All Comments

I'm going to copy paste over comments now, as they add a certain something to this, and anyway I responded sometimes. To wit:

melloncollie:

… you've got a lot of work cut out for you. Good luck and godspeed.

Galeros:

Hooray! [grin]

Chubert:

This sounds interesting. I admit that I am a member of the Fan Dumb who has... not been overly enthused by Bleach as of late, and reading this liveblog should be fun. Good luck! And, uh, are you starting from the beginning, or are you going to start somewhere in the middle? Because liveblogging Bleach's entirety is...going to take some time.

KSPAM:

Yes!

Fusionman:

This is going to be fun.

Gilphon:

@Melloncollie: Thanks, I think I might need that luck during some bits…

@Chubert: I'm going to start from the end of the SS arc, since there's neither all that much Fan Dumb floating around that area or all that much I want to say about it. My next entry will basically cover everything I think I need to (which isn't all that much) from there and that's it.

That's not to say I won't refer to the SS arc, of course.

silver 2195:

^ But Gilphon, wasn't Bleach's first major alleged Ass Pull (Ichigo inexplicably powering up during his fight with Kenpachi), as well as most of the setting-related Fridge Logic, in the middle of SS?

Chubert:

^ That...Ichigo powering up...it was? That was forshadowed to hell and back. There was even a training sequence leading up to it. How is that an Ass Pull?

silver 2195:

A training sequence that abruptly occurs in the middle of the battle when Ichigo is about to lose.

Gilphon:

Yeah, but I can't be bothered go over everything and it's mainly afterwards that I have thoughts other people might like to read. Speaking of which - This is the point where I originally posted the second instalment.

Get all vehicle information http://www.gari.pk/ here.

KSPAM:

Yeah, that bit with Kon... No Just No.

I had completely missed the part with Kon... wow that is messed up. And hilarious. And messed up. Really interesting read though, looking forward to combing through the rest of this.

Galeros:

Good work Gil. [grin]

Noimporta and I here a brief discussion about update schedules. I'm not bothering to copypaste it over.

I always thought Shinji being upside down was just something Shinigami could do, that he was the only one to use. But now that you've explained it, it's so obvious. Really good work! I'm wondering about Grand Fisher, but I think Kubo may not have planned the Zanpakuto yet as Grand Fisher doesn't have one here. So maybe he overhauled the Arrancar designs and as such Fisher got redone.

Noimporta:

Isshin and Ryuuken appear to be made to be contrasted with each other: The loving but overbearing father, and the harsh and distant one, two ways of being a parent that have an obvious incidence on their respective sons' personalities.

Ironically enough, it is Ryuuken the one that comes clean about his powers right away, while Isshin keeps Ichigo in the dark until he has no choice.

Gilphon:

You raises a good point, and one I honestly hadn't thought of. Might find a place to explore that a bit later on.

Galeros:

I totally agree with you on Grand Fisher. I think it would have been cool if HE had been an Espada or something and been taken out by Ichigo.

Gilphon:

I don't know what would have been good for him to do, but he deserved better than that.

Noimporta:

I believe Ishida never intended to keep his word, after all, he didn't really need his powers back at all if he wasn't planning on fighting with Ichigo & co. again…

... that reminds me, Ichigo and Ishida never had a proper fight, but that's something for the Bleach thread.

Gilphon:

I'd disagree with that, nothing in the promise says he can't got out and kill hollows and just generally continue his grandfather's legacy, which was his original goal after all. He's been a Quincy for years, but only met Ichigo and co. recently, after all.

Noimporta:

Conquistadores means "Conquerors". It is also the term used to refer to the Spanish pioneers that conquered and colonized America. I'd say it's... fitting.

Noimporta:

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.

Gilphon:

Hmm. were I 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.

Noimporta:

I believe Ulquiorra does specify the "as he is now" when giving his report in a later chapter.

Gilphon:

Really? Cool. Nice to know I'm not completely full of shit.

"He beats Yammy, probably because everyone was doing it and he was feeling left out" I found this line hilarious! Really liking this blog.

Noimporta:

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.

I am glad you are continuing this. Over all I agree with you about most of this stuff...

Uhhh, sorry I can not make a better comment. I am tired right now and trying to finish off a paper.

Honestly, any comment that's not just me copypasting something from the old thread is a welcome sight.

Actually, the six arrancar I saw in that chapter were Harribel, D-roy, Grimmjaw, Ulquiorra, Yammy, and one we don't see again. (please excuse spelling errors or alternate romanizations.)

EDIT: Sorry, looked over the chapter again, there was another fat arrancar I forgot about, and Shawlong.

Noimporta:

Well, Yumichika would expect that, wouldn't he? Also notice that there was a reason for Renji to pick Ikkaku over the available lieutenants.

Galeros:

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.

Gilphon:

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.

silver 2195:

They were only weaker because of their Power Limiters; they win immediately after using Gentei Kaijo.

Noimporta:

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.

Gilphon:

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. [tougue]

On the topic of Di Roy, I think maybe the Hogyoku was used on him to turn him more into an Arrancar, thus he was "reborn". In fact, the same thing could have happened to Grand Fisher, explaining why he is so different. It appears as though Wonderweiss was already an Arrancar before Aizen Hogyoku'd him, unless he was a Vasto Lordes and they are that small even as hollows.

Noimporta:

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.

Gilphon:

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.

Epyon:

The answer to that is given in the chapter that revealed them as Adjuchas.

http://manga.animevibe.net/Bleach/284/8

There are two types of Gillian, the generic and the non generic. As we can see in the chapter Shawlong was a nongeneric Gillian that ate his way up to becoming Adjuchas. But when ones becomes a Adjuchas you must continuinly keep eating Hollows to staff off the regression to Gillian, at which point you become the lower generic Gillian, which you stay forever.

Since obviously Grimmjow's gang didn't die after they offered to be eaten by him, I'd say this happened to them, they became generic Gillian, until Aizen came apon them and transformed them into Arrancar. The lowest of the Arrancar that is. No problems.

silver 2195:

Yammy has no sense of subtlety.

mr AHR:

I'd say Rule Of Drama, probably. Like how people tend to make it rain just for the mood, and then conveniently forget about it later.

Gilphon:

Yeah, probably, but I'd prefer if there were some kind of Watsonian explanation for it.

Epyon:

I'm pretty sure Shinji and Hachi will still be the only ones making a significant contribution until, um, yeah.

It's possible that Urahara knew about Orihime's powers and their significance to Aizen, and didn't want to risk sending Orihime into battle when it would be easy to capture her. That doesn't really explain why Hachi said the same thing. Maybe for the same reason? He says that she doesn't know everything about her powers yet, so perhaps.

Reading the translation on here (http://manga.animea.net/bleach-chapter-229-page-4.html) makes it seem as though Yammy's rank as #10 doesn't matter, or implies that he thinks he's stronger than Grimmjow.

Ulquoirra says he would be kicked out of the Espada without his arm, mentioning that the same happened to Grimmjow, and Yammy says maybe. Grimmjow also lost his left arm, while Yammy lost his dominant arm, so he must be pretty confident that he's quite above Grimmjow (while released) to make that statement. If Yammy was really the weakest, he'd have to be pretty damn thick to think he was that much better than Grimmjow.

Mascaron refers to an architecture term as well, I think. The Other Wiki says: "In architecture, a mascaron ornament is a face, usually human, sometimes frightening or chimeric whose function was originally to frighten away evil spirits so that they would not enter the building." So a mask to scare away evil? Perhaps related to Ichigo and Shinji going Vizard on Grimmjow.

More importantly, Ulquiorra was right there in front of her, it's not like her chances of escaping were particularly high.

... YES!! UPDATED!!!! FINALLY!!!!!! 8D Thank you so much!!!

Hmm, so this is in the 27th volume, Goodbye Halcyon Days... I remember. That chapter (239) was one of the more powerful ones, emotionally. Tatsuki must have felt betrayed by Ichigo's reticence. It's implied that Ichigo either didn't trust her anymore, or felt like he had to protect her by keeping her ignorant and coldly spurning her (which seems to be the case, judging by Urahara's words). But it must have been a dire blow to Tatsuki.

And Ichigo also has a habit of underestimating his friends/comrades. Poor, poor Chad.

Well, thanks again, and please keep going!

Byebye, Luppi. (smiles) I prefer Grimmjow; he's much more memorable. And psycho. But I never liked Luppi; what happened to Grimmjow was not fair, and when Luppi was allowed to usurp Grimmjow's position, it wasn't even because of power. Maybe Luppi was chosen because he would aggravate Grimmjow most.

And Aizen is being the creepy chessmaster, once again. Of course, everything is part of his plan. Yes.

Mmm. I maintain that Ryuuken does, in fact, feel a sort of pseudo-love for his son, which he's in a habit of denying. Because he wouldn't bother worrying about Uryuu's health/wellbeing/lifestyle/choices if he didn't care about him, in his own way.

Nice correlation drawn between the Kurosaki's and the Ishida's. I've never noticed, but well, there it is. It brings so much pain to everyone, which is like the opposite of their intentions (but hey, you can never be sure with Ryuuken).

Thanks for writing! I really hope you'll update this soon; but you'll have a lot of work to do! Good luck!

Bookwormtiff.