Isshin Kurosaki

A tall, powerfully built man, Isshin has spiky black hair, brown eyes, and a thin scattering of stubble around his mouth and cheeks; to his daughter Karin he looks to be in his forties. In everyday life he drapes a white doctor's coat over an ordinary shirt and trousers. When he assumes his Shinigami form, he wears the black shihakushō with a worn captain's haori knotted like a sash over one shoulder, its insignia hidden. Back in his days commanding the 10th Division, his features were softer, framed by long sideburns and free of facial hair, his slightly shorter hair falling in a single bang.

At home Isshin plays the loud, clownish father, all big grins and wild expressions, forever ambushing Ichigo with sudden attacks that he swears are meant to toughen his son up, and more often than not they do. He throws himself into festivals and family antics with abandon, and he carries an unabashedly lecherous streak. His command style once ran the opposite of diligent: as a captain he was lazy and shoved his paperwork onto others, which soured his rapport with Rangiku Matsumoto and left him delighted by the tireless young Tōshirō Hitsugaya.

Isshin once captained the 10th Division as the head of a Shiba Clan branch, served by his lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto and, as third seat, the young Hitsugaya. Looking into mysterious Shinigami deaths in the Human World, he clashed with the black Hollow called White and was cut from behind by Sōsuke Aizen, then saved by a young Quincy named Masaki. To keep her from being consumed by Hollowfication, he gave up his Shinigami powers with Kisuke Urahara's help, settled in the living world, and opened the Kurosaki Clinic, marrying Masaki and raising Ichigo, Karin, and Yuzu. Her death at the hands of Grand Fisher haunted him for years. His powers came back when Ichigo's inner Hollow surged, and he cut down Grand Fisher, by then an Arrancar, before joining Kisuke Urahara and Yoruichi Shihōin to take on Aizen in the fake Karakura Town. Later he led Ichigo into the Dangai and taught him the Final Getsuga Tenshō, holding back the Kōtotsu with his own spiritual pressure while his son trained. He quietly helped restore Ichigo's lost powers through Rukia's blade, and during the war with the Wandenreich he finally revealed Masaki's Quincy heritage and the truth behind her death before traveling to Wahrwelt with Ryūken Ishida. A master swordsman whose fiery Zanpakutō Engetsu answers to the word Burn, he wields the bisecting strike Agitowari and the Getsuga Tenshō, and his skill as a doctor is matched by an immense reserve of spiritual power.