Bleach Fantasy II Round 25 (The Main Event): Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Noctis Lucis Caelum

Welcome back to the final installment of Bleach Fantasy II where MechG & I once again collaborate on pitting the world of Bleach & the various installments of the Final Fantasy franchise. On Wednesday, Bleach took a victory against FF (FF still leads 13-11 against Bleach). My daily schedule of Watch-list, WBCR, & Throwback posts will be the same as always (if delayed, posts will be on weekends). Without further ado, let's get started on the final Bleach Fantasy II post Round 25 ~ Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Noctis Lucis Caelum. Take into account that Storyline and Powers/Abilities are the deciding factors. Let's jam! 

Storyline (Ichigo)

Ichigo's character constantly is revolved around his history. He had a loving Quincy mother who died trying to protect her son from a hollow attack, a father who is a member of the Shiba Clan & former 10th division Captain, and two twin sisters who are spiritually aware of Spirits & Hollows. Ichigo was once a happy little boy up until her mother's demise and since then, he constantly is reminded of that day. His father still mourns over her loss, but knows that there's more work to be done in the Kurosaki household. Ichigo is childhood friends with Tatsuki and later makes a promise with Chad to protect him if he does the same for him. Ichigo is a renowned fighter growing up and to this day, is still challenged by various delinquents because of both his strength and his trademark orange hair. Since enrolling in school, Ichigo has made many friends - Keigo, Mizuiro, and the love interest herself, Orihime Inoue. 

In order to protect his family from danger, Ichigo made a pact with Rukia and became the 2nd Substitute Soul Reaper. Rukia's involvement in Karakura had a big influence on Ichigo's life - going from a regular teenager to a Shinigami fighting off Hollows and eventually ~ other Shinigami (Byakuya & Kenpachi), Bounts (filler), Arrancar (Grimmjow & Ulquiorra), Manifested Zanpaktou (filler), Reigai (filler), Fullbringers (Ginjo & Tsukishima), and, currently, Quincy (led by Yhwach). Ichigo, at first, was tasked in fighting off Hollows in Karakura Town, but soon Rukia is taken away and Ichigo has to save her before her execution. Later, it would be explained that Rukia's Gigai body holds the Hogyoku, capable of breaking the boundaries of Shinigami & Hollow. It wouldn't be long before Ichigo meets the Visored, who inform him of the Hollow within him. After conquering his Hollow powers & getting stronger, Ichigo's primary enemy became Aizen up until he defeated him after the Hogyoku rejected him. After Aizen's defeat, Ichigo lost all his Shinigami and Hollow powers and was now back to being a regular human. However, the battle wasn't over as Ichigo met a newfound enemy - The Fullbringers. Ichigo was thought to have lost after receiving his fullbringer powers, but Rukia comes back and saves Ichigo by giving him Shinigami powers. Ichigo would soon come to learn of the history behind his mother's death, who is father is, and who the Gotei 13 are currently facing - The Wandenreich. Ichigo's hidden Shinigami powers have resurfaced and it's up to him to once again save the day before the Human World & the Soul Society collapse. He has twin Zangetsu(s) and is now back in the Soul Society (after training and getting stronger in the Royal Palace) fighting the TGPZ Sisters while also protecting Kenpachi from harm. Ichigo currently is heading towards the Royal Palace to confront Yhwach and prevent any more casualties. 

Storyline (Noctis)

Considering that Final Fantasy XV, previously titled Versus XIII is still in development by Square Enix, Noctis’ portion in the backstory and role in story is going to be handled based on pure speculation observed from the trailers, sneak peak cinematics, and gameplay. So what do we know about Noctis’ backstory so far? Noctis is the heir apparent and prince of the Caelum Dynasty. About the Caelum dynasty, they have been around in the world of FF15 for quite some time and they are the most powerful dynasty ruling the Kingdom of Lucis. According to the FF15 plotline, the Kingdom of Lucis holds the last crystal, which is crucial in order for the kingdom itself to like stay alive per se, which is why they isolated themselves because along with other kingdoms, they fought a huge war and many kingdoms lost their crystal. With only Lucis’ crystal standing, that makes them a big target for opposing kingdoms. Since Noctis is just the prince, his father Regis is current King of the Lucis Kingdom and we don’t know what the father-son relationship is like, we only see one brief cinematic of them, when Noctis was a kid, sharing a little father-son bond during one supper. One big portion of Noctis’ backstory is that he had a near-death experience, something like that and from that near-death experience, he was able to gain a great power bestowed by the goddess of death herself, Etro to be able to witness and predict someone’s death. In the recent “Dawn” trailer, we get to see more of Noctis’ backstory with his father Regis 15 years before the start of FF15 in which Regis starts to get emotional holding Noctis while Noctis continues to sleep without the realization that his kingdom is in peril. Regis whispers to Noctis that he will be with him always as he is about to potentially give him up to three anonymous, omnipotent figures. That potentially adds another puzzle to set up Noctis’ rise to power.

Again, this portion is based on pure speculation. So by the time Noctis is all grown up, the world of FF15 and its kingdoms are in a period of peace. To specify the names of the kingdoms: Lucis (of course Noctis’ kingdom), Tenebrae, Niflheim, Solheim, and Accordo, but Niflheim breaks the peace treaty and starts conquering the other kingdoms before Lucis one by one. One big clue about Noctis’ role in story is that during a party inside Lucis, Noctis meets a mysterious girl claiming to reside from the Kingdom of Tenebrae named Lunafreya (formally named Stella during early development) and the two engage in mutual conversation. According to Lunafreya, she shared the same fate as Noctis as a child also, having possessed the same power bestowed by Etro. She elaborates to Noctis about that myth that Etro greets the souls of the dead and opens the door to the afterlife and when that door opens, the souls break free from a bright light ascending to heaven. Lunafreya tells Noctis that both were able to see the light and able to possess the unique power of determining the death of individuals. The conversation of Noctis and Stella ends in sort of a positive note with Lunafreya leaving, leaving Noctis to look up in the sky possibly questioning if the myth is true or not (again just speculation). The two would later somewhat do battle against each other whether it’s by force considering Tenebrae is occupied under Niflheim rule or possibly for other reasons, which I don’t know of. As the party continued, the palace Noctis was in was raided by soldiers, presumably fighting for Niflheim. The Kingdom of Lucis is under heavy attack by Niflheim as evident with Niflheim’s ruler confronting Regis and Lucis’ main city on fire from the invasion in the trailers. I assume that Regis is going get killed off, putting Lucis under Niflheim control and they’re going to excavate for the last crystal and Noctis, based on clues in trailers, is going to lead some kind of reclamation campaign along with his companions, Ignis, the brains of the kingdom, Gladiolus, the raw strength and power character of the group, Prompto, the sure shot rifleman, and Cor Leonis, the old lion of the group considering he served the Caelum Dynasty and the Kingdom of Lucis for a long time.

Powers/Abilities (Ichigo)

Ichigo, being a Shinigami/Quincy hybrid, is easily one of the strongest characters in Bleach and is considered a special war potential to the Quincy. As a Shinigami, he was capable of both Shikai & Bankai, Shunpo, and being an expert swordsman. However, he also is capable of Hollowification ~ amplifying his power to that of a great or equal extent to a Captain-level Shinigami. Probably the most famous of Ichigo's techniques is Getsuga Tensho, a black wave of condensed spirit energy. After defeating Aizen, he temporarily lost his Shinigami powers and completely lost his Hollow powers, later to learn about Fullbring ~ only later to have it taken from him by Ginjo Kugo. Rukia and various other Shinigami gave Ichigo another opportunity, but Ichigo soon would come to realize that his actual Shinigami power was actually his true Quincy power. He had to find his Asauchi and soon, he has a newfound form of his Zangetsu & his newfound Quincy powers (capable of using Blut Vene). At the heart of it all, Ichigo is a Shinigami/Quincy hybird, the son of Shinigami Isshin & Quincy Masaki.

Powers/Abilities (Noctis)

In terms of power and abilities, Noctis has a sh*tload of them in his arsenal. As mentioned, he has the unique power to be able to see and predict the death of individuals. Aside from that ability, Noctis has some unbelievable powers of his own because of his royal blood. Though his primary weapon is a sword with a large, bendy blade and a black handle representing that of an engine, he can be able to wield a variety of weapons, swords, spears, axes, firearms you name ‘em. In battle, his eyes turn red, displaying his unearthly speed and agility, able to take down a whole army of enemies, and he is surrounded by a crystal barrier with those variety of weapons making him unhittable, that barrier was able to withstand like 4 RPG missiles in a cinematic. He is able to interchange the weapons from his crystal barrier and can use them by hand or by telekinesis and he can teleport from anywhere whether on the ground, on air, or back on the ground using his engine sword. In terms of spells, he is able to cast fire and lightning and he can cast them from great distance. By virtue of playing the Episode Duscae demo, he has the ability to summon powerful, colossal Eidolons when near death (ex: summoning Ramuh and executing Bolt of Judgement to deal significant damage to enemies within range). Noctis is projected to be one of the most powerful male protagonists in the FF franchise.

Verdict (By MechG)
And the final winner of BFII is...

Before this final verdict, I have acknowledged that I will be bombarded with a question like "YOU CHOOSE A SASUKE UCHIHA-LOOKALIKE MOTHERF*CKER OVER MOTHERF*CKING ICHIGO F*CKING KUROSAKI?" Allow me to give Ichigo my respect first. Yes, Bleach has been around for a while and Ichigo has made a big impact in the story arcs. Yes, Ichigo's character development has far more depth and he still has potential to grow considering Bleach is still ongoing. Yes, Ichigo with his established powers/abilities can curbstomp Noctis in a nanosecond any day of the week. With a potential vs. potential verdict like this one, you gotta have a tiebreaker here and I've seldom used this model throughout the fight night posts. Based on outside knowledge from Stillmattic, the Wandereich arc is going to be the final Bleach arc. Once Ichigo dispatches Yhwach, there is nothing left for Ichigo to prove. His plate will be on the verge of being full. Whereas Noctis, you can't say that his story is already fleshed out as it is based on a couple of trailers and early development in-game cinematic cutscenes. Yes, there is a plethora of info on his storyline, but all of them are subject to change once the final product is finished. You could say the same for Noctis' powers/abilities section as they are all not polished yet. Noctis has been a person of interest for quite some time and offers a bit more intrigue than Ichigo at this point in time in their respective franchises. If this was the time FFXV is already out, then this verdict would've change significantly. We all know Ichigo is iconic, he already has his plaque set in the pantheon of legendary Anime/Manga protagonists. Noctis can either bring the FF franchise back to greatness since Cloud and FFVII or end up being another hit-and-miss like his predecessor, Lightning (I'm still a Lightis/Noctis X Lightning shipper btw). To be honest, I could've gone either way with this verdict because both characters still have to reach their full potential. However, I see this as a perfect opportunity for a passing of the torch type of conclusion. Let the new kid on the block come in here and demonstrate what he's made of. The future is now. Noctis takes the win here!

So who do you think won this matchup? Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach or Noctis Lucis Caelum from Final Fantasy XV? Comment below and let us know. As for that, this is the end of Bleach Fantasy II. Since I'm signing off here while Stillmattic is somewhere over the rainbow, we'll do another collaboration some time later depending on my availability as the NFL season is just around corner, ready to jump start my blog again. Anyway hope you guys enjoyed BF II. We hope it lived up to the expectations of following last year's BF posts. I'll see you guys later and you all stay classy now.

1) Yoruichi Shihoin vs. Prishe ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by MechG)
2) Uryu Ishida vs. Hope Estheim ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by MechG)
3) As Nodt vs. Vincent Valentine ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by MechG)
4) Kenpachi Zaraki vs. Jecht ~ Bleach (Verdict by Stillmattic)
5) Shunsui Kyoraku vs. Auron ~ Bleach (Verdict by Stillmattic)
6) Sui-Feng vs. Tifa Lockhart ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by Stillmattic) 
7) Mayuri Kurotsuchi vs. Barthandelus ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by MechG)
8) Sajin Komamura vs. Sin ~ Bleach (Verdict by MechG)

9) Toshiro Hitsugaya vs. Kuja ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by MechG)
10) Tia Harribel vs. Tidus ~ Bleach (Verdict by Stillmattic)
11) Bambietta Basterbine vs. Rinoa Heartilly ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by Stillmattic)
12) Riruka Dokugamine vs. Ultimecia ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by Stillmattic)
13) Baraggan Louisenbairn vs. Exdeath ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by MechG)
14) Ginjo Kugo vs. Caius Ballad ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by MechG)
15) Coyote Starrk vs. Cloud Strife ~ Bleach (Verdict by MechG)
16) Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck vs. Kefka Palazzo ~ Bleach (Verdict by Stillmattic)
17) Shinji Hirako vs. Emperor Mateus ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by Stillmattic)
18) Orihime Inoue vs. Yuna ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by Stillmattic)
19) Kisuke Urahara vs. Seymour Guado ~ Bleach (Verdict by MechG)
20) Renji Abarai vs. Squall Leonhart ~ Bleach  (Verdict by MechG)
21) Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez vs. Sephiroth ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by MechG)
22) Yhwach vs. Promathia ~ Bleach (Verdict by Stillmattic)
23) Aizen Sousuke vs. Bhunivelze ~ Bleach (Verdict by Stillmattic)
24) Rukia Kuchiki vs. Lightning ~ Bleach (Verdict by Stillmattic) 
25) Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Noctis Lucis Caelum ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by MechG) 

Bleach Fantasy Round II Final Score:

Final Fantasy    14

Bleach                11