Bleach Chapter 577

If I were to summarise this chapter it would be….. HYPE-OVERLOAD! This chapter covered very little content in the grand scheme of things and would probably only amount to about two minutes in the anime, but none of that really mattered today.

After Gremmy’s personally improvised power-up he seems to have been able to double his overall power, and is currently unable to die. The problem I have with this is that we still don’t know what the limits of his imagination power are and now he’s gone and doubled it. To put it in simple mathematic terms what we have is x=Gremmy’s power, and now we have 2x as his current power.

Fortunately none of this seems to matter anymore, since he is clearly out of his league. Gremmy shows a clear face of fear after Kenpachi destroys the meteorite and lands in his badass way. This show of fear really speaks for the current standing of this fight.

Both fear and equal battle standing is a whole new experience to him and because of that he is at a great disadvantage compared to the battle born and worn warriors like Byakuya and Kenpachi. If it wasn’t for this difference in experience he might have a much better chance at winning. This is shown especially in Byakuya, Kenpachi’s and Ichigo’s fights throughout Bleach. Basically every enemy that they have ever faced has had some sort of raw power advantage over them. By using their battle experience, keeping their emotions dormant (maybe not Ichigo) and being smart about their actions (maybe not Kenpachi), they have often won on the end. Anyway… I’m getting off topic now.

When Gremmy created this asteroid, he presumed it would kill everyone except himself. Showing that he is not only a total scumbag, but also has no sense of comradely with the other Sternritter at all.

I did find one part funny when one of the Sternritter was freaking out saying “protect our leader”. Like seriously, does that guy look like he’s in any serious danger? In a way this indiscriminate attack is Kubo showing the early warning signs of his death (apart from when Kenpachi showed up). By displaying him as a hated character on both sides of the fight and in turn, making us hate him to.

The most significant thing that happened apart from the Shikai reveal in this chapter was the Kenpachi and Yachiru flashback. The flashback gave us an important reminder of how both Yachiru and Kenpachi were both nameless when they first met. Kenpachi gave her a name, Kenpachi then discovered his name and now even his sword has a name. The flash back was really quite vital to display how much character development the two have had since they initially met.

At then end of course we get the Shikai reveal. After all the Devientart concepts I saw for the potential ‘Shikai’. Absolutely nobody picked him to have a giant ass battleaxe as his weapon. Even so, it was extremely appropriate. It is interesting to note that the handle for his Shikai is virtually the same as his previous sword, but with it just being extended, which is probably showing the sign of the partial transformation.

I also would like to confirm that this is in fact 100% his Shikai. I know this for three reasons. 1. When calling out ones Shikai, everyone, without fail has called out their Zanpakuto’s  name in order to release it. Just as Kenpachi did. 2. Similar to 1, you must call out ‘Bankai’ in order to release it. Of which Kenpachi did not do. 3. Most importantly, Kubo isn’t a complete idiot. He knows that it would be a complete waste to go straight to the Bankai without showing the initial Shikai which I suspect that this will be saved for later on when he actually needs it.

To conclude this chapter I say that although short, this was a fantastic chapter and completely redeemed itself after last week’s lacklustre effort. As far as predications go. I would say either we will see the start of the end of the Gremmy vs Kenpachi fight, or we  see some increased fighting ability on Gremmy’s behalf.  Regardless, its going to be satisfying. I give this chapter a 9/10 for both the amazing content and the outstanding art this chapter had. *Clap, clap Kubo, well done.

Special thanks go to my friend at Simple Productions for drafting these chapters. Check out his blog at: http://simpleproductionreviews.blogspot.com.au/