Renji Abarai

Name: Renji Abarai

Gender: Male

Rank: 6th division, vice-captain

Personality: As far as his personality goes, Renji is about as eccentric as any other Shinigami. He varies from smug and cocky in his first appearances to downright disquietedness and depressed after his major defeats, but shows himself to be an incredibly serious and determined fighter when confronted with an actual challenge. Renji harbours deep affections for Rukia Kuchiki, based on their childhood friendship, -- he is deeply grieved when she is adopted by Byakuya Kuchiki and later becomes obsessed with saving her, and he reacts with extreme joy when she shows up during the Bount arc. This is proven numerous times throughout the story, particularly during his flashback of his youth with Rukia in Rukongai. Willing to fight, kill, and die for whatever he believes in, Renji is a dangerous man to those who stand in his way. He is much like Ichigo Kurosaki in many respects, and the two are mistaken for brothers in the anime's Bount arc. Ichigo claims they are cousins to keep things simple, allowing many hilarious situations to occur later. He likes taiyaki (a popular fish-shaped pancake usually filled with sweet bean paste) and dislikes spicy food.[4]

Renji likes futsal, and in his free time works on assembling a team from the 6th Division, with success, more or less. The current members are himself, Rikichi and the 4th, 8th, 13th and 20th seated officers; The 20th Seat acts as the Keeper.[5]

Appearance: Renji has long crimson hair, which is usually kept in a high ponytail, and his entire upper body being covered in tribal tattoo work. How he got these tattoos is unknown, but it appears that with every achievement Renji attains, his tattoos increase as well, starting from his early days as a Shinigami candidate.[2] At this point of time, his tattoos cover his entire back and much of the front of his body and his extremities.[3] He dresses in the standard Shinigami outfit, though he usually includes some sort of elaborate headgear (usually expensive-looking glasses or a white headband). All of Renji's sunglasses are from Seireitei's popular "Silver Dragonfly Glasses Store" and cost half a year's worth of his paycheck. Unfortunately, every time he wears a pair, they are broken in one way or another (usually in a fight with Ichigo Kurosaki).[4] On these occasions, he replaces them with a tied towel, until he can purchase a new pair of goggles. His dream is to once wear a pair that he has designed himself.[5] He also looks for them in the Human World as evidenced in the latest Shinigami diary though he has no sense of fashion since he took some of the heart-shaped and star-shaped variety. Renji is also seen a few times in a white kimono-like type of night clothing, with pink floral patterns on it, and a dark gray sash tied around his waist, helping it to stay in place. He wears bandages underneath, and the reason for this is unknown; It has also been said 'that the women within his division don't mind that he usually walks around in his night clothing'.[5]

Zanpakuto spirit: Zabimaru (蛇尾丸, Snake Tail): Renji's zanpakutō is one of the rare cases whose spirit is actually seen, the other being Ichigo's and Hitsugaya's. Zabimaru is a nue (Japanese chimera in the form of a baboon with a snake's head for a tail), hence his name. Zabimaru has tattoos similar to Renji's tattoos. Renji is very fond of his Zanpakutō, to the point where he easily gets agitated upon learning that it's gone or stolen without his knowledge. Zabimaru's spirit is portrayed as battle-loving and proud, similar in personality to Renji. It insisted on fighting Zangetsu again after losing, confident that it could succeed on the second attempt. Both the snake and baboon are capable of speaking (albeit usually in a finishing-each-other's-sentences manner), though the baboon is usually the more dominant one. The snake seems to be the more violent of the pair

Sealed Zanpakuto: Zabimaru's sealed form resembles a typical katana. It has a rectangular bronze handguard with a jagged design to it and a red handle and sheath.

Shikai: In its Shikai, Zabimaru transforms into an even longer 6-part segmented blade; each segment is wider than the one preceding it from the hilt with 2 pick-like protrusions on the front and back of each segment, with the ones on the front much longer than the ones at the back.[18] The segments are connected by a stretchable thread, making Zabimaru more useful as a whip than an actual sword, though it can serve as a regular sword just as easily, thanks to Renji's swordsmanship. Zabimaru's guard and handle pretty much remain the same in its Shikai release. While Zabimaru can be stretched to incredible lengths in its whip form, Renji has a limit of three consecutive attacks before having to bring the segments of Zabimaru back together for recovery - which makes him fairly vulnerable during the time interval. To make up for this, Renji usually relies on Shunpo for evasion as he retrieves Zabimaru's segments. Renji's Shikai, while durable to an extent, can ultimately sustain serious damage the longer the fight drags on. Not that it can't withstand dangerously prolonged combat, but even it has limits in enduring high-level attacks that were conducted by either the enemy or by Renji himself. Because of these many drawbacks, Renji states that out of all the other Zanpakutō wielded by the other Lieutenant Shinigami, Zabimaru is the most difficult to master.

Release: "Howl Zabimaru"

Bankai: transforms Zabimaru into a massive version of its Shikai form resembling a skeleton of a snake. Zabimaru gains many more segments, which are much larger resembling a mix between a snakes vertebral column and the pick-like protrusions of his Shikai segments, and it also gains a snake-like head about the size of a small car. Renji is also slightly transformed, gaining a fur cowl around his neck. The cowl appears to be the fur of an ape and thus, the ape's skull could be seen over Renji's left shoulder while the rest of the fur extends to cover his right arm. Zabimaru itself, in Bankai form, does not literally "cut;" Renji usually catches his opponent with the snake-head of his weapon and smashes his opponent into the ground with it. The head has also proven capable of inflicting heavy damage through biting.

History/ Background: Renji Abarai was born in the 78th district of Rukongai and grew up as an orphan, in "Inuzuri" South Alley of Flowing Spirits with several other children, including Rukia Kuchiki. The company of children lived by stealing or hunting for food. Though Renji and Rukia quickly discovered they had spiritual powers, they remained with their friends until they all died, which prompted them to become Shinigami for a better life.

At the Shinigami academy, Renji was admitted into the top class, being very adept at swordsmanship, although quite inept at Kidō. His senpai was Shūhei Hisagi. At the academy, Renji befriended Izuru Kira and Momo Hinamori, who each proceeded to become lieutenants. He was a graduate of the academy in its 2,066th year.[6] His relationship with Rukia became distant after her adoption by the Kuchiki family since he felt he had no place interfering with her life now that she was a noble, despite the fact they both seemed to regret losing the company and confidence of the other. Abarai decided it was best to let her enjoy life as a noble, telling himself not to interfere no matter what happens.


Renji requesting Ikkaku to train him.Renji, Kira and Hinamori served under Sōsuke Aizen and Gin Ichimaru in the 5th division, after which Kira and Hinamori were put under Ichimaru and Aizen in the 3rd and 5th divisions respectively. The rebellious Renji was moved to the 11th Division[1] and eventually rose to the 6th seat.[7] During his time in the 11th Division, he befriended Ikkaku Madarame, who taught Renji how to fight. It was also shown that Renji was aware that Ikkaku had a Bankai, but refused to use it to train Renji. On the same day Rukia headed for the human world, Renji was promoted to lieutenant of the 6th Division.[8] Izuru, Momo and Ikkaku knew about his past with Rukia, and told him that if they were such great friends he must go to her immediately before her departure. However, instead of going to see Rukia off, he decided to wait and surprise her three months later when the promotion ceremony was complete (along with her assignment). Unfortunately by this time he was sent to bring her back to Soul Society. After meeting Byakuya Kuchiki, the 6th Division's captain, Renji's greatest dream has been to surpass him in strength.

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