A manga that models its fights on old-fashioned fighting styles, where the verbal warfare in a fight was even more important than the physical aspect, absolutely revels in this trope as characters vie for a balance between cowing an opponent with the mere thought of confronting the power they possess and revealing so much the game is up before it's even started. Sometimes, characters fail spectacularly to get the balance right. At other times, they make this trope look good.
- First, because most of the series revolves around this, is Aizen. His power is unbreakable, near absolute hypnosis and sense controlnote that can be used against anyone who has seen him release his sword. Everyone in the series has seen his release except for the humans (and only Ichigo matters anyway). He lied about his ability to even reach that point, saying its power was to cause enemies to attack each other, by using water and fog, or some crap. All of this could be faked by his actual ability. Before he made his Villain: Exit, Stage Left, he told his enemies his ability. He had no intention of killing them, and was pretty much just gloating. This power is never beaten in the series, he simply eventually decides that he doesn't need it anymore and tries to brute force through anything in his path just for the challenge of it.
- Jirōbō Ikkanzaka brags about his ability to turn his sword into a bunch of flying shuriken in a long-winded speech until Uryu Ishida gets fed up and cuts him off with an arrow to the arm.
- Tousen, who explains the mechanics of his Bankai in his first major fight to his opponent. Said Bankai has the property of robbing all senses except touch. He's explaining it to a person who is already affected by it and as such can't hear the explanation.
- Hirako Shinji had several goes with this trope.
- First, he explains that his powers reverse his opponents' senses and movements (left=right, up=down, and all that), explains exactly how he does so, though he later reveals that he was leaving some vital information out, in an attempt to throw Aizen off the track. He even specifically brags that even one as powerful and skilled as him couldn't figure out and reinvert all of his combat maneuvers. Bordering on comedy, his opponent does so immediately, even figuring out that some directions omitted from the explanations are also inverted.
- He manages to pull a bit of a comeback in a later fight, where he reveals himself to be Not Quite Dead and activates the ability while several other fighters are ganging up on one target. Inversion does catch the opponent by surprise and allows others to get a few hits in.
- Later, Shinji explains the basics of his powers again, when fighting Bambietta Basterbine. Bambietta doesn't gain any particular advantage from this since her next move would've worked just as well without any info about his powers. She points out that it doesn't matter if she doesn't know where her opponent really is, because she can just blow up everything.
- Gin does the same thing:
- He explains one aspect of the powers, but neglect to mention another so it'll catch the opponent completely by surprise. It fails even more completely, as Ichigo almost immediately realizes that Gin was leaving something out, and then almost immediately figures out what that was. Specifically, that being a sword thirteen kilometers long is pretty pointless and the real danger is the speed at which it expands and contracts, so if even for a moment its pointed directly at you, you are at risk of getting skewered.
- Second round of power revelations however, shows that both of the above layers were straight up lies masking a third. It doesn't grow or shrink at high speeds, it instantly assumes the necessary length via essentially transformation. And a fourth, that insides of the blade are made out of deadly poison that he can leave a shard inside of his target after skewering them.
- Largely averted by Kyouraku, Ukitake, and Starrk. When Starrk wonders how Ukitake seems to fire a Cero at him he's told to work it out for himself. Neither Starrk nor Kyouraku bother—at that stage—to explicitly state what their skills are either, only to make observations and assumptions about each other. Naturally, some of this backfires on both parties.
- Kyouraku's explanations are justified. His power is to force both opponents to abide by rules of children's games, so he has to explain them to the opponent for the game to work... And he still tries to do so only after getting a sneaky strike in. Along with just explaining the basic rules, and leaving his opponent to figure out the implications of those rules for themselves.
- Zommari spends all of his fight with Byakuya explaining how his powers work. In very long-winded speeches. This is lampshaded by Byakuya himself: "You should be ashamed. Before my eyes, without wasting any time, you revealed your entire hand to me." What a pity Zommari didn't pay attention—but then again, he was also supposed to represent the curse of intoxication, and he was intoxicated by both Aizen's and his own power.
- Every time Izuru Kira fights an enemy, he feels the need to explain Wabisuke's ability to double the weight of his target every time he hits. Every. single. time. However, he usually doesn't explain it until he's already affected them. Main (canon) fights in which he's used this sword were against Rangiku, who was immune once she released her own sword, and Avirama Redder, who was designed to be susceptible as he was a bird who attacked and defended with his wings. The second explanation ended with him also explaining why his sword was shaped so oddly. In the first case, he prefaces the fight by asking if Rangiku knows, only for Rangiku to say that she doesn't know, since most people don't freely disclose their Zanpakutos' powers; only Izuru's old friends Renji and Momo know what his Zanpakuto does.
- Averted with Yumichika as well. Yumichika never even introduces his name to anyone he fights, let alone his real power. He once admitted he had a kido-based secret (which he doesn't disclose to the fellow members of the 11th Division, who prefer swordplay and have disdain for kido) before unleashing his power but didn't describe the power itself. The second time he uses it, he didn't offer any explanation at all until his flowers were already budding and by then, there was only just enough time for him to explain his power before his opponent died.
- Sui-Feng always explains that her weapon kills in two strikes. Lampshaded when Ggio Vega dodges her attacks and calls her a fool for warning him. It turns out to be an example of psyching out the enemy, as she was only testing him to see what an Arrancar's power was like. Once she'd seen enough, she promptly revealed she'd hidden certain aspects of her Shikai, such as the requirement for two hits not being limited to striking the same place outside the body as long the two stabs were able to cross each other inside the body, creating a two-hit strike internally instead of externally.
- Ulquiorra gets a prize for explaining his Regeneration, a basic skill in anime, and none of the other, more important abilities. And he explains his regeneration to a monster that possibly doesn't even know what he's saying! This stands out simply because he chooses to explain how he can recover eyes and limbs, and yet he never explains how he gained his second form, if his lances are unstable, and how he hid this form for X amount of years.
- Parodied in the Vandenreich arc, where one of the Sternritter, Berenice Gabrielli, was killed (offscreen) because she kept talking about her powers instead of defending herself. While fighting Kenpachi Zaraki. Who was deaf at the time. Hence we don't even know what her power wasnote . Parodied again when another Sternritter, Shaz Domino, starts to brag about his powers, but Ichigo blasts him with a Getsuga Tensho and moves on before he could say anything about it.
- Yamamoto-Genryuusai explains what his Bankai does, but in his case, he can afford to because there's really nothing an opponent can do to counter a 15-million-degree Flaming Sword and Battle Aura except Run or Die. He also doesn't say anything about how it actually works or of any potential weaknesses. Explanation ends up not mattering in the slightest for the outcome of the battle.
- Hitsugaya creates a wall of ice that Bazz-B can't melt with his fire powers, shocking him. Instead of attacking him while he's confused, Hitsugaya and Rangiku explain in great detail how they combined Hitsugaya's ice powers with Rangiku's ash powers to create a multilayered wall of vacuum-sealed ice.
- Rose has a moment right up there with Shinji. Rose's Bankai, Kinshara Butōdan, has the ability to generate illusions through sound that the mind makes real. While he's doing this, he completely outlines what his power is to Mask de Masculine, ensuring the man renders himself deaf, and leaving Rose dying on the ground. Well done, Rose, well done.
- Äs Nödt is left incredulous when Rukia is unaffected by his "Fear" power. She explains that she unlocked Sode no Shirayuki's true power and froze herself into a state of waking cryostasis, and can't feel fear in that state because she's technically not alive. She also adds that once she reaches absolute zero, she can only stay in this form for four seconds safely. Telling him this doesn't stop her from curb-stomping him.
- Guenael Lee constantly explains his ability, The Vanishing Point. In his case, he can afford to because The Vanishing Point makes him literally invisible and constantly erases his opponents' memories, so they forget all about him even while exchanging blows. Though it does raise the question of why you would explain to people your power of being able to make them completely forget your explanation. He's also not even real, but a product of Gremmy's imagination.
- Gremmy Thoumeax (the real V of the Quincy) explains how his power works with each attack, explaining that he "imagines" something and it becomes true. This comes off as extremely smug, as he waits until after he's used his ability to explain why his victim's attack failed or why their bones are now made of cookies. Presumably, he does it in order to help him keep pictures in his head. The habit ends up backfiring when he No Sells an attack by Kenpachi and explains that he imagined his body was harder than steel. He's cut off mid-sentence when Kenpachi adjusts his attack's strength so he can cut through steel, slicing Gremmy.
- Nianzol Weizol explains that his Space Master abilities can distort enemy attacks. Shutara has some mooks attack him from behind, but he distorts them and further explains that he doesn't have to see the attack, he just has to be aware of it. Shutara thanks him for clearing that up and impales him with an attack he was not aware of.
- In Askin Nakk Le Vaar's fight with Oetsu Nimaiya, Nimaiya suddenly collapses in pain. Askin gloats that he can make things poisonous, and used this ability on Nimaiya's own blood. This allows Nimaiya to counter by cutting himself to drain his tainted blood, then having Tenjiro Kirinji quickly replace his blood.
- Askin in general is very bad about this. He completely explains the finer details about his ability to both Yoruichi and Urahara, including the additional immunity power-ups that come with his Vollständig. And then he has the gall to ask Urahara about what his Bankai does (Urahara thankfully goes for Show, Don't Tell).
- Ichibei Hyōsube explains his powers of knowing, erasing, and altering true names and of darkness to Yhwach while smacking him around. When Ichibei attempts to finish him off, Yhwach reveals he becomes able to counter people's powers once he understands them.
- After managing to incapacitate Aizen of all people, NaNaNa Najahkoop smugly explains his ability to target people's weak points after analyzing them.
- Averted by Pernida Parnkgjas, the Left Arm of the Soul King, who almost never explains any of his powers even when his enemies figure out what's going on. Most of his victories result in his enemies having no idea what the hell hit them, and even Mayuri Kurotsuchi, the scientist who is essentially ten steps ahead of his enemies and mocking them about it, can't quickly figure out his powers until after they're in effect, resulting in multiple Oh Craps as his predictions blow up in his face. The only time he bothers to explain his abilities is when he reveals he can create a reishi bow and arrows, aka a basic Quincy power pretty much every Soul Reaper knows about, after using them to counter Mayuri's Bankai's Adaptive Ability.
- After Kyouraku explains the rules of the game that his powers force Lille Barro and himself to play (related to the rules of Kyouraku's powers), he asks Lille to explain his powers to make it even. Lille calls him a fool, but then decides knowing what his power is won't help Kyouraku that much, so he tells him about his Unblockable Attack.
- Lampshaded during a conversation between Kenpachi and Gerard Valkyrie. This trope was brought up when Kenpachi called Gerard a "bad villain cliché". It is Justified because there is nothing any ordinary person could do to stop Gerard from killing anyone. However, Kenpachi is not ordinary. Unfortunately for him, Gerard is still capable of beating his ass into the ground.
