It didn’t take long for the combat system in Bleach to expand far beyond zanpakuto and Hollows. While Rukia Kuchiki introduced kido early on, she only made light use of kido spells and didn’t show off the fighting style’s full potential. It wasn’t until the Soul Society Arc when Bleach made kido a force to be reckoned with. The Arrancar saga did even more to legitimize kido as a companion to shikai and bankai for most Soul Reapers.
Some Soul Reapers are more adept at kido than others, and the members of Squad 11 don’t even bother with kido spells at all. But when the most advanced kido users cast these spells, they turn the tide of battle in ways a zanpakuto blade never could. Some of the most incredible fights in Bleach were shaped at the hands of a well-used kido spell, including offensive and defensive kido spells alike. That makes it easy to see which kido spells are the strongest and most useful when it’s time for the Gotei 13 to wage war with someone.
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10
Byakurai Favors Precision Over Sheer Destructive Force When Cast
Notable User: Byakuya Kuchiki
Byakurai is a devastating weapon in the right hands, and when used just the right way. Bleach fans saw that up close and personal when Captain Byakuya Kuchiki used Byakurai, proving that even Hado #4 can change the tide of battle with good aim to back it up.
Byakuya used this kido spell to deal with Ichigo Kurosaki’s bankai, getting close to his enemy before using Byakurai at point-blank range. Byakuya couldn’t miss at that range, with his kido spell’s precise lightning beam piercing Ichigo’s right shoulder to render Ichigo unable to fight. This is a sort of sniper kido spell, but it’s just as dangerous up close, too.
9
Haien Produces Intense Flames That Can Burn Anything Away
Notable User: Kaname Tosen
Hado #54, Haien, rarely saw any use in Bleach‘s anime, but it produced impressive results when used. Interestingly, ex-Captain Kaname Tosen cast this kido spell not to fight someone in battle, but to punish a subordinate. At the time, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez had gone off-script by invading Karakura Town, and Tosen wanted Grimmjow to feel the sting of punishment.
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Once Tosen surprised Grimmjow by hacking off his arm, Tosen cast Haien to vaporize that severed arm, with not even ashes remaining. That’s what Haien does, incinerating the chosen target until nothing is left of it. It’s unclear how strong a target Haien can destroy, but a mid-level Espada’s arm is fair game, which is already impressive.
8
Raikoho is the Signature Kido Spell of the Shiba Clan
Notable User: Kukaku Shiba
Even if Kukaku Shiba doesn’t quite have a place among the strongest kido users in all of Bleach, she does have some tricks in store with this arcane art. Not long after meeting his estranged cousin, Ichigo saw how clever Kukaku could be with kido, with her kido focusing on fireworks in particular. That was how Kukaku launched Ichigo’s team into the Seireitei with her cannon.
Near the end of the Soul Society Arc, Kukaku used Raikoho as her contribution to the Gotei 13’s massive assault on Sosuke Aizen and his trio of traitors. Raikoho didn’t win Kukaku the fight, but it did demonstrate her prowess with kido and her brave willingness to use it against even the strongest of foes.
7
Soren Sokatsui Doubles the Power of Hado #33
Notable User: Rukia Kuchiki
Rukia Kuchiki was seen using kido even before she was seen using her zanpakuto, Sode no Shirayuki. In Episode 1, Rukia cast a few basic kido spells, then struggled to use kido in her gigai body. After her rescue, Rukia started using kido for real to make up for lost time, including the doubling of her trademark Sokatsui spell.
Sokatsui is already a nifty kido spell that can damage the target with a jet of blue flames, so doubling it with Soren Sokatsui is sure to change the flow of any battle. Bleach viewers saw Rukia doing just that to blow apart the wall of Aaroniero’s palace in Las Noches, exposing the 9th Espada to the sunlight that vaporized his Kaien Shiba disguise.
6
Zangerin Can Slice Apart Buildings When Cast
Notable User: Shunsui Kyoraku
Captain Shunsui Kyoraku earned himself a slot among the strongest Soul Reapers of all time thanks to his shikai, bankai, and immense experience in battle. He hardly ever needs to use kido spells, with him being a kido-light Captain alongside Captains Kurotsuchi and Kenpachi, but Shunsui can cast a few spells if he’s fighting an Espada or the Sternritter
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Shunsui cast Zangerin later in the Bleach anime, bringing it to bear on his Quincy foes in the Thousand-Year Blood War Arc. When clashing with the most powerful Sternritter, only top-tier kido like Zangerin will do, with Zangerin creating a wide energy blade that can easily slice apart even the toughest or largest of buildings.
5
Hiryu Gekizoku Shinten Raiho is Like a Kido Cannon
Notable User: Tessai Tsukabishi
The Soul Society’s Kido Corps is home to some of the most seasoned users of kido, as the name would suggest, and that includes former commander Tessai Tsukabishi. Ichigo first met Tessai as a hulking yet ordinary employee at Urahara Shoten in Karakura Town, but Tessai is far more than a master of brooms.
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Tessai in his glory days could casually cast the likes of Hiryu Gekizoku Shinten Raiho, a devastating offensive kido that can blow apart the battlefield like a magical cannon. Unfortunately, Tessai was unable to make a serious difference in the flow of events with kido like that, since he was seen in a flashback sequence where the good guys were doomed to fail when dealing with Sosuke Aizen.
4
Jugeki Byakurai is Like a Sniper Rifle of a Kido Spell
Notable User: Kisuke Urahara
Most kido spells function best at medium range, and some can reach even further than that to wreak havoc on the target. One of them is the potent yet often forgotten kido spell named Jugeki Byakurai which, as the name would suggest, is an amped up version of Hado #4: Byakurai.
Seen in the final battle against Sosuke Aizen in the fake Karakura Town, Kisuke cast Jugeki Byakurai to deal heavy damage to Aizen from a distance, like a kido sniper. Even someone as tough as Aizen was helpless when Jugeki Byakurai struck him, though Kisuke still needed more than that to finish the fight for good.
3
Kurohitsugi Can Knock Out a Captain Even Without the Incantation
Notable User: Sosuke Aizen
The villainous Captain Aizen stunned Ichigo and Bleach viewers alike when he casually used a single kido spell to defend himself from Captain Sajin Komamura’s sudden attack on Sokyoku Hill. In Ichigo’s mind, the thirteen Captains were all on par as the highest-ranking Soul Reapers, but Aizen’s usage of Kurohitsugi on Sajin suggested otherwise.
Among the Captains, there’s a wide spectrum of power and talent, with the canine Sajin actually being one of the weakest Captains of all, no matter his size. Sajin collapsed in a bloody heap when Kurohitsugi surrounded and skewered him in that dark box, and Ichigo could hardly believe his eyes. That was the weaker version, with the full-power version of Kurohitsugi capable of warping space and time when used.
2
Itto Kaso is a Forbidden Hado Spell That Demands a Bodily Sacrifice
Notable User: Shigekuni Yamamoto
Captain Yamamoto felt confident he could defeat the Espadas and the traitor Sosuke Aizen in the fake Karakura Town, but it wouldn’t be an easy matter, even for him. Yamamoto held back from using his apocalyptic bankai, Zanka no Tachi, but shikai and forbidden kido like Itto Kaso were fair game. This showed just how far Yamamoto would go to win.
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Itto Kaso is a forbidden kido spell because it demands the user’s own body as a catalyst. In Yamamoto’s case, the effort cost him his left arm, a limb he never replaced before his death at Yhwach’s hands. Once this toll is paid, Itto Kaso can utterly devastate the area with a massive blade-like explosion, an effect that would handily defeat anyone who’s not Sosuke Aizen.
1
Senju Koten Taiho Can Blow Apart the Entire Battlefield With its Wrath
Notable User: Kisuke Urahara
Kisuke Urahara made it clear he was incredibly powerful by the time Ichigo and the Soul Reapers were ready to take on Aizen in the fake Karakura Town. Until then, Kisuke had only been doling out samples of his power, such as his shikai’s special effect or swapping places with his portable gigai to evade Yammy’s attacks. Once Kisuke was staring down Aizen, the most deadly kido spells came out.
The strongest kido spell Kisuke used, and indeed the most powerful kido in all of Bleach, is Senju Koten Taiho. This is yet another cannon-like offensive kido that simply blows away the target, though even if Senju Koten Taiho is simple, not just anyone can cast it. As Hado #91, Senju Koten Taiho is reserved for true kido masters like Kisuke Urahara himself.
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
