Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-27172747-20151107131413

Bleach is honestly just getting better and better. Among the big 3, we saw Yama's Bankai first, then Unohana's, though it wasn't explained very well, and finally Shunsui's Bankai. To think that we would also have other characters releasing their bankais in the future, like Urahara, maybe Aizen as well as the members of the Royal Guard.

For Shunsui's bankai, though, I really am wondering if it is stronger than Yama's bankai? Because, honestly, Yama's Bankai can actually be countered, in some sense. Like, the few ways that I can think of are closely related to pressuring Yamamoto to use bankai for an extended period of time, which would undoubtedly kill him, dodging any attacks while keeping a distance and perhaps even ultra strong barriers.

For Shunsui's bankai, I really cannot find any way in which it can actually be countered. Like, honestly, there's absolutely no way that one can avoid getting caught in his bankai. I mean, if you count intangibility, which is how Lille countered it but we're talking about a situation where the opponent is subjected to physical damage.

I really don't see any reason why his Bankai isn't considered the ultimate bankai, just because it can't be countered in any proper way. I mean, let's just suppose that you did have Yamamoto himself, fighting against Shunsui. Even with the protection which Zanka No Tachi grants him, he still can't avoid being affected by Acts 1,2 and 3. So, I don't know if all of these things actually make Shunsui's bankai the ultimate bankai.

Note: The Ultimate Bankai, in this case, isn't referring to the strongest bankai. The Ultimate Bankai is just referring to a Bankai which cannot be countered in any comprehensible way and, therefore, can be used in every single battle, without the bankai itself being at any disadvantage. The strongest bankai, I think, would be one which can compress all of the power of the bankai into a tiny weapon, which can then be used for offensive purposes. I mean, that's why Yamamoto's bankai was so strong and why Ichigo, despite being considerably less experienced and, frankly, weaker than many opponents, managed to beat quite a number of them, just because his bankai being small and compressed gave him a huge amount of strength and very high versatility. That's just because he relied mainly on swordplay and therefore, his former bankai gave him a huge advantage, playing on his strengths. 