Bleach Chapter 455 – End of the Bond 1

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This week in Naruto the main protagonist clears a battlefield and an epic battle of Kages takes off. This week in One Piece three princes battle giant beasts and the villain undergoes a drastic transformation. This week in Bleach Ichigo runs up stairs and chops Tsukishima’s arm off – that’s about it… It is somewhat frustrating reading chapters week to week and experiencing how slow the plot progresses in Bleach in comparison to most other mangas. Tite spends a lot of page space on minor details, sometimes just a simple gesture can take up a page and a half. With these methods it is no wonder we’ve been lacking consistent plot progression, but let me say this: later, come back and read an entire arc of Bleach, perhaps this arc, and you will be grateful for all that attention to detail and time spent making it. With that said, let the review begin:

Like I said, not too much happened this chapter, but what did happen was rather interesting. Tsukishima greets Ichigo and Ginjou at the door, quickly explaining how this is no trap. He seems rather genuine when he says he has no desire to fight them, but I’ve kind of always gotten that indifferent vibe from Tsukishima.

Upstairs is… another God damn party from all of Ichigo’s entranced friends. Whether they believe Tsukishima to be a friend or not, it is pretty unusual for them to throw Ichigo an entire party just because “Shuu-chan says he’s not mad.” And why are they saying welcome home? I wonder, if Ichigo actually decided to throw Tsukishima a curve ball and play along, you know just kick back and party with Tsukishima and everybody, would Tsukishima continue to go along with it? I mean, he obviously plans/expects Ichigo to freak out the way he is. In any case, Ichigo does not play along with it… not at all.

Once HIS friends start telling him to apologize to Tsukishima, Ichigo snaps. He flees for an adjacent room. (Something interesting to note is how readily Ichigo wants to kill Tsukishima. He never wanted to kill anybody before, and definitely wouldn’t just use that word so carelessly. Sure he wanted to stop other villains, and defeat them, but now he truly wants to kill someone, and it doesn’t look like it is bothering him as much as it should be. I wonder if this is a desired effect somebody is trying to instill upon him.)

In this room he is surrounded by Tsukishima and the other members of Xcution. Though he probably thinks they were going to attack him, on page 14, I am sure Tsukishima was about to start talking to him – explaining things to him. It’s just that he probably couldn’t do it in front of all the others.

And just as he is about to talk, Ginjou blasts in, cutting him off, and immediately commands Ichigo to attack. Of course from his position Ichigo isn’t going to ask any questions, and so he activates his Fullbring. Even Tsukishima is caught off guard by Ichigo’s new found speed and power. Before he can even react Ichigo rids him of one of his arms (a recurring theme in Bleach).

But still, Tsukishima isn’t mad, and almost looks proud of Ichigo’s growth. Blind with hatred and vengeance Ichigo prepares to attack once again, but Chad and Inoue come to Tsukishima’s side.

There are a number of reasons why those two showed up. If they are under the same “trick” that Ichigo believes Tsukishima put on all his friends, then they would obviously be there to stop the fight. If Tsukishima manipulated them further, they might even have been tricked into thinking Ichigo was their enemy. Or, they might not be under any foreign influence at all, and are doing what they think is right, what Ichigo can’t see…

Overall I am pleased with this chapter. Maybe next week if Ginjou keeps his mouth shut we’ll hear a little explaining from Tsukishima’s side of things.

Bleach Chapter 454 – Sheathebreaker

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Sorry for the late release guys, I’ve had a hectic week to say the least. This review is going to be brief, but that’s okay, most of the chapter was just a lead in for the action to come.

The chapter is apparently called Sheathebreaker, not “Two People Under the Moonlight,” (thanks mangareader >_>).

After reading through the chapter, it appears there may not be an illusion at all. If what Ginjou deduces is true, Tsukishima’s power “Book of the End,” acts as a bookmark on the pages of ones life. Instead of merely convincing people things about him, he has the power to insert himself into the past of anybody he stabs with his Fullbring. This would truly be a titanic power, fore he could make them think anything he wanted of them. Also, he may have the power to influence the events around said person. If this were true, he could stab Ichigo, and stop him from ever getting Shinigami powers in the first place, or ever defeating Aizen… or he could just make a friend of him.

Ginjou tells Ichigo the only way to make things right may be to kill Tsukishima. I don’t know about you guys, but that has fishy written all over it. Things are never that simple, and whether it be Tsukishima, Ginjou, or both, I smell a trap.

One thing really disturbed me about this chapter, and that is on page 15. When Ginjou wonders how Yukio found them, Yukio looks at him like he is retarded. He then retrieves his “tracking beacon” from Ginjou, and genuinely wonders why Ginjou doesn’t remember about it, since “it was always like this,” as in Xcution always does that so they can find each other at all times. If that were true, wouldn’t Ginjou have been the one to give out that order? You would think Ginjou in his right mind would remember something like that if it were “always like this.”

On a side note, the first two pages of this chapter are of Isshin and Urahara. The only notable thing I could say about it is 1.) they appear to be done with whatever they were working on, and are heading somewhere, and 2.) Isshin seems to be carrying some sort of reiatsu composed sword. Hopefully it is a gift for Ichigo, and maybe, just maybe, it is the dormant Zangetsu…

So for the 30th chapter in a row, I am not too sure where we stand right now. Yukio leads Ichigo and Ginjou into the Lion’s den, and Urahara and Isshin are still dicking around. See you guys next week, where we’ll probably still have the same dilemma.

Bleach Chapter 453 – Mute Your Breathe Friendship

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This chapter is essentially a giant mind f*ck on Tsukishima’s part. He finally puts his real plan into motion. The only question is, how far does this really go?

Picking up where last chapter left off, Ichigo arrives from his training only to find Tusikishima waiting in his living room. To top it all off, Karin and Yuzu act like they have known Tsukishima for years, as one of the family. Ichigo doesn’t know how to react, until his secondary group of friends (Keigo, Tatsuki, and Mizuiro) show up and treat Tsukishima the same way. What really sets Ichigo over the edge is when Tsukishima calls Orihime only to reveal she is under his little spell as well. Livid, Ichigo knocks Tsukishima down, but this is just what Tsukishima wants…

Everybody turns on Ichigo, wondering why he would strike his own family. You can literally see Ichigo slightly losing his sanity from the circles under his eyes. He flees, only to be picked up by his busty boss, Ikumi. I thought this is where she would finally reveal her worth to this arc, instead of being just another throw away character. Unfortunately she is quickly revealed to be under the same impression as everyone else – when Tsukishima comes by to pick Ichigo up she acts like she knows him as a friend.

This shows just how far Tsukishima has gone for this plan. He has extended his “spell” to friends and associates of Ichigo’s that aren’t even involved in his other life. He truly wants to turn everyone Ichigo knows and loves on him. But surely there is a limit to how far this can go, right?

Ichigo flees Ikumi’s place in search of somebody still in their right mind. Since he is still suspicious of Urahara and his father, one would think the only place he’d go is Xcution. However, on the last page Ginjou is seen running for Ichigo only to tell him that all the other members of Xcution have fallen for Tsukishima’s trick… They all think of him as kin.

Several questions are raised after reading this chapter:

• Just how far does this go? How long has Tsukishima been extending his web?
• Was it a little too convenient for Ginjo to show up like that, to be the only one there for Ichigo when all others fell for Tsukishima’s trick?
• Where are Isshin and Urahara during all of this, and who is that God damned shinigami with them?
• What will Ichigo do now?
• Are Chad and Ishida affected too?

Bleach Chapter 452 – Erosion/Implosion

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I’m not gonna’ lie, I was actually pretty pleased with this chapter. It explained some, and left a good set up for next week. Well then, lets cut the chit chat and get right into it.

Since last chapter, Ichigo and Ginjo have been training for days. Yukio even makes Orihime her own room to accommodate her through the experience. It appears she healed his eyes right after he gained his reiatsu sensing abilities back.

Ichigo has been doing some rigorous training to get his physical body in peak shape.  Ginjo reveals that Fullbrings strain the physical body, and the better shape one is in, the more efficient, and probably stronger their Fullbring is.

Apparently Ichigo was getting reiatsu to power his Fullbring from the badge for a while, but when it fully awakened he ignited the tiny bit left in his body. Now he will start releasing his own reiatsu again. Additionally, Ginjo explains that when all is said and done, Ichigo’s Fullbring powers will fuse with his shinigami powers, giving him a “power transcending shinigami.” I wonder why Aizen never heard of this method, after all, isn’t that what he was seeking?

His new Fullbring outfit is totally different than anything else we have seen so far. It is almost hollow-like, with white pads covering a full black suit. He even has white marks covering part of his face, similar to an Arrancar. His new sword uses his shinigami badge as the base of the hilt. Its shape is similar to the shikai version of Zangetsu, but smaller and more defined.

When they finally leave Yukio’s game it is revealed that they have only been in there for 90 minutes in real time. Just as predicted, his “fast-forward” power acts like a hyperbolic time chamber.

And finally Ichigo returns home to meet an unexpected guest. At first I thought it had to be Rukia, when Yuzu said they had a guest they hadn’t seen in a while. (Remember Rukia stayed at Ichigo’s house for a while at the very beginning of the series.) She says it is a cousin they haven’t seen in a long time. Then Ichigo opens the door to find none other than Tsukishima sitting there. Now he is either messing with Yuzu’s memories with a similar skill to the one he used on Orihime, he is lying, or he is actually related to Ichigo. Whichever one it is, he has one of two goals:

• He either wants to attack Ichigo from within, exploiting his greatest weakness, his family.
• Or more likely, he has come to tell Ichigo his side of the story: the side we have been speculating about all this time.

Oh, and what will Ichigo name his Fullbring?