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Introduction
The purpose of this post is to examine the true power of Squad 0 and quantify how potent said power truly is.Statements/Translations
The English and Japanese statement as per its appearance in the anime. The Japanese text for the official translated portion of “Even the slightest use of our powers would cause the heaven and earth of the three worlds to tremble” is “我らが能力は袖振るだけで三界天地を震えさす”. I translated it as follows, “With our abilities, merely the wave of our sleeve causes heaven and earth/the universe of the three realms of existence to shake”, where heaven and earth and the universe can be used interchangeably as they come from this kanji 天地.However, it goes a little deeper than that, when the kanji 三界 and 天地 are used in tandem, as they are in Shutara’s statement, it generally is used to refer to the collective entirety of the cosmos as understood in a Buddhist sense. This is corroborated by r/translate (a decently reliable subreddit for acquiring translations from one language to another), IMade (someone who studied Japanese in college), ChatGPT (intelligent AI/interactive web browser), and obviously myself (someone who studied Japanese in college).
So, from multiple sources, it is blatant that what Shutara is saying is that the true power of Squad 0 can shake the individual planets that the humans, Shinigami, and Hollows live on in WotL, SS, and HM, as well as the cosmos/outer space each of those focal planets reside in. What that means as well as how this should be interpreted will be discussed further below.
Feat/Interpretations
Here is a gif of the actual portrayal of the feat in question. To explain so in words, we see the area within Reiokyu shake, we see Seireitei down in Soul Society shake, and we see Karakura Town in the World of the Living shake. Going over strictly what we see shaking from the feat includes aspects of the WotL, SS, and Reiokyu.I interpret this feat, based on its showings and statements, to be that the true power of Squad 0 is shaking the 3 universes (the heavens) that each realm’s main planet (the earth) resides in. Thus, the feat would be 3x the minimum value found here, or 4.603 ExaFOE (4-A). The logic being rooted in the translation of the statement indicating that Shutara is shaking 3 universes, combined with the fact that we see more than just the planets shaking in Reiokyu itself shaking.
The reason I believe this is the most likely interpretation is primarily due to the consistent translations and interpretations of other translators that result in Shutara stating that she is making the entire cosmic structure of the 3 realms shake. This would inherently include the planets where the majority of people in Bleach reside on, as well as the outer spaces these planets reside in. The opposing interpretation would be that only the planets shook or that the statement is hyperbolic, which can only be rooted in the fact that we don’t explicitly see stuff like stars in the cosmos shaking. However, there are multiple reasons why that interpretation is not an objective or even inherent defeater to the interpretation I provided.
First and foremost, not being explicitly shown something is not evidence of said something not being true. Especially when you consider that the reason we only get perspectives from the planets is because we are focusing on the perspectives of characters, characters which aren’t floating in outer space. In Reiokyu we focus on the Elite Sternritter and Ichigo and Co.’s reactions. In Soul Society we focus on Shunsui’s reaction within the Seireitei. In the World of the Living we focus on both Isshin and Ryuken’s reaction in Karakura Town. Furthermore, we aren’t shown any interactions from those within Hueco Mundo, but are explicitly told that all 3 realms are shaking. The notion that we aren’t explicitly shown outer space shaking meaning that it didn’t shake is inherently an incorrect conclusion to draw, because the interpretation that the only things shaking are what is shown contradicts Shutara’s statement regarding the affecting all 3 realms.
Secondly, the claim that Shutara is being hyperbolic, in a vacuum, then falls under an equal interpretation claim. Off the bat, this would only defeat a concrete rating, but does not debunk the equally valid interpretation, in a vacuum, that the statement is not hyperbolic. Thus, the feat would inherently fall under valid use of likely or possibly ratings. However, the claim that the statement is hyperbolic is not backed by any in-verse evidence. Rather it is the opposite, multiple translation sources claim that the verbiage is more likely to be literally in reference to the entire cosmological structure in the context of the earth and outer spaces of the 3 realms. Also, we explicitly see parts of the Bleach universe beyond just the planets shaking. Reiokyu shaking is inherent evidence that Shutara’s shaking went far beyond that of the planets, as the pocket dimension of Reiokyu exists far beyond the bounds of the planet Seireitei resides on. Therefore, the literal interpretation would be superior and more likely to be true, due to harboring more evidence than the hyperbolic interpretation.
Lastly, to add tertiary supporting evidence to the second argument supporting the literal interpretation of the statement provided in the last paragraph, the statement itself is heavily contextualized with Buddhist influence. Bleach itself is heavily inspired by Buddhism, to no one’s surprise, its cosmology in its multiple realms mirrors that of Buddhist cosmology and the transmigration of souls is a blatant portrayal of Samsara. Furthermore, Shutara and the rest of Squad 0 are very old souls, well over thousands of years old, such that it is logical that they speak in more archaic phrasing. This is important because the phrasing Shutara implements is a very archaic and Buddhist inspired way to reference the entire universe. And it makes sense for her to refer to the universe in this manner, because words like 宇宙 (the modern way to refer to the universe in Japanese) didn’t arrive to much later in the Japanese dictionary. Basically, the shorter version of what I am saying is, it is consistent for these Buddhist inspired characters that date back to thousands of years prior to modern day to refer to the universe in archaic ways.
Outlier
This section is to address whether or not the true power of Squad 0 being Multi-Solar System level is an outlier by vsbw standards. I will go over each guideline and explain why I believe that the very outlier standards of vsbw permit this feat as legit.Guideline 1: Is it a big jump or drop in power? If a character with several city destruction feats is shown to be able to destroy a mountain, we cannot necessarily consider it as an outlier, for the reason that the jump between tiers is not extreme enough to be so, despite the jump between energy values we attribute to them. If the character has very few feats, we can likely ignore this point. Yes, this is a very large jump in power, going from the Exaton range of High 6-A to the ExaFOE range of 4-A. However, the true power of Squad 0 has no feats except for this very feat. Because these characters have very few feats, we can likely ignore this point. Thus, we are not limited by the first guideline for an outlier.
Guideline 2: Is it a unique or exceptional incident? If incidents of a similar level are repeated consistently over time, they are unlikely to be outliers. Usually, from the third incident onwards. If the character has very few feats, we can also likely skip this point. Yes, this is a rather unique/exceptional incident. However, just like the first guideline, if we have very few feats, we can also likely skip this point. Thus, we are not limited by this guideline either.
Guideline 3: Is the event unexplained and unjustified? If an extreme incident is not accompanied by any kind of explanation that justifies it, it is probably an outlier. But if it can be explained by means of some power-up, vulnerability, or limiter, it is likely not. If Superman is wounded by a bullet, it's probably an outlier. But if Superman was under the influence of red sunlight or was previously weakened with Kryptonite, it is not. No, the event is not unexplained/unjustified. We are explicitly told that the reason for this massive jump in power is because Squad 0 sealed away their powers so as to not harm the 3 realms of existence. Shutara describes in the scans I provided that 3 of the 4 Squad 0 Captains (excluding Ichibe) can sacrifice their lives in order to unlock the true power of the remaining Squad 0 Captain. Since the event is explained, we are not limited by the third guideline.
Guideline 4: Does the event break the previously established power-scaling? Here we must take into account a number of factors, such as comparable characters possessing feats or statements of a similar level to the hypothetical outlier, the outlier not being supported by fights that might suggest a similar level, or subsequent events or statements that contradict it in some way. In this case, I’d say it is debatable whether or not this can break the previously established power-scaling. There are other characters that are stronger than Squad 0 (basically the God Tiers) that have scaling to statements of being capable of destroying the entire Bleach universe, all 3 realms of existence and then some. However, we currently do not scale these stronger characters to the Bleach cosmos due to lack of more unambiguous statements and feats, and currently use a minimum of the God Tiers being capable of destroying planets and massively scaling above the feat of destroying a dimension with a star in it. However, I can say that this feat is not contradicted in some way by subsequent events or statements. While this guideline isn’t inherently satiated, it isn’t inherently limiting either.
Guideline 5: Does the event break with the narrative of the work? Many times an outlier breaks with what has been previously established or shown in a work, creating inconsistencies that are difficult to resolve unless we invalidate one of the two events. If, for example, a character claims not to be able to dodge bullets, even though he was previously seen dodging them explicitly, we are faced with a contradiction where we will probably have to resort to using the more reliable evidence. No, this event does not break the narrative of the work. As mentioned in the prior guideline explanation, we aren’t faced with a contradiction barring us from utilizing this feat. Thus, the fifth guideline does not limit this feat.
All in all, we are likely not limited by 2 guidelines (1 and 2), we aren’t limited by another 2 guidelines (3 and 5), and we arguably aren’t limited by the last guideline (5). Because we are not limited by the majority of the guidelines, we can safely conclude that this feat is not an outlier.
Conclusion
To conclude, I believe that because this feat is not an outlier by our standards, and that the literal interpretation is the superior interpretation, the feat should be accepted as legit and applicable to profiles. Upon careful consideration, I do not believe that even a likely rating would be superior to a full on rating, as 4-A in and of itself is a lowball for the feat, given that shaking the entire cosmos of Bleach’s 3 realms could be interpreted as shaking the Low 2-C constructs, and thus fall under significantly affecting a tier 2 construct (which is grounds for tier 2 scaling). Finally, if this feat is contradicted in such a way that makes it an outlier or invalidates the feat in any way in the future, I (or someone else) will simply downgrade the feat. As the anime is ongoing, there exists the possibility that this feat is made further consistent or inconsistent with time. However, that is not reason to discredit the feat now, when we have ample information and argumentation to apply it. This feat does not alter scaling in any way, with it only scaling to Squad 0 themselves and the God Tiers as they are the only characters who definitively scale above the true power of Squad 0.As a minor addendum, I was told by some that the default for such shaking is magnitude 4, but I don't know how legit that is, hence I used the minimum for the common reference feat of magnitude 2. If in the event this gets accepted, I'll differ to more knowledgeable staff on what magnitude should be defaulted to.
Agree: Tracer (4-A, possibly 2-C), Dale (Mag 4), KT (4-A), Clover (Mag 4), Lephyr (4-A), Griffin (4-A), Damage (Mag 4, 4-A)
Neutral:
Disagree:
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