VS.
It's been a long time since I've done a Fight Night series myself. From the past year, I've collaborated with MechG on Bleach Fantasy 1-2 & Bleach Kombat and MIKandIK3 on SGABR (Bleach vs. Fairy Tail edition). However, I intend to change that by introducing new Fight Nights and one such series I started was Bleach Hakusho. Bleach Hakusho ran from February-Match of last year and the final verdict was 20-8. That was 2 months where Bleach just demolished YYH 20x whereas YYH won less than 10x. However, in bringing back BH and limiting it to only 10 match-ups, it'll be quite interesting to see the direction of where it'll go considering I myself am curious to see who'd win in these match-ups. Now I'm well aware I'm leaving out a lot of important people, but take into consideration ~ I'd like to make this a lot more fair and in limiting certain characters, it'd be a just match. With that being said, I'd like to introduce Bleach Yakusho 2 Round 1 ~ Sojiro Kusaka from Bleach Movie 2: Diamond Dust Rebellion going up against Shinobu Sensui, the main antagonist of the Chapter Black Saga. Like I always start any Fight Night post, Storyline & Powers/Abilities will be the deciding factors for BH 2. Let's jam!
**Note: Some of the content may be copy+paste from previous Fight Night posts.
Storyline (Sojiro)
Before any Shinigami can enlist within the Gotei 13, they enroll in Shin'o Academy. During Toshiro Hitsugaya's studies, he befriended a man named Sojiro Kusaka. Kusaka often regarded Hitsugaya as a genius and, as such, wanted to prove that he could surpass him in every way. A friendship/rivalry surfaced - both were at the top of their game, trained hard, and surprisingly have the same Zanpaktou spirit. As a result of this discovery, the two became ever so close knowing that they possessed the same power. However, Central 46 have stated that no two Shinigami can possess the same Zanpaktou. Despite Hitsugaya offering to give up on his Zanpaktou (Hyorinmaru), Central 46 wouldn't permit anything of the sort and wanted the two to duke it out ~ one shall stand & the other falls. Kusaka was eager to challenge Hitsugaya, but ultimately this led to Kusaka's death despite the face that their battle wasn't intended to go to the Death. Thus, Hyorinmaru rightfully belonged to Hitsugaya. Despite severely wounding Kusaka, the Stealth Force executed him on the spot....what started off as a friendship soon turned to tragedy. During his death, Kusaka was in wonderment on why he should be the one to die even though Kusaka fought proudly for the Gotei 13. Captain Yamamoto stated that the King's Seal ultimately gave Sojiro a new life & Hueco Mundo raised him up again...this time with two Arrancar henchmen & a thirst for vengeance. Years later, he'd come to cause trouble for the Gotei 13 by first attacking Captain Kyoraku Shunsui. He & his Arrancar henchmen stirred up trouble surrounding Hitsugaya - this frustrates Hitsugaya as he want to know who this man this. After coming across Kusaka, Hitsugaya "left" the Gotei 13 much to the worry of his lieutenant, Rangiku Matsumoto. All along, Kusaka's plan was to become the new King of the Soul Society ~ to be both powerful & respected as the rightful wielder of Hyorinmaru. However, even after Kusaka cut open the King's Seal & literally became a Ice Dragon, he was ultimately slain by Hitsugaya. Hitsugaya stated that they'd always be friends and, from the get-go, Kusaka wanted to end things between him & Hitsugaya.
Storyline (Shinobu)
Shinobu Sensui is the former Spirit Detective before Yusuke and is the major antagonist of the Chapter Black Saga. Koenma took an interest in Shinobu's sense of justice and his talents in eliminating demons. However, his interest in slaying demons soon plundered as he saw the Black Black Club torture demons for their own amusement. Twisted by this sight, something inside Shinbou snapped and thus his hatred for mankind has surfaced. As leader of the Shinobu Seven, he, and his team are bent on bringing misery to the human world; a plan that Sakyo, a former member of the Black Black club, wanted to come true. Shinobu's also developed dissociative identity disorder, creating 7 distinct personalities from Shinobu whereas his original personality stays pure. He, alongside the Sensui Seven, become enemies of Team Urameshi as they clash in hopes to either save humanity....or allow it to be taken over by the Demons.
Powers/Abilities (Sojiro)
Sojiro's Zanpaktou, much like Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya, is Hyorinmaru ~ an water/ice-based Zanpaktou. Aside from that, he is a master swordsman, has keen intellect, a Shunpo expert, & has high spiritual pressure. When Kusaka cuts open the King's Key with his Zanpaktou, he becomes literally a Dragon made of Ice that has enhanced durability, strength, has regenerative abilities, & and can fire ice projectiles. He can also manipulate ice, has the ability of dimensional expansion (because of the King's Key going out of control), and can fire yellow energy blasts from his mouth.
Powers/Abilities (Shinobu)
Shinobu is an incredibly strong human, having 10x more spiritual energy that Yusuke. What makes Shinobu a formidable opponent is his Sacred energy (being that of S-class Demon level) - purest and most-powerful kind of energy (Koenma states it is the echelon of power) that takes 40 years of discipline to master. The difference in power, at first, with Yusuke was clear - Shinobu was stronger than Yusuke. Shinobu practices a fighting style known as Resshuken, renowned for fast footwork. With this, he utilizes his fast footwork + his spiritual/sacred energy - has a variety of attacks - Resshu Ko Kyu Ha (Fissure Kick Crimson Ball Wave), Splinter Resshuken, Offensive & Defensive armor (w/his Sacred Energy), Twisted Twister, and Energy gun (when in Kazuya's personality). His powers alone were enough to subdue Kuwabara, Hiei (with the Black Dragon), & Kurama (in Demon Form).
Verdict
And the winner is...
Now this decision boiled down between two things ~ A character who has an entire arc built around him or a character who has a entire movie built around him? Now in some cases, you could argue if the backstory, change, & motivation are there, then it's a sure thing that that character has significance. However, there is one thing argument with this notion. YYH's antagonist has continuity within the YYH universe whereas Bleach: Diamond Dust Rebellion's antagonist has NO continuity whatsoever. So this means the build-up of Shinobu in YYH from the Chapter Black Saga has much more significance in the progression of the story than Kusaka Sojiro does in Bleach Movie 2: Diamond Dust Rebellion. However, this isn't the only reasons why I gave the win to Shinobu. Shinobu's story, in my opinion, has more tragedy. The drive behind his actions were because he saw just how cruel, unkind, & monstrous Humans can be towards the unknown (Demons). The constant strife between the two is apparent, but when you're making the Humans look so cold-less towards an enemy who is unknown by torturing them ~ we aren't much different to the Demons. To Shinobu, he saw the cruelty of Humans as a life-changing experience that swayed him from partaking in any human affairs. He saw the decline of the Human race and literally labeled it as a disease. This makes his motivation all the more clearer and the reason why he's developed multiple personalities ~ the cruelty of the Humans towards Demons was able to distort Shinobu's sense of truth & justice. To Shinobu, Humans became the new Demons & Demons became humanistic in his eyes. With Kusaka, I didn't see much motivation or drive. He was jealous of Hitsugaya, but more importantly ~ he was betrayed by the Gotei 13, the very people he looked up to. He wanted vengeance on the Gotei 13, but the approach of the 2nd movie seemed to be just Kusaka going after Hitsugaya because he technically killed him. So this brings up the question ~ which drive has more appeal? Well, I will have to go with Shinobu. It's much darker & we had a arc dedicated to seeing his origins, his transformation, & his downfall. With Kusaka, I just saw a man who was betrayed and wanted vengeance for the sake of wanting to settle things. I see the transformation into darkness much more effective than the transformation of jealousy & betrayal. That's not to say that jealousy & betrayal are overlooked, but when you're pitting it against a man who was once good, destined for greatness, & was the 1st Spirit Detective turn into a madman ~ that has much more focus & drive. Sorry Bleach, but YYH takes the cake.
So who do you think won this matchup? Shinobu Sensui from YYH or Sojiro Kusaka from Bleach? Comment below & let me know. Look forward to BH 2 posts on Mondays & Fridays all throughout September. Until then, you stay classy. YYH leads 1-0 against Bleach.
The new schedule has started this week (effective August 31st).
Tuesdays ~ Food for Thought?
Wednesdays ~ Watch-List
Thursdays ~ WBCRs
Fridays ~ Fight Nights
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