Highlights
- Rukia Kuchiki shines as a brave Soul Reaper with ice-based powers and a mysterious spirit form in Bleach.
- Sode no Shirayuki’s abilities allow Rukia to control temperature and freeze her enemies with intricate techniques.
- Rukia’s Bankai, Hakka No Togame, unleashes a massive freeze that can defeat powerful foes in one strike.
Rukia Kuchiki is the beloved deuteragonist of Bleach. The brave young Soul Reaper that gave Ichigo Kurosaki his powers at the very beginning of the series. While for a large portion of the start of Bleach, audiences don’t get to see her fight. After regaining her powers in the Arrancar Saga, Rukia is seen battling several enemies with her Zanpakutou named Sode no Shirayuki. Rukia, along with Toushiro Hitsugaya, has ice-based powers, making her stand out among the Soul Reapers, as very few of them have elemental powers.
By the time of Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War Part 3, Rukia has achieved Bankai, showing fans the true power of the ice princess. Here’s all you need to know about Rukia’s Sode No Shirayuki’s abilities.
Sode no Shirayuki, Shikai Form and Abilities
The Most Beautiful Zanpakutou
Rukia’s Sode no Shirayuki has a very subtle Shikai form. While other Zanpakutou like Renji Abarai, Zaraki Kenpachi, or Shunsui Kyoraku’s drastically change their form, Sode no Shirayuki’s main change is in her handle. The handle of the sword becomes white, with a long string of white silk flowing from the end. The blade also changes to a crystalline white color. Sode no Shirayuki is characteristic of her pure white color, something that continues in all her forms and abilities, contrasting with Ichigo’s Tensa Zangetsu, known for his black blade and powers.
“You are no Hollow or Arrancar. You Are Human. It is the duty of Soul Reapers to protect humans such as yourself. I will not raise my blade against you” –
Rukia to Riruka Dokugamine
Sode no Shirayuki’s main abilities are all ice-based, but unlike Toushiro’s Hyorinmaru, her power is not the manipulation of ice, but rather, the control of temperature, allowing her to flash freeze her target. Sode no Shirayuki controls temperatures in her environment and in Rukia’s body, reaching absolute zero. Rukia uses three main techniques in Shikai form.
Some No Mae: Tsukishiro/First Dance: White Moon
After calling out the name of the dance, Rukia holds her sword upside down before slashing her opponent. Sode no Shirayuki forms a white circle on the ground. Anything inside that circle is then frozen solid, even above in the air. Shortly after, the pillar of ice shatters, and the victim shatters with it. Rukia used this technique to defeat Di Roy, an Arrancar part of Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez’s Fraccion.
Tsugi No Mae: Hakuren/Next Dance: White Ripple
Rukia calls out the name of the dance and pierces the ground in front of her. She then touches the ground with the tip of the blade in a semicircle motion, creating four small pillars of ice particles. Gathering ice in the tip of her blade while taking a battle stance, she then launches a massive wave of cold air, completely freezing anything in the way. Rukia employed this ability to battle Rudbornn Chelute and his Calaveras, among many other enemies.
San No Mae: Shirafune/Third Dance: White Sword
Rukia calls out the dance and gathers ice at the tip of her broken sword. Sode no Shirayuki now reforms, with extended length, anything it touches freezes instantly and shatters. Rukia used this technique to kill Noveno Espada, Aaroniero Arrurruerie.
Sode No Shirayuki’s Bankai, The White Haze
An Untrained Yet Incredibly Powerful Bankai
After recovering from her wounds and training with Squad 0 at the Royal Palace, Rukia returns to Soul Society during the Second Quincy Invasion. She battles Sternritter – F – Äs Nodt, the one that had defeated Byakuya and stolen his Bankai before. After her brother releases her from the effects of Äs Nodt’s Tatarforas, the Quincy transforms into a giant monstrous form. And finally, Rukia unleashes her newly acquired Bankai to defeat her foe in one strike, avenging her brother.
Bankai: Hakka No Togame
In her Bankai form, Rukia undergoes a slight transformation. She gains a veil of ice around her which takes the form of a white, translucent dress. Rukia’s skin, eyes, and hair also turn pearlescent white. And Sode No Shirayuki’s blade turns into solid ice.
Fear is never born from nothing. It is born from the tiny insecurities that linger within our hearts –
Byakuya to Rukia.
Hakka No Togame’s main ability is her previously seen flash freeze, similar to Hakuren, but on a much larger scale. On activation, a massive cloud of freezing air surrounds Rukia, and like a bomb of cold hair, everything in Rukia’s surroundings is frozen, including her enemy. Äs Nodt turns into a giant ice sculpture and immediately dies when he crumbles.
Even Rukia’s body is frozen, as anyone who touches her is frozen too, since Sode No Shirayuki controls her body temperature. Rukia must carefully and slowly undo her Bankai, as she’s at risk of shattering and being hurt too. Rukia’s Bankai is incredibly powerful albeit it is also very immature. Since Rukia has just achieved it, she must train to perfect it.
Sode No Shirayuki’s Spirit Form
A Beautiful Ice Princess
Rukia’s Zanpakutou Spirit has only been shown once, in the Zanpakutou Rebellion Arc. However, this arc is an anime-only filler arc. And while Tite Kubo had some level of involvement in the designs of the spirits, their place in the canon is dubious. Sode No Shirayuki’s spirit is an incredibly beautiful woman with white skin, lavender hair, and a white dress. She’s slightly taller than Rukia and acts incredibly polite, unlike her master. She also addresses Senbonzakura in a very formal way, showing that the bond between the Kuchiki siblings extends to their Zanpakutou. Because of the transformation Rukia undergoes in her Bankai, some fans think Sode No Shirayuki’s spirit could be her canon design.
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