What's the deal with Mayuri?

[Zack_Strife]

We already know that he's fucked up on many, many levels. He grows his own daughter and subjects her to abuse constantly. He blows up other Shinigami without a seconds thought. He experiments on himself and is generally a weirdo, but I'm wondering why? What's his motivation?
Originally it would be logical to assume that he does it all in order to defend Soul Society and create better ways of fighting Hollows. However in Chapter 172 when Isane is calling everyone over her magic telephone thing to say Aizen is a traitor and all that he doesn't give a damn. He doesn't give a damn that a fellow Captain has turned traitor and is out to destroy everything he apparently stands for.
So what then is his motivation for the things he does? Personally I find the idea of him just being a nutter and doing it for the hell of it to be a bit shallow and uninspired.

[Trias]

His motivation is... his research projects. Well, you know, he does it all in order to research, know, understand... He is totally on a different "consciousness level" than us.

[Zack_Strife]

So basically he seeks knowledge just to have that knowledge? That would probably be the most obvious answer but it makes him rather shallow in comparison to the other Captains that KT has fleshed out.

[Yak]

Before you ask about his motivation, look closely at his division neighbor, Zaraki Kenpachi. Why does HE fight? The reason is simple, because he CAN. Same goes for Mayuri. He experiments for the sake of it. Both of them have more in common than the eye sees on first sight.

They live for what they're doing and they take pleasure from it. Mayuri just wants to try out everything. All possibilities of operating and manipulation humans and souls, he's like an engineer who always tries to improve a machine further. He dismantles it down to the tiniest bits and studies them, studies them, studies them until he is satisfied and then he reassembles them (or not). And after a while he'll have found out something new and start over.

To most of the Bleach fans he is just a freak, probably more of a monster than Zaraki is. He is weird and acts horrible, abuses his own creation which he - oh, the irony - calls 'daughter', something you'd use with a certain expression of love or positive feelings. But to him she's just another living research object. The fact that he build her makes him believe, she's his property and to a certain point he might be right with it.

That guy has chopped off, cut, grinded, burned, mauled and much much worse things with more than over two thousand Quincies. For no apparent reason. Just to feed his desire to research until there was nothing left to research (well, until he met Ishida).

All of that is incredibly cruel and barbarious on an extreme scale. But you can't really blame him. He's just like that. It's his job and moreover, it is his LIFE. It's everything that counts for him. And now look at him. He's feared but also respected throughout soul society. The gigais and all other devices shinigami use nowadays since Urahara are created by him or under his supervision.

Mayuri himself is incredible tough due to all the operations and improvements he did to his body. His shikai works with a poison that is made from his blood. Same goes for his bankai. He is not affected by his own weapons on the abilities of his soulcutter stages are among the deadliest out there and can end a fight within seconds. He has lethal hidden weapons inside his body. His movement speed is superior even among other captains. And there's much more to list.

Where I'm trying to get with this is, that he's perfect for the job of a death god. He is most efficient when it comes to killing, morals won't stand in his way. He is ambicious, yes, but only to the extend of research and experimenting. If he had goals like Aizen has, he already would've gotten a hold of the Hougyoku. Since he's the inheritor of Uraharas work it is to be expected that he knew about it and with his intelligence and knowledge I'm sure he could actually use it. But he's not interested in it. That field of research simply doesn't appeal to him.

And while he seems cruel at one side, he's probably one of the persons in SS who have to do with soul mechanics (that's what I'd like to call it, everything related to how a soul works, how it is purified and materializes in SS and how it is reborn) the most and I'm sure he knows a lot of things and can take good care of the souls. If he weren't loyal in that field, the Gotei 13 would've dropped him and brought Urahara back. But they didn't.

All in all, he's a fascinating character. He is cruel and insane but it's not really his fault. All scientist geniuses happen to be crazy in some way and their obsession with the field of research oftentimes lets them forget that there are morals and ethics and that a human consists of more than his body parts and organs. He may have forgotten about that but he's still important and probably not completely a bad person. He's just one of those guys who do everything their way unless they're stopped, like Zaraki does, too.

[Megaharrison]

Mayuri is a scientists, he seeks knowledge and wants to learn. However he's also twisted (probably one of the most twisted shonen characters ever created).

Overall Mayuri represents why the Vaizards are right for not being part of Soul Society. The place has serious issues if a lunatic like Mayuri can rise to such a high ranking position.

[Zack_Strife]

Excellent points gentlemen(?). I hadn't really thought of it from those particular angles, especially comparing him to Kenpachi. Probably because I can more easily relate to Kenpachi than Mayuri, although I think both characters may have deeper motivations. Why would Kenpachi take in Yachiru? Unless he's simply raising her to test his strength against one day.

[Yak]

Excellent points gentlemen(?). I hadn't really thought of it from those particular angles, especially comparing him to Kenpachi. Probably because I can more easily relate to Kenpachi than Mayuri, although I think both characters may have deeper motivations. Why would Kenpachi take in Yachiru? Unless he's simply raising her to test his strength against one day.

Ya, Ken-chan has not only his harsh, brutal, battle-loving site. He's been shown to be quite emotional several times now. And him picking up a little girl without a name and no parents was simply an act of mercy and love and protection instinct. I actually believe that he'd make a good father. Look at Ichigo's dad. He's a weirdo himself, trying to punch, kick and drop his own son out of the window and having a oversized poster of his deceased wife on the wall while at the same time not even knowing her exact date of death anymore. Still he's a good father. So could be Kenpachi. And that's why I believe, EVEN Mayuri might have his moments where he is nice to his daughter. This might be extremely rare but I could imagine they are there.

See, it's just like that with those perfectionist scientists - they don't like it when things go wrong or not the way they expect it. That totally freaks them out. That's why he's going crazy if Nemu "screws up" (in his eyes) and he starts te become violent. If everything goes according to plan, I think you can be quite goody-to-shoes with Mayuri. I don't mean to say it is Nemus fault that he hits her. Its his fault and it is clearly wrong what he does I just meant to express how I think he works in his head. It's surely not a pleasant life with him but if you'd know what ticks him off you can try to avoid those triggers and live more... peacefully with him.

[Wrath]

Mayuri is one of my favourite Bleach characters, just because of the fact that he manages to be a completely sick and twisted bastard, yet he's still on the side of the angels, so to speak. In a story where the "evil" Captains either turned out to be genuine villains (Gin) or to actually be mislead good guys (Byakuya, Yamamoto), Mayuri's presence adds depth. He shows that you can be utterly, irredeemably evil and still be a "hero".

Possibly the worst thing KT could do would be to have Mayuri defect to Aizen's camp.

[Shogun]

True that, but; considering 'heaven' is like feudal Japan a crazy ass killer of a captain sorta fits in.

[Vegitto-kun]

Mayuri is one of my favourite Bleach characters, just because of the fact that he manages to be a completely sick and twisted bastard, yet he's still on the side of the angels, so to speak. In a story where the "evil" Captains either turned out to be genuine villains (Gin) or to actually be mislead good guys (Byakuya, Yamamoto), Mayuri's presence adds depth. He shows that you can be utterly, irredeemably evil and still be a "hero".

Possibly the worst thing KT could do would be to have Mayuri defect to Aizen's camp.
I wouldn't be suprised if aizen offered him a shitload to experiment with. Like say grimjaw or something XD

[SeruraRenge]

the deal with him is simple....he's crazy.

[The Space Cowboy]

Nah, Mayuri isn't crazy. He just happens to practice a rare and esoteric form of sanity.

[TicoTico]

Not much to add to your posts! Mayuri's one of the characters I've grown a great interest in, thanks to his badass-Bankai :P

One thing I've found curious is how Kenpachi never said Mayuri's afraid of death. This must automatically mean some redeeming qualities, not just confidence in his abilities. I doubt he wouldn't be willing to sacrifice his life to save Nemu's, for instance. There's probably no need to worry about him joining Aizen, either.

[Sakura Kaijuu]

Mayuri is just...bizarre. It's really easy to hate him for being so twisted, but it's hard to think of him as a bad guy in the series because of the way his character is built.

He seems the least human out of all the shinigami we've met so far. He doesn't seem to love anything, he doesn't really hate anything. He's driven by sheer curiosity. He doesn't seem proud of the things he's created or the things he's discovered. He's just there. It's creepy.

Even though in some ways, Mayuri's character leaves something to be desired, the mysteriousness about why he is the way he is is kind of satisfying. I wonder how much of it has to do with Urahara leaving.

[Yakumo Fujii]

Mayuri and his experiments seem way more twisted then Urahara's, yet Urahara was banished. It doesn't make sense.

[Moridin]

nice topic, I'd be interested to find out what sort of relationship Mayuri and Urahara had if any, the amount of times we've seen someone striving to surpass their mentor to prove themselves to them is quite high...

that said I rather like the fact that he's seemingly twisted and performs his horrific experiments just for the sake of it.

[Sasori-puppet#02]

Ya, Ken-chan has not only his harsh, brutal, battle-loving site. He's been shown to be quite emotional several times now. And him picking up a little girl without a name and no parents was simply an act of mercy and love and protection instinct. I actually believe that he'd make a good father. Look at Ichigo's dad. He's a weirdo himself, trying to punch, kick and drop his own son out of the window and having a oversized poster of his deceased wife on the wall while at the same time not even knowing her exact date of death anymore. Still he's a good father. So could be Kenpachi. And that's why I believe, EVEN Mayuri might have his moments where he is nice to his daughter. This might be extremely rare but I could imagine they are there.


I don't think that's the case. Zaraki brought Yachiru with him because back then at that time, neither of them had names and that's what they had in common. Also, Yachiru as an infant wasn't old enough to be afraid of blood or death, so Zaraki was kinda fascinated by that, in my opinion.

[Tenderfoot]

He wants to be better than Urahara.

[Syn]

Mayuri lives to gain more knowledge. As it has been pointed out before he loves what he does, and isnt that far off from Ken-chan. Everytime he finds something new and different he wants to expirement on it and learn what it is and how it works, he tried to take in Ishida and Orihime because he was fascianted by their powers. Also if im not mistaken Urahara did his expirements illegally and behind the backs of the soul society, Even though Mayuri does these sick and twisted things he in the end benefits SS, i wouldnt be suprised if he plays a huge role in the upcoming chapters by supplying others with essential data in order to defeat the Arankaru.

[Dragonzair]

He wants to be better than Urahara.

I always thought that too.

I get the feeling that Mayuri felt overshadowed by Urahara's geniusness (if there's such a word XD) Especially after creating the Hougyoku, or creating a perfect gigai.

Which is probably why he struggles to make it seem like he's some experiment freak, like creating his daughter, or improving himself by adding gadgets in him O_O. To make it look as if he's alot better than Urahara.

[off topic]

While some of you are on to the discussion about Kenpachi, any of you know if a thread has been created about the name 'Yachiru'? Ken-chan's said that he had given the younger girl, the name 'Yachiru' after the only person he's ever care about.

Just curious...

[Brain Guy]

All scientist geniuses happen to be crazy in some way and their obsession with the field of research oftentimes lets them forget that there are morals and ethics and that a human consists of more than his body parts and organs.

See, it's just like that with those perfectionist scientists - they don't like it when things go wrong or not the way they expect it. That totally freaks them out.

You have some strange ideas about what scientists are like :huh

[BladeofTheChad]

you just dont know real scientists...

anywho, i think he's just fucked up in the head....a better question is...Will Ishida kill him?

[Alucard45Maximum]

I always wonder why Aizen didn't take Mayuri with him. he's is "evil" in a sense but also becuse he must know some information or have a decent amount of knowledge on the Houyugoku.

Ol' Yama point out to Hitsu that Mayuri stated that the Houyugoku that been release from spirit seal is now in deep sleep and states that it will require special measures lasting 4 months in order for complete resurrection.

So i wondering why not take him if he has good knowledge about it and etc.

[Chopped_Hige]

Ugh, I would feel better if that fool never stepped foot into Bleach ever again. The only purpose he served was for Ishida to whoop his scary ass, to build upon Ishida's storyline, that and his VC is incredibly hot, despite being messed up, suffering from what I like to call 'Aizen-syndrome'. His creepiness serves a purpose, and he plays a role we all love to hate.