Chapter 191: Conquistadores 2: Screaming Symphony
Yeah, Karin knows, no matter how much you try to deny it, Ichigo.
Luckily for him, the impact interrupts the conversation and everyone gets a reaction shot. Ichigo, apologizing to Karin, jumps out the window to investigate. the voice over informs us that the two figures are in fact, Arrancar They visibly have mask remnants, hollow holes and Zanpakutous. Yes, this is what ‘complete’ Arrancar look like. The big one complains about how things look, and the little one reminds him that he volunteered to come, and as such shouldn’t really be complaining. The bystanders, who of course can’t see the pair due to that Invisible to Normals stuff, annoy the big one slightly, so he eats their souls. Yeah. and then complaints about how they weren’t very filling. Nice guy, ain’t he? The little one says that since they were normals and had no powers whatsoever, there’s no way they would be filling, but anyway they’re only there to kill one person and killing a bunch of bystanders is a waste of time. fending off more complaints, the little one says that there should only be three people around strong enough to pose a threat, so it shouldn’t be too hard. But ahh, what’s this? One of the bystanders survived! And it’s Tatsuki! apparently, her budding powers that have been eluded to a few times let her survive and she can see the Arrancar. Too bad she doesn’t have the strength left to move. The big guy asks his pal, Ulquiorra * if she’s the one they want, but he says it’s not her. Big prepares to punt her away, but his foot is stopped by Chad’s timely arrival. Chad tells Orihime to take Tatsuki and run. Ulquiorra is asked again if it’s either of them, but he berates Yammy * not being able to tell at a glance. And, quickly skimming over the last few pages, Chad is quickly beaten, (Ouch! Look at that arm!) And Orihime runs back to help him as Yammy asks if Orihime’s anything special.
As for the title, I figure it’s a reference to the symphony of screams Yammy must have created with his soul-sucking thing. Now, the Arrancar. I don’t know about you, but when I first saw these guys, the hole was the only thing that convinced me that they ‘were’ in fact, hollows. Mind you, it helps that Yammy acts very much little your typical hollow; he’s amoral, brutish and not very smart, but Ulquiorra… he’s quiet, intelligent, stoic, nowhere near as violent and seemed to be actually ‘disapproving’ of Yammy’s senseless killing, albeit not strongly enough to actually do anything about it. Of course, when you think you it about it, his stoicism actually makes sense in terms of him being a hollow, given that hollows are The Heartless and formed through loneliness and emptiness and all, but it’s still something of a polar opposite to what we’re used to seeing from them. Also of note is Ulquiorra’s dismissal of Yammy’s soul eating; suggesting that while they ‘can’ eat souls, they don’t actually ‘need’ to, unlike normal hollows. And poor Chad! I mean, this guy is supposed to be Made of Iron, but felt he couldn’t compare to the Vizard, and he got beaten in one off-screen page here! Sure, he ‘lost’ to a guy who wasn’t really interested in fighting back the SS arc, but that guy turned out to be one of SS’s top fighters, and was still to launch an attack that ‘would’ve been dangerous if it hit’. And he beat a third seat with one punch a bit before that. What the heck has happened to his competency here? And we still haven’t got to what I consider to be Chad’s lowest moment, so look forward to that, I guess.
