In the hit anime/manga franchise Bleach, the hero Ichigo Kurosaki must do battle with four broad sets of villains. First, he exorcises hollows (evil spirits), to make Bleach a sort of "monster hunter" anime. Then, when Rukia is captured, he and his friends fight the Soul Reapers, until it is revealed that all this was just Captain Aizen's evil plan.
Ichigo allies with the Soul Reapers against the powerful arrancar, or unmasked hollows that wield zanpakuto, like the fearsome Espada. Finally, the good guys clash with the Sternritters, the elite Quincy who are determined to take down the Soul Society and remake reality according to Yhwach's grand plan. But some Sternritter are cooler and scarier than others. Which five are true boss battles, and which five are total pushovers?
10 Strongest: Gerard Valkyrie
For a time, it seemed that nothing could stop this top-ranking Sternritter. A brawny, blond man who looks vaguely like Thor, he has the letter "M" for The Miracle, and he has the ability to become stronger when he's being beaten in battle.
In short, he's always capable of a miraculous comeback, and he can grow into a titan form that an even adult Toshiro Hitsugaya struggled to overcome. It took more than one Captain to finally put this monster down for good.
9 Weakest: Lilotto Lamperd
This is Sternritter "G", or The Glutton, and she's one of the five so-called Femritters of the bunch. She also looks the youngest and has the least impressive power among the five girls: she can extend her mouth and eat things.
She did kill Sternritter "L" off-screen, but for the most part, she just ate a few redshirt Soul Reapers to show off, then struggled to defeat anyone else on the field of battle. It takes more than a big appetite to defeat Ichigo, to say the least.
8 Strongest: Gremmy Thoumeaux
This Sternritter is so incredibly powerful, some of the other Sternritter see him as a monster who never should have been allowed to roam free. He is The Visionary, and he can manifest absolutely anything with his imagination alone.
The sky is the limit with a power like that, and Gremmy can even heal serious injuries just by imagining himself in perfect health. Even the almighty Kenpachi Zaraki was forced to use shikai to take Gremmy down, and afterward, he was too exhausted to fight anyone else.
7 Weakest: Berenice Gabrielli
This Sternritter is so inconsequential, she appears exactly once in the manga: in a flashback of her defeat (and even then, for just one panel). During the first battle with the Quincy, Kenpachi defeated her with ease.
She is Sternritter "Q", meaning she can ask a question, and if her opponent answers, they start suffering self-doubt. Kenpachi pierced her throat to silence her, and this rendered her totally powerless. Not the scariest Sternritter out there.
6 Strongest: Bazz-B
This is Sternritter "H," or The Heat, and his power is exactly what it sounds like. He can wield fire in battle, and in more than one way. He can even take on Captain Hitsugaya while holding something back, which is remarkable.
He measures his power based on the number of fingers used, from one to five, and just using one or two fingers is enough to challenge a Captain. Only an exceptionally powerful Quincy could pull off something like that.
5 Weakest: Gerome Guizbatt
Gerome is Sternritter "R", or The Roar, and he's in a similar position as Berenice: he only appears in a brief flashback, depicting his quick defeat. But at least he's more interesting in theory, and he might remind readers of Winston from Overwatch.
He's a huge, brawny Sternritter who can let out a mighty roar to disable and weaken his opponents before he crushes them. But it didn't work at all against Kenpachi, who dispatched him and moved right on Berenice. Size isn't everything, it seems.
4 Strongest: Quilge Opie
Ordinarily, Quilge Opie ranks somewhere in the middle of the Sternritter, but he has more weapons at his disposal than just his own bow and arrow. He can also create energy bubbles, or jails, that can capture an opponent. This evens the odds if he's up against more than one opponent.
He also demonstrates the Quincy ability to break down nearby spirit energy and collect it, and he even absorbed Ayon, a powerful hollow, using this method (oddly, he wasn't poisoned). This, combined with his Voll Stern Dich, makes him a flexible and creative combatant.
3 Weakest: Cang Du
Like Gerome and Berenice, Cang Du never got the chance to show off his full potential, and he lost decisively to Toshiro Hitsugaya. Later, he and BG9 were executed for their failure back at Silbern.
Cang Du can harden his skin, which is why he is Sternritter "I", or The Iron. He makes little use of this ability, though, and instead uses the stolen Daiguren Hyorinmaru. Kisuke Urahara intervened before Cang Du could finish off Toshiro and Rangiku with it, though.
2 Strongest: Jugram Haschwalth
He is Yhwach's right-hand man, an intensely loyal Sternritter with special powers and privileges alike. He even acts as Yhwach's substitute while Ywhach is asleep, and he has a very high letter: "B", for The Balance.
Haschwalth can use a mighty sword in combat (as opposed to bow and arrows), and his power allows him to absorb and redirect injuries. He considers this an act of balancing out fortune and misfortune, and this makes him near-unbeatable in combat.
1 Weakest: BG9
This odd, genderless Sternritter is a bit robotic in both body and mind, and it would have ranked higher among the Sternritter if not for its habit of taking things too lightly. BG9 is more interested in making threats and coercing people than just fighting.
At first, BG9 had the upper hand against Soi Fon and Marechiyo Omaeda, but it was soon foiled and had its impressive chaingun sliced apart. Defeat came not long after that, and BG9 was punished with execution right alongside Cang Du.