[Spirit Class 6] Ranma Gekiretsu

» Name: Ranma Gekiretsu (激烈 欄間, Gekiretsu Ranma)
» Alias: Retsu, Cat-Eyes
» Age: 90
» Gender: Male

» Association: Gotei United/Eighth Division

» Appearance Written: Ranma sports a heights of 5’9’’, with a pale but fit build brought forth by well-toned musculature. His hair is flat, crow-black, and reaches down to his neck with flat, rectangular bangs over his heterochromatic eyes – a gold-yellow right eye and a jade-green left eye. On top of his Shinigami uniform, he also wears white bandages that cover his entire mouth and lower jaw, with ends flapping in the wind akin to a thin scarf.

» Appearance Image:


» Personality: Ranma is a curious creature. Events and situations (happening outside of his home district) immediately pique his interest and explorer spirit, demanding him to see things happen with his own eyes. This makes him quite carefree, although it may be a coping mechanism or an excuse to escape the lower slums where he came from as much as possible.

He can also come off as… a bit of a hedonist. Despite coming off as a quiet and serious guy, he enjoys going about life in a pleasurable way, and he will not hesitate to take a nap right after lessons, enjoy a good drink right after getting scolded for dumb shit, or play thumb-o-war with others when things get rough and you just need to unwind. He sees it as a way to keep his mind intact, but he may also just possess a desire to make life easy in spite of his efforts – y’know, so that all the training he undergoes won’t stress him the hell out!

He prefers to feign opposition to the idea of enjoying a fight as a Shinigami or as a fistbrawler, but the truth is that the street life of the Rukongai’s 71st District roughed him up and made him into a ferocious warrior. It even reflects in the meaning of his name, which just goes to show what his parents and entire family line expected of him. At a constant, internal dilemma with that aspect of his life, he can still be convinced to let loose once in a while when faced by a wonderful challenger.

» Likes: Drinks (Sweet And/Or Alcoholic), Naps, Traveling, Romance

» Dislikes: Parents, His District, Fighting (Allegedly), Any blades approaching his face.


» History: Born in the 71st District of the Rukongai spelled trials and tribulations for young Ranma. Both of his parents were accustomed to using violence and fending for themselves in order to fare in these areas, but in return, Ranma missed many opportunities to obtain valuable lessons and healthy experience as a child… or at least, that would’ve been the case if not for
his aunt and uncle taking better care of him.

However, with their later death at the hands of troublemakers, Ranma's blood ran cold and turned him into a vengeful blood-drawer. He still remembers the sensation of his heart beating in his fists after bashing knuckles into their skulls after what had been done to his aunt and uncle. The scenery was even witnessed by others, who referred to the young boy as 'Vengeful Retsu' from that day on.

Ranma began to focus more and more on growing a backbone from that day on, so that he wouldn't die untimely in these districts - this meant becoming a better fighter, whether he wanted to or not. His real parents be damned, he'd already lost those who stepped up, thus making him feel like an orphan.

However, despite making it through the rough times with his bare hands to fend off any obstacles, an incident occurred one day when he returned back home to find a group of hoodlums and punks waiting to jump the Vengeful Retsu after what he had done to one of their friends. While Ranma had grown to be a shrewd street fighter, he couldn’t fare well against multiple opponents at the same time. He was pushed to a corner, got bruised and battered until half of his face was blistered, but then a punk had shouted to the others that they should flee the area immediately, leaving Ranma confused as to why they’d leave the fight before they’d finished him off or something.

He ran after them with whatever strength he had left, a feat that he’d come to regret until the end of time. He found the punks being apprehended by a Shinigami, and Ranma’s anger at the punks was suddenly aimed towards the newcomer, who saw the bruised boy attempt to attack. This had apparently been intimidating enough to illicit an attack from the Shinigami present - a swordsman’s Zanpakutō in a flash cut through the air, and as if by a stroke of luck, Ranma raised his hands up to each side of his face and grabbed a source of sharp, burning pain that traveled between his palms and… his cheeks. The sides of his lips. The damage was done.

The Shinigami quickly recollected themselves and regretted attacking out of the blue, to which Ranma’s injured form was taken away from the District. He remembered being taken to the Squad 4 Barracks and being treated of a slash that nearly carved into the root between his brain and spine, almost rendering him immobile… but if you were to ask him today, he’d tell that the way from his District to their Barracks felt like it took years. As if the injury had temporarily distorted his perception of reality.

Regardless, his Shinigami prowess proved undeniable when he made a nearly full recovery – strangely enough, the scar remained on his face and granted him an eerie ‘grin’. To avoid drawing too much attention to it, he borrowed bandages from Squad 4 to cover his mouth with, resulting in the recognizable look that he carries today. And despite the trauma it must’ve sown in him… meeting the Squad and the other Shinigami made him desire to join their ranks. After all, they did not just fend for themselves and injure others, and their lives… felt much more like they were in control. His injury might’ve just as well have been a direct product of his environment, given the circumstances.

Therefore, he wasted no time in convincing the same Shinigami who injured him to help him enroll in the Shino Academy. Because of his past, the Academy and the teachings about Shinigami and their duties was a whole new world to him, igniting a lust for seeing more of the Soul Society beyond his home in the 71st District. Without even informing his parents, he began learning about Zanpakutō, the sort of soul-purifying blade that also included the one that scarred his face. At one point, he was in the process of evolving his Asauchi into own Zanpakutō and unlock its Shikai, but that was when silly issues began tearing away at his wet gravel clump called 'patience' and 'concentration'...

His Zanpakutō Spirit was a very shy one. Upon obtaining his Zanpakutō, Ranma was unable to even get a sound out of his Spirit for 1 year. He spent plenty of time learning swordsmanship from his teachers, thinking that it would prompt its Spirit to poke its head out and say 'hello' or something, but for 1 whole year of swinging his Zanpakutō up and down, left and right, here and there with growth, Ranma simply heard nothing from it.

At the end of the first year, he heard a grunt - a sharp, displeased grunt coming from within his Zanpakutō. It was a late evening at the Academy, and that was the first reaction he ever got out of its Spirit. Despite it only being a grunt, Ranma knew that it came from whoever embodied the Zanpakutō. Upon leaving the Academy, Ranma quickly came to realize that people and objects were all frozen still, as if all of time had paused - he was no longer in the real Soul Society, but inside of his Zanpakutō Spirit's Inner World... and the craziest part of this story is that Ranma felt like he spent another year to find a person who was moving. One, whole year of wandering a replica of the Soul Society, lost beyond words and way, pushed to nigh insanity with how lonely he felt.

And there he was. A male clad in long, white robes, with long hair of the same lack of pigment. The entity was crouching, rocking his head from side to side - finally, a moving person! Interaction was possible once again! Ranma darted towards the person to say something, anything, to ask what the hell happened to himself and why he hadn't starved or thirsted to death yet. Yet, before Ranma could finish his first word, the white-clad dude teleported away from him... leaving Ranma to boil in anger.

This shit went on for another year. Ranma's patience and focus was completely malleable, constantly finding the teleporting asshole and trying to reach out to him, to ask if he was the Zanpakutō Spirit that Ranma had been looking for all along. And this bastard kept teleporting away as soon as Ranma got close enough to talk to him... but at the end of the third year of Ranma's ridiculous Zanpakutō discovery course, the Spirit finally caved in and decided to end Ranma's nightmare. And thus, a singular name was uttered to the Shinigami:

"Hōkamaru-"

And Ranma was back at the Academy, late evening, still wielding his Zanpakutō with shaking hands. What had occurred? What happened to those three years? Had it really been three years, or was he just making stuff up due to the trauma of such a dream-like state of madness? Either way, getting out of that Inner World meant that Ranma's mental burdens were far lesser than they should've been - moving around the fake Soul Society did allow him to see many things without interruption, giving him a great sense of detail, but he could not focus or endure long, tedious tasks as well as he could before. Still, even so, intended distractions - such as playing with dice or drinking something - kept him going in spite of all that.

When it came to further practice over his last years in the Academy, Ranma realized that he fell behind in the arts of Shunpo. Even today, he groans at his slow Shunpo and how it always ended up slower than the rest of his class. What saved him from embarrassment was his excellence in Zanjutsu following the slow-burning relationship he nurtured with his Zanpakutō - he came to realize just what its ability was, and he found that he was good at fumbling around with it until certain techniques were born. On top of that, he had no problems with Kidō and considered joining the Second Division later due to this new school of Shinigami combat arts, but he changed his mind later.

After just managing to graduate from Shino Academy, he decided to seek further training in swordsmanship – Shunpo and other Hohō techniques were left in the back of his mind, but his Zanjutsu skills and swordsmanship were further sharpened under the same Shinigami who injured him long ago. His new mentor took him on missions to combat Hollows in the World of the Living, introducing Ranma to the direct line of work that many Shinigami in the front fields performed. His mentor was the one who suggested that he joined the Eighth Division due to the variant, vast potential of his Shikai, as well as his strong desire to move between places a lot and be available as aid wherever it was needed. Ranma wholeheartedly agreed - exploration and fun made him forget the headaches from his Zanpakutō training, but this often got him into trouble with Hollows and other enemies later on. He'd fought plenty of Hollows over the years in the Division, many getting a bit too close for comfort due to his careless nature, which slowly began honing his swordsmanship and Zanjutsu skills even further. Plenty of field experience made the difference, especially when playing with death-

About that... one of such events accidently gave birth to his Zanjutsu technique 'Fujikohozen no Gokui', which was a result of subconsciously releasing his Shikai when he thought he was about to get clawed in the face. It lasted so quickly, but he could wait for a shorter time to use it again, which prompted him to evade attacks from that Hollow and future ones over and over again until he got the hang of it. Moving objects, moving enemies, claws and maws, hammers and nails approaching his face...

He got injured in a lot of his missions during that 'training', despite minimizing the damage through certain Kidō spells that he had learned from the Shino Academy, so the Second Division have heard of him by now. However, this also doubled as a means of strengthening his endurance, since he couldn't always count on his speed to keep him safe - again, he was notably slower than the typical Shinigami, so might as well grow rock skin. After mastering his new Zanjutsu technique, he did tone it down with stalling time and all that, but...

Jumping into death's grip along with a pack of Hollows always sounded better than playing hide-and-seek with Hōkamaru for a year again. Thankfully, he completed his job regardless, but he did get a few scars as a result of his recklessness - including a nasty star-shaped scar on his chest as a result of slipping just once. The other wounds were recovered fully, thanks to the helpful members of the Second Division.

He'd been using his duty as Shinigami to journey around, sort of using the excuse of purifying Hollows to explore both the World of the Living and wherever else he could get his feet to land on. Shockingly enough, he never returned to his parents back in the 71st District... but that might change soon.


» Natural Abilities:

Above-Average Strength:
Brawling and fighting other kids and later adults in the further districts of the Rukongai over many years has honed Ranma's bruised and battered body, allowing it to recover from all that pain in exchange for strengthened muscles. Further battles against Hollows has furthered this development - especially when he decided to practice by dodging and getting himself injured multiple times against those Hollows. Now, the lad can take a lot of punishment and deliver strong moves himself, revealed by his well-toned muscles.

Excellent Swordsmanship:
As a byproduct of trying to awaken his Zanpakutō for 1 year, Ranma's skill with swinging his blade leapt up - this gave him an interest in honing it further throughout his studies in the Shino Academy. Afterwards, his skills began complementing his Zanjutsus, and his growing habits for going on the offense were meant to compensate for his lack of high speed.


» Racial Abilities:

Below-Average Hohō Skills:
Ranma's skill with Shunpo is rarely relied on in combat due to being visibly slower than those of many other Shinigami. The only times he can rely on it to grant him an edge is by using it within a range of 3 meters, but anything beyond that would render his Shunpo too slow to prove useful in combat, and any Shinigami would be able to see his momentum. Despite that, there are still rare times where it can be used in spite of its limitations.

Zanjutsu Specialist:
To accommodate for his lacking Shunpo skills, Ranma spent many years in the Academy as well as afterwards to grow closer (as ridiculously hard as it may have been) to his Zanpakutō, figure out what its ability entailed, and develop a handful Zanjutsus to make more and smarter use of its potential. Because of the clear limitations that his Zanpakutō holds in its Shikai form, Ranma's dedicated a lot of time to inventing a handful Zanjutsus with the purpose of 'bypassing' his Shikai's limitations in exchange for range of effect:

These are the current Zanjutsus that Ranma has created - modeling the space that Hōkamaru can slow down time within is the basis for all of Ranma's Zanjutsus, which he's focused on honing and mastering more than anything else.

Kido Practitioner:
As a way to compensate a little more for his lack of speed, Ranma has practiced a handful defensive Kido techniques to amplify his own defenses. If speed lets him down, he can still summon constructs of high durability or similar Kido abilities that allow him to tank attacks from enemies.


» Zanpakutō Name: 放歌丸, Hōkamaru (Loud Singer)

» Zanpakutō Spirit:
This Zanpakutō Spirit is not very fond of noise. This makes him difficult to talk to, appearing uninviting and unfriendly. He's uttered the fewest words in his entire existence, one of which being the first word he ever said to his wielder - his name. Hōkamaru.

But what comes off as a very dismissive attitude is actually a desire to be closer to his wielder, but in a special, silent way. To be able to know each other to the point of reading each other's thoughts and intentions - that should be the ideal bond between a Zanpakutō Spirit and its wielder. After all, Hōkamaru acknowledges that he came to be because of Ranma, and Ranma desires close bonds and the company of people who know him well. Words are not needed, as much as it grinds the Shinigami's gears.

» Inner World:
Hōkamaru's inner world is a replica of the entire Soul Society, along with Shinigami and residents present... but every person in the Inner World is completely still, frozen in time. Not a sound is emitting from them, not a tone can be heard. Hōkamaru's ideal world where everybody's quiet.

» Sealed Zanpakutō Appearance:

» Sealed Zanpakutō Power: When not released, the Zanpakutō is capable of slowing down time around Ranma himself, delaying his movements only for a short moment. However, his awareness and thought process is unaffected by this, and while quite useless in combat, Ranma has found entertaining uses in this ability.


» Shikai Release Phrase: Slow Down, Hōkamaru!

» Shikai Release Action: Ranma unsheathes his Zanpakutō and holds the blade over his shoulder, preparing an overhead strike. That's when his Zanpakutō morphs into its Shikai.

» Shikai Appearance:

The blade, free of doubt, now bends once as its length extends from a short handle, the blade itself bending to take the shape of a large khopesh. One side of the blade has purple, glowing words engraved:

कसानाकल्प

These words are fully lit when the Shikai's ability is fully available. Once used, the light is drained like a tank from the phrase, only slowly filling up during the cooldown of the Shikai's ability.

» Shikai Abilities: Ranma gains the ability to emit a visible, bluish sphere out from and around his Zanpakutō. The sphere can reach a radius of max 50 meters. Its Reiryoku is more than detectable by other Shinigami, Hollows and other enemies with the ability to sense such things.

Time moves much slower within the sphere, causing any objects, people and/or other creatures inside of it to move in slow-motion if inside the sphere too. Only Ranma himself moves normally within his Shikai's effect, resulting in him moving much 'faster' than his targets.

However, fast enemies are able to make up for the slowdown and can even cause the Shikai's sphere to bend away from them if they move much faster than Ranma himself. If anticipating the Shikai, very strong or fast opponents can even break the sphere with high strength or speed exerted, making it more useful if released as a surprise. Ranma's own conditions affect just how potent the slowdown is, too - an injured Ranma performing Shikai would make the sphere weaker and easier to break compared to that of a prime Ranma. On top of that, the sphere only lasts for 1 post (unless shrunk to the Zanpakutō's own size to accomodate for Zanjutsus). After reaching its duration, it needs a cooldown of 3 posts before it can be released again.

Hōkamaru's Zanjutsus:

» Equipment: Ranma carries a wooden gourd on his hip at all times, so that he can have some refreshment during his missions.



General Skills
» Durability: B
» Speed: D
» Strength: D
» Soul: C


Will Skills
» Willpower: Beginner
» Deduction: Adept
» Focus: Beginner

Shinigami Skills
» Hoho: Beginner
» Kidō: Advanced
» Zanjutsu: Advanced
» Hakuda: Adept


» Roleplay Sample: Link to Previous RP Sample (check edited note at the bottom :3)

RP Sample: