Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-5218928-20140305213023/@comment-5218928-20140309130434

Avolling wrote: In response to the initial question, Ruri'iro Kujaku and Zabimaru both had releases that were inaccurate in regards to their actual abilities. The key difference between them, as far as I can tell, is that Yumichika was always aware of the existence of Ruri'iro Kujaku, and he only relied on Fuji Kujaku in order to not reveal that his zanpakuto was Kido-based. Renji, on the other hand, was never aware that Hihio Zabimaru's true name was Souou Zabimaru until Ichibei told him.

Pretty much that. And now we know that the Zanpakuto can lie, so it's not just a matter of beating one into submission to achieve Bankai: you have to figure out if it's telling the truth when it reveals its full name.

So a truly deceptive character can deliberately use an incorrect name when using Shikai (Yumichika's case) and perhaps even Bankai but in a surprise plot twist, its Zanpakuto was deceiving him all along (Renji's case)! Aizen would be proud.

Avolling wrote: So in a sense, it kind of follows that Kubo could, at any point, reveal that someone else's zanpakuto has always been activated "incorrectly" like Renji's was.

Exactly. He just opened the possibility for every Shinigami character.

Avolling wrote: The question has also come up here as to how far in advance Kubo's planned the various stages of the story. In response to that, I think there's often a very blurry line between "retcon" and "planned all along," and in Bleach it's particularly hard to find. Was Kubo always intending to have Renji's Bankai change its name? Probably not, but there's no real way to tell for sure. True that, and I'm perfectly fine with it (not going to nag every time I see it). But IMHO it's a writer's cheap trick, when we might have been given any hint of it. But again, opinions and I'm cool with everything.

I read Kubo's story as much for his story-writing as it is for the characters and the world he created. When Bleach first began, you can see how he imprints a sense of purpose in the dialogues --- Kisuke teaching Ichigo the basics of swordsmanship and to really develop a sense of purpose when attacking or defending, not just swinging the sword around. But over time, he lost a bit of that ... in part because it seems that when he doesn't know where to go next, he just introduces a whole slew of new, paper-thin characters. He's not the only to do it, sure -- a lot of writers do it, too.

It's nice that he took the time to redevelop Renji, Rukia and (maybe) Byakuya (which is a shame that didn't die, as his death would have impacted the Bleachverse much more than Yamamoto's, but I guess the fandom just wouldn' have that. Who knows...), and I'm looking forward to seeing how he plans for them to move the story along.