Bleach Fantasy Round 3: Rukia Kuchiki vs. Yuna (The Strong-willed Women)

VS.

What else can be said about these two beauties? Strong-willed, kind, loyal, confident, and have had a influence on Ichigo & Tidus. These two women will fight for what they believe in because, after all, these 2 are complete badasses. Without further ado, let's start off Friday right with Bleach's very own Rukua Kuchiki and Final Fantasy X/X-2's very own Yuna (Judged by yours truly). The following will be compared: Backstory/Role in Story, Powers/Abilities, & Final Verdict. 

Backstory/Role in Story (Rukia Kuchiki) 

150 years prior to the storyline, Rukia's older sister, Hisana, were brought up together in the 78 District of Rukongai, Inuzuri. Unable to take care of her sister, Hisana abandoned her and so a majority of Rukia's life was spent alone up until she met Renji. Rukia's chance meeting Renji & his friends flourished into a dynamic relationship ~ creating a little family, but things went downhill for the two when Rukia was adopted into the Kuchiki clan by Byakuya, later found out to be Rukia's adoptive brother & Hisana's husband. Rukia enrolled in Shin'o Academy in order to become a Shinigami alongide Renji & other Lieutenants and eventually found herself in the 13th division under Captain Jushiro Ukitake (she was admitted into the 13th division without taking an entrance exam). From here on, she developed a little crush on her lieutenant and admirer, Kaien Shiba. When Kaien Shiba became under the control of a Hollow, Kaien asked Rukia to do the unthinkable - Kill him. Following his lieutenant's request, Rukia killed both Kaien & Hollow controlling him and up until the rescue arc, had to live with the idea that she was Kaien Shiba's killer. Her relationship with Kaien is much like her relationship with Ichigo - Dynamic in the sense that both encouraged one another and have gotten stronger in terms of utilizing their Zanpaktou & becoming incredibly strong Shinigami.

During her stay and commission in Karakura Town, she met with Ichigo (who could see spirits and thus kicked Rukia). Her meeting with Ichigo, as said above, is much like Kaien Shiba's. However, her stay in Karakura Town with helping out Ichigo in fighting hollows & her Gigai body, were in jeopardy as the 6th Division Captain & Lieutenant, Renji (childhood friend) & Byakuya (older brother), took her in for her stay in the Human World. It wouldn't be until later where she learned that her Gigai body that Kisuke Urahara gave her was only a shell to hide Aizen's target - The Hogyoku. Rukia was eventually saved by Ichigo & his friends and though she's grateful for life being saved, she was ready to face execution without any regrets. After Ichigo & Byakuya's intense and badass one-on-one battle, Byakuya explained to Rukia the origins of her past - him being Rukia's adoptive older brother & of Hisana's fate. Soon after, Rukia would play a pivotal role in Bleach as Ichigo's right-hand. During the Arrancar Arc, she showcases her Zanpaktou for the first time - Sode no Shirayuki against D-roy (but was no match for 6th Espada, Grimmjow) and beating the 9th Espada, Aaroniero (who utilized Kaien's Zanpaktou and kept appearance from hollow). She helped out in Hueco Mundo by fighting Rudborrn & Yammy, but later would be saved by Ichigo's friends, Byakuya, & Kenpachi. After Ichigo loses his powers, Rukia is last seen disappearing from Ichigo's sight (this indicates that Ichigo can no longer see spirits). However, it wouldn't be long before Rukia reappears once more when Rukia restores Ichigo's power with a sword imbedded with the reiatsu of the Shinigami from the Gotei 13. She plays a more pivotal role during the bloody war between the Shinigami & Sternritter as she finally achieved Bankai ~ defeating As Nodt in the process as a result of her stay with the 0 Division & training intensely to help out Ichigo & his allies. 

Powers/Abilities (Rukia Kuchiki) 

Rukia's Zanpaktou, Sode No Shirayuki, is a ice-based Zanpaktou allows her to bring her body temperature to temperatures below zero and anything her sword comes in contact with freezes. She is able to temporarily fight in a "Dead" state due to her Zanpaktou abilities. Her Zanpaktou has a variety of attacks relating to ice called "Dances" and each has different and unique abilities such as freezing someone within her field of vision or firing ice directly at her opponents. She also has Bankai (Hakka no Togame), which allows her to reach temperatures below zero and everything around her is covered in ice (As Nodt's demise). She is also seen being proficient in Kido, Shunpo, & has gotten exceptionally stronger - going from a lower seat in the 13th Division to eventual Lieutenant. 

Backstory/Role in Story (Yuna)

Born in Bevelle to Braska and an unnamed Al Bhed mother (hence why Rikku is a distant cousin), Yuna didn’t get to know that much about both her mother and father in person. When Yuna was just four years old, her mother journeyed on a ship back to the Al Bhed Home to make amends with her older brother Cid, but tragically, the ship was attacked by the whale-like behemoth, Sin, who is believed to be created by Spira’s ancestors as punishment for relying too much on machina technology, a practice that is heavily against the teachings of Yevon. When Yuna was seven, her father, Braska, became a summoner as a result of the mother’s death and he left Yuna behind in Bevelle for the pilgrimage to Zanarkand along with his guardians, Auron and Jecht (Tidus’ father) in the quest to defeat Sin. Braska eventually defeats Sin, but sacrifices his own life and Jecht’s life in the process. On one final request, Braska asked Auron to bring Yuna to Besaid Island to spend the rest of her life living there in which Auron agreed to do but upon returning to Bevelle, he was attacked by Lady Yunalesca, a strict enforcer on the teachings of Yevon. Auron passed on Braska’s request to Kimahri. Kimahri then successfully took Yuna to Besaid where Yuna was raised in the island’s temple and grew up under the care of Kimahri, Wakka, Lulu, and Wakka’s brother, Chappu.

Okay considering Yuna’s major role as a supporting character in Final Fantasy X and as the main heroine in X-2, this is going to be quite long. So by the time, she’s all grown up, Yuna decided to be a summoner just like her father. In the Besaid temple, she, along Kimahri and Lulu, solved the temple’s Cloister of Trials, to get into the Chamber of the Fayth. In the chamber alone, she stayed there for one day in prayer to the Fayth and voila, she becomes a summoner. To show that she is indeed a summoner, Yuna showed off her first Aeon, Valefor much to the awe of the other Besaid villagers. Then along with Wakka, Kimahri, Lulu, and Tidus, Yuna departed for her pilgrimage journeying to Kilika via ship. There, Yuna performed her first sending, a dance rite for the deceased to guide the souls to rest in the Farplane mainly because a resurfaced Sin terrorized the Kilika village and almost wrecked the ship Yuna and her guardians were on, but they were lucky enough to repel the attack. Basically throughout her journey, she’s doing the sending, collecting new Aeons as well meeting with rival summoners and then her role becomes relevant again storyline-wise when she reunites with Auron in Luca, establishes a connection with Tidus, getting “kidnapped” by the Al Bhed (meeting her distant cousin Rikku), and her encounter with Seymour (yeah that’s is a lot of sh*t to cover). Particularly, after the event with the forced marriage with Seymour is where Yuna starts to question Yevon’s beliefs, which helps her relationship with Tidus grow because Tidus taught her just to believe in herself. She ultimately decides to carry on with her pilgrimage with her guardians and in a sequence of order, they fought Seymour many times, breaking the Final Summoning rite by defeating Lady Yunalesca in Zanarkand, fought Sin and traveled inside the beast, defeating Seymour a final time, defeating Jecht in the form of Braska’s Final Aeon, and finally defeating Yu Yevon all inside Sin (the amount of primary antagonists in FFX is TOO DAMN HIGH), ending Spira’s cycle of death at the hands of Sin, giving her the title as High Summoner, but losing the Fayth, Aeons, Auron, and Tidus. As the main heroine in X-2, she is a spherehunter along with Rikku and Paine collecting spheres around Spira after seeing a Tidus look-a-like in Shuyin in a sphere movie. After uncovering so many spheres, she finds out about Shuyin’s love interest in Lenne. During the battle against the ancient machina weapon, Vegnagun, Yuna channels Lenne’s spirit to ease Shuyin’s soul, in which she successfully does after besting Shuyin in battle. Then there’s the alternate ending after beating X-2 100% where Yuna reunites with Tidus in Besaid and they venture off into the Zanarkand ruins wondering if Tidus is still a dream (cue Inception bwaaaaah).

Powers/Abilities (Yuna)

In FFX, Yuna wields a rod and in X-2, she wields two guns, still looking at that, it still boggles my mind how a transition like that happens so here, I’m going to emphasize on her abilities in FFX more. In X, she has one of the highest Magic and Agility stats in the game. Well duh she’s a summoner and summoners are said to be perfectionists in the art of magic and most of her magic abilities emphasize on weakening and derailing an enemy’s full strength and magical abilities for a short period of time. As she progresses throughout her pilgrimage, she obtains Aeons (summons that resemble the Fayth to establish a deep connection with the summoner through the summoner’s prayer) under her wing to summon and there’s a total of 8 Aeons: Valefor, Ixion Bahamut, Ifrit, Yojimbo (personally my favorite Aeon because of the way you pay him up just for him to kick some serious @$$), Shiva, Magus Sisters, and Anima and all have unique powers and abilities. Her Overdrive special attack is the “Grand Summon” where she depends on her Aeons at a full Overdrive gauge to unleash a devastating attack on her opponents.

Verdict (by Stillmattic)
And the winner is...

So after evaluating these two lovely ladies, it is clear that they're backstories are quite tragic and they progressively gotten stronger over the course of their journey. Yuna's mother died and father left Yuna to embark on a quest whereas Rukia's sister abandoned her and she was later adopted into the Kuchiki clan. So why then would I go and choose Rukia as the clear winner? First off, I think Rukia's upbringing is more tragic ~ she found Renji's gang and called it the closest thing to a family, but soon everyone in Renji's gang would die ~ leaving Rukia & Renji to embark on their journey to becoming Shinigami. However, even knowing that her only family (Renji) was still out there training his @$$ off, it doesn't change the fact that her adoption into the Kuchiki clan changed her. This began Renji's hatred for his Captain, Byakuya, for taking away his only family (Rukia). With Yuna, she was eventually under the care and tutelage of Kimahri, Wakka, Lulu, and Wakka’s brother, Chappu, but with Rukia ~ all her childhood friends (except Renji) are now dead. She grew up with something she could call a family and now that they're gone ~ Rukia's purpose in life now had a void in it. And as soon as she was adopted into the Kuchiki clan, Rukia's purpose changed once more - uncovering the truth behind her sudden change in fate. This gives Rukia the advantage ~ her upbringing made her into who she was, but her fate constantly was changed - her adoption into the Kuchiki family and her meeting with Ichigo Kurosaki. With Yuna, I felt as if her life is drawn-out to the point where it's a clear path, but with Rukia ~ it was never a clear path. It was evident that Yuna's upbringing was tragic, but I found Rukia's to be downright depressing. Secondly, there powers. It's no mystery that Rukia takes the cakes on this one for one reason ~ Rukia can fight in a dead-like state. In her Shikai & Bankai form, Rukia can automatically freeze her body temperature to a point where she won't be able to feel pain and she can imbed anything in ice as she pleases (whether it's a person or just the atmosphere in general. I will admit Yuna's summonings sound badass, but what's the point of a summon if Rukia can just about freeze anything and everything? (Just saying). As much as I like Yuna's journey and summons, I will have to choose Rukia on this (sorry if I offended any Yuna fans out there). FF currently leads 2-1 against Bleach.

So who do you think won? Rukia Kuchiki from Bleach or Yuna from Final Fantasy X/X-2? Comment below and let us know. Look forward to Bleach Fantasy posts every Monday & Friday (unless specified) around 10am-10pm. As always, you all stay classy now.