Iwao Kuroiwa

Kuroiwa is a big, heavily built man with a square jaw, heavy brows, and rounded eyes, dressed in the formal attire common to CCG investigators. By the events of :re he has lost his left hand to Yoshimura and wears a prosthetic in its place. In his late twenties he was leaner and turned out in the standard suppression armor.

Kuroiwa is a man of few words, often answering with little more than a grunt. Even losing an arm to Yoshimura drew only a grunt and a remark that it could not be helped. He held that the nourishment gained from good food mattered more than training, and reasoned from this that a woman skilled at cooking made the ideal wife. For all his stoicism, he was seen weeping as he comforted his wife at their son's wedding.

A decade before the Steel Beam Incident, Kuroiwa fought as part of a special team against the second assault on the 2nd Ward by the One-Eyed Owl's faction, inflicting lethal harm on the Owl's kakuhou with his quinque while taking serious wounds himself. In at least one such Owl encounter he served in the S3 Squad under Mikito Urie.

Named vice commander of the 11th Ward Special Countermeasures Unit set against the Aogiri threat, he used the Arata proto alongside Shinohara to battle Yoshimura and came away injured, and after the fighting he put Amon forward for promotion, having watched him in action. He rejoined Shinohara's squad for the Owl Suppression Operation and helped bring Yoshimura down, but lost his left arm in the process and was struck from the rooftop by Eto as she arrived. Recovering in the hospital, he was reminded by Fujishige Iba to be thankful it was not his dominant hand.

He appeared at the reception after the Award Ceremony to greet his son and Kuki Urie, later defended the 22nd Ward during the Clown siege and cut down attacking Clowns, and shed tears of joy at Takeomi's wedding to Yoriko. That happiness was shattered when Bureau Chief Kichimura Washuu informed him that his daughter-in-law faced execution and his son incarceration for striking another investigator in his fury.

Kuroiwa threw in with Urie to move against Kichimura over Yoriko's fate. The two confronted the bureau chief and were set upon by Roma and Shikorae; despite a missing hand, Kuroiwa fought fiercely, slicing Shikorae, evading Roma, and choking the ghoul, until Roma revealed a far stronger kakuja form that left both men gravely hurt. After Urie finally beat the pair, Kuroiwa apologized in tears for having failed to save Urie's father Mikito against the Owl, and Urie shouted that no blame lay with him. Kuroiwa managed a small smile and told Urie he was truly like Mikito before Kichimura drove a blade into his neck. He clung to life until Marude reached him and promised he was not alone, letting him drift away seemingly to his death.

He survived after all. Before the Dragon battle he was hospitalized, and once the neck wound healed he returned to serve as an aide to Chief Marude, becoming a proud grandfather once Takeomi and Yoriko welcomed a son of their own. Kuroiwa's strength was formidable: capable enough to wound Eto, he recovered from injuries faster than most, endured a sword through his neck, possessed grip strength surpassing even his powerful son's, and stayed conscious after Roma tore off his arm. His advanced prosthetic hand could block heavy blows, including Shikorae's kagune, though it would snap from the stump under enough force.