Headscratchers / Bleach: Anime-Only

• Why do the animators ignore physics when fighting in the air? Characters just stand around in the air, seemingly like they're on a a flat surface, not even bobbing slightly to show that they're hovering. Then when characters get knocked back, they lie down, or kneel in the air. Why do characters need to push off invisible surfaces with their legs in a jumping motion when they're presumably, already flying in the air? Why do they need to use their legs to make walking motions while they're levitating? The first time someone is shown floating many feet above the ground, why doesn't the character seeing this make a bigger deal out of it? Sure they're in a world where there are giant supernatural monsters, but given the surprised reaction lots of people give to just seeing a few Flash Steps, why doesn't flying elicit an equal response?
  • Zangetsu points this out in the Soul Society arc. Shinigami gather spirit particles and compress them into a surface beneath their feet which allows them to stand in air as if it were the ground. As for why no one reacts oddly, most humans can't see shinigami anyway while any shinigami who isn't a Main Character already knows how to "float" or what causes someone to "float".
  • Seems they can do it in Hueco Mundo and Soul Society too, though that's given a Hand Wave because of the high concentration of reishi in both realms, and the fact that shinigami can (somewhat) manipulate reishi and reiatsu. The fact that Ichigo needed assistance prior to releasing Bankai (and in the process learning to control his powers better) via the Hovercape and the One Wing Rod (Fan Nicknames) to "fly" makes you wonder... When you look at Episode 3 (and then 178, for those that watch filler...) you'll notice that either unconsciously or consciously, Ichigo can manipulate his reiatsu to create traction to slow his descent/prevent himself from falling. This troper never gave it a second thought, because it's Shounen.
  • Ichigo actually grabs air with his hand to slow himself down during the most recent filler arc.
  • As mentioned, it was explained back in episode 3 that concentrating spirit energy into the air allows Shinigami to stand in midair. Rukia had the classic "but that's such an advanced technique!?" reaction that she demonstrates quite often in the beginning. So, they could never fly, and could always stand in midair. I guess it's understandable that people forgot, given that it didn't show up again until dozens of episodes later, but this one was actually part of the original premise for what Shinigami powers were.
• So I was watching the bleach movie, and about midway through, it's revealed that the soul reapers can fly aparently. Now, I can't help but wonder why this NEVER came up in the soul society ark.
  • They can fly on Earth. Not necessarily in Soul Society.
    • But on Earth their power is supposed to be heavily restrained.
    • And on Earth they can walk through walls. Earth isn't made of spiritrons.
• The latest movie: What's the deal with Mayuri? I AM SO CONFUSED!!!!Even without memories, I don't think it's in character to go batshit insane at people he doesn't know. He was locked up for being a danger to everyone around him, but calmed down by the time Urahara came to visit and yet was never seen again. Did everyone just forget about him? Similarly, why was Urahara wearing a captain uniform? Did he take over the 12th Division for Mayuri? Considering how much Mayuri hates Urahara and how Uarahara isn't even supposed to be in SS, it seems unlikely. Furthermore, Mayuri remembered Urahara but was able to use Bankai, yet Renji lost his memories and forgot he had one...does this mean Mayuri had Bankai back when he was a Maggot's Nest inmate?
• There are some aspects of the ending of Memories of Nobody that I don't get, particularly when Rukia says that everyone's memories of Senna will eventually fade away. First, there's that epilogue after the credits that implies that Ichigo at least remembers something. Second, Senna's very existence nearly caused the destruction of both the Soul Society and the world of the living, which was prevented only because Ganryu and his henchmen were destroyed by a small army of Soul Reapers while Yamamoto fired the Kido Cannon. So will all these dozens of characters forget the entire conflict, or just the girl who was at the heart of it all? Or am I missing something here?
  • Repeat after me. "It's a filler movie. It didn't actually happen." In fact, Kubo outright discredited this movie, say specifically that it was not part of the canonical storyline. But only the first movie.
    • There's also the question of where the other two movies fit in; in the second movie, while they're considering asking Momo about Hitsugaya, Rukia tells them that she's still recovering, which suggests that it's before the Winter War.
• Something that's been puzzling me about Fade to Black is that the siblings, Homura and Shizuku, were said to have a very close bond with Rukia... but not Renji. In fact, Renji doesn't appear at all during the flashbacks of Rukia taking care of the siblings when they were children. Weren't Rukia and Renji stated to be inseparable while growing up in Hanging Dog, even living together? Renji may be a bit of a grouch, but he'd probably treat Homura and Shizuku just as well as he treated Rukia, especially knowing how much they meant to her.
• How the Hell do you spin a leek? The wrist doesn't work like that.
  • Well, Orihime did draw her future self as a giant, destructive robot of doom. Maybe there's something she isn't telling us...
  • It did just pretend to be funny. It did never ment to be realistic...
    • Orihime denied her wrists inablity to spin the leak, or the leak's refusal to spin like that. Either way

  • Ichigo's zanpakuto is always released. Then again, it should revert to the sword Ichigo had for the first 19 episodes.
    • This wouldn't make any sense, though, seeing as the sword he used in the first 19 episodes was basically just a bigger version of Rukia's and not Zangetsu.
    • During the second phase of the training to recover his powers, when Ichigo finds the correct box, he opens it and finds the broken hilt of the sword he initially had in there. When he calls out Zangetsu's name, he's able to get Zangetsu.
  • It's easy to explain. In the time that the filler seems to be placed in(after SS arc but before Ichigo learned to control the Hollow), Hollow Ichigo is taking over Zangetsu's power. He probably has quite a bit of it already but hasn't taken over completely, making Shikai possible to maintain.
    • I think this, like the Amagai arc, is supposed to be after the final battle, with Momo having mostly recovered and the Soul Society not being concerned about what Aizen will try during this time period.
    • Ichigo's hollow is part of his power in the same way Zangetsu is, they are one in that way but also part of Ichigo, so it gets a bit confusing with fractions, however Muramasa's power effects zanpaktos rather than Hollows, so it merely took Zangetsu out, temporarily splitting them they are the same thing, Ichigo's power but at the same time they're the two parts of it and Muramasa's power can pull that apart in the same way he separates the spirits from their person to begin with. Like he himself said, Zanpaktos lend power by communicating with their partner while Hollows do so by combatting them, they serve the same purposes in opposite ways. People need to give this arc more credit, it's not bad for filler.
• I'd just like to ask what the sanity is in releasing an axe crazy captain-class super hollow on the loose. Does Muramasa have a death wish or something?
  • Given that the entire Zanpakuto rebellion was a diversion in order to get at Ryuujinjakka, I suppose he thought it would wreak havoc while he stayed clear of the carnage.
• Does it seem to anyone else that the filler arc cannot decide whether the Zanpakutos are acting on their own free will? We initially think that they are, but Zangetsu tells Ichigo that Muramasa awakened their instincts. Yamamoto mentions that controlling zanpakuto like Ryuujinjakka is Muramasa's ability, but then the Zanpakuto turn on Muramasa after they find out they're being used. It seems like the whole idea of the Zanpakuto turning against their masters is a bit of a wasted plot.
  • From some of the stuff that has been said, I assume that his power allows him to increase existing feelings to the point where they are obsessional, expanding normal grudges and annoyances to the point they become (in the Zanpakuto's eyes) mortal offenses. Normal ego (I'm not acting like a total Jerkass I have been seriously sinned against!) prevents they from seeing they are being played. They are turning on Murasama because it's clear he's jerking them around for his own purposes, not because they've got a change of heart. (Of course, it's still hard to say why they would necessarily be that cooperative with their liberator, especially in the case of the nastier ones: I suspect that if Muramasa released Zaraki's long-suffering, traumatized Zanpakuto, it would try to kill Zaraki: and Muramasa, and the other Zanpakuto, and anything which moved...
  • isn't Muramasa's power basically More than Mind Control?
• I apologize in advance for asking what might be a silly but obvious question, but I'm curious: is it my imagination or does the new villain, Gyokaku Kumoi, look a lot like Dr. Zaius?
• I may have missed something but I have to ask this. It's late at night. Ichigo and his friends are walking in the streets, looking for Bounts. Ichigo is in his shinigami form and Ririn is sitting on his shoulder. Passer-bys may walk in the same street. Now, if I am not wrong, most humans cannot see shinigamis, but they can definitely see plushies. Aren't they surprised to see a bird plushie in mid-air or is there something I missed?
  • This annoyance is what you get for daring to ask an intelligent question.
  • People rarely look up.
  • Soul Reapers can enchant objects to be Invisible to Normals, the did it with Ichigo's substitute soul reaper badge/combat pass.
• More on the Zanpakutou Arcs. Arcs specifically because i was slightly bugged that they didn't deal with the Zanpakutou of one Captain (Unohana) and a few of the Lieutenants (namely Isane and Nanao). This didn't bother me particularly because the villain cast was large enough, but it seemed an easy plot-hole to deal with, that Muramasa simply didn't bother to awaken them (Or Kiyone or Nemu's, either), but then the following arc follows up and said no, Muramasa activated everyone's, including a number of randoms and guys who hadn't unlocked their Zanpakutou like Hanatarou. So what precisely are we to conclude? That Isane's previously-revealed Zanpaktou just ceased to exist, or that Nanao, Nemu, and Kiyone lack them altogether? Unohana's is especially troublesome, because it remains entirely unaccounted for. I would presume it was the mysterious, cloaked Zanpakutou that was with Shunsui's and Ukitake's trying to keep Yamamoto sealed, but then completely vanished. Chalk the whole affair up to bad writing for an otherwise fun filler arc, but it's a headscratcher.
  • Hanataro is well Hanataro, he's not a fighter and his zanpakutou has only been shown in filler (an episode showed that he does have shikai) so he's probably never gonna show his zanpakutou in canon. The cloaked zanpakutou is in fact Unohaha's zanpakutou but given her personality and the fact that the only powers her shikai seems to posses are healing ones I found it in character that it didn't fight, preferring to just dodge Ichigo's attacks, as for the others, they haven't shown Nanao's, Kiyone's or Nemu's zanpakutous and although we know the name of Isane's she never used any of it's abilities, so they weren't shown to not create continuity problems, they could had come up with a zanpakuto with plant powers for Nemu or Isane (which fits with their captains poison and healing motives) but what if later in the canon story Kubo gives them an elemental zanpakutou, or something like having the ability to turn into liquid metal and attack like the antagonist from Terminator or any of the infinite possibilities, when the anime caught up to that point they would had to explain why they suddenly have different zanpakutous.
• The current Gotei 13 Invading Army Arc explicitly take place after Aizen's defeat, but Ichigo is able to become a Soul Reaper and use Bankai and all that good stuff no problem...As they say in Japan: NANI?!?!?!
  • It is handwaved that Ichigo still has his powers, but will still lose them in an unknown amount of time. A day, a month, a year, no-one knows. This loss of power is accelerated if Ichigo strains himself, which is why everyone freaks out whenever he goes Bankai.
  • What bugs me is that his Bankai is a compression of his spiritual pressure, so it should, in theory, keep him from him from losing his powers. Then why is his losing his powers?
    • It compresses his powers and allows him to use more of his power in one attack.
• So Harribel is a Vasto Lorde which is supposedly stronger than a captain. But why does she get owned by a natural arrancar despite help from her three underlings?
  • I don't know if that event happen in the manga, but what I do know is that they never said she was a Vasto Lorde in the manga.
  • Maybe the Hammerhead Arrancar too was on a Vasto Lorde-like level of power, maybe slightly stronger than her. And considering that Aizen blast him into Sheol later, it could be assumed that he was an experiment of some sort. And maybe a ruse to hire Harribel.
• During the Zanpakuto Rebellion filler, the first thing the Soul Society notices is weird is that the Zanpakutos aren't responding normally. They then proceed to place several captains and lieutenants on patrol because they expect something might be about to go down. Where is Kenpachi during all of this? Kenpachi is the only one among them who would be completely unaffected by the Zanpakutos going haywire, because he doesn't rely on the release forms in the first place.
  • Yumichika and Ikakku explained that Kenpachi and Yachiru wondered off and got lost yet again, and even if they where still around, Yachiru would probably screw their directions up and delay him so much that it wouldnt of mattered.
  • Kenpachi was taking a nap.
  • You actually answered your own question. The arc would have been over in five seconds if Kenpachi was there due to the fact that Muramasa would have been sliced in half the moment he first appeared.
• This isn't present in the black-and-white manga, but Ichigo's bankai reiatsu keeps changing in the anime. When he first uses activates his Bankai, his reiatsu is blue, but when his Hollow takes over it turns black with a red outline. When Ichigo uses his bankai Getsuga Tensho on Byakuya after freeing himself from the Hollow's control, his reiatsu is black with a blue outline. Every time he uses his Bankai afterwards, his reiatsu is black with a red outline, which I believe was attributed to his Hollow gaining influence over Ichigo, and later because Ichigo was drawing on his Hollow's power. However, when Ichigo fought Aizen, the reiatsu of his enhanced Bankai form was black with a blue outline, and his FGT form's reiatsu was jet black. During his Fullbring training, it's back to being black with a red outline. I must ask: what.
  • You somewhat answered your own question. Ichigo has started out with sky blue for a while (his eyes while turning the tables early on, Shikai release). Red has been associated with hollows (Cero). Black seems to symbolize his Bankai while black and blue leaves me clueless. The colors are just to symbolize different power exchanges if you will. Or, failing that, Ruleof Cool
• Possibly the biggest headscratcher of them all: Why was the Bleach anime cancelled?
  • Some guesses:
    • The Rock Lee spin-off was starting and because it's made by the same studio, they had to cancel Bleach because they couldn't handle the workload of three shonen series.
    • Execs simply thought a Naruto spin-off would be more profitable. The Bleach anime had already been declining in ratings for a long time.
    • It caught up with the manga when it was canceled, and instead of writing another new filler arc this time, they're taking a break so Kubo can finish up first.
    • It has been confirmed to be option 3. It is heavily implied to be restarting when Kubo finishes the Blood War arc, which by his own lips is the final chapter of Bleach. The execs were damned if they do, damned if they don't considering just how many people tend to moan about the filler arcs.

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