Respect to the Sadistic Bomb Queen: Stern Ritter E: The Explode - Bambietta Basterbine
Erik M.
I want to take this time to express my admiration for a particular woman in anime who has forever solidified my feelings towards my favorite manga/anime of all time. She made her first appearance in chapter 494 (The Closing Chapter Part One) of the Bleach manga in 2012, and ten years later, she made her debut in the anime in cour 1 of the Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War (TYBW) anime, episode 3 titled March of the Star Cross. She was the first confirmed female Quincy of Bleach, and she possesses the power to turn anything she combines her reiatsu with into a bomb. That's right, this article is about the Wandenreich’s Stern Ritter E: The Explode, Bambietta Basterbine.
Why am I dedicating this piece to a villain, well, I’m a total simp for female villains because I find them more interesting in terms of personality, origin, and powers than female heroes. In some media (at least when I was growing up), the female heroes were always getting upstaged by their male counterparts, with notable exceptions being Sailor Moon, The Powerpuff Girls, and Kim Possible.
SideNote: Other examples include Esdeath from Akame ga Kill, Android 18 from the Dragon Ball Franchise, and Raynare from High School DXD.
With Bambietta's presence in the Bleach story, her character and powers explain everything:
She establishes herself as a force of nature, quickly overpowering the Soul Reapers alongside her fellow Stern Ritters (which is also a mostly male group) and fighting toe-to-toe with Squad 7 Captain Sajin Komamura and his lieutenant Tetsuzaemon Iba simultaneously.
She's able to defeat multiple unseated Soul Reapers with little to no effort and even defeated Squad 5 Captain Shinji Hirako, despite the latter using his shikai ability, a feat only Aizen was able to counter.
Her powers among the Bleach cast are among the most original, as she has the power to turn anything, both living and non-living, into a bomb, making her powers almost impossible to dodge and defend against in most combat situations.
Her Quincy Vollstandig: Zofiel (Blaze of God) further empowers her explosive powers, allowing her to create bombs out of nothing in all directions. Her overall fighting capabilities were considered such a threat to the Soul Reapers that Komamura was forced to use the trump card he was planning to use on Yhwach in the form of the Humanization technique. Despite “technically losing” to Komamura, she still took him out of the war for the rest of the arc.
Overall, she has better feats than most Bleach characters in the series. Power-wise, her exploding powers are more original and far more deadly than other explosive users in other manga and anime, including Katsuki Bakugo from My Hero Academia, Deidara from Naruto, and Karasu from Yu Yu Hakusho, easily making her top tier.
Yet, despite her ruthless nature on the battlefield, as a long-time Bleach fan, I could sense a hidden complexity to Bambietta. There undoubtedly exists a tragic backstory that hints at the struggles and sacrifices she endured to reach her position of power as a Stern Ritter. One of her personality traits is her strong sense of survival and self-preservation. During her second battle with Komamura, she showed physical shock and confusion over the lengths the Captain went to in order to kill Yhwach and how he willingly forfeited his life for the sake of revenge. Upon realizing she was fighting a battle she could not win, she fled because she values her life above everything, she even stated the following...
"The whole point of fighting is that you don't want to die! That you'll be killed if you lose! If you throw your life away in battle, where's the point in winning?” - Bambietta
One attraction to Bambietta’s character is her sadistic nature and how she uses that to highlight her appeal and character. Her most infamous scene in Bleach, was when she ordered a male subordinate to accompany her to her room for “special relief,” only for her to kill the soldier by cutting him in half, shirtless.
After committing the deed, Bambietta looks with the most disinterested and unremorseful look I’ve ever seen. Here, it wasn’t the murder that drew me to Bambietta, but the details of the event. I’ve re-read and re-watched that scene over and over to look for any hints or clues that Tite Kubo may have dropped, only to have come up short.
Sidenote: One of the ongoing debates about this scene is whether Bambietta actually “hooked-up” with said soldier and whether fans will ever get an answer. It was that one scene for me that separates Bambietta from being a one-dimensional villain in comparison to some of the other Stern Ritter.
Also, my fascination with Bambietta lies in the fact that she exudes 'Head Woman in Charge' energy. If the Wandenreich were a high school and the Stern Ritter were the popular kids, then the Bambies are the cheerleaders and Bambietta is the Prom Queen/Homecoming Queen/Head Cheerleader. The fact that she can confidently call herself the leader among her fellow female Stern Ritters without any pushback, and even declare herself the Queen of the Quincy following Yhwach’s death, showcases confidence in top-tier form.
Some of my favorite moments from Bleach TYBW cour 1&2 have involved Bambietta, from her introduction to her decisive battle with Sajin Komamura. Even her zombified moments were still awesome to see. Sadly, due to the events of cour 2, we most likely won’t see Bambietta in the upcoming cour 3&4 of the Bleach TYBW anime. However, with her popularity among fans and the fact that cour 3&4 will have more original anime-only content, I have some hope that Kubo will not let his fans down and give us what we want.
After all, Kubo himself admitted he likes her character and wanted to do more with her and the rest of the female Stern Ritters, so hopefully Bambietta’s popularity does just that. Come on, Kubo, make it happen.
