Bleached Ichigo

Bleach Manga Chapter 352 – The Lust 6

Sorry J, but the people need to discuss. This is only a one time thing, and if you ever get the motivation to write before the next chapter comes out, feel free to edit this.

Now, onto the chapter. It begins at the fight between Rukia and Rudobon in Las Noches. It seems she finally gained the advantage on the Exequias leader, by simply freezing him with her shikai and rendering him incapable of producing more soldiers. (I don’t know about you, but when this is all said and done, I think Rukia might be in store for a Lieutenant promotion, regardless of Byakuya’s wishes)

Out of nowhere, Yammy appears behind Rudobon, seizing his whole body in one hand, and showing his same disregard with most other arrancar, quickly tosses Rudobon aside. It seems Renji and Chad were all within the general vicinity, because they all see the dramatic entrance too. Chad quickly notes that Yammy has grown tremendously since his last encounter with him, now breaching several stories tall. My guess is, much like the incredible Hulk, Yammy grows the angrier he gets, and boy is he angry. He doesn’t seem to care much about the three shinigami around him, only concerned about his revenge on Ishida. They all notice a tremendous surge of energy coming from above the dome, but it is hard for them to recognize that it is actually Ichigo.

Back above the dome is yet another sub-nuclear explosion fired point blank from Ichigo’s cero at Ulquiorra. Orihime shields herself and Ishida from the explosion. The cero leaves a huge hole on the top of Las Noches, yet amazingly, Ulquiorra manages to survive. Much like at the end of the Frieza – SSJ Goku fight, Ulquiorra is missing part of his left arm, and his entire lower half. (Even though we have been making all these comparisons between Bleach and Naruto recently, this fight seems to bare a striking resemblance to the Goku-Frieza fight. The enemy reaches his seemingly unbeatable third and final form, but is then stomped by the protagonist’s new, unknown form, and as shown below, blasts or slices away the same part of the enemy’s body.) I know one important organ Ulquiorra isn’t going to be able to regenerate lol.

Ichigo then tosses Ulquiorra aside into some rubble. He draws his sword preparing to stab Ulquiorra in the head and finally finish him off. Ishida, showing incredible speed for his condition, appears right next to Ichigo, grabbing his arm. Ishida explains that there is no honor in carving the enemy after he has already won, and if he continues, there may be no turning back from his Hollow form. Ichigo persists in lowering his sword, until the last second where he thrusts it through Ishida’s stomach.

Orihime screams, but all Ichigo can mutter is “You… Help You… Must Help You…” meaning there must be some hint of the old Ichigo left in there. And I don’t think that the Hollow Ichigo from inside Ichigo’s head is the one in control, becuase he wouldn’t give a damn about Orihime. I think right now it is a mindless surge of power, whose consciousness is up for grabs to the victor inside. Anyways, Orihime once again blames herself for Kurosoki’s problems.

Ichigo prepares a cero to launch at the immobilized Quincy, when a regenerating Ulquiorra appears behind Ichigo and cuts off one of his horns. This cocks Ichigo’s head up and forces the cero blast to explode above his head. The caption at the end says “The final blow!!!” but since it didn’t hit anybody, it can’t mean the end of the fight. My guess is that it means it is the final blow we will see from Ichigo in this hollow form, and hopefully next chapter we will see him try to reclaim his consciousness.