#second division

Bleach Jaws of Hell updated character designs!

Soi Fon/Sui Feng

Hair

Can I just say holy shit Soi Fon’s design is perfect! Let’s start with her hairstyle. As we know, Soi Fon has gone through a variety of hairstyles, with her signature being short with two long braids bound in white cloth, each ending in a large golden ring. Despite having an array, Soi Fon’s styles are typically short and symmetrical, largely due to practicality in battle. A HUGE detail about her redesign is her asymmetrical hair. It is cropped at a short length, with one longer strand of hair that dips below her shoulder on her right side. The significance of this to me is Soi Fon is clearly coming into herself as an individual. Her whole mantra is duty and order, with that being symbolized by her seemingly perfect hairstyle. This is amazing to see, because a character changing their hair is symbolism for change and growth. This could only mean that Soi Fon not only has worked hard on herself, but it’s also showing that she is finally starting to express her true personality, which is not always cold and bitchy as many people seem to think. Her hair could also symbolize her embracing part of her younger self as well, as we see that her hairstyle back then was more straight instead of choppy. She has a creative side, and she clearly has a sense of style and it’s WONDERFUL seeing her come into herself. I would be curious as to know when exactly Soi Fon made that decision, what triggered it, and her healing process of self-discovery.

Robes

Okay now I’m super excited about her uniform because I noticed a VERY IMPORTANT DETAIL! If you take a look at her captains haori, the cloth of the shoulders is pinned to the rest of the robe with gold pins, meaning, it comes OFF! Yes, I know right! Finally a practical, Stealth Force ready design! As we know, Soi Fon’s Shunko makes it so that the shoulders and back area are ripped away in battle where the spiritual pressure concentrates. This not only makes this transition more practical, but it also keeps her lovely robes in tact and probably saves her some money in the long run. Smart design for real and I’m surprised no one has mentioned it yet!!! As for the rest of her robe design, the rest remains the same.

Obi

Soi Fon not only has one, but two types of sashes fastened around her uniform. One is her typical yellow one tied in front, and the other a thin red one that almost resembles a ribbon tied in back. The yellow one can represent themes such as growth, sunshine, youth, and hope. It could also stand for inexperience, and we can relate that to her age and years as a captain. Though typically not worn in the front in modern times, her yellow one is tied in a Bunko knot around her haori. An easy explanation for this is ease of taking her robe off in combat as she could simply untie it. Apparently, it also used to symbolize a woman who was unmarried, which is true. The red ribbon is a brand new edition to her outfit and has had me quite puzzled in my research. In terms of meaning, red symbolizes blood, passion, romance, and good luck. Red belts symbolize mastery and skill in martial arts. We can take this opportunity to acknowledge that Soi Fon has most likely been training her ass off since the war. This would be a dope way to symbolize her growth by having her “earn” a red belt. Red ribbons especially in Chinese culture, are a symbol of good luck and joy. Now we get to the interesting shit. Red ribbons, in Japanese culture, are shown to symbolize a connection between 2 souls. Unlike other amorous superstitions, the Japanese one “isn’t limited to couples, or a single person who one is destined to find. It speaks of a type of arterial ramification that emerges from a finger toward all those with whom we will make history and all those whom we will help in one way or another. For the ontological imagination, the myth of the red string is a way to understand our itinerary of encounters as a predetermined plot where couples’ relationships, the intimate brushes against someone, and all the little stories we crisscross with others are neither random triumphs nor accidents, but part of a scarlet tapestry whose threads were given to us when we were born but which we knit ourselves. other.” So essentially, with this in mind, we can also summarize that it can symbolize her achievements and progress so far, and how it’s all leading up to her success. Now we could take it the love route and hypothesize the possibility of Soi Fon being in a relationship. As we all know Bleach isn’t necessarily known for it’s romance but it would be very interesting to watch unfold. Especially because who would it be? The first, most obvious hint is Yoruichi. What do red and yellow make? Orange, which leads us to Yoruichi…or at least a Shihouin in general. Now, I’m very open minded when it comes to ships. Realistically, YoruSoi makes the most sense happening and it would be hella amazing if it did. Heck just look, they are wearing COORDINATING outfits!

Instead, Yoruichi’s outfit is way more red, and she has a yellow ribbon tied into her hair, in contrast to Soi’s red one around her waist. I highly doubt Kubo did this unintentionally, and put thought into making the two a pair, whether or not as a mentor student or romantically. Another rabbit hole I plundered down was on Spirit Coils, which also have to do with a red ribbon. To put it shortly, those who are able to see and manifest a Coil have high reiatsu. Remember when Ichigo had to try and find his in order for his zanpakuto to upgrade. What if Soi Fon went on her own little zanpkuto journey into figuring hers out too? Not too far from crazy, especially knowing her setbacks. There was also a suggestion that red knots symbolize marriage and prosperity, again contrasting with the yellow obi.

Chinese Frog Knots

Another cool new set of details is the gold Chinese knots along her uniform. There are some where her haori comes together, some on her wrists and some on her shins. The two on her haori are traditional butterfly/floral knots, making a connection with her homounka flowers as they have a similar form. The knots are also a really cool way to boost Soi Fon’s Chinese aesthetic, as she is largely Chinese influenced.

Other things

Her shoes are slightly modified from her old ones, still traditional Chinese shoes, but with a couple black ties. They also hold Soi Fon’s pants into place at each shin, aiding in her speed and agility. In regards to her stance in the drawing, based on my observations, she appears to be either mid-kick or in a pose similar to a Tai Chi stance, which again would be fitting to put in along with the red belt.

Overall

Overall, I’m very impressed and exciting by all her new design elements and its always fun to research what they may mean in relation to the character. Kubo did a fantastic job with it, without doing too much, but also demonstrating how Soi Fon has grown from all those years. I really do think she’s going to go through some major development and these hint at that.

Yoruichi Shihouin

Outfit

Yoruichi is looking hawt af. Her red top has those same knots. She also has knee-high red boots on, in which could portray to “unruliness”, sensuality, and power. The angle she’s in unfortunately makes it hard to get a full visual of what exactly she’s wearing.

Ribbon

Yoruichi, like Soi Fon, has a ribbon wrapped around her ponytail only this time it’s yellow in color. Yellow seems likely to reference Soi Fon, and vice versa with the orangey-red. In non-related terms, a yellow ribbon can symbolize suicide prevention and for honoring soldiers away at war. Soi Fon is also basically a soldier so 🤷🏾‍♂️ but in all seriousness, both the red and yellow ribbon symbolize the longing for someone or that they’re love is on the way to them, I think that says a lot…

Arm cuffs

I can’t lie when I say I get nervous looking at those. They look an awfully lot like Yushiro’s, arm cuffs, especially the color. I hope he is alive and well after the war…but maybe she put them on to support him idk.

Overall

I’m again, super satisfied with her outfit. It fits her. It’s bold and bright and suits her personality.

Marechiyo Omaeda

Hair

Marechiyo’s hair seems to be based off of Japanese Bosozuku motorcycle gang hairstyles and fashion, which started as a fad in Japan in the fifties. His hair seems more elaborate, now having a pompadour. This style is obviously a way to show his wealthy and influential status.

Robes

Keeping with the Bosozuku theme, Omaeda’s robes are stylized like that of a customized boiler suit, or tokko-fuku. It has a wide collar, his being more exaggerated in terms of size. Unlike the tokko fuku, his robes do not have kanji Slogans on them, instead those are represented by his many gold rings.

Jewelry

Self-explanatory really. Omaeda has all the finesse. I love the addition of jewelry to his character and it really helps make him look like a punk or gang boss of sorts.

Obi

Okay he also has a really dope Obi design, and it’s very much bedazzled. It is purple and wide and includes a red obiage that seems to be held together by some sort of gold obijime with a large gold frog knot covered in gems. Again, I’m really liking the coordination of squad 2 and how Kubo really thought this out. Like Soi Fon, Omeada and Yoruichi both have red and yellow in their design as well as the addition of frog knots. It’s the consistency for me.

Overall

I’m really satisfied with his design. I love the greaser/bad boy motif going on. Something to note, is that since Bosozuku is a fad, it’s most popular with young adults, possibly also highlighting that Omaeda is also still young and impressionable. I love all the bling too and his pose is spot on. If you look up Bosozuku fashion the first picture is a guy in that pose. 😂 wonder if this means he’ll be tougher on the battlefield.

Chika Shihouin

Hair

Okay so they have white hair. From what we already have seen, white hair is often paired with longevity and youth. Ex, Hitsuguya, Chojiro, etc. I think this is telling us he’s not supposed to be as old as we think. White hair also hints at “nobility” and seeing as though he’s the Shihouin head at the time makes sense. I think Kubo designed him to stand out and I love it. Just goes to show the history of squad 2’s style is phenomenal. I do want to add that I know sometimes in anime white hair can mean being sick. What if this man has some weird disease or something, like Ukitake? Or maybe a dope ability.

Earrings

I LOVE that Chika has earrings, gives him such an edge. Of course, these gold earrings symbolize his status as a noble. His earrings are rectangular, gold hoops, which tended to originate in African and Latinx cultures.

Sashes

He is also coordinating with Soi Fon and Yoruichi. All three of them have the same colors within their scheme. This time, the red and gold ribbons are tied like scarves around his neck. Do I see a sense an epic battle coming? Hell yes! YoruSoi vs Chika would be the dopest battle ever, plus we would finally be able to see Soi Fon and Yoruichi have a full battle, helping each other, and maybe have some sense of closure. Around his waist, Chika wears an a red and gold obi with a white obiake.

Overall

I love his concept so much and wish to cosplay him. But seriously, all of these outfits are *chef’s kiss*. Let me know what you guys think below or if I missed anything. Just a lamenting, fanboy over here.

June 13, 1942: Men of the Second Division, U.S. Army, march down Fifth Avenue during the New York at War parade.

Thanks to NaraShadows releasing the Karui models I realized I had all the tools I needed to depict the battle the war arc really needed. One last fight for Neji, a conclusion to the Hyuga arc and a good reason for Hizashi to be part of the undead army. Threw in a couple bonus Edo Tensei edits to balance out the fight.

Credits

The first division is focusing more on the Shino Academy. After all they need bodies, but they need trained bodies, so ain’t no one just going to skate through the academy. Nanao Ise is chosen to oversee the graduation exams to ensure the people graduating are actually ready to join the Gotie 13 and not just being pushed through.

The second division is still out hunting for any escapees from the war. The Ishida family was pardoned and therefore is not to be touched, but the other quincies who escaped and could pose a threat are being watched to make sure they don’t try anything. Soi Fon begins a club for self defense for female shinigami that Marchiyo didn’t think was the best idea, but is ignored.

The third division creates the Gotie 13 band to help promote high moral. Shuhei Hisagi helps out with this when he can, but it’s mainly Rose and partially Izuru’s pet project.

The fourth division is overwelmed, trying to care for all the people while also trying to figure out their new leadership. Isane steps in flawlessly, running the division exactly as her mentor had before. She also takes over Unohana’s flower arranging class, because it also helps with moral

The fifth isn’t like the others, they don’t really have a specialty. As the taichou, Aizen felt that wasn’t necessary. Shinji actually agrees with that, one of the only things they ever agreed on, preferring to be more adaptable. Instead Shinji and Momo try to help other divisions rebuild.

The sixth division is still connected to the Kuchiki Clan, and one of their first jobs is to help rebuild the building for the archives for the Gotie 13, a project Byakuya oversees. They also begin to help out the ninth division more with security duty since the ninth can’t do it alone anymore. Renji takes over the Gotie 13 kickball tournaments because the previous leader was killed.

Tetsuzemon Iba has a hard time taking over the seventh division. Rose comes to visit him from time to time, having worked with his mother in the past. Love drops by every so often as well to give him pointers. Iba focuses on developing his division after the fifth’s example, being diverse as possible.

The eighth suffered the least in the war due to not really participating because they had no leadership. Therefore when Lisa takes over she makes sure they are actively assisting the other divisions. Her main priority is the fourth division. She also works with Nanao on assessing the graduating students.

Kensei, Mashiro, and Shuhei make a strong team for leading the ninth. They divide up the work since the ninth actually has multiple jobs that include the magazine, the security force, and are supposed to promote culture. Shuhei makes sure all the clubs are still running to give people an escape and is working to restart the magazine to give people entertainment. Mashiro leads the security teams, getting people from the sixth, seventh, an eleventh to assist. Cooking and writing contests are used to help improve moral.

Toshiro and Rangiku don’t really know where to start at first. They’re division also doesn't really have a specialty. However they find they can easily help by just being themselves. Toshiro checks on the other divisions, especially the fifth, to make sure people aren’t running themselves into the ground. Rangiku takes the other officers out for drinks regularly to do the same thing. 

The eleventh division is actually pretty down on moral. They lost Yachiru, something that hit them all hard because while they like the atmosphere of the 11th, the cheerful girl running around was candy was always a nice change. Kenpachi and Ikkaku jump back into training, and Yumichika ensures there’s more enjoyable things for the division to do. They send people to the ninth on security patrols and work to rebuild.

The twelveth is the least changed on moral. The division as a whole always had low moral to begin with. However it is going up because now they’re taichou can’t use any of them for his experiments as they are too low on people. They, like the fourth, are the most utilized the division in the rebuild as their technologies are needed to help create temporary structures until perminate ones can be made.

Since I posted my Second Division battle picture I figured I'd share this one too. I like the idea of these three being friends after being teammates in the war so whenever Kurotsuchi visits for kage meetings they meet up.