Bleach Kombat Round 19: Raiden vs. Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto (The Clashing Elements)

VS.

The Thunder God himself is truly a force to be reckoned with. A teacher, Raiden had taken it upon himself to train Thor (later to be titled as the God of Thunder respectfully), Electro (later would become Spiderman's enemy), Pikachu (the very first Pokemon to harness Thunder abilities), Masamune Date (utilized Thunder through his 6 blades), Blanka (gave him the power in exchange he give up his intelligence for the greater good), Candice (became 1st incredibly hot Big-BEEWBED chick to possess the power of Thunder), and overall integrated the concept and philosophy of Thunder to the Thundercats. However, Captain Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto is no pushover either ~ starting up the Gotei 13 as well as be highly proficient in the element of Fire. His very influence has generated many students such as: The Human Torch (1st Blonde Superhero to harness Fire), Roy Mustang (Integrated Yamamoto's training w/Alchemy), Yukimura Sanada (utilized fire by channeling it through his spears), Charmander (the very first Pokeon to harness Fire abilities), Liu Kang (became 1st Bruce-Lee Ripoff to harness Fire), and overall integrated the concept and philosophy of fire to the Fire Nation. Today's Matchup is the clash of elements ~ two Godlike individuals (although 1 is technically a God and the other is not) by the names of Raiden from MK and Captain Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto from Bleach. The victor will be decided by MechG and the following will be incorporated: Story, Powers/Abilities, & Verdict.The scoreboard, as of August 13th, is Bleach leading MK 10-8. Let's jam! 

Story (Yamamoto)

The very man who started the Gotei 13 was a merciless man named Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto. 2,100 years ago, Yamamoto founded the Shin'o Academy & became its very first instructor. As founder of the Shin'o Academy & the Gotei 13, one of the first people he recruited was the bloodthirsty Yachiru Unohana, the 1st Kenpachi. During his time as an instructor at Shin'o Academy, two of his brightest students & 1st captains to enlist in the Gotei 13 (alongside Yachiru) were Shunsui Kyoraku (8th division Captain turned Head Captain) and Jushiro Ukitake (13th division Captain). Chojiro Sasakibe is a man who greatly admired and respected Yamamoto, relentlessly training in hopes to serve under him. Chojiro was the one responsible for giving Yamamoto is renowned scar across his face. As a result, Yamamoto made Chojiro his Lieutenant as well as make Yachiru, Kyoraku, & Ukitake the first Captains in the Gotei 13. Approximately 1000 years ago, the father of the Quincy, Yhwach, invaded the Soul Society and Yamamoto unfortunately did not deliver the final blow to what would be the Shinigami's greatest foe. Sometime during Yamamoto's tenor as Head Captain, Aizen began his Hollow experimentation on Shinigami and Yamamoto was the one who dispatched the very Shinigami who'd later to be known as the Visored. 

Captain Yamamoto 1st makes his appearance upon discovering the Ryoka (Ichigo, Orihime, Uryu, Chad, & Ganju) were out to save Rukia. Quickly dispatching orders to stop them, Yamamoto was unaware that various Shinigami (notably Kyoraku & Ukitake) would defect and aid the Ryoka in saving Rukia. It is also during this time that Aizen's plan unfoiled and Yamamoto came to know that traitors were afoot. He released his Zanpaktou for the first time against his two "sons" (Kyoraku & Ukitake) for their willingness to stop Rukia's execution. However, he had a change of heart once he discovered that there's bigger fish to fry (Aizen). Sometime after Aizen's ascension into power, Captain Yamamoto prohibited aid to Ichigo Kurosaki on the grounds of Orihime's "defection" to Aizen's forces, unaware that Orihime's "defection" was forced and was meant to divide the allied forces. Captain Yamamoto's role is a lot grander when he participated in the Fake Karakura Town Arc ~ The remaining Gotei 13 (excluding the 6th, 11th, & 12th divisions) vs. Aizen & the 3 strongest Espada. One of the first moves Captain Yamamoto made was trapping Aizen, Gin, & Tosen in a cage of fire so that the allied forces can make their move against the enemy forces without worrying about the enemy commander. It is during this time that Captain Yamamoto fights Ayon & Wonderweiss, but was unaware that Wonderweiss's birth was a means to thwart Yamamoto's Shikai. Gravely wounded from his own flames, Captain Yamamoto did little against Aizen, but proved that despite his wounds ~ he inflicted some injury on Aizen just in time for Ichigo to come and take over. Following Aizen's imprisonment, Captain Yamamoto would later be the one to order that various Shinigami channel their reiatsu so as give Ichigo back his powers as a token for his service to them (Fullbringer Arc). It seems that Captain Yamamoto's tenor as Head Captain was drawing to a close as Chojiro Sasakibe, his lieutenant, was murdered by an old enemy ~ the Wandenreich. The Wandenreich's invasion of the Soul Society was an act of war and Captain Yamamoto wouldn't idly by and watch as everything he's worked so hard for turns to ash. This is the first time we see Captain Yamamoto go rampant, killing Dricoli and battling what appears to be Yhwach. He unleashed his Bankai and did a number of Yhwach, but at the end ~ it was unveiled to be Royd Lloyd, a Sternritter under Yhwach's command that can mimic someone else's everything. With Captain Yamamoto heavily depleted of reiatsu after his fight with "Yhwach," the real Yhwach appears, steals his Bankai, and kills Captain Yamamoto. The regret of not having killed his old enemy led to his demise, being cut in half and scorched alive so that nothing remains. It is after this time that 8th Division Captain, Kyoraku Shunsui, takes over as Head Captain and continues the war against Yhwach's forces ~ not wanting Captain Yamamoto's death to be in vain. 

Story (Raiden)

Considering his god status, we can assume Raiden has been around since the beginning of time when the realms were created by the Elder Gods and was tasked to be the god protector of Earthrealm since other realms had different elemental god protectors of their own and Earthrealm was the center of all power among the realms. This was proven when the Elder God, Shinnok managed to loophole his way to Earthrealm without his fellow Elder Gods noticing so that he can claim its power and rule over it. As Earthrealm’s protector, Raiden saw through Shinnok’s inexplicable crime and the two gods engaged in a war that almost destroyed the whole realm and almost wiped out all its sentient life. During the war, many mass casualties of civilizations have occurred, especially that of the Saurians, a reptilian race. In the winding battles, the Elder Gods came to the help of Raiden and together they managed to defeat Shinnok. In the aftermath, the Elder Gods stripped Shinnok of his Elder God status and Raiden had the honors of banishing the former Elder God to the Netherrealm. Raiden took Shinnok’s amulet, placed it in a secret location called the Temple of the Elements and tasked his fellow elemental gods of earth, water, fire, and Fujin, the wind god, to guard the sacred amulet from intrusion. Millions of years later, Shinnok’s right hand man, Quan Chi tasked the Lin Kuei warrior, Bi-Han, the elder Sub-Zero, to penetrate the temple and reclaim the amulet. Raiden confronted Sub-Zero, angered by his doings for Quan Chi and sent him to Netherrealm via portal to reclaim the stolen amulet. Sub-Zero successfully completed his task in giving the amulet back to Raiden, preventing Shinnok’s impending terror for the time being.

With the incoming tenth generation of Mortal Kombat, Raiden was well aware that Outworld was riding a nine tournament winning streak for the last 500 years behind Goro and Shang Tsung and a tenth win would allow Outworld and its Emperor, Shao Kahn to claim the realm. Raiden surveyed around Earthrealm to gather its best warriors for the incoming tournament. Raiden chose three individuals: Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, and Liu Kang to represent Earthrealm in Mortal Kombat and compete on Shang Tsung’s island. Raiden too was invited to compete privately by Tsung himself, but considering his status as a god, he had to take on a body of a mortal to compete as it was forbidden by gods to use their god status if they were to compete in the tournament. Outworld’s streak was broken by Liu Kang eventually. A year later, Shang Tsung proposed a tournament to be held in Outworld and Raiden gathered his warriors to compete and warn them of Shang Tsung and Shao Kahn’s evil. The tournament was eventually a distraction for Shang Tsung to work with Quan Chi and Shinnok to resurrect Shao Kahn’s queen, Sindel in Earthrealm so Kahn can cross the dimensional gates. Raiden returned to Earthrealm and had to quickly gather and protect his warriors’ souls when Shao Kahn and his extermination squads invaded the realm, killing dozens. Raiden’s champions were safe and were prepared to combat the massive army of Outworld, but with the merger of Earthrealm and Outworld, Raiden could not fight alongside them as the merger left him powerless. To fight with them eventually, Raiden had to surrender his god status and with Shao Kahn’s defeat, he became the thunder god and protector of Earthrealm once again. Two years after Shao Kahn’s defeat, Shinnok and his Netherrealm army attacked the Heavens and the realms, renewing an ancient war and an ancient rivalry of gods, only this time, mortals can fight. Raiden gathered his Forces of Light and they successfully defeated Shinnok and his men, banishing them back to the Netherrealm. Thanks to Raiden’s efforts, the Elder Gods promoted him a seat among them in which he accepted and he chose Fujin to be the next protector. However, with the formation of the Deadly Alliance and the death of Liu Kang, Raiden relinquished his Elder God status to gather his Forces of Light to combat a great threat. This was unsuccessful as the warriors fell one by one to the combined might of Shang Tsung and Quan Chi. Raiden then challenged the Deadly Alliance in Mortal Kombat as the last line of defense for Earthrealm. Raiden fought valiantly against the two sorcerers, but their combined might was enough to bring down the thunder god. Raiden awoke from unconsciousness seeing that the Dragon King, Onaga has returned and was charging straight at him, Shang, and Quan. They formed a temporary alliance to stop Onaga’s march. Knowing their combined might alone wasn’t enough, Raiden gathered a lot of power to release a powerful godlike blast. The blast damaged Shang Tsung’s palace and possibly killed Shang Tsung and Quan Chi, but Onaga was unaffected by it. After his sacrifice, Raiden was reincarnated into a corrupt state, becoming a more vengeful god who’s disgusted by those who threaten Earthrealm. He punished Shujinko, the main instigator for helping Onaga reclaim the Kamidogu and fulfill his return and reanimated Liu Kang’s corpse from necromancy and lightning and sent it on a rampage to attack those who threaten or mistreat Earthrealm. Shinnok saw through Raiden’s corruption and formed an alliance with him. Raiden shockingly accepted, but he used this as means to uncover the Fallen Elder God’s plans. During Armageddon, Raiden came across Taven as he was spying on the plans of MK’s “masters of evil.” He revealed his alliance with them and challenged Taven in combat, but he was defeated by him. In the aftermath of the war of Armageddon, Raiden and Shao Kahn were the last ones standing on Argus’ Pyramid, but Shao Kahn defeated Blaze, giving him immense power. As Shao Kahn was about to deliver the final blow to Raiden, Raiden gathered his broken amulet and sent a message to his past self with a cryptic message: “he must win.” In an alternate timeline, Raiden changed three events: having the Lin Kuei capture the younger Sub-Zero to spare Smoke, selling a majority of the souls from the fallen Forces of Light to Quan Chi in the Netherrealm, and allowing Shao Kahn to merge Outworld with Earthrealm. Shao Kahn’s merger galvanized the Elder Gods to intervene and transfer their power to Raiden. Raiden used this power to kill Shao Kahn and save Earthrealm despite losing many warriors. This altered the future, but allows Shinnok and his army to rise from the Netherrealm and claim both Earthrealm and Outworld.

Powers/Abilities (Yamamoto)

Being the former Head Captain, founder of the Shin'o Academy, & the Gotei 13 ~ Captain Yamamoto is an expert swordsman, expert hand-to-hand combatant, expert in Kido, expert in Shunpo, and, since he's the oldest and 1st Captain ~ possesses incredible amount of spiritual energy enough to make the atmosphere in the Soul Society be completely hard to breathe in when releasing his Shikai/Bankai. Just like any Captain, he possesses enhanced strength, endurance, agility, an durability. His true power lies his Zanpaktou ~ Ryujin Jakka (Flowing Blade-like Flame). Said to be the oldest of all the Zanpaktou that came after, Ryujin Jakka's main power is Fire. When releasing his Shikai, the air becomes dense, his blade is engulfed in flames, and anything he touches becomes engulfed in fire. However, in his Bankai, things really heat up (sorry for the pun). His Bankai can very much tear apart the Soul Society. His blade now can cut anything out of existence and his attacks include: eradicating anything that his blade touches, engulfing his entire body in heat of about 15,000,000 degrees (impossible to touch him), calling upon the corpses of those he killed to aid him in battle, and a single concentration of fire that incinerates anything out of existence. 

Powers/Abilities (Raiden)

Being the god of thunder that he is, Raiden is automatically a powerful being in complete possession of manipulating lightning and electricity. He can use the power of electricity as means for projectile attacks, shield barriers, or healing, a balance of offense, defense, and regeneration in one elemental attack. In addition to firing his lightning bolt projectiles or holding his lightning powers from his hands to shock the heck out of people as evident in his battle with Quan Chi and Shang Tsung. Raiden is able to conjure up full fledge thunderstorms and can release a godly energy blast by building up immense electricity from his hands and releasing its essence when big enough as evident in his attempt to stop Onaga. He also has the ability to fly in his notable move, the Torpedo in which he flies at his opponent and pushing them back to a wall and also possesses the ability to teleport from one destination to another by transforming his body in an ethereal state. It is known that Raiden is an expert in the fighting style of Jiu-jitsu, mastering over 750 variations of the martial arts and possessing great weaponry skill with a war hammer and a wooden staff. After sacrificing himself during his battle with Onaga in Outworld and reincarnating his essence back in Earthrealm, Raiden became more of a vengeful god and his powers grew even stronger. His notable fatalities include Electric Decapitation, where he sends electricity on an opponent’s head, shocking it until it explodes, Electrocution, where he lifts his opponent and starts shocking them, sending electricity into their body until it explodes, Staff Shock where he impales the opponent with his staff on the chest and starts electrocuting them until they’re dead, and the Godly Essence, where he gathers a lot of immense energy and unleashes a deadly blast killing his opponent and himself (his mortal form). Since he is a god and not an Elder God, he can be involved in mortal affairs, especially participating in Mortal Kombat provided he takes on a mortal form as mentioned above and as protector of Earthrealm, he cannot interfere in the other affairs of other realms or he would lose any signs of his power or godly status. It still doesn’t change the fact that he is immortal and even though he is defeated in another realm, for example, Outworld, his energy and essence will be regenerated back on Earthrealm. Also, Raiden has an amulet in his possession in which he can send messages to his past self and start a new timeline of events.

Verdict (By MechG)

And the winner is...

God of thunder, protector of Earthrealm, founder of the Forces of Light vs. Captain-Commander and founder of the Gotei 13, lightning vs. fire, man this is a hard verdict to decide. Both are wise, dedicated to their occupation and passion, and they possess ages of experience and wisdom throughout their existence. I think both are even out in terms of respectability because Raiden’s fellow gods and his Earthrealm champions respect him and his presence and Yamamoto is the same, being that he is admired by every Shinigami and most of the captains in the Gotei 13. Both are also highly intelligent warriors. So what gives, how can I give out a clear and decisive verdict? I look at the balance of powers/abilities and I gotta say Yamamoto pulls out a stunner victory here. Usually in verdicts like these when I go against a favorite character of mine, especially against a character I’ve used for so long in the games, I take a brief pause and slowly gather my thoughts again, but it also reflects that I didn’t channel in my inner fanboy. Anyway, yeah Raiden is the god of thunder, a skilled fighter/tactician, and possessing electricity is always bad@$$, but the thing that Raiden lacks in his combat skills is power and that’s where I feel that’s where Yamamoto edges him. Yamamoto possesses a clear cut balance of power, genius intellect, weaponry skills, and durability. I mean just look at his demonstration of his Sokotsu ability, he literally shattered the guy to pieces with his fists! On top of that, Raiden has struggled a lot and I mean A LOT against power, physical-type opponents. Against the Deadly Alliance, Raiden had his way against Shang Tsung, but struggled to match wits with Quan Chi, he couldn’t kill Onaga with his godly blast, and he couldn’t stop Shao Kahn from gaining ultimate power in Armageddon. Yeah Yamamoto is dead thanks to Yhwach and Raiden is eternal and is once again the central point of MKX, but the fact of the matter is the almighty thunder god is in trouble and is going to turn into a pile of dust in a matter of seconds if he were to fight the “godfather” of the Gotei 13. ~ YAMAMOTO WINS, FLAWLESS VICTORY

So who do you think won? Raiden from MK or Captain Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto from Bleach? Comment below and let us know. As always, look forward to BK Month (July 4th-August 25th) on Mondays, Wednesdays, & Fridays. Until then, you all stay classy now. Here's the current Scoreboard for BK Month:

1) Jax Briggs vs. Yasutora "Chad" Sado ~ MK (July 4th)

2) Jade vs. Yoruichi Shihoin ~ Bleach (July 7th)

3) Johnny Cage vs. Mask De Masculine ~ MK (July 9th)

4) Sonya Blade vs. Sui-Feng ~ Bleach (July 11th)

5) Kenshi vs. Byakuya Kuchiki ~ Bleach (July 14th)

6) Mileena vs. Bambietta Basterbine ~ Bleach (July 16)

7) Kung Lao vs. Uryu Ishida ~ Bleach (July 18th)

8) Reptile vs. Sajin Komamura ~ Bleach (July 21st)

9) Sektor vs. Renji Abarai ~ Bleach (July 23rd)

10) Sindel vs. Tier Harribel ~ MK (July 25th) 

11) Sub-Zero vs. Rukia Kuchiki ~ MK (July 28th)

12) Baraka vs. Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez ~ Bleach (July 30th) 

13) Fujin vs. Candice Catnipp ~ MK (August 1st) 

14) Quan Chi vs. Toshiro Hitsugaya ~ MK (August 4th) 

15) Scorpion vs. Ad Nodt ~ MK (August 6th) 

16) Goro vs Kenpachi Zaraki ~ Bleach (August 8th) 

17) Kitana vs Orihime Inoue ~ MK (August 11th) 

18) Shang Tsung vs. Kisuke Urahara ~ Bleach (August 13th) 

19) Raiden vs. Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto ~ Bleach (August 15th) 

Bleach currently leads 11-8 against MK.