Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Reveals Renji's True Bankai
Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Episode 18 reveals the true form of Renji Abarai's Bankai, So-Oh Zabimaru.
Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 2 – The Separation has brought Renji Abarai back to the action with the anime's newest episode, and with his comeback he has reached a new level of power with the reveal of his true Bankai, So-Oh Zabimaru! The first cour of episodes premiered last Fall saw Renji and a bunch of the other Soul Reapers taking some major damage in their first fights against Yhwach's Sternritter forces. Renji and a few select others were then selected by the Soul King's Squad Zero to take on some special training before the next major fight.
While the previous episodes have given some small updates on how Ichigo Kurosaki and the others were faring in their new training, much of Bleach's focus and time has been spent on how each of the Soul Reapers are faring against the Sternritters in the next major war. After introducing a pro wrestling inspired enemy in the newest episodes, Renji jumps into the fight in full and debuts the true form of his Bankai, So-Oh Zabimaru, that's much stronger than anything Renji has fought with in Bleach's anime before:
YOOOO WTFFF THIS ANIMATION IS ON ANOTHER LEVEL 🔥 #BLEACH_anime
— Dani | Bleach 🩸 (@ichigod22) August 5, 2023
RENJI’S BANKAI LOOKED PHENOMENAL 🐐 pic.twitter.com/m48KuoGrXy
Bleach: Renji's New Bankai Explained
Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Episode 18 sees Renji return to the fight and take on the powerful Mask De Masculine, who fans just witnessed take out two Soul Reaper Captains and a few fan favorites with relative ease. It's explained that during Renji's training with Ichibe Hyosube in Squad Zero's territories that Renji didn't actually know the true name of his Zanpakuto. In fact, Renji had only been using half of the name of his Bankai all this time as his Zanpakuto didn't fully accept him despite how long they had fought together.
Ichibe also reveals that he was the one that came up with the "Shikai" and "Bankai" names to begin with, and thus knew the true name of Renji's Bankai. It's soon revealed that So-Oh Zabimaru has a much different kind of Bankai transformation that seen before and Renji easily defeats the Sternritter without much trouble. So it's clear that his training with Squad Zero has already paid off.
What do you think of Renji's new Bankai form? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animation and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!
