Basic Character Info
Name: Ikkaku Madarame
Age: N/A
Visual Age:20s
Gender: Male
Division: 11 all the way.
Appearance: Ikkaku is a bald man, and is in fact made fun of by a lot of people, especially 11th Division Lieutenant
Yachiru Kusajishi, who calls him either "cue ball" or "pachinko-head" (as a result of her fondness for giving people nicknames or when he questions her direction skills). He often insists that he's not bald and his head is "shaven" while it is painfully obvious that it isn't. As a result of the constant ridicule he gets, Ikkaku is very self-conscious about his baldness to the point where he will threaten anyone that points it out. Ikkaku's bald scalp is very reflective when seen under the sun, causing the members of the
8th and 11th Divisions to mistaken it as a full moon in one of the omake segments, much to his chagrin. He also has distinctive small red markings at the outer corner of his eyes. Unlike most
Shinigami, Ikkaku doesn't wear
tabi with his sandals on. The only other person who doesn't wear
tabi is 8th Division Captain
Shunsui Kyōraku. He wears the standard Shinigami robes.
Personality: In terms of his attitude, Ikkaku is a viewed as a stereotypical 11th Division member — violent, fight-loving, and rude; This has been noted by
Tetsuzaemon Iba, among others. He loves fighting so much that he's unwilling to travel anywhere without a sword, resorting to carrying a wooden one when posing as a student at
Ichigo Kurosaki's school. However, Ikkaku does have a sense of loyalty and responsibility unlike many of the lower-ranked 11th Division members and is fiercely loyal to his captain, under whose command he wishes to die.
Ikkaku shares many personality traits with his division's captain,
Kenpachi Zaraki, which explains why they seem to have so much respect for each another. Ikkaku considers fighting fun, just as his captain does, and tries to get as much "fun" as he can out of his opponents, so much so that he would take deadly risks to drag out the fight for as long as possible. He also shares Kenpachi's penchant for limiting his skills in order for fights to last longer (with the only difference being the fact that he chooses to do so by restricting the use of his
Bankai whereas Kenpachi prefers the use of his power-sealing eyepatch given to him by the
12th Division). Like Kenpachi, Ikkaku is seen constantly smiling when engaging in a fight with a formidable opponent. And like all 11th Division members, he considers the only honorable battles to be those that are fought one-on-one. Even the threat of death is not a reason to ignore this fact, as they believe that the winner is only to be determined when the other dies. He does consider surviving an otherwise lost battle good luck, as his captain taught him, and is also sensible enough to carry a blood-clotting ointment in the hilt of his
Zanpakutō.
Ikkaku is one of the few
Shinigami in
Soul Society who is referred to by their given name instead of their family name, a rarity amongst them, but seemingly more common between members of the 11th Division. So far, only 10th Division Captain
Tōshirō Hitsugaya and 11th Division Member
Makizō Aramaki have called him "Madarame".
Ikkaku appears to be one of only two characters who are left-handed, the other being
Uryū Ishida. However, he's also ambidextrous, like 8th Division Captain
Shunsui Kyōraku and
Lisa Yadōmaru, as evidenced when he switches his
Zanpakutō to his right hand during his battle with
Edrad Liones, along with using his sword's sheath as a secondary weapon in the bout.
Background/RP Sample
Background:
Not much is known about Ikkaku's history. Ikkaku came from the streets of
Rukongai. At some point, he met
Yumichika Ayasegawa, and the two became friends. The two would frequently go from village to village looking for opponents for Ikkaku to face in combat.
Ikkaku is defeated by
Kenpachi and is lectured to become stronger.
They would later have an encounter with
Kenpachi Zaraki and
Yachiru Kusajishi before they entered
Seireitei. Yachiru warns him that messing with Zaraki while he is a good mood is a bad idea, but Ikkaku doesn't take the warning seriously. When is face to face he immediately becomes alarmed by his reiatsu but is happy to finally have a real challenge. Zaraki attacks with enough force to crater the ground under Ikkaku, which somewhat alarms Yumichika. Due to Zaraki's strength Ikkaku is on the defensive holding off Zaraki's relentless strikes. The two continue to battle with Ikkaku trying to overwhelm Zaraki though not able to wear him down, only succeeding in him getting wounds while his opponent remains untouched by his blade. While Zaraki mentions he is having fun he decides to finish Ikkaku with one quick strike resulting in Ikkaku's loss of the fight.
[2] Ikkaku becomes mad that Zaraki would just walk away without finishing him off. Zaraki plainly tells him that he has no interest in weaklings who can't fight. He notes that he doesn't have any obligation to finish Ikkaku off. To which Ikkaku thinks he is toying with him and demands that Zaraki kill him. Zaraki loses his patience and grabs hold of Ikkaku and tells him that if he loves to fight so much then why is screaming for death. Zaraki explains to him a philosophy to follow for people like them. "
Don't admit defeat and seek death, die first, then admit defeat. When you lose, but don't die it just means you were lucky. At those times, think only about survival. Survive and think only about killing the guy who failed to kill you". Zaraki then smiles at him and states that its not like he went easy on him, he was just lucky to escape death. He expresses that Ikkaku should live, live and come back and kill him. As Zaraki goes to leave Ikkaku asks him his name and is told he is Kenpachi from Zaraki
[3] Afterwards when he had rehabilitated from his wounds Ikkaku searched for Zaraki everywhere in order to challenge him but never could find him. Until one day when Ayasegawa comes to him with some news, as he had heard the Zaraki had beaten the captain of the
11th Division of the
Gotei 13 in a single blow making him the new captain of that division. Ikkaku is taken aback by this revelation as he sees that protecting others really isn't Zaraki's style and sets out to find his old opponent.
[2] 
Ikkaku serving under Kenpachi during their first days in the
11th Division.
The following day upon Zaraki's first addressing of his division he is greeted by Ikakku and Yumichika who have seemingly already become Shinigami and joined the division. Ikkaku tells Zaraki that he has come back just as he suggest causing Zaraki to smile. Later they are present at the battle of the division verses a caterpillar hollow, while initially the division loses Ikkaku shows up to fight it but is stopped by Zaraki who decides to kill it himself. After the hollow is dispatched more come prompting Ikkaku and Yumichika to join in the fight. Though at first Zaraki is against it, he is persuaded upon realizing the two have similar fighting traits as him causing him to concede to allowing their participation.
[2] Sometime later Ikkaku is walking around the 11th Division barracks until he is greeted by
Renji Abarai a fresh transfer from the
5th Division. Renji asks that Ikkaku train him. The two battle and Ikkaku becomes impressed at his new students eagerness to excel. When he asked Renji why he wants to get strong so bad, he is told because Renji wishes to surpass someone. They continue to train well into the evening, advancing as far as using their Shikai verse each other. Ikkaku then tells Renji that they have finished training and if he wishes to learn anymore then he will have to figure it out on his own as Ikkaku did not want Renji to end up mimicking his style. Renji then asks him if he has Bankai and why he did not it, to which Ikkaku comments that he has his reasons and he alludes that he is chasing someone as well. He then gives Renji his name and tells him to remember it as the next time they fight it will be to the death. He then explains to him why you give your name to your opponent, as Ikkaku leaves Renji thanks him.
[2] Zanpakutō Information
Name:
HōzukimaruRelease Phrase: "Extend"
Element/Family: Melee
Manifestation:
Sealed Zanpakuto:
Shikai:
Shikai Ability:
Shikai Special Ability: Ikkaku uses the command
"Split" (裂けろ,
sakero; "Split apart" in the English dub) to separate his naginata into its true form which is a
Sansetsukon (Three Sectional Staff), after which the sections can independently reconnect and separate again at will.
[59] This special ability surprises one's opponents when they first attack. These chains are also able to extend a fair length, allowing Ikkaku to swing his weapon like a flail for mid-range attacks.
Ikkaku's Shikai separated
[Bankai applies only for Captains, Advanced Vice Captains and Elite Vaizards]
Bankai:
Bankai:
Ryūmon Hōzukimaru (龍紋鬼灯丸,
Dragon Crest Demon Light): It keeps the three-section theme but loses its
naginata properties. Instead, it is merely three over-sized weapons connected by an equally large chain. To activate it during his battle with Edrad, Ikkaku slams the two broken pieces of his Shikai back into the spear-form and says Bankai. Ikkaku's two main weapons are a Chinese Monk's spade and a standard Guan
dao. Both have a traditional horsehair tassel at the hilt and a long cylindrical weight for a pommel. The pommels are connected by a heavy chain to the center section, which resembles an axe-like blade with a parallel handle forged into the blunt end and a dragon crest on one side of the blade. Despite all three weapons being of near-ridiculous proportions, Ikkaku wields them easily. Ikkaku usually holds one blade in each hand and lets the central portion "float" behind him, though he will occasionally spin the entire configuration about using the center handle as a pivot.
[60][61] 
Ikkaku using Ryūmon Hōzukimaru.
Bankai Ability:
Bankai Special Ability: Ikkaku's Bankai, like his Shikai, is quite unusual. Aside from the increase in power, his Bankai offers no special abilities and no special defense properties. It releases some reiatsu which starts to grow in strength. Ikkaku treats Hōzukimaru a lot different then others (as they just let theirs slumber and use it when they want to do Bankai). But if he forces it to awaken suddenly, cutting the enemy and not getting cut becomes a lot harder to handle then it should be. Thus Ikkaku's Bankai gets increasingly more powerful as the fight drags on. After he performs his Bankai, the dragon crest will slowly fill in with crimson dye as Ikkaku's
Spiritual Pressure rises. It fills faster when he spins Hōzukimaru with the center handle. Ikkaku comments that his Zanpakutō is actually very lazy in battle (in stark contrast to Ikkaku himself) and needs to be woken up through causing or receiving injury; which would explain its ability to accumulate attacking power the longer the fight extends. When the crest is completely filled, Hōzukimaru is at its full power.
[62] However, the force of unleashing so much power can leave his Zanpakutō's edge brittle under excessive stress.
[63] The following should be ranked 1-5. Do not be some Mary Sue and put 5 for everything, be fair.
Kido:2Hoho:4Zanjutsu:4Hakuda:4
Sat Jan 09, 2010 2:03 pm
