Bleach Chapters 389 – 391

Download Bleach Chapter 389 (Winged Eagles 2)

Download Bleach Chapter 390 (BEYOND THE DEATH UNDERSTANDING)

Download Bleach Chapter 391 (The Blazing Glaciers)

Ah, sorry I neglected to write anything for the past three weeks, but the chapters were just so damn short, I just didn’t feel like doing anything. But now that three chapters have passed, I think enough info has been accumulated to make one post about it. And to summarize everything important in one picture:

In short  it’s been an Aizen\Hitsugaya-centered mini-arc, in which four captains, four Vizards, Ichigo and Omaeda take on Aizen. And even if you’d expected Omaeda to be the only one left out of the action, Ichigo has no excuse for being absolutely useless in this fight.

Even though his orders were to wait for an opening on Aizen, he just stands there looking like he’s seen the biggest pair of boobies in the world. In that last scene where Toushiro stabs Aizen, Ichigo’s sword should be going trough the traitor’s head. That boy just doesn’t pay attention. Now, after Aizen gets angry and brutally kills everybody else, there should be some reaction.

In the first chapter Ichigo had just arrived with Unohana from Hueco Mundo and was ready to face Aizen with his 9 men backup. Initially everyone tried to hit Aizen by themselves, some charging head-on, others aiming their hits silently from behind. It was absolutely useless, though. After a short dialogue about who’s worthy of being a Captain and who’s not, Aizen’s provocations get on Hitsugaya’s nerves and the shorty activates his painstakingly overused bankai. At first I was happy because I thought that the three frozen flowers over his head were gone, but unfortunately they were there in the next chapter… The kid’s once again not made any progress at all. And yet he still manages to inflict an almost fatal wound on an opponent who’s clearly stronger than him.

The second chapter focuses on revealing Aizen’s power from a direct point of view and through Gin’s thoughts. Aizen easily kills Komamura and Rose, without using any Kidou or sword abilities. His sheer spiritual pressure and speed are enough to overwhelm these two experienced fighters and make fools out of another two – Hitsugaya and Love. And Gin, who’s gettin’  no action at the moment, comments that Aizen’s power actually lies within his exterior abilities, rather than in Kyouka Suigetsu, as everyone thought so so far. It seems that the only person who could take Aizen by himself is Yamamoto.
But why is the old fossil missing from battle then? I think that even though he wants to fight, he’ll wait for Aizen to get a bit exhausted first, or at least he’s letting everybody take a shot at the traitor. He could battle Gin, since they’re the only two people who’re unoccupied at the moment, but for some reason that’s not happening. Let’s pray to God Gin doesn’t turn out to be a double agent in the next chapter………….
And as for this week’s chapter, it was simply beautiful. Such exceptional team work from such diverse individuals, it’s almost unexpected. The mix between Kyouraku’s and Shinji’s shikai is absolutely incredible and with Hitsugaya’s ice to make the enemy immobile, it becomes unavoidable. I’d say this combination is at least equal to Kyouka Suigetsu, if not better.
In the begining Aizen swiftly finishes off Love and Lisa and then collides with Soi Fon. A short conversation between the two easily turns into an all-out war, with Soi Fon using her last hidden card – super fast movement. Aizen doesn’t look at all nervous, but is in for a surprise as the tables turn on him. As he draws his sword, his hand is frozen, which allows Soi Fon to land a hit in his stomach. One more and he’s done for. Unfortunately for the good guys, he still has one free arm and catches her hand in midair. Aizen concentrates on eliminating Soi Fon and doesn’t notice Kyouraku hiding in the iceburg’s shadow. The villain takes a second body piercing, this time in the chest area. As he tries to recover he sees Hitsugaya charging straight towards him. A fighter like Aizen would have no problem stopping a head-on attack, but with Shinji confusing his senses,  he can’t avoid getting hit for a third time in a row, this time straight through the heart.
The greatest question in Bleach ever – is this the end of Aizen?! So fast, we haven’t even seen his bankai, we don’t know if he’s hollowfied himself, like Tousen, his death would mean that only Gin, Yammi and Wonderweiss remain to fulfill the evil deeds. At first I thought he was using Kyouka Suigetsu and everyone had actually stabbed Ichigo, or better yet – they’ve killed Omaeda, but if it was one of them with a magic cloak on, then they wouldn’t have known about Shinji’s shikai (probably). Also, Aizen was trying to make a point in not using his hypnotising ability and wanted to defeat everyone with his spiritual force. So that means he has indeed suffered three very serious, maybe life-threatening injuries. But being a master at Kidou,he should be able to patch himself right up, right? Or if he’s hollowfied himself, he can just regenerate. So personally, I don’t think this is the end of Aizen, but it could be the end of the Fake Karakura Arc, because he’ll definitely be pissed now and he’ll try to finish things quickly.
The reason for the contrast in the previous 4-5 chapters with the last pages of this one is to show that Aizen is ridiculously powerful, but he’s not that ridiculously powerful. Or in other words – Ichigo still has a chance to win (in the distant future). Especially if you take into consideration Aizen’s words to Soi Fon – “A battle between shinigami is a battle of reiatsu; my reiatsu will crush your power and attack”, and Unohana’s thoughts about Ichigo’s reiatsu being twice as much as a Captains. Those two statements lead to one thing – theoretically Ichigo is as strong as Aizen, he just lacks experience and any other moves beside Getsuga Tenshou.

Bleach Episode 256 – “The Angered Byakuya! The Collapse of the Kuchiki House”

Chapter 390 – Beyond the Death Understanding

Aizen lives up to all our expectations once again in this chapter, easily bettering multiple Captain-level opponents at once. The chapter begins where the last one left off, with Hitsugaya going bankai yet again. It has really lost its impact like Ichigo’s, since they use them so much it is more like their default battle plan now :/ . Remember how cool they were the first times we saw them? and now everyone just expects it. Ichigo always has some new hollow power as an ace in the hole, but Hitsugaya is just losing his luster the more he fights. I hope that changes soon. But I digress, in   response to his previous statement, Hitsugaya acknowledges how he no longer sees himself fit be be a captain, seeing as how he too carries hatred within his sword. Supposedly in order to be a captain one must only swing their blade out of a sense of duty, not hatred. But according to Aizen, somebody fighting him without hatred is powerless. Therefore a true Captain can not defeat him, leaving just one candidate – Ichigo.

Yes, I know this is from the last chapter.

After Hitsu’s charge on Aizen fails, Aizen is targeted by perhaps two of the largest zanpakutos we have seen yet: Tenken and Tengumaru. It was actually a pretty cool tag team, but of course something like that won’t work on Aizen. He rips through Komamura’s Tenken like a twig, just before slicing off his left hand, and finally delivering a near fatal wound to the mid-section. I think it is safe to say Komamura is finally out of commission for this battle. How many people have lost arms now? Soifon, Hachi, Komamura, and even Ishida. But I’m sure Unohana is skilled enough to reattach limbs.

pwned

Again, Love and Rose try to surprise attack Aizen. You’d think they’d get it now that simple physical attacks won’t work. They know what he is capable of, why wouldn’t a few of them go bankai? Most of the remaining fighters are capable of it, what are they waiting for? And what the hell Vaizards, use your fricken masks, you’ve been training a hundred years to master them, now is the time to use that advantage. Anyhow, Aizen easily catches Rose’s whip-like zanpakuto, and appears to pull him in. This is followed by a panel of blood flying through the air, so it is assumed that Aizen slashed (but probably didn’t kill) Rose that easily.

Gin’s whereabouts are finally revealed, as he has just been standing atop of a damaged building this whole time. I wonder what the purpose of having him removed from the battle will serve. Don’t get me wrong, I love that Tite is finally straying away from the cliche’ hierarchy of battle formula where you have to fight the strongest bad guy last, but where will Gin come in? Gin seems to have no lack in confidence in his seemingly invincible leader, while he provides some insight throughout the chapter as to why Aizen is so fearsome, and respected by his Arrancar. Kyoka Suigetsu is a fearsome ability, and no doubt it has been the main concern of the Gotei, but it is only one small ingredient to Aizen’s can of whoop-ass.

Führer Aizen

I think Tite is using a combination of the badass that Aizen really is, and downplaying everyone else’s abilities to try and live up to the hype he created for Aizen. In the current situation, things could be happening that would clearly give Aizen more trouble, like all the Vaizard actually using their masks, or all the captain-level opponents using their bankais, or Yamamoto could fight. Even if Aizen would still come out victorious, he would at least have some trouble, hell even Shinji’s shikai managed to wound the “God.” But I’ll let Tite have his moment with Aizen, because all good things will eventually come to an end.

-ssj

Bleach Episode 255 – “Final Chapter·Zanpakutō Unknown Tales”