Yasutora Sado

Yasutora Sado
Bleach character
Yasutora Sado by Tite Kubo
First appearance	Bleach manga chapter 7 Bleach anime episode 2
Created by	Tite Kubo
Voiced by	Japanese Hiroki Yasumoto [1] English Jamieson Price [2]
Profile
Nicknames	Chad
Weapon	Brazo Derecha de Gigante Brazo Izquierda del Diablo

Yasutora Sado (茶渡 泰虎, Sado Yasutora^?) is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Bleach created by Tite Kubo. He is an extremely tall teenager who studies in the same class as Ichigo Kurosaki. Because Ichigo first read Yasutora's name off a nametag, he pronounced his family name as Chad (チャド, Chado^?) due to the variable pronunciations of kanji, and Ichigo continues to call him this throughout the story.

Conception and development

Bleach author Tite Kubo stated that he began creating the characters "from their faces." According to Kubo, Chad "looked like he was of Mexican heritage" so he decided to make him Mexican.^[3]

Character outline

Personality

Chad is a tall teenager of Mexican descent, and appears to be older than he really is. He has a tattoo on his left shoulder that consists of a winged heart and a snake, with a ribbon that reads 'Amore e Morte' ("love and death" in Italian). During his early years, Chad was extremely violent. Exploiting his advantage in size, he intimidated and hit any child who annoyed him. Oscar Joaquin, his grandfather, 'Abuelo' inspired Chad to be gentle. Afterwards, Oscar Joaquin de le Rosa gave Chad an old Mexican coin, which he treasured after Oscar's death.^[4] Since then, Chad vowed that he would never fight unless it was to protect others, as instructed — even if his own life was in danger.^[5] However, because of his constant involvement with gangsters, Chad gained a reputation as a ruthless gangster himself.^[4]

Chad is a quiet person with a very kind heart and is sometimes the subject of jokes or bullies because he never fights back, against ordinary humans, or often hollows and Soul Reapers until necessary. Nonetheless, he is treated equally within his group of friends in Karakura (Ichigo, Keigo and Mizuiro). As he and Ichigo have a longtime relationship, having met each other while fighting off a group of bullies. Since then both decided to fight together, Chad becomes determined to train and get stronger in order to aid Ichigo in his fights as Ichigo and his enemies start becoming much stronger than Chad along the series.^[4] Chad also has a weakness for cute things, like small animals and Kon, and is one of the few characters that actually treats Kon with any dignity but for the most part ignores him.^[6] Besides his physical strength, Chad has also shown to be very intelligent; he ranked 11th out of 322 in school, while Ichigo is ranked 23rd.^[7]

Abilities

Chad's armored arms.

When first introduced, Chad had no special powers aside from his unusual strength and endurance. After his encounter with the parakeet containing the soul of Yūichi Shibata, he starts to detect the approximate locations of spirits and hollows, but cannot fully see them. Only after saving Karin Kurosaki from a hollow, during the hollow-slaying match between Uryū and Ichigo, did Chad begin to fully see spirits. At the same time that he becomes able to clearly see spirits, he also awakes his latent spiritual ability, which manifests as armor on his right arm called the Brazo Derecha [sic] de Gigante (巨人の右腕（ブラソ・デレチャ・デ・ヒガンテ）, Buraso Derecha Del Higante^?, Spanish for "right arm of the giant". Japanese for "giant's right arm").^[5][8] Chad's armor increases his strength beyond its already impressive level, and enables him to fire powerful energy blasts from his fist.^[9] After training with Renji, Chad gains an improved version of his armored arm. He also gains a new special attack called El Directo (巨人の一撃（エル・ディレクト）, Eru Direkuto^?, Spanish for "the direct". Japanese for "giant's strike". "Directo" is the Spanish term for 'jab' in boxing.) To perform it, the flanges on Chad's arm open up and he punches the enemy.^[10]

While in Hueco Mundo, Chad states that his powers are closer to that of a hollow's and that they were affected by the environment, allowing him to more deeply tap his powers, which manifest as armor on both arms, instead of just his right. In addition, he also gains the ability to move at high speeds in a manner similar to flash steps and sonido. Chad's full-powered right arm is still called the Brazo Derecha de Gigante but is now used for defense instead of offense (though it's still more powerful offensively than his original arm). Brazo Derecha de Gigante becomes a shield that extends from his hand to some distance beyond his forearm with the same intricate pattern as before.^[11] Chad's armored left arm, used for attack, is known as the Brazo Izquierda [sic] del Diablo (悪魔の左腕（ブラソ・イスキエルダ・デル・ディアボロ）, Buraso Isukieruda Deru Diaboro^?, Spanish for "left arm of the devil". Japanese for "Devil's left arm").^[8][12] With this arm, Chad gains a special attack known as La Muerte (魔人の一撃（ラ・ムエルテ）, Ra Muerute^?, Spanish for "the death," Japanese for "devil's strike"), a powerful fist containing energy from all his fingers.^[13]

Sosuke Aizen theorized that Chad's powers were the result of the Hōgyoku reacting to his despair and empowering him, but when helping Ichigo to regain his Soul Reaper powers, Chad's Brazo Derecha de Gigante and Brazo Izquierda del Diablo are revealed to be a type of supernatural power called Fullbring, and that they were activated by his pride in his Mexican heritage and in his grandfather.

Plot overview

A few days after Ichigo becomes a Soul Reaper, Chad is offered a cursed cockatiel whose previous owners have all died horrible deaths.^[14] The bird is in fact the container for the spirit of a dead child, Yuichi, placed there by a hollow who uses him as bait. Chad is forced to fight the hollow despite not being able to see it, assisted by Rukia Kuchiki.^[15] Ichigo defeats the hollow then performs Konso on Yuichi.^[16] Later on, when Uryū Ishida's duel with Ichigo unleashes a multitude of hollows upon the town, Chad is pressed into battle with another hollow. It is this event that awakens his spiritual powers, which manifest as armor on his right arm.^[5]

After Rukia is taken back to Soul Society, Chad and Orihime Inoue are trained by Yoruichi Shihouin to consciously call upon their powers when needed. After a week, Chad leaves for Soul Society with Orihime, Uryū, Yoruichi, and Ichigo.^[17] When the group is separated once entering Seireitei, Chad ends up alone. Chad meets his match in Shunsui Kyōraku, captain of the 8th Division in the Gotei 13.^[4] Kyōraku easily beats Chad, leaving him heavily injured but alive. After being freed by Kenpachi Zaraki of the 11th Division, and Rukia is rescued, Uryū, Chad, Ichigo, and Orihime depart for the living world.^[18] In Karakura Town, Ichigo, Chad and Orihime are attacked by Ulquiorra Schiffer and Yammy Riyalgo, two of the first arrancars to invade Karakura Town.^[19] When the second invasion led by the Espada Grimmjow Jeagerjaques commences, Chad is attacked by an arrancar but is saved by Ichigo.^[20] Noting that he is unable to fight alongside Ichigo, Chad turns to Kisuke Urahara for help, asking for training.^[21]

After Orihime is captured by Sōsuke Aizen, Chad joins Ichigo and his friends to rescue her from Hueco Mundo.^[22] After making their way to Las Noches and the group splits up, Chad runs into the Privaron Espada Gantenbainne Mosqueda.^[11] His victory is short-lived, however, as the 5th Espada, Nnoitora Jiruga, severely wounds him and leaves him for dead.^[13][23] Chad and Gantenbainne are eventually found by the Exequias, who plan to finish them off, but Retsu Unohana and Isane Kotetsu interrupt and the former heals him.^[24] He later appears with Rukia and Renji to aid Ichigo and fight off the Exequias,^[25] but is defeated by the Cero Espada Yammy.

After the 17 month timeskip, Chad appears as a member of Xcution, a group of humans with supernatural powers called Fullbring, and agrees to sacrifice his powers to help revive Ichigo's sealed Soul Reaper abilities. During a fight with Shūkurō Tsukishima, Chad is stabbed by the former's Fullbring and later becomes his ally, not even allowing Ichigo to get close to him. He and Orihime experience a mental breakdown after Tsukishima attempts to "add" more details to their fake memories and are knocked out by Urahara and Isshin.

Reception

Readers from the manga have liked Chad's character, with him appearing in the characters popularity polls from Bleach. In the first poll he ranked 6th with 2,109 votes.^[26] However, in following polls he did not appear in the top ten, being replaced by other characters.^[27] His character has also been featured in several types of merchandising from Bleach such as action figures, key chains and plush.^[28][29][30]

Various publications from manga, anime and other media have commented on Chad's character, adding praise and criticism. Popcultureshock.com writer Carlos Alexandre praised his character as, like each character, he is very convincing and particularly liked his pacifist attitude despite his appearance.^[31] Carlo Santos from Anime News Network (ANN) agreed on this although he found his visual design to be stereotypical, but his personality was unique.^[32] Jarred Pine from Mania Entertainment found Chad's reveal of spiritual powers as his favourite from volume 5 of the manga, additionally noting that it does not drag out the story. He also praised how Chad teams up with Ichigo's sister, Karin, in order to fight an attacking Hollow.^[33] However, Carl Kimlinger from ANN noted this not to be very surprising for viewers if they have watched other series based on manga from Weekly Shōnen Jump as it is common theme in those series.^[34] Bryce Coulter from Mania praised Chad's fight against Shunsui Kyoraku, noting his pacifist attitude along with Shunsui's as well as his flashback which intensifies his friendship with Ichigo.^[35]

References

1. ^ "死神のお仕事". TV Tokyo, Dentsu, Studio Pierrot. Bleach. TV Tokyo. October 12, 2004. No. 2.
2. ^ "A Shinigami's Work". TV Tokyo, Dentsu, Studio Pierrot. Bleach. Cartoon Network. September 15, 2006. No. 2.
3. ^ Shonen Jump #51. Volume 5, Issue 3. March 2007. VIZ Media. 328.
4. ^ ^{a b c d} Kubo, Tite (2006). "Chapter 107". Bleach, Volume 12. Viz Media. ISBN 1-4215-0403-0. 
5. ^ ^{a b c} Kubo, Tite (2005). "Chapter 39". Bleach, Volume 5. Viz Media. ISBN 1-59116-445-1. 
6. ^ Kubo, Tite (2004). "Chapter 26". Bleach, Volume 4. Viz Media. ISBN 1-59116-444-3. 
7. ^ Kubo, Tite (2005). "Chapter 35". Bleach, Volume 5. Viz Media. ISBN 1-59116-445-1. 
8. ^ ^{a b} Note: The Spanish grammar used to refer to Chad's arms is faulty, due to the mixing of grammatical genders.
9. ^ Kubo, Tite (2005). "Chapter 40". Bleach, Volume 5. Viz Media. ISBN 1-59116-445-1. 
10. ^ Kubo, Tite (2007). "Chapter 243". Bleach, Volume 29. Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-874398-1. 
11. ^ ^{a b} Kubo, Tite (2007). "Chapter 259". Bleach, Volume 29. Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-874398-1. 
12. ^ Kubo, Tite (2007). "Chapter 260". Bleach, Volume 29. Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-874398-1. 
13. ^ ^{a b} Kubo, Tite (2007). "Chapter 261". Bleach, Volume 30. Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-874423-0. 
14. ^ Kubo, Tite (2005). "Chapter 7". Bleach, Volume 1. Viz Media. ISBN 1-59116-441-9. 
15. ^ Kubo, Tite (2005). "Chapter 10". Bleach, Volume 2. Viz Media. ISBN 1-59116-442-7. 
16. ^ Kubo, Tite (2005). "Chapter 12". Bleach, Volume 2. Viz Media. ISBN 1-59116-442-7. 
17. ^ Kubo, Tite (2005). "Chapter 70". Bleach, Volume 8. Viz Media. ISBN 1-59116-872-4. 
18. ^ Kubo, Tite (2006). "Chapter 108". Bleach, Volume 13. Viz Media. ISBN 1-4215-0611-4. 
19. ^ Kubo, Tite (2008). "Chapter 192". Bleach, Volume 22. Viz Media. ISBN 1-4215-1179-7. 
20. ^ Kubo, Tite (2008). "Chapter 201". Bleach, Volume 23. Viz Media. ISBN 1-4215-1541-5. 
21. ^ Kubo, Tite (2008). "Chapter 214". Bleach, Volume 24. Viz Media. ISBN 1-4215-1603-9. 
22. ^ Kubo, Tite (2009). "Chapter 239". Bleach, Volume 27. Viz Media. ISBN 1-4215-2385-X. 
23. ^ Kubo, Tite (2007). "Chapter 263". Bleach, Volume 30. Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-874423-0. 
24. ^ Kubo, Tite (2008). "Chapter 299". Bleach, Volume 34. Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-874541-1. 
25. ^ Kubo, Tite (2009). "Chapter 317". Bleach, Volume 37. Shueisha. ISBN 978-4-08-874628-9. 
26. ^ Kubo, Tite (2005). "Radio Kon". Bleach, Volume 8. Viz Media. ISBN 1-59116-872-4. 
27. ^ Kubo, Tite (2006). "Bleach popularity vote 2". Bleach, Volume 13. Viz Media. ISBN 1-4215-0611-4. 
28. ^ "Bleach Chibi Chad key chain". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000PYQ8K2. Retrieved 2009-04-27. ^{[dead link]}
29. ^ "Bleach Toynami Series 2 Action Figure Yasutora 'Chad' Sado". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0012FLO8Y. Retrieved 2009-04-27. 
30. ^ "Bleach: Chad Sado Plush". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VEQX9W. Retrieved 2009-04-27. 
31. ^ Alexandre, Carlos (2007-07-30). "Bleach DVD 1". Popcultureshock.com. http://www.popcultureshock.com/review-bleach-vol-1/42354/. Retrieved 2009-04-26. 
32. ^ Santos, Carlo (2005-08-21). "Bleach review". Anime News Network. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/bleach/. Retrieved 2009-04-26. 
33. ^ Pine, Jarred (2005-03-19). "Bleach Vol. 5 Review". Mania Entertainment. http://www.mania.com/bleach-vol-05_article_81775.html. Retrieved 2009-04-26. 
34. ^ Kimlinger, Carl (2007-02-17). "Bleach DVD 2". Anime News Network. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/bleach/dvd-2. Retrieved 2009-04-26. 
35. ^ Coulter, Bryce (2008-05-30). "Bleach Vol. 10 Review". Mania Entertainment. http://www.mania.com/bleach-vol-10_article_80156.html. Retrieved 2009-04-26.