Renji Abarai demonstrates that the best shonen anime power-ups are unique and not merely artificial superpower awakenings.
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With varying degrees of success, the new Bleach anime attempts to correct all the issues and narrative errors of the first animated series. While the Thousand-Year Blood War arc still has some weaknesses when compared to other action shows like My Hero Academia and Jujutsu Kaisen, Bleach excels in the most crucial situations with creative takes on well-worn shonen conventions. Power-ups are included, which was formerly one of the show’s worst flaws.
Because of fabricated power-ups and poor narration, many heroes in the original Bleach anime became stronger and triumphed in battle, but the TYBW arc is altering all that. Swords aren’t merely a quirk or a demon slayer mark to awaken in the heat of battle in Bleach’s combat system; instead, they have the ability to reason for themselves. The power of friendship must be present before using zanpakuto, or soul-crushing swords. Lieutenant Renji Abarai of squad 6 expertly illustrated that in recent Bleach episodes.
How Renji Abarai Awakened His True Bankai
After two Visored Captains, Kensei Muguruma and Rojuro Otoribashi, suffered devastating losses against Sternritter S, Mask de Masculine, Lieutenant Renji Abarai showed up to save the day in recent Bleach episodes. Renji arrived with brand-new abilities to change the course of the war, much like Captain Sajin Komamura had done before him, but Renji’s power-up wasn’t quite as clumsy or expensive as Sajin’s was. Sajin sacrificed his heart to battle Bambietta Basterbine in an unexpected human form, but Renji gained a more significant new ability that should benefit him both now and in the future: a new bankai.
Five Soul Reaper Captains had their bankai stolen earlier in the TYBW anime by Quincy Medallions, which compelled them to adopt shonen-style training and hard work to make up for that loss. That jolted them out of their complacency, and Renji learned the same lesson—even if his personal bankai was never stolen—and it paid handsomely. Renji discovered from Ichibe Hyosube that “Hihio Zabimaru” is only a portion of his bankai’s name while training with squad 0, or the Royal Guard, alongside Ichigo. This entire time, Zabimaru has only partially accepted Renji as the legal owner of the bankai, so Renji has been using it half-cocked. Renji prepared and fought after learning that to demonstrate that he was deserving of the real Zabimaru, and he was successful in doing so, unleashing So’o Zabimaru., complete with newer and stronger powers.
Renji’s experiences during the Soul Society story arc, when he first utilised his bankai against Captain Byakuya Kuchiki, were improved upon in this plot twist. It seemed odd that Renji had a bankai at the time because it was thought to be a rare talent reserved for the genuinely talented. Renji spoke privately with the baboon-like spirit of his zanpakuto to comprehend its actual nature, which helped to somewhat explain that development, but it still felt convenient to offer him bankai. It’s too late to retract it, but Bleach’s newest story arc may at least highlight Renji’s strongest bankai—his bond with Zabimaru. Renji and Zabimaru are close friends that fight alongside one another. but will only demonstrate it to one another via action and brave acts. That demonstrated some excellent character development in both Renji and his zanpakuto, and it also helped distinguish Renji from his Quincy adversaries who depend on Yhwach’s blood or power theft to get stronger.
Renji's Bankai Awakening Compares Well to Other Popular Anime
Since the Sternritters are now the complacent ones who rely on the same known powers without ever receiving training, Renji’s power-up is comparable to those of the Sternritters. Because of this, the Sternritter are currently losing ground in the bloody conflict. More generally, Renji’s bankai power-up stands up well to other power awakenings seen in comparable shonen shows like My Hero Academia and Demon Slayer. By this time, awakenings, in which a character’s abilities unexpectedly advance and take on a new shape, are a typical occurrence for shonen characters. For instance, Quirks can be awakened on both sides of the conflict in My Hero Academia, with the antagonist Himiko Toga using Transform in novel ways and even Tomura Shigaraki enhancing Decay’s strength in his battle with Re-Destro. Demon slayers, like Mitsuri Kanroji and Muichiro Tokito in the Swordsmith Village arc, have the ability to awaken their marks during a combat in order to survive.
Those power awakenings, meanwhile, were simple and didn’t reveal anything about the persons that had them. Characters conveniently gaining strength in the middle of combat is a cliché in shonen action, and an off-brand Super Saiyan mode can let a hero survive a conflict that would otherwise be hopeless. This can be done effectively, but it isn’t always done successfully. For example, quirk awakenings frequently fail to make any commentary on the characters who experienced them, while demon slayer marks feel disappointingly generic. For instance, Himiko Toga didn’t alter who she was in order to activate her Transform Quirk, while Muichiro Tokito underwent a shift in Demon Slayer Season 3, but it had nothing to do with his demon slayer mark and instead was brought on by Tanjiro’s speak jutsu.
While Renji just proved, Bleach’s battle system also enables more significant awakenings, despite the series’ history of cheap and forced power awakenings. Unlike demon slayer marks or Quirks, zanpakuto are not only magical tools to be employed. They are conscious companions, like the weapons in Soul Eater, which requires the Soul Reaper to make some positive personal adjustments in order to become friendly with their zanpakuto and deserving of that weapon’s shikai and bankai. Now it’s Renji’s turn after even Kenpachi Zaraki and the main character Ichigo Kurosaki did it. That’s what awakens the character in terms of bankai and personality alike because characters like Renji can’t just be stronger; they must be better.
Other shonen series could benefit from following Bleach’s lead and using personal development as a requirement for gaining new abilities. With Luffy’s awakening of Gear 5, a power-up that transformed the character from a freedom-loving rogue to a great hero who will utilise the Drums of Liberation to free all people from oppression as the sun god Nika, recent One Piece episodes partially achieved that. If Luffy embraces that, he can take a cue from Bleach and allow a power awakening to be accompanied by a much-needed personal metamorphosis.