User blog comment:Xilinoc/Ch. 569 (You've been hit by / You've been struck by / Senbonzakura~)/@comment-7079377-20140221113541/@comment-10554972-20140222093752

Yes. Rukia didn't become a seated officer due to Byakuya interference, but that doesn't mean that she would have been lieutenant or third seat or something to that effect. Being a seated officer doesn't automatically mean that you start to train for Bankai. I'm not saying that Rukia was necessarily weak, but she was most definitely below Bankai training level. It should also be noted that Rukia mostly defeated Aaroniero due to his extreme arrogance.

I'm not at all against more characters (generally lieutenants) having Bankai. I think that once someone becomes lieutenant they should start training for Bankai, or at least they should start preparing to do so. That way they will be more prepared when they need to replace a captain. But I'm just against someone getting Bankai seemingly out of nowhere.