vizard

Group image of the vizard with Ichigo Kurosaki in the center. The vizard, clockwise from the top center are: Shinji Hirako, Rose, Mashiro, Love, Hiyori Sarugaki, Lisa Yadōmaru, Hachigen Ushōda, and Kensei Muguruma.

The vizard are a group of rogue shinigami in the anime and manga series Bleach who have illegally acquired hollow powers.^[1]

While the term vizard is spelled in the manga using kanji meaning masked troops (仮面の軍勢, kamen no gunzei^?), it is pronounced as the English vizard (ヴァイザード, vaizādo^?), an archaic word for a mask worn to disguise the face.

Overview

The vizard are the antithesis to the arrancar; they are shinigami who have obtained hollow powers and whose shinigami powers remain dominant (although they do have to undergo a process and maintain their dominance over their hollow), while the arrancar are hollows that have obtained shinigami powers and whose hollow powers remain dominant. Having begun as shinigami, the vizard appear entirely human. Unlike the arrancar, they do not have holes or partial masks (common traits of transformed hollows) anywhere on their body, though they can produce masks on demand, and they carry zanpakutō like normal shinigami. When using their hollow powers, a vizard's appearance does not change except for the mask on their face and the color of their eyes, with the whites of their eyes turning black and the irises gold. This process of donning one's hollow mask is referred to as "Hollowification" (虚化, horō-ka^?).^[2][3]

The existence of shinigami/hollow hybrids was first hinted fairly early in the manga. When Ichigo Kurosaki was training with Kisuke Urahara, Urahara severed Ichigo's Chain of Fate in order to force him to regain his lost shinigami power. Ichigo was able to recover his shinigami powers when his body began the process of turning into a hollow. Ichigo's transformation happened out of sequence, his mask forming first instead of his body breaking apart and reforming, a sign of his resistance. When he emerged as a shinigami, he was also wearing a hollow's mask, which he broke off. After he arrived in Soul Society, the hollow mask reappeared on him several occasions, even though he repeatedly discarded it. In the fight against Byakuya Kuchiki, Ichigo's hollow form resurfaced and his mask started to reform around his face. However, before he completely transformed, Ichigo was able to regain control and tear off the mask once again. Whether this process is uniform for all vizard or merely unique to Ichigo is unclear, though the later symptoms are hinted at being common.

Ichigo later discovers that there are other shinigami who have acquired hollow powers besides himself. Shinji Hirako, a boy carrying a zanpakutō and a hollow mask, reveals that these renegade shinigami call themselves the vizard. Shinji tries to convince Ichigo to join their group, saying that only he can teach Ichigo how to control his "hollow within" and keep it from taking over and destroying everything Ichigo cares about. Ichigo initially refuses Shinji's offer, but relents after realizing he can't control his inner hollow on his own. Ichigo insists that he's merely using them to learn how to control his inner hollow.

It is unclear what the motives of the vizard are. It is known, however, that vizard are considered criminals by Soul Society for committing the ultimate taboo of acquiring hollow powers. Hollows would also never accept a vizard, due to their former status as shinigami. It is because of this that it can be presumed that the only side the vizard are on is their own. Regardless, they seem to be valuable allies-to-be in the battle against Sōsuke Aizen's army of arrancar, as Kisuke Urahara mentioned.^[4]

Unlike in Soul Society, where the rank is given accordingly to shinigami within a division, or in Hueco Mundo, where a number is assigned to each arrancar reflecting their strength, the vizard have not yet revealed a structure based on hierarchy. However, Shinji Hirako does appear to be in some sort of leadership role.

Abilities

Shinji Hirako with his hollow mask on.

In battle, the vizard use their hollow powers to augment their shinigami abilities, granting them massive increases in speed, stamina, and strength. They also gain access to some of the common hollow abilities, such as cero blasts. Bodily harm can seemingly be ignored while wearing their masks, as demonstrated by Ichigo's hollow during his unwilling transformations.

Vizard zanpakutō seem to function in the same manner as those of standard shinigami; however, none of them have explicitly used their releases in combat yet, excluding Ichigo and Kensei. The vizard seem to prefer their mask-given powers to their shinigami abilities. The vizard remain in complete control while wearing their masks, unlike Ichigo's early unstable transformations. As suggested by Aizen, the fusion of the two spiritual entities allows these shinigami to reach levels of power far surpassing that of either side.

Vizard

There are eight known vizard aside from Ichigo Kurosaki; five men and three women. Three vizard speak kansai-ben, a dialect spoken in Osaka and Kyoto.

• Shinji Hirako (平子 真子, Hirako Shinji^?) - Voiced by: Masaya Onosaka

• Hiyori Sarugaki (猿柿 ひよ里, Sarugaki Hiyori^?) Voiced by: Reiko Takagi (Japanese)

Hiyori is a tiny, blonde-haired girl with a fierce temper and violent tendencies. Her hair is worn in pigtails and she wears a red jogging outfit (which is decorated with the first kanji of her name). She also has a tiny fang on the left side of her mouth. Hiyori often abuses Shinji, usually by slapping him with one of her sandals. Her hollow mask is rhinoceros-like in appearance, sporting a prominent horn centered near the forehead. She took the longest to defeat her inner hollow out of all the current vizard (excluding Ichigo, who took about the same amount of time), at 69 minutes and 2 seconds.

• Hachigen Ushōda (有昭田 鉢玄, Ushōda Hachigen^?) Voiced by: Takashi Nagasako (Japanese)

The physically largest vizard, Hachigen wears a tuxedo and has a skull and crossbones design in his pink hair. He is usually referred to as Hachi (ハッチ, sometimes translated as 'Hutch'), but his actual name is Hachigen. He seems to be a binding spells expert, since he is always the one in charge of making barriers and such for the vizard's use. He seems to also have powers similar to Orihime Inoue's, and he was the one who healed Tsubaki's injuries when Orihime's own powers were insufficient to do so.

• Lisa Yadōmaru (矢胴丸 リサ, Yadōmaru Risa^?) Voiced by: Kanako Hattori (Japanese)

Lisa is a girl with glasses and long, braided, dark hair. She dresses in a sailor fuku, as opposed to the more Western-style uniforms of Karakura High School students. She seems easily irritated and apparently likes to read erotic manga (specifically, Josei manga). She appears to be ambidextrous, initially wielding her zanpakutō with her left hand (like Ikkaku Madarame) and then switching to her right during her fight with Ichigo.

• Kensei Muguruma (六車 拳西, Muguruma Kensei^?) Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita (Japanese)

Kensei appears to be a teenager with short, light-gray hair and several piercings. He wears a basketball jersey and cargo pants with combat boots. In comparison with his fellow vizard, Kensei is a much more serious character. His zanpakutō, when first seen in the manga, is shown to have a rectangular-shaped hilt in a sort of 'H' shape. His shikai shrinks it down to about the size of a survival/combat knife. While in this form, Kensei demonstrates the ability to charge and fire spiritual energy from the knife.

• Love (羅武（ラヴ）^[5][6], Ravu^?) Voiced by: Tetsu Inada (Japanese)

Love is a tall man sporting sunglasses, a spiked afro, and a jogging suit. He seems to be very laid back, usually reading Shōnen Jump or some of Lisa's erotic manga in his spare time. He and Rose seem to be close friends. His zanpakutō's hilt is in the shape of a heart, and he carries its sheath on a touju hanging from his shoulder like a messenger bag.

• Rose (ローズ, Rōzu^?) Voiced by: Shouto Kashii (Japanese)

Rose is an effeminate man with long, wavy, blond hair and a frilly shirt. He seems to be interested in music, as he spoke to Love about an artist's new single and has been seen playing or tuning a guitar on several occasions. Rose seems to be delighted that a person with powers similar to a vizard exists. He also appears to be one of the calmer and perhaps wiser ones amongst the group due to his comments about Orihime in regards to Hachi, though he becomes irritated whenever Love spoils a manga's story for him. His zanpakutō's hilt is in the shape of a diamond with curved edges. His zanpakutō's sheath is encrusted with diamonds.

• Mashiro (白, Mashiro^?) Voiced by: Akemi Kanda (Japanese)

Mashiro is a somewhat ditzy girl who wears a white bodysuit and goggles in her green hair. Her overall style of dress is reminiscent of the costumes worn by the tokusatsu superheroes of late 1950s Japanese television, perhaps meant as a contrast between her age and childish appearance. She was able to maintain her hollow mask for fifteen hours on her first attempt to control her hollow, which means she did not need to train like the other vizard. She often calls Ichigo Berry-tan, meaning "strawberry", a play on Ichigo's name. When first meeting Orihime Inoue, Mashiro takes an instant disliking to her saying she is annoying and doesn't understand why Hachigen helps her.

References

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