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Shinji's Bankai will be animated in Bleach TYBW Part 2 (Image via Studio Pierrot)

Bleach: Why Is Shinji Hirako’s Bankai So Terrifying? Explained

Priya MajumdarBy Updated:4 Mins Read Anime

Shinji Hirako Bankai in Bleach seems to be a very terrifying figure in Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – The Separation. The Bleach fandom to lose their cool was a tiny instance of exiled Shinigami Shinji Hirako’s uttering of “Bankai.”

Prior to the release of the trailer, fans had hoped that the second cour of Bleach TYBW Part 2 will finally show the Bankai of the Captain of 11th Division, Kenpachi Zaraki. However, that took a backseat for now in favor of Shinji’s much anticipated Bankai reveal. Aside from being Shinigamis of great caliber, both of them share one similarity – the ban on the use of their Bankai. The manga particularly didn’t touch upon it, but then again, Tite Kubo’s manga finished hastily even before it can elaborate on several important points. However, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War seems to be an attempt at rectifying that. So, now that Shinji’s banned Bankai’s power and nature will be animated, it raises the question of why it was even banned in the first place.

Note: This article contains spoilers from the Bleach manga and its light novels.

Shinji’s Bankai powers have yet to achieve the canon status in the Bleach-verse

Shinji Hirako saw a strange series of events in his professional life when he became the Captain of the 5th Division of Gotei 13, but then he was exiled from Soul Society. However, due to his many contributions in assisting Ichigo and the battles involving Soul Society, he was reinstated back to his former position in Gotei 13. While the man of peculiar taste and funny personality remains a fan-favorite, his popularity within Soul Society diminished with his transformation as a Visored, who are Shinigamis with the power of Hollow. But while the fans know about his Zanpakuto, Kido techniques, Hollowfication, etc., the mystery around his Bankai never loses its heat.

Although not canon, in the light novel, Can’t Fear Your Own World, by Tite Kubo and Ryogo Narita, many facts that were barred from the original manga were discussed, and Shinji’s Bankai happened to be one of them. Although it was described, a picture in the novel showed that he had the perfect chance to use his Bankai against Tokinada Tsunayashiro but couldn’t because of his Bankai’s indiscriminate nature.

To explain in simple terms, Shinji’s Bankai, Sakashima Yokoshima Happofusagari, changes his Zanpakuto blade into a staff that has a circular pommel resembling the one in his Shikai. In an aesthetic moment that aptly sets the mood for the excitement around his Bankai, it releases flower petals that cover him, protecting him from the effects of the ability. As for the ruthless power that Shinji’s Bankai exhibits, upon release, the Bankai’s effect turns anyone in Shinji’s vicinity against each other. That is to say, if Shinji is attacked by a horde of his enemies but is assisted by, say, members of Gotei 13, the Bankai would force everyone to kill each other, except for the user. 

This is an incredibly potent technique that is most useful when he is facing an army of enemies with no friends or innocent bystanders in plain sight, as can be seen with the video game version of Shinji in Bleach: Brave Souls. In Can’t Fear Your Own World, the efficiency of this technique was seen when he single-handedly took down a legion of Hollows on his own. However, with a great efficient Bankai comes an inefficient move. This is because the technique is great when used against several foes, but when faced with a single enemy, the Bankai’s effect would be useless. 

As such, even his Zanpakuto doesn’t have much use in a 1v1 battle, as seen during his solo confrontation with Sosuke Aizen. Additionally, while Aizen and his entourage were present, so were Ichigo, Visored, and other Gotei 13 members in Fake Karakura Town. So, if he had unleashed the Bankai’s powers, it could’ve caused a bloody massacre whose aftermath wouldn’t have been favorable for him.

Once again, elaboration on Shinji’s Bankai has only been relegated to the light novels, which even though Tite Kubo co-wrote, they can be called semi-canon at best. But with the release of the Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – The Separation extended trailer, all hope is not lost. If Shinji has uttered the “Bankai,” the anime adaptation of it by Studio Pierrot would undoubtedly be great. The studio has done an incredible job with Bleach: TYBW’s animation, so here’s to hoping that the few seconds of Shinji’s moment from the trailer that gained created waves within the community will produce the same results with the canon anime adaptation.

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Priya is an anime lover and writer at GamesHorizon. A graduate from EFL University, she is deeply interested in anything remotely anime, manga, and fan culture. In her free time, she likes to draw, cook, visit cafes, and read fanfiction on a variety of anime fandoms' ships.