Bleach Chapter 367: Your Enemy is My Enemy

Post Author: Mart1

I want to start off by saying two things… 1. I was wrong about Aizen fighting Yammato (for now at least…) and 2. WTF Vizards??? for some reason I was expecting them to pull an Ichigo and go the whole fight with their badass masks on but it seems like they are already dispearing, starting with Love, whose mask lasted a whole three minutes… I feel like they should have used them for something more than a couple (thousand) Menos…

I suspect their masks’ life span will depend on three things, 1. how much they use it, that’s why Love’s is already gone 2. How strong they are, I suspect Kensei and Shinji will last the longest 3. How far the masks have deteriorated so far… Already we see that their masks have gone from full coverage to partial. Some would see this and think, the Vizards are going to get owned, BUT I think it’s worth remembering that, even without their masks, these Vizard are Captain and Vice-Captain level fighting already tired Arrancar in a two to one fight and if the Shingami aid them it will become three or four to one.

I’m very interested in seeing what their Shinigami powers are, it would be lame if all they are, are squad twelve type Shinigami on steroids, but Rose’s singing and Hachigen’s barriers do give me a lot of hope.

First things first though, Last chapter Shinji, maskless, tried to strike Aizen, let’s face it, we all knew he was going to get owned… Tousen stopped him and cut him in the procces, apparently going for a “Kill bill” style decapitation but Shinji dodged semi-succesfully. Then, to counter Tousen, Captain Sajin Komamura steped in along with Vice-captain Shuhei Hisagi.

Hallibel rejoins her fight with Hitsugaya only to be interupted by Lisa and Hiyori who come to aid him. By this time only half of their masks are left on their face… Hiyori doesn’t want to help the Shingami but the other Vizards like Barney and start to talk about how they don’t need a special reason to be friends, this seems to really annoy Soifon inparticular, her friends must all be imaginary…

Regardless, Hachigen pairs up with Soifon to take on Barragan, I have a feeling his barriers will be just as effective against Barragan as Byakuya’s barriers were against Zommari and then Soifon will finish him with either her Shikai or her Bankai while Hachigen holds Barragan in place.

Kensei takes out the last of the Menos so he gives Mashiro Superchunky to take on.

Mashiro apparently doesn’t like tounge and goes for “El Susantivo” as we have been calling him (the mouth in spanish) He pulls out a second hand and seems to have a white orb for a head with a moustache underneath, weird… Mashiro kicks him several times and we see that her sword isn’t just floating next to her, but is tied to one leg. Kensei joins her but has yet to inflict any damage…

Love and Rose pair up to take on Stark and Lilinette. In his usual laid back additude, Stark asks if Love’s mask is already gone, Love confirms this stating “ We’re Superheroes so they only last 3 minutes”

So it seems like the final match-ups are:

1. Tousen vs. Komamoura and Hisagi

2. Hallibel vs. Hitsugaya, Hiyori (Half masked), and Lisa (Half masked)

3. Barragan vs. Soifon, Hachigen (Maskless) and Omeada

4. Stark vs. Love (maskless) and Rose (maskless)

5. The Tounge vs. Mashiro (Mask AND Might Gai get-up)

6. The free agents are: Aizen amd Gin vs. Yammamoto, Shinji, and Kensei

My guess is that Kensei will have to help out Mashiro, Shinji will try to take on Aizen but end up fighting Gin, and Yammamoto will take on Aizen but lose.

Fraccion

This chapter made me think of what the fraccion represent, here is what I found…

Primera Espada – Stark – Loneliness: Lillinette is his only Fraccion.

Little has been revealed about her, but her eye patch and sawed off horn could indicate abuse… She seems attention starved and seems to scream emotional distress…

Segunda Espada – Barragan Luisebarn – Aging: Barragan has the most Fraccion of any of the hollow, They are:
A. Choe Neng Poww: (Whale) A giant who uses only fist techniques, Choe doesn’t really represent  Old Age in anyway, though he does make “God” references to Barragan.

B. Charlotte Cuuhlhourne: (Rose) Obsesed with beauty, Cuuhlhourne deprives his opponents allies of the ability to sense the of death of his victim by hiding them in a rose bush. Part of old age is the decay of the body and the loss of physical beauty, because Cuuhlhourne should naturally detest old age, Barragan may have used his powers to stop Cuuhlhourne from aging with his abilities.

C. Avirama Redder: (Eagle) He is very battle crazy, he is symbolizes Native American tribes in his fighting style, personality and Resurreccion (his release command is Scalp). I think under the Theme of old age he is meant to represent how Native Americans were basically killed off.

D. Findor Carias: (Crab) Findor progresses through battle by fighting at the level of various seated officers by slowly removing his mask piece by piece. Findor’s philosophy is that life is just a series of questions and that one’s fate is base on getting the correct answers. Under Barragan’s theme, Findor represents maturity and progression through life.

E. Nirgge Parduoc: (Woolly Mammoth) Nirgge resembles a woolly mammoth in appearance and Resurreccion. Nirgge is defeated accidentally by his own team mate… Under the old age theme, Nirgge Parduoc represents the extension of the woolly mammoths.

F. Ggio Vega: (Sabertooth) Ggigo is a martial artist, at first he relys upon a mix of speed and power but then quickly dies in his next form that sacrifices speed for power. Like Nirgge, Ggigo represents an extinct animal, the saber tooth.
Barragan’s Fraccion all represent natural themes. With the exception of Charlotte, they are animals. Barragan’s theme seems to have some influence over his Fraccion, but because of their large numbers, none of them really connect fully.

Tercera Espada – Halibel – Sacrifice (Nel-former)
Fraccion: Apache (Deer), Mila-Rose (Lion), Sun-Sun (Snake), Allon (Chimera):

All three of Halibel’s fraccion give up a body part in order to summon a stronger monster (Allon)… thats pretty sacrificial… (This theme also fits Nel and her fraccion as well…)

Cuatra Espada – Ulquiorra Cifer – Emptiness

Fraccion: Ulquiorra doesn’t have any Fraccion… This fits his theme pretty well…

Quinta Espada – Nnoitora Jiruga – Despair/Hopelessness

Telsa (Hog/Wart): Telsa wears an Eye Patch in honnor of Nnoitora, before becoming his fraccion, Telsa didn’t have this symbol, Telsa is extremely loyal to Nnoitora, His Jacket appearance however, is fairly similar to Szayel’s Scientist theme, indicating he may have previously been loyal to him and then switched sometime after becoming an Arrancar. He tries to be strong like Nnoitora but fails to understand his motivation.

Sexta Espada – Grimmjow Jeagerjaques – Destruction (Luppi-former)

Grimjow’s theme is destruction, it is interesting to note that Grimjow was responsible for the destruction of his Fraccion’s collective dream to become Vasto Lorde when they were still hollow.

Septima Espada – Zommari Leroux – Addiction/Obsession: oddly enough he doesn’t have any fraccion, you would think he would have dozens as “Obsession”…

Octava Espada – Szayel Apollo Grantz – Insanity/Madness

Lumina and Verona: They fit into the theme of insanity very well, they seem demented in a few ways, they finish each others sentances and appear to like repeating certain words (like Dead)…

His other Fraccion, Medazzepi, seems to also be mentally retarded, he is incapable of speech and is hypersensative to pain.

Novena Espada – Aaroniero Arleri – Greed: Greed doesn’t like to share, needless to say, Aaroniero doesn’t have any Fraccion, unless you count the people he transforms into as his minions…

Decima/Cero Espada – Yammy Riyalgo – Rage: Yammy isn’t the type to lead, he isn’t smart enough and he is to angry (as his theme suggests…) At first it was thought that he was UL.’s Fraccion because he was so subservient… It is obvious from how he treats Loly and Melony that he wouldn’t tollerate subordinates for very long, if he had any, they are long dead by now.

What do you think?

The Paradox of Bleach

First I want to say, compared to the Espada, normal hollows are extremely weak, so I don’t really consider them an enemy of Ichigo any more so they aren’t really important to talk about. This blog is about the paradoxal relationship between shinigami, Vizard, and Arrancar. Why can’t these three groups live in peace? 

Shinigami: In this series Shinigami are seen as the protagonists, they are believed to be inherently good because they kill the evil things that haunt humans, but are they really? As Aizen, Gin, and Tosen proved they can really be just as evil as anyone else. There are also several others that are maybe not evil, but are definitely crazy, such as Kenpachi Zaraki or Mayuri Kurotsuchi.

Vizard: These former shinigami are now exiled, but why? They were the unfortunate victimes of fate. What have they really done? In the beginning of the series, Ichigo is plagued by the thought of what happens to the souls of the victims of hollows, these people are no different than those unfortunate victims. Ichigo himself is proof that the shinigami and the vizard have a lot in common and can live and work in peace.

Arrancar: These beings are a bit more sinister than the other two; these beings were once the baddest of the hollows, the greatest and most vicious Menos Grandes. However with the influence of the Hougyoku they lost their masks and became much more human-like. Because the Arrancar act as antagonists in this series, they are seen as evil. However, some of the Arrancar are good such as Nel, Gantenbainne Mosqueda, Pseche Guatiche, and Dondocahkka Blistin. Others such as Stark are simply doing what is necessary and dislike fighting. Others, still, are simply crazy – such as Wonderweiss Margera.

The Shinigami, especially Shinigekuni Yamamoto Genryusai need to learn to be more philosophically flexible and excepting of others. They need to learn that actions dictate morality and not stereotypical features.

For those of you who say “Wouldn’t that kill the manga?”: Not necessarily, there are still plenty of evil people, like Aizen and Ulquiorra to kill.

Hope you liked thisfirst part series!