Retsu Unohana
Retsu Unohana (卯ノ花 烈 Unohana Retsu) is a soft-spoken, polite, and caring woman. She wears the standard Soul Reaper captain's uniform with long sleeves, and wears her hair in a long black braid to the front of her neck rather than the back. She uses honorifics when addressing everyone, including her subordinates, and has never been seen showing panic or distress. Shunsui Kyōraku and Jūshirō Ukitake treat her as their senior, implying she may have been involved in Soul Society longer than either of them, or is simply older than them. As the head of the 4th Division, Unohana is usually tasked with healing others, commonly treating the most severe injuries. Though she is always polite to her patients, anyone who tries to leave her care before they are discharged are promptly scared into submission merely by her presence.
Unohana's zanpakutō is Minazuki (肉雫唼? roughly "purify the flesh"). In sealed form, Minazuki is slightly longer than ordinary katana, and resembles a nodachi. Instead of tying it to her obi, Unohana carries her zanpakutō over her shoulder by a rope strap or lets Isane carry it for her. When unsealed, the entire sword transforms into a gigantic, flying, one-eyed creature resembling a manta ray. It has the ability to heal people by swallowing them. When Unohana reseals Minazuki, it dissolves into green mist and reforms into the sheath of her zanpakutō. Though the series never shows her performing the actual release, Bleach Advance: Kurenai ni Somaru Soul Society labels this form as Unohana's shikai.
