u/Otherwise-Spring4448

Gin said the only way to escape KS is to touch the blade before it takes effect. So Novel statements and most of the Gotei being tricked by KS during FKT is a strong argument it controls reikaku. So the fact that Yamamoto claimed to be able to sense Aizen’s reiatsu despite already being infected could be viewed as wrong.

However the story never hinted that he was wrong, so it leads me to believe that reikaku isn’t a seperate 6th sense but more so a supplementary sense of the main 5 senses. So by manipulating those 5 senses the way KS does your reikaku will also hallucinate in a sense, but if your reikaku is strong enough than you could see through it and “fact check” the way Yamamoto did. To make sense of it let me lay down how I view the different levels in reikaku ability.

Tier 1 - Basic Presence and Unrefined Sensing

The most basic use to Reikaku, which allows people to see and hear spiritual beings and feel nearby reiatsu. Users can detect that someone is present even outside their line of sight but they lack the refinement to accurately gauge their power.

Examples -

https://preview.redd.it/9he9spedx2jh1.jpg?width=761&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c65b6564e8eb2597a5feb64753bf8d11441fd1a7

https://preview.redd.it/m6kdnkidx2jh1.jpg?width=1013&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=00dd9ecac450851fe563b751d9eba57b4f500ee0

https://preview.redd.it/8xl5nkidx2jh1.png?width=1028&format=png&auto=webp&s=f4a6442016b3ea73d430d8a98be7670d0e36f181

Tier 2 - Combat integration and Quantitive Precision

This is the tier where most characters that actually matter consist of. Seamlessly merges physical senses with reiatsu perception, allowing users to accurately gauge an opponents strength and reiatsu levels. During the heat of combat it takes a bigger percentage of your senses, enhancing reaction times to high speed techniques like the flashstep. The captains who couldn’t sense KS are on this level.

https://preview.redd.it/9zo0daypx2jh1.png?width=2048&format=png&auto=webp&s=786ebb5ed9d438ec92288724626e61d8b0104d19

https://preview.redd.it/t9bczaypx2jh1.png?width=1021&format=png&auto=webp&s=4d7d59e09e97dd12f70825b8e25a47b5a55b3daf

https://preview.redd.it/egv1vaypx2jh1.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=13418d29aa89359dc3af61c7f1f893cd67021edc

Tier 3 - Reikaku Overriding Physical Senses

This could be a completely wrong interpretation, as it’s my own theory. On this tier Reikaku completely takesover and overrides the physical 5 senses when either your physical or reiatsu senses are being manipulated for better or for worse. We already see it occur with Lille when Shunsui was overloading his reikaku with reiatsu causing him to physically hallucinate. And somehow Yamamoto was able to feel Aizen’s blade in him with Reikaku despite Aizen altering Yamamoto’s physical touch.

https://preview.redd.it/3057gl8ay2jh1.jpg?width=1013&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1fd7d036147951a1053c86f021c0e03895488fe8

https://preview.redd.it/c79q2l8ay2jh1.png?width=1023&format=png&auto=webp&s=8e0637f33720c0700f5e36bb823ad32bd5472dd0

Do you think KS affects Reikaku?

Also a follow up question, how do we scale reikaku and which characters fall into which tier? Using Kenpachi as an example, with matchups against Aizen I’ve seen people say that once he gets stabbed he‘ll be able to feel Aizen’s reiatsu despite KS telling him he got stabbed elsewhere overriding his sense of touch, a feat only Yamamoto was capable of doing, but ok sure. But then in arguments with Shunsui they say Shunsui’s reikaku games wouldn’t work since it only worked well on Lille due to having strong Reikaku sensing. So would his reikaku override his senses or not, and how would we even know which is correct? I would like to say it scales to strength as Lille and Yama are pretty strong, and that would make it easier to get an idea on the reikaku abilities of characters. But a Captain level character like Yammy not being able to tell if Tatsuki was strong pretty much refutes that.

Versions:

End of Series No Eye Patch Zaraki

Beginning of Series 2 Armed Yamamoto

Round 1: Base Zaraki vs Base Yamamoto

Round 2: Shikai Zaraki vs Shikai Yamamoto

Round 3: Bankai Zaraki vs Bankai Yamamoto

For starters I just think there's so much potential in unexplored past Avatar lives, I mean there's 10,000 years worth of history we can lean into so why the need to keep going forward?

But the main reason why I feel like going forward Post Korra feels isn’t the right move is because of the events of Book 2 which ended with her opening the portals between the spiritual and physical worlds. However one of the biggest traits for the Avatar is being "the bridge between the worlds" something established since the very first Avatar Wan closed the portals making him the only connection, but now that everyone can enter freely that role is kind of diminished in a way? Also the Avatar link between the past lives got broken meaning post Korra Avatars won't be able to contact pre Korra Avatars which kind of restrains the pre Korra Avatar lore in a post Korra Avatar series. We wouldn't be able to see their stories the same way Aang saw Roku's or Korra saw Wan's.

Thoughts?