Fixed that^. Considering how long it takes for anything to happen in Bleach.

Yeah, Gin's ban kai was quite the anticlimax, so there's probably more to it.

 

Pretty sure Ichigo blocked that with his sword. If the bankai coat was that resilient, it wouldn't have been so easy for Ichigo's enemies to kick his ass. His sword is just drawn thinly in that frame. It shows it clearly in the previous one.

If he tried to block that with his sleeve I have a feeling that he would have had everything above the shoulders lopped off.

 

You gotta remember though, all those previous fights were back when Ichigo's coat wasn't part of his Bankai. Now it is, so its going to act differently.

 

It was always a part of his bankai, and it was never able to stop blades. Renji's shoulder-sleeve is a part of his bankai, and it doesn't do shit either.

 

It's kinda screwily drawn, but he definitely blocked it with his sword.

And his bankai outfit has absolutely nothing to do with his fighting power, other than being a potential indicator of how much he has taken damage / how low his spiritual power his.

 

Before it was just a piece of clothing that got transformed when he powered up.

Now on the way back from Hueco Mundo we have Ichigo officially acknowledging it as being a piece of his Bankai, like Zangetsu is, meaning it has been attributed some aspect that it had been previously lacking-- apparently as a Reiatsu/power level gauge, IIRC.

 

Bleach 400 is up.

 

GG Aizen Wins. K Thanks Bye.

 

Looks like all the people who thought there must be more to Gin's Bankai were right. Not surprised that Aizen has another trick up his sleeve when he starts getting worn down, but at least he's actually having a fight with someone who can seriously challenge him.

 

Looks like Ichigo can't easily block Gin's bankai if its used properly since he couldn't even see it retracting.

 

Gin seems to think otherwise. Sure he is confident he will still win, but he seems to think it is going to be harder to do so than he originally thought it would be.

 

Gin's mostly worried because Ichigo's figured out his Bankai's trick, that doesn't happen too often I'll wager. Not too mention Ichigo can give Gin a run for his money in the 'fastest' Bankai category.

 

My opinion is Gin is worried about Ichigo's growth, as in Ichigo seems to grow stronger than his opponent during the course of his battle. Gin appears to be scared that Ichigo will grow stronger than him the longer they fight which is rather logical. This is Shounen manga, however Gin obviously cannot break the fourth wall and ask the author why he is being set up to make Ichigo stronger now can he?

 

As an aside...

Tenkaikichchu was that technique by which Karakura was moved into Soul Society and replaced with a dummy. There were 4 pillars separated by a mile from each other that did this.

Gin's Bankai is 13 KM long and Gin used it to cut Karakura in two horizontally. So the pillars are broken and the real Karakura is back? Or is Kubo clever enough to argue that the Bankai's maximum length is 13 km, and Gin controls how far it stretches? But if that is the case, then why didn't Gin just use it to get Karakura back? Maybe he's forgotten...

 

What I wanna know is why Gin walked up to Ichigo instead of killing him from far away. Even if he only extends his bankai 1km, if he swung it from that far away, the tip of blade would be going over 1000 times faster than that of a normal sized blade. If he extended it far enough, it would break the sound barrier by a good bit- Ichigo would be dead before he had enough time to twitch.

Or Gin could just snipe-stab him from a kilometer away, and Ichigo'd still die before he noticed anything. I'm sure Ichigo would survive anyway, but there wasn't even an attempt? :|

 

Why is everyone assuming that Gin is trying to kill Ichigo?

Ichigo appears to have been a part of Aizen's plan since he was born, so there's a good chance that he has some vested interest in Ichigo. Why not assume that to Aizen, Ichigo is similar to Naruto in that killing him will defeat his plans? Gin may be perturbed because he knows of Ichigo's potential or because he has orders not to kill him.

There are many possibilities.

 

I could easily see a situation where Aizen ordered Gin not to kill Ichigo, but Gin thinks that would be unwise because of Ichigo's potential and rapid growth. I think you have a point that Aizen probably has some sort of master plan in the works; I doubt he went to all the trouble of building Ichigo up, just to have Gin kill him now.

Personally, I would not be surprised if Aizen's last words were. "Everything, including my death here and now, has gone exactly as I planned."

 

Someone needs to write a oneshot.

A very short one.

Where Ichigo gets snipe-killed. >_<

 

Why do most people in this series toy with their opponents instead of going all out right away and hitting the before they even know what happened? You could argue the same for Ichigo. Why didn't he use his speed to kill Gin before he could even unleash bankai? Besides, do we really know the extent of Ichigo's increased speed in bankai?

Being the fastest doesn't always make you the most accurate. There maybe a reason why Gin swings his bankai instead of attempting to snipe from long distances.