BLEACH SPOTLIGHT: BLEACH’S YORUICHI SHIHOIN

year 15, month 5

Of many characters and character profiles in Bleach, there’s few that have managed to capture the hearts (quite literally) of the fans than Yoruichi Shihōin. Not only does she stand as one of the most iconic female characters in Bleach, but she also has been the subject of a lot of… well, admiration is probably the best word to use here. Perusing Reddit, DeviantArt, Pinterest and more sites shows exactly how popular she is. But let’s dive a little into the character of Bleach’s Yoruichi herself!
 

YORUICHI’S HISTORY IN BLEACH

As we all know, Yoruichi was born as the princess of the Tenshiheisōban, the Shihōin Clan, one of the noble families in Bleach. As she grew up, she became good friends with Kisuke Urahara and Tessai Tsukubishi, both of whom also eventually became captains in the Gotei 13 as she did. Yoruichi was formerly a Captain of the 2nd Division and a long time member of the Onmitsukidō, during which she took in Suì-Fēng as a personal bodyguard and taught her most of what she knew. Yoruichi also had a close relationship with the Kuchiki Clan, one of the other Bleach noble families, and would often visit and even train Byakuya Kuchiki as a teenager.

It was during the Hollowfication event where numerous members of the Gotei 13 were turned into visored that Yoruichi lost her titles and position, upon hearing that Urahara and Tessai were to be severely punished for crimes they had not committed. Yoruichi broke into the Central 46 chamber, rescuing the two and taking them underground to plan their escape. Once they were safe, Yoruichi disappeared for many years, not appearing again until the Bleach Substitute Shinigami Arc, when it came time to train Ichigo and his comrades for their invasion of the Soul Society.

BLEACH FANS ON YORUICHI

Now, we know what the Bleach lore says about Yoruichi, what do the Bleach fans have to say? Well, apart from the most obvious reasons that make their appearance in the Bleach Thousand Year Blood War Arc, many fans agree that Yoruichi brings so much more to the manga and anime than just… that. Looking at websites like CBR, Bleach fans ranked Yoruichi as the third best character in the series, citing her as being unbelievably cool and very funny as well. Her martial prowess is so far unmatched and the way she treats her opponents varies from person to person. It’s not all stone faced condescension like Yamamoto, or angry guttural mumbling like Muguruma (seriously, even Sado changes his expressions more than Kensei). Yoruichi delivers true performances in all her fights. Plus, she made the number one spot on a particular list on Ranker. I’ll let you all discover which one, though you can probably already guess.

THE POWER OF SHUNKO

Now, as you can see, Yoruichi is very famous for her powers of course. The Bleach fandom has done very well highlighting that over the years and for three extremely good reasons. But do we know exactly how these powers work? Yes. Yes we definitely do, we’ve all read it more than three times, don’t lie to me. Still, let’s examine the cool power of Shunko anyway! Yoruichi’s Shunko is the highest form of Hakuda, Shinigami martial arts, combining elements and channelling kidō through the person’s own body, allowing kidō to be directly fired through the arms and legs.

Now, Shunko power can vary from person to person, but for Yoruichi, she has developed multiple abilities with her Shunko, such as Raijin Senkei, an ability that forms a circle of drums from around her back and delivers explosive thunder damage. Her next move is Bakuen Musō, which is essentially a devastating explosion of kidō from Yoruichi’s back. Last, but not least, is her most famous ability, Raiju Senkei: Shunryū Kokubyō Senki.

This essentially turns Yoruichi into a cat, destroying all of her clothing and manifesting lightning around her ears, tongue, hair, and, ahem… hindquarters (plenty of fanart there). She also seems to have a tail, which lends to the whole cat motif. In this form, she is essentially a cat unable to understand human speech, but she becomes a whole new level of powerful. Fitting for a move called Flash God Black Cat Warrior Princess. Think that’s cool? Of course you do! Shunko is already among the many powers you can have a chance of gaining on World of Reapers, so come and share your favourite Yoruichi moment on the site!

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