Bleach Chapter 384 – Can’t Fear Your Sword
J, buddy, where you at bro? Well I guess I’ll do a brief synopsis in your absence. Chapter 384: Can’t Fear Your Sword; clearly talking about Hisagi, and how he deals with the new ideals of the mentor he once loved. The chapter picks up exactly where the last left off, with Tousen raising his hand to his face, about to reveal the powers bestowed to him by his “God.” The process surprisingly emits a large amount of spiritual energy, then revealing that the new power was of course hollowfication. What is interesting about his mask is that it is more like a helmet, wrapping completely around his head, and is plain white, with no mouth, nose, or eyes, just one stripe down the middle. This is very reflective of Tousen himself, seeing as how he is blind, and a self-proclaimed “pure being,” hence a pure white mask.
White Despair
After seeing this, it made me think about the other hollow masks we have seen so far, and how they reflect their shinigami’s personality, much like a zanpakuto would:
- Hachi’s looks much like a shaman mask; reflective of his seemingly magic kido abilities, and preference to stay away from hand-to-hand combat.
- Shinji’s looks like a pharaoh mask, the leader of his civilization. Shinji himself is the unofficial leader of the Vizards.
- Love’s looks like an ogre, and after seeing Love fight with his giant club, it is apparent that he is an ogre-like brute.
- Mashiro’s is a heart-shaped, very perky looking mask, which is obviously reflective of her personality.
- Kensei’s looks like a hockey mask, a very physical sport. Also, it is pretty basic, and blunt, much like his fighting style. It is very strait forward, with no decorative bull shit.
- Rose’s on the other hand is very elegant, shaped almost like the face of a bird. His flamboyant personality and fighting style is very reflective of this.
- Hiyori’s looks like a little devil, so is she.
- Lisa’s is somewhat reflective of herself in that she is kind of Plain-Jane, and so is her mask.
- Ichigo would take a little longer to analyze, but what else is new.
Anyways back to the chapter, sorry for getting off track. After donning his mask, apparently named “white despair,” he almost immediatle attacks a curious and petrified Hisagi. Komamura tries attacking Tousen with Tenken, only to be outclassed by the newly enhanced arrancar general. He questions Komamura as to why they can accept Ichigo for having the very same powers, yet shun him, Aizen, and Gin for it. Komamura replies that it is simply because Ichigo didn’t have a choice in the matter, where as Tousen and co. were strong enough to peacefully exist before, and still sought this forbiddent power. For someone like Tousen who claims to ultimately seek peace, why would he walk the only path that causes so much combat.
Pwnage
The preoccupied Tousen is actually caught off guard and close-lined from behind by Kazeshini and slammed into the very building Hisagi was. Hisagi reveals that he actually side stepped the blow Tousen dealt before. He then reminds Tousen of the past, and how he taught Hisagi to respect the fear he had for his sword, and that it was an irreplacable quality in all great warriors. Naively trying to communicate with Tousen, Hisagi gets stabbed through the stomach and falls off the building. Another one down. Just then Tousen admits that his only fear has ever been to die a shinigami. This makes me wonder if that advice about fearing your sword was just bull shit that Tousen fed his subordinates, possibly as a safety measure for his future defection; even with the great potential in Hisagi, by always fearing his sword he still stands no chance against him. The chapter ends with Komamura releasing his bankai, ready to f*ck Tousen up.
Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō
On a side note, it is unfortunate that everytime Hisagi talks to Tousen he still calls him captain, suffering from the same nostalgic weakness that Momo does. I wonder how Kira will act towards Gin.
Tags: bleach manga chapters
December 6, 2009 2:27 pm 12 Comments
Other Links to this Post
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
By RyoRaizen, December 6, 2009 @ 7:01 pm
At first his mask came as a surprise to me. I thought “How the hell is he supposed to see out of this thing?” But then I remembered he’s blind. Lol, I keep forgetting that. What in the world would Aizen need with a hollow mask? He could smack down any of the Gotei 13, any of the Vizards, and “maybe” Ichigo.
By El Nino, December 6, 2009 @ 7:33 pm
Great review. I wasn’t happy with the chapter as I’ve always disliked Tousen. He has finally proven Kenpachi right, he was afraid of dying while he was a captain. So that crap about justice is bullshit. I wonder how dying with his new power will make him feel?!. Anyway, he is out of Komomura’s league right now, so me thinks he will fight Kyoraku or Rose and Love
By peterb, December 7, 2009 @ 10:27 am
You know when tousen releases his mask and its called white despair. now it is known that the espada and shinigami call out a name when they release a power. ichigo or the other vizards don’t say a word when they do. Aizen who caused the hollowfication must know a lot more about it so maybe they could be an even greater power if ichigo could call something when he donned the mask.
just a theory really.
i just started a blog on bleach and naruto trying to see who is best.
what your views?
By Bob Ichimaru, December 7, 2009 @ 1:13 pm
I always thought Tousen would be the last person who would betray his allies you know; he’s always had this noble and just aura about him. Looks like the lure of power was too great or maybe his will was too weak. True to Kibo style, I’m sure we’ll see Tousen’s side of things… after he gets righteously pwned.
And thanks for filling in again ssj. J’s probably passed out in some seedy bar and forgot about this week’s chapter lolz, but I’m sure he appreciates it.
By Pretend3r, December 7, 2009 @ 2:45 pm
I like how Tousen looks, and I think this shows that its obvious that Urahara’s invention has been used. Makes me wonder why Urahara isnt God as far as Tousen would be concerned. Anyway. His mask covers his entire face and part of his upper body. Defnitly a more ‘perfect’ form of hollowfication.
Once again the power-rating seems very difficult to compare fighters to one another. At the very least i hope we can see some masked-man going at eachother. Going by what Tousen showed in this chapter i think Komamura’s bankai is too slow to deal with Tousen.
By ssj, December 7, 2009 @ 8:30 pm
Wow good observation Pretend3r! I was completely ignorant to the fact that Tousen’s mask is more than just a mask. It is armor! You know what that means? The hollowfication process can extend further past just the mask, but probably eventually form entire body armor in its most advanced state (given the right amount of training i’m assuming). I suspect that Tousen has surpassed the vizards so quickly because just like how artificial arrancar with the hougyoku are more developed and stronger than natural arrancar, artificial vizards with the hougyoku are probably more advanced and stronger than artificial ones. At least at first. Ichigo will probably find a way to be an exception to this, as like all things lol. I bet Gin and Aizen will be even more advanced.
Thanks bob
I’m sure J is just getting into the holiday spirit a little early lol.
By TakashiD, December 7, 2009 @ 10:06 pm
yeah i was wondering why every ones breakdowns have failed to notice the shoulder and chest plates that came with the mask.
By Pretend3r, December 8, 2009 @ 1:22 pm
@ssJ: I think Ichigo already surpassed it when he went beserk against Uli. Though not in control, the hollowfication has spread all over his body. A full-head covering mask, long hair. Flame(?)-lie collar, also similar stuff around his anckles and wrists. Makes me kind of wonder how his transformation will be when his power is fully restored by captain Unohana.
By Mart1, December 9, 2009 @ 12:18 pm
“form entire body armor” Didn’t Ichigo also get full body armour when he battled the other vizards? I think Gin’s mask will be the most interesting looking. I always thought the “fear your own sword” thing was crap, though didn’t Tousen say Hisagi hadn’t changed at all from before (not fearing his own sword) earlier in this battle
By ssj, December 9, 2009 @ 5:46 pm
Yeah Ichigo turned into an all out hollow, but that is different from Tousen right now. He can’t “don” that form, just his mask. Tousen is still Tousen, but he has mastered the hollowfication to the point where he can don more than just a mask, but also some armor. I’m saying that if Ichigo masters it more, he’ll probably gradually be able to don more and more of the armor.
By Aizen jr, December 10, 2009 @ 10:55 pm
Az always u have forgoten about the past i.e:
when ichi-kun needs extra power he talks 2 his hollow side(i call it john) n john gave him like 20 percent and we all know what john can do with half hiz power what if they fight together i mean ichigo practicaly created inoues powers and john almost destroyd byakuya
By build6, December 14, 2009 @ 4:20 am
i think if you take a look carefully at the figure of Tosen when Hisagi is falling off the building, you’ll see that his foot is extended – so Hisagi didn’t fall of the building, he was KICKED off (which shows how brutal Tosen really is). So it wasn’t just that Tosen ran through Hisagi while Hisagi was trying to talk to him, he also kicked his limp body off the building afterward, for good measure