Bleach: Best Finishing Moves, Ranked

Highlights

• Bleach has delivered some of the most memorable fights in shonen manga and anime.
• The series features a wide variety of abilities and impressive finishing moves.
• Characters like Kenpachi Zaraki, Sajin Komamura, and Hachigen Ushoda have showcased unique and powerful techniques.

For a series whose battles have always skirted the boundary between the ridiculous, the emphatic, and the sublime, Tite Kubo’s Bleach has delivered some of the most memorable fights from among the “Big Three” of shonen manga and anime. While certain aspects of its plot, character development, and world building have attracted criticism over the years, the clashes of strength between its main characters have gone on to become nothing short of iconic.

The wide variety of abilities possessed by the main cast of Bleach, as well as its simple yet effective power systems, have yielded some impressive shows of force. Although some fights in the series did suffer from being drawn out unnecessarily, Kubo was quite adept at ending major conflicts in dramatic fashion, with some awe-inspiring finishing moves that put many of its shonen manga peers to shame. Hence, here is a definitive ranking of the best finishing moves in Bleach.

9 Ryodan – Kenpachi Zaraki

Critically Wounded Nnoitra Gilga In Hueco Mundo

• Manga Debut: Chapter 311
• Anime Debut: Episode 202

Veering towards the domain of the absurd, this attack was powerful enough to bring down the Fifth Espada in one blow, and it is one of the few times Kenpachi Zaraki has used a technique from traditional Shinigami Zanjutsu. For someone who relied on brute strength and raw power alone, Zaraki outclassed many of his peers among the Shinigami Captains, despite never having received much formal training. By gripping his sword with two hands in a more orthodox stance — in contrast to his own unconventional fighting style, Zaraki’s power grew so fearsome, that Central 46 forbade Yamamoto from instructing him further out of concern about how strong he would become.

8 Kokujo Tengen Myo’o: Dangai Joe – Sajin Komamura

Overpowered Bambietta Basterbine’s Quincy: Vollstandig

• Manga Debut: Chapter 556
• Anime Debut: Episode 383

Activated in tandem with Komamura’s use of the Humanization Technique, Kokujo Tengen Myo’o: Dangai Joe is an obscenely powerful version of the Seventh Division Captain’s Bankai. The massive spectral warrior representing Komamura’s Bankai sheds its armor in this state, and can regenerate from any damage inflicted upon it. However, the technique has a time constraint defined by the Humanization Technique, dissipating once it deactivates. When used against Bambietta, the giant’s blows were powerful enough to push back the force of her explosions, and draw her into them, taking her out in a massive blast that engulfed her entire body.

7 Time-Space Barrier – Hachigen Ushoda

Turned Barragan Louisenbairn’s Own Ability Against Him

• Manga Debut: Chapter 370
• Anime Debut: Episode 281

For someone whose outlook is akin to that of a pacifist, Hachigen Ushoda delivered one of the most devastating finishing blows in Bleach, during his fight against the Second Espada, Barragan Louisenbairn. At the height of the Battle of Fake Karakura Town, when the Shinigami of Soul Society were reeling from Barragan’s ability to force targets to rot and decay, Hachigen’s arm was caught by the Espada’s attack, but this did not deter him. Instead, Hachigen used his Time-Space Barrier to transfer his arm inside Barragan’s own body, causing it to decay from within, turning the Espada’s power against him to deadly effect.

6 Souou Zabimaru, Zaga Teppo – Renji Abarai

Reduced Mask De Masculine To Ash In a Single Blow

• Manga Debut: Chapter 564
• Anime Debut: Episode 384

Having learned the true name of his Zanpakuto after training with Ichibe Hyosube at the Soul King Palace, Renji Abarai was raring to test his new abilities and found the perfect adversary in the Sternritter Mask De Masculine. Although he weathered Mask’s onslaught for a short while, Renji was quick to take revenge for his earlier defeat and activated his Bankai. Once he had thrown Mask around a few times, Renji used Souou Zabimaru, Zaga Teppo while charging towards the incoming Sternritter. With this technique, he instantly impaled, bifurcated, and incinerated Mask, leaving no trace of him behind.

5 Hyoten Hyakkaso – Toshiro Hitsugaya

Encased Tier Harribel In Ice And Rendered Her Immobile

• Manga Debut: Chapter 359
• Anime Debut: Episode 275

An extension of the fundamental ability of Toshiro Hitsugaya’s Zanpakuto, Hyorinmaru, Hyoten Hakkaso is triggered while the Tenth Division Captain has activated his Bankai, Daiguren Hyorinmaru. The technique allows Hitsugaya to manipulate the weather on a massive scale, opening up the heavens to release an enormous blanket of snow that envelops his opponent and forces ice flowers to bloom across their body, trapping them within a massive pillar of crystallized ice. When used against the Third Espada, Tier Harribel, this ability imprisoned her within the column, and would have effectively ended the fight, if not for the arrival of Wonderweiss Margela.

4 Cero – Zangetsu/ Ichigo Kurosaki

Concluded His Final Battle Against Ulquiorra Cifer

• Manga Debut: Chapter 351
• Anime Debut: Episode 271

The ultimate attack executed by one of Ichigo’s most powerful forms in the series, the point-blank Cero used to defeat Ulquiorra Cifer is among the most terrifying displays of strength in Bleach as a whole. Coming at the end of a rapid turning of the tide, with the reveal of Ichigo’s new Hollowfied transformation, this Cero all but sealed Ulquiorra’s fate, and the Fourth Espada could do little apart from watch as he was dealt a fatal blow by a now berserk Ichigo.

3 Hakka No Togame – Rukia Kuchiki

Completely Froze And Killed As Nodt Upon Activation

• Manga Debut: Chapter 569
• Anime Debut: Episode 386

Easily one of the most hotly anticipated Bankai in the series, the intensity of Rukia Kuchiki’s Hakka no Togame is as great as the danger it poses to its user, due to how quickly it lowers ambient air temperatures to Absolute Zero. At the end of a long battle between the Sternritter As Nodt, and Sixth Division Captain Byakuya Kuchiki, Rukia’s activation of her Bankai was signaled by the eruption of a massive pillar of ice which instantly froze and fatally injured the Quincy. It also revealed the transformation that accompanied Rukia’s Bankai, which is one of the most memorable forms in the series till date.

2 Senbonzakura Kageyoshi – Byakuya Kuchiki

Broke Renji Abarai’s Bankai And Left Him In A Near Death State

• Manga Debut: Chapter 143
• Anime Debut: Episode 52

Concluding one of the most emotionally charged battles in the Soul Society Arc, Byakuya’s use of his Bankai against his own lieutenant, Renji Abarai, proved to be far too much for the latter to handle. Materializing as a swirling mass of pink cherry blossom petals which are actually minute blade fragments, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi is still one of the most iconic Bankai in the series, and Byakuya’s impeccable command over the blades has only increased with time. When deployed against Renji, the technique destroyed Renji’s own Bankai, and shredded his body, leaving him on the verge of death.

Used To Defeat Royd Lloyd Posing As Yhwach

• Manga Debut: Chapter 509
• Anime Debut: Episode 371

Simply put, Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto has a ridiculously potent Zanpakuto in the form of Ryujin Jakka, boasting immense destructive potential. His Bankai, Zanka no Tachi, intensifies this even further, allowing him to either concentrate the flames of his Reiatsu at certain points along the blade, or unleash wide-ranging slashing attacks which incinerate everything they touch. Yamamoto’s execution of Zanka no Tachi, Kita: Tenchi Kaijin is one of the most invigorating spectacles of the Thousand-Year Blood War Arc, and it is no surprise why.

1 Final Getsuga Tensho – Ichigo Kurosaki

Ended Aizen’s Reign Of Terror And Destabilized His Evolved Form

• Manga Debut: Chapter 420
• Anime Debut: Episode 309

Sosuke Aizen’s victory over the Shinigami had all but been assured once he had defeated the Division Captains in his Hogyoku form. Over time, he began to hunt down the remaining Shinigami in Karakura Town, until the reappearance of Ichigo, who had come back immeasurably stronger from his training in the Dangai. After reconciling with his Zanpakuto spirit, Zangetsu, Ichigo learned the ultimate technique of its Bankai, the Final Getsuga Tensho. When activated, it transformed Ichigo completely, and allowed him to use “Mugetsu,” an attack that turned the entire battlefield black and completely overwhelmed Aizen, causing his evolution due to the Hogyoku to break down. Unfortunately, Ichigo also lost his Shinigami powers in the process, but Kisuke Urahara arrived in time to restrain and seal Aizen.