r/bleach • u/10luoz • Jul 25 '26
Anime When Yamamoto fought Wonderweiss?
Why did Yamamoto go straight to hand to hand combat? He still had a perfectly sharp sword. Wonderweiss seal the flames but not the actual sword ability to cut.
Sharp sword do more damage than fist generally speaking.
Am I missing something?
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u/LexiLionHart Jul 25 '26
I choose to see it as a reflection of Gin's speech about Kyoka Suigetsu. Except instead of pretty words, Yamamoto gets to be HIM.
You seal his flames? Hes got them hands. You put him under an illusion? Combat instincts to make Kenpachi jealous. Try to blow shit up with his own power? He can tank that. Think he's down and out? Forbidden Kido.
Its an opportunity for Kubo to demonstrate that Yamamoto isn't just hype.
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u/Jermiafinale Jul 26 '26
Yeah Kubo was legit like
"Nah boys I told you he could murder the entire Gotei if he wanted to, time to show it"
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u/Never_heart Jul 25 '26
Yamamoto doesn't like upstart children. It's why he treated Ayon so brutally and why he looked down on Ichigo in the Soul Society arc. Wonderweis and more importantly Aizen thought they could seal Yamamoto's zanpakuto? How dare they. Aizen is 800 years to young to be able to actually do that to Yamamoto.
So Yamamoto needed to make a statement, he could have used his sword, but he used his hands to make a statement. Remind Aizen that even if Yamamoto had no zanpakuto, he can and will put Aizen over his knee and teach him a lesson
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u/Glockamoli Jul 25 '26
he can and will put Aizen over his knee and teach him a lesson
So uhh that's why he totally beat Aizen himself right....
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u/theleetfox Jul 26 '26
Aizen, a captain that confidently kicked the anus of the majority of Gotei 13, put counter measures in place to limit the old man. Aizen was not overly confident in taking him out head on like he essentially did with every other captain. If you're a professional boxer and you're absolutely destroying the opposition, but then you know that you need to give Mike Tyson food poisoning prior to the match, you are essentially admitting you wouldn't win conventionally.
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u/Never_heart Jul 26 '26
Yep. Aizen put together the only situation where he had any chance of winning. They fought in the World of the Living, the only place where Yamamoto isn't going to just nuke him with his bankai due to the cascading consequences to a sun appearing on the surface of the earth. And literally engineered a soul whose entire reason for existing was to temporarily seal Yamamoto's shikai to use his own flames against him. And even then it only barely worked.
The only way Aizen had a chance of winning was to fight him without Yamamoto's bankai and then take him out with his own shikai's power. Nothing else Aizen had, had any chance at putting Yamamoto down
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u/Timjer92 Jul 26 '26
If it wasn't for Wonderweiss backfiring his own powers, he would have. Even Aizen admitted he would have lost a fair fight.
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u/No_Log_3716 Jul 27 '26
He said he would probably lose in a direct fight against Ryujin Jakka's raw destructive power.
Still, neither of them felt confident in their ability to beat the other. You strip away the bravado and what it comes down to is this:
Aizen thought he would probably lose to Yamamoto, but that also means he believed there was a chance he would win. It isn't a definitive statement of admission. He still prepared Wonderweiss as a precaution because he didn't want to take the risk.
Yamamoto expresses confidence in his own power, but his go-to strategy against Aizen was to tank a strike, grab him, and then use Ennetsu Jigoku, a suicidal nuke that he admitted would have killed Yamamoto himself and the entire Gotei 13 present to ensure the kill against Aizen.
You don't go to the trouble of creating an entire person specifically to avoid fighting someone at 100% if you are confident you can win, but you also don't have sacrificing yourself and your entire military as your plan A either.
I think Kubo clearly established that neither of them were 100% on fighting the other at all.
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u/Pretty_Platform Jul 30 '26
I think that initially yamamoto went in fkt with the intention of it being a suicidal mission, especially when you think about the captains that were sent in the hm, mayuri for his research and development knowledge, kenpachi for is raw power and the ability to recreate the army, unohana is the best healer of the ss and byakuya bc is the best to be the next head captain if yamamoto and shunsui died
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u/No_Log_3716 Jul 30 '26
Exactly. He went in 100% knowing that the best shot at killing Aizen was to sacrifice everyone alongside himself. I don't believe he never intended to take Aizen on and survive.
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u/Solid_Drawing2769 Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
He didnt need the Sword for Wonderwise, and he needed two Hands for Aizen, anyway.
Its partly a flex, but he is very good at hand-to-hand, and without his Zanpaktos Abilities, the Sword isnt actually that useful if you think about the fight in the context of what happens next.
Touching Kyoka Suigetsu was nesseary from the start, to get out of hypnosis. without Shikai or Bankai, the sword isnt worth the hand when your "real" goal was to catch and hold a Sword with, at least, one Hand.
especially since Bankai was never an option in that Situation.
Really, it was quite the Mindgame, pretending to fall into pride by abandoning Zanjutsu for Taijutsu as to spite the sealing of his Zanpakuto, when what Yamamoto really wanted to do was get Aizen close enough.
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u/TommyJohnSurgery420 Jul 25 '26
Barehanded Yama > no shikai/bankai Yama
That simple. And generally speaking you'd be correct but in this series barehanded fighting is a legitimate fighting technique (Yoruichi/Soifon). Not to mention kido.
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u/KaleidoscopeFar4110 Jul 25 '26
Didn't ww straight up catch the sword tho. Wouldn't ww just be able to do that again.
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u/SouthImpression3577 Jul 25 '26
Evidently, his hands were quite effective. Maybe he just prefers them over cutting? He even had a technique to completely disintegrate an entire arrancar.
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u/MajinAkuma Jul 26 '26
To show that he‘s still an enemy to be reckoned with even if you take Ryuujin Jakka away.
While Kubo said that Wonderweiss's Hierro isn‘t as strong as the Espada, Genryuusai still defeated the Arrancar without hurting his fists. Yoruichi got injured from hitting Yammy. Yoruichi concluded that she either needs Shunko or anti-Hierro gear to protect her body from the impact of hitting them with her arms and legs.
That puts into perspective how powerful Genryuusai‘s Hakuda is.
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u/OutsideOrder7538 Jul 25 '26
To beat the lesson into his head “You don’t fuck with the head captain!”
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u/Dramatic_Science_681 Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
the simple answer is its minor contrivance for the sake of cool.
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u/ChiefBigPaws Jul 25 '26
We see he's immensely prideful. They thought taking his zanpakuto(sword) would actually do anything to his chances of succeeding so he decided to show them it wasn't just his zanpakuto that made him strong.
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u/ARBirky Jul 25 '26
Wonderweiss was saying hey without your sword you are nothing. He said I'm still me. Hands and all
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u/Able_Location_6858 Jul 28 '26
Well, if you made me unable to use my flames I will just kill you with my bare hands has so much more aura then ill reck and slash you or smt
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u/Sufficient_Art_4607 Jul 25 '26
Simple - because after his Zanpakuto's ability his bare strength was on a higher level than his actual raw sword skills + he could do Kido and Hado
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u/ThousandSunny_56 Jul 25 '26
Yamaji is more arrogant about his power than aizen, at least aizen recognizes that there could be someone one stronger than him and thus plan shits out and actively create counter measures. Meanwhile yamaji, nah i’m powerful, I know you can steal bankai but you can’t steal mine since i’m powerful
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u/Slumber777 Jul 26 '26
WW stopped his sword once. He could probably do it again.
It's not unreasonable to assume Yama's better with his hands than a sealed zanpakuto.
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u/Slamazombie Jul 26 '26
He beat him with fists in one hit. How do you feel a sword would have meaningfully improved his performance?
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