But anyway, let’s concentrate on what’s important here – SPIRITS AAAAAAAAAAAAARE ALWAYS WITH YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And in Ichigo’s case that’s one spirit too many. The strawberry has finally discovered the truth (which we have known for 300 chapters) – that Zangetsu and Ichigo’s inner hollow are actually one and the same. Apart they look really cool, but mixed together they look even more awesome. Their hybrid form manages to take all of the best aspects of the originals. Or perhaps it’s more appropriate to say this is the original and Zangetsu and hollow were never really meant to exist as separates. The only weird thing is that it looks like a 13-year old Ichigo with long hair, so it actually looks more like a girl…

Now Ichigo needs to beat this new Zangetsu in order obtain new powers and regain his fighting spirit. As Zangetsu said, Ichigo is terrified by the very thought of how destructive his power can be. Until he embraces the idea of being the strongest character in his own manga, Ichigo is gonna have to get his ass kicked a lot. BUt wait, that’s already happended. Ever since he first met Aizen Ichigo has done nothing but lose, or barely win with the help of some miracle. Could this mean the bad streak is almost at an end?!

And finally – how does Matsumoto plan on stopping Gin and Aizen? I’m guessing she’s just here to talk to Gin, but even if she could convince him, there’s nothing in the world she could say that wouldn’t make Aizen kill her in a second. So obviously now we’re waiting for some confessions of love and then the appearance of a new character. Or has she decided not to strugle and just join Gin and Aizen in their quest for godliness?! The worst possible mistake she could make is to try to seduce Aizen. I think we all know he only has eyes for Ichigo.

Well, like I said, Ichigo wouldn’t have even  been able to learn the final Getsuga Tenshou, had it not been for Aizen’s hubris. In his aim to prove himself above all beings, he killed the protector of the Precipice world, which had the purpose of chasing out things that overstayed their welcome. With this Ichigo was provided with a place where time doesn’t run, so he can trein for 50 years, if he wants to, and still arrive in Karakura Town before Aizen and Gin. When you take into consideration the fact that Ichigo has the potential to stand up to Aizen, then a little training should do miracles for the boy.
It’s too bad that the tension between Aizen and Gin is growing. Aizen is at the point where he’s far surpassed reas onable power quantities, while Gin, even though he’s exceptionally strong, is till only Captain level, or slightly better. I was actually surprised to see that Gin is afraid of something, even if it is a destructive force like Aizen or the Koutotsu. Aizen gave him a really mean look twice in this chapter, which means Gin is now only one mean look away from death. That would be really troublesome as Gin is a far more interesting villain than Aizen.

Just look at Aizen – what kinda villain is he? He is super smart. He has a super shikai that is absolutely unstoppable. He has more reiatsu than any of the other captains. He has now obtained telekinesis on top of everything. I mean that’s just too fuckin’ much. Just as he says, he’s really on the edge of reason. That is what you would a “buttpenis”, not a real villain. For only a buttpenis is on the edge of reason, since you’d have to be really fuckin’ crazy to believe a buttpenis exists, or that Kubo isn’t hiding something from us.

I was thinking about how Ichigo and Isshin can have the same ability. At first I assumed they were father and son, but then I re-read the chapters with Ichigo fighting his inner hollow and something new came to me. It seems that Zangetsu just disappeared all of a sudden. The hollow said it himself – he just vanished at some point. And time-wise that was at the same time Isshin recovered his shinigami powers. This seems like a long shot, but there could be some link between these events. In any case, if Ichigo is about to learn the final Getsuga, then that means there are most probably 3 types – white, black and mysterious, of which he have so far seen the black and white ones. It also means that Ichigo actually had two techniques, not just one. The white Getsuga was only used in shikai mode, while the black one was only used in bankai mode. Then the third one must be like adding the power of another bankai in the mix.
But I think the most important thing this chapter was about Ichigo – how quickly he gave up after seeing Aizen wipe the floor with a bunch of amateurs, who didn’t even use bankai against someone, who is obviously stronger than them. And how quickly he forgot that Aizen was going to destroy Karakura Town. I mean that’s not the type of thing one would forget, right? It took a whole lecture from Isshin to knock some sense into this idiot.

IT’S ALL UP TO KEIGO NOW!!!! He’s the only one who can save Karakura town now! And lucky for him, Aizen and Gin don’t even suspect he exists. I’m sure his non-existant bankai can stop Gin and Aizen until Ichigo arrives….*sigh* Last week, I thought the Deicide had ended, yet it continues. I guess Kubo got tired of thinking up new names. Well, whatever, I don’t really care about that much, but I’m pretty certain about one thing – “Dark Side Of The Universe 4″ and “Black and White 4″ are just around the corner.

OMG! Aizen wants to eat Ichigo!!! I can’t believe it, he really is a faggot then! What an incredible story plot by Kubo! I had suspected as much ever since Aizen touched Ichigo’s man-boobs before their fight. In fact he seems to like Ichigo so much, he’s started imitating him!

No doubt about it, they’re definitely the same, and Ichigo didn’t need to embed a Hougyoku in himself to achieve this. Finally the plot thickens! The Deicide has come to a beautiful ending. The condom has broken, let all Hell flow out of it!

A bit more seriously now – it appears that all along Ichigo was a nothing but a meal, slowly and carefully prepared for Aizen. And he was thrown in the trash in the end. Aizen’s evolution is indeed quite marvelous, so there’s no need to consume a meal gone bad. Gin, as one of the judges, has deemed Ichigo unworthy of being his master’s dinner. That’s why he was telling Ichigo to run away. He really was of no use to anyone in this situation.
But let me summarize the rest of the chapter before we continue onward. Urahara, Yoruichi and Isshin were beaten to a pulp, Matsumoto didn’t manage to reach Gin in time, everyone else doesn’t concern us at this moment. Gin and Aizen head to Soul Society to destroy the real Karakura town and gain entrance to the King’s Palace and it’s up to the Kurosaki family to stop them.

Again, the most important information in this chapter concerns Ichigo and Aizen’s strength. Since we already know that Ichigo is going to defeat Aizen (it’s a Shounen manga, so the end is obvious) we just have to figure out how that’s going to happen. This is the face that Ichigo’s been making 50 times per chapter ever since he fought Ulquiorra. I think we already mentioned how Ichigo has become incredibly weak due to the fact that he’s neither a human, nor a hollow, nor a shinigami, nor a soldier, as Gin put it. The reality is simple – all he has to do is figure out how to maintain his super hollow form, which Aizen has now also achieved, and it’s all gonna be fine. But in order to do that he’s gotta know what that form really is. I think it only has to do with his confidence. If you look at Aizen’s all-discriminating smile, you’ll know that’s what really separates him from the rest. Bah, now got carried away and forgot what I was talking about. Whatever, I dun’ fell like writin’ anymore, so I’ll just finish next week.

A’ight, like in the previous 5 chapters we have Urahara, Isshin and Yoruichi failing to murder Aizen. This time they’ve decided on using a more elaborate scheme to force their opponent into a corner. A chained combo attack between the cat-girl and the humble shop keeper leaves an opening for Isshin to use a surprise attack. Kubo shows us a couple of Benihime’s abilities – it can fire out a binding net, which explodes once it’s target has been captured. Even from a huge-ass explosion and a direct hit from Yoruichi’s Shunko enhanced fist, Aizen is practically unharmed. We’ll see next week whether Isshin’s Getsuga Tenshou was useful or whether the Hougyoku will just fix Aizen like usual.

And here comes the important question – “Huh?”. Isn’t Ichigo the only one who can use Getsuga Tenshou? All zanpakuto are unique and have unique abilities, so how can Isshin use this? It must be because they’re father and son. Like said a few chapters ago, shinigami shouldn’t have children with humans, so Ichigo, being an exception, must have inherited more then just the ability to become a shinigami. I’m sure Kubo will clear this up in the next chapter. Or five years from now.

For me the best part of this chapter revolved around Gin and Ichigo. What a horrifying fellow that Ichimaru is. You can never tell what he’s thinking or what he’s going to do. Instead of killing Ichigo, he tells him to run. Now that’s weird. I see two possibilities here – one is that Gin, being such a cruel man, expects that Ichigo will run away, which would give him the opportunity to stab him in the back – thus Ichigo would meet his end as a coward, who died while running from battle. This would certainly please Gin’s sadistic desires. The other reason I see behind Gin’s actions is that he wants to get Ichigo far away from Aizen. Aizen has been experimenting with Ichigo as a test subject for some time now, so ultimately he wants something with the strawberry. It is possible that Gin doesn’t want Aizen to succeed in this experiment, for whatever the reason. I’m sure Matsumoto is going to have a major role in this.

And one last thing – let’s bring back the topic of Ichigo’s strength. Gin brought up that Ichigo was scarier back when he first went to Soul Society. Even though he’s gained so much – a bankai, hollowfication, the super mega overspammed Getsuga Tenshou (which will from now on be spammed from not one, but two characters, seriously, Kubo, think of something new), Ichigo has practically become weaker then when he fought Kenpachi. Everyone wondered how Kenpachi can beat Nnoitra and Byakuya and Kenpachi could fight Yammi, when Ichigo barely took out Grimmjaw, yet Ichigohad managed o beat both Kenpachi and Byakuya. Well, it’s simple- Kenpachi and Byakuya have always been strong, because they’ve always had the will of a soldier, unlike Ichigo, who only manages to get his resolve together for a couple of swings in an entire arc. I think what would be nice is if got a new technique, somethin’ to replace Getsuga Tenshou and that would turn hi spirits up.

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If you ask me Aizen looks like an alien or a condom. He could be used to prevent unwanted babies on many, many planets. Last week Yoruichi tried to puncture him, but the Houghyoku has safely maintained any leaks. Long story short – the same game that has been going on for the past 90 chapters is not about to end – one side overpowers the other, but is then overpowered itself. This time in a 3 vs. 1 fight it might finally end, as even Ichigo realizes that Aizen is going to kill everyone.
O.k. – let’s get a little sidetracked here. Duuudes, this is too predictable, seriously, this Deicide is getting on my nerves. Ever since Aizen absorbed the Hougyoku everything has become so obvious – that Isshin would show up, that Urahara and Yoruichi, and then probably Tessai and ven Ukitake would show up, etc. Seiously, Kubo and Kishimoto have both been getting on my nerves with their predictability this past month. I’ve actually enjoyed reading Hitman Reborn more than Bleach and Naruto combined. Than God for One Piece and Gantz, really. What is up with this, it’s like two of the best mangas in the world are currently in hiatus…

Anyway, at least there are some funny moments to keep me going – Yoruichi, Urahara and Isshin, a trio that was sure to produce, if nothing else, a good laugh. Urahara had tried to produce an anti-hollow armor for the kitty-cat, but unfortunately it hasn’t been very effective. The two blame each other for its failure, but they both know the true reason is Aizen’s new strength.

On a rooftop nearby Ichigo and Gin take some downtime to enjoy the festivities and have a little chat. Gin is kind enough to summarize the next 20 chapters in one sentence and I really appreciate that, it’s gonna save me a ton of work. Gin, who is just as good as Aizen at fucking other people’s brains, gives Ichigo a nice slap of reality. Ichigo’s “shaken heart” is once again returned to balance (that’s only happened 7 times in the last 100 chapters, read ‘em if you don’t believe me). And so the two resume their battle, Ichigo even uses his mask, as Gin demonstrates another frightening ability – a gatling gun. Real scary stuff right there, so fast it almost looks like one giant sword.
The fact that Gin’s a slacker shouldn’t surprise anyone, on the other hand, his commitment to Aizen seems very untypical. For a fox Gin is extremely loyal. This is where Matsumoto comes in – she is not only Gin’s best friend, but perhaps something much more. A confrontation between her and Gin would definitely shake the boy’s brain. I mean just imagine if you had to choose between the god-like power of Aizen’s alien suit and the god-like power of Matsumoto’s boobs. I would much prefer the latter, but whether Gin is gay for loyal to Aizen or not will be decided by Kubo Tite himself.

Oh, and one more thing – it seems Unohana was successful in reattaching Rankigu’s kidney so that should mean the fallen captains should be back on the battlefield anytime now. I hope Kubo at least leaves them injured until the next ark, we’ve had more than interferences in the past dozen chapters.