Bleach Chapter 574

Bleach 574 was the continuation of Kenpachi vs Sternritter battle. The battle itself didn’t really progress much and was overall just Kenpachi doing what we all knew he would do and avoid every attack that was thrown at him. The attacks that V were using against him were predominantly elemental based attacks like the lava or water, sometimes he tried to mix it up a bit by trying to crush him as well as drown him simultaniously. Where other characters may experience trouble in these situations Kenpachi notoriously uses brute force to counter any attack. Simply put the only way that Kenpachi has ever been defeated is by some else overpowering him using even more brute force and recklessness than him (rare). It’s not that it would be impossible for him to die by being drowned etc, its just that brutality is apart of Kenpachi’s character design and there is no way Kubo would ruin his character by having him fall to something that would be considered ‘trickery’ or not ‘pure’ fighting.

In the chapter we also learn that Kenpachi may have more control over his reiatsu now, after we see some of the soldiers discussing it amongst themselves. This could be either that Kenpachi has grown in his control and ability since his fight with Unohana,  this would likely be due to learning the name of his Zanpakuto. This could also be the result of V’s ability however I don’t think that would be of any advantage and is therefore unlikely.

Although this fight is mainly between Kenpachi and V, Yachiru is still amongst it all which I initially found to be quite surprising. For some reason Yachiru has been in what seems to be a state of shock since Kanpachi arrived, her face hasn’t changed and she hasn’t physically moved. Yachiru is likely to be too terrified to move, which is more than understandable being that she is still a little girl. This element will likely bring more depth to the fight and will maybe even serve as a reminder that he is not just fighting for his own love of fighting.

The character V continues to be puzzling  and I feel as though he is not really the best opponent for Kenpachi. The character is likely being written to irritate us and therefore have a much more satisfying death or defeat in the end. V also seems to have a sense of confidence despite all of his attacks failing so far which not only adds to the irritability, but also makes you wonder how powerful he really is. V understands that Yachiru is Kenpachi’s weakness in this fight however this is overcome when we learn that V’s ability is only working as long as he is concentrating on it. This could be V’s downfall especially since he is the manipulative type of fighter, and concentrating on may things at the same time is crucial to him.

Next week I hope we see a continuation of the battle with more content in it, we have learned most of the extent of V’s powers and personally I would like Kubo to finish this fight and have Kenpachi move onto a more suitable opponent. However, I suspect that due to the odd match up Kubo has something unexpected planned which I hope will prove to be satisfying as a reader. I give this chapter a 7/10 due to its lack of content, but none the less I still very much enjoyed the fighting and I would love to see this get animated. Good job Kubo, but not the best you’ve ever done, however I could be proven wrong in the following chapters.

Bleach Chapter 573

This week’s chapter was, for the most part, an exercise of fan service. Not the random Orihime boobs popping out or unnecessarily sexualised scenes we get sometimes. No, this was Kubo writing the badassery of Kenpachi in to his chapter which the fans really wanted to see. The chapter starts out with a fully revealed Kenpachi standing in a very familiar way. To my surprise he didn’t really seem to have anything different about his appearance, he was still rocking the eye patch and he didn’t have any sort of special clothing like Ichigo, Renji or Rukia did, I expected him to inherit some sort of ‘Kenpachi’ clothing from Onohana, but it was not to be.

I wasn’t entirely clear on the next part but it was inferred that Yachiru was saved by Kenpachi. Isane escaped carrying the two supposedly dead captains once the new Sternritter had created his ‘stage’.

Something to take note of is Kenpachi’s and Isane attitude when talking about the death of Onohana. Kenpachi has shown that he is taking the name of Kenpachi as a great honour and understands to responsibility that he now carries. Isane also reacts in a way I would not expect. I was expecting some sort of explosive reaction once he told her that he killed Onohana but it was the opposite. Isane seems to understand the position Onohana held and the subsequent risk it carries. I do not think that she was told extensively about it and didn’t know much about the other side of Onohana.

After what has transpired I do not believe that Onohana is dead in this situation, she is simply to valuable. It is also not really that unlikely that the best healing medic in the known universe would be able to save her own life… just saying. This is obvious just speculation at the moment though, so expect the worst.

The new Sternritter’s name is Gremmy Thoumeaux, which is just has long and complicated to remember as the others so his code name is the much easier to remember ‘V’. V proclaims himself to be ‘probably’ of the most powerful of the Sternritter, with ‘probably’ being the key word here. Unlike the Arrancar’s they don’t seem to have a specific labelling system for the most powerful fighters, but it’s a surprise that they don’t have a ranking system for at least the top three. My estimate is that he is the second most powerful of the Sternritter and he or she will be revealed later on.

During the short skirmish that was shown in this chapter it seems that, after a short show of power, Kenpachi appears  to have the upper hand. This is not really surprising to see after all the character development he has gone through. At the moment it doesn’t seem likely that this fight will continue for very long, it’s likely that we will see a couple of displays of power in the next 3-5 chapters and Kenpachi may even ‘appear’ to be struggling, however the end the result will be Kenpachi’s victory.

Something else that struck me as odd on this chapter is V himself. He does not really appear to be intimidating at all, despite his manipulative power. It’s hard to believe that he is a strong opponent based on his child like appearance coupled with his overly calm attitude. To change this I am guessing that he change his appearance in the later chapters as he powers up more. Either with a physical change or he goes insane and has a psychotic face (rape face) and his fighting style will grow wilder with it, resulting in a very ‘Kenpachi’ style fight.

This chapter was no doubt lacking on content but was still very enjoyable. I give the chapter a 7/10, however I really do hope for some more content in the next chapter with less whole pages, dedicated to one image.

Bleach Chapter 572

 In chapter 572 Yachiru and V’s battle continues, for the most part since showing her ability Yachiru continues to dominate the battle with V as shown when he puts all his energy into retreating and is still cut by her sword.

The chapter  adds a bit of hilarity to it, and in its own way reminds us that she is still the childish little girl that she always has been its just that she has some awesome powers now. It was a nice moment for Oda to put in with her high fiveing her two buddies when they’re in the middle of a fight.

An interesting thing to note is what Isane said about Yachiru’s shikai. Yachiru is able to hold her zanpakto while she has control of the two beasts around her, something that is quite strange in comparison to other zanpaktos. For example Unohana’s zanpakto is able to transform into a beast and there have been other similar zankato’s where it has formed into something else, however it has always lost its form as a sword when it transformed. The closest comparison I can think of is Captain Komamura’s zanpakto. He is able to control a beast while still using his sword, however…. that is a Bankai and this is a Shikai, and that is a very important factor. The fact that her Shikai is this powerful and she is still a child, means that she is incredibly powerful indeed and will most likely play a big role in the next generation of the soul society, and maybe just maybe… be the next in line to be a  Kenpachi

The next big reveal was a bit of typical Kubo mind-fuckery when it is revealed to use that V is just a creation of sternritter I’s imagination. I’s power is the power to put things that he imagines into reality. In the coming chapters I trust we will learn of some restrictions of this power e.g. he wouldn’t e able to imagine that his opponent is dead and then they die. If it was a completely unrestricted power he would simply be god and it wouldn’t be very good for the story.

Something I did notice was that he spoke to Yachiru and told her what he was imagining. This may be a part of his power, in that he needs to make the other person imagine what he is imaging in order for it to take effect.

The physical range of his imagination power is all so very important to his power, if it is small or large will very much depend on how much control he will be able to have over his opponents and the battle field itself

When he first appeared it also seemed that there were the two captains Rose and Kensei that we haven’t seen since Renji’s fight, lying next to him. He proclaims that they are dead but this could very easily be something that he is imaging himself. Something else to note is that Isane was healing the two of them from a distance for sometime now. Meaning that if she believes that they are dead she will obviously stop healing because it would be unnecessary. This also means that if she is tricked into believing that they are dead when they are not, she might stop the healing and then they could subsequently die, however I think this would be an unlikely death for the two of them.

I’s power proved to be quite formidable as he made quick work of Yachiru in a rather brutal way if I’m honest, it must take a special type of asshole to break a little girl’s arms and legs.

This is all well and good, however with the last two pages being Kenpachi’s reveal…. much of what if have just said is now irrelevant. I can hardly see Kenpachi struggling with the ‘trickery’ type fighter. I think this fight will go in one of two ways; the first is that Kenpachi will be pissed from the state of Yachiru and will defeat ‘I’ with a single swing of his sword before he can even speak. The other is that he will humour him for a bit and then defeat him with a single strike. It’s hard to be exact with Kenpachi since he is such an insane and unpredictable character.

Overall I would give this chapter a 9/10 due to the fact that Kubo brought back Kenpachi. A well written chapter and a very enjoyable read.

Bleach Chapter 571

This week's chapter entirely focuses around Yachiru and V’s battle and it needed to, there was simply to much content to cover in the abilities to do otherwise. One of the first things revealed is how exactly V’s ability works. In short in can be broken down to three forms

1.          his shape vanishes
2.          his existence vanishes
3.          he erases himself from his opponents memory

The interesting thing about his power is that he can attack while remaining invisible making him a very dangerous opponent. What was not mentioned or seen in the chapter was if he was able to attack while still remaining void from his opponents memory. I find it unlikely that this will be the case due to how unstoppable it would make him, but it is something to consider.

The reveal of Yachiru’s power before she even picked up her sword was shown in her natural fighting instinct. The natural instinct stems from her natural ability and most likely her time spent with Kenpachi. It makes a lot of sense that she would have significant fighting knowledge and instinct considering that she has watched everyone of Kenpachi’s fights since he picked her up.

An interesting thing to note about Yachiru is that Kubo has stated repeatedly in interviews that he had no real plans for Yachiru’s ability or power’s, most recently in an interview in Germany about eight months ago. Whether this is just another case of Kubo trolling or the fact that he really didn’t have any plans for her we don’t really know.

Yachiru then reveals her Shikai ability known as ‘Sanpo Kenjuu’, her sword is a copy cat attack in that the two monsters follow whatever she does making a triple attack. Sanpo Kenjuu also has the ability to never miss the opponent that it intends to hit. This ability alone makes Yachiru crazy strong, this is expressed even more at the very end of the chapter when it becomes very apparent that she has the upper hand.

Im also going to go out there and stay something a little bizarre and that is that I see a bit of hollow power in her ability. The two monsters look similar to hollows we have seen. The first looks like it has a physical hollow mask and the lower one could even pass for a miniature grand fisher. This wouldn’t really make much sense, but it is something to consider.

After seeing how powerful Yachiru is, it began to make a lot of sense why she is the Lieutenant. I always assumed that Yachiru became Lieutenant because Kenpachi said so, so that she would always be with him (and its not like anyone was going to argue with him were they?)

However, it seems that she has a significant amount of power to back up her position which is good to see.

I very much enjoyed this weeks chapter as it has delivered something that almost all Bleach fans have always wanted to see; Yachiru being a badass little girl. I noticed that Despite the fighting, I noticed that Kubo still payed special attention to the art and kept Yachiru’s adorable look about her, and thus she stayed the loli character of Bleach even when she showed off her badass powers.

Mr Predictions for the proceeding chapters would be that Yachiru, with the help of Isane will defeat V or at least beat him within an inch of his life and he then escapes somehow. Some very good chapter development this week and its good to see that Kubo still remains connected with his fans.  I give this chapter a solid 8.5 out of 10, very well done Kubo.