When an action anime like Bleach has enough characters and fighting styles in its runtime, everyone gets less time to show off what they can do. Even shorter anime like Demon Slayer only have so much screen time to allot to each character and their weapons or spells, and that’s doubly true for the Bleach anime. Naturally, this means plenty of zanpakuto and bankai releases in the anime don’t get as much screen time as fans would like.
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A few bankai do get the screen time they are due, mainly Ichigo Kurosaki’s Tensa Zangetsu, Byakuya Kuchiki’s Senbonzakura Kageyoshi, and Renji Abarai’s Hihio/So’o Zabimaru. Other bankai are treated as one-time tricks to make a certain battle stand out or to bail the characters out of trouble. Worse yet, some bankai are used as jobbers alongside their characters when fighting villains like the Espadas or the Sternritter. This includes bankai that got zero screen time, so getting more means getting any screen time at all. Some weapons are just too cool to be one-off bits of flair in Bleach‘s lengthy story.
Tekken Tachikaze Failed to Finish Off Sternritter S
Wielder: Kensei Muguruma
The strongest members of the Visored group did fairly well for themselves when they battled the Espadas in the fake Karakura Town, but they dropped the ball when facing the Sternritter two years later. Ex-Captain Kensei Muguruma is one example, having used his bankai to limited effect against Sternritter S, Mask de Masculine.
Kensei did take the fight seriously when he used Tekken Tachikaze to pummel Mask, but then he let his guard down, and this bankai didn’t see use again. Kensei might not have had the strength to take on the Schutzstaffel after that, but he and the other Visored could have at least kept Quincy, like Askin and Gerard, busy so Bleach‘s best heroes could land the finishing blow.
Kinshara Butodan Didn’t Even Finish its Musical Performance
Wielder: Rojuro Otoribashi
Too many Soul Reapers in Bleach get sloppy or let their guard down when facing the likes of the Espadas or the Sternritter, with Rojuro Otoribashi being one of them. Rojuro fancies himself an anime musician with his love of heavy metal and his opera-like bankai, Kinshara Butodan, but he’s a failure as a sword-slinging conductor.
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Rojuro took entirely too long to finally use this bankai in the Thousand-Year Blood War, and when he finally released it, Mask de Masculine made a fool of it. Mask deafened himself to avoid the final blow from this sonic bankai, then zapped Rojuro in the chest to finish the fight. Rojuro needed to use Kinshara Butodan again to show Bleach fans its true power and do his part in the final war, but he did no such thing, disappointingly enough.
Ryumon Hozukimaru Got Too Little Screen Time on Purpose
Wielder: Ikkaku Madarame
A few non-Captains unlocked the awesome power of bankai, with squad 11’s 3rd seat, Ikkaku Madarame, being one of them. He amazed Bleach viewers in the Arrancar saga when he released Ryumon Hozukimaru in the fight against Edrad Leones, and it was just enough for Ikkaku to narrowly win.
Ikkaku’s bad habit of holding back in battle, something he learned from Kenpachi, is the reason Ryumon Hozukimaru didn’t see major use again in the story. Ikkaku was so determined to fight foes like Poww and the Sternritter with shikai at most, and Tetsuzaemon Iba even berated him for it. But the lesson didn’t sink in, as Ikkaku’s scarce usage of bankai proves.
Hakka No Togame Was Needed Against More Than One Sternritter
Wielder: Rukia Kuchiki
Like her friend Renji Abarai, the lovable Rukia Kuchiki glowed up a few times to keep pace with Ichigo, including usage of bankai. Renji used his bankai many times against foes like Byakuya, Ilfort, Szayelaporro, and Mask, and he even evolved it after training with Oetsu Nimaiya. Rukia made more conservative use of her own bankai, which is a real shame.
It’s a letdown because even more so than Renji, Rukia was owed a major glow-up to wow Bleach fans and show the full potential of her zanpakuto, the beautiful Sode no Shirayuki. While Rukia did well to defeat Äs Nödt with her icy Hakka no Togame, Rukia wasn’t keen on using her bankai again. Perhaps Rukia was concerned she’d hurt herself with Hakka no Togame when using it in Byakuya’s absence, but she ought to have at least tried one more time.
Minazuki Was Used in Training, Then Lost Forever
Wielder: Retsu/Yachiru Unohana
Captain Retsu Unohana was introduced as a healer with a giant shikai that can both transport and heal people. Her fighting style made sense at the time, with Unohana being the protective and forgiving type, and fans expected even more medical miracles from Unohana’s bankai.
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What Bleach viewers got instead was a nightmarish weapon of vicious ooze that can mortally threaten even the likes of Kenpachi Zaraki when Unohana fights as her true Yachiru self. It’s a shame that Minazuki was only used to train Kenpachi and was never seen in use against the Sternritter. The Gotei 13’s casualties would have been lighter if Minazuki had been used earlier and more often.
Nozarashi’s Unnamed Bankai Appeared at the Last Minute in the Blood War
Wielder: Kenpachi Zaraki
Captain Kenpachi Zaraki got impressively far without even shikai, never mind bankai, but the reality of the Quincy empire’s assault forced his hand. He trained with Unohana to the finish to learn Nozarashi’s name and get shikai, which was enough to take down Sternritter V, Gremmy Thoumeaux. When Sternritter M Gerard Valkyrie came along, not even shikai was sufficient.
Who’s That Character?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)
Kenpachi was pushed to the absolute limit at last, more so than foes like Nnoitora Gilga, Yammy Llargo, or even Gremmy ever could. That was when Kenpachi unveiled his berserker bankai in Bleach, but only once. Kenpachi’s endless growth is part of the fun, but the natural endgame, his bankai, didn’t get much chance to show its stuff.
Kyoka Suigetsu’s Bankai Could Have Made Things Easier Against the Schutzstaffel
Wielder: Sosuke Aizen
A few bankai in Bleach got no screen time whatsoever, so they needed more just to get any at all. One of them is the unknown bankai of the supervillain Sosuke Aizen. This bankai inspired some intriguing fan theories, including the idea Aizen has no bankai, and use Kyoka Suigetsu’s illusions to trick everyone else into believing he indeed has a bankai.
If Aizen really does have a bankai release for his zanpakuto, he was never in the mood to show it. With the Hogyoku, Aizen believed he didn’t need his zanpakuto at all anymore, and when facing King Yhwach later on, shikai was enough for his needs, if only barely. If Aizen needed bankai against anyone, it would be Yhwach, and Bleach fans may be deeply disappointed Aizen didn’t go that far after all.
Sakashima Yokoshima Happofusagari Had the Power to Trounce the Sternritter
Wielder: Shinji Hirako
A few trick-based bankai had even more potential than the power-type releases, since tricky zanpakuto can force one’s enemies to fight one another, as Shinji’s does. Captain Shinji Hirako’s bankai is a dangerous and even banned one that twists the enemy’s perception so they attack each other. Only Shinji himself is immune to Sakashima Yokoshima Happofusagari’s abilities.
Shinji butchered a whole squad of Soldat this way, but he foolishly held back with his zanpakuto’s abilities when facing Sternritter E Bambietta Basterbine. Ideally, Shinji would have fooled the Bambis into fighting one another, with Bambietta and Giselle in particular being strong enough to defeat the other three. But alas, Shinji didn’t even think of doing that, even when the stakes were so high.
Sogyo no Kotowari’s Bankai is Massive Potential Left on the Table
Wielder: Jushiro Ukitake
Ichigo the anime protagonist has thick plot armor thanks to his inner Hollow and many allies, while Captain Jushiro Ukitake needed plot armor from Mimihagi, or the Soul King’s right hand. Unfortunately, this meant Ukitake’s real secret weapon was to release Mimihagi at the right moment to save the Soul King, in place of actually using bankai.
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Thus, Ukitake never once used bankai, even though he almost certainly has one, and that bankai ended up with zero screen time. Ukitake has since lost his life in service to the Soul King who save his life centuries ago, so that bankai’s potential will remain untapped for all time. Given how cool Ukitake’s energy redirection shikai is, it’s a real letdown the bankai version never saw the light of day.
Koko Gonryo Rikyu Was Primarily Seen in Driscoll Berci’s Villainous Hands
Wielder: Chojiro Sasakibe
Only in a flashback sequence and in the hands of Sternritter O Driscoll Berci was this bankai ever seen in use. Lieutenant Chojiro Sasakibe of squad 1 was proud of his thunderstorm-like bankai, and Yamamoto respected it as well, but this positive attitude hardly translated into battlefield results.
For whatever reason, Chojiro used his underwhelming shikai when fighting Ichigo at Sokyoku Hill on his Captain’s behalf, and when the Sternritter attacked, Chojiro only briefly used his bankai off-screen before Driscoll Berci swiped it with his medallion. Yamamoto then faced Koko Gonryo Rikyu’s wrath as he fought Driscoll, and he felt insulted to see a limited version of it in use. Thus, Bleach fans will never witness this bankai’s full power in any real fight.
Bleach
- Release Date
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2004 – 2012-00-00
- Network
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TV Tokyo, TV Osaka, TV Aichi, TVh, TVQ, TSC, BS TV Tokyo
- Showrunner
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Tite Kubo
- Directors
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Mitsutaka Noshitani, Junya Koshida, Hodaka Kuramoto, Yasuto Nishikata, Hiroaki Nishimura, Kazunori Mizuno, Akira Shimizu, Rokou Ogiwara, Kazunobu Shimizu, Akane Inoue, Hikaru Murata, Tomoko Hiramuki, Kazuo Nogami, Taiji Kawanishi, Shigeki Hatakeyama, Eiko Nishi, Takushi Kimura, Koji Aritomi, Ogura Shirakawa, Kiyomu Fukuda, Yukio Okazaki, Mitsue Yamazaki, Yasuhiro Matsumura, Eitarou Ano
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Masakazu Morita
Ichigo Kurosaki (voice)
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Fumiko Orikasa
Rukia Kuchiki
