Bleach Manga Thread

[Killer_Ossi]

Ive watched Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Kai. It seems I simply forgot about the nana machines. I thought Z Fighters were a name for them but I googled it to make sure.
Sure the first two Cells were ugly, but his perfect form was good.

I think I read your post about five times, but maybe you should reread my last one because there were no questions.
Death can always come out of nowhere and I wouldnt say someone dying in a war is out of nowhere. Did you think you would be warned by Kubo saying "Ok in three chapters from now on Kira dies"? Yeah right. I dont like it either when someone I like dies, but that what happens be it anime, manga, books, movies or whatever. Accept it and move on.

I really would like to meet people who think Aizen is splendid.

 

[qrdel]

I do, we can meet anytime :]

He is a well-established character with a lot still to be discovered (we are yet to confirm why he became so angsty towards 'power' and 'growth' as such) and with enough room to remain interesting. Sure, he may be too polished (meaning he is top-notch about possibly every shinigami aspect, uber strong, quick etc etc - perfect characters quickly become boring) and his foreseeing skills are a bit too much, not to mention Kyouka Suigetsu, yet I still enjoy him as an antagonist and a possible aid to Ichigo at some point (there were some spoilers and unconfirmed info regarding this matter).

But that's beside the point. Again, you fail at grasping what I have in mind. I never even thought about warning but once again, if you introduce a notion such as 'I build a group of strong protagonists with certain abilities and I want to develop them' be self-conscious enough to keep the act together and remain consistent. If you are killing them off do it with style! I agree that smashing Bya with his precious SK agaist a wall was kind of neat and stylish, but at the same time wasting 4-chapters-worth of my time for Senkai no Tachi and having it go away like last years snow in two panels was just idiotic. You gotta admit that Yama's bankai is rather cool and to see it wasted like that is just pain and really forced on Kubo's part. If it really is the strongest why would it succumb to some weird medallion. If Yama says that 'understanding is the key to bankai stealing' and clearly underlines that his bankai has been developing over the past 1000 years why does a Jucha Bach come out of nowhere and says: 'oh, well I can steal it' and does so effortlessly? Kubo is contradicting himself on every possible aspect, thus making useless cliffhangers, multiplying questions he will probably never address.

It's the same with the newest chapter. Jucha and bishi-chan talking about retreating because RG, people getting hyped over seeing some new characters and the result? The usual 'Ichigo to the rescue from another dimmension'-crap. I remember similar panels and similar situation development when: 1-Ichigo saved Rukia on the Hill of Penalty, 2-Ichigo smashing the floor when reaching Las Noches to save Orihime and fight Ulqiorra, 3-Ichigo smashing Yammy, 4-Ichigo reaching FK with Unohana and trying to back-stab Aizen, 5-Ichigo bursting into RK to save his schoolmates and Gin x Rangiku from uber-Aizen... See? 5 instances when we see the exact same cliche. People on 4chan suspect that next week is about understanding, god tier pwr lvl, staring one another out and finally a slash or two before another cliffie.

 

[Anybody]

Bleach seriously remains the best out of the shounen trio right now. Loving every chapter so far and how brutal and non-chalant the deaths were.

The latest chapter was great, ichigo's arrival, his mature-ness and overall stance, as well as Byakuya's monologue parallels to Gin's last monologue. The guy's clearly dead now.

I am now more and more convinced that this will turn into three way war - ruthless quincies, just as horrible and ruthless royal guards(ala "oldschool "divisions" shinigami" the way Bach described them) AND Ichigo's ragtag team of remaining captains and (possibly) Aizen).


Another thing I have to say I LOVE about this arc is freaking brilliant art. Kubo has been unrivaled for past few months, drawing one epic facial expression after the other, one epic fight scene after the other. I also love the innovative experimentation with panels - for example this chapter we had 3 or 4 panel's at the start of the chapter being from Ichigo's point of view and then you have the artistic decision of not showing clear face of Ichigo's till Byakuya begs him to protect SS - makes his resolved pissed off furious face look even more powerful.

 

[qrdel]

In terms of art design, couldn't agree more. Since the end of FB arc Kubo has done nothing but improved his drawing style.

Regarding the 3-way-war, if, in all this imbecility, Kubo followed the current situation I would rather see all of the current SS caps obliterated than once again being furious about his illogical choice of leaving guys like Renji or Hitsugaya over Ukitake or Unohana, for example. I'm dying to see more about these guys without being afraid that they will be killed 3 chapters later, because war.

Really, you're comparing three equally idiotic stories, albeit Bleach at least tries to re-build its status by following the easiest possible way-killing off popularity poll leaders. OP is just sham these days, and Narutard is pretty much incomprehensible at this point. On top of that it seems that the whole shinobi war is about bringing back the dead girl who had no deeper feelings for the main antagonist.

 

[Killer_Ossi]

Aizen was a great character until he said all those stuff a la he was the one who created Ichigo, his enemys, his battles, his thinking and so on. Thats when he died for me.

Yes Yamatos bankai was awesome, in my eyes far too awesome because the gap to all other bankais is far too wide, but it did what it had to do, it defeated its enemy. Jucha was obviously lying about him beeing able steal the bankai without knowing it. He sent the fake out to get to know it and then appeared. That was a great tactic and Yamato fell for it like the idiot he is. Jucha only said it to crush Yamatos will even more because crushing the moral and will of the enemy is important too, maybe even the most important thing to winning a war.

Ok sure Ichigo always going to save them is always the same, but well Ichigo likes great entrances and thats just how a oldschool hero is. Ok Bleach is not old enough for beeing oldschool but w/e.

Why do you think they want to retreat because of the Royal Guard? It was never meantioned. They retreat because of Ichigo.

The art really is topnotch.

 

[qrdel]

Juha said to bishi-chan last week that they should retreat and regroup now that Yama is dead, because the RG are probably invading soon. Re-read the chapter.

 

[Anybody]

QUOTE (Killer_Ossi @ Oct 17 2012, 01:15 PM) Aizen was a great character until he said all those stuff a la he was the one who created Ichigo, his enemys, his battles, his thinking and so on. Thats when he died for me.

Yes Yamatos bankai was awesome, in my eyes far too awesome because the gap to all other bankais is far too wide, but it did what it had to do, it defeated its enemy. Jucha was obviously lying about him beeing able steal the bankai without knowing it. He sent the fake out to get to know it and then appeared. That was a great tactic and Yamato fell for it like the idiot he is. Jucha only said it to crush Yamatos will even more because crushing the moral and will of the enemy is important too, maybe even the most important thing to winning a war.

Ok sure Ichigo always going to save them is always the same, but well Ichigo likes great entrances and thats just how a oldschool hero is. Ok Bleach is not old enough for beeing oldschool but w/e.

Why do you think they want to retreat because of the Royal Guard? It was never meantioned. They retreat because of Ichigo.

The art really is topnotch.
Psychological warfare and ego.


There's no doubt that Aizen knew A LOT about Ichigo - and it seems quite a few people in SS knew more about him than they let on(Ukitake, etc)

All Aizen did was to pull few strings there and here (like rukia's execution, etc), everything else was just mere luck, but for the effect of terror Aizen took even things that were down to purely luck as his own doing, as a way to demoralize Ichigo. Ichigo is essentially driven by his resolve, so to put an idea into his mind that none of his decisions in his life were actually his is pretty much to win the battle.

Mixing lies with a truth = typical Aizen

Thankfully Ichigo got over it and not only delivered similar treatment to Aizen, but when Ginjou tried to pull same stunt, Ichigo was completely unphased by it.


AS for bankais - I really doubt it. We still do not know the real reason why someone's bankai is unstealable.

With Yamaji it was more like - his bankai WAS stealable but an inexperienced person would not be able to control it and Juha wanted it for himself.

We still do not know why Ichigo's is unstealable.

 

[qrdel]

Surprisingly, that was a good chapter. Quite contrary to what some people on 4chan had speculated we didn't get to see too much of talking and instead Ichigo came across as being slightly, hmm, *mad*. It's refreshing to see him in that state, since we got used to the soft Ichigo type. Even against the toughest of his enemies he was keeping his cool, more or less. This time around there's no discussion. It is also interesting to see that Bach is not considering himself a villain. There has to be a deeper meaning to his words than just revenge.

On the side, Kubo experimenting with the combat flow is also pretty intriguing. Knowing Ichigo I could kind of predict him rushing in with GT but hell if I could foresee that this short skirmish would wind up the way it did. Also, surprising to see that Ichi is, willingly or not, using blut vene.

Thus, despite what I had said week ago I could pretty much overcome the recent events and am enjoying what's going on currently. I just hope that Kubo will be consistent with his writing and guys like Bya are done for good. Senbonzakura disappearing like that is a clear sign that he's a goner.

 

[TNT]

Wow, a lot of discussion. Nice.

Anyway, I agree with grdel. It was a nice chapter. The scene where Ichigo rushes forward to perform GT was another example of the marvelous art Kubo has been putting out. Bach's remark was interesting, was he launching in a sales pitch to convince a WP to join him or was there truth in that he doesn't see himself as a bad guy.

Ichigo suddenly having Blut vene is interesting. So does that mean Ishida will show up soon? Or has Urahara stripped the remains of Kirga.

I was thinking that Akon was saved not by Ichigo, but by someone else. Which could have been Ishida. Those scenes aren't very clear and what happens doesn't make much sense chronologically. Ichigo kills in the SCIENCE! center -> explodes in the air above Bac....so SCIENCE! center was in the sky?

 

[qrdel]

Hardly,

supposedly that was an isolated cubical sphere made by science division in the tresspass area, where Ichigo was being held. To me it appears that the division separated Kirge's prison to analyze and dissolve it, then they were attacked by SR, and as they were being slaughtered Ichigo escaped the prison.

Though yes, I'm also thinking that Ichi's blut vene might be a scientific counter-measure.

 

[TNT]

Also possible yes. Let's hope some clarity comes on this.

I am looking forward to next week.

 

[franzoir]

Another piece of closure falls into place.

It was a weird chapter but strangely satisfying. When I first saw Ichigo use vene blut, I tried not to think about how nonsensical that was but with this chapter alot of things now make sense and almost makes up for some of the narrative choices Kubo made.

Firstly, it was inconceivable to me that Isshin would not use the dangai to explain to Ichigo what he is and what is going on and while I still think it was cheap it makes sense to hold off the revelation till later.

So I assume certain things but one can never really know with Bleach. First, being the amalgamation of a human/quincy and a shinigami gave Ichigo's riatsu a unique absorbent quality. This unique quality allowed him to gain hollow/fullbring powers while still remaining human. Juha Bach refers to Ichigo as a son because he is the father of all quincies, rather than being his blood father. Isshin MUST be Ichigo's biological father because they have related zanpakutos (if it turns out that Juha is Ichigo's biological father, that would really be the final nail in the coffin for me).

If this was what Kubo's planned all along, it raises inevitable questions. I think the Vandereich as an organisation should have been drip fed into the plot from atleast the beginning of the arrancar arc. Regardless, of what people think of Naruto now, when Itachi and Kisame first appeared they were awesome and made people think and speculate about what their organisation was about. So when Naruto vows to take down Akatsuki, at least plotwise, everything is following a logical conclusion. While Ishida as a character early on provided hints and nods to upcoming plotpoints, after the somewhat random nature of the fullbring arc, the quincy wars cant help but feel tacked on even though it picks up on threads directly related to Ichigo vs Aizen.

Following on from this, what was the point of the fullbring arc? From what I have seen so far the arc has had no bearing or real consequences for the plot. If the fullbring arc never existed (and that time was used to develop the quincies instead), I think I would care alot more that Yamamoto got one shotted and the regular cast are just dying like fodder. And also Ichigo being a human/quincy/shinigami/hollowvastrolorde sounds slightly less ridiculous then Ichigo being a human/quincy/shinigami/hollowvastrolorde/fullbringer.

I actually think the quincies are a great group of antagonists and I like Juha Bach more than Aizen at this point. The problem is I dont know Juha Bach and the quincies like I knew Aizen and the espadas, so it is hard to muster up any excitement for subsequent fights unless it reveals plot secrets. The quincy wars is starting to prove more and more that Kubo does actually care about continuity, so why he created the fullbring arc boggles me even more.

One more things is, as much as Kubo makes out that Ichigo is special because he he has all the powers, the dude still has two sisters. Theoretically, all it would take is for Urahara to cut off their soul chains and chuck em down a pit.

 

[Killer_Ossi]

Wow I always was sure that Ichigos mother was either a arrancar like beeing or a vastolorde. The idea of her beeing a quincy never came to me because of two reasons. First, if she was a quincy why didnt she kill the fisherman? Or maybe she did but just left her family and she will turn up as an enemy later inthe arc (I see that happening since a long time ago). Second was that until now quincy were only a small little sidething. Ishida was nothing more than an unimportant 5-min rival for Ichigo (just like Chad or their school-friends) and his father never really did anything either.
And Ichigos mother beeing a Quincy is creating a lot more questions. How could she and Isshin be together when the quincys were gone for more than a thousand years? Did they hide on earth for that long and after about 980 years they thought "well lets make some babies?"? Or did she alone hide on earth and he hunted her down and the chliche lovestory happens? And why didnt SS do anything against that? After all there was at least one person, Urahara, who knew it so its not strange if others knew it too. Well overall Urahara is still a mystery too. What is his goal, who is he working for or why did he leave SS are still questions that need an answer.

So if Juha Bach is the father of all quincys but he himself is a shinigami it will be really interesting to see how he created them. Did he use living humans or dead ones? Overall it would be interesting to finally learn what the shinigamis are, are they dead or living or something in between, or maybe only soul particles made into another beeing.

 

[qrdel]

@Killer,

Some of your questions are already explained:
Masaki could've lost her quincy powers or was stripped out of them, ex. because she hooked up with Isshin. Thus, she could not fight back the Fisher. Continuing, Grand Fisher was one-shot by Isshin during early arrancar arc and on Isshin's side that was CLEARLY a revenge. So Masaki is gone and done.

Quincies weren't gone for 1000 years - Ishida clan was annihilated 200 years ago, thus a logical conclusion is that , with or without Juha Bach, some quincies did survive the first bloody war.

SS didn't do anything about Isshin and Masaki just as they overlooked Urahara and Yourichi's betrayal and escapade to the world of the living. Because it was convenient or because they didn't gaf.

There's a good explanation through the fact that Juha might be somehow related to shinigami - complete stranger and enemy at the same time wouldn't arouse so many inner feelings on Yama. On top of that, Juha has a deeper knowledge of bankai - he developed medallions that can actually seal it.

The only ridicoulness about Bleach right now is that Ichigo is pretty much wound up to be half-everything. Or maybe he's the soul king?

 

[TNT]

Ichigo's mom having been special has been a theory for ages. One of the most clear hints was something Aizen mentioned a long time ago. So this revalation wasn't that surprising.
Still the way his powers activated is a bit lame.

So leftovers from Kirge awakened his Quincy powers and immidiatly gave him Blut vene? Does that mean that IShida also has Blut vene?


The reason for Bach's retreat is very interesting, is this shadow the reason why he still looked so young compared to Yamamoto?

The way things are currently going Ichigo is 50% human, 50% shinigami, 50% Quincy 10% full bring and either 50% or 10% Hollow depending if he still has those powers. I suppose that makes him at least 160% badass.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Soul king dies near the end, only for Ichigo to take his place.

 

[TNT]

And...


Byakuya is still alive.

I am dissappointed and saddened by this development. Still a decent chapter with good atmosphere.

 

[qrdel]

QUOTE The way things are currently going Ichigo is 50% human, 50% shinigami, 50% Quincy 10% full bring and either 50% or 10% Hollow depending if he still has those powers. I suppose that makes him at least 160% badass.

Yeah, as ridiculous as it sounds he did have only one miraculous power-up for each part of the manga. Besides, him having a hollow inside wasn't natural - it was Urahara's (un)intentional behaviour, perfected over time on the vaisored ones. Fullbringing was also apparent for a couple of chapters and all it left was Ichigo being slightly stronger in sheer power and speed (remember Kuugo complementing him on that). We can pretty much count out FGT, for this was merely an evolution Ichi had to undergo at a specific point in time. Mind that most, if not all, of those powers are now gone - Ichigo is a human being that has his shinigami powers developed. Apparently, somewhere along those powers there is also his quincy self - and here comes the intriguing part=what if that power was purposefully hidden from Ichigo and the others?

I'm quite upset that Byakuya is actually alive - this is plain ridiculous and I'm getting the vibe that in order to actually DIE in Bleach you have to be completely and utterly erased to atoms. Although I wouldn't be that surprised if cap-com was actually alive somewhere in his bankai - afterall he bursts in flames when in bankai mode.

On the side, though, it seemed like a very cheerful and light-headed chapter overall. I dunno why, but after such gruesome and bloody battle most of the characters seem to be all happy and positive about it - I mean, really? There were some thousands of casualties, 5 caps lost their bankais and all you can do is some sappy, cheap humour with Ichigo not wanting to get cured? Seriously?
Plus, they did me in with Ikkaku's 'WTF? Captain's dead?!' just to ensure that he's alive and may or may not return. Miraculously the Urahara group is safe n' sound in Los Mexico, care to explain how or will leave it for the time I forget about it and won't really care anymore, aaaand on top of that no single words of ease for Kira - not that he was that great really. Kubo'd again.

 

[TNT]

The powers being gone is why I only set it for 10%. I mean his shinigami powers were gone and he still had leftover reiatsu to develop fullbring. :/ His new bankai also has some design cue's from his fullbring outfit.

The primary reason why I'm unhappy about byakuya being alive is that the most likely outcome of this development is another big damn heroes moment for when Ichigo is in trouble.
I was looking forward to Renji finally learning how to fight so he could avenge his mentor in an epic battle.

But who knows, maybe Kubo will use the massive defeat Byakuya has endured to give him some real character development. I mean pigs can fly, right?

Considering the zanpaktou is a part of the soul and the bankai is bringing the spirit into the world, I was expecting Byakuya to show up one last time as a ghost after the medallion is destroyed. (provided that the CC didn't torch it) But maybe the CC will do an Obi Wan instead.

I was surprised at Ikkaku's comment since I thought CC's arrival saved Kenpachi good thing the nameless dude set us straight. Maybe when he wakes up he will know ihis zanpaktou's name.

Happy and positive? Did you miss the last few pages?

The only amusing part was Ichigo refusing healing.

Kira..

.Kira the name rings a bell. Wasn't he the sister of Ganju?

Or am I confusing him with some other person who didn't really do anything or have any baring on the story thus far.

 

[qrdel]

I will just comment on the tone of the chapter - this is the kind of feeling I had while reading the chapter. I mean, after so many death sentences I would think that people will be seriously grieving over the dead. I'm not really convinced by Soi Fon - she' s a blunt and mostly useless character, had no prior interactions with cap-com thus her being pissed is even more so unbelievable. I liked Kommamura's reaction, though I would've preferred if he had died during the onslaught - for a cap, he's pretty weak and for a character he's already had his development with Tousen and stuff.
The ONLY good parts are Kyoraku-pirate giving his speech and calming the idiots down and Unohana gazing somewhere while speaking out cap-com's final orders. It was good, it was climatic and it fit the tone of the past 20-something chapters. It's a shame that Ukitake didn't get to say anything about cap-com, afterall him and Kyoraku were possibly the closest to the old man, dunno about Unohana though.

 

[Killer_Ossi]

I wouldnt call it positive I would say they have a working attitude. After all they are Shinigamis and their job normally is to make souls pass on so its not unbelievable that they can deal with that quickly after all they are used to it. And just think of what would happen if all the captains and vice captains would break out in shock? The whole SS thats left would be consumed in chaos and fear and would selfdestruct. Just like that beardy guy said they cant show weakness now but have to move on quickly because its obvious that the next assault wont be long.

But there is one point right, it was a bad chapter. I already predicted that Byakuya would survive so no surprise here and maybe he will really be uselss from now on which could lead to some development for Rukia and Renji. Well obviously one of the main negative points is Rukia surviving because I hope for her death since the beginning of the manga. Just simply dropping the stuff about Urahara and co like it was nothing was bad too. But I dont really car about it because I cant even remember them beeing in Hueco Mundo to begin with.

Well next thing to come is the Royal Guard. Im still surprised the Guard hasnt made himself shown to the people of SS even though he already arrived there.