User blog comment:Leo Kazisaski/Bankai levels/@comment-4509522-20121007163413/@comment-3001427-20121008201111

Its not that, at least thats what I think and what Blank is trying to get across. Its the pretense that it must exist as a completely new level. Ichigo in his form against Aizen demonstrated that mastery of one's Bankai does not exist. You can only grow closer and closer to it, expanding on its abilities. No new "level" actually exists. Its all about the relationship between one's zan and their character. When you introduce levels into, it cheapens Bankai. And by that it means, that Bankai and the Zanpakutou itselff arent characters, they're just... powerups, and from a story perspective its a fairly bad one.

You can improve Bankai, thats fine, just be tactful, be interesting, be original. Its already been established that the ability to control one's Zanpakutou powers is dependent on your relationship with them. So expand on that. Delve into it. Maybe to progress more into its powers, you have to discover the history of your Zan spirit. Maybe it had some wish it wanted fulfilled. Maybe the spirit needs something taken care of to finally be at peace, allowing you both to synch even further.

The assumption that Bankai must exist as levels just makes it no better than a two-bit doohickey that must be changed out whenever you get bored of it.