Bleach

Admittedly, Zaraki's Bankai is pretty cool, if only because it's based on a cool mythical creature.

Pity it didn't work.

He beat a brain that had only been barely set up beforehand

And then it was all downhill

Another issue is Zaraki is so damn stupid he keeps making more trouble for his allies...Pernida? Just ignore Mayuri and rush in and force him to devote resources to bailing your dumb ass out. Gerard? Yeah, just throw him on top of frigging soul society.

The worst, the absolute worst was Gremmy...when Kenpachi saved his life to keep a fight going and allowed the little snit to get the meteor off.

The problem with Kenpachi is that he gets a bunch of character focus, but as others said never gets an arc or has his ideology challenged. Like I don't have think about shit differently. Like have him try to understand why Unohana went from violent criminal to demure healer. Do something about him learning about his zanpaktou literally sitting on his fucking shoulder all along.

Edited by Aquaconda on Nov 26th 2018 at 8:28:26 AM

He really did suffer from massive Arc Stall.

Kenpachi did have his ideology challenged, in his fight with Ichigo. After the end of the fight he realizes how he mistreated his Zanpakuto and tries to ask its name, crying when he gets no response.

The problem is that this doesn't get followed up on until much later, and when it does it it gets overshadowed by other details.

It's neat seeing him getting the name at the start of the arc, but that's just part of the power up he gets and overshadowed by his history with Unohana.

Then the Yachiru-spirit thing is confusing, because of the timing of her disappearance and re-appearance (seems really random) and we don't get to see Kenpachi's perspective after the reveal because he goes into his animalistic Banksia state. Then by the epilogue it's acknowledged that Yachiru isn't around and that's it.

I think the development should have been spread out through more than just the current arc. Like if it's tied to his seals being removed, then he could have started hearing the voice during the Tosen or Nnoitora fights as his seals are removed bit by bit.

I think, maybe instead of the backstory he had, his power ups should have come from his gradual improvement in the relationship with his Zanpakuto, with the huge gains in power showing just how BADLY they were weakening each other with the poor communication. I think that'd be pretty effective.

Edited by Saiga on Nov 27th 2018 at 12:32:01 AM

Wait did he really cry?

Kenpachi motherfucking Zaraki cried?

Edited by slimcoder on Nov 26th 2018 at 6:33:27 AM

Actually I can't tell, he's covering his eyes and we don't get a clear look at his face after that.

It's chapter 114 if you want to check

Either way he cried during the fight with Unohana. I don't remember about what, but I know that happened, though it was only like A Single Tear. Though maybe he cried more than that when she actually died.

One of his worse moments. "Oh, boo hoo, poor me, I'm gonna die without killing you completely unjustifiably and that makes me so sad."

Remember nothing forced him to stab their best healer through the goddamn heart, either.

And he ended up not being the useful asset they proclaimed him to be.

That was rather clever though

Quick unleash his full power!

But his full power is just hitting things really hard?

Pfft... Its not like we're gonna have sudden influx of guys where Hitting them really hard isn't the answer. Aizen was a once in a lifetime fluke!

He was almost as dangerous to the enemy as he was for his allies.

Remember, guys: never give up your white mage.

About my Bleach LN post on page 3417, if anyone on here does own a copy of it, could they set up a page for it?

Guess, you guys will be happy to hear that Kenpachi will get another fight in the novels :D

My guess is that we will get Kenpachi vs Gremmy part 2.

My own personal opinion on Kenpachi, I never cared much for him. He sometimes had interesting insights that showed that he can be more than just a simple-minded brute, but nothing out of the ordinary. His fights are some of my favorites though. I think they are well-choreographed and have a lot of emotions, depths and symbolism to them. But that is imo less because of Kenpachi and more because of those he fights. Unohana, Nnoitra and Gremmy are amazing and complex characters imo. The fight against Ichigo had the interaction with OMZ and the first hints at his lineage and the banter with Gerard was funny, since they are birds of a feather. I also recommand to read the translations of VIZ. Mangastreams translations got worse to the point that they changed Gerard's and Yhwach's character.

Also, a first glimpse of Hisagi's Bankai. It involves Hisagi being chained by Kazeshine's chains like a sex slave or a hanged man. https://vk.com/x.bleach?z=photo-24229762_456253156%2Fwall-24229762_352460

Gremmy has like no hint of character in the manga, so him getting some in the novels would be new.

So what you're saying is Kenpachi is Dull as Dirt, He just happens to be in the presence of more interesting people.

I think other then the Way too much Zaraki focus of the final arc, The Quincy being to overtly villainous 'Kubo would do okay but then he'd do something very stereo-typically Shonen to take it too far too the point the Quincy stopped acting like Quincy and acted like the Arrancar'

Was the Mayuri solves your problem reliance... seriously Mayuri gets to show up both Kisuke and Aizen in the same arc

and he's arguably the one character who doesn't deserve some grand victory for the **** he's pulled

The first time Mayuri pulled out that science crap against Granz, that was pretty cool.

When he pulled the exact same shit play by play against Pernida, that was the straw that broke the camels back.

Mayuri really should have died against Pernida,

I'll cut it some slack because the Nemu stuff was the first time he got depth....as hard as it is to reconcile with his early treatment of Nemu

It's still hysterical how the novels are trying to be all "the Quincy ain't so bad! Shades of grya" when the manga is basically "they're Satan."

Edited by Lightysnake on Nov 27th 2018 at 7:03:37 AM

Well, they are archers

Well known for being Actually Satan

The Nemu stuff makes it worse because all that build-up to her ultimate power was completely useless in the end.

It did jack shit to Pernida, the only reason they won in the first place was because of Mayuri’s ridiculous poison-Nemu gambits.

It would have been better for Pernida to kill Mayuri & then Nemu defeats Pernida, this paying back Mayuri for everything he’s done & allowing his greatest creation to fully mature as a true human being.

Edited by slimcoder on Nov 27th 2018 at 7:08:42 AM

Well thats Kubo's Fault

He kept given them blatant EVIL Shonen traits instead of just trying to make them have quirks.

Bambi is the best example of this

There IS NO PRACTICAL Reason for her to split a subordinate in Two other then to drive home She's violently insane when just making her openly promiscuous would have done it since Shonen is heavily steeped in age old ideals of conduct for Japan 'Good girls don't have sex... They are either Giants Teases or have no desire for it!!'

The only reason Bambi gets any sympathy is Giselle is then Characterized as something several times Worse.

and Giselle only gets any sympathy cause she finds herself at the mercy of FUCKING MAYURI

Edited by FrozenWolf2 on Nov 27th 2018 at 9:11:16 AM

Gremmy had tons of character. His lack of experience with the world, that he was locked up his entire life for example. His fight with Kenpachi was the first time he felt truly alive for the first time ever and that feeling confused him. It made him do mistakes, but at the same time it gave him joy. He even became more humble throughout the fight and gracefully accepted his defeat. The novels simply focus more on his discovery of meaningful things in the world, his friendship with Liltotto and what it meant to be locked up for most of ones life.

We don't know if Bambietta even had sex. It is possible that she just teased and then killed him. She looked extremely dispassionate, which was a stark contrast to her interactions with Giselle.

Though I disagree that the Quincy are only shown as evil. We have Quincy like Pernida or Gerard who are good guys basically. Quincy like Cang Du, Robert, Meninas, Lille or Candice are more or less neutral. Haschwalth is pretty much a Well-Intentioned Extremist. Liltotto and Mask de Masculine can be rutheless, but they care about their comrades. Askin was more of a Friendly Enemy than anything. Royd seemed like an okay person. Na Na Na and Bazz-B were more jerks than evil. We can't say much about Jerome, Nianzol and Bernice. BG 9 is a robot, so classifying him as either good or evil is a moot point.

That leaves Bambietta, Giselle, Gremmy, Quilge, Driscoll, Äs Nödt and Pepe. Giselle and Bambietta were shown to care about the other Femritter and the former is portrayed in a Too Funny to Be Evil. YMMV how well that works, but it is what Kubo is going for and probably part of the reason she survived. Gremmy and Äs Nödt had sympathetic backstories imo, which leaves Quilge, Driscoll and Pepe as the truly unsympathetic ones.

Most Quincy are imo better morality-wise than the Espada not named Harribel, Starrk and Zommari. There certainly was much less backstabbing going on.

Giselle is "how you fuck up having an LGBT character" to the worst levels. Make her gender identity the butt of a running joke, and make her a sadistic, depraved monster with sexual predator undertones who can't stop beating her slave girlfriend.

Excellent thinking, too. I've said before, the final arc had a lot of fights and plot points that had some nasty undertones. Nemu's big moment? Nope, she dies. Unohana's big reveal? Nope, her life revolves around Kenpachi and she exists to die to power him up uselessly. Yoruichi? Nope, she's turned into a mindless cat who loses ineffectually. Nanao? Revealed she's got a crush on her fucking uncle and can't win the fight without him anyways

Edited by Lightysnake on Nov 27th 2018 at 8:25:38 AM

Screeching out how much he's enjoying a fight is not 'character.' His 'he was locked up' is a throwaway line from Askin that doesn't affect Gremmy at all. He's flat as a pancake. If Kubo wanted him to be like he was in the novel, he could've written him that way.

We don't know if Bambietta even had sex. It is possible that she just teased and then killed him. She looked extremely dispassionate, which was a stark contrast to her interactions with Giselle.

Oh, right, I forgot the horrific 'black widow' stereotypes Bambietta embodies before she becomes Giselle's submissive punching bag...

Pernida who does...what? Pernida is a giant hand assisting the guy who's basically a strange cross between Hitler and Jesus, with no character whatsoever. Robert's entire character is "I'm loyal for no reason," Lille is a psycho fanatic, and Cang Du has sadistic qualities...all of them are bad by virtue of following a genocidal tyrant and "I don't spend my time walking around decapitating puppies" doesn't absolve them of that. ..what's Haschwalth's defining quality? That he's too much a coward to break away from Yhwach?

Giselle is a sadistic sexual predator. Don't tell me she's 'too funny to be evil' when she's cracking open her girlfriend's head against rocks and murdering her to turn her into a zombie slave without permission.

Okay, Quilge did nothing any of the other Stern Ritter wouldn't have happily done and Yhwach does precisely jack to rein any of them in.

Umm...Pepe? Bazz-B?

And when you're trying to go for the Espada as a basis of moral comparison...