Should Byakuya Have Died in TYBW? | Bleach Discussion

man for a series about the afterlife not many people really die in Bleach as a fan of bleach that as a criticism you might be familiar with no one dies in Bleach for the longest time it was probably the most prevailing fan criticism level at the series and to be honest it's not hard to see why the Shinigami suffer major probably fatal injuries all the time and come out of it absolutely fine probably some of the most egregious examples of this are characters like he or Eve's getting cut in half or characters like arou rude being stabbed pretty seriously through the chest by an Arrancar and surviving a lot of the time in Bleach good guys generally take massive damage and come out the other side they tend to be absolutely fine and for a long time this infuriated the fanbase however when the final arc came around it looked like things might actually start to change not five chapters into the arc chojuro sake may the vice-captain of the first division was killed pretty unceremoniously in what was the first on-screen death of a good guy in the entire series not counting counts like kyon who died in flashbacks and he's never actually alive in the main storyline but Kubo wasn't done and we were about to experience one of the craziest moments in bleaches history during the first invasion of the vandamm Reich Empire and the seireitei the quincy has not fights pyaar kiya and absolutely destroys him he puts me out into a coma he uses his own bank I against him just viciously shreds the character and you know by the end of it we can see Mia Kia's ribcage he's been damaged so badly Kubo then plays out this moment might be Akio is actually going to die you know you have a cut not one but two pretty emotional farewell scenes for this guy he drops his own puck toe it smashes into a million pieces and he places the burden of his own pride on ichigo's shoulders it's a fantastic moment and just an excellent moment that really brings back his character full circle and it's probably the perfect send-off for him except not three chapters later Jackie O's actually revealed to still be alive just in a bit of a coma and they don't think he'll ever regain his consciousness and in about 30 chapters after that he's back in potentially stronger than ever this kind of quote-unquote fake out or fake death really really annoyed fans but also be a cure actually dying really annoyed fans to the point where Kubo was receiving serious death threats about be a Kia's potential death I want to pose to you today a question should be a Kia Kuchiki have died in that moment and I want to explore the pros and the cons and give my own reasoning behind why I think byakuya should have died but before we get into that however guys make sure to hit the subscribe button to support the channel I would really really appreciate it we're above 800 subs now I'm super happy about that the next milestone it's got to be a thousand we're gonna make it and I would really really appreciate all your support you guys have been fantastic of course get involved in the discussion let me know in the comments below if you think the Accu should have died and whether you were happy with the route that Kubo took the character later in the series so let's begin so a little bit of context to begin villains in Bleach do not have a good track record for pretty much the entirety of the Arrancar arc the Espada just get completely dunked on and they lose basically every single fight and it's kind of embarrassing and I think people were really really hoping that the final arc would change that now let's take pyaar kiya one absolute fan favourite character who is just completely iconic and synonymous with the bleach franchise but not only that he's one of the best written and best developed characters in the series he goes from an antagonist to actually respecting Ichigo and helping him out to actually killing someone he believed to be his mentor tsukishima in order to protect Ichigo that's crazy development for byakuya and he has relationships not just with it she go both rukia and renji and other characters as well this is a character who if you were to kill them it would be earth-shattering from the series he's that he's that important to the franchise byakuya however is also quite the series stalwart he's very much in control every time he fights apart from potentially his final battle with Ichigo byakuya is nearly never seen to be in real trouble against Samari he barely takes any damage he's in control for almost the entire fight against Yammy that fight is played off as more of a joke than anything else and sakushima gives him a bit of a hard time but really at the end of the day it's nothing for byakuya and he comes out barely even breaking a sweat so when sternritter f as not arrives at the 6th division there's a bit of us as readers that think ok this is probably gonna go the way it normally does be Akio might get into a bit of a pickle but at the end of the day he'll probably come out and it's absolutely fine so imagine my shock horror and frankly amazement when byakuya was pasted into the wall with his own Bank I not once but repeatedly in a scene that looked like he was actually going to die reading the first invasion on a weekly basis was pretty much the most exciting part of bleach for me I think personally it was just craziness happening every single week and the absolute pinnacle of that was probably be Aki as death or his death I should say as it did turn out that he was actually alive so that's the kind of context of the scene it really looked like for the first time Cooper had pulled the rug out from underneath us and actually killed off one of his best and most popular characters out of nowhere why would he do this though what's to gain and potentially lose from killing byakuya is an interesting question it's one they want to explore and that's how we're gonna get into this now should be akhiya have died or not and I want to make the case that I think he should have died we're gonna look at both arguments anyway so what are the positives to killing off character coach key well there are actually a few the first and probably most important one in my eyes is giving the villains a real sense of danger the Espada were incredibly cool don't get me wrong I'm a huge fan of the Espada but one thing they sorely lacked was a sense of danger especially if you go back and read the series now they get stomped in nearly every fight they have with the captain's sure they beat up ichido and his gang when they go to high commando but when the captains arrive it's pretty much a curb stomp again another example of a counter surviving pretty fatal injuries as Kenpachi I know that's kind of what he's known for but it gets to almost ridiculous extremes in the Nitro fight where it literally feels like it's impossible for not sure to kill this guy I'm pretty sure he puts his hand through Kenton actually at least twice but that's the main point here is that the Espada never win so Killian carrots like byakuya kuchiki would absolutely raise the stakes now of course the vandamm rake did open this art by killing Sasaki me but you'll notice that he's not a particularly popular character and the same unfortunately goes for Yamamoto Yamamoto dying for plot purposes makes absolute sense he's the ancient head of the goat a if the Vandemark would really going to strike at the heart of song society that that is the natural person you kill off I don't think Yamamoto is death necessarily came as a surprise to anyone but even if it did he's not a particularly popular character in the bleach fan base and his death works pretty well for Kubo at the expense of very little bi his death then is more interesting because it would be seen as like a random act of aggression on Kubo's part whereas Yamamoto death was probably at least in my mind quite heavily signposted be a keas literally came out of nowhere and that's what made it so effective even a random sternritter like as not could have killed the captain and that's absolutely insane to me that would put the individual Stern writters on a much higher plane than an individual Espada especially with the ease as to how he pulled it off and now the fact that B Aki was put into a coma is still pretty impressive especially considering that he's been so in control of everything he's had before but it did take away from that moment and it did take away from the fandom Reich as a whole how did be Akio survive as not had him at his complete mercy it doesn't make any logical sense that byakuya would have been able to walk away from that situation and sure if you want to talk villain danger levels I think the Stewart's are come out on top anyway they achieve considerably more than the Espada and Aizen do in the entire of the arc you are assassinates the soul king the shoot Stoffel managed to defeat their opponents pretty handily and almost every fight in this arc isn't quite even and that's one of the things I like about it and the fights that aren't even do stand out like a bit of a sore thumb now to piggyback off that last point about giving villains essential danger this arc was called the thousand-year blood war arc I think people expected blood and before byakuya dies kira died he was literally shot through the heart and his body basically exploded and yet he comes back to life it's a it's another one of these situations that just seems nearly impossible to believe but I think it would have been so impactful if byakuya had died and added real stakes to this war it would have really made it feel like anyone was susceptible to falling in battle and that khan honestly would have just put on edge in basically every fight when byakuya survives the impossible it really feels like every character is probably safe not only that but his death would have added legitimacy to the emotional scenes in the arc one of my absolutely favorite scenes in the thousand-year blood war and possibly the entire manga is when ichigo has his last conversation with byakuya ever although it actually is because of anything they speak again in the rest of the arc ichigo arrives to a ruined soul society and steps down in front of byakuya you don't see it she goes face until the very end of that talk and be Akio even cries this is the moment where he has lost everything he doesn't even have his pride to fall back on and it no longer matters to him and that's the ultimate character development for a character as prideful as byakuya but he can finally allow himself to cry and place the burden of protecting soul society on the back of ichigo's shoulders this is the same character that told it she grew that the captain's would never need his help back in hueco mundo that they would always be able to handle it themselves and finally after what looks to be his death byakuya has got the courage and the pride to put that burden on the shoulders of this human Ryoka boy that scene definitely feels like it means less now going back and rereading it it's still impactful I still love watching it to go leave and be akheon knowing that even without a reply Ichigo will do as byakuya has asked it's very reminiscent of what gain says to it she go when just as he's killed by Aizen but going back now reading the scene knowing that three chapters later pyaar kiya is gonna be revealed to be just fine it takes away from the moment and there's just no getting around that but let's move on now to how individual characters would have been affected by be a Kia's death and clearly the most obvious one is Rukia his little sister now byakuya is actually caught off guard by as not in the first place because he sees a vision of Rukia dying thanks to has not sphere abilities these two clearly have a bond and be a Kia's development has really circulated around Rukia this whole time a lot of rukia's development as well as kind of around her acknowledgement and that she wants pyaar kiya to acknowledge her for as strong as she is byakuya doesn't let her become a vice captain until three arcs into the series because he doesn't want to put her mom's way and now that be a Kia the protector has died it would be a brilliant chance for Rukia to really step out of his shadow as I feel like she often is and take charge herself this could have been showcased fantastically in her battle against as not talked about emotion I mean she comes up against the scariest sternritter imaginable the one who took her brother's banker and his life and she kills him all by herself using her own bank I that she has come into possession of through her own training that's pretty awesome I don't get me wrong Rukia killing hands not with her bank right thanks to be ah Kia's help is pretty cool anyway but the fact that she needed be a Kia's physical acknowledgement to take that next step is a little disappointing if you're a fan of Rukia I think I get it it kind of makes sense that the Kuchiki siblings they've been through thick and thin together and for Biak either be there when she activates her bank ID to give her that final push past fear and to V as naught is pretty cool I get it that's pretty cool and it's Bianchi's best thing he does by far after coming back from the dead because he doesn't really do anything else after that but we'll get into that but I do think that Rukia would have benefited greatly from being able to take on as not either on her own or team up with Renji and defeat her brothers demons I think that would have been really awesome and I just think as it is she still achieves the same goal but it's like she can't quite do it without be a Kia's help the way the fight is written there is no way Rukia was gonna win that without be a Shias intervention as not had already got her under fierce spell her heart was about to burst and then be Akio arrives and it I'm remembered that week people being very disappointed that byakuya had arrived a lot of people thought that biacky was going to take the fight off her entirely but instead it feels like she kind of gives her permission to win it's a little bit weird I personally think Rukia would just been an amazing counter moment to see her take down as high herself think about how incredible it is when she defeats aaroniero she's completely on her own and that scene it feels desperate it feels hopeless and it feels amazing like seriously it's really cool to see her defeat Arin iro just through own sheer will and again that's probably another scenario where Shinigami should have died but what can you do as for the next carats of yak his death would have impacted it's obvious its Renji be Aki is lieutenant they've obviously had a partnership again they've been through thick and thin Renji has fought to be a key in the soul society ark to save Ricky's life that's that's renji's entire characters basis is his nani respect for his captain but his desire to surpass the Akio one day and unfortunately that just doesn't happen in the storyline it feels like a really obvious place to take renji's character but in case you didn't notice he doesn't change after the soul society rng is the exact same character the entire way through a part of me finally admits that he likes Rukia in that way but in terms of his standing sure he gets stronger but byakuya gets stronger by the same amount renji's goal to surpass pyaar kiya it never comes around in us in the Canon manga and it's a disappointment I think Renji too Renji defeating or helping to defeat the monster that killed his captain would really have cemented him as taking that step on a suitor surpassed byakuya but at least on the surface to have defeated the monster that defeated him I think there would've been an amazing moment for renji's character and it would just really have helped out as it is Renji just fights Master masculine they don't really have any history they don't really have any connection Marsh mask just happened to kick her ng once and then that's reason enough for the Turan to fight so you know again it's a little bit disappointing I feel like development was missed out and you could argue you could argue that Renji could still surpass be out yet without byakuya having to die that absolutely makes sense I just think Jia Jia's death presented Kubo with a great opportunity to handle all those situations and another character would a given development for is Bianchi himself I think it was the perfect send-off it doesn't help that it was really well written be a Kia's final moments are fantastic in my opinion that sequence of events where as not slams be a cure into wall renji's like stop this and yak tries to activate its banker but mask grabs a V Maru and kicks him off across the seireitei there what is five pages it's probably some of the most insane and intense pages in the entire manga like seriously go back and read that if you haven't it's crazy and you can only imagine what it was like for me and so many others reading it on a weekly basis it didn't help that hash Walt said that be Akio had died if that wasn't kuba admitting pious death I don't know what is but that sequence was just absolutely mad and then after that we get the incredible moment of byakuya saying he's failed rupee and he's failed Renji and then his sword breaks in half the niche ego comes down and speaks through in that one last time the fact that be a kiya the most prideful character in the gotei 13 is able to shed a tear in this moment speaks volumes as to where his character is gone and if this were to be his final moment it is just incredibly humbling it's an absolute turnaround from his first appearance it really proves that Kubo can do character development really well and I know what you're thinking the fact that he survives doesn't undo this and you're right it doesn't but be a Kia's character just doesn't evolve after this moment and that's a real shame speaking of pyaar ki has character after this moment I think another reason you should have died is the simple fact that he doesn't really do anything when he comes back sure he has the nice moment with Rukia after that though he just doesn't do anything he kind of just hangs around he off screens three stir races which is really disappointing and in my opinion this is only my opinion that's because Kubo just didn't really want to show byakuya fighting again because it's happened so many times in the past and obviously be Akio fights gerard later anyway so and just and it's another one to the belt beocca has a fight with pepe but a it's a rehash of this Amaury battle be it's frankly a just a not very good fight and see i think people would have much rather seen the lesser same characters take on some of those stern writers can this robert nanana perfect candidates to fight the visoreds or the full bringers bring somebody else in byakuya just takes out three of them unceremoniously and then proceeds to get his ass handed to him by Pepe it was happening whether you like it or not Pepe was running rings around back here in that fight it's just really weird and it feels like byakuya kind of took the place of some characters who deserved a little bit spotlight I'd have loved to have seen Kent sayin rose have a proper fight or even better somehow bring in the visors from the human world a bit earlier love hatch idli Sam Asher oh those characters who don't do anything in this art they don't do anything he Ori does absolutely nothing you know have them fight history sir even two chapters give them something but no biacky just takes three them out like it's nothing because he's that much more powerful now and it's just weird be Akio then doesn't even really do much in the fight against Jared and it really feels like his advanced version of sanke is just paying lip service because Kubo gave actual changes to kim patchy and hitsugaya Kenpachi gets a whole couple of chapters dedicated to his bank i hitsugaya gets a whole couple of chapters dedicates the fact that he can turn into an adult and be acne just drops down at the end and says i have a new version of Sankei because kuba has no plans for this character at the end of the series he clearly planned for the character to be dead that's my absolute final thought on this Kubo planned to help iake are dying in stands not and then things would have played out differently for some of these characters moving forward but it just doesn't happen was it because of the fans that byakuya came back to life there's definitely an argument to be made there we'll never know the actual truth as to why byakuya came back maybe Cooper didn't have it planned all along and then they this is literally just my opinion and I can't say any proof either way but I wanted to voice to you why I felt beocca should have died and it's for all of those reasons now let's flip the page and look at the cons of beocca dying and really I dug deep for this one and I just couldn't think of much at all outside of he is one of bleach his best characters who bows devoted a lot of time to turning this character into something awesome to really building him up to developing him and making him something that correct that people actually love and I think killing off a character like that the fans have poured their hearts into for what may as well amount to shock value it's disappointing and I think they'll keep people felt similarly about Kira and it's so delicate balance it really is a delicate balance and I don't know if I'd have done it any better than Kubo I almost certainly wouldn't have done you know you bring in these villains for your final arc and you want them to be dangerous and you to kill characters off but their characters that people have invested a lot of time and love into so to just see them shot through the heart like it's nothing literally Kira is John in a page or byakuya just has his chest ripped open in a couple of pages and you're expected to say goodbye to the character like that I get it's difficult but then there's a flip side to that as well war is not pretty war is ugly you know the unexpected happens in war and this was a realistic death for Kira and byakuya but it's also a work of fiction and kuba doesn't have to make it realistic that's pretty much it for this exhaustive video guys I wanted to give you something a bit longer than what we've had recently I thought a really good in-depth discussion was on the cards I've been wanting to talk about this for a while as it is one of my favorite segments in the manga just that whole first invasion is something else I'll talk about as well in another video because it is pretty much the best part of breach in my opinion but that's something else we can we can't talk about later but like I said I think I'll finish talking now that was quite a lengthy video let me know in the comments below get involved in the discussion do you agree with anything I said do you think the Accio should have stayed there did you agree with the development it would have given to rukia and renji and even to be Akio himself and to the villains the vandamm point would have benefited hugely from that what do you think about that but maybe you think byakuya was better alive let me know why in the comments below don't forget to hit that subscribe button guys I would really really appreciate support it's just right there click that button for more bleach videos over weekly bleach videos coming out that's brief discussions like this one brave souls videos and eventually when it's finally back thousand-year blood war anime reviews and I can't freaking wait until next time though guys I shall catch you later see you then

Channel: MrTommo2304

Views: 37,311

Rating: 4.8737807 out of 5

Keywords: bleach, bleach final arc anime, byakuya death, byakuya vs as nodt, byakuya vs as nodt anime, byakuya death anime, bleach tybw anime, bleach anime return, bleach anime trailer, bleach anime news, bleach face again, bleach discussion, MrTommo2304, MrTommo2304 bleach, byakuya dies, bleach brave souls, bleach wandenreich, bleach quincies, Tekking101 bleach

Id: n4Ebldz5dCg

Length: 21min 41sec (1301 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 22 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Arturo-Plateado]

Kubo says Byakuya is a symbol of his happiness. I don't believe he ever truly intended for him to die.

Kubo also said in Bleach JET that Grimmjow is the one character he changed his mind on whether to kill him off or not.

Also, Renji surpassing Byakuya was just the means to an end. His true goal was to win Rukia back, which he achieved. Surpassing Byakuya isn't his goal anymore, because he no longer has reason to want that.

[u/lr031099]

I don’t know if Kubo was planning on killing off Byakuya and it not like I felt like Byakuya had to had to died when I began reading this arc. However, I do think that Kubo should’ve either killed him off during the first invasion. While character death doesn’t always equal character development, I do think his death could’ve set up character development for Rukia, Renji and even Ichigo to a lesser extent. Now I would’ve been fine with him surviving if it didn’t look like he was about to die. It kind of cheapens the moment where he requested Ichigo to protect Soul Society. Although I don’t really think him surviving and training in the Soul Palace didn’t really add anything other than him jobbing some Sternritters off panel and him teaming up with Toshiro and Kenpachi against Gerard.

[u/Purona]

Ill say it a million times over No. Death by itself means nothing if everyone around acts like it didnt happen.

The problem is as we have seen in Bleach. Characters are extremely resilient to those dying around them. The reactions you guys think would happen from Byakuya dying are not going to happen. Because thats not how Kubo writes Bleach, and more importantly thats not how the characters act in Bleach

[u/Vic198905]

I heard a rumor that Kubo planned to kill Byakuya, but some psycho fans threat him so he changes his mind. But thats just a rumor...

[u/Block2135]

Yes, yes, yes, a million times yes. Even though the As Nödt fight probably would’ve had Renji in it instead for someone to give Rukia encouragement and Kensei and Rose would’ve had to take care of Mask de Masculine, yes it should’ve happened