Ikumi Unagiya
Race	Human
Gender	Female
Professional Status
Affiliation	Unagiya Shop
Occupation	Owner of the Unagiya Shop
Base of Operations	Karakura Town, Japan, Human World
Personal Status
Relatives	Kaoru Unagiya (Son)
First Appearance
Manga	Volume 49, Chapter 426
Anime	Episode 344
Voices
Japanese	Yūko Kaida

Ikumi Unagiya (鰻屋 育美, Unagiya Ikumi) is the owner and manager of the Unagiya Shop in Karakura Town, a business that performs a variety of odd jobs for its customers.^[1] She hires Ichigo Kurosaki sometime after the loss of his Shinigami powers.

Appearance

Ikumi is a tall and curvaceous fair-skinned woman with gray eyes and raven hair that reaches to her upper back with bangs that part to the left of her face and styles her hair in a ponytail with a purple scrunchy. She is normally seen wearing a white t-shirt with long purple sleeves, tight black pants with a buckle belt, and black rubber boots. As the owner of the Unagiya Shop, she has her shop's logo on her shirt with "Unagi" written on. She also wears a brown cap with goggles and work gloves. When around her son, she removes her gloves, hat, and goggles and replaces them with an apron.

Personality

Ikumi runs the Unagiya Shop, and because she is short-handed, she relies on Ichigo Kurosaki for help. Ikumi is both violent and aggressive, as she is willing to use force, excessively even, to get her way, as she beats up a group of thugs that Ichigo was fighting, just to bring Ichigo to work, doing so by kidnapping him shortly after.^[2] She also has pride in her shop, refusing to change its name, despite Ichigo's recommendation to do so, as well as the mistakes some customers make.^[3] Despite her aggressive personality, she is still very caring, maintaining a stereotypical sweet-mother demeanor around her son, even when he is rude to others.^[4] With Ichigo, she has occasionally shown her motherly-side in giving advice to Ichigo,^[5] and offering him shelter in his emotional state.^[6]

Plot

The Lost Substitute Shinigami arc

When Ichigo calls Ikumi while at school, she yells at him, saying that he only worked for one day the previous week, and is annoyed by the fact that he wants to take another week off. She angrily threatens to fire him that day if he does not show up, but quickly changes her tone when he nonchalantly states that somebody like him has no choice but to get fired.^[1] She attempts to change his mind, but Ichigo hangs up on her before she can continue to talk.^[7]

Later on, as Ichigo and Uryū Ishida fight off a large group of delinquents, Ikumi arrives and kicks one of the delinquents, Yokochini, in the back of the head. She remarks that Ichigo looks like he is having fun and that she isn't going to put up with how he skips work for no reason anymore. She quickly proceeds to grab him by the face, tie him up, and throw him into her van.^[8] She drives him to the Unagiya Shop, where she throws him onto a couch. Ichigo asks her to remove the tape, which she agrees to do so, on the condition that he doesn't try to run away. When the phone starts to ring, Ikumi picks it up, thinking that it is a customer. However, she is disdained when the person on the phone asks for two orders of special quality eel, confusing it for an eel shop because of its name. She chastises the caller for their mistake and hangs up; Ichigo suggests that she just change the store's name, but Ikumi refuses, saying that she inherited the name from her ancestors.^[9]

She proceeds to read off an assortment of odd jobs for Ichigo to perform. When he asks why she doesn't just do them all herself, she retorts that she is busy, and that it is the reason she hired him in the first place. Suddenly, her son, Kaoru, calls out for her from the other room. Hearing his voice, she quickly takes off her hat and gloves, and pulls on an apron. When Kaoru enters the room, she asks him if anything is wrong, and calmly chastises him for walking into the room barefoot. As she ushers him out of the room, he tells Ichigo to not try to get close to his mother. Ikumi apologizes to Ichigo, saying that Kaoru still hasn't warmed up to him. When Ichigo remarks that he has no interest in an old lady anyway, she smacks him on the head with a book and starts to pull off the tape she tied him up with. However, she is surprised when a customer shows up, whom she greets. When the man, Kūgo Ginjō, asks Ichigo to have some ramen, Ichigo, tells the man that it is an eel shop. Unagiya corrects him irritatedly, oblivious to the atmosphere.^[10]

As an annoyed Ichigo questions Kūgo, Ikumi listens, correcting him when he calls the store his personal rest stop. She asks Kūgo what he wants and brings him some Ōlong tea when he requests it. Kūgo asks if Ikumi is the boss and tells her that he would like her to investigate someone, placing a photo on the table. Ichigo recognizes his father in the photo and angrily asks him what he wants.^[11] Ikumi interrupts the heated discussion between Kūgo and Ichigo, saying that she is closing up shop for the day and that she will hold onto the picture while she considers whether to take on the job. She tells him that it is time to leave and that she will contact him after she has thought it over.^[12]

Ikumi is mad when Ichigo returns to her home after training with Xcution, in order to request more time off. She states that he has had a lot of time off already and, when he becomes distant, she demands that he talk to her about what is clearly troubling him, letting him know that it is alright to trust an adult every now and then, for which Ichigo is grateful for.^[13]

After Ichigo runs from his home which has been taken over by Shūkurō Tsukishima, Ikumi sees him while she is in her car and asks what he is doing. Ichigo gets in and she drives off, noting that he is very dirty and not even wearing shoes. At her store, she makes Ichigo a drink and tells him that if he needs to talk, she is there. Ichigo then thanks her before she shoves his head against her breast. He tries to speak but she tells him to shut up and that everything will be okay. The door bell then rings and she goes to get it, wondering who it could be at this time. She then tells Ichigo that Tsukishima is there to cheer him up as she smiles at him.^[14]

As Ichigo and Kūgo enter Tsukishima's mansion, they are greeted by Ikumi and other friends of Ichigo. Ikumi grabs him, asking what the shocked face is for and tells him to come over. After everyone tells Ichigo that Tsukishima is not mad, she, along with everyone else, says he should apologize.^[15] Some time later, following Kūgo's defeat and Tsukishima's death, she returns back to normal, alongside Ichigo's family and the rest of his friends.^[16]

Powers & Abilities

Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Ikumi showed herself to be a very fearsome fighter, effortlessly pummeling an entire gang on her way towards Ichigo.^[17]

Enhanced Strength: Despite her slender frame, Ikumi is surprisingly strong. She is able to launch several delinquents a noticeable distance and easily subdue Ichigo by effortlessly grabbing his face and dragging him away.^[18]

References

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Bleach manga; Chapter 425, page 14
2. ↑ Bleach manga; Chapter 426, pages 9-12
3. ↑ Bleach manga; Chapter 426, page 14
4. ↑ Bleach manga; Chapter 426, pages 16-17
5. ↑ Bleach manga; Chapter 441, page 3-5
6. ↑ Bleach manga; Chapter 453, pages 14-16
7. ↑ Bleach manga; Chapter 425, page 15
8. ↑ Bleach manga; Chapter 426, page 11
9. ↑ Bleach manga; Chapter 426, pages 13-14
10. ↑ Bleach manga; Chapter 426, pages 16-19
11. ↑ Bleach manga; Chapter 427, pages 6-17
12. ↑ Bleach manga; Chapter 428, pages 7-9
13. ↑ Bleach manga; Chapter 441, page 1-5
14. ↑ Bleach manga; Chapter 453, pages 14-17
15. ↑ Bleach manga; Chapter 455, page 6-9
16. ↑ Bleach manga; Chapter 479, page 14
17. ↑ Bleach manga; Chapter 426, pages 9-10
18. ↑ Bleach manga; Chapter 426, pages 9-11

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