Suì-Fēng

Suì-Fēng is a female anime and manga character who features in Bleach.

Biography

Origin

Fēng Shāolíng (Japanese: 蜂 梢綾 (フォン・シャオリン), Hepburn: Fon Shaorin) was a female shinigami who was born into the Fēng house that were one of the lower noble houses of the Soul Society which was affiliated with the Shihōin noble house. She was the 9th generation of her family and the youngest of six siblings when she joined the Executive Militia of the Onmitsukidō as per tradition in her family. Upon joining their ranks, she came to drop her given name and instead inherited the code name by her great-grandmother namely Suì-Fēng (砕蜂 (ソイフォン), Soifon). As a member of the militia, she came to be intensely trained to serve corps-commander Yoruichi Shihōin who Suì-Fēng came to admire and adore with her wanting to be as strong as her superior. Seven years later, Yoruichi took notice of her and promoted Suì-Fēng to be one of her personal guards where the two spent much time together. Despite the difference in personality, she came to be dedicated to her superior whilst Yoruichi saw Suì-Fēng as her protégée with them having a close bond as master and student.

Over 110 years ago, she served faithfully in her role as head of the guard and was highly protective of Yoruichi as well as protecting her honor. Her short temper though meant that she did not like Kisuke Urahara and opposed Yoruichi's goal of appointing him as the new captain of the 12th Division. This was because she saw his carefree attitude and laziness to be traits that would make him bad at the position. Suì-Fēng brought the matter to Yoruichi as she believed her mentor was overestimating Kisuke's abilities and that the appointment was a mistake. In fact, she believed that he should not have been placed as Corps Commander of the Detention Unit with him being undeserving of the assignment. However, her concerns were dismissed by Yoruichi who admitted that whilst Kisuke was not a hard worker but had potential. She even began to playfully tease her subordinate by claiming that she was hiding romantic feelings for Kisuke Urahara but this led to Suì-Fēng dismissing such a notion an stalking off.

Soul Society

She attends the captain's emergency meeting regarding the questioning of Gin Ichimaru’s apparent slip of duty in handling the Ryoka. Suì-Fēng later walks through the 2nd Division Headquarters with her lieutenant, Marechiyo Ōmaeda, who complains about how annoying it is that drifters have entered Soul Society, that someone has died and now everyone is questioning whether or not Rukia Kuchiki's planned execution is legitimate. Figuring that the superiors already made their decision he considers the issue pointless conversation. Suì-Fēng tells him that she has no interest in whether it is right or wrong, as she only care about executing her orders as captain of the Gotei 13. All that get in her way are her enemies and all enemies must be slain. Ōmaeda denotes that he understands before Suì-Fēng promptly tells him that the same goes for him as well. She explains that he should know where his loyalties lie and should he get in her way he will become her enemy. Ōmaeda smirks and states that he will remember that. Suì-Fēng was among those who attend the execution ceremony, waiting for it to commence beside Ōmaeda. Suì-Fēng comments to him that the attendance is poor, as only the 2nd, 4th, and 8th Divisions have arrived, while the absences of the 5th, 11th, and 12th are expected. Suì-Fēng stood in awe as the Sōkyoku begins to release, noticing its change in shape. Shortly after the arrival of Ichigo Kurosaki, Suì-Fēng bears witness to the destruction of the Sōkyoku by the intervention of Jūshirō Ukitake and Shunsui Kyōraku, Suì-Fēng yelled to Ōmaeda to stop them, but he too was surprised and caught off guard by the entire situation. After Ichigo successfully saves Rukia and hands her off to Renji Abarai, who runs off with her, Suì-Fēng orders Ōmaeda and the other lieutenants present to go after them though they are easily defeated by Ichigo. When Isane Kotetsu's sister, Kiyone Kotetsu, tries to run to her sister's aid, Suì-Fēng immediately attacks Sentarō Kotsubaki and then goes after Kiyone, and is about to finish her off as a traitor, when a masked figure grabs her and drags her away with Shunpo, and as they fall off the side of the cliff, the masked assailant reveals herself to be Yoruichi Shihōin, Suì-Fēng's former mentor.

Suì-Fēng engaged Yoruichi in hand-to-hand combat before the two put some distance between themselves up in the trees of the forest they landed in. Suì-Fēng comments that even though they have not seen each other in a long time, Yoruichi has not gotten any stronger. Yoruichi quips that on the contrary she thinks that Suì-Fēng has in fact gotten weaker. Suì-Fēng notes that the Tentōken, that Ichigo was wearing had the emblem of the Shihōin Clan, she asks if Yoruichi gave it to him. Yoruichi plainly admits it as she states that flight was necessary to rescue Rukia at the time. Suì-Fēng states that the Tenshi Heisōban, the Shihōin Clan, has also fallen. She notes that the fall of a noble family is not a pretty sight at all. Yoruichi asks why Suì-Fēng is talking so much, maybe she is excited to see her old mentor or is she blowing off steam from her position as Commander-in-Chief of the Onmitsukidō. She asks Suì-Fēng if it is stressful being her successor. Suì-Fēng tells her to not get cocky and think that she is still better after all those years. Suì-Fēng states that both the Onmitsukidō and the Executive Militia are now under her control, as Yoruichi's era has ended a long time ago and she proceeds to take out her Zanpakutō and stabs it into the tree. Immediately Yoruichi is surrounded by a cadre of Executive Militia members. Suì-Fēng asks if she remembers that when the Corps-Commander of the Executive Militia draws her sword the execution begins. Everyone who opposes the Corp-Commander will be executed, even if that person was the Corps-Commander once and has since given up on being the Corps-Commander. Before anyone can react, Yoruichi uses her great skill in Shunpo and takes out every Executive Militia member in the area in under a minute, stunning Suì-Fēng. Yoruichi tells her to stop looking down on people so much, as she did give up her role as leader, but there is still one title that she still did not give away. Suì-Fēng takes off her haori and tells then she will take that title from her.

Yoruichi comments on Suì-Fēng's attire, noting that she is wearing the battle suit of the Corps-Commander of the Executive Militia. Suì-Fēng attacks Yoruichi and they begin to fight once again. Suì-Fēng notes that they have reached a draw both gaining a hit on one another. Yoruichi comments on what kind of outfit is Suì-Fēng wearing as it seems to prevent her from seeing her movements. Suì-Fēng asks her if she really thinks it is some trick and uses Shunpo to appear behind Yoruichi and holds her Zanpakutō up to her throat as she releases her Shikai. Yoruichi uses Shunpo to get away, but Suì-Fēng catches up to her and lands an attack. They move apart once again and Suì-Fēng tells her to admit that she is stronger as it may not occur to her that she is holding back. She states that she has become stronger than Yoruichi, and with her death and will make her pay the price for staying away from battle for a hundred years. Suì-Fēng asks Yoruichi if she remembers her Suzumebachi special ability, as a "Hōmonka" appears on her chest. Suì-Fēng explains the mechanics of her Zanpakutō's Shikai. Suì-Fēng appears behind Yoruichi and attempts a second strike, but Yoruichi uses Shunpo to escape, after getting a ways ahead Yoruichi turns around goes on the offensive. Suì-Fēng asks if she now understands that she is stronger than her, and that if she understands then she will end this battle quickly. Suì-Fēng the uses her new technique that combines Kidō and Hakuda together, exclaiming that she has never used it in battle as she has only recently invented it. She notes there was not even a name for it. Yoruichi, however, tells her it has a name; Shunkō. Suì-Fēng asks her what she is talking about. Yoruichi asks her if she knows why the Executive Militia's leader's outfit has no cloth on the back or shoulders, explaining because it is meaningless. Yoruichi then uses the same technique, but at a more advanced level than Suì-Fēng's, explaining what the technique does in detail to her former protégée. Yoruichi further states that she was not planning on using this against her, but warns Suì-Fēng to be careful as even she can't control it perfectly yet as she sends a wave of condensed Reiatsu toward her.

Fake Karakura Town

Head-Captain Yamamoto later orchestrated a counter responsive to Aizen's upcoming attack as the rogue shinigami intended to sacrifice the entirety of Karakura Town in order to create the Ōken. To stop this, the entirety of the human town was moved into the Soul Society and a fake substitute was put in place as a decoy. When Aizen along with his fellow traitors and the Espada arrived they were greeted by the Gotei 13 with Captain Suì-Fēng present for the battle alongside her Lieutenant. When Aizen, along with his top three Espada and their Fracción arrive to attack the Fake Karakura Town she along with is among the Gotei 13's members sent to defend it. When Ōmaeda states that he thought Yumichika Ayasegawa, Ikkaku Madarame, Izuru Kira, and Shūhei Hisagi where not going to be there, she states that she had told him, although, she then thinks to herself that she might have forgotten to tell him. After the fight for the pillars are successfully defended, she engages in battle with Ggio Vega who tries to taunt and distract her with conversation, but Suì-Fēng remains calm and continues to fight. Eventually, Suì-Fēng binds the Arrancar with a Kidō spell, she then releases Suzumebachi. After Suì-Fēng explains that her Zanpakutō's ability, Ggio uses his Cero to escape before she can attack and taunts her for not using her ability fast enough. They then continue to fight with Ggio gaining the upper hand when he kicks her through a building. He then questions her skill as an assassin, as he gives his name and proceeds to release his Zanpakutō. Suì-Fēng is thrown away by Ggio's attacks and sent flying into the side of Nirgge Parduoc's head, knocking him out. Ōmaeda goes to check on Suì-Fēng, but she berates him for acting weak and tells him that he is never to turn his back on an enemy. Suì-Fēng then calls him a disgrace and goes back to fighting. Ggio takes the upper hand in the fight again and pins Suì-Fēng to the side of a building with his fangs. He then proceeds to finish her off, but Ōmaeda jumps in and blocks the attack with his Shikai. He then grabs the Arrancar in a bear hug and tells his captain to attack. As Ggio prepares to blast Ōmaeda with a Cero, Suì-Fēng kicks him away, revealing she had been feigning her loss in order to study the Arrancar's Resurrección. After knocking Ōmaeda back with a punch to the face, Suì-Fēng tells him if he sees an ally losing to attack the enemy from behind or stand aside if the foe is too strong instead of stepping between them.

Overview

Personality and attributes

In appearance, Suì-Fēng was a relatively petite woman with gray eyes and black hair that she wore short with two long braids bound in white cloth where each ended in a large golden ring. She wore the standard Shinigami uniform with slight modifications, along with the Onmitsukidō commander’s sleeveless uniform over it. Her outfit was designed for speed and stealth, leaving her arms bare for close combat. In battle, her defining weapon was Suzumebachi, a golden stinger-like gauntlet that adorned her finger when released into Shikai. After joining the Executive Militia, she dropped her given name and instead adopted the code name Suì-Fēng (砕蜂 (ソイフォン), Soifon) that was used by her great-grandmother.

She was staunchly loyal, firm, and unbending in her beliefs.

According to her, there needed a degree of hostility between a captain and their subordinates.

It was said that she was the youngest of six siblings where most of them had died during missions. Two were said to had died on their first mission, another two died on their second and the last one died on their sixth mission thus leaving Suì-Fēng the only survivor in the family.

Since her younger days, Suì-Fēng had disliked Urahara as she found him to be a slacker and unfitting of service to Yoruichi Shihōin. This dislike continued even in her latter years where when asked a favour by one of the Visored she commented that she would only help if Urahara was trapped in a barrier for a month.

Powers and abilities

She boasted a great deal of spiritual power with her Reiatsu being golden-yellow in colour. As head of the Onmitsukidō, she had attained a mastery of hiding her spiritual presence from detection.

Her incredible speed allowed her to create speed clones of herself with Suì-Fēng able to make 15 such clones by using Shunpo. These copies were indistinguishable from her and mimicked her movements but did not last long.

Among the techniques known to him included:

• Bakudō #30. Shitotsu Sansen (嘴突三閃, Beak-Piercing Triple Beam; Viz "Triple-Flash Beak Slash") : generating a burst of crackling yellow energy, she was able to draw this into a yellow triangle that became a solidified energy of smaller triangles from the three points. These smaller triangles were fired and hit the intended target where they pinned her foe onto a nearby surface whose body was trapped in place by the three triangles that immobilised them. This allowed her to capture them or use a more deadly technique on them whilst they were trapped in this state unless they managed to free themselves from the Kido spell.

She was well versed in art of Kidō though she preferred to use Shunpo and hand-to-hand fighting techniques.

This culminated in the use of Shunkō (Wind) (瞬閧, Flash War Cry; Viz "Instant War Cry") that was an advanced technique which combined hand-to-hand combat and Kidō.

Her Zanpakutō was named Suzumebachi (雀蜂, Hornet) which in its sealed form resembled a wakizashi with a yellow hilt reminiscent of a Chinese dao. It was kept sheathed horizontally behind Suì-Fēng's lower back hanging by a rope. Her Shikai (始解, Initial Release) command was by her uttering the words 'Sting all Enemies to Death' (尽敵螫殺, Jinteki Shakusetsu). Holding the sword in her right hand, the blade emitted a glow where when it died down revealed that it reformed itself into a black and gold gauntlet with a small chain linked to a stinger-like blade situated on the middle finger. The 'stinger' was twice as long as her normal fingers thus increasing her striking distance and it had the resemblance of a hornet. Though no longer a sword, the 'stinger; was capable of withstanding strikes from a blade allowing Suì-Fēng to block incoming attacks by either using the 'stinger' or the gauntlet portions of her transformed Zanpakutō.

Suì-Fēng's Bankai was Jakuhō Raikōben (雀蜂雷公鞭, Hornet Thunder Whip) which upon activation created a pillar of Reiatsu that shot into the air before fading. This triggered a transformation in her Zanpakutō were she now gained a golden armored missile launcher base that was around her right arm. It also formed a face shield that covered the right side of her face. By the right arm, there was a large pointed golden cylinder with black cylinders that was twice the size of Suì-Fēng herself. The cylinder itself was an incredible powerful projectile that when launched triggered a powerful explosion upon hitting a target. However, the weapon had an incredible level of recoil and required Suì-Fēng to ground herself fully in order to use it. She was said to not prefer to use her Bankai as it offered her pride as a stealth force agent as it was too large to hide, too heavy to move and too flashy for assassination. As such, she rarely made use of the ability that was largely unseen by the Soul Society and even her own subordinates. She only made use of it if she had no choice and fought against a particularly powerful opponent.

One piece of equipment she used was the Ginjōtan (銀条反, Stripe of Inverted Silver) that was a steel sash worn under armor whose incredible weight made it harder for her to move fast. She used it to help her in the use of her Bankai as its incredible recoil meant that she had to anchor herself to a nearby stationary object via this cloth-like material.

In the Soul Society, she was the commander-in-chief of the Onmitsukidō (隠密機動, Secret Tactics; Viz "Stealth Force") who were responsible for covert missions, surveillance and assassinations. In addition, she was a member of the Gotei 13 (護廷十三隊, Goteijūsantai; lit. "13 Division Imperial Guards"; Viz "Thirteen Court Guard Companies") where she operated as Captain of the 2nd Division. She was aided by her Lieutenant who was Marechiyo Ōmaeda.

Notes

• Suì-Fēng was created by Tite Kubo where she featured in the setting of the Bleach universe.

In other media

Television

• In Bleach, Suì-Fēng appeared in the setting of the anime television series where she was voiced by Japanese actress Houko Kawashima and by English actress Karen Strassman in the dub.

Appearances

• Bleach:

External Links

• Bleach Wiki Entry
• Comicvine Entry

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