The Underscore’s Bleach review 461

461 Come Around Our Turn

A late, quick and short review this week. I’m swamped with work right now so I don’t have that much free time. So I’d better get to this week’s chapter a.s.a.p. Also, there’s not going to be a ‘Posts that were lost, but not forgotten’ section. Not that the posts are forgotten, but I just don’t have any more time than this .

Anyways, Kubo decided to do some damage control with this week’s chapter. After an overwhelming display of Reiatsu pouring out of Zangetsu at the end of last week’s chapter, it would seem things would be over too easily. Luckily, Kubo balances things out this week. This is shown through the scanlation given by Mangastream and Binktopia, thanks to them for their effort.

Bleach chapter 460, Deathberry returns 2, rated by 34 voters, gets an average score of:

8.9

Great

Last week’s poll was as straightforward as it could get: Judge the books by their cover! So, who has the best looking cover after the 17 month time skip? Here’s what you guys thought:

Only one voter thought Ikkaku looked the best of them all as he was the only one who was keeping it real. Guess that bald just isn’t cool enough around here .

Two voters felt the changes to the characters’ appearances were pointless. In a way, they actually are, aren’t they? Who knows, there might be more to it than we can say for now…

Four voters are glad to see Renji with his new look. They conclude that Renji looks even better than before. I guess the new look works for him, doesn’t it?

Five voters just couldn’t be impressed anymore because they can’t hold a light next to Ichigo and Rukia’s new looks. These voters also have a good point .

Puberty can apparently be a good thing for Shinigami, as is proven by Hitsugaya impressing six voters with his new appearance. You may notice he actually has a necklace now as well.

Of course, none of these mentioned here can hold a candle to the high class appearance of Byakuya. There’s a reason Byakuya can fill the position of a noble so well. He’s a snappy dresser with silky smooth hair . At least, that’s what 7 voters should be thinking as well…

But 12 voters know how it is. Kenpachi just looks the awesomenestest of all just for being Kenpachi! Can’t really add anything to that, can I?

Though I agreed to the fact that these changes in appearance are pointless on some level, I’ll have to agree with the 16 voters who say all the Shinigami look better than before as well . They just do, don’t they?

Hunted

Good one Ichigo, use a different type of horror scene to scare the bejeezus out of Kuugo

The chapter starts off in Kuugo’s point of view he witnesses a slash of high dense Reiatsu coming his way. As it disappears, small remnants of Reiatsu fill the sky as if it were raindrops, only for it all to settle down in the slash’s trajectory, seemingly cutting the moon. As the massive wave of energy passes over Kuugo’s head, he probably can’t help but wonder how he could possibly survive this encounter.

As Kuugo is trapped in his own body due to shock, he can’t do anything but listen to Ichigo’s words. Ichigo tells Kuugo he made a booboo and that he accidentally missed. I get Ichigo wants to bluff here, but saying a blast that almost blew up the mansion your friends and family are in because your aim was off… Lucky for Ichigo, Kuugo isn’t exactly listening to what he is saying at this point. It’s the next piece of information that really gets Kuugo going again: Next time, Ichigo won’t miss.

Kuugo immediately decides to escape from this nightmare gone wrong. To think, he almost got away with the perfect crime. He had molded Ichigo into a Fullbring user, giving him a complete Fullbring form in an incredibly short time. He planned and planned, it was all so perfect. He even added a little challenge in the form of Ishida, yet he overcame that challenge with the help of Tsukishima. He had taken Ichigo’s powers for himself and only had to walk away leaving a powerless Ichigo behind. No way Ichigo would be able to trace him ever again. Too bad he didn’t hear the sandals…

As Kuugo flies off, he decides to retreat and regroup. A wise strategy considering this current situation. Too bad the planning here wasn’t as good as the part before a Shinigami started hunting him. Ichigo grabs Kuugo by his fur lining and tells him he won’t get away.

Payback with a vengeance

Ready, aim… AI~~M!… just AIM!!….. FIRE~~!

Ichigo throws Kuugo into the air with relative ease. Kuugo doesn’t even have the time to stabilize himself using Fullbring techniques. As he is flying through the air, he can’t help but stroke his own ego by claiming that Ichigo’s physical power has gone up thanks to his Fullbring training. Admittedly, Ichigo’s strength probably has risen thanks to Kuugo’s training. After all, a healthy soul resides in a healthy body. Ichigo having to actually train his living body for once probably helped a bit in increasing his strength, but let’s not forget that Ichigo’s physical strength in his Shinigami form has always been far greater than it seemed. The part where Kuugo claims he helped Ichigo in raising his base power is one I can live with. When Ichigo trained to master the Fullbring, he had to learn how to work with practically no Reiatsu, where he was used to work with great amounts of it. He had to manage his Reiatsu a lot better than he was used to. By doing this, Ichigo probably knows how to channel his Reiatsu better now, which increases Ichigo’s base power as well (same as when he wanted to cut Kenpachi at first, he had to focus his energy better to increase power).

As Kuugo damns it all, he suddenly realizes he’s the one who is about to get damned. Ichigo once more fires a full power Getsuga Tenshou at Kuugo, this time not having to care about anything getting destroyed in the crossfire (save for the moon on the background, but this isn’t DBZ ). As Kuugo takes on the full brunt of the attack, he tells Ichigo that this Getsuga Tenshou isn’t enough to kill him. And he says this only moments before he drops from the sky like a dead fly .

Donators

You too can help Ichigo get back his Shinigami powers, just send some of your Reishi to Urahara

As Ichigo watched Kuugo drop to the ground -which should be enough to kill him if you were to ask me – he takes a moment to take a look at his current situation. He senses other people’s Reiatsu flowing through him. From Rukia and the others who we’ve seen in Karakura town, to some he hasn’t seen. Of the eighth that are shown after this, the ones that surprise me most have to be Hirako and Hanatarou. Hirako donating Reiatsu means that he was actually available for Urahara to get his Reiatsu. Does this mean he’s still around Karakura town, or has he taken up his captain’s position again? Hanatarou being amongst them is also rather strange, as I was expecting to see vice-captain class reiatsu at the least . Still, it’s good to know that Ichigo hasn’t forgotten Hanatarou, unlike what he did with Af-san.

Renji then wakes Ichigo up from his daydream, telling him he probably sensed all the people’s reiatsu. What’s funny is that Ichigo than mentions a fact that I completely neglected from the onset… the transfer of Shinigami powers to humans being a great crime and all . Rukia almost got killed for doing this the first time round, so it’s a bit dumb from my part to actually forget such an important fact… Even Ichigo remembered this! :cry… I don’t deserve to live anymore… Once I’m reborn, I want to be a perverted stuffed toy… -One Piece reference for those of you who don’t know it, I won’t be killing myself to be perverted stuffed toy any time soon… then again -. Acknowledging the fact that even Ichigo can actually make sense at times, Renji tells Ichigo that it actually doesn’t matter at all .

Gathering donators

So this is the reason he was singing karaoke in the color page a couple weeks back

A flashback to Genryuusai’s crib. The first thing I noticed was the fact that Urahara actually managed to get to Genryuusai’s crib in the first place. It seems the new chambers are more benevolent than it seemed with their punishing of Aizen. They actually undid Urahara’s banishment. Way to go Central 46 Chambers! More intriguing, however, is the ease with which Genryuusai agrees to donate Reiatsu. Even Unohana is surprised at how easily Genryuusai agreed to all of this after a simple explanation by Urahara. But Genryuusai explains how awesome he truly is as he explains that not helping Ichigo, after all he’s done for Soul Society, just isn’t the way he rolls. Genryuusai remembered just how cool of a guy he must have been back when he was Ichigo’s age… give or take a millennium ago. At least, that’s what I’d like to think . Of course, to make sure they can’t pin this on him alone, he commands all of the captains and vice-captains to give some of their Reiatsu. Then again, I doubt there’d be any captains who wouldn’t want to do this . Unless there’s a new captain or two around…

As the flashback ends, Renji just adds this up to Genryuusai just being such a cool guy. Of course, Hitsugaya reminds us all that Genryuusai is actually quite hotheaded, meaning this sudden act of coolness just isn’t like him. At least, it wasn’t like him looking at the way he’s been for over a 1000 years. Hitsugaya explains that it was thanks to Ichigo that Soul Society managed to change its ways as it has done now. Though I’d say it was more thanks to Aizen killing the old Central 46 Chambers’ members and creating a chaos that forced Soul Society to rethink their ways. Still, if Ichigo didn’t stop Aizen, there wouldn’t be a Soul Society to reform .

All in all, Ichigo only got what he deserved. Not just for stopping Aizen, but for showing Soul Society that some things just have to change… But some things never change, including the fact that Genryuusai has a good use for Ichigo.

The first

Why’d he wait this long to pull this one out of his sleeve?

A pillar of Reiatsu forms behind Ichigo. This is a pillar reminiscent to the one we saw when Ichigo’s Fullbring completed itself. The power that’s coming from it is enough for Ichigo to actually be impressed. Let’s face it, we saw this one coming from a mile away. Then again, it’s something we wanted to see as well, so I don’t think this is a bad thing, but I’m getting ahead of things.

As Ichigo sees the pillar of Reiatsu, Hitsugaya explains Genryuusai’s ulterior motive for helping out a strawberry in need. The ulterior motive turns out to be none other than Kuugo. He had received a Representative badge long before Ichigo was around -how old is Kuugo, really?- , yet he chose to abandon this position on his own terms before he disappeared. The first Substitute Shinigami: Ginjo Kuugo!

In the end I was right thinking the badge was Kuugo’s. Sure, I started out thinking Kuugo took it from the original substitute Shinigami, but the last of my speculations had him pegged as the first substitute Shinigami… or did I throw in a couple of more wacky theories after that one? Can’t remember . Anyways, my guess is that Kuugo got involved with the Fullbringers, meaning that part of his story probably had some truth behind it. If I were to guess, Kuugo just took too much Fullbring energy in, which he couldn’t balance with his Shinigami powers. This, in a way, is what killed that first substitute Shinigami.

Now we have Kuugo wearing a Fullbring that’s reminiscent of Ichigo’s unnamed Fullbring. Kuugo probably needed Ichigo’s Fullbring so he could take Ichigo’s Shinigami powers along with them to restore the balance in his powers. By taking in Ichigo’s powers, his own would be reformed again (explaining the pillar of Reiatsu in this chapter). This renewed balance along with Ichigo’s powers and those of the Xcution members he had taken before probably put him on a level that’s more interesting for Ichigo to face right now. Let’s see what Kuugo has in store for us now.

Better than last week’s. That’s what I’m concluding as the chapter rating shows that most of you were really excited about last week’s chapter. Anyways, one third of this chapter consisted of Getsuga Tenshou’s being fired, but the other parts were interesting. This chapter at least put things into perspective. Ichigo isn’t as overpowered as last week’s chapter suggested. He’s just back to his same old power level, with a bit more zing to him as he’s grown older, received some Reiatsu from every captain class (and at least one not so captain class) Shinigami, and a new mastery of Reiatsu due to his Fullbring training. In a way, Ichigo isn’t any more overpowered than he’s always been.

The changes shown in Soul Society were the most interesting in my opinion. Urahara not being banished anymore has finally been confirmed. Genryuusai allowing all these Shinigami to break such a firm rule like this was also good to see. Hirako most likely being a captain in the Gotei 13 is also good to see. These are changes that were bound to happen, so it’s good to see that these actually did happen. The final part of the chapter was almost too obvious. Genryuusai wanting Ichigo to take care of Kuugo being the second reason to return his powers to him at least explains why Soul Society knows so much about him and his co-conspirators. Kuugo fusing with Ichigo’s Fullbring to become more powerful was bound to happen as well. Sure, I was expecting him to take in the power of all the other Xcutino members as well, but this is good enough for me.

All in all, it was a decent chapter. Better than last week’s, but by no means as good as the two chapters before that one. This chapter actually repeated last week’s mistake and made it worst. First, we only had to wonder where Chad, Orihime, Ishida, Tsukishima, Urahara, and Isshin disappeared to, but now we have to add Rukia to this list as well! Oh, and no KON as well…

Oh, before I forget. Ikkaku actually has a change in his appearance. Not only has he gone bald, he’s actually got a tattoo on his right shoulder. I wonder what that’s about… Also, notice how Kenpachi is only showing the left side of his face from the moment he appeared in last week’s chapter? Maybe I should make a headspinner about that…

So, here’s this week’s headspinner: Why doesn’t Kenpachi show the right side of his face to Ichigo?… fine, fine, I’ll think of a better one… Well, here’s one. Hitsugaya mentioned how Kuugo was the first substitute long before Ichigo became one. But how long before that time was it really? Kuugo seems to know (about) Isshin, so: Could it be that Isshin was assigned to watch over Kuugo in the living world, resulting in Isshin meeting with Masaki?

Next week will start with Kuugo displaying enough power for Ichigo to go all out. Ichigo will even be pushed a bit to create the dramatic effect. Kuugo will then explain what happened to him, going from substitute Shinigami to Xcution leader. He may actually bring up Ichigo’s father in all of this, which will be the reason for Ichigo to be overwhelmed enough for Kuugo to overpower him for now. After a flashback chapter or two, things will get serious.

That’s it for this week’s review. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Be sure to let me know what your thoughts are on this week’s chapter and/or review, give any theories that you may have and to vote in this week’s poll. Don’t forget to rate this week’s chapter! I’ll see you guys again next week!

Rate this week’s chapter by clicking on the picture above!

 

~ by The Underscore on August 28, 2011.