Alright, enough with the jokes - it's time to admit Shinji Hirako deserved much better than he got. How would you have rewritten his TYBW story? What fights would you have given him throughout Bleach? And how would you change the Vizards in general? Let me know!
Rewriting his role, I would’ve had him be the one to release Aizen. And to work up to that I would’ve had him battle one or two Quincy’s. Maybe let him fight one of the twins. Could be interesting to see him facing himself, especially the one who copies the memories.
I disagree, in my opinion Shunsui was the perfect person picked by Kubo to free Aizen, because all this ties with his dialogue with Aizen and other captains, showing that he will do anything to win the war, even throwing his pride away, what other captains, like Byakuya for example couldn't have done@@mephistoles2006
Not much to say about rewriting but something I'm surprised you didnt bring up was that Shinji kind of got abandoned by Kubo because /everything/ that made him his own character got stripped away from him. By the thousand year arc he had: 1. Lost Hiyori who he played off of heavily and in fact his entire Vizard group because even with Kensei and Rose still around they barely interacted. 2. His hollow powers which as you've mentioned in previous videos were absent after the Aizen battle. 3. His hatred for Aizen that drove him in the Karakura arc. 4. The mystery and power that came with him being the first power since Urahara all the way at the beginning who existed in the human world and the mystery that came with that. I don't as much have an answer to "rewriting" that isn't just "Don't UNwrite him so hard"
The Vizards were ok. Misfits and cool as in being outcasts. That's about the extent of things. Hiyori being in the group automatically brings down any cool factor they could've garnered.
Man, I'm not memeing, Imagine Hachi using Bakudou with Cero styles. Like, creating a Cero Bomb by making a barrier with a full Cero to explode in one go. They had such had ideas that could've been explored. And Shinji's Zanpakutou is a killer for a 1 on 1 fight. Why he kept losing is beyond my understanding, besides Aizen of course. It wouldn't need to go into details, but they would fair a lot better than cannon fodder. I mean, I would love that they would gang up against one type of Arrancar, get their upper hand until the Arrancar goes into Ressurections, then they all have a proper fight instead of just being one shoted.
I remember when Shinji first appeared on screen I was a huge fan! From the music, to his grin, to his shikai. I was so disappointed he didn’t get a fight
Shinji got his Rukia(deuteragonist)- like intro, dopest drip, cool personality, interesting abilities, tragic backstory tied to Aizen and Urahara, personal conflict with Aizen, he's one of the oldest Captains, leader of his own fraction, friends with Ichigo, fan favorite just for being there and doing nothing. ALL the reasons and so many opportunities to make him important. His story arc literally writes itself. But no, Kubo's on the mission to make him as small and insignificant as possible. Idk how can he have so little passion towards this goldmine of a character, meanwhile putting so much time and focus in giving Kenpachi literally the same fight twice in every arc.
bro real its too disappointing. Kubo gave bro everything except the one thing that actually matters in a shonen manga. This man was unique among the cast as a mysterious, chesiree cat like third party with a devilish smile. Before karakura town arc when i was watching the opening, seeing this man side by side with yamamoto and aizen i thought he was gonna be built different but i was very mistaken. Despite being a the captain commander of the vizards, a literal captain among captains, he was just a mid tier captain. All that hype just to get no true fight of his own? We knowing his shikai could reverse words with practice so whats stopping him from reversing other senses. He could be made op so easily i just dont understand how kubo fumbled so hard.
@somerandomsavage5341 Nah he is just extremely arrogant. That's his in verse explanation as to why he always explains his abilities, why he doesn't think he needs to train much more and why he got outplayed by aizen cuz he thought that isn't anything that he couldn't see.
Its a nonsense how Kempachi was able to find 3 sternritters during the first invasion and Shinji was just running around the whole invasion. I mean, how hard for a captain could t be to find an enemy with those huges spiritual pressure?
I wouldnt say it was nonsense that 3 sternritters went straight to Kenpachi. Remember that he was one of the 5 war potentials so they all wanted to get the rewards for taking him down
@@AuroraBoostImagine if the Sternritter were also heading towards Shinji but since he inadvertently activated his Shikai they were actually running away from him, thus why he couldn't find anyone
@@AuroraBoost If you think about it then it's kind of nonsense that the Visored collectively weren't even a consideration for the Vandenreich. They have Hollow powers. They should be captain level shinigami with an additional power boost and that power is also literally poison to Quincies. It negates the Bankai stealing ability. Instead they didn't even use their masks and barely got to use their captain level shinigami powers before getting rekt.
@scoobiusmaximus9508 look, im not denying anything about the Shinji topic, I even agree. I was just stating that Kenpachi getting jumped by 3 sternritters isn't nonsense because of his status
I think we can all agree we should have gotten an actual fight between Shinji and bazz b in the anime. He didn’t use his mask once but we know he’s very powerful. He definitely deserved a few solo wins under his belt. Hopefully they extend his role with the vizards against Gerard.
At least we got his bankai. We still need Love's bankai. And Love is arguably one of if not the strongest soul reaper outside of Zaraki bankai. No other soul reaper has come even close to his brute strength. He ripped one of those giant hollows apart with bare hands. Now I'm thinking he will get some shine since Kubo said Gerard can be killed if someone was able to destroy that cross.
@@David-z3m3hI’m all down for seeing Love’s Bankai but I can easily name a few captains more powerful than Love apart from kenpachi. Unfortunately the power of the vizards wasn’t properly displayed.
@@gammafrost there are captains that have shown physical feats on par with Love's? I know there are captains stronger than him, but I'm talking pure raw strength. The only feat I recall better than his is when Zaraki bit Gerard's knuckle and ripped his arm off. Those hollows are pretty big you know. I'm talking about the ones that look like grimreapers. Love ripped one in half down the middle with his hands like he was ripping a sheet of paper or opening curtains. Outside of bankai Zaraki I haven't seen anything even close.
Kubo always had a habit of making more characters than he knew what to do with. Some of them have a brief moment to shine and then fade into total obscurity, while others don’t get to do anything important during the series’ entire run. Shinji and the Vizards fall into the first category. They had a great introduction as a new group of characters, but then take nothing but constant Ls in the background afterward.
It also doesn't help that he ended up playing favorites especially toward the end of the series. Kenpachi, Byakuya, Toshiro, Kyoraku, and Mayuri all get amazing moments while most of the other captains get pushed to the wayside
@@m0ckyzo185it really sucks too because the characters that never got to do anything could have just replaced these favorites. We didn't even get to see Iba's shikai ability and then he's a captain, Tessai was the leader of the kido corps but has less feats than his Hachigen, and Ukitake's only win is against Lilynette which doesn't even count. It was probably due to fan service but it still sucks that so many powerful characters were introduced and then sidelined
it's not just he doesn't know what to do with them, the tybw is the perfect moment for them to actually do something, but instead he actively clowned them and just let yhwh kill all the sternritters offscreen, like what the fuck was he thinking MHA is the perfect example of "doesn't know what to do with", there is just a tons of characters that just simply disappeared after they were introduced for one arc
I think there's more to it than that. Every long series with a big cast is going to have characters that get the short end of the stick and don't amount to much. With one piece the throwaway characters introduced every arc are generally pretty lame and nobody could give a damn about them nor do they really get any kind of development or characterization. So when they amount to nothing its fine. That has even more characters than bleach but it knows to focus on the straw hats mainly and 95% of everyone else is just seasoning sprinkled on top. Naruto had the same problem as bleach but only for a few characters like the konoha 11. All the other side characters people barely cared about so they can just get left by the wayside to save time. If they had utilized a few more characters better there wouldn't be many complaints. For bleach almost every character kubo creates is quite cool and he puts some personality into a lot of them so it stings when they get shafted. Like cang du for example. Theres complaints about every minor character not being utilized well enough. Aside from shinji the other vizards are all minor characters for sure but it feels bad seeing them get used as fodder to hype up main characters since they have so much personality. Giving side characters so much screentime i believe is a huge factor in why people lose interest in bleach. No matter how good it is people will not bring themselves to care about minor supporting cast. It would suck but it might've been received better if the vizards were introduced but never built up at all. Just there as devices like in other series.
@@tnuhenaj3752 yeah its mainly about managing and allocating time between various different characters that ultimately weakens alot of series. I think back to how RWBY created a cast of so many unique characters with interesting weapons and power sets only to utilize less than a third of them.
Could you please make a video about Shinji's and Momo's relationship? I always found it really wholesome how these two characters traumatized by Aizen worked well together finally finding a lieutenant worth his service and captain worth her service respectivelly.
Shinji is more used in CFYOW, which I d love to see being adapted in anime like other light novels, but for this one you can see some much awaited events like Shinji Bankai or Hisagi’s
@@BigJohn303 that s the nature of Sakanade… he s not supposed to fight directly like Kenpachi or some others. Hisagi’s bankai is not making him fight so to speak. But in Shinji’s case, you very much understand in CFYOW Sakanade’s bankai is hardly used unless he is on his own. Visually it should be a slaughter with him quietly going through it unscathed. It reminds well why some are forbidden to use their bankai during a close fight between allies and ennemies.
Kyoraku and Shinji going down in one hit against Aizen was obviously disappointing from a battle perspective, but it lines perfectly with how Aizen is potrayed in the story by Kubo. I think it was meant to show that all captains, from Soifon to Kyoraku, cannot compete against him in a 1v1. He will simply adjust his ridiculous levels of spirit pressure to make sure that you go down in one hit. Add to the fact that he wasn't even trying to kill them. The only one he was trying to kill was Yamamoto, seen from how he chooses to stab him in the stomach, a very different approach compared to his attacks against basically everyone else.
Your videos are just the greatest man. You're well spoken in tone and language, not blinded by your fandom but also not overly critical, covering a great range of topics for your videos, and being extremely accurate, reliable, and extensive about each topic you tackle. I am not a fan of Bleach, but your videos are just super satisfying to watch, all of them.
I totally agree. Shinji has a really OP Bankai ability, but his potential was completely wasted by immediately putting him against the one Sternritter who has a perfect counter for it. After that, he basically sits on the sidelines until the Gerard Valkyrie fight. Some have pointed out that even Kensei, who got bodied by Mask and was later zombified, was given more attention than Shinji.
@@th3ra83wouldn’t have made a difference since bambi could just shoot reishi bombs in any direction anyways, so bambi was just a bad matchup against shinji as much as human komomura was for bambi.
@@th3ra83he toying & taking his time provoking Bambi because he want to lure other sternritter to show up. So he can finish them off with his bankai. But unfortunately he lose the bet.
I always have this suspicion that everything Byakuya did after he was revived (minus helping Rukia's fight) was originally supposed to be Shinji's role. One of the examples being: the Byakuya vs. Robert, Candice, & NaNaNa fight which most likely supposed to be Shinji's fight, and that he would unleash his Bankai on the 3 of them instead of on some Soldat fodders. Also; the fact that Shinji was even there at all when Byakuya decapitates Gerard's head, really reads that it was supposed to be Shinji's moment of him Cero-ing Gerard's head off. Do I also need to mention that Byakuya criticizing Kyoraku for freeing Aizen was most likely supposed to be Shinji's role, as well? You know, as the actual victim of Aizen's experiment & all that? But then the massive backlash for Byakuya's death happened & here we are
Still salty about it? It wasn't because of the backlash. Shinjis abilitys can only do so much and honestly, with such a big cast some people need to step aside. Doesn't mean he isn't strong, but there are too many characters capable to do his job.
@@Marukanitel Backlash or not, my point of Byakuya's revival being most likely one of the major factor behind Shinji's role in TYBW being tampered, still stands
He definitely deserved better, and so did Ukitake, hopefully in the 3rd cour they will put respect on Ukitake's name, I think it's a bit too late for Shinji...
@@darkknight6219 Hopefully all the Vizards in Wahrwelt join together and use a Cero to destroy Gerard's cross. If Zaraki's brute force is not enough, then only something poisonous to the Quincy could destroy. They're all there besides Mashiro, it should be powerful enough.
Making Vizards so irrelevant always felt like a wasted potential to me, even throwing aside the Arrancar arc where they hardly did anything.The TYBW was the most perfect opportunity to make Vizards a big deal and show them off more. Knowing how poisonous hollow powers are for quincy, you might think that they would have to play much bigger role in defeating the enemy army but for some reason Kubo didn't think that way...
Oh damn I can picture it 0:02 ; before or even when Urahara calls Mayuri about the Bankai reclaiming; Urahara has to talk to the Vizards and asks them for help when creating the Hollow pills, maybe one has to be a test subject (you know since they have the Hollow traces in them), which Ofcourse touchy subject with them. Point of conflict where they begrudgingly have to help and reclaim the Bankai.
You know whats crazy. Since hollow reiatsu is poison to quincy and vizards have hollow reiatsu mixed in them, when activating sakanade's gas quincies should have just died of poison since the gas has hollow reiatsu. Instead of a drugs shinji could have really been playing ww2.
I think the largest plot hole in the whole story is that after Yamamoto is killed the vizards never use their masks against the Quincy even though they are the most deadly. Also for there being 24 (I’m excluding A and B as they weren’t there) sternritter to fight it seems weird that the vizards can’t win 1 fight before losing
Vizards did use their masks. Just not any of the ones in the gotei. Lisa and hiyori use their masks against gerard. It's really weird but the in universe reason is probably that they either aren't allowed to use hollowfication as part of the gotei or they aren't doing it out of respect.
@@tnuhenaj3752 I was talking about the captains, I also mentioned after Yamamoto dies specifically because they may not have been allowed but after he is dead shunsui is the head captain and he doesn’t play by rules so they would most likely be allowed to use them. Instead all 3 of them get bodied in their first fights
Shinji, upon meeting with ichigo : Pulls out mask Shinji, upon encountering grimmjow : Pulls out cero Shinji, upon fighting quincies who's easily defeated with hollow powers : Pull away
I find it very weird that the vizards were defeated so easily in the tybw arc because they should be a great counter to quincies. Each and every one of their attacks is infused with hollow reiatsu, something that's so poisonous to quincies that a single wound from a hollow if left untreated might lead to health complications (as we've been told in the Anything but the rain flashback) . The Vizards should've been the Gotei's secret weapon against the Quincies.
Great video. Most underrated character in my opinion. His shikai is one of the best in the series, he’s one of the more experienced captains, and the hollow mask adds a multiplayer on all his stats. He’s also got escalon as a theme song, his entire style is my favorite from the captains, and the reversal theme is awesome.
There's no real excuse in the final arc. I love the arc, but seriously, he gave mayuri TWO fights, all those sternritters and he couldn't take down ONE!?
@@matthasch847All of those should’ve been Shinji’s win not some weirdo scientist who can magically counter everything because he has some annoying resistance or prep time would’ve been much better if Shinji beat Giselle he’s a womanizer so the jokes could’ve been there, Posion vs Regenration and the fact that his right hand men were literally zombies.
Hes been my favorite character since i first read the arrancar arc, and i was hugely disappointed with his treatment in TYBW, I'm very happy the anime is giving him more appreciation and hope they give him more scenes
The Visored played a good role during the Arrancar/Fake Karakura Town Arc. Helping the main character using his Hollow Powers and uniting against Aizen, even defeating an Espada (Barragan). Shinji clearly was the leader and was the first person in the whole series to actually wound Aizen. That's quite an accomplishment, given the fact how god-like Aizen was portrayed. The only thing that was missing was Shinji getting an actual win, be it against an Espada or a Fraccion. But yeah, after the defeat of Aizen it would probably have been the best to let the Visored stay in Karakura Town since their role was finished. But of course, the Gotei 13 had to replace 3 captains and the Visored where the only ones on with captain level abilities. So Kubo more or less had no choice but the reinstall some of them as captains if he wanted the story to go on.
Shinji is one of my favourite captains ever, so I was incredibly disappointed to see just how much he and the rest of the Vizards catch Ls more than Renji. Only time I saw Shinji win was against some Quincy soldiers and kind of against a handicapped and damaged Grimmjow. I really wish Shinji had at least a Resurreccion or something, like he and the Vizards spent a hundred years in isolation and still no prep against Aizen.
Kubo~sensei did state that all of the Vizards & Ichigo do have the potential to reach Ressurecion Forms, if they become synergized with their Inner Hollows more. And that Arrancar can reach Segunda Etapa (Ulquiorra’s Second Release Ressurecion Form) if they train hard enough
He's got strong potential. He got to shine in CFYOW wiping out that hoard of Hollows after luring them to chase him. Soifon's reaction is understandable given the unforgiving world she comes from, there are only targets not people. Trying to see an enemy as anything more is forbidden. It shows the jarring contrast in her and Ichigo's overall mentality/ideology.
Are the hollows that appeared in the side story any stronger or more challenging to kill than the run of the mill ones introduced at the beginning of the story?
Yeah I really felt like the Vizards got shafted hard in the series. You'd think captains and vice captains that could use both Bankai and hollowfication would be able to make more of an impact than regular Captains and vice captains, but nope. It sort of negates the whole point of hollowfication as a power source.
ALL the Vizards deserved better. They were hyped up to be something alien and stronger than the average captain and.... they turned out to be largely fodder while the classic captains got even more chances to shine. Kubo had some brilliant ideas with subpar execution, and the power consistency between his various factions always seemed to fall off in favor of making Shinigami Captains the ultimate force and power.
kubo admitted to creating designs first and creates the characters as an afterthought. Thats why there are lots of characters that are there because he just liked their style.
At least his new theme fucking slaps. Still absolutely love seeing any discussion video from you pop up, Tommo! Fingers crossed for many new opportunities coming up in the run up to next cour.
Shinji is one of my favorite Bleach characters so I was really disappointed to see his little role in the TYBW. He regained his Captain title so give him something! At least we got a little more in the anime including his Bankai.
im the ultimate shinji defender, and im convinced kubo had shaft him due to his shikai being really annoying to deal with (if used properly) unless you have unidirectional aoe or your name is aizen.
From before i watched bleach, Shinji was one of the 1st characters i knew and i grew fond of him. When he showed up in the story i was full of glee but god damn he just never wins 😭
Even Aizen did not care about him at all right until the end XD My favorite interaction of them was Aizen literally grinning with amusement when Tosen gave Shinji his new haircut.
I feel like the main problem with bleach is allocation. Kubo seems to put a ton of time into making this huge cast of super cool characters but doesn't feel like he has the panel space to put them into the forefront for even a fraction of the time they deserve. I swear, bleach could be like 3 times longer and even then I feel like that wouldn't be enough to properly expand on everything.
Hirako had a solid connection to Ichigo and Aizen and therefore the story. That way he could have been seriously more utilized. My prime candidate though to this day remains Toshiro Hitsugaya. The praised prodigy
Hitsugaya is your candidate for a character that deserves better? Really? He gets more screentime than basically any other captain. He might not have the absolute best win record but he has gotten plenty of time to shine.
@@Atticus-Catnippbut you get a solid idea of his character from all those fights and small character moments. Like the other guy said Toshiro and his lieutenant Rangiku, are probably the two most popular side characters in the whole show though.
You are right!! They could have done soooo much more with Shinji and the captains they reinstated. If their part was not going to be expanded on, why make them captains again? The fact that the head captain respected them enough and the part they played in defeating Aizen to have them come back, says alot. So why not have them play more of a role with defeat ing the quincies?
Thanks for doing this video - Shinji is a top 3 character for me solely based on his demeanor, design, and (ultimately unrealized) potential... After his portrayal during the Turn Back the Pendulum arc, I felt like he was owed a more integral place in the narrative. I feel like Kubo has/had a tendency of creating awesome characters and instead of DEVELOPING those characters within the story, opted to saturate the field by introducing new characters and new races, and changing the parameters and laws of their abilities entirely to suit his whims. In terms of Shinji, TBTP alone warranted a bigger role in subsequent arcs - where he uncovered/revealed Aizen when he was spying on Kisuke; he offered Kisuke advice on how to be a captain, his poise in the battle after being Hollowfied and the fact that all of the other Vizards looked to him as a de-facto leader, implying a sense of respect/reverence from other captains and vice captains... As well, his conversations with Kyouraku and Ukitake at the beginning of the TBTP arc implied a tenure on the Gotei 13 that deserved a more crucial role. I think his character design is awesome - the loose attitude, blonde haircut, and especially the mischievous grin/eyes give him one of the most unique looks and designs to where Kubo could've fashioned him into one of the amoral/cunning personalities like Kisuke and Kyouraku (the others in my top 3). In terms of where he could've been showcased more prominently: I think he could've fought Harribel in the Karakura Town arc as both an indication of his stature/abilities and to mirror her aspect of death (Sacrifice, as the Vizards know sacrifice well), OR he could've fought Grimmjow to round out their storyline after he STARCHED him before Ulquiorra stepped in; or even Tosen or Gin since they were all at the Runkongi district together when the Vizards were first hollowfied. The math simply doesn't make sense why Hitsugaya and Byakuya are given so many battles, or Ichigo fights the following Arrancar: Grimmjow (x3), Ulquiorra (x2), Nnoitra, Dordoni, Yammy (briefly), as well as Gin and Aizen - whereas Shinji doesn't deserve a single showcase battle in a conflict he has more personal claim to be involved with than any of those three? Moreover, that the Vizards were so tragically neglected to the extent that after so much time (centuries?) their only evolution as shinigami/vizards was measured in the minutes/hours they could maintain their hollow forms. Kubo could've chosen to write in a mastery over that masked form and perhaps the captains among them could've achieved a comparable zanpakuto/hollow release form to the arrancar's Resurreccion. For me, it may go down as the biggest disappointment in Bleach and the Bankai reveal in Cour 2 was a shallow and woefully inadequate attempt at development that was made more even pathetic by how swiftly Bambietta dispatched him. Such a shame for someone who should've been a tremendously impactful character.
It was so odd to me that the solution to get a one-up on the Strenritter’s was hollowfication, but Kubo didn’t have any of the Visored captains whip out a mask.
Honestly, I do not get why people are so suprised that most of the characters that were introduced later on the story, ended up getting less shine then most of the OG Captains. If you were to as a casual fan of Bleach to mention all of the Vizards, Fraccion or Fullbringers, I seriously doubt they could. Bleach has such a massive cast, that it was inevitable that some would fall to the wayside or be used mainly as a way to demonstrate how strong the some of the heros or enemies are. If Kubo was supposed to give every single character their time to shine, Bleach would have had to be several 1000 chapters long. I try to be mostly happy with what we got and that Kubo is still working on the series, when he could have retired and enjoyed all of the money he made from the series. That even after all of the backlash and struggles he has faced he is still so passionate about his story, is honestly really admirable imo.
I just realized, could commentary videos like this influence the writing for the upcoming cours? If so, please keep becoming the voice of the fandom, MrTommo! (was just listening to shinjis theme and thought of commenting)
It does seem weird that the first 300 episodes literally focused on hollow/soul reapers then completely through hollows out the window once ichigo defeated aizen
Kubo did almost all of his characters dirty af, a lot of build up but little to no show. From small character treatment like ichigo's crew to the big character treatment like the captains such as yamamoto, ishin, yuroichi etc even aizens last fight the biggest build up and most anticipated was cut short. Like why why does almost everything seem so half baked.
Shinji is my favorite character in Bleach and I have some theories about the way he was treated on the last arc: - Kubo simply doesn't like him - Kubo may not know how to fully explore sakanade in an interesting way during battle - Kubo regretted drawing the Vizard's masks (they were taking too much time to draw and that's why we didn't see them masked in many panels during the arrancar arc either) - Kubo is saving him for a spotlight moment in the hell arc (doubtful, tbh) - Shinji was simply extremelly unlucky with the opponents he faced (Bambietta's ability was conveniently perfect to counter sakanade; Shinji simply turned his back completely against Gerard to save Hinamori from falling) - Shinji isn't as popular in Japan as he is in the West (no one ever asked Kubo about Shinji's - nor about the Vizards - treatment on any of his many interviews after the end of Bleach) - Kubo was actually planning to use Shinji at the end of Gerard's battle but had to cut it because he was rushing for the ending
I think Kubo just has a weakness for making new characters so there's never enough panel time for everybody. If it were up to me I'd have featured Yourichi a lot more but what can ya do.
The fact that they made it a big deal about Quincy's finding hallow reiatsu Poison. But none of the vizards were like "we can use that to an advantage some how,," always bugged me
bro shinji's fog could literally been like mustard gas to quincies if that were the case and it wouldve been cool asf. They have to trip the hell out before they die since the fog shinji's shikai produces is of his own reiatsu which is infused with hollow reiatsu.
I genuinely do not fault the character for his failures, I fault Kubo’s writing for him. He’s a capable fighter, excellent abilities and is a cool character but the way Kubo has this mf explain his abilities is ridiculous. I get it was a trope to explain your abilities back then but I feel no other series has as big of consequences from this trope like Bleach does. A character will have someone on the ropes, explain their ability and get absolutely DESTROYED because of it.
To be honest, the more i reread Bleach, the stranger Shinji's fightd look. It is almost as if Kubo is trying to hide something about Shinji's abilities. His fight with grimjoww is interrupted by Ulquiorra, his fight with Gin is not shown, his fight with Aizen is interrupted by Ichigo, and since becoming a captain again, Shinji only acted as a support to others with his shikai or did nothing at all and only observed others fight (in the novel too). Perhaps we'll finally get something in the hell arc..
To me it feels like Shinji is Ichigo's older Shinigami brother figure, but for whatever reason halfway through the TYBW he seemingly vamoosed in the manga. Not literally of course, he's around, but isn't written to do much. I really hope the anime continues to expand just a bit on what else he accomplished.
Despite his sidelining, Shinji was always amongst my favorite characters of Bleach. I really wish Kubo would have done much more with him in TYBW. He deserved so much more. All the Vizard did and even moreso, after Yamamoto passed away, they should've given them access to their masks in the war afterwards. It made no sense why they all never used those when it could have turned the tide for some of their battles, especially Shinji. I also agree he should've been involved in the fight against Girard. It would have been perfect to have him utilize his mask to bring himself up to the caliber to assist in the battle. Sakinade could've given so many chances to gain an advantage in the fight.
Hello, I really appreciate your videos about Bleach! May I ask you if you could please make a video of hypothetical Uryu's and Jugram's Vollständig (maybe even Yhwach's) and the probabilities to see them in the anime (maybe cour 3, I think you said something about it in the video of the new trailer reaction).
The Visored are an example of one of the biggest problems with Bleach, and Kubos writing, they are all 'tell but never show'. It's a huge problem in anime as a whole but it is massive in Bleach. We're constantly told how incredibly strong someone is but then when the time comes to show it they don't do anything, or they get their ass kicked.
This all comes back to what I believe is the greatest weakness Kubo has as a writer. He simply doesn't know which of his characters to give screentime and development to. He is a talented character designer, but he keeps introducing new characters and then leaving others behind in the dirt. Even when they are characters who should be given development time. And the Vizards are some of the more explicit examples of this. Like, why wasn't Lisa given a proper fight to show she's captain level? Why is Love the only vizard who was a captain in turn back the pendulum who doesn't take his position back? Why was that position instead given to what is affectively a background character whose Zanpakuto we still don't even know the name of? IMO it's because Kubo's cast is way too inflated, and he just didn't know where to trim the fat at.
I really think Shinji could been perfect to one and for all deal with the bambis. Once everyone of his allies around him has been knocked out he uses bankai and makes them basically try to kill one aonther and makes the zombies also go after each other and we watch the grotesque murder of the bambis killing each other and the zombies eating each other.
I think the Vizards are the worst part of Thousand Year Blood War's shortcomings, story wise When you think about it, they're the ones who should've been on the front line the most in that arc. Their hollow powers are the biggest advantage the Soul Society has against the Quincy, but the only Vizards who uses their mask is Hiyori I would've loved to see the Vizards come in and annihilate some high level Quincy soldiers, and for the Sternritter to be like "holy crap, these dudes are a serious threat, lets make them our highest priority or avoid them entirely" I would've loved to see Shinji work with the other Shinigami to use Sakanade's inverted world to their advantage against the Schutzstaffel. Have it mess with Lille's aim to keep everyone safe, or to disorient Gerard and use that to their advantage
They are simply an afterthought. None of that would've made much difference seeing as how they weren't developed enough in the entire Hueco Mundo arc and not utilized in the Lost Agent arc. Where they probably had more sensible matchups against the enemy types.
I feel like Kubo intended to have the Vizards have their own moment/huge fight towards the end of thousand year blood war. We don't even get to see half of the Vizards for most of the arc, and one captain Vizards all perform rather underwhelmingly. Kensei and Rose get taken out super quick, and Shinji can't win a single fight. They don't even use their masks at all throughout the entire arc which is really suspicious. I feel like Kubo wanted the Vizards to have a triumphant moment at the end of the arc where they don't hold anything back and use their masks, but I assume Kubo didn't have the time to do it.
Shinji is my favorite character despite the crap he gets and dealt with. He’s what the captains of the past should have been. Open to the “real world,” challenging of the traditions, hilarious. He’s so good
Keeping my self in boundaries of cannon; may be they are so used to fighting with mask, they are struggling with out it, and will need some sort of training to be on their prime with just bankai.
You know who also deserve better? Love. I mean, dude didn't even get his position as Captain back after Sajin was turned into a dog. Hell, Lisa became Captain of Squad 8 after the TYBW, but Love wasn't reinstated.
Sometimes in life, you're powerful but have terrible luck. Some peoples destiny is to never give up and be strong but just lose. I like that their is a character like this.
Did anyone else ever find Aizen’s monologuing a bit frustrating at times? Like this: Shinji: “Are you up to something, Aizen?” Aizen: “What makes you ask that? Don’t you trust me?” Shinji: “I’ve never trusted you, so I decided to keep a close eye on you.” Aizen: “Aha! I wanted you to not trust me and keep an eye on me. My visible treachery was a distraction so you wouldn’t notice my actual evil schemes. Everyone else in the soul society is a f*cking idiot who believes everything they’re told without a second thought, so it was really easy to frame a dozen people, get them banished and face no repercussions whatsoever, all while securing a position of power for myself and continuing my evil schemes on the down low.” Shinji: “NANI?”
The best villains talk shit and kick ass. If its just one or the other they are incomplete. Aizen is a walking illusion, whats the point of the deception without the dramatic reveal?
Aizen is confident that no one can negate his Koyoka Suigetsu’s Perfect Hypnosis that he has to eventually reveal himself to the only one who had the Will to Challenge him He has a God Complex and Power to back up his Inflated Ego He feels Overconfident that nothing can break him down (Aizen) and he welcomes the challenge Buh you know what they say: “Pride Comes Before The Fall”
Aizen was just trying too hard to seem capable. He tried to claim everything that happened was intentional when that's just difficult to believe... It's as if he takes every opportunity to try to impress people, to convince them that he's earned their admiration. Why does he have to explain his master plans? Why in God's name did he hint when he placed his Vice Admirals under Perfect Hypnosis to Unohana?? He literally tells her his Zanpakutō's weakness. He's honestly just starved for validation, and he seems entitled to admiration and respect. It's hard to give someone something when they act entitled to having it: respect, admiration, love... reverence. Aizen is brilliant and clever, seeing how well he socially engineered around his Zanpakutō... but he's also just a dork who has to explain how smart he is given the opportunity. Like... this is not a malicious, apathetic badass... that's more like Yhwach.
Shinji was perceptive, patient, flexible, worked great with others and made effective use of his abilities. In my mind, his only "mistake" was fighting overwhelming opponents, but that uphill battle is expected in Bleach. His bankai doesn't help him in duels, but he certainly is an exceptional shinigami.
Thinking back on it, I don't know why Kubo didn't send a few Vizards with Ichigo to Hueco Mundo to rescue Orihime. That would've helped convey that they really are Ichigo's allies, and there would've been less characters to juggle during the Fake Karakura Town arc. Though they could've also swapped places with the captains who were sent to help out.
I agree… Shinji was a favorite of mine in the Vaizard arc. I like his character design, but he falls short in importance. I think his Bankai is somewhat interesting, but simplistic at the same time.
If nothing else, it was a missed opportunity to foreshadow the details Ichigo's hollow powers by not having them be pointed out as not quite the same as the Visards.
Subjectively, Kubo's biggest crime with the Vizored's, that has sadly already been repeated so their is no hope for amending it and giving them a moment in the sun in the anime, is simple.... The Vizored's literally already have the "secret sauce" so to speak to prevent the Sternritter from stealing their Bankai's which was the "big disaster" or "doomsday weapon" of the first invasion, built in as an integral defining part of their character. They were almost literally made to counter the stealing of Bankai's. With both another power to rely on other than Bankai and the power that all the other captains absorb later on to prevent the loss of their Bankai already coursing through their veins. I understand deep down in my core that the way the first Sternritter invasion was written was done very intentionally to make the situation appear almost inescapably dire and paint the picture that the Soul Society's very existence hangs by a thread. But lets be honest, if Kubo thought about it a little bit he could've given the Vizored's their moment in the sun by making them the lynch pin of the defence in the first invasion able to fight back and hold even just a small area or enclave of resistance. Because as it stands, other than some small Ichigo foreshadowing I'll touch on later, he just kind of ass pulled Kurotsuchi figuring out that Hollow's are essentially poisonous to Quincy's therefore if we add Hollow to our Zanpakuto it will reject or harm them kind of anticlimactically later on in the second invasion. He could've made it so among the Captain's that Bankai'd in the first invasion, one or two of them were the Vizored Captain's. And as you show each of the other captain's moment of despair as they get smashed into oblivion and hopelessness, you reveal a single ray of hope, a single battle that's going not even necessarily well, but half decently at least and most importantly, without a stolen Bankai. Have the Sternritter trade some blows, talk some shit and then tactically withdraw from the fight before the Soul Reapers involved get a chance to put 2 and 2 together and fully figure out why they're skirting around the fight and not stealing the Bankai like in the other fights without expressly saying it (you could even flash into the Genryusai fight at this point where he surmises that his Bankai is too powerful or not understood well enough to be stolen, as a misdirection) and that fight then gives more insightful and clever observers, like Mayuri or maybe even Shinji himself who's often portrayed to be quite clever, a chance to confirm Mayuri's theory so he can put it into action in the second invasion. Importantly, this has also already been foreshadowed when the Arrancar who attacks Ichigo near the start of the arc fails to steal Ichigo's bankai. So this fight basically acts as confirmation of the theory for Mayuri and adds more foreshadowing of the eventual solution. I feel doing it that way it doesn't lessen the impact of the big names like Byakuya, Kenpachi and even Genryusai getting taken out, but also better sews the seeds of them figuring out the fix to the situation and securing a path to fight back without just explaining it all later in a small foreshadow in the first fight of the arc and small exposition dump to get them back in the fight the way he did originally... Such a missed opportunity to perfectly use some really under appreciated but fan loved characters without power scaling them up as Kubo seem's disinclined to do. Because much like the Luffy vs Eneru fight in One Piece, sometimes a winner in battle can simply come down to advantageous circumstance and a bit of Rock, Paper, Scissors. This would create one of those situations where it's like realistically, lets say Kensei for example, in the power scaling of Bleach has no business beating a Sternritter but by virtue of being the natural counter to their Soul Reaper specific weapon becomes a temporary crux of the battle which then makes the Sternritter have to reveal some of their trump cards to even the odds as he can essentially still fight at his full strength with no restriction which works against the Sternritter's initial plans to disarm and slaughter them. Not to mention, they can still be taken out the same way later. As like much of the cast, the Vizored captains are basically simply overpowered and defeated by the Sternritter's innate powers and/or their Ywatch gifted Schrift's anyway and when that happens because the Vizored's would've been marketed as the natural solution to the problem it makes their eventual defeats and zombie enslavement an even more powerful statement of the enemies strength and threat they pose. In that the Vizored's could not be weakened but were still simply overpowered. Thanks for attending my Tedtalk... as you can tell, this topic lives rent free in my mind :P
I think part of the issue is that Shinji's shikai alone is so powerful and difficult to deal with that if he wasn't prevented with hard counters (such as a blind shinigami, or an omni-directional attacker) then he would be practically unstoppable, let alone with the addition of the Vizard powers. It's therefore hard to set up a balanced fight for him.
Imagine if the manga finally continues and in the new arc Shinji is tored of catching L left and right so he goes to Mayuri/Urahara asking him to pursue the Hollowification experiment and later on in the arc, he comes back in a state similar to Tosen where he's able to achieve a Resurrección That'd be straight fire
Ah Shinji the Shūhei Hisagi of the Vizards. That or Kubo really needs to give Hisagi a Hollow mask as both he and the Vizards as a whole are Kubo's whipping boys for the Thousand Year Blood War Arc.
That Momo joke came out of nowhere xD compells me tho. Overall I very much agree with the video, its really a shame, because I really enjoy Shinjis character and its always nice when he shows up.
You know after listening to most of this video I would have loved to hear shinji be angry with Yamamoto because after being kicked out of the goatee he never had an opportunity to punish his lieutenant I think that could have been some fun wordplay and partially messing with the head captain
Alright, enough with the jokes - it's time to admit Shinji Hirako deserved much better than he got. How would you have rewritten his TYBW story? What fights would you have given him throughout Bleach? And how would you change the Vizards in general? Let me know!
Seeing Shinji and the vizards ressurection would be sick
Rewriting his role, I would’ve had him be the one to release Aizen. And to work up to that I would’ve had him battle one or two Quincy’s. Maybe let him fight one of the twins. Could be interesting to see him facing himself, especially the one who copies the memories.
have shinji do more against bambi and actually fight bazz b
I disagree, in my opinion Shunsui was the perfect person picked by Kubo to free Aizen, because all this ties with his dialogue with Aizen and other captains, showing that he will do anything to win the war, even throwing his pride away, what other captains, like Byakuya for example couldn't have done@@mephistoles2006
Not much to say about rewriting but something I'm surprised you didnt bring up was that Shinji kind of got abandoned by Kubo because /everything/ that made him his own character got stripped away from him. By the thousand year arc he had: 1. Lost Hiyori who he played off of heavily and in fact his entire Vizard group because even with Kensei and Rose still around they barely interacted. 2. His hollow powers which as you've mentioned in previous videos were absent after the Aizen battle. 3. His hatred for Aizen that drove him in the Karakura arc. 4. The mystery and power that came with him being the first power since Urahara all the way at the beginning who existed in the human world and the mystery that came with that.
I don't as much have an answer to "rewriting" that isn't just "Don't UNwrite him so hard"
I remember when I first saw the Vizards in the manga and thought they were the coolest characters in the story so far… so much wasted potential
Same! I wish Kubo at least gave Shinji, Rojuro and Lisa a bit more time to shine 😕
The Vizards were ok. Misfits and cool as in being outcasts. That's about the extent of things. Hiyori being in the group automatically brings down any cool factor they could've garnered.
Man, I'm not memeing, Imagine Hachi using Bakudou with Cero styles. Like, creating a Cero Bomb by making a barrier with a full Cero to explode in one go. They had such had ideas that could've been explored. And Shinji's Zanpakutou is a killer for a 1 on 1 fight. Why he kept losing is beyond my understanding, besides Aizen of course. It wouldn't need to go into details, but they would fair a lot better than cannon fodder. I mean, I would love that they would gang up against one type of Arrancar, get their upper hand until the Arrancar goes into Ressurections, then they all have a proper fight instead of just being one shoted.
The potential wasn't as wasted as Chad!
I'll never let it go. XD
How much stronger was Chad realistically supposed to get? He wasn't even considered to be the Sakura to Ichigo's Naruto.
I remember when Shinji first appeared on screen I was a huge fan! From the music, to his grin, to his shikai. I was so disappointed he didn’t get a fight
Shinji got his Rukia(deuteragonist)- like intro, dopest drip, cool personality, interesting abilities, tragic backstory tied to Aizen and Urahara, personal conflict with Aizen, he's one of the oldest Captains, leader of his own fraction, friends with Ichigo, fan favorite just for being there and doing nothing. ALL the reasons and so many opportunities to make him important. His story arc literally writes itself. But no, Kubo's on the mission to make him as small and insignificant as possible. Idk how can he have so little passion towards this goldmine of a character, meanwhile putting so much time and focus in giving Kenpachi literally the same fight twice in every arc.
bro real its too disappointing. Kubo gave bro everything except the one thing that actually matters in a shonen manga. This man was unique among the cast as a mysterious, chesiree cat like third party with a devilish smile. Before karakura town arc when i was watching the opening, seeing this man side by side with yamamoto and aizen i thought he was gonna be built different but i was very mistaken. Despite being a the captain commander of the vizards, a literal captain among captains, he was just a mid tier captain. All that hype just to get no true fight of his own? We knowing his shikai could reverse words with practice so whats stopping him from reversing other senses. He could be made op so easily i just dont understand how kubo fumbled so hard.
Well said 😔
@@ethanleongsem7582 he can reverse senses he just gets dogged by plot that make him useless
@somerandomsavage5341 Nah he is just extremely arrogant. That's his in verse explanation as to why he always explains his abilities, why he doesn't think he needs to train much more and why he got outplayed by aizen cuz he thought that isn't anything that he couldn't see.
@@ethanleongsem7582his shikai does more than reverse words
Its a nonsense how Kempachi was able to find 3 sternritters during the first invasion and Shinji was just running around the whole invasion.
I mean, how hard for a captain could t be to find an enemy with those huges spiritual pressure?
I wouldnt say it was nonsense that 3 sternritters went straight to Kenpachi. Remember that he was one of the 5 war potentials so they all wanted to get the rewards for taking him down
@@AuroraBoostImagine if the Sternritter were also heading towards Shinji but since he inadvertently activated his Shikai they were actually running away from him, thus why he couldn't find anyone
@@sephikong8323sounds like caping tbh
@@AuroraBoost If you think about it then it's kind of nonsense that the Visored collectively weren't even a consideration for the Vandenreich. They have Hollow powers. They should be captain level shinigami with an additional power boost and that power is also literally poison to Quincies. It negates the Bankai stealing ability. Instead they didn't even use their masks and barely got to use their captain level shinigami powers before getting rekt.
@scoobiusmaximus9508 look, im not denying anything about the Shinji topic, I even agree. I was just stating that Kenpachi getting jumped by 3 sternritters isn't nonsense because of his status
I think we can all agree we should have gotten an actual fight between Shinji and bazz b in the anime. He didn’t use his mask once but we know he’s very powerful. He definitely deserved a few solo wins under his belt. Hopefully they extend his role with the vizards against Gerard.
At least we got his bankai. We still need Love's bankai. And Love is arguably one of if not the strongest soul reaper outside of Zaraki bankai. No other soul reaper has come even close to his brute strength. He ripped one of those giant hollows apart with bare hands. Now I'm thinking he will get some shine since Kubo said Gerard can be killed if someone was able to destroy that cross.
@@David-z3m3hI’m all down for seeing Love’s Bankai but I can easily name a few captains more powerful than Love apart from kenpachi. Unfortunately the power of the vizards wasn’t properly displayed.
@@gammafrost there are captains that have shown physical feats on par with Love's? I know there are captains stronger than him, but I'm talking pure raw strength. The only feat I recall better than his is when Zaraki bit Gerard's knuckle and ripped his arm off. Those hollows are pretty big you know. I'm talking about the ones that look like grimreapers. Love ripped one in half down the middle with his hands like he was ripping a sheet of paper or opening curtains. Outside of bankai Zaraki I haven't seen anything even close.
Kubo always had a habit of making more characters than he knew what to do with. Some of them have a brief moment to shine and then fade into total obscurity, while others don’t get to do anything important during the series’ entire run.
Shinji and the Vizards fall into the first category. They had a great introduction as a new group of characters, but then take nothing but constant Ls in the background afterward.
It also doesn't help that he ended up playing favorites especially toward the end of the series. Kenpachi, Byakuya, Toshiro, Kyoraku, and Mayuri all get amazing moments while most of the other captains get pushed to the wayside
@@m0ckyzo185it really sucks too because the characters that never got to do anything could have just replaced these favorites. We didn't even get to see Iba's shikai ability and then he's a captain, Tessai was the leader of the kido corps but has less feats than his Hachigen, and Ukitake's only win is against Lilynette which doesn't even count. It was probably due to fan service but it still sucks that so many powerful characters were introduced and then sidelined
it's not just he doesn't know what to do with them, the tybw is the perfect moment for them to actually do something, but instead he actively clowned them and just let yhwh kill all the sternritters offscreen, like what the fuck was he thinking
MHA is the perfect example of "doesn't know what to do with", there is just a tons of characters that just simply disappeared after they were introduced for one arc
I think there's more to it than that. Every long series with a big cast is going to have characters that get the short end of the stick and don't amount to much.
With one piece the throwaway characters introduced every arc are generally pretty lame and nobody could give a damn about them nor do they really get any kind of development or characterization. So when they amount to nothing its fine. That has even more characters than bleach but it knows to focus on the straw hats mainly and 95% of everyone else is just seasoning sprinkled on top.
Naruto had the same problem as bleach but only for a few characters like the konoha 11. All the other side characters people barely cared about so they can just get left by the wayside to save time. If they had utilized a few more characters better there wouldn't be many complaints.
For bleach almost every character kubo creates is quite cool and he puts some personality into a lot of them so it stings when they get shafted. Like cang du for example. Theres complaints about every minor character not being utilized well enough. Aside from shinji the other vizards are all minor characters for sure but it feels bad seeing them get used as fodder to hype up main characters since they have so much personality.
Giving side characters so much screentime i believe is a huge factor in why people lose interest in bleach. No matter how good it is people will not bring themselves to care about minor supporting cast. It would suck but it might've been received better if the vizards were introduced but never built up at all. Just there as devices like in other series.
@@tnuhenaj3752 yeah its mainly about managing and allocating time between various different characters that ultimately weakens alot of series. I think back to how RWBY created a cast of so many unique characters with interesting weapons and power sets only to utilize less than a third of them.
Could you please make a video about Shinji's and Momo's relationship? I always found it really wholesome how these two characters traumatized by Aizen worked well together finally finding a lieutenant worth his service and captain worth her service respectivelly.
Bro I thought she was dead after toshiro stabbed her
@@bornstar481you didn’t read past that?
Shinji is more used in CFYOW, which I d love to see being adapted in anime like other light novels, but for this one you can see some much awaited events like Shinji Bankai or Hisagi’s
Shinjo only beat an army of hollow fodders in CFYOW. He didn't get a real fight.
@@BigJohn303 that s the nature of Sakanade… he s not supposed to fight directly like Kenpachi or some others. Hisagi’s bankai is not making him fight so to speak. But in Shinji’s case, you very much understand in CFYOW Sakanade’s bankai is hardly used unless he is on his own. Visually it should be a slaughter with him quietly going through it unscathed. It reminds well why some are forbidden to use their bankai during a close fight between allies and ennemies.
@@katrin712lame we want a solo win
Kyoraku and Shinji going down in one hit against Aizen was obviously disappointing from a battle perspective, but it lines perfectly with how Aizen is potrayed in the story by Kubo. I think it was meant to show that all captains, from Soifon to Kyoraku, cannot compete against him in a 1v1. He will simply adjust his ridiculous levels of spirit pressure to make sure that you go down in one hit. Add to the fact that he wasn't even trying to kill them. The only one he was trying to kill was Yamamoto, seen from how he chooses to stab him in the stomach, a very different approach compared to his attacks against basically everyone else.
Your videos are just the greatest man. You're well spoken in tone and language, not blinded by your fandom but also not overly critical, covering a great range of topics for your videos, and being extremely accurate, reliable, and extensive about each topic you tackle. I am not a fan of Bleach, but your videos are just super satisfying to watch, all of them.
I totally agree. Shinji has a really OP Bankai ability, but his potential was completely wasted by immediately putting him against the one Sternritter who has a perfect counter for it. After that, he basically sits on the sidelines until the Gerard Valkyrie fight. Some have pointed out that even Kensei, who got bodied by Mask and was later zombified, was given more attention than Shinji.
No. Shinji have multiple chance to kill Bambietta. But he just toy with his prey too long. That is his mistake.
Yeah at least zombie Kensei was throwing hands
@@th3ra83wouldn’t have made a difference since bambi could just shoot reishi bombs in any direction anyways, so bambi was just a bad matchup against shinji as much as human komomura was for bambi.
@@applesaucelord368 nah. He had the chance to finish her off. But he missed that becayse he toy with her a lot
@@th3ra83he toying & taking his time provoking Bambi because he want to lure other sternritter to show up. So he can finish them off with his bankai. But unfortunately he lose the bet.
I always have this suspicion that everything Byakuya did after he was revived (minus helping Rukia's fight) was originally supposed to be Shinji's role. One of the examples being: the Byakuya vs. Robert, Candice, & NaNaNa fight which most likely supposed to be Shinji's fight, and that he would unleash his Bankai on the 3 of them instead of on some Soldat fodders. Also; the fact that Shinji was even there at all when Byakuya decapitates Gerard's head, really reads that it was supposed to be Shinji's moment of him Cero-ing Gerard's head off. Do I also need to mention that Byakuya criticizing Kyoraku for freeing Aizen was most likely supposed to be Shinji's role, as well? You know, as the actual victim of Aizen's experiment & all that?
But then the massive backlash for Byakuya's death happened & here we are
Still salty about it? It wasn't because of the backlash.
Shinjis abilitys can only do so much and honestly, with such a big cast some people need to step aside. Doesn't mean he isn't strong, but there are too many characters capable to do his job.
I still don't remember any backlash it's like some rumors had for Kubo when it could've just came from bad writing
@@Marukanitel Backlash or not, my point of Byakuya's revival being most likely one of the major factor behind Shinji's role in TYBW being tampered, still stands
@@zurakuraworks I mean those roles could've gone to anyone like Ukitake
@@Marukanitel true. Let's hope both of them get a little bit more screentime in the 😔
He definitely deserved better, and so did Ukitake, hopefully in the 3rd cour they will put respect on Ukitake's name, I think it's a bit too late for Shinji...
Not unless they actually make him fight during the fight against Gerard.
@@gammafrost True but I don't think they'll do that, I honestly think it's over for Shinji
@@darkknight6219 Hopefully all the Vizards in Wahrwelt join together and use a Cero to destroy Gerard's cross. If Zaraki's brute force is not enough, then only something poisonous to the Quincy could destroy. They're all there besides Mashiro, it should be powerful enough.
@@axelvinicius3365 That would actually be be great, and it would also make sense! They need redemption too
as a shinji fan i too have no hope@@darkknight6219
Making Vizards so irrelevant always felt like a wasted potential to me, even throwing aside the Arrancar arc where they hardly did anything.The TYBW was the most perfect opportunity to make Vizards a big deal and show them off more. Knowing how poisonous hollow powers are for quincy, you might think that they would have to play much bigger role in defeating the enemy army but for some reason Kubo didn't think that way...
Oh damn I can picture it 0:02 ; before or even when Urahara calls Mayuri about the Bankai reclaiming; Urahara has to talk to the Vizards and asks them for help when creating the Hollow pills, maybe one has to be a test subject (you know since they have the Hollow traces in them), which Ofcourse touchy subject with them. Point of conflict where they begrudgingly have to help and reclaim the Bankai.
@@tylersmith2854 Or they just decide to use their hollow masks.
You know whats crazy. Since hollow reiatsu is poison to quincy and vizards have hollow reiatsu mixed in them, when activating sakanade's gas quincies should have just died of poison since the gas has hollow reiatsu. Instead of a drugs shinji could have really been playing ww2.
I think the largest plot hole in the whole story is that after Yamamoto is killed the vizards never use their masks against the Quincy even though they are the most deadly. Also for there being 24 (I’m excluding A and B as they weren’t there) sternritter to fight it seems weird that the vizards can’t win 1 fight before losing
Vizards did use their masks. Just not any of the ones in the gotei. Lisa and hiyori use their masks against gerard. It's really weird but the in universe reason is probably that they either aren't allowed to use hollowfication as part of the gotei or they aren't doing it out of respect.
@@tnuhenaj3752 I was talking about the captains, I also mentioned after Yamamoto dies specifically because they may not have been allowed but after he is dead shunsui is the head captain and he doesn’t play by rules so they would most likely be allowed to use them. Instead all 3 of them get bodied in their first fights
the shade on Hinamori just made cackle, but you are right lol And yes, Shinji got done dirty, but he's not the only one. i blame it on shonen jump.
Shinji, upon meeting with ichigo :
Pulls out mask
Shinji, upon encountering grimmjow :
Pulls out cero
Shinji, upon fighting quincies who's easily defeated with hollow powers :
Pull away
Shinji is like my fav captain. He deserved so much better
I find it very weird that the vizards were defeated so easily in the tybw arc because they should be a great counter to quincies. Each and every one of their attacks is infused with hollow reiatsu, something that's so poisonous to quincies that a single wound from a hollow if left untreated might lead to health complications (as we've been told in the Anything but the rain flashback) . The Vizards should've been the Gotei's secret weapon against the Quincies.
Great video. Most underrated character in my opinion. His shikai is one of the best in the series, he’s one of the more experienced captains, and the hollow mask adds a multiplayer on all his stats. He’s also got escalon as a theme song, his entire style is my favorite from the captains, and the reversal theme is awesome.
There's no real excuse in the final arc. I love the arc, but seriously, he gave mayuri TWO fights, all those sternritters and he couldn't take down ONE!?
Mayuri actually got three fights, where he destroyed Gissele, Pepe and later Pernida.
@@matthasch847All of those should’ve been Shinji’s win not some weirdo scientist who can magically counter everything because he has some annoying resistance or prep time would’ve been much better if Shinji beat Giselle he’s a womanizer so the jokes could’ve been there, Posion vs Regenration and the fact that his right hand men were literally zombies.
@@MagicianSamasound like you just hate mayuri lol but I agree he should’ve had less fights
Hes been my favorite character since i first read the arrancar arc, and i was hugely disappointed with his treatment in TYBW, I'm very happy the anime is giving him more appreciation and hope they give him more scenes
Same, he does nothing during the first invasion and then is off-screened or embraced for a majority of the remainder of the story
I simply love the Vizards! They exist to make everyone else look better by comparison. Truly, they are the unsung heroes of Bleach.
The Visored played a good role during the Arrancar/Fake Karakura Town Arc.
Helping the main character using his Hollow Powers and uniting against Aizen, even defeating an Espada (Barragan).
Shinji clearly was the leader and was the first person in the whole series to actually wound Aizen. That's quite an accomplishment, given the fact how god-like Aizen was portrayed.
The only thing that was missing was Shinji getting an actual win, be it against an Espada or a Fraccion.
But yeah, after the defeat of Aizen it would probably have been the best to let the Visored stay in Karakura Town since their role was finished.
But of course, the Gotei 13 had to replace 3 captains and the Visored where the only ones on with captain level abilities. So Kubo more or less had no choice but the reinstall some of them as captains if he wanted the story to go on.
Shinji is one of my favourite captains ever, so I was incredibly disappointed to see just how much he and the rest of the Vizards catch Ls more than Renji. Only time I saw Shinji win was against some Quincy soldiers and kind of against a handicapped and damaged Grimmjow. I really wish Shinji had at least a Resurreccion or something, like he and the Vizards spent a hundred years in isolation and still no prep against Aizen.
Kubo~sensei did state that all of the Vizards & Ichigo do have the potential to reach Ressurecion Forms, if they become synergized with their Inner Hollows more.
And that Arrancar can reach Segunda Etapa (Ulquiorra’s Second Release Ressurecion Form) if they train hard enough
He really got done dirty.
He's got strong potential. He got to shine in CFYOW wiping out that hoard of Hollows after luring them to chase him. Soifon's reaction is understandable given the unforgiving world she comes from, there are only targets not people. Trying to see an enemy as anything more is forbidden. It shows the jarring contrast in her and Ichigo's overall mentality/ideology.
Are the hollows that appeared in the side story any stronger or more challenging to kill than the run of the mill ones introduced at the beginning of the story?
@@willdiesel8431 It was dangerous due to being able to replicate quickly and overwhelm with sheer numbers in addition to it's standard abilities.
Yeah I really felt like the Vizards got shafted hard in the series. You'd think captains and vice captains that could use both Bankai and hollowfication would be able to make more of an impact than regular Captains and vice captains, but nope. It sort of negates the whole point of hollowfication as a power source.
ALL the Vizards deserved better. They were hyped up to be something alien and stronger than the average captain and.... they turned out to be largely fodder while the classic captains got even more chances to shine. Kubo had some brilliant ideas with subpar execution, and the power consistency between his various factions always seemed to fall off in favor of making Shinigami Captains the ultimate force and power.
kubo admitted to creating designs first and creates the characters as an afterthought. Thats why there are lots of characters that are there because he just liked their style.
Kubo is a god of character design (and specifically fashion), but I just wish he was given more time to do what he wanted to do.@@corndog7813
Captains>>>Vizards.
Sorry they never stood any chance to have a Byakuya, Kenpachi or even a Komomora counterpart.
At least his new theme fucking slaps. Still absolutely love seeing any discussion video from you pop up, Tommo! Fingers crossed for many new opportunities coming up in the run up to next cour.
Shinji already got a bit of glow up in Cour 2 and he'll have many options to keep getting a better showing in Cour 3 and 4. I have hope!
Shinji is one of my favorite Bleach characters so I was really disappointed to see his little role in the TYBW. He regained his Captain title so give him something!
At least we got a little more in the anime including his Bankai.
Thanks!
im the ultimate shinji defender, and im convinced kubo had shaft him due to his shikai being really annoying to deal with (if used properly) unless you have unidirectional aoe or your name is aizen.
From before i watched bleach, Shinji was one of the 1st characters i knew and i grew fond of him. When he showed up in the story i was full of glee but god damn he just never wins 😭
Even Aizen did not care about him at all right until the end XD My favorite interaction of them was Aizen literally grinning with amusement when Tosen gave Shinji his new haircut.
Absolutely agree with all that analysis. The key for me that was sorta forgotten in anime which is sad, that Shinji is Ichigo’s real friend
I feel like the main problem with bleach is allocation. Kubo seems to put a ton of time into making this huge cast of super cool characters but doesn't feel like he has the panel space to put them into the forefront for even a fraction of the time they deserve. I swear, bleach could be like 3 times longer and even then I feel like that wouldn't be enough to properly expand on everything.
Hirako had a solid connection to Ichigo and Aizen and therefore the story. That way he could have been seriously more utilized.
My prime candidate though to this day remains Toshiro Hitsugaya. The praised prodigy
Hitsugaya is your candidate for a character that deserves better? Really?
He gets more screentime than basically any other captain. He might not have the absolute best win record but he has gotten plenty of time to shine.
@@scoobiusmaximus9508 from his battle prowess yes but not character wise. I feel like I still don't very know the guy.
@@Atticus-Catnippbut you get a solid idea of his character from all those fights and small character moments. Like the other guy said Toshiro and his lieutenant Rangiku, are probably the two most popular side characters in the whole show though.
@@scoobiusmaximus9508 more like he's gotten plenty of time to disappoint lol
You are right!! They could have done soooo much more with Shinji and the captains they reinstated. If their part was not going to be expanded on, why make them captains again? The fact that the head captain respected them enough and the part they played in defeating Aizen to have them come back, says alot. So why not have them play more of a role with defeat ing the quincies?
Thanks for doing this video - Shinji is a top 3 character for me solely based on his demeanor, design, and (ultimately unrealized) potential... After his portrayal during the Turn Back the Pendulum arc, I felt like he was owed a more integral place in the narrative. I feel like Kubo has/had a tendency of creating awesome characters and instead of DEVELOPING those characters within the story, opted to saturate the field by introducing new characters and new races, and changing the parameters and laws of their abilities entirely to suit his whims. In terms of Shinji, TBTP alone warranted a bigger role in subsequent arcs - where he uncovered/revealed Aizen when he was spying on Kisuke; he offered Kisuke advice on how to be a captain, his poise in the battle after being Hollowfied and the fact that all of the other Vizards looked to him as a de-facto leader, implying a sense of respect/reverence from other captains and vice captains... As well, his conversations with Kyouraku and Ukitake at the beginning of the TBTP arc implied a tenure on the Gotei 13 that deserved a more crucial role. I think his character design is awesome - the loose attitude, blonde haircut, and especially the mischievous grin/eyes give him one of the most unique looks and designs to where Kubo could've fashioned him into one of the amoral/cunning personalities like Kisuke and Kyouraku (the others in my top 3). In terms of where he could've been showcased more prominently: I think he could've fought Harribel in the Karakura Town arc as both an indication of his stature/abilities and to mirror her aspect of death (Sacrifice, as the Vizards know sacrifice well), OR he could've fought Grimmjow to round out their storyline after he STARCHED him before Ulquiorra stepped in; or even Tosen or Gin since they were all at the Runkongi district together when the Vizards were first hollowfied.
The math simply doesn't make sense why Hitsugaya and Byakuya are given so many battles, or Ichigo fights the following Arrancar: Grimmjow (x3), Ulquiorra (x2), Nnoitra, Dordoni, Yammy (briefly), as well as Gin and Aizen - whereas Shinji doesn't deserve a single showcase battle in a conflict he has more personal claim to be involved with than any of those three? Moreover, that the Vizards were so tragically neglected to the extent that after so much time (centuries?) their only evolution as shinigami/vizards was measured in the minutes/hours they could maintain their hollow forms. Kubo could've chosen to write in a mastery over that masked form and perhaps the captains among them could've achieved a comparable zanpakuto/hollow release form to the arrancar's Resurreccion. For me, it may go down as the biggest disappointment in Bleach and the Bankai reveal in Cour 2 was a shallow and woefully inadequate attempt at development that was made more even pathetic by how swiftly Bambietta dispatched him. Such a shame for someone who should've been a tremendously impactful character.
It was so odd to me that the solution to get a one-up on the Strenritter’s was hollowfication, but Kubo didn’t have any of the Visored captains whip out a mask.
Honestly, I do not get why people are so suprised that most of the characters that were introduced later on the story, ended up getting less shine then most of the OG Captains.
If you were to as a casual fan of Bleach to mention all of the Vizards, Fraccion or Fullbringers, I seriously doubt they could. Bleach has such a massive cast, that it was inevitable that some would fall to the wayside or be used mainly as a way to demonstrate how strong the some of the heros or enemies are.
If Kubo was supposed to give every single character their time to shine, Bleach would have had to be several 1000 chapters long.
I try to be mostly happy with what we got and that Kubo is still working on the series, when he could have retired and enjoyed all of the money he made from the series. That even after all of the backlash and struggles he has faced he is still so passionate about his story, is honestly really admirable imo.
I just realized, could commentary videos like this influence the writing for the upcoming cours? If so, please keep becoming the voice of the fandom, MrTommo! (was just listening to shinjis theme and thought of commenting)
It does seem weird that the first 300 episodes literally focused on hollow/soul reapers then completely through hollows out the window once ichigo defeated aizen
Hollows are only really out for the short Fullbring arc. They come back in TYBW and are relevant to the story.
Top quality content as always, the more I watch your videos the more I realize how little I know about Bleach.
Kubo did almost all of his characters dirty af, a lot of build up but little to no show.
From small character treatment like ichigo's crew to the big character treatment like the captains such as yamamoto, ishin, yuroichi etc even aizens last fight the biggest build up and most anticipated was cut short. Like why why does almost everything seem so half baked.
If I could sum up bleach in two words it would be
❗WASTED POTENTIAL ❗
Yeah, that’s pretty much bleach 😂. Only fan favorites and Kubo favorites characters get any real payoff.
Shinji is my favorite character in Bleach and I have some theories about the way he was treated on the last arc:
- Kubo simply doesn't like him
- Kubo may not know how to fully explore sakanade in an interesting way during battle
- Kubo regretted drawing the Vizard's masks (they were taking too much time to draw and that's why we didn't see them masked in many panels during the arrancar arc either)
- Kubo is saving him for a spotlight moment in the hell arc (doubtful, tbh)
- Shinji was simply extremelly unlucky with the opponents he faced (Bambietta's ability was conveniently perfect to counter sakanade; Shinji simply turned his back completely against Gerard to save Hinamori from falling)
- Shinji isn't as popular in Japan as he is in the West (no one ever asked Kubo about Shinji's - nor about the Vizards - treatment on any of his many interviews after the end of Bleach)
- Kubo was actually planning to use Shinji at the end of Gerard's battle but had to cut it because he was rushing for the ending
I think Kubo just has a weakness for making new characters so there's never enough panel time for everybody. If it were up to me I'd have featured Yourichi a lot more but what can ya do.
sad but true, Shinji still one of my favorite characters.
Aint noway someone's taking Ukitake's title.
**immediately clicks video nodding head**
I died when he said Hinamori “ unusually durable “ haha
Her durability/survivability: SSSSSSSS+++
Everything else: D-
The fact that they made it a big deal about Quincy's finding hallow reiatsu Poison. But none of the vizards were like "we can use that to an advantage some how,," always bugged me
I think Kubo trapped himself with that part. It was all hush hush. Even Ichigo's hollow powers should let loose.
bro shinji's fog could literally been like mustard gas to quincies if that were the case and it wouldve been cool asf. They have to trip the hell out before they die since the fog shinji's shikai produces is of his own reiatsu which is infused with hollow reiatsu.
I genuinely do not fault the character for his failures, I fault Kubo’s writing for him. He’s a capable fighter, excellent abilities and is a cool character but the way Kubo has this mf explain his abilities is ridiculous. I get it was a trope to explain your abilities back then but I feel no other series has as big of consequences from this trope like Bleach does. A character will have someone on the ropes, explain their ability and get absolutely DESTROYED because of it.
It's funny that even in TBTP Shinji mostly stays back holding Hiyori while the rest of the vizards fight kensei lol
Forgot to mention his long hair is GORGEOUS!
To be honest, the more i reread Bleach, the stranger Shinji's fightd look. It is almost as if Kubo is trying to hide something about Shinji's abilities.
His fight with grimjoww is interrupted by Ulquiorra, his fight with Gin is not shown, his fight with Aizen is interrupted by Ichigo, and since becoming a captain again, Shinji only acted as a support to others with his shikai or did nothing at all and only observed others fight (in the novel too).
Perhaps we'll finally get something in the hell arc..
To me it feels like Shinji is Ichigo's older Shinigami brother figure, but for whatever reason halfway through the TYBW he seemingly vamoosed in the manga. Not literally of course, he's around, but isn't written to do much. I really hope the anime continues to expand just a bit on what else he accomplished.
Despite his sidelining, Shinji was always amongst my favorite characters of Bleach. I really wish Kubo would have done much more with him in TYBW. He deserved so much more. All the Vizard did and even moreso, after Yamamoto passed away, they should've given them access to their masks in the war afterwards. It made no sense why they all never used those when it could have turned the tide for some of their battles, especially Shinji.
I also agree he should've been involved in the fight against Girard. It would have been perfect to have him utilize his mask to bring himself up to the caliber to assist in the battle. Sakinade could've given so many chances to gain an advantage in the fight.
The fact that Hitsugaya was there against Fullbringers simply because he's popular character - now I don't understand why I never noticed it.
He is also a Captain and more effective than Shinji tbh
I just got caught up on my bleach anime and was annoyed at how much disrespect Byakuya got till I noticed how Shinji just can never catch a break 🥲
Hello, I really appreciate your videos about Bleach! May I ask you if you could please make a video of hypothetical Uryu's and Jugram's Vollständig (maybe even Yhwach's) and the probabilities to see them in the anime (maybe cour 3, I think you said something about it in the video of the new trailer reaction).
Heck, the Visored as a whole deserved better throughout the entire Bleach plotline.
The Visored are an example of one of the biggest problems with Bleach, and Kubos writing, they are all 'tell but never show'. It's a huge problem in anime as a whole but it is massive in Bleach. We're constantly told how incredibly strong someone is but then when the time comes to show it they don't do anything, or they get their ass kicked.
This all comes back to what I believe is the greatest weakness Kubo has as a writer. He simply doesn't know which of his characters to give screentime and development to. He is a talented character designer, but he keeps introducing new characters and then leaving others behind in the dirt. Even when they are characters who should be given development time. And the Vizards are some of the more explicit examples of this. Like, why wasn't Lisa given a proper fight to show she's captain level? Why is Love the only vizard who was a captain in turn back the pendulum who doesn't take his position back? Why was that position instead given to what is affectively a background character whose Zanpakuto we still don't even know the name of? IMO it's because Kubo's cast is way too inflated, and he just didn't know where to trim the fat at.
I really think Shinji could been perfect to one and for all deal with the bambis. Once everyone of his allies around him has been knocked out he uses bankai and makes them basically try to kill one aonther and makes the zombies also go after each other and we watch the grotesque murder of the bambis killing each other and the zombies eating each other.
He did try to taunt Bambi to call to her friends. Knowing his Bankai it is clear what he was trying to do.
I think the Vizards are the worst part of Thousand Year Blood War's shortcomings, story wise
When you think about it, they're the ones who should've been on the front line the most in that arc. Their hollow powers are the biggest advantage the Soul Society has against the Quincy, but the only Vizards who uses their mask is Hiyori
I would've loved to see the Vizards come in and annihilate some high level Quincy soldiers, and for the Sternritter to be like "holy crap, these dudes are a serious threat, lets make them our highest priority or avoid them entirely"
I would've loved to see Shinji work with the other Shinigami to use Sakanade's inverted world to their advantage against the Schutzstaffel. Have it mess with Lille's aim to keep everyone safe, or to disorient Gerard and use that to their advantage
They are simply an afterthought. None of that would've made much difference seeing as how they weren't developed enough in the entire Hueco Mundo arc and not utilized in the Lost Agent arc. Where they probably had more sensible matchups against the enemy types.
Shinji is the Most dissapointing captain in TYBW
Soi fon, kensei and rose: 💀
Let's Hope Shinji gets to shine in the Hell arc!
I feel like Kubo intended to have the Vizards have their own moment/huge fight towards the end of thousand year blood war. We don't even get to see half of the Vizards for most of the arc, and one captain Vizards all perform rather underwhelmingly. Kensei and Rose get taken out super quick, and Shinji can't win a single fight. They don't even use their masks at all throughout the entire arc which is really suspicious. I feel like Kubo wanted the Vizards to have a triumphant moment at the end of the arc where they don't hold anything back and use their masks, but I assume Kubo didn't have the time to do it.
With such a big arc and looking to close it , things were going to be left or not touched on.
Shinji is my favorite character despite the crap he gets and dealt with. He’s what the captains of the past should have been. Open to the “real world,” challenging of the traditions, hilarious. He’s so good
One of my favorite character, more complex than he looks with an amazing power and a great backstory. A shame he was wasted in the TYBW arc indeed
Keeping my self in boundaries of cannon; may be they are so used to fighting with mask, they are struggling with out it, and will need some sort of training to be on their prime with just bankai.
I like to think when Kubo was writing a certain direction for Shinji, he got a whiff of Sakanade and direction went inverted :3
I hope Shinji nd the other vizards get a chance to rlly shine in the tybw seeing how squad 0 got redeem I hope it will be the same for all of them too
Yeah, Shinji was done dirty. It's sad how many people didn't get any due.
You know who also deserve better? Love. I mean, dude didn't even get his position as Captain back after Sajin was turned into a dog. Hell, Lisa became Captain of Squad 8 after the TYBW, but Love wasn't reinstated.
Sometimes in life, you're powerful but have terrible luck. Some peoples destiny is to never give up and be strong but just lose. I like that their is a character like this.
Did anyone else ever find Aizen’s monologuing a bit frustrating at times? Like this:
Shinji: “Are you up to something, Aizen?”
Aizen: “What makes you ask that? Don’t you trust me?”
Shinji: “I’ve never trusted you, so I decided to keep a close eye on you.”
Aizen: “Aha! I wanted you to not trust me and keep an eye on me. My visible treachery was a distraction so you wouldn’t notice my actual evil schemes. Everyone else in the soul society is a f*cking idiot who believes everything they’re told without a second thought, so it was really easy to frame a dozen people, get them banished and face no repercussions whatsoever, all while securing a position of power for myself and continuing my evil schemes on the down low.”
Shinji: “NANI?”
I was frustrated with both aizen and ywach’s constant monologuing.
The best villains talk shit and kick ass. If its just one or the other they are incomplete. Aizen is a walking illusion, whats the point of the deception without the dramatic reveal?
Aizen is confident that no one can negate his Koyoka Suigetsu’s Perfect Hypnosis that he has to eventually reveal himself to the only one who had the Will to Challenge him
He has a God Complex and Power to back up his Inflated Ego
He feels Overconfident that nothing can break him down (Aizen) and he welcomes the challenge
Buh you know what they say: “Pride Comes Before The Fall”
Aizen was just trying too hard to seem capable. He tried to claim everything that happened was intentional when that's just difficult to believe... It's as if he takes every opportunity to try to impress people, to convince them that he's earned their admiration. Why does he have to explain his master plans? Why in God's name did he hint when he placed his Vice Admirals under Perfect Hypnosis to Unohana?? He literally tells her his Zanpakutō's weakness.
He's honestly just starved for validation, and he seems entitled to admiration and respect. It's hard to give someone something when they act entitled to having it: respect, admiration, love... reverence.
Aizen is brilliant and clever, seeing how well he socially engineered around his Zanpakutō... but he's also just a dork who has to explain how smart he is given the opportunity. Like... this is not a malicious, apathetic badass... that's more like Yhwach.
Shinji was perceptive, patient, flexible, worked great with others and made effective use of his abilities. In my mind, his only "mistake" was fighting overwhelming opponents, but that uphill battle is expected in Bleach. His bankai doesn't help him in duels, but he certainly is an exceptional shinigami.
I have always wondered what role Ururu and Jinta will play in future Bleach arcs other than being candy shop assistants.
Thinking back on it, I don't know why Kubo didn't send a few Vizards with Ichigo to Hueco Mundo to rescue Orihime. That would've helped convey that they really are Ichigo's allies, and there would've been less characters to juggle during the Fake Karakura Town arc. Though they could've also swapped places with the captains who were sent to help out.
I agree that Shinji deserved better, but calling him the most disappointing captain is a little much when Kensei and especially Rose exist!
Disappointment is appropriate to the expectation, and both Kensei and Love had little expectation.
I agree… Shinji was a favorite of mine in the Vaizard arc. I like his character design, but he falls short in importance. I think his Bankai is somewhat interesting, but simplistic at the same time.
If nothing else, it was a missed opportunity to foreshadow the details Ichigo's hollow powers by not having them be pointed out as not quite the same as the Visards.
Subjectively, Kubo's biggest crime with the Vizored's, that has sadly already been repeated so their is no hope for amending it and giving them a moment in the sun in the anime, is simple.... The Vizored's literally already have the "secret sauce" so to speak to prevent the Sternritter from stealing their Bankai's which was the "big disaster" or "doomsday weapon" of the first invasion, built in as an integral defining part of their character. They were almost literally made to counter the stealing of Bankai's. With both another power to rely on other than Bankai and the power that all the other captains absorb later on to prevent the loss of their Bankai already coursing through their veins.
I understand deep down in my core that the way the first Sternritter invasion was written was done very intentionally to make the situation appear almost inescapably dire and paint the picture that the Soul Society's very existence hangs by a thread. But lets be honest, if Kubo thought about it a little bit he could've given the Vizored's their moment in the sun by making them the lynch pin of the defence in the first invasion able to fight back and hold even just a small area or enclave of resistance. Because as it stands, other than some small Ichigo foreshadowing I'll touch on later, he just kind of ass pulled Kurotsuchi figuring out that Hollow's are essentially poisonous to Quincy's therefore if we add Hollow to our Zanpakuto it will reject or harm them kind of anticlimactically later on in the second invasion. He could've made it so among the Captain's that Bankai'd in the first invasion, one or two of them were the Vizored Captain's. And as you show each of the other captain's moment of despair as they get smashed into oblivion and hopelessness, you reveal a single ray of hope, a single battle that's going not even necessarily well, but half decently at least and most importantly, without a stolen Bankai. Have the Sternritter trade some blows, talk some shit and then tactically withdraw from the fight before the Soul Reapers involved get a chance to put 2 and 2 together and fully figure out why they're skirting around the fight and not stealing the Bankai like in the other fights without expressly saying it (you could even flash into the Genryusai fight at this point where he surmises that his Bankai is too powerful or not understood well enough to be stolen, as a misdirection) and that fight then gives more insightful and clever observers, like Mayuri or maybe even Shinji himself who's often portrayed to be quite clever, a chance to confirm Mayuri's theory so he can put it into action in the second invasion. Importantly, this has also already been foreshadowed when the Arrancar who attacks Ichigo near the start of the arc fails to steal Ichigo's bankai. So this fight basically acts as confirmation of the theory for Mayuri and adds more foreshadowing of the eventual solution.
I feel doing it that way it doesn't lessen the impact of the big names like Byakuya, Kenpachi and even Genryusai getting taken out, but also better sews the seeds of them figuring out the fix to the situation and securing a path to fight back without just explaining it all later in a small foreshadow in the first fight of the arc and small exposition dump to get them back in the fight the way he did originally... Such a missed opportunity to perfectly use some really under appreciated but fan loved characters without power scaling them up as Kubo seem's disinclined to do. Because much like the Luffy vs Eneru fight in One Piece, sometimes a winner in battle can simply come down to advantageous circumstance and a bit of Rock, Paper, Scissors. This would create one of those situations where it's like realistically, lets say Kensei for example, in the power scaling of Bleach has no business beating a Sternritter but by virtue of being the natural counter to their Soul Reaper specific weapon becomes a temporary crux of the battle which then makes the Sternritter have to reveal some of their trump cards to even the odds as he can essentially still fight at his full strength with no restriction which works against the Sternritter's initial plans to disarm and slaughter them. Not to mention, they can still be taken out the same way later. As like much of the cast, the Vizored captains are basically simply overpowered and defeated by the Sternritter's innate powers and/or their Ywatch gifted Schrift's anyway and when that happens because the Vizored's would've been marketed as the natural solution to the problem it makes their eventual defeats and zombie enslavement an even more powerful statement of the enemies strength and threat they pose. In that the Vizored's could not be weakened but were still simply overpowered.
Thanks for attending my Tedtalk... as you can tell, this topic lives rent free in my mind :P
I think part of the issue is that Shinji's shikai alone is so powerful and difficult to deal with that if he wasn't prevented with hard counters (such as a blind shinigami, or an omni-directional attacker) then he would be practically unstoppable, let alone with the addition of the Vizard powers. It's therefore hard to set up a balanced fight for him.
Awesome video and one I fully agree with.
Crazy to think that Kubo also put him in the chapter 1 color spread. Oh well
I really hope Kubo gives all the characters he gave the raw end of the stick a better showing in the hell arc
Imagine if the manga finally continues and in the new arc Shinji is tored of catching L left and right so he goes to Mayuri/Urahara asking him to pursue the Hollowification experiment and later on in the arc, he comes back in a state similar to Tosen where he's able to achieve a Resurrección
That'd be straight fire
Ah Shinji the Shūhei Hisagi of the Vizards. That or Kubo really needs to give Hisagi a Hollow mask as both he and the Vizards as a whole are Kubo's whipping boys for the Thousand Year Blood War Arc.
You would have thought that the Visords would be the ones with the advantage since they could hollowfy to keep their Bankai's from being stolen.
That Momo joke came out of nowhere xD compells me tho. Overall I very much agree with the video, its really a shame, because I really enjoy Shinjis character and its always nice when he shows up.
shinji will tell you his weaknesses and expose his own abilities to you, he rarely goes for the kill and just stands there swingin his sword
You know after listening to most of this video I would have loved to hear shinji be angry with Yamamoto because after being kicked out of the goatee he never had an opportunity to punish his lieutenant I think that could have been some fun wordplay and partially messing with the head captain
Keep yourself safe MrTommo
Shinji in Bleach is the equivalent of Yamcha in Dragon Ball. He won his first fight when he was first introduced and then lost all the others !