Bleach

[Xno Kappa]

New chapter out.

Spoiler: show

Dude looks like an angel from evangelion lol.

[Sunrider]

New chapter out.

Spoiler: show

Dude looks like an angel from evangelion lol.

Spoiler: show

Name even follows Hebrew naming conventions for angels: zyra-el or zyrah-el, meaning 'judgment like god.'

[Sho]

This nigga has a real obsession with turning dudes into butterflies, lol.

[Guitarman]

No shit. Kubo probably has a butterfly habitat in his backyard or something.

I'm just excited this will force a Bankai. Let me see it already!

[Fwahm]

This guy is supposed to be a seraph, really, and Aizen is part butterfly, part seraph, too.

[kuronosan]

Incoming bankai evasion tactic.

[Koul]

I'm an idiot. What can the quincy do? does he just kitty pryde it up, essentially?

[kuronosan]

If you read Naruto he basically has Tobi's power. When he opens one eye his attacks never miss but he's vulnerable, when he opens the other eye enemy attacks will always miss but so will his. In his final form he can switch between the two with no drawbacks and apparently can freeze people in place.

[Prim]

He can negate the existence of whatever he points his gunbowcannon at. If he opens his left eye, he can negate attacks against him but it only lasts a few seconds. If he's forced to use his left eye 3 times in a battle (which is now a standard Bleach unit of time I guess?), it activates his Vollständig. So now he can fire his negate-existence beams from every hole in his wings + all attacks pass through him until the battle "ends".

I still have no idea how he immobilized Shunsui, other than "A Quincy did it."

[kuronosan]

Ah thanks for that. Makes so much more sense.

[Karbuncle]

As much as I love Bleach, and I really do, sometimes I feel like I'm watching two 5 year olds "Super powers" battle eachother, where they just keep saying "I have this power", which happens to be a power that makes the other kids power useless, until both kids essentially have an "Infinity death kill beam" which wins all the fights ever.

Its still the only Manga i actually read weekly, but I just have to enjoy the absurdity sometimes.

[Xno Kappa]

Your basic Bleach battle in a nutshell.

*filler stalemate/waste of a chapter using established skills*
- Now witness my power!
- I guess I have to use my true power now!
- This is unpossible! Behold! My true true powah!
- I hate using my true true true powah, but I have no choice.
- Oh no! I dedddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd!

[kuronosan]

Obligatory tragic flashback followed by collapsing to the ground and victor lamenting the death.

[Emphasis]

Let's deviate from what we probably can guess will happen. What do you want to happen next?

I think it could be cool if Shunsui is killed in a epic battle, with Nanao avenging him soon after, using bankai. Maybe throw in some extra people in their fight.

[DrClout]

Even removing personal speculation from that Shunsui is far to popular a character to do that. Nanao hasn't given ANY notion of a power close to VC outside of her actual title and Shunsui himself saying she's "becoming like Risa more and more." Personal speculation tuned back in, I can see this being a long drawn out battle. Top Tier v Top Tier.

Of the people left standing know the person with the greatest potential to go on a rampage would have to be Byakuya as he hasn't done anything since "coach" Rukia. Any of the Vizard captains have proven useless and stagnated character development (I really had high hopes for improvements from at least Shingi). Rukia/Renji won't do anything here as they've already had their chance.

[BWYuko]

Shinji's entire introduction to this chapter -- comparing Shunsui to Yama and explaining how a Captain Commander "takes responsibility for the lives of his soldiers" -- is what we will look to as "obvious foreshadowing" when Shinsui dies taking down Barro. Or not; it's hard to determine who will stay down once defeated. Kubo no longer holds anything sacred on that front.

When this arc started a few years ago with the quincy stealing bankai and we saw shinigami dropping like flies, I expected this to be a bloody, beautiful, tragic, intense end to Kubo's characters. But, so far, almost every shinigami that's taken critical damage (or even died, or become undead) has gotten right back on their feet -- with exceptions of Ukitake, Yama, Unohana (for NO reason still), and some of Squad 0. Shunsui's real popular; killing him definitively would show a level of maturity that we cannot expect from Kubo.

Sadly I don't see this going any differently than what Kappa's suggested. What we know will happen is dissapointing; what we want to happen is trivial; what actually happens will fall short of our rosiest expectations.

Since Kenny, Mayuri, and Aizen are benched (chaired), why should we read? Shunsui, Hisagi, Isshin, Shunsui, Shinji, Kisuke, Yoruichi's, or Ukitake's (ret-conned) bankai? When Ichigo defeats JSBach, will the payoff trump the wait? Can or should we really stay interested that much longer?

We keep reading because we're addicts. We can't stop. We're all chasing that high, hoping to re-experience that ever more distant yesterday. Kubo's business model is that of a crack dealer's, and we're all shamefully hooked on his junk.

[Karbuncle]

I said the same thing in the XIV 2.0 speculation thread... I don't need people to die for it to be good entertainment. I think about it kinda like the Yu-Gi-Oh series... In those series, the hero will almost always win, with very few exceptions... It was in HOW he won that kept me interested, not that he did win.

Bleach is the same way for me, I like to see how they win, and I don't need the "bloody finale" for it to be justified or to feel excited about the next chapter... If i wanted to sit on the edge of my seat wondering which person I love is going to die, I'd go watch Game of Thrones or Walking Dead... reading Manga is a place I go for badass fights and creative ways to beat an opponent that seems overwhelming (which is subjective!). I'm not shitting on your point of view, just saying I'm the opposite. I guess I just don't come to expect mass death in a Manga that has, to date, limited "Deaths" almost exclusively to enemies. I think it would be as silly as expecting Game of Thrones to come out and say "From now on, no more characters will die"... its just not the standard I expect from Bleach at the moment, and its one of the reasons I enjoy the Manga itself. Deaths have their places I'm not saying they aren't a good tool to use, I just don't think everything needs it.

Now thats not to say Kubo is delivering on "Creative ways" right now or that at times I don't wish to demand higher standards fro him... but yah, thats what keeps me interested, finding out how the good guys win, not if they win. Especially against an enemy that is seemingly an all seeing god now. i know it'll definitely not live up to expectations but whatever.

[Guitarman]

Even removing personal speculation from that Shunsui is far to popular a character to do that. Nanao hasn't given ANY notion of a power close to VC outside of her actual title and Shunsui himself saying she's "becoming like Risa more and more." Personal speculation tuned back in, I can see this being a long drawn out battle. Top Tier v Top Tier.

Of the people left standing know the person with the greatest potential to go on a rampage would have to be Byakuya as he hasn't done anything since "coach" Rukia. Any of the Vizard captains have proven useless and stagnated character development (I really had high hopes for improvements from at least Shingi). Rukia/Renji won't do anything here as they've already had their chance.

Being as popular as he is, and the fact that he has mastered his bankai finally, I can guarantee we will have to suffer through another Hitsugaya fight.

[DrClout]

Ahh yes, Hitsu-niican. I could argue his popularity has considerably waned considering how he got beat saved and then beat twice more only to be brought back as a "sudo trump card".

What we should be getting from him is a redemption type setting but that's been ambitiously hopeful. Besides what baddies are left for him to match up with?

[Fwahm]

Shinji's entire introduction to this chapter -- comparing Shunsui to Yama and explaining how a Captain Commander "takes responsibility for the lives of his soldiers" -- is what we will look to as "obvious foreshadowing" when Shinsui dies taking down Barro. Or not; it's hard to determine who will stay down once defeated. Kubo no longer holds anything sacred on that front.

When this arc started a few years ago with the quincy stealing bankai and we saw shinigami dropping like flies, I expected this to be a bloody, beautiful, tragic, intense end to Kubo's characters. But, so far, almost every shinigami that's taken critical damage (or even died, or become undead) has gotten right back on their feet -- with exceptions of Ukitake, Yama, Unohana (for NO reason still), and some of Squad 0. Shunsui's real popular; killing him definitively would show a level of maturity that we cannot expect from Kubo.

Sadly I don't see this going any differently than what Kappa's suggested. What we know will happen is dissapointing; what we want to happen is trivial; what actually happens will fall short of our rosiest expectations.

Since Kenny, Mayuri, and Aizen are benched (chaired), why should we read? Shunsui, Hisagi, Isshin, Shunsui, Shinji, Kisuke, Yoruichi's, or Ukitake's (ret-conned) bankai? When Ichigo defeats JSBach, will the payoff trump the wait? Can or should we really stay interested that much longer?

We keep reading because we're addicts. We can't stop. We're all chasing that high, hoping to re-experience that ever more distant yesterday. Kubo's business model is that of a crack dealer's, and we're all shamefully hooked on his junk.

As a free source of entertainment that takes a couple minutes per week with no input of effort to get access to said entertainment, it doesn't have to be of very high quality for it to be worth the time. Saying that we're "waiting" for each installment doesn't really mean anything when we are doing whatever else we find enjoyable/productive between releases, and it still shows up anyway. I still enjoy it decently, and I don't lose anything by checking in once a week, so there's no need to go for the addiction angle to explain why people read it.