Uryū Ishida

Uryū Ishida (石田 雨竜, Ishida Uryū/ Ishida Ametatsu) is a major character in the anime and manga series Bleach. He is a classmate of main character Ichigo Kurosaki. He is introduced as the last Quincy.

Character outline

Uryū Ishida is a black-haired bespectacled (thus referred to as four-eyes by some classmates) teenager of average height (171 cm). He is generally shy and quiet, but tries extra hard to act cool around people. He operates on a moral ethic known as the Pride of the Quincy, and has a strong sense of justice. At school, Ishida wears the school uniform along with a tie, while outside he dons white Quincy clothes with blue stripes representing the Quincy cross, and a cape.

School

At school, Uryū Ishida is the top student. We discover this as Ichigo reads his first name as Ametatsu (雨 can also be read as 'ame' and 竜 as 'tatsu').

He is also part of the fine crafts club, being a master of sewing and design. He is the most skilled of the members, and as such, other members of the club often ask him to help them fix their wares. Ishida is the one who repeatedly repairs the stuffed lion Kon, though he generally adds something fancy and unwanted.

Uryū is an outcast at school, almost never interacting with anyone. He refuses to eat lunch when Ichigo invites him to, but eventually agrees when someone else pays for it. Like some of the other main characters (i.e. Orihime and Chad), he lives alone. It is likely that he supports himself financially through some means because a member of the fine crafts club mentions that Ishida is too poor to own a cell phone despite the fact that his father directs a hospital.

History

Uryū Ishida is only 15 years old so he doesn't have the same rich history as some shinigami who lived for hundreds of years. However, several details about his past are revealed in the series.

Uryū mostly interacted and trained with his grandfather in his childhood, not having very good relations with his father. This is reinforced by the fact that Uryū calls his father by his first name (Ryūken). One of the reasons was probably that his father seemed to care more about money than protecting people from hollows. Uryū's grandfather, Sōken, said that Ryūken was right in wanting to have a secure income, and told Uryū that he would someday understand his father's motives. So far he hasn't understood them, but it's possible he will in the near future, with the recent developments in the story.

At a fairly young age, Uryū's grandfather was killed by hollows right in front of him, while he wasn't able to do a thing to protect him. This is one of the reasons he hates the shinigami, who didn't come to protect Sōken in time. It is later revealed that the current captain of the 12th division was behind the delay so that his grandfather's soul could be collected for study.

Synopsis

Early story

Ishida first appears as a student in Ichigo's class who Ichigo does not recognize by name. A few days after Ichigo becomes a shinigami, Rukia Kuchiki's cell phone is thought to be malfunctioning since it began informing her about hollows that seemed to not be there when Ichigo and Rukia got to the destination. In reality, Ishida had been eliminating hollows before Ichigo could get to the destination. He formally introduces himself to Ichigo informing him of his hatred of all shinigami.

Ichigo follows Ishida the next day and Ishida provokes Ichigo into a match to see who can get rid of the most hollows. Using hollow bait, Ishida causes a multitude of hollows to appear in Karakura Town. The growing number of hollows forces Ichigo and Ishida to fight together against the horde of hollows. The number of hollows increases to the point a Menos Grande appears. Ichigo injures the Menos Grande by releasing a large amount of spiritual energy. The large amount of energy becomes too much for Ichigo to control and Ishida is forced to connect to Ichigo's excess energy and release it using his spirit arrows. Ishida continues shooting out Ichigo's excess energy and vows to keep Ichigo alive so that Ishida can defeat him one day. Due to this, Ishida ends up breaking the promise he made to himself to hate shinigami by saving a shinigami.

Soul Society arc

Ishida tries to save Rukia when she is confronted by Renji Abarai but he is easily defeated by Renji. After Rukia decides to be taken back to Soul Society, Kisuke Urahara heals Ishida, who admits that Ichigo is the only one strong enough to get Rukia back. While Orihime Inoue and Yasutora Sado train with Yoruichi Shihouin, Ishida decides to train for a week by himself due to the danger of using the sanrei gloves given to him by his grandfather. After the week, Ishida leaves for Soul Society with Orihime, Chad, Yoruichi, and Ichigo.

When the group is separated once entering the Seireitei, Ishida ends up alone with Inoue. They find their way to the rooftop of a building where Inoue is attacked by Jirōbō Ikkanzaka of the 7th Division. Jirōbō challenges Ishida for the title of Kamaitachi given to the best projectile user. Ishida easily defeats him and Jirōbō decides to once again attack Inoue but is immediately shot in the two vital parts of the soul by Ishida, leaving him powerless.

Ishida and Inoue ambush two 12th Division shinigami, taking their outfits. They are confronted by a drunk Makizō Aramaki of the 11th Division but are saved by "fellow" 12th Division shinigami who are used as human bombs by Mayuri Kurotsuchi. Mayuri becomes interested in Inoue's powers which she used to defend herself from the human bombs. Ishida forces Aramaki to take Inoue away while he confronts Mayuri.

Mayuri uses his initial release (shikai) which paralyzes the limbs it injures. He attacks Ishida but injures his own lieutenant, Nemu Kurotsuchi, in the process. Nemu states that she may die from her injury and Mayuri responds by kicking her for embarrassing him. When Ishida tells him to stop, Mayuri reveals that he created Nemu and mocks his sympathy as part of the meaningless "Quincy pride" they speak about until their last breath. He recalls the last Quincy he researched who kept on calling out the name of his student and shows Ishida a photograph. Ishida sees his grandfather in the photograph and vows to avenge his grandfather. Ishida uses ransōtengai to move his paralyzed body, and removes his Sanrei glove, disobeying his grandfather's order to never take it off after it has been used. The glove's removal increases Ishida's power beyond that of a normal Quincy but carries the risk of Ishida losing his powers. Ishida's power increase to the point that he can absorb the spirit energy of nearby structures in order to create a spirit arrow. Ishida attacks, shooting off Mayuri's left arm. Mayuri retaliates by revealing his final release (bankai), which releases poisonous gas at Ishida. Mayuri attacks with his final release but a single arrow from Ishida splits it in half and shoots off most of Mayuri's torso. Mayuri escapes by stabbing himself with his own sword, turning himself into liquid and states that in the end, he will live and Ishida will die.

Nemu gives Ishida the antidote to the poison in gratitude for not shooting her creator and father in the head, which would have been fatal. Ishida finds his way up the stairs to the Shrine of Penitence and realizes that he has truly lost his Quincy powers as his grandfather had warned him. He is confronted by Kaname Tōsen who uses his initial release to render Ishida unconscious. Ishida is placed in a holding cell and healed by the 4th Division where he finds himself with Ganju Shiba and Chad. They are freed by Kenpachi Zaraki and are reunited with Inoue. Zaraki's lieutenant, Yachiru Kusajishi leads the group to the Sōkyoku where they wait as Ichigo and Byakuya Kuchiki fight. After Byakuya is defeated, the group tends to Ichigo. They then find out that the events at Soul Society were an elaborate ploy masterminded by Sōsuke Aizen and confront him but Aizen departs for Hueco Mundo. Ishida, Sado, Ichigo, and Inoue depart for the living world. When Ishida departs for his house, he reminds Ichigo that they are still enemies.

After Soul Society

Bount Arc (anime only)

Ishida never reveals to Ichigo and the rest of the group that he had lost his powers as a Quincy. Ichigo and the others finally realizes this though after Urahara's 'games' with them when Urahara tells them that Ishida did the best amongst all of them when it came to analyzation.

During school, when Ririn reveals that there is a bount nearby, Ishida still follows the group even though Ichigo says not to strain himself. They find Ryo Utagawa and Fried about to take the soul of a human lady. A small battle starts and Ishida finds himself cornered by Utagawa. Utagawa realizes Ishida's a Quincy, and is about to attack him, but Ichigo steps in. Utagawa grabs the human lady and threatens to harm her if anybody moved. Ishida decides that they should not involve an innocent person in their battle and asks for a trade: The lady for Ishida. Once Utagawa traps Ishida with one of his snakes, he knocks Ishida against the ground, rendering him unconscious and starts some bleeding from the side of his head. Before Utagawa can do anything else, Yoshino steps in and takes Ishida to what looks like her apartment.

Yoshino tells Ishida the story of the Bount and that she doesn't intend to do anything to him. She tells him instead to stay alive and to not get caught by Kariya. Ishida faints again because of his injury and then finds himself at his father's hospital, which is attacked by Hō and Ban who cause the group a lot of trouble until Ganju Shiba turns up and uses his fireworks to kill them.

He is later taken captive by the bount who claim to need him and is locked in a room of a mansion owned by Jin Kariya where Yoshino Sōma is also being held, Ichigo and the rest of the group later raid the the mansion and save Ishda who insists on saving Yoshino, Kariya's mansion is raised to the ground, both Ishda and Yoshino are treated at the Uahara shop.

Yoshino knows that Kariya will keep chasing her so she leaves in the middle of the night and in the morning Ishda realises what she has done, takes Ririn and uses her bount detector to find Yoshino. After he witnesses her death and the creation of the Bitto, Ishida wanted to avenge Yoshino's death and become useful to the group again and so tries and fails to regain his Quincy powers. In the Soul Society Mayuri Kurotsuchi becomes interested in the bount and desires to research on one. Upon realizing that the Bount need a Quincy to activate a gate to the Soul Society and being unable go to the real world himself to get a Bount, he instead sends Nemu Kurotsuchi to give Ishida a Quincy artifact to give him temporary powers (intending for Ishida to open the gate to make it easier to capture a bount for resurch).

Ishida in turn leaves and finds Ichigo and the Bount at the cave that the Bount have been using as a base and opens their gate. Claiming he only did it so he can defeat Kariya in the Soul Society where his powers will be greater, but not realizing that Kariya's powers would also be greater, he enters the Soul Society with Ichigo and the group to hunt for the Bount.

Manga

After returning to high school after returning from Soul Society, a hollow appears outside the school. Ichigo, Inoue, Chad, and the mysterious new transfer student, Shinji Hirako run outside. Ichigo easily deals with the hollow but realizes Ishida did not rush to face the hollow. Inoue tells Chad and Ichigo that Ishida seems not to be feeling well and doesn't like to show weakness to other people which is why he didn't come. After having Kon repaired by Ishida, Ichigo feels no spiritual pressure from Ishida and realizes the weakness he is not showing is that no longer has his Quincy powers.

While walking home, Ishida is attacked by a strange hollow and defends himself in a manner similar to demon arts using spiritual energy he had stored in gintō but the hollow instantly regenerates the damage and splits in two hollows. The top half attacks but is shot by a Quincy arrow. The Quincy reveals himself as Ryūken Ishida, Uryū's father. He easily defeats both hollows and reveals his Quincy pentacle, the same Quincy "cross" as that of Uryū's grandfather, Sōken Ishida. Ryūken tells Uryū that he knew that Uryū went to Soul Society and calls him a fool for losing his powers. Despite this, Ryūken says that he can restore Uryū's Quincy powers on the condition that Uryū never associate with a shinigami again.

While Grimmjow Jaggerjack and five other arrancar fight the shinigami, Ishida trains in a hidden chamber made of soul-synthesized silver and soul-synthesized glass. Ryūken fires arrows at Uryū and tells him that if he can stay alive, he will get his Quincy powers back. After evading arrows for a long time, Uryū is getting tired and decides to attack with his last gintō enveloping his father but Ryūken shoots through it and hits Ishida near his heart. Ryūken tells Uryū that getting shot in a certain spot nineteen millimeters away from the heart after becoming completely exhausted is the only way to regain Quincy powers and ends the training.

He shows up at the Urahara Shoten with Chad to rescue Orihime. At the time of the most recent chapter, he is seen travelling to Hueco Mundo.

Uryū's powers

See: Combat on the Quincypage for more information.

Having undergone prior training and combat, Uryū is one of the strongest protagonists in the series. As a Quincy, Uryū's main weapon is a bow, but he is also able to use many Quincy techniques and items to augment his abilities. Examples would be Hirenkyaku, Ransōtengai, the Sanrei gloves, Silver tubes and the Quincy wristband (anime only).

Uryu's powers fluctuate as the series progresses: When first seen in the series, Uryū uses a bow named Kojaku (弧雀, Lone Sparrow). As preparation for the Soul Society Arc, he mastered the sanrei gloves, which let him create a more impressive bow. Uryū later removed the sanrei gloves in his fight against Mayuri Kurotsuchi, attaining the Quincy Final Form and defeating him, but lost all his spiritual powers as a result, leaving him powerless to resist captain Kaname Tōsen slightly afterwards.

In the manga, he regains his powers after getting shot near the heart by his father with an arrow after reaching his physical and mental limits.

In the anime, Uryū is given a Quincy artifact by Nemu Kurotsuchi which gives him temporary powers during the Bount Arc. In this state, he uses his original bow, Kojaku.

Trivia

• He has low blood pressure, hates procrastination, and likes homemade mackerel miso stew.
• He has a tendency to say things with characteristic drama.
• According to Kubo, the TV program he likes is Don Kanonji's "Bura-Rei". A shadow resembling Ishida's jumped out of the crowd at Kanonji's filming in chapter 29.
• Ishida's bow-wielding appears to suggest he is one of only two "Bleach" characters who are left-handed, the other being Ikkaku Madarame. His Radio Kon interview, however, indicates that he may have simply self-taught his bowmanship improperly. As was mentioned in the Radio Kon interview, normally even left-handed bowmen hold the bow in the left hand and the arrow in the right. Ishida's father Ryūken reflects this, wielding his bow in the standard manner, holding the bow in his left hand and the arrow in his right.
• Ishida's two most hated things are quite unusual—buttons and the word "haphazard".