Warning: Spoilers for Bleach: The Thousand-Year Blood War Episode 5Of all Bleach‘s Soul Reaper Captains, Byakuya Kuchiki may be the most stoic and emotionless of them all. But even Byakuya isn’t immune to feeling, and one Quincy attack has forced the cold captain to feel something he hasn’t in ages: actual fear.
From his first appearance, Byakuya was cold and flat, even towards his sister Rukia. He fought Ichigo without flinching, and has never hesitated against any other enemy he’s faced. Byakuya is simply unflappable in the face of combat under normal circumstances, a fact which is apparently due to his incredibly powerful Bankai, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi. The Bankai summons hundreds of thousands of infinitely sharp sakura petals which tear an enemy to shreds as they rush past, and as a result, the attack is nearly unstoppable. Having this in his back pocket gave Byakuya a lot of confidence in fights… but now that ability is no longer in his hands.
As the Bleach’s Quincy continue to invade the Soul Society, they’ve also been stealing the Bankai of any Captain foolish enough to use it in front of them. Four Captains so far, including Byakuya, have fallen into this trap and had their ability stolen. Facing off against the Quincy Sternritter known as Äs Nödt without it, Byakuya’s hands tremble, causing him some confusion. His enemy explains it to him perfectly well: he isn’t cold or poisoned but simply experiencing fear. Each Sternritter is assigned an alphabet letter and an epithet that matches, and Nödt’s is F – “The Fear,” so doing exactly this happens to be his specialty. Byakuya tries desperately to attack with his zanpakuto in its base state, but the blade doesn’t land. Nödt uses the stolen Bankai on its master, hitting Byakuya with the attack a whopping three times and sending him crashing into a wall, left limp and bloodied. Renji, who was nearby, was also unable to help, and a second Quincy ended up sending him flying, leaving both badly injured and now alone.
Byakuya Goes Down To Prove The Quincy’s Threat
As one of the most intimidating members of the 13 Court Guard Squads due in no small part to his stoic behavior in battle, taking out Byakuya so early in the conflict helps to prove just how dangerous these Quincy really are. Fans of Bleach have seen Byakuya handle Arrancar, Fullbringers, and countless Hollows, and he’s won every fight handily. While hundreds of nameless Soul Reapers have died already, and even some smaller characters like Izuru Kira and Chojiro Sasakibe have been killed, no truly significant characters had yet fallen to the Quincy attack. For Byakuya to lose to Nödt, and this easily, really drives home the threat that the Soul Society faces, and emphasizes that even big-name characters aren’t safe in this arc. It’s a classic writing technique, and Byakuya is the perfect character to use it on.
The assault on the Soul Society will continue in Bleach regardless of whether Byakuya is standing, but with big players like him out of the picture, the odds of a sudden change in the winds of victory are low indeed.
Bleach: The Thousand-Year Blood War is available to stream on Hulu, with new subbed episodes dropping on Mondays.