Chaos…what a thrilling concept. In a
world ravaged with uncontrollable forces, the one thing that remained for sure was the
belief that nothing was. Chaos reigned supreme. And from the depths of that chaos, born out of
fear of losing the little peace they had attained, a new world was born. Upon this new foundation,
normality had to be redefined, regulations had to be established, but most of all, a keeper had
to be appointed. One who would reign above all, ensuring the wills of those who were would remain
into the forever future. One who would be willing to lie, one willing to deceive, one willing
to manipulate, one willing to kill. And so he was appointed…the so called high priest of the
Shinigami. The Monk who names all- Manako Osho, Ichibei Hyosobe. One who holds supreme weight
over BLEACH in ways that call his motivations into question. This is an analytical video dedicated to
Bleach’s False High Priest. I hope you enjoy it. In order to understand my perspective on the
character of Ichibei Hyosobe, it’s important to understand the theoretical role that Kubo
has for him and why that might be important or even interesting to you. The idea of blurring the
lines between good and evil Is not a new concept. If done well, it can create insanely intriguing
clashes between two opposing sides allowing you the viewer to almost be caught between two
sides, not quite sure what the true answer might be. Kubo himself dabbles in this pond quite
a bit. Aizen Sosuke may be evil but he’s a man who has rejected the status quo of a corrupted
world and taken the reigns into his own hands, trying to change it for what he believes is
better. Urahara may be a “good guy” but he’s a man who has accepted the corrupted nature of the
world even though he has the power to alter it. They are both morally inept in their own different
ways and that’s what makes them so intriguing to follow. Right from the very beginning of BLEACH,
Kubo has done a lot of work establishing the good and the bad of the soul society. They risk their
lives to save human beings but they wage war on hollows out of a self-ordained sense of ownership
and responsibilities. They perform Konso and allow souls to pass on into soul society but segregate
those people into poverty while they live rather comfortably. The society they live in is hugely
corrupt, often times bending the rules for the privileged and overlooking innocence as long as
it furthers their pockets or agendas. And yet, they are the ones to whom our fates lie. They
are the ones fighting to protect the peace and sanctity of the world. And so it made a lot of
sense for there to be an object that embodied the nature of the soul society. A being who had a
hand in forming it, but also has a responsibility to keep it the way it is. And to ensure that
whatever mission statement was originally had remains true. That is where Ichibei Hyosobe comes
out to play. Ichibei is the leader of Squad Zero and as far as we know so far in the story, he is
the oldest Shinigami of all, and the first person to ever receive an evolved zanpakutou. IN fact, he
is the very man who named it and all other things in the soul society. He’s portrayed to either
have been there at the conception of the world or very soon after that decision was made. He also
carries an important weight to the story of BLEACH from a real world perspective. In that, Kubo as a
writer is insanely focused on names and the weight behind a name. When Kubo places so much emphasis
on the names of Zanpakutou’s and the names of Bankai’s and the names of different techniques and
so on, the character who knows all names and one who gives out names and is able to consequently
take it away becomes valuable to the brand of BLEACH itself. For those reasons and more, it was
incredibly vital for a character like Ichibei to have existed. The story of BLEACH needed someone
to fill that role. And so, let’s dive into who Ichibei Hyosube is and then I can get around
to the really fun stuff. Ichibei is a large bald monk with prayer beards wrapped around his
neck. He carries himself in quite an intriguing manner. On one hand, he’s super casual with his
speech, he looks like he doesn’t take himself too seriously. He can take a joke, he can take a nice
little verbal jab from both his allies and his opponents. But he also carries himself with a ton
of authority. He’s part of those special groups of people who have come to understand so much about
a particular subject that they don’t feel the need to raise their voice or push their weight around.
He doesn’t get emotionally flustered and he never feels like he’s being overwhelmed. Kubo is
absolutely masterful about how he crafts Ichibei in scenes because it's almost like the image of
Ichibei at a glance feels almost, friendly? He’s bald and his kinda fat and all round and stuff.
But as you stop and focus deeper and deeper on his mannerisms and his expressions, as you stare
into his eyes and listen to the way he speaks, you realize that he’s incredibly dangerous.
There are lines he’s not comfortable with people crossing- for example, he does not allow just
anyone to say his name. The Royal Guard aren’t put into positions where they have to call
him out but when they do, they never call him Ichibei. It’s always “Osho”, in reference to his
full nickname Manako Osho. Across the board, Kubo nails his presentation, down to the last minute
detail. Standing at the pinnacle of all Shinigami, he is the guardian of the soul king and as far as
the Shinigami are concerned, the strongest soul reaper they have available. Not counting Aizen of
course. His old age and experience has him as one of the five war potentials, specifically for his
wisdom. His speed is among the best of the best. Fast enough to blitz Tenjiro Kirinji who is one
of the fastest soul reapers in history. He wields a huge brush which he carries on his back, that
is his zanpakutou, Ichimonji. He showcases insane proficiency in the utilization of secret hadou and
his physical abilities are nothing to scoff at. Chronologically speaking, before the 1,000 year
war, Yhwach and his Licht empire waged war in the world of the living and garnered the attention of
multiple figures in the soul society including one Ichibei Hyosube. Understanding Yhwach’s true
lineage and what his true motives were, along with the quincy’s holy war being raged against the
hollows, Ichibei journeyed to the Licht Empire to hold peace talks with Yhwach. His proposition was
simple. Soul reapers would not interfere with his conquest in the human world and they would
leave him to unite the quincy as he saw fit but in exchange, the responsibility of keeping
balance had to be left to the soul reapers. yhwach strongly pushed back against Ichibei's
proposition, seeing through to the truths that lay beneath the surface. He questions Ichibei,
asking him who separated life and death, and who condemned humanity into a lifetime of
fearing the ever looming presence of death. ichibei's answer to both questions is the
same- the soul king. Yhwach intends to fight back against this established fate set forth by
the soul king and the soul reapers. He wishes to create a world without death and using his
almighty, attempted to gain the upper hand but Ichibei countered the almighty by revealing
that he was in possession of the left arm of the soul king. Yhwach was shown the truth of
all things and even though he succeeded in stripping Ichibei of the soul king's arm, Ichibei
sealed his eyes and his power, condemned to never being able to use his almighty power until his
death. That was over a thousand years ago and this encounter showcased how weirdly calculating
Ichibei is as a character. It makes you wonder, why bother showing Yhwach the truth of the
original sin? There was no way Yhwach would see the truth and decide to stand down. He was always
going to be enraged by it. Furthermore, he makes the odd choice to not kill Yhwach when he probably
could. We could chalk this up to the confidence he has in his abilities but I find it odd that he
tried to make peace, proceeded to show Yhwach the truth of the soul king, and was comfortable
leaving with Yhwach's power only being sealed. In any case, Ichibei leaves the Light Reich
and returned to the soul king's palace where he watched silently as the events of BLEACH
unfolded. Years passed and he remained inactive, merely watching the war against Aizen- and
the advent of one Ichigo Kurosaki. The Gotei 13 remained strong enough to combat most enemies
that lay before them, Yamamoto served his role adequately as the final guardian that kept
the seireitei safe. It was not until Yhwach's return that squad zero and Ichibei Hyosube is
forced into action. With Yamamoto's death, Soul Society lost it's greatest defender. The seireitei
was weak, exposed and Yhwach was sure to win the war. Ichibei then made the choice to send aid to
their allies. Descending down into the seireitei below, he and the other squad zero members
arrived in the seireitei with a few objectives in mind. They would heal the important captain class
shinigami who needed healing and more importantly, Ichibei wanted to take Ichigo to the
soul king's palace in order to repair his broken tensa zangetsu. Ichibei continued
to ooze an intriguing sense of confidence, almost making it seem like the end of the world
wasn't actually at their doorsteps. Squad Zero as a whole brought about a completely different
atmosphere- one of humor and non chalance. They did not seem to care about the Wandenreich at all.
In any case, after bringing Ichigo to the soul king's palace, he sends Ichigo off to train
with the other captains while he just waits on the fringes. When it's time for he and Ichigo
to have their training, he decides not to focus on soul reaper refinement like Ichigo did with
the others. His was not about zanjutsu, or about healing foods, or armor- Ichibei was there to
test Ichigo's ability to transcend soul reapers in what is a training sequence that poses a
very unique question for Ichigo's future. He transports Ichigo into a different space
hidden underneath his shrine and there, he puts Ichigo through something he calls the
Irazusando. The short version of what this is, is that it's a trial to test a person's ability
to be a soul king's candidate. To see if they can bear the weight of what it means to be a king.
Kubo uses this trial to build up Ichibei's grey morality. There was a likely chance that Ichigo
doesn't overcome this trial, and should Ichigo have failed, his body would have crumbled and
turned into the stone dust that formed the road of the irazusando trial. He is a man of wisdom,
but not of unquestionable moral character. After Yhwach’s forces invade the seireitei a second
time and Ichigo is dispatched to combat them, there’s a scene where Yhwach is attempting to open
a gateway into the soul king’s palace and Shunsui Kyoraku, who is standing off in the distance asks
a very intriguing question. He asks why Squad Zero is not shooting them out of the sky. He wonders
if this is also part of Ichibei’s plan and all we see is a shot of Ichibei, calmly seated in his
shrine with his piercing eyes slashing deep into the unknown. When Yhwach attacks the soul king’s
palace, Ichibei hides the shrine behind a veil and watches the rest of squad zero combat Yhwach’s
royal guard. He is finally called into action and engages with Yhwach one v one in what is his
one and only battle in all of BLEACH. Yet again, Ichibei oozes power and knowledge in his every
movement and speech. He speaks to yhwach as though Yhwach were a child needing to be reproached. He
doesn’t seem to be taking Yhwach that seriously when they clash. Making a game of it all by
telling Yhwach that he’ll have him dead within a set space. Yhwach proves himself to be annoying
enough of an opponent though and Ichibei is forced to tap into his special powers. He utilizes secret
kidou’s that absorb dense reishi like that of Yhwach, he showcases speed feats that are honestly
quite amazing, and has a non zanpakutou related battle style where he’s able to manifefst body
parts to fight with. It feels like Sajin’s Tenken shikai ability only it’s not a zanpakjutou ability
at all. Ichibei is just able to construct limbs at will. His zanpakutou ability is nothing to scoff
at though. Ichimonji’s zanpakutou strips anything of it’s name and power when its touched by it’s
ink. Ichibei then goes even further and uses his Bankai- the very first evolved zanpakutou in
history, Shirafude Ichimonji. With this ability, he’s able to give a new name and new meaning to
whatever has been touched by Ichimonji’s ink. He gives Yhwach a new name and calls him
Black Ant, before crushing him to pieces. Thinking the battle to be over, Yhwach emerges
with his awakened almighty powers and forces Ichibei to use the most powerful ability
he has. Engaging in a long elaborate chant, Ichibei begins to draw on the power of black all
around the worlds of BLEACH- even drawing darkness from soul society’s nights 100 years from now.
The power manifested right now will prevent Yhwach from even reincarnating. A total and complete
annihilation on every known level. Ichibei calls this ability Futen Taisatsu Ryo- the magnificent
death mausoleum. Epic stuff. Unfortunately, Yhwach’s almighty negates Ichibei’s ability
and he’s cut into pieces by Yhwach, killing him. It’s not until Ichigo arrives that Ichibei
uses Ichigo to reform his body but at that time, his part to play in this is done and
Kubo doesn’t go back to Ichibei again. What we have in Ichibei Hyosube is a character
that essentially exists as the leader of BLEACH’s “good guys”. He is basically the king
of the Shinigami. He is their champion, he is their rule maker. He is the course setter,
the Trendmaker, the one who points the way. I am interested to know what his purpose is in so
far as who he answers to and what he wants out of life but as far as we know, Ichibei stands at the
apex of Shinigami in the world of BLEACH. And Kubo very specifically has the man who represents
the Shinigami be one with veiled morality. One who isn’t beyond lying, scheming or killing to
achieve his goal. One who wishes to help Ichigo but is also simultaneously preparing for a world
where Ichigo might be bound, broken and imprisoned as the new soul king for all eternity. He is
not on the side of good, or bad. He is on the side of the preservation of the society he has
had a hand in creating. It’s so kubologically fitting that his power revolves around the idea of
taking away things from people and either veiling them or replacing them with something else. It’s
essentially a different way to view deception. You who considers yourself a set name, his shikai
cuts the value of your name in half and in his Bankai, he assigns you a new name. The great
deceiver, the great manipulator. Overflowing in his infinite wisdom. And don’t even get me
started on the hell arc. How much does he know about the warden of hell. About the ghouls
that existed there. About the soul reapers who have unknowingly sent their comrades to
hell? How much does he know really? Who is Ichibei Hyosube? He is the high priest of the
gotei 13, and an embodiment of all the faults and failings of the soul society. He is proof
that bad people don’t always lose. Sometimes, they become the ones we rely on for preservation.
As morally corrupt as Ichibei is, he preserves the fickle livelihood of the world of BLEACH.
If he doesn’t do what he does, the world ends, and we all die. But yknow, does that make
him any less of a mischievous monk? I suppose that’ll be up to you to answer. Let me know
down below- until the next video, PEACE OUT.
