Bleach Chapter 464 – Quiet Chamber, Noisy Heart

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Hey folks, sorry about the lack of a review last week, as I said, I’ve been very busy in the real world lately. I still plan on doing the weekly review regularly, but to avoid an absence like last week from happening again I propose the following: If I have not posted a review by Friday, anyone who wishes to is free to post a review of their own for that week. If anybody needs help with submitting a post, click here, or just go to the “Submitting Blog Posts” tab on the right. If you have any other problems just ask me or Bob, and we’ll see what we can do for you. Now, onto the good stuff:

463 – Extreme Divider:

So Xcution receives some power-ups from Ichigo’s Fullbring. Sure they look cool, but can they back it up?

It also becomes clear that  Shishigawara was a new ally of Tsukishima’s, and Ginjou never had any respect for him. Ginjou actually even fears the potential of his Fullbring to some degree, and tells Tsukishima to kill him when this is all over. I have a feeling that Shishigawara is going to become an ally of Ichigo’s in the future (along with Riruka), once he learns the truth about Ginjou and Tsukishima. He just isn’t as evil as the rest of them.

I understand why Ginjou didn’t give shishigawara any of Ichigo’s powers, but why not Tsukishima? Is he afraid Tsukishima might be more powerful than him afterwards? And why is Tsukishima okay with this? I’m still unsure of their relationship and Tsukishima’s motives.

Ichigo would have dispatched of all of them easily without their recent power-up, but that in combination with the fact that he tries to
go easy on them in his first strike allows for them to dodge his first attack. I still don’t consider them a serious threat.  They’re filler-villains at best.

With Ichigo’s enhancement, Yukio is now able to project his “Invaders Must Die” Fullbring into the real world. According to Yukio, what each of them received from Ichigo’s fullbring is the ability to wear their Fullbring powers as a mantel. For example, Ichigo’s Fullbring enhanced his external powers. So Yukio is now able to project his Fullbrings abilities around him.

Yukio separates everyone into private “chatrooms.” This breaks everything up into one-on-one fights. The match-ups are:

• Tsukishima vs. Byakuya: The stoics. They are similar characters in appearance and demeanor, but have a very key difference. Though Tsukishima is very strong by Fullbring standards, I don’t think he stands a chance against Byakuya. I’ll get back to this when I cover 464.
• Shishigawara vs. Ikkaku: The two hot heads. Shishigawara’s ability is interesting, but again I don’t think Ikkaku should have much of a problem with the novice, and if he does, it is for nothing more than Tite trying desperately to make this arc interesting.
• Yukio vs. Hitsugaya: The young prodigies. Yukio’s new Fullbring is perhaps the most frightening, allowing him to manifest any object of his choosing, and apply video-game-like rules on anything of his choosing. However, Toshiro is a true genius, and after the intense training I’m sure he’s gone through over the past year, I think he may have reached the rank of monster.
• Riruka vs. Rukia: The little loudmouths. I am uninterested in this battle for two reasons: 1.) I’m not very interested in either of their abilities, and 2.) Riruka’s heart is not in this battle. It was obvious earlier that she doesn’t want to be part of what Xcution has become, and I doubt she would kill Rukia if she could. Though I do want to know what her gun does.
• Ginjou vs. Ichigo – Battle of the Substitutes. This is the only battle I expect to be a challenge. If Tite had any concept of power scaling, Ichigo would break Ginjou in a matter of seconds, seeing as how he should be back to the strength he had when he fought Aizen, but I’m sure for some reason or another Ichigo will be thrown a curve ball and have to work for this victory.
• Giriko vs. Kenpachi: The eye-patchers. As expected, this fight is over before it starts. Due to Ichigo’s enhancement, Giriko is now able to take the power of the Time Gods, and project that power unto himself, bulking his body up. Unfortunately for him, Kenpachi is an absolute animal, and slices him in half before he can say the word “power.” Thank you Kenpachi. Thank you.
• And by process of elimination, I assume the last bout is Jackie vs. Renji. Jackie’s powers already enhanced her physical abilities, similar to how Ichigo’s did, so I’m interested to see what her new “Ichigo-enhancement,” will be. Still, I’m sure Renji has gotten even stronger in the past year, and will outclass her no problem.

Well it was supposed to be a one-on-one, but the Quincy seems to have slipped into Ichigo’s battle against Ginjou. I’m not sure how I feel about his, but I expect the only reason Tite put Ishida in there is to have some third-person commentary on the fight, and have someone other than Ginjou witness the dieselness Ichigo is about to illustrate.

Bleach Chapter 462 – Why me sad.

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Okay kiddos, this one is going to be brief since my computer is still on the fritz, and I have minimal time to make this.

The gist of this chapter is that Ichigo learns that Ginjou was the first, and only other substitute shinigami before him. The badge and the rules were all created because of him. It is very likely that Rukia was prosecuted for giving her powers to Ichigo, and in turn creating another possible substitute shinigami, because of what happened with Ginjou. They were afraid of having another threat like him running around.

I’m curious though, if Ginjou was the first substitute shinigami, why is he using Fullbring? When did he learn about Fullbring? Even now, he is just boosting his previous Fullbring with Ichigo’s. I think Ichigo clearly exemplified that Shinigami powers are stronger than Fullbring, seeing as how just the swing of his sword with his Shinigami powers was stronger than a full Getsuga Tenshou blast from his fully evolved Fullbring. So what happened in Ginjou’s past to make him go AWOL on Soul Society, and start using Fullbring instead of his Shinigami powers?

Also, we see Orihime and Chad struggle against Tsukishima’s influence. Their minds are telling them to be loyal to Tsukishima, but their hearts are pointing toward Ichigo. When Tsukishima sees this, he (sadistically) throws them into madness. Luckily, when they lose consciousness, Urahara and Isshin are there to sweep them away.

It turns out that all of Xcution was in on this from the beginning, and they all wanted a piece of Ichigo’s powers… except Riruka. I know from her look here that she knew the plan all along, but it seems she is the only one showing any regret. Her dialogue when Ginjou offers them Ichigo’s powers leads me to believe she is no longer on board for their plans, and will likely turn on Xcution at some point in this battle.

So all of Xcution gets a little boost to their abilities with Ichigo’s powers. But let me ask this: what is so special about Ichigo’s Fullbring, and Ichigo in general, to make him so sought out by them? I can see why they would prey on other Fullbring users to boost their own powers (the bastards), but they started targeting Ichigo for this intricate plan before he even knew what a Fullbring was. They had no clue if he would succeed in achieving Fullbring, they didn’t know what the extent of his Fullbring powers would be, so why put all this time and effort into this? And what kind of enemies do they have that their previous powers wouldn’t have sufficed?

Also, why was Tsukishima the only one not to get any of Ichigo’s powers? I agree with Bob, he is definitely the wild card in this situation, but still, it seems as though Ginjou holds more authority of the two.

So now it is the Ichigo-enhanced Xcution versus Ichigo and his Shinigami brethren. Honestly, I don’t see how Xcution stands a chance in this battle, unless Ichigo takes them all on on his own. But, we will see, Tite always has a way of making it interesting…

Bleach Chapter 432 – The Soul Pantheism

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What better Christmas present than an early Bleach chapter? Thanks Tite. Now, chapter 432 – The Soul Pantheism. For those of you who were wondering, Pantheism is the view that God is one with the universe, and that there is not one being/creator, but rather an omniscient presence. Whether that has something to do with the “Soul King,” or Xcution, I don’t know.

This chapter was a little more insightful than previous chapters, but not enough for me to spend more than 30 minutes on this on Christmas. So, I will be doing this chapter in bullet point fashion just as Bob has so many times before…

Zangetsu ain't got shit on me..

• The members of Xcution are indeed “human,” the same was Orihime, Chad, and Uryuu are “human.” However (at least according to Ginjou) they all have the same ability: Fullbring. Fullbring is apparently the ability to “pull out the souls that reside within objects.”

• This ability allows them to manipulate objects to enhance their own performance, draw objects to themselves, and change the shapes of things (as illustrated by Ginjous huge fucking sword!) .

• Ginjou says the reason they can do this is because all objects have souls. This makes the concepts of zanpakutos all the more believable. It seems shinigami have a very unique relationship to their zanpakuto which makes them draw out their souls (since it is an extension of their own). If Ginjou and co. have the ability to do this with all matter, it makes them all the more dangerous.

• Can Xcution only manipulate the souls of inanimate objects? Or are their abilities more dangerous than he is leading Ichigo to believe? What would happen if he tried this “Fullbring” on a living creature?

• Judging by the appearance of Chad at the end of the chapter, and Ginjou’s unique interest in Ichigo, it would appear he is recruiting. But, for what? Chad isn’t the kind of person who would willingly work for a strange organization without a good reason, so I have a feeling Xcution can’t be that evil.

Thats all folks. See you next week, when a little more of the mystery unravels…

Bleach Chapter 430 – Welcome to Our Execution 2

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Hey guys sorry I’ve been out, college finals have required my undivided attention over the last couple of weeks. Thanks for filling in Pr3tender, I owe ya one. Anyways, not much has been going on in Bleach over the previous few chapters… or any chapter since the time-skip really. I’ll give my thoughts on the couple chapters I missed, then go into the lackluster of this week as well.

So it turns out that we know very little about the Kurosaki family, and Ichigo himself for that matter – figures… I was disappointed when I found out Hell would only be explored in a new movie, and not cannon, but at least we will get to see all our favorite Espada, and even Aizen again!

Jesse’s name was finally revealed to be “Kuugo.” Not quite as cool, but I think I still like it. Contrary to popular belief, he is not related to Isshin, Aizen, or anyone else we might have suspected, but is an entirely new player. Though I still believe he has a history with both Urahara and Isshin somewhere roughly 20 years back… Is it possible that he is somehow related to Ichigo’s mother, and that is why he has a grudge against Isshin?

Tite has done a wonderful job of making our whole sense of good and evil disappear entirely. On one side, I have always had my doubts about Urahara, and Kuugo has done a pretty good job to raise these suspicions. On the other hand, the mysterious man that sliced Ishida’s arm off strongly resembled Kuugo. And if his mission is to get Ichigo to seek him out, doing something like this to make Ichigo seem powerless to help his friends would surely do the trick.

So now Ichigo is invited into this new organization “Execution.” It just seems like every new club we here about wants to get their hands on the Strawberry. Anyways, it is nice to see we will finally have a little more of Mr. Ishida in the story. And after hearing him talk about the reiatsu type that attacked his son, I have a feeling I know where this is all going.

They are humans, just like Orihime, Ishida, and Chad, who have obtained powers without becoming shinigami. Execution is comprised of powerful humans that have found a way to tap into their inner talents. They must have taken it to a whole new level though, because Chad and Orihime can’t really compare when it comes to captain class opponents, whereas I feel like Kuugo does.

So, maybe Ichigo won’t get his Shinigami powers back after all,at least not yet anyways. Maybe when he contacts this Execution agency, we will see what Ichigo’s innate human powers are. Judging from Orihime’s healing abilities, Chad’s melee powers, and Tatsuki’s fiery abilities, human abilities have a lot to do with one’s personality. So what does that mean for Ichigo?