Bleach

Zombie

Yeah but you're stuck with Mayuri as your boss

The "Esteemed Lord?" Is Bleach going to have its own answer to Ym-sama?

Nah, that turned out to be a mistranslation. Yoruichi was talking about Urahara. So basically, she ordered Tokinada's assassination and wanted to wipe out Hisagi's memories because they have or would eventually find out too much about Urahara.

From what I can gather is, that it seems Urahara made some kind of deal with the Soul King, which allowed Urahara to create the Hogyoku. He pretended it was for the sake of the Soul King, when in truth it was just for the sake of Urahara's god complex. Ichigo, Ururu/Jinta and of course the Hogyoku were all involved in that. While Urahara didn't achieve much so far (I think that Aizen/Yhwach, plus his own moral conflict made him delay things), he might try again in the future. That would mean that Urahara would become an antagonist and depending on the nature of his deal, Urahara might make an temporary alliance with Yhwach, since he is the current Soul King. Though the question is, what the Soul King would get out of this. There are a few hints in the manga and the novels, that the Soul King had his own plans in the final arc and manipulated all parties (Ichigo, Squad Zero, his body parts, Yhwach, the nobles, Urahara, etc.) and that he wasn't as benevolent as he used to be.

I'm a bit confused....what exactly did Tokinada do in the end and mean to accomplish with all this?

I've been watching the Soul Society arc episodes on Netflix for some background noise, but also because I didn't actually watch a lot of these episodes back when.

Some anime fans like to pretend that JJBA Golden Wind invented Mood Whiplash (even though it decidedly didn't use its humorous Jodeci ending in such episodes), but damn, Bleach. Ending 3 "Houkiboshi" has some mood whiplash, but there's nothing quite like setups for Ending 4 "Happy People" such as this.

Ukitake: Aren't you going to do anything about your sister being executed?
Byakuya: You already let one of your lieutenants die, another one shouldn't bother you. Don't waste my time talking about my sister's execution.
Skoop On Somebody: HAPPY PEOPLE!

Also, Byakuya and Mayuri were captain-class assholes and are somehow 2 of the only 5 captains to suffer no lasting injury or other comeuppance, not even a demotion (Soi Fon, Hitsugaya, and Zaraki are the other 3).

To be fair, Mayuri is fully capable of mad sciencing himself out of any lasting physical consequences at the very least.

Except Pernida. He got lucky that Pernida failed to eat the brain, his only actual shot at victory.

Poor, poor Pernida (shakes head).

I was rooting for that little bastard but Mayuri just had to pull a Nemu again.

For those are playing Brave Souls. Here are the characters for the fourth anniversary (Full Hollow Ichigo and Final Getsuga Tensho Ichigo) and the characters for the next final arc round (Bondage Aizen, Bankai Yama and Eternal Shunko Sui-feng). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJgrX3X314M

x5 Tokinada wanted to turn Hikone into the next Soul King, so that he could claim that the Soul King endorses his and the noble families rule. Basically he got tired of Ichibee having that position and doing a poor job. For that he needed to kidnap Urahara, so that he could make a Hogyoku. He also needed to kill Ginjou, so that Soul Society couldn't just replace Hikone with Ginjou as the lynchpin. There is also Ichigo, but I guess he was too strong for Tokinada to do anything.

The second part of his plan was to create his own Royal Palace in a Valley of Screams and lunch that into the sky over Karakura town with the help of dimension transporter the Shinigami had used to switch Karakura town with its fake. That way he could symbolize his rule over all three worlds, Soul Society, Hueco Mundo and the world of the living.

But also, by launching his Soul Palace over Karakura town and with the help of Aura's post apocalyptic sects, he would reveal the existence of Soul Society to the world of the living. The knowledge that there is an afterlife, that it is pretty difficult to be sent to Hell, that Hollows exist and what kind of afterlife Soul Society is, would turn human order into chaos, as morality, religion and what not wouldn't matter anymore. The world of the living would turn into chaos and anarchy and he would rule over its ashes. Tokinada believes that the world because of the original sin of Soul Society is inherently evil and doesn't deserve anything better than total destruction and mayhem.

x4 Kenpachi lost the two most important women in his life and failed to actually defeat anyone after Unohana gave her life. Gremmy defeated himself and simply gave up to continue the fight, since if he had wanted, he could have killed Kenpachi with a few lightning strikes. Then he got trumped by the Bambies and later Pernida and his Bankai also did jack against Gerard.

Hitsugaya did a poor job protecting Hinamori, didn't have a great record in the final arc, the three Quincy who screwed with him the most are still or may still be around, he got zombified, became Mayuri's science project and had his life span drastically shortened.

Mayuri got humiliated by Uryuu, Giselle and Pernida and lost Nemu. And even though he thinks he has surpassed Urahara, it is possible that not even that is true. Jinta and Ururu could potentially replace the Soul King and Urahara has more of them around. And if it turns out that Urahara took Askin's corpse, then he has even better zombies than Mayuri.

Byakuya and Sui-feng though, their lives only got better.

Funny thing is, Kubo also rooted for Pernida. Maybe Pernida 2 will have better luck.

Man Sui-Feng so does not fit with Bondage Aizen and Bankai Yamamoto.

I hated Byakuya a lot too during SS Arc but he is clearly redeemed and forgiven by the end of said arc.

I'm never going to forget Byakuya's "you win" to a prone, helpless Ichigo before he, Byakuya, flash steps away. Oh he broke Byakuya's zanpakuto? Byakuya could have gouged out Ichigo's eyes with the broken blade the kid was so helpless while he still clearly had the strength to move."You win" my ass.

There's this thing in Bleach where if you break someone's sword then you're the real true winner. It symbolizes honor. Or fighting spirit. Or dicks. I don't know. But its recurring.

Its the samurai honor.

Bleach does love its Warrior Spirit tropes.

If someone broke one of Kyoraku’s swords but ended up on their ass would he count it as a draw?

Edited by Bocaj on Jul 22nd 2019 at 3:56:50 PM

It was would probably be a moot point either way since Kyoraku has shown he is willing to fight dirty.

The talk of early Bleach reminds me of a fanfic I'd been reading that uses a bunch of stuff that showed up early on was used once or twice than never again, and spends time with the earlier portrayl of Soul Society due to not being on good terms with any of them.

Edited by doineedaname on Jul 22nd 2019 at 4:24:51 AM

I’m thinking about the Monty Python Holy Grail Black Knight were he is completely and thoroughly defeated what with not having any limbs left and Arthur declares it a draw

@Nikkolas If the fight was about killing each other, Ichigo would have slit Byakuya's throat the moment he went Bankai.

Also we see Ichigo was still capable of fighting Aizen after that while all Byakuya did was intercept one attack from Gin so no that's a pretty tall claim that Byakuya could have beaten Ichigo after their fight.

So Saiga as you're the resident Bleach defender and I do trust your knowledge, what is your defense for Bleach not tanking again? I know you've responded to me about this before but I didn't have the facts I do now. You argued Bleach didn't fall off a cliff last time I brought it up but from what I know now, the popularity and sales of the manga id in fact tank and the final arc was canceled. Kubo had to wrap up a long and planned ending in a few chapters.

Is this inaccurate?

It sounds more like you have an answer/belief and want to argue than that you're looking to learn or be proven wrong. Particularly in calling out an individual.

i ask Saiga because I know Saiga is: 1. A poster who still likes Bleach and 2. A person who knows his shit.

It's not a call out, it's me asking if he has sources to disprove something I just found. and didn't have last time we discussed this. If he does, I'm more than happy to concede.

I mean it, please do n't take this as an attack, Saiga. I know you know more about Bleach than I do so I figured I'd get your take on this.

This all came up because I was musing on how Fairy Tail got an anime ending but Bleach didn't when Bleach was far more popular. Somebody told me about that source I just linked to and said that's why Bleach will never get an anime ending.

Edited by Nikkolas on Jul 23rd 2019 at 12:24:23 PM

I'm surprised Ichigo and Hisagi never exchanged a single world of dialogue on panel. They do have a lot in common with their focus on protecting people and struggle with their ugliest parts of their personalities. They even kind of look a like. Or maybe Kubo thought they had too much in common.

[1]

Thats just how Nikk comes off in a conversation

I've seen the battles in the final arc described as being less like DBZ shonen battles and being more akin to Jojo like battles emphasising more strategy and cunning. Thoughts?

Edited by windleopard on Aug 1st 2019 at 2:58:53 AM