Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-18812574-20150614041041

Okay so, not sure if you all caught this from the last two manga chapters or so, but anyway, it's something that I've been thinking about since reading it.

Question: So how exactly do you suppose air-walking works?

We know Shinigami can affix Reishi beneath their feet in order to stand on air. What do you suppose the specific mechanics are behind it, and how do you think that differs for Quincy and Arrancar?

Here's the extract from the manga, the part that's been bugging me:

So if that's the case, do you think the Reishi in the atmosphere has to be at a certain consistency or wavelength? How exactly to you fundementally change the structure of ambient Reishi in order to make it a "Quincy-only" wavelength, let's say. After all, it's just Reishi. I was thinking that if Yhwach somehow made the Reishi in the air too "thick," you couldn't find specific points to attack your feet to, because it's all just one gigantic amorphous moving mass of Reishi. What do you think?

Back on the air-walking topic. It's never explicitely stated past the "affixing the Reishi beneath the feet" part how Shinigami do this, exactly. Is it a sub-skill of Hohou? We never really saw it used until the end of the Soul Society Invasion arc, I believe when Ichigo is fighting Byakuya with his Bankai. Before then he had to use Yoruichi's special cape to "fly." While I'm sure this is probably a case of Kubo modifying things after the cast (because damn is that a useful ability) it begs the question when and how a Shinigami would actually learn how to do it. I sort of wonder if it has something to do with the Shinigami projecting their inner Reiryoku/Reiatsu into the air beneath them in order to stabilize the currents and stand. Hirenkyaku, conversely, simply taps into the currents that are already there. If that's the case, perhaps Yhwach causing the Reishi in the air to become too thick to stand is a case of over-saturation? Where the Shinigami can't project their Reiatsu to stand because the air is alreadly "full" molecularly speaking.

Anyway... thoughts? 