- Yamamoto's zanpakutou is able to erect a wall of flames that is apparently so powerful not even Aizen can penetrate it. So why doesn't he cast it somewhere else, like, right through Aizen's head? (Especially since it wasn't just a wall, he had to make it a complete sphere around his flying enemy.)
- I think the way it works is that it's strong enough for Aizen to be unable to penetrate it, but not strong enough to defeat him.
- Yamato probably wanted to play it somewhat safe at first. Kill or badly harm Aizen, and it may turn out into an outright brawl all over the place. Sealing Aizen off has the Espada and fraccion playing it even more defensively, and are losing because of it.
- This Troper thinks it's just a convenient way to seal off Aizen during the battle. Story-wise, that technique could be a combination of his zanpactou and a bakutou to seal off an area, not cause damage. It would have to be dimensional and physical, though, because Aizen can warp to Hueco Mundo at will.
- We should consider that this move could be so strong because it was specifically created for restraining and just wouldn't work if used for anything else, also plotwise Tite needed some technique to "delay" the final confrontation between the soul society and the ex-shinigami or the battle would have either ended too suddenly (with Aizen Victory) or needed too much AssPulling to explain how the soul society is able to overcome his enemies.
- Also, in order to cast it through Aizen's head, he has to know where Aizen actually is, not just where he appears to be. I bet Old man Yami figured the safest way was to just to close off as large an area as possible, since he couldn't be sure that the Aizen he could see was actually the real one.
- A better question is, once everyone else's actions pretty well confirmed that Aizen, Gin and Tousen really were inside the flame wall, why not collapse it on them? Not even Aizen can dodge something that completely surrounds him.
- Two other possibilities: Yamamoto suspected Aizen could deflect it if it was an all-out attack, but forming a prison was daring Aizen to let his minions fight instead (certainly how it worked out). Or, this is Aizen—or maybe it wasn't. It would be just like Aizen to start his invasion by tossing an unconscious Ichigo or Byakuya through the portal in an Aizen-illusion (we all know he loves that trick), so Yamamoto didn't want to blast the obvious target.
- How is Captain Yamamoto Japanese? He founded the Academy 2000 years ago, implying to have trained for hundreds of years before that, and died before even that. However, Japan wasn't anything like the way he reflects until around 700 or so. It wasn't even ethnically similar to now, yet he looks just like everyone else!
- Presumably because in Bleach's verse, Japan's mythological origin is real history
- One could also theorize that Japan's culture came from some Shinigami who were exiled or fell in love in the real world. Thus, Japan copied off Soul Society, not the other way around.
- What the hell is up with aging? Hiyori's been 12 or so for 100 years now. Rukia aged from baby to teen in a presumably short time- just long enough for Hisana to meet Byakuya- and hasn't aged any further in the past 49 years. From 100 years ago to 55 years ago Byakuya aged about 15 years, then hasn't aged since. Yachiru is just all kinds of odd, as she acts three, but is experienced enough to be at least 20. There is no consistency at all.
- This troper guesses that it is a matter of preference using willpower and Reiastsu, some prefering to stay in younger bodies while others will themselves to mature.
- But im pretty sure people still die from old age, and that the head captain doesn't WANT to be old
- The Head Captain is the exact same as he was 100 years ago, head scars and everything. Aging appears to be at Tite's convenience.
- Hiyori is a Vizard. We know that Hollows don't age, so maybe Vizards don't either, since they're part Hollow. Thus had Hiyori remained a Shinigami, she would have aged like the rest of them, but once she was transformed into a Vizard, she stopped aging. The reason the same doesn't apply to Ichigo is that he's still part human.
- Read a bit about the Allan Kardec's works and you'll understand a bit more the concept of the Soul Society, since Kubo probably took a good chunk of Bleach's afterlife concept from there. Most people that are born and grow up in Soul Society might not have died necessarily as babies, but in their spiritual state, they don't feel matured enough, growing up slowly. Some other people, due to their beliefs, might forget their earthly life on purpose, and most people keep the spiritual age they prefer the most. That's why some spirits keep up their young age for centuries, while others get old in a few years. Also, the Shinigamis are like the spiritual mediums of that world, taking the disturbed spirits (Hollows, obssessors, eartbound, wandering) to their towns. Hell, in the Kardecist concept (or Umbral, as they call), is reserved to the ones that sinned so much and don't have an ounce of repentance, to live. It's more of a Crapsack World than Hueco Mundo and Zaraki together. Hueco Mundo is the world where obssessors and wicked spirits in general reunite to decide their bad jobs (although in the original, such place was part of the Umbral as well, but Tite Kubo got a lot of artistic liberty even in Soul Society itself, since the mediums aren't that cruel, and reincarnation was supposed to be a process that people would willingly want to do).
- This troper always just assumed that the regular denizens of Soul Society (those in the rukongai, not sure if I spelt it right) aged normally, but the Shinigami's aging is slowed down greatly. Therefore the regular souls living in Soul Society live, age and die and are reincarnated, while the Shinigami live, age, age more and more, then eventually die of REALLY old age (if Yamamato is a reference point to how old one could get)
- That sounds a bit like the system used in the game Aion. Powerful individuals (Daeva's in the game, soulreapers in bleach) are relatively immortal, generally dying only in battle and not of old age while regular individuals live and die normally.
- So...Sajin Komamura is a anthropomorphic canine of some kind. What's the deal with that exactly? Was he some kind of canine when he was alive? If so, where are all the other animal souls?
- Maybe he was a canine with particularly high Reiatsu, which manifested after he died. Or maybe his real Backstory will eventually expand.
- If Kubo ever gives him one.
- perhapse he could become a wolf like yoruichis cat power and something went realy wrong?
- Turns out there's some kind of ancient race of giant talking dog-monster things and Komamura's one of them.
- What the hell is Ukitake doing in this latest battle. He's just sitting there and unintentionally antagonizing Lilinette, not bothering to help Kyoraku in his fight against the strongest of the Espada. Ukitake claims that he's letting Kyoraku fight alone since "two-on-one wouldn't be fair." Is he forgetting what happened the last time he let a friend of his fight alone? And why isn't he at least showing some support for the other Shinigami who are fighting? Just sitting there while four Vice-Captains are getting bludgeoned to death (one almost literally ripped in half) by a chimera doesn't exactly seem becoming of someone as respected as Ukitake.
- Ukitake has shown that he generally is not to great at helping people due to some concept of pride. Honestly, while he is nice, I have no idea why he was not reprimanded for letting one of his squad members get killed while he watched and did nothing, even though he could have helped. Then again, the Soul Reapers let someone like Mayuri operate freely, so really the whole organization is messed up.
- Consider also that Kyoraku is up against the top Hollow in business. Ukitate could be keeping it a one-on-one fight to prevent any potentially-fatal distractions from himself or Lilinette causing Kyoraku to lose. Cause he already has enough of a task before him. Admittedly, this doesn't clear him from not helping his subordinates AGAIN.
- Come on, he's Captain Tuberculosis. I think it's stated somewhere that although he's pretty strong he can't fight for very long, so he'd most likely end up as a liability.
- Agreed. Honestly people, I'm surprised he can actually do that much against Lilinette without having a coughing fit. Also, he did warn her.
- The extent his illness hinders him is greatly exaggerated by fans. The only time we've ever seen Ukitake become sick in battle was when he fought Kaien. Even then it's not implied that fighting causes him to suddenly have a caughing fit. He caughs up blood and says "Dammit, not now", implying that the side-effects of his illness appear at unpredictable moments. To support this, he was able to stand perfectly when Yamamoto suddenly released his spirit pressure at full force (Nanao stops breathing and nearly fainted, and Kyoraku had to carry her away). There's also the fact that Yamamoto describes Ukitake and Kyoraku as "glorious in battle", and says that the two of them were unmatched during their time in the academy. That description does not at all sound like someone that can't fight Lilinette without getting sick. On another note, Ukitake is Japanese, as well as very old. The concept of Honor is probably etched into his very being. When Kaien went after that hollow, he was upholding his Honor. Kaien made the fight a personal matter; he wasn't fighting as a Lieutenant, but as a husband and friend. Joining the battle would have shamed both of them, so Ukitake didn't. And even though Kaien died, he did so to avenge his wife and men; it's arguably his greatest accomplishment.
- Ukitake and Kyoraku are two of the oldest shinigami in business except only for Yamamoto and Unohana - This Troper would except them to be confident in their skills, after all they have survived at least 200 years as captains (most probably it's little under 1000 years - they're the first captains who graduated the Academy). Ukitake probably trusts Kyoraku to deal with #1 Espada on his own and would rather stand(sit?) guard so nobody tries to help Starrk.
- Ukitake has shown that he generally is not to great at helping people due to some concept of pride. Honestly, while he is nice, I have no idea why he was not reprimanded for letting one of his squad members get killed while he watched and did nothing, even though he could have helped. Then again, the Soul Reapers let someone like Mayuri operate freely, so really the whole organization is messed up.
- How come everyone isn't carrying a bottle of 'Trembling Point'? When Hanataro first used it it was just some stuff that only knocked out people with low spirit power, but come the fight for Karakura it's strong enough to knock out Yumichika, whose spirit power is at least liutenant-level. So there's this stuff that only requires a single drop to hit the skin in order to cause almost instant unconsciousness in targets up to liutenant-level... someone should really start using this shizzle in combat.
- Query: Is an Arrancar's iron skin permeable by liquids? Well, considering it's not with the average sword, or many other things, I'd go for a no. As for why they didn't use that stuff in the SS arc, I think it's probably not standard issue gear (In fact, the only standard issue gear readily seen is the outfit and those mass-produced Zanpakuto until you get your own.) and most of the Shinigami who were willing to respond non-lethally are skillful enough to do it other ways. But if somebody had crashed through a 4th Squad barracks, you can be sure someone would have thought to use the stuff.
- Outside of his hax Shikai, Yumichika isn't really vice captain-level, Hisagi beat him while unreleased. It's also plausible that exhaustion made him more vulnerable to the liquid.
- But then again, he should have been restored by receiving Cuulhorne's spiritual pressure, as he's surprisingly energetic when he catches up to Kenpachi after defeating Hisagi. I suspect that it was easy for Hanataro to put a drop on the guards because he had the element of surprise, and in Yumichika's case, Hisagi was restraining him (and Izuru may have used more of it on Yumichika, since the drop seems a little larger).
- It's a translation error. Hanataro used shinten ('trembling point' or 'shock point' depending on translation) but Kira used gaten ('drill point' or 'penetrating point' depending on translation) on Yumichika. The anime also says Kira used gaten on Yumichika. When Yoruichi drugged Ichigo, Ukitake said it was probably gaten she used; gaten can be used on strong shinigami unlike shinten. Even the erroneous scanlations translate the drug used on Yumichika as 'drill point' or 'penetrating point' (ie, the gaten translation), meaning it looks odd even in English.
- Revisiting this. Both the Viz dub of the Bleach anime and the Viz translation of Volume 38 state that what Kira threw at Yumichika was "gaten" rather than "shinten".
- How come almost all the soul reapers and residents of the Soul Society are japanese? Are there numerous soul societies around the world or does only the country of Japan and Mexico at all matter in the universe of Bleach?
- Okay most of the arrancars are obviously spanish and the Bounts in the anime were actually european.
- They're not "obviously" Spanish. Kubo's only using the language for aesthetics, not to indicate nationality. But the only real answer that can be given is that Kubo hasn't delved into it that deeply.
- And knowing Kubo, Tosen's really Mexican. I thought he looked Indian to me.
- Okay most of the arrancars are obviously spanish and the Bounts in the anime were actually european.
- So no one is going to comment on Ukitake as of chapter 362? So what do you think about this latest development?
- I think that - while it looks incredibly badass - Stark's resurrecion didn't leave a hugely impressive first impression. Still, it's only the first chapter of the actual fight, so hopefully he'll turn out to act as awesome as he looks by the end of it.
- Pre-emptive strike on this theory: Ukitake is
a Visored. - ... Actually, that could make a certain sort of sense. Maybe Ukitake does have an inner Hollow like the Visoreds, but he can't completely control it, so it's been eating away at his body for centuries and he's just been using 'tuberculosis' as a convenient excuse.
- He never actually said that he has TB. That was pure fan assumption based on the symptoms. All he has ever said is that he has an "illness".
- Looking back, his mysterious illness being an internal Hollow kicking the crap out of his soul on a daily basis actually does make a lot of sense. Why else would godlike healers like Unohana not be able to cure him if he had any sort of mundane illness? He's got an inner Hollow and doesn't know the visored-approved method of bringing it under total control, but he's enough of a badass that he can keep it from eating him completely and draw on its powers without it taking him over, unlike Ichigo. You know, I'm starting to actually hope this is what's really happening.
- How do we know that the 4th squad can use kido to heal diseases? We've only seen them use it to heal injuries. Maybe they need to use medicine to combat diseases the same way we do and they havn't come up with a cure for TB yet.
- ... Oooor, maybe he just has the power to reflect attacks, and he was shooting Starrk's cero back at him.
- When did Byakuya learn the cicada trick from Yoruichi ? Because I see 2 possibilities and neither of them make sense. Possibility 1) He learnt it when he was young. Problem 1) Why the heck would he have been surprised by it on their encounter on the bridge if he already knew it? Given how few people seem to know the move its not the kind of thing you'd forget someone could do, if they taught you to do it. Possibility 2) He learnt it from her at some stage after the Soul Sociery Arc. Problem 2) The way he speaks of her after using the move is insulting and doesn't seem consistant with the way you'd speak of someone you'd be willing to learn from (and certainly not the way you'd speak about someone who just taught you a highly advanced technique).
- Well for possibility 1 it should be noted that at the time of the bridge race Byakuya was basically of the opinion that Yoroichi had spent so long in the human world/cat form/untraceable gigai(?) that she couldn't keep up with him despite knowing that she was always much faster than him. So he could have learned it from her, then just assumed she couldn't do it anymore because she'd slowed down while out of Soul Society, or just been surprised that she was still fast (and unfazed by the cicada trick).
- That just brings up another problem with possibility 1) though, why would you bother using that trick on someone who's aware of it and you know they are aware of it ?
- Perhaps he didn't mean "taught" literally. Maybe he meant that he copied it; kind of like "teaching by example."
- I didn't think of this, it doesn't seem improbable, but it still bugs me because if he learnt it by copying, he owes her nothing for it, so why would he be reluctant to use it ?
- Maybe he just doesn't want to be like her in any way. He pretty much despises her.
- Well for possibility 1 it should be noted that at the time of the bridge race Byakuya was basically of the opinion that Yoroichi had spent so long in the human world/cat form/untraceable gigai(?) that she couldn't keep up with him despite knowing that she was always much faster than him. So he could have learned it from her, then just assumed she couldn't do it anymore because she'd slowed down while out of Soul Society, or just been surprised that she was still fast (and unfazed by the cicada trick).
- Back during the Soul Society arc, Byakuya mentioned that he'd only shown the penultimate form of his Bankai (the one with the huge wall of swords) to two people, one of whom was Ichigo. Was the other meant to be Renji, or is it somebody else entirely?
- Someone else entirely I think. Since he only shows it to people he wishes to destroy personally, and the Renjii vs Byakuya fight pretty much demonstrated that if Byakuya wanted Renji dead, Renji would be dead.
- Now I'm curious about who it might be. Of course, since it's hardly an important plot point, it's not likely to be resolved. I think it's more the type of thing we'd see in a movie.
- If we're lucky, even if he wraps the main story, Kubo will fill in those "-" chapters of his, which will extensively cover all the backstory we want to know, but will never find out through the course of the regular storyline. Byakuya's a kind of popular character too, isn't he? So that beefs up the chance for a handful of him related chapters in the however many are left between Turn Back The Pendulum and now. Byakuya learned his Bankai and all it's techniques sometime, right?
- The exact wording is "the second person" meaning the answer is obvious. Byakuya has seen his own Bankai before, right?
- The SOULS character book adds to the mystery by pointing out Byakuya said this and it's a question we should be wondering about the answer to. So, no, the answer isn't obvious - but it seems Kubo does want us to wonder who this second person might be.
- Ukitake leaps into the fight between Starrk and Kyoraku, because "They're double teaming you!" No they're not - since Lilynette is Starrk's 'sword', it was a two-on-two battle with Kyoraku and Katen Kyokatsu on the other side (Remember Yachiru after Zaraki was beaten by Ichigo with Zangetsu? "No fair, it was two-on-one!") So you've just gone and made it four-on-two, Ukitake.
- LOL. Ukitake's been really out-of-character these few chapters, hasn't he? First he makes fun of Lilinette, then he double-teams Stark... Looks like the nice captain isn't so nice anymore...
- Great, so what would you have him do instead — waste his time fighting Lilinette at full power so that when Stark (Yes I'm spelling it with one R) essentially fuses with his sword, Ukitake starts coughing blood all over the place from overexertion and basically being a liability to Kyoraku? And come on, he still thinks of Lilinette as a separate entity despite what just happened. Makes more sense than dehumanizing her, if we can call it that. Honestly, you are just tacking incorrect terms on to stuff you don't like.
- Oh, I never said I had a problem with it - just that Ukitake's mistaken, not that he's in the wrong. Having said that: there's a marked difference between "I think Ukitake mistakenly broke his moral code without realizing it" and "I think Ukitake should go full-power on what is essentially a child"; I doubt getting serious against Lilinette is going to wear him out when he can block her most powerful attacks barehanded; he wouldn't really have been a liability since Starrk made no move towards him - even coughing blood, I doubt he'd be helpless enough to be a passive hostage; and the thrust of my comment was that, although Lilinette IS a separate entity, a Shinigami's sword basically is as well. And if I have tacked incorrect terms onto stuff I don't like (note: since questions for some reason always come across as sarcastic on message boards, I'd like to clarify that the following one is a genuine query, because if my argument has holes in it I do want to have them clarified), in what way have I done so?
- If we're going by the Zanpakuto filler arc, Ukitake made it six on two* . Kyoraku and Katen Kyokotsu* plus Ukitake and Sogyo no Kotowari* would make six. Here's another thing: using Ukitake's logic of 'children shouldn't fight even if they only look like children', he probably shouldn't be using his Zanpakuto—Sogyo and Koto look like they're nine years old.
- LOL. Ukitake's been really out-of-character these few chapters, hasn't he? First he makes fun of Lilinette, then he double-teams Stark... Looks like the nice captain isn't so nice anymore...
- Where the hell is Sasakibe? It was shown
◊ twice◊ that he came with everyone else to the Fake Karakura Town, and there where times when he could've fought against a fraccion or helped somebody with an Espada, but that hasn't happened either! Hell, he hasn't even shown up since chapter 315! Personally, I think he's either he's doing something offscreen that'll become useful later on, or Kubo simply forgot about him (Lately, I'm starting to think that the latter is true).- Well, we are talking about the guy whose name was revealed AFTER the name of his sword. I think Kubo just forgot he existed. Or maybe his zanpaktou's ability allows him to become invisible.
- Given that the only people remaining to fight are the top three Espada, Wonderweiss and "Superchunky," and three former captains, one of whom is as powerful as, if not more powerful than, the Head Captain himself, there's not much he can do at this point. The lieutenants haven't exactly fared well with the Sorting Algorithm of Evil.
- You realize that since you mentioned it here, Kubo is probably going to show us what he's doing in the next chapter.
- He bloody has as well! Turns out he was letting the Vaizards in. DAMN YOU KUBO STOP READING THIS PAGE. Actually don't stop reading this page.
- Well, we are talking about the guy whose name was revealed AFTER the name of his sword. I think Kubo just forgot he existed. Or maybe his zanpaktou's ability allows him to become invisible.
- So, Yama's vice captain was at the battle after all... He was wandering around outside the barrier while all the other shinigami were being slaughtered. How was that supposed to help?
- Because getting stomped into vice captain paste would help the fight so much? If he's even been named, it is still hard to expect anything from him. He's just a nameless butler to Yamamoto who has had all of two lines the entire series. Probably not even a combat butler.
- His name is Chōjirō Sasakibe and he obviously has at least some combat abilities if he was chosen to be the Captain Commander's Vice Captain. Sure, he got his ass handed to him by Ichigo, but so did Omeada, and even he managed to do something in the battle. It just seems that this guy could have been doing something other than aimlessly wandering around outside the battlefield. Otherwise, why did he even come in the first place? Oh, well. I guess Chojiro is to Bleach as Tenten is to Naruto (manga version at least).
- Maybe he was the one keeping the barrier up? The only time we've seen him fight, he was knocked out in seconds, so it could be he's a kido specialist instead of a front-line fighter. It's not as though Yamamoto really needs someone fighting with him, so it kind of makes sense he'd pick someone who could work in a support capacity as his second-in-command.
- Why does everyone assume he was just chillin' outside the barrier? He was clearly with the group at the start, so it's not like he was just sitting around out there. He probably sensed the Vaizards and went over to see what was up.
- Because getting stomped into vice captain paste would help the fight so much? If he's even been named, it is still hard to expect anything from him. He's just a nameless butler to Yamamoto who has had all of two lines the entire series. Probably not even a combat butler.
- Why was Kyoraku playing dead? I wouldn't hazard to guess that he isn't hurt, and that he might not wish to draw attention to himself, but his best friend has a gaping hole in his chest. You figure that might be a priority.
- Doing the same thing Kenpachi did when he was playing dead? Coming up with a plan perhaps.
- Unless, of course, Ukitake isn't really hurt at all, which probably would make the most sense. I mean, it's not like characters usually die just because of a hole in their chest.
- Ichigo's died twice from having a hole in his chest.
- Not like it's lasted more than half a minute, though.
- It's entirely possible he didn't die the first time Ulquiorra stabbed him, since Byakuya notes that the Bankai disappears when a Soul Reaper is near death, not necessarily when he or she is dead (Renji, Tousen and Hitsugaya's Bankai is disappear after they are severely wounded by Byakuya, Kenpachi and Aizen).
- Still, it seems as though Kyoraku may be incapacitated, since he's not getting up, and there are enough former Captain Visoreds to take on the Espada.
- In the first episode Rukia said "I have lived for 10 of your lifetimes" (which in Japan is about 80 years on average) so that would make her 800 years old. However in the flashback to the past they said it was 100 years ago and Rukia was nowehere to be seen. Hisana abandoned her as a baby so it is presumed she wasn't born yet during the events of that arc. It means Rukia lied to Ichigo about her age -_- (If this doesn't make sense it's because I am horrible at explaining things. If you can't tell what I'm talking about just ignore it and don't give yourself a headache trying to figure it out.)
- I think she meant that she's 10 times Ichigo's age, or around 150.
- Again: "After his fight with Ichigo, Renji flashbacked to his childhood with Rukia. Both of them seem to age normally for the ten years after they meet, and it seems as though they only stopped once they became shinigami. Rukia was probably just over-exaggerating her age in the first chapter." I doubt that they'd randomly start aging normally ten years before going off to the seireitei academy when they hadn't been before. And when Rukia meets Byakuya, he's definitely older than he was when we saw him in the Pendulum Arc.
- I think she meant that she's 10 times Ichigo's age, or around 150.
- How exactly did Izuru escape after being frozen to the ground in Hitsugaya's fight with Gin in Episode 48? He presumably leaves with Gin, but he's never shown exiting the scene, and it's unclear how he could move.
- It might have melted enough during the course of the fight that he could use a fire-based kido to melt the rest.
- What is Komamura? Is he part of a species of humanoid foxes? is he a human that just happens to be really hairy? Is he a fox who somehow gained human traits? Is he the result of some weird experiment?
- Yes.
- Apparently he's part of some "tribe" of giant talking monster-dogs. No idea where they come from or what they are, though.
- Well, during the explanation they mention the buddhist concept of the Animal Realm, so presumably it has something to do with Buddhism and Samsara.
- Yes.
- This Troper had a major fridge logic moment when he read a comment about Ikkaku showing up in school and carrying a bokken because he couldn't carry his regular sword. Shinigami are invisible to normals....this obviously extends to their swords or people would've commented about the swords floating in midair. The gigai is body-only....it doesn't seem to make their sword physical/visible to normals. Is there any reason gigai-Ikkaku couldn't/didn't just carry around his (invisible to normals) sword, considering that nobody would notice unless they bumped into him?
- This is a tough one to tackle on multiple fronts. Firstly I'm frankly not sure why or HOW they are able to pull their swords out of the gigai, just that somehow they did just prior to the second arrancar attack when training some distance away from the town. Further I'm also not sure if this in itself makes it visible or not, nore if they allow the usage of their powers. Nor further whether or not Ichigo is capable of something similar. Kubo really hasn't bothered to tackle all the issues that come up with this one. >>
- Maybe the metaphysical sword doesn't carry any weight because he's in a Gigai, and he would feel like it's not there after awhile?
- I think Ikkaku, the lover of fighting that he is, just wanted to be able to carry a weapon around, as he says "You should have let me carry a real sword," rather than "my zanpakuto".
- Furthermore, it's probably not enough for Ikkaku to just be armed — he wants people to see that he's armed.
- A Zanpakuto is made from your 'soul'(somewhat literally), and a gigai is basically an empty shell that's capable of holding a Soul (Soul: a person that has died and moved on to the afterlife) within it. Therefor, the Zanpakuto is 'in' the gigai along with the Soul. A Soul within a gigai can allow their Zanpakuto to manifest itself so that their gigai can hold it (being in a gigai doesn't hinder the use of their Zanpakuto, because the Zanpakuto is a piece of their 'soul'). At least, that's what I assume.
- So what are Retsu & Kotetsu and Mayuri & Nemu doing right now? Are they still trying to recover everyone (Especially Nemu since she gets beat up just about every time Mayuri's in a fight) before they can catch up to Byakuya and Kenpachi? (They were the least beat-up out of everyone in Hueco Mundo...who didn't have Orihime)
- Unohana's going to Karakura with Ichigo. Isane's staying behind to help everyone in Hueco Mundo.
- I feel like I should be bugged by Captain Batman showing up with the magic way out for Ichigo. But at the same time, it's nothing he hasn't done before and has foreshadowing from the research vault to explain it. So I guess it bugs me that I'm bugged by something that shouldn't bug me. Plus every other captain paving the way for him to go save the day.
- Why's everyone so afraid of angering Retsu Unohana?
- Beware the Nice Ones. That's why.
- Because, and I checked, she's the third most powerful Shinigami. EVER. Topped only by Yamamoto and Aizen, and not by a lot (her power index is 540/600, while Aizen and Yamamoto are both at 560/600).
- Also, She just happens to be the first Kenpachi. Her real name is Yachiru (you know, the only person Zaraki ever respected?) Eeep.
- In the latest chapter we find out that "There is none amongst the captains of Gotei 13 to whom the aid of one such as yourself would be considered significant". Hellooooo Byakuya? The person you're speaking to kicked your ass. AND Kenpachi's ass(in Shikai, no less). AND has only grown stronger since then. AND why is he being sent to Karakura if his aid is oh-so-insignificant?
- I think it was just Byakuya trying to act cool and shun Ichigo off so that he could go to Karakura Town and protect it. You know how it is when people act like assholes towards each other when they really mean something else because they want to look tough (Like way back in chapter 81 when Ganju helped out Ichigo with that orb thing by indirectly showing Ichigo a shortcut on how to control his spiritual energy by practicing on it and saying that "Even an idiot can do this! There's no need for a genius like me to practice!").
- If we really get technical, Ichigo technically lost both fights, being the first one to fall against Kenpachi, and against Byakuya he could barely stand when Byakuya was able to leave with no trouble. Further even if he's gotten 'stronger' since... his current track record is pretty horrible when compared with how the captains have been doing of late. For crying out loud, Hitsugaya kicked Harribel's ass taking no damage himself (Granted, Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors, but STILL), and she is unquestionably stronger than at the very least Ulquiorra's first stage, which destroyed Ichigo's Vizard form with no effort. To say nothing of his latest mask upgrade barely scratching Yammi when Kenpachi, with his eyepatch on, took a leg off effortlessly. It WOULD be pretty annoying though given the scale continuity, but frankly Ichigo's broken the scale already too many times as is...
- As I understand it, Ichigo fought Kenpachi to a draw (double KO) and he would have lost to Byakuya had his fight with him had gone any longer.
- Kenpachi, while he did fall a little after, had enough conciousness and mobility that frankly he could have grabbed his broken yet not in pieces yet blade, and run it through Ichigo's head if he were so inclined. Instead he lifted it, looked at it, watched it break, said a few lines, and THEN fell. Draw possibly, but that's really a best case scenario no matter how you look at it. Ichigo was clearly the worse one off after that though.
- When you consider how the first fight with Kenpachi went, it was like Ichigo was using Bankai. All of that spiritual energy that was used by Ichigo to "win" the fight was his combined with Zangetsu. It's in essence the same thing as his Bankai, which increases his speed due to the energy of Zangetsu being compressed onto him. How this works exactly I don't know. As for the fight with Byakuya, Ichigo was lucky. Had Byakuya actually fought seriously instead of trying to act all superior and half-assing it in the beginning, things would be completely different. Byakuya could had easily went all out with his various abilities in Bankai, including attacking Ichigo with all of those swords during senkei or better yet just use gokei to defeat him right then and there. Byakuya's fighting style can best be shown using his fight against Renji. During that fight, Renji had an upper hand most of the fight due to the fact that Byakuya keeps half-assing and not taking it seriously. Furthermore, how Ichigo manages to block Senbonzakura by merely blocking it like it was a wave of energy is beyond me. It would be like him blocking a torrent of water just by putting fourth his blade. It doesn't work like that.
- Probably because Byakuya controls it like a wave of energy. I doubt he controls each blade individually.
- Ichigo didn't have his Bankai or hollow mask when he faced Kenpachi (although Kenpachi wasn't using "kendo," either), and Zangetsu had little energy left for keeping the near-fatal wound he got from relaxing his guard closed. In Byakuya's case, he had a clear advantage while using the hollow mask, so he probably would be able to defeat each of them if he were using his bankai and hollow mask. The two also happen to be well-suited to facing their enemies; Byakuya was able to figure out Zommari's ability, and Kenpachi has enough raw power to damage Nnoitra when he manages to hit him; it's possible Ichigo could have defeated Nnoitra if he'd come in at full strength, but he's less likely to have defeated Zommari due to not being well equipped to handle his ability.
- I always assumed Kenpachi got a power up by aligning himself with his Zanpakuto, I means he hasn't learned its name yet, but he actually trying now. Instead of not caring like he did during his fight with Ichigo.
- Actually what happened is Old Man Zangetsu isn't actually Zangetsu and has been holding back the vast majority of Ichigo's actually power back; the huge fluctuations in Ichigo's power has been "Zangetsu" allowing Ichigo to access more or less of his power. To answer the original question, Byakuya was basically telling Ichigo "don't worry, Captain Crazy and I've got this fight, you just go," but filtered through his compulsion to constantly act like a stuck-up bastard.
- How on earth does Mayuri get away with things like blowing up his own troops and experimenting on anyone in the interests of science without the Commander-General or Central 46 Chambers arresting him for commiting heinous crimes against humanity anyway?
- I think Kubo said that Mayuri was one of his favorite characters. So, he is not getting punished cause the creator likes him.
- The fact that he's so shamelessly over the top in his Jerkass actions probably helps too.
- I don't think the allowance of Mayuri's actions are as far-fetched as we assume. The Imperial Japanese Army actually had something shockingly similar to (and arguably worse than) the 12th Divisions "Shinigami Research and Development Institute": Unit 731, officially known as the "Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army". According to the other wiki, it was responsible for some of the most notorious war crimes carried out by Japanese personnel. The scope of what was carried out is disturbing, but here's a small overview form wikipedia. Serious Warning: The details are gruesm.
- Am I the only one bugged by how the Captains so readily accept help from three traitors? (Urahara, Tessei and Yoruichi, to be precise)
- The Captains are now aware Aizen is the real traitor, and likely figured out that Aizen framed Urahara, and that Yoruichi was only saving them from unjust punishment.
- What is the Head Captain doing while everyone is fighting Aizen?
- My guess? Absolutely nothing. The likely handwave? "Setting up" his attempted kamikaze attack.
- So it's been revealed that Aizen knows something about the circumstances of Ichigo's birth. Is he really the only one who's been keeping tabs on former captain Kurosaki Isshin? I mean, he was interrupted right before revealing something by Isshin stating that he's said too much already.
- Pretty much, yes, because Aizen was the one who caused Isshin and Masaki to meet, and Isshin sacrificed his power and apparently faked his death so he could save her life. Aizen was keeping an eye on his experimental Hollow, so he knew what happened.
- Tousen's Friend's death. Seriously did her husband even get punished for it?, as Tousen seemed to act like the guy was still alive and going about his business. And why after joining with Aizen didn't Tosuen just kill the bastard off himself?.
- I think it is implied that Tousen killed him or he died otherwise.
- The whereabouts of Ise Nanao (8th Division Lieutenant) during the Fake Karakura Town Arc. This Troper has been thinking about this for months. Seriously... practically every (significant) seated member of the Gotei 13 is accounted for. The battle for existence as they know it is occurring, and... she's M.I.A. the whole time! What could possibly be so important that would require her to not directly participate in the battles(s) to preserve the balanced order of the universe??
- Likely Kyoraku's fault, at least when it comes to the major battles. He's protective of her, his shikai is potentially crazy dangerous to allies, and from Nanao's opinion of her captain she may or may not see past his 'drunken lecher' image. Ukitake, on the other hand, clearly does and knows how to handle his slightly disturbing combat pragmatist mate. As for why Nanao didn't turn up with the other lieutenants either...we have no idea what she can do. Perhaps she genuinely isn't suited for direct combat, and it was too risky for her to be involved unless absolutely necessary. And from how he acted in said battle for existence, Kyoraku's definition of 'necessary' is very broad... When it comes to protecting his subordinates, he doesn't much care about the methods. If he could get away with Nanao being entirely absent from the Not-Final Battle, he would have. There were other junior officers around with more established skills, and he and Ukitake have clearly tag-teamed baddies since forever.
- One of the databooks brings up the possibility that Kyoraku intentionally keeps Nanao off the front lines because he doesn't want her to get hurt. I wouldn't expect Yamamoto to let that fly, but no one comments on her absence, so it's hard to know exactly what her deal is.
- Rukia is clearly a competent soul reaper far more so than the current third seats of the 13th seem to be, yet Rukia herself is not a seated officer. Apparently this is because Byakuya decided he could keep her out of harms way by forcing Ukitake into not assigning a high rank. Why was Byakuya allowed to meddle in the affairs of a division not his own, that clearly works very differently under the leadership of a captain with much more experience than he is? Only reason I can think of is that Ukitake agreed to begin with because he sympathised (he is a big brother himself, after all) and thought disagreeing would be problematic for Rukia. Rukia's reaction and involvement in Kaien's death could be a reason why Ukitake didn't promote her when there was such a gap left in the ranks. Possibly the timeskip will have her as the 13th's lieutenant.
- I think the decision was reached when Rukia was forced to kill Kaien. Byakuya is pretty persuasive, and Ukitake is the paternal type, who would probably listen. Byakuya doesn't want his wife's younger sister to die, or get further physically or mentally traumatized, so he was able to pull some strings.
- Speaking of time skips... Rukia's been revealed to be a vice-captain as of chapter 459. Of which squad, we've yet to learn, but there's a strong possibility that it's the 13th since that's her squad and it's the only one lacking a vice-captain. There's always the possibility that some of the other vice-captains also moved forward, though.
- We do know which squad. Her badge reveals it very, very clearly - the snowdrop, which is the symbol of 13th division, and if that's not enough, it's accompanied by the kanji for the number 13. Rukia is obviously the 13th division vice-captain.
- I'm starting to suspect that soul society's government is secretly run by Vogons. Why does Rukia's "transgression" at the beginning of the plot warrant an extremely elaborate death penalty, but Aizen basically being the soul society criminal equivalent of Hitler only nets him imprisonment? Also, why the hell does Rukia (and basically every other SR that comes to town) actively fraternize with Uraharra, who is a known fugitive? In fact, for a criminal in hiding, he seems to have a pretty lucrative business going on there. Or if he is no longer considered a criminal, why does he continue to stay in hiding? Is gotei 13 just that indecisive?
- Rukia's crime doesn't warrent death. Renji pointed out he was joking to her about it. He was floored when Byakuya told him the sentence was genuine. Later on, Aizen was trying to manipulate Renji by focusing on the fact that the death penalty for Rukia's crime is unheard of as well as the method of execution not being for someone of her rank. We eventually learn that the Central 46 didn't issue this order. Aizen had already killed them by then. Aizen issued the order purely to gain access to one of only two methods known for extracting an object from inside a soul.
- And as for Aizen, it's possible it's not a question of whether Soul Society should execute him but whether they can execute him. Imprisonment might be the worst punishment they think will stick.
- They can't execute him because of the Hogyoku, so they sealed him away in prison instead.
- A long, long time ago, during the Soul Society arc, Ishida fights with Mayuri. Who gets a hole blown in his chest so massive that he winds up missing almost everything from lower lungs to hips. Including his spine. In fact, it appears that the only thing holding his head above his feet is what remains of his uniform. What. The. Hell.
- Er, Gotei 13, you forgot about the number two threat there along with Ginjo. Speaking of which, would Bookman's power work on the shinigamis?
- Since he used it on Byakuya, it not only works on Shinigami, it works on CAPTAIN-LEVEL Shinigami.
- On the back of the entry about Nanao Ise; by now most of the lieutenants have had some moment establishing why they're any good, or at least don't seem totally unlikely candidates for their positions (even Sasakibe is part of whatever ancient history Yamamoto and his students are). Nanao is a curious case because she was a child when she joined the eighth division. While Kyoraku's protectiveness of her (somewhat justified given what happened to Lisa) explains a little about why Nanao's not been in any major battles, we still have no Informed Ability about the woman or any nod to her being, say, a Teen Genius like Ichimaru and Hitsugaya were. Loads and Loads of Characters mean the series will hardly cater for all the cast, but it seems like a strange gap to leave when all her contemporaries - same rank and (apparently) age - get their moments in the spotlight. And I'm not seeing Kyoraku as the sort to recruit even a promising kid without a damn good reason to do so. Maybe she was in a similar situation as Hitsugaya?
- Nanao's an effective administrator, and Kyoraku probably spends most of his time relaxing rather than dealing with the logistics of running his division.
- This may have been adressed, but the members of the Gotei 13 seemed extremely out of touch with each other during Ichi-crew's invasion of Soul Society. The way the captains interacted with each other was terrible, and the actions of some of the members were just bad (Mayuri and the Science Co. aside). For example, the blatant bashing of 4th division members by another division. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but to openly state how worthless you think another division is while on duty is ostounding, especially when it's Captain is one of the most powerful and respected. It also seemed odd that some division members didn't recognize the seated officers of other divisions (ex: Renji didn't recognize Hanataro, a 7th seat). I assumed that simple information about the ranks in other divisions would be known to all of the Captains and Lieutenants. Not to mention we also see several soul reapers shamelessly drunk while on duty, and one even makes some extremely innapropriate comments to Orihime. Do they not have basic conduct standards? And what's up with the divisions being so hostile/ignorant with each other?
- Soul Society overall is a pretty terrible military organization. When Ichigo and Co. invaded, they had few tactics and almost no coperation. It didn't even seem like they had a plan in the event someone did invade other than run at them and fight. Also it is very weird how little respect the fourth division get considering they might be the most useful of all the squards. It was shown in Kenpachi's fight with Ichigo that unless a soul reaper is powerful enough they cannot even hurt a captain. This mean that even if an entire squard, excluding captains and those hiding their captain class power, tried to attack someone near captain level they would be useless, but if a few good forth division members and an average lieutenant teamed up they might actually do some damage (assuming the opponent did not immediantly go for the medics).
- Going for the medics is arguably a great tactic. If you wipe them out first, you don't have to worry about the non-medics getting healed. And after you wipe out the medics, you wipe out the other opponents and then jack the medics healing supplise (assuming they don't just use spells) for yourself.* With that said, the medics are extremely valuable. Honestly, Eleventh Division's hatred of them is looking more ridiculous the more I think about it. I understand that they have this dream of dying gloriously in battle, but if they can't grasp the point of what it means to be a Soul Reaper, they shouldn't even be in the Gotei 13. Ikkaku was probably the most egregious example of what's wrong with the Eleventh Division. The fact that he couldn't swallow his pride and use Bankai when the survival of thousands of people literally counted on him to gaurd that pillar was outrageous. Thankfully someone called him out on it.
- Why are they required to like Squad 4, or even respect them? Remember, Squad 4's made up of people who are more or less useless in any kind of fight. That's WHY they're the medics and support staff. It's pretty much all they're good at. And yes, Squad 11 is pretty much insane for their love of battle. And? Look at their captain. Far as they Soul Society is concerned, they're perfect infantry. Always ready to fight, completely loyal, and willing to fight to the end. Perfect ground troops. To answer the original question, it boils down to this. The captains have pretty much free reign in their squads, and each operates totally differently depending on their training, expertise, and what the situation is. As such, each is more focused on their small section rather than the Soul Society as a whole. And due to the whole organization being so huge, there really isn't any opportunity to watch over every soldier, just for plain logistical reasons. Basically, each squad is it's own contained unit, that doesn't have much interaction with the others other than what's required. It's a far from perfect system, but when you have a huge massive world to cover, and not that many men to do it, you have to get creative.
- Actual, did we ever get a conformation on if the Gotei thirteen handle the whole world or just Japan? If they handle the entire world then the organization is ludicrously small and inefficient for the task; if soul society only has jurisdiction over Japan than it is needlessly big and uncoordinated. The problem with the eleventh division not respecting squad 4 is that it hurts moral and makes the entire operation less inefficient. The problem with using squad eleven solely for infantry is that it makes them too limited. As you said each squad is trained based on their captain and ideals. This means that a squad likes Byakuya's would most likely have its member know sword fighting, kido, and maybe basic medical techniques, while a squad eleven members would only know sword fighting techniques and their shiki. Also it doesn’t matter how loyal a squad eleven member is if they choose to die in battle before completing their mission. Kira, during the winter war, showed just how valuable someone who can fight and heal is during a battle even if it to the point of keeping a wounded solider stable until a more experienced healer could handle it.
- Since someone beat me to it, I'll elaborate a bit. The problem I had with Squad 11 isn't that they don't like Squad 4, it's that they don't seem to have any respect whatsoever. If you join a military organization, there's a code of conduct that you're supposed to follow to help everything operate smoothly. When Ichigo and Ganju ran into a group of Squad 11 members they took Hanataro "hostage", believing that they wouldn't attack if they had him. The members start laughing and Hanataro reveals that Squad 11 hates Squad 4. The Squad 11 members appear even happier than they did before at getting to fight. Later on after everything regarding Aizen is revealed and everyone is recovering, we see Squad 11 in the Squad 4 healing barracks; they're complaining about their food and threatening squad 4 members. Like I said before, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but actively looking for a reason to beat up on Squad 4 is ridiculous. Despite his love of battle, Kenpchi isn't that immature and he actually has a code of honor; it wouldn't hurt for them to try being a bit more like their captain. Kenpachi looks for a strong opponent and a fair fight* , not a chance to beat and bully someone that can't/won't fight back. Like the above troper said, it doesn't matter how loyal someone is if they choose to die before they complete their mission. Soul Reapers exist to perform Konso, guard Soul Society, and purify Hollows; sometimes carrying out those tasks requires a Soul Reaper to heal themselves or be healed by Squad 4. This is where Squad 11 logic fails.
- It seems that there may be evedince to support the theory that the Gotei 13 operate world wide, or at least outside of Japan. Squad 1 Lieutenant Chojiro Sasakibe picked up his love of English society while on a mission in the Human World. However it's not specified where this mission actualy was.
- So if we go by the idea that the gotei 13 patrol the entire world, than their current system of operation really doesn't make sense. If soul society covers the entire world than that means hollows appear all over the world too. A more efficient thing to do would be to send decent sized squads of soul reapers (made up of some medics, sword specialist,kido specialist) to different parts of the world to patrol for hollows in specified areas. The captain and off duty soliders should logically be the only ones who remain in soul society. The captains together could handle almost any threat against soul society and anything capable of stopping them would easily overwhelm a zerg rush of weaker shinigami.
- The Gotei 13 really have terrible leadership in far too many of their squads generally. No sane military organization would give, for example, the likes of Mayuri, Kenpachi, or Sui Feng leadership of anything.
- Before Ichigo shows up and starts changing things shonen-hero style, the Soul Society is a stagnant place. The Soul King is a figurehead, the ruling council is so secretive that nobody is aware when they get slaughtered, and the population of half the districts runs around barefoot and in rags. Since leaders don’t die until they get killed, the same people run things for century after century, and entrenched behaviors get more so. At least three squads still have their original captains (Yamamoto, Kyoraku and Ukitake), right?
- Soul Society overall is a pretty terrible military organization. When Ichigo and Co. invaded, they had few tactics and almost no coperation. It didn't even seem like they had a plan in the event someone did invade other than run at them and fight. Also it is very weird how little respect the fourth division get considering they might be the most useful of all the squards. It was shown in Kenpachi's fight with Ichigo that unless a soul reaper is powerful enough they cannot even hurt a captain. This mean that even if an entire squard, excluding captains and those hiding their captain class power, tried to attack someone near captain level they would be useless, but if a few good forth division members and an average lieutenant teamed up they might actually do some damage (assuming the opponent did not immediantly go for the medics).
- From what we saw in the manga Soul Society is quite consistent, when it comes to punishing their members. They sent captain and his vice after an unseated rouge shinigami (through this may be because of their connection to Rukia), but they let Urahara and his company go away and even make business with them, even through his dangerous wanted criminal. For what they believe him to be, he was able to successfully beat and experiment on 8 captain and vices. He seems to pose much greater thread to the Soul Society with his skills and scientific knowledge and yet they let him go. It can be accepted that they tolerated him because he was useful and didn’t do anything suspicious for next 100 years, but surely they could connect him to a group of intruders. Especially if Yoruichi was with them. Wouldn’t it be wise to get rid of Urahara, when he proved himself to be a thread and had heavy criminal record?
- Urahara, Tessai and Yoruichi are all Captain-level fighters. To dispose of them would require an absolute minimum of THREE Gotei 13 Captains (probably 6, to fight 2 to 1 to be safe) operating at full, unrestrained power and having a massive brawl in the middle of the human world that would probably level whatever city they were in at a minimum. I always thought the Gotei 13 kept a close eye on them, and as long as they weren't taking any action to threaten Soul Society or the humans, they were content to leave them be and not risk the confrontation.
- Also, the fact that they thought Urahara was able to single-handedly conduct experiments on four captains and four lieutenants would make them think twice before pursuing him in the human world.
- Soul Society also had reason to believe the Visoreds were allied with Urahara. That means four more Captain-level fighters and four Lieutenant-level fighters, all capable of hollowfication.
- Then there's Isshin, who presumably lost his powers, but could potentially regain them. Also Ryuken.
- That group put together could probably take on all the Captains of Soul Society. And the fight would be on Urahara's home turf, would risk massive damage to the human world, and could potentially cripple the Gotei 13, even if they did win.
- Urahara and co. were likely to take extreme measures to make their whereabouts unknown to the Soul Society when they first escaped to the Human World, and they could probably achieve that. Granted they had eight Visoreds who would need a great amount of time and effort to learn to control themselves, but they also had untraceable gigai, the chief Kido master and a top scientist. It is not hard to imagine that their presence was only known to the Soul Society when Urahara decided it was safe to let them know after he'd done calculating the risks, and that would be many many years after the initial escape. By that time Soul Society could very well decide that since he had not done anything suspicious in all these years that they would not actively pursue him if he continues to behave.
- By the time Yoruichi shows up and they connect Urahara to a group of intruders, they are very busy trying to fight the said group of intruders. They probably make a note in the back of their mind that they really need to get rid of Urahara once this intruder situation is dealt with ... Except it turns out Aizen is the big bad all alone. So they really don't have enough time to initiate any action against Urahara between Ichigo and friends entering the Seireitei and Aizen revealing himself. And after that there was no need as presumably things were cleared up.
- If Ichigo and Rukia do become a loving couple... would it count as Necrophilia since Rukia is technically dead?
- Necrophilia means having sex with a dead body. Not with a soul or an artificial body (gigai).
- During the war with Aizen and Hueco Mundo, why is the Gotei 13 so relatively passive? No reconnaisance by fire from Squad 2 or 11, no attacks on the Hollow armies that Aizen was building, etc. The shinigami do have the ability to travel to Hueco Mundo so since you have at least two captains with WMDs for bankai, why not have Mayuri or Yamamoto just use them on Aizen's HQ? It seems to be the only man-made structure of its size, so large that its visible on the horizon. Even if they don't get Aizen (realistically, wide-area attacks are the best way to counter illusionists), putting a dent in his ranks and possibly killing some of the Espada surely would have been worth it. Considering the hype surrounding Ryuujin Jaka, Yamamoto's bankai could possibly even kill the majority of the Espada and the defector Captains with a quick, surgical strike.
- Because there's no good way for them to go on offense. The Gotei 13 can't send their regular soldiers because even Aizen's rank-and-file far outclass them simply by being Arrancar. They can't send a small force of captains/lieutenants because the Espada would outnumber them - Ichigo's group only made it as far as they did because all the stronger Espada obeyed Aizen's order to leave them alone. And they can't send a large force of captains because that leaves both Karakura Town and Soul Society vulnerable. As for why Yamamoto doesn't just obliterate Las Noches from a distance with Zanka no Tachi, if he does so then that's like a million souls he's either releasing into the reincarnation cycle or yanking out of the cycle entirely. Each Menos counts for all the souls devoured and merged to make it. He also can't guarantee it would even get Aizen - nothing is stopping him from hopping into a garganta once he feels Yamamoto's spiritual pressure.
- Why exactly did they let Mayuri become captain? I can kind of understand letting him out if they thought Urahara was going to keep an eye on him, but what made them think it was a good idea to let the most dangerous person in the Maggot's Nest have any kind of unsupervised control over anything, let alone an entire division of shinigami?
- Because Seireitei's leadership is a bunch of Lawful Neutral Obstructive Bureaucrats whose orders are carried out by a Lawful Neutral Knight Templar at best. At worst, they're a bunch of out-of-touch, ultra-conservative Lawful Stupid old men. Either way, they're willing to let Mayuri do all the awful Mad Science experiments on his grunts and/or random vagrants he picks up so long as he continues to be useful to them, and admittedly he does prove useful several times throughout the story.
- Also, it seems like the primary qualification to be a captain is a certain level of spiritual power, which is so rare that the Soul Society sometimes has few choices. Think of Unohana, once a notorious criminal; Hitsugaya, who isn’t in full command of his power; and the Visored, who broke some pretty fundamental laws and have no love for the Soul Society, but got recruited somehow when they needed three captains at once.
- Because Seireitei's leadership is a bunch of
- Ikkaku refuses to use his bankai in front of others because achieving bankai can get you a captain position, leading one of the 13 squads, and he doesn't want to leave Squad 11. Fair enough. However, there's a problem with this: Renji has repeatedly used his bankai in front of other Soul Reapers, including his own captain, and has not been forced into an unwanted captain position. Not only that, Renji has not been forced into a captain position even though there are currently three open captain seats (which is probably unprecedented) and he is one of the only known Soul Reapers to fulfill the single requirement. What's Ikkaku worried about?
- A fear doesn't have to be rational or logical to affect your actions. And let's face it, Ikkaku isn't exactly a bastion of sound logic or rational thought. Nobody with such Undying Loyalty to a deranged Blood Knight like Zaraki Kenpachi that they'd rather die in a fight than risk even potentially being removed from his command could possibly be all there in the head.
- A thing to keep in mind is that Renji is brand new to his position, and that he's made rank exceptionally fast (Only fourty years after graduating from the Academy). Ikkaku, however, has been Third Seat for a long time. It isn't clear how long, but potentially for about a century, since the Kenpachi that our Kenpachi replaced was alive in the flashback chapters 110 years in the past. He also more or less pulls double duty as executive officer of the division, since Yachiru really isn't qualified to be an officer and only holds her rank because Kenpachi says so. In other words, while Renji may also have Bankai, and even outrank him, Ikkaku has EXPERIENCE as a senior officer, and is therefore a much more attractive candidate for Captaincy than a freshly promoted Lieutenant who's risen in the ranks a little too fast and has a history of insubordination.
- Okay so as I understand it, The 10 Trillion Hollow/Quincies/Shinigami/Humans(?) Yamamoto has killed are in his sword and at his beck and call, okay assuming he is about 2000 years old that means he has averaged about 10 Million kills per day. All presumably bound to his sword. Exactly How were the Quincies killing hollows and destroying souls so they could not reincarnate a problem when Yamamoto was removing an amount of souls equal to the population of the United States about once a month, and if the souls are not removed from the reincarnation cycle then..what happens if Yamamoto kills the same soul twice?
- I'm going to assume he was exaggerating.
- Why didn't Squad 0 come to help out during Aizen's rampage, or Yamamoto's death, but after it's safe, they're like "Okay let's come out now" even though supposedly they are all individually more powerful than everyone else in the goddamn Gotei 13 put together?
- Because in their own words: protecting Sereitei isn't their job, their job is to protect the Soul King, so even everyone in the Gotei 13 got beaten to a bloody pulp, they would stay in the palace.
- That makes just as little sense, since Aizen's grand plan (which he stated pretty much the moment he revealed he was Evil All Along) was to kill the Soul King and take his place. He raised a huge army of Arrancar and had in his possession an item that was specifically stated to be capable of granting him the power of a god. He eventually revealed his intention to destroy an entire city in order to build himself a key that would take him right to the Soul King's front door and slaughter everything there. Unless every single one of them is strong enough to make Yamamoto's bankai look like a pansy, there is no f***ing way Butter-Aizen doesn't count as a threat to the Soul King, so either nobody bothered informing them and they're so out of touch with the world outside the Soul King's realm as to be mostly useless, or they're a bunch of cowardly and/or lazy assholes.
- They quite possibly believed they could easily stop Aizen. They are quite powerful and they presumably haven't seen Aizen's shikai so wouldn't have to deal with the hypnosis. Plus they are quite cocky as seen by the way the speak to others so they probably didn't feel the need to do anything to stop him from getting to the Palace since they would just kill him when he got to it.
- Because in their own words: protecting Sereitei isn't their job, their job is to protect the Soul King, so even everyone in the Gotei 13 got beaten to a bloody pulp, they would stay in the palace.
- Touching on some of the conversations earlier, is Sereitei truly a global organization, or is it local? The evidence is... Well, confusing. On one hand, the general culture and definite Asian bias is a bit justified, considering more than half the world is Asian, and the specific Japanese cultural dominance can further be explained by, um, spiritual imperialism? After all, Japan has shown to be quite imperialist in the past, maybe taking over the afterlife isn't such a strech. And as with Hueco Mundo, maybe people just adapt to the dominant culture there(in that case, learning Spanish). On the other hand, we have all kinds of ambiguity. Who knows if ???-raced Kira, Love, Matsumoto, Rose, Tosen et. all are ethnically European/African/Whatever or simply Asian spirits with strange afterlife appearances(I'm looking at you, Komamura). Naturally, Dangais- time holes that lead anywhere and everywhere- explain how they get around, but still. The place doesn't exactly scream "world hub." It also brings up the uncomfortable question of the de facto racially-segregated Rukongai. It's numbered 1-80 in terms of nice-to-suck ratio, but both the best and worst are... Japanese. Are the other cultures off in a ghetto somewhere? Are the nicest districts closest to the Japan-centric Sereitei also Japanese because of racism from the Central 46 or someone?
- I suspect that there isn't an in-story reason for this. Most likely the reason everyone is Japanese is because it's published in Japan, so modeling everything after Japan helps the core readership to relate to the story better. Or I don't know, maybe the Japanese souls took over the afterlife at some point.
- At some point, shortly after the Meiji Restoration, immediately following a failed coup d'etat that never made it into the history books...
- If Unohana is supposed to be the first Kenpachi then why is it that her Zanpakuto takes the form of a giant, flying manta ray with healing juices in its stomach? A Zanpakuto is supposed to reflect the wielder's power and soul, so shouldn't hers be something that's a lot more violent and dangerous, rather than something that's helpful?
- Maybe she modified it to be more useful for healing, it might be quite good at fighting as well and a Kenpachi would find a sword that can heal them and transport them anywhere to be quite useful, Mayuri already showed that its possible to alter zanpakuto manifestations.
- Without speculating Minazuki's possible abilities, we do know that Unohana probably learned healing after said position. Which means that it could be vice-versa... Minazuki was repurposed/altered/can be used to heal, and fighting was its original- and current- true purpose. Her offense in the battle data is on par with Aizen and Yamamoto; Tite Kubo said in an interview that Unohana would show her "true power" in the current arc, implying that Minazuki has some secret "Holy Shit!" Quotient-inducing fighting capability. That said, we've been given subtle hints that Minazuki is not all it appears to be. It can do freaky things like transform into a gas, and sprout appendages at will. I'm guessing the big, gentle medevac blimp-monster has one hell of a dark side.
- Going off of this, she could also be using the same trick Yumichika employs and simply calls her Zanpakuto by a different name to force it into the form of a Kido-Type Zanpakuto with healing abilities and whatnot instead of an instrument of pure murder. However, if Minazuki's true form really is what we've been seeing this whole time, that might just push this straight into Fridge Horror, considering all of the sadistic acts an Ax-Crazy Blood Knight could commit with knowledge of how to mend wounds. Wounds they just inflicted on their enemies...
- Unohana specifically states that Minazuki's stomach acid was what was healing the people in it's stomach. With the latest chapter, and the way her Bankai is flaying the skin off Zaraki's bones, it appears as though it is an Acid-type Zanpakuto, catapulting her straight up to Yamamoto's level in terms of how badly she won the Superpower Lottery.
- Maybe she modified it to be more useful for healing, it might be quite good at fighting as well and a Kenpachi would find a sword that can heal them and transport them anywhere to be quite useful, Mayuri already showed that its possible to alter zanpakuto manifestations.
- Yumichika. No one ever accused him of being the sanest shinigami on the block, but really. He absolutely refuses to reveal the true form of his Shikai. He is willing to die before showing a single soul, or even having the slimmest chance of being seen and his secret getting out. This, along with his narcissism, is his defining character trait. So why in the BLUE HELL did he reveal his Zanpakuto's true form in the middle of the freaking Sereitei?! Yes, he was in a bad way in his fight against Lieutenant Hisagi. Yes, he would have likely lost the battle if he had not resorted to his true Shikai and subsequently curbstomped Hisagi. But against Charlotte, at least he waited until Charlotte ensconced him in his Rape Crib, and then had the good sense to murder the sole witness. But against Hisagi? He fought, not just in public, but on the rooftops, and instead of making sure that Hisagi never got up again, he decided to politely ask that Hisagi not tell anyone. As in, the guy he then not-so-politely crushed like a bug. As in, the guy in charge of all journalism and gossip in the entire Sereitei. Smart move, Yumichika. You're lucky that Hisagi is apparently a Boy Scout. Is there any conceivable justification for this?
- You probably won't get any great answers to this. However, to Charlotte, he indicated his main concern was the 11th division, in particular Kenpachi and Ikkaku, rather than anyone else. He also lied to Charlotte about others seeing his shikai (he kept Hisagi's knowledge of it secret even though Charlotte was dying). In theory, his worry about anyone seeing it is probably the fear of the news somehow getting back to the 11th division and Kenpachi and Ikkaku especially. In the Hisagi fight, it was only after Kenpachi was locked up inside Tousen's bankai that Yumichika released his shikai. Ikkaku was also a great distance away outside the built-up area of the city and in the forest where Soifon and Yoruichi were fighting, and he's kidou-stupid as shown by him not telling the difference between lightning and shunkou despite Soifon and Yoruichi's fight happening very close by. With Seireitei in the kind of chaos that was allowing Gin to waltz around the place creating havoc (it was also happening at the same time as the execution, so everyone that mattered was either fighting or focused on that), it's possible that Yumichika felt he could use his shikai without the news getting back to Kenpachi and Ikkaku given what was happening to those two (and the entire city) at the time. It did seem to be Tousen's bankai that triggered his decision to use his shikai. If so, the implication is that Yumichika has a great deal of respect and trust for Hisagi. They are drinking buddies, so Yumichika probably has a good handle on Hisagi's personality.
- Okay, so as of chapter 526, Unohana is dying, having killed Zaraki innumerable times and seemingly expending all of her energy doing so and bringing him back. Which certainly begs the question, WHY would Kyoraku order her to do such a thing, when he fully admitted to knowing beforehand that only one would survive? Yes, Zaraki's potential is wasted as is. But couldn't he have Unohana simply power him up just about to her level? Willfully discarding Unohana- who is one of the single greatest assets the shinigami have at their disposal, short of the Zero division- is absolutely insane. It would be a far better tactical and moral decision for Kyoraku to simply point Unohana in the Vandenreich's direction and let her flay the flesh from their bones. Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of her death is the fact that her bankai was the only thing we know of that could maybe, possibly stand a chance against Juha Bach's stolen Zanka No Tachi.
- Her skills as a medic aren't that valuable considering that the Vandenreich killed pretty much everyone that came into contact wtih them, with the exception of captain and lieutenant level fighters, and there's still her entire division to take care of the few that managed to survive. Her Bankai is next to useless against Juha Bach if he can use Yamamoto's Bankai, and there's nothing to stop Haschwald from stealing her Bankai.
- You really shouldn't undersell Unohana's medical expertise. There's only some 3000 or so members of the Gotei 13 (with approx. 200 per Squad), and Chapter 511 shows that over 2500 of them are already dead in the wake of Vandenreich's initial attack; there's a pretty damn good chance Squad 4 suffered just as crippling casualties as the rest, which does not bode well for the Gotei 13 regardless of who survived. We've only seen a few of the division's healers at work, and while they all do their job well enough, it's simply not on par with what Unohana is capable of. No, Unohana most likely wouldn't have been able to succeed where Yamamoto failed (at least where Yhwach is concerned), but this is still a war that's going on. To rid your own side of its best healer (who has been shown to be able to heal not just Soul Reapers, but humans, Arrancar, and Visored, all of whom are potential allies against the Vandenreich), who also happens to be the second-strongest fighter behind Yamamoto, is nothing short of stupid, especially coming from Shunsui of all people. Hell, it's not like Squad Zero is going to do anything since their focus is on protecting the Spirit King (which will likely bite them in the ass in the future).
- I thought that there was more like 6,000 in the Gotei 13, but anyway, that is exactly my original point: the Gotei 13 is in desperate need of more firepower. The Sternritter didn't just kill a whole bunch of folks, they got several bankai as well. How on earth could Kyoraku justify this? Remember, Zaraki killed a whole host of Sternritter all by himself. Yes, the same Zaraki who was then effortlessly killed in short order by Unohana without so much as her Shikai(which I suspect might be used to create caustic clouds of mustard gas, seeing as her Shikai is gaseous and her bankai is liquid). If she had simply trained him up to her level, just one or the both of them could annihilate a large chunk of Juha Bach's forces, except maybe those that stole some Bankai.
- Okay, so in the last arc with Aizen, Hiyori canonically got cut in half. They fixed her. Soi Fon cut an arm off, they fixed her. Now, Kyoraku loses an eye, so, welp, can't fix that?
- Assuming his right eye isn't simply damaged and is healing behind that eyepatch of his, maybe Kyoraku opted to not get it fixed, perhaps as a reminder to not be so careless next time. It doesn't seem like he's running on the same pride-induced stupidity that made Yamamoto decline to get his arm restored by Orihime (human or not, turning down an offer to be healed by a girl who can reject reality sounds more than a bit silly), so there has to be some reason behind it.
- Judging by Rukia and Byakuya's condition, it seems that wounds inflicted by Quincies are particularly difficult to heal, what's with all that foreign reishi infection thing and stuff.
- Or maybe he just thinks that having an eyepatch will get him more chicks.
- I was wondering why Yamamoto would order Unohana not to fight while the Vandenreich were invading Soul Society, even though apparently they really could've used her abilities. It probably wasn't for her own defense, given how strong she is. Would this have the implication that her Bankai is even more powerful than Yamamoto's, and it would be catastrophically worse for the Gotei 13 if Juha Bach got a hold of it?
- Given that she's the second best fighter in the Gotei 13, AND a master of kido, it seems incredibly unlikely that she would need to use her bankai to fight the Vandenreich.
- Okay, so the Vandenreich Quincies can steal bankais. So they pretty much knew this after the Vice-Captain of the First Division got croaked by his own bankai. Then they send out a bunch of the younger, more inexperienced Captains - THE PINNACLES OF THE GOTEI 13'S POWER AND COMMAND - to fight these BANKAI-STEALING QUINCIES. As a result, they lost their bankais. While admittedly they just thought they got their bankais 'sealed' instead of stolen, wouldn't it make more sense to, I don't know, use other techniques to fight them? And even if it were to 'gather data' or something so that it was required someone get their bankai stolen/sealed, wouldn't it make more sense to either send in someone who plain doesn't use their bankai, like Soifon, or Komamura, whose bankai can be used to harm the user? And only send one sacrificial Captain, not pretty much half of them. With all Seireitei's supposed geniuses, they should have really thought something like that through. You start to wonder if they teach 'strategy' at the shinigami academy.
- Haha, I'll take that "pinnacle of the Gotei 13" statement as obvious sarcasm. Anyway, it's been demonstrated on several occasions now that Gotei 13's chain of command is essentially non-existent, there's little cooperation between the Squads, and they're generally prone to baffling moments of excruciating stupidity. The real problem is that, after the Ryoka Invasion and every major conflict that followed, the Gotei 13 has shown no effort in trying to establish coordination within their organization despite the fact that their lack of strategy, teamwork, and even the basic idea of simply sharing vital information when necessary is a major factor behind the Gotei 13 needing outside help to deal with practically everything. Whatever tactical and team-building exercises that existed in the academy clearly didn't translate over to the real deal. It's sad that a filler arc addressed these problems better than the manga ever did; at least Amagai had the sense to point out glaring flaws in the infrastructure.
- Let's be honest: Despite the diversity of fighting techniques, Bleach is not a series where fights are usually won through strategy. It's all brute force and brand new powers. Did Ichigo beat Ulquiorra and Aizen through strategy? Nope. Who was the only Soul Reaper besides Yamamoto to rack up a body count during the Vandenreich invasion? Why it's Kenpachi, a guy who laughs at the idea of fighting smart. Kyoraku even outright said to Commissioner Gordon Quincy that they weren't opponents they could beat without bankai. And when Byakuya objected to Renji's suicidally stupid decision to use his bankai on As Nodt he said "But captain! How can we beat them without bankai? D8". I think what the series is trying to tell us is that tactics are for pansies.
- Okay, here's the incredibly obvious fact that nobody ever seems to know... THEY THOUGHT IT WAS JUST SEALING, NOT STEALING. They had NO IDEA that using Bankai would STRENGTHEN their enemies, they just thought it would be a pointless action aside from learning how they do it.
- While I appreciate Kubo was actually trying to add strategy to his fights for once, was Hitsugaya's trick in 548 really scientifically valid? First off a vacuum inside the ice wall would pull the surrounding inward and break the structure in itself, especially since he's saying his using thin ice. Secondly, once an ice layer melts(it actually makes more sense that the ice breaks inward once it's weakened enough), the vacuum wouldn't just stay there to put out fire, but will pull the surrounding in such as the air carrying the fire to melt further layers of ice.
- Kubo is a troll. Therefore, this is Troll Science.
- This is probably just a plot hole, but how come Rukia didn't recognize Isshin when she met him? Sure, it makes sense at first when we don't know that Isshin's anything other than an Amazingly Embarrassing Parent, but now that we finally have his story, the fact that she didn't recognize him becomes much more problematic. Let's look at the facts. In the flashback where we see Isshin as Captain of the Tenth Division, we see that Hitsugaya was his third seat. We also know that Hinamori attended the Academy before Hitsugaya did, and that Rukia was in the same year as her. That means that Rukia had to have been in the Gotei 13 for at least a few years before Isshin left. It's entirely unthinkable that Rukia, or anyone else in the Gotei for that matter, wouldn't be able to recognize all the Captains on sight. Furthermore, Isshin was head of a branch of the Shiba Clan, with which Rukia was at least somewhat familiar with due to her adoration of Kaien. So I have to ask, why the hell didn't Rukia recognize a missing noble and former Captain?
- If I recall correctly, Rukia didn't actually come face-to-face with Isshin until a fair way into the series. It's possible that by that point she'd put two and two together offscreen and figured out who Ichigo's father was (or was likely to be). After all, Ichigo looks like Kaien, is young enough to have been born since Isshin's departure, and has Soul Reaper powers of his own. If that were the case, then she might also have reasonably assumed that Isshin had chosen not to reveal his past to Ichigo (as Ichigo didn't know about Soul Reapers before meeting Rukia) and have decided that it wasn't her place to override his decision by revealing their knowing each other. All this is just conjecture, obviously, but it's one possible explanation.
- The Lost Substitue Shinigami Arc shows a scene with Rukia, Urahara, and Isshin planning to restore Ichigo's shinigami powers, so I'm guessing that she's well aware of it by now. Not sure if this means the rest of the Gotei 13 is in on the know either.
- If I recall correctly, Rukia didn't actually come face-to-face with Isshin until a fair way into the series. It's possible that by that point she'd put two and two together offscreen and figured out who Ichigo's father was (or was likely to be). After all, Ichigo looks like Kaien, is young enough to have been born since Isshin's departure, and has Soul Reaper powers of his own. If that were the case, then she might also have reasonably assumed that Isshin had chosen not to reveal his past to Ichigo (as Ichigo didn't know about Soul Reapers before meeting Rukia) and have decided that it wasn't her place to override his decision by revealing their knowing each other. All this is just conjecture, obviously, but it's one possible explanation.
- Rukia's not recognising Isshin is one thing, but did no one point out that Rangiku saw Isshin again in the Deicide arc and made no movement towards it? Sure, it could be because she was overcome with grief at Gin's death, but it was obvious who the person Ichigo was carrying was Isshin, even if he looked reasonably older by then. Not to mention, she was looking directly at them both when Ichigo showed up. There was no reason she wouldn't at least be reasonably surprised about it.
- It's possible that at this point at least some people in Gotei put two and two together and they are just keeping quiet about it. Ichigo looks almost exactely like Kaien, which strongly suggests they are related, his power level is insane, he comes from a city where Isshin was last seen and his age would fit into the time frame of Isshin's disappearance. If they also know his father is named Isshin it's pretty easy conclusion to make. Maybe at this point Matsumoto already knows/suspects who Ichigo's father is so she is not suprised.
- Not really sure if this fits here, but did Shinji seem unreasonably antagonistic (and kind of creepy) towards Ichigo in their first meeting? You want to help/recruit with this guy, right? Why attack him, and then berate him for losing control of his spiritual pressure (y'know because he was being attacked)?
- Shinji does a lot of things backwards, not just writing his name. This is why his Zanpakuto inverts things.
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