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Recap / Bleach Zanpakuto Rebellion Arc

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Short Summary

A anime only filler arc that popped up in between the Fake Karakura Town and Deicide Arc, making the placement within the Bleach story rather difficult. The shinigami's Zanpakutos suddenly take corporal human forms and turn against their owners, claiming independence, and lead by a mysterious figure known as Muramasa who is the cause of such an anomaly. Ichigo and the rest of the Gotei 13 must battle against their own weapons while trying to figure what Muramasa's up too.

Main Summary

Something strange is going on in Soul Society. Zangetsu can hear a strange voice that Ichigo cannot. A tall man with strange eye markings and really long fingernails is gathering a group of equally odd fellows for an attack. A group of strangers has confronted Yamamoto and Sasakibe. And, weirdest of all, zanpakuto are going on the fritz somehow. A meeting of all captains and lieutenants (excepting Kenpachi and Yachiru, who are off somewhere) is called to talk about the situation, but before they can get anything done, the long fingernails guy interrupts. His name is Muramasa, and he has an announcement to make: All zanpakuto are rebelling against their masters. Muramasa himself is a zanpakuto spirit, who claims that he has killed his own master.

Chaos ensues as the zanpakuto use their abilities to destroy large parts of Seireitei, and the shinigami are kneecapped by not being able to release their swords (said sword releases being off causing trouble). Komamura is unconscious after his zanpakuto turns on him mid-attack, Yamamoto is nowhere to be found, Byakuya is missing in action, and Rukia is chased into the world of the living by her zanpakuto, Sode no Shirayuki.

Ichigo fights Sode no Shirayuki off, and and he and Rukia return to Soul Society to search for Byakuya and help out in general. Rukia is soon attacked again by Sode no Shirayuki, who declares her newfound freedom, intent to kill everyone Rukia's ever loved, and belief that Rukia's been taking her for granted. Rukia's emotional plea (and self-destructive attack) do seem to get through to her, but before she can do anything, Muramasa comes in and sends her away.

Muramasa then summons Old Man Zangetsu to fight Ichigo for him, which probably would have worked if he hadn't completely misunderstood Ichigo's situation. Ichigo's inner hollow of course takes the opportunity to come out and play, and he has no trouble whatsoever fighting Zangetsu (plus, he has high-speed regeneration, always a pain in the ass). Ichigo eventually fights off both of his wayward head-demons, but collapses in exhaustion and Muramasa takes the opportunity to bring the fight to Ichigo's inner world, where he faces off against the Inner Hollow directly until Ichigo finally manages to force him back out. Ichigo and his Hollow then manage to work together to defeat Old Man Zangetsu, who tells them that the reason all the zanpakuto are rebelling is because of Muramasa's More than Mind Control on them.

Meanwhile, the other Shinigami are facing off against their own swords, and finding that Other Me Annoys Me- at least. Hisagi's blade Kazeshini is a complete Blood Knight who sees his purpose as being to reap lives, and Renji's Zabimaru has no respect for him at all (It probably didn't help that Renji failed to recognize their humanoid form at first). Renji manages to defeat Zabimaru with a combination of kido and trickery, and Kira helps Hisagi escape from Kazeshini.

Ichigo then reports his findings back to the captains, and goes out zanpakuto hunting, in the process revealing that Byakuya is alive and seemingly on Muramasa's side. And at the 12th division, Mayuri makes an important discovery: Zanpakuto will return to their wielders if defeated... but only if said wielder is the one to defeat them. If not, they're gone forever. All shinigami then set out to beat their zanpakuto and take them back.

Toshiro fights Hyorinmaru, his ice-dragon turned amnesiac young man, and manages to convince the guy that he's his wielder by releasing Shikai (much easier said than done with Hyorinmaru gone), and Matsumoto and Hinamori defeat Haineko and Tobiume with kido. Byakuya proves his loyalty to Muramasa by killing Sode no Shirayuki, and a massive Shinigami vs. Zanpakuto battle begins.

In the battle, Ikkaku is able to power past Hozukimaru's bankai and reclaims his sword, as does Yumichika with Ru'iro Kujaku, and Sui Feng defeats Suzumebachi. Kira is almost killed by his Zanpakuto Wabisuke, but this is prevented by Kenpachi Ex Machina. Yup, he and Yachiru are back (they got lost after going hollow-killing). Kenpachi helps turn the tide, though he does deprive Kira of his Zanpakuto by killing Wabisuke (oops). Senbonzakura and Byakuya escape under a cover of poison gas provided by Mayuri's Zanpakuto Ashisogi Jizo (who is soon afterwards blown up by his wielder).

The shinigami then head over to the cave where Katen Kyokotsu (Kyoraku's Zanpakuto), Sogyo no Kotowari (Ukitake's Zanpakuto) and Minazuki (Unohana's Zanpakuto) are holding up a barrier around Yamamoto. Ichigo attacks Muramasa, but is tricked into using his power to destroy the barrier. As it turns out, Muramasa lied about the barrier, and a lot of other things too. Yamamoto actually put up the barrier around himself, to prevent Muramasa from getting his overly-manicured hands on Ryujin Jakka. You know, the Zanpakuto that's a Fantastic Nuke in Shikai state, and a downright extinction event in Bankai. And now Muramasa has free access to it. Smooth move, Ichigo.

Another thing Muramasa lied about was the whole zanpakuto rebellion. Muramasa never really wanted zanpakuto to be free from their masters- he just wanted them to be out there, causing chaos, so he could sneak in and take Ryujin Jakka's power for himself. He was never rebellious, and he did not kill his original master. In fact, he wanted Ryujin Jakka's power to free his master, Koga Kuchiki, from his seal. Byakuya was helping him in order to free and then kill Koga, who had betrayed their clan.

Turns out, Byakuya had the right idea. Koga may have once been a noble shinigami, but after being wrongfully accused of killing his allies, he went insane and started killing everyone. Yamamoto sealed him away, and now that he's back, the Ungrateful Bastard stabs Muramasa and proclaims he doesn't need his power. Of course, without said power, Koga is killed by Byakuya, and Muramasa becomes the final boss, having become unstable due to consuming Hollows to stay manifested while Koga was sealed. Ichigo finally defeats Muramasa and the zanpakuto dies, admitting his error. Mayuri finds out how to repair broken zanpakuto, and all is well.


Zanpakuto Rebellion Arc has the following tropes:

  • Alas, Poor Villain: Muramasa was doing everything so that he can free his master and be reunited with him. Sadly by the time he does, Koga has long since lost his sanity and morality. Ultimately destroying him during his fight with Byakuya.
  • Arc Villain: Muramasa is responsible for most of events of the arc. Though his master, Koga, takes over for the final bits of it.
  • Battle in the Center of the Mind: Muramasa enters Ichigo's inner world at one point and fights Ichigo and his inner Hollow.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: Muramasa's control over the rebelling Zanpakutou spirits leads to them all being this. The problem the shinigami have is trying to find a way to break Muramasa's control and regain their swords.
  • Deus Exit Machina: Kenpachi is off somewhere for the first part of the arc because he's the biggest heavy hitter the Shinigami have and isn't handicapped by losing his shikai (since he doesn't have it yet). That, and his zanpakuto's name and abilities are a spoiler that the writers didn't know yet, so he had to enter the scene after Muramasa did his thing.
  • Enemy Mine: Ichigo and his inner Hollow may not actually like each other, but they both like Muramasa even less.
  • Exactly What I Aimed At: Matsumoto and Hinamori pull off a double example against their Zanpakuto- they seemingly miss their kido spells, but they were both aiming at the other's opponent.
  • Faceā€“Heel Turn: Byakuya seemingly sides with the Zanpakutou much to the confusion of the others. It's later revealed he's faking it so that Muramusa can unseal Koga, a former member of his clan, so that he can kill him.
  • Fake Defector: Byakuya actually wanted Koga unsealed so he could kill the guy once and for all.
  • Kansas City Shuffle: Muramasa is just using the Rebellion as a distraction while he tries to find and release his master, Koga.
  • Like You Would Really Do It: Killing off Byakuya and breaking Rukia's zanpakuto? In a filler arc? Nice try, but no one's buying it.
  • More than Mind Control: Muramasa's control of the zanpakuto is based on awakening their hidden resentment, which is why the zanpakuto spend so much time yelling at their masters. Once a zanpakuto has been returned to its master and knows what's going on, they can't be tricked in that way again.
  • No-Sell: Ichigo's Inner Hollow is immune to Muramasa's zanpakuto control because it's based on awakening their hidden feelings and supressed instincts. The Inner Hollow is, well, a hollow. He already acts on his instincts.
  • Out of Focus: Koga's wife who only gets a few appearances.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: The Inner Hollow doesn't like Muramasa trying to defeat Ichigo.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: The rebelling zanpakuto really like delivering these to their shinigami. Sode no Shirayuki calls out Rukia for taking her for granted, Zabimaru calls out Renji for not knowing what he's doing, Tobiume calls out Hinamori for her pining over Aizen, and Kazeshini calls out Hisagi for his aversion to killing. Some of the zanpakuto have hilariously petty complaints (Haineko calls Matsumoto old and Suzumebachi doesn't like Sui Feng's style), but for the most part the only zanpakuto that don't bitch at their wielders are the ones that don't talk.
  • Retcon: Renji's zanpakutou spirit was originally a macaque with a snake for a tail. In this story, they're a woman and a small boy who are chained together. This was based on a slice of life omake Kubo once did where Mayuri offered Renji and Hisagi a magazine advertising his zanpakutou retooling services. Both of them were so impressed by the busty, feminine form Mayuri could create that they decided to use Renji's zanpakutou as a guinea pig for the procedure. The female body Mayuri advertised is similar to the form used in this filler arc. It's somewhat Lampshaded by Renji not recognizing them at first because he's used to Zabimaru's nue form.
  • Sealed Evil in Another World: Koga Kuchiki was eventually stopped and sealed away by Yamamoto and Koga's father-in-law Ginrei, with his prison hidden in the outskirts of Karakura Town in the world of the living. To ensure that his evil would never resurface, Yamamoto completely erased Koga's existence from the Soul Society's history books, to the point where even the head captain's closest and longest-serving subordinates like Kyoraku and Ukitake were kept in the dark about the whole incident.
  • Turned Against Their Masters: The entire point of this arc, with the Zanpakutou suddenly deciding their wielders are unfit to use them and try to kill them to claim independence. Though it's later revealed they're not acting normally.
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Koga was a genuinely loyal shinigami, but when some higher-ups decided to frame him for killing his allies, he started seeing everyone as an enemy, including his own zanpakuto. He then proceeds to cause this in Muramasa by betraying the poor zanpakuto after everything he'd done to reunite with his master.

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