Important takeaways
- Kyoraku's Bankai transforms a theater play into reality, capturing its targets and turning them into actors.
- The story of a tragic couple unfolds in Bankai, with shared wounds and a deadly finale.
- Kyoraku's Zanpakutou spirit, Katen, manifests under the Bankai, adding an alluring and mysterious element.
Quick links
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Shunsui Kyoraku's Bankai, The Theater Suicide
In a new incredible episode of Bleach thousand year blood warCaptain Shunsui Kyoraku finally reveals his Bankai during his deadly battle with Sternritter X – Little Barro. On par with the older Bankai seen before, Kyoraku's Katen Kyokotsu Karamatsu Shinjuu is an extremely powerful and elaborate technique made to quickly destroy its enemy.
Kyoraku's Bankai plays a play about a tragic couple in a traditional Japanese Kabuki theater, affecting a huge area at once but targeting a single enemy. Chief Captain Shunsui Kyoraku's Bankai is one of the strongest seen in the series so far. There's everything you need to know about how it works Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War.

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BLEACH: Why Kurotsuchi is the MVP of the Quincy Blood War
The 12th team captain has been instrumental in the final victory of the Shinigami against the Quincies. Here's why he's the MVP.
Shunsui Kyoraku's Bankai, The Theater Suicide
Making a stage play come true
The head captain of Shunsui Kyoraku's Bankai is named Katen Kyokotsu Karamatsu Shinjuu (Bones of Heavenly Blooming Madness: Withering Pine Lovers' Suicide). Placing the tips of his two swords on the ground, he activates his Bankai that covers a huge area at once. The environment changes, the sky turns a golden hue and wavy marks appear on the ground and buildings. These markings refer to the scene in a Kabuki Theater play. When Kyoraku activates his Bankai, large black shadows resembling pine trees form in front of him, and then the mysterious shadow of a woman appears on his back, and then, as he captures his enemy, the play begins. Kyoraku's Shikai turns children's games into reality and forces his opponent to act in them, while his Bankai turns a theater play into reality and forces his opponent to be one of the actors. The play in question tells the story of a troubled couple with a tragic fate.
- Katen Kyokotsu Karamatsu Shinjuu makes a theatrical performance come true.
- It tells the story of a tragic couple.
- It covers a huge area at once, capturing its target and making them one of the actors, the penitent man.
- The woman with Shunsui, Ohana, is Katen, his Zanpakutou spirit.
Act 1: Tameraikizu no Wakachiai (Doubt and Distribution of Wounds)
Any wounds inflicted on Shunsui are also inflicted on his enemy, as if shared. The first act of the story is about a violent man who beats his partner and because of the guilt he shares the same that he inflicted on her, but he cannot die from them.
Act 2: Zanki no Shitone (Pillow of Shame)
Several black spots appear on the enemy, causing them to bleed profusely. This sets up the second act of the man collapsing in shame and becoming incredibly ill after injuring his partner.
Act 3: Dangyo no Fuchi (The Severing Abyss)
Both Shunsui and his enemy are engulfed in a vast inescapable sea until one of them runs out of spiritual pressure and drowns. This tells the third act where both couples throw themselves into the sea.
It is a woman's way of taking pity on her husband's shame by not leaving him behind.
Final Act: Itokiribasami Chizome no Nodobue (Wire-Cutting Scissors on a Blood Streaked Neck)
After shedding both of his swords, Shunsui entangles a white thread in the opponent's neck before pulling it and slicing their throat, the cut then expanding and inflating the enemy's head. At the end of the story, the repentant man's partner ignores his pleas for forgiveness and mercilessly slashes his throat.

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BLEACH TYBW Part 3 Reveals Shunsui Kyoraku's Bankai – and it's incredible
Kyoraku is forced to unleash his Bankai on Little Barro, and it's exactly what fans were hoping it would be.
The story of a couple with an abusive husband ends with shame and remorse before the woman takes the man's life and the theater play that Kyoraku's Katen Kyokotsu Karamatsu Shinjuu turns into reality makes his enemy the remorseful man.
Who is Ohana?
An alluring spirit
During Act 3, a mysterious and beautiful woman manifests behind Shunsui, someone he calls Ohana. This is Katen, the manifested spirit of Shunsui's Zanpakutou. She is an incredibly beautiful woman with violet hair, an indigo cape and a black eyepatch on the same eye as Shunsui. She only appears when Shunsui uses his Bankai, hence her line that he only plays with her once in a while. Katen has a very close relationship with her master, unlike other Zanpakutou such as Zangetsu or Zabimaru.

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Bleach: Is Zanpakutou Arc Design Canon?
The designs for the Zanpakutou spirit may come from a filler arc, but they have a lot of meaning
She was also first seen during the Zanpakutou Rebellion filler arc. She was one of the most popular designs seen in that arc, and it seems pretty obvious that writer Tite Kubo loved the design and incorporated it into the canon manga.
Tease you I may, but as lord and blade… Have we not sworn to put love and hate behind us and fall together like autumn leaves?
Shunsui Kyoraku has one of the most powerful and deadly Bankai seen in the series so far and many fans of the manga eagerly awaited its debut in the anime. Although it seems complicated at first, Katen Kyokotsu Karamatsu Shinjuu is easier to understand once you understand the flow of the theatrical story as one of the most elaborate and artistically impressive Bankai in Bleach.
