Bleach

I get the impression that the entire 'pays the bills' statement was a case of 'shit, he's asked that question, let's think up a typically Ishida-crap lie to throw him off track'. Well, it worked - even when Soken pretty much told Uryu that Ryuken was lying, Uryu still didn't seem to realise that.

The Ishida family will have been counting down the years to Yhwach's return. Even if the Quincies had lost track of the countdown in EBTR (and I bet Soken hadn't), the Selection nine years ago would have been a massive reminder of how long was left.

As a friend of mine once pointed out to me - if a man's retired and out of the game, he doesn't have a secret training room and armoury (one that's known to Urahara) underneath his work place. Ryuken, Soken and Urahara have known all along. Isshin's known for at least nine years, maybe longer.

edited 30th Apr '16 6:42:10 PM by Wyldchyld

Either way, it still means his behavior is all because he didn't want his son involved. Which should be fairly obvious to anyone paying attention.

Isshin was basically the same but he knew Ichigo getting involved was inevitable.

Either Soken and Ryuken had different ideas on how to prepare Uryu, or they were playing Good Cop/Bad Cop. Ryuken made it sound like he let Uryu go to Hueco Mundo because it was some kind of necessary test, and he volunteered to restore Uryu's power, which is the opposite of what he'd do if he really didn't want/need his son to be a Quincy.

edited 30th Apr '16 6:50:03 PM by Wyldchyld

I'm predicting that before Ichigo fights Yhwach, Ryuken and Isshin will challenge him as well to avenge their lost loves.

I do think Isshin and Ryuken will fight Yhwach at some point, but I don't think their focus is on them taking revenge. I think their actions are dictated by some big picture and that they know the key to defeating Yhwach lies with their sons, not them.

I'm predicting Ichigo getting a Quincy power up from training with Ryuken. He's been trained by Shinigami, Vaizard and Fullbringers. Only Quincy is left.

edited 30th Apr '16 7:01:14 PM by Wyldchyld

I think the future fights, after Gerard falls, will go like this: Aizen vs. Haschwalth -> Isshin and Ryuken vs. Yhwach -> Ichigo (alone, with Uryu, or with Rukia) vs. Yhwach. You can slot in Zaraki vs. Yhwach before Dads vs. Yhwach if the stuff with his Bankai isn't resolved here. And this is assuming the Royal Guard doesn't defect, as well.

How many of us think the RG will defect? I do.

I'd say it's pretty likely.

Soken didn't say Ryuuken was lying. He said 'maybe someday you'll understand what you father's trying to protect'.

You don't have to look very far between the lines to see that as 'maybe someday you'll understand why your father wants a job that actually gives him a pay check and lets him provide for his family'.

And I think it's much more likely that the RG's role in the story is just finished.

edited 30th Apr '16 7:08:07 PM by Gilphon

There may be somebody guarding Harribel, as well (Chad/Orihime/Nel opponent?). If Kubo ever remembers to get back to that.

I don't know about that. It doesn't make much sense to me (unless they're forced into it) and they were defeated by the Elites who are currently going down.

There also aren't many characters left who have important stuff to resolve. I know we've got unrevealed Bankai and Shikai, but they don't belong to characters as important as the ones who just fought the elites.

So if we were to have Gerard go down, and be told "surprise! it's now the RG vs Shinji, Love, and whoever the fuck else" it'd be narratively very weird. The RG could be revealed to be stronger than the Elites or receive a power-up, but then there's no-one left to fight them that would make the fights important enough to be justified. I don't see it having much meaning to it.

I am of the assumption that we're done with the RG.

Why would that matter? There's no reason to go back to that. The fight wouldn't be on the scale of the ones we just came out of, and she wouldn't be useful.

edited 30th Apr '16 7:27:56 PM by Saiga

I disagree; Kubo doesn't seem the type of writer that leaves details like characters' powers ambiguous. I think we'll even get back to Accutrone somehow. Other writers do that sort of thing, but shonen mangaka by my experience typically don't.

Yeah I'm sure that guy who is now bones will reveal his letter is R for The Roasted.

I can't even remember which one was actually R.

The Roar. Kenpachi killed him off panel.

...

What the hell makes you think Kubo's not the type to leave powers ambiguous, HT? Like, remember how it was super unclear what Unohana's Bankai was even doing, and whether the stuff with appearing as skeletons was literally or some weird metaphorical stuff? Because I remember that.

And I also remember the Q Sternritter getting off-screened by Zaraki with only the vaguest suggestion of what her (his?) power was. And Ukitake dying without using his Bankai.

Apparently Q's power was to make you question yourself.

And, honestly, I can't image that Ukitake's bankai would be particularly interesting, which is why I wasn't particularly broken up about him dying without showing it.

edited 30th Apr '16 7:46:36 PM by LSBK

Mostly the fact that these Elite fights consist mainly of people who haven't showed off their powers... showing off their powers. And I do count the hints toward Q-girl's since she was such a minor character.

edited 30th Apr '16 7:46:25 PM by HamburgerTime

The Elite fights were mostly very important characters showing off powers we've been wanting to see for a very long time. I mean, Nemu and Nanao exist as counterexamples, yeah, but those two hardly make up a majority of the time we've spend on this fights.

The thing is all of these fights have involved characters that are major players or related to them.

Accutrone isn't one of them.

How many of Aaroniero's 33,650 powers did we see?

edited 30th Apr '16 7:51:31 PM by Saiga

I get you guys' point but I don't agree. And Shinji and Love are major enough for me anyway.

They're not major by any reasonable definition.

It doesn't matter what you think about them, it matters what Kubo thinks about them. And I'm sure he likes all his characters, but he clearly puts more emphasis on certain characters and Love is certainly not one of them. Shinji could have been, but he's not on the same level as the other Captains who fought Elites.

I think they might at least help topple Gerard.

I could see him doing with them what he did with Kensei and Rose, i.e. show off their bankais and then have them humiliated before the chapter is even over.

We've already had two major power-up reveals that would trump the Bankai that Shinji and Love had all along, why would they come in now? That's terrible plotting.