Twelfth Division

The Twelfth Division stands among the thirteen court guard squads, yet it operates unlike any of its peers. Authority rests solely with its captain, Mayuri Kurotsuchi, whose word leaves no room for debate. Speaking out of turn is dangerous here, and the whisper within the ranks is that a careless opinion can see a member quietly rebuilt into a walking explosive. Survival depends on doing the work, staying useful, and drawing as little notice as possible.

Where other squads focus on combat and patrol, the Twelfth devotes itself to science. For more than a hundred years it has housed the Shinigami Research and Development Institute, a link forged by its former captain Kisuke Urahara, who converted part of the barracks into the fledgling institute before newer facilities with their own gate rose alongside it. Members are set to collecting samples, compiling data, and inventing new devices and spiritual tools, a mandate both Urahara and Kurotsuchi pursued eagerly, if to different extremes. Beneath the compound sits the division's own version of the Kakaku Taihō, and Mayuri even runs a cosmetic surgery clinic out of the squad's buildings. After the war with Sōsuke Aizen, he carried four dead Arrancar back from Szayelaporro's laboratory and reanimated them into a so-called Corpse Unit, wiring their bodies to jolt their brains with pain and lacing their fluids with untested drugs for use against his foes.

Mayuri Kurotsuchi commands the squad as captain, with Akon serving as his lieutenant. The reanimated Corpse Unit includes the former Espada Luppi Antenor, the Fracción member Charlotte Chuhlhourne, and the Privaron Espada Dordoni Alessandro Del Socaccio and Cirucci Sanderwicci.