Bleach 496 Discussion

[GOOMOONRYONG]

Kubo is doing this to let some of the other characters shine like Renji. He stated in the last arc that he trained to beat Aizen, maybe he will be able to stand up to As Nodt with the help of Byakuya. It's the only possible way to explain why 4 captain class fighters would willingly get their shit stolen.

[Regret]

Wow, Ebern really got the short end of the straw with his bankai stealing device. He had to go through that whole kido-like incantation before activating the trap. It makes me wonder if high ranking members get better equipment which wouldn't be all that surprising. If it's true then I can only imagine the king has some really powerful tools at his disposal.

I approve of the choices for those that lost their bankai. With the exception of Sui-feng they are the captains that abuse their bankai the most. I couldn't help but notice that they were among the newer half of the captains. Hopefully relying on shikai will force them to fight smarter and not just overwhelm their opponent.

I get the feeling that the other characters shown in the previous chapter and not shown here won't get much spotlight until later. I'm ok with that if that means returning to Shunsui, Ukitake, and Shuuhei's fights in the middle of the fray. I look forward to seeing if the more senior captains (the ones who were Captains in TBTP) adapt to the situation any differently.

[exacta]

Wow, Ebern really got the short end of the straw with his bankai stealing device. He had to go through that whole kido-like incantation before activating the trap. It makes me wonder if high ranking members get better equipment which wouldn't be all that surprising. If it's true then I can only imagine the king has some really powerful tools at his disposal.

I'm thinking it works like kido, where if your skilled enough you can skip the incantation. When Ebern fought though, it kind of looked like he began to chant after activating it, since that strengthens it, and skipping the incantation weakens it. I'm guessing the fact they did it without just shows the difference in power. That or Kubo just didn't feel like wasting the panels showing it again.

[Cyber34]

This situation is either Akon's fault or the leadership of the Gotei 13's fault. Had they gave Yuki more detail that Sasakibe had his Bankai negated first and then killed maybe Ichigo would have told him that Arrancar tried to do the same thing to him so the captains would not have to implement this ridiculous plan to see how they negate Bankai. Their lack of involvment with Ichigo has resulted in four Captains having their Bankai's stolen. To late to change the way they do business now though.

[exacta]

Option 1 still seems better to me since Option 2 essentially amounts to playing right into the enemies hands. Its extremely dangerous to use an attack that you know your opponent has a counter for, especially when you have no idea how it works. This is a trap I would expect Ichigo to fall for, but the captains are supposed to be smart, they are the leaders of a supposedly highly trained military organization. To even become a basic shinigami, you have to go through years at the academy, you think they would throw in a basic strategy class or two.

If the captains know they are going to have to fight with out their Bankai no matter what, couldn't they have made better use of the massive amount of reiatsu they just threw away? Did any of them even think about trying a kidou? I know that's not really Komamura, Soi Fon, or Hitsugaya's style, but I would have thought Byakuya would at least try a binding spell or a Sokatsui.

And about the bold part
IMO Mayuri should have examined Sasakibe's body to discover how the quincy sealed Bankai, then he would have known that they were actually stealing Bankai. Heck, he should have already known about the technique since he apparently did so much research on the quincy.

He should have also got to work on an anti-quincy device like what Szayel had in his lab, since apparently he's known all along that the quincy were going to come back and kick Soul Society's collective asses. Its stupid to me that Mayuri, a genius mad scientist who 'completed' his research on quincy, wouldn't think to create anything that could be used against quincies, when he has a quincy enemy who was able to annihilate his Bankai and force him to use his rather undignified last defense.

I don't see why they lose a lot of reiatsu just by going Bankai. Also, assuming that examining Sasakibe's body would reveal how to counter the device is an extremely huge assumption at best. Especially since the device doesn't even require physical contact with the shinigami to activate, nor does it even affect the shinigamis body when it does, ONLY the Bankai.

Mayuri's research is not complete at all. He didn't even know what Ishida's Letz Stil was, and no one in SS even knows or understands the Vandenreichs method of transportation. We also haven't even seen Mayuri yet for christ's sake, I don't know what chapter your reading.. Where's the sense in bashing him for not using any when Kubo hasn't even draw a panel for him to use them? And again, his research is not complete at all so don't expect him to perfectly counter the Quincy when he does appear.

Also if they key to winning is their Bankais, kido under at least 90 probably isn't going to seal the deal. And so far we haven't seen any of them cast in the 90s. You also seemed to have missed my point

The key to winning is Bankai, or rather figuring out how to restore it so they can use it. If they don't activate Bankai, they don't use it. If they activate Bankai, they lose it, and fight in shikai. Both options in that respect are the same thing. Here's why Option 2 makes sense, because seeing how they seal can give them an idea of how they can restore it and counter the device. Option 1 and 2 yield the same result unless they figure out how to get their Bankai's back, and only if they choose Option 2 will there be a possibility for them to use it. Because they know they can't win without it, and if they don't win, they well, you know, die. Using their Bankai makes the most sense. If their opponents were weak enough that they could win without it, it'd be a different story. Also keep in mind SS had no time to prepare for this war, they didn't even get the 5 days they were promised thanks to Ichigo going to HM.

[SaitoSpike]

It takes them a multitude of decades to get into such a good relationship with the spirits that they enable them to use bankai, just being able to control them seems ridiculous, sorry I just can't accept this like that.

couldnt agree more i mean come on sealing is one thing, stealing is a bit much

---------- Post added at 11:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:42 PM ----------

i dunno i mean maybe the use of abilities, but even then u would have to get through the spirit no?

---------- Post added at 11:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:44 PM ----------

one thing i do like about this chapter...it got us talkin Bleach again for more than a few pages

[Rikudou King]

I enjoyed the chapter. Byakuya acted like a boss. And I'm glad Byakuya, Komamura, and Hitsugaya's bankai got sealed. Their bankai are some of the most frequently shown ones, so now we can get a chance to see the other captains use bankai instead. Soi Fon using bankai was weird though.

[Zancrow]

I dont think the other captains will start using bankais anytime soon since we just saw 4 of them got stolen instantly , and stolen just like that without some sort of quincy voodoo rituals

[Tygulopk]

This situation is either Akon's fault or the leadership of the Gotei 13's fault. Had they gave Yuki more detail that Sasakibe had his Bankai negated first and then killed maybe Ichigo would have told him that Arrancar tried to do the same thing to him so the captains would not have to implement this ridiculous plan to see how they negate Bankai. Their lack of involvment with Ichigo has resulted in four Captains having their Bankai's stolen. To late to change the way they do business now though.

Wait, that does bring up a good point.
Yuki should have been there when Ichigo debriefed his friends on his encounter with Ebern. The fact that the guy tried to do something to his Bankai should have been noteworthy enough for Ichigo to bring up. Which therefore means that Yuki should have heard about it.
Then again, since Yuki's pretty much only an unseated officer, I guess he wouldn't really have any opportunities to bring it up to anyone important.

[dopeycheese]

Im not sure if this was mentioned before, but when ivan couldnt seal ichigo's bankai, the emperor said "looks like we need a special way to get him" and then he contacts opie to gather specimens. If the hollow/shinigami hybrid is what's stopping the medallion's effectiveness, then we all know how this SS invasion will go, visored captains will save the day afterall they haven't met anyone in battle yet. And having said this Im certain(We all know) Rose will win.

http://www.mangareader.net/bleach/486/15
http://www.mangareader.net/bleach/486/16

[lypse14]

If this device is capable of stealing Bankai, why not take shikai too and leave your opponent virtually powerless?? I'm guessing the reason is because the device is only capable of storing one thing, so if Renji goes Bankai right now for example, he should be safe..to be honest though, I don't like this bankai stealing bs -_-...overall, the chapter was ok, the captains releasing their bankais is quite possibly part of some elaborate plan as some have suggested. At this point, I'm more interested in seeing the interaction between Yama and Buckbeard, and getting some back story on wtf the quincies have been up to. I guess you could say I'm more interested in the stories development than the fights right now...unless it's Unohana

[Schabrak]

. In this instance, it's basically the zanpakutou that's being used. This is assuming that it can be used of course. I'm not saying the Quincy will go bankai and just start using techniques that took the captains forever to learn. I'm saying the bankai could be controlled to attack.

Look at it like in Naruto.

Kabuto is controlling other shinobi with Edo Tensei but he's not the one actually using the techniques. The ones being controlled are still using their own techniques. They're just being guided on who to attack.

Making it sound like it's simply using the sword is a devaluation/denigration of what Kubo has build them up to be. Why can those powerful entities just be controlled like that? I don't like this and I want an explanation from Kubo how that is even possible.

Do I read fucking Naruto or Bleach?[exaggeration for effect :P] These are high grade spirit attack forms, not zombies forced to use their chakra and their techniques. Those Zan/souls are not dead, but have the physical appearance as a sword.

[Kay3795]

I like the chapter but I feel that the SS and captains were reckless with there decision.
They receive an unreliable info that their bankai can sealed, or rendered useless by these quincy group yet they never went further as to what that info could mean. instead they directly confronted the quincys with their bankai without reluctance. Oh well it was a desperate attempt so i'll ignore that.

Also I like the fact that these four are out of the game bankai wise thus given more room for more bankais to be revealed.
Now that people are talking abut Kenpachi, i'm also wondering if he'll be a trump card

Overall nice chapter

[mattiaildivino]

You must have skipped the Hueco Mundo, Fake Karakura Town, and Deicide discussions then, because I know I wasn't the only one who thought those arcs paled in comparison to the Rescue Rukia arc. IMO the only time Aizen was any fun to watch was during the Turn Back the Pendulum arc, and to a lesser extent, when he was first revealed to be the main antagonist.

I liked those arcs,though. and I'm liking this arc as well. this chapter wasn't very good,but this arc seems to be an all-out fight between everyone,with the strongest attacks being revealed.

[Schabrak]

All out fights with show offs of the unknown bankais won't make this arc any better or worse, it doesn't add to the plot[not lore] that much, the information we will get about Ukitake/Shunsui/Unohana are just extras, probably awesome ones, but they can't turn something bad into something good. [Not that I'm saying it's bad.^^] I get it that you like fights the most, but try to appreceate the plot likewise too.