Bleach Episode 260 – “Terror! The Monster That Lurks Underground”

Bleach Episode 258 – “Stray Snake, Tortured Monkey”

Renji and Zabimaru come to the real world following a sword fiend. Zabimaru’s two halves, Chimpette and Snakey, split up to search. They find the sword fiend quickly but he escapes. Snakey follows him and is covinced that being free is better. Snakey has trouble doing anything since most people can’t see him. Karin is the only person who can see him and ends up taking him home. Renji and Chimpette are waiting in the park and Chimpette is feeling lonley because Snakey isn’t there. Ichigo returns home and finds Snakey. After Snakey finds out that Ichigo is a subsititue soul reaper he runs away only to encounter the sword fiend. Snakey begins to fight him and almost wins until the sword fiend captures Karin who was following Snakey. Right as Snakey is about to die Chimpette and Renji return to save him and defeat the sword fiend. Ichigo takes Karin home convincing her it was all a dream, even though she knew it wasn’t. Having resolved his differences, Snakey, Chimpette, and Renji return to Soul Society.

The end? I think not…

How long ago was this battle initiated? Almost 80 chapters? And how long has it been hyped? About 200 chapters? It would seem that this fated, and undoubtedly epic clash of the titans would be a fitting end to Aizen and Co.’s feud with the shinigami. Whatever the outcome, it would be decided here where everything was put on the line. But will it truly end here?

Personally I don’t think so. The power gap seems too great for Aizen to lose. Aizen and Gin haven’t even gone beyond shikai and have taken out almost the entire Gotei squad very effortlessly. They still have bankai, and presumably a hollow mask, then ressureccion. The only person who is might be strong enough to take Aizen on is Yamamoto. There are two problems with that happening though: 1.) He is also under Aizen’s hypnosis, 2.) He isn’t Ichigo. Everyone who has ever read a shonen manga knows the main character has to be the one to defeat the main bad guy. I actually think that if Yamamoto ever finally does step up to fight, he will lose his life in this battle (but probably with the same result as Sarutobi Vs. Orochimaru in Naruto, where he sacrifices himself to at least halt Aizen’s current onslaught).

Aizen could have finished this battle long ago, just look at what he has done so far, with so little effort. He is toying with the shinigami. He could have prevented his Espada from dying, but let them continue their battles out of self amusement. I believe he wanted Ichigo to see what is happening here. From the beginning of this battle Aizen knew who he would kill, and who he would leave alive.

By the end of this battle, Ichigo will have experienced an eye-opener like never before. To close this immense gap between himself and Aizen he will either have to train with that mysterious faja of his, or partake in a a little theory I’ve had for a while. The theory is that after this battle, and after seeing how Aizen treats them, some of the Arrancar may betray him. I think that there may be some Espada still alive after this. Starkk was never officially confirmed as dead, Grimjoww isn’t dead, and even though she was stabbed through the torso, Harribel could still survive. Hell Momo was stabbed the same way by Aizen back in the Central 46 chamber and lived. If they decided to betray Aizen, they know they will have to side with somebody to survive. Even if they hate shinigami, Ichigo is kind of like a middle man. If they find common ground, I think they could be very helpful in teaching Ichigo to control his hollow powers. Possibly a fully controlled ressurccion like the one that fought Ulquiorra? I just read somebody talking about Toshiro and his huge defeat. It is probable that he is due for some epic training as well. I don’t think he will look toward hollow powers, but that is always an interesting option.

It seems as though Aizen is dealing a fatal blow to the strength of the shinigami, there would still be a substantial amount of enemies left for him later.  The Zero Division contains soldiers that are all above the level of the captains (aside from Yamamoto), Urahara, Yoruichi, Tessai, and Mr. Kurosaki will be powerful allies. And all those Aizen decides to let live will probably all fight again next battle.  I suspect the next giant bout will probably take place in the Royal Dimension.

I think Aizen has big plans for Ichigo. I obviously don’t know what yet, maybe the “Kurosaki” (if that is his true name) lineage delves deeper into the plot, and Aizen’s motives than we thought. That would explain not only his interest in Ichigo from earlier, but Gin’s manipulation of the corridors back in Las Noches, Aizen waiting for Ichigo to arrive before putting on such a show, and eventually leaving Ichigo alive.

One of the biggest reasons this can’t be the end is, I just don’t see there being another villain that can fill Aizen’s shoes. He is too strong, stronger than anybody the Bleach-universe has seen before. So his demise might (dare I say it) bring about the end of the series. The series can’t end with so many unanswered questions and mysteries. All the bankais, the truth behind Ichigo’s dad, Ichigo and Orihime finally getting it on, etc…

I know that this was all just a bunch of random information, sorry lol. And of course now that I say this, the next chapter will prove me otherwise.

-ssj

Bleach Chapter 392 – The Breaking Glaciers

Download Bleach Chapter 392

I gotta say – this has been the best issue of Shounen Jump in history. Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, even Reborn – all brilliant chapters.

However most of them have really hit rock bottom when it comes to positivity. Killing popular characters like Hinamori and Ace (or converting them into evil ones, like Sasuke and Sakura) is not fan-pleasing at all, Mr. Kishimoto, Mr. Kubo and Mr. Oda.

Now to get more specific –  Bleach. Hinamori was killed. FINALLY! I’ve been waiting for this for 125097235678971 chapters! She’s the most annoying character in Bleach. In a powerhouse manga like this, she’s totally out of place. Good riddance, I just hope she stays dead this time.

This week Kubo gives us a color page, showing what battles in Bleach were voted the best. Although it’s no surprise to see Ichigo take all top four places, it is surprising to see that Kenpachi vs. Ichigo is missing from the top 10. And quite honestly I didn’t expect Byaku-chan to actually get ahead of Ulqui-chan in the polls, but the Japanese kids just think that Ichigo’s bankai is more awesome than his hollow. This chapter had 24 pages, but still felt a lot shorter than the previous ones -half of it was spent in rejoicing over Aizen’s defeat. But unfortunately it turned out Aizen had just switched places with the injured Hinamori. It must have been right after Komamura was cut down and everything after happened in an instant. Hence Ichigo had no time to react and tell the 4 Captains they were actually targeting Hinamori. Another possibility is that Ichigo is also under hypnosis, but is being led to think he isn’t.

Anyways, Aizen reveals that he’s been using hypnosis ever since he drew his sword three chapters ago. That would mean that maybe he wasn’t as powerful in hand to hand combat as we were made to believe. But that’s also proven wrong at the end of the chapter when Aizen cuts down all of his opponents in an instant. Or maybe he cut them before that, but they were under hypnosis, so they didn’t realize. In any case, this is getting almost ridiculous.

When everybody got mad over Hinamori being switched and becoming an innocent victim, I thought they’d let their guard down and Aizen would take them out one by one. Instead all four of them, and even Kira and Iba got owned in a single hit. There is only positive thing about this – if Ichigo is still not under hypnosis and he’s being underestimated by Aizen, then that gives him a chance to be one of the few survivors the Karakura Arc.
Now, as for this picture, it’s the first time I’ve seen anyone go this berserk in Bleach. Toushiro’s anger has gone beyond anything imaginable or comparable until now. If he survives this fight, I think he’ll have some deep emotional trauma. Right now he’s barely human already; I’m surprised he didn’t explode and form a small ice mushroom. His reaction is too predictable, even though it fits his character perfectly. Oda left a much better cliff-hanger in One Piece. If there’s one thing I’ve learned this week, it’s don’t kill the main character’s sibling. It’s really scary.
Oh, yeah, what’s even scarier – no Bleach chapter next week.