Kisuke Urahara is the previous captain of the 12th Division before Mayuri Kurotsuchi succeeded his position. Widely proclaimed to be the most intelligent within the Soul Society, he has devised many scientific Inventions and innovative combat techniques. He also has incredible intuitive and deductive skills and can predict many things in advance accurately.
Kisuke Urahara has incredible swordsmanship, Hakuda, and Kido skills, which he uses in innovative combinations to outwit opponents. His wit and intelligence made even calculated men like Sosuke Aizen scared of him. His Zanpakutou, Benihime is an incredible Zanpakutou, which he’s used in relatively few situations to battle opponents. Literally, it means ‘crimson princess‘.
In this article, we’ll be focussing on the Shikai and Bankai release states of Benihime.
Benihime’s Shikai Release State
Kisuke Urahara releases the Shikai state of Benihime by using the command “Awaken“. This transforms his Zanpakutou into a sharp sword of fairly medium size. His Shikai state allows Urahara to use crimson-coloured energy in multiple destructive techniques against his opponents.
He activates all these techniques by verbalizing the appropriate commands. One of his common techniques is “Nake, Benihime“, which manifests devastating energy blasts. These blasts are of the crimson colour, the same colour as that of his reiatsu. One remarkable aspect of this blast is that it can counteract a point-blank Cero from an Espada.
Another equally awesome technique is called “Kamisori, Benihime“, which can cut through buildings or hard substances with ease. This is done by the crimson blasts, which have a sense of direction and hence, will follow the target. “Tsuppane, Benihime” can make an opponent’s attack dissipate at the contact point easily.
There are some other techniques like that of “Shibari, Benihime” and “Chikasumi No Tate“. The latter can help form a barrier that’s shaped like a hexagon and is often used as a defense. The former takes the form of a blood-red net, which can greatly restrict the movements of Urahara’s enemies.
Benihime’s Bankai Release State
Kisuke Urahara can activate his Bankai by calling out the phrase, “Kannonbiraki Benihime Aratame“. It’s kind of similar to Mayuri Kurotsuchi‘s Bankai in the sense that it takes on the form of a huge giant creature external to that of the blade. His Bankai helps materialize a gigantic woman wearing a crimson robe and sporting dark braided hair.
His Bankai has the unique ability to restructure everything it manages to touch. This can be used for both destructive and restorative purposes. Destructively, it opens up anything touched as if it was dissecting it. For restorative purposes, Urahara used it to bring back his eyes after Askin Nakk Vaar threw an offensive Gift Ring, taking away his eyes.
However, his Bankai has a very limited range and the effects aren’t permanent. For example, Urahara lost his restored eyes after he deactivated his own Bankai.
