Bleach (manga) 354: Espada 00

I'm expecting the other 0 to show up on his other shoulder soon.

Holy crap! What a ripoff from Gundam 00?! Now we have an Espada 0. I wonder if Yammy will get quadruple reiatsu output once he features the other 0 on his other shoulder.

Bleach (manga) 350: WTF?!

My first reaction when I saw Ichigo in this form was

WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!

Umm… In a good way, that is.

Bleach (manga) 349: The Return of Hollow Ichigo

Bleach (manga) 342: Death to Ichigo!

Why won't you die already?!

Watching this scene reminds me of the scene from the movie Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me where a character (Robin Swallows) was stabbed in the back, shot by machine guns, blasted by a missile in the face, fell off a high-rise (and landed as a cushion for Austin Powers), dragged behind a car—all that but yet still won’t die.

Bleach (manga) 339: Primera Espada

Oh no, disappoint you did not.

After 24 chapters of fillers that were the Lieutenants’ fights, Bleach (manga) is finally back to the main story.

The biggest revelation in the chapter is Stark = the Primera Espada. Honestly, I had thought he was third because of his laid-back attitude. But come to think of it, only a really strong fighter can afford to get away with fooling around like that but yet manage to stay alive.

What does it take to kill an anime character?

Rangiku from Bleach chapter 336

Look more carefully, Rangiku’s entire right-side of her abdomen has just been ripped apart.

Now I am no stranger to Bleach’s ridiculously over-the-top wounds sustained by various characters, e.g. Ichigo sustaining Ulquiorra’s full hand plunged completely into his chest and Rukia impaled by the ninth Espada Aaroniero’s sword through hers, but having half of your internal organs torn out like that looks instant fatality to me. But guess what: no one in Bleach with more than a dozen of dialog lines ever dies.

Look who’s back—bleach (manga) 334

Just when Bleach have almost snuffed out all my fandom, it comes back with a twist that piques my interest again.

The recent lame fights have been formulaic, repetitive, unoriginal, and unconvincing. Take the Soifon fight: here, we are asked to believe an assassin, a silent killer, would announce to her opponent her method of kill, just so that she could assess the strength of her opponents. But wasn’t she, at the same time, being assessed by Barragan who was watching the entire fight at the sideline?

A thing called deceit—bleach (manga) 331

Boy, would I love to play poker with Soi Fon?

OK, so you’re strong and awesome, but do you have to make your life difficult—not to mention at risk—by telling your opponent the secret of your trump card?

Size matters—bleach (manga) 326–328

flocking huge

I haven’t expected a captain to draw his sword so soon, but the last Arrancar happens to be too much for anyone else less than a captain with his bankai released to handle. In a battle of giant versus giant, Ikkaku, who has refused to release his, has no chance even if he does.

Bleach (manga) 324–325: Shūhei Hisagi goes shikai

kazeshini (death by wind)

Chapter 324 opens with last fight’s Kira nonchalantly asking the arrancar he just cut down for no forgiveness—a fitting closure on his philosophy that war necessarily violates unapologetically all morality and fairness. Next up, the third of the prelim fights between the Ninth Division Lieutenant Shuuhei Hisagi and the third of Barragan’s five Fracción Findor Carias.

Bleach (manga) 322-323: Kira fights dirty

The blah-ness he meant

Now they’re just milking it.

Quite an inconsequential fight. The Arrancar, just weak—I mean feathers that can pierce through buildings are fine, but if they can be dodged, which Kira did without even requiring shinpo, then they’re not dangerous. His second technique, even lamer: he just dashes at you, which is absolutely the worst idea against Kira whose special ability requires his sword to make contact.

Bleach (manga) 320-321: Battle of the fuglies

Worse than two fat ladies fighting over overly expensive cosmetic at Walmart.

So, after countless chapters of chattering, Bleach is finally back to its bread-n-butter: one-on-one fights. The first fight—one of four match-ups that serve as appetizers in the Winter War arc—is between Yumichika Ayasegawa, fifth seat of the eleventh division, and Charlotte Coolhorn, one of five Fraccións under the top arrancar Barragan.

Bleach (manga) 139 does the Kira☆

"My boyfriend is a hollow!"

I can’t wait until the anime catches up to this chapter. Ho ho ho ho…

Bleach (manga) 317: The Heart That Never Dies

To be able to stare down your captor who has only recently crushed your best hope of rescue, to refute his threat of ripping your chest apart and cracking your skull open with

I am not afraid,

to be able to do so not because you see your friends coming—in fact, you saw them went down one by one—but because you know since your own heart beats on for them therefore so do theirs for you; that, is

Orihime Inoue.

Possibly the biggest oversight by Aizen, counted out as completely useless by Ulquiorra, she may yet be the story arc’s biggest wild card.

Watch out, Soul Society and Hueco Mundo. Her strength only grows with passion and determination, not just in her heart, but in six—six hearts as one—to be metamorphosed as her real power yet unseen…

Bleach (manga) -98 to -97: End of the Turn Back the Pendulum Arc

The return of the Vizards

So these two chapters wrap up this little setup, prequel arc. Next chapter should be back to the original timeline with the battle at hand in Karakura town (or a replacement of it).

Bleach (manga) -99: Absolute Hypnosis

Only Aizen’s second best technique

Bleach (manga) -100: Guess What? It’s Just Aizen—Again.

Same old scene, just with a younger versions of themselves.

Finally an action packed chapter, but the revelation at the end just deflates any excitement that had just built up.

Why does the bad guy have to be Aizen again?

When they’re talking about events over a hundred years ago, you would’ve expected the characters to be different from what they are today. Reminiscing about the past is one plot device to give characters more depths by showing the transformation from whom they used to be—like showing the seed before the tree or the catapillar before the butterfly.

Bleach (manga) -105: The Young Rising

Before …

Kisuke continues to rake up cool points; young Byakuya shows a rare hot-tempered moment; and kiddo Gin is as spooky as he always has been.

Bleach (manga) – 318 (-106): Shinigami Dissension

It’s hard to get a tan when you’re locked up inside the Maggots’ Nest.

For the fifth chapter in a row, Bleach has gone chatty. In fact, there isn’t even a sign of a sword at all. Except for one frame, everything is talk. Fortunately, the talking does reveal some interesting secret operations of the Gotei 13.

Bleach (manga) – 317: Kisuke Urahara Takes Center Stage

“Old dude, are you done with the bathroom yet? There’s a long line out here.”

First a few bookkeeping. Yoruichi Shihouin was indeed the 2^nd Division Captain. Also, by the standing order, the Vizard Kensei was the 9^th Division Captain. This makes four Vizards that used to be Shinigami Captains! This also means four Vizards capable of Bankai in Hollow mode! For whatever the reason, I used to think that the Vizards are weak. Boy, was I wrong. Two more Captains remain in mystery: the 6^th Division Captain, who was some old dude whose name has not yet been revealed, and the 10^th who met a recent demise. Could Isshin Kurosaki be the replacement?

Bleach (manga) – 316: The Shinigami Captains One Century Ago

“The subprime mess turned me into a Vizard.”

Breaking away from Bleach traditions, this chapter takes a flashback without being in the middle of a big fight. The flashback is on the day of inauguration of the new 12^th Division Captain Kisuke Urahara one century ago. What is interesting is that only 5 of the 13 captains now were Captains back then, but what is surprising is that at least 3 of the 13 captains back then became Vizards today. What is even more surprising is that there is a little-known Division — the 0^th Division — called the Royal Guards.

Bleach (manga) – 315: March of Death

Enter the top three Espada

So, the last of the players finally stepped into the arena.

So far, Bleach has done very well in establishing the awesome power of the Espada. If Ulquiorra, who broke Ichigo’s bankai without having to release his zanpakutou, is only #4, then the top three espada are expected to give me the over 9,000 feel.

Bleach (manga) – 314: So begins the Karakura arc…

Damn! Even our backs are sexy.

I haven’t felt this excited about Bleach for a long time. Finally, the little kids are benched on the sideline, and the real men are stepping in to show how the real game is played.

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.