Zanpakutou Rating III - Kuchiki Byakuya's Senbonzakura

[Byakuya]

Previous Ratings:

Rukia's Sode no Shirayuki - 9.2
Urahara's Benihime - 7.8


This time you will be rating Kuchiki Byakuya's Senbonzakura.

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o72/Byakuya-kun/zan.png

Byakuya Kuchiki's zanpakutō is Senbonzakura (千本桜, lit. A Thousand Cherry Blossoms). Its initial release is triggered by the command "scatter" (散れ, chire?).

In its initial release, Senbonzakura's blade scatters into a thousand tiny blades. While the blades are supposedly too small to see normally, they appear as cherry blossoms because of the way the light shines on them. Byakuya can control the blades at will, allowing him to shred opponents at a distance and break through almost any defense. While Byakuya can control the blades with his mind alone, using his hands allows him to do so more effectively, making the blades move almost twice as fast.

Byakuya's final release, named Senbonzakura Kageyoshi (千本桜景厳, lit. Vibrant Display of the Thousand Cherry Blossoms), is essentially a much larger version of Senbonzakura's initial release. To activate it, Byakuya drops his sword. The sword passes through the ground and two rows of giant blades rise up from the ground behind Byakuya. These then scatter into a million tiny blades. The number of blades is great enough that Byakuya can use them for defense as well as offense.

Byakuya's final release has two extra forms, achieved by arranging the blades in different patterns. They are activated by saying the name of the technique followed by the name of his final release. The first is "scene of a massacre" (殲景, senkei?, Viz: "annihilate"), which unites the scattered petals into complete swords that form four rows around Byakuya and his opponent. While Byakuya can control these swords as he does his regular blades, he usually attacks with just one in hand. After immobilizing an opponent, he can call in the other blades to hit them while they're trapped. He can also use all the blades at once for one immensely powerful strike. The second form is "final scene" (終景, shūkei?, Viz: "last sight"), which condenses every tiny blade into a single sword to drastically increase its cutting power. The blade appears bright white, earning it the name "white imperial sword" (白帝剣, hakuteiken?, Viz: "white emperor sword"). Byakuya also grows pure white wings and a halo-like circle in the back, both made of spiritual power. In the anime, dragon-like beings sprout out of Senbonzakura to create the wings. It is unknown whether these wings are merely a cosmetic effect or if they can be used to fly.

[Serph]

10 from me! I love his Zanpakutou's releases, and the idea of Sakura petals is just beautiful in my opinion.

[Riekie]

7/10

beautiful but not amazing in my opinion.

[Kojy]

This is one of my favourites, his Bankai complexity is great and the senbon petals are just eloquent. :p

[Lilium]

10/10. It's beautiful, graceful, fast, and efficient, just like it's user. It also has offensive and defensive abilities. One of my favourite zanpaktou.

[emoloz]

10/10. Its beautifully deadly xD. Gah i love his Zanpaktou. I love the release as well and the Bankai. A shelve of swords ftw!

[NightMare]

8/10 very powerful!

[aznxenocide]

10

Elegant, beautiful, simple, and deadly. Ultimate combination of speed and power.

[Gothic Lolita]

10/10. Its beautifully deadly xD. Gah i love his Zanpaktou. I love the release as well and the Bankai. A shelve of swords ftw!

same here XD

[Pollux]

10

Elegant, beautiful, simple, and deadly. Ultimate combination of speed and power.

My thoughts exactly.

[Air]

10.
Absolutely the best.

Sakura blossoms, swords' dome, white wings.. :love

[Sarada]

I'm giving it a 9.

The swords attacks are a true killer, and should be 100% effective, except against a main character or someone with enough reiatsu to keep those things from not touching his body.

And it's pretty.

[Guildenstern]

I like how the hilt is kind of reminiscent of Byakuya's extreeeeeemely compartmentalized personality. LIMITS AND BOUNDERIES.

I was always kind of disappointed the final attack of his bankai wasn't pink too though. Kind of sapped the enjoyment of watching Ichigo bat away at a surge of pink shinies.

[Syn]

10, I like it a lot and it's very versatile... the thing is, I really wonder what is its true form 'a cherry tree? XD).

[Velius]

Look
unreleased - 7/10. Basic zanpakuto, but a little bit original guard.
Shikai - 7/10. Doesn't change.
Bankai - 8/10 Doesn't change, but they gain the ability to turn pink. Or is it white? XD
Overall - 7.5/10.

Attacks
unreleased - SLASH! 5/10.
Shikai - 8/10. Nice attacking range, but left wide open.
Bankai - 10/10. Counting all his Bankai abilities. All awesome.
Overall 7.5/10

Release commands/attacks names
Shikai - 9/10. Fits the overall theme nicely.
Bankai - 10/10. All of them scream, 'I'm going to mess you up'. XD
Overall -9.5/10

Grand Score - 8/10.

[Sola]

10/10!! Senbon is AWESOME!!

[furato]

My most favourite Zanpakutou ever, Byakuya's. Speed, power, technique, it has everything. Dead effective and looks beautiful while doing it.

[Marionette]

8
As much as I adore Byakuya and his first release, I thought one of his Bankai moves was a bit lame (the one with the thousand of swords lined up around him, especially visually), and a little overrated...

[Tomodachi69]

10

For many of the same reasons already posted by other people. Beautiful, elegant, deadly, offensive and defensive, multiple forms, able to be controlled by Byakuya with mind/hands.

[BigBadBuu]

9/10

It loses a point for letting Ichigo own it like that (the infamous "swat down all the petals" scene").

I actually like the way the he used it against Renji the best, that is making swords materialize out of the nowhere to skewer his opponent.

I sort of imagine him walking around like that all the time and just randomly skewering people who annoy him. XD

-Buu

[Jaws]

10/10 .... dangerous shikai and bankai, also Sakura petals are very befitting for an elegant warrior.

[taicho]

I give it a 10 since I think its one of the most versatile bankais.
it can be used for defensive and offensive tasks plus a lot of forms

[Rain]

I gave it a 10 as well. The shikai and Bankai would kill anyone slower than Ichigo in bankai. I can only see someone with an incredible shunpo living through the attack.

[hyiceme]

Love Byakuya's zanpakutou! It's beautiful, elegant, and powerful. But he did get defeated and being the perfectionist that I am, only a 9/10. :P

[LivingHitokiri]

A deadly weapon wich takes 10 from me XD

[Shirosaki]

i think its fantabulous
the colors and the different abilities, just splendid

[Nocturne]

Senbonzakura had me at hello. 10/10. XD

[kaya]

Such a graceful and deadly bankai from such an elegant man.
I still can't forget the thrill when I first saw it. (:
Definitely deserve a 10

[Velius]

Senbonzakura had me at hello. 10/10. XD
Shouldn't that be it had you at "Chire!"? lol XD

I can't say the same for me. I wasn't even sure what was going on when he released. haha. After I save it a couple of more times and understood it more, I gained a lot more respect for it.

[Agmaster]

I deny it's effectiveness against someone with so much reiatsu. Unless each petal has the power of conviction then I fully admit it's brokenness.

Either way, it's not my cup of tea so 6. Better than Komu's atleast. Ha....ha

[yellowdot]

Possibly my favorite. While there might be better, stronger weapons, the idea of millions of tiny blades is both elegant and effective. It suits Byakuya perfectly.

[SPLENDiD 0NE]

:wtf i voted 8 becuz byakuya's bankai is great - :love :love beautiful , graceful, powerful , elegant blah blah no doubt :rolleyes: . but it doesnt make me go :eek: WTF WOWZORS :eek: like some others did :yay

[Miranu]

10/10
Simply on of the best Zanpakutous :D It has style, all range attacks, and defence, pretty fast /for an average enemy/, beautiful :D
I like cherry blossom too :P
And it fits perfectly with Byakuyas nobility :) Sooo Senbonzakura deserves a 10 :O

[abgalid]

I voted 10.

However, there are two particular things that I want to know/see eventually:

1) Senbonzakura's true form (I have a feeling it's female like Benihime)
2) Who was the first person on whom Byakuya used Senkei (I suspect it has something to do with avenging his grandfather or something along that line)

[Arrancar13JLynn]

10 from me. His bankai is actually quite complex, especially if he was to split his bankai into several groups to go after different enemies.

[Shdo]

got defensive and offensive qualities, very versatile, can attack multiple opponents or concentrate on one.

i give it 8\10 because it lack one thing, a mega strike on one enemy. while the many blades can attack in concentration they are not powerful enough individually to cause much damage, resembling a piranha swarm of sorts. an enemy with tough enough skin can shrug them off (you can fire a million bullets on a MBT and it will still run you over). while kumomura bankai on the other hand is all about that one alpha strike.

of course he does have those angel wings final attack but that one is pretty weak to be pierced by ichigo final attack (and byakuya wasnt that exhausted in their fight since he could still shunpo away while ichigo collapsed)

[chibihana]

got defensive and offensive qualities, very versatile, can attack multiple opponents or concentrate on one.

i give it 8\10 because it lack one thing, a mega strike on one enemy. while the many blades can attack in concentration they are not powerful enough individually to cause much damage, resembling a piranha swarm of sorts. an enemy with tough enough skin can shrug them off (you can fire a million bullets on a MBT and it will still run you over). while kumomura bankai on the other hand is all about that one alpha strike.

of course he does have those angel wings final attack but that one is pretty weak to be pierced by ichigo final attack (and byakuya wasnt that exhausted in their fight since he could still shunpo away while ichigo collapsed)

I agree on what you say...The lack of mega strike while your opponent can do that is disadvantage. And to use the true potential of the zanpakutao requires Byakuya to use so much energy...8/10 for me :D

[Jeanaras]

got the 10

Some have said that this bankai lack a power attack but the true since its so quick you really dont need one because the opponent would be severly damaged before he could even do something.

And dont forgot that Byakuya is really good with kidou something he is using in fight as well so he only need to cast the kidou spell to restrain somone movement and kill him quickly.

[sacrifice4]

If Sode No Shirayuki got an 9.2, than Senbonzakura gets a 10. Simply as, since Rukia and her zanpakuto sucks. Uraharas Benihime should get a 9,2 instead of rukias. Why? I hate her.

[UraharaKisuke]

eh? no mega strike ? isnt gokei his mega strike? he used it on #7 pumpkin espada ya? the one where it forms a ball? no chance of escape?

[Abigail]

I gave Senbonzakura 9/10. I love it:love

[Shdo]

eh? no mega strike ? isnt gokei his mega strike? he used it on #7 pumpkin espada ya? the one where it forms a ball? no chance of escape?

its a lot of small attacks, if the enemy got a strong enough defence (powerful hierro) or high enough speed (ichigo) they can deflect or absorbe the attack. its like firing a 1000 bullets on a tank, you wont scratch it. but a single rpg will do much more damage even if a 1000 bullets have more killing potential overall. the mega attack is a single attack with alot of power.

he does have a single mega attack (the white wings) but its very weak when compared to other final attacks.

[sacrifice4]

he does have a single mega attack (the white wings) but its very weak when compared to other final attacks.

I think Hakuteiken has a different ability than a mere final attack, but for the rest I completely agree with you.

[Fortunate]

Aesthetically appealing.

Powerful both offensively and defensively.

I'd give it a high 8 or 9.

[H!Mandy]

I gave it a 10/10 =D

I may be biased cause I really like Byakuya, but...

it just fits him so well, the beauty and poise of cherry blossoms...
also, it's very hard to counter attack it, Ichigo really worked hard XD

the Bankai looks so awesome too =D

not mentioning the name sounds so nice

I just bought the manga where Byakuya first releases his sword, and I rememberes how I felt when I first saw it... :wha

hell yeah <3

If Sode No Shirayuki got an 9.2, than Senbonzakura gets a 10. Simply as, since Rukia and her zanpakuto sucks. Uraharas Benihime should get a 9,2 instead of rukias. Why? I hate her.

just because yo hate her doesn't mean everyone else does. if she got 9,2 it means a lot of people do not think she sucks. you really should avoid character bashing.

[Luciαnα]

For some reason i don't like it o,o ...
the name,the attacks,the bankai...THE PINK
but since it isn't the worst zanpakutou out there
3/10 for me

[Shunsui]

7/10
Very good when it comes to attacking someone. However, when it comes defense... His blade is gone, so he cant block! One shunpo up beside him; easy kill.

[Eloni]

I'm not too fond of Senbonzakura, but I give it 6/10 since it hard to parry and it looks badass... except the pink part...:sweat

[hankster176]

8/10 Its incredible powerful but like others have send its not the best for defense

[Skotty]

11/10. Beautiful and has an amazing technique.

[FeZ14]

A perfect 10 for our Byakuya-sama!!!! :WTF

It's fast, precise, powerful, great offensively and defensively!!! It was only with the sheer reiatsu of Tensa Zangetsu that his blade was shatttered, otherwise this Zanpakutou has no equal IMHO!!!

[Anolyn]

Simply the best Zanpaktou we've seen yet. Effective, lethal, and beautiful.

[Ayu-chan]

I love his zanpakuto! It's so pretty :wha

[tatygirl90]

I gave it a 10. I love it. The release command, Scatter, is so awesome and pretty. The little blades looking like little blossoms. Not to mention his bankai is awesome squared!

[ashido fan]

10! :yell
My favourite zanpakutou after Sode no Shirayuki.

[Guts]

Definitely one of the more powerful bankais out there. It's not so effective on those who can move fast enough (for example Ichigo) However, the final stage of his bankai usually takes care of those guys because regardless of how fast they are, its hard to be able to withstand the pressure of his entire bankai compressed into one sword. Still, there is a limit to it's strength. 8/10.

[Bleu]

senbonzakura is the perfect example of "beauty that kills"

his ability was what kept me liking bleach. 10.

[Fathom]

10 of course.

It's beautiful, practical, got multiple uses of attack and defense.

And Byakuya doesn't even have to move when it's in use. No need to break a sweat w/ that zanpakto.