Banzuke, Taro (family, given)
(Ring name (close friends may call him this or those only remembering him from the Sumo ring): “Banzukewaka”)
Vital Stats:
Gender: Male
Age: 150
Height: 6’11
Weight: 400lbs.
Hair:
Has dark black hair tied back in a traditional sumo hairstyle called “Chonmage”. Additionally he wears it in a more extravagant “Oicho” style, which is rather rare. He still wears this hairstyle despite him being inactive in the Soul Society Sumo wrestling federation (normally once retiring you snip off the topknot), something which makes his fans believe he will make a comeback some day.
Skin:
Very pale, but tough, white skin.
Eyes:
Green
Reiatsu:
Light blue with dark blue border
Rank:
3rd Seat of the 10th Division
Appearance:
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Taro is a very large man, monumental in size, and his past profession as Sumo wrestler is obvious in his looks and dress. He wears the traditional black Shinigami robes, however he wears the top of the robes extremely open showing much of his chest. Around his belly he also wears some fabric under the robes on which are colorful and have significance to his Sumo wrestling days. He also does not wear the normal Shinigami shoes instead being barefoot at all times. He is a handsome, but large man. He is just as in shape as he once was while in Sumo, and is extremely physically strong and imposing and very rarely is able to hide in a crowd.
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Taro is a rather laid back individual though not a fool, and even as a young and famous Sumo wrestler he has always been rather modest. Loyal to his fans he never hesitates to sign an autograph even after he entered the Gotei 13. He is a free speaker, when given the opportunity, and is very observant and quite the detective. He joined the Gotei 13 after he decided to stop competing in the Soul Society Sumo Wrestling Federation, something his entire family was against. He gave no reason other than he felt his talents could be better served as a Shinigami rather than in tournaments. He enjoys sake and will spend his free time in the various bars in the Seretei and Rukongai, and despite his size he has never been found lacking to find an open seat. He also enjoys eating in general and especially sweets (Earth doughnuts being his favorite), a common scene in the morning will find Taro with a box of doughnuts and a mug of coffee in his hands as he does his patrols. He uses his large size to his benefit in his job with the 10th Division, often being able to stop fights just by showing up to a brawl or ruckus. He is rather shy around ladies, though has many female admirers (old and young) from his time as a Sumo wrestler.
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The Banzuke family is a family of Sumo wrestlers, every male has been an expert and famous Sumo wrestler and Taro is no different achieving the Yokuzuna title very early in his career. His early life was spent training and wrestling, watching his brothers and fathers all wrestle. When it was finally his time, he entered with a flourish and to this day he still holds the record for consecutive bouts without a loss (115-0) in the SSSWF (Soul Society Sumo Wrestling Federation) in the 25-50 year old age group, which gave him the celebrity status that he still holds today.
After wrestling for some time Taro found himself bored with tournaments and at the same time he felt his spiritual power rising. He began to slack on his training and bailed out of many tournaments, getting caught up in his celebrity status and developing a drinking and partying problem. One night he was at a bar drunk when a thief tried to steal from him and he lashed out at the thief with his hand. Only wishing to knock the man down, he was surprised to find out he had almost killed the man as he had added spiritual power to his hand attack without knowing due to his drunkenness. Taro was immediately put on probation from the SSSWF, his family almost disowning him, and he himself falling into a deep depression. After, cleaning up and training again he re-entered the SSSWF and competed for a short while, but he had lost all desire for competition, and as such he left the organization and joined the Gotei 13. His family was appalled by this and has since never went to see him since he joined.
His natural talents in Sumo, and celebrity status got him in despite his rather reasonable amount of spiritual pressure. He was not the best student at the Shinigami Academy, and as such it took him five years to complete the coursework and training, but at the end of those 5 years he was far from the young man who had entered the Academy. He had control of himself, his spiritual power, and had learned the basics of the Shinigami craft. He excelled at hand to hand combat (Sumo) as well as his observation and critical thinking aptitude tests and as such he was placed in the 10th Division (Military Police), where he felt his hand to hand skills could best be served.
Once joining the 10th, he used his talents as his Cpt and officers saw fit, even at times using his celebrity status to help thwart issues rather than his brute strength. He worked hard at his job, and moved himself up the ranks fast, ultimately bringing him to his current rank of 3rd Seat. He also found that he got along very well with his superiors and quite enjoyed the personal training they offered when it came to his Zanpaktou training. Training for Taro was something had always excelled at and this was no different. He gained Shikai relatively early and has spent much of his time since then trying to master it, though rarely using it in his training of his subordinates, instead using his masterful use of hand to hand combat to train them.
He serves his Captain without question, and works hard for him doing whatever is asked. Joining the Gotei and achieving something other than tournament wins has brought Taro back to being a confident Soul, one who relishes his duties as well as his free time, even regaining his love for drinking sake in excess at times. He still, is somewhat bothered by his family not speaking to him, especially when the Sumo tournaments are happening.
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Zanpaktou Spirit:
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The form of Nomi no Sukune is that of a large 20ft tall man made of a rocky material with a long beard. He is a boastful and egotistical man, calling out Taro for being a wimp all the time, challenging him to wrestle in his Inner World to prove he is worthy of his help outside of it.
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The Inner World of Nomi no Sukune is that of a large white marble quarry hexagonal and stadium-like in shape, with multiple tiers rising into the sky. Black sand covers the ground, and Nomi no Sukune sits on a throne of marble as he talks to Taro. The air is always whipping in the “stadium” and it has even rained and thundered on some of Taro’s visits.
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Taro carries a simple katana with a hexagonal tsuba, and light light blue grip, which he carries on his left side tucked into his white belt. It looks rather small on such a large man, and he rarely uses it in this form, choosing to rather fight hand to hand or in Shikai form.
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As was said before, Taro rarely fights with his Zanpaktou in its sealed state, choosing to fight hand to hand or in his Shikai form. When he does, he is competent but not very fluid in his movements.
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Zanjutsu:
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As 3rd Seat in the Gotei 13, Taro can wield his sword very well, however due to his size and the size of his sealed Zanpaktou it is clumsier than perhaps his rank should allow for. He is more than capable of holding his own with a sword, but it would be a far stretch to consider Taro a skilled swordsman. When Taro is in Shikai form his Zanpaktou takes the form of a sharpened War Fan, something he is far more skilled in wielding (though focusing on deflection and blocking).
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Taro is one of the most masterful hand to hand combatants within the Gotei 13. Regardless of rank, his skill especially in Sumo is unparalleled. Due to his immense size and spiritual pressure, he is a force to be reckoned with in this arena of combat. He is proficient in most Martial Arts, those due to his size he tends to focus his talents on grapples, locks, throws, and hand strikes.
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Despite his enormous size, Taro moves rather quick, but this still ranks him at the bottom end of his 3rd Seat counterparts when it comes to speed of foot. Taro prefers to fight on the ground if at all possible, as he says it is a waste of spiritual pressure to fight in the air if it can be avoided.
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Taro was at the Shinigami Academy for 5 years, it could have been 2-3 years if he would have picked up Kido faster. When he graduated he was competent enough, but it was obviously his least proficient skill, and is still so today. Per training in the 10th he has focused primarily on binding Kido, as the jobs of his division have required it of him, but his offensive Kido is rather non-existent past only the most basic of spells.
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Taro is an enormous man, and even as such his spiritual pressure makes him even bigger. Still training to utilize it best, Taro has embraced his size and his spiritual pressure. He channels his spiritual pressure into his hand to hand combat often, this combined with his hand to hand combat skill provides for a truly imposing figure on the battlefield. His punches and slaps are legendary (heightened by his celebrity status obviously), in a spar once he even knocked the East Gate Guardian to his knees in one punch, after they argued over who was the more immovable man.
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Command:
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“Hand of fate, your fingers spread wide!”
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After speaking the command and drawing his Zanpaktou form its sheath, his sword would turn into an extremely large black Japanese war fan with sharpened edges. Kanji written in red ink on both side reads “fate”.
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Taro wields his War Fan in mostly a defensive manner, blocking and deflecting attacks, but he also will strike with its flat edge to incapacitate or strike with its sharpened edges in slashing maneuvers. Taro tends to fight with his fan in one hand while he uses his hand to hand combat to grapple his opponent, and bring them closer so he can strike them with the fan or its special attacks.
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Taro’s Shikai power allows for him to strike the ground (or air) in front of him which will then cause one of two things can happen:
- A massive explosive light blue energy beam to extend in the either direction the words on his fan are pointed, to a distance of no more than 50 yards. The farther it reaches the less powerful the beam of energy is. Taro can choose which ever direction he wants, as “fate” is written on both sides this allows for fighting him to be rather hard to get behind and surprise. He also can decide to choose both directions, however this will reduce the power of the explosive beam by half on each side.
- From the edge of the fan will extend light blue energy with a dark blue border like a large shield. This will extend for about 8ft around the fan. This serves as a energy shield able to withstand several blows. It can stay up as long as Taro wants it to, though it weakens as Taro weakens. Also it may be used in conjunction with the first abilities on "one" side while firing the energy beam on the other. This will reduce both the beam and shield to be half as powerful. Along with this the shield side, when both are used at the same time will NOT be able to block from the side the energy beam extends.
(Not achieved as of the insertion of this character into the RP)
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Bankai state physical appearance:
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(Not achieved)
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(Not achieved)
Bankai state special ability:
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(Not achieved)
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(Not achieved)
(Not achieved)
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(Not achieved)
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