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

[Morph Bark]

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To be honest, the fight's had a good length. Not as long as fights in Bleach have been before the timeskip (which should probably be called Old Bleach now, with all the different stuff, both good and bad), but that is a good thing in my opinion.

(Well, perhaps Bleach should be split into three parts: the stuff up until Aizen went to Hueco Mundo, the stuff from the timeskip onwards, and the stuff in between, which is generally the worst in writing (Fullbring arc exluded, so maybe that one should fit into the middle bit actually), even though it introduces some of the coolest characters in Bleach.)

[Somewhere]

So, someone please refresh my memory.
The current situation is set up as a 2 go in, 1 comes out scenario, particularly featuring two of the strongest combatants the Gotei 13 have available.
It's entirely possible that it's a facade and that both will survive, but at face value one must die. What was Kyoraku thinking to gain from this plan?

[Friv]

So, someone please refresh my memory.
The current situation is set up as a 2 go in, 1 comes out scenario, particularly featuring two of the strongest combatants the Gotei 13 have available.
It's entirely possible that it's a facade and that both will survive, but at face value one must die. What was Kyoraku thinking to gain from this plan?

Power in Bleach grows exponentially.

Neither Kenpachi nor Unohana, as it stands, are capable of meaningfully contributing to the battle against the Sternritter, because the strongest Sternritter are flatly above them at a base and they can't use bankai to catch up because it'll be stolen. But Kenpachi doesn't use Bankai at all. If Unohana can pump up his strength, even if she dies in the process, she can make him into an enemy capable of reasonably fighting against Bach. That is a risk worth losing one of your best captains for.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

I'm liking the horror vibe in the Kenpachi vs Kenpachi fight, especially when Unohana's Bankai is revealed. I don't even need to know what it is, it's deliciously creepy.

[darksolitaire]

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(Well, perhaps Bleach should be split into three parts: the stuff up until Aizen went to Hueco Mundo, the stuff from the timeskip onwards, and the stuff in between, which is generally the worst in writing (Fullbring arc exluded, so maybe that one should fit into the middle bit actually), even though it introduces some of the coolest characters in Bleach.)

I consider Fullbring arc definitely deserves it's own part. As in, it doesn't deserve to be in same part as anything else.

I liked the Hueco Mundo part

The current situation is set up as a 2 go in, 1 comes out scenario, particularly featuring two of the strongest combatants the Gotei 13 have available.
It's entirely possible that it's a facade and that both will survive, but at face value one must die. What was Kyoraku thinking to gain from this plan?

Yes, nothing like culling your own numbers after military defeat. No, I don't see any Kenpachi dying.

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[Somewhere]

Power in Bleach grows exponentially.

Neither Kenpachi nor Unohana, as it stands, are capable of meaningfully contributing to the battle against the Sternritter, because the strongest Sternritter are flatly above them at a base and they can't use bankai to catch up because it'll be stolen. But Kenpachi doesn't use Bankai at all. If Unohana can pump up his strength, even if she dies in the process, she can make him into an enemy capable of reasonably fighting against Bach. That is a risk worth losing one of your best captains for.

Thanks

There's also Unohana being their best available healer, which makes me iffy on this decision. But I'm not Kyoraku.

Edit:
Well yea, after Momo surviving being impaled and Byakuya's whole not-death, I'm not actually expecting either Kenpachi to get killed off either. It'll take Yamamoto-level execution to convince me.

[Friv]

Thanks

There's also Unohana being their best available healer, which makes me iffy on this decision. But I'm not Kyoraku.

I'm willing to give this one to him.

If Unohana dies, they lose their best healer, and a lot of people who might have survived the battle if she was around die.

If Kenpachi doesn't get stronger, there is a much better chance that everyone will die, including Unohana, because right now the entire list of "people who might be able to fight Bach" is Ichigo and Kenpachi, and Ichigo's sword is broken. Kyoraku has no way of knowing that obviously of course that'll end up fine.

It's not an easy choice, but it's actually probably the right one.

[Morph Bark]

I consider Fullbring arc definitely deserves it's own part. As in, it doesn't deserve to be in same part as anything else.

I liked the Hueco Mundo part

It's a good point. I mean, it's practically of no use at all to the rest of the story, other than maybe saying "yo, here are some peeps with powers who died and will show up in Soul Society later".

The Hueco Mundo part was alright, but it was the most generic of all the parts of Bleach. Some of the characters were interesting (along with the fights those were in, primarily Szayel and Aaroniero, as well as Kenpachi's bit, Ulquiorra's second form, and the weird eye dude, or at least his powers, because personality-wise he was pretty flat), but the big fights ended up longer and longer, culminating with the fight against Aizen (don't forget that that's also a part of that part, even if it isn't in Hueco Mundo). In the meantime, this was also the part where there were a lot of opportunities for great characterization or plot bits that weren't taken up, which got even worse during the Fullbring arc where it hit an all-time low for Bleach.

Still, while that was all pretty bad, I use that comparatively with other parts of Bleach, and thankfully it's gotten a lot better already since then, though because it is still so recent I'm keeping my fingers crossed, especially since this is the final arc. There are a lot of manga that are worse than Bleach on anything you might criticise Bleach on, but one thing that Kubo does well is characterization, even though in terms of using that in a plot-focused perspective he has a LONG way to go and personality-wise he often falls back to several basic types that are common in Shounen. This is the primary reason that I'm not fond of Grimmjoww: because I've seen that type of character so many times before. The second is that he's simply a jerk, even to those who appear for all intents and purposes to be his friends. Strangely enough, I do like Ulquiorra, even though his personality is flatter than anyone comparing themselves to Matsumoto, which I attribute to his specialness in terms of power and abilities and the fact that I find it odd that he's the only Espada (aside from I-am-totally-not-a-Nappa-expy Yammy) with no given backstory.

This rant was brought to you by M-Barking Up The Rant Tree, because I'm starting to think I should finally figure out how to make YouTube videos and start reviewing stuff or something to keep myself occupied.

[Dscherro]

Strangely enough, I do like Ulquiorra, even though his personality is flatter than anyone comparing themselves to Matsumoto, which I attribute to his specialness in terms of power and abilities and the fact that I find it odd that he's the only Espada (aside from I-am-totally-not-a-Nappa-expy Yammy) with no given backstory.

Seems like Kubo gave him a backstory in one of the databooks, I quote from the Bleach wiki:

"As a Hollow, Ulquiorra felt alone in the world, being white while those around him were black. He wandered Hueco Mundo alone, lamenting his existence, until one day he came across a white tree with many sharp spines. Ulquiorra, finding it satisfying due to its emptiness, sank into it, destroying part of his mask, finally at peace. An unspecified amount of time later, he was recruited by Aizen into the Espada."

Sooooo...I leave the emo jokes to you. Also, huh? Didn't all those adjuchas and higher have a rather broad range of colours?

Btw, your new Kenpachi is kinda funky. He really should visit the nearest club, together with your old Yachiru.

[thubby]

so what the heck did her ult just do?

some kind of acid goo?
and what's the deal with dead kid kenpachi? did he land that uber attack, then she counter-killed him?

need explanation kubo

[VanBuren]

I'm gonna go on record and say that I think the Fullbring Arc was exponentially better than anything Ulquiorra's death and Ichigo's Jinzen training.

[Hadrian_Emrys]

The only thing I liked about the Fullbring Arc was the extended Trollzen mind screw. I could have done without the rest of the arc.

[Starwulf]

Ok, this is driving me nuts, could someone please link me to a different site then mangashere, so I could possibly read the new chapter? I just went to their site, and the new chapter STILL isn't up ><

[Morph Bark]

Mangareader (Google it, I won't link it) is what I often use. They're pretty quick with it.

[LaZodiac]

so what the heck did her ult just do?

some kind of acid goo?
and what's the deal with dead kid kenpachi? did he land that uber attack, then she counter-killed him?

need explanation kubo

We have no idea what her Bankai did.

As for Kidpachi, this one was actually REALLY done well, for me. It made it very obvious, to me, that yha, that's exactly what happened. Kenpachi struck, nearly killed her, and then was immediately counter killed. But in that single clash, Unohana felt "this person could of killed me but held back so he could fight me more. I...I can't let this person die!"

[Axinian]

so what the heck did her ult just do?

some kind of acid goo?
and what's the deal with dead kid kenpachi? did he land that uber attack, then she counter-killed him?

need explanation kubo

I thought it was blood, or perhaps liquid shadow. Something over-the-top like that.

I'm liking this fight because it (though my memory of earlier parts of the manga is really fuzzy) breaks the standard shounen fight pacing that bleach has had so far. It's going at a pretty brisk pace, and the dialogue focuses on what the fight means to both of them, rather than them just announcing their moves and bragging about them.

[Morph Bark]

I'm liking this fight because it (though my memory of earlier parts of the manga is really fuzzy) breaks the standard shounen fight pacing that bleach has had so far. It's going at a pretty brisk pace, and the dialogue focuses on what the fight means to both of them, rather than them just announcing their moves and bragging about them.

Exactly! This fight shows a big thing why I think Bleach is moving back upwards. Sure, Unohana may appear to have done a personality 180, and while it was perhaps completely justified and foreshadowed, it was indeed incredibly sudden, but otherwise this is going very well.

[abdima]

I just really dig the horror vibes this fight has goin'. It's terrifying and it's visceral, I mean seriously, despite the fact that this is just training, this fight has had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. Possibly more brutal because Unohana keeps healing Kenpachi just to keep killing him!

[Somewhere]

This week's Viz & Panda comparison should be quick, since it's mainly fighting, right?

Page 3, middle panel
Viz: You must know for what purpose... .. I mastered the art of kaido.
Panda: You can't possibly know.. ..why I mastered my kaidou.
Original: Watashi ga nan no tameni kaidou wo osameta ka
Anata ga shirane hazu wa nai deshou ni.

Well then. Either Kenpachi must know, or there's no way he knows. According to the original..... he must know. Shirane hazu wa nai is a double negative, which is probably what tripped Panda up. Literally it's something like 'it should not be the case that you don't know'.

[HandofShadows]

New one is up.

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Well the big battle ended and someone someone finaly get to know the name of thier sword. And I didn't really understand what happend to Ichigo. I really don't.

[Morph Bark]

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I loved the end to that fight. To be honest, that was the one bit where I felt like someone was dying and deserved to be saved in all of Bleach.

Ichigo failing was kind of unexpected. I guess this means Isshin finally has to spill the beans on his and his wife's past though.

[jindra34]

New one is up.

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Well the big battle ended and someone someone finaly get to know the name of thier sword. And I didn't really understand what happend to Ichigo. I really don't.

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He got sent back home. For managing to do something that the proctor dude thought was impossible. So that he can learn more about himself.

[DukeGod]

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I'm not sure it's cause he did something the dude believed impossible, so much as he kept doing what the guy thought would be unthinkable in a different sense. I'm guessing that "fighting without Asauchi" for so long wasn't a compliment but an offense?

Oh, and I couldn't help myself from laughing like a madman once that damn sword "My name is...". Weirded everyone in the vicinity

[Forrestfire]

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I'm probably going to have a huge grin on my face all day from the "My name is..."

'Course, it will be replaced tomorrow by the realization that I have to wait...

[Dscherro]

Damn you, Cliffhanger

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I sure hope the swords name is worth the wait, and not something that will not be surprising in any way.

[DukeGod]

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Why don't we start with some wild guesses?
I'll throw in our usual badass sword name I guess. Muramasa

[LaZodiac]

Chapter Talk:

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So, it seems that Ichigo is going home. He'll likely learn about Quincy powers now, become a super quincy, and then regain his Shinigami powers anyway because...Bleach. However, this DOES mean that Ishida will FINALLY be involved in the Quincy arc.

Unless Ichigo just...ignores him and goes to IshiDad instead.

Also. Ichigo. Ichigo home. Ichigo home, you're drunk.

[Morph Bark]

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I'm hoping it won't be something like that. I do think it will be a rather simple one though. Humble in meaning, but sounding intimidating.

[Ramza00]

New one is up.

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Well the big battle ended and someone someone finaly get to know the name of thier sword. And I didn't really understand what happend to Ichigo. I really don't.

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The zanpakuto did not accept him. We do not know why.

That said the zero captain alludes to the fact that Ichigo needs to go back to his heritage which I take to mean as he needs to discover his quincy side.

[Hadrian_Emrys]

"My name is..."

Slim Shady.