Kenpachi Zaraki
From Bleach
Kenpachi Zaraki is a supporting character in Bleach, the towering captain of Squad 11 who lives for battle, wears bells and a power-eating eyepatch to make fights last, and named himself after the district he crawled out of. He is voiced by Fumihiko Tachiki in Japanese and Patrick Seitz in English.
About Kenpachi Zaraki
Kenpachi Zaraki is the captain of Squad 11, a towering fighter from the lawless Zaraki district who lives for one thing: a good battle. He wears bells and an eyepatch that eats his own power simply to make fights last longer and feel fairer. Beneath the grin and violence is a strange honour, and his bond with little Yachiru shows the soft core he hides.
Appearance
Kenpachi is a giant of a man at 202 cm, all muscle and scars, with long black hair worn in stiff spikes tipped with small bells, a jagged grin and an eyepatch over his right eye. His captain's haori is deliberately ragged, its edges torn, and his Zanpakuto looks just as abused, a chipped, notched blade he never bothers to maintain. A small pink-haired girl, Yachiru, is usually draped over his shoulder, completing a picture every other squad finds faintly terrifying.
Personality
Kenpachi wants one thing out of life: a fight that makes him feel alive. That's it. That's the whole philosophy. He wears bells in his hair so enemies can hear him coming and an eyepatch that eats his own power, because winning too easily bores him stiff. For all that, he isn't cruel. Bullies disgust him, strong opponents delight him wherever he finds them, and Squad 11 follows a logic he's happy to explain mid-swing: survive, get stronger, fight again. Politics, orders, paperwork, directions to places? No interest. He's been lost for hours in buildings he works in.
Background & Story
Kenpachi came from Zaraki, the most lawless district of the Rukongai, where he fought simply to survive and took both his name and his title, Kenpachi, given to the strongest swordsman, from the life he carved out there. On his travels he found a nameless baby girl in the ruins of a fight and named her Yachiru, after the one person he admired. He eventually walked into the Seireitei, killed Squad 11's previous captain in a single-strike duel before witnesses, and took the seat by the squad's own rules. Every strong fighter who crosses his path, starting with Ichigo, gets the same delighted invitation to try to kill him.
Powers & Abilities
- Raw swordsmanship: For most of the series Kenpachi fights with no releases at all, just overwhelming spiritual pressure, strength and instinct honed by a lifetime of duels.
- Nozarashi: His Zanpakuto, whose Shikai becomes a huge, cleaving axe-like blade able to cut through almost anything, even the vacuum of space.
- Bankai: His unnamed Bankai turns his skin red, grows horns and trades all reason for monstrous strength and speed, power his own body can barely contain.
Key Relationships
- Ichigo Kurosaki: One of the few men ever to match him blow for blow; Kenpachi has wanted a rematch ever since their first duel.
- Byakuya Kuchiki: A fellow captain he constantly needles, the two nearly came to blows during the Hueco Mundo campaign, to their enemies' cost.
Quick Answers
Why does Kenpachi wear an eyepatch?
The eyepatch is a tool made by the Soul Society's research institute that constantly eats his spiritual energy. He wears it to weaken himself so fights last longer.
What is Kenpachi's Zanpakuto called?
Nozarashi. Kenpachi spent most of the series unable to hear its name, and only learned to release it late in the story.
Who voices Kenpachi Zaraki?
Fumihiko Tachiki voices Kenpachi in Japanese, and Patrick Seitz voices him in the English dub of the Thousand-Year Blood War.
