Kon

is an artificial soul modified by a Soul Society operation known as "Project: Spearhead" to inhabit a dead body and use his special powers to help the Shinigami fight Hollows, Kon's special power is in his leg muscles. His name is short for. Ichigo uses him to transform into his Shinigami form, leaving him in charge of his body the way normal Shinigami use artificial souls to look after their gigais. When not serving this purpose, Kon usually inhabits a lion plushy.

Personality
Kon primarily serves as a comedic foil in the series; when not inhabiting Ichigo's body, his normal plushy body is treated with little respect and much disdain, sometimes bordering on abuse.

Kon is quite perverted and is preoccupied by sex much of the time. He will often try to take advantage of his plushy body to get girls to hug him to their chests. Kon is especially attracted to girls with large breasts, which makes Orihime the center of many of his fantasies. In the manga he is also seen using Ichigo's body to gratify himself while fantasizing about Orihime and Rukia.

Kon's redeeming quality, which allows Ichigo and Rukia to see him as someone worth saving, is his views on the sanctity of life. Because he spent many years in the form of a pill, fearful that one day he would be discovered and disposed of, Kon has developed a moral stance that prevents him from killing anything. He will also risk his own life in order to save even the lowliest of creatures, and is angered to see people who belittle their creations and dispose of them off-hand.

History
The Mod-souls were the product of a Soul Society project called "Spearhead". The goal of the said project was to modify artificial souls so that they could be inserted into dead human bodies and turn them into foot soldiers or cannon fodder in the war against the Hollows. Each Mod-soul had a unique superpower meant to help it fight.

Kon was one of the last Mod-souls ever created. Shortly after his creation the project was deemed inhumane by Soul Society and was shut down. All of the existing Mod-souls were to be terminated. Kon, however, made a lucky escape, along with some other Mod-soul pills, and wound up in the storage room of the Urahara Shop, inside a Soul Candy dispenser. Urahara placed the tainted dispenser in a box designated as "poor merchandise" and had intended to dispose of it but for some reason never did.

Kon's plushy body was a fake version of Ponkichi, the main character of a popular TV show called. It was purchased in the Karakura Town Festival for a child instead of a more expensive, official version. The child who got it didn't like the cheap knock off, and so threw it away.

Agent of the Shinigami arc
When Rukia realizes she won't have much more time in the living world before the Gotei 13 send someone after her, she decides to find a way for Ichigo to transform into a Shinigami without her help. For this reason she goes to the Urahara Shop and buys a dispenser of soul candy, which Ururu fetches from storage. Later, in school, Rukia drags Ichigo to a secluded corner and forces him to take one of the pills. Sure enough, Ichigo's soul is pushed out of his body and his body is now controlled by what seems to be an Artificial soul. Right then, Rukia's Hollow alarm goes off, and the two leave Ichigo's body in the hands of the supposed Artificial Soul, despite Ichigo's mistrust.

At about that time, Kisuke Urahara discovers that the dispenser he sold to Rukia was a faulty one, containing Mod-souls instead of soul candy, which Ururu delivered by mistake. He and his employees decide to set out and find it.

The Mod-soul, finding himself for the first time in a Human body, decides to hijack Ichigo's body for his pleasure and amusement. He wows a teacher by jumping over his head onto a rooftop 20 yards away. Next he surprises the girls in Ichigo's classroom by jumping up to the 3rd floor window from the ground. He makes a move on Orihime and kisses Tatsuki, throwing her into a fit of rage. Ichigo and Rukia return in time to find school desks flying through the window, they try to corner the Mod-soul but he jumps down from the window and runs away.

The Mod-soul goes off on a spree, leaping high and far through the air. His spree brings him near Ichigo's younger sisters' school, where he encounters three boys - Hashigami, Kaneda and Ino - who cut from gym class to play video games. He is enraged by the callous way the boys delete the game characters they created. He attacks the boys and breaks their game console. Later, as he makes his way away from the school, he senses a Hollow near the place he just left and doubles back, arriving just in time to drag the three boys out of harm's way. Rukia and Ichigo, in their search for the Hollow are surprised to find the Mod-soul, in Ichigo's body, taking a beating against it. Ichigo and the Mod-soul destroy the Hollow together, but the Hollow's falling body threatened to crush a trail of ants, so the Mod-soul kicks it away, putting himself and Ichigo's body at risk of falling off the roof. He later says that he refuses to kill anything or allow anything to be killed, because he feels anything has the right to live and die freely.

When Urahara arrives to retrieve his "poor merchandise", Ichigo and Rukia decide to keep the Mod-soul as the permanent means to replace Ichigo's soul, and agree to claim responsibility over the Mod-soul. They later find a lion plushy for the Mod-soul to reside in while not in use. Unexpectedly, the plushy comes to life, and Ichigo orders him to not reveal himself to the rest of the household. Ichigo chooses 'Kon', short for Kaizō Konpaku (instead of 'Kai', which sounded too cool) for the Mod-soul's name.

During the fight between Ichigo and Grand Fisher Rukia puts him into Ichigo's body to help her carry Ichigo's sisters. He later asks Rukia to go help Ichigo as a favor.

When he is fed up with the pains of living in the Kurosaki Clinic, he decides to run away but comes back after finding nowhere better.

When Uryū Ishida challenges Ichigo to a duel, Ichigo uses Kon to Transform. He later stops a Hollow from attacking Rukia and then confronts Uryū about creating the crisis for the sake of challenging Ichigo.

Before escaping the Kurosaki Clinic, Rukia tapes Kon to the bathroom to keep him from telling Ichigo of her escape, he later helps Ichigo decipher the coded note she left. Before leaving to help Rukia, Ichigo uses Kon to transform.

When Ichigo and his companions depart for Soul Society, Kon wishes to come along, but instead Ichigo leaves him in charge of his body and asks him to take care of his family.

Soul Society arc
Kon is recruited by Don Kanonji to the Karakura Superheroes and receives the name Karakura King. The team members use him as a crash test dummy for painful, seemingly useless and unnecessary experiments. Kon jumps from the frying pan into the fire though, when he decides to quit and gets himself abducted by a female Hollow who wants to keep him as a pet. The Hollow is finally vanquished by the team with Kon utilized as the weapon: Passed from Ururu like a volleyball to Jinta, hit by a Jinta Homerun towards Karin and finally kicked at the Hollow with the Karin Impact Kick.

Bount arc (anime only)
Note: Events occurring in this arc are only in the anime and do not constitute canon material.

At the beginning, Kon meets his fellow modified souls, Ririn, Kurōdo and Noba. He does not get along well with his new companions. Ririn views him as a fool and they often fight, and Kon is jealous of Kurōdo's assignment to guard Orihime. They do work together, however, most notably when they collaborate in the construction of several elaborate, yet useless, anti-doll traps.

When the Bounts infiltrate Soul Society, Kon joins Ichigo and the others to find them (partly due to fear of falling victim to Don Kanonji if he stayed behind in the real world again).

Arrancar arc
With the Arrancar invasion beginning, Kon takes over Ichigo's body to have a little fun on the town, only to run into Grand Fisher. He is saved by the timely re-emergence of Isshin Kurosaki, Ichigo's father, as a Shinigami. Isshin quickly dispatches Grand Fisher with ease and Kon is forced to keep Isshin's true identity secret. Isshin reveals that he knew about Kon ever since meeting him during Grand Fisher's first attack at the graveyard.

Hueco Mundo arc
While Ichigo is off fighting in Hueco Mundo, Urahara makes Kon an offer to make him into a super hero to fight the Hollows in Karakura Town. Kon initially refuses, but jumps at the chance when Kisuke mentions he could become a 'babe magnet'. He becomes Konsō Cop Karakura-Raizer, and Urahara provides a background story for him: Kon, an evil space alien hiding among inhabitants of earth in order to carry out nefarious schemes, is captured by Dr. Urahara, a scientist on the side of justice, and turns him into the superhero Konsō Cop Karakura-Raizer. Now, to return to his old alien self, he must lay to rest the 108 hollows that murdered Dr. Urahara's daughter!

He first destroys a large Hollow called Zonzain with his Raizer Beam. When other Hollow arrive so does the Karakura-Raizer Team. Together with his team he destroys every Hollow but then they spot a large fortress flying in the air.

After the destruction of the Hollow fortress, Kon soon falls asleep as Urahara's plans are completed for the final showdown in Karakura Town.

Beast Swords arc (anime only)
Note: Events occurring in this arc are only in the anime and do not constitute canon material.

Kon is seen in Ichigo's body sleeping during one of Ichigo's classes.

Gotei 13 Invading Army arc (anime only)
Note: Events occurring in this arc are only in the anime and do not constitute canon material.

Kon greets Ichigo and Rukia upon their return to the Kurosaki Clinic, and is tossed around the room by Rukia. Ichigo berates him for leaving his room, as they are interrupted by notification of a Hollow. Kon is placed inside Ichigo's body, complaining about the way he is treated. Later, Kon leaves the house in search of the unusual reiatsu he sensed earlier. He stumbles across a naked girl, to which he checks whether or not she is alive, only to be branded as a pervert.

Back in Ichigo's room, Ichigo is once again berating Kon, this time for bringing a stranger into his house. Kon explains where he found the girl, to which Rukia realizes that is the location of where the Senkaimon opened earlier. The next morning, Kon wakes up in Ichigo's room to find the girl missing. He races down to the living room, and finds her watching television. Kon tells her not to leave the confines of the room, as there is no telling what the family will do.

Later, Kon opens the door at the Kurosaki Clinic, and is instantly approached by Kageroza Inaba and two other Shinigami. They ask him for the whereabouts of Nozomi Kujō, to which Inaba approaches him, demanding her whereabouts. He rushes upstairs, informing her of the current situation. To his surprise, Nozomi escapes through the window, pursued by the two Shinigami. Kon, realizing that this is a dangerous situation, runs out after them. He pursues them, but is unable to help her, as the Shinigami come across her.

After Nozomi temporarily incapacitates the two Shinigami, Kon meets up with her at an abandoned facility, but is quickly subdued with Inaba's Kidō. Kon watches helplessly as Inaba approaches her, striking Nozomi in the gut with his cane. However, Uryū is quick to come to their defence. He asks Kon whether Ichigo allowed him to walk out on his own, to which Kon states that Ichigo isn't his master. After Uryū is cut down by Inaba, he states that he will eliminate Kon, who is just a mere Mod Soul.

Kon tries to free himself from the Kidō spell, but Uryū staggers up, distracting Inaba. Kon then watches ominously as Inaba declares that he will take over the Real World as well as the Soul Society, once Nozomi Kujō is in his possession. The next day, as Nozomi recovers from her ordeal, Kon asks her why Inaba was so interested in her. As they engage in a heated argument, Ichigo tells him to let it go. Kon later arrives at a welcoming barbeque for Nozomi at the Urahara Shop. When they assemble the equipment, Kon goes over to talk to her, explaining the concept of chilli powder to her. In the ensuing chaos that results, they realize that she has wandered off. As they each split up to search for her, Kon finds her walking by the riverbed. He questions her motives behind this, to which she ignores his questions. However, before he can get angry, Rangiku Matsumoto appears before him, telling him that she will sort things out with her.

As he walks pleasantly away, he is approached by the real Rangiku Matsumoto. Not realizing this, he asks her where Nozomi went, to which she states that she hasn't seen her all day. Realizing what took place, Kon runs back to Nozomi's location, leaving the others perplexed. As the imposter Rangiku prepares to attack her, Kon intervenes, promptly distracting her for several moments. He tells Nozomi to run, as Rangiku throws his plush body to the ground.Kon is cut in the stomach by her, revealing the container of chilli powder. However, his vain attempt to defeat Rangiku is stopped short, she laughs at his attack. As they regroup back at the Urahara Shop, Kon is just glad that she is okay, gratefully handing her a skewer of meat.

The next day, Ichigo enters his room, telling Nozomi that it is time to go to bed, but only finds Kon tied up inside his closet. He tracks her down as the others search as well demanding to know why she keeps running away before she slams him into a tree with a rock. Nozomi reveals that she has to go somewhere, she just doesn't know where it is. She also informs Kon that coming to Karakura Town is part of her plan to save Ichigo. At the Urahara shop, Ichigo asks Urahara to send him to Soul Society. Kon protests, saying that if he were to leave, there would be no one left to protect them. He tries to get him to stop but Nozomi helps Ichigo by healing his reiatsu. Kon tries once more to stop him and asks the others for help but Uryū tells him it would not matter as Ichigo is stubborn.

Giving up, Kon makes him promise that he will return safely. Kon then goes to sit with the others as Urahara gathers information on Soul Society's situation. As Uryū looks over at Nozomi, Kon yells at him and Uryū grabs him, taking him outside to talk. Uryū asks Kon if he noticed anything strange about Nozomi because Inaba is after her. Uryū reflects on the conclusion the others came to that something is hidden within Nozomi and wonders what could be hidden within her. He voices this to Kon but he just imagines her naked and gets embarrassed. He asks Uryū why he asked and he says it is obvious that Kon likes her. Kon tries to say he does not and leaves Uryū, heading inside. As he enters, Nozomi crushes him in the door. He asks why and Nozomi says just because.

As Urahara tells everyone that Ichigo has disappeared, Nozomi blames herself and Kon reassures Nozomi, stating that it would take a lot more than this to kill Ichigo. She remains silent, which Kon interprets as a sign that she doesn't trust what he says. Kon then tells Nozomi to trust him and wait patiently, prompting her to stare unnervingly at him. Nozomi asks him why he has so much faith in Ichigo, stating that the two of them are always arguing. Kon starts to blush, instantly denying that he ever had faith in Ichigo's abilities. When Urahara reports that he still cannot locate Ichigo, Kon tries to cheer everyone up but Rukia stops him. As Ichigo awakens back at the Urahara Shop, Kon sits with the others at his side. When Urahara explains that Inaba was after mod soul data in the Dangai, Orihime asks what a mod soul is and Kon tries to explain before Rukia takes over. Ichigo tells Rukia that she is ruining things with her drawings but Kon tells her to continue. After Nozomi reveals that Inaba created mod souls, Kon curses him and can't believe that Inaba created him but Nozomi says he didn't, when questioned, she reveals to everyone that she was the first mod soul.

When Ichigo goes to fight a Hollow, he places Kon in his body. Outside the Kurosaki Clinic, Kon is spotted by Sado and Orihime, who ask if Nozomi is home. Kon tells them that she is probably bored and asks them to keep her company before walking off. Kon walks through Karakura Town, recalling Nozomi's revealation that she is a Modified Soul. As he wonders what he can say to her now, he is given a toy lion as a promotional offer, but it comes apart. Kon goes to throw it away, but stops, commenting that if it is not going to be made correctly, then it should not have been made in the first place. He returns home to find Ichigo waiting impatiently for him in his Shinigami form. He asks him to swap back to their normal bodies. Kon watches Nozomi and Orihime cooking before walking off without changing forms. Later, Nozomi walks into Ichigo's room, where Kon is sitting. The two struggle to say anything to each other. Later, a much more energetic Kon, in Ichigo's body, has dinner with Nozomi and the others. He compliments Orihime on her cooking and urges the others to eat all of their meal, before misspeaking to Nozomi.

That night, Kon, after reflecting on Nozomi's revealation about being a Modified Soul, discovers she has left. Kon finds her being attacked by a Hollow and urges her to hurry up as the Hollow attacks. Nozomi's Zanpakutō appears and she fights the Hollow in Shinigami form, quickly dispatching it. Kon reminds her that she said she did not have a Zanpakutō and asks why she was outside. She says that she is a burden, but Kon tells her not to let them being Mod Souls stop them from living.

Kon takes part in a meeting with the Shinigami regarding the situation. Later, he watches as Ichigo, Rukia, Uryū and Sado spar with Nozomi. He is concerned by the level of the training, but Nozomi insists that it is the only way to awaken her Zanpakutō and kicks him away, leaving him to watch with Orihime. After a while, they take a break and Kon offers Nozomi some of Orihime's special sports drink, but she declines and leaves. Yumichika tells Ichigo that they are both unintentionally holding back and instructs him to attack her with real power, filled with killing intent. Nozomi agrees, agitating Kon, who claims that it is going overboard. She dismisses his concerns and continues fighting. Eventually the constant pressuring on Nozomi allows her to awaken her Shikai, who then rushes off to aid the Shinigami battling. Eventually, the reigai's collective strength proves to great for the Shinigami, forcing everyone to rely on Nozomi and her energy-absorbing Shikai. They fire their attacks at her, and she in turn launches the energy at the reigai to defeat them. Kon, seeing the display, runs to Nozomi to congratulate her. However, his praise is premature as the Reigai-Byakuya emerges, having saved himself with the "Danku". He then launches a blast that knocks everyone except for Ichigo and Nozomi. They are saved by the arrival of Yamamoto who quickly defeats the reigai.

As Yamamoto lands, he asks about Nozomi. Yamaoto makes it clear that he has no interest in her identity, viewing her as merely a Mod Soul. This greatly angers Kon, who openly states his disapproval of Yamamoto's treatment to Nozomi. Before they can talk further, the Reigai of Shunsui Kyōraku Jūshirō Ukitake appear. Ichigo and Nozomi quickly fight them. Kon notices how weak Ichigo has become and is worried about him facing such powerful enemies. Before the fight can conclude, Kageroza appears and tells the Reigai to retreat while he takes over. Ichigo and Nozomi are then joined by Yamamoto, but Kageroza also copies Nozomi's energy-absorbing ability and finally over-taxes Ichigo. Kageroza then launches an attack from the accumulated energy on Yamamoto, only for Nozomi to appear in front of the blast and greatly worrying Kon.

Nozomi's blade proves unable to absorb such large amounts of energy at once and shatters in two. Yamamoto intervenes but he is greatly injured while Kageroza is battered but still able to fight. Despite his current body, Kon resolves to fight with Ichigo, Rukia and Renji to stop Kageroza. Kageroza begins to laugh at how they act like they understand Nozomi, which Kon kinds annoying at how easily amused Kageroza is. Kageroza explains that he and Nozomi are in fact created from the same reiatsu of a Shinigami but split into two. Kon asks Nozomi if this is true, which she doesn't respond to, instead looks away with guilty demeanor. Ichigo and the others attack Kageroza but are quickly defeated. Kon then latches himself onto Kageroza, trying to give Nozomi a chance to escape, only to beaten off and stomped on until his pill form is pushed out of his plushie body. Nozomi however save him with a "Tenran" and retrieves his pill and body before retreating. After placing Kon back in his plushie body, they continue running. However, Nozomi soon collapses from exhaustion and tells Kon to run and save himself. Kon refuses, but Nozomi uses "Shitotsu Sansen" to bind Kon to a rock before running off. Refusing to give up, Kon manages to break the rock out of the ground and run after her despite still being bound it. However, he finds Nozomi only in time to watch her teleported away with Kageroza.

Powers & Abilities
Enhanced Strength: During the few times that Kon is in combat, he has proven to be able to hold his own — in addition to possessing all the combat abilities of Ichigo's well-trained body, he was designed to have exceptionally powerful leg strength. He was able to fend Ichigo off in combat by using just kick-attacks and leg-blocks, and is able to kick aside massive Hollows. He is also capable of jumping over 13 meters and 56 cm from standing position in Ichigo's body.

Enhanced Speed: Kon can run 100 meters in 3.8 seconds.

Spiritual Power: Being a Mod-soul, Kon possesses some spiritual power, though not as much as spiritually aware Humans, such as Yasutora Sado or Orihime Inoue.


 * As Karakura-Raizer he can fire beam strong enough to kill a large Hollow. He first has to spell "Raizer" with his body in charades, otherwise he will be electrocuted.

Relationships
Kon is treated as a necessary inconvenience by most of the people surrounding him, many of them acknowledge his existence by often unnecessary violence. The ones that do not are those who are non-violent by nature (Orihime) or by choice (Chad). Still, Kon has a more complex relationship system with several characters.

Ichigo Kurosaki
Kon is generally viewed by Ichigo as a pest. Ichigo often treats him in a less than gentle manner, which leads to Kon's initial choice to run away from the Kurosaki clinic, to which he eventually returns when he realizes no other place is safer for him. Kon has swiped Ichigo's body twice to frolic around Karakura, and got into Hollow trouble both times.

Rukia Kuchiki
Kon admires Rukia a great deal, and feels grateful to her for saving his life (when Urahara wanted to dispose of him). He refers to her as "nee-san", or older sister in the English version. Rukia seems to not return his affection, and will usually ignore him unless he offends her somehow, at which point she usually reacts violently.

Yuzu Kurosaki
Yuzu is one of Kon's greatest torments in living at the Kurosaki Clinic. She found him once while cleaning, and Kon was forced to pretend to be nothing more than a stuffed animal. Yuzu's given name for Kon is "Bostov"; she treats him as a female (despite the obvious mane on the plushy) and dresses him accordingly, which is insufferable for Kon. Despite this, when Yuzu cries herself to sleep during Ichigo's training period with the Vizored, Kon shows compassion for her.

Uryū Ishida
Whenever Kon's cheaply made plushy body would get torn or scuffed, Uryū is the person to go to for fixing him. But Uryū, designer by heart, will sometimes make some unwanted changes to the plushy, such as dressing it like a designer doll. At this point Kon attacks Uryū, releasing all the anger he could never take out on Yuzu. Uryū removes the design, but at one point, he eventually sews a Quincy cross on the back of Kon's head for revenge. Oddly enough, he, along with other characters, appears to be completely unaware of the cross.

Trivia

 * His theme song, as chosen by Tite Kubo, is "Nichiyoubi Dansu" by Kuuki Koudan (Kon Theme #1) and "Bushman" by Rip Slyme (Kon Theme #2)

Quotes

 * (To Ichigo Kurosaki) "Right after I was born, Soul Society ordered the mod souls to be destroyed... and the day after I was born I was already chosen to die! Everyday while I was in that pill I was afraid. As I watched my friends disappear each day. Even after I got lucky and escaped the storage among other pills, I feared being discovered and killed. As I trembled in fear I would think... life isn't something that should be taken from others. I was born like this! I should at least have the right to live and die freely! Whether it's humans or insects... or even us... it's the same. That's why I won't... kill anything. 
 * (After Rukia Kuchiki stepped on him and he looked up her skirt) "Nice angle!"
 * (About Yuzu missing Ichigo) "How could you make this poor kid cry? What a worthless brother!"
 * (About Orihime) "Well, I could tell whether or not Orihime is the real one...if she would invite me into her Valley of the Gods!"
 * (Daydreaming about being smothered by women) "Extra large...puffy wuffy...booby woobies!"

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