Name: Hokuai, Shintani
Appearance Age: 23
Actual Age: 402
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Personality: While on duty, Shintani carries a serious demeanor, wanting everything done with perfection. He will even go out on a limb to do it himself if it is not perfect. For the most part, he is calm and collected. For outsiders, he may seem straightforward and strict; but those close to him know a different side of him. He is generally polite to everyone albeit quiet, reserved, and somewhat distant when he is around people he is not close or familiar with. Once he considers someone to be a friend, he will reveal that he is actually sociable, kind, trustworthy, and 'sweet' ( as someone so kindly put it in the past ). Shin is extremely loyal to his friends and he would never abandon them. He only allows his friends - and the occasionally annoying people - to call him 'Shin'. He believes that if all he could protect was just a few people, he would make sure that those people protected those below them and so on until everyone benefited from his protection.
Bio: Shintani hails from Junrinan in the 1st District of West Rukongai, where it is both peaceful and lawful. However, as a teenager, he was quite troublesome and often got in trouble with the wrong crowd of people. Although he is from the 1st District, most of his friends lived in the higher numbered districts. His constant visits to those districts attracted gangs and such. As a result, he learned how to spar with a stick - or anything that could makeshift as a sword - and used his fists as a weapon.
Although Shin was a rebellious punk, he still loved and cared deeply for his family. Of course, being the tough guy he was, he never admitted that or showed his love for them. He grew up in a household of five women- his single mother and four sisters. His father had died early on in his life though the reasons are unknown to him; and he doesn't remember much of it. Unfortunately for Shintani, he was the baby of the house. His family ran a restaurant - though it was mostly a bar since eating was a luxury and not a necessity - and Shin would often steal the sake ( and food for himself, he was constantly hungry though none of them knew why ) for his friends.
Ten years ago, an incident occurred in which a gang that was constantly trying to recruit Shin into their 'family', pushed one of Shin's friends onto the ground where a out-of-control horse carriage was approaching at a rapid speed. His friend was unable to get out of harm's way in time and the carriage ended up paralyzing her from waist down. This absolutely enraged Shintani and he was engulfed by the raging flames of revenge.
Days later, he approached the gang by himself with the intention of killing the one responsible for his friend's forever handicapped life. It was then his Reiryoku went out of control and his Reiatsu damaged the surrounding buildings and area. With the intense level of Reiryoku leaking, a group of shinigami who had a mission nearby came to see what was going on. They appeared onto the scene where Shintani was all by himself. The Shinigami questioned him and suggested him to go attend the Shinoreijutsuin to control his Reiryoku.
Eventually, his family learned of his situation and sent him off to the Shinigami Academy. He passed the entrance exam and was placed two classes lower than the first class, but he was satisfied. Shintani proved himself to be excellent in zanjutsu and talented in hakuda and hoho. With his talents, he was often brought along on division missions. It is interesting to note that while at the Shinigami Academy, Shintani matured quite a bit and his personality changed, too.
Division: Sixth
Rank: Lieutenant
Appearance
Shintani Hokuai
Height: 170 cm ( 5'10" )
Weight: 70.76 kg ( 156 lbs )
Hair Color: Dark purple - to the point where if he is not in the light, his hair would appear black
Eye Color: Royal blue
Usual Clothing: He wears the standard Shihakusho with some slight color modifications to it. Instead of a white hakama, he wears a gray one. His hakama himo matches his hakama, and is therefore also gray. Additionally, he occasionally wears a white scarf.
Zanpakutō Position: Houken is almost always located on his right hip because he is left-handed. Occasionally it might be strapped on his back with his white scarf.
Zanpakutō
Sealed Form Appearance: Houken Sealed When sealed, Houken looks nothing fancy. The blade looks like any regular Japanese katana with a rather smooth curve to the kissaki. The only distinguish mark it really has would be the single, simple, upward curving black talon the tsuba has. ( Pay no mind to the straps )
Name: Houken
Element: None
Zanpakutō Spirit Appearance: Houken
Shikai Appearance: Houken ( the sword ) has a very unique appearance to it. It takes the appearance of a futuristic - combined with elements of fantasy - style-blade with the colors of red, black, and gold. The blade is 63.5 cm ( 25 in ), and the hilt is approximately 34.29 cm ( 13.5 in ).
Shikai Command: "Aim to kill, Houken!"
Shikai Abilities:
- Gun-mode: Houken takes the form of a gun ( the gun in the shiki appearance picture ). Like the sword ( which the user refers it as 'blade-mode' ), the gun shares the exact colors and also gives off the same futuristic fantasy look. The user is free to switch off between blade-mode and gun-mode.
- Bullets: By pulling the trigger on Houken, the blade becomes nearly invincible for a short period ( one post ). The blade becomes endowed with highly condensed Reiryoku that is the color of the Shin's Reiatsu ( orange ). Houken's blade is strong enough to cut through a Captain's Reiatsu that is being used as a shield; and the same is true to an Arrancar, where the blade is able to cut through their Hierro. However, the stronger the Captain's Reiatsu/Arrancar, the weaker the strike. While Bullets is released, the blade is also able to cut through Zanpakuto-defense types. Again, the stronger the Zanpakuto, the weaker the strike from Houken.
- Reload: While the ability, Bullets, is in use, if Shintani uses Houken to slash, stab, or even touch the blade with a Reiryoku-based attack ( Kido, Cero, Bala, or even a Zanpakuto type of attack ), it can absorb the Reiryoku of the attack and add time ( one additional post ) to Houken's Bullets release state.
- Fire: Pulling the trigger doesn't only cause one technique of Houken to activate; Fire is a technique that will condense the Shin's Reiryoku and send it out in a moderate sized shot ( the size will depend on the user's amount of Reiryoku used ) that will shoot right through an opposition.
- Safety Wall: This is a defensive move where Shin points the sword downward and becomes surrounded by a strong wall of Reiryoku. While Safety Wall is being used, Shin is unable to use Houken and must wait ( one post ) before he is able to. However, only the front of him is protected. Therefore his back, sides, and bottom are left wide open.
Obtained?: Yes
Bankai Appearance: Bankaaaaai! Omega Houken and it's shikai are pretty much the same. Even in bankai, it can still switch back and forth between gun-mode and blade-mode. The primarily colors for both forms are now black and silver with small bits of red.
Extended Name: Omega Houken
Bankai Abilities:
- Shotgun Blast: At first glance, this attack would seem like the shikai move, Fire. However, it is a short-ranged attack and much more powerful than Fire. A burst of Reiryoku fires from Omega Houken, and deviates away from the weapon after firing. The power behind this attack would be the equivalent of Hado #73 Soren Sokatsui (Twin Lotus Blue Fire, Crash Down).
- Cross Fire: Shintani jumps high in the air and swings twice, vertically and horizontally, forming a huge cross on the ground beneath his opponent's feet. The cross will explode once it forms and a hole opens up in the ground where the enemy falls into it. He will take this chance to blast them with Reiryoku shots until the enemy falls back to the ground ( one post ), where they were in the first place.
- Blasting Zone: Shintani raises Omega Houken overhead and charges up, before a pillar of Reiryoku is extended up to two hundred feet. Shintani can either store the Reiryoku in the blade for an attack later ( where he shoots it out via pressing the trigger ) or hecan immediately bring it down and use it to attack. The downside to storing it in the blade is that it only lasts a few minutes ( two posts ).
- Ekusukariba: Shin concentrates most of his Reiryoku into his zanpakuto. By either pulling the trigger or slashing Houken, it will release all the Reiryoku into a huge shot- the length is three hundred and sixty feet, two hundred and forty being the width ( maximum size of a World Cup football/soccer field. ) It is an almost instant k.o. to the weaker ones ( anyone below lieutenant/Numeros ) if they are caught in it. This attack is Shintani's final resort and he has only used it once in training. He becomes extremely weak - to the point where he needs support to stand.
Obtained?: Yes
Skills, Techniques, and Kidō
Expert Swordsmanship Specialist: Shintani can be labeled as a prodigy at zanjutsu. This is also his most preferred form of combat. He is able to cause deadly attacks with little effort; and his precision is excellent. In most battles, he simply uses Houken's sealed form, and only uses shikai when things get tough. ( As a fun fact type-thing, his family has once stated that he inherited his father's excellent swordsmanship, hinting a little bit more about his past. )
Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Shintani does not just rely on his zanpakuto. He shows great agility, coordination, and strength in his attacks. He is able to catch his opponent's weapons barehanded- sometimes even just between his index and middle finger. This is most likely from years and years of getting into fights with gangs who were either bare-handed or held small sharp items such as knives.
Enhanced Speed: Shin has extremely fast reflexes, even when he is not engaged in battle. In battle, he is able to dodge an attack and almost instantly counterattack right after. His speed also allows him to follow the movements of his opponents and to block attacks.
Flash Steps Expert: Although not a master yet, he can still maintain very high speed movements for long periods of time without signs of fatigue. He is able to walk upside down and perform senka.
Vast Spiritual Energy: Unlike most shinigami with vast spiritual energy, Shintani has a suppressor. The said suppressor is actually the cellphone the shinigami carry when they are in the Human world- he has to carry it everywhere. He simply presses a button to release his full Spiritual Energy. While his Spiritual Energy is sealed, Shintani comes off of only having Immense Spiritual Energy. He seems to have fairly good control over his Reiryoku.
Kido Practitioner: He has basic knowledge about Kido and is able to use all Hado and Bakudo up to number fifty. He also knows basic healing spells as well.
Standard Point System
Zanjutsu - 8/10
Kido - 5/10
Agility - 7/10
Hakuda - 7/10
Reiatsu - 8/10
Physical Strength - 7/10
Total - 42
