This is a list of Wild Mass Guesses which are still possibly true. Just for Fun and silly guesses go on the silly page. If a WMG is Jossed, please move it to the jossed page, if it is Confirmed, please move it to the confirmed page.
Please add new entries to the bottom of the page.
- At least two other Shinigami have used this technique and she's highly proficient in kido and how else would she have arrived at the fake Karakura town if not for the ability to travel through dimensions as Yamamoto doesn't seem the type to bring someone into a battle when they are clearly mentally unstable
- ...Except for the fact that they're in Soul Society...
- They may have transferred Karauka town to Soul Society and created a fake Kakaura in its place to lure in Aizen. the anime reinforced this idea (dubious evidence I know) by having a soul reaper in another town feel Yamaoto's huge release of spirit pressure.
- Even if that is the case, Garganta are only used to travel to and from Hueco Mundo. Shinigami have other methods of moving between the Soul Society and the world of the living.
- double-checked and you're correct so I suppose the guess would be:"Hinamori can use a kido that lets her independently move between worlds" as again Yamamoto would probably give specific orders not to let Hinamori through
- They may have transferred Karauka town to Soul Society and created a fake Kakaura in its place to lure in Aizen. the anime reinforced this idea (dubious evidence I know) by having a soul reaper in another town feel Yamaoto's huge release of spirit pressure.
- He was human-sized pre-shimigamification and one of the characteristics of Vasto Lordes is that they are human sized.
- Most of the Espada were present for his "birth" and Aizen even waited for Ulquiorra and Yammy to arrive before beginning. This suggests he is very important to Aizen's plans. It also seems significant that he's the only arrancar we've seen being created.
- The Soul Society rates him as being powerful enough to be an Espada.
- Tousen describes him as "pure," but is deliberately ambiguous as to what that means because even he isn't sure whether it's pure good, pure evil, or something else entirely.
- According to the latest spoilers, he is able to take down two captains easily with Starrk remarking that Aizen must be serious to bring him out.
- Masaki is Kyoka Suigetsu.
- They're siblings.
- They're lovers, or were, before she met Isshin.
- Masaki is an Arrancar.
- Aizen is Masaki's father.
Doesn't seem like they've ever been a couple, but Aizen certainly played a huge part in getting Isshin and Masaki together.
- Jossed: We've seen him, and he's not in hell.
- That was already proposed above, but it's so cute!
- (Kinda) Jossed: The Soul King looks a tad bit like Naruto's Shikamaru with bone-shaped pupils.
- Note that much of what we see of Soul Society is District 78 in Rukia's flashback and District 79 (Yachiru's description of her past and the Bount Arc), so this seems to be Accentuate the Negative.
- Perhaps she isn't bullied because she's scary. I wouldn't bully a girl that could grope my breasts in a surprise attack.
- Don't forget: a Vasto Lorde Luchador.
- So, Chad's Simon?
- It may very well be. The manga still had her invoke Tobiume's name before using it. That being said, giving Hinamori a bankai would be an even bigger Ass Pull compared to how people raged on Hitsugaya beating Halibel, which never actually happened. It turns out Halibel was completely unaffected by Hitsugaya's ultimate move. Unlike Hitsugaya, Hinamori spent all those time on BED, resting and trying to recover from her trauma. How the hell did she find a way to train for Bankai in that time? Maybe it would make sense if she's a genius, but as it is already established, she's more of a hard work person and attains Vice Captain status due to hard work, not because she's a genius. Though it would be very sweet if she does attain bankai.
- Well she is a kido goddess, or maybe she did some inner mind training while in bed.
- If she is as smart as Urahara, perhaps she can do it in that matter of time.
- Maybe part of her Bankai training/test was to get over her denial?
- She still referred Aizen as 'Captain Aizen'. While she does good in coming up so far as joining the battle, I think there's just one TINY PART in her that she's not really completely over it (just 99% over). That, I think, would be what makes it impossible for her to attain Bankai if the test is 'get over her denial'. I'd seriously think if Hinamori was undergoing the same training like Ichigo, the materialization of Tobiume will force her to stop calling Aizen as 'Captain', at least just dropping the title rather than calling him "BASTARD", if she wants to 'pass the test'.
- Well she is a kido goddess, or maybe she did some inner mind training while in bed.
- Or maybe worse: His real plan is not to destroy Karakura town, but saturating it with spiritual particles, summoning something....
- The idea loses steam when you consider Orihime was crying out of her feelings for Ichigo. Coupled with all the subtext that Soi Fon's crush is one-sided (Yoruichi and Urahara act like a couple half the time), it's unlikely that these instances are anything more than token fanservice.
- True I know its just fanservice and I never said it was anything more than that. (Sorry for any misunderstanding) Though whether if Kubo would have done more if he could now thats the question.
- This, this, a thousand times this. Bleach is like Schlock Mercenary. It's a massive conflict primarily shown from the perspective of some of the more influential pawns.
- Given that the British Isles are pretty much paracanine-central (even if you only count the ones with names there's dozens of the things), it is possible that the old system is still in place there, rather than there being a local equivalent of shinigami.
- nWoD werewolves, anyone?
- Sirius was one of the predecessors of the shinigami, and his mission was to protect Harry Potter. He was hastily recalled back to the proto-Soul Society during the fight in the Ministry of Magic, and the veil was a disguised portal to the proto-Soul Society.
- Wolf was most probably a shinigami precursor, due to the fact that he often chased the malevolent souls of the dead away from the living.
- Ulquiorra said he never showed Aizen that. Doesn't mean Aizen never knew about it.
- Alternately: The Espada ranks were calculated with an average Bleach character in mind. Since Aizen was very thorough, this would undoubtedly include the often-excessive Chaste Hero tendencies. Thus, his reasoning was, if, say, Ichi were to have to fight Halibel, he would promptly be incapacitated by embarrassment and quite possibly a serious nosebleed. However, if we consider it from the perspective of Captain Shota, who has to put up with Matsumoto's constant booby harassment, one of Halibel's primary attack forms is useless, since he's been inoculated. Thus, against anyone but Hitsugaya, Halibel would actually have been stronger than Emocar. She just happened to get the wrong opponent.
- Hitsugaya did better than one would expect based on rank because his elemental powers match up well against Halibel's. And despite that, he didn't actually cause her any harm at all.
- You know what? This Troper believes you, and thinks it's true to at least some extent for the other two big and popular shonen, Naruto and One Piece. This is why I can't stand the bashing for Kishimoto and Kubo; having to keep drawing a series you obviously don't care about anymore for the sake of proffesionalism and keeping face would probably seriously suck, on top of the deadlines and crazy fans. Those guys are human too you know. You'd probably hate the situation enough to deliberately sabotage your own series too. (Although Oda seems to be dealing with it by making the pace insanely fast and resolving as much as possible in a relatively short period of time; you can still tell he wants it to end pretty soon without ruining the quality of the story.)
- It would also explain how he bypassed (unreleased) Yammy, Aaroniero, Szyael and Zomari, despite seeming less powerful than they are.
Unfortunately, as Shinigami become more powerful they also become more and more corrupted by the Eldritch Abomination, who's using them as a way to wear down the seal on its prison. While the King was somewhat protected from this influence, he saw how those who were empowered along side him and later were becoming corrupted. At some point, as the King and the other original Shinigami were becoming more and more corrupted, the newer shinigami realized what was happening and managed to Seal them away. The King, of course, realized this and went along with it, knowing he could only hold out against the Eldritch Abomination's influence for so long. This is the origin of the 0th division; they're not guards, but rather Shinigami who are becoming too powerful, and therefore too corrupted, and have to be sealed away as well.
Over time the King has become little more than an avatar of the Sealed Evil In A Can, and this is why no one has seen him. Aizen realized this, and began his entire plot as a way to create something that can fight the Eldritch Horror, namely the Arracanar and the Visored who are outside of its influence due to being part Hollow. Of course, Aizen is being manipulated by the Eldritch Horror to kill the king, thereby breaking the Seal and not only freeing the Eldritch Horror, but also breaking the Conduit, thereby rendering the Shinigami powerless to fight said Eldritch Horror.
- Actually, Dordonii is possibly dead, Unohana is in FKT now but it'd great to see them all again.
- This troper thinks Yammy, Starrk, Barragan and Halibel are Vasto Lordes, while Ulquiorra was an adjuchas who was close to becoming a Vasto Lorde when he Shinigamified. Yammy, Starrk, Barragan and Hallibel get one released form at Shinigamied-Vasto-Lorde level, espadas 5 and down get one release at Shinigamied-Adjuchas level, while Ulquiorra gets A Shinigamied-Adsjuchas release and the ability to temporarily upgrade to a Vasto-Lorde release.
- This troper would have to disagree. I mean, for one thing,if Grand Fisher had been adjuchas then our plucky hero would be extremely dead. I mean, even with a sword described as "blunted by anger" (not sure if it's literally blunt,, it is a zanpakuto) and more or less without using ki, ichigo manged to do serious damage to Grand Fisher. Meanwhile, to take down a mere Gillian, Ichigo had to use what appeared to be the ancestor of Getsuga Tenshou to even convince it to retreat, much less cause a major, apparent wound. Meanwhile, an adjuchas could probably easily defeat early Ichigo with one strike. Plus, even the screechy dude took down a couple of shinigami, the regular ones are basically short-ranged stormtroopers. And hiding? You don't know where they come out, and they can retreat whenever they want. It's not that hard to hide, especially if you can wound your pursuers.
- Kyon, you say?
- Alternatively, when Cain killed Abel, Abel's grief and rage over his murder by his brother led to him becoming the first Hollow. Cain was marked by God and told to wander the earth forever, hunting the twisted ghost of his brother, becoming the first Soul Reaper.
- Alternatively, Cain and Abel were actually the same person with split personality and... hang on. Wrong anime.
- A cero + Arrancar blood = Gran Ray Cero. Arrancar ? Visored. Getsuga Tensho ? Cero Oscuras. Ichigo's blood on his blade + Getsuga Tensho = ?
- Whatever the result, it'll be awesome.
When Wonderweiss is being turned into arrancar he is both human sized as well as covered in bandages for no explained reason. Also Wonderweiss's form is a child and he seems to be autistic or has some other mental disorder. Also it is possible Aizen took Wonderweiss by force and was injured.
- The "bandages" are apparently part of the Shinigamification process. Grand Fisher was similarly covered in bandages when he transformed into an Arrancar.
- This Troper approves!
- This. This Troper completely approves.
- Third. I've been thinking about this ever since the cover for chapter 228.
- I've been thinking about this ever since Bleach came out.
- What? She is, indeed, in "love" with Chad, too. Because she probably would love to call him nii-san in some fetishy fakecest or something.
- This could probably be a side-effect of Wild Mass Shipping blowing it out of proportion, but it is possible that Orihime is just plain confused as well.
- Doubtful. When Hollowfied Ichigo removes his mask, his Hollowfication ends instead of becoming more powerful. And Ichigo seems to be stepping into Quincy territory now.
- This will go on for several chapters only to turn out to have been a dream caused by Aizen's Absolute Hypnosis.
- I like the idea, but from the blood gushing out of the wound it can be seen that Aizen is only stabbing her the moment he says "Goodbye". Unless Aizen used his Zanpakutou to create the Illusion of the Blood to the reader, and this just doesn't make sense.
- Unless his powers extend to the real world... in which case we're all screwed.
- Or maybe she's not rebelling because she knows he'd use that against her (I'm assuming it's a she, since, you know, the manliest the shinigami, funnier is for him to have a female sword spirit). There's also the theory that she's Yachiru, so, Ken's sword spirit doesn't need to rebel, she already rules over her Shinigami!
- His Zanpakutou is a 'he'. Nnoitra refferred to it as such.
- I thought Nnoitra was a massive misogynist. It´d make sense to me for him to refer to any sword as male, because he can´t wrap his head around the idea of a female entity being used for battle.
- His Zanpakutou is a 'he'. Nnoitra refferred to it as such.
- Lol, I'd like to see that exchange:
- "How about a deal? I've got a healing technique that's so awesome it can heal any injury. Help me kill Barragan, and I'll give you back your arm!"
- "No."
- "NO? I've just offered to regrow your f*** ing severed arm and that's STILL not good enough for you?!"
- "Just following orders"? So were the Nazis. It didn't work in the Nuremberg trials, it won't work with the law-happy Soul Reaper Captain-General, and, hopefully, it won't work with Kubo.
- Way to Godwin the Bleach WMG section dude.
- Hey, I'm not the one who used the classic textbook "Nuremberg innocent plea".
- And it is true, he was a perfectly well-mannered guy who was just following orders - add a little something else to the mix and you can't really blame him for what he'd done or for switching sides now that Nnoitra is dead.
- ... no, no, I think we actually can blame him. He's a "perfectly well-mannered guy who was just following orders", he possibly feels attraction to Nnoitra, and he might end up switching sides? Or to put it another way, he's the sort of guy who's perfectly willing to torture and mutilate just because he was told to, is the sort of person who falls in love with murderous psychopaths, and is utterly faithless and only looking out for his own skin.
- I've got to say you lost me at "utterly faithless and only looking out for his own skin." As for bringing Ho Yay into the equation, that was a deliberate leap. This is just a WMG, after all. It's not as if we knew what his reasons were for following Nnoitra to begin with, and if he's "perfectly willing to torture and mutilate just because he was told to" depending on his alignment, well, it's not as though he'd be useless as an ally.
- Does it matter? You can blame any villain turned hero for their past acts. The whole point of the heel-face turn is that they're a goodguy now so they're giving a pass. This isn't an objection to the set up, but to the Heel–Face Turn.
- Way to Godwin the Bleach WMG section dude.
- Jossed. Nobody was there to heal him, he was sliced through the middle by Kenpachi Zaraki, and he was last seen bleeding to death.
- This Troper agrees, but believes that Grand Fisher was one of Aizen's experiments (like Metastacia), and that now the Lure and the Fisher are permanently seperate now. This Troper's own WMG is that the Lure is currently ranked 0 Espada.
- Byakuya says he only uses it on people he swears to kill with his own hands, so it's unlikely that Kaien would walk away with his life.
- So Shinigami are Saiyans? It explains so much!
- I'm afraid that I haven't watched DBZ. Care to explain that comment?
- In DBZ the Saiyans gain tons of power by fighting in life and death situations, they get stronger by fighting, the harder the fight, the higher the power gain.
- Maybe, but it still works. Ichigo trains with Urahara for ten days. His main improvement is harnessing his resolve and Shikai. He fights with Renji - a serious fight and jumps to vice-captain+ level immediately. He fights with Zaraki and jumps to captain level. When Zangetsu pushes him to the limit, he obtains Bankai. Next, his training with Hiyori. He trained for what, a month? Eleven seconds is the result. After that he goes to Hueco Mundo and couple of hours(and a few serious fights) later he is able to maintain his mask for the entirety of the fight. He dies a few times and gets Uber-Hollow form.
- Take into account that Ichigo has a part of nearly every important plot species inside his soul. He's part human, hollow (Aizen's failed hollowfication "White"), Quincy (from his mother's side), Soul Reaper (from dad, Rukia, the 13 Gotei, AND his own), and Fullbringer.
- I'm afraid that I haven't watched DBZ. Care to explain that comment?
Copy of post in Fanfiction (one of my own):
Yes, he did live...but he went 'dust to dust' at the end of the next chapter. It is interesting though: Ulquiorra has had such a heavy impact on the story, but none of his backstory has ever been dwelled on. Call this an insane theory, but based on appearance (the bat wings) it could be possible that Ulquiorra will even surprise himself, and come back from even this 'demise', just like Dracula. Dracula had a nasty habit of returning from the dead, so Ulquiorra could do the same thing.
That is just my thinking, and I believe that if he were to return from the dead, he'll introduce the trope 'Anyone can Die' into Bleach, since up to this point, only Hollows and Arrancar have died in this war. Also, Kubo gave Ulquiorra one heck of a moveset, a second release form, and unbelievable power right before Ichigo's hollow side showed itself in full force, so he couldn't have just killed off Ulquiorra like that. I think there are special plans for Ulquiorra in the upcoming manga...that is, if my theory is right.
End Copy.
What I am trying to say here (and will be repeated below), is that Kubo couldn't have put such an importance and attention on Ulquiorra in the story line, and give him such a power up just for him to wind up as Hollow Ichigo's cannon fodder for him to die just like that (we've been shown Yammy a lot too, and look at what has happened - he's the Cero Espada.) Besides, if he is able to use Lanza del Relámpago (or Rods of God, as I call them) at least up to 3 times in a row as if he was using a ordinary cero, he must have had a much powerful weapon up his sleeve that Hollow Ichigo didn't give him the time to use.
Another Copy from Deviantart post:
To all those who are a fan of Bleach, I think that it is possible that Ulquiorra will be coming back to life. Far-fetched, considering the destruction given to him by Hollow Ichigo, but with his abilities, quite possible. Let us just assume that Ulquiorra has never in his entire life been injured while he was in Resurrecion Segunda Espada, so he bases the limits of his healing abilities on his First Stage, where we can safely assume he is weaker than those Espada #3 onward. Saying that, we could assume that in his Second Stage, his regeneration capabilites are strong enough to the point that he'll be able to regenerate from the ashes.
- I personally think he was purified, because as I recall, purified Hollows just kind of...ceased to exist. So he may come back, in Soul Society, maybe as a human. Or, Orihime could just whisk him back to life, which could maybe happen. Maybe.
- The wings were a matter of looking cool and menacing. Dracula is a massive stretch. It's also worth noting that Ulquiorra's back story is completely irrelevant. Unlike most characters, who need to have back story crammed in at the last minute, what is truly important about Ulquiorra is how far he has come, not where he started. I can't see his flashback as being anything more than another villainous monologue about how humans are trash, Aizen is awesome, etc. Kubo obviously doesn't mind killing off people he's put work into, as evidenced by the recent demise of a Vizard who just barely got to show off his powers before he got the axe. That Ulquiorra is reduced to using the Lanza like it's going out of style tells me that it was indeed Ulquiorra's trump card, and he had fallen back on it out of desperation. If he had something better, he certainly would have used it. It's a stretch to think Ulquiorra wouldn't be a proper judge of his own body. For someone who regularly regrows parts of himself, who better to make the call that his body is finally failing him? That he dissolves into ash, just when it seems his limbs are coming back in fine, suggests this is true. His body simply doesn't have enough juice left to go on. It tried. It failed. And now Ulquiorra is dead. God willing, he'll stay that way.
Partly because it is Aizen, since he as backup plans overlaying backup plans, but I highly doubt that Orihime can negate the Hogyoku from existence, as she believes after Aizen shows it to her. If Aizen knew that Orihime's powers can erase the Hogyoku, I don't think he would show it to her until he wanted her to heal it (although he reveals he only took her to lure Ichigo and Co and four captains to Las Noches and imprison them there). To get to my point: Orihime can most likely only erase negative events that occur to an object, and not erase it from existence, as all of Aizen's 'phenomenon rejection' talk led her to believe, and she'll only wind up fixing the hogyoku as he originally verbally stated to her.
- I sort of agree with this. My own personal theory about it is that Aizen is planning on Orihime betraying him and trying to use her power to reject Hougyoku from existence. How would that work to his advantage? The way I look at how Orihime's power works it is that she rejects the event from the timeline - but it happens gradually. Sort of like like a "fast backward". So if Orihime tried to erase the Hougyoku, she'd slowly make it regress into the past - her intention being to regress it back to where it doesn't exist. But that's not what will happen. Aizen will stop her at the moment when Hougyoku is regress to awakenening. This will give him a fully awakened Hougyoku at his hands and it'll fit his status as The Chessmaster.
- I was begining to think I was the only one who thought this! I mean, c'mon, Aizen spouted all that stuff about rejecting the will of god, and then with practically his next breath "Oh, and here's my nearly drained MacGuffin over here, it'd be very bad for me if this was erased, oh yes!" And as far as I can remeber, we only have his word for what her powers actually are. Gee, couldn't possibly be a trick. Not coming from The Chessmaster!
- I think Orihime truly wasn't afraid, but I'm more than sure she didn't really forgive him, it was more like what Winry told Scar in Fullmetal Alchemist after he asked whether she forgave him or not- a no, but she was sympathetic. Orihime is kind, she hates people dying or getting hurt, so it makes sense that she would feel like she needed to give Ulquiorra something to cherish in his last moments...I guess.
- Ever heard of a white lie? Because compassion could be a good motivation for telling lies, worrying about the truth being too painful for others. Interpreting it like that, in Orihime's mind, she wouldn't want Ulquiorra to think she was scared of him, in fear of him dying without a heart.
- This WMG makes sense because, Harribel appears to be the most noble of the espada. Also considering the fact that Kenpachi is a good guy Grimmjow could definitely do a Heel–Face Turn.
- Worst part? Now that Aizen betrayed her trust by cutting her (she's not shown dying and saying something like "I'll reunite with my friends", just being cut, thus, giving the suspense of still having a chance to be healed), it makes this theory even more likely. And I'm going to gloat. Yes, I am.
- The defeat order is mostly according to decreasing numerical value, but it does occasionally jump around (9, 6, 7, 8, 5, 4, 2 1, 3), making it hard to pin down, especially since almost half of the time, the Espada that was defeated was lower-ranked than the last one.
- Complicating things a bit is the Two Lines, No Waiting nature of these episodes. Whose to say that Mayuri beat #8 before Kenpachi beat #5?
- This WMG makes sense because, Harribel appears to be the most noble of the espada. Also considering the fact that Kenpachi is a good guy Grimmjow could definitely do a Heel–Face Turn.
- You know, that actually makes a lot of sense. Once again, brilliance occurs in WMG.
- Aizen does in fact say that he set up a puppet show in Central 46. To quote "illusion of the 46 chambers holding a meeting, alive and well".
- Darn, and I really thought I might've been onto something.
- You probably are; This Troper's interpretation was always that the 'illusion' in question was that someone was sending orders from the place (where no one else was allowed) to make it seem like there were still 46 officials holding meetings.
- Jossed: There are actually TWO (or Three) ways Kyoka can be negated if you go by what the characters have explicitly stated in their own words.
- 1) Mentioned by Genryuusai Shigekuni Yamamoto when he stated that, while he may be fooled by the ambient ability of Kyoka, he CANNOT mistake the "...Spritual Pressure that's stabbing [him] in the gut..."
- 2) Called to attention when Unohana tells Ichigo that he is their ace in the hole because he is the only person who hasn't seen Kyoka. The abilities of the sword will not work on someone who hasn't seen its released form to begin with. (someone like Keigo for example)
- 3) Finally called out by Gin when he reveals that Aizen told him the weakness of Kyoka Suigetsu.
- Darn, and I really thought I might've been onto something.
This is Aizen after all. Granted neither he (or was he?) nor Yamamoto were expecting the Vizard s to show up. But his side has still been doing fairly well despite the shinigami having the advantage in numbers. I can just imagine Aizen, following the defeat of the Espada saying to the utterly exhausted Captains gathered: "Congratulations, you've defeated my Espada and in doing so given me exactly what I wanted. So long suckers!"
Jossed: That's not how you create the King's Key. They all died, more because Aizen decided they were expendable
40: The Lust(Ulquiorra cover)
"I envy because of the heart. I glutton because of the heart. I covet because of the heart. I am prideful because of the heart. I sloth because of the heart. I rage because of the heart. Because of the heart, I lust for everything about you."
ULQUIORRA SAYS THIS!! Is this seriously the direction Kubo's taking with our favourite stoic Espada should he live? Personally, I don't accept the fact of Ulquiorra becoming so soft because of Inoue of all people (she needed a toddler to talk her out of her fear of Ichigo for all that is SANE!!) Due to the chapters, I, personally, believe he merely is speaking of the flaws of the heart, and how they affect humanity, as the Seven deadly sins, and possibly Ichigo and Co to an extent, because to me, Ulquiorra would use knowledge of the heart to harm people emotionally, and psychologically. Please post which characters in your opinion are affected by each sin in the discussion thread.
- It could be Ichigo's friends' feelings about life, to remind him that he had friends to protect.
- Envy is about Keigo, as he envies Ichigo, somehow.
- Gluttony is about Orihime, as she eats a lot.
- Avarice is about Mizuiro; I don't know, he doesn't really fit anything else in this list, but at least he looks a bit richer than the others.
- Pride is about Uryuu, obviously, due to the Quincy Pride.
- Sloth is about Sado; he doesn't really fit any, but...
- Ire is about Tatsuki, really obvious to this point, if you have seen her reactions.
- Lust is about Chizuru, as she lusts for... Orihime. But she still counts.
- Not impossible, but about 99.999% unlikely. To date, the poem has ALWAYS corresponded to the picture above it. Even on those occasions when the poem was about a subject different from the covers (such as the one that was about Ichigo's mask, despite Yoruichi on the cover, the picture above the poem was changed to reflect its subject. Ulquiorra was above the poem. The poem represents Ulquiorra. That's all there is to it. Get over it. "softened up" by character development plenty of fans saw coming, so it hardly seems criminal. Besides, I can't help but notice that the fans who pretend to be outraged by Ulquiorra's "softening" up tend to have the most peculiar trait of sharing a common shipping bias that would make them very desperately want Ulquiorra to be evil , so...
- Considering Ichigo has shown himself to be able to track spirit energy very precisely that wouldn't surprise me.
- Isshin occupies a gigai. Despite being a faux body, it's still alive.
- Makes sense- she does have the power to do anything she wants- so her (whether it be consciously or unconciously) boosting his powers is not that too much of a stretch.
- So he's pulling powers out of HER ass? Eeeeew.
My theory is that Ichigo will learn to tap into his Hollow powers for high speed regeneration. This will allow for him to use that speed once again - his bones will simply mend as he fights.
- The actual quote is that he shouldn't use his bankai "where others can see", which implies that it involves some sort of forbidden technique.
- Maybe his bankai works similarly to Kyouka Suigetsu, in that everyone who sees the release is affected. So Ukitake meant that he literally shouldn't use it if there is someone other than the enemy around.
- Depending on the translation it can also be "Your bankai is not something to be used out in the open like this", "Your bankai isn't something that should be used in a place like this where people will see it" or "That bankai of yours shouldn't be revealed with these many eyes lurking about". The implication seems to be that it's all those things - dangerous to people around, something that should remain secret(or is forbidden somehow) or it could work similarly to Kyouka Suigetsu. Really, it's hard to tell what exactly will that thing do, except that it will probably be badass.
- Read description above. If it's not Muramasa himself, it'll make me a sad panda.
- But if Kenpachi's zanpakuto is revealed in a filler arc, either it can't be introduced in the manga or Kubo will have to shoehorn in another battle... then again, maybe that won't be any different from normal.
Thus, when the next round of power upgrades comes along, Quincy Final Form will become a regular occurrence to Ishida. Every time he uses it, he'll just go back to Orihime so that she may restore his powers and use it again. Or maybe this Final Form-Restore-Final Form-Restore etc. cycle will mean that Ishida's powers will evolve to the point where he will have some sort of a permanent Final Form.
- This troper has always felt that Ishida should be able to use Final Form permanently...if only he were dead. It's specifically mentioned that his human body is the limiting factor on it, so if he didn't have one of those...
- Confirmed, at least Yhwach believes so.
- That's actually savvy enough to make sense.
- Still, if this were the case, it's strange that he would kill Harribel himself rather than say, after the heroes killed her, "Congratulations, this was all part of my plan," like he did after Nnoitra's defeat.
One more thing! Ichigo have never, ever seen Aizen releasing his zanpakutou, or seen his illusions. And even if he seen, who would be sure that he wouldn't track it as an illusion? If there's another clue, it would be his refined spiritual track. Aizen couldn't fool it.
Maybe it's a crazy theory, but if it manages to make sense in someone's mind, go ahead to comment and give mmore basis.
- While I doubt that Ichigo has an illusion-type, the fact you mentioned that Ichigo has never seen Aizen's release made this troper realize something: it's a bit of a stretch, but it might end up being that it'll be up to Team Karakura (i.e. Ichigo, Chad, Ishida and Orihime) to defeat Aizen in the end, since none of them have ever seen Aizen's release and would initially be immune to his illusions. While doubtful, it'd bring an earlier concept full circle (what with the four of them having initially teamed up to infiltrate Soul Society) and be delightfully ironic that, despite having somehow planned for every contingency, Aizen is ultimately undone by a bunch of highschoolers.
- Wait, wouldn't he just reseal his sword and the re-release it, thereby making sure everyone sees his release and is under his power? It's not like he can only do it once or something.
- In this latest chapter, Unohana pretty much says that Ichigo is the only one capable of defeating Aizen because he hasn't seen the shikai. That and he must not see it, at all, no matter what. And in response to the above idea, it depends on how quickly Aizen can do it and whether or not he's willing to risk dispelling an illusion for the sake of one (or four) high schoolers.
- It seems Aizen has not planned for every contingency indeed- Shinji has revealed that his zanpakuto is also a "control the five senses" sword, though presumably of a different type than Aizen's given its unusual name (his sword is named after rubbing a cat the wrong way, whereas Aizen's is named after idioms for things that can never be seen.).
- Maybe Shinji has a Brown Note zanpakuto?
- A crazy theory I know, but I doubt miss Fanservice(One of them) was killed like that. I think that she might somehow come into play over the next few battles.
- Perhaps she gives her life to save Stark, reinforcing his whole "loneliness" thing.
- I don't recall seeing Starrks guns much in the final battle, and we just can't have the Primeria get killed by a Shikai! Perhaps she can serve as the pairs Soul Jar? Then they could pull a Heel–Face Turn and have all kinds of Shinigami friends to keep those Lonely at the Top feelings away!
- I second this motion.
- Ishida, Renji, BYAKUYA, Grimmjow, Emocar. Aloof, Hot-headed, Aloof, Hot-headed, Aloof. Next up still be "Hot-headed".
- Why do people always forget Kenpachi?
- And Ikkaku.
The true Espada.
- I can only see Aizen having an army of Vasto Lordes instead.
Here's my theory. Two incarnations ago Ichigo became a Hollow and went all the way to becoming a Vasto Lorde. Eventually he was purified and sent to Soul Society, becoming one of the Shinigami. He became a captain of the 10th or the 11th and eventually died - fifteen or so years ago, just in time for his reincarnation.
When Ichigo became a Hollow-Shinigami hybrid in the Shattered Shaft training, he started to awaken two sources of his power. One - his Shinigami power, which just an incarnation before was captain level. And two - his Hollow power, which two incarnations before was Vasto Lorde level. This is the reason as to why Ichigo has so much power and an incredible level of growth - he's not actually "learning" how to use his power but rather he's remembering it, unearthing buried memories.
Thus, it wasn't really Shirosaki(maybe he played a part, but it wasn't all him) who protected Orihime. This awakening of power that I mentioned eventually culimanted after Ulquiorra killed Ichigo. That event was him reverting to his former personality, so to speak, and pounding Ulquiorra into the ground with all the might that a Vasto Lorde/Captain Shinigami hybrid can bring on.
- While this troper suspects that this theory is unlikely to be true, it'd be brilliant if it was since it a) explains a heck of a lot, b) would be awesome, and c) would lead to some rather interesting reactions if/when there was a reveal.
- I find this to be a very interesting theory as well. But since I think about it, Hollow Ichigo's immense power may actually come from feeding on the excess energy Ichigo doesn't use, mimicking a normal hollow's growth, while the small amount that does escape is Ichigo's leaking reiatsu. This is taking into assumption that Ichigo's dad was once a member of Squad 0 some point in the past.
Conclusion: Aizen has set himself up in the eyes of the Soul Society as being pure malevolent Evil for Evil's Sake style super-villian with the events surrounding his departure from Soul Society, so a You Have Failed Me style assasination of the last Espada doesn't seem out of character for him. He slashes Harribel, has his Zanpaktou razzle-dazzle everyone, then leaves Gin (who's in on The Plan) to help keep-up the illusion while he slips out through a Garganta un-noticed on his way to the Real Karakura town to enact his Master Plan. (Where he will have to face-off against Squad 0, the Royal Guard.)
- There is already a weakness to Kyoka Suigetsu- the victim has to see the sword being released- and Ichigo hasn't seen its release, he probably will be able to fight Aizen without succumbing to its effects.
Cut back to the living world, the reincarnated captains, vizored, Rukia and Renji our living out their lives rather well (again, with the villians probably getting a karmic fate). I'm not sure which side Ichigo would end up on, but he'd probably end fine either way.
But wait, didn't he kill Sode no Shirayuki? Ah, but when Senbonzakura commented that "a Shinigami is nothing without their zanpakuto", it didn't seem to bother him too much. Then, when delivering the remains of her zanpakuto to Rukia, he only said "Stay out of this fight." Combine this with a few facts from regular canon: Byakuya's never seemed thrilled about Rukia taking on assignments and he's gone out of his way to ensure that Rukia doesn't get promoted so she doesn't get involved in more dangerous missions.
It adds up to indicate that Byakuya has never really liked Rukia placing herself in danger as a Shinigami, but didn't want to explicitly force her out of service and was too late to prevent her becoming a Shinigami in the first place. So now he does the next best thing; he destroys her zanpakuto so she has no choice but to retire.
This troper is betting that the two times Rukia is about to be attacked in 241 (when Senbonzakura does it and then when the rest of the zanpakuto join in), he would've stepped up to prevent it had Renji and the Black Ops, respectively, not jumped in. When this is revealed, he'll likely say something along the lines of "You can have Soul Society if you want...but Rukia is OFF LIMITS."
All that needs to happen for the 3rd dance Shirafune to be performed somehow and she'll be as good as new or at least in a not so dead state..maybe.
- Wasn't Gabriel his contingency plan?
- Ichigo's hollow really didn't manifest itself and take over Ichigo until he learned Bankai, so this could work if Rukia acheives Bankai (she has to in order to keep up).
- Its seems to be that Hollows increase in power by absorbing souls because they can't increase their power through training or just working at it, like Shinigami or spiritually empowered humans such as the Quinces or Chad & Orihime can. If thats right it means that Inner-Hollows gain power both ways, through the absorbations of external sources of power and through training because of their Shinigami parent-soul. Thus as Ichigo got stronger, so did his Inner-Hollow.
- This would make sense, since it´s shown in Ichigo´s first battle with Kenpachi, after he asks Zangetsu to lend his power and help him become stronger, that Old Man Zangetsu and Shirosaki have always been 2 sides of the same coin. As Shirosaki dissipates, he tells Old Man Zangetsu to make Ichigo as strong as he can, because all that power is going to be his [Shirosaki] someday.
- 10: Yammy: Mid-level Adjuchas Arrancar (changes with release)
- 9: Aaroniero: Extremely High-level Gillian
- 8: Szayel: Mid-level Adjuchas
- 7: Zommari: Mid-level Adjuchas
- 6: Grimmjow: High-Level Adjuchas
- 5: Nnoitra: High-level Adjuchas
Now onto the ones heavily speculated as Vasto Lordes:
- 4: Ulquiorra: Mid-Level Vasto Lordes (sacrificed power for regeneration, true potential shown in Second Release, exceeding all other Espada)
- 3: Tia Harribel: Low-Level Vasto Lordes
- 2: Barragan: Low-level Vasto Lordes (ability makes this debatable)
- 1: Starrk: Low-Mid-Level Vasto Lordes
Now, to discuss Wonderweiss and Ulquiorra:
Ulquiorra Second-release: Mid-level Vasto Lordes (evidence suggests power exceeds his "superiors"), maybe matching or even exceeding Aizen.
Wonderweiss Margera: Mid-level Vasto Lordes (One-shotted Jushiro Ukitake, fighitng Kensei's bankai and hasn't released yet, Starrk considers his presence as Aizen getting impatient
Now, onto a unique subject, and that is... Hollow Ichigo as of chapter 350.
Hollow Ichigo: Equivalent to High-level Vasto Lordes: Easily defeated Second Release Ulquiorra without breaking a sweat
If this theory is true, we've yet to truly see the upper class Vasto Lordes in action, besides Wonderweiss and Ulquiorra.
It's true that Halibel was a weak VL, she said it herself because she refused to consume hollows.
- That idea has been used a fair few times in fanfic so if it does happen in canon there's going to be a lot of people saying they called it.
- It could attest to the immense power these three possess, similar to Toshiro and Yamamoto's zanpakutos.
- It could be referencing that they're just that Hot-Blooded, and not any particular indication of spiritual power.
- It could be something to do with one's "spirit type" (like the shape of a zanpakuto spirit or Hollow form).
- Such as their demon-spirit part. Kenpachi's been called a demon before, it's been guessed in WMG that Ichigo is part demon, and it might explain why Yachiru is... well, I'll just say "pretty much uncontested".
- This WMG obviously takes its main inspiration from Hollow Ichigo's words and actions. However, it is also interesting to note that when someone uses Bankai, they tend to take on aspects of their Zanpakuto spirit's appearance. This is similar to an Arrancar's release, which simply allows them to restore their Hollow forms over their humanoid forms. This may also have something to do with the new filler arc, in which the Zanpakuto spirits are in humanoid forms (though they seem to be able to take their previous/Bankai forms).
- We see in the Thousand Year Blood War Arc that Ichigo's true Zanpakuto is the same as his inner hollow....so that makes this theory confirmed. Wow.
- This WMG also suggests that the Spirits shown in the Muramasa arc are similar to Arrancar in this regard, and that a soul is more likely to become a strong Shinigami if it was/is a purified Hollow. Which, in turn, could be why some Shinigami such as Toshiro and Ichigo are so powerful at a relatively young age.
- A couple things which could back up this possibility: When Shinigami release their swords, their swords which transform. When Arrancar release their swords, they transform. Also, each Arrancar appears to have some unique trait or skill (Starrk's soul-splitting ability, Aaroniero's ability to absorb the powers of other hollows), while their swords seem to have no real distinguishing traits except for being different sizes and shapes. With Shinigami it's basically the opposite way round, with each sword having a unique power and the wielder being 'ordinary' (for a given value of ordinary, at least).
- Kenpachi will be the key to victory because he's Kenpachi.
- Kyoraku seems to wager a lot on making Kenpachi more powerful, enough that he is willing to sacrifice one of the strongest captains in Gotei 13.
- Isshin is implied to be a former captain-level Shinigami, now living in the human world.
- The Quincy were almost entirely wiped out by the Shinigami, with the exception of Ishida Ryuuken and Ishida Uryuu.
- Both Ishidas, as much as they hate each other, have expressed even greater disdain for the Shinigami. Ryuuken even puts a condition on restoring Uryuu's powers, that he never interact with the Shinigami or their friends ever again.
- And yet, we see Ryuuken and Isshin talking with each other like old acquaintances. Not necessarily friends, but Ryuuken isn't outwardly angry at Isshin's presence either.
The questions that these facts raise are:
- How did the Ishida family survive the massacre?
- Why did Isshin get kicked out of Soul Society?
- Why does Ryuuken accept Isshin's presence?
The one explanation that answers all of these questions at once is: Isshin helped the Ishidas escape, and was exiled when he was found out. This would be a pretty interesting backstory, and I hope it will get explored once they finally wrap up this whole Aizen business.
- Minor nitpick: We're not sure when the massacre happened, but it was certainly before Uryuu was born. It's sort of implied that it was when Soken (Uryuu's grandfather) was in his prime, which means Ryuuken may or may not have been alive. If he was, it may partially explain his sour feelings towards being a quincy.
- It was probably way earlier. Rukia, who is around eighty years old, hasn't even heard of Quincies before Ishida.
- Rukia's more like 150, so yeah, definitely before any of the Quincies we know of were even born.
- It's not a question of how old Rukia is, but rather how long she has been a Shinigami. After all, we wouldn't expect her to have heard about the Quincies while living in the slums. If the massacre happened 40 years ago, there's no reason to assume that Rukia would have heard about it.
- Minor nitpick: We're not sure when the massacre happened, but it was certainly before Uryuu was born. It's sort of implied that it was when Soken (Uryuu's grandfather) was in his prime, which means Ryuuken may or may not have been alive. If he was, it may partially explain his sour feelings towards being a quincy.
Jossed. Isshin met Ryuuken after the Quincy genocide, and he was surprised that Quincies still exist.
Joking aside, Unohana has probably figured out some way to see past Kyoka Suigetsu's ability and will be the first person to get in a hit on Aizen.
- It's Confirmed she has. She knows how to completely bypass it. I think this counts as a Moment of Awesome for Unohana
- And now she's heading for where Aizen is. Maybe her Big Fight will be against Aizen himself?
- You realize that by putting Unohana's name in the same sentence with "hit on Aizen" you just gave every shipper from here to the moon something to misinterpret, right?
- Oh, God! What Have I Done?
- Too late. I bet it's one-sided... From his part. How else would he avoid hurting her?
- Oh, God! What Have I Done?
- Only problem with that last part is that Tousen hated Grimmjow before Wonderweiss even existed. But the rest.. never thought of that before...
- Fridge Brilliance for this Troper: Tousen hates Grimmjow's guts because Grimmjow represents Destruction, and Tousen wants peace. One can see how those 2 'ideals' wouldn't exactly see eye-to-eye.
- Senkaimon can be opened with Zanpakutou like a key opens a door, so it would only make sense if the Zanpakutou!King's Key opened a portal to the Royal Realm in the same manner.
- It's actually Orihime's hairpins. If you haven't watched Scooby-Doo (or any show that features lock picking), you won't understand the joke.
A member of Squad 0 reveals that the King's Key is a power, embedded into the squad members' bones, which allows them to travel to the King's palace and bring guests along.
- That...makes...SENSE! Aizen's got so much spiritual pressure, like Kenpachi and Ichigo, he could never shut off his Shikai. His command only shatters the illusion currently shown, and he merely has to draw his sword for it to re-activate it. In other words, Ichigo's already been exposed. It can go like this:Ichigo's blade passes through Aizen.Ichigo: Wha-?!Aizen appears behind Ichigo, stabbing him.Aizen: The command I give only shatters the illusion my blade creates. Not once, have I never had to speak a command to activate the illusions.Ichigo: What...you mean...?Aizen: Yes, Kyoka Suigetsu is a Full-Time release Zanpakuto.Everyone at FKT looks on in shock as Aizen tears his sword out of Ichigo, and follows him as he hits the groundAizen: You've been under my spell ever since I tried to cut you in half at the Sokyoku.Ichigo has a flashback of his failed attack against Aizen.Ichigo's thoughts: But that means...I never had any advantage to begin with!Aizen: You still haven't learn that lesson, have you? No matter how much determination you have, no matter how much you want to win, no matter how much you believe you have to win, the difference in our powers...is just too great.
- The fact that he never gives a command doesn't prove much, however. It's shown in the Byakuya vs. Renji fight that a side-effect of achieving Bankai is that you become able to release your Shikai without a command.
- Aizen's shikai does have a release command. The command is "Shatter".
- What the guy above you meant was that Aizen no longer needs to say "Shatter" to activate his Shikai.
- Remember who said that Orihime could reject anything: Aizen himself. Aizen, the same man who played Soul Society like his own puppet show for over 100 years, able to predict any outcome, even up to the point where he has to use his insane power to crush the opposition. Who is to say that he didn't just lie to Orihime about her power? He told her it defied the powers of God, able to reject anything out of existence. Her power itself only stated "Return an object to it's original state before it was damaged". The sprites themselves said it only repairs damage does to an object, such as the Hogyoku weakening due to use. So Aizen's only tricking Orihime into believing she can destroy the Hogyoku, only for her to repair it.
- We can only hope.
- Hope or naivety? Tsubaki is a cutting tool. I wouldn't be surprised if the moment the Hogyoku was pierced by Tsubaki it goes KABOOM!! and levels everything within at most a 100-km radius of Las Noches, Hollow and Shinigami alike, like a nuclear bomb. If it was as simple as that, Urahara would have destroyed it years ago; it's not that he couldn't destroy it, it is just that he had yet to find a safe way of doing it. The hogyoku is made of some pretty volatile stuff, for it to break the borders between Shinigami and hollows. Plus, you are forgetting the kind of man Aizen is; he wouldn't have ever shown Orihime the Hogyoku unless he was positive it would fit into his plan ie. she winds up healing it instead of destroying it, since Aizen lied to her about her power being "god-like", and she can't revert anything out of existence, only restore to its original state.
- I thought Tsubaki 'rejected something by cutting it in half', and I'm pretty sure no one else has something that could literally reject something from existence like that, not even Urahara. So, it's probably the best bet to destroy the Hou-whatsit, unless her powers are exactly what Aizen stated.
- That's the word: "Cut". The same way Hacchi's technique could cut off those Gillian's heads, and a force field when activated with someone on the barrier edge getting sliced in half. It is basically a flying blade, so it = zanpakuto = KABOOM when used on Hogyoku, if it could pierce it. There would have to be a defined limit to what she can heal or block, since her healing ability was slowed by Ulquiorra's reiatsu when healing Ichigo's first hole in his first fight with #4, we should assume that her powers are only effective to a certain extent, when there isn't a superior reiatsu covering the target, wound, or present in the attack. If that is true, her power would be rendered just about redundant by most enemies (since never once has Orihime's shield been shown to block a Cero, only physical attacks, and even then is it never expected). To be frank, if anyone knew how Orihime's power operated, a foe who knew Shunpo or Sonido would kill her in one strike, since she wouldn't be able to see them move (I don't know how she followed Ulquiorra, since he's a different level than her by galaxies, though I like to assume that there were a few seconds where Ulquiorra was visible behind Ichigo before striking, and she threw up the shield then), since her reiatsu levels are most likely even below Hanataro, a seated officer, and nothing compared to the big hitters currently on the fields of battles. She conceivably has the lowest reiatsu levels of all the named characters in the series (inculding those who have yet to unlock their potential ie. Keigo, Tatsuki and Mizuiro).
- So, my Bleach Databook book says that Orihime's power is to 'the power to reject the fusion of matter and split it', which, as I am led to believe, as it splits it, it simultaneously destroys its matter and therefore, it. So, there would be no kaboom, it would just...cease to be. Tsubaki is for one-hit kills, and if Orihime really wants something gone, it's going to be gone. To say she doesn't have much reiatsu (less than Tatsuki and the gang? I think not) has generally been proven to be false, she has enough strength and presumably, reiatsu, to contain Ichigo -who was actively trying to get out and is a captain class shinigami- in her healing shield, she withstood ceros from both a released Ulquiorra and a form of Ichigo's that was beating the shit out of Ulqui and she was close enough to Ichigo (and by extension, the fight and cero orgins) that she could hear him speak, so, if her powers can withstand so much, who's to say she can't destroy something like that? I'm quite sure the Hougyoku doesn't make its own reiatsu, so...yeah. All the girl needs is enough motivation, and the Hougyoku is gone.
- Well, Orihime can always use the Shield-Shield to contain the Hougyoku, and cut it in pieces with inside the shield with Tsubaki. Even if it goes KABOOM, there'll be a barrier to avoid any injuries to the others. In theory, Orihime is smart enough to do so. The worst thing that could happen is her shield to leak a bit of the effects and tranform her (and whoever is near her at the time, possibly Ishida and Chad) in Vizards or something.
- In essence, Tsubaki separates the atoms she attacks, but even if that's so, it wouldn't negate the Hogyoku exploding, since there'd still be two halves of unknown substance waiting to explode, since who knows what that stuff is at the center. Ichigo wasn't even trying to break out of her healing shield; it just sparked, and knocked his outstretched hand back. If he wanted to, he could have probably smashed his way out easily, the same way Kenpachi broke it with his foot. As to Tatsuki and the others, they'd probably have more reiatsu after they unlock their potential, due to being around Ichigo more, especially Tatsuki, since she knew Ichigo since he was was child, but not before. You could have a point, but her shield was never hit directly by said attacks; all they were ever hit with was by the wind kicked up by those attack, which otherwise would have blew her and Ishida off the dome, so containing a explosion wiping out Las Noches is out of the question.
- As I recall, Ichigo was trying to get out of her shield, first he outstretched his hand, then he hit the shield, intending to break it and protect Orihime/Nel/Yachiru/everyone. But he couldn't, indicating that Orihime really wanted him healed and protected, and if she wants something, she will make it happen. Also, judging by the sheer volume of the ceros thrown by Ichigo and Ulqui, they probably encountered her shield a few times (plus that massive explosion that Ulqui intiated by cutting Ichibull's horn off) and she came out the only one completely unscratched.
- I don't think he intended to break it; he didn't want her getting in Nnoitra's way, who would have killed her with a flick of his wrists (one of them), which is what was going through Ichigo's mind at the moment. Besides, if Kenpachi didn' t intervene at that moment to attack Nnoitra, Yachiru may have shown how strong she is, since she didn't seem fazed at Nnoitra.
- I figured she configured the thing to reject hollows, and Ichigo was pushed away because he's becoming more and more hollow-like.
- If your theory is correct, then that would mean, that eventually, the Soten Kisshun will refuse to heal Ichigo, because of how much like a Hollow he has become. Could you imagine Orihime's reaction if that were so?
- The Hollow thing could make sense, but perhaps not- she was able to heal Grimmjow quickly and effectively, giving him his arm and status back. However, it could be that Ichigo just has a much stronger reiatsu than Grimmjow, which in turn makes him harder to heal as his own Hollow reiatsu is presumably stronger than Grimmjow's. I still think it was just her subconscious will to protect him that kept him in that barrier. Her powers are connected to her emotional well-being and will, so if her will is dead set on Ichigo staying in the barrier, I don't think he'd be able to get out.
- By that logic, Ichigo is more of a hollow than an actual hollow!
- Dude, in Bleach, anything is possible! But, yeah, anyways, I'm sorry, I didn't explain myself. I meant that Ichigo has stronger reiatsu (presumably than Grimmjow, seeing how he beat him and curb stomp battled Ulquiorra) and so his reiatsu from his Hollow side would be proportionally bigger than Grimmy's altogether, making him harder to heal. I'll fix my mistake.
- Hope or naivety? Tsubaki is a cutting tool. I wouldn't be surprised if the moment the Hogyoku was pierced by Tsubaki it goes KABOOM!! and levels everything within at most a 100-km radius of Las Noches, Hollow and Shinigami alike, like a nuclear bomb. If it was as simple as that, Urahara would have destroyed it years ago; it's not that he couldn't destroy it, it is just that he had yet to find a safe way of doing it. The hogyoku is made of some pretty volatile stuff, for it to break the borders between Shinigami and hollows. Plus, you are forgetting the kind of man Aizen is; he wouldn't have ever shown Orihime the Hogyoku unless he was positive it would fit into his plan ie. she winds up healing it instead of destroying it, since Aizen lied to her about her power being "god-like", and she can't revert anything out of existence, only restore to its original state.
- I think now you're talking in relation to the fandom as a whole.
- Given what Mayuri's research entails, this would not be a positive development for them.
- Unless he uses less invasive methods, like he did with Ishida, He wouldn't risk losing such precious subjects so carelessly. Also, have you seen Chad somewhere?
- Five bucks says it's Dordonii and Cirucci.
- Unless he uses less invasive methods, like he did with Ishida, He wouldn't risk losing such precious subjects so carelessly. Also, have you seen Chad somewhere?
Hanataro's zanpakuto requires healing other's wounds to power up, and when it goes off, it can nearly kill a Gillian (filler). Akeiro Hisagomaru, could work differently. Like a Gran Rey Cero, his Shikai would probably require Hanataro drawing his own blood, and when it is absorbed, and fired, let's just say that an Adjuchas could be vaporized in one blow (or Arrancar). The reason why Hanataro doesn't know this yet, is because he isn't a violent person, and his zanpakuto won't talk to him for that reason, until at least he is in serious danger. Unohana doesn't bring him to Hueco Mundo for nothing, unless it is out of respect to her last lieutenant, or there is relation between them.
But I have a better idea, one that fits Kenpachi. The spirit fails to follow him...
So Kenpachi kicks its ass and banishes it from his sword. Now he can be stronger - while still maintaining his main character.
- The sword spirit in question was Muramasa and the current filler arc is the result of him being very, very pissed off about being given the heave ho.
- And Muramasa's claim to have killed his owner is a lie, because the truth is too embarrassing to admit to.
Jossed. Only recently has Kenpachi become able to hear his zanpakuto.
- Nope, that was a fake spoiler. One that caused much raeg among the fandom, before somebody pointed out the obvious.
- Wasn't this official?
- It seems more likely that Unohana was thought Ichigo was their best chance but still an outside chance. When she said he'll be the trump card is because her hopes are confirmed, meaning she really thinks its likely rather than the best of a bad hand.
- If that's the case, then it would mean Ichigo is actually already more powerful than Aizen, since "half power" surely doesn't take into account his ludicrously powerful 2nd Hollow form. Even Ichigo himself currently doesn't know how powerful that form is.
- Yammy used Softboiled!
- Espada ranks are based on raw power alone.
In Soul Society, Aizen's goals were to have Rukia executed so he could get his hands on the Sogyoku, and he killed the Central 46 the moment Rukia was captured, and proceeded to give out orders to Soul Society using Kyoka Suigetsu. When Ichigo and Co arrived in Soul Society, he adapted his plans, and utilized the chaos they created to stage his "demise", but since the Gotei 13 were hung up on the matter of the Ryoka, only Captain Unohana suspected his plans, but even then it was too late. And when push came to shove, when Ichigo saved Rukia's life, he had to directly intervene, and extract the Hogyoku personally, revealing his true self in the process. But in the end, he still got what he wanted: the Hogyoku.
Comparing his plans in Hueco Mundo to those in Soul Society, a clear difference and motive can be indicated. Aizen specifically had Ulquiorra kidnap Orihime not to kill her, but to use her powers. Aizen goes on to state as Orihime healed Grimmjow's arm, that her power "violated the realm of gods", that her ability was rejection. He showed her the Hogyoku, and told her, "Please think of the fact that I have shown you this as a sign of my trust in you. Your power is the rejection of events. It reverses everything that has occurred, and annihilates the event itself. It is an extraordinary power. I need your power, Orihime. You will use that power of yours for my sake, won't you?" Later, Orihime tells herself, "I don't believe that he showed me the H?gyoku because he trusts me... but, at least I have learned the location of the H?gyoku... and... about my own power, too. Everything that has occured... it reverses it all, and destroys the very event itself. Thank you, Kurosaki, for coming to save me, but I've found something I must do here. And it's definitely...something only I can do. With my power... I will return the H?gyoku to before it ever existed!" After Nnoitra is defeated, and Orihime returned to the tower, he then tells everyone that Orihime's kidnapping was only a ruse to lure Ichigo and Co to Las Noches, deprive Soul Society of a valuable military asset, and since four captains followed the Ryoka, along with the three who defected, Soul Society's military strength was sliced in half. He leaves behind Ulquiorra and Yammy to defend Las Noches, while he leaves for Fake Karakura Town with the rest of the Espada. In Hueco Mundo, Hollow Ichigo takes over after Ichigo has a hole blown through him, and kills Ulquiorra, and now Ichigo is leaving for FKT to confront Aizen, while the remaining Captains (Byakuya and Kenpachi, since Mayuri isn't fighting), deal with Yammy.
Now since the arc isn't over, I pose this question: Why did Aizen tell Orihime about her power, and show her the Hogyoku? My answer: It was all an illusion from the beginning. From her leaving with Ulquiorra, to Aizen telling her of her power, to Aizen showing her the Hogyoku, to her own belief that she can reject the Hogyoku's existence, Aizen was crafting a scenario that no matter what way events turn out in Hueco Mundo, one thing would be achieved: the completion of the Hogyoku. He knows that as a friend, Ichigo wouldn't allow Orihime to come of harm, protecting his "puppet" until the appointed event is met, so he is confident that Orihime will do what he wants her to do. If Orihime could really reject the Hogyoku out of existence, Aizen wouldn't have let her near it to begin with, much less show it to her. She was given the illusion that her powers were god-like, able to reject anything from existence, giving her motive to "destroy" the Hogyoku, making her beileve it was something only she could do. The truth is, her power can only "repair the damage done" to an object, as her fairies told her in the beginning. Urahara knew this, so he tried to keep her away from the fighting, so she wouldn't be used the way she was being used now. When she was captured, he allowed Ichigo and Co, and the captains, to get into Las Noches, hoping that this is what they would do: Get in, defeat the Espada there, grab Orihime, and take her out of there, procuring the Hogyoku, so HE could dismantle it, and deprive Aizen of a valuable asset. However, he couldn't predict how events would play out, and inevitable, just as Aizen planned, she'd restore the Hogyoku to it's original state.
In FKT, Aizen even had a plan in case the Vizards came, and the Espada were overwhelmed, which I think is still being put in effect: now that he knows that his current Top 3 Espada, (excluding Yammy and Ulquiorra) weren't a match for Soul Society and the Vizards, he, Gin and Kaname are taking matters into their own hands, along with whom I suspect is a Hogyoku-created Vasto Lordes Arrancar of greater power than any Espada sans Ulquiorra's Second Release, Wonderweiss Margera, who has currently punched a hole through Ukitake, nullified Toshiro's most powerful attack, has managed to nullify Mashiro's Cero, and even her mask, all with screams (surviving one of her mask-charged kicks without a scratch earlier), and is currently clashing unreleased with Kensei's Bankai. Hiyori has already been bifurcated by Gin's Shikai, Hachigen is incapacitated from his fight with Barragan, Rojuro (Rose) and Love were injured by Starrk's wolves, but are still able to fight, as invited to by Aizen, along with the rest of the Vizard still standing, as Kensei is in combat with Wonderweiss, and Mashiro was injured from Wonderweiss's punches, who hasn't even drawn his sword to fight at all. Gin and Aizen have yet to show Bankai to the readers, and Wonderweiss has yet met an opponent who has forced him to release, which would be disastrous for Soul Society, since if he is stronger than Starrk and Yammy, Ichigo won't be able to hold a match to him, even if all his reiatsu is restored. Right now, Aizen is patiently waiting for Orihime to accomplish the task he manipulated her to do through his illusion, while picking off the weakened opposition while he is at it.
It was a three-pronged strategy: He weakens Soul Society and the Vizards by killing their members, and trapping four of them in Hueco Mundo (even though Unohana and Ichigo are on their way to FKT), has manipulated Orihime into thinking she can destroy the Hogyoku, while she'll only end up repairing it, and furthers his plans by using the above plans simultaneously, and gauging his army's current strength, which with a complete Hogyoku, he can replace with even more powerful Arrancar than before, and succeed against Soul Society in the second round. For him, FKT's just a warm-up; a test run of his army, and Orihime in HM will repair his ultimate tool, the Hogyoku. He'll also probably use the Hogyoku on himself, Gin and Tousen after it is repaired, giving them powers on par with Ichigo's mask, since the Vizard, as he said, were failed experiments, while Ichigo is a genuine Vizard, evolving in power unlike the masks of the Vizards Aizen created, whose masks haven't evolved over the course of 100 years, and the masks the Hogyoku will grant them will be on par with Ichigo's. It is a scenario, that Aizen knows, he cannot lose in any way imaginable. He will still get what he wanted: The Hogyoku repaired, and with it, he'll gain Hollow powers, and build a new and improved army of Arrancars to destroy Soul Society.
- He probably already used the Hougyoku on Tousen (at least). Remember, he doesn't trust anyone, and never told them to trust him. He probably told Tousen he'd give him something more powerful, only to give him am incomplete mask, to use him as an experiment. What he doesn't really expect is Unohana's intervention.
- Well, he'll have to wait until the Hogyoku is restored to use it on himself, since in it's inactive state, he has to use his own reiatsu to force it awake. As for Tousen, I think that his mask is a perfect Vizard mask, unlike those of Shinji's vizards, as he is a Hogyoku-created Vizard now. I don't think he'd be surprised with Unohana's intervention, and has more than enough strength to fight against her. What did you think of the rest of the theory?
- TLDR
Has anyone ever noticed how Hollows and Arrancars disintegrate when they die, and how Ulquiorra turned to ash?
So one of my questions is this: while Zommari and Grand Fisher break apart in blobs and disintegrate, Ulquiorra in the end dissolves into ash, and vanishes into the wind. Why would Kubo draw Ulquiorra's death like that, while Zommari and Grand Fisher went like above? Heck, even Sora disintegrated the same way as Zommari and Grand Fisher.
On top of all the development Kubo placed into Ulquiorra; the Segunda Resurreccion Etapa, and the fact he possesses REGENERATION, and his views on the superiority of Hollows, I am convinced that Ulquiorra will be coming back (but not as a good guy).
- I'd say it's because those particles are the souls the hollow is composed of. And Ulquiorra was stronger than Grand Fisher or Zommari by far, and had absorbed more hollows over the course of his existence... Aw, let's face it, Kubo probably just thought it looked cool.
- It's actually a love pyramid of sorts, if you include all the Ho Yay with Uryuu and Renji.
- I really disagree. Besides Orihime's feelings toward Ichigo there is really only a few subtle things to suggest each character have feelings for one another, so it can't really be called a love triangle (especially since most of this stuff is pure fan speculation). I think it just serves to be an interesting subplot, and to motivate Orihime's actions. It doesn't take away from the story and at most we'll see a subtle resolution at the end.
- Not to mention that I personally have never seen any hints in the manga for any pairing involving Ichigo aside of Orihime->Ichigo. She loves him, the rest only exists in shippers' mind who see subtext in everything.
- It does fit with his obsession with "the empty throne in heaven." As far as he could be concerned, if there were a more active god in the world, so much could be avoided.
- This is incredibly silly.
Neliel
Grimmjow
- He did! If he really was the one who finished Quilge Opie off.
Isshin Kurosaki
Ryuken Ishida
Kisuke
Yoruichi
Just because.
- FUCK YEAH.
- Aizen: To be beaten by the Ultimate being... (smiles) What a fitting end .
When the Vizards got involved, Harribel was even less willing to fight to kill, seeing the interlopers as strangers she hadn't been told Aizen expected her to kill. Still wanting to fight Yamamoto and only Yamamoto, Harribel held back yet again, hesitating to go all-out against anyone but her friends' killer. Aizen, disgusted by the realization Harribel would hesitate to kill, offed her himself for being too soft-hearted.
Given that Harribel has not disintegrated onscreen, and is indeed the only Arrancar that has not had a real death scene, it is entirely possible she has still narrowly survived (it takes a lot of punishment to kill an Arrancar, compared to the fairly light slash and stab wound Aizen left her with) and may be saved by Unohana, or, more likely, Orihime, whose empathy for Hollows would allow her to sympathize with Harribel. Given that Apache, Sun-Sun, and Milia Rose still exist as charred corpses, Orihime could also stop Harribel's desire for vengeance by reviving them and letting them return to Hueco Mundo together.
- Yammy is generally treated like a joke by the other Espada, and the rank of tenth appears to be confirmed by Shawlong's account (given that he's one of the oldest Arrancar, he should know how the hierarchy works, including the original ten Espada). Ulquiorra comments offhandedly that Yammy is no match for Yoruichi and Urahara, and that he would have been expelled from the Espada if he'd lost an arm. Hardly the treatment of a secret weapon surpassing Starrk, don't you think?
However, the explanation of "anger is my strength" comes in here; emotions are volatile, unpredictable things; just because Yammy CAN become a 0-level Espada when he is angry and charged up enough does not mean he ALWAYS becomes one. As such, his ranking could jump all over the place when releasing, while Yammy's enormous Ego filled in the gaps to make himself sound important when he got to show off Ira when he was, luckily enough, at his very angriest. Under normal circumstances, however, the top 4 are indeed stronger than Yammy, and Aizen didn't consider him a resource of any great value because his power level was wildly unpredictable and even with immense levels of anger-fueled power, Yammy still sucked at fighting.
Or its a screw-up by the whoever planned the filler arc.
- He did something similar in the fight against Ichigo. Some theorize it's just leg strength.
- Heaven: The as-yet unseen King's Realm.
- Hell: Hell, of course.
- Human: Living realm, ditto.
- Animal: Hueco Mundo, and the worst parts of Rukongai require the bare minimum of life.
- Hungry Ghost: Also Heuco Mundo - every creature is a Hollow, and the only way to survive and grow strong is to eat other Hollows and souls with an unquenchable hunger.
- Fighting Demon: Fake Karakura Town, which was built especially for a battle.
- Alternate interpretation derived from the above, based on known worlds:
- Deva: King's Realm
- Human: Living
- Asura: Seireitei
- Animal: Las Noches
- Preta: Hueco Mundo
- Naraka: Rukongai
- And then it will turn out that Pain is really the king of Soul Society?
- Since Naruto isn't exactly modern-day it's entirely possible.
- Alternate interpretation derived from the above, based on known worlds:
- Yeah, that's what I thought when I saw him shrug off the effects so fast. As soon as he knew how it worked he was back to being invincible.
- Actually, that would be AWESOME.
- Always thought that he was actually a pervert, but that works fine as well.
- That's not D-Roy, it's Iceringer.
- No, lower. Last and third-to-last panels.
- Jossed. Ginjo was evil all along, Uryuu appears to be dead (again), and Ichigo has recovered his Shinigami powers.
- Alternatively, he gave his powers to Ginjo in parallel to how Rukia first met Ichigo. Things don't work out and Ginjo eventually goes rogue. For Central 46, this is the last straw in a series of suspicious incidents and is used as justification to strip him of his powers. He is made Unperson, with everyone simply saying he 'had a bad character' whenever Hanataro asks about him. Banished to the Human World, he vows revenge. At some point he runs into Hanataro and recognizes him because he is wearing his old medic kit, that was passed on to Hanataro after his banishment. He realizes that Unohana kept her promise and protected his little brother for all those years. He is disappointed to see Hanataro has not become a strong fighter, but still tries to show him affection. Hanataro, not recognizing his older brother, aware of his abilities and thinking its some kind of trick, simply rejects him. This drives him over the edge, Seinosuke/Tsukishima attempts to kill his last link to Soul Society, but Isane intervenes and duels him, overcoming her past fear of her predecessor.
- #1; Look at the color page...no, look at THOSE FREAKING COLLARS.
- #2; A shadowy figure crushes something in his hand and this happens....crushing a small object that leads to a hollow infestation? Sound familiar?
- #3: The beginning of the arc notes that hollows are being destroyed instead of purified...now who were notorious for doing just that?
- And #4; according to Mayuri, only one party were capable of destroying hollows, meaning that it's the work of "THEM and them alone"
- So far, atleast partially confirmed, Ivan is a Quincy.
A worse way to see it is that Soul Society doesn't see the need to cure disease, since it would appear that very few people - or at least important people - fall sick. Come to think of it, yeah, those jerks probably just let them get on with their Incurable Cough of Death while they go massacre Quincies and whatnot.
Alternately, instead of going in the top (or one side) of his glans and out the bottom (or other side), it only "goes [in] through his glans", comes out his, well, let's say lower back, and causes him to have an eternal case of priapism. ...which just makes things worse.
- Jossed: Uryu's mother was a woman named Kanae Katagiri
Theory #2: Orihime is the reincarnation of a redeemed Togabito.If the idea of redemption is to clear away all sins from oneself, and with Hell basically having a purely objective sense of will, then redemption in Hell is going to take a lot of sin removal, and who in the entire cast has the least amount of sin/negativity even when it is stupidly so: Orihime. This comes mostly from her pacifistic nature, even when she should've had a Beware the Nice Ones breaking point moment by now, heck most of the main-minor characters have had such a moment at least once, where all peace is gone, and they go nuts, except Orihime. Hell she doesn't even get a battle scream, when everyone else and their dog has had one. My reasoning is because she was a recently redeemed reincarnated Togabito, thus taking away her aggression. Which means that...
Theory #3: Orihime & Hachigen's barriers aren't from either Shinigami/Hollow/Quincy origin but Togabito/Kushanada.Let us look at the facts before we come to the conclusion of the barrier's origin:
- 1) They are not based on Shinigami Kido, as explained by Hachigen, because he developed his version of the barriers specifically so as to hide from Soul Society, and by extension Aizen
- 2) As such they cannot be based on Hollow abilities, because if they were, then Aizen's studies into Hollows would have allowed him to track down the Vizards, thus they had to be of a different variety
- 3) They should not be based on Quincey magic, aside from the fact that as Hollow-Shinigami hybrids the Quinceys would have more reason to hate the Vizords than either the Shinigami or Hollows singularly, Soul Society would still be on the look out for Quinceys and a big barrier that's concealing some sort of massive building would attract attention from them
- 4) There are only two other, CANON, confirmed types of reiatsu wielding species: Togabito & Kushanada, and it'd be highly unlikely S Oul Society would have records on the former, and very minuscule ones on the latter, and until we find out what the Soul King actually is (if not a more powerful Shinigami), then it is most likely with the necessity of a unique type of barrier and with how alien Orihime's barriers seem to be to anything else in the series, process of elimination has it being similar in type to either the wardens or the inmates of Hell
- So what, was Orihime a seductress in a previous life?