Kaien Shiba: Difference between revisions

Template:Bleach character info Kaien Shiba (志波 海燕, Shiba Kaien) is a character from the manga and anime series Bleach. He was the lieutenant of the 13th Division of the Gotei 13, under Jūshirō Ukitake.

Character outline

Kaien was an upbeat and kind young man who treated all his subordinates equally, though his initial introduction depicted him as rough-mannered. He was shown to be easily annoyed, but usually because he felt others were putting themselves down unnecessarily (e.g. Rukia Kuchiki), or because of Sentarō Kotsubaki and Kiyone Kotetsu's antics. He was a father/older brother figure to Rukia. He was also a prodigy amongst shinigami; graduating from a six year curriculum in just one year and becoming a lieutenant five years after.

Kaien is the oldest son of the Shiba clan, which was one of the main noble clans (along with the Shihouin and Kuchiki clans), and the older brother of Kūkaku and Ganju Shiba. He was also married to another shinigami, the 3rd Seat of his division, Miyako.

In terms of appearance, and in some cases, personality, Kaien had an uncanny resemblance to the series' protagonist, Ichigo Kurosaki. Kaien's hair is spiky, long in the back, and black. He dresses in the garb typical of shinigami, without any alterations, with his lieutenant badge around his left arm. Kaien also has a tattoo of the Shiba clan symbol on the same arm.

History

File:Kaien rukia.jpg

Kaien dying in Rukia's arms.

Kaien essentially ran the 13th Division before his untimely death because Ukitake was often sick and unable to run day to day operations. The subordinates of the 13th Division greatly respected and admired him, especially Rukia, Sentarō Kotsubaki, and Kiyone Kotetsu.

When his wife, Miyako, and the rest of her squad were killed by a hollow, which had the unusual ability to annihilate a shinigami's zanpakutō with its tendrils and fuse its soul with that of a shinigami, Kaien went to avenge her death, accompanied only by Ukitake and Rukia.

Kaien fought the hollow in a solo battle; Ukitake and Rukia decided not to intervene since it was a battle for honor and pride, not a battle for life or survival. The hollow eventually took over Kaien's body, forcing Ukitake to step in. However, a sudden attack of his illness disabled him. The hollow then turned its attention to Rukia, but Kaien momentarily regained control and forced himself onto her sword, killing both Kaien and the hollow. It is eventually revealed that the hollow that killed Kaien and Miyako was created by Sōsuke Aizen in his attempts to create a perfect hollow-shinigami hybrid.

Aftermath

Since his death, the 13th Division has not assigned another lieutenant. Day to day operations are run by the two 3rd Seats, Sentarō and Kiyone, who often squabble and vie for Ukitake's attention (which they had previously done with Kaien).

Both Kūkaku and Ganju became distrustful of shinigami after Kaien's death. The Shiba clan was eventually removed from the top noble families, although it is unclear whether this was caused by Kaien's actions during life or by his death. The clan eventually left Seireitei to live in their residence in Rukongai. The clan diminished and is now thought to only consist of Kaien's two siblings.

Rukia, who felt the most responsible for Kaien's death, carried a heavy amount of guilt for his death until the end of the Soul Society arc, when she apologized to Kaien's relatives. The incident weighed especially heavy on her as she watched Ichigo Kurosaki fight the hollow known as Grand Fisher alone and as her execution was about to be carried out. She blamed herself for Kaien's death and thus thought that she wasn't worth saving.

Arroniro Arleri

File:Arroniro.JPG

Ninth Espada Arroniro Arleri

Much later, Rukia encounters the ninth Espada, Arroniro Arleri (アーロニーロ・アルルエリ, Āronīro Arurueri), while in Hueco Mundo. He leads her to a dark room since Aizen can see everything in the "sunlight" of Las Noches. He then removes his mask, revealing Kaien Shiba's face. He explains that Kaien is responsible for his appearance. The hollow that merged with Kaien was built in a such a way that it would return to Hueco Mundo when destroyed. Having been merged with Kaien at the time of its death, the two were sent back as one merged entity. While the other arrancar believe the hollow is the one in control, Arroniro asserts that it is actually Kaien who is dominant. Given Arroniro's later suggestion that Rukia kill her friends in order to earn his forgiveness, however, the validity of this claim is questionable.

Nejibana

File:Nejibana.jpg

Arroniro's zanpakuto.

Kaien's zanpakutō is Nejibana (捩花, lit. Screw Flower). Its initial release command is "uncoil the liquid heavens" (水天逆巻け, suiten sakamake; "rankle the seas and heavens" in the Viz translation). Arroniro Arleri, having been created from Kaien, possesses this zanpakutō as well.

Nejibana's initial release is represented as a trident with a light blue tuft of fur right below the prongs. Kaien himself has never seen using Nejibana's initial release, since the hollow responsible for Kaien's death destroyed his zanpakutō before it could be released. Its form was first shown in Bleach GC: Tasogare Ni Mamieru Shinigami, where it has water-based abilities. It makes its manga debut in chapter 265 when released by Arroniro, and has the same abilities.