Shrieker

is a Hollow who was originally an infamous serial killer in life. He was defeated by Ichigo Kurosaki and sent to Hell.

Appearance
As a Human, Shrieker had a thuggish, squashed face with small eyes, a pug nose, and crooked teeth with a gap in the middle of his mouth. He had short, light brown hair and wore a blue-and-black shirt with a white collar.

As a Hollow, Shrieker stands at around two to three times the height of most Humans, with an ape-like body that leads him to stand on all fours during most occasions. He has shaggy black fur around his neck and shoulders, as well as in two lines arcing toward the center of his chest on either side of his torso, and large black wings connected to his hands. His Hollow mask is vertically long and narrow, with thick and exposed teeth framed by black, flame-like markings, a skull-like nose, a large and circular chin, and a forehead with a half-circle indent at the top, as well as a long, uniquely-shaped tongue split into two ends that form a circle. His Hollow hole is located in the center of his chest.

Personality
In life, Shrieker was a sadistic serial killer with eight victims and took great pride in the infamy this garnered for him, even referring to himself as being a celebrity for being talked about on the news. His final victim was the mother of Yūichi Shibata, whom he stabbed a dozen times, and even as a Hollow he looks back fondly on her struggle to survive and continue protecting her child, calling it beautiful. Moreover, after killing Yūichi's mother, he planned to kill the toddler Yūichi as well, only failing due to Yūichi accidentally killing him first.

As a Hollow, Shrieker retains his sadism and penchant for killing, as well as his narcissism; his first act upon becoming a Hollow was to exact vengeance on Yūichi for killing him by ripping out his Soul, putting it in a parakeet, and promising to bring his mother back to life if Yūichi could evade him for three months, knowing that he had no way of holding up his end of the deal. He takes great pleasure in killing and devouring everyone who tries to protect Yūichi, and repeatedly convinces him to keep going by claiming that his mother is waiting for him to save her, something he finds hilarious. In battle, Shrieker is arrogant and loves to press his advantage against weaker opponents, as well as taunt those who cannot harm him; however, if someone capable of harming him does present themselves, he will immediately move out of their reach with his wings while planning his next course of action. Moreover, he initially presents himself as weaker than he actually is by not making use of his Targets and their leeches until his opponents initially believe he is beaten so he can catch them off-guard, which he will then gloat about. He will also take Yūichi hostage with his Targets to prevent the ones protecting him from attacking if they pose a sufficient threat. However, due to his narcissism, Shrieker consistently underestimates the strength and threat of Human opponents like Yasutora Sado, and is shocked when this results in him being successfully attacked and his own strategies being nullified. Additionally, when Ichigo Kurosaki, who is both strong enough to harm him and intelligent enough to outmaneuver him, faces him in battle and begins non-fatally wounding him to make him feel as helpless as his victims did, Shrieker reveals his true nature as a coward by severing his own leg when pinned down by Ichigo's Zanpakutō and attempting to flee in terror, as well as begging for his life when he is being condemned to Hell.

History
When he was a Human around 5 years prior to encountering Ichigo Kurosaki, Shrieker was a serial killer who roamed Japan and killed eight people with a chef's knife. Yūichi Shibata's mother was his last victim, whom he stabbed a dozen times while she protected her son, eventually following her out to the veranda. After Shrieker killed her, he planned to kill Yūichi, but the toddler grabbed onto his shoelaces, causing him to lose his balance and subsequently fall through a nearby railing to his death. This event led to Shrieker's death as a Human, but he soon transformed into a Hollow, still holding a grudge against Yūichi for killing him. Shrieker decided to play a game with Yūichi by ripping his soul out of his body and placing it inside a parakeet. He told the boy that if he could run away from the Hollow in his current form for 3 months, he would bring his mother back to life, knowing that he could not accomplish this and only wanting to accrue more victims. During the subsequent years, Shrieker devoured two Shinigami who tried to perform Konsō on Yūichi.

Agent of the Shinigami arc
Eventually, Yūichi comes into the ownership of Yasutora Sado, whom Shrieker begins targeting by dropping an I-beam on him and his friends, aiming a motorcycle at him, and involving him in a massive traffic accident, during which he leaves a massive wound on Sado's back that clues Ichigo Kurosaki and Rukia Kuchiki into realizing a Hollow is involved in these incidents.

The following day, as Sado and Yūichi are hiding in an abandoned factory, Shrieker finds them and drops onto Sado from above, leading Sado to quickly evade him and flee the factory with Yūichi. While pursuing Sado, Shrieker comes across Rukia and decides to devour her first due to her scent. Shrieker catches Rukia off-guard and attacks, but fails to kill her with the first blow. When she fights back with Kidō, Shrieker realizes Rukia is a Shinigami and details how he has already eaten two Shinigami who tried to help Yūichi before offering to tell her why he is after the boy if she lets him eat her. Shortly afterward, Shrieker pins Rukia to the wall and asks why she has not exited her Gigai, but is interrupted when Sado punches him, freeing Rukia. Though he realizes Sado cannot see or hear him, Shrieker takes flight when Sado manages to hit him again, only for Sado to break a telephone pole off its base and slam it into Shrieker under Rukia's direction.

Feigning defeat, Shrieker gains the upper hand by revealing his Targets and having them pin Rukia and Sado to the ground. As Shrieker prepares to devour them, Sado breaks free and helps Rukia do so as well by kicking the Targets off her, much to Shrieker's surprise. After giving instructions to some of his Targets, Shrieker takes to the skies again, prompting Rukia to have Sado launch her at him. Shrieker pretends to surrender, only to spawn a Target from the fur on his neck and have it fire leeches at Rukia, who plummets to the ground below. After Shrieker demonstrates his ability to remotely detonate the leeches, which injures Rukia, Sado prepares to retaliate, Shrieker reveals he has captured Yūichi, forcing Sado to remain still. Shrieker has Rukia begin running from him so he can chase her while continuing to injure her with his leeches.

However, eventually Rukia stops running, and Ichigo arrives to take over the fight. As the two battle, Ichigo outmaneuvers Shrieker and holds his Zanpakutō to Shrieker's neck before asking him if he was the one who killed Yūichi's mother. Shrieker proceeds to detail his Human life as a serial killer and his subsequent game with Yūichi, lamenting how he was unable to kill his victim's child before death but relishing how he devoured those who tried to help him. When Ichigo seems to be shaken by this, Shrieker seizes the opportunity to cover him in leeches and prepares to detonate them, but Ichigo shoves them into his mouth and rips out his tongue. Enraged by Shrieker's actions, Ichigo instills terror in the Hollow before slashing his mask to purify him; however, due to Shrieker's sins as a Human, he is instead condemned to Hell, the gates of which appear behind him as he is impaled and dragged inside.

Equipment

 * Knife: As a Human, Shrieker wielded a chef's knife wrapped in gauze to carry out his killings.

Powers and Abilities

 * Shrieker can control little creatures he describes as his Targets. These creatures are Shrieker's primary weapon against his opponents, and can hold someone of normal Human strength down by swarming them. At first glance they seem like miniature Hollows, but they are merely part of Shrieker's own body, similar to secretions. They cannot feel pain and have some consciousness.


 * The Targets can also shoot leeches out of their heads that stick to anything they hit.


 * By vibrating his uniquely-shaped tongue, Shrieker can make the leeches his Targets fire explode. Since the leeches reside inside of the Targets themselves, they do not have to be fired in order to be detonated, and can be used even if they spill out after the Targets are killed.

Flight: Using his wings, Shrieker can fly in order to escape enemies, staying just out of reach, or to gain the advantage by shooting leeches from afar.

Enhanced Strength: Befitting his considerable size, Shrieker is strong enough to pick up a normal Human and pin them against a wall with one hand.

Appearances in Other Media
In Dark Souls, Shrieker's Targets are called "Familiars." Shrieker and his Targets also appear in The 3rd Phantom as minor enemies; however, his Targets act as normal Hollows instead of being spawned from him, and Shrieker is renamed Screamer.

4th Movie Tie-in
In Episode 299, a special episode designed to promote the 4th Bleach movie, Bleach: The Hell Verse, Shrieker reappears as a Togabito. In this form, Shrieker is stronger than he was as a Hollow and possesses new abilities, such as speed allowing him to catch an officer-level Shinigami off-guard and concealment of his leeches in his own body while he fires them through the wrappings on his arm as explosive projectiles. He attacks and devours several Shinigami in Karakura Town until he comes across Rukia Kuchiki, the object of his vendetta. He severely wounds Zennosuke Kurumadani and Rukia, but Renji Abarai's Bankai abilities prove too strong for him, and he is wounded by Rukia. As he falls to the ground, Shrieker opens up a portal and disappears back into Hell while promising to return and conclude his revenge. However, Gunjō later reveals that Shrieker's appearance in the Human World was an experiment he conducted, which he declares a success, and Shrieker was killed since he was no longer of use.

Censorship

 * When Shrieker's leeches were detonated against Rukia Kuchiki, they ruptured her body and drew blood. However, in the anime, they simply release green smoke and the damage to Rukia is implied to be internal.
 * When Ichigo Kurosaki first engaged Shrieker, he slashed the Hollow's neck and left shoulder. In the anime, however, Shrieker was not visibly wounded despite Ichigo still drawing blood from him.
 * During a flashback, when Shrieker killed Yūichi Shibata's mother, she was bleeding from the stab wounds on her back while protecting her son, with a spray of blood visible when Shrieker finally killed her. In the anime, however, all blood was omitted.
 * Shrieker's teeth are less broken in the anime, with his tongue not being visible, compared to the manga after Ichigo shoves the Hollow's leeches into his mouth.
 * When Ichigo rips Shrieker's tongue out of his mouth, his severed tongue was not producing blood or shown as much in the anime as it was in the manga.
 * In the manga, after Ichigo ripped out Shrieker's tongue, he impaled his leg, which the latter proceeded to sever before attempting to flee. In the anime, this was all omitted, with Ichigo instead slashing Shrieker's mask right after ripping out his tongue.
 * When Shrieker was impaled by the Kushanāda and dragged into hell, he was not bleeding profusely in the anime as he was in the manga.

Trivia

 * In the second best bout poll, Shrieker's fight with Rukia Kuchiki ranked 83rd.
 * The leeches spat out by Shrieker's Targets collectively received one vote in the second popularity poll.
 * Shrieker's bounty was set at 5000 Kan, as seen when Rukia attempts to pay for her items at the Urahara Shop through bounty rewards. This scene is omitted from the anime.

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