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Chapter 192: Conquistadores 3: Hounded Priestess
Flashback time! While Chad and Orihime were running to the scene, they saw somebody collapse.
Orihime stopped to help him, but Chad told her that it was useless; he was already dead. He could see the souls being sucked away. Chad told Orihime that when they get there, she has to take and survivors and leave. He cuts off her objections, saying that he doesn’t have healing powers and therefore can’t save the survivors, so she has to do it. In the present, Orihime realizes that Chad knew he was going to lose and was trying to keep her out of danger. As Yammy approaches, she reflects on the situation. Ulquiorra gives Yammy the ok, and he begins to attack, but Orihime, gathering her resolve, blocks it with her barrier. Well, the barrier still breaks under his attack, but it stopped it from going any further. Orihime stands, ready to fight. but first, she uses her healing on Chad. Yammy is surprised that Chad’s still alive, but Ulquiorra seems more interested in Orihime’s technique, reflecting that it’s not actually healing at all, but rather something he’s never seen before. Orihime thinks that she has to hold out until Ichigo arrives, but then mentally scolds herself for relying on Ichigo, thinking that he already has enough to deal with, and decides to try to defeat the Arrancar alone. She readies her attack, her emotions pumping it up as far it it’ll go, and launches the strongest attack she can right at Yammy, who blocks it. Fairly effortlessly, actually. He destroyed Tsubaki (Orihime’s attack fairy) and everything. Yammy questions whether or not he really kill somebody with such unique abilities, as he feels Aizen might be interested, but Ulquiorra, dismissing his doubts, tells him there’s no need and he should kill her. Yammy’s next attack is blocked by a sword from somewhere. ‘Somewhere’ being Ichigo’s hand, of course. Ichigo reassures Orihime, and ends the chapter by using his Bankai.
Poor Orihime. She tried so hard and went through so much this chapter; easily earning the ‘hounded priestess’ name the title gives her. But what does it amount to? Tsubaki getting killed and buying few minutes at the most for Ichigo to get there. Well, there was the revelation that she’s not actually healing, persay. That’s worth something, I guess, even if it hasn’t come to fruition quite yet. Also, this chapter brings to light one little issue that’s always bothered me: The lack of attention Yammy’s soul sucking stunt gets. I mean, a crowd of people were just slaughtered! You’d think that would be a big deal, but it’s never referred to in any way after this chapter! And… that’s all I can really think of to say about this chapter.
"Canada Day is over, and now begins the endless dark of the Canada Night."
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Chapter 193: Conquistadores 4: Ebony & Ivory
Huge flash as Ichigo uses Bankai. Orihime notices that Ichigo’s reiatsu seems different. I guess Hichigo is really starting to mess things up, eh? He then tells Orihime to go away, scaring her even more. Ulquiorra confirms that Ichigo is indeed the one they’re after, so Yammy attacks ineffectively. Out of revenge for Chad, Ichigo cuts off Yammy’s arm. Ulquiorra mentally notes that Yammy should have been ready for that, but is forced to acknowledge that that was impressive. Ichigo’s winning easily, but Yammy doesn’t want to give up, so he goes for his Zanpakutou, ignoring Ulquiorra’s criticism. This causes Ichigo to note that it is indeed a zanpakutou he has, and draw a comparison between him and the Vizard. And then, boom, Hichigo starts trying to take over. Yammy starts taking advantage of this by brutalizing Ichigo. Orihime tries to help, but is causally batted away. Ichigo is paralyzed with the effort of staying in control, and as such can’t fight back in any way, but Ulquiorra notes that Ichigo’s power level is fluctuating wildly. At the minimun, Ichigo’s nothing. At the maximun, he’s stronger than Ulquiorra is. Yammy decides to finish Ichigo off, but is blocked ''yet again''. This time it’s Urahara and Yoruichi.
So. ‘Ebony and Ivory’, it invokes ‘black and white’. Two very symbolic colours in Bleach, so I’m having a bit of trouble figuring out what, exactly, it’s referring to here. My best guess is that is refers to the comparison between the Vizard and the Arrancar, or, more trivially, the fact that a guy in white fought against a guy in black. Let’s talk a bit about the Vizard and Arrancar. Arrancar are a lot more shinigami-like than the Vizard are hollow-like; the Vizard just have a power-up mask and a hollow alter-ego, the Arrancar look human, dress in robes, mostly lack masks and have Zanpakutou. My theory is that this is because the Arrancar are more ‘complete’ hybrids; Grand Fisher’s appearance is closer to what I think of as being the Vizard’s hollow counterpart; the Vizards are unrefined steps into hollow-dom, not true hybirds. What would a ‘complete’ Vizard be like? Well, as far as I know, only one exists, but I’ll be sure to point that one out when we get to it. Either way, ‘complete’ or not, the fact remains that Arrancar and Vizard are approaching the same sort of ‘perfect midpoint’ between Hollow and Shinigami from opposite directions. But back to the chapter: anyone else feel these chapters are starting to get a bit repetitive? I mean, it’s kind of been the same thing over and over again; Yammy beats somebody like Ulquiorra watches condescendingly, and then somebody else shows up for Yammy to fight next chapter. Looking ahead, it seems like the next chapter’s going to be different, but it doesn’t really excuse what’s been happening for the last few. And of course, this brings to mind the fact that the same sort of repetitiveness is going to happen later on, only on a much larger scale, so I guess this is just one of those things Kubo has trouble pulling off properly.
"Canada Day is over, and now begins the endless dark of the Canada Night."
You should probably do more than one chapter at the time, as you more than well know, Bleach is very decompressed, which makes it look very good, with a much more interesting use of panels than similar series, but also very slow when each chapter is read individually.
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Hmm. I were to do more than one chapter at time, I would either have to simplify my summaries or slow down my update schedule. Still, I guess I'll do the next two chapter at once and see how that works. Still kind of experimenting here, trying to find what works best.
Though my issue was less with the pace and more with the repetitiveness; it seemed like I was saying 'Yammy's attack gets blocked' over and over again.
"Canada Day is over, and now begins the endless dark of the Canada Night."
Untrustworthy
Special double feature today! Two Chapters for the price for one!
Chapter 194: Conquistadores 5: La Basura
First off, I’d like to apologize of the quality of the scans here, but all of sites I commonly check have the same (bad) version of this chapter, so I decided just tolerate it. Going over things quickly, Yoruichi beats [[Yammy into the ground, and then tends to Orihime. Yammy gets back up, and charges the beam attack known as ‘cero’. he’s confident that she got hit, but Urahara stepped and stopped it. Urahara’s counter attack is stopped by Ulquiorra, who’s now moving for the first time. He beats Yammy, probably because everyone was doing it and he was feeling left out, and then opens the portal out of there, saying he already finished his mission and that Ichigo turned out to not be worth killing. The portal closes behind him and Yammy and the chapter ends.
Chapter 195: Death and Strawberry (reprise)
It’s the next day, and we see Urahara arriving home, and seeing Yoruichi eating inside. Apparently, she actually hurt her arm and leg on Yammy’s skin, meaning she won’t be able to fight for a while. Looks like the Arrancar are stronger than they predicted. Over at the school, Orihime claims she fell down the stairs. Ichigo walks up to her, but backs down, Prompting Orihime to run off. Ichigo reflects on how let Chad, Orihime and Tatsuki almost get killed, but then some unexpected people show up. Ichigo is understandably surprised, so Renji explains that they’re there to help fight the Arrancar. Ichigo sees a hand at the window, and it’s none other than Rukia!
Alright, titles: ‘La Basura’, according to a shoddy internet translator, means ‘The Garbage’, so ‘Trash’, Ulquiorra’s little catch phrase, referring specially to how it applies to Ichigo here, I think. ‘Death and Strawberry’ is name of the very first chapter, and the words refer to Rukia and Ichigo, respectively, who first met in that chapter. In this chapter, they have their reunion in the human world, so it’s their ‘reprise’. Anyway, am I the only one who finds that Ulquiorra’s thoughts in earlier chapters contradict his words here? I mean, he was impressed with how Ichigo cut off Yammy’s arm, and acknowledged that at his best Ichigo was stronger than him, and then suddenly he’s ‘trash not even worth killing?’ What gives? Well, my theory on the matter is that this statement makes a lot more sense if you add a mental ‘as he is now’ in front. If Ulquiorra’s mission hadn’t been to kill Ichigo, but rather to observe his growth and current power level, then things make a lot more sense. Of course, that still leaves the question of why Aizen wouldn’t want Ichigo dead, but you’ll have to take my word for it that there’s a good reason for that. And meanwhile, poor Ichigo! Now he’s not just afraid of Hichigo taking over, he’s also feeling guilty for letting his friends get hurt, ashamed because of how he got beaten by Yammy, suspicious of Shinji and the Vizard, and probably stupid because of he has no idea who or what the Arrancar are, despite everyone one else seeming to. Simply put, the guy has a lot on his mind right now.
"Canada Day is over, and now begins the endless dark of the Canada Night."
I believe Ulquiorra does specify the "as he is now" when giving his report in a later chapter.
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Really? Cool. Nice to know I'm not completely full of shit.
Chapter 196: Punch Down the Stone Circle
Yep, Rukia’s back. She kicks Ichigo in the face, and as the others hold him back she pulls his out of his body and drags him out the window. This, naturally, causes a bit of a stir in the class, and some silliness among the shinigami. Ichigo, of course, is just confused, but it turns out she was leading him to a hollow. However, he’s failing at fighting it due Hichigo’s continued interference. Rukia calls him out on how he’s been different lately and tells him to get strong enough to move past his problems, saying that’s what the normal Ichigo would do. He tells her to shut up, which is his way of thanking somebody. Back at the school, Rukia drags Ichigo up to Orihime and makes him apologize for being weak. He promises it won’t happen again, and Orihime is glad the regular Ichigo’s back. She thanks them both and welcomes Rukia back.
Chapter 197: The Approaching Danger
First, four pages of Keigo getting owned by the shinigami. Keigo’s weird. Next, Kon and Rukia’s reunion. Ichigo’s family try to spy on them, but Ichigo chases them away. Ichigo asks for an explanation, so the other shinigami drop down from the ceiling. After owning Kon, they explain that Arrancar have always existed, but thanks to Hogyoku, Aizen’s been able to quickly churn out a powerful arrancar whenever he finds a decently strong hollows, and that there were sent there in response to Ulquiorra and Yammy. It’s quickly explained that Yamamoto pretty much running the show now, and Renji tells us why these people in particular were chosen to come on this mission. Turns out everyone but Ikkaku, Renji and Rukia are just along for the ride. Hitsugaya shows up provide more exposition. * Apparently, the are three types of Menos: Gillain, the type we’ve seen; are huge and all look the same, but are considered to cannon fodder among strong shinigami because of their slow speed and lack of sapience, Adjucas, who look like standard hollows but are intelligent and stronger than Menos, and Vaste Lorde, who are human sized, extremely rare, and comparable in strength to the captains. Aizen also has an unknown number of Arrancar under his control. According to Hitsugaya, SS is doomed if Aizen gets ten Vaste Lorde. We cut over to Yammy and Ulquiorra, who are returning now [http://www.mangareader.net/94-651-22/bleach/chapter-197.html and are asked by Aizen to give their report in front of their twenty siblings.]]
For the first time, I must admit that I don’t really have a much idea what a title means. I can only speculate that ‘the stone circle’ refers to Ichigo’s recent mental problems, but that just a guess. ‘The approaching danger’ is very simple, though; the danger of Aizen’s forces is approaching. And- hmm. The only thing I think is really worth discussing in the first chapter is Rukia’s speech to Ichigo, but I can’t really think of much to say about that, it’s just reminding Ichigo of what he’s usually like and giving a bit more peace of mind, while simultaneously letting Rukia have personality. The second chapter is mostly silliness and exposition, so there’s not a whole lot there either. We did get the little mention of Renji being friends with Ikkaku, which will come up again, but other than the the only thing I feel the need to point out is that I’m not sure why it took Ulquiorra and Yammy that much time to get back, I mean, it’s been at least 24 hours by this point, what were they doing all that time?
"Canada Day is over, and now begins the endless dark of the Canada Night."
Not only is it important that Renji is friends with Ikkaku, but the fact that he, a third seat, was chosen over many lieutenants available.
Untrustworthy
I was tired last night and accidentally went to bed without posted the next chapter's part, despite having written it. I'm posting that now, and will post Today's instalment later tonight. However, I was only able to do one chapter yesterday, so that's all I'm posting now.
Chapter 198: The Icecold Discord
Aizen prompts Ulquiorra to give his report, so he plucks out his eye and crushes it. Talk about Eye Scream, eh? Anyway, it turns out that doing that lets anyone who happens to be around relive Ulquiorra’s memories. He explains his reasoning in letting Ichigo live, but an objection happens. An arrancar by the name of Grimmjow feels that it shouldn’t have mattered how weak he was, he was an enemy, and therefore should be killed. After some argument, Ulquiorra asserts that while his current power is nothing, his potential is scary, and they might be able to pull him to their side on day. Grimmjow’s still not satisfied, but Aizen overrules him. Back in the real world, Renji and Rangiku are messing with Kon, and Ichigo resists Rangiku’s tempation and kicks them out. Rangiku decides to force Orihime to let her stay, much to Kon’s delight. Renji heads off to talk to Urahara, but then Ichigo suddenly realizes what Rukia’s plan is, and tires insuccesfully to get her to leave. Yumichika notices a weird hollow feeling, but brushes it off. Tatsuki is worried about all the weird stuff she’s seen, Orihime is glad Ichigo’s back to normal, but also feels a little jealous of Rukia. Keigo, after a bit of being his normal self, notices a hollow in the sky. The chapter ends with a portal opening in the sky, with Grimmjow visible behind it.
Pretty sure the title’s talking the little bit of internal conflict within the arrancar we saw there, since that’s the only real ‘discord’ present. Speaking of the arrancar, one little detail that always kind of bothered me: Of the four Arrancar visibly watching Ulquiorra’s memories, only one ever appears again. I suspect that’s because Kubo didn’t really put any effort into those characters; he was only really using them to fill in the background a little bit, and happened to like of the designs enough to bring it back later. Also, for those of you that didn’t notice, our old buddy from my first real post here, Di Roy, was visible beside Grimmjow on one of those pages. I’ll talk about the significance of that later.
"Canada Day is over, and now begins the endless dark of the Canada Night."
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Chapter 199: Ugly
So, Rukia cons Ichigo’s family into giving her a room. Seems like Karin suspects something, though. And I’m willing to bet that Isshin knows exactly what’s going on. portal opening, with two arrancar behind it, but never mind that for now; we have Rangiku forcing her way into Orihime’s home! Hitsu’ grumpy, but Rangiku takes a bath. Some character development that I’ll go over later happens, which is also an excuse for fanservice. Then, outside, Grimmjow and a group of five Arrancar are visible. One of them notes that there are most people around than Ulquiorra mentioned, so they sense around carefully, and yes, there are more. Grimmjow correctly guesses that reinforcements from SS have arrived, and he criticizes Ulquiorra for letting it get this far. He calls the other five by name and tells them to split up and kill them all
Chapter 200: Night of The Sledgehammer
A few pages spent on showing where they all are recap. The Arrancar move out, and the Shinigami can immediately tell what’s happening. Ichigo and Rukia panic a bit, and it seems one’s going after Chad. Ikkaku, Yumichika, Hitsugaya and Rangiku all prepare for battle, but Shawlong and Nakeem instantly appear in front of the latter two. Shawlong introduces himself as ‘Arrancar no. 11, and he and Hitsugaya exchange banter. Meanwhile, Chad dismisses Orihime’s healing fairies, and heads out to face D Roy, who instantly attacks, but is stopped by Ichigo. The last page shows Ikkaku facing Edorad and Yylfordt facing Renji.
So. ‘Ugly’ is the perceived ugly feelings Orihime has, ‘Night of the Sledgehammer’ is the night where the sledgehammer of the Arrancar fell. But about that Character Development I mentioned. Orihime’s feeling some complex emotions right now. First, we have the man she loves, and yes, she does explicitly tell us that she loves Ichigo, acting strange, interacting with some shady people, and clearly upset or worried about something. However, she has no idea what’s bothering him, and he refuses to let her in. She still tries to help him, but she just doesn’t know what to say or do, so nothing comes of that. And then, when she decides to solve the Arrancar problem on her own without relying on Ichigo to save her, so as to not burden him any further, she completely fails and not only needs to be rescued, but actually gets in his way. And then, later, clearly wrecked with guilt and feeling useless, he actually goes and apologizes to her for letting her get hurt. Her attempted heroics only made things worse for Ichigo’s mental condition, and she knows it! And she still doesn’t have any idea what’s wrong with him, still doesn’t know what she can do to make things better. Then, Rukia, a female friend of his, shows up and manages to cheer him up, bring the old Ichigo back in a few minutes. So that brings us to her current condition. On the one hand, Ichigo’s back to normal. She knows she should be happy about that, and she is, but on the other hand, it was Rukia who brought him back, and so easily at that. So naturally, she can’t help but feel jealous of Rukia, and must feel her own uselessness very keenly; but is all the while hating herself for being jealous, for feeling anything but happiness about Ichigo cheering up. So yeah, that’s some heavy stuff there, isn’t it? Rangiku reassures her by saying Ichigo needs all the help he can get, that she’s just as important as Rukia is, and anyway, she shouldn’t let this stuff get her down, but rather stand up and try to work past them, to change things. A bit lacklustre compared to what she’s going through, I think, but perhaps all Orihime needs right now is some words of encouragement. I’d really have anything to say about the other chapter other than to pity Chad though; it was basically just setting up some fights.
edited 20th Sep '10 8:06:11 PM by Gilphon
"Canada Day is over, and now begins the endless dark of the Canada Night."
Untrustworthy
Chapter 201: Wind & Snowbound
Ichigo and Di Roy face off as Chad reflects on how he was very nearly killed just there. Ichigo tells him to go, so he runs off, feeling rather dejected because he knows Ichigo’s left him behind. Ichigo readies for battle as Rukia arrives and tells him to let her handle it. and yes, that does mean her powers are back. Also, Ichigo is attacked by an evil bunny rabbit Rukia’s gigai, which has a soul candy thing in it.Rukia and Di Roy fight a bit, and Rukia uses her shikai for the first time in the series. she says an attack name, and a white circle appears on the ground. it starts to freeze the ground, so Di Roy takes to the air, bragging that the air is where he truly shines. at this point, a massive pillar of ice appears and traps Di Roy, and then shatters, taking the unfortunate Arrancar with it.
Chapter 202: Mala Suerte!
Chappy is one crazy little bunny. After we confirm that Rukia did indeed just kill Di Roy, Chappy gushes about Rukia’s sword and Byakuya, and then breaks Ichigo’s arm. But no time for that, Grimmjow just showed up! The other arrancar notice Di Roy’s death, and tell us that he was a failure of an arrancar. Keigo, meanwhile, is freaked out by the sounds of battle and doesn’t know whether or not to believe what’s he’s seen. He then has the misfortune to run right into Ikkaku, who seems to be losing his fight. Ikkaku then takes the opportunity to force Keigo to let him stay at his house. The housing arrangement settled, he asks the arrancar’s name, but doesn’t get any more than the number. Ikkaku is disappointed, saying that for them, telling your opponent your name is a simple courtesy, because then if you die, you’ll at least know the name of the one who killed you. And as such, he introduces himself.
We have ‘wind’; Di Roy’s presumably air based powers, facing off against ‘snowbound’, Rukia’s ice making powers. ‘Mala Suerte’ means ‘bad luck’, which refers to the assertion that Ikkaku has bad luck in the choice of opponent. If you remember anything about Ikkaku’s character, however, you’ll remember that he’s enough of a Blood Knight that he probably doesn’t think of fighting a strong opponent as bad luck. And incidentally, yes, Ikkaku, Yumichika and Renji (who was trained under the 11th division) all introduced themselves before starting a fight with somebody new in their past appearances. And, backtracking a bit, we’ve hit it now, Chad’s absolute lowest moment. I mean, to be within a hairs-breath of getting killed by a remarkably weak arrancar who was killed easily shortly thereafter? Ouch. I honestly don’t know what’s happened to Chad’s power at this point, he was able to at least survive for a little bit against Yammy, who’s significantly stronger than Di Roy, but now it seems like there’s really nothing setting him apart from the normal’s expect the fact that he has a funny-looking arm. The poor guy’s not only back to being utterly unable to help against the supernatural monsters, but now that he has no one to fight with, he’s back to being a big pacifist brute who just lets people beat him up, since he’s unable to attack unless he has someone else to look out for. He’s feeling downed and useless now, just like Orihime.
edited 12th Dec '10 8:59:57 AM by Gilphon
"Canada Day is over, and now begins the endless dark of the Canada Night."
Untrustworthy
It seems Schedule Slip has finally happened properly, ladies and gentlemen! Now, how long will it be will until this project collapses my mind entirely? A month? Two weeks? Less? Place your bets!
Chapter 203: Mala Suerte! 2: El Monstruo
So… this chapter is mostly just Ikkaku fighting Edrad. Parsing it for plot points, Arrancar has tough skin, but strong enough attacks can still hurt them. Yumichika explains that he’s not going to help because of how much Ikkaku loves 1 on 1 fights, despite the fact that he knows this could get him killed. Edorad has an ability where he charges his reiatsu in his hand, and he realizes that Ikkaku’s batshit, so decides to kill him quickly by releasing, which turns him into this.
Chapter 204: Mala Suerte! 3: Monstruo Sangrienta
Why hello there, Grimmjow. Apparently, he’s a completely different level from Di Roy, which isn’t particularly surprising given that Di Roy was a failure and Grimmjow seems to be the boss. Grimmjow asks which one of them is stronger, and then beats Rukia is a single attack. Ichigo charges in, and we cut over to Edrad giving exposition. So apparently, Arrancar’s have their ‘hollow’ form and a good deal of their power are sealed inside their swords, and releasing, or Resurrection as they call, causes said power and form to return to them. So Edrad, for example, now has the ability to shoot out a giant beam of fire. Yumichika lets SS know that the battles are about to get crazier, and tells them to start preparing for Ikkaku’s funeral. Shows a lot of faith in him, doesn’t he? Ikkaku ''is'' losing rather badly, though, and using his shikai doesn’t help things. Edrad tells him to give up, but Ikkaku doesn’t go for it, so boom. Ikkaku, however, is still alive, and pulls a bankai out of nowhere.
The titles mean ‘the monster’ and ‘bloody monster’, respectively. One might be temped to think that Edrad is the monster referred to here, since he ends up looking pretty monstrous, but since he’s not the one that gets bloody in the second chapter, I’m inclined to say that 'monster' is a bit more metaphorical, and is referring to the one who’s acting like a monster. About the Resurrection; the names have a little trick to them that’s actually pretty clever: they mean one thing in Japanese and another in Spanish, but both meanings are relevant. In particular, Edorad’s ‘Volcanica’ is ‘volcanic’ in Spanish and ‘volcanic beast’ in Japanese. It’s a weird little relationship Ikkaku and Yumichika have, by the way. Yumichika showed no signs of wanting to step in despite clearly acknowledging the possibility that his friend might be killed; and despite the fact that he knew Ikkaku had a bankai, he shows no signs of expecting Ikkaku to actually use it, but rather seemed to expect Ikkaku to die without using it.
"Canada Day is over, and now begins the endless dark of the Canada Night."
Well, Yumichika would expect that, wouldn't he? Also notice that there was a reason for Renji to pick Ikkaku over the available lieutenants.
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Just one chapter tonight due to me being a lazy bastard who wants to sleep at some point tonight.
I should really consider trying to make a buffer. Though maybe that's a little too ambitious.
Chapter 205: Mala Suerte! 4: Monstruo Monstruoso
Yumichika is surprised, not that Ikkaku has a Bankai, but that he decided to use it. Edrad’s just surprised, though. This is what Ikkaku’s bankai looks like, if you’re interested. They banter and fight, but things seem to be going worse for Edrad now, but he’s not finished yet. He reflects that while it’s power is scary, Ikkaku’s Bankai has nothing else going for it, so he plans to overwhelm Ikkaku before his attack has a chance to connect. He’s confident, but then he notices that it seems to be getting stronger. Ikkaku explains that his Zanpakutou is very lazy, and only hitting the enemy in Bankai will wake it up. The dragon on the main blade is used as a gauge to show how aware it is at the moment, and it’ll be fully awake, and therefore most powerful, when the dragon is complete. Like it is right now. they both attack with all their strength, and the chapter ends.
‘Monstruo Monstruoso’ = Monsterous monster. * Um. Well, that’s not very meaningful, is it? It’s probably meant to be pointing out how monsterous the monster’s become in this chapter. Now about Ikkaku’s zanpakutou: One would think, that given how energetic Ikkaku is, that it’s strange for his zanpakutou to be lazy. It makes sense when you consider his fighting style, though, he doesn’t want to just completely overwhelm his opponent, he wants to drag things out, have fun with it, not increase his own power is any way unless he finds himself unable to keep up. So his Zanpakutou never gives him any power he doesn’t specifically force out; it just lazes around; and Ikkaku wouldn’t have it any other way.
edited 25th Sep '10 9:21:27 PM by Gilphon
"Canada Day is over, and now begins the endless dark of the Canada Night."
Slay foes with bow and arrow
At this point I was still just watching the anime, so it is interesting to see these moments in the manga.
At this point I also had no idea the plot would end up where it is now.
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It's the same way for me, actually. I find that while the anime is a lot more well, exciting, if you know what I mean, and it's certainly better paced, the manga has this weird, almost poetic quality to it at times, and is certainly good at engaging the reader using panel placement.
Chapter 206: Mala Suerte! 5: Lucky
A piece of Ikkaku’s bankai falls to the ground. Its’ user follows shortly behind it. Edrad says Ikkaku’s name, glad he got to hear the name of the guy who killed. He then slams to the ground, dead. Flashback time! Ikkaku just lost a fight, and is telling his opponent, who should look familiar, to finish him off. Said opponent refuses, saying that Ikkaku should be thinking about how to survive right now, so that he can get his revenge later. He does, however, make it clear that the only reason Ikkaku survived was because he was lucky. Ikkaku asks the man’s name, and Kenpachi Zaraki does so. And yes, that was the same Blood Knight Ikkaku’s working under nowadays. The scene changes. Renji’s trying to convince Ikkaku to fill one of the empty captain spots left by Aizen’s betrayal, since Ikkaku’s the only one who’s suited for it and can use bankai. Ikkaku refuses, explaining that this is the whole reason he won’t let anyone besides Renji and Yumichika know he has bankai; if more people knew, more people would ask him to become captain. He doesn’t want to be a captain, incidentally, because he enjoys working under Kenpachi far too much. back in the present, Yumichika finds the still living Ikkaku, who says that he got very lucky today. Meanwhile, Renji and Hitsugaya seem to be losing, despite their being in bankai and their opponents not having released yet.
I probably could put the next chapter here if I forced myself, but this one was the end of the ‘Mala Suerte!’ arc, so I decided that it wouldn’t really have meshed to smush two largely irrelevant chapters into one post. As for the chapter title here: Ikkaku was referred to as being lucky at several points, so there’s the relevance right there, but it’s also there is contrast to the arc title. It’s now clear that Edrad was quite mistaken when he said Ikkaku was unlucky; Ikkaku was extremely lucky and Edrad was the truly unlucky one. And yes, as Noimporta alluded to, this is exactly why Renji chose to bring Ikkaku with him over any of the vice-captains; he knew that Ikkaku had bankai and is therefore, in all likelihood, stronger than the vice-captains. To leave things off, I would like to note that it’s odd that Renji and Hitsugaya seem to be doing so much worse, since nothing would indicate that those two are that much weaker than Ikkaku or that their opponents are that much stronger than Edrad.
"Canada Day is over, and now begins the endless dark of the Canada Night."
They were only weaker because of their Power Limiters; they win immediately after using Gentei Kaijo.
Currently taking a break from the site. See my user page for more information.
Yep, Ikkaku, being a third seat, does not have a power limiter. Though Ikkaku might be stronger than Renji, given that he's clearly much more experienced when it comes to battle, and has had Bankai for a longer time.
Untrustworthy
I was trying to hold off talking about them directly until I actually got to the point where they are pointed out. Though the very astute reader would have remembered about those seals from when Renji mentioned them, so I guess it's all good. 
Chapter 207: Mode: Genocide
yep, Hitsu is indeed losing. Rangiku’s already pretty much lost, even. Renji’s not doing so well either. On a nearby roof, Jinta and Ururu watch Renji’s failure, when Ururu suddenly starts acting all weird and robot-like. she then beats Yylfordt around a bit, still acting all weird and robot-ish. Yylfordt, enraged, releases in response. Ururu’s suddenly a lot less effective. Yylfordt’s a bull, in case you were wondering.
Chapter 208: The Scissors
Jinta step to save Ururu, who then needs to be saved by Renji. Too bad nobody there’s to help Renji. The fight really ain’t going well for him. Shawlong, meanwhile, notices that Yylfordt’s resurrection is in use. Hitsu’s doing somewhat better than Renji, which is air enough since Hitsu’s a captain and Renji’s just a vice-captain, but he’s still losing. Shawlong gives us some expo-speak on how a little limitation of Hitsu’s bankai has works. Apparently, since he hasn’t fully mastered it yet, it has a timelimit, with the ice flowers serving as a countdown. Shawlong decides to release, since he thinks that a captain deserves to see his full power. Well, hullo Mr. Scissorhands, and goodbye even more of Hitsu’s dignity. Shawlong’s kind of a smug asshole.
Ururu said she was going into Genocide mode, so ‘Mode: Genocide’. ‘The Scissors’ is a clear reference to Shawlong’s resurrection. It’s of interest to note that Jinta did seem to know what was going on with Ururu there, and that we knew, from Ichigo’s training way back when, that she was stronger than she appeared. As for the exact nature of what happened to her there, well, that piece of foreshadowing hasn’t paid off yet, so we can only speculate. Incidentally, Yylfordt’s ‘Del Toro’ is Spanish for ‘of the bull’ and Japanese for ‘pale-horned prince’; which are fitting because he’s prince-like, has pale hair, has horns and is a bull. Shawlong’s ‘Tijereta’ is Spanish for ‘earwig’ and Japanese for ‘Five-Pincered insect.’ He has an earwig-like tail and five ‘pincers’ in the form of fingers. Still, not a whole lot of hidden meaning in either chapter here.
edited 11th Dec '10 9:24:46 PM by Gilphon
"Canada Day is over, and now begins the endless dark of the Canada Night."
Untrustworthy
Chapter 209: Lift the Limit
More fighting, and then exposition on what the Arrancar numbers mean. Apparently, when an Arrancar is created with Hogyoku, it’s assigned the next number in order, so Di Roy (#16) would’ve been directly after Yyfordt (#15). However, if the newly created Arrancar happen to be among the ten strongest Arrancar created so far, it is also given a number from 1-10, where #1 is the strongest arrancar of all and so forth. These ten ‘Espada’ rule over the other Arrancar and are tattooed with their number. Shawlong says that the Espada are much stronger than the regular arrancar and that they actually brought an espada along with them; Grimmjow, who we can see indeed has a six tattooed on his back. Ichigo’s not doing so well against Grimmjow, so he decides to use bankai. Hitsu seems like he’s waiting for something, meanwhile. A little device in Rangiku’s hand goes off, and a voice tells her that ‘limit lifting’ has been approved. Nakeem attacks, but she blocks him, thanking the voice. She lets Hitsu and Renji know, and a crest suddenly appears on their chests. The three suddenly skyrocket in power.
Chapter 210: Don’t Call me Nino
Yylfordt and Shawlong seem a bit worried now. After all, they just took hits without really seeing what happened. And worse for them is that their opponents don’t seem to be as injured now. The shingami kindly explain what’s going on. In order to prevent them from causing too much Damage, SS apparently places seals on their captain and vice-captain who go into the human world. These seal prevent them from using 80% for their power. So they’d been fighting at 20% this whole time. Yyfordt is forced back and Renji’s bankai, clearly feeling pressured. Nakeem tries to show off his superspeed, but is outclassed by Rangiku and takes a major hit. All three shinigami attack, and Shawlong gives the order to retreat. Too little, too late though, as all three Arrancar are killed.
‘Lift the Limit’ is probably obvious enough that I don’t have to explain it, but I’m not sure in the least what the other title’s referring to. ‘Nino’ means ‘young boy’, so there’s something, but I’m really not sure what the phrase has to do with the situation at hand. Now on to content: I would just like to point out that Shawlong, our Mr. Exposition here, did indeed say that the Espada numbers are from 1-10. Those of you who aren’t familiar with the series from here on out probably wouldn’t understand why I find that worth pointing out, but the rest of you, in all likelihood will understand. Also, that shot of the Espada in silhouette: while a few of them are recognizable * there are also a good number of just random silhouettes *. Also, the seals were talked about before, in one throwaway line to explain why Renji should still be considered a threat during the SS arc despite losing to Ichigo before that. I don’t know if Kubo actually planned that all out, but it’s still pretty awesome how he was able to bring back something the audience had long since forgot about in such a meaningful way. Now… something I’m really not sure if you guys noticed. I didn’t notice it for the longest time. Shawlong specified that Arrancar with numbers were all created with the Hogyoku. And yet Di Roy, who was showed to exist before the SS arc, and therefore was around before Aizen should have gotten the Hogyoku, had a number. Is this a plot hole? Maybe… but if it is, it’s a plot hole that’s subtle enough that most people wouldn’t catch it, but to make it weirder, it’s an entirely preventable one. Just have Shawlong not mention that the Hogyoku plays a part in the numbering process, or have Di Roy not give a number, and there, plot hole fixed. And I find it hard to imagine that Kubo didn’t know that plot hole was there, as he did choose to bring back Di Roy, after all. So if it is a plot hole, it’s in all likelihood one that was left open on purpose and then covered with sticky tape to stop people from seeing it. That’s fairly odd, don’t you think? As such, I think it’s more likely to not be a plot hole, but rather a sign that there’s some information about the Arrancar’s history that Kubo hasn’t chosen to let us know yet.
"Canada Day is over, and now begins the endless dark of the Canada Night."
Untrustworthy
Chapter 211: Stroke of Sanity
The arrancar defeated, Hitsu’s wounds suddenly burst open and he crashes to the ground. The timing of this seems rather odd at first glance, but upon closer inspection I realize that it’s entirely possible he was using his ice as a band-aid to stop himself from bleeding out. Renji, for his part, reflects that he only won because Yylfordt was so surprised by the unsealing that he let his guard down. He worries about Ichigo, but we’re all Genre Savvy enough here to know what tends to happen a main baddie fighting against The Hero after all of his minions die, right? Right? >.> <.< Actually, Ichigo seems to be losing. Oh, he was able to use his speed to his advantage, but it seems that’s not enough to beat Grimmjow. Ichigo launches a Getsuga Tenshou at Grimmjow, exhausting himself somewhat. Grimmjow was somewhat injured by the attack, but it only seems to have got him excited. And worse Hichigo’s acting up now. As Tatsuki watches, worried, a portal opens with a familiar looking zanpakutou visible inside.
Chapter 212: You don’t hear my name anymore
Portal opens, and then closes once Tousen steps out. He senses Grimmjow, and flash steps away. Also, he’s got a new outfit since the last time we saw him. Grimmjow really is exicited, and is about to start fighting for real. Ichigo, however, is realizing that using Getsuga Tenshou in bankai makes Hichigo stronger, and figures he can only get 2-3 more shots out before he can’t hold him back. Then suddenly Tousen. Both of them seem rather surprised by the sudden appearance of a blind, black man. Tousen explains that Aizen is angry at Grimmjow for going to the real world against a direct order, and losing five arrancar in the process, and that Tousen’s there to pick up Grimmjow. Grimmjow, somewhat reluctantly, follows Tousen into a portal back to Hueco Mundo. Ichigo yells at him not to go, saying that the fight isn’t over yet. Grimmjow disagrees, saying that it’s obvious that Ichigo can’t win, since he clearly can’t use Getsuga Tenshou, the only thing Ichigo has capable to hurting Grimmjow, freely, and anyway Grimmjow still has his released state to fall back on. Grimmjow introduces himself, saying that Ichigo had better hope he never hears that name again, since Grimmjow’ll kill him next time. The portal closes, leaving Ichigo alone. Renji comes in, questioning Ichigo about what happened, and Ichigo apparently agrees with Grimmjow’s assessment. Renji tries to encourage him, but Ichigo brushes him off, saying that he couldn’t do anything and truly lost.
I think ‘Stroke of Sanity’ probably refers to the sword stroke that is Getsuga Tenshou and the effect it’s having on Ichigo’s sanity. Add ‘You better hope’ to the other title and you get what Grimmjow said to Ichigo. Now… anyone else notice that Tousen’s response was oddly prompt? I mean, he listed ‘losing five arrancar’ among the reasons why Aizen was angry, so that must have already happened by the time he set out… but the only way that could be true and have Tousen arrive as soon as he did was if Aizen was watching, and therefore knew about the weaker arrancar going down as soon as it happened. But of course, that would mean that he waited and intentionally let the weaker arrancar go down before pulling Grimmjow back, wouldn’t it? And if that’s the case, why pull Grimmjow back in the middle of a fight he probably would have won? Combine that with the way he approved of Ulquiorra’s letting Ichigo live, and it almost seems like Aizen’s consciously trying to make sure Ichigo survives, doesn’t it? Of course, he still would have had to give up five Arrancar for little to no reason. Unless, of course, he doesn’t really care about low-level fighters and was just looking for an excuse to punish Grimmjow for something more serious than going against orders. Or maybe I’m crazy and am reading too much into things. You decide! Also, now Ichigo’s feeling useless. He’s not the only one. I’ve previously noted how Chad and Orihime are feeling, and one can presume that Ishida isn’t exactly feeling terribly effective right now what with having no powers and all. With all four of our theoretical ‘main heros’ feeling useless and ineffective, I’d go so far as to say that the feeling of uselessness is a theme of the this part of the story.
"Canada Day is over, and now begins the endless dark of the Canada Night."
Untrustworthy
Chapter 213: Trifle
So… Keigo brings his new friends home to meet his sister. Keigo explains the situation, and she decides to let them stay because Ikkaku’s her type and she’s crazy like that. Hate to burst your bubble, Mizuho, but I’ve always thought that his relationship with Yumichika is a tad closer than ‘friends’. Meanwhile, Tessai fixes up Ururu, and Orihime heals Rukia. Orihime notices the pained look in Ichigo’s eyes is back. Over in Hueco Mundo, Aizen welcomes Grimmjow back. The tension is palpable, but Aizen seems oddly calm and unconcerned about the whole thing, saying that he’s sure Grimmjow will take responsibility for his actions. Or Grimmjow will if he knows what good for him, the undertones seem to say. Grimmjow’s still being defiant, though. Maybe he’s just bad at reading undertones, or maybe he has no idea what’s good for him. Tousen angrily grabs him, asking Aizen if he can kill Grimmjow. Grimmjow supposes that Tousen just doesn’t like him, but Tousen denies that with a little speech I’ll go over later, and then cuts Grimmjow’s arm off and Kido’s it into oblivion. The understandably angry Grimmjow moves to attack, but Aizen, still speaking quite calmly and politely, says he’ll kill Grimmjow if he attacks Tousen. Grimmjow storms out, showing that he does have a certain amount of self-preservation instinct build in. Gin, who was apparently watching, says that Aizen shouldn’t play with his minions like that. When prompted, Aizen says that it doesn’t matter that five arrancar were lost because they were only Gillians. He mentions that his overall goals consist of finding Vaste Lordes and completing the Espada and the chapter ends.
So, the defeated Arrancar were no more than a ‘trifle’ to Aizen, were they? It’s kind of strange that he would let one of his prized Espada lose an arm over them then, isn’t it? Perhaps he wants to etch the memory of this little disaster into Grimmjow’s mind; wants to make sure Grimmjow thinks of this night as something significant, so he has Tousen humiliate and seriously injure him. Gin’s line would imply that Aizen staged that whole little exchange, after all. But, of course, for what I’m implying to be true here, Aizen would have had to already planned to gain the means to get Grimmjow’s arm back, which isn’t impossible; he already knows about said means by this point, but if true, it seems like an awfully multi-step plan with too many variables for my liking. So either Aizen was arrogant enough to believe he could make such a plan work and was willing to gamble an Espada on that, or he was just dicking around with Grimmjow for the lulz and to show the other Espada that they can’t get away with a screw-up like that when disobeying a direct order. Both are equally in-character for him, and the ‘making an example out of him’ part could easily be true either way. Still, that’s all a little vague and speculative, isn’t it? Let’s move on to Tousen’s little speech. First we have the declaration that he hates people who sow discord, fair enough, nothing about him we didn’t see during his fight with Kenpachi character-wise. But then… well, to paraphrase from the wikia’s way of phrasing it: “Justice without a higher cause is slaughter, but slaughter in the name of a higher cause is Justice.” If that line weren’t coming from someone who believes very strongly in justice, don’t you think it would read like a lampooning of the concept of justice? But, of course, that can’t be it, I mean, it’s coming from the mouth of a villain, so of course we’re supposed to agree with- Oh wait. I’d also like to point out that Tousen is a blind man who believes very strongly in justice, so ‘Blind Justice’, if you will.
edited 29th Sep '10 8:20:47 PM by Gilphon
"Canada Day is over, and now begins the endless dark of the Canada Night."
There's a bit of an inconsistency here, when Aizen says Grimmjow's fraccion were mere Gillians, given that we see that some of them were Adjuchas in a later flashback. Tousen's motivations are an iffy topic, but if the recent chapters are to be believed, he had very good reasons to follow Aizen, given how his moral code works...
... of course, I'm kind of jumping a bit ahead of the liveblog.
Untrustworthy
Yeah, Hitsugaya says they were gillain as well next chapter, so there definitely is an inconsistency there. I personally believe it makes a little more sense for them to be gillian, given how they'd be very out of their league against other Arrancar who we know to be adjuchas, but given that later chapters seem to indicate that Harribel and Barragan's fraccion, who are of similar power levels, are also adjuchas it's... well, it's a bit of a mess.
Also, I have a bit of busy week ahead of me, so I probably won't have the time to write this for a little while. Things should be back to normal this time next week, maybe even sooner if I'm lucky; but I'll definitely have to take a few days off here.
"Canada Day is over, and now begins the endless dark of the Canada Night."
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.
edited 23rd Sep '10 8:52:29 PM by Gilphon
"Canada Day is over, and now begins the endless dark of the Canada Night."