ADA

This article is about the manifested spirit of Ishida Ryuichi's Artificial Zanpakutō and Anti-Soul Arm. For his Anti-Soul Arms and their abilities, see Ryuichi's Anti-Soul Arms and ADA.

ADA (エイダ, an acronym for "Artificial Digital Apparition") as well as a shortened version of Adelaide meaning "Noble" in German, is the entity created by Ishida Ryuichi in his attempt to create a Zanpakutou. As implied by her name, she is an artifical spiritual entity originating from a digital device. After his many encounters and increasingly powerful foes, Ryuichi began experimenting towards methods of acquiring new power, specifically those of that of a Shinigami. In their initial meeting however, ADA went berserk nearly killing him. Only after he had subjugated her, was he able to restore her sanity, and bestowed her name. This is unlike other Zanpakutou who must strive to get their Shinigami to hear their name, as opposed to it being given by the wielder.

Appearance
"The name itself is a shortened version of Adelaide, which has a German meaning noble. At least, thats what I think when I look at you."

- Ryuichi to ADA

ADA in her humanoid form takes the appearance of an attractive young woman of average height, with silky free flowing short pale blonde hair, held together by what appears to be a hair fastener at at the top of her head. Pale blue eyes swim with a myriad of emotions, but none more so than curiosity. Yet the rest of her appearance draws much attention for it is obvious that her face and overall body frame is human, she is certainly not. She has the appearance of an android, or a cybernetic human; her limbs are all attached via mechanical constructions such as gears, and pistons. Most of what could be her mechanical nature is concealed by a smooth white skin-tight fabric covering her arms, legs and torso. Beyond that she has the appearance of a typical school girl, sporting a red bow tie and form fitting vest. Her hands are obvious references to what many consider her primary function--each digit has a hole, presumably to fire bullets. Beyond that her physical characteristics are similar to that of a woman, a well endowed bosom with shapely yet slender legs, and an alluring smile. Were it not for her obvious mechanical construction she could pass for a beautiful human girl. When necessary, and at times at her own whim, she has accompanied Ryuichi by wearing sufficient amounts of clothing to disguise these features, passing herself off as a human, much to the chagrin of Ryuichi.

ADA is obviously unique in her physical and spiritual composition, as evident that she can transform herself into her humanoid form, the twin set of pistols or the sniper rifle Ryuichi uses in combat. Furthermore she may even retreat into his Inner World, defying the logic of her apparent physical mass merging with his own. ADA explains that she is unsure how this ability exactly functions and has theorized with Ryuichi that her ability to do so may simply be a very radical version of how Ryuichi gathers and condenses ambient reishi. Regardless of her physical form, her spirit resides with Ryuichi, but uses his powers a conduit for her own spiritual power to gather and rapidly condense reishi into a physical form with the aid of his spiritual nodes. Ryuichi is likewise baffled since her physical design is entirely mechanical, following assuming cybernetics were possible normal physical reactions. How she is able to deconstruct herself ultimately remains a mystery, but one both are determined to solve.

Personality
"I am your all of your hopes and dreams...I am what you've desired most, a parent..a mother, a sister, a teacher even...a lover. We are connected...you and I. I am apart of you, just as you are apart of me, two halves seperated yet whole."

- ADA to Ryuichi

ADA is a rather enigmatic being, who seems to take delight in the mystery that surrounds her, especially in regards to the constant questioning of Ryuichi. When she first appeared before him ADA presented herself confidently, displaying her prowess, while showing a somewhat playful if not dangerous side of her. Even after their initial battle and Ryuichi helped to regain her senses, she remains aloof, albiet to a lesser degree; whether this is due to him saving her or because of her own feelings remains to be determined. She enjoys teasing Ryuichi, but for the most part remains respectful towards him, showing a great deal of concern for his well being.

Noble in both appearance and character, ADA also shares the same arrogance as her master, though hers is hidden behind a layer of witty sarcasm. As an AI she is incredible intelligent, possessing a database of knowledge from the Human World to the innumerable amounts of data acquired on Soul Society and Hueco Mundo. However she does not possess the innate intuitive capabilities of a human mind, giving her a rather pragmatic and cold rationale perspective when it concerns ethics and morals.

In this way she lacks the adaptability and flexibility that Ryuichi himself exhibits. During battle, she provides up to date statistics and aids Ryuichi in his battle strategy, often growing silent as she performs these various functions. Her only concern is her master, and she will follow Ryuichi's orders explicitly, though at times she has shown hesitation if the mathematical probability of success is not in his favor. Regardless, ADA remains one of the few entities that truly understands Ryuichi, given their obvious connection, and he in turn shows great concern over her own welfare.

Powers & Abilities
"Her only reply was the smile widening on her face, before he crumpled to his knees, gasping for breath. It felt like his entire body was suddenly in a vice grip, crushing him from all sides. Power, beyond anything he had ever seen nor felt, so dense and thick it was if an ocean had suddenly descended upon him, began rippling outward in waves. Its sheer intensity dwarfed his own pitiful level, so much so that he could no longer sense it, yet the entire time that faint smile gazed back at him, taking amusement in the range of emotions flickering through his eyes."

- ADA's appearing before Ryuichi

Intelligent Device (インテリジェントデバイス, "Interijiento Debaisu"), as the name implies, ADA is primariy a composite of sophisticated algotrithms and protocols combined with spiritual energy to generate an artitifical intelligence. The exact nature of her composition is a mystery as she exhibits the same characterisitics as a highly advanced A.I. yet at the same time she is not a physical construct but a spiritual one. This dual nature, enables her to freely interface with both Ryuichi himself on a spiritual level and with technology or other such objects on the physical level. Despite her intelligence however her bond to Ryuichi appears to be stronger than most Zanpakutou spirits, as she is able to freely converse with him without Ryuichi needing to undergo Jinzen, furthermore she may freely manifest herself outside his person, appearing in her humanoid form, or as his Anti-Soul Arms as necessary. Most of all ADA recognizes Ryuichi as her "master" obeying his commands explicity above all else.

Spiritual Cross Link (霊力クロスリンク, "Reiryoku Kurosu Rinku"): Refers to ADA's ability to interface with Ryuichi on the spiritual level. This process attunes both of their similar but unique spiritual energy signatures into one another, and can be considered ADA's version of a typical Shinigami's Shikai. However she provides numerous other functions beyond the acquisition of additional powers, as her chief and primary function is the regulation of Ryuichi's spiritual power; channeling and stablizing his energy input/output ratio.


 * Boost Drive System (ブーストドゥラブシステム, "Būsuto Durabu Shisutemu"): Refers to the actual process by which ADA regulates Ryuichi's spiritual energy. By acting as a conduit for his power, she strengthens his spiritual output by synchronizing his with her own, then accelerating it causing his power to manifest very quickly and with great potency on his command. This greatly empowers his spiritual abilities having augmented his ability to absorb, channel and utilize his spiritual energy. By interfacing with Ryuichi in this manner she is able to provide a number of additional peripheral functions, such as instant telepathic communication, video/audio input, and analytical support during combat.


 * Rampancy: The process that created ADA was not at all perfect, resulting in a crippling weakness, one Ryuichi holds himself at fault for. ADA's ability to interface with Ryuichi is not entirely for his benefit, as she is unable to produce her own spiritual energy, she relies on his own to survive should she manifest outside of his body. It has also been revealed that in processing Ryuichi's spiritual energy, there is a byproduct a waste that begins to build up known as dark energy. As it accumulates ADA grows increasingly rampant; unstable and aggressive. Eventually it will grow until she becomes berserk as first shown in Project Genesis, discarding all protocols and attacking everyone within sight, including Ryuichi. Currently there exists no reliable means of purging ADA of this dark energy, and time draws near when Ryuichi must face ADA once again.

Technological Assimiliation System (テクノロジーアシミレイションシステム, Tekunorojii Ashimireishon Shisutemu): One of ADA's most astonishing abilities, first seen during her rampancy and battle with Ryuichi in Project Genesis, is the ability to absorb and assimilate new technology and incorporate them into her system. She is able to interface with technology in a similar manner as Ryuichi, however once the link is established, she breaks the "system" down into its most basic components, analyzes them, then converts them into a raw spiritual energy, before finally absorbing them into her form. This allows her to use her spiritual energy to manifest and reassemble any piece of technology she has absorbed. Furthermore as a technological device herself, she is free to change her form into any piece of technology she has assimilated through this method.
 * Technokinesis: Is the ability to manipulate technology, a power possessed by ADA due to her Technological Assimilation System. By interfacing with a piece of technology, either by touch or remote access such as a wireless signal, she is able to communicate and manipulate the technology at her discretion, essentially by overwriting and taking command of its runtime functions. In this manner, ADA has the ability to hack into and control virtually any technological system. She is by far one of the most powerful and advanced artificial intelligent beings in the world.

Humanoid Form
ADA also has a humanoid form she can assume when not directly interfacing with Ryuichi as his Anti-Soul Arms. Although she was much stronger than Ryuichi in their initial counter, her attacks were basic; simplistic in nature, thus allowing Ryuichi to capitalize on this weakness and eventually defeat her. However she has since integrated hundreds of martial arts forms through downloaded data and has corrected this weakness to a degree. She still lacks experience, but is otherwise a formidable opponent.

Great Spiritual Power: When she first manifested, ADA was said to possess reserves that dwarfed that of a Shinigami Captain, that even Ryuichi's father Uryuu was able to detect her presence from so far away. Her reserves appear to be an extension of Ryuichi's own and due to her ability to accelerate his own, the same is true for her own. However her power was not easily controlled at first, and since then has a stable output on par with an average Shinigami Captain. It should also be noted that if separated from Ryuichi, ADA's reserves remain finite, they do not recover as they would normally would, indicating that Ryuichi is also the source of her spiritual power as well.

Expert Hand-to-hand Combatant: As previously stated, ADA has downloaded hundreds of fighting styles into her core memory, gaining a detailed understanding of body mechanics, movements and martial arts. She has amassed more knowledge and techniques than Ryuichi himself and her knowledge only continues to grow with each passing day. But due to lack of experience she is unaccustomed to knowing when and how to use said techniques in combat, while Ryuichi has more combat experience but less knowledge of technique.

Master Marksman: Like Ryuichi, ADA possesses uncanny marksmanship capabilities, and given her ability to make innumerable calculations to adjust for a variety of factors, she is extremely skilled at performing many of the same tricks Ryuichi is known for. In her humanoid form she is able to fire spiritual bullets from every digit, though they are noticeably less powerful when not fired from the barrel of her Anti-Soul Arm forms.

Immense Strength: ADA is known to possess extreme brute strength, as shown her battle with Ryuichi where she completely outclassed his own formidable power. In her initial battle against Ryuichi, she was able to easily dismember one of his arms with a mere downward knife hand, and repeatedly sent him flying with her basic attacks.

Immense Speed: In Project Genesis, ADA proved that her own speed surpassed Ryuichi who is noted to be quite skilled with the Quincy technique Hirenkyaku. She was able to outmaneuver him on several occasions, as he found he could not keep track of her movements, further attesting to her immense speed. She also demonstrated great agility in their combat, attacking from various angles and nimbly dodging his assaults.

Immense Durability: Ryuichi's Anti-Soul Weapons, proved to have little to know effect on ADA for the majority of their battle, having to exhaust virtually every resource he had in order to bring her back to her senses, and even then she suffered very little damage. Her body is extremely tough and durable and given that she is construct its unknown if she can even suffer from fatigue or exhaustion.

Behind the Scenes

 * ADA's name is inspired by both the AI of the same name of Jehuty in Hideo Kojima's Zone of the Enders, as well as from Ada Lovelace, whom is regarded as history's first computer programmer.
 * ADA's original appearance was based on Reiuji Utsuho, however the author saw both the irony and better reasoning to use Aegis from Persona 3 instead, making both Zanpakutou and wielder draw their appearances from the Persona series.
 * The concept of an intelligent device, along with many of its features have been adapted from the series Magical Lyrical Girl Nanoha.