bonai are the coolest powerups in anime even if you hate bleach you got to admit it's got some of the best powerups ever as a matter of fact not only are they great powerups but it's not crazy to say they are the best powerups of all time let me put it this way how many other series do you know where people lose their minds whenever they hear one word that still gives me chills whenever I hear it and it's exactly why bleach fans lost their minds when Ichigo finally said it again in the new Thousand-Year
blood or anime but obviously Bon Kai haven't revolutionized the industry I mean there's plenty of other Transformations so why is it that bonkai are still some of the coolest powerups in the anime 20 years later in this video I'd like to break down the three things that make anime power up so cool in the first place how bleach does each of them so well and explain why there's no other experience like watching a character use their bonai now before I get into the magic behind bonai we should be clear on what it is that goes
into a power up and when I say power up I mean something broader than just Transformations because a transformation is something more specific like super saiyan or gear fifth power up is a more inclusive term that can mean anything from a transformation like super saiyan to something as simple as a character reaching their Max Energy so then what is it exactly that makes something so simple so cool so iconic you see the term Aura thrown around these days and while it is catchy it doesn't really mean anything at least not the way people use it
a character could have Aura for a cool transformation or something as simple as walking into a room but I think most people agree that what connects these two things for example is presence a character has Aura when you can see the intangible when they have such a strong presence that you can feel it in your chest and more importantly you can see that the power up has the same effect on the other character in the case of bleach you can say that for just about everyone for soy phone when she switches from stealthy ninja attacks
to nuking you with Joo raikoben for Yamamoto when his zanka naachi literally burns the water molecules in the air or for one of my personal favorites when rukia's hakao to drops her temperature to absolute zero freezing anything in her path but as much as I would love to praise every single Bon Kai in Bleach because they're all my favorite there's a select few that while not exactly my top three perfectly illustrate why Bon Kai are so cool and when we're talking about presence nobody has Aura that's quite the same as Squad 11s the first time
I saw ikaku use his bonai was in the anime I like many people was originally anime only but something unique to the manga is the visual portrayal of Ryo and huki aru in a manga you transition from this small panel of ikaku saying bonai to this big open double spread with practically nothing but the air swirling around ikaku and this bonkai takes up the entire spread showing just how massive it is the anime takes this one step further in its usual fashion akaku is forced to power up and as he does this the music changes
then it goes quiet then silent as the wind clears and we see the bonkai reveal and while you get the same thing in the manga it's something else to watch ikaku as he spins this massive weapon around then you find out that the real power is that the more he fights with an opponent the more power it stores until ikaku finally releases a massive attack admittedly kaku's bonai isn't the most unique power up it's a purely offensive power and it really doesn't even change his fighting style or anything but that's kind of why it's the
perfect power up if I asked a bunch of fans what the best bonkai is they might pick some of the more emotional ones because it's the intellectual thing to do but a bonkai doesn't have to have all this intricate writing to be good it helps obviously but it starts with presence and kaku's bonai is full of presence first of all it literally takes up the whole page in the manga and in the anime it takes up the whole scene as it spins around plus like I mentioned before it literally literally makes the music change and
go silent kaku's bonai commands the entire scene in the fight he completely overpowers the iron car and on top of that it's just so cool to watch a badass character like akaku swing around a massive zp toe so in that sense this bonkai is cool because it's so menacing that it takes up the entire scene both physically and mentally in a similar way this bonkai also reveals something about akaku before akaku was just a badass character he fought against Ichigo and from then on we understood he's like the shadow Vice Captain to Kachi because the
two characters are so similar which makes it all the more ironic that when akaku uses his bonai we find out that he doesn't like to use it and doesn't even want anyone to know that he can use it soon we find out that he hides this power so that he won't become a Captain because he lost to Kachi in a fight in the past and wants to fight and die under his command so as simple as it seems this Bon Kai does add some layers to the story The purely offensive nature adds another layer to
our understanding of akaku as a Berserker type character but his contrasting self-restriction reveals that he doesn't just fight for his personal Glory he fights to honor the life given to him by his captain which brings us to the next reason Bon Kai are so cool with powerups there's the good ones and then there's the great ones earlier I mentioned how you don't need all this emotional backstory and you don't need to be super intellectual and you don't but the difference between a good power up and a great one is how much the power up adds
to our understanding of the character for example Super Saiyan is cool and all but in its base form it doesn't really add to Goku's character that much in Bleach it's the complete opposite zpac toe are all specific to the characters and bonai in particular feel as though they're specifically crafted for the sole use of that character as a matter of fact there's one character that takes this one step further a character so sadistic and twisted that he uses drugs and experiments to modify his Bon Kai in a way that only an evil genius could B
it should be no surprise that Kubo revealed in an interview how his favorite character to draw is none other than myori kurotsuchi it makes sense because myori is one of the most expressive characters in Bleach especially with all of his Twisted Grins and in character his zpac toe is also one of the most expressive in Bleach first of all let's talk about his shikai the blade is a frakin dead baby crying with these Twisted Trident blades that alone is creepy but then you see his bonai and it's this Giant Baby with a Halo with this
creepy face and a caterpillar body that breeds poison oh and by the way the poison is made from ai's blood like dude this bonai is just creepy and gross and but that's what makes it the perfect bonkai because it might not be cool in the same way a kaku's bon Kai is cool but it's cool like a Halloween costume is cool it certainly has presence as it's a giant dead baby that feels like it's haunting you just by looking at it they also add to this feeling in the anime by playing this death flute type
sound that only ever plays when myori uses this ability and they add a freaking baby cry that's like it's just so creepy it speaks to mayor's character because we know he's an evil genius but this bonai brings it to a whole another level the giant dead baby poisons you but the poison keeps your nerves intact so that you can still feel every second of pain it shows you that mayori is isn't just any Evil Genius he's a sadistic creepy Maniac that if things were any different would easily be one of the villains unlike someone like
kimachi who just wants to fight someone for the thrill of it myori is a character motivated by a desire to develop weapons and drugs experiment on his enemies using those drugs and then find new ways to torture his enemies but that's the fun of mayor's character you can recognize how creepy he is and still love his character because this is a fictional story so you can enjoy the sadistic side to myori from a distance because this is a fictional character so you can appreciate his Twisted personality the same way you can appreciate the sociopathic Anarchy
of the Joker or the ruthless philosophy of pain it's the same reason Kubo loves to draw this character and that they got the Japanese voice actor for Frieza to voice him you can recognize the flaws and vices of these characters and still find them entertaining and if anybody is entertaining it's myori but it's not that simple characters like ikaku and Kachi are entertaining because of their drive to win a fight at all costs characters like yorichi are entertaining to watch because of Well a different kind of science myori is entertaining because as creepy as his
bonai is it creates these scenes where mayori is a surgeon in the opponent is his trapped Lab Rat and we watch as he outsmarts them one move at a time it's entertaining in a way like no other character provides and it's because of his unique character expression but that brings us to our third reason bonai are so special I keep bringing up Super Saiyans because they're the ones that did it first and they're the most famous so famous now that they've become ubiquitous in other words it's hard to do a PowerUp and not have it
feel like just just another take on Super Saiyans good powerups are cool great powerups serve as a form of character expression but legendary powerups like Bon Kai are special they offer something that's never been done quite like them they do something that no other PowerUp does and in the case of bleach I think we all know who the most special character is Ichigo has always been the heart and soul of bleach he doesn't just drive the story as the main character he sets the tone for everyone else in the very first episode we meet Rukia
and she has this regular zanac toe but then Ichigo gets his powers and he has this giant ass sword from then on his sword only gets bigger and the captains come out with all of these crazy abilities but when Ichigo finally gets his Bon Kai it's much simpler in chapter 162 when he's fighting byakuya Ichigo gathers his energy grabs his zpac toe with both hands points it right at byakuya and says one word Bon Kai but notice how this is done there's all this buildup with byakuya waiting to see if Ichigo really does have a
bonai then the dust settles and as we're at the edge of our seats the next page shows nothing but Ichigo his enemy in that one word by clearing away everything else our attention is drawn to that one word and the character's reaction to that word giving it so much more power then after Ichigo launches an attack and the dust settles again we get a double spread of Ichigo and funny enough while we do get to see his new form what actually takes the center of the spread is his sword we turn the page and again
we get nothing but Ichigo in the name of his bonai tensa zetu for years bleach fans have lost their minds exactly every every single time a character says the name of their bonai hell even just the word Bon Kai and it's because Kubo makes it dramatic he draws our attention to each one and makes it a spectacle he makes it special ironically as bakia points out ichigo's bonai doesn't seem special at all it just looks like a regular zanac toe but as we know it gives him a massive boost in power and speed it's funny
because Ichigo is this Soul Reaper Hollow Quincy whatever and yet his bonkai is the most normal looking at least when we first see it but as you know as The Story Goes On Ichigo and his bonkai SE several transformations in this sense his bonai is special because it changes with Ichigo throughout the story or in kubo's own words the blade is me and that's what makes Bon Kai so unique they have Aura as people like to say but they're not just cool to watch the reason they have this undeniable presence is because of the impact
they have on everything around them the reason they're so cool is because they're all so creative they're all art forms of expression for each and every character because of that each bonai also creates a unique experience unlike any other bonai and more than anyone else this is especially true for Ichigo his bonai looks simple at first but it speaks to his character despite his crazy background Ichigo doesn't want to be a captain or King of the hollows he loves his friends and family and wants to protect them plain and simple like his bonai and as
much as he and his bonai change throughout the story that motivation always stays the same and yet they do both change because Ichigo is his powers and those powers are an extension of him it's a familiar idea but one that nobody does like bleach nobody drops badass names and empty space so that you can just hear the word bonai quite like Kubo does nobody specifically tailor scenes around already perfect powerups quite like you see in the anime I could go on and on about each and every bonai or resurrect and what makes each of them
so godamn cool but at this point I think we can all agree that bonai are the coolest powerups in all of anime and manga but now I'd like to to hear what you think how would you rate Bon Kai how do they compare to other powerups share your thoughts and see what everyone else has to say down in the comments I'll pick my favorite and share it as comment of the week on my community Tab and if you'd like another discussion like this one then check out my previous video on grimou in that video I
explain why grimou is everyone's favorite antagonist you can find that video in the playlist linked right here until then thank you for watching and I hope to hear from you soon
