User blog comment:Xilinoc/Ch. 569 (You've been hit by / You've been struck by / Senbonzakura~)/@comment-1489595-20140219205627/@comment-24153155-20140221103442

That brotherly love really made this chapter make up for last week's chapter, for sure! And Rukia having gained Bankai right now did come as a surprise for me, but I have been hoping that she would for a long time. I do agree that her character wouldn't really require it, but when I think about the story, I think it wouldn't really make sense not to let her gain it.

She has always struggled with doing things right in the eyes of Byakuya. She knows she is strong, and importantly, she also knows her weaknesses. She stands out because of her analytical side, her grace, and she has a great sense of justice and honor. But that sense of honor really makes her suffering from some sort of identity crisis sometimes, as if she needs to prove that she is a (adopted) Kuchiki and being able to bear the family name. She has always focused on Byakuya for this, while in fact she was trying to convince herself that she was worth it. Byakuya acknowledging her is just the thing she needed. I might be biased, as Rukia is one of my absolute fave manga characters, but thinking about power, she is of a totally different class than Hinamori or Matsumoto, she has always been. I think that Matsumoto accounted for quite some funny moments throughout Bleach, and I guess the both of them must be quite powerful when it comes to their skills, but I personally feel that they are not so battle-fit by themselves, unlike Rukia (both Byakuya and Ichigo know this, but both want to keep her in one piece). She will deffo make mince out of Äs!