Artificial souls
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Artificial souls (義魂丸, gikongan), as the name suggests, are souls designed by Shinigami scientists to separate a Shinigami's spirit from a Gigai, should they be inhabiting one, or to evict stubborn spirits from their corpses if necessary. When ingested, it forces the soul out of the body and takes control of it, operating in a pre-programmed manner until removed by the Shinigami. It is commonly called Soul Candy, as the Shinigami Women's Association complained that the name gikongan wasn't cute and had it changed.[1] To fit with the more informal name, Soul Candy is contained in PEZ-like dispensers with cartoon characters on top. The souls themselves apparently have personalities to match the cartoon character in question; for example, Rukia Kuchiki's favorite version, Chappy the Rabbit, is a hyperactive character that tries to restrain Ichigo when given control of Rukia's Gigai and even speaks in a cutesy baby talk manner. While Captain Tōshirō advanced squad is in the real world, their artificial souls were specially designed by Lieutenant Yachiru Kusajishi, unfortunately for them, these artificial souls where specially designed to be strange and completely contradictory to their personalities, probably for the sole purpose of entertaining Yachiru.
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Modified souls
Modified souls (改造魂魄, kaizō konpaku), more commonly referred to as Modsouls, are artificial souls designed to enhance regular human physiology, making them capable of battling Hollows equally. Because there are far more Hollows than Shinigami, a project labeled Spearhead was implemented in order to create a modified soul, in an attempt to even the gap. For example, one modsoul may be able to run many times faster than a regular human while another may be many times stronger than normal.[2] Kon, the modsoul accidentally ending up in Ichigo's possession, has enhanced leg-strength. The modsouls, just like regular artificial souls, are condensed into tiny, candy-like orbs. However, their originally intended purpose was to be placed into corpses to achieve their function as soldiers to combat Hollows. To fit with this purpose, they are also more independent than regular artificial souls .
The modsouls were exterminated after the experiment was halted due to ethical reasons, since they were intended to be used to reanimate human corpses to be used as weapons against Hollows. Kon was somehow mixed into a batch of regular artificial souls (Soul Candies) and shipped to Kisuke Urahara's shop, where Rukia and Ichigo obtained him and unknowingly let him loose. Despite a standing order to dispose of all modified souls, they kept Kon and placed him into the body of a lion plushie. Rukia and Ichigo use Kon to possess Ichigo's body when his soul is expelled from his body to fight as a Shinigami. Additionally, during the anime only Bount arc, Urahara created three additional modsouls (Ririn, Kurōdo and Noba) and installed them with Bount detectors. These three have been adapted to the anime series without changing the overall plot.
Varieties of Soul Candy
Artificial Soul Candy comes in many varieties, with some being more popular than others. Each variety tends to have its own personality and mannerisms. Below are the varieties of Soul Candy in order of popularity.[3]
| Known varieties of Soul Candy | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Chappy | Yuki | Pupples or Papyrus | Diana | Alfred | Claudia | Gringo |
| 
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| |||
| Ginnosukem | Blues or Bruce | Kaneshiro | Steiner | Momone | King | |
Notes
- Chappy: The most popular Soul Candy, Chappy has a cutesy personality and tends to end sentences with "pyon" (Hop! in the English version). Used by Rukia Kuchiki.
- Yuki: The 2nd most popular Soul Candy[4]
- Pupples or Papyrus: The 3rd most popular Soul Candy[4]
- Gringo: Has a gangster personality and tends to end sentences with "yorosh". Used by Yumichika Ayasegawa.[5]
- Ginnosukem: Has a sly personality and tends to end sentences with "nyah", a meowing sound. Was used by Renji Abarai [6]
- Blues or Bruce: Is easily frightened and tends to end sentences with "uho". Used by Ikkaku Madarame.[7]
- Momone: Is a pervert and tends to end sentences with "besh". Used by Rangiku Matsumoto.[8]
- King: Is diligent, but stupid. Talks about "probability". Used by Tōshirō Hitsugaya.[9]
References
- ↑ Bleach manga; Volume 2, page 122
- ↑ Bleach manga; Chapter 15, page 9
- ↑ Bleach manga; Volume 2, omake
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Bleach Official Character Book Souls, page 257
- ↑ Bleach manga; Chapter 219, omake page
- ↑ Bleach manga; Chapter 220, omake page
- ↑ Bleach manga; Chapter 219, omake page
- ↑ Bleach manga; Chapter 221, omake page
- ↑ Bleach manga; Chapter 222, omake page
