[Predictions] Bleach Manga 538 Discussion and 539 Predictions

[Simple Math]

Ichigo better get his Zanpakuto back this time ^^^^
and the ending kinda creeped me out O__O

 

[Caliburn]

Again a new sword, Ichigo is really going through them like there's no tomorrow >.>

That scene with Hitsugaya really didn't make any sense at all. Now Kubo makes it appear like that all captains solely rely on their bankai and without it, they're nothing more than common foot soldiers. Yes against the elite Quincy fighters their bankai is probably a must, but seriously even without it they are supposed to be the fastest and strongest fighters of SS + as far as I understand they still have their shikai.

 

[Pekoms]

Again a new sword, Ichigo is really going through them like there's no tomorrow >.>

That scene with Hitsugaya really didn't make any sense at all. Now Kubo makes it appear like that all captains solely rely on their bankai and without it, they're nothing more than common foot soldiers. Yes against the elite Quincy fighters their bankai is probably a must, but seriously even without it they are supposed to be the fastest and strongest fighters of SS + as far as I understand they still have their shikai.

I think it's reasonable for Hitsugaya to relearn the basics. In all of his battles, he's had to rely on his bankai to get by.
If he were really as fast and strong as the other captains, he'd manage to draw/win more of his fights with just shikai.

Look at Zaraki, he's a monster with just swordsmanship, however, he did gain power from his kendō lesson with Yama-jii.​

 

[Shinta]

Again a new sword, Ichigo is really going through them like there's no tomorrow >.>

That scene with Hitsugaya really didn't make any sense at all. Now Kubo makes it appear like that all captains solely rely on their bankai and without it, they're nothing more than common foot soldiers. Yes against the elite Quincy fighters their bankai is probably a must, but seriously even without it they are supposed to be the fastest and strongest fighters of SS + as far as I understand they still have their shikai.

Kubo just wanted to emphisis the amount of time and effort Hitsugaya put into training his Bankai, and as such, didn't pay too much mind to his basics.

Think of being a captain as being a triathlon; they must learn Swordsmanship, Kido and spiritual aspects of there blades, each one gets practices to maintain each one at a high level until one wants to work on a specific skill. In Hitsugaya's case, it was his spiritual connection to his Zanpakutou in order to perfect the Bankai thus, his swordsmanship skills didn't get as much practice as they should have. Since Hitsugaya came to rely on his Bankai, due to him being proud of it being complete I guess, he neglected sufficient practice in the other arts a Captain should excel at.

 

[Caliburn]

I think it's reasonable for Hitsugaya to relearn the basics. In all of his battles, he's had to rely on his bankai to get by.
If he were really as fast and strong as the other captains, he'd manage to draw/win more of his fights with just shikai.

Look at Zaraki, he's a monster with just swordsmanship, however, he did gain power from his kendō lesson with Yama-jii.​

That counts for half of the other captains too and most of those opponents were on the level that bankai is almost a necessity. The only captains that could keep their game up with just their shikai were the oldest and most experienced ones.

And Kenpachi only got from Yamamoto that if he uses two hands, his swing will be more powerful. That can hardly even be called a lesson as logically if you use your two arms, your swind will have more weight behind it. Simply said Kenpachi's swings, which are almost always one-handed, only had half his power. His strength is so ridiculously huge that that small thing can make a major difference, however that's very different from Hitsugaya, who is a prodigy. Kenpachi isn't a prodigy, he just has massive strength and spiritual pressure, so there aren't such simple facts for Hitsugaya, who already knows them.

So no it really doesn't make much sense that he's going to start basic kendo with the foot soldiers, even if he focused too much lately on his bankai. Then it would have been a lot more logical that he would have done some zanjutsu training with a VC or other captain.

Kubo just wanted to emphisis the amount of time and effort Hitsugaya put into training his Bankai, and as such, didn't pay too much mind to his basics.

Think of being a captain as being a triathlon; they must learn Swordsmanship, Kido and spiritual aspects of there blades, each one gets practices to maintain each one at a high level until one wants to work on a specific skill. In Hitsugaya's case, it was his spiritual connection to his Zanpakutou in order to perfect the Bankai thus, his swordsmanship skills didn't get as much practice as they should have. Since Hitsugaya came to rely on his Bankai, due to him being proud of it being complete I guess, he neglected sufficient practice in the other arts a Captain should excel at.

That on itself is also contradictory as to get such a mastery of your bankai, a good foundation is needed. Hence my point that it seems now that without bankai he's a whelp, even though achieving and mastering bankai was supposed a reflection of your skills in the first place.

Also you are incorrect. Achieving bankai always means you were able to achieve a strong spiritual connection with your Zanpaktou. After that you still need to master it and that can mean you still need to have a better connection with your spirit, however that's not just going to happen by sitting on the ground and talking to it. There is also a very important practical part, which was also shown just before the time-skip where Hitstugaya was training in a cave. So as to master his bankai, he had to go through physical training too and even though his Zanpatkou is ice based, it's not like he just uses ice, it's a combination of ice + zanjutsu. So even if he focused on his bankai, that doesn't mean he didn't train in his swordsmanship skills, in fact it's completely the opposite.

So then we are back again to what I said: now Kubo makes it appear that, at least in Hitsugaya's case, without bankai he's barely better than a foot soldier. Even if he is stripped from both his bankai and shikai and even if only focused on his bankai for the last few years, his basic zanjutsu skills should be far superior to any shinigami lower than VC-class. So starting to learn again 'his basics' with normal foot soldiers shouldn't help anyone. If he wanted to train his basics seriously, he should do it for example with Kyouraku or Ukitake, who are the most experienced.