Bleach (manga) - 313: To Close Your World

This is it. It looks like the Hueco Mundo arc is coming to an end. They are taking the fight to the human world — the home town of Ichigo and friends.

Why am I still following Bleach? Admittedly, Bleach’s basic story-structure is pretty simple and boring:

1. girl get in trouble;
2. guy vow to rescue girl;
3. guy run into tough enemy;
4. guy get ass kicked;
5. guy power up;
6. guy toss ridiculously powerful energy bolts around;
7. guy save girl;
8. ???
9. PROFIT!
10. Lather, rince and repeat

However, what makes Bleach still interesting is that

• it has interesting match-ups of fights carefully picked from among a huge cast of well-developed characters and that
• it gives a sense of a much larger story-backdrop than just the simple lives of its main characters.

For examples, some of the fights and story developments I look forward to see:

• Ichigo vs. Ulquiorra, take 2.
• Ichigo’s dad vs. Aizen. You know Ichigo will lose to Aizen and then will require his dad to come to the rescue.
• Tousen’s betrayal of Aizen It’ll be interesting to see how Tousen’s ultra-sense of honor and Aizen’s deceitfulness will collide.
• Orihime’s betrayal of Aizen Will she become the first major character in Bleach to pay the ultimate price?
• What is Aizen’s reason against the King of Soul Society? Just don’t tell me he is his father. Eeeek!
• What was Ichigo’s dad reason for leaving Soul Society?
• Still waiting for Kenpachi’s shikai.

So have faith, my friends. Bleach is going to be good.