Ganju Shiba

Broad-shouldered and powerfully built, Ganju stands tall, with black hair cropped to his chin and a left eyebrow that is partly shaved away. His everyday getup pairs a vest and scarf with a bandanna and a set of goggles worn on his head. By the time of the war roughly a year and a half after Aizen's fall, he has ditched the bandanna and let his hair grow shaggy and long, spilling down toward his upper back.

Loud, hot-headed, and full of bravado, Ganju wears his loathing of Shinigami openly, a bitterness that lingers even once he learns the truth behind his brother's death. Beneath the tough-guy act sits a softer core: he crumbles before his fearsome sister Kukaku, though he will occasionally push back, and he slowly forges a rough friendship with Ichigo much like the one Ichigo shares with Renji. Teased about his homely looks, he dodges the subject rather than argue it, and he has a scatterbrained streak, once wandering off to take a shop-clerk job and nearly forgetting his actual mission.

Ganju belongs to the Shiba, a house that once counted among Soul Society's noble clans until his elder brother Kaien was slain. Kaien fell to Rukia Kuchiki during a Hollow hunt, and though the truth proved more complicated, the loss hardened Ganju's hatred of all Shinigami and left the Shiba stripped of their standing. He settled into life in West Rukongai, running a small gang while still living under his sister Kukaku's roof.

His path crosses Ichigo's when the young Shinigami's group seeks a way into the Seireitei, and the two trade blows before Kukaku launches them all past the city's shield. Inside, Ganju outwits Yumichika, drags the wounded medic Hanataro along, and comes face to face with Rukia, only to be beaten down by Byakuya when he tries to strike her. He fights mainly with Shiba earth magic, chiefly Seppa, which crumbles whatever he touches into sand, backed by stinging Kukaku-brand fireworks. Years later he insists on joining the assault on the Soul King Palace, offering a map of its halls, and stands with Ichigo's companions against Yhwach's forces.