Bleach/Tropes U-Z

Tropes for Bleach, U to Z:
"Ryuuken: "I returned his Quincy powers to him. Whether he uses them or kills them is up to him... as well as whether he lives or dies."
 * Ultimate Job Security: Even when Mayuri blows up his own squad, it doesn't damage his position as captain and in the Turn Back The Pendulum arc, the 10th Kenpachi never bothered turning up to captain's meetings - it was such a contentious point that other captains commented on it with disapproval. It didn't get him fired, however (he was later killed by Zaraki, but that was just because Zaraki wanted to prove his right to wear the 'kenpachi' title). Zaraki spends most of his time sleeping and Shunsui tries to avoid work to chase girls. Ukitake spends most of his time in bed sick.
 * Underboobs: Harribel, adult Nell
 * Unfamiliar Ceiling: This happens to Ichigo a lot.
 * Unfinished Business: The reason why shinigami have to perform konsou on spirits and why spirits might linger long enough to turn into hollows if they don't have konsou performed in time.
 * Unnecessarily Large Interior: Las Noches appears to be the size of a small country and doesn't seem to exist for any reason other than for Aizen to show off.
 * It's at least as big as the Seireitei, and the Seireitei is about the size of a good-sized city, so at a bare minimum ten miles across.
 * Unreliable Expositor: Even the Fourth Wall isn't safe from Aizen's mindgames.
 * Unskilled but Strong: Kenpachi Zaraki. His zanpakutou is permanently in its unsealed (shikai) form but has no abilities meaning he's the only captain who doesn't know his zanpakutou's name, and has no shikai or bankai powers. He also didn't go through the shinigami academy, achieving his rank by Klingon Promotion and leaving him with no formal knowledge of three of the four required shinigami arts. As to the fourth, Commander Yamamoto did try to force some formal kendo training on him but Zaraki loathed its philosophy so much he disregarded everything except one concept that made sense to him: using two hands to make his sword strikes stronger. On at least two occasions, he's revealed that he's so bad at strategising, he has to find a way that suits him rather than genuinely engaging in tactical strategies - his strategies always boil down to tanking cuts or cutting harder and stronger than before.
 * Unwitting Pawn: Muramasa's plan from the Zanpakuto Unknown Tales arc. It might qualify as a Roulette if Ichigo weren't so easy to manipulate.
 * Up to Eleven: Alot of the Shinigami who have Bankai simply take the basic theme of their weapon and apply this trope to it. Byakuya's shikai turns his sword into a shitload of tiny flying blades that look like Cherry Blossoms, but which can shred you into tiny little pieces in a hot second. His bankai takes this basic idea and then multiplies the number of blades by Eleventy-Zillion. Gin's shikai lets him extend his sword a hundred sword lengths, while his bankai lets him extend it even longer than that, this in addition to dramatically increasing the speed at which it extends.
 * Urban Fantasy: When the stories are set in present day Japan
 * Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Karin Kurosaki
 * Also, Ichigo and Ishida. Both were adorable as little kids but it got considerably worse for both of them after their Break the Cutie events (Granted, Ishida was already pretty unhappy before his Break the Cutie event, but still).
 * Vampiric Draining: Hollows feed on spiritual energy as a secondary source of nourishment (the primary being the "hearts" of both living and dead Humans). Sources include humans, Soul Reapers and other hollows.
 * Another example would be Ayasegawa Yumichika. This ordinary Bishonen Blood Knight is hiding his true power, which drains the spiritual energy of his target. When he does decide to use it, his battles end with a single strike. He can then use the drained energy to heal his wounds.
 * Vapor Wear: Harribel's clothing.
 * Variable-Length Chain: Nnoitra. Also Hisagi's Shikai.
 * Vibroweapon: Seele Schneider is this. Also, Cirruci's wing-blades.
 * Victory by Endurance: Nnoitra uses this against Ichigo. After the much-anticipated battle between Ichigo and Grimmjow, it looks like Ichigo has finally defeated his nemesis and rescued his Distressed Damsel...only for Nnoitra to show up and attack everyone.
 * Villainous Breakdown: Ulquiorra,,  , Barragan Luisenbarn, Szayel Aporro Granz, Zommari, Nnoitra, Yukio and Tsukishima.
 * Villain Pedigree:
 * Regular hollows seem pretty threatening for... about 15 episodes. When Uryu shows up, he and Ichigo are capable of mowing them down four or five at a time.
 * The first Gillian that shows up takes Ichigo and Uryu working together to defeat. And they don't actually kill it, they just hurt it bad enough that it decides to retreat. Now Gillians are nothing more than Giant Mooks.
 * At first even lowest Arrancars seemed to be a threat up to lieutenant-level fighters. By now, only few strongest have any reputation left, while lower ones are just a cannon fodder (which is probably Aizen's intention anyway). They're still threats to harmless civilians and low-ranking Soul Reapers, but What Measure Is a Non Super?
 * Villains Never Lie: Subverted with Ichigo, who expresses doubt that Aizen could have done the things he claims.
 * Visible Sigh: During comedic moments.
 * Vocal Evolution: Subverted, while the earlier episodes seemed to be have good voice acting, currently it ranges from mediocre to bad.
 * Wacky Parent, Serious Child: Ichigo and his father.
 * Walking Shirtless Scene: Grimmjow, Yammy, Avirama Redder, Kenpachi, Yamamoto (on a few occasions).
 * Walking Swimsuit Scene: The Beach Episode for starters.
 * War Arc: Half of the series revolved around one occurring between the Shinigami and Aizen's army of Arrancar. At the midpoint, we were thrown into another Rescue Arc scenario, before a second arc started concurrently. Taking five years (real-time), it officially ended in the Deicide mini-arc, with Aizen's final defeat.
 * The latest arc is currently building up another one between the Shinigami and the Vandenreich. Notably, we've already gotten our first casualty -.
 * Warrior Therapist: Aizen, SO MUCH in recent chapters. A bit subverted in that he isn't only trying to break his opponents will to fight him, rather to make them attacking uncaringly. Notably, he's horrifyingly efficient in finding and using his foes' Berserk Button at his own advantage.
 * Watching the Sunset: In the anime, Toushirou likes to hang out in a place that has the best view of the sunset because it reminds him of his childhood days spent with Momo, where they eat watermelons while watching the sky.
 * Weapon as Familiar: The Zanpakuto have Shikai (changes form of your sword and gives an appropriate ability to it) and Bankai (where your sword turns into an effect or creature with an increase in the Shikai ability and a few variations on it).
 * Weapon Twirling: The third seat of squad 8 tries to intimidate Chad with some quick swordplay, and just gets punched in the face.
 * Just before Tousen unleashes bankai on Kenpachi, he walks forward, twirling his sword in his right hand.
 * We Are as Mayflies: Soul Reapers and Hollows (and for that matter ordinary Soul Society civilians) live vastly longer than humans. But it's a bit of a subversion, since they're what humans might become after dying.
 * We Will Meet Again: In anime episode #141, the Arrancar to their Soul Reaper opponents as they're drawn back to Hueco Mundo.
 * We Have Reserves: Aizen mostly, although Mayuri also qualifies.  mildly subverted this with his Fraccion. He sent them in fully expecting them to win, and was noticably angered when they were all killed. However, he seemed to be more upset that their deaths made him look bad than that they actually died.
 * Wendee Lee: Dub voice of Yoruichi Shihoin, Tatsuki Arisawa and Ururu Tsumugiya; also the ADR director along with Kirk Thornton
 * Wham! Episode: Many times. See trope page for examples.
 * Wham! Line: The manga sports several of these. See trope page for examples.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: Ishida makes sewing and SCA-style costume design cool.
 * And Yumichika makes the phrase "thank you" so epic in the manga that the anime decided to give him Glowing Eyes of Doom and a dramatic music pause just to reinforce the point.
 * What Happened To The Mouse: There are a couple of examples of this, see trope page for detail.
 * "What the Hell?" Dad: Isshin and Ryuuken in two different ways (Isshin's lack of parenting is done via Obfuscating Stupidity and Ryuuken's through The Snark Knight routine). They even debate who is the worst father.

Isshin: "You're a pretty bad dad."

Ryuuken: "Better than you're doing."

Isshin: "Yeah. I know that.""


 * What the Hell, Hero?: Tatsuki does this to Ichigo when he refuses to confide in her after she confronts him.
 * Ichigo does this to Ishida when Ishida uses hollow bait in the middle of a city with a population of 100,000 people at least.
 * When All You Have Is a Hammer: Kenpachi's method of fighting. Also, Ichigo's. Also, both Hitsugaya and Harribel found themselves locked into a battle of this nature due to their powers being too evenly matched.
 * Whip Sword: Renji's Zabimaru and Rose's Kinshara.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy: Gin, much to Kubo's surprise. Hitsugaya subverts this trope, as he's actually a nice guy.
 * White Mask of Doom: Hollows and Vizards.
 * Whoa, Bundy!: After the heroes infiltrate Las Noches, Renji calls for a Whoa Bundy — something he never got the stoic captain of his squad to do.
 * Whole-Episode Flashback: The anime is fond of these, partially because the manga itself toys with them. There's even an entire flashback arc.
 * Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Crops up a hell of a lot.
 * The most prominent example would, of course, be Aizen's displayed superiority to all but like, one person in the entire series (and even that guy isn't that much stronger) versus his tendency to stand around looking pretty. Then there's the fact that his Zanpakuto can be employed at any time without having to use the ritual on anyone previously affected by it (read: everyone but Ichigo).
 * But when were you under the impression he had not employed Kyoka Suigetsu?
 * When she first used Resurrección, Harribel displayed the necessary speed and power necessary to get around Hitsugaya's defenses with her sword, and could have ended the fight at literally any point. Instead, she spent the entire rest of the fight playing tug of war with her water powers and his ice powers, evidently attempting to set up some sort of super attack. Possibly justified by him claiming he was taken by surprise, but given the fact that he had the time to set up an ice clone, that he was staring right at her and that he had immediately prior claimed that he shouldn't underestimate her, this claim loses some credibility.
 * Additionally, every Espada can supposedly use the uber-powerful Gran Rey Cero (which is basically "Wave Motion Gun Up to Eleven", the Wave Motion Gun in question being the regular Cero). Aside from Grimmjow, not a single one seems to remember this. Only three of them were fighting within Las Noches, and only two of the three can be excused by the "no Gran Rey Cero under Las Noches' dome" rule; the third has already demonstrated several times his willingness to flaunt and/or circumvent Aizen's orders whenever he felt like it, so he still falls for the trope.
 * finally remembers he also has GRC after he dies and goes to Hell, where he attempts to use it on
 * Zommari is fast enough to catch Byakuya by surprise, and his Amor gives him the ability to control anything he looks at. He foolishly wasted every opportunity he had to cut Byakuya down by pausing to give extremely long-winded speeches. This give Byakuya plenty of time to figure out a counter and defeat him.
 * After spending several chapters swinging his usual, very elegant at  and missing,   finally beats him by grabbing a fistful of his  and thrusting them through 's chest with a blast of kido.
 * Willfully Weak: Half of the cast is this, and seems to be the overall theme of the story.
 * A Wizard Did It: How did Ichigo, Chad and Orihime get such kick ass powers? The  did it! How does   become stronger? Lol, Hogyoku.
 * In Ichigo's case, it was explained that he had latent abilities and could already see spirits even as a kid. It is also explained that the Hogyoku can only grant a wish that is within the realm of reality, so Ichigo always had the potential to gain his current power. This is more a case of poorly executed Arc Welding and some Retconning.
 * Woman in White: Rukia in the Soul Society arc, Orihime in the Hueco mundo arc, and practically every single female Arrancar.
 * Words Do Not Make the Magic: Kido spells even with a incantation require skill to use and can sometimes be used without the incantation.
 * Worf Had the Flu: Have a broken as hell shikai and can't think of a way to let the enemy invoke The Worf Effect? Do like  did and give them a detailed description of its abilities.
 * The Worf Effect: It's almost as if Chad exists to fulfill this trope. And, as of lately, Komamura as well..
 * World Half Full: According to Hitsugaya in Chapter 461, Ichigo's influence is slowly making Soul Society a better place.
 * World of Badass
 * World's Most Beautiful Woman: Word of God states that Retsu Unohana is the most beautiful woman in all of Soul Society. That doesn't stop Charlotte Cuulhorne and Yumichika Ayasegawa engaging in a fight to the death to find out who the most beautiful person in the world is... of course, they're actually both men, but neither of them let that fact get in the way of taking this trope's intent seriously.
 * Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: Happens if a character is taken aback in a fight.
 * Ulquiorra manages to do this without his pupils vanishing.
 * Wretched Hive: Districts 78-80 of Soul Society.
 * Writing for the Trade: Definitely a series that reads better in Archive Binge form.
 * Wrongful Accusation Insurance: As unforgiving as the Soul Society's laws seem to be, surprisingly little is said of Ichigo's invasion once Aizen tips his hand.
 * X Makes Anything Cool: Certainly the only reason the Fullbringer organization is called "Xcution", even if it's still pronounced "execution".
 * Xtreme Kool Letterz: The latest Cast Herd are all part of a new organization called Xcution (pronounced 'execution).
 * Yamato Nadeshiko: To some degree, Momo Hinamori. Captain Unohana and Rukia's former idol Miyako Shiba embody this trope better, though.
 * Yank the Dog's Chain: Orihime and Ishida, so, so much. Just see the page example.
 * In a meta example: Tite Kubo keeps doing it to the readers.
 * Year Inside, Hour Outside: The "density of time" within the Precipice World - which acts as the primary passage between Soul Society and the real world - is 2,000 times higher (e.g. 2,000 years inside = 1 year outside), which made the place a useful prison in the past. It was.
 * Years Too Early: Anime examples: Byakuya Kuchiki to Ichigo in episode 55, and Bount Sawatari to Chad, Noba and Rangiku Matsumoto in episode 86.
 * You Are Already Dead: Happens pretty often, but a good example is when
 * You Can See Me?
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Aizen does this to everyone he sees as not being useful: Momo, . Mayuri also does this with a subordinate-turned-living-bomb who refuses to blow-up. Subverted by Byakuya with Rukia.
 * As a game example, Aizen also does this to
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Grimmjow, Nel, Szayel, Mayuri, Machiro, Hachi
 * You Monster!: Loly to Orihime of all people. Of course, this can be explained because Loly's an Ungrateful Bitch. Lilynette says something similar to Ukitake when he dispels her cero with his bare hand.
 * You Never Asked: Kisuke Urahara loves this trope.
 * You Shall Not Pass: Anime episodes 54 and 154
 * Your Head Asplode: does this to several Menos Grande during the  Big Damn Heroes moment. With his bare fists.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Several examples.
 * The Arrancar Loly uses the boots plus miniskirt version — Grade A, more exactly. Since she has Girlish Pigtails, the only thing keeping her away from Grade S is being a Yandere instead of a Tsundere.
 * One of Yoruichi's outfits was this.
 * Once the Hueco Mundo arc is over and she becomes a senior in Karakura High, Orihime Inoue starts wearing Grade A.
 * New character Riruka Dokugamine has turned out to be a Grade S.
 * Anime-only Nozomi Kujo goes between Grades A and C depending on how she's drawn at the moment, but usually is a B.