

I only have the anime to go on so maybe there's an explanation in the manga.
It seems clear that Ichigo is stronger than Rukia was in episode 1 at the
point of his first battle with Renji. In fact it seems like Ichigo may have
been stronger as soon as he became a soul reaper, but based on Rukia's
reaction to the stronger enemies up to that point (Menos Grande, and Grand
Fisher) it seems she believes that a single shinigami could hope to win in
cases where Ichigo does. This seems to imply that Ichigo is stronger than
Rukia ever was at that point. Then Ichigo fights Renji and is at least closely
matched. It's difficult to say that at the point where Ichigo gains the upper
hand whether he is stronger or weaker than when he was fighting stronger
enemies in the past but it does seem like Ichigo and Renji, at their first
meeting, are at roughly the same strength which is greater than Rukia's at the
beginning of the series.

But in episode 32 where Renji has his flashback to his time in the Rukon
district and training to be a shinigami it seems clear that Rukia was always
stronger than he was. So then how do we explain this discrepancy? Did Renji
get significantly stronger in the few months Rukia was in the world of the
living? Is there any particular reason for that? Or am I underestimating how
strong Rukia was at the start?


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bleach
How does Renji become stronger than Rukia?


When Rukia stepped into the world of the living, she had to inhabit a "Gigai"
(empty body) to be able to interact with the living. That body was provided by
Kisuke Urahara. Hidden inside that Gigai was one of his inventions (the
Hōgyoku), which by being placed in the same body as a Shinigami would be
destroyed, or so he planned. After Rukia gifting her Shinigami power to
Ichigo, her powers failed to return, and the Hōgyoku was what was blocking
Rikia's powers. Along with the tower she was held in during her wait for
execution, she was left with no power. Shortly after she was saved, the
Hōgyoku was stolen, and her power began to very slowly return.

In the later episodes, when she has recovered, you can clearly see her
strength after she has enough power to call forth her Zanpakutō with its
overwhelming ability to freeze enemies.

Just as Ichigo has gotten stronger from numerous fights with Hollow and
Shinigami, so has Renji from their fights and his own determination to save
Rukia from her execution and later protect her from further harm. Also, his
power was boosted considerably with him mastering his Bankai at the same time
Ichigo was unlocking his own.

Plus, all Shinigami have their power capped/suppressed when visiting the human
world, or they would seriously damage the living.


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Because he had the best scores in the academy, Renji was in the the advanced
class together with other students, Kira and Hinamori among them. Rukia was in
the normal class because her scores were worse.

Besides, the scene in the anime with Rukia making a bigger ball of light than
Renji is filler, and it doesn't appear in the manga. Additionally, that
wouldn't necessarily indicate that Rukia was stronger, as it can simply mean
that Rukia was better at kido.


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2015-06-08T11:53:26.100
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Renji has always been stronger than Rukia in every arc as he possesses bankai
and even in base form Renji would still slightly ahead of Rukia. Obviously,
after their training with the zero squad, if they all get the exact same
treatment, Renji would be stronger and Byakuya would be stronger than Renji.

In SS arc, Byakuya was stronger than Renji with bankai in just his base/shikai
state. even with shikai, Byakuya could have easily defeated Renji's bankai at
that time.

During the Blood war arc start Byakuya's shikai was also stronger than Renji's
by a lot. Renji was not even able to injure as nodt while Byakuya could.

During the fullbring arc, Ichigo's shikai was stronger than Renji's bankai as
seen from his feats against a Mid tier SR opie Ichigo was dominating while he
stayed in shikai but Renji could not even injure a mid tier as nodt.

If we say that Rukia after the 2 year time skip was a Peak/Top level Vice
captain and Renji a Low tier captain on the same level as SS Byakuya/Bankai
Ichigo then the power boost they all receive is 1 tier +.

Rukia would go from Top Vice captain to Top Tier Captain level same level as
Gin Ichimaru/Shinji

Renji would go from Low Captain tier to Low Elite/Senior Captain about as
strong as Stark/ulquiorra R1, bleach has confirm that Vasto lord are stronger
than captain which infact they are, that is why Captain level and Senior
captain are different

Byakuya would jump from Mid-high captain tier to Mid Senior captain tier which
is about the same level as Shunsui/Unohana

Ichigo in the fullbring arc should be in the same level as top Tier captain so
Shinji/Gin while Kensei should be a Mid tier captain, Soi Fon a high tier
captain

Aizen would be a high-top Tier Senior Captain while Yamamoto would be Top tier
Senior captain or shinigami Limit absolute limit

Ichibei would be a transcendent Level tier fighter as he in shikai was
superior to Yamamoto by a landslide given that he gave Yhwach a good beating
with ease before plot device came in.


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Renji appears stronger in the anime but eventually in the manga when Rukia
reaches her bankai and becomes captain of the 13th squad she gains tremendous
power and therefore is thought to become stronger than Renji. Her bankai being
considerably deadly and strong


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You forget Rukia has more spirit energy. She fainted as a kid because of the
spiritual pressure of the Shinigami. Renji wasn't able to feel it yet. Also
the hogyoku was slowly turning her human or something and after she got locked
away with no access to reiki. Wich made it so she wouldn't recover fast. Like
she would otherwise.


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