Bleach Club

[Lethal Seraphim]

Alright, well I'll start with Lethal's question.

What division was Urahara Kisuke formally captain of?

The 12th division. He was also the founder/head of the Technological Development Bureau or whatever it's called. As for why he isn't captain anymore, he was exiled because of some questionable inventions (like the Hogyoku).

Optional Question: List two of Urahara's inventions and describe one.

1) The Hogyoku (spelling?) which allows soul reapers to obtain the power of Hollows, and vice versa. More specifically,

Spoiler: it allows Aizen to create the Arrancar.

2) The modified souls: Cloud, Nova, and Ririn.

[Xeim]

Very nice answers Lethal. To save time, I’m just going to rate this one on my own. I would like to get help from either Andro or Rasler, but I don’t know when I’m going to be able to catch them, and I've made you wait long enough already.

For the base question, I’m going to give you 2 points. For the optional, I’ll add that I’m pretty sure he created the modified souls in general. You also could've added how long it takes for the Hougyouku to reach it's full power, and some of the little tidbits Aizen or Kisuke has thrown in on it, or (if you chose to describe mod souls instead) what purpose mod-souls have/had, but that would've only gotten you one or so more points. You get one for that part.

That’s a total of 3 points. Very, very nice work! I’ll add you into the “Shinigami Academy” in just a moment. Looks like you earned yourself the top seat!

If either Andro or Rasler object to how I scored this, PM me or catch me on AIM.

Welcome to the club and I hope you choose to remain active Lethal!

Also, do you plan on joining the RP? Late starters have a couple options including:

-jumping into the RP late with the characters after we move onto normal classes.

-jumping into the RP with other late starters, those that fell behind, or those who chose to remain in the original basic training when we moved on to normal classes

Some of that may seem unclear to you. If you want to join (this goes for RagnaToad as well) but have questions about the RP, please PM me or ask about them in the OOC thread.

[Lethal Seraphim]

Hazaa for me then.

So I went to AWA this weekend and watched the Bleach movie while I was there.

Spoiler: To be completely honest I was largely disappointed. I thought the movie was terribly slow compared to the series, at least, compared to the part of the series that I recently left off at. Still, I enjoyed a few of the cameos such as Kenpachi and Byakuya. Just not enough fighting in my opinion, and all Ichigo did was get slapped around like a little bitch until the very end when he got pissed enough to do his trademark charge and kill. Still, the emotional ending did count for something.

So I guess it wasn't that bad. It got my friend interested in the show, which is what I was hoping for.

[Andromeda]

Well I found out yesterday that Adult Swim is stopping Bleach on Saturdays. I don't know what this means for Bleach as it is getting replaced by Death Note after episode 52 airs. Which is very annoying to me, because I don't know what they are planning. I know that Adult Swim has never stopped airing a show before it was finished, unlike Toonami. So I am hoping that they are going to be continuing at a later time or moving it a different day. I know that at least the end of October Bleach is running during the week. So I'm not sure if they are going to be showing new episodes then or something. But either way, this means no more new episodes for at least two uncounted for weeks where Death Note is airing in is place. They do not have anything beyond that on their schedule, so knows what they have planned for Bleach. But I'm going to have to summon some Hollows for my bidding if they stop airing Bleach for any extended period of time. Going for 52 episodes, or pretty much a whole year I don't know why they would stop now. It is not as though they are airing them all week. So they should be able to keep a slow enough pace for the dubbers. Hopefully, they will at least keep airing Bleach during the week so that I am not without my Bleach.

That aside, there was a new episode, but it was a filler. That was main reason I was not jumping on the boat to talk about it immediately. That and I was really busy Sunday and Monday. But with that done now, I can go over the episode or lack thereof. It was about Kon and Don Kanoji along with the Karakura Fighters or whatever they are called. Which pretty much involved embarrassing and torturing Kon as much as possible. He because the Karakura King, which makes a little sense in some of the things that I have seen. But otherwise Kon is just along for the ride.

Karen and Uzu along with Ururu and Jinta all tag along with Kanoji in the misadventures of training with Kon. And Uzu just believes that Kon is something else and surprisingly that he can walk and talk is not strange but amazing. Kon is subjected to a lot of torture until a Hollow appears. The Hollow seems to have taken an interest in Kon, in a creepy manner and wants him. Karen see that Uzu is in trouble and comes to the rescue fighting with Jinta as usual. They fight the Hollow and end up using Kon as a ball to kill the Hollow.

And Kanoji pretty much recorded it all on tape secretly and uses it to try to increase his ratings. Aside from that it was a forgetable episode that was entertaining enough knowing it did not continue past one episode. The one thing that just makes Bleach annoying is the mid-arc breaks to completely unnecessary random events unrelated to the arc that only stall the story. I don't really care about Kon right now, I'm interested in Renji and Ichigo. I'm interested in what Ukitake is going to do and what Gin and Hitsugaya will do. There are far more important things that I don't want be detoured by bothersome episodes with Kon. It works in the manga, because it is just a small picture on the corner of a page. Its meaningless, but is a cute little comment that makes you laugh even with you are feeling all of the drama from a to be continued. It does not endure and last longer than it welcome though.

On another topic, I went to the DiamondDust Rebellion site again, they have clips from the movie playing there in the splash screen. Most of it is just the anticipation of Ichigo and Hitsugaya facing off against each other. But it looks to be a fun fight, but I have a feeling that they are not going to fight with their hardest in the battle. And it looks like Hitsugaya is going around brown cloak wander for the movie, for those that like that look.

[Lethal Seraphim]

Yeah I'm pretty pissed about what Adult Swim is doing with that (although I'm very excited to be seeing Death Note, I've heard good things). I'm even more frustrated because THEY RESTARTED THE SERIES. On Monday they re-aired the very first episode, and last night it was the second, so it appears they just arbitrarily decided to start it over. They were almost to the good part and they just said, "Okay, redo!"

Now, is there a second Bleach movie that is not quite out yet? Because the one I saw (Memories of Nobody) didn't have anything to do with Ichigo and Toushirou fighting.

Have they finished Ichigo and Grimmjow's second fight? Because that's where I left off. They had just started fighting again and I was like OH MAN HOLY CRAP I'M SEXUALLY AROUSED BY THIS, then the episode ended and I couldn't find anymore. Cuz that's totally lame if they straight up interrupted the fight to throw in fillers with the Karakura fighters (which I skip almost entirely).

[Evangel]

Meh, I guess it's fine with me. The way I want to see it as Adult Swim is changing out Bleach for Death Note to get new episodes. If not, I'll just continue watching the original dubbed episodes. I got so tied up with stuff at homeI couldn't really watch the [AS] episodes anyway.

[Andromeda]

The weekend is actually working on a different schedule from the weekdays for Bleach. The weekend airing is alway a new episode, that is the only time that they show a new one. The weekdays air reruns, episodes that have already been aired. When they reach the point that they had caught up to the new episodes aired they switched over to Blood+ for a month and aired them. Now that Blood+ was complete they swapped back to Bleach, which will then up to all of the new episodes. I don't know what will happen when they reach 52 though, as they will only be at the 30s when they air the last new episode.

Yes, there is a second movie that is due out at the end of December in Japan called The DiamondDust Rebellion. Yes, that is the way that they are titling it right now. I don't know if they will put a space in the word or not whenever it is released in the US. But it stars Hitsugaya pretty much along with Ichigo and the rest of the cast of Bleach.

We are back on start of Bleach during the week as it has been said. There is not much to be said since already been there. But viewing the anime after reading the manga is very interesting. There are obviously some differences between the two. The most notable difference is in episode two with Sora, Orihime's brother. In the manga it is never shown how he became a hollow, he just is a hollow. Also the fight remains in the apartment the whole time I think.

There a number of smaller changes, but it remains the same overall comparatively.

[Lethal Seraphim]

If I'm kind of off-base by shifting gears here just let me know or disregard this, but there's one aspect of the show that I've been meaning to inquire about to all of you.

Who here, besides myself, has noticed that Ichigo finishes all his major fights in exactly the same fashion? You know what I mean? The whole stand-off, charge each other and swing, one person walks away thing. The culminating charge-and-slash, I guess you might call it.

I wouldn't bring it up if it didn't annoy me slightly. I mean, it was cool when he fought Zaraki and Zangetsu was like "I'm giving you all of my power" and they had to do it in one final attack like that, but then he did the SAME thing for Byakuya (although that was a bit cooler what with destroying his zanpakutou), then the SAME thing AGAIN for Kariya.

It wasn't brought to my attention until I saw the movie and that's how he beat that guy too. It really agitated me this time because Ichigo pretty much got slapped around the entire fight but then just suddenly got pissed enough to do his trademark killing blow. Seemed like they didn't put much thought or effort into the fight if you ask me.

So have you guys noticed that about the series and all the major fights? Does it annoy you as well? As I said before, the first time or two it was amazing, but after that it just seems redundant and lackluster.

Penny for your thoughts. Or maybe a credit I should say...

[Andromeda]

You do realize that is how a lot of action anime fights go right? Ichigo is the only one that does this and will not be the last one that does either. I think I relate it a little to the style of sword fighting that is a little more common in Japan. This is just me guessing as I am not completely sure. But the style of the Samurai is one hit, one kill sort of thing. So the whole stand off thing draws back to that. You put your all into one strike and you make it as clean and perfect as possible. The one with the better swing wins.

This happened in Yuyu Hakusho with Yusuke and Taguro. It happened in Cowboy Bebop with Spike and Vicious, a couple times. For them it was lets finish this and they hand over their weapons for the final strike. It does not always happen as a charge up and strike, but the final blow is fairly common. It is in samurai movies as well, which is where a lot of goes back to I would imagine. Both of you are at the end of your strength, all you have left in you is one more swing. It is decided by the strong will and determination. It is not purely about strength and being better than the other. It is about resolve, which is what every fighter gets at the end. The good guy finds that resolve that gives them that edge to win out.

And let's face it, Ichigo is always out classed by everyone that he goes up against. That final fight at the end of each arc or movie is going to be the hardest fight of his life. And the person at the end is going to be overwhelmingly stronger than him in every way. But they are doing something that makes Ichigo find the resolve to know that he must win because he has a stronger reason and purpose to keep living and survive than the enemy.

Ichigo is always going to get beat around by his opponent. They have years, centuries of experience and honing their abilities over him. All he has going in is guts and guts only get you so far. He can only get out with his resolve. It is going to end up being that way for all of his fights. Ichigo is eventually going to have to fight Aizen, and he is as strong as they come. He can beat even the most skilled captains without putting out an effort. You really thing Ichigo is going to fair any better than them. He is going to pull out of his massive spirit energy bag of tricks the resolve to win.

Spoiler: Aizen did take Orihime, that is resolve enough for Ichigo to bring down mountains if they are in his way. He went all the way to the Soul Society to bring back Rukia. And he has known Orihime for even longer. He is going all the way to Hueco Mondo and going to kill everything in his way to bring her back. That is going to be his resolve and it will elevate him to new heights of power as well as over come his 11 second time limit on using his mask. Its going to do a lot to change him. But even in the end they probably do a massive power up that rips apart the headquarters of the Espada and then charge at each other. And they'll look cool doing it. ^^;

[Lethal Seraphim]

Yeah, I understand that it's a major, major archetype in the world of anime as well as in cultural aspects. It's just not one I enjoy.

I guess it doesn't bother me so much in the series as it did in the movie. They didn't really build up the enemy in that one at all. He was just some head of a noble house who was exiled or something like that. We didn't really know much about him and we didn't see him fight that much except for when he fought Ichigo, which was for less than 10 minutes.

It just seemed very rushed. "Oh what are we gonna do? This can't be a four hour movie!" "Oh, no problem there, we'll just let them know that this guy is the bad guy, and everyone will assume he's insanely powerful although we won't really explain how he got so powerful. Then Ichigo will get mad enough that he'll win, like always."

I just wish he'd win some other way sometime. Mix it up a bit. I'd like to see a fight where he actually realized what was going on and improved his technique on the fly enough to exploit some opening or something to win, rather than the standoff.

Just an example: The perfect way for the Byakuya fight to have went for me would be if he had killed Byakuya(or at least incapacitated him in some way) right after he went into Bankai and rushed him, placing his sword at Byakuya's throat. He'd obviously beaten Byakuya at that point, as the guy was commenting to himself that he'd lost sight of Ichigo.

Although if that would have happened, we wouldn't have gotten to see the rest of that sweet fight, so I guess I will just never be happy. Ever.

[Andromeda]

Yes, if that had been the end of Byakuya there a lot would have been missed out. Not to mention they might have been a little more difficult on Ichigo for killing a captain. They are working with Ichigo now, so it would have been harder to do so knowing that you are working with someone that killed one of your own.

But Ichigo is also has that bit of honor in him, not a lot. He does street fight a lot, so honor really does not enter into a street fight. But he is not about to kill someone so quickly as through the throat even though it would have been easier. He did interrupt Renji while he was talking and frequently comments to those that fights that while he was distracted they could have been coming at him. Though the shinigami typically have an honorable approach to fighting unlike Ichigo. They fight one on one usually and respect the other enough to not attack while they are not focused, i.e. yelling at Rukia or talking to Uryu and Orihime. I think the other part of it was that Ichigo wanted to test is strength against Byakuya and not have a quick easy fight like it could have been.

Though I would agree that it would be nice to see something different out of them. But they do make the final attacks look very pretty. I've only seen two of them and maybe a little of the Bount, but I really have not seen the Byakuya or Bount fight, just clips on youtube. But still I'd have to say that Ichigo and Kenpachi's power up for the final attack was certain the best. Though during the whole fight once Ichigo was Kenpachi's equal Kenpachi constantly was increasing his strength. It all looked very cool. And then it was all released when he removed the eye patch. There was nothing cooler than watching the power skyrocket into massive pillars of energy and they end up destroying the entire surround area.

I'm currently listening to the music from all of the Bleach openers. I understand that the seventh opener is going to make its appearance soon. I can't wait to see what they are going to be doing for it. The Heuco Mondo arc is coming to close eventually right? They have to go travel to where Aizen is stay so the Karakura part of the arc is going to come to an end soon, right? Then the real Heuco Mondo arc begins.

[Lethal Seraphim]

I assume so, but I haven't watched any episodes since about 139 or 140 because I've been waiting for a few more to come (I like to watch them back-to-back).

Andromeda, if you haven't watched the entire Byakuya fight you need to go do that right now. Simply put it's my favorite fight in the series thus far. I can't remember the exact episodes, but the number 76 sticks in my mind, and I know it's in the 70's or 80's somewhere. There's so much awesomeness in that fight and it even gives some foreshadowing as to Ichigo's conflict with his inner Hollow.

As for the Bount fight, it's somewhat lacking in terms of action, as was most of the Bount arc in my opinion. They ended it well though, and I liked it because it's one of the few fights where someone actually dies. (That may be a bit of a spoiler but of course you would assume that that happens because now we're on the Arrancar arc.) As for the episode numbers for Ichigo's final fight against Kariya, I have no clue. Another fight worth watching is when Byakuya fights Kariya. There's some nice 1 on 1 action there before Ichigo shows up and tries to save the day, so to speak.

Just for agreeing's sake, I freakin loved when Kenpachi ripped off the eyepatch. That's still one of my favorite episodes, right there with the Byakuya fight.

[Andromeda]

As I said I've already seen the Byakuya, but not as an episode. I've seen a lot of clips of it that eventually piece together as the fight. So I know what happens and what to expect out of it. Youtube is a glorious thing, but it ends up spoiling a lot of things for me because I was AMV on there. But that is my fault.

The Byakuya fight is in the high 50s, because the Soul Society arc ends at like 61 or 62 I think. And then it is on to the Bount arc all the way until 110 I think. I would definitely agree from what I saw of the fight with Byakuya it is something to behold. But for the simple visuals of the Kenpachi fight is just something else. It is not very often that you see a fight like that in Bleach and it looks really awesome when they do it.

The only thing that was lacking from the Kenpachi fight was a beauty of having Bankai in the fight that all of the fights that come afterwards have. Because they do not reveal the Bankai to you until the Rescue Rukia arc of the Soul Society arc. Is that the official break down of the arcs? Because I'm just getting this off the wikipedia page which seems to break all of the arcs into two parts it seems.

I didn't realize until recently that whenever Ichigo is in spirit form that there is a glow around him and the world. This became a little apparent during the episode where they are chasing down Kon who's running around Ichigo's body for the first time. They show Rukia normally and the classmates, but Ichigo is glowing signaling the difference. Its subtle and I'm a little surprised that I didn't pick up on it sooner.

[Lethal Seraphim]

That's awesome. I didn't notice either. I'll look for it when it comes on tonight.

Speaking of Bankai, I suppose I shall ask a little question:

What's everyone's favorite Bankai?

My bad if this has been asked before, I haven't read this entire thread.

[Xeim]

For the sake of time (or lack of it I should say), I'm just going to jump in on the discussion happening right now. ^^;;

Andro: I am not aware of any official splits in arcs. Technically arcs are like parts of a book, and each episode (or chapter in the manga) is (literally) a chapter. Wikipedia might break it down further for the sake of eliminating confusion, but I don't think it's official.

I also did not notice the glow around Ichigo. I suppose it won't be very prominent in the tonight's episode though, since this is the episode they finally make their cross into Hueco Mundo. It would be a very interesting thing to spot, though.

--

If we had a discussion on favorite bankai's, it was either a long time ago, or one of those things that fled from my mind. That would be a tough one though. Byakuya's is pretty amazing, and Hitsugaya's takes my breath away every time, but I still can't easily say that one is my favorite. I do think that if we ever saw Urahara's, that would be mine. ^^;; I love Benihime, and I do hope he uses her more in the future. >_>

I can rule Ichigo's bankai out right away though. It seems way to bland to me. Just like Ichigo- no developed strategy or tactics....no style! Plus, when he says "bankai!!" in the Japanese version, he sounds constipated. O.O

Thinking about this...well, Byakuya's was the first one I ever saw (o.O). My first clip of bleach was an AMV of the climax of the Byakuya vs. Ichigo fight. I still have the link to the amv in my PM box. ;; So, (sorry Hitsugaya) but I'm going to go with his.

Spoiler: I think it's probably its raw power and the clamness Byakuya keeps while controlling it. Plus, who doesn't like a million swords ready for your use? ^^;; But, the fact that the bankai itself has levels is pretty cool too. Most bankai you go from one thing to another, but Byakuya's is very developed, having 3 or 4 stages of it.

He must have spent a lot of time training with his zanpukto. I do wonder if Ichigo could achieve such an intimidating level if he spent enough time on training. But the question is....would he even have the patience? Or better yet....does Byakuya's patience come from extensive bankai training? xD;;

[Andromeda]

Well if you want to see the glow that I am talking about is in the sixth and seventh episodes where Kon makes his first appearance. The glow I think is used during the time when there is both real world and spirit world together. So you have the classroom and classmates and Ichigo as a shinigami.

As for the Bankai, Byakuya definitely does have a pretty cool Bankai. And with the number of pedals that his Bankai generates is impressive in its own right. There is the different levels that he can use it and control it at as well make it a very interesting Bankai. I would imagine that it is the fact that he has used his Bankai for years or even centuries that he is so skilled with it.

If Ichigo had the same amount of time his Bankai would probably be very powerful. In that time it would also give him technique and tactics for fighting against someone. He does not do much but you have to remember that he has fight on the fly even more than an experienced fighter. He only has a few battles experience and little variety of fighters. If he was around for centuries or decades it would improve his skill, focus, concentration and techniques. Though as you said would Ichigo have the patience for something like this. There is one thing that Ichigo lacks over a lot of anime heroes, the desire for battle. While Ichigo is not one to back away from a fight he does seek them out or even train himself for a fight. He did have his karate and getting beat around by his father, but aside from that he is more interested in a normal life. So I do not think that he would speak long hours endless practicing with his Bankai. But with decades and centuries, you do not need to be heavily devoted and still get time in. It goes without saying though that Ichigo with the time that the rest of the shinigami had would be a tough person to beat even for the best.

As for my favorite Bankai, that is a hard one since there are definitely a few to chose from, but I don't know which I like more. There is also the speculative nature of people we know that have Bankai but are so far unseen. I would agree that I think Urahara's Benihime would be something to see. If we are going in the speculative nature I think Kenpachi's Bankai would be something else. It would probably be a spectacle to behold. Though I do have a feeling that it would be simple like Ichigo's.

[Lethal Seraphim]

I can rule Ichigo's bankai out right away though. It seems way to bland to me. Just like Ichigo- no developed strategy or tactics....no style! Plus, when he says "bankai!!" in the Japanese version, he sounds constipated. O.O

Awwww, I kind of like the way he screams it in the Japanese episodes. It's so sharp and quick. I also get a bit hot in the pants whenever he says "Tensa Zangetsu" before a huge fight.

But yeah, Ichigo's is not my fav either, probably not even close. I just like the cosmetic changes. The fact that his sword is thinner and completely black is neat, but gets a bit bland after seeing it a few times. I do like how his clothes look, as if he's wearing Zangetsu's cloak or whatever it is. Looks like he's fighting in a torn up suit, which is kind of neat. But other than that, I dislike it because it's undeveloped. Unlike Byakuya and almost everyone else, he has no formal attacks with it. Sure, his Getsuga Tenshou is black and more powerful, but he didn't gain anything else other than raw speed. And I mean, the concept of compressing a Bankai's power into a small form for hyper speed is neat, but still, it's no Annihilationscape, if you know what I mean.

As for my favorite Bankai, there's not even a contest right now.

Spoiler: Ikkaku Madarame. I love the way he fights anyway, with such desire and lust for the battle, so when I saw him go into Bankai against that Arrancar, and his eyes went all glowin and all that jazz... jeeze, I needed to change my shorts. Plus I like the idea that his Zanpakutou had to be "woken up" for that fight with the whole power meter thing. I dunno, that entire fight just straight up awestruck me.

I wonder if Kenpachi will develop a Bankai? In the episode after he was defeated he got so frustrated and kept yelling about how he wanted to become stronger. I think that's possibly foreshadowing that he will eventually learn the name of his Zanpakutou. Although, I think if that did happen it would take him such a long time because the relationship he has with his Zanpakutou seems to be an abusive one.

I'm pretty pleased right now because your responses to my question brought up other opportunities for things I want to discuss eventually, such as Ichigo's father and other future Bankai, etc.

[CLOUD]

I can't say i like Ikakku that much. It seems to me that his desire to fight, the desire to fight in general is exaggerating. He's not crazy like Kenpachi who doesn't care about dyin. In a tough situation, he'd wet his pants just thinking that he's about to die.

He tries to act tough, while he's not as tough as Renji. The show only needs one tough guy, but in Bleach, they're trying that with many more. Hitsugaya, Renji, Byakuya, Ikkaku, Kenpachi...

As for Ikkaku's Bankai, i also like the thought of having to wake it to unleash its full potential, but that is its greatest disadvantage as well. In the battle against the Arrancar, Edorad stood watching as Ikakku woke ti up. He could as well scorch him with a firey punch. In those fights, pausing to swing your sword around is something the opponent won't really respect.

I like Ichigo's bankai, because it's simple & enhances his strength & speed, plus it has Gettsuga Tenshou (or whatever). It's not that strong, but it's simple & simple is good. Like Urahara's. In my mind, it's a simple Bankai- either just a sword or Benihime in her true form, but still simple. One swing & wham, dead. I don't know though.

The bad thing is that during the past 3-4 weeks i have to study & pass many exams & i have no time to watch the older episodes or download the latest episodes of Bleach...

[Lethal Seraphim]

Well, it makes sense that the squad would try their best to emulate their captain, although that may indeed be quite the task with Kenpachi's squad.

In those fights, pausing to swing your sword around is something the opponent won't really respect.

Sure it is. Almost every single major fight in Bleach has been filled with prideful boasting and excessive dialogue. Almost every opponent has demonstrated that they will willingly sit idle while the other person talks to them (or down to them), rather than taking advantage of their time-consuming nonsense and blitzing them. Ikkaku was babbling the entire time about this or that or power or whatever while swinging his weapon, thus Edorad was obliged to sit and listen in order to retort the insults before they actually did any combat in those forms.

I agree with you, the pauses are extreme disadvantages, but the thing that pisses me off most about this show and others like it is that the characters do not take advantage of them like you would in a real fight.

[Rasler]

I’m back. Sorry for my unannounced and extended absence. I was busy with “IRL” drama. Anyhow, during my hiatus, I did manage to find a comprehensive Bleach site, Bleachexile.com, which I use to download the latest Bleach manga chapters and English subbed episodes from Dattebayo. I prefer Dattebayo’s subs over Flomp-Rumbel’s. From Bleachexile, I have exhaustively downloaded, renamed, and organized every single scanslated Bleach manga chapter, bringing me up to speed on the manga version of the story.

the characters do not take advantage of them like you would in a real fight.

There are a few occasions in which they do. And they are great. But they are also uncommon. D-Roy in episode 117. Grimmjow in episode 140. Ichigo in episode 140.

Ichigo’s bankai is arguably the least impressive one in the show. The sword actually gets smaller and less visually appealing. It essentially allows Ichigo to fight as though he had enough discipline to control and condense his power, like nearly every other character. Compared to other bankais, Tensa Zangetsu is a toothpick.


For those of us who are currently at the current Japanese releases: (episode 143, manga chapter 294)

Spoiler: I noticed something. Aizen is either deliberately or subconsciously re-creating the Gotei 13. 3 rogue captains plus 10 Espada equals 13. The Espada have complete jurisdiction over the management of their subordinates, just like Gotei captains. Certain Espada arre also reminscent of Gotei captains. There is a laidback slacker (Stark mirrors Shunsui), a crotchety old man (unnamed elder arrancar mirrors Yamamoto), a quiet stoic (Ulquiorra mirrors Byakuya), A battle-happy psychopath (Nnoitora AND Grimmjow mirror Zaraki), and a cruel scientist (Szayel mirrors Mayuri). He even has a special forces squad, the Exequidas, who mirror Soi Fong's special ops. Long rant ahead. I STRONGLY recommend reading manga chapters 284 and 285. Grimmjow-awesomeness in it. I’ve also been doing some more of my trademark overanalysis, and despite it not being officially stated, it appears that hollows are beings of constant hunger and pain. Jinta explains to Ichigo that hunger while in his spirit body is a sign of an oncoming hollow transformation (manga chapter 62, episode 19). Also, some hollows make this pain vocal(manga chapter 30). Later on during the late arrancar/early Hueco Mundo arcs, deeper explanation of hollows and particular Menos-class hollows occurs. Hollow consume souls to lessen their pain, sate their hunger, and to increase their own power. They can and will consume other hollows as well, as shown by the Menos Grande (manga chapter 50) and explained in manga chapter 284. Menos hollows are created from this hollow cannibalism and they have 3 ranks: Gillians, Adjuchas, and Vastolordes. They stronger they are, surprisingly, the smaller they are. Gillians are the hive-mind footsoldier type of Menos seen in episode 14 and during Aizen’s escape from Soul Society. Gillians who retain the mind and personality of the hollow that cannibalized the others eat more hollows, likely other Gillians, become Adjuchas. Once any part of a hollow is consumed, all possibility for future evolution of that hollow stops. The adjucha form is very individualistic and widely varies. Adjuchas must constantly consume hollows of similar status or power to remain Adjuchas; otherwise, they devolve into a Gillian and will likely lose their individualism and become a hive-mind drone. Adjuchas must also consume hollows of a similar or greater status or power to become a Vastolorde. Vastolordes are very few in number, probably less than 5 in existence. Hitsugaya states that 10 Vastolordes could easily destroy Soul Society. The Vastolorde rank is highly sought after for two reasons: it’s the strongest, and (conjectured theory) that Vastolordes don’t have to perform upkeep on their strength or evolution. Vastolordes are typically human-like in size and form. The arrancar transformation technically makes the individual WEAKER. Arrancar form is preferable to hollow form, however, because the upkeep requirement is negated. They also gain a few shinigami-exclusive abilities, such as flash-steps. Arrancar zanpakuto releases are called “resurrections,” whereby the arrancar regains their original strength as a hollow as well as retaining their new shinigami abilities. Ulquiorra is likely a Vastolorde because his mask fragment matches the example silhouette of a Vastolorde. D-Roy’s head wrappings are actually to hide where Grimmjow ate a section of his mask, long before they were turned into Arrancar. This is also why D-Roy is so weak compared to Grimmjow’s other subordinates, he literally cannot become stronger. Grimmjow actually befriended his subordinates before they were all transformed into arrancar.

[Andromeda]

Well I'll start things off with the new episode of Bleach tonight. Unless things change it will be the second the last episode shown for a while. I keep checking the schedule hoping that they update it and place Bleach back into the schedule. Otherwise we are just going to have reruns to watch until they remember that they taking off their best show.

It was episode 51 of Bleach and Rukia's flashback is over. In fact a lot of time apparently passed since that episode as it is another day a later now. And because it is everyone is gathering for the showdown that is going to happen. Rukia is getting taking to the execution grounds, which is probably going to take a long time. Hitsugaya and Ichimaru are walking somewhere unknown with their Vice-Captains. Byakuya decides to leave for the grounds revealing a picture of what looks like Rukia, but I'm pretty sure is her sister. Which is funny how the two look nearly identical.

The Vice-Captain Iba shows up and talks or rather listens to his Captain speaking before Tousen appears with his Vice-Captain. Those two then take off and go somewhere. And then we see Kenpachi along with his Vice-Captain and Ikkaku and the other two who's names I can't remember. And Orihime is riding on his back like Yaruchiru which was funny to see. They find Uryu, Ganju and Chad via the ceiling and take them with them. At which point Kenpachi is running with a lot of people now. It was funny though seeing Yaruchiru tickling Orhime for no reason, she is just completely random like that. The girl makes no sense one minute and then is serious the next.

Either way, Kenpachi comes to a dead end thanks to Yaruchiru's bad sense of direction. Though given that Tousen and the other three are there it makes you wander if she did not do it on purpose just so that Kenpachi had a fight. But they come out after Kenpachi tells them to stood hiding and the rest leave on his command. He wants to of course fight them all alone. They all agree except for Ikkaku and the other one that Ganju fought a while back. They show up as the two Vice-Captains are about to fight Kenpachi. The four then leave to fight elsewhere while Tousen and the other Captain fights Kenpachi.

Kenpachi takes a full hit from both of them and then laughs it off like his was with Ichigo aside from the fact that they can actually wound him. It is hard to know how much this is Kenpachi boasting, but he does seem like he can match them even though neither have pulled out their Bankai's yet. But given that Kenpachi is fighting with his power tied, he would be able to increase when they did pull out their Bankai. So it is going to be a real question, is Kenpachi that crazy powerful to take two Captains.

The episode ends with Renji apparently finished with his training and walking off. He asked Yoruichi if Ichigo will make it in time and complete his Bankai. She then goes off about instinct which eventually winds to her point that she believes that Ichigo knows he has it somewhere and will find it. It is just a matter of instinct. And then we get to see a really bloodied up Ichigo, who has apparently taken a beating from fighting Zangetsu. With all of the blood he looks pretty crazed and vicious at the moment. And he is handling multiple Zangetsu's on top of that. So Ichigo has changed quite a bit in the single day. And obviously, it is Ichigo so he'll make it in time. Though he'll need to get healed from all of the injuries that he has sustained from the fighting.

It is pretty much a standard in anime that you politely wait for someone to finish their long winded speech before you attack. Though Ichigo does not always follow that rule. And if you look at it Bleach does not always follow it. When Renji was boasting Ichigo took a swing at him while he was talking. Ichigo fights like a street fighter, there is no waiting or pausing. It is killed or be killed. So if you take the time to go talking you're going to get hurt. Ichigo makes frequent comments about it through the show how his enemy could have attacked him but waited. And Uryu interrupted that one Shinigami the Wind Scythe guy while he was talking by destroying all of his spinning blades. But it is also more so that people just talk before fighting or during their fight.

Oh at the end of the preview for the next episode Kon made a comment about how the Golden Soul Reaper book was going to start up next time. I don't know if it means anything, but I'm hoping that it is Golden Shinigami Cup. I don't know when they started it on Bleach, but it would be awesome if Viz kept them in the episodes. They are great clip at the end up the episodes. It is like reading the manga, having that footnote that is meaningless but leaves on a pleasant note.

[Xeim]

Rasler:

Spoiler: Really great explanation of the different levels of Menos. I actually didn't know that becoming an arrancar made the hollows weaker. o.O That's strange in a way. But, I suppose it's the only way Aizen could actually control them. If they stayed in their true form, they would be much to powerful for him to control. Well, I suppose since it's Aizen he could find a way, but making them arrancar makes it easier on him. Plus, like you said, they don't have to keep feeding and they even gain new abilities. It does make you wonder though...we're used to villains getting all the cool moves and high tech gadgets, but in this show, the good guys get the cool moves and high tech gadgets. But, the villains are so insanely powerful they could squash the good guys with their pinkie finger. It's a little strange, especially since we all know that Ichigo's just going to randomly pop up and single handledly squash them with HIS pinkie finger, while giving them a sermon on right and wrong. >_>

And yes, giving a speech to your enemies before you squash them is extremely common. It drives me insane though, as I don't think explaining your abilites to someone is really going to give you the upper hand. "Yep, my sword lights things on fire."

"Oh, that's cool." *sprays with water* "Let's see you do that now!"

But, it's done in almost every fight, and the enemies respond almost as if they don't realize the info they've just been given. The speeches are really there for us as wathers/readers, so we can understand what's going on. I've actually only read one scene in a manga where characters leave us out of a conversation and talk about something realistically. God was it refreshing.

And, I'm sure "Golden Soul Reaper Book" is the same as shinigami's cup. I've seen shinigami's cup translated as a couple things, and I think one had to do with a book. o.o But really, what else could it be? They don't animate bleach in NA, so they can only take from what's already been animated. Changing it would be too hard, as they'd have to copy the artist's style and everything.

[Lethal Seraphim]

I just spent the last two hours getting up to the current episode, which I'm very glad that I did.

Very interesting stuff, Rasler. It raises some questions for me though:

Spoiler: When you say turning a Hollow into an Arrancar makes it weaker, do you mean it overall decreases their power level? Or do you mean that it technically diminishes their raw Hollow power, but then supplements it with Shinigami power, making them stronger overall? Because it seems to me that if a true Vastolorde was insanely powerful, why would Aizen even bother to turn it into an Arrancar if it wasn't going to make them stronger? And if they were stronger as Hollows, how was he able to subjugate them into Arrancar? It doesn't quite make sense. Also, it was my understanding that the Espada were all Vastolordes. This is largely an assumption on my part though, and my reasoning is that in the same episode that Toushirou is explaining how 10 Vastolordes could destroy Soul Society, it ends the episode with Aizen-sama addressing the Espada. When he does this, he specifically mentions that there are 10 of them. Call it foreshadowing, call it coincidence, but it seems to me like they did that in the same episode to make that connection. You know, to say that Soul Society is f*cked because Aizen does have 10 Vastolordes at his disposal. That may be over-analysis on my part, and I have not read the manga to supplement.

But enough about that, I want to talk about the Vizards.

Spoiler: I used to hate Shinji when he was first introduced trying to recruit Ichigo, but after seeing him fight Grimmjow, I've found myself coming around to him. His teeth kind of freak me out a bit, and I'm not a fan of his haircut, but I'm liking him a lot more as a badass dude. I'm very, very interested to see what role him and the other Vizards are going to play in the all-out war between Aizen and Soul Society. I'd also like to know just how they came about being Vizards. After all, a Vizard was once a Shinigami, so I'd like to know who they were and if they had a place in Soul Society.

And oh muh gawd, one thing just leads to another, this just resurfaced in my brain:

Spoiler: What is it about Ichigo that makes him so different from the rest of the Shinigami? I mean, aside from the obvious things. What I mean is, he was eligible to become a Vizard, but why? Byakuya and the other captains are all very powerful, but they obviously don't have that ability. Does it perhaps have to do with the way in which Ichigo was transformed into a Shinigami? From the very get-go Ichigo has had to battle his Hollow form in order to survive. I'm wondering what the process was like for all the other Shinigami. I guess since they were born into that sort of thing, they didn't have to confront a Hollow inside themselves? Or does it have to do with the nature of his Zanpakutou? After all, the Hollow-Ichigo claimed that he was Zangetsu, whenever Ichigo kept asking where "old-man Zangetsu" was.

So many questions left unanswered!

Spoiler: I'm very curious now, moreso than ever, about Ichigo's father. Apparently he's no stranger to Ishida's father, and knows Kisuke Urahara as well. I'm very very curious as to who he is/was and why he has regained his powers (Ishida's father comments that he regained them).

Flippin crazy. The episodes just won't come out fast enough!

Anyway, sorry to go on for so long like that. I had a lot on my mind because I just watched a lot. Give me your thoughts on these things! If nothing else, I'd love to speculate together until we actually know the truth.

[Rasler]

So...apparently, I discuss Bleach from where the Japanese version currently is and Andromeda discusses Bleach ffrom where the American version currently is. Convenient.

Spoiler: The war against Aizen is bound to be interesting. There are 5 factions that will be in it. The Vizards, Espada and subordinates, Aizen+Ichimaru+Tosen, Soul Society, and the group of people on Earth. Living realm defense Ichigo's dad, Urahara+allies (big guy, the 3 mod souls, Jinta, Ururu, Yoruichi), Uryu's dad, Don Kanonji, Ichigo, Chad, Uryu, Orihime (Renji and Rukia are SS) Urahara is familiar with Ichigo's dad, who is familar with Uryu's dad. hrm... Vizards Interesting that they have all sorts of knowledge that they shouldn't. Rather like Urahara. In fact, Urahara and Ichigo's dad are aware of them. SO the vizards are probably aware or even acquantances of Urahara. Hrm.... The 3 rogue captains Once the Orb of Distortion is fully awakened and his methods fully tested, Aizen might use it to make himself a Vizard. Which might be why he keeps the strongest hollows so close to him. Although Tosen is the most likely to defect, Ichimaru is unpredictable. Soul Society Completely useless except for its captains and lieutenants. Half of which are probably going to be held back in Soul Society, to defend it. Espada and subordinates Grimmjow is looking more and more likely to defect. His subordinates (and the closest thing he had to friends) are dead. He was nearly killed by another espada during his 3rd fight with Ichigo. Aizen's strategies piss him off. The arrancar and hollows don't follow Aizen because of some method of control. It's explained that they follow him out of respect. Also he's simply much stronger than they. He states that he's at least twice as powerful as any current SS captain. The arrancar are weaker than their previous hollow selves. Hence, when they return to (semi) hollow form, they gain (back) immense power. Arrancar form grants upkeep negation and shinigami abilities, which is why it's preferred. Ichigo, Urahara, and Yoruichi: since none are actually members of SS, they don't have to be troubled with that tedious 1/5 power limit in the living realm. It's starting to look like arrancar have shikai/bankai. Espada 5, Nnoitora, has been seen with his zanpakuto in two different forms. (His zanpakuto has some signifigant differences in flashbacks.)

[Lethal Seraphim]

Spoiler: I'm not so sure Grimmjow will defect. I mean, I know he and Aizen don't play well together, but in the more recent episodes Orihime restored his arm as well as his status as 6th Espada. I think he'll stay out of fear more than anything else. If he defected he'd probably be killed just to eliminate any potential threat. As for me, I'd be significantly scared of Grimmjow if I was Ichigo. If you think about it, he's one of the only Arrancar (aside from Ulquiorra and the other super-elite) that we haven't seen release his Zanpakutou. While Toushirou and the others have struggled against Arrancar in their "shikai" form, Ichigo has been getting slapped around by a ONE-ARMED Grimmjow who hasn't even released his Zanpakutou to go to that next level. I'm kind of baffled as to how Ichigo proposes to combat him, because even if he is able to hold his Hollow transformation for a longer amount of time, Grimmjow will just be able to step it up by doing what the other Arrancar have. Minus the sucking and dieing, of course. Speakin of the shikai and bankai forms for Arrancar, I was wondering about that myself. If they have Shinigami powers, it would make sense that they would be able to do some sort of bankai, or something on par with it. The more the show progresses, the more I hate Soul Society. Rather, the more I hate the Captain-Commander. He seems like such an old codger who makes everything black and white and insists upon doing things the hard way. Even in the movie he wanted to be a jackass and simply blow up the in-between dimension rather than even attempt a rescue. Maybe that's how they want to paint Soul Society up - some cold entity that will make and has made many mistakes and claim them to be for the better good. I dunno though, I guess I have a hard time with it cuz we know everything from the onlooking perspective, but maybe if we had the limited picture that the characters do, I'd feel differently.

[Evangel]

For the sake of the current discussion on Ichigo and the upcoming war, I'm gonna do a sort of character comparison.

Spoiler: Ichigo Kurosaki Ichigo has shown tremendous talent in raw power. What is more significant is the rate at which he gains power. The difference in power of Ichigo pre-Soul Society and now is tremendous. For what we could guess is that it has been close to one year since the beginning of the series (at least). Shikai: There isn't much to say in this field, there is nothing really significant for Ichigo. In fact, I would say Ichigo's actual Bankai is his Shikai and Ichigo's Hollow transformation in bankai is his actual Bankai. Even without his Hollow powers, he could probably fight some of the non-Espada Arrancar. Bankai: Ichigo's Bankai is a unique one, as said by Byakuya, all Ichigo's raw power is condensed into a very small form. This gives him 5 times more speed and double his power. His only signature attack is the Getsuga Tenshou (SP?). Even in Bankai, Ichigo has not enough strength to even match Grimmjow. Vaizard: Despite only 11 seconds long, Ichigo's Hollow transformation gives him enough power to walk all over the 6th Espada. Depending on the difference in power between Grimmjow and the 5th Espada, Ichigo could probably take him on, too. In this form, Ichigo is a lot more aggresive in his fighting style. This is proven in his point-blank Getsuga Tenshou. Grimmjow Jaggerjack From what we seen so far, the 6th Espada is stronger than a Captain-level Soul Reaper. During the first battle between him and Ichigo, he only used his bare fists and still trampled all over Ichigo. It is clear that he is an extremely aggresive fighter, his style reminds me of that of a boxer. Negacion: Grimmjow's released form has not yet been seen (in the anime). It has been revealed in the manga (I do believe). In this form, he is insanely fast.

We can only speculate on how the third confrontation between Ichigo and the 6th Epsada. If anything, it is going to be a spectacular battle that is going to push both warriors to their very limits. What happens to either and who is going to win is unknown.

[Xeim]

Spoiler: Well, Ichigo's dad's obviously a captain. They haven't said much about him though. It seems that he helped out Urahara and was exiled with him however many years ago it was. I'm not sure of any hard evidence behind that, but I read it somewhere. If they've already pointed this out, then don't mind me. I'm brain dead today... I would like to know how he met Uryu's dad though. They'd have to be pretty old to have participated in the shinigami/quincy war, but hey...anything's possible at this point.

Man, there's a lot for me to say here. I'd like to tell Andro that I did in fact notice the glow around Ichigo a couple weeks ago. I really can't believe I didn't notice it. I do wonder the point for it though. Just to say that Ichigo's special? >_> Seems kind of random to me.

On Grimmjow:

Spoiler: I really doubt he'll defect. It'd be a foolish move on his part. Like Lethal said, he'd just be crushed by Aizen. Doesn't he have to babysit Orihime or something? I dunno, but I read somewhere that he and Ulquiorra take care of her or something.

The Captain-Commander:

Spoiler: They are making him out to be a bit of an arse. my bet's on him dying pretty quick here and sending Soul Society into choas. That eliminates the once great superpower that held the balance between life and death in order. Well, actually, since there are enough hollows to make Aizen a threat, Soul Society wasn't doing their job very well. If their main duty is to help souls cross over, then why the heck don't they have people out there helping people cross over?! Whoever said it is right, Soul Socitey's pretty useless. I wonder what Tite will do with them, really. Aside from the six or so higher ranking shinigami that they've been focusing on, they don't need Soul Society in there at all. I also don't really see a lot they can do with them in future to make them seem powerful again. It's as if they just...died...again.

Vizards:

Spoiler: Haha, the show isn't any fun without characters who know stuff they shouldn't. It could be that they know things just so Tite has a way to inform us. I wouldn't get your hopes up for some amazing explaination, we might never know what they were like when they were a member of SS. But it'd be kind of cool. You can look at them and sort of figure out what divisions they'd belong in. I'm drawing a blank on their names atm, but if you guys see what I'm getting at, then we can start theroies, lol. Personally, I've always liked Shinji. He reminds me of Gin in a way, except he's nice(er). He's pretty badass, too. He made me uncomfortable in the first episode, but I dunno...he's just one of those character's you get attached to. I admit that his hair and teeth are creepy though. Moving onto another subject here: Once Aizen falls, the show/manga's going to end isn't it? I just can't see Aizen being another diversion...I can't really seeing a repeat of the Soul Society arc...whoah, hang on...nevermind. Could it be possible, that like with Soul Society, they're going to find out that Aiizen's not evil? That it's really this great king who Aizen wants to get to? Perhaps, this whole time, we've been decieved by the faces of the shinigami...and Ichi's going to end up allying himself with the hollows...Mehehe...I think I think I think too hard...

And that's all for me today. I'd like to count up the posts this weekend, if that's at all possible. And Rasler, I'd like to use you this week since there are so many manga spoilers. That work for ya? Just let me know. There's a lot to count up, and we'll probably break it up into a couple days.

[Andromeda]

Well this could be the last episode of Bleach that I go over for a while depending on how long it is before it returns to new episodes. I am still trying to figure out anything about it. Unfortunately, they have not said much of anything on TV about them dropping Bleach for Death Note. I only know because they publish their schedule online, if it was not for that no one would know about it. You'd think that they would advertise that they are getting Death Note even if they are not going to tell you that Bleach is taking a vacation or something. I think that is pretty rude of them to just drop without an explanation or notice to those watching on TV.

Well anyway, to the episode. It was a really enjoyable episode for me because it featured Renji and his new Bankai. It also showed more of Ichigo training. Oh and no Shinigami Golden Cup like I had hoped. But oh well, it was a long shot anyway, since I doubt that they would actually show it. I mean they cut out previews from Blood and never show the intro for Inuyasha. The things they do are just strange.

But this episode focused almost solely on Renji fighting Byakuya. It was pretty impressive watching the fight. Renji is nearly the speed that Ichigo is, so he made up for that in knowing his opponent. He has seen Byakuya fight and knows how he moves. It gave him an advantage to seeing the attack that apparently is common of him to do by attacking from behind. Which seems a little honorless for someone such as Byakuya. Though he also likes quick clean fights rather than drawing them out. So I guess it makes sense.

But Renji is able to see it and actually prevents Byakuya from releasing his Shikai which is interesting. It is rather funny that Byakuya's Shikai is so easily stopped that you just hit it. I don't know if that is stopping the concentration or just interrupting the release process. But he was able to do it. And then Renji fights Byakuya with his Bankai, which Byakuya handles calmly. Renji does keep some tricks up his sleeve with being able to separate the pieces at any time. So that makes Byakuya a little surprised, but not much.

But after that Byakuya uses a few Kidou spells because he is apparently just that good at Kidou and immobilizes Renji. After that Byakuya releases his Bankai and rips him apart with pretty blood everywhere. Renji is nearly killed by the attack, but with Ichigo determination stands up to fight again. Byakuya summons up some of his swords and stops Renji again. Renji gets up and again and Byakuya puts him down for good pretty much. Renji is out of the picture for the time being at least.

Rukia knows that Renji is either dead or very close to being dead. I think Ichigo knows a little, but he is focused on beating Zangetsu and gaining his Bankai in time for Rukia's execution. And Gin Ichimaru appears on the path as Rukia is being walked away leaving much uncertainty in the air about what he is planning on doing by approaching her.

It was an exciting episode for me being able to see Renji fight with his Bankai that I have seen so much of already. Plus they had the new intro as well, which was very nice to see as well. It is only unfortunate that it is only for one episode since they are going to start showing Death Note now. Bleach is still on during the week, but I don't know if that is going to last or not. They are on episode 17 I think with Ichigo starting his training to regain his Shinigami powers.

And since nearly everything was in spoiler tags I can't really comment on anything else.

[Lethal Seraphim]

All the stuff in our spoiler tags just relates mainly to the stuff in the Arrancar arc and some of the content in episodes 140-143.

Call me crazy, but I'm so bored with my lack of new Bleach that I'm considering starting the series over and watching parts of it again. I watched tonight's episode where they throw Ichigo into the hole to force him to regain his powers and although I've seen the next episode, I found myself almost wanting to look it up on Youtube so that I could keep going where it left off.

I hope they don't drop Bleach for Death Note. I've heard good things about Death Note and I'm excited for it, but I do enjoy seeing Bleach on AS every night to supply me with my daily dose, if nothing else.

[Victoria]

Death Note is better than bleach, and only 37 episodes, so it'll be done unlike bleach.
And besides... Bleach 144 came out today, yo. >_> So go and get it if you're so starved.