User:Knighthammer/The Urahara Shop
Kisuke Urahara always wears traditional Japanese wooden sandals and a bucket hat, which has earned him the nickname "sandal-hat" (????, geta-boshi, "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. 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, Kukaku Shiba.
Urahara can usually be found near the scene of an important event, 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 tends to know 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, allowing others to do the work for him. Despite his appearance, Urahara is a highly skilled fighter, using a combination of powerful attacks and cunning deceptions, and is capable of holding his own against Espada-level arrancar with nothing more than his initial release. He also likes building large underground training spaces in secret. He built the first one under the Sokyoku hill in Soul Society with Yoruichi for their training,[1] and created a second one under his shop in the mortal realm for a similar purpose.
Yoruichi Shihouin is an attractive, dark-skinned woman who can transform into a black cat for long periods of time. She is intelligent and witty, and is intimately knowledgeable of Soul Society and its workings, as she was the former leader of the special forces. Although of noble birth, she acts differently from other nobles. For instance, she instructed Soifon to refer to her without using honorific suffixes. She also transforms into her human form directly in front of Ichigo on several occasions just to see his reaction to seeing her naked.
Yoruichi tends to avoid battles, preferring to help after a fight is over, but she will step in if she thinks her side cannot win. She was responsible for training Chad and Orihime prior to their entrance into Soul Society. She also supervised Ichigo Kurosaki's final release training using the methods developed by Kisuke Urahara.
According to Tite Kubo, the author of Bleach, Yoruichi prefers to drink milk, which fits with her practice of transforming into a cat most of the time.[2]
Ururu Tsumugiya
[edit]Voiced by: Noriko Shitaya (Japanese); Wendee Lee (English) Ururu is a meek, black-haired girl who mostly does manual labor for the shop, as well as assisting Urahara in training Ichigo. She is Karakura Pink in Don Kanoji's superhero team and uses a multi-barreled cannon as her weapon. She seems to respond robotically when injured or when hollows initially appear. Jinta also mentions that she reacts to strange spiritual presences, such as those of arrancar. During such times, Ururu seems to take on a rather simplistic view of right and wrong. She considers those that cause harm (relative to her) as enemies, and believes that enemies must be eliminated.
Ururu's meek attitude is somewhat at odds with her fighting ability, which is undefined, but quite high (Urahara vaguely mentions that her fighting ability is at an "anti-shinigami" level). Her leg-strength in particular is far greater than it should be, even when compared to Kon while he's in Ichigo's body. Her combat skills are shown when she gives the arrancar Ilfort Grantz a devastating kick to the head while he is fighting with Renji Abarai, overpowering him to the point that he is forced to release his zanpakuto. In the anime, she also delivers a powerful kick to Sawatari's giant whale doll, Baura.
Jinta Hanakari
[edit]Voiced by: Takako Honda (Japanese); Jeannie Elias (English) Jinta is a small, red-haired boy who is supposed to do manual labor for the shop, such as cleaning, but usually slacks off and forces Ururu to do all the work. He desires to be a baseball star and is Karakura Red (fighting for the position with Karin Kurosaki) in the team of Karakura Superheroes led by Don Kanonji. He seems to have a crush on Yuzu Kurosaki, calling her "The Goddess." This is shown in the omake chapters after the anime episodes when he gives her discounts at the shop and treating a good-luck charm she gave him as an extremely important possession (it was really Kon's plushie body tied to a string, which caused a fight between the two over it during a soccer game). Jinta, like the other shop members, appears to be old and wise when he isn't fooling around. While he likes to constantly bully Ururu, he does care for her, shown when he recovered her body after she was wounded by the arrancar Ilfort Grantz. Also like Ururu, he displays powerful fighting abilities comparable to those of shinigami, though not to the same extreme degree that she does. His primary weapon is an oversized tessen.
Tessai Tsukabishi
[edit]Voiced by: Kiyoyuki Yanada (Japanese); Michael Sorich (English) Tessai is a large, muscular man who always wears an apron. It is unclear what work he does for the shop, but he is Urahara's personal assistant in both business-related and other matters. Tessai is skilled in kido, shown by his use of a level 99 binding spell, possibly the most difficult of them. He is also shown to have great physical strength, made apparent by his ability to smash a hollow's head to pieces with a single, open-palmed thrust. He is also fiercely proud of the shop; this is shown when Orihime Inoue praises the shop basement, finding it really cool, and Tessai bursts into tears when thanking her. When Soifon refers to the shop as "pokey," his instant reaction is irritation and he has to be subdued by Urahara. He is also among the few who find Orihime's food tasty, the other being Rangiku Matsumoto. Tessai is over 200 years old, as he tells Rukia that the word "Quincy" "brings back memories" from that long ago.[3]