Download Subtitles for Kubo's Bankai & Zanpakutō Insights Video

Right, it's time for another edition of our Club Outside Q&A roundup series. Now, as always, Kubo takes and answers a variety of questions directly from fans over on his personal Q&A platform, and then we try to dissect those answers right here on the channel and see if there's anything of value to be found among them. A lot of the time, Kubo's comments are a mix of light-hearted chatter and fluff, but sometimes we are given real genuine insight into the story and world of Bleach that for whatever reason simply wasn't found in the original material. And as always, I'm not going to be looking at every single answer he's ever given, nor even necessarily looking at them in any kind of a chronological order. Mostly, I'm trying to curate the answers that I find to be the most interesting and to have the most value and then bring those to you. And this might not be the longest episode of the roundup ever, as I think the majority of the topics this time don't necessitate a huge in-depth debate or discussion, but I thought they were worthwhile law drops that absolutely deserve to be shared all the same. And so, speaking of which, the questions this time revolve around the topics of Bana deterioration, the lifespan of those rescued from zombification, Zanpakto birthdays, and more. A huge thank you to M Shadows and Raarix 211 for providing the translations to the questions and answers this time around. And as always, there is a link in the description to where you too can find them. So, make sure to go and check those out. Right, on with the latest roundup. We're looking at, like I said, some slightly more abstract concepts and topics this time around, and we'll be kicking things off by looking at the idea of banana deterioration. So, let's dive in. Of course, before we get started, if you enjoyed today's video, then consider supporting the channel by hitting subscribe down below. We're trying to reach 300,000 subs by the end of the year, and it's only going to be possible with your help. So, if you haven't done, please do consider hitting subscribe today. And also check out my Patreon as well, where you can take your support for the channel another step further, just like everyone who's in the credits is doing. It really is making a huge difference, and I do greatly appreciate it. So, we've received a lot of lore about Barankai, both over the course of Bleach and then beyond its end point as well, with major reveals completely changing how we both look at and discuss Barankai forever more. Such as when in the Thousand-Year Blood War arc, we learned that a broken Barankai can never be restored. That was absolutely game-changing. In a similar vein, getting new information on Barankai is always interesting. And this time a reader came to Kubo with a question that to be honest I'd never really considered but upon reflection is actually quite interesting and makes a fair bit of sense when given some thought. So the question reads as follows. Just as an athletes body undergoes changes after not engaging in competition for an extended time, would the Baranaie's ability itself deteriorate rather than the rayatsu in the case of Lieutenant Sasakibbe who hasn't used his Baranaie in a thousand years? Like I said, I actually think this is quite a good question. when Kuba revealed that Sasakibbe hadn't used his Barankai in a thousand years. The last time being, as far as we can tell, when he revealed it to Yamamoto and gave him his original scar during their training session, unless of course he used it in battle later against the Lic Reich 2. I don't think I ever quite processed what that really meant for the character. For someone to learn banana kai and then literally never use it over such an enormous span of time, it is very strange. It's not something we've ever really seen before. You know, there are characters who very rarely use Baranai for one reason or another or are reluctant to use it. The likes of Ikaku, Kishke or Kyodaku, for example. But Sasakibbe's case is totally different. Now, of course, it fit what we would later come to discover posimously about Sasakibbe's character and his complete and total dedication to Yamamoto. But still, it is absolutely reasonable, I would say, to think his Bangai may have gotten weaker or lost something after so many years of not being used. It's interesting as well that the reader specifies the Banaie would deteriorate rather than the rayatsu in this instance. Now, I'm not exactly sure what the rayatsu refers to from their perspective in this example. The most likely answer seems to be that they probably meant the ryoku and were referring to a shinigami's overall spirit energy diminishing over time instead perhaps. Or maybe since they are explicitly referring to the barnai, they mean the strength of the barnai, the amount of rayatsu it emits upon use. I'm not entirely sure what the distinction is, but either way, the important part is that we're referring to the banana's ability, its power overall. And Koko Gonriku is in itself interesting. It's the only Baranaie in the entire series where it isn't revealed by its true wielder. Instead, in the manga, Sasakibbe uses Barankai against Stern Ritter O the overkill Driscoll Berscy offscreen, has his Barankai stolen immediately, is then killed, and then Driscoll returns later, a few chapters later, to reveal and utilize the stolen Barankai against Yamamoto. We do get some brief snippets of Sasakibbe using his nent barai against Yamamoto all those years ago, but it wouldn't be until the anime where we saw him use it in full. And in fact, that opens another can of worms. The Bana Sasakibbe uses against Yamamoto in the anime flashback is almost entirely different to how Driscoll uses it in the present day. It's said by Yamamoto in both the anime and the manga that the version of Koko Gon Ruriku used by Driscoll is much weaker than when he faced Sasakibbe's version a thousand years ago. But the anime shows us that they are actually completely different. Both are initiated by sending a bolt of lightning into the sky, which then conjures thunderclouds, forming a sort of lightning cage that then drops down around the user. Except again, there's a difference here. In both the anime and the manga, Driscoll conjures the lightning cage, but it seems to be almost halfformed. It doesn't surround him like an actual cage and instead only exists behind him almost like a wall of lightning bolts. Meanwhile, in the anime flashback, Sasakibbe fully conjures a golden lightning cage that encloses around him. And this plays a key role in the differences between how the Barnai are actually used. You see, when Driscoll uses the incomplete Barnai, he simply conjures lightning blasts from the sky which strike Yamamoto from the heavens. But again, in the anime flashback, Sasakibbe surrounds himself with the lightning cage before running Gonimaru along the bars, collecting the lightning power upon the tip of the blade before then thrusting forwards, essentially becoming a massive lightning strike himself. charged by the cage he conjured. They're totally different for the most part. And that's interesting to me because even if the versions of Barankai, the sternity use are weaker than the originals, and that makes total sense, both Asnod's version of Senbon Zakur Kagayoshi and Kangdu's version of Daiguren Horin Maru at least seem to be functionally the same as the originals. Presumably, Sasakibbe could also conjure lightning bolts from the sky as well, but it's just interesting to see such a huge disparity here. Either way, it's likely the version that we see in the anime Flashback is the stronger version obviously that Yamamoto is comparing Driscolls to despite them operating very differently. Okay, so there's more to talk about regarding this topic than I first envisioned. Let's take a look at Kubo's answer before we continue to go off on even more of a tangent, which reads, "It depends on their talent and perseverance, but being able to obtain Baron Kai means they are extremely talented in itself. So for it to deteriorate is a rare occurrence." So an interesting answer from Kubo 2. I like the notion that if someone is powerful enough to even obtain Barankai in the first place, they are so strong that it won't ever weaken. even if they don't use it. It's like once you've worked hard enough to cross that threshold to get it, you can't ever backslide again, which is pretty cool. And again, I like Kubo emphasizing that having a Barnai is an enormous feat in itself. Certainly, by the thousand-year blood wararch, it can feel like everyone has a Barnai, but the reality remains that it really is an absolutely tiny percentage of Shinigami in the grand scheme of things. Presumably, there are avenues for a Shinigami to use Baranaie without anyone knowing. For example, within their inner world. So, I guess it's not completely out of the question for Sasakibbe to have used Barankai again at some point, even if just to brush up on the fundamentals away from prying eyes. Though, it sounds like based on Kubo's answer being in relation to Sasakibbe specifically, that he wouldn't have needed to. I wonder if Sasakibbe's banana did ever deteriorate. Maybe it would go from what we saw in the anime flashback to the version Driscoll was using. Kubo's answer does make a lot of sense to me though, considering what we know about Barankai and about Zan Pakto in general. Considering the blade is me, considering the Shinigami are their Zhan Pakto, it makes sense that the Barankai wouldn't degrade simply because it isn't used, especially if said Shinigami is that powerful. The last point I wanted to bring up though is that Kubo notes Banai degradation is a rare occurrence which means it could theoretically happen or has already happened and I wonder what it would take or what kind of individual would be subject to that. It would be interesting if characters like Ichigo or Kishke who acquired their Barankai through unusual means through the Ten Shintai would be perhaps more susceptible or something like that as a kind of tradeoff for the faster method they used of attaining Barnai. Right up next, zombification might be one of the weirdest and strangest concepts introduced in the Thousand-Year Blood War arc. I certainly didn't imagine it playing such a big role in the battle when it was first introduced. And although its relevance is mostly contained to the latter half of the second invasion, there's no denying the ramifications it seemingly has for the characters involved. Specifically for the Shinigami, who was zombified by Gizelle. It feels to me like zombification was only really introduced for two reasons. one to give Kubo an engine with which he can bring back once dead characters as letting me fight Jazelle opened up the floodgates to connect with the long dormant plot thread of Xylopor's lab and the mysterious contents within and two to allow certain characters to fight in a way that's unbecoming of their usual selves by which of course I mean Hitsugaya at least in my opinion zombification is one of the more controversial doesn't really sound right because that's not really the case. One of the more uneven elements of the Thousand-Year Blood War arc as it coincides with when the ark becomes its messiest when it begins to unravel. And it feels like there's still a lot we don't really know about how it works. Mery ends up rescuing all of the zombified Shinigami, not only turning them to his side, but then eventually freeing them of zombification altogether. Presumably ridding them of Gizelle's tainted blood, forcing it out of their body somehow. Well, I say somehow, Mery essentially explains exactly how it works. Or at the very least, he explains how he turns her zombies into his zombies, though they are still zombies all the same. Hitsugaya, Matsumoto, Rose, and Kensei are all eventually restored from zombification with Miy bringing the revived Hitsugaya and Matsumoto up to the royal palace with him in the manga. Whereas in the anime, he brings all four of them. Anyway, in chapter 644, as Hitsuggy and Matsumoto emerge from their restoration pods, Moreri reveals in the Viz translation that their life expecties have been cut drastically, which weird to understand is the penalty essentially for zombification for effectively having died but then cheated death and been brought back to life anyway. Now, that's an oversimplification. doesn't really work quite like that, but for all intents and purposes, it's good enough for now. And so, a reader asked Kubo the following question, which reads, "It's said that undoing the zombification will end up shortening the person's lifespan. But for Shinigami, who live up to hundreds, if not thousands of years, is it that big of a penalty? Does the shortening of one's lifespan have a big effect on a Shinigami's power development, or does their lifespan get cut by several hundreds of years?" To which Kubo replied, "The lifespan having been shortened was Mery's prediction during the undoing process. Since it's Mery's prediction, the shortening having occurred is guaranteed, but it's unknown by how much." Now, I think this is an intriguing answer, if a bit non-committal all the same, shall we say. I know it's the Viz translation, but that doesn't sound like a prediction to me on Myer's part. He sounds pretty sure that their life expecties will in fact be cut down. Though I guess that sounding confident and correct is kind of Mery's thing. Interestingly though, even if it is only a prediction on the scientist's part, Kubo then goes on to say that he is right. Apparently, since it's a prediction made by Mery of all people, their lives having been shortened is guaranteed to be the case. The only question that remains is by how much. I feel like I wouldn't want to know that. For them to know their lives have been cut down, but by an indeterminable amount is maybe pretty unnerving. Either way, it's cool. I think that there is at least some kind of toll to be paid for having become a zombie in the first place. Sure, they got their lives back, but it came at a cost, which is nice to see. The reason I say it's a non-committal answer is simply because, well, first of all, Kubo totally sidesteps the idea that being zombified and then being resurrected has somehow altered or affected their own personal development. But also more pertinently, with no time frame given, the reality could be literally anything. Kensei could live another 1500 years and then die only for Mery to speculate that he died maybe a year earlier than expected. I mean, he does say drastically, but again, Kubo's saying he's only predicting that. That's an exaggeration, but you get what I mean. Ultimately, it kind of feels like in some ways this question and answer didn't really achieve much in that sense, but I guess it's cool to know that Mery is right about their lives being shortened. But then I guess the irony is that before this Q&A I had just assumed he knew anyway and that he was right and that he was telling us a certainty. This opens up some questions regarding how much Mery actually knows about the mysterious drug he injected them with in the first place. It's interesting as well that Mery injects Hitsugaya with the same drug he injects Kent and Rose. It's the same design. And the next time he uses it, which is on Kense and Rose, he takes that opportunity to explain to us what's actually going on. He explicitly tells Jazelle it will turn her zombies into his zombies. Yet, while he employs Kent and Rose as part of his Kurotuchi corpse unit, he never seems to do so with Hitsugaya and Matsumoto. All right, but next up, Kubo was asked the following question, which reads, "Do Zan Pakto have birthdays? If they do, is it the day they first made contact with their soul reaper, or just a day the Zan Pakto decides on their own?" So, at first, I thought this was a bit of a wishy-washy question that didn't really mean anything. And I kind of assumed most Zan Pakto either wouldn't care about birthdays or the concept of a birthday to be completely honest or they would just take the Shinigami's birthday perhaps as their own considering the whole the blade is me thing. But then I thought about it a little more and it is an interesting idea that I think is worth exploring because even though the blade is me teaches us that Shinigami and Zan Pakto are one and the same, it's an absolute truth that they do not come into existence at the same time. At least not that we've ever known. That's just not how it works. Souls with latent raroku, those with the innate power to become shinigami. remember that being a shinigami in Bleach is essentially just a job. It's an occupation do eventually come into contact with this being that is inside of them which is in itself an interesting idea. Of course, probably the most famous example outside of I guess Ichigo although that one's a bit weird considering the whole Quincy thing is when Hitsugaya meets Hyurin Maru before becoming a shinigami. It's a desire, in fact, to get that incredible power under control that pushes him to the academy in the first place. But it's not like Hitsugaya was born and immediately came face to face with Yimaru. It seems like as someone with power grows older, that power manifests and eventually can take on a form of its own within one soul as it cries out to them to be heard. Almost like a coming of age sort of thing. And then once a soul enters the academy they are given an assouchi with which they can imprint their soul upon. So in the example of Hitsugaya that power that was threatening those around him. It was freezing his grandmother who he lived with can now be concentrated upon this blade solely transforming it ultimately and eventually he would acquire Shikai as a result. Anyway, Kubo's answer read as follows. It probably depends on if the Zan Pakto even wants a birthday or not. Those that do would probably just choose the day they first made contact with their soul reaper or the day they achieved Shikai. So yeah, that's effectively what we were saying. It seems to me like the day that makes the most sense would be the day the Shinigami finally hears their Zan Pakto's voice or hears their name, understands their name. Because Hitsugaya doesn't hear Hiimaru's name straight away. That only comes about when you are actively ready to achieve Shikai. And again, achieving Shikai does make sense, too. Although you have to assume the Shinigami is already in some form of contact with their Zhan Pakto spirit prior to that to some degree. How under control said contact is I guess that would evolve and change the closer to unlocking Shikica you are. As for Zan Pakto that would want a birthday that would even care about that concept, I feel like Hine Niko is a pretty good fit. Anyway, we normally end these episodes with a more light-hearted topic, but actually this one is quite interesting, I think, and with more information could really change the way we look at the Soul Society itself. Kubo was asked the following question. Does the Soul Society have seas, oceans, and seafood? To which he replied, it does, but they're pretty far away. So, that's fairly interesting to me. I mean, it makes complete sense. And we have seen brief glimpses of the world beyond even the farthest reaches of the Rukongai before. When Ichigo battles Eizen, we get to see the mountainous wastess that seemingly make up the world around the Serete and the Rukongai itself. And during Ichibbe's battle with U-Habak, we get to see a little more even further away from the epicenter where the Serete is on the horizon. Essentially, we see a range of animals enjoying the wilderness, including deer on a grassy verge beside a river, while a noot can be seen beneath the water itself. And that river has to be going somewhere, right? It would be foolish or even myopic to assume the soul society was just localized entirely around the Serete and the Rukongi. And while nothing is confirmed, I almost wouldn't be surprised if the Soul Society as an afterlife was almost planetized. Perhaps if Kubo really wanted to massively expand the Bleach world, it could be revealed that people who die in Japan and are found by the goatee 13 are taken to the Serete. But the Serete is just a tiny piece of a much larger worldwide afterlife. The only issue with this is why did the Serete get involved with UAB and the LIT Reich when it's fairly well accepted that uh was busy conquering what was medieval Europe at the time? Why wasn't it the European version, if there even is one? What role does the Western branch of the Soul Society play in all of this? Especially considering Reverse London appears to be in the human world. Though it would be a huge twist and a massive piece of connective tissue if it was revealed that the witches were crossing over into the afterlife when they entered reverse London all along and it was part of the same plane of existence as the seret thereby explaining why it's the western branch of the soul society after all basically saying if you left the ser if you made your all the way through Rukongi and out the other side and you kept on going. God only knows how long it would actually take you to get there, but maybe you would eventually end up in reverse London. That's a pretty cool idea to me. Another issue, and this is quite a major issue in my opinion, if we want to start entertaining the idea that the bleach afterlife is more than just this Japan ccentric ser of this entire universe, not just of the soul society, seems to be localized entirely above the seret alone. And even stranger than that, those who protect this god are made up exclusively of either former Goate 13 members or beings affiliated with the Goatee 13. Considering Rayo's existence protects the entire world, it is a little weird that he himself wasn't being protected by a much bigger force made up of ambassadors from across the globe, from warriors of all branches of the Soul Society. But either way, the idea that the Soul Society is actually maybe an entire world unto itself is a really cool one. And honestly, I would be down with Reverse London being a part of that, more explicitly than it already is. All right, but that's it for today's video and the latest installment of the Club Outside Q&A roundup series. As always, thank you so very much for watching. I hope you enjoyed the video and I hope you took something of value away from it as well. Let me know your favorite of this installment's topics in the comments below. How do you feel about the idea of Bana Kai deterioration over time? How do you feel about the Shinigami who were rescued from zombification having their lifespans supposedly cut down drastically and that apparently just being a prediction on Myer's part, but actually maybe being the real thing, maybe being correct after all. I'd love to know all of your thoughts down in the comments below. And I think perhaps most interestingly of all, how do you feel about the notion that the Soul Society is so much more really than we've ever seen, than we'll probably ever know? Can it really connect with Reverse London in a more explicit and tangible way than we think it maybe already does? How can Reverse London be the Soul Society's Western branch if it does exist in the world of the living and not the afterlife? I'd love to get all of your thoughts on that down in the comments below. Okay, everyone. But once again, thank you so so very much for watching. I really do appreciate it. Consider hitting subscribe if you haven't done it already to help support the channel to help us on our quest to reach 300,000 subs before the year's end. Again, it would make a massive difference and be hugely appreciated. And speaking of which, check out my Patreon as well, where you can support the channel for as little as a dollar a month, which again really does help out massively. It might sound like a small amount, but it does all add up and it does make a huge difference to helping keep the lights on here on the channel. And again, I do greatly appreciate each and every one of you, new supporters and old over on Patreon. Your support is greatly appreciated. All of the names appearing on the screen right now of people supporting me for as little as a dollar a month. And if you like the content here enough, you too can do just that as well. Okay everyone, but until next time, I'll catch you later and I'll see you