I won't say I liked it. I just didn't really care about it. It was a waste of a thing to say he's the strongest sure, but I also don't think it mattered. They really just needed a reason to keep all the Captains in Hueco Mundo. As much as I think it was a waste, there are better more important things than the Espada where Ichigo is going. Yammy was never very liked I think anyway, so having him waste their time was fine from my POV. I also am now a die hard for Bleach so I can look past it. Just like how I can look past some of the other BS.
I think my take is quite unpopular (and in this case *contains spoilers*), but I think it makes a lot of sense when considering that the Espada were granted numbers by Aizen. The numbers don't necessarily just represent their power levels, but also how their Aspects of Death correlate with Aizen's personality. I don't have too much evidence for it, and I don't want to spoil anything significant for Agamotto, but at least #3, #2, #1 and #0 are all displayed by Aizen, pretty much in that order, at a certain point towards the end of the arc. #10 jumping to #0 makes a lot of sense if you consider Aizen is just suppressing his own anger because of the world being the way it is.
@TkOHarley14 I think I'd disagree with the notion that anger the best way to showcase a lack of a heart and especially when it comes to it's depiction with yammy who in my opinion lacks the depth that characters like starrk,ulqiorra or nnoitora have reached when exploring their character (and by extent their aspect of death) to make a meaningful statement about the nature of hollows and arrancars.
I really like the twist actually, Kubo just dropped the ball majorly on the PAYOFF of the twist Potential spoilers ahead Having a secret, super powerful top Dragon kind of bad guy, made by intentionally misdirecting the audience with how numbers work is a REALLY cool idea in my opinion, BUT, You CANNOT give a villain that much clout, you cannot heap THAT much expectations onto a twist villain and make him SUCK!!! I get that you can argue that it's kind of just a joke, but jesus christ it makes for an unsatisfying experience as a reader/viewer. TLDR; I think the 0 espada would have been a fine twist, great even, if it was only treated seriously and given real weight to validate that number.
I didn't hate the Yami twist, but I also didn't care. The 0 may just mean he has the most power potential or the most raw power of them all, but he's still an idiot who has no idea how to use the power. He's there just to be an obstacle to the other character.
exactly! I think he has most raw power but not the most power output if that makes sense he just wasn't that skilled. If you have 1 million power but can only output 10% you aren't that good compare to someone with 500k with 50% output. I didn't care much for the twist tho but I could kinda get what Kubo was going for maybe?
1-Foreshadowing in the Ulquiorra fight: Ulquiorra: "I see, looks like you're fully recovered. But you are not needed here. Either go get some sleep or take care of the captains down below." Yammy: "Don't be so stingy Ulquiorra 🤪" Ulquiorra: "You become greedy when you're in THAT STATE, Yammy. It's a failing if yours." Ulquiorra tells him to take care of the captains down below. The same captains that killed Espada stronger than Yammy. You have: 1-Zaraki Kenpachi who killed Noitora. The strongest espada below Ulquiorra himself. 2-Mayuri who killed Szael Aporro. 3-And Byakuya who killed Zommari. 4-There's also Unohana who hasn't shown her abilities yet. How would Ulquiorra expect the weakest Espada to deal with 4 captains who killed Espada stronger than #10? Either Ulquiorra is stupid or Yammy is stronger than his number 10. In regards to the execution of the twist, the anime improved it slightly. The Manga skips over 80% of his screen time in Ressurection. We only see the bare bones of his fight in Hueco Mundo, mostly his unimpressive scenes. The anime on other hand actually took time adding entirely new scenes and sequences of him fighting against the characters in Hueco Mundo. We have some cool looking scenes showcasing his destructive potential, which rivals that of Ulquiorra and Stark. Edit: Some extra foreshadow is Chad's reaction to his huge increase in size. That is most obvious, but one very subtle piece of evidence of his strenght is his 0% reaction to Ichigo's Vasto Lorde Cero. His Cero when he destroys 80% of Ulquiorra's body, which penetrates Las Noches looking like a tower (the greatest Cero we saw at this point). Yammy looks completly bland at such destructive power while everyone else is scared. I think this might be a piece of evidence to him being unimpressed, as if "I can do something similar".
you bring up some decent points. still doesnt make me like this twist, but it does make it seem more logical now. Although I believe numbers dont exactly mean all that much. not only is rank 0 Yammy definitely not the most powerful espada (just physically strongest), but **SPOILERS!!** in TYWB, Grimmjow was clearly stronger than he's in this arc, held his own in battle against a sternritter and had the same number as always. and there's absolutely no way secunda etapa ulquiorra doesnt get powerful enough to be rank 1-2, yet his number doesnt change.
@@kortex5130 Except he indeed, as even confirmed by Kubo in interviews and QnAs, is weaker than Barragan and Starrk, and yes, even Yammy, and is around level of Harribel. Espadas are ranked based on level of Reiatsu they have. In fact, Starrk is even confrimed to be above pre hogyoku Aizen by Kubo in recent QnA
@@kortex5130 Yammy is most likely the strongest in many ways. His brute strengh is said to be the greatest of any Espada, while his Hierro is the second hardest of them (Masked databook). That is just his base form, in Ressurection these abilities are increased at least 10 times. His Reiryoku is the lowest in Base, and the highest when he is able to store up energy for the Ressurection. His inability to use Sonido to move at light speed is backed up by his enormous size and the range of his attacks. His reaction speed is actually pretty solid in many moments. His Bala has the power comparable to a Cero, as shown against Ichigo. His normal Cero is comparable to Ulquiorra's Cero Oscuras and Ichigo's Vasto Lorde Cero. He is also shown charging a Cero Oscuras in the Manga, despite not using it. Imagine how powerfull his Cero Oscuras and Gran Rey Cero would be in his Ressurection. He also has a Second Stage (Kinda like Ulquiorra). That "Segunda Etapa" of Yammy was able to fight Zaraki without his eye patch and Byakuya with his Bankai at the same time for at least an hour. •This version of Byakuya trained hard everyday after Soul Society arc to increase his power after losing to Ichigo (Spirits novell) and he killed Espada #7 with ease after using Bankai. •This version of Kenpachi is stronger than when he fought Noitora, the Espada #5. He should be able to kill Ulquiorra in Ressurection relatively easy (except maybe in Segunda Etapa). He becomes much stronger everytime he gets close to dying (as revealed by Unohana in Thousand Year Blood War). So he is much stronger than Noitora after their fight together. •Yammy took on both fully healed captains at the same time, forced them to use all they got at the time (Bankai and Eyepatch off) and wounded them from head to toe after fighting them for an hour. His Balas in that form are shown to look like atomic bombs in Bleach Brave Souls special move. And his very transformation caused a explosion similar to Lanza del Relâmpago in the anime adaptation. Mayuri could have helped Zaraki and Byakuya too.
I have one-two forshadowings to add here too. Well maybe it's only count forshadow to me, but hear me out on this one. Spoilers ahead. Yami was the first arrancar and Ulquiorra we seen and interacted with. After the Aizen twist I started to think a bit if I was Kubo. Why these two? Because of thier dinamic? Because Ulquiorra later role in his Ichigo fight? If the last, why Yammi? I thought Kubo wanted to show us him in the first place and of course Ulquiorra for an untold reason. That was clear to me but I dont know why at this point. Later when more stronger arrancars got killed by the soulreapers I started to think. Kubo not killed the weakest Arrancar already? Or why at least not shown his resurrección? Thats not really logical, and yeah Harribel technically got later "eliminated" then Stark but at this point I didnt know that. At this time I literally called out, what if he is not the 10th but the 0. Espada. It would be the only reasonable thing at this point because why would Kubo kept him alive at this state? Also I knew the word Cero mean Zero, so it's also felt symbolic to me if the strongest whould really start with the 0. espada and not with the Primera.
As much as I don't like the anime (butchered Orihime and ruined a lot of foreshadowing early on) it did help add more to some of the Espadas like actually giving Harribel a flashback which the manga does not (I'm unsure if it's canon or not but Kubo was *somewhat* involved in the anime by this point)
I personally believe that the espada are ranked by amount of reiatsu. Yammi is most likely a parallel to the early ichigo, huge reiatsu but shit control.
Yammy being 0 itself isn't the worst for me, but how it's handled. I 100% agree that Ulquiorra's second transformation should have been the reveal for a 0 Espada, or at the very least Yammy being 0 should have been more "clearly" hinted at in hindsight. Yammy as a character also does just suck so its like, this random dude gets it vs say Ulquiorra who has a secret second form.
Yeah the twist is fine but they gave him the title then made him fodder in a boring fight with three good characters that also didn’t get to do anything interesting. They could also have written more depth into him.
The thing is, Yammy ISNT the strongest. Sure, he probably has the most raw, physical power and he can stockpile power and increase it further through his anger, but thats really all he is. Brute force, a battering ram that can only swing punches around. For me, Yammy being Zero seems like a joke on Aizens part. Survival of the fittest and sheer brute force are core to what little society Hollows have outside of the upper ranks. Among the Hollows of the Forest of Menos, someone like Yammy would be number one because of his raw strength, but anywhere else, hes just a brute. Starrk and Barrigan ARE more powerful and dangerous than Yammy could ever dream of being.
Yammy being rank 0 means he is stronger than every other Espada (minus maybe Ulquiorra depending on your take). Whether or not he could beat them os something else, but he definitely is the strongest.
@@collinleivas9605 Only in terms of raw physical power. Hes not as powerful as Starrk was in his original form, hes certainly not as powerful as Barragan. Power in Bleach is measured in many ways and raw strength is only one part of that. Yammy has that and absolutely nothing else. He has no interesting tricks, no control, no ability to use his strength for anything more than HULK SMASH!, which means that he simply isnt a match for someone who is weaker, but smarter.
@@marcusreading3783 If you're saying Yammy's stats are above the rest of the Espada, I agree. That's all I care about. Yammy is stronger than them, whether he can win a fight is different, but he is the strongest.
@@collinleivas9605 ''strongest'' while lacking speed, sheer strength, reiatsu control, size advantage ( the bigger the worse imo ), and brains. Make it work please, anyone above grimmjow could beat him imo, if people like rukia could take some hits from him the top tier espadas 1 tap him, just like grimmjow did to rukia lmao.
I just ignore that fact, there are lot of reasonable arguments against yammy being the strongest, ulquiorra even said, there are three espadas above him, and by the way ulquiorra treated yammy you can tell he is not talking about him, I personally believe yammy is number 0 because there's no clear way to rank his power since it changes depending on his anger.
In reality the databook confirms that Yammi is the most powerful espada and the only arrancar whose resurrection increases the power by x10 but in the Novel it is confirmed that Cien grantz (the clone of aporro the original espada 0) at 30% of his power is already more powerful than the final form of yammi and at 60% is equivalent to the Full Hollow form of Ichigo. it is evident that Ulquiorra was only taking into account the basic forms when he made that statement, keeping both the second stage and the number 0 secret
No? It's an integral part of establishing a throughline about the nature of power in the BLEACH universe. It's also entirely consistent with many earlier events and serves as a thematic end point for the Arrancar as a force manipulated under Aizen. Ignoring it only does a disservice to you and to the complexity of the manga. People hate this twist because they aren't willing to critically engage with it, and people hate BLEACH because they do not afford it the consideration it actually deserves.
The term "strongest" is somewhat misleading because strength in the Bleach universe can be multifaceted, involving factors like combat ability, intelligence, spiritual pressure, and special abilities. While Yammy has immense physical power and durability in his released form, he lacks the versatility, intelligence, and tactical prowess of other Espada like Starrk, Ulquiorra or Barragan . So, while Yammy may be the strongest in terms of raw power when fully released, he is not necessarily the most dangerous or the most capable overall, especially considering that other Espada can exploit his weaknesses in battle.
Kindaish Reiatsu is Absolute just like Ichigo vs Zaraki or Nanao following Shusui vs Yamamoto or Aizen vs Soi Fong or the poor random bastard in Karakura If you have a lot more Reiatsu that another Spiritual Being you can Ignore, Null, Choke and Straight up delete another being which makes sense you being ranked on Reiatsu because in the end it is the only thing that can make you win 100% IF you have a lot more than another being.....
I remember hearing somewhere that the numbers are not only based on all those factors but are based on how useful they would be to aizen in specific scenarios or scenarios that have already been planned out
@@felipebisi4145but the key word to that is ALOT more reiatsu. Most of these don’t work unless u massively outclass Ure opponent with it. And even then u likely have to actually use ure reiatsu skillfully lol. Yammi was unable to even scout properly and he only gets to such massive levels cuz he can store it. It’s not naturally and if he uses it up he dosnt recover as fast as people born with a lot.
@@sirnonsense5033 still is a reliable point of reference to rank It is like Ranking people on weight if you are in the same category weight doesnt make much of a diffference but the difference between a light and a Heavy weight in a match is massive but being at the very limit of the weight might give you a advantage not much but it might give you And Again with Yammy Specially Kubo did a lot dirty i mean Yammy Bala was basically a Cero and Bala normally is like a Ranged Punch.....except to the 5 below.
@@felipebisi4145 oh I didn’t mean to decredit the rankings but like said him being 0 and 10 can mean that his strength varies and that he isn’t nessesarily always the strongest but only has the potential to be it. And he expessialy is like a boxer that always throws max Energie punches, misses a lot and looses weigh actively while punching lol.
The reason why this feels so weird is because the Yammy plot line or to be more specific the Espada 0 plot line got cut in development, we know this because of the light novels expands on this concept and it actually makes way more sense in there. This novels do use lore introduce by Kubo so most people consider them canon so you might want to read them later. Also Yammy introduces himself as Arrancar 10, not Espada 10 so yeah he was always 0, that's not even the real twist of the entire Espada 0 situation.
that last part isn't technically true/relevant, Grimmjow introduced himself as Arrancar number 6, not Espada number 6, I think the term Espada just wasn't set in stone yet
@@NoahToledo-xo5pj I know that, I'm saying Grimmjow also introduced himself as Arrancar and then his number, he didn't refer to himself as an Espada and then his number, because Espada was likely not decided on yet, meaning Yammy introducing himself as Arrancar #10 doesn't mean it was planned from the start, since another Espada around the same time referred to themselves as Arrancar #6
Yammy is power with no direction or skill he isn't a difficult opponent or even much of a problem he's just a brick wall which is why i see him as someone who definitely can't beat the other espada and they see no point in removing him it also makes sense that yammy was basically Aizen wanting to prevent all the captains from arriving to attack him all at once
@agamotto5354 according to kubo, technically when in his sealed form, he isn't an espada. Just arrancar #10. The espada start from 0-9. So he's only an espada in his resureccion. Technically.
I think the worst part of the "twist" is that Yammy doesn't even pose a threat that everyone needs to work together to beat or anything after being revealed. Like he could've been substituted for some random Vasto Lorde or experiment or army or *something* just to keep the soul reapers busy and it would've changed nothing (but at least it would've kept the numbers more consistent)
DON'T READ AGAMOTTO I think the idea was that he was just that, an experiment to make a frustratingly large and hard/slow to kill meat bag to kill time while the plan moved forward. except stark and ulquiorra all the arrancar were in fact just experiments meant to stall the soul society really. Don't want to get too much into that here where agamotto might see though
@@Alex-dh2cx that's a valid point, spoiler-ish I just find it weird for that to make him number 0 when I don't think he could possibly have even more raw power/reiatsu than Stark. Like he made that weird kid an experiment so why even number resurrection Yammy when that kid wasn't given a number
@@solacee4327 I kind of agree with you. We could theorize, maybe yammy can temporarily spike his reiatsu levels above even stark, but he can't keep generating that, he had to be somewhere like hueco Mundo where he can continually suck in reiatsu to building strength, while stark is really capable of the same feats in or out of hueco Mundo. In general it was a weirdness, but I'll say this. I watched Inuyasha as a kid, and didn't watch any more anime until I was in my twenties, and bleach happened to be the first big one I ever watched, she baccano. Watched every filler because I didn't even know people would skip it, and enjoyed it all for what it was. Coming to yammy, I really didn't have any negative feelings about it at the time, and it felt natural that he was massive, powerful, and hard to kill, but not the same level of threat as the other espada. I didn't see a contradiction there as much as many people do. I didn't start to look at it negatively until much later when my opinions were colored by my experience and the opinions of others.
In Japanese 4 is pronounced "Shi" which is also how the the Japanese word for death is pronounced. I think that was the logic for giving Ulquiorra the 4 from a symbolic perspective.
The real answer is that Aizen was trolling Yammy. He knew Yammy was boneheaded idiot who thinks too much of himself. So when Aizen made him Espada number 10, the weakest Espada, he lied to Yammy that his """real""" number and rank was 0. And given that Yammy's IQ is same as his number, he never figured it out.
Who ever told you that the numbers went from 1 to 10? Well, Shawlong, but that dude was just a fraccion. *There were foreshadowing and hints, though!!* Yammy goes to release his resurrection during the first invasion with Ulquiorra. Remember how Ulquiorra specifically stopped him from doing that? #4 did not want to cause a scene. Go back and revisit that scene knowing what you know now about both Ulquiorra and Yammy. Through Yammy's healing and progression, he physically gets larger and larger. That's not Kubo just forgetting how big his own characters are. Yammy's mask fragment also mirrors Stark's own, drawing clear visual connection between the two of them--Stark can divide his soul and we find Yammy can bolster his own soul. Yammy having a last minute transformation into a massively powerful monstrous and near-transcendent form but getting clapped by people with much more willpower and capacity to wield that power is also foreshadowing for similar outcomes that have played out in the past and will play out in the future. I also feel that Yammy having a secret stronger form is also very in line with many of the other Espada. Why does Yammy bother people when his partner Ulquiorra's "Well actually I have a secret second resurrection even Aizen is not aware of" is a twist people love? To answer the question--yes, you probably are just a bit bitter. Especially when you're championing the same 'lame' 'out of nowhere' twist would be fine with Ulquiorra but not Yammy. Yammy is just not a character many people like. There also may be some sort of little reference to Binary with Yammy going from having '10' to having '0' but that, I admit, is a stretch. Espada Ranking is largely arbitrary, anyway. Aspect of Death? Lethality? Nevermind the supplementary material and novels, which all muddle the waters by insisting that, no, actually, most of the Espada secretly are or were way more powerful than we saw them in the series. While this is all thematically resonant in that the Arrancar are hindered for their involvement with Aizen and how Aizen himself, despite all his delusions of grandeur, is too much of a control freak to really obtain the power he seeks. Power and Control come at odds with one another and BLEACH takes its time to reflect on how Power can be at odds with one's own humanity.
Yeah I am pretty sure that if Yammy got a bit more development like Ulquiorra did, and/or got a decent fight, people would be fine with the twist itself.
There were actually three hints: 1: Ulquiorra questions Yammy for preparing to release his sword against Ichigo--he's really going to use his sword on that? 2: When Yammy fights Hitsugaya in Karakura Town, he introduces himself as "Arrancar Ten"--not "Espada Ten", as every other Espada does. 3. When Nel and Ichigo meet Dordonhi, Nel notes that all the Espada have single-digit numbers. She knew they were numbered 0-9. The subject just never came up, and of course Ichigo would know that! He's smart!
@@Honest_Mids_Masher Nah, I had to have that pointed out to me, too. Also that second half of the Nel thing is just my speculation; she comments on all Espadas only having a single-digit number, and I assume she knew how the Espadas work from seeing them roaming around Hueco Mundo.
Kubo is a troll. Again, have that friend of yours make sure they get the light novels and the Klub Outside information ready for you for when you're done with the series. There's more information all the time.
I didn't see it coming, but in retrospect it makes sense. The Espada all have single-digit rankings; the double-digit ranked Arrancars are the rank-and-file. If Yammy really was rank 10, he'd have been a fraccione.
it’s because they’re all just programmed kido which Aizen controls, not actual ink. the idea of the numbers being a power ranking was also an intentional deception, since it’s the most obvious and immediate interpretation for anyone trying to gain intel on his army. who got what number was largely thematic as well as a carrot on a stick to play mind games with the espada who would care about such a ranking, like Barragan, Nnoitora, Grimmjow, Aaroniero, Yammi, and the demoted espada who wanted to ditch their triple digit tattoos and be redeemed by Aizen, by any means necessary. It really illustrates Aizen’s character in so many ways.
With the benefit of hindsight and people pointing shit out I never noticed, it's clear it had been built up to for a while... but it's not a great twist. It's very funny and logically *does* check out if you consider his ranking to be his spiritual potential, which is unlimited but really really poorly optimized, but narratively it doesn't do much for me either, it's a blemish on this part of the story for sure.
I became more fine with it narratively when I looked at how it worked thematically and drew resonance with other characters who had powerful transformations that came at the cost of control.
i don't, i'm apathetic towards it, i really couldn't care less, he's just a device to keep the captains there and provides exposition through mayuri and interaction between kenpachi and byakuya
"the entire" Except powerscalers, most of the community just doesn't care that much about it. It doesn't add much to the story, but it's not really a problem either
@@wewillrockyou3272 It throws yet another wrench in the espada system, like how we basically have no point of reference for how strong Ulquiorra's segunda etapa makes him (tho thematically it doesn't matter) compared to the other espada because he was cleaning the floor with Ichigo's face until Ichigo transformed and the roles reversed.
In reality the original Espada 0 was Szayelaporro Granz who then lost his rank when he sacrificed his reiatsu for science creating his brother Ilford, but before doing so he had created a clone of himself, Cien Granz, the latter was so powerful that at 30% of his power he was already more powerful than Yammi's final form and at 60% he was equal to Ichigo's full hollow form (this story is told in the novel "Spirit are forever with you")
In my head cannon I think that this whole thing was just a massive bluff from Yammy, we see that the tattoos are by no means unalterable with grimmjows wound. I think that maybe yammy was trying to intimidate and overcompensate which I believe is pretty fitting for his personality and the fact he is beaten so relatively quickly
One thing I do like about the 0 espada twist, from the beginning Yammy and Ulquiorra were the two sent on missions more than any other. That can seem arbitrary when you look at their numbers and think "how come 10 and 4 do everything? Why are they a pair?". It turned out of course that Ulquiorra had a segunda etapa transformation and Yammy was the 0 espada. Suddenly everything clicks into place, they were "secretly" top tier espada on relatively equal ground, and that also explains Aizen's thinking in taking espada 3-1 to FKT while leaving behind Ulquiorra and Yammy. He wasn't just leaving the leftover espada behind, he was leaving some of his best to fight the main character. Just a quick rundown of every "exception" to the general rule that espada numbers dictate power. - Yammy was the zero espada the whole time - Luppi was 6th espada (temporarily), yet was about as impressive as 10th espada Yammy - Zommari was the fastest, i.e. even faster than even the primera - Szayel was the smartest. Mayrui and Kisuke show how far such genius can carry you - Nnoitra had the hardest hierro, gotta respect the tank of the team - Ulquiorra had the segunda etapa - Wonderweiss was strong enough to startle even Kisuke, who could clown Yammy
Yammy is just a storage house of Reiryoku. Nothing else. He can't utilise his Reiryoku to throw powerful attacks. But he can keep fighting because of his massive amount of Reiryoku against an opponent who can't damage much to Yammy and can keep escaping Yammy's attacks.
I love Bleach and think that Tite Kubo is an amazing writter, having that said, yea this reveal really hit. I know that uploading a rant like this isn't really what you wanna post, but believe me, I think no one liked this twist, and speaking for myself, I totally agree with your opinion. It had potencial, the ideia was not bad, and could've been great if it was handled in a different way, making someone who needs time to stack a lot of souls, and having a base form miles weaker than the ressurecion. Now you know what all the comments saying "he still don't know" were all about. Imagine if Zommari was still alive and was number 0 instead because he's a ball, how mad would you get? 😂
I think most people don't like it. To me it's just a cheap way to keep the characters in Hueco Mundo occupied. I don't think the concept of "0" is bad in itself but it definetly shouldn't been him, Yammy is so underwhelming. I know that back then some people speculated Wonderweiss to be "0". I won't talk to much about him for spoiler reasons, but I like that idea more than Yammy being 0.
I have to say, i think the only saving grace of the Yammy twist is that i was able to just forget about it. I enjoyed the story more just by putting this twist to the side and treating it as a minor powerup. Dont want to explain anymore in case i spoil anything.
There are actually 2 3 foreshadowings. 1: they told as espadas were numbered by numbers smaller than eleven. 2: yammy never called himself espada 10, but arrancar 10, 3: yammy never cares for power levels therefore could not muster proper defence or offence. Bonus: ulqiorra also implies yammy is strong in ichigo vs ulqi fight.
Also the Privaron Espada say the digits of a number represents their position in the army. Privaron Espada have triple digits, espada have single digits. Yammys 10 isn't a single digit number.
I was about to comment that. I still feel the twist fell flat, but it wasn't out of nowhere. Yammy should have gotten a full fight. He being offscreen didn't help this twist at all, even if he fought 2 top captains.
I have one-two forshadowings to add here also. Well maybe it's only count forshadow to me, but hear me out on this one. Spoilers ahead. Yami was the first arrancar and Ulquiorra we seen and interacted with. After the Aizen twist I started to think a bit if I was Kubo. Why these two? Because of thier dinamic? Because Ulquiorra later role in his Ichigo fight? If the last, why Yammi? I thought Kubo wanted to show us him in the first place and of course Ulquiorra for an untold reason. That was clear to me but I dont know why at this point. Later when more stronger arrancars got killed by the soulreapers I started to think. Kubo not killed the weakest Arrancar already? Or why at least not shown his resurrección? Thats not really logical, and yeah Harribel technically got later "eliminated" then Stark but at this point I didnt know that. At this time I literally called out, what if he is not the 10th but the 0. Espada. It would be the only reasonable thing at this point because why would Kubo kept him alive at this state? Also I knew the word Cero mean Zero, so it's also felt symbolic to me if the strongest whould really start with the 0. espada and not with the Primera.
Personally i dont remember anything about yami and my head canon is that the shift from 10 to 0 is just an intimidation and fear factor which he trys to make convincing. He always just felt like Ulquiorras fraccion or a very new member of the espada (maybe weeks before he and ulquiorra went to the human world) who cant fully control/utilize his power to the fullest
Every time you mentioned that you had the right numbers - this thing always made me so hyped for this exact episode. Even, if Yammy's fights weren't the greatest - this reveal is good enough pay-off. To see Kubo once again question your ability to count and make a joke about the one Espada number you were so sure to know, until now. This is thankfully the last time we gonna have to question the numbers, tbh. I do think that Kubo always planned it - it's because of the word Cero being so prevalent with Hollow imagery. It just when it came to actually executing the plan, he stumbled writing it as something more exiting.
Tbh in my headcannon this number 0 was more like a "kindergarten Golden Star" patch, which Aizen gave him just to make him feel more important while sitting by the table. When it comes to raw reiatsu lvl then maybe he is slightly higher then top 3 Espada, but jugding by what we saw later there is no soul in this world or in the Soul Society itself, which will ever persuade me that full power Yami would have ANY chance of beating any of full power Espadas 1-4.
While I usually credit Kubo's writing, I think that Yammy being #0 might have been a last-minute addition he did not plan because Kubo wrote himself into a corner. While it's not the worst Retcon I ever saw (as Yammy is still an idiot who knows not how to use his power, thus not puting too much pressure on him to perform), it's still weird that he ranks above Starrk and Baraggan considering what we get to know about those two.
You always see this--people insisting 'Kubo wrote himself into a corner'--it never is the case. Yammy's transformation to zero is clearly foreshadowed and was always intended. It's just a case of something happening that you did not engage with--either because you overlooked the foreshadowing of it or did not like how it was handled in the story. Neither of which are the author 'writing himself into a corner'. It IS supposed to feel weird that he ranks that way, almost as if the entire ranking system of the Espada is meant to challenge the ways that you comprehend and understand power in the BLEACH universe. Just like Power Levels in Dragonball were there solely to be undermined but the thickest minds in the community treat them like a holy grail of canon fact, the Espada ranking is all the same.
I tell you a secret, no one really liked the 0 Espada reveal, not for the reveal itself, which yes, wasn't great or really necessary, but down to other 2 factors. Yammi as character has always been ZERO interesting, the least appealing of the group, making the right parallel (again) with Nappa, but while his power fits him (the angrier I get the bigger and stronger I become) it was kinda boring as concept. The second point is how his part will be handled from here and on, if you are the strongest you must appear as the biggest threat, but... ok, no spoilers, but it's another huge NO. Therefore, it's better if you gloss over it, you will not change your mind about this, all the opposite 🚫
I liked and still like the 0 Espada reveal. Keep your weird cope to yourself. It does a lot for the larger narrative of BLEACH and establishes important precedent and throughline for things to come. You can ignore it if you do not want to actually engage with the manga and just want to imagine the cool battle series adheres to your flight-of-fancy headcanon, though.
@@varsoonhks3211 I'm actually curious about this opinion. How do you think it sets an important precedent/throughline? Personally, I can't think of any part of Bleach that would work any less without this reveal.
I was OK with the twist because I understood that I wasn't supposed to like it. I think that was sort of the point. Also, it was confirmation of how the ranking system worked. It allows you to understand why Ulqiorra can be called the strongest, even though he is ranked #4. And why some of the rankings seem like they can be off. It was an invitation to prod about how raw spiritual power being the indicator for the ranking probably isn't the best way to rank them LOL
@bulbaa2241 well not at Yammy's peak. That's literally the whole concept of his character, he has unlimited raw energy potential based on his core death element: rage. That's why he's rank 0. He's essentially anime Hulk. Except he sucks 🤣
@Bakuru the number 0 yammy we see is weaker than stark and barragon confirmed and is somewhere around harribel so his number shouldn't have changed to a 0 there (I'm also pretty sure every espada besides yammy loses their number upon resurrection)
I mean to give kubo credit. Dondoni DID mention that the amount of digits you have on your person indicates your station. And that only ONE digit numbers are espada. Which makes yammy stand out INCREDIBLY once you take that one quote and hang onto it
Yup. Welcome to the club, buddy. Welcome to the club. I think we all just ignore this little part of the Espada. I mean, technically, Ulquiorra’s segunda etapa removes his number entirely, so is he just numberless? We have debated the Espada numbers for years. We will continue to debate them for years, too.
Yammy being number 0 is a twist that exist solely for narrative convenience, Kubo needed a way to explain why the character currently in Hueco Mundo won't be involved in what's to come. He used Yammy because he didn't really wanna pull something entirely out his ass, but the issue was, Yammy is number 10, so him even just being able to stall wouldn't make any sense. My belief is that Kubo feared that if he left Yammy at 10 and just gave an explanation about the power he accumulated making him much stronger than when he was given that number, people still wouldn't take him seriously, while making him number 0 automatically makes him a serious threat.
Yammy's reveal was the first big reveal in Bleach that I feel actually failed. 350 chapters so far and while some reveals haven't really been as hype as they could've been, Yammy's reveal was the first to actually suck.
I legitimately thought this plot line was comic relief the first time I saw it. Yammy is already a comic relief character. He's so dumb its funny. He has to constantly ask Ulquiorra what to do, and can barely think for himself. The people he is fighting are more interested in fighting each other than him. He's an afterthought, he doesn't matter. He goes on his huge spiel about how he's the strongest and the characters just ignore him lol. Then he is trivially defeated without accomplishing anything at all. The narrative tells us he is the strongest, but it shows him as a joke. I've become convinced that the whole thing is an attempt to make fun of power scalers. The author sets up this whole ranking system that helps the reader know who is the strongest, then turns the whole thing on its head and says, nope this guy is the strongest because I said so. All while giving us absolutely no reason in the actual plot to believe that.
Talking about Ulquiorra's number changing from 4. It is funny to think that in his second form, he actually has a line bleeding out of his Hollow hole, almost making it look like he turned into Espada 1 in that moment. Which would make his relationship with Yammy even more reasonable, two of the strongest being companions and stuff.
Yeah Yammy being number 0 is definitely a case where you could tell Kubo was like "Hmmm well now that Ulquiorra is dead I need to find some way of keeping the Hueco Mundo section interesting" In all fairness it's a pretty inconsequential twist but pretty odd
Yeah, you right. I remember being surprised and initially hyped when I saw the number peeling off, but when the episode ended and I was left to think it over, I was certainly disappointed and left unsatisfied.
It kind of is foreshadowed not only with Ulq and Chad comments about Yammy but Stark splitting himself in two as well as Shizzle and his brother who were originally the same hollow. Ulq's very second transformation as well.
My head cannon is that yammy just changed his tattoo and called himself 0 to make him feel better about being weak. He doesn't do anything even after the transformation so I just consider it a joke.
Yama is just a Glass cannon, and his match-up was pretty bad. but don't you think it's funny that two of the strongest Espada were the first two we met?
This twist is generally unpopular. In our hearts, yamj is still 10th. Plus. If transformations alter numbers, you’d think ulquiorra’s secret second transformation that he hasn’t even shown Aizen would alter his number My headcannon is that Yami made this all up once he realized how to flex his muscles in a way that would hide the 1
@@ektran4205 can he give them segunda etapas? If ulquiorra is the only that we know of one who can do it, and he claims that Aizen doesn’t know about that ace in the hole of his, wouldn’t it stand to reason that it’s a stage he’s unaware of?
I think Yammy's whole gimmick is that his suppose to be like the Hulk; unassuming but secretly the most powerful, especially since the aspects of death Yammy represents is rage and the angrier he gets the stronger he becomes.🤔
I think Ulquiorra could have made thematic sense as I discuss in the video. The other Espada would have needed proper foreshadowing just like Yammy needed.
If Kubo decided to give Ulquiorra the n°0 plot twitst (which already is kinda the case tbh), nobody would have a problem with it because it would make sense. Ulquiorra is purposely done to trick you into thinking hes the strongest, then plot twist he's not, then 2nd plot twist and resureccion : actually he is. Which is totally plausible because Kubo had already built him to "be" the strongest.
@@tartopomme8946 Ulquiorra was never built to be the strongest. He was just implied to be strong, which he was. The only reason people think Ulquiorra is the strongest is because his emo design really resonated with people and they wanted him to be the strongest because they think he's the coolest.
Yes. Exactly. Yami is not a good character for this twist because fans aren't engaged with him xD Giving the big moment to somebody nobody cares about before or after is a bad execution of a twist.
The only way I was able to make it make sense in my head was "oh the hollows main attack is literally called 0 in spanish, with their importance placed on numbers there's probably something to that."
The reveal is great it does feel real it does feel natural the disconnect comes not from the crafting of the reveal but from the writing of yammy as a character if any other espada had of had this reveal I’d be fine
this twist definitely should have been communicated better and hinted at, that or he should have stayed number 10 and fought Chad like you said. I also like the idea that he should have gone to fake Karakura and acted confident around Baragon to make us think somethings up with how strong he is. If it makes you feel better, I believe the Espada are confirmed to be ranked by their Reiryoku (Spiritual Power) rather than how strong they are, and Yammy's special power is stockpiling it
I definitely understand the confusion, but when you look at the Espada as less like an organization with a proper hierarchy and more as tools to facilitate Aizen's goals it all makes more sense. Sure his reveal isn't as Earth shaking as others, but it's because Yammy is more like a bomb Aizen left to stall half the important cast. And by the time they're done with him, you see that he was shockingly effective.
Your take on Ulquiorra being a good way to do zero with all the synergy with his character is pretty good, haven't heard anyone with that idea, or having Yammy act as a grudge match for Chad to redeem himself and get a good fight.
To be fair (VERY slightly fair, bc otherwise I agree that this twist sucks) that one panel you keep showing with his no. 10 tattoo is actually the one (1) scene I caught as having foreshadowing. If you pay attention, after Ulquiorra deduces that he could have lost his rank as Espada if he never regained his arm like Grimmjow did, Yammy replies with a “… maybe” and then it’s the panel with the 10 being front and center, implying that his demotion might’ve been a lower number than 1 simply from losing an arm (would he have still been also no. 10 then?) I think the 0 twist was something Kubo would have set up a lot more but just kind of… didn’t, as he got busier and more demanded of through the arrancar saga. I definitely think he would have added up a little more set up if he could go back in time LOL. I also don’t know if this is true, but we should consider Lost In Translation as a trope as well. I don’t read the original Japanese, but it’s very likely that Shawlong didn’t actually say “ranked 1 through 10” in Japanese. He could have said “ranked higher than 10” for all we know. I also can’t confirm that Yammy truly never calls himself “Espada 10” and only calls himself “Arrancar 10” without another reread, but I can see that being another “hint”. Or maybe Shawlong DID say “ranked 1 through 10”, but maybe in this recent scene Yammy did NOT say “who told you it was 1 through 10?” And instead said something a little more consistent with the twist? This was just a food for thought that I think about. If anyone can confirm whether or not the set up doesn’t feel as much of a lie in the original Japanese, I’d be thankful!
I feel like Kubo didn't have a place for Yammy in the story for a while. Now that many of the higher level espada have been defeated, he realized Yammy is still active and needed a power boost to become relevant again. Thus, the 0th espada asspull.
I always felt that the biggest reason this twist exists is because Kubo needed to manufacture a good excuse to keep Byakuya and Kenpachi in Hueco Mundo. I mean nothing else was exactly keeping them there, and let's face it; if the two of them went with Ichigo to fake Karakura, it would have completely changed the trajectory of the last part of the arc. But also consider that if Yammy was still at #10 he would stand no chance against either of these two individually let alone together. It seems obvious that Kubo never intended for this to be the case with Yammy and it always felt like a very last minute addition.
There's a thematic element as to why Yammy is Espada Zero, which will make sense later. The power level thing is bonkers, though- people have debated it to death!
Going into these next chapters though as you see what goes on in the Karakura town fight there's a lot I wish i could say but those are spoilers. So i cant wait to get into one of my favorite and yet frustrating part of the Arrancar Arc as a whole
19:52 the dog's name is Kukapuro. After you finish reading the Arrancar arc, I'll recommend you to check the "Nestle to Night" short story, included in the Unmasked Book.
Ya, I don't think I really liked that twist really but it exists. I think the only hint was after Yami had his arm put back there was a mention of him needing to regain his spirit energy to get back to full power...
Oh man. I can't wait for him to get to the twists present in the last two arcs. People shit on the Fullbring arc, which I get (kind of). It's placed in a strange story beat in between the two most intense arcs of the series.. but nothing in the TYBW arc or Fake Karakura arc even comes close to the absolute horror that unfolds in Fullbring. Bleach's whole overarching theme is friends and family, and it takes away all of that, while making them actively hate him and ostracize him. I cannot think of a worse Hell than that, and the panel of Ichigo thinking that his Dad and Urahara have fallen to the hypnosis might be my favorite panel of the series 👄🤌
You are not alone, the Yami twist has always been a bit of a mess. But still if your first major complaint is this far in, then Bleach has been doing a pretty good job.
2:09 That's not true, i admit his role as a no. Zero wasn't much significant apart from buying time for Aizen, but he had a few Foreshadowings, 1) Chads reaction to his increasing size 2) Ulquiorra asking yammy to deal with caps stronger than Noitora (5) 3) ignoring Vasto-lorde ichigo's deadly Sero as if it's mid.
While I don't like the reveal it makes a little sense. The fact the person who was supposed to be the weakest surviving this long really made you wonder if he had a more pivotal role, just like someone else missing that wont be spoiled. I think if we saw part of the 1 being faded at any point could of given us more to work with or something from earlier chapters.
I’m pretty sure Yami is no one’s favorite Espada and everyone either rolled their eyes or hated this twist. I’m just glad Kubo didn’t introduce negative number Espadas because I was done with them at a certain later point.
Yammy is the personafication of Nappa omg lol (Ulquiorra and Yammy first arrival at the world of living is so much like the Vegeta and Nappa arrival at the Earth)
alot of Bleach fans, even to this day...still debate that Ulquiorra's 2nd form could be stronger than both Yammy and Starrk release forms only becuz Yammy was shown to be able to CHANGE HIS NUMBER! Like can u imagine if the yammy reveal happened before Ulquiorra's 2nd form?! i think thats why its such a sore topic to discuss...
Yeah Yammys reveal isn't particularly compelling, but it honestly makes past scenes with people like Grimmjow or Ulquiorra bullying him pretty hilarious 😂. Also congrats on reaching the halfway point of the manga
Yammy being 0 doesn't mean he's the strongest it just means he has more Reatsu than everybody else. I would say the *hint* kubo gave us was ulqiuiora's segunda etapa and remember Aizen sent both of them to the world of the livng meaning that he at least trusts them over all the others. Him and Ulquiora are the only espada that Aizen purposely left in Heico Mundo *a lil spoiler from You can't fear your own world*. He left Ulquiora to cultivate Ichigo's growth and Yammy to hold back Kenpachi until he fused with hyogoku.
I never minded it. I like the idea of Yammy and ulquiorra being the 2 strongest espada. They are together a lot and the first two you ever see. Plus the fact aizen seemingly sends those 2 on more missions than anyone else. I’ll admit though it could’ve been executed better.
Kubo's recent-ish comments about Espada numbers made me rethink the Yammy twist. He said that aspects of death are the same for different espada who carry the same number, using Nell and Harribel as an example. I interpreted this as saying aspects of death are fixed to number, and we already know this is Aizen's system. This means that the number represents Aizen's own idea of how strong an aspect of death would be in his opinion and NOT the strength of the Espada as a person. With this new information, the Yammy twist (and the strange power balances) make a lot more sense in my opinion. Like Luppi being immediately destroyed by Grimmjow despite being the "same" tier. The point was not Luppi's natural strength, but what his disposition would bring to the table. The aspect of death, basically their purpose, is what makes them the strong (useful) in Aizen's plan. So even if Ulquiorra revealed his 2nd resurrection, he may still place 4 if he does not change as a person. Perhaps this number system ranks them on their potential usefulness based on their natural disposition. While I'm not entirely sold on this idea, it is a very "Aizen" way of thinking, and certainly still works with the novel's expanded espada lore.
That doesn't explain Nnoitora who remained the same then and in the present as the Espada embodying despair yet previously being Espada 8. Not to mention if that were the case Barragan would have no reason to be upset at being ranked second With the way it was worded to me it seemed more like there can only be one aspect of death in the rankings rather than two and there can only be one Espada embodying that aspect thus why Harribel and Nel are both 3. Furthermore if it were solely based on the aspect of death that would contradict Kubo's own words in the databooks that they're ranked by Reiatsu and that the lower they are in number the stronger they are.
@@Honest_Mids_Masher I don't believe we know if Nnoitora had the same aspect of death in the past, I don't remember that being revealed in the manga or LN, but if it was please let me know. For his character I do believe he changed from the Nelliel flashback to the present. You can look at his tendencies as either Madness or Despair, but considering how the events with Nell went it does make sense that he'd change to the latter. Yes, I also believe there can only be one aspect of death in the espada rankings, but the Espada were described as the "Top 10 Arrancar in Aizen's army". If Reiatsu is the only other factor, it seems silly that he could make Luppi and Grimmjow the same tier of power, but we can't count Luppi in the Espada because he's the same aspect of death. Or that Aizen isn't going to make more potentially strong Arrancar if they might overlap. Then they aren't really the top 10 Arrancar, only the top 10 Arrancar of the set aspects of death. In which case, are there more? Is there a second Loneliness in the bleachers that could have ranked in the top 10? It doesn't really befit Aizen's plan or Kubo's explanation in my opinion.
@@freetheost We don't know but I doubt he would've been madness when Szaelapporo already embodied it far better than he did back then not to mention there wasn't a change in Nnoitora's character he was still the suicidal man who sees no salvation for himself as a hollow and his goal of beating Nelliel or dying to her remains the same. I don't see how it's silly when Aizen considers Luppi to be stronger than a one armed Grimmjow at the time and in the idea of them being the top 10 aspects of death in the Espada I do think that is the case. Though if loneliness was far weaker than Starrk I do imagine the number representing loneliness would change. Kubo actually answered a question similar to the one you just asked regarding replacement Espadas saying they're either handpicked by Aizen or that they surpass one of the Espadas and take their rank along with their aspect of death.
Funny thing is, yammy being the zero espada could have worked if his accumulative ability and rage boosts actually made him a threat to kenny and byakuya and it wasn't off-panneled. Though i also feel like it could be a case where he wasn't given enough time to do what he wanted mainly because it felt like so much was missing from it.
I personally haven't seen a single person who liked the 0 espada twist and I would love to hear the opinion of someone who does like it.
I have no issues with the twist itself, I just wish he was treated as a treat at any point.
I won't say I liked it. I just didn't really care about it. It was a waste of a thing to say he's the strongest sure, but I also don't think it mattered. They really just needed a reason to keep all the Captains in Hueco Mundo. As much as I think it was a waste, there are better more important things than the Espada where Ichigo is going. Yammy was never very liked I think anyway, so having him waste their time was fine from my POV. I also am now a die hard for Bleach so I can look past it. Just like how I can look past some of the other BS.
I think my take is quite unpopular (and in this case *contains spoilers*), but I think it makes a lot of sense when considering that the Espada were granted numbers by Aizen. The numbers don't necessarily just represent their power levels, but also how their Aspects of Death correlate with Aizen's personality. I don't have too much evidence for it, and I don't want to spoil anything significant for Agamotto, but at least #3, #2, #1 and #0 are all displayed by Aizen, pretty much in that order, at a certain point towards the end of the arc.
#10 jumping to #0 makes a lot of sense if you consider Aizen is just suppressing his own anger because of the world being the way it is.
@TkOHarley14 I think I'd disagree with the notion that anger the best way to showcase a lack of a heart and especially when it comes to it's depiction with yammy who in my opinion lacks the depth that characters like starrk,ulqiorra or nnoitora have reached when exploring their character (and by extent their aspect of death) to make a meaningful statement about the nature of hollows and arrancars.
I really like the twist actually,
Kubo just dropped the ball majorly on the PAYOFF of the twist
Potential spoilers ahead
Having a secret, super powerful top Dragon kind of bad guy, made by intentionally misdirecting the audience with how numbers work is a REALLY cool idea in my opinion, BUT, You CANNOT give a villain that much clout, you cannot heap THAT much expectations onto a twist villain and make him SUCK!!! I get that you can argue that it's kind of just a joke, but jesus christ it makes for an unsatisfying experience as a reader/viewer.
TLDR; I think the 0 espada would have been a fine twist, great even, if it was only treated seriously and given real weight to validate that number.
I didn't hate the Yami twist, but I also didn't care. The 0 may just mean he has the most power potential or the most raw power of them all, but he's still an idiot who has no idea how to use the power. He's there just to be an obstacle to the other character.
exactly! I think he has most raw power but not the most power output if that makes sense he just wasn't that skilled. If you have 1 million power but can only output 10% you aren't that good compare to someone with 500k with 50% output. I didn't care much for the twist tho but I could kinda get what Kubo was going for maybe?
Zaraki and Byakuya: Out of my way!
1-Foreshadowing in the Ulquiorra fight:
Ulquiorra: "I see, looks like you're fully recovered. But you are not needed here. Either go get some sleep or take care of the captains down below."
Yammy: "Don't be so stingy Ulquiorra 🤪"
Ulquiorra: "You become greedy when you're in THAT STATE, Yammy. It's a failing if yours."
Ulquiorra tells him to take care of the captains down below. The same captains that killed Espada stronger than Yammy. You have:
1-Zaraki Kenpachi who killed Noitora. The strongest espada below Ulquiorra himself.
2-Mayuri who killed Szael Aporro.
3-And Byakuya who killed Zommari.
4-There's also Unohana who hasn't shown her abilities yet.
How would Ulquiorra expect the weakest Espada to deal with 4 captains who killed Espada stronger than #10? Either Ulquiorra is stupid or Yammy is stronger than his number 10.
In regards to the execution of the twist, the anime improved it slightly. The Manga skips over 80% of his screen time in Ressurection. We only see the bare bones of his fight in Hueco Mundo, mostly his unimpressive scenes.
The anime on other hand actually took time adding entirely new scenes and sequences of him fighting against the characters in Hueco Mundo. We have some cool looking scenes showcasing his destructive potential, which rivals that of Ulquiorra and Stark.
Edit: Some extra foreshadow is Chad's reaction to his huge increase in size. That is most obvious, but one very subtle piece of evidence of his strenght is his 0% reaction to Ichigo's Vasto Lorde Cero. His Cero when he destroys 80% of Ulquiorra's body, which penetrates Las Noches looking like a tower (the greatest Cero we saw at this point). Yammy looks completly bland at such destructive power while everyone else is scared. I think this might be a piece of evidence to him being unimpressed, as if "I can do something similar".
you bring up some decent points. still doesnt make me like this twist, but it does make it seem more logical now. Although I believe numbers dont exactly mean all that much. not only is rank 0 Yammy definitely not the most powerful espada (just physically strongest), but **SPOILERS!!** in TYWB, Grimmjow was clearly stronger than he's in this arc, held his own in battle against a sternritter and had the same number as always. and there's absolutely no way secunda etapa ulquiorra doesnt get powerful enough to be rank 1-2, yet his number doesnt change.
@@kortex5130 Except he indeed, as even confirmed by Kubo in interviews and QnAs, is weaker than Barragan and Starrk, and yes, even Yammy, and is around level of Harribel. Espadas are ranked based on level of Reiatsu they have. In fact, Starrk is even confrimed to be above pre hogyoku Aizen by Kubo in recent QnA
@@kortex5130 Yammy is most likely the strongest in many ways. His brute strengh is said to be the greatest of any Espada, while his Hierro is the second hardest of them (Masked databook). That is just his base form, in Ressurection these abilities are increased at least 10 times. His Reiryoku is the lowest in Base, and the highest when he is able to store up energy for the Ressurection. His inability to use Sonido to move at light speed is backed up by his enormous size and the range of his attacks. His reaction speed is actually pretty solid in many moments. His Bala has the power comparable to a Cero, as shown against Ichigo. His normal Cero is comparable to Ulquiorra's Cero Oscuras and Ichigo's Vasto Lorde Cero. He is also shown charging a Cero Oscuras in the Manga, despite not using it. Imagine how powerfull his Cero Oscuras and Gran Rey Cero would be in his Ressurection. He also has a Second Stage (Kinda like Ulquiorra). That "Segunda Etapa" of Yammy was able to fight Zaraki without his eye patch and Byakuya with his Bankai at the same time for at least an hour.
•This version of Byakuya trained hard everyday after Soul Society arc to increase his power after losing to Ichigo (Spirits novell) and he killed Espada #7 with ease after using Bankai.
•This version of Kenpachi is stronger than when he fought Noitora, the Espada #5. He should be able to kill Ulquiorra in Ressurection relatively easy (except maybe in Segunda Etapa). He becomes much stronger everytime he gets close to dying (as revealed by Unohana in Thousand Year Blood War). So he is much stronger than Noitora after their fight together.
•Yammy took on both fully healed captains at the same time, forced them to use all they got at the time (Bankai and Eyepatch off) and wounded them from head to toe after fighting them for an hour. His Balas in that form are shown to look like atomic bombs in Bleach Brave Souls special move. And his very transformation caused a explosion similar to Lanza del Relâmpago in the anime adaptation. Mayuri could have helped Zaraki and Byakuya too.
I have one-two forshadowings to add here too. Well maybe it's only count forshadow to me, but hear me out on this one. Spoilers ahead. Yami was the first arrancar and Ulquiorra we seen and interacted with. After the Aizen twist I started to think a bit if I was Kubo. Why these two? Because of thier dinamic? Because Ulquiorra later role in his Ichigo fight? If the last, why Yammi? I thought Kubo wanted to show us him in the first place and of course Ulquiorra for an untold reason. That was clear to me but I dont know why at this point. Later when more stronger arrancars got killed by the soulreapers I started to think. Kubo not killed the weakest Arrancar already? Or why at least not shown his resurrección? Thats not really logical, and yeah Harribel technically got later "eliminated" then Stark but at this point I didnt know that. At this time I literally called out, what if he is not the 10th but the 0. Espada. It would be the only reasonable thing at this point because why would Kubo kept him alive at this state? Also I knew the word Cero mean Zero, so it's also felt symbolic to me if the strongest whould really start with the 0. espada and not with the Primera.
As much as I don't like the anime (butchered Orihime and ruined a lot of foreshadowing early on) it did help add more to some of the Espadas like actually giving Harribel a flashback which the manga does not (I'm unsure if it's canon or not but Kubo was *somewhat* involved in the anime by this point)
I personally believe that the espada are ranked by amount of reiatsu.
Yammi is most likely a parallel to the early ichigo, huge reiatsu but shit control.
Yammy being 0 itself isn't the worst for me, but how it's handled. I 100% agree that Ulquiorra's second transformation should have been the reveal for a 0 Espada, or at the very least Yammy being 0 should have been more "clearly" hinted at in hindsight. Yammy as a character also does just suck so its like, this random dude gets it vs say Ulquiorra who has a secret second form.
Yeah the twist is fine but they gave him the title then made him fodder in a boring fight with three good characters that also didn’t get to do anything interesting. They could also have written more depth into him.
The thing is, Yammy ISNT the strongest. Sure, he probably has the most raw, physical power and he can stockpile power and increase it further through his anger, but thats really all he is. Brute force, a battering ram that can only swing punches around. For me, Yammy being Zero seems like a joke on Aizens part. Survival of the fittest and sheer brute force are core to what little society Hollows have outside of the upper ranks. Among the Hollows of the Forest of Menos, someone like Yammy would be number one because of his raw strength, but anywhere else, hes just a brute. Starrk and Barrigan ARE more powerful and dangerous than Yammy could ever dream of being.
Yammy being rank 0 means he is stronger than every other Espada (minus maybe Ulquiorra depending on your take). Whether or not he could beat them os something else, but he definitely is the strongest.
@@collinleivas9605 Only in terms of raw physical power. Hes not as powerful as Starrk was in his original form, hes certainly not as powerful as Barragan. Power in Bleach is measured in many ways and raw strength is only one part of that. Yammy has that and absolutely nothing else. He has no interesting tricks, no control, no ability to use his strength for anything more than HULK SMASH!, which means that he simply isnt a match for someone who is weaker, but smarter.
@@marcusreading3783 If you're saying Yammy's stats are above the rest of the Espada, I agree. That's all I care about. Yammy is stronger than them, whether he can win a fight is different, but he is the strongest.
@@collinleivas9605 ''strongest'' while lacking speed, sheer strength, reiatsu control, size advantage ( the bigger the worse imo ), and brains. Make it work please, anyone above grimmjow could beat him imo, if people like rukia could take some hits from him the top tier espadas 1 tap him, just like grimmjow did to rukia lmao.
@@collinleivas9605 Yammy is confirmed stronger than Second Release Ulquiora
I just ignore that fact, there are lot of reasonable arguments against yammy being the strongest, ulquiorra even said, there are three espadas above him, and by the way ulquiorra treated yammy you can tell he is not talking about him, I personally believe yammy is number 0 because there's no clear way to rank his power since it changes depending on his anger.
Yeah thinking of zero as “undefined” is interesting
In reality the databook confirms that Yammi is the most powerful espada and the only arrancar whose resurrection increases the power by x10 but in the Novel it is confirmed that Cien grantz (the clone of aporro the original espada 0) at 30% of his power is already more powerful than the final form of yammi and at 60% is equivalent to the Full Hollow form of Ichigo.
it is evident that Ulquiorra was only taking into account the basic forms when he made that statement, keeping both the second stage and the number 0 secret
Maybe Ulquiorra says that because Yammy's strength varies?
We get to know him as No. 10 for a reason. At that moment, he is weaker than Ulquiorra.
@@xCorvus7x in base form Yammi is the weakest, yes
Feel free to forget about this twist, everyone else does.
No?
It's an integral part of establishing a throughline about the nature of power in the BLEACH universe.
It's also entirely consistent with many earlier events and serves as a thematic end point for the Arrancar as a force manipulated under Aizen.
Ignoring it only does a disservice to you and to the complexity of the manga.
People hate this twist because they aren't willing to critically engage with it, and people hate BLEACH because they do not afford it the consideration it actually deserves.
The term "strongest" is somewhat misleading because strength in the Bleach universe can be multifaceted, involving factors like combat ability, intelligence, spiritual pressure, and special abilities. While Yammy has immense physical power and durability in his released form, he lacks the versatility, intelligence, and tactical prowess of other Espada like Starrk, Ulquiorra or Barragan . So, while Yammy may be the strongest in terms of raw power when fully released, he is not necessarily the most dangerous or the most capable overall, especially considering that other Espada can exploit his weaknesses in battle.
Kindaish
Reiatsu is Absolute just like Ichigo vs Zaraki or Nanao following Shusui vs Yamamoto or Aizen vs Soi Fong or the poor random bastard in Karakura
If you have a lot more Reiatsu that another Spiritual Being you can Ignore, Null, Choke and Straight up delete another being which makes sense you being ranked on Reiatsu because in the end it is the only thing that can make you win 100% IF you have a lot more than another being.....
I remember hearing somewhere that the numbers are not only based on all those factors but are based on how useful they would be to aizen in specific scenarios or scenarios that have already been planned out
@@felipebisi4145but the key word to that is ALOT more reiatsu.
Most of these don’t work unless u massively outclass Ure opponent with it.
And even then u likely have to actually use ure reiatsu skillfully lol. Yammi was unable to even scout properly and he only gets to such massive levels cuz he can store it. It’s not naturally and if he uses it up he dosnt recover as fast as people born with a lot.
@@sirnonsense5033 still is a reliable point of reference to rank
It is like Ranking people on weight if you are in the same category weight doesnt make much of a diffference but the difference between a light and a Heavy weight in a match is massive but being at the very limit of the weight might give you a advantage not much but it might give you
And Again with Yammy Specially Kubo did a lot dirty i mean Yammy Bala was basically a Cero and Bala normally is like a Ranged Punch.....except to the 5 below.
@@felipebisi4145 oh I didn’t mean to decredit the rankings but like said him being 0 and 10 can mean that his strength varies and that he isn’t nessesarily always the strongest but only has the potential to be it.
And he expessialy is like a boxer that always throws max Energie punches, misses a lot and looses weigh actively while punching lol.
The reason why this feels so weird is because the Yammy plot line or to be more specific the Espada 0 plot line got cut in development, we know this because of the light novels expands on this concept and it actually makes way more sense in there. This novels do use lore introduce by Kubo so most people consider them canon so you might want to read them later.
Also Yammy introduces himself as Arrancar 10, not Espada 10 so yeah he was always 0, that's not even the real twist of the entire Espada 0 situation.
that last part isn't technically true/relevant, Grimmjow introduced himself as Arrancar number 6, not Espada number 6, I think the term Espada just wasn't set in stone yet
@@yalldumb2387 It was when Yammy introduced himself.
@@NoahToledo-xo5pj I know that, I'm saying Grimmjow also introduced himself as Arrancar and then his number, he didn't refer to himself as an Espada and then his number, because Espada was likely not decided on yet, meaning Yammy introducing himself as Arrancar #10 doesn't mean it was planned from the start, since another Espada around the same time referred to themselves as Arrancar #6
Nah, it's crazy that I have to read Novels to understand stuff that should be explained in the main story.
Kubo is a hack.
Yammy is power with no direction or skill he isn't a difficult opponent or even much of a problem he's just a brick wall which is why i see him as someone who definitely can't beat the other espada and they see no point in removing him it also makes sense that yammy was basically Aizen wanting to prevent all the captains from arriving to attack him all at once
To be fair, yammy never calls himself "espada 10". Not once. He says "arrancar number 10"
That’s fair for sure and I definitely didn’t catch that but he’s still an Espada member with a 10 on his body 😭 😭 😭
@agamotto5354 yeah trust me, I get it. It was one of kubos few blunders that very few people will defend
@agamotto5354 according to kubo, technically when in his sealed form, he isn't an espada. Just arrancar #10. The espada start from 0-9. So he's only an espada in his resureccion. Technically.
One of Kubo’s terrible plot points.
@@agamotto5354Aizen based them off their reiastu and yammy grew more reiastu the more mad he gets so that’s why his number changes
I think the worst part of the "twist" is that Yammy doesn't even pose a threat that everyone needs to work together to beat or anything after being revealed. Like he could've been substituted for some random Vasto Lorde or experiment or army or *something* just to keep the soul reapers busy and it would've changed nothing (but at least it would've kept the numbers more consistent)
DON'T READ AGAMOTTO
I think the idea was that he was just that, an experiment to make a frustratingly large and hard/slow to kill meat bag to kill time while the plan moved forward. except stark and ulquiorra all the arrancar were in fact just experiments meant to stall the soul society really. Don't want to get too much into that here where agamotto might see though
@@Alex-dh2cx that's a valid point,
spoiler-ish
I just find it weird for that to make him number 0 when I don't think he could possibly have even more raw power/reiatsu than Stark. Like he made that weird kid an experiment so why even number resurrection Yammy when that kid wasn't given a number
@@solacee4327 I kind of agree with you. We could theorize, maybe yammy can temporarily spike his reiatsu levels above even stark, but he can't keep generating that, he had to be somewhere like hueco Mundo where he can continually suck in reiatsu to building strength, while stark is really capable of the same feats in or out of hueco Mundo.
In general it was a weirdness, but I'll say this. I watched Inuyasha as a kid, and didn't watch any more anime until I was in my twenties, and bleach happened to be the first big one I ever watched, she baccano. Watched every filler because I didn't even know people would skip it, and enjoyed it all for what it was. Coming to yammy, I really didn't have any negative feelings about it at the time, and it felt natural that he was massive, powerful, and hard to kill, but not the same level of threat as the other espada. I didn't see a contradiction there as much as many people do.
I didn't start to look at it negatively until much later when my opinions were colored by my experience and the opinions of others.
In Japanese 4 is pronounced "Shi" which is also how the the Japanese word for death is pronounced. I think that was the logic for giving Ulquiorra the 4 from a symbolic perspective.
Like Saint Seiya, the Cancer Saint, Deathmask
The real answer is that Aizen was trolling Yammy. He knew Yammy was boneheaded idiot who thinks too much of himself. So when Aizen made him Espada number 10, the weakest Espada, he lied to Yammy that his """real""" number and rank was 0. And given that Yammy's IQ is same as his number, he never figured it out.
Until the unmasked databooks which were written by Kubo say that Yammy was worthy of the rank 0
Who ever told you that the numbers went from 1 to 10?
Well, Shawlong, but that dude was just a fraccion.
*There were foreshadowing and hints, though!!*
Yammy goes to release his resurrection during the first invasion with Ulquiorra. Remember how Ulquiorra specifically stopped him from doing that? #4 did not want to cause a scene. Go back and revisit that scene knowing what you know now about both Ulquiorra and Yammy.
Through Yammy's healing and progression, he physically gets larger and larger. That's not Kubo just forgetting how big his own characters are.
Yammy's mask fragment also mirrors Stark's own, drawing clear visual connection between the two of them--Stark can divide his soul and we find Yammy can bolster his own soul.
Yammy having a last minute transformation into a massively powerful monstrous and near-transcendent form but getting clapped by people with much more willpower and capacity to wield that power is also foreshadowing for similar outcomes that have played out in the past and will play out in the future.
I also feel that Yammy having a secret stronger form is also very in line with many of the other Espada. Why does Yammy bother people when his partner Ulquiorra's "Well actually I have a secret second resurrection even Aizen is not aware of" is a twist people love? To answer the question--yes, you probably are just a bit bitter. Especially when you're championing the same 'lame' 'out of nowhere' twist would be fine with Ulquiorra but not Yammy. Yammy is just not a character many people like.
There also may be some sort of little reference to Binary with Yammy going from having '10' to having '0' but that, I admit, is a stretch.
Espada Ranking is largely arbitrary, anyway. Aspect of Death? Lethality?
Nevermind the supplementary material and novels, which all muddle the waters by insisting that, no, actually, most of the Espada secretly are or were way more powerful than we saw them in the series. While this is all thematically resonant in that the Arrancar are hindered for their involvement with Aizen and how Aizen himself, despite all his delusions of grandeur, is too much of a control freak to really obtain the power he seeks. Power and Control come at odds with one another and BLEACH takes its time to reflect on how Power can be at odds with one's own humanity.
Yeah I am pretty sure that if Yammy got a bit more development like Ulquiorra did, and/or got a decent fight, people would be fine with the twist itself.
There were actually three hints:
1: Ulquiorra questions Yammy for preparing to release his sword against Ichigo--he's really going to use his sword on that?
2: When Yammy fights Hitsugaya in Karakura Town, he introduces himself as "Arrancar Ten"--not "Espada Ten", as every other Espada does.
3. When Nel and Ichigo meet Dordonhi, Nel notes that all the Espada have single-digit numbers. She knew they were numbered 0-9. The subject just never came up, and of course Ichigo would know that! He's smart!
If that Nel point is really true then I'm dumb for missing that.
@@Honest_Mids_Masher Nah, I had to have that pointed out to me, too. Also that second half of the Nel thing is just my speculation; she comments on all Espadas only having a single-digit number, and I assume she knew how the Espadas work from seeing them roaming around Hueco Mundo.
Kubo is a troll.
Again, have that friend of yours make sure they get the light novels and the Klub Outside information ready for you for when you're done with the series. There's more information all the time.
troll < made a shity job portraying him. I love him for making bleach but by god did he f*ck up in many instances.
@@Depressed_until_deadI don’t know about “many” instances but the Yammy twist isn’t great, yeah
That idea that Ulquiorra is no.0 with the hole...that was a great writing patch up, that is so much better than The Yammy Twist.
I didn't see it coming, but in retrospect it makes sense. The Espada all have single-digit rankings; the double-digit ranked Arrancars are the rank-and-file. If Yammy really was rank 10, he'd have been a fraccione.
One thing I noticed....Yammy is the ONLY espada that retains a ranking tatt after releasing...all others disappear
it’s because they’re all just programmed kido which Aizen controls, not actual ink. the idea of the numbers being a power ranking was also an intentional deception, since it’s the most obvious and immediate interpretation for anyone trying to gain intel on his army. who got what number was largely thematic as well as a carrot on a stick to play mind games with the espada who would care about such a ranking, like Barragan, Nnoitora, Grimmjow, Aaroniero, Yammi, and the demoted espada who wanted to ditch their triple digit tattoos and be redeemed by Aizen, by any means necessary. It really illustrates Aizen’s character in so many ways.
Nope Nnoitora still has his
@@Honest_Mids_Masher I stand corrected...went back and checked... those are the only 2 I found to keep their ranking tatt
With the benefit of hindsight and people pointing shit out I never noticed, it's clear it had been built up to for a while... but it's not a great twist. It's very funny and logically *does* check out if you consider his ranking to be his spiritual potential, which is unlimited but really really poorly optimized, but narratively it doesn't do much for me either, it's a blemish on this part of the story for sure.
I became more fine with it narratively when I looked at how it worked thematically and drew resonance with other characters who had powerful transformations that came at the cost of control.
Yammy in his entirety was disappointing so I just forget about him
Yes this fact about yami is something the entire community does have a problem with.
i don't, i'm apathetic towards it, i really couldn't care less, he's just a device to keep the captains there and provides exposition through mayuri and interaction between kenpachi and byakuya
"the entire" Except powerscalers, most of the community just doesn't care that much about it. It doesn't add much to the story, but it's not really a problem either
@Kayden-fl1uz fun fact. That's a lie. A majority of powerscalers hate the epsada 0 reveal.
@@wewillrockyou3272 It throws yet another wrench in the espada system, like how we basically have no point of reference for how strong Ulquiorra's segunda etapa makes him (tho thematically it doesn't matter) compared to the other espada because he was cleaning the floor with Ichigo's face until Ichigo transformed and the roles reversed.
I dislike it but I've come to accept it.
In reality the original Espada 0 was Szayelaporro Granz who then lost his rank when he sacrificed his reiatsu for science creating his brother Ilford, but before doing so he had created a clone of himself, Cien Granz, the latter was so powerful that at 30% of his power he was already more powerful than Yammi's final form and at 60% he was equal to Ichigo's full hollow form (this story is told in the novel "Spirit are forever with you")
I once wanted to write a whole wall of text called "Yammy and his zero contribution to the plot." One of Kubo's strangest decisions.
In my head cannon I think that this whole thing was just a massive bluff from Yammy, we see that the tattoos are by no means unalterable with grimmjows wound. I think that maybe yammy was trying to intimidate and overcompensate which I believe is pretty fitting for his personality and the fact he is beaten so relatively quickly
One thing I do like about the 0 espada twist, from the beginning Yammy and Ulquiorra were the two sent on missions more than any other. That can seem arbitrary when you look at their numbers and think "how come 10 and 4 do everything? Why are they a pair?". It turned out of course that Ulquiorra had a segunda etapa transformation and Yammy was the 0 espada. Suddenly everything clicks into place, they were "secretly" top tier espada on relatively equal ground, and that also explains Aizen's thinking in taking espada 3-1 to FKT while leaving behind Ulquiorra and Yammy. He wasn't just leaving the leftover espada behind, he was leaving some of his best to fight the main character.
Just a quick rundown of every "exception" to the general rule that espada numbers dictate power.
- Yammy was the zero espada the whole time
- Luppi was 6th espada (temporarily), yet was about as impressive as 10th espada Yammy
- Zommari was the fastest, i.e. even faster than even the primera
- Szayel was the smartest. Mayrui and Kisuke show how far such genius can carry you
- Nnoitra had the hardest hierro, gotta respect the tank of the team
- Ulquiorra had the segunda etapa
- Wonderweiss was strong enough to startle even Kisuke, who could clown Yammy
Yammy is just a storage house of Reiryoku. Nothing else. He can't utilise his Reiryoku to throw powerful attacks. But he can keep fighting because of his massive amount of Reiryoku against an opponent who can't damage much to Yammy and can keep escaping Yammy's attacks.
I love Bleach and think that Tite Kubo is an amazing writter, having that said, yea this reveal really hit.
I know that uploading a rant like this isn't really what you wanna post, but believe me, I think no one liked this twist, and speaking for myself, I totally agree with your opinion.
It had potencial, the ideia was not bad, and could've been great if it was handled in a different way, making someone who needs time to stack a lot of souls, and having a base form miles weaker than the ressurecion.
Now you know what all the comments saying "he still don't know" were all about.
Imagine if Zommari was still alive and was number 0 instead because he's a ball, how mad would you get? 😂
Everybody hates the Yammy 0 twist. Most people try to ignore it. Dont feel bad about not liking it, welcome to the club!
I think most people don't like it. To me it's just a cheap way to keep the characters in Hueco Mundo occupied.
I don't think the concept of "0" is bad in itself but it definetly shouldn't been him, Yammy is so underwhelming.
I know that back then some people speculated Wonderweiss to be "0". I won't talk to much about him for spoiler reasons, but I like that idea more than Yammy being 0.
I have to say, i think the only saving grace of the Yammy twist is that i was able to just forget about it. I enjoyed the story more just by putting this twist to the side and treating it as a minor powerup. Dont want to explain anymore in case i spoil anything.
Lol the 0 rank meant jack s**t in the long run didnt make me like him more he is still the weakest espada 😂
There are actually 2
3 foreshadowings. 1: they told as espadas were numbered by numbers smaller than eleven. 2: yammy never called himself espada 10, but arrancar 10, 3: yammy never cares for power levels therefore could not muster proper defence or offence.
Bonus: ulqiorra also implies yammy is strong in ichigo vs ulqi fight.
Also the Privaron Espada say the digits of a number represents their position in the army. Privaron Espada have triple digits, espada have single digits. Yammys 10 isn't a single digit number.
I was about to comment that. I still feel the twist fell flat, but it wasn't out of nowhere. Yammy should have gotten a full fight. He being offscreen didn't help this twist at all, even if he fought 2 top captains.
I have one-two forshadowings to add here also. Well maybe it's only count forshadow to me, but hear me out on this one. Spoilers ahead. Yami was the first arrancar and Ulquiorra we seen and interacted with. After the Aizen twist I started to think a bit if I was Kubo. Why these two? Because of thier dinamic? Because Ulquiorra later role in his Ichigo fight? If the last, why Yammi? I thought Kubo wanted to show us him in the first place and of course Ulquiorra for an untold reason. That was clear to me but I dont know why at this point. Later when more stronger arrancars got killed by the soulreapers I started to think. Kubo not killed the weakest Arrancar already? Or why at least not shown his resurrección? Thats not really logical, and yeah Harribel technically got later "eliminated" then Stark but at this point I didnt know that. At this time I literally called out, what if he is not the 10th but the 0. Espada. It would be the only reasonable thing at this point because why would Kubo kept him alive at this state? Also I knew the word Cero mean Zero, so it's also felt symbolic to me if the strongest whould really start with the 0. espada and not with the Primera.
Personally i dont remember anything about yami and my head canon is that the shift from 10 to 0 is just an intimidation and fear factor which he trys to make convincing. He always just felt like Ulquiorras fraccion or a very new member of the espada (maybe weeks before he and ulquiorra went to the human world) who cant fully control/utilize his power to the fullest
Every time you mentioned that you had the right numbers - this thing always made me so hyped for this exact episode. Even, if Yammy's fights weren't the greatest - this reveal is good enough pay-off. To see Kubo once again question your ability to count and make a joke about the one Espada number you were so sure to know, until now.
This is thankfully the last time we gonna have to question the numbers, tbh.
I do think that Kubo always planned it - it's because of the word Cero being so prevalent with Hollow imagery. It just when it came to actually executing the plan, he stumbled writing it as something more exiting.
Tbh in my headcannon this number 0 was more like a "kindergarten Golden Star" patch, which Aizen gave him just to make him feel more important while sitting by the table. When it comes to raw reiatsu lvl then maybe he is slightly higher then top 3 Espada, but jugding by what we saw later there is no soul in this world or in the Soul Society itself, which will ever persuade me that full power Yami would have ANY chance of beating any of full power Espadas 1-4.
Bleach has these moments here and there but it is still a great series all in all
While I usually credit Kubo's writing, I think that Yammy being #0 might have been a last-minute addition he did not plan because Kubo wrote himself into a corner. While it's not the worst Retcon I ever saw (as Yammy is still an idiot who knows not how to use his power, thus not puting too much pressure on him to perform), it's still weird that he ranks above Starrk and Baraggan considering what we get to know about those two.
You always see this--people insisting 'Kubo wrote himself into a corner'--it never is the case.
Yammy's transformation to zero is clearly foreshadowed and was always intended. It's just a case of something happening that you did not engage with--either because you overlooked the foreshadowing of it or did not like how it was handled in the story. Neither of which are the author 'writing himself into a corner'. It IS supposed to feel weird that he ranks that way, almost as if the entire ranking system of the Espada is meant to challenge the ways that you comprehend and understand power in the BLEACH universe. Just like Power Levels in Dragonball were there solely to be undermined but the thickest minds in the community treat them like a holy grail of canon fact, the Espada ranking is all the same.
I tell you a secret, no one really liked the 0 Espada reveal, not for the reveal itself, which yes, wasn't great or really necessary, but down to other 2 factors. Yammi as character has always been ZERO interesting, the least appealing of the group, making the right parallel (again) with Nappa, but while his power fits him (the angrier I get the bigger and stronger I become) it was kinda boring as concept. The second point is how his part will be handled from here and on, if you are the strongest you must appear as the biggest threat, but... ok, no spoilers, but it's another huge NO. Therefore, it's better if you gloss over it, you will not change your mind about this, all the opposite 🚫
I liked and still like the 0 Espada reveal. Keep your weird cope to yourself.
It does a lot for the larger narrative of BLEACH and establishes important precedent and throughline for things to come.
You can ignore it if you do not want to actually engage with the manga and just want to imagine the cool battle series adheres to your flight-of-fancy headcanon, though.
@@varsoonhks3211We found a rare species that actually like Yammy! Quick, catch it so we can put it in a nature reserve!
@@varsoonhks3211 I'm actually curious about this opinion. How do you think it sets an important precedent/throughline? Personally, I can't think of any part of Bleach that would work any less without this reveal.
I was OK with the twist because I understood that I wasn't supposed to like it. I think that was sort of the point. Also, it was confirmation of how the ranking system worked.
It allows you to understand why Ulqiorra can be called the strongest, even though he is ranked #4. And why some of the rankings seem like they can be off. It was an invitation to prod about how raw spiritual power being the indicator for the ranking probably isn't the best way to rank them LOL
But it's been confirmed that stark has more raw power than yammy meaning yammy even then shouldn't be above him
@bulbaa2241 well not at Yammy's peak. That's literally the whole concept of his character, he has unlimited raw energy potential based on his core death element: rage. That's why he's rank 0. He's essentially anime Hulk. Except he sucks 🤣
@Bakuru the number 0 yammy we see is weaker than stark and barragon confirmed and is somewhere around harribel so his number shouldn't have changed to a 0 there (I'm also pretty sure every espada besides yammy loses their number upon resurrection)
I mean to give kubo credit. Dondoni DID mention that the amount of digits you have on your person indicates your station. And that only ONE digit numbers are espada. Which makes yammy stand out INCREDIBLY once you take that one quote and hang onto it
Yup. Welcome to the club, buddy. Welcome to the club.
I think we all just ignore this little part of the Espada. I mean, technically, Ulquiorra’s segunda etapa removes his number entirely, so is he just numberless? We have debated the Espada numbers for years. We will continue to debate them for years, too.
Yammy being number 0 is a twist that exist solely for narrative convenience, Kubo needed a way to explain why the character currently in Hueco Mundo won't be involved in what's to come. He used Yammy because he didn't really wanna pull something entirely out his ass, but the issue was, Yammy is number 10, so him even just being able to stall wouldn't make any sense. My belief is that Kubo feared that if he left Yammy at 10 and just gave an explanation about the power he accumulated making him much stronger than when he was given that number, people still wouldn't take him seriously, while making him number 0 automatically makes him a serious threat.
It didn't work...
Not only It didnt work for the audience, even kenpachi and byakuya got fcking bored at the end
Yammy's reveal was the first big reveal in Bleach that I feel actually failed. 350 chapters so far and while some reveals haven't really been as hype as they could've been, Yammy's reveal was the first to actually suck.
0 seconds in, and i already know what this video is gonna be about
I legitimately thought this plot line was comic relief the first time I saw it. Yammy is already a comic relief character. He's so dumb its funny. He has to constantly ask Ulquiorra what to do, and can barely think for himself.
The people he is fighting are more interested in fighting each other than him. He's an afterthought, he doesn't matter. He goes on his huge spiel about how he's the strongest and the characters just ignore him lol.
Then he is trivially defeated without accomplishing anything at all.
The narrative tells us he is the strongest, but it shows him as a joke.
I've become convinced that the whole thing is an attempt to make fun of power scalers. The author sets up this whole ranking system that helps the reader know who is the strongest, then turns the whole thing on its head and says, nope this guy is the strongest because I said so. All while giving us absolutely no reason in the actual plot to believe that.
I love that idea xD Screw over the powerscalers, they deserve it.
I love how you keep on thinking about Wondereweiss, haha.
This is a plot point that when you look back on it helps the power scaling in a good way
Talking about Ulquiorra's number changing from 4. It is funny to think that in his second form, he actually has a line bleeding out of his Hollow hole, almost making it look like he turned into Espada 1 in that moment. Which would make his relationship with Yammy even more reasonable, two of the strongest being companions and stuff.
THERE IS A REASON FOR THE TWIST but its spoilers for now... but there is one single reason I've seen that makes sense for why Kubo did this.
Yeah Yammy being number 0 is definitely a case where you could tell Kubo was like "Hmmm well now that Ulquiorra is dead I need to find some way of keeping the Hueco Mundo section interesting"
In all fairness it's a pretty inconsequential twist but pretty odd
If yami can be espada #0, then Chad can be Best boi #1 - play the theme song, let's get it going!
Always nice to hear a good rant
One thing to point out. Yammy never called himself Espada 10. He referred to himself as Arrancar 10. It was a small bit of foreshadowing
Yeah, you right. I remember being surprised and initially hyped when I saw the number peeling off, but when the episode ended and I was left to think it over, I was certainly disappointed and left unsatisfied.
His number zero doesn't mean he is the strongest. It mean he is the Espada with the most reaitsu.
It kind of is foreshadowed not only with Ulq and Chad comments about Yammy but Stark splitting himself in two as well as Shizzle and his brother who were originally the same hollow. Ulq's very second transformation as well.
My head cannon is that yammy just changed his tattoo and called himself 0 to make him feel better about being weak. He doesn't do anything even after the transformation so I just consider it a joke.
Yama is just a Glass cannon, and his match-up was pretty bad. but don't you think it's funny that two of the strongest Espada were the first two we met?
This twist is generally unpopular. In our hearts, yamj is still 10th.
Plus. If transformations alter numbers, you’d think ulquiorra’s secret second transformation that he hasn’t even shown Aizen would alter his number
My headcannon is that Yami made this all up once he realized how to flex his muscles in a way that would hide the 1
kubo didn't have time to give the other espada segunda etapas
@@ektran4205 can he give them segunda etapas? If ulquiorra is the only that we know of one who can do it, and he claims that Aizen doesn’t know about that ace in the hole of his, wouldn’t it stand to reason that it’s a stage he’s unaware of?
@@edwardnowakowski5990meant to write kubo
I think Yammy's whole gimmick is that his suppose to be like the Hulk; unassuming but secretly the most powerful, especially since the aspects of death Yammy represents is rage and the angrier he gets the stronger he becomes.🤔
people don’t like the twist just because it’s yammy, if it ulquiorra or a fan favorite as espada 0 no one would have a problem with it
I think Ulquiorra could have made thematic sense as I discuss in the video. The other Espada would have needed proper foreshadowing just like Yammy needed.
If Kubo decided to give Ulquiorra the n°0 plot twitst (which already is kinda the case tbh), nobody would have a problem with it because it would make sense. Ulquiorra is purposely done to trick you into thinking hes the strongest, then plot twist he's not, then 2nd plot twist and resureccion : actually he is. Which is totally plausible because Kubo had already built him to "be" the strongest.
His point is that it doesn't make sense, not if we like it or not.
Like the guy above me explained very well, too.
@@tartopomme8946 Ulquiorra was never built to be the strongest. He was just implied to be strong, which he was. The only reason people think Ulquiorra is the strongest is because his emo design really resonated with people and they wanted him to be the strongest because they think he's the coolest.
Yes. Exactly. Yami is not a good character for this twist because fans aren't engaged with him xD
Giving the big moment to somebody nobody cares about before or after is a bad execution of a twist.
Yammy being #0 lends to my theory that kidnapping Orihime was less about Ichigo and more about getting those 4 specific captains off the board.
The only way I was able to make it make sense in my head was "oh the hollows main attack is literally called 0 in spanish, with their importance placed on numbers there's probably something to that."
And yammy have the second toughest hierro( arrancar skin).
The reveal is great it does feel real it does feel natural the disconnect comes not from the crafting of the reveal but from the writing of yammy as a character if any other espada had of had this reveal I’d be fine
I never minded the yammy thing but he is definitely the strongest espada . the numbers are correct order based on power of reiatsu alone
this twist definitely should have been communicated better and hinted at, that or he should have stayed number 10 and fought Chad like you said. I also like the idea that he should have gone to fake Karakura and acted confident around Baragon to make us think somethings up with how strong he is. If it makes you feel better, I believe the Espada are confirmed to be ranked by their Reiryoku (Spiritual Power) rather than how strong they are, and Yammy's special power is stockpiling it
I definitely understand the confusion, but when you look at the Espada as less like an organization with a proper hierarchy and more as tools to facilitate Aizen's goals it all makes more sense.
Sure his reveal isn't as Earth shaking as others, but it's because Yammy is more like a bomb Aizen left to stall half the important cast. And by the time they're done with him, you see that he was shockingly effective.
Your take on Ulquiorra being a good way to do zero with all the synergy with his character is pretty good, haven't heard anyone with that idea, or having Yammy act as a grudge match for Chad to redeem himself and get a good fight.
I always saw it as Yami lying cause his ego is so huge and none of the other espada care about his fake number
To be fair (VERY slightly fair, bc otherwise I agree that this twist sucks) that one panel you keep showing with his no. 10 tattoo is actually the one (1) scene I caught as having foreshadowing. If you pay attention, after Ulquiorra deduces that he could have lost his rank as Espada if he never regained his arm like Grimmjow did, Yammy replies with a “… maybe” and then it’s the panel with the 10 being front and center, implying that his demotion might’ve been a lower number than 1 simply from losing an arm (would he have still been also no. 10 then?)
I think the 0 twist was something Kubo would have set up a lot more but just kind of… didn’t, as he got busier and more demanded of through the arrancar saga. I definitely think he would have added up a little more set up if he could go back in time LOL.
I also don’t know if this is true, but we should consider Lost In Translation as a trope as well. I don’t read the original Japanese, but it’s very likely that Shawlong didn’t actually say “ranked 1 through 10” in Japanese. He could have said “ranked higher than 10” for all we know. I also can’t confirm that Yammy truly never calls himself “Espada 10” and only calls himself “Arrancar 10” without another reread, but I can see that being another “hint”.
Or maybe Shawlong DID say “ranked 1 through 10”, but maybe in this recent scene Yammy did NOT say “who told you it was 1 through 10?” And instead said something a little more consistent with the twist? This was just a food for thought that I think about. If anyone can confirm whether or not the set up doesn’t feel as much of a lie in the original Japanese, I’d be thankful!
I feel like Kubo didn't have a place for Yammy in the story for a while. Now that many of the higher level espada have been defeated, he realized Yammy is still active and needed a power boost to become relevant again. Thus, the 0th espada asspull.
I always felt that the biggest reason this twist exists is because Kubo needed to manufacture a good excuse to keep Byakuya and Kenpachi in Hueco Mundo. I mean nothing else was exactly keeping them there, and let's face it; if the two of them went with Ichigo to fake Karakura, it would have completely changed the trajectory of the last part of the arc. But also consider that if Yammy was still at #10 he would stand no chance against either of these two individually let alone together. It seems obvious that Kubo never intended for this to be the case with Yammy and it always felt like a very last minute addition.
There's a thematic element as to why Yammy is Espada Zero, which will make sense later. The power level thing is bonkers, though- people have debated it to death!
He definitely is meant to be the strongest aside from ulq. He has the most raw power and it subtly foreshadows the reveal in TYBW indirectly.
Going into these next chapters though as you see what goes on in the Karakura town fight there's a lot I wish i could say but those are spoilers. So i cant wait to get into one of my favorite and yet frustrating part of the Arrancar Arc as a whole
19:52 the dog's name is Kukapuro. After you finish reading the Arrancar arc, I'll recommend you to check the "Nestle to Night" short story, included in the Unmasked Book.
Ya, I don't think I really liked that twist really but it exists. I think the only hint was after Yami had his arm put back there was a mention of him needing to regain his spirit energy to get back to full power...
Oh man. I can't wait for him to get to the twists present in the last two arcs. People shit on the Fullbring arc, which I get (kind of). It's placed in a strange story beat in between the two most intense arcs of the series.. but nothing in the TYBW arc or Fake Karakura arc even comes close to the absolute horror that unfolds in Fullbring. Bleach's whole overarching theme is friends and family, and it takes away all of that, while making them actively hate him and ostracize him. I cannot think of a worse Hell than that, and the panel of Ichigo thinking that his Dad and Urahara have fallen to the hypnosis might be my favorite panel of the series 👄🤌
You are not alone, the Yami twist has always been a bit of a mess. But still if your first major complaint is this far in, then Bleach has been doing a pretty good job.
12:52 you know what else makes that even worse? Yammy himself even introduces himself as Arrancar #10 to Hitsugaya lol
Yamm: iam the zero.
EVERY FAN:NOPE 1 2,3,4 can beat you senseless
2:09 That's not true, i admit his role as a no. Zero wasn't much significant apart from buying time for Aizen, but he had a few Foreshadowings,
1) Chads reaction to his increasing size
2) Ulquiorra asking yammy to deal with caps stronger than Noitora (5)
3) ignoring Vasto-lorde ichigo's deadly Sero as if it's mid.
Oh boy, the way the 0 espada reveal pays out...
This twist convinced me that the Espada are ranked in terms of Reiryoku(or spiritual power), not actual combat ability
My head canon, is that he was never given the zero espada rank, he just made it up himself
I’m glad people didn’t spoil you on numbers. Or that Aizen is Ichigo turned evil, gone back in time, and dyed his hair
While I don't like the reveal it makes a little sense. The fact the person who was supposed to be the weakest surviving this long really made you wonder if he had a more pivotal role, just like someone else missing that wont be spoiled. I think if we saw part of the 1 being faded at any point could of given us more to work with or something from earlier chapters.
I’m pretty sure Yami is no one’s favorite Espada and everyone either rolled their eyes or hated this twist. I’m just glad Kubo didn’t introduce negative number Espadas because I was done with them at a certain later point.
Yammy is the personafication of Nappa omg lol
(Ulquiorra and Yammy first arrival at the world of living is so much like the Vegeta and Nappa arrival at the Earth)
alot of Bleach fans, even to this day...still debate that Ulquiorra's 2nd form could be stronger than both Yammy and Starrk release forms only becuz Yammy was shown to be able to CHANGE HIS NUMBER! Like can u imagine if the yammy reveal happened before Ulquiorra's 2nd form?! i think thats why its such a sore topic to discuss...
Yeah Yammys reveal isn't particularly compelling, but it honestly makes past scenes with people like Grimmjow or Ulquiorra bullying him pretty hilarious 😂. Also congrats on reaching the halfway point of the manga
Yammy being 0 doesn't mean he's the strongest it just means he has more Reatsu than everybody else. I would say the *hint* kubo gave us was ulqiuiora's segunda etapa and remember Aizen sent both of them to the world of the livng meaning that he at least trusts them over all the others. Him and Ulquiora are the only espada that Aizen purposely left in Heico Mundo *a lil spoiler from You can't fear your own world*. He left Ulquiora to cultivate Ichigo's growth and Yammy to hold back Kenpachi until he fused with hyogoku.
Pretty sure you'll enjoy the next chapters again. Enjoy!
I’ve been loving what I’ve been reading this past week 💀 👑
I never minded it. I like the idea of Yammy and ulquiorra being the 2 strongest espada. They are together a lot and the first two you ever see. Plus the fact aizen seemingly sends those 2 on more missions than anyone else. I’ll admit though it could’ve been executed better.
Kubo's recent-ish comments about Espada numbers made me rethink the Yammy twist. He said that aspects of death are the same for different espada who carry the same number, using Nell and Harribel as an example. I interpreted this as saying aspects of death are fixed to number, and we already know this is Aizen's system. This means that the number represents Aizen's own idea of how strong an aspect of death would be in his opinion and NOT the strength of the Espada as a person.
With this new information, the Yammy twist (and the strange power balances) make a lot more sense in my opinion. Like Luppi being immediately destroyed by Grimmjow despite being the "same" tier. The point was not Luppi's natural strength, but what his disposition would bring to the table. The aspect of death, basically their purpose, is what makes them the strong (useful) in Aizen's plan. So even if Ulquiorra revealed his 2nd resurrection, he may still place 4 if he does not change as a person. Perhaps this number system ranks them on their potential usefulness based on their natural disposition. While I'm not entirely sold on this idea, it is a very "Aizen" way of thinking, and certainly still works with the novel's expanded espada lore.
That doesn't explain Nnoitora who remained the same then and in the present as the Espada embodying despair yet previously being Espada 8. Not to mention if that were the case Barragan would have no reason to be upset at being ranked second
With the way it was worded to me it seemed more like there can only be one aspect of death in the rankings rather than two and there can only be one Espada embodying that aspect thus why Harribel and Nel are both 3.
Furthermore if it were solely based on the aspect of death that would contradict Kubo's own words in the databooks that they're ranked by Reiatsu and that the lower they are in number the stronger they are.
@@Honest_Mids_Masher I don't believe we know if Nnoitora had the same aspect of death in the past, I don't remember that being revealed in the manga or LN, but if it was please let me know. For his character I do believe he changed from the Nelliel flashback to the present. You can look at his tendencies as either Madness or Despair, but considering how the events with Nell went it does make sense that he'd change to the latter.
Yes, I also believe there can only be one aspect of death in the espada rankings, but the Espada were described as the "Top 10 Arrancar in Aizen's army". If Reiatsu is the only other factor, it seems silly that he could make Luppi and Grimmjow the same tier of power, but we can't count Luppi in the Espada because he's the same aspect of death. Or that Aizen isn't going to make more potentially strong Arrancar if they might overlap.
Then they aren't really the top 10 Arrancar, only the top 10 Arrancar of the set aspects of death. In which case, are there more? Is there a second Loneliness in the bleachers that could have ranked in the top 10? It doesn't really befit Aizen's plan or Kubo's explanation in my opinion.
@@freetheost We don't know but I doubt he would've been madness when Szaelapporo already embodied it far better than he did back then not to mention there wasn't a change in Nnoitora's character he was still the suicidal man who sees no salvation for himself as a hollow and his goal of beating Nelliel or dying to her remains the same.
I don't see how it's silly when Aizen considers Luppi to be stronger than a one armed Grimmjow at the time and in the idea of them being the top 10 aspects of death in the Espada I do think that is the case. Though if loneliness was far weaker than Starrk I do imagine the number representing loneliness would change.
Kubo actually answered a question similar to the one you just asked regarding replacement Espadas saying they're either handpicked by Aizen or that they surpass one of the Espadas and take their rank along with their aspect of death.
Funny thing is, yammy being the zero espada could have worked if his accumulative ability and rage boosts actually made him a threat to kenny and byakuya and it wasn't off-panneled. Though i also feel like it could be a case where he wasn't given enough time to do what he wanted mainly because it felt like so much was missing from it.
The zero twist would be cool if Yami was really a threat. I mean he died by a friendly fire from Kenpachi and Byakuya fights