Akon

Overview

Image Gallery

Akon
Race	Shinigami
Gender	Male
Professional Status
Affiliation	Soul Society, Shinigami Men's Association
Partner	Rin Tsubokura, Hiyosu
Base of Operations	Shinigami Research and Development Institute
Personal Status
Relatives	N/A
Education	N/A
Zanpakutō
Shikai	Unknown
Bankai	None
First Appearance
Manga	Volume 8, Chapter 69
Anime	Episode 43
Voices
Japanese	Keiji Okuda Kaya Miyake (child)
English	Patrick Seitz

Akon (阿近, Akon) is the 3rd Seat of the 12th Division, working as a scientist in the Shinigami Research and Development Institute.

Appearance

Akon is a tall man with short, spiky brown hair, which has a jagged, hairless area running through it. He has three small horns protruding from his forehead, which he did not have when he was younger, 101 years ago. He wears a laboratory coat over the standard Shinigami shihakushō.

History

Akon 101 years ago

101 years ago, a young Akon acted as one of Mayuri Kurotsuchi's assistants in the Shinigami Research and Development Institute. When the captain of the 9th Division, Kensei Muguruma, needed a Shinigami researcher to investigate the possibility that a pathogen is causing souls to break down, he sent Todō Gizaeimon to retrieve one. Upon receiving the news, Captain Kisuke Urahara decided to send the division's lieutenant, Hiyori Sarugaki. She complained about the assignment, asking why he does not give the assignment to somebody less important, such as Akon. Akon retorts that all she does is complain, and that she should just give up the lieutenant rank if she hates its duties so much. Hiyori attempts to kick his face for the remark, but he effortlessly avoids it.

He, alongside his captain Mayuri, Hiyosu and two other Shinigami, experimented on Quincy, including Sōken Ishida, Uryū's master and grandfather.

Plot

Soul Society arc

Akon arrives at the Research and Development Institute to deliver Rukia Kuchiki's Gigai to Hiyosu, so that they can study it. When one of his colleagues mentions that he cannot identify the Gigai's creator, another asks Akon if he built it. However, he remarks that he does not remember it at all. When he takes a closer look at it, he becomes startled, and comes to the conclusion that none of them, let alone someone in the Soul Society, could have designed it. One of his colleagues asks him why, to which he states that a Shinigami with the skill to create a Gigai of its kind would surely have been exiled from Soul Society.

Arrancar arc

When the Arrancar first arrive in the Human World, Akon walks in on Rin Tsubokura and Hiyosu as they detect their spiritual readings. He helps gain permission so Rangiku Matsumoto, Tōshirō Hitsugaya and Renji Abarai could release their limiters. Akon later helps warn Hitsugaya's team of the incoming Arrancar, all of which are Espada, during the third invasion. He also sent Rin Tsubokura to give Ikkaku his replacement molars.

Fake Karakura Town arc

Ten days after Aizen's defeat, a member of the Twelfth Division looks for Mayuri Kurostuchi at the division's compound. However, Akon informs him that the captain had went off to Hueco Mundo again to carry on his research. When the Shinigami mentions that Rangiku Matsumoto has arrived to visit Momo Hinamori, who is receiving an organ regeneration treatment, Akon goes off to speak to her. However, by the time he gets there, Rangiku is already gone.

Gotei 13 Invading Army arc (anime only)

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

Akon assists Hitsugaya and Kyōraku.

Tōshirō Hitsugaya and Shunsui Kyōraku visit Akon in the SRDI. Hitsugaya tells him that he has not been able to contact Nanao Ise and Rangiku since they stated that they were returning from the Human World the previous evening. The captain requests to see if there is a record of them passing through the Dangai. Akon requests a record of traffic through the Dangai from Inaba, who reveals that there is no record of the pair returning through the Dangai. Later, when Hiyosu receives a message from Rukia, tells him to ignore it. Inaba enters the room and Akon directs him to lead Byakuya Kuchiki, Renji Abarai and Hitsugaya through the Dangai as part of the study to identify the cause of a time gap that has been discovered. Contact is established with Mayuri in the Dangai, who explains that the cause is man-made. Mayuri asks if Byakuya and the others are ready to enter the Dangai and Akon informs him that they are about to enter.

An unconscious Akon carried by Isane Kotetsu.

Akon later meets with Kyōraku and Akon apologizes, saying their resident expert on the Dangai is out surveying. Kyōraku says it is alright and Akon goes on to say that they recorded reiatsu in the Dangai earlier and asks the captain if he wants a comparison made to Ichigo Kurosaki's reiatsu but Kyōraku says it will not be necessary. Akon works in his office later and wonders who in the S.R.D.I could possibly have planned this, as Kagerōza Inaba enters his office. Akon greets him, noticing the strange apparel he is wearing, as Inaba walks towards him dauntingly. Akon later arrives to the confrontation with Inaba unconscious, being carried by Isane Kotetsu.

The Thousand-Year Blood War arc

At the Shinigami Research and Development Institute, a Shinigami reports to third seat Akon that Hollows keep disappearing. He makes a comment on the barrier between Soul Society and the World of the Living, but is cut off by Akon. He sends the reporter away since his intel has already been reported. Akon informs the captain that it is the work of an unstated group.

Powers & Abilities

Expert Scientist: Akon is an exceptional scientist, particularly in dealing with gigai, as he constructs them for use by Shinigami being sent to the Human World. He is highly skilled in the field, being able to tell that Rukia's gigai was of profound craftsmanship, well beyond the capabilities of his and any of his colleagues. He was able to further postulate that the scientist that did create it was most likely exiled from Soul Society.

Trivia

• Tite Kubo's sketches reveal that Akon can be seen in the Nest of Maggots, tinkering with something in the background.

• At the request of Captain Jūshirō Ukitake, Akon and his staff produce a life size figure of Captain Hitsugaya as a birthday gift. Ukitake also requests one of Byakuya Kuchiki.

• He is shown smoking in omakes.

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