Soifon

Soifon
Bleach character
Voiced by	Tomoko Kawakami Karen Strassman
Profile
Gender	Female
Species	Shinigami
Date of birth	February 11th
Occupation	Shinigami captain of the 2nd Division; commander of the special forces; former bodyguard of Yoruichi Shihouin
Zanpakutō	Suzumebachi

Soifon (砕蜂, Sùifēng in Mandarin Chinese, often incorrectly romanized as Soi Fong) is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Bleach created by Tite Kubo. She is the leader of the special forces (隠密機動, onmitsukidō^?) and the captain of the 2nd Division in the Gotei 13. Her lieutenant is Marechiyo Ōmaeda. She placed 16th in the most recent popularity poll, trailing Uryu Ishida with nearly 120 votes and surpassing Rangiku Matsumoto by more than 250 votes.

Character outline

Soifon is staunchly loyal, firm, and unbending in her beliefs. She is a hard worker and takes a strong moral stand — she particularly believes in following orders. She is generally reserved and not arrogant like her lieutenant. She will not hesitate in the slightest to strike down even her subordinates if they stand in her way. Soifon, like most female shinigami, is a member of the Shinigami Women's Association. In a V-Jump comic, she and Kiyone Kotetsu manage to pin Jūshirō Ukitake to a post in order to snap pictures of him for the association's calendar.

Underneath her standard shinigami captain uniform, Soifon wears the special forces leader's uniform, which has no sleeves or covering for the back. Her hair is worn short with two long braids covered in cloth.

A running gag in Bleach, mainly in the omake chapters, is Soifon's obsession and admiration for Yoruichi Shihouin, the former leader of the special forces. She also seems to like anything that resembles a black cat, which is Yoruichi's preferred form. During a Valentine's Day omake, Soifon tries to give Yoruichi a heart-shaped box of chocolate, but fails to when Yoruichi switches to her feline form. In another omake chapter, the Gotei 13 are asked to give ideas for a shinigami video game. Soifon suggests a game with herself and Yoruichi as the main characters. During a meeting of the Shinigami's Woman Association, Soifon suggests that they start using a cellphone that has a direct single line to Yoruichi so she can "talk to Yoruichi-sama as much as she wants." During Soifon's momentary visit to the real world, she expresses dismay at Yoruichi's living conditions at the Urahara Shop and comments to Kisuke Urahara that if anything happens to Yoruichi she will make him pay. In episode 117, Soifon is seen fawning over pictures of Yoruichi - even one where she's eating like a glutton. Also, during the credits for the OVA "The Sealed Sword Frenzy", after Yoruichi walks away with Urahara, Soifon is seen staring at the couple, her hand in a fist and her face irritated.

History

Soifon was born Shaolin Fon (蜂 梢綾, Fon Shaolin^?) into the Fon house, one of the lower noble houses affiliated with the Shihouin noble house. The Fon house traditionally serves the Shihouin house by joining the special forces. Any member who doesn't pass the test to get into the special forces is immediately exiled from the family. Because of this, Shaolin has felt a lot of pressure to succeed since her youth. Though Shaolin and her five older brothers all got into the special forces, her first two brothers died on their first missions, her next two brothers died on their second missions, and her last brother died on his sixth mission. Upon her joining the special forces, she adopted her grandmother's codename: Soifon. In the anime, she did not adopt the name voluntarily — a family member gave her the name.

Soifon worked hard and was eventually promoted to become the head of the guard for the leader of the special forces at the time, Yoruichi Shihouin. Yoruichi took the young Soifon under her wing as her protégé, and they developed a close relationship. When Yoruichi eventually left Soul Society in disgrace to help her exiled friend Kisuke Urahara, she was stripped of all her titles. Soifon felt betrayed by Yoruichi's abandonment and the circumstances surrounding them. As a result, she trained herself in order to beat Yoruichi and take the titles she lost.

Soifon was promoted to the captaincy roughly 100 years prior to the start of the Bleach storyline, shortly after Yoruichi's departure from Soul Society.

Synopsis

Soifon is first seen during a captain's meeting, where she comments on Captains Kenpachi Zaraki and Mayuri Kurotsuchi quarrel as "so stupid." Later, she is seen with her lieutenant, Marechiyo Ōmaeda, discussing the ryoka infiltration of Soul Society and the commotion it created. After the failed execution of Rukia Kuchiki, Soifon has a battle with Yoruichi. Though Soifon appears to gain an upperhand halfway through the fight, it is revealed that Yoruichi is simply going easy on her. She manages to easily overpower Soifon, but chooses not to harm her. After losing, Soifon breaks down and asks Yoruichi why she didn't take her along when she left Soul Society. Yoruichi's response (if any) is left unheard. After learning of Sōsuke Aizen's conspiracy, she and Yoruichi assist in subduing him, but he manages to escape via a negacion.

Soifon later appears in the Bount arc when she and Yoruichi are tracking the Bount. Once the Bount infiltrate Soul Socitey, she is forced into a battle with the Bount Mabashi, who is controlling her subordinates. After being poisoned by him, which she is able to neutralize thanks to her years of experience with poisons and her zanpakutō ability to remove poisons, Soifon tricks Mabashi into getting close enough for her to kill him with her zanpakutō's special ability.

Suzumebachi

The released form of Soifon's zanpakutō, Suzumebachi.

Soifon's zanpakutō is Suzumebachi (雀蜂, lit. Hornet). In its sealed form, it resembles a wakizashi with a yellow hilt reminiscent of a Chinese dao. Unlike most shinigami, she wears it horizontally on her lower back. Its shikai is triggered by the command "Sting all enemies to death!" (尽敵螫殺, jinteki shakusetsu^?, Viz: "Spider enemy's killing strike", earlier translations: "Finish the enemy with your deadly sting!", "Kill instantly, exhaust quickly").^[1]

In its shikai, Suzumebachi shrinks into a stinger that is worn on the middle finger of Soifon's right hand. When Soifon stabs someone with Suzumebachi, a butterfly symbol called a hornet's crest (蜂紋華, hōmonka^?) spreads from the point of contact, its abdomen acting as the center. If Soifon stabs the same location again, her opponent dies, regardless of how powerful they may be. The crests are maintained by Soifon's will and are impossible to remove unless she wills it; when Yoruichi was still running the special forces, Soifon could only maintain the crests for half an hour.

In the anime's Bount arc, Soifon explains that Suzumebachi's ability is caused by a type of venom it secretes, which also acts as a handy counter-poison as well. The Bount arc also marks the first time she is seen killing someone with Suzumebachi. The Bount Mabashi manages to survive for slightly longer than two minutes when stabbed the second time, which can be attributed to Mabashi's enhanced power due to the large number of spirit particles in Soul Society. In contrast, Suzumebachi's second hit is instantly fatal to one of the "Dark Ones" in Bleach: Memories of Nobody.

In other media

Soifon is a playable character in nearly every Bleach video games, with the exception of the first two Bleach: Heat the Soul games. In Bleach: Heat the Soul 3, there is a scenario concerning her and other members of the Gotei 13 sent into a mission to the real world.

References

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