if he can do this in the manga or anime.


 * The Anime shows Grimmjow's Cero to be red in color, but the video games show both his Cero and his Bala to be blue. This was later fixed so they were always blue.


 * Grimmjow has fought Ichigo Kurosaki a total of three times, thus making him one of Ichigo's most recurring opponents.


 * Grimmjow appeared somewhat burned in the anime from Ichigo's direct Black Getsuga Tenshō. However, in the manga, he was far more injured. He was bleeding from the left side of his forehead and his right arm. He also had a slash on his chest.


 * Grimmjow is one of the Espada so far that has regained his rank, Sexta Espada, after losing it. He did so by first restoring his lost arm, and immediately killing his replacement. He shares this trait with Szayel Aporro Granz. Although, Szayel's method of regaining the rank of an Espada is unknown.


 * He is also the only current Espada to kill another Espada. He also fought an Espada, who outranked him (the 4th Espada).


 * Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez is the first Arrancar, and Espada, to make it into the top five most popular characters in a Bleach Character poll.


 * Grimmjow is the oldest Hōgyoku-created member of the Espada. His original rank, as stated in Volume 38 of the Bleach manga, was Arrancar #12. This also makes him the oldest living Hōgyoku-created Arrancar to date, as his death was not yet confirmed. (Arrancar #11 was killed in battle against Tōshirō Hitsugaya.)


 * Like many Arrancar, Grimmjow's released state is based on an animal, in his case, a panther.


 * Of all the current Espada, Grimmjow is the only one to revert back to his sealed state (for any amount of time) after releasing their swords and then being defeated in battle.


 * Grimmjow's aspect of death is Destruction.


 * Grimmjow is the lowest ranking Espada alive, as his death wasn't confirmed.


 * He is the only Arrancar so far to be featured in his released form on a Bleach manga volume cover.


 * Grimmjow is the only Espada whose original Hollow form was shown. He is also the only Espada to have his history revealed before becoming an Arrancar.


 * Grimmjow is one of four Espada whose zanpakutō release has the same name as a real-world band (Pantera). The others are Starrk, Zommari Leroux, and Yammy Rialgo.


 * He is one of the only three Espada to grow a tail in their released form, the other two Espada are Yammy Rialgo and Ulquiorra Cifer.


 * Grimmjow is the first Espada to fight a Vizard, Shinji Hirako (not counting Ichigo, who had not joined the Vizards or controlled his Inner hollow at that time).


 * Grimmjow is one of two Espadas to have their hair grow out upon releasing their Zanpakuto's, the other being Ulquiorra Cifer.


 * While Yammy and Ulquiorra were the first Espadas to be seen, Grimmjow was the first Espada to introduce himself, except for the fact that he introduced himself as an Arrancar rather than an Espada.

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