Bleach Club

[Evangel]

I also watched the recent [AS] Bleach episode. Today, I watched a Japanese dub of episode 132. At first, I was surprised that watching so many Jap-dubs got me really used to their voiceovers. It was like watching the anime for the first time. I have to admit, I haven't really watched Eng. dubs for a while now.

The most prominant thing I found was how different Hitsugasya's v.o. is. I myself prefer the Jap. dub v.o. Hitsugaya's English voice makes him seem a little too old for his appearance. Another thing I didn't like was Ichigo's sister (Izuru, I think. The tomboy?). Her japanese voice doesn't appeal to me like her english one. It makes her sound a little bit like a boy.

[Andromeda]

Yeah, I finally watched that link to the 138 episode that Rasler suggested about the Zanpukto. And well I went to Youtube, so its in three parts and I watched the entire middle. Either way, I got a taste of the Japanese dubs and I must say that it is another example of why I think Japanese poorly cast voices. Of course, I've only watched English dubs, so I am biased, but still. I heard Rukia's voice and it was just way to rough and masculine sounding, it was a still a woman's voice, but it was all wrong. I like English voice because it has the soft gentle touch that you expect from Rukia along with that slight rough tomboyish tone that run through the voice without being over baring.

And I was listening to Ukitake's voice and while not completely horrible it just did not seem to fit him. It seemed far too deep and rough. The English voice is much soft more suited to the gentle nature that he seems to have. Those were the two that stood out for me because they were just too much of a heavy contrast to their personalities. The others were moderately decent that they seemed to work and not work against my viewing.

I would agree that Hitsugaya sounds a little too deep, but I think he still have that soft tone that says he is a child while still retaining the thicker more adult voice that is his personality. He is such a serious character so often that it is a little difficult to imagine him with a softer voice. Even the Japanese sounds a little deep, but it has that Japanese pitch that still knocks it up a little higher.

[Victoria]

Well, I wrote a post for here, but it didn't go through when Fuzz added something.
But anyway, I said that I prefer the Japanese voice actors, but that's cause I started out with them.

Although I just searched out Rukia's english VA and she doesn't sound half bad. I can't say I prefer one or the other, but I've stuck longer with Rukia's japanese that she doesn't sound that out of place.

[Xeim]

Yeah, the gin vs. Hitsugaya fight was very disappointing. You get to see a LOT of Hitsu and Matsumoto's abilites later in the show, but unfortunatley we still know next to nothing about Gin, except for that one attack. I really like his zanpukto too. ^^;;

Also, on the subject of voice actors- I must admit that I started out with the english. I can see the eyetwitches from some of you. ^^;;; I like the Japanese voice actors A LOT better. One thing you gotta remember is that the Japanese take pride in voice acting, while the Americans don't give a damn. Well, I really should use stronger language there to fully represent it, but I like to cuss as little as possible. ^^;;

And, that said, I think Urahara's voice fits him much better in the Japanese version. You caught him in one of his serious moments, and his voice drops there a bit. xD It's usually a bit higher and fits him flawlessly. These are the orginal voices after all. Tite may have even been instrumental in picking them out.

You're right about Rukia's english one being a good choice, but I still like her Japanese one better. The only english voice I like better is Kon's. And well, that's only because his VA's one of my favorite english ones. ^^;; And he so fits the role in my opinion...Kon's Japanese voice really rubs me the wrong way... heh.

But in my opinion, the talent in the Japanese version FAR surpasses that in the english one. You can't always really tell that unless you can get a feel for the Japanese language, but you can tell with even a minimal understanding. Most english voice acting sounds flat to me. I don't want a generalization with that though. Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo had great english voice acting, but after analyzing the Japanese cast, it was just as talented. So, there's rare gems out there. But most....heh.

[Andromeda]

I don't know, I get similar feelings from the Japanese voice acting at times. While they seem to be into the roles often I don't think they pick good voices most of the time. And picking bad voices makes me feel like they don't care who does it, its just another countless anime to them. And I will not say that American's voice acting is perfect. It was quite horrendous back ten years ago, but they have improved greatly and more money is backing anime in the US these days. So you see better acting from the voices. Though one thing that they have usually gotten down correct is the right voice for the right character. And while it sometimes works, it rubs me the wrong way when you put a girl in to play a male. Unless it is child it just does not work. And I was speaking about Ukitake not Urahara, I haven't heard his voice. Ukitake was too deep and rough for his character as I had said before.

I was actually going over the primary cast of English voices in my head recently. And the only voice that I had much of a possible complaint with was Ichigo's voice which at times seemed a little strange. But otherwise none of the voices were out of place for me. For me I will continue to insist that the English get the voices assigned correctly, which is just as important as acting. Because as much as the actress for Rukia can act her heart out if I can't stand to hear her voice I won't hear the acting at all. And that it what she does to me. I actually wanted to stop it so I didn't have to listen to the terrible voice. Fortunately, it was brief enough that I didn't have to listen to her for long. I do listen to Japanese dubs frequently enough and its not as though I can't stand them all. I just don't like their choices for voices a lot of the time.

The real problem comes into the fact that the male voices seem to hit only two ranges heavy and deep to the point that they sound like they are 30 or older or too high pitched that they are 12 or younger. And when you have an 18 year old or whatever going around with a voice that sounds like it is coming out of a 35 year old something just makes you disjointed and stand back disconnecting with the character. I become focused on the fact that the voice sounds wrong rather than what I am watching.

Now before this erupts into an insanely long heated debate over one dubs to another, it would probably be best to change the subject. It is an endless debate that will quite literally never end and consume the very life of those involved feeling upon the hate and anger until it becomes a soulless beast of its own. At which point it will devour the people arguing making them in to soulless beats to and then a shinigami will have come a purify all of us. *cough* ^^;

[CLOUD]

On the subject of Ichigo, I would say that he does end up relying on his hollow. It has saved his life several times from what I have seen already. And what I know about it in the Arrancar it definitely gives him a power boost that is required. But I would imagine that it is pretty natural that if you are going up against a Arrancar that you would need to be Vizard to stand a chance. That is naturally not always the case, as the Captains are strong enough, but they have been training and honing their skills for a hundred years or more. So they are going to be far superior in their Shinigami powers alone than Ichigo. If Ichigo had a hundred years to devote to improving himself he would probably be the strongest shinigami there is, but he is working off inexperience and all of his previous battles. He has taken shortcuts to reach each new plateau. There has been no long training and understanding what he really is. If he remotely understood his spiritual energy he would be a lot better as well.

I've thought of that quite a few times. The thing is that, i'm not sure if it's going to be enough; relying on his Hollow. I'll explain.

He still didn't have what it takes to beat the Arrancar on his own. At a certain point, after fully harnessing that power, he will defeat the first Arrancar. But i believe that there will still be a limit to that power. After beating Arrancar after Arrancar, the difficulty of the battles will progressively raise. Right? In the end, if he doesn't surpass his limits again & reach a whole new level of Vizard, how is he going to beat Aizen?????? It happened on the first episodes; his powers grew & grew, but he still needed Bankai to win. I don't know if there's another similar way, or technique to manage to be victorious in the future.

However, i'm not going to try & guess what will happen at that point; only the creator of the series knows.

EDIT: It worked! I should have posted this some time ago, but whatever.

[RagnaToad]

Finally a Bleach Club (though you should work on the name)...
Ive seen every episode of the anime so I guess that makes me a potential member?

would love to join!

cheers

[Victoria]

...What do you mean, Finally? =\
This club has been around since New Years day of '07. You're slow, man. =P

And what the hell is wrong with "Bleach Club"? That's what this is, isn't it?

And yes, potential member you are. But I'm not the one to let you in, though.

And no, you haven't seen every episode. XD There's 140+ more to go!

[RagnaToad]

Probably, but the crappy fill-episodes with those vampires are so boring... like where`s the whole Soul Society conspiracy?
Anyway, I`m busy reading another manga now, Fullmetal Alchemist, great story and its not finished at all (just like Bleach)...


and about the "finally": Ive been away for almost a year

[Xeim]

Andro: So many names starting with "u"s. Heh. Sorry about that. Anyway yes. You're right. The debate will probably never end, plus it's more of a general thing then a bleach thing. xD And there's already a thread for it (I think), lol.

RagnaToad: Well, even though you failed to read the date of the first post, I do hope I can assume you HAVE READ the first post. If so, choose your entrance "exam" method. I'll type something up so you can be added to the Academy as soon as I get that info.

And, "Bleach club" is short and to the point. Not all the clubs need a fancy name. If I ever think of something good, it can change. Nothing's written in stone. If you have a problem with the current one, oh well. O_o I'm not going to change it on a whim.

[Andromeda]

Yeah, there are a lot of U and I names, they probably make up a good portion of the characters in Bleach. Which is a little odd that those vowels would, but for the most part they are all unique names. But also like you said there are a lot that are way to similar. Ururu and Uryu for instance and Unohana and Urahara. >< Wow, looking at it is no wonder that we do not make more mistakes with the similarities.

And there is a thread in the anime forum for the dubs debate. I'm pretty sure that it is stickied too and I think English is losing it. But that is from the simple fact that the majority of the people on the internet who watch anime download it and thus are used to the Japanese. While the people who either *gasp* don't have the internet or lower speeds watch it on TV and thus are lacking from the debate. So it ends up being very one side, usually just me versus everyone else. But I'll just become a Menos can Cero them all. *cough*

On to brighter things. The Zanpukto discussion that we were having before. It was quite funny watching that clip from the 138 episode of Bleach with Matsumoto and the others. But from the comments made about Matsumoto apparently she is more like her Zanpukto than she admits and possibly we know. It sounds like she is pretty lazy herself at times.

Though it does make you wonder about Ikkaku, who's Zanpukto is a staff that breaks apart on a chain and grows in length. And his Bankai is a couple of massive blades. Which is as difficult to place a personality on as Gin. It is obvious that he enjoys fighting and wants to stay on squad 11 rather than become a Vice-Captain or Captain, due to having a Bankai. So it makes since that his Zanpukto is purely for fighting with little frills about it. Which I guess could be said that it is straight forward while hiding a secret at the same time. Because as Ichigo made the mistake, it is not just a staff, but one that extends. So while straight forward it and Ikkaku are, there is a hidden layer underneath with secret desires and interests. But that does not really label a personality. Makes you wonder what his Zanpukto avatar looks like.

Who else do we have to talk about while we are on the topic. There is the captain of squad 7 Komamura or the wolf looking man, whatever the heck he truly is remains a mystery. But his Zanpukto mirrors his own actions while the Bankai makes a massive armors knight that does the same thing. Which seems to be difficult to go on since I know next to nothing about the type of person Komamura is other than he hides behind the mask most times, probably embarrassed or picking private. He also tends to be quiet most times and reserved, but it a strong fighter. And given his Zanpukto mimicing him it is an obvious extend more literally than anyone else. It is him as much as he is himself.

[RagnaToad]

Im not eve in this club and Ive already got a bad rep it seems O_o
About the exam, I dont know what would be the best method, but since Its been a while since I watched or read the episodes, Ill take the "solution-to-situation" test.

[Rasler]

For those of us ho watch fansubs, Crunchyroll now has the Bleach movie: Memories of Nobody available for viewing. I'm resisting all urges to spoil anything for anyone. From what I gather, it takes place directly after the Soul Society Arc. It also explains the cryptic opening in which we see characters and events that never happened.

[Xeim]

Ragna: Haha, I wouldn't necessarily call it a bad rep. You can't blame us for being defensive when you act as if the club was just founded, or start making complaints about the name without grounds or suggestions. xD

Alright, solution to situation it is. Remember I'm not looking for a simple, one sentence “I would do “this” because…” Actually act it out. I don't care if you use “Ragnatoad”, your real name, your nickname, or even just some random name you happen to think sounds cool at the moment. You can even write it out in first person if you choose. I'll say to give me a minimum of five sentences. There's no limit to how long you make it, so just keep writing until you think you've covered everything. I'll rate the post with a captain/vice-captain as soon as I can get ahold of one, and the rating we give it will be the initial amount of points you recive. Your posts prior to the posting of the scenario will not count toward your points.

Alright, your scenario.

The sun is sitting low in the sky. You're taking a walk through the park, just to admire the beauty of the moment. Suddenly, you see a young boy playing on the slide get picked up into the air. The other children scream, and you freeze up. Slowly, you realize you can just barely make out the outline of something holding onto the boy. The area you deem the head leans in, and the boy's head begins to disappear.

What will you do? Can you really stand there and leave the boy to his demise? Will you run? Will you try to help? Or will you do something completely different?

Keep in mind that you're human in this situation. You know nothing of hollows and shinigami, so no popping out your zanpukto and sending the hollow's slimy bootie to Soul Society. There is no wrong answer to this question. You're graded on your creativity in handling it.

I do hope you stay active. It's always nice to have another member contributing to discussions. ^^

Also, the discussions listed in the first post are still active. We just haven't really had anyone post for them in a while. If you don't know what to post in here, just go ahead and choose one of those activities and post it in. We also have another one concerning zanpukto's that is still going on. I'll edit it in when I edit you into the ranks….which will be after you respond to this. ^^;;

Now Rasler: Yeah, I've had the movie downloaded onto my computer for four or five days now. I've been unable to watch it from the amount of homework I have, but I should be able to get a start on it tonight! I'm quite excited, as I've wanted to see it since it came out. Which was...I think about a month (or less) before the club was founded? So it's quite exciting to finally be able to see it. You can go ahead and post up spoilers, but MAKE SURE they have the proper coding. I'll try to remember to go back and read them after I've watched it.

Now, on the subject of Ikkaku. I really think that what you said does explain his personality. Though, there's one thing about Ikkaku's zanpukto that really clashes with most of the others. See, Ikkaku comments at one point that his zanpukto is actually really lazy in battle, while Ikkaku is an obvious opposite. This, again, supports the fact that, perhaps, if you're to an amazing extreme on things, your zanpukto will work to balance you out.

Hmm…who else is there? Yumichika. His zanpukto is kidou based, which is rather embarrassing for a 11th division member. His zanpukto (in shikai form) can, I believe, flare up to look like a peacock, which makes a lot of sense seeing how vain he is. But it drains its enemy's spirit power. What does that refer to? The fact that being around Yumichika drains your energy? (lol) I'm willing to be the avatar looks like a peacock. xD


As for Komamura, we still don't really know a lot about him. But that leads to another discussion, really. Have we ever once seen animals in Soul Society? I'm pretty sure they've shown birds once or twice, but other then that, I can't recall any. It makes you wonder: where to all the dogs, cats, cows, horses, and all the other animals go? And, on top of that, they give us characters like that one gatekeeper and Konamura (or however you spell it). What are they really? Were they originally humans, dogs or something else entirely? >.>

[Andromeda]

For Ikkaku what does that mean for him if it is lazy in battle. Ikkaku fights pretty hard and goes beyond normal means even when hurt badly. With the fight with Ichigo he was still standing to fight after getting sliced across the chest. But if his Zanpukto is lazy in battle, what does that mean for him? Does he have to work harder to make up for the lack of his Zanpukto. Is it weaker than it could be because it is lazy. Is it harder to release because it does not feel like it? What would it be like if it was not lazy, like Kenpachi?

I don't know how much the personality and feelings of the Zanpukto affects the stability and strength of the sword itself, but it must create interference with the shimigani if it is not interested in fighting. It would seem like it would weaken the link or something.

And yeah, Yumichika's Shikai fans out into 5 blades. I don't know if that is the final form of the Shikai as some site seemed to think otherwise. But it is the form that we see it take. In the fight with Ganju it just ends up blowing up in his face when he disrupts the barrier. But I guess if it worked correctly it would have just drained it all. But does make you wonder if it is drained if it goes into him or the Zanpukto and what use would be it for the Zanpukto. But I can imagine him being draining to be around with his vanity. He has those strange feather like things coming off his right eye that does not make a lot of sense, but I guess its a fashion statement.

Did we talk about Unohana? I don't think we got to her, or maybe we did. My memory is failing me at the moment. I know we talked about her recently in more than passing. But about all I know is that she can make it in a creature that she flies around on and heals people with. Which given her very motherly nature makes a lot of sense. But she is a bit of an extreme, so it would make you wonder under the concept we are working with it would be more violent and aggressive. But it works perfectly for the squad 4 being support and healing.

I don't think we touched on Urahara and Benihime have we? We know that the Bankai is not go for a training and that is about it. Which means that it is probably very powerful or crazy large or some type of support ability that has no offensive abilities. Give Urahara and his inventions I would imagine that it would be a support bankai as much as it could be something powerful and strong. It could swing either way. But the sword itself has the blood mist shield that blocks attacks. Though otherwise it is one of the most normal average Zanpukto's in Shikai form. Which makes me wonder what secrets it is hiding. But given Urahara ability to fight and his interest in helping and training people, Benihime seems to aid in that aspect. He made a lot of inventions to help the shinigami and Benihime seems to do that as well in a training aspect. She can be fierce too and ruthless like Urahara when he is training Ichigo. The two do seem to be mirrored well in each other, plus it is a woman from the name at least which seems to fit with Urahara. He is not womanizer, but he has made a couple comments that just makes me seem like it suits him.

[RagnaToad]

"What the?!" Znapp watched the group of children on his left, frozen to the ground as much as he was. He looked around to only conclude that it was all up to him: could a john average like himself save a kid`s life?
Tons of thoughts flew through his mind when suddenly, without having considered to run away, he ran up to the large tree with a branch bending over to the blurry whatever. As he climbed his way up, he yelled at the children nearby to beat it!
"Run away, I`ll try and save your friend!" he shouted, extremely surprised about his own acts.
Znapp had now reached the large branch and tried to figure out of what form the creature would be; he didn`t climb all this way to land next to the creature and end up being eaten. He snapped a thick stick of the tree and jumped of the branch onto the invisible vile creature. Apparently the beast was surprised by the weight that had stranded on what appeared to be his neck and let go of the boy.
"Oh damn, if this is just his head, I`m in some major shit!"
In an effort to beat the enormous thing with a plain stick, Znapp hit it in the eye. The creature began going wild and when the human being on his head hit it in the other eye as well, it started running and jumping around. Znapp was leaped into the air and when he hit the ground he heard a big cracking sound. He didn`t feel any pain and realised that the monster had run into a full concrete building, hurting his head... pretty bad apparently, as the giant blurry object faded away with a loud screeching noise, only leaving behind a big white mask at the size of a human, broken in half...

[Rasler]

Bleach is a primarily spirit-based show. Most of the story-critical characters are souls. Shinigami, Hollows, etc.

I maintain that there is a possibility for physical monsters, such as demons. Think of demons as the Inuyasha-variety: Not necessarily malevolent, but definately a different kind of being. Perhaps Jidanbo and Komomura are the souls of benevolent demons.

I also find it interesting that souls in Bleach aren't immaterial, merely invisible. They can create forces that impact physical things. However, the inverse is not true. (Normal) Physical items do not affect a spiritual being. An exception is that a spiritually-aware person is able to affect spiritual beings. (Quincys killing Hollows, etc.)

[Evangel]

I belive that I've made an important discovery. I think I found out why Komamura appears like he does. If you refer to episode 135, it explains everything. There seems to be two basic types of Hollow: Human and Non-Human. It seems that animals also have souls like people do, and turn into Hollow when they die.

Spoiler: Shintarou, the girl's dog, dies in an accident. His soul seems to merge with another dog's soul. Thus the dual heads. They become a dog-like Hollow. Comparing them to traditional Hollow, it is obvious that the soul that made it was obviously non-human. They have similarities such as the hole in their chest and a white "mask". Anyway, when Rangiku comes and kills it, the souls appear. Shintarou's soul is there, and he disappears like when people get sent to Soul Society.

Well, there is my theory. Komamura must have been a dog in the real world. He some how gained a human-like apperance when he arrived in Soul Society.

Also, I've watched the Bleach Movie: Memories of Nobody. It was great. The art was really good and stayed true with the anime. There were some music I connected with the anime, which I find disappointing. They could have made up a whole new score for the movie. I found a interesting detail that is connected with the RP.

[Andromeda]

I guess it depends on what the detail is. It depends on how much it would affect the RP. If it is that important that it would alter things, it would probably be best to know. But it is something that is not really going to change things, then no need to spoil something. I don't know which way Xeim feels about it, but if it is so important then she'll decide what needs to be done then.

Aside from that I found out that Jidanbo had a brother, the shinigami that Uryu fought to defend Orihime. That was his brother apparently. Which is a fact that never came out in the anime, at least in the English version. I'm not sure if they make mention of it in the Japanese version, but it is a small side note in the manga. So it might have not been deemed necessary for the anime. It is not like the reason for the fight was revenge anyway, so a detail like that would not have altered the way the fight went. Uryu would still have won just as easily.

Another side note, since I'm reading the manga I am getting a lot of things that appear that do not appear in the anime. So it is a little more revealing. Tite makes a little comment about Hanataro's energy boosting pill that he takes. Apparently his superior's made him a special pill that active ingredient is actually flour. Poor guy.

Then there is another scene a little more important in the manga that got cut. It was a little creepy. It dealt with Rukia's gigia, which I am guessing Squad 12 got their hands on. And well there was a lot of implied things that just made the whole scene very creepy. It made it out like they were a bunch of pervert or something. Not to mention ugly looking.

Well on to Saturday's episode since it was obviously a new episode tonight. It was Rukia's flashback to the day that Kaien died. I was sort of expecting a different voice for Kaien, but after I got over that he fit into his role fine. He does look a lot like Ichigo at times, if it were not for the black hair. Though overall as I try to remember it there is not a lot of events in the episode that held me down except for the fight with the hollow. But that was about everything anyway.

We find out that Kaien had a wife, which I did not know, but there are obvious reasons for that. She is dead along with him. But she goes off to do recon on the hollow that is killing people and ends up dead. Though they do not realize that she is taken over by the hollow and using her body as he wishes. So she goes around killing or injuring a number of shinigami before alerted and the captain, Kaien and Rukia goes off.

Now what does not make a lot of sense to me is if Rukia is an unranked member of the squad and inexperienced. Why in the world would Ukitake bring her along? A smart person would not have sent someone that weak and inexperienced into a situation where they were going to die if forced to confront and fight the hollow that had already killed a number of shinigami. There is only one reason, because it adds story and flavor to Rukia. She should not have been there even from the start, but she needed to be there so that she would have a scar on her history. It should have been explained better. They chased down the hollow. It would have better if the hollow attacked and stay at the squad's home. Then Rukia being present would have been more logical.

Well that over she attacks everyone and runs off when seeing that she is going to be cornered. The captain, Kaien and Rukia go after it. Kaien wants to settle it one and one and the Captain agrees knowing that he might die. And the hollow has some strange ability that destroys Zanpukto. It does not make a lot of sense and seems to be simply a more of a convince than anything else. But with Kaien disarmed he does not really stand a chance anymore. The hollow eventually goes into Kaien's body.

Then Rukia is stood to leave and Ukitake steps up to the fight. After a few moments of not doing anything Ukitake gets serious. But he waited too long and cannot give chase with his illness catching up to him again. Rukia decided at some point to return and stands against the controlled Kaien. With Kaien in control he allows himself to die on her blade pleased that he has returned to himself before he died. Rukia is left with his blood on him and the memories.

It ends showing Ukitake trying to talk to Byakuya about getting the Rukia rescued from his execution. It is pretty apparent that Byakuya is not going to do anything and Ukitake takes till now to say something or be shown saying something. But he is ill most of the time, so who knows I guess. Either way, it was an interesting episode to watch.

[Evangel]

Um... I don't think it will change the outcome of thr RP dramatically. But, it's one of those tiny details that matter. But since it wasn't brought up until after the RP began, I don't think it would matter now. It's not that much of a spoiler either so I'll just post it here.

Spoiler: In one scene, Ichigo calls Kisuke Urahara to ask him something. (I think) He asks him if Soul Reapers retain their memories from when they were alive. Urahara responds that it has become excedingly rare.

I don't think it is that big of a deal, but its something I felt should be brought up.

[Lethal Seraphim]

Hey sorry to interrupt the serious discussions with my little post, but I would like to apply to join this wonderful little club.

I recently got into Bleach a couple months ago when I caught it on Adult Swim. I eventually got fed up with one new episode a week and turned to the internet to get my fix. I've watched all the way up to episode 140 (subbed versions, ftw) on youtube. I'm very disappointed to find that nobody has submitted anything really past episode 140, so I'm going to have to find another site to leech my Bleach from.

But yeah, I love me some shinigami!

[Victoria]

Er.. dude, nobody put past 140 because 140 is the latest episode out, yo.
Just be patient. Now you're back to waiting for one episode a week, Lawl.

And read the first post to see what kind of entrance exam you want to take.

[Xeim]

Forgive the dely in this post (again). I wanted to wait 'till I had Ragna's application graded, but its better I don't, now that we have another potential member. Andro, if it's alright I'd like to ask you to help with Ragna's post. We'll also count up the other posts when we get in touch.

Letal Seraphim: It's great to have you applying. ^^ Please choose an application method (mentioned in the first post) and tell me what you've chosen. I'll write something up for you so you can get your application in.

Also, the reason you can't find anything past episode 140, is that there is nothing. Bleach is an ongoing series, and now you're going to have to wait once a week for it to come out. Check that site every Wednesday or Thrusday to get the next sub. Sucks don't it?

In the meantime you can watch the movie. Which is what I should address next.

EDIT: Toph posted before me. ^^;;

Yes, Evanangel, thank you for bringing this up. I've been thinking about what to do with this since I watched it, and I don't think it will be too hard to incorporate it.

It really isn't a big deal, as I'm not even sure that Tite wrote the movie. In the wiki article it just said he was the author of the original manga. The 'detail' was very important for the plot of the movie, but that doesn't mean it applies elsewhere. We should assume that it does, however, and somehow incorporate it into the RP. There is a loophole in what was said. Ichigo didn't ask about souls, he asked about shinigami. And, we're not shinigami yet. So really, we haven't messed anything up yet. xD If you'd like to talk more about what we might do, feel free to move the discussion to the OOC. Otherwise, don't be surprised if I tell you all to lose your memories when we get our zanpukto. xD

Also, I was very mad at episode 140! They started playing Senna's theme for Rukia. >_> The song is called Senna. Not Rukia. It was supposed to be a movie only song....and yet, there it is playing as Rukia makes her grand entrance! >_> I wanted to punch the computer screen. ^^;;

Also, about Rukia's strength. Minor spoilers, that you'll pretty much find soon anyway, but:

Spoiler: Rukia isn't seated because her brother doesn't want her to be. He wants to protect her from danger. If she was seated, she'd go on more dangerous missions (I guess fighting espada isn't dangerous *cough*). Anyway, she's shown that she's actually pretty strong- defeating a low level arrancar that was whooping Ichi's butt. Ukitake knows that she's actually pretty strong, so he lets her come with him in that epi because of that. Plus, he knew he probably couldn't stop her anyway. xD

[Rasler]

The string instrument piece that's like 5 seconds long?
To my knowledge, that was first used during an arrancar appearance. The piece is similar to some Spanish (not Mexican) music that I've sampled. Since the Arrancar are apparently Spanish in nature (not nationality), this fits.

In the movie, they probably just labelled the song "senna", so that they'd know where to use it. I think it's become non-exclusive. They're starting to use it to add emphasis to a scene. The piece does tend to cause dramatic tension.

As long as I'm on the tangent of Bleach's score:
I absolutely hate Ichigo's theme. "If you wanna see some action, gotta be the center of att-rac-tion..." Blegh. I seriously question this decision. Sure, the lyrics make sense with crazy Japanese logic, but that doesn't mean the lyrics aren't terrible. Every time they use the instrument-only version of the song, I am greatly relieved.

New music is introduced fairly slow. Very few characters seem to have their own theme.

I do like Shinji Hirako's (implied leader of the vizards) theme. That and he vaguely reminds me of Lupin III. Every anime must have the obligatory Lupin III reference.

[Xeim]

Nah, it was first used in the movie. The movie came out last december. That was quite a bit before the arrancar arc. And, they named it Senna because it ws originally JUST her theme. Then after that they decided to use it in the show for whatever reason. And bah, the song's 1 minute and 30 seconds long. Of course, they do cut it for the show, lol.

And you don't like Number One? I think the song's just so randomly cheesy that it's cute. xD It fits Ichigo realy well.

While still on the subject of music, I really like the song "Nothing Can be Explained." The soundtrack has a really nice vocal arrangement in it too. xD

[Andromeda]

I know about Rukia's exploits in the future episodes to come and that she is a lot stronger than she appears. But at the beginning when she first entered the squad I doubt that she was that powerful. She has had plenty of time to grow to become stronger, but that was still early in her days a shinigami. I doubt she had the power to stand up to someone at that point that was so powerful. So unless she was like a fifth seat or something immediately off the bat then I do not think that she would have stood much of a chance to begin with. Even if Byakuya exercising influence she probably was not much more than a low 10-20 seat at the start. I would find it difficult to image many shinigami coming out of the academy and entering into the upper ten or even five seats of a squad unless they were exceptionally skilled.

About the thing that was brought up from the movie for the RP. We are already past that for the most part. We just retained our memories. It is not really brought up that much with the dead because their memories of living are not really necessary anymore to who they are. They have become something else or have lived just as long as a spirit that it does not matter that much. But it is a minor detail.

And most anime recycle the same music a lot of times. It is easier for them to do that than creating new pieces of music all of the time for them. So it usually has multiple purposes. Though I am a little surprised that Rukia does not have her own theme being that she is an important character. But I don't even know if Ichigo has his own theme. There are definitely a couple pieces of music played around him when he does something powerful, but aside from that I don't know. But even in the movies I have seen them recycle old music from the anime into it. They did it for the Naruto movie a couple times. It sort of gives you that connection letting you know that you are still watching the show, but just prettier.

[Xeim]

Alright, I have the new ranks here for you. But, before I get to those, I'd like to address RagnaToad.

You did pretty well with what you were given. I liked the idea of you attempting to jump onto it to stop it from eating the kid, though from that point on it started to feel pretty rushed. You could've used a little more detail as well. But, you passed. Welcome to the club RagnaToad! I hope you stay active!

1st Division

Jenova33:13
Itachi Uchiha: 6
Lady Rika: 5

2nd Division

Oathkeeper13: 26
Captain Fishie: 11
Yuuki: 4


3rd Division

Captain CLOUD: 29
Toph Bei Fong: 20
WaterPrince: 1


4th Division

Vice Captain Andromeda: 147
Captain abarai Renji: 50
Evangel: 31
Suzu Kitamura: 6
DarkWolf: 4


5th Division

Captain Rasler: 43
Kuradic: 5 (only RP posts)
GrimmJaw: 2
Emoloz: 0

Shinigami Academy

Howl Furore: 1
RagnaToad: 1

Last RP post counted: post 72 on page 5
Last Club post counted: post 716 on page 48


Subject of Rukia: That's true that she wouldn't have been as strong. But, that still doesn't get rid of the fact that if Ukitake tried to stop her she'd go after him on her own, and most likely end up hurt because she wasn't under the protection of Ukitake.

[Lethal Seraphim]

Please choose an application method (mentioned in the first post) and tell me what you've chosen. I'll write something up for you so you can get your application in.

Ah my mistake. For some reason that didn't register when I read the post the first time. At any rate, I'll take a Bleach-related question, please.

Also, the reason you can't find anything past episode 140, is that there is nothing. Bleach is an ongoing series, and now you're going to have to wait once a week for it to come out. Check that site every Wednesday or Thrusday to get the next sub. Sucks don't it?

In the meantime you can watch the movie. Which is what I should address next.

Yeah, that does suck. I knew it was on-going, but I would have thought it had more episodes than that! Man, and it was just getting good!

[Xeim]

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

What division was Urahara Kisuke formally captain of?

Answering that will earn you from 1-3 points, depending how thorough your answer is. If you're not sure how to be 'thorough' with a question like that, start by explaining why he isn't captain anymore, or tell me what kind of things that division is in charge of.
To get more points, I'll also include an optional question. It's a slight bit harder than the first, but it still shouldn't be too bad.

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

You can't earn more than 5 points. And really, even just giving a one point answer will get you in the club. So no pressure. I don't want these questions to be too hard.

Make sense? Tell me if I'm not clear on anything.

~~~
Also, I actually did a little research before I came up with the question, as I was pretty low on ideas as to what to do. Everything I came up with seemed either too obvious or too obscure. So I just jumped from wiki article to wiki article for a while, trying to find a word or phrase that would spark a question. Well, I took a little visit to Shinji's article. Shinji, as most of you know, is a vizard introduced after the bounto filler arc (soul society in the manga). The second or so line of the article said this:

An early design of Shinji can be seen in the first chapter's cover art, along with other future characters such as Yasutora Sado and Ury_ Ishida, making it clear he was planned well before his introduction

Ok wow. I double checked that with my copy of volume 1….and he's there. On the very right- the last character you get a full view of. >_> So tell me this: If Tite has his character and story pretty much planned out...why is he leaving so many loopholes? If you know where you're going, then you have more time to think, rethink and sort things through. And yet, it seems to me as if he's just moving through the whole thing on his rough draft. O_o

Ah well. Though, I still find it strange that Shinji's in volume 1. xD

[Andromeda]

Wow, its really dark and hard to see, but you are right that is Shinji the Vizard. That is just weird. But I have a feeling that Tite did not actually have him planned out, at least in that much detail. He was probably drawing up character designs for all of the ones that he knew that he needed. What Shinji looks like now is probably one of the many that he came up with in the course of preparation. The face probably did not have a name or story behind it for a while.

He probably knew that he was going to be making the Arrancar Arc since the beginning, but I doubt that he had all of the characters planned out in that detail from the beginning. It is possible that he did, but its highly unlikely. Most writers know where they are going even from the start, but they do not have all of the details until they get to the point and close to it.

I would be very amazed that he had 50 some odd story characters that well planned out from the on set. He had to create a ton of Shinigami first for the Soul Society Arc before even thinking that hard about the Arrancar and the 20 or 30 characters that were added just for that arc alone.

But on the subject of the manga, it is interesting seeing the popularity contest. Naturally, Ichigo and Rukia are number one and two, followed by Renji. But curiously Hanataro was in the top ten along with Byakuya, Hitsugaya and Uryu. Kon got knocked out of the ten top according to him Hanataro kicked him out, even though Hanataro was seventh and Hitsugaya was eighth and Byakuya was tenth. But hey, they're captains you don't argue with captains. This was the second popularity contest, by the way. I don't remember the first one too well other than Ichigo and most of the High School cast was in it. But not nearly as many characters were introduced at that point. By the time that the second came out Hanataro was and huge focus and strangely enough Hitsugaya had barely a few lines but grabbed eighth. I guess that has to say something about his stage presence. Oh right, Momo fell into ninth, but she was featured more due to Aizen and his death. Strangely enough Orihime and Chad were in at twelfth and fourteenth, but they were both reduced in appearances. Though Chad had a big scene with his fight with Captain Kyoraku. It was pretty interesting though to see who was popular.