Gin Ichimaru

Gin Ichimaru is a character from the Bleach anime and manga.

Gin was the captain of the 3rd Division of the Gotei 13 until he betrayed Soul Society, alongside Sōsuke Aizen and Kaname Tōsen. His lieutenant was Izuru Kira. He formerly served as the lieutenant of the 5th Division under Sōsuke Aizen and the 3rd Seat of the 5th Division under Shinji Hirako.

Appearance
Gin is fairly ordinary in terms of clothing, and he does not wear any unique items. His overall appearance, however, is not as normal. He keeps his eyes constantly narrowed to slits, rarely ever opening his eyes enough to reveal their bright sky blue-color. Although he appears to be an early to mid twenty-year-old person, he is unusually thin and tall with very sharp features, giving him a skeletal appearance, and bears unusual silver hair. He also keeps his face set in a wide mocking smile, which he only wipes off on rare occasions of annoyance, surprise, confusion, or even sadness.

In Hueco Mundo, his outfit, like Aizen and Tōsen's, had been modified since the three abandoned Soul Society. He now wears a long, white robe over his normal Shinigami hakama. The hilt of his Zanpakutō is visible sticking out from under the robe through the opening down to his waist. Later, Gin wears a white hakama like the Arrancar, instead of the black Shinigami hakama. Gin wears his robe open in a narrow 'V' down to his waist, closed to below the hips, and then open again to the hem, which falls about to mid-calf. His robe has long bell sleeves, into which he hides his hands. The lining of the robe and edges or layers of the under-robe(s) appear to be black. His Zanpakutō is not visible with this outfit.

Personality
Gin is a very mysterious man, since his almost constant smile and slitted eyes, combined with his heavy use of sarcasm and mocking politeness, make it very difficult to discern his thoughts. Many find his demeanor and appearance rather unsettling and there are very few who were willing to trust him even before he was revealed as a traitor. Gin is fully aware of the effect he has on others and more than once has toyed with people's emotional states for his own amusement. Both Rukia Kuchiki and Wonderweiss Margela have shown to be rather frightened of him; Rukia noted to herself that she felt like she was being strangled by snakes whenever he spoke, even if he was not speaking to her directly. Gin speaks with a distinct Kyoto dialect, which is polite, but indirect.

Ever since he was a child, dried persimmons had been his favorite food. Planting and raising many persimmon trees around the Third Division offices, Gin would make the dried persimmons himself before distributing them to other divisions. Due to mistaking a dried sweet potato for a dried persimmon he developed a dislike for the former. During his free time, while still a captain, Gin would often go out for walks around Seireitei. Despite his hobby supposedly being people-watching, it would seem as though he also enjoyed hunting around and searching for an opportunity to create mischief with some poor victim.

Gin has proven himself to be quite perceptive, seeing past Sōsuke Aizen's manipulative personality and into his emotions and feelings, correctly pointing out Aizen was enjoying the invasion by Ichigo and his friends and their successes within Las Noches, which Aizen himself confirmed, and noting Aizen was surprised by the arrival of Momo during the battle of Fake Karakura Town.

Abilities
Genius Intellect: When Gin was younger, he was hailed as a child genius. He was highly proficient in his classes at the Shinigami Academy, and he graduated in one year. His skill was already evident at a young age when he gained a seated position in the 5th Division shortly after graduating, ultimately surpassing the previous child prodigy Kaien Shiba, who was already an adult and had taken five years to become a seated officer. Gin has shown himself to be highly manipulative and deceptive. He comes out unscathed due to the calm confusion he plays at, which is a testament to his overall strategy. In his battle with Tōshirō Hitsugaya, Gin was able to manipulate the positions of three people so Hitsugaya would have to choose between saving his own life or Hinamori's without any visible effort. He is capable of simple deception by having his opponent focus on one thing while hiding the true threat. Gin's ingenious mind allowed him to elaborately plot his attempt to assassinate Aizen for over 100 years, managing to be the sole person to persuade Aizen in revealing Kyōka Suigetsu's weakness, hiding his Bankai's true aspect and appearing to betray Soul Society simply for this one goal, and would have succeeded were it not for the unexpected factor of the Hōgyoku returning to Aizen. Master Swordsman: Gin is a highly proficient swordsman. In combat, he doesn't seem the least bit taken back by the abilities of his opponent, even when they seemingly have an advantage. He fights with seemingly no effort behind his attacks, as he always wields his sword with one hand. His combat skills were evident even when he was a child. He easily defeated and killed the former third seat of the 5th Division, who by rank and age should have been more powerful and skilled than him. Gin was able to effortlessly keep the upper hand against Tōshirō Hitsugaya, a Shinigami known for his intellect and skill in Zanjutsu, during their battle. He can maximize the full lethality of his Zanpakutō's special ability to kill multiple targets in one shot, allowing him to be quite deadly at a distance. He is able to mix extreme speed with a calm composure and precise attacks.
 * Psychological Warfare: Gin is a master at toying with his opponent's mind and weakening their resolve.

Shunpo Expert: After his battle with Tōshirō Hitsugaya, Gin uses Shunpo to retreat. He was also able to fight on even grounds and keep up with Ichigo while the latter was using his Bankai.

Kidō Practitioner: Gin's actual skill level in Kidō is unknown, but he was able to teleport himself and Aizen a considerable distance using "Sentan Hakuja". He was also able to cast "Hakufuku" on Rangiku Matsumoto, preventing Sōsuke Aizen from perceiving her Reiatsu.

Great Spiritual Power: Gin possesses captain-level Reiryoku. Gin, without any visible effort, easily incapacitated Chad, Orihime, Uryū, Makizō, and Ganju with his Reiatsu just by facing their general direction.

Enhanced Durability: Gin is durable enough to withstand a direct hit from Ichigo Kurosaki's Bankai-enhanced Getsuga Tenshō, only suffering a light wound to his forehead as a result.

Zanpakutō
Shinsō (God Spear; Viz "Sacred Spear"): It looks like an ordinary wakizashi. The hilt is light-blue with a tsuba made of two slim swirls of metal looping around the blade to make an open oval, resembling an "S".

Shikai: It is triggered by the phrase "Shoot to kill" (Ikorose). Bankai: Kamishini no Yari (God-Killing Spear): In its Bankai form, Gin's Zanpakutō does not change in appearance at all, retaining its small wakizashi form.
 * Shikai Special Ability: In its Shikai, Shinsō's blade glows white and extends at high speed to impale Gin's opponents from a distance. The blade also carries tremendous force when extending, allowing Gin to push both Ichigo Kurosaki and the giant Jidanbō out from under the Seireitei gate, despite the latter being firmly braced under it. In addition, Gin can maintain the extension and swing the activated Shinsō in wide arcs, attacking multiple targets quickly and simultaneously. Shinsō's maximum length is equivalent to one hundred times its original length, earning it the nickname Hyapponzashi (Hundred-span; Viz"Hundred Swords") when Gin was younger.
 * Bankai Special Ability: Gin's Bankai's abilities are essentially the same as his Shikai's, but its force, cutting power, length and speed are vastly amplified to the point where Gin is capable of swiftly cutting an entire town in half with a single slash while standing a great distance away. As Kamishini no Yari, Gin claims that his sword can extend itself up to 13 km (8.1 miles) at 500 times the speed of sound: exactly 171,500 meters (106.6 miles) per second in order to arrive at its full length in under 0.08 seconds, which makes it not the longest Zanpakutō, but the fastest. The blade can also retract to its normal size at the same rate.[108][109] Because the blade's extension and contraction speed is a highly dangerous ability, Gin tends to downplay its speed whenever he talks about his Zanpakutō, and instead focuses on the length and power of the blade in order to gain a psychological advantage over his opponent. However, Gin has also stated that his Bankai is not as fast or as long as he originally claimed, but he hasn't elaborated on this statement further to determine what he is specifically referring to.
 * Korose, Kamishini no Yari (Kill, God-Killing Spear): Kamishini no Yari's true ability, as well as its deadliest aspect, is not based on its length or speed, but rather its ability to turn into dust for just a second when it expands and contracts. There is a deadly poison inside the blade that dissolves and breaks down cells. He can leave a sliver of his Zanpakutō in an opponent when he retracts Kamishini no Yari, allowing him to kill an opponent at any time he chooses to. He does so by uttering the technique name while placing his hand up to the target, which causes the target to completely break down and dissolve at the cellular level from the inside out.
 * Butō (No/Null Step): By adopting a stance where he firmly grips Kamishini no Yari with both hands and places the Zanpakutō's hilt squarely on the center of his chest, Gin is able to utilize the tremendous extension and contraction properties of his Bankai to an even more terrifying extent than its normal state. This occurs in the form of a piercing maneuver where the extension and contraction of the blade becomes almost completely unseen to even the most diligent of observers.
 * Butō: Renjin (No/Null Step: Serial Blade): This ability repeats the action of extending and subsequently contracting Kamishini no Yari, as observed within the technique Butō, multiple times in rapid succession. The entirety of this process is completed in a mere moment, resulting in the individual steps involved in this technique becoming virtually indistinguishable from each other, generating an apparent mass of blades that leave little opportunity for the intended victim to evade successfully.

Trivia

 * The color of Gin's eyes has varied throughout the series' medium. They are shown as blue on the cover of Volume 20 and Episode 270 onwards. However, early episodes of the anime depicts them as red, and Bleach: Dark Souls and Bleach: The Blade of Fate has them colored yellow.
 * Tōshirō Hitsugaya and Gin Ichimaru's battle was extended in the anime. Before Hitsugaya released Hyorinmaru, he and Gin engaged in a sword fight that resulted in the latter losing a part of his sleeve.
 * Although only heard in two episodes (22 and 52-53), Gin's "bye bye" has become very popular with the fans and even became the sound of one of Gin's "fast move attack" in Bleach Heat the Soul 5.
 * While it remains the same in the original Japanese version, Shinsō's release command varies in the English dub of the anime ("Impale him," "Slay them," "Pierce his flesh," "Shoot to kill,"), as well as in Bleach: Shattered Blade and the DS series ("Shoot 'em dead").
 * Gin was among the four Bleach characters to make the top 100 list in Newtype Japan's 2007 list of the most popular anime characters.
 * Tite Kubo remarked in a 2004 Shōnen Jump character commentary that Gin's popularity, especially among women, was a great surprise to him, as he had attempted to make Gin creepy and off-putting in appearance.
 * Gin's Shinsō came 8th in the Zanpakutō poll.
 * In the Bleach best bout poll Ichimaru's fight with Hitsugaya came in fifth place.
 * The Shinigami Women's Association published a Photo Collection showcasing Gin named White Snake but it was cancelled.
 * Gin was author of the now suspended column That's Absurd for the Seireitei Communication.
 * Gin's theme song, as chosen by Tite Kubo, is "Snake Tongued Beast" by Saybia.
 * According to the Official Bootleg, Gin possessed incredible skill at needle threading.