Bleach VI: We Want Our Baby Bach Ribs (Aizen pull)

[ThiagoMartell]

I agree about mostly everything, but I consider Tsukishima to be the best thing in that arc.

[Morph Bark]

I personally get down on Bleach at times due to:
1. The disparity between how it's regarded in Japan and the west (ie, the whole 'big three' concept of One Piece/Naruto/Bleach here); it's kind of fun for me to poke away at it

Y'know, I've often thought about it, but has there ever been a kind of "Big Three" or similar thing before here in the West? Or even in Japan itself?

[ThiagoMartell]

Y'know, I've often thought about it, but has there ever been a kind of "Big Three" or similar thing before here in the West? Or even in Japan itself?

Jump has always had flagship series. In fact, I think every manga magazine has (or needs) at least one.
Of course, currently it's Big One Piece.

[HandofShadows]

You know, I think the fullbringer arc was badly executed, but I'm not sure if it wasn't planned. In fact, it looks like the only reason to have Ichigo losing his powers was this arc.

IIRC the Fullbring arc was created so Ichigo could get his powers back

[ThiagoMartell]

IIRC the Fullbring arc was created so Ichigo could get his powers back

If there was a hiatus between Ichigo losing his powers and the Fullbring arc, this could make some sense. As in "OK, story ended, Ichigo lost his powers". Later editor says "Hey, Kubo. Bring Bleach back."
That's not what happened. It ran back to back. Kubo already knew Ichigo was getting his powers back when he took Ichigo's power away. There is simply no point to make such a long arc just to give his powers back when they did not need to be taken away in the first place.
When I started reading, my first guess was that he was trying a back to basics approach, with Ichigo and the guys in school and all that jazz. It probably would have been better if it was that, focusing on their day to day lives, fighting the occasional hollow and then BAM Ginjou actually being a villain, a big fight, Ichigo needing more power, the whole plot being uncovered and him getting his powers back.

[DiscipleofBob]

I want to read a set of crossover fanfiction where the entire plot is Tsukishima inserting himself into various canons and just trolling the main characters and "solving" the plot himself.

[Somewhere]

Y'know, I've often thought about it, but has there ever been a kind of "Big Three" or similar thing before here in the West? Or even in Japan itself?

I'm not sure if they ever got such a title, but Yu Yu Hakusho ('90-'94), Dragonball ('84-'95), and Slam Dunk ('90-'96) have the combination of overlapping run times and massive popularity that they can be reasonably referred to as a flagship triumvirate.

Nowadays, we all know that One Piece is the clear frontrunner and Naruto being the distant but only remotely close (relative to the others...) second.... from a manga sales perspective. Toriko tends to beat Naruto in the polls, and anime-wise Toriko's a lot more popular than Naruto. One Piece is still king there, of course.

Well, I guess that the closest thing that would indicate the top three in stature would be products like... I dunno, Battle Stadium D.O.N. from 2006. That featured exactly 3 series; Dragonball, One Piece, Naruto.

...actually, there is a new Jump crossover game in the works.
http://gematsu.com/wp-content/upload...-Announced.jpg <-- first image I've seen of this, from last week
http://gematsu.com/wp-content/upload...an-600x888.jpg <-- from this week

Going by the first pic, looks like the new top 3 being pushed is One Piece, Dragonball, and Toriko.

What does it say that when it's time to put 3 series together on the front page on some pseudo-comparable standing, that you have to reach back and use trusty ol Dragonball? :P

[Maugan Ra]

I want to read a set of crossover fanfiction where the entire plot is Tsukishima inserting himself into various canons and just trolling the main characters and "solving" the plot himself.

...I too, wish to read this.

[Morph Bark]

What does it say that when it's time to put 3 series together on the front page on some pseudo-comparable standing, that you have to reach back and use trusty ol Dragonball? :P

Well, like you say, it's trusty and old. Heck, if Dragon Ball hadn't existed, most subsequent popular shonen manga wouldn't have either, since they were all massively inspired by Dragon Ball and both Oda and the Kishimoto twins decided to go into the business thanks to Toriyama's example. (Don't know about Kubo, though...)

Either way, I like crossover games, so this is good news to me.

[thubby]

If there was a hiatus between Ichigo losing his powers and the Fullbring arc, this could make some sense. As in "OK, story ended, Ichigo lost his powers". Later editor says "Hey, Kubo. Bring Bleach back."
That's not what happened. It ran back to back. Kubo already knew Ichigo was getting his powers back when he took Ichigo's power away. There is simply no point to make such a long arc just to give his powers back when they did not need to be taken away in the first place.
When I started reading, my first guess was that he was trying a back to basics approach, with Ichigo and the guys in school and all that jazz. It probably would have been better if it was that, focusing on their day to day lives, fighting the occasional hollow and then BAM Ginjou actually being a villain, a big fight, Ichigo needing more power, the whole plot being uncovered and him getting his powers back.

well, i dont think mugetsu is something he could keep writing with. i mean, it OHK'ed the big bad.
though i suppose a better alternative would have been for it to have broken his sword, so we could get straight to this point.

[Susano-wo]

Tsukishima's power is fantastic and I honestly feel the way Kubo utilized it was atleast decent. Cutting the ground to make it so that he'd been there before, and thus "you just stepped on a trap I set there five days ago" happens. It's kinda great and reminds me of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.

Yeah, the whole arc was BS, and once again failed to bring Chad or Orihime properly to the forefront and make them matter in the narrative, but I enjoyed the Jojo's feeling of a lot of the fights. God I loves my JoJo's

[LordRahl6]

So what do you guys think of the reveal of who the "First" Kenpachi being?

Spoiler

Show

Unohana

Totally in left feild being unexpected.

[Drolyt]

IIRC the Fullbring arc was created so Ichigo could get his powers back

That was more or less what many fans concluded, but I don't know that it was Kubo's actual intention.

What does it say that when it's time to put 3 series together on the front page on some pseudo-comparable standing, that you have to reach back and use trusty ol Dragonball? :P

It says that Dragon Ball is still immensely popular, and if you include the international market it is the most successful manga of all time (except maybe Sailor Moon or something, but certainly the most successful shonen). I mean, they still routinely release Dragon Ball video games and toys that are quite successful worldwide.

[The Troubadour]

Yeah, the whole arc was BS, and once again failed to bring Chad or Orihime properly to the forefront and make them matter in the narrative, but I enjoyed the Jojo's feeling of a lot of the fights. God I loves my JoJo's

I keep trying to click "Like" but I can't find it anywhere. :-P

And yeah, I agree. I think it was a pity the Fullbringers were reduced to more or less mooks for their final battles, and I really wanted Chad to be a lot more integral to the story, but the Fullbring powers were quirky and interesting... And some of them, actually very powerful! I mean, Tsukishima's Book of the End aside, Digital Radial Invaders (was that the name?), Dollhouse and Time Tells No Lies had the potential to be quite broken, and Jackpot Knuckle would have been devastating in the hands of someone with a shinigami's strength, speed and endurance; Dirty Boots was a bit meh, but I liked the story behind it.

If only Kubo had Araki's special brand of insanity, I'm sure the Fullbring arc would have been one of Bleach's best. :-P

[LaZodiac]

Yeah, the whole arc was BS, and once again failed to bring Chad or Orihime properly to the forefront and make them matter in the narrative, but I enjoyed the Jojo's feeling of a lot of the fights. God I loves my JoJo's

This right here is the thing basically wrong with the Fullbringer arc. Ichigo lost his powers, so you'd THINK that the side characters would get some more spotlight. But...nope. The entire thing is just a big ploy to get his powers back but stronger. And the current arc has given him even more powers. It's kind of bothersome. In a way, it's almost as if Bleach was GOING to leave Ichigo behind, but Kubo couldn't bring himself to actually do it, and thus put Ichigo in where other, actuall characters should go.

What I mean is I'm still really annoyed that Ishida hasn't done anything yet despite this arc being about Quincies. Like, a character literally called the Quincy race WORSE THEN THE EMBODIMENT OF EVIL. Don't you think having, you know, the Good Quincy here to defend himself, or atleast ask the "I don't know why they're so evil" questions, would help make the story better?

[ThiagoMartell]

Battle Stadium D.O.N. is a freakishly amazing game. If you haven't played it, go play it now.

[Dscherro]

Like, a character literally called the Quincy race WORSE THEN THE EMBODIMENT OF EVIL.

That might be true, considering the Quincy could bring existence out of balance if they continue, what they're doing (which probably means the end of the world). Aizen may be a more devilish fellow, but he just wanted to become god.
But in the end, both villains have quite egoistical goals (as far as we know): personal gain and petty revenge.

[Kaez]

What I'm still curious about is that the guy in HM that fought Ichigo stated something along the lines that Ishida is more powerful than he lets on, but yet Ichigo thinks he's not. The guy stays quiet after saying he said too much.

Interesting :P

[Morph Bark]

Battle Stadium D.O.N. is a freakishly amazing game. If you haven't played it, go play it now.

I've wanted to. But isn't it only available in Japan? Plus you'd need a Japanese GameCube for it.

[ThiagoMartell]

I've wanted to. But isn't it only available in Japan? Plus you'd need a Japanese GameCube for it.

No, I had it for PlayStation 2.

[Susano-wo]

This right here is the thing basically wrong with the Fullbringer arc. Ichigo lost his powers, so you'd THINK that the side characters would get some more spotlight. But...nope. The entire thing is just a big ploy to get his powers back but stronger. And the current arc has given him even more powers. It's kind of bothersome. In a way, it's almost as if Bleach was GOING to leave Ichigo behind, but Kubo couldn't bring himself to actually do it, and thus put Ichigo in where other, actuall characters should go.

What I mean is I'm still really annoyed that Ishida hasn't done anything yet despite this arc being about Quincies. Like, a character literally called the Quincy race WORSE THEN THE EMBODIMENT OF EVIL. Don't you think having, you know, the Good Quincy here to defend himself, or atleast ask the "I don't know why they're so evil" questions, would help make the story better?

oh definitely. The whole, oh and he has this power now! and this one! thing is really silly and annoying(though I wouldn't call Ichigo not an actual character)

As well as the "Visored? whats that?" phenomenon, where he goes through this huge training phase and never really shines with it, and now its like it doesn't exist.

Goddamit, Kubo, why couldn't you have ended it with the defeat of Aizen??

[HandofShadows]

As well as the "Visored? whats that?" phenomenon, where he goes through this huge training phase and never really shines with it, and now its like it doesn't exist.

Really we don't know if Ichgo is still a Visard at this point. And if he is still one he might still be very reluctant to use that aspect of his power or he still has to take anouther step to regain those abilities. As has been seen recently the author has done much more in the way of long term planning than most people thought.

[Somewhere]

I've wanted to. But isn't it only available in Japan? Plus you'd need a Japanese GameCube for it.

What Thiago said, plus:
Freeloader disc for the GameCube is a legal method to play imports.

And as always, the internet offers... other possibilities.

[thubby]

Really we don't know if Ichgo is still a Visard at this point. And if he is still one he might still be very reluctant to use that aspect of his power or he still has to take anouther step to regain those abilities. As has been seen recently the author has done much more in the way of long term planning than most people thought.

i dont think he is anymore.
he lost both his hollow and shinigami powers when he used mugetsu, but the captain powered sword only gave him shinigami powers. he got his hollow powers originally from being turned into a plus and nearly converting.

[LaZodiac]

i dont think he is anymore.
he lost both his hollow and shinigami powers when he used mugetsu, but the captain powered sword only gave him shinigami powers. he got his hollow powers originally from being turned into a plus and nearly converting.

but his FULLBRINGER powers are a reflection of the Hollow taint on his soul from the Hollow attack as a child, so he DOES still have Hollow powers. Apparently.

And lets not even begin to get into the fact that he has Quincy powers.

[Turalisj]

but his FULLBRINGER powers are a reflection of the Hollow taint on his soul from the Hollow attack as a child, so he DOES still have Hollow powers. Apparently.

And lets not even begin to get into the fact that he has Quincy powers.

Ichigo is the Bleach equivalent of a blue mage.

[Fjolnir]

Correct me if I am wrong but, Kenpachi is the third Kenpachi who beat the second sometime after Unohana put down the sword for the scalpel correct?

[Drolyt]

Correct me if I am wrong but, Kenpachi is the third Kenpachi who beat the second sometime after Unohana put down the sword for the scalpel correct?

I'm not sure, is that said? He has to be at least the third, since he killed the one before him and Unoha was before that one, but there might have been others in between, unless I missed something.

[Battleship789]

IIRC, Zaraki is the 11th Kenpachi.

[Morph Bark]

IIRC, Zaraki is the 11th Kenpachi.

The wiki says: "Zaraki Kenpachi is the current captain of the 11th Division in the Gotei 13. He is the eleventh Kenpachi to hold the position."

Whether this means he is the 11th Kenpachi overall, or the 11th to be the Captain of the 11th Division, I do not know. The source it takes this information from is Bleach Official Character Book 2: MASKED.