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Tite Kubo's Bleach Manga Nears Ending

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Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
Bleach is a bad manga that has lots of problems but I don't see any reason that every character's shikai or bankai needed to be revealed. It's not really important to the plot.
 
I always thought the Fullbring arc was very underrated. It feels like something happened in the end that made Kubo switch direction, probably editors and what not. It was very fun and there quite few things that were really interesting that will never be answered :/

Fullbring failing was a result of bad timing(it happened after what felt like the logical ending of Bleach) and Kubo screwing up the development of Ichigo and the human cast in favor of the Captains.(which made the arc feel like filler with a bunch of people no one gave a shit about anymore.)

Contrast to Yu Yu Hakusho's Chapter Black(which Fullbring was clearly taking inspiration from)

The Dark Tournament didn't feel like it had to be the ending of the series and Chapter Black still had all the popular major protags present.
 

tauroxd

Member
"WHO TOLD YOU THE NUMBERS GO FROM 1 TO 10" was the single greatest moment in Bleach.

It was... I'm serious about it.

Bleach is a bad manga that has lots of problems but I don't see any reason that every character's shikai or bankai needed to be revealed. It's not really important to the plot.

True, but it would be cool to see them all. The rule of cool demands it.
 

Linkark07

Banned
I always thought the Fullbring arc was very underrated. It feels like something happened in the end that made Kubo switch direction, probably editors and what not. It was very fun and there quite few things that were really interesting that will never be answered :/

Fullbringer was the perfect chance for Kubo to end Bleach with a happy ending if he didn't like the idea that Ichigo lost his powers and his connection to Soul Society. Which is something I don't understand why Kubo thought Ichigo couldn't continue talking with Rukia or Renji or the shinigamis. They could use a gigai or use almost any of his living friends for communicate with Ichigo.

Actually, thinking about that, I really liked the Fullbring arc, until the shinigamis appeared and Kubo returned to his old and boring format of 1vs1 battles.
 

cntr

Banned
I just wish Bleach remained like what it was at the beginning. Mysterious supernatural town, Ichigo hiding from his friends, the mystery of Ichigo and his family, random encounters with ghosts and horror spirits.

Soul Society was a great arc, but honestly, it ended up destroying what made early Bleach so good. Bleach would've been a lot more fun if it remained an episodic story about this crazy supernatural town, like Diamond is Unbreakable or something.
 

Lulubop

Member
Bleach is a bad manga that has lots of problems but I don't see any reason that every character's shikai or bankai needed to be revealed. It's not really important to the plot.

Agreed, except for Shinji. Same with the hell stuff, it was just some stuff

There's never a let's go to hell moment! Or any real complications/conflicts with it. Just part of the lore
 

Jonnax

Member
Bleach is a bad manga that has lots of problems but I don't see any reason that every character's shikai or bankai needed to be revealed. It's not really important to the plot.

Yeah, but he could have halved the amount of enemy characters shown a whole lot more of the Soul Society people's skills and the Manga could have been a whole lot better.
 

Guess Who

Banned
Bleach is a bad manga that has lots of problems but I don't see any reason that every character's shikai or bankai needed to be revealed. It's not really important to the plot.

I don't think every character's bankai should've been revealed, but there's no god damn excuse for not showing Aizen's. He was the big bad of the arcs people still cared about!
 

tauroxd

Member
I just wish Bleach remained like what it was at the beginning. Mysterious supernatural town, Ichigo hiding from his friends, the mystery of Ichigo and his family, random encounters with ghosts and horror spirits.

Soul Society was a great arc, but honestly, it ended up destroying what made early Bleach so good. Bleach would've been a lot more fun if it remained an episodic story about this crazy supernatural town, like Diamond is Unbreakable or something.

Stories evolve and change, especially taking into account the market and what the reader like or would like, just like Dragon Ball before and after the time skip.

I don't really dislike the change, it was good, but I also appreciate and like a lot when something it is laid out how it really was from the beggining, it just expands itself, like One Piece, for example.
 

Lulubop

Member
Yea and Bleach had a lot of pontiental after SS as well. Aizens heel reveal was great. I can't fault it. YYH starts very similar (tho these chapters weren't adapted into the anime) and snowballs. Togashi is 100x the writer however.
 

Linkark07

Banned
Yea and Bleach had a lot of pontiental after SS as well. Aizens heel reveal was great. I can't fault it. YYH starts very similar (tho these chapters weren't adapted into the anime) and snowballs. Togashi is 100x the writer however.

I have been thinking, why Aizen didn't make Hinamori betray Soul Society? I'm sure she would have gladly followed Captain Aizen anywhere. Would give Hitsugaya another reason for kill Aizen. And who knows, Aizen might have turned her into a vizard like Tousen or she could have gained a bankai.
 

Hypron

Member
I have been thinking, why Aizen didn't make Hinamori betray Soul Society? I'm sure she would have gladly followed Captain Aizen anywhere. Would give Hitsugaya another reason for kill Aizen. And who knows, Aizen might have turned her into a vizard like Tousen or she could have gained a bankai.

But then we wouldn't have gotten the perfection that was Hitsugaya stabbing her.
 
When were you under thr impression that I was not using Kyouka Suigetsu?
top 3 aizen moment for me
20100217002802
 
Bleach is a bad manga that has lots of problems but I don't see any reason that every character's shikai or bankai needed to be revealed. It's not really important to the plot.

Nothing in Bleach is important to the plot... The reveals and mechanics of these powers are nearly the only reason people read it.
 

Hystzen

Member
Aizen didn't need take Momo her use was over but she lived which shocked him a bit. So he found another use for her to fuck up Hitsu


Plus she annoying and Gin would not cope with her around after SS
 

Strimei

Member
I'm beginning my binge-reread of all of Bleach, got the first 30 volumes from my library, and just reached the part where we learn about what happened to Ichigo's mother and all that (I mean, prior to the whole "oh wait she was actually a quincy" thing).

I forgot how much simpler things were way back then. I'm enjoying it, though. That said, it still kinda boggles me to realize just how damn long the Arrancar stuff took up, as I noticed them gracing some of the late-20 volume covers. Good lord did that arc take up forever, I thought it started in the mid-30s.
 

SoulUnison

Banned
Finally Ukitake will be revealed as Aizen's brother(his hair was brown before he got ghost AIDS) and the true mastermind

Wasn't Ukitake actually supposed to be the possibly shady mastermind behind the whole "Substitute Soul Reaper" program?

He got out of a hell of a lot of unresolved plot threads and possible karmic justice by randomly dying.
 

SkyOdin

Member
I just wish Bleach remained like what it was at the beginning. Mysterious supernatural town, Ichigo hiding from his friends, the mystery of Ichigo and his family, random encounters with ghosts and horror spirits.

Soul Society was a great arc, but honestly, it ended up destroying what made early Bleach so good. Bleach would've been a lot more fun if it remained an episodic story about this crazy supernatural town, like Diamond is Unbreakable or something.

I somewhat agree. From what I've read of Bleach (which goes up until the end of the Hueco Mundo invasion attempt), the first arc of the manga is my favorite part. It was a pretty brilliant story, where the unintended consequences of Ichigo's actions kept piling up and slowly dragged more and more of friends and family into the world of Soul Reapers and Hollows. It was even beginning to set up the Hollows as a more serious and complex threat with the Grand Fisher stuff.

And then right as things were getting good and the status quo was breaking down completely, the Soul Society Arc began very abruptly. The entire story path that existed so far took a sudden swerve. The main dynamic between Rukia and Ichigo that had driven the story up to that point was immediately (and apparently irrevocably) severed, as Rukia was turned from a character into a plot McGuffin.

Now, the Soul Society arc is a brilliantly constructed story arc in its own right. The internal stress within the 13 Court Guard Companies slowly bubbled out into a civil war as each of the individuals involved followed their own ideals and goals in an organic manner. Now, it was a story that had absolutely nothing to do with the arc that came before it, but it was an excellent story. However, just as the Soul Society arc hit its climax, it somehow dropped the ball.

Now, Aizen's villainous reveal was an integral part of the Soul Society story, and clearly followed from what led up to that point. However, when he shows up at the execution site, reveals his entire scheme for no good reason, and reveals that he was after a magic doodad that wasn't even mentioned or hinted at prior, the entire premise of the Soul Society arc collapses like a house of cards. The arc makes sense if Aizen's plan was to destroy the 13 Court Guard Companies from within by forcing their differing ideals to clash. In fact, if he waited just 15 more minutes, at least three or so more captains would have been dead.

After Aizen's reveal though, everyone in the Soul Society just spontaneously set aside all of their deep-seated differences which had just broken out into open violence. At least one captain has his entire character identity and development up to that point retconned in order to fill a plot hole. I was just left wondering: "What was all of this even for?"

Tite Kubo has written some amazing arcs, but he seems to really struggle with properly concluding arcs or transitioning to new ones. Every time I have seen him try involved some crazy swerve that severely damaged the flow and logic of the story up until that point. By the end of the Hueco Mundo arc, I couldn't put up with it any more.
 

Tathanen

Get Inside Her!
Has anybody ever suggested that maybe Aizen's been using his bankai this whole time? That his shikai is literally just the trigger mechanism for placing somebody under absolute hypnosis, the thing he did to all the captains and never Ichigo, and his bankai is the hypnosis itself?
 
Bleach is a bad manga that has lots of problems but I don't see any reason that every character's shikai or bankai needed to be revealed. It's not really important to the plot.

From a logical standpoint, having an army in an endless war where 90% of the combatants don't know the combat capabilities of their units seems like an easy way to cause lots of avoidable deaths. As does the idea that people will hide their true power in a life or death fight to avoid the embarrassment of revealing it front of their peers.

Everyone's shikai and bankai should be public knowledge within the Gotei 13 for the sake of convenience. "Hey, we've got an Hollow over here that can reality warp! Shunsei, we could really use your help right now."

Shinji not revealing his shikai to Aizen because he didn't trust him was used as a plot point, and it made sense if he thought he would eventually have to fight him (of course, then explaining it so Aizen could adapt was completely braindead). Aizen hiding the true nature of his shikai because he's a villain that can abuse people's ignorance about it later on makes sense. Gin lying about his Bankai's best feature so his opponents will lower their guard makes sense. NONE of the other characters hiding their abilities from each other makes sense.

But then we wouldn't have gotten the perfection that was Hitsugaya stabbing her.

I've read/watched this scene dozens of times and while it's an awesome reveal, it just doesn't work with any kind of logical consistency. The captains had to have been fighting the real Aizen at some point before Momo got stabbed - Ichigo was watching, and he was the only one not affected by the shikai. Kubo failed at writing a coherent point where he could have switched out. Rule of cool and all that.
 
This thread reminded me of my teenage years when I used to read manga, and that led me to binge-reading Naruto from where I left off many years ago. I just finished the final chapter last night. My face while reading that whole final arc:

wut-faces.png


Still, I couldn't help but feel sad that it was over. But I enjoyed it immensely when it was revealed who Naruto ended up marrying and having kids with - hoo boy I bet there were some epic fan meltdowns over that one.

Overall Naruto was not nearly as well-written as Fullmetal Alchemist (the last manga I read), but it was undeniably charming, with many great characters and cool action sequences.
 

Strimei

Member
Still, I couldn't help but feel sad that it was over. But I enjoyed it immensely when it was revealed who Naruto ended up marrying and having kids with - hoo boy I bet there were some epic fan meltdowns.

As luck would have it, I'm reading this compilation (its 538 images, be prepared) of Naruto/Sakura shippers from the thread from Vox about shipping, and their meltdown as Naruto/Hinata was being hinted at/revealed.

Its...quite something. Theorizing over the symbolism of scarves and such.
 

B-Dubs

No Scrubs
As luck would have it, I'm reading this compilation (its 538 images, be prepared) of Naruto/Sakura shippers from the thread from Vox about shipping, and their meltdown as Naruto/Hinata was being hinted at/revealed.

Its...quite something. Theorizing over the symbolism of scarves and such.

I always like the Crusader Kings joke myself.
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
From a logical standpoint, having an army in an endless war where 90% of the combatants don't know the combat capabilities of their units seems like an easy way to cause lots of avoidable deaths. As does the idea that people will hide their true power in a life or death fight to avoid the embarrassment of revealing it front of their peers.

Everyone's shikai and bankai should be public knowledge within the Gotei 13 for the sake of convenience. "Hey, we've got an Hollow over here that can reality warp! Shunsei, we could really use your help right now."

Sure but ever since Soul Society arc it has been shown that many captains are not keen on cooperation. They're on the same side only technically. Otherwise they all have bamboo sticks of honor and pride stuck up their butt. It's illogical but internally consistent.
 

GhostBed

Member
I somewhat agree. From what I've read of Bleach (which goes up until the end of the Hueco Mundo invasion attempt), the first arc of the manga is my favorite part. It was a pretty brilliant story, where the unintended consequences of Ichigo's actions kept piling up and slowly dragged more and more of friends and family into the world of Soul Reapers and Hollows. It was even beginning to set up the Hollows as a more serious and complex threat with the Grand Fisher stuff.

And then right as things were getting good and the status quo was breaking down completely, the Soul Society Arc began very abruptly. The entire story path that existed so far took a sudden swerve. The main dynamic between Rukia and Ichigo that had driven the story up to that point was immediately (and apparently irrevocably) severed, as Rukia was turned from a character into a plot McGuffin.

Now, the Soul Society arc is a brilliantly constructed story arc in its own right. The internal stress within the 13 Court Guard Companies slowly bubbled out into a civil war as each of the individuals involved followed their own ideals and goals in an organic manner. Now, it was a story that had absolutely nothing to do with the arc that came before it, but it was an excellent story. However, just as the Soul Society arc hit its climax, it somehow dropped the ball.

Now, Aizen's villainous reveal was an integral part of the Soul Society story, and clearly followed from what led up to that point. However, when he shows up at the execution site, reveals his entire scheme for no good reason, and reveals that he was after a magic doodad that wasn't even mentioned or hinted at prior, the entire premise of the Soul Society arc collapses like a house of cards. The arc makes sense if Aizen's plan was to destroy the 13 Court Guard Companies from within by forcing their differing ideals to clash. In fact, if he waited just 15 more minutes, at least three or so more captains would have been dead.

After Aizen's reveal though, everyone in the Soul Society just spontaneously set aside all of their deep-seated differences which had just broken out into open violence. At least one captain has his entire character identity and development up to that point retconned in order to fill a plot hole. I was just left wondering: "What was all of this even for?"

Thank you, this is why I generally dislike the SS arc. It feels like Kubo created a bunch of interesting villains only to immediately turn them all into allies with no warning whatsoever. Was super jarring and did not flow well with the story at all.

It would have been interesting if Ichigo and crew saved Rukia and then Ichi + Ru act as rogue Shinigami's during the Hueco Mundo arc and slowly develop bonds with the SS captains that we were formerly told were bad. This would have added a lot more drama and dynamics to that whole arc instead of it just being one fight after the other.
 
Sure but ever since Soul Society arc it has been shown that many captains are not keen on cooperation. They're on the same side only technically. Otherwise they all have bamboo sticks of honor and pride stuck up their butt. It's illogical but internally consistent.

It makes you wonder why Yama insists on having 13 captains when nearly 1/3 of them aren't interested in obeying orders.
 
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