Joint Review of Bleach 483: Kriegs ErKlarung

[mattiaildivino]

Bleach 483: KriegsErklarung
A Joint Review


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In a secret underground base, hidden somewhere in the darkest depth of the MangaHelpers forums, a dark and evil organization has deeply spread its roots and is spreading its influence throughout all of MH. It is unknown who, but someone called this organization...

Reviewer Alliance.

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Analysis:

I’m just a poor boy, nobody loves me

He’s just a poor boy, from a poor family

The color page has Ichigo and Yuuki on display. Though I’m rather curious as to what role Yuuki will play in this arc, I guess that Kubo is making preparations for this character by slowly having him spend more time with Ichigo. Hopefully this guy won’t get in the way of Rukia’s screen time .

What I especially like about this color page has to be the pattern on Ichigo’s hood. Though the last time we saw Ichigo wearing his Hollow mask, he had a more simple and symmetrical pattern, I always preferred the one we’re seeing on Ichigo’s hood right now . All in all, I quite like this look Ichigo has. The black and red even ties in with Ichigo’s Bankai. As for Yuuki… I guess he’s the next generation or something. Though Ichigo probably is younger than Yuuki, Ichigo has more experience as a Shinigami. Perhaps Ichigo will get to play tutor?

When I am in times of trouble, old man Genryuu comes to me…

Speaking words of wisdom… THERE IS NO BETTER SECURITY THAN THIS!

The declaration of war has been made by these (presumably) Quincy. But apparently, these guys are more interested in asking Genryuusai why he doesn’t have people guarding his private quarters. The ringleader is even boasting about how they broke in. *Stop! Hammer Time!* As already said, the intruders address Genryuusai with a conversational tone, commenting on the low security. This is important, because while we still don't know who this people are (and how they put those cloaks on without help), we know from this small conversation that they are not drones sent to tell him about the invasion, but actual people (?).

Answering their question, the man holding the title of strongest Shinigami for over 1000 years points out that there’s no need for security with him around. It’s like a security within a security. (Inception joke… couldn’t help myself). Not like anyone could even dream of killing him anyway. Just look at the trouble Aizen had to go through to harm Genryuusai. Creating a special Arrancar that could nullify Genryuusai’s Zanpakutou, then having to use Genryuusai’s own power against him to hurt him, only to get rid of one of Genryuusai’s arms after quite some effort. And in the end, even that lost arm was all Genryuusai’s own work. Almost makes you think Genryuusai is fighting himself because he’s bored with everyone else around .

Whatever the case, Genryuusai isn’t worried with the whippersnappers standing in front of him. The whippersnappers, however, feel the old man is too arrogant for his own good. In fact, they feel that those arrogant words will be the last words Genryuusai will speak. Though I’d put my money on those being the last words Genryuusai will have to speak to them.

A bow? A flamethrower? A laser?

WTF is this sh*t?

Ivan and Ichigo are still at it. Last week, Ivan revealed himself to be the owner of a Quincy cross. Though I had my doubts about his weapon being a bow, we see that he has something close enough to it. At first I thought I was seeing lasers, but only a second later I remembered that Quincy arrows are practically lasers in the first place . Doesn’t change the fact that Ivan’s weapon is an odd one. It looks more like an arc with multiple laser canons mounted on it than an actual bow shape. Interesting though this may be, I’m hoping this isn’t what’s to come for Ishida in the future. But we aren’t even sure what form of a Quincy Ivan actually is.

While Ivan is joyfully firing off his “arrows”, Ichigo just wipes them out with a swing of his Zangetsu. He isn’t even worried about the attacks Ivan is throwing at him as much as he’s intrigued by the shape of Ivan’s charm. The only real difference between the two charms is the circle on Ishida’s, where Ivan’s just consists of the five lines. Perhaps Ishida’s Quincy cross is one for a higher class of Quincy. Or perhaps Ivan is from a different clan altogether, where the cross just shares similarities due to it being the best basis for Quincy-like techniques. But judging by this chapter’s title (declaration of war, in German) and the Quincy Zeichen (sorry, my German’s a bit off so I’m doubtful of whether I spelled this right) Ivan possesses, I’d say he has a greater tie with the Quincy’s than his Arrancar mask suggests. Doesn’t change the fact that he has a Hollow-like mask on… which is exactly what’s bothering Ichigo as well.

Looking at the mask, however, I’d almost suspect it has something to do with Ivan’s weapon. From the angles at which I’ve seen his weapon, he has four cannons, and thanks to his mask, four eyes (his right eye, and three holes in his mask). Probably just a coincidence, but who knows .

While Ichigo is contemplating on things, Ivan keeps blasting away. Amusingly, Ichigo doesn’t even have to think to stop the blasts. Yet Ivan seems to think differently…

Wild Ivan used “Scary Face”

It’s super effective

Ivan asks Ichigo why he’s only dodging attacks and isn’t on the offense himself. Though it’s more than obvious Ichigo doesn’t need a Bankai to deal with this, Ivan demands to see more from Ichigo. In fact, he’s rather set on seeing some Bankai action from Ichigo. Luring out a Bankai using an obvious taunt, Ichigo knows that he’ll have to play along if he wants to get some answers.

Ichigo calls out his Bankai, triggering not only Zangetsu’s transformation, but a reaction from Ivan as well. Reaching into one of his pockets, Ivan takes out a strange object. All the while, he’s thinking how lucky he is that Ichigo fell for his taunt. The reason he’s so happy and he took out the object? He plans on ending Ichigo’s Bankai!

Back to the assumption that Ivan is indeed a normal Quincy, his weapon is a bow, the thing he used on the first chapter was an Extra-Strong 30 Second Effect Hollow Bait® and this “strange object” he uses now on Ichigo, is one of the Ginto: * Gintō (銀筒, Silver tubes): Gintō are small liquid-filled capsules that store spiritual energy, and are used by the Quincy for spell casting in the same way that Shinigami use Kidō. Like Kidō, they are activated by calling out various commands.

Good question, Ichigo

I was wondering the same thing while reading this chapter

At this moment, Ichigo finally realizes that Ivan pulled (out) something, and wonders what it could be. Meanwhile, Ivan is smiling and that suggest that he’s pretty confident in that tool of his which shoots towards Ichigo a stream of energy rays. Our shinigami representative is completly unaware of what's going on, and when Ivan starts rapping some incarnation, Ichigo begins to feel the effects of that rap which go as far as crashing his reiatsu armor. It looks like Ivan's aim was to force Ichigo to use his bankai in order to destroy it, or he simply might have changed his mind after being called "arrancar". By the way, due to the fact that Ivan already disposed of that weapon, his goal was most likely to destroy Ichigo's bankai. Unfortunately for the Quincy(?), Ichigo destroys with his sword those energy pillars in front of an astonished Ivan, who is about to get a Getsuga Tenshou straight “in yo face!”.

Kubo doesn't show us whether Ichigo’s attack actually hits Ivan or not, someone may interfere nonetheless, yet the fact that Ivan didn't expect Ichigo's counterattack makes me think he hasn't got any other weapon in his arsenal. There has to be a reason why Ivan aimed at Zangetsu's bankai. He could be interested in its power, (as was Ginjou towards Ichigo's fullbring). Although we can't be sure that Ivan's target was just Ichigo, since he didn't appeared 2 chapters ago when Ichigo was all alone, but waited for a moment when he would be surrounded by his friends. It's also possible that Ivan needs a Mugetsu user, and the reason he appeared now is due to Ichigo's loss of powers 2 years ago and their recent reactivation thank's to the Captains' reiatsu.

Nothing is impossible…

Nothing is impossible, yeah, yeah ♪

Meanwhile, at Yamamoto’s place, we find out that the Sinister Seven aren’t declaring their war based on nothing. These jerks actually went so far as to plant Sasakibe onto Genryuusai’s wall with a gigantic arrow! U guess it livens up the place? (REALLY bad pun here… especially considering how Sasakibe seems to have some fatal wounds to which he almost succumbs rather than staying alive)

Yamamoto is surprised and actually worried about his vice-captain, who looks like having just fought those guys, according to the sword he is still holding. It is the zanpakuto which hints Sasakibe is still alive, since it is still released, whereas it shouldn't be if the user was dead. The enemy’s leader warns Yamamoto that Sasakibe's end will be his one as well, telling him that the vice-captain has fought and sacrificed everything, being defeated nonetheless. So, the wrapped guy warns the Captain Commander, who pitiful witnesses the scene, that in 5 days Soul Society will be annihilated by them.
So the playing field is set. We get a five day long battle between Soul Society and (drumroll please….) The Vandenreich! Though my German is far from decent, I can tell you that this is an odd name (from a Dutch perspective at least). As far as I can tell, Vandenreich would mean ‘of (Van) the (den) empire/realm/kingdom (reich)’. But I guess it sounds okay.

Personally, I was a bit disappointed that Yamamoto was astonished and listened to them quietly, instead of wiping the floor with them. A good explanation/excuse could be given by the fact he already knew the "Vandenreich", which might have existed even before Soul Society Kingdom was created, and that could be the reason of his fear. Yet the fact they are so sure of themselves makes me think they are really strong, and they shouldn't be so stupid and reckless to get their asses kicked. They are the new villains after all, so they should be able to provide us with enough HQ material for this arc. However, the fact they are so confident in being able to kill Genryuusai, makes me wonders something: "If the Captain Commander himself can't deal with them… who can?"

Impressions:

As a whole, this chapter had two highlights and one big, stretching over 12 pages boring wannabe interesting plot line. Obviously I mean the scenes at Genryuusai’s office as the highlight and the Ichigo/Ivan fight as the boring plot line.

A little more detailed. Bleach 483: KriegsErklarung started with a color page, the second in this new arc and for the cover we get… Yuuki? That guy was introduced three chapters ago, what a priori defies the possibility of him having any kind of a fan base. His overall impact to the story was microscopic so far and it’s just unclear what he’s forgotten in this color page. What I’m saying is that since this CP has no connection with the contents of the chapter it could have been used more “wisely”. Hell, even Ichigo alone, with a little more drastic camera angle and a darker background would’ve made one hell of a color page, but the way it is now, it just looks cheap.

Moving on, Kubo brings up the tension up to a maximum right of the bait, by hyping up Genryuusai even more than he already is. Seriously, that face he made there was scary. That’s what I call making use of the art. Kubo started the chapter with an eagle-eye perspective of his “cabinet”, and all the other panels featured a lot of white, while the very next page features a badass close-up of his face with an absorbing dark background. Pure epicenes. The switch to the chapter title was also nicely handled, first of all due to the horizontal way of writing and secondly once again due to the high black-white contrast.

The next 12 pages, the whole Ichigo/Ivan fight was just plain boring, IMHO. Throughout the whole fight, we’ve never had a single panel showing us a middle/long distance view of the battle. I had no f*cking idea whether Ichigo was 5 meters away from Ivan or 500. I can’t really say we’ve seen much character development in this fight either, aside from finding out that Ivan’s face can be used as a measure to scare kids less than 3 years old all over the world and Ichigo maybe becoming a little more analytical during battles. This is the impressions section, not the analysis, I rate how I “feel” about the chapter, not what my brain thinks about it. And I can say that I “feel” that this fight was straight out boring. Too many close-up panels, too many unexplained events, too many predictable plot turns. Meeeeeeeeeh… boring.

And last but not least, we switch back to the good old man’s place. With what from the looks of it, looked like a one-panel K.O hit, Sasakibe finally joins the Bleach fodder army. On such a dramatic note, this chapter finally justifies its title and ends with a really nice cliffhanger. What can I say? Not bad, Kubo, not bad. The art was excellent (CP excluded), there were a couple of glory moments in this chapter, but otherwise it was pretty much mediocre, occasionally even ridiculous.

Sad, but true.


Predictions:

First off, let’s start with a couple of short-term predictions for the next 1-2 chapters.

- 7 Captains will appear in Genryuusai’s room ready to defend their leader
- Ichigo will have no issues defeating Ivan (option 1)
- Ivan's chant was more powerful than we thought, and its effects are slowly but steadily continue to eat away Ichigo’s bankai. He’ll be rescued by Ishida in this case. (option 2)
- In case Ishida really will arrive, he (Ishida) will demonstrate his knowledge of the abilities possessed by Ivan, possibly even including the “rap-like incarnation”. He will thus begin to Question Ivan
- At some point, either at the end of the chapter or the beginning of the one that follows, Urahara and Isshin will make their entrance, at which point Ivan will retreat stating he got what he came for
- back on the Captains side of things once the other captains arrive the 7 intruders will then retreat also stating that they have accomplished what they have come for, however they will not leave without making sure they leave some sort of example of their power in order to hype up the danger level of this coming war, this would mean that someone powerful, maybe even Yamamto himself may get injured in some way (possibly before the Captains arrive).
- it will become evident sooner than later that only a few people will be key in this crucial enemy-intel gathering time i would say Both Ishida and Ryuken, as well as Urahara and Isshin on Ichigo's side and of course Mayuri on SS' side. The reason I include Ishida is because he should have gained quite a significant amount of knowledge on the Quincy’s abilities, both from his training with his father as well as throughout the 17 months time skip.

And a couple of long-term predictions for the actual arc.

-The new villains are as strong as Yamamoto if they can casually talk about killing him.
-Ivan's mask is not a hollow mask in the sense that he is an arrancar, but he is badly scarred from years of fighting and wears that mask to cover his now useless eye, torn off from the hollow that did that to him. Same thing goes for the new villains.
-Mayuri will make an entrance and face of the intruders. He knows a lot about the Quincy and might even be able to counter their attacks just like Szayel countered most of Ishida's attacks.
-Ichigo is going to defeat Ivan easily and take him to Ryuken and talk about what's going on.



That’s how the predictions look like in this review, and that’s also where this review ends. I hope that you all had fun reading this review, maybe a couple of interesting ideas popped up in your head while reading it and it left you with a good feeling at the end.

We had a couple of newcomers this time around, so don’t be too harsh, although myself (alpha) I believe that they’ve worked wonderfully and I hope we all will continue to work together and create wonderful Joint Reviews.


SaitoSpike, The Underscore, Shinsatsu, The Newbie., alphabeta and mattiaildivino

[alphabeta]

For those who are wondering who wrote what part.

Intro = alphabeta
Banner = Shinsatsu
Analysis = The Newbie. + The Underscore + mattiaildivino (we had some organizational problems what resulted in three people writing the same section )
Impressions = alphabeta
Predictions = SaitoSpike (short terms) + The Newbie. (long terms)

[Kurohitsugi]

It was a nice try guys and thank you for your time. Although I admit I didn't enjoy the review as much as the ones Underscore writes in his own, I understand that one written by many people (maybe too many in this case) definitely has its problems, especially in the cohesion department.

Nice try, in any case.

[alphabeta]

It was a nice try guys and thank you for your time. Although I admit I didn't enjoy the review as much as the ones Underscore writes in his own, I understand that one written by many people (maybe too many in this case) definitely has its problems, especially in the cohesion department.

Nice try, in any case.

Well, yeah, we had a couple of problems this time (partly my fault ), the Reviewer Alliance is a new project afterall and we had three newcomers this time, but I'm still glad you liked it.

[mattiaildivino]

It was a nice try guys and thank you for your time. Although I admit I didn't enjoy the review as much as the ones Underscore writes in his own, I understand that one written by many people (maybe too many in this case) definitely has its problems, especially in the cohesion department.

Nice try, in any case.

but it was easy and maybe faster . By the way,I must agree,in this way there are too many different points of view,at times contradictory...

[SaintSheik]

A little prelude to The Avengers..I like

Well Underscore (and friends), I have a couple of comments relating to the chapter and what's to come. For one, Ivan is a certified creep-ass. I mean he goes from appearing in Ichigo's room to having an orgasmic reaction when Ichigo releases his bankai. What the hell man? Quincy + Arrancar = Weirdo?? Go away! That and you have to wonder where people like the Vandenreich, much like Xcution, have been throughout Bleach's history. It seems as though Ichigo and Aizen and their respective groups have been the only ones in recent times to shake up Soul Society the way they have.

Before then, it seems as though they didn't have much as to do then sit around with their age old logic and slaughter the Quincy..I hate to say that they kind of bring it to themselves but, hey...Funny thing is while Yamamoto has probably seen and done it all, his Vice Captain (who shall remain nameless due to his complete and utter worthlessness) is the first to fall against this mysterious group of sorts. Really? You are under the strongest shinigami in the Gotei 13 and in this final arc, you are taken out without even showing us what your Frenchmen shikai can even do? Again: Go Away!

That and from what I understand, Ivan was looking at absorbing Ichigo's bankai..but why just his bankai and not his overall powers? Maybe the whole end of the world ties in with Ichigo's Mugetsu? That and I'll have to double check, but didn't we hear that the world would be ending in three days in the beginning of this arc? Why is there a time difference with Soul Society? Is it due to the fact that there is a time difference between Soul Society and the living world or something else?

That and I have a theory about the new faces. Starting off with what's his face in the cover page, he's more than likely going to be the next generation/worthy successor of Ichigo by the series' end. That and I hope people don't take too much from the cover page dealing with the return of Ichigo's inner hollow. I know Kuugo said something to the effect of Ichigo having hollow powers but with the Inner Hollow fusing with Zangetsu, that would be recycling an old plot line as far as I'm concerned.

But anyway, I feel as though the Quincy Genocide should be explored a bit more. That and when we break it down, Quincy are special humans right. So when they were supposedly executed, what would stop them from retaliating in Soul Society if they went there? Did they go to Hell or Hueco Mundo instead? This also ties in with the fate of Kuugo..wouldn't he, as a special case, be in Soul Society?

This makes my head hurt. I believe Ivan and the others are a product of Quincy that absorb hollow based energy or at the very least, essentially Fullbringers with a Quincy factor: have hollow powers from birth on top of being of Quincy lineage. This is a lot at once and I literally have three different theories dealing with what is next but with the pace the manga is going, I'm fine with seeing how things turn out. I still believe the Vandenreich have to have a lot more in their arsenal to be some confident in their declaration of war. That and it's painfully similar to what Tobi pulled, just saying.

[Rubicant]

Well I definitely noticed that the whole thing wasn't voiced by Underscore but I still enjoyed it. Thanks guys.

Some time back (And if I had to find it I couldn't) I know that multiple comments were made of a KT quote where he said that the two hollows hanging dead in Szayel's lab, and found by Mayuri, would be of significance in a future/last arc. Do any of you care to speculate on that at this time? My first thought is these new villains are of the same breed discovered in that lab and perhaps that project was abandoned because not even Aizen could keep a group of them properly in check. Then again, I feel strongly that KT has made some allusions to ideas of his in the past and completely abandoned them later on so who knows right?

I couldn't shake the feeling that although it seems Love has no interest in being a member of SS, if someone like Yamamoto were to make an early exit here, not only would it strike remarkable fear into everyone (and require near Deus Ex plotting to allow a later win for SS), it'd be pretty exciting/polarizing for the fan-base. And it would open up that last slot for our lone ex-captain on the sidelines. I don't read a lot of manga, is that at all a likely outcome or are main characters just too valuable to the merchandising dept?

[The Newbie.]

What a rip-off. If we want out next review to even resemble a competent essay written by anyone above 10 years old then we should actually discuss the chapter instead of dividing the whole thing for different people to stapple a Frankenstein essay at the end.

[blackjack612]

I agree that the plotline revolving around Genryuusai was more compelling than that of Ichigo's brief enemy. The appearance of an enemy confident enough to face the captain commander could lead to a pretty interesting conflict between multiple parties who want different things: soul society, the quincy, the royal guard, Aizen.

[SaitoSpike]

heh well this is certainly an interesting attempt, it may take some work i agree...

also Alpha, the word you were looking for in my part is incantation

but anyways i can understand if it seems like its going up,down,left,right but we do not have ESP and thus it cannot be as simple and one minded as though it were written by Underscore.....its a learning experience i suppose

[Miyagi]

I think it's a good review considering that it's a joint effort from people who AFAIK had no previous experience of collaborating with other people in such a project. If you continue this project, I'm sure it will get better over time.

I will make a slight bit of criticism, I know you said impressions section was different from the analysis section but still impressions are based on analysis section and flat out saying "Ichigo's fight with Ivan had too many unexplained events and thus was boring" contradicts the concept of a review which aims to make a chapter more understandable by explaining or, if an explanation isn't possible, speculating on the events of the chapter in an objective manner. A review enriches a manga, makes people notice the hidden details and gives them extra info to talk about. People who find that part boring probably think so because they failed to understand what was going on, a reviewer had better not say "I agree with your sentiments that it was boring, I failed to understand it too" IMHO. I may be misinterpreting your objective though, in that case ignore what I've just said.

[The Newbie.]

I think it's a good review considering that it's a joint effort from people who AFAIK had no previous experience of collaborating with other people in such a project. If you continue this project, I'm sure it will get better over time.

I will make a slight bit of criticism, I know you said impressions section was different from the analysis section but still impressions are based on analysis section and flat out saying "Ichigo's fight with Ivan had too many unexplained events and thus was boring" contradicts the concept of a review which aims to make a chapter more understandable by explaining or, if an explanation isn't possible, speculating on the events of the chapter in an objective manner. A review enriches a manga, makes people notice the hidden details and gives them extra info to talk about. People who find that part boring probably think so because they failed to understand what was going on, a reviewer had better not say "I agree with your sentiments that it was boring, I failed to understand it too" IMHO. I may be misinterpreting your objective though, in that case ignore what I've just said.

This guy understands.

[alphabeta]

I think it's a good review considering that it's a joint effort from people who AFAIK had no previous experience of collaborating with other people in such a project. If you continue this project, I'm sure it will get better over time.

I will make a slight bit of criticism, I know you said impressions section was different from the analysis section but still impressions are based on analysis section and flat out saying "Ichigo's fight with Ivan had too many unexplained events and thus was boring" contradicts the concept of a review which aims to make a chapter more understandable by explaining or, if an explanation isn't possible, speculating on the events of the chapter in an objective manner. A review enriches a manga, makes people notice the hidden details and gives them extra info to talk about. People who find that part boring probably think so because they failed to understand what was going on, a reviewer had better not say "I agree with your sentiments that it was boring, I failed to understand it too" IMHO. I may be misinterpreting your objective though, in that case ignore what I've just said.

Thanks, Miyagi, constructive criticism is always welcome

As you pointed out, we are indeed a new group with a lot of newcomers, but the more time passes the higher the quality will also become.

Now about the impressions section. To make it simple. The analysis section is about what the mangaka wanted to say. The impressions section is about what I want to say. The chapter might have been the best in the world, but as long as I think it is stupid, that's what I am going to write in the impressions. This results often in some inconsentencies in the review. I'll have to reconsider this stuff sometimes in the future.

This guy understands.

Yep, this guy understands. But apperantly you don't understand that MH's official spam section is the Fun Forum as well as that criticism can be made in a constructive form and not in the way of trash and insults.

If you can make a better review, go and do it. I would only appreciate if more reviewers would appear.

And to clear all questions. What you suggested is that the impressions section would feature a truly "joint" opinion from all the participating reviewers. That is physically not possible, when there is a 4 days interval to discuss all the aspects of a review between 5 people. Especially when three out of those five log on once every two days.

[The Underscore]

Admittedly, a joint review could be more interesting if we'd be able to have the vivid discussion that Alpha and Newbie described. But with me being in the 60% that can only check up on things every two days or so I'm not one to talk .

A little prelude to The Avengers..I like

Well Underscore (and friends), I have a couple of comments relating to the chapter and what's to come. For one, Ivan is a certified creep-ass. I mean he goes from appearing in Ichigo's room to having an orgasmic reaction when Ichigo releases his bankai. What the hell man? Quincy + Arrancar = Weirdo?? Go away! That and you have to wonder where people like the Vandenreich, much like Xcution, have been throughout Bleach's history. It seems as though Ichigo and Aizen and their respective groups have been the only ones in recent times to shake up Soul Society the way they have.

Before then, it seems as though they didn't have much as to do then sit around with their age old logic and slaughter the Quincy..I hate to say that they kind of bring it to themselves but, hey...Funny thing is while Yamamoto has probably seen and done it all, his Vice Captain (who shall remain nameless due to his complete and utter worthlessness) is the first to fall against this mysterious group of sorts. Really? You are under the strongest shinigami in the Gotei 13 and in this final arc, you are taken out without even showing us what your Frenchmen shikai can even do? Again: Go Away!

That and from what I understand, Ivan was looking at absorbing Ichigo's bankai..but why just his bankai and not his overall powers? Maybe the whole end of the world ties in with Ichigo's Mugetsu? That and I'll have to double check, but didn't we hear that the world would be ending in three days in the beginning of this arc? Why is there a time difference with Soul Society? Is it due to the fact that there is a time difference between Soul Society and the living world or something else?

That and I have a theory about the new faces. Starting off with what's his face in the cover page, he's more than likely going to be the next generation/worthy successor of Ichigo by the series' end. That and I hope people don't take too much from the cover page dealing with the return of Ichigo's inner hollow. I know Kuugo said something to the effect of Ichigo having hollow powers but with the Inner Hollow fusing with Zangetsu, that would be recycling an old plot line as far as I'm concerned.

But anyway, I feel as though the Quincy Genocide should be explored a bit more. That and when we break it down, Quincy are special humans right. So when they were supposedly executed, what would stop them from retaliating in Soul Society if they went there? Did they go to Hell or Hueco Mundo instead? This also ties in with the fate of Kuugo..wouldn't he, as a special case, be in Soul Society?

This makes my head hurt. I believe Ivan and the others are a product of Quincy that absorb hollow based energy or at the very least, essentially Fullbringers with a Quincy factor: have hollow powers from birth on top of being of Quincy lineage. This is a lot at once and I literally have three different theories dealing with what is next but with the pace the manga is going, I'm fine with seeing how things turn out. I still believe the Vandenreich have to have a lot more in their arsenal to be some confident in their declaration of war. That and it's painfully similar to what Tobi pulled, just saying

.

Avenger reviewers, that'd be good. Too bad The Underscore Mask isn't here for that, now we'll have to do with just me. Having me instead of The Underscore Mask is like not having Steve Rogers as Captain America, isn't it? ... If only my knowledge of The Avengers would be as extensive as other Marvel titles

With what you mention here, I have to agree with you on the lack of clarity surrounding 'Death' in Bleach. Once you die, you go to Soul Society. But in Soul Society people can be born and die as well. But how does reincarnation work exactly? Do people who die in Soul Society turn into reishi, from which new souls are formed for the living? Remember, there's supposed to be a stable stream of Souls going from and to Soul Society, a balance that was disturbed by the Quincy. So in that respect, it would mean that Soul Society is a terminal of sorts to have souls pass through for recycling?

The conditions for this 'recycling' could explain what may have happened to people like Kuugo. Perhaps even to those who were once Hollow, yet plus souls. Maybe they immediately turn to reishi to be used for reincarnation of sorts. That could explain why we haven't seen Kuugo, nor Ichigo's mother, nor Ishida's grandfather, nor Orihime's brother nor... you catch my drift .

This aside, if there's supposed to be a balance between souls in the real world and Soul Society, then Soul Society is just plain too small. International Soul Societies would then have to be present, to regulate Souls world wide, which in then could allow for other areas where lost Quincy souls and other otherwise familiar souls could be hiding. But this is all under the assumption that Ivan and the others come from a form of afterlife, which we can't confirm or deny at this time. So we'll just have to wait and see what happens I guess .

Just a random rant of thoughts that came to me as I read your post .

Well I definitely noticed that the whole thing wasn't voiced by Underscore but I still enjoyed it. Thanks guys.

Some time back (And if I had to find it I couldn't) I know that multiple comments were made of a KT quote where he said that the two hollows hanging dead in Szayel's lab, and found by Mayuri, would be of significance in a future/last arc. Do any of you care to speculate on that at this time? My first thought is these new villains are of the same breed discovered in that lab and perhaps that project was abandoned because not even Aizen could keep a group of them properly in check. Then again, I feel strongly that KT has made some allusions to ideas of his in the past and completely abandoned them later on so who knows right?

I couldn't shake the feeling that although it seems Love has no interest in being a member of SS, if someone like Yamamoto were to make an early exit here, not only would it strike remarkable fear into everyone (and require near Deus Ex plotting to allow a later win for SS), it'd be pretty exciting/polarizing for the fan-base. And it would open up that last slot for our lone ex-captain on the sidelines. I don't read a lot of manga, is that at all a likely outcome or are main characters just too valuable to the merchandising dept?

I'd say it would be both creepy as well as boring if this joint review came out exactly the same way my usual reviews do .

I do remember about the rumours going around about those bodies Mayuri found. Though at the time I expected those to play a part in the short term, rather than the long term. With this being the final arc and all, I'd say Kubo will use this in his favor along with other questions raised in the previous arcs. Though I wouldn't be surprised if Kubo left a lot of things unanswered in the canon story which will only be answered in the character books or something like that.

Killing off Genryuusai would be the best way to emphazise the threat of this group. But I wonder how Kubo would pull that off. It would be the easiest way to make Love a captain again, though we could just as easily have one of the current captains join the Zero squad .