Quote:
|
JAIF answers the first part for me. The notion that he just took it head on, and suffered a minor cut, and Ichigo was all fine and confident, is extremely out there. He was..shocked..but that doesn't mean he couldn't dodge it. He was shocked because...that's freaking strong. Nothing else is revealed, or implied, that's..all. To assume any further is rather baseless. And..yeah, the blades did approach Ichigo in the shape of a coil, and we see clearly that they are standing on two points of uplifted rock facing each other in a straight line, and as the gash left in soukyoku hill indicates, the getsuga tenshou cut straight forward. The fact that it passed Byakuya's hand indicates that..he moved.
|
That may be true. However, that does not necessarily indicate that he lacks the speed to dodge it completely. Though this is nothing more than an assumption based on a personal opinion, it could be that he dodged the moment Ichigo released his attack, but the amplified spirit energy covered a larger area than he anticipated and therefore was scratched as it passed by. In other words, it was not viewed as essential to move a greater extent away from the attack, thus, his facial expression displayed surprise as Getsuga Tenshou magnified and even managed to harm him after he evaded. - Nothing more than my opinion. It's the same as saying Byakuya couldn't dodge it, or he was too slow.
Quote:
|
The fact that Ichigo countered Byakuya's shikai effortlessly with his own ability, shocked Byakuya with his power, and displayed such confidence afterwards, would suggest that the advantage was his, were we not shown anything else that might cast doubt on the..initial implications of this, and we weren't.
|
Regardless of the huge power difference between Ichigo and Renji, - Renji was able to stop Byakuya before he was able to release his thousand blades, said/displayed confidence and yet it did not raise his chances of winning one bit.
Quote:
|
Finally, once more, Byakuya calls getsuga tenshou slow while using bankai. He narrowly avoided a direct hit at shikai.
|
Byakuya has a speed increase when he uses bankai?
Quote:
|
And I don't get all this speed business. Ichigo learned to shunpo over training (and having speed focused abilities, predominantly, in bankai, I'm sure he knows a thing or two about moving fast properly), and was easily faster than Byakuya at unreleased state.
|
I'm going to need some photographic proof. - An incident where that is stated/impled/displayed.
Quote:
|
All I know is that the manga paints a picture that shows Ichigo looking like he has the upper hand
|
Ichigo Always looks like he has the upper hand. - It's what pissed Grimmjow off. Also, Byakuya does not look like he was at a disadvantage. His expression remained the same throughout the entire shikai battle. (Excluding moment Ichigo released Getsuga Tenshou)