Power Levels: Bleach
In a previous post, I discussed the idea of power levels in relation to Dragon Ball (here). I talk about why I think the scouters and power levels are a great tool in showing the ignorance of the Freeza force.
The Main Issue
In this post, I would like to discuss an interesting case where the idea of "power levels" is used to mixed results in the series Bleach.
In most battle shonen series, one way or another a pseudo "scouter", or way to measure a character's power, is implemented into a series. Some examples would be the bounties in One Piece, grades in Jujutsu Kaisen, and ranks in Bleach.
Throughout the series, the ranks serve as a way for the reader to measure the strength of the enemy to the strength of Ichigo, and yes I know Ichigo himself doesn't get a rank. So I would consider the ranking system as Bleach's own scouter.
The Ranks of The Gotei 13
In total there are 20 ranks in the Gotei 13, but realistically only two matter, the lieutenants and the captains. Throughout the series, there is a big focus on characters with these ranks, and it is established these characters are the cream of the crop.
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| Lieutenants |
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| Captains |
There is nothing wrong with establishing strong character early on in your series, if done right the payoff can be tremendous. Take for instance in One Piece, where early on we get to see the strongest swordsman, Dracule Mihawk, and the gap between him and Roronoa Zoro. That was around chapter 49 of the manga and now we're at chapter 1041 and he is still considered to be one of the strongest people in the world. It doesn't feel like Eichiro Oda produced this character for a one-off fight, but to show the audience a glimpse at the top of the mountain.
The main problem for Bleach stems from the Soul Society arc where we get introduced to the Gotei 13. They are the antagonist of the arc so of course, Ichigo and his friends are bound to go up against them.
Throughout the arc, we see both lieutenants and captains get beaten by Ichigo and his friends. Ichigo takes out two captains, Kenpachi Zaraki and Byakuya Kuchiki, and Uryu Ishida takes out Mayuri Kurosutchi. This isn't a problem by itself, as it just shows that Ichigo and his friends are able to contend with the best of the Gotei 13.
However, unlike other series where the main antagonist of an arc rarely ever shows up again. But that isn't the case for the Gotei 13 members, they become main characters for the rest of the series. If they never showed up again, or if they showed up later it can be explained at the time that was as strong as they got, but now they trained and got stronger. Again, that isn't what happened, they all show up 2 months later and easily sweep characters that are giving Ichigo and his friend's much trouble.
The fight that I think highlights this problem the most is Mayuri vs Szayelaporro Granz. The fight starts with Uryu and Renji fighting Szayelaporro, but they are way out of their league and are about to lose when Mayuri comes in. In the Soul Society arc, Uryu and Mayuri were around equal strength with Uryu barely scraping a victory.
But, in the Arrancar arc, the fight Uryu is losing very handily in, Mayuri comes in and dominates Szayelaporro. Mayuri essentially toys with him until the "superhuman" drug takes effect, which makes one-second feel like a century and swiftly kills him.
It's not that Mayuri or Uryu being weak is a problem, it's just having them flip flop between the two feels very jarring. If Mayuri had this much power why couldn't he easily beat Uryu? If Uryu was able to go toe to toe with a captain why is he struggling now? It makes it feel like at a drop of a dime a character can become strong or weak depending on Tite Kubo's mood.
Genryūsai Yamamoto and The Zero Squad
I think some of the most egregious cases are Yamamoto and the Zero Squad.
Yamamoto
First looking at Yamamoto, he is the captain commander and supposedly the strongest captain of the Gotei 13, but you could have fooled me.
He has been in a few fights, although most of them comprise of him jumping into a battle near the end and one-shotting the enemy. Which is a good thing since it shows somewhat he is someone you should not mess with. But out of all of the captains, he should be the one to never lose, or at least it should be a close fight, that is not what happened.
In what I would consider Yamamoto's first real fight was with Wonderweiss. He handily beats Wonderweiss as expected, but right after the fight is taken out by Aizen in what I can't even call a fight. Yes, Aizen sealed Yamamoto's power in Wonderweiss and used it against him, but for the strongest captain to be taken out for the rest of the arc that easily makes you question if really is the strongest captain at all.
Later in the last arc, Yamamoto is forced to once again take action into battle. In his fight with Royd Lloyd, where he thinks he is fighting Yhwach the leader of the Quincy. During this fight, it doesn't seem too easy for him, but it also doesn't seem like he is struggling to win. But after he wins, it is revealed that he was fighting with wasn't Ywach, then Ywach actually appears and kills him.
Both Aizen and Yhwach had godly powers, I get that. But if the supposed strongest guys only wins in the series are against fodder characters it just feels like a big lie.
The Zero Squad
The zero squad are introduced in the last arc as being stronger than all the squads in the Gotei 13 combined.
Each of the five members of the squad were former captains and have made instrumental contributions to the soul society. With that setup, they should be a force to reckon with. In the end, we get to see them fight for a little bit, but ultimately get killed offscreen.
At least with Yamamoto, he was in a few fights and when he was defeated by Aizen and Yhwach we see him get defeated. The zero squad had one fight and got off screened, what a waste of setup. We don't even get to see most of their zanpakto abilities, again at least before Yamamoto dies he reveals everything. They might as well have not fought, all they did was provide power up to Ichigo and then lose. To top it all off, this was the final arc there was no reason we couldn't see them go all out and have a good fight.
Take-Aways
- If you're going to come up with a way to describe your characters strength, either stick to it or don't even bother
- Show, don't tell. If you want the audience to know a character is strong, don't just have a bunch of characters say they are strong with nothing to back it up.
- If all a character's purpose is to lose and show how strong another character is, don't even bother.
That's all I have, for now, have a great day!
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