The Underscore's Bleach review: The Hell Arc Special

[The Underscore]

Imaginary Number 1 The Unforgivens

The double dose of Bleach continues with the Hell arc special chapter. The fourth Bleach movie aims to use Hell for its story after the gates of hell appeared during the story once before. This chapter's purpose is to get us all excited about the next Bleach movie and to raise a tip of the veil. Let's see what we get besides the load of colored pages. Thanks go out to Binktopia/Mangastream once more for their scanlation, so let's see what they put their time and effort into!

Denizen of Hell

At least he seems to be arrogant enough to be the villain

Hell. Not exactly where most people want to end up if you ask them. In the Bleach-verse Hell is another plain of existence beyond Hueco Mundo, which can be considered to be a hell on its own. The concept of heaven and hell has never truly been covered in Bleach as only hell has been mentioned one. Rukia did say that Soul Society was the same as heaven, but I doubt the people in the outskirts would agree with her. Let's take a quick look at what we know of the Bleach plains of existence:

The King's dimension
--Separate Space--
Soul Society (/heaven?)
--Separated Space--
Human realm/real world
--Separated Space--
Hueco Mundo
--Separated Space--
Hell

Life resides in the Human realm/real world. When people/creatures die, they become spirits. Most spirits proceed to the next plain of existence, usually Soul Society. Spirits that are bound by emotions and desires stay in the real world as ghosts, haunting either people or places. These spirits receive guidance from Shinigami who send those of pure spirit to Soul Society. Soul Society is separated from the human realm and inhabited by the dead and Shinigami, spirits who have learned to control spiritual energy. Soul Society is separated from other plains of existence by passageways as we've seen recently in the Deicide chapters.

Spirits who become obsessed, however, can also turn into monsters known as Hollows, heartless creatures who only wish to devour. They reside in the damned desserts of Hueco Mundo, devouring each other in a quest for power and survival. Hollows are both people who were bad from the start, but were consumed by negative emotions, or people who were transformed by other Hollows. Same as with normal (plus) spirits, these Hollows can be guided by Shinigami. Hollows that were plusses before they were transformed are sent to Soul Society after being returned to normal through the Shinigami's Zanpakutou. But Hollows that were bad from the start are sent through the gates of hell to, well, hell . But what becomes of spirits that have been sent to hell?

The Damned Espadas

Ending up listening to Szayelaporro's rants must be hell to Aaroniero

The chapter starts off with someone saying how the gates of hell won't open. Whatever is inside Hell, it wants to get out.

A figure falls from grace, tumbling down from Hueco Mundo to Hell. The one to fall from grace never truly had any as it is none other than Szayelaporro to have fallen. Mayuri did kill Szayelaporro in a rather merciless manner, so it isn't all too strange to see him here right now. If anyone shouldn't be forgiven for sins, it is Szayelaporro. As Szayelaporro tries to catch his breath, he is greeted by another sinner: Aaroniero. Szayel isn't too surprised at the sight of Aaroniero, though he wonders how the fishbowl on his head managed to stay in one piece after falling from so high. Aaroniero isn't too happy with Szayel mocking him as the latter implies that he wants to research Aaroniero's insides a bit closer.

What's odd with Szayel at this time is that he's this sane right now. Not to say that he isn't insane, but he should've been driven completely mad after the torture Mayuri put him through. But right now he is just as eager as ever to dissect others.

Aaroniero, however, is just as intent on devouring other Hollows as his Glotoneria would suggest. Without Aizen around, Aaroniero sees this as the right opportunity to get rid of Szayel as he threatens to devour him. Szayel, however, stops the Noveno Espada by asking him two simple questions. First off, he wants to know why Aaroniero doesn't work with him to find out where they are. Aaroniero tells Szayel that he can just find out after devouring Szayel, which makes sense as he could just use Szayel's knowledge to figure out where they are after assimilating him. Szayel then reminds Aaroniero of their current situation, reminding him that as the Octava Espada, he is stronger than the Noveno Espada. Too bad for Szayel that Aizen was probably messing with everyone by ranking the Espada from 0-9. Aaroniero reminds Szayel that he really isn't too threatening without his laboratory around to negate his opponent's reiatsu or his goons to devour for regeneration.

Hospitality

Even after being killed dead, they still keep living

Just as the two Espada are about to face off against each other, they are greeted by another individual. The man tells the Espadas that they are in hell. Szayel tries to comprehend the man's words, while Aaroniero just wants to destroy everyone he meets, including this new person. The man isn't all too threatened by Aaroniero and mocks Aaroniero for speaking about killing as they are already dead, being in hell and all. Aaroniero doesn't get what the man is saying -how dumb can he get? Seriously, what does he think Hollows are in the first place?- but Szayel then remembers what happened to him in Las Noches.

Szayel then charges at the man and demands to know how he can escape hell and get back to Hueco Mundo. The man reveals himself to be Shuren and tells the Espada that there is no way out of hell. Skeptical as Szayel may be, Shuren tells him he should shut up and listen to what he says if he wants to survive in hell (he just told Aaroniero they're dead anyways ). We then find out why Shuren is this confident of his current situation.

Hellhounds

They annoy me already...

Taikon, Gunjou, and Garogai make their appearance alongside Shuren, giving the lineup for the next movie antagonists. Taikon seems to be someone who is overly proud of himself, Gunjou seems like he thinks himself to be Shuren's right hand man, overly proud of himself, whereas Garogai will most likely be brawn that runs on rage. Standard filler fodder for other characters, overpowered and annoying. Shuren isn't exactly more intriguing appearance wise, but he is the one who will carry the new movie's plot. The only redeeming part of these four new characters is that they are denizens of Hell.

Hollows have their Hollowness in the form of Holes and Masks, Shinigami have their Zanpakutous, so what do the Hell demons have? These four could've been Hollows, if it weren't for the fact that there's no sign of Hollow masks or holes on their bodies. Neither are they Shinigami, judging from the lack of Zanpakutou. So what else could they be? Guess the only obvious answer is that these guys are Unforgivens. Perhaps this is a reference to them being sent to hell, not being forgiven for the sins committed during their lifetime.

Aaroniero doesn't seem to care what they are as he released in an instant and immediately tries to devour Taikon, Gunjou, and Garogai. This leaves Shuren and Szayel to continue their fight.

Conceitedness

Takes one to know one, right?

Szayelaporro doesn't waste any time as he immediately released his Resureccion and prepares to fire off a Gran Rey Cero. The fact that an Espada is capable of firing a Gran Rey Cero isn't surprising at all, but the fact that Shuren knows of this special Cero is something unexpected. Shuren even knows how the Gran Rey Cero works, which Szayel should've taken note of. Let's face it, Szayel usually uses knowledge to his advantage, using the information he gathered to create a counter. The fact that Shuren knows of the Gran Rey Cero's properties should've been a sign for Szayel that he might be in over his head with this one.

Szayel tells Shuren that he doesn't mind using a Gran Rey Cero on Shuren, reducing him to ashes, as Aaroniero will devour the other inhabitants of hell, and he can just get them from within Aaroniero after killing him. It's funny that in spite of the two Espada hating each other to that extend, Szayel acknowledges the Noveno Espada's position and as such his strength. Shuren sees this as being perceived as unnecessary to Szayel, though the feeling is mutual. It's rather intriguing that Shuren knows Szayel's full name. Does he have some connection with Aizen in some way? In any case, Szayel isn't all too happy to hear he's unnecessary from Shuren as he fires his Cero.

Target

Where's my lantern to epic Bleach scenes?!

Shuren and his goons managed to easily defeat the two Espadas, reducing them to their sealed state and knocked out cold. Shuren tells the others that they shouldn't be too worried about the Espadas' quick defeat as those two lacked the power to open the Hell gate. Shuren then gazes at his lantern in which we see the image of Neo-Ichigo/Ichigonator as Shuren says to himself he knew they would need him to open the gates. He then decides to drop Ichigo down to hell in order to have him open the hell gates. We'll find out next week how this works out as the fourth Bleach movie comes out in Japanese Cinema next Saturday!

Nothing too surprising in this chapter. Seeing two of the Espada was a bit unexpected for this chapter, but then again the trailers also revealed there would be more Espadas in the movie. For an introductory chapter into the Bleach movie it served its purpose and little more. I wonder whether Kubo did right by using Hell for the movie like this, as it might as well be used during the canon. But we'll see how Kubo will handle this in due time, I suppose. Well then, what do I expect to see from the Bleach movie?

I'll be blunt about this movie: I won't be going there for the story. Let's face it, this movie is going to be little more than a way to indulge us by showing off some of the more memorable moments in the Arrancar arc. A couple of Espada will make their return, while the four new characters prepare to be killed and forgotten in the filler sands of time. We'll probably see some revenge battles here and there, a couple of new match ups between other characters, some help from unexpected allies, and (of course) a splendorous show of the newest abilities shown during the manga. The story will probably be as thin as it will get, Ichigo being forced to become Neo-Ichigo for some obscure reason and the key to preventing/reversing this coming in the form of a new character's sacrifice.

I'm just hoping this movie will be enjoyable if you just don't think about it and watch as the mayhem ensues. Most importantly, Kon had better make an appearance! But who knows, maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised by the movie's story. But I doubt it will be anything more than thirty or forty minutes of setting up the story and the rest of the movie being a string of battles with plenty of Bankai and Resureccion mayhem.

That’s it for this one shot's review. Hope you guys enjoyed the read. Let me know what you guys think might happen during the movie, but let's try to keep things spoiler free here. If you guys are looking for the regular chapter's review you can find it here. I'll be seeing you guys again in two weeks with a new (double) review!

[warriorofvirtue]

I think its odd that these 2 arrancar end up somewhere else and they acted like that. They didnt seem really concerned about where they were and they just got their asses handed to them yet they are still acting like they are the top shit in the world. who gives a shit if syazel is ranked higher than aaron(whatever the rest of his name is),he sounds like some of us here on mangahelpers that say just because someone is ranked higher is an automatic win. How in the world did syazel end up there at the same time as aaron anyway if aaron died at least hours before syazel did. Syazel should also be mentally unstable he just spent what felt like eternity in one goddamn place. I am not excited at all about this movie and i expect it to be won the same way every other battle is one a getsuga tenshou by ichigo or one of his other unexplainable forms....................geez

[SaintSheik]

Thanks for the special movie review. With a lot of authors taking the time out to do one-shot titles (even Toriyama!), I was a bit surprised that Kubo opted out. But now that I see that Kubo took advantage by doing a movie tie in, I think its better that way.

I first caught wind about this movie about a year or so ago and now that the story has taken a complete turn, it should be refreshing to see Bleach in a Hueco Mundo-era light again. As with most movies, there will be a lot of flashy scenes and all of that stuff but I think the main pitch for the movie is to bring back all of the fallen hollow, arrancar, and everything in between to full circle. Bleach is doing some sort of ten year thing, no? What better way than to bring back all of the villains only to have them get knocked around again

As for this chapter, I'm sure that showing the two lowest Espada was done for a reason. After all, it makes the (laughable) antagonists of the film show their strength without taking anything away from the movie and it also touches on a few HM dynamics that we didn't get to see in the story (i.e. others using grand ray cero). I can't say that I'm going to go crazy for this movie..I might just read a summary to save some time. But at the very least, I liked Kubo's color pages

[Baromirek]

Well, well, well...I really don't know what to expect from this movie. The hype is making it look good, but I can't tell just yet. The tie-in was worth reading, but there are some inconsistencies.

Szayelaporro definatly shouldn't be in that good of a mental condition considering the fact he spent several hundred years (percieved time) being pierced through the hand/heart. Just from the few seconds we saw in the manga/anime, he was completely insane by that point, and he wasn't even dead yet. The two of them shouldn't have fallen at the same time, considering Szayelaporro wasn't dead until after the Captians showed up, long after Arroniero was dead.

Nit-pickiness aside, I liked the one-shot. And I kind of liked seeing the Espada again. It's interesting that the first thing they do is fight, but not entirely unexpected. Gin did say that it was Aizen that kept them together, and nothing else. The new villan appears to be the "caretaker" of Hell, and his cronies are probably just that; nothing more than worthless filler antagonists. Shuren looks like a good movie villan for now, but something about him seems suspicious. The combination of knowing Szayelaporro's full name and knowing about the Gran Rey Cero imply he may has a connection with Aizen like you mentioned, but it might be deeper than that. Kubo may just make this guy the equivalent to the Spirit King for Hell. It would explain why he knows so much about everything, and why he has followers. It may also explain why he needs Ichigo's insane hollow power to open the Gate of Hell; if he is in charge then it would be very bad if Hell stopped recieving the souls of the unforgiven.

Which brings up an interesting point; Why are the Espada in Hell? Only hollows that were evil in life go to Hell, because a shinigami's zanpakuto clenses the sins they committed as hollows. None of the Espada (except Barragan) died from anything other than a zanpakuto or its ability, meaning they should have all gone to SS. Since they are an amalgamation of all the souls they've eaten, it wouldn't make sense to say that they were evil in life. I thought that the souls that made them up would go to SS, or at least the one that they kept as Espada.

But it seems Kubo doesn't want any redemption for them...which makes you wonder what will happen to some of the less-evil Espada. Ulquiorra (towards the end), Harribel, and Starrk don't deserve to be in Hell, but the way it is going they will end up there. I wonder how many other Espada will find themselves in Hell...

Thanks for reading this monstrous post haha. And thanks again for the review

[The Underscore]

I think its odd that these 2 arrancar end up somewhere else and they acted like that. They didnt seem really concerned about where they were and they just got their asses handed to them yet they are still acting like they are the top shit in the world. who gives a shit if syazel is ranked higher than aaron(whatever the rest of his name is),he sounds like some of us here on mangahelpers that say just because someone is ranked higher is an automatic win. How in the world did syazel end up there at the same time as aaron anyway if aaron died at least hours before syazel did. Syazel should also be mentally unstable he just spent what felt like eternity in one goddamn place. I am not excited at all about this movie and i expect it to be won the same way every other battle is one a getsuga tenshou by ichigo or one of his other unexplainable forms....................geez

This week's anime actually covered this one-shot as well. Pretty strange to see how all of this is working out just for the movie. I guess we can see this as an alternate version of Bleach in the end (same as all the Bleach movies). Going by the anime, there are a couple of interesting aspects to the story. Shrieker showing up was a nice touch if you ask me, but I digress.

Szayel and Aaroniero showing up so close to each other isn't all that strange. Aaroniero was in hell for some time before Szayel, but even though Szayel felt he was dying for years, it happened in a matter of minutes.

The fact that Szayel should be mentally unstable is my biggest hitch against seeing Szayel like this. Then again, he does seem a bit hasty to me. It's not too big of a difference, but he seems to have changed a bit. But it's not like I really paid too much attention to Szayel's personality .

But I can't say I'm expecting anything different from seeing Ichigo using a movie special Getsuga Tenshou in the end. That's the problem with all the Bleach movies, they all do the same thing with stories that don't always fit Bleach canon. Who knows, using hell may actually work out...

Thanks for the special movie review. With a lot of authors taking the time out to do one-shot titles (even Toriyama!), I was a bit surprised that Kubo opted out. But now that I see that Kubo took advantage by doing a movie tie in, I think its better that way.

I first caught wind about this movie about a year or so ago and now that the story has taken a complete turn, it should be refreshing to see Bleach in a Hueco Mundo-era light again. As with most movies, there will be a lot of flashy scenes and all of that stuff but I think the main pitch for the movie is to bring back all of the fallen hollow, arrancar, and everything in between to full circle. Bleach is doing some sort of ten year thing, no? What better way than to bring back all of the villains only to have them get knocked around again

As for this chapter, I'm sure that showing the two lowest Espada was done for a reason. After all, it makes the (laughable) antagonists of the film show their strength without taking anything away from the movie and it also touches on a few HM dynamics that we didn't get to see in the story (i.e. others using grand ray cero). I can't say that I'm going to go crazy for this movie..I might just read a summary to save some time. But at the very least, I liked Kubo's color pages

You're welcome. Too bad I'm not too captivated by the story as of yet. Maybe that has to do with the great amount of filler characters being introduced this week . But I guess Kubo using the time for a one-shot on Bleach is a good thing.

You make some good points about the movie. In the end I'll just shut down my brain and watch the movie while trying to keep my brain from trying to reboot every time it goes against the manga and my mind wants to object .

At least the color pages look great, but that's the least we can expect from Kubo .

Well, well, well...I really don't know what to expect from this movie. The hype is making it look good, but I can't tell just yet. The tie-in was worth reading, but there are some inconsistencies.

Szayelaporro definatly shouldn't be in that good of a mental condition considering the fact he spent several hundred years (percieved time) being pierced through the hand/heart. Just from the few seconds we saw in the manga/anime, he was completely insane by that point, and he wasn't even dead yet. The two of them shouldn't have fallen at the same time, considering Szayelaporro wasn't dead until after the Captians showed up, long after Arroniero was dead.

Nit-pickiness aside, I liked the one-shot. And I kind of liked seeing the Espada again. It's interesting that the first thing they do is fight, but not entirely unexpected. Gin did say that it was Aizen that kept them together, and nothing else. The new villan appears to be the "caretaker" of Hell, and his cronies are probably just that; nothing more than worthless filler antagonists. Shuren looks like a good movie villan for now, but something about him seems suspicious. The combination of knowing Szayelaporro's full name and knowing about the Gran Rey Cero imply he may has a connection with Aizen like you mentioned, but it might be deeper than that. Kubo may just make this guy the equivalent to the Spirit King for Hell. It would explain why he knows so much about everything, and why he has followers. It may also explain why he needs Ichigo's insane hollow power to open the Gate of Hell; if he is in charge then it would be very bad if Hell stopped recieving the souls of the unforgiven.

Which brings up an interesting point; Why are the Espada in Hell? Only hollows that were evil in life go to Hell, because a shinigami's zanpakuto clenses the sins they committed as hollows. None of the Espada (except Barragan) died from anything other than a zanpakuto or its ability, meaning they should have all gone to SS. Since they are an amalgamation of all the souls they've eaten, it wouldn't make sense to say that they were evil in life. I thought that the souls that made them up would go to SS, or at least the one that they kept as Espada.

But it seems Kubo doesn't want any redemption for them...which makes you wonder what will happen to some of the less-evil Espada. Ulquiorra (towards the end), Harribel, and Starrk don't deserve to be in Hell, but the way it is going they will end up there. I wonder how many other Espada will find themselves in Hell...

Thanks for reading this monstrous post haha. And thanks again for the review

You're welcome for both the review and reading your monstrous post -The fact that you actually read two of my rants reviews this week can be considered to be more impressive -.

The most important thing in your post I'd like to focus on is indeed the fact that the Espada are in Hell with their full powers. I refrained from going into that as it would only make my review look even more negative about the movie than it already is, but I did think of a way how it could work with the Menos Hollows retaining their powers and whatnot in spite of being offed:

Looking at the Anime episode of this week, we reaffirmed that once a Hollow is sent to hell, it retains its abilities (the fact that Shrieker was sent to hell in his Hollow form would suggest that). Then we have to take into account that Hollows are desperately fighting to become the dominant personality within the Gillian as they would just become a part of that personality otherwise. Going with 1000 souls for a standard Gillian, the Adjuchas would have 90% characteristics of its original soul and the other 10% would be made up of the other 999 souls. Estimates from my part, I know, but its my theory anyways . But even the 10% of the personality would be little more than a Gillian stage again, where there are one or two souls trying to be the dominant forces. What's more, Adjuchas and higher are forced to eat other (Menos) Hollows to retain their dominance, yet consume more souls in the process. Depending on the strength of the consumed Hollow, the Hollow's personality may change more drastically. The way Starrk and Lilinette came to be may have something to do with this as well. But now I'm just moving too far away from my point on the Espadas that are in this One-shot.

Aaroniero and Szayel apparently were jerks during their lifetimes as well. Though there's bound to be innocent souls inside the Espadas, those souls have been assimilated into the dominant soul (making it worse than death in a sense). Because of this, they probably can't be separated from the unforgiven souls, forcing them to go to hell (subconsciously, probably). Of course, this could mean that the same will go for Menos Hollows that started out as innocent souls being affected by the 10% which could contain unforgiven souls as well. The 1 Hollow out of a 1000 causing the dominant soul to be sent to Hell because of it. That would be a great excuse to let the more mellow Espada show up in the movie again . Though Ulquiorra shouldn't be able to appear as he was killed due to a Hollow attack, which destroys or assimilates souls, as opposed to a Shinigami attack which cleanses the soul and sends it to the next plain of existence.

But who knows, Movie canon doesn't always make sense now, does it?