Bleach Manga Chapter 348 – The Lust 2
Well, since Shannaro is officially not as cool as BleachedIchigo anymore, I’ve decided to finally start writing the weekly chapter analysis the same way Bob does.
This week the very first zanpakuto popularity poll was released. Surprisingly (or not?), the winner is Hyourinmaru, while Zangetsu is ranked third! I was really amazed, however, to see Rukia’s Sode no Shirayuki beat not only Zangetsu and Senbonzakura, but a bunch of other swords, that are truly more powerful and cooler looking. Personally I was expecting Hisagi’s Kazeshini to be a big hit amongst the fans.
Now, back to the more interesting part – the Hero vs. Death’s advocate. The very first thing I noticed was the title – “The Lust 2″. As all of you regulars know, the previous chapters’ titles all referred to the seven deadly sins and the chapter before them was named “The Antagonizer” - Satan. My opinion on the matter is that the chapters will now go in reverse as Sins#2 and reach all the way to the 2nd Atagonizer. After all, the best way to beat a monster is to match it up with another monster.
And indeed, Ulquiorra doesn’t resemble anything close to a human anymore – he has two huge bat wings on his shoulders and two smaller ones on his lower back – typical for most bats. His feet look like eagle/lion claws – a common feature used by most animators when drawing devils, thick fur that covers his legs and stomach, a tail almost twice the length of his body and a couple of really scary horns (that make him look like he’s a valkyrie, rather than a monster). Ichigo is completely stunned by his opponent’s change in form and spiritual energy and can’t even respond to Ulquiorra’s questions.
The fourth Espada explains that he is the only member of the Espada (and therefore probably the only hollow in existence) that can use Ressureccion Segunda Etapa (second stage resurrection). And it’s also Ichigo’s privilege to be the only being to see this form. Lucky him, eh?
The fact that he’s the only Espada who can use it, makes me believe that he’s actually the strongest as well. SSJ suggested that he was even sronger than Aizen, but I find that quite impossible – Ulquiorra is just not the type of person who’d wield to a master, who is weaker than himself. And he probably decided that being #4 is enough to satisfy his needs. Or he’s lazy like Stark.
Well, I’ve gotta give it to Ichi-kun. Most people would’ve just shit in their pants and fallen dead at the sight of Satan before them, but, like any Weekly Shonen Jump main character, the either-brave-or-stupid shinigami stands up in hope that he’ll be able to defeat his enemy. Ulquiorra gets very pissed off and decides to finally finish off his opponent and in a very brutal fashion at that. The Espada charges in straight on, but suddenly appears on Kurosaki’s right side. I thought he was going to rip his head off, but thankfully, he only broke the tower’s wall with it. Even though Ichigo manages to block Ulquiorra’s next strike, his face is slashed by the Espada’s tail.
The shinigami is even able to summon his hollow mask again, but the power just isn’t enough – he’s completely overwhelmed by his opponent and his emological and monotonous speech. Thus he gets back at him with his usual chivalrous and self-sacrificing statement – “I must win”.
Meanwhile, Inoue and Ishida climb up to the dome, using Ishida’s latest invention – some kind of flying carpet. Uryuu is disappointed that he hadn’t used it earlier in battle and complains about his own uselessness in the battle so far. Just as Orihime tries to comfort him, they both get a feel of Ulquiorra’s reiatsu – and according to Ishida, it’s very different from the reiatsu any other creature possesses. When they arrive at the top, they’re greeted by Ulquiorra and an almost dead Ichigo hanging from his tail.
The Espada prepares a Dark Cero and Inoue can only watch as it makes a hole through Ichigo’s chest. That’s the second time Ulquiorra’s punctured Ichigo’s chest. And if you remember the first time that happened – the ole was quite small and Ichigo was dead for a few minutes. This time things look much, much worse.
Tags: bleach manga chapters
March 6, 2009 7:26 am 15 Comments
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By ZEB, March 6, 2009 @ 1:01 pm
OMG!!! This is ridiculous…
By Captain Hitsugaya, March 6, 2009 @ 4:39 pm
Congrats Bayakushi. It’s really like some Bob’s blog. I can see where are you coming from…it sound plausible for me to see another time whole 7 sins but now upgraded.
I love how Ichigo stand at his ground and don’t falling down into despair(another sin? lol ). I cant wait to see expression on Ulqi-chan face when Ichigo turn into some powerful thing(You said monster..that’s good too)and kick his ass. I’ll enjoy.
P.S.Who’s da man….MY boy Hitsugaya is!!! In your face!…. NaruxSaku fans…wait that’s some other site…lol
By mart1, March 6, 2009 @ 4:48 pm
I agree that we will go backwards in the sins now.
I think that orohime could save ichigo in the two seconds it takes Ul to destroy ishida (useless mother f***er)
By bruji, March 7, 2009 @ 12:24 am
i kinda expected ulquiorra to beat the s**t out of ichigo, but if he doesn’t kill inoue (ain’t gonna happen) then ichigo can still be brought back to life (again). have no idea what’s gonna happen next week.
By Itsygo, March 7, 2009 @ 1:07 am
I knew Ulquiorra woulda’ beat the living crap outta Ichigo, but I’m starting to think it’s a Bleach cliche, just like Ulquiorra said: “Ichigo wishes to fight opponents much stronger than him”.. and he basically always loses (Last time he won by himself was near the beginning when he fought Kenpachi for the first time) …although I want to know how he’ll get through this one…
Ulquiorra always looked like a badass, every REALLY badass villain in Kubo’s creation is the silent, but deadly type (Also Aizen)… the noisy ones are actually sh8t compared to these guys…
I’ve finally started to read the manga, I only followed up with the anime… but since Naruto is going into filler nation, I think I have some 2 minutes to read this manga too…
…nice choice of music btw..
By ssj sousuke, March 7, 2009 @ 5:42 pm
Byakuya, I suggested that when you told us that Ulquiorra was actually stronger than Stark, and even though your spoiler was right about Ulquiorra being the only Espada to be able to do this 2nd trans. and the fact that Aizen doesn’t know about it, he never claims that he is stronger than the Primera Espada, Stark, and so, with that knowledge, I don’t believe even in this form that he is Stronger than Aizen, or even Stark.
As for the chapter, it was good to see more coverage on this second form, here is what I think could happen next:
1.) This hole Ulquiorra just created could create some connection with the hollow-hole created on him by Urahara with the chain in his training, and possibly flip some kind of hollow switch within him, ergo, going full hollow. Kinda doubt that, but its a possibility.
2.) Orihime heals Ichigo while Ishida tries to hold Ulquiorra off. Ishida is gets badly hurt, and after seeing that she healed Ichigo, Ulquiorra kills or badly hurts Ichigo. Ichigo then goes into a blind rage and is overcome with a surge of power and goes full hollow, or at least gets really powerful. (this theory kind of fits in with us making some many connections between naruto and bleach lately – naruto seeing hinata hurt.)
3.) Ichigo is shit out of luck.
-ssj
By ssj sousuke, March 8, 2009 @ 5:31 pm
kills or badly hurts Orihime*
By ZEB, March 9, 2009 @ 2:53 pm
I’m glad you put music to this blog…I usually listen to music while reading…so thats cool…right now I don’t see how they are going or even where they r going to go with this…Ulquiorra is stupid strong and I don’t think that Ishida could hold him off at all, but at the same time the way they make Ishida like he is so strong I don’t know. Either way I suppose we will find out this week.
By Bayakushi, March 11, 2009 @ 6:45 am
Yeah, I thought some music would add to the feeling of Ichigo bein’ torn to pieces. And besides, you non-europeans need to learn a bit about good ol’ German industrial metal. I’ll be addin’ some every time from now on.
WARNING, SPOILER BELOW:
Take a look at this.. http://i40.tinypic.com/adi8m0.jpg
THIS IS FOKKIN’ AWESOME!!! Finally gunna see the monster.
(Oh, and Ishida gets his arm cut off.)
By ssj sousuke, March 11, 2009 @ 7:21 am
f*** yeah
and bayakushi i prefer finnish metal
By Bayakushi, March 11, 2009 @ 7:56 am
Oh, Finnish. like Lordi, Apocalyptica, The Rasmus and Poisonblack? We’ll get to those later. Rammstein fits Bleach better, anyways.
Oh, and Inoue totally went crazy.. So nice.
By ssj sousuke, March 11, 2009 @ 8:15 am
Don’t forget Children of Bodom.
but yeah i agree that would sound weird to bleach lol.
By stargirl, July 8, 2010 @ 10:50 am
Alright as much as I love German metal, Finnish metal? What the crap? Anyways, this chapter is named the Lust for this reason;
Ichigo lusts after the power to kill Ulquiorra and protect Orihime, all in all, his Lust for Orihime-chan
By Byakushi, July 8, 2010 @ 11:09 am
Well, if you must know, Finnish metal is the absolute #1 in the world. Don’t ever diss it. Also, I realized i haven’t been adding any music lately. This will soon change. As for everythin’ else.. This is 50 years old, why are we still commenting here?
By stargirl, July 8, 2010 @ 12:26 pm
I accidently got here lol, btw when I said that “what the crap” that would be a good what the crap, I have a friend who listens to finnish metal, but he also thinks Bleach is a cliche that copies old school anime\manga, so I don’t usually listen to his coments and\or advice.