Bleach Chapter 403 – Deicide 5 is out!

Follow the link below for the release by Mangstream released on their own site.

Read Chapter

I disagree with Aizen…

Aizen claimed that the ability of the Hogyoku was not as Uruhara suggested, the ability to shatter the walls between Shinigami and Hollow, but the ability to make real the hearts true desire if that desire was strong enough. I disagree… somewhat. I agree with him that it does have the ability to realize the heart’s true desire, but think it does this by giving it’s user access to either Shinigami or Hollow powers. Remember that Shinigami have the ability to materialize their true soul in the form of their Zanpaktou, and Hollows have the ability to change their physical structure. The only difference between them essentially being whether their heart’s desire was selfish or philanthropic in nature. For instance Tousen’s desire was to see, so hollow powers were best suited to healing his eyes since hollows have the abilities of generation (creation of body parts) and regeneration. Ichigo on the other hand desired the ability to protect his friends, so he gained Shinigami powers at an incredible rate (This didn’t negate the hollow powers that his encroachment awakened naturally, but augmented them by making him a Vizard to balance them out).

Aizen’s counter-arguments to these claims are Chad and Orihime who don’t seem to resemble either Hollow or Shinigami powers. However the do resemble something else… Arrancar and Visored respectively. Chad is fairly obvious in this respect… Besides that both he and Uruhara compared his abilities to that of hollows, He clearly resembles an Arrancar who has used Resurecion and his spritual energy blasts greatly resemble Arrancar’s bala blasts. Not only has his relationship to Arrancar been mentioned, it just makes sense given that he attributes his right hand abilities to his dead grandpa and his left hand abilities to his own desires. Orihime is a bit more complicated… the best proof is her similarity to Hachigen, though there is more. Hachigen stated that he created his signature barrier abilities after becoming a Visored, that no shinigami could have a similar ability, and that since Orihime can create a similar barrier and infiltrate his own, she must have a similar ability. But this brings up an interesting question…

Where does that ability come from? I think it comes from the hollow abilities (since Hachigen said that it wasn’t in the shinigami arsenal and hollows are left by process of elimination). Hollows have abilities that, although they don’t realize it, closely resemble Orihime’s three abilities. Ability 1. Santen Kesshun: This is her shield ability, the closest ability besides Hachigen’s is a hollow ability… Negacion, which Menos Grande use to protect their allies from harm. Ability 2. Soten Kisshun: This is her healing ability. Unohana explained to Ichigo that Orihime’s healing and Shinigami healing are almost opposite. Shinigami healing is done by restoring spiritual pressure allowing the body to heal itself, while Orihime’s healing restores the body to it’s previous condition allowing them to regain their spirit pressure on their own. What it does resemble though, (again besides Hachigen’s ability) is another Hollow ability, (re)generation. The only difference between her ability and the hollows is that hollows are selfish, they wouldn’t think about using it on someone besides themselves because they want to eat everyone else, and most of the hollow who become Arrancar give up their ability to regenerate anyway. Ability 3. Koten Zanshun: Orihime’s least used ability due to it’s fragility and Orihime’s lack of battle lust, it’s a bit harder to analyze than her other two, though I would compare it to another hollow exclusive ability, Heirro, just used in a different capacity. It’s name says that although it acts as a weapon it is actually a double sided sheild (think Captain America). It’s similar to when Grimjaw attacked Rukia with her fists, it’s not his strongest attack, but still an attack.

Renji is a Hollow?

I have an INSANE theory I want to share with you guys… I think Renji is a natural visored who hasn’t awakened his hollow powers but might be on the verge or doing so. Let’s look at some proof…

His fighting style: Renji has an interesting fighting style when compared to a hollow. His signature Kido spell Hado 31: Shot of Red Fire is remarkably similar to a Cero attack. He also has a high level of durability, strength, speed, and spiritual pressure. These aren’t entirely remakrable to me except for the Red Fire, so next…

His Zanpaktou: Zabimaru is one of the few split personality Zanpaktou (The others are the dual-weilding Zanpaktou users and Ichigo). Joshiro Ukitake’s Zanpaktou doesn’t really resemble a hollow or point to him being a visored but Ichigo and Shunsui Kyoraku’s Zanpaktou denfinitely scream hollow… We see that Hollow Ichigo is a part of Zangetsu, and as Ichigo starts to get dominated by his hollow side, Hollow Ichigo eliminates Zangetsu. Similarily, I think the Baboon and the Snake that make up Zabimaru are competing for domination of Renji, but somehow they have come to a balance. Given that the snake is the more violent of the two, I would equate him to hollow Ichigo, and say that the Baboon is the original Zanpaktou personality. As I said I don’t think that Renji is a full visored or knows what is occuring, and just thinks his Zanpaktou is normal.

His Bankai: I find his bankai fairly interesting. It has several hollow themes built into it. 1. Bones: bones/exoskeletons are common themes among hollows, Renji’s Bankai seems to closely resemble hollows in this respect, and is almost identical to a hollow Kenpachi Zaraki fought in a flashback. 2. Cero: Similar to Hado 31, Baboon Bone Cannon closely resembles a Cero, and is even shot from Zabimaru’s mouth. 3. Instant regeneration like most hollows, Zabimaru has the ability to regenerate quickly if it’s damaged 4. Hollow mask: a common theme among Arrancar/Visoreds/Hollows, Renji has a similar mask on his Bankai uniform, said to be the skull of a Baboon.

Uruhara: Renji has a strange connection to Uruhara, and it was a conversation they had that sparked the idea for this post after I noticed that about two hundred chapters before Shinji used his Shikai, he showed the ability to write backwards. Renji stayed with Uruhara during the Arrancar introduction arc, and made a deal with Uruhara that if Renji trained Chad, Uruhara would “answer the questions he had.” One of the things Uruhara seems to specialize in is hollowification, so if Renji were to seek Uruhara out specifically, this seems like the subject he would ask about.

Well that’s all the proof I have right now, pictures will come later, but right now I have to go do chores for my mother.

Bleach Episode 267 – “Connected Hearts! The Left Fist Prepared for Death”

Ichigo and Ulquiorra’s final battle properly gets underway with the two of them being more or less evenly matched. Ichigo is able to read his opponent’s movements better than he could when they first fought, and manages to wound Ulquiorra, if even slightly. Ichigo surmises that it’s either he is becoming more like a Hollow or his opponent is becoming more human, which angers Ulquiorra. Meanwhile, Chad and Renji fight a gigantic Hollow-Arrancar hybrid in the desert of Hueco Mundo, eventually claiming victory after discovering its weakness. Back in the Tower, Orihime manages to protect Ichigo from a near-lethal attack from Ulquiorra.