Joint Review of Bleach 489: March of the StarrCross

[alphabeta]

LOL, originally I invited vaga to the OP team, but that was when I took another break and the whole thing died.

Whatever, with 4... 5... (how many reviewers are on this team now? *re-read thread* oh, yeah, it's 4 alright ) that's more than enough to cover all the sections. I'll post the section list in a min.

---------- Post added at 02:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:38 PM ----------

Section List

alphabeta	Intro/Outro, Panels and Captions
mattiaildivino	Plot (Analysis), Predictions
OtakuModeEngage	Characters (Analysis)
Mrlazsa	Hater (Impressions)
vagabond87	Fanboy (Impressions)
~Coffee~	Banner

[mattiaildivino]

oh,so that's the format. if someone wanted to do the predictions,I'd be happier,since the analysis is already long enough. otherwise,no problem,I'll deal with both of them

[vagabond87]

Fanboy fits me- looking at quality of latest chapters of Bleach I think I can let my inner fanboy go wild :P Especially with war coming..
So my role would be to fangasm all over the place?

[mattiaildivino]

Fanboy fits me- looking at quality of latest chapters of Bleach I think I can let my inner fanboy go wild :P Especially with war coming..
So my role would be to fangasm all over the place?

oh,but if you are so confident in future chapters,what do you think about dealing with the predictions as well?

Cap'n Alpha,what do you think of posting here some instructions of how to review,such as the ones you wrote last time?

[OtakuModeEngage]

I've never done it before, so it may be a little rough, but I'm sure I can pull off character analysis (its not like when I was writing Impressions I didn't analyse everything anyways)

[alphabeta]

Fanboy fits me- looking at quality of latest chapters of Bleach I think I can let my inner fanboy go wild :P Especially with war coming..
So my role would be to fangasm all over the place?

Yeah, fangasm all you want

oh,but if you are so confident in future chapters,what do you think about dealing with the predictions as well?

Cap'n Alpha,what do you think of posting here some instructions of how to review,such as the ones you wrote last time?

For the new format? Yeah, I suppose I am going to write something like that in the future.

I've never done it before, so it may be a little rough, but I'm sure I can pull off character analysis (its not like when I was writing Impressions I didn't analyse everything anyways)

I know I can count on you.

---

Whatever, dealine's 1st may.

"The sooner you start, the sooner you finish."
Old chinese reviewer saying

[mattiaildivino]

ok,so the deadline is 1st may,we have some days. at the end,someone with a high level of english should read and correct it if there are mistakes,imo. Otakumodeengage is american,so he should be the best for what concerns english amongst us.

---------- Post added at 04:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:07 AM ----------

here's my analysis. I suggest you do your job in 2 days,since the new chapter is already coming out.

March of the Starcross starts with the vice-captains waiting for their captains in SS,Rukia is nervous because of the situation and Renji,as usual,suggest she calm down. When Rukia is about to reply,Kira interrupts them to ask something: he's realized that both the invasion of the rebel army and the disappearance of hollows are connected,but he can't make out how people are vanishing in Rukongai,that's why he asks his comrades if they have investigated outside district 50. Yachiru tells him that Ikkaku and Yumichika did it,and found footsteps which gathered and stopping,made by naked feet and sandals. Kira explains then the situation: after district 50 living standards decline and (here you are,gentlemen, the stupid thing ever seen in Bleach) that there are stats of the last 550 years which tell that after district 64 no citizen wears sandals. can SS keep a record of such a trivial ? by the way,the smartes vice-captain guesses that the footsteps were left by shinigami,and that SS usually sends the 12th squad to deal with this matters. If this time things are different it's because Mayuri is hiding something. Nemu adfirms she believes in her captain,and doesn't care that Kira will report that to Yamamoto,although Mayuri didn't inform her of his actions.
The scene moves to HM,where Nel is astonished viewing the 3 bestia defeated. Kirge makes ichigo know that he already knows who they are,but ichigo isn't worried,since Ivan knew that too and in fact he came after him. The captain of the Iacto Arme reveals that they know who ichigo is because their majesty gave them infos about ichigo, referring to him as if they could use him in war. Thus,other soldiers attack him,and surround him in the air. Ichigo quickly notices that their movements aren't due neither to shunpo,nor to Sonido or Fullbring,but that they can actually use Hirenkyaku, the quincy ability. The soldiers pull their cross out and attack him with spiritron arrows,from which Ichigo escapes (obviously) alive. Then he asks them if they are reallt quincies, but is blamed by Kirge for not being sure of that. The soldier is right: how could he attack them without even knowing who they were? well,Ichigo and his comrades should be strong enough not to care about these matters,imo . The crazy man creates his bow as well,and his about to attack Ichigo,admitting they are truly quincies.
somewhere else, a vandenreich receives infos cocnerning Ichigo's fight with Kirge,and informs Buckbeard, who decides to go to invade SS counting on Kirge to keep Ichigo busy. The enemies' leader doesn't seem aware of the reasons for which Ichigo came there,so he probably doesn't know about Urahara and the others being there either. He orders his men to contact the Stern Ritten (in German "Star Knights") nonetheless.
Meanwhile,in SS, Mayuri is admitting to the Captain Commander that he made his subordinates kill 28000 inhabitants to correct the balance of souls, damaged by thhe hollows' disappearance in chapter 480. The CC doesn't understand why the captain of the divison 12 hasn't asked permission,which would have been obtained thank's to the gravity of the situation and charges him with what's happened (maybe he is referring to Sasakibe's death too). Mayuri clear himself stating that when Uryu came to SS the first time,he did advise the CC of that possibility,but the latter didn't care about that. To conclude,Mayuri tells Yamamoto that the responsible isn't the former but the CC himself,because 1000 years ago he failed to kill that man (Buckbeard,who is in fact shown in the picture below,the last one).

[alphabeta]

Predictions?

---------- Post added at 11:35 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:56 AM ----------

Dealine's been changed to 30th april.

---------- Post added at 06:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:35 AM ----------

Right, forget predictions. Chapter's out.

[mattiaildivino]

yeah,I thought I'd do predictions yesterday or today,but the chapter's out,so it would be pointless dealing with them. well,at least the review will be even shorter

[vagabond87]

My fanboy part.
Sorry for some mistakes. I hope its ok.


So lets start fangasms over this chapter
I think that non of us thought that disappearance of people in Rukongai was caused by Mayuri wanting to correct the balance of souls. This was very clever move done by Kubo, it added a lot to Mayuri character. I think that chapter showed us how much of a boss Mayuri really is being able to execute such move as killing 28 000 personas to get things as they should be, acting on his own and doing this without permission from Yamamoto

He even had guts to say in CC face that everything what is happening right now is his fault because he failed to kill enemys lider long time ago. With that line and last page of this chapter Kubo made Mayuri one of most badass capitans in my opinion.. I was like "Oh shit it looks like he will die even before Vanderreich invasion on SS >,>". Before that he was.. well... just Medium-Badass but now he went one league up in my book. But that has to be expected when we are about to enter a war with Quincies- he is the man that killed and experimented on them, he is one of biggest enemies of Quincy if not THE biggest in entire SS. Cant wait for more Boss Moments from Mayuri in upcoming chapters

Second Boss of this chapter was Kirge. He is one of most charizmatic bad guys in my opinion. I dont mean that he is deep or smthn like that.. he have a lot of charizma, he is ruthless and crazy and all of this in cold, calm way. In few panels it was shown that he defeated 3 bestias(owning Quincies grunts like crazy moments before) with a smile on his face and without breaking a sweat... Thats Is what I call build up to a badass fight with Ichigo that is coming our way. I have to admit that I am fan of Hellisng manga/anime/OVAs so with that quincy looking like some nazi from Hellsing I am simply bought.

Last thing that was great this week- THE Art
Me simply loooooves what Kubo is doing every week with his drawings. Some people might say- "hate meh meh meh its so low on content meh hate meh meh" but its how Bleach aways was and how it will stay. It was once again far better than simply "good". Kirges design, some of Mayuris new ugly mug and lot of Hellsing-Nazi vibe as I said before that we get with few pages of drawing put a "Kirgesmile" on my face(+glasses)
Sooo pumped up for Kirge with Ichigo

[mattiaildivino]

thank's the contents are very good .however,as you said,there are some grammar mistakes. Alpha should correct them when he will assemble our parts. if there are mistakes in my part,don't hesitate to correct them as well !

[Mrlazsa]

As the hater my job is to point out the bad things about the chapters, the defects, but with this chapter, well, it was definitively not easy. Still I must say Kira’s deductions are really weak, they’re based on mere assumptions and sandals statistics , though in the end he was right. On the other hand Ichigo is almost sleepwalking, he is absent and incapable of understanding what's goin’on around him as we can see from the surprised look on his face when he realizes his German fellows are actually quincies, what other evidence did he need to get that? Kirge’s speech was going nowhere, what’s the point with the brutal interruption? Let him finish the phrase, he won’t tell anything special except repeating he is a Quincy for the hundredth time. I’m really sorry for old man yama, no wait, I'm really disappointed, he is totally losing his cool: he once was a badass but now he is miserable, just a scared old man facing the consequences of his mistakes while he can’t even face Mayuri. One last thing: Mayuri, is just my opinion but you should reconsider a new look, this one is not as good as the old ones

[mattiaildivino]

As the hater my job is to point out the bad things about the chapters, the defects, but with this chapter, well, it was definitively not easy. Still I must say Kira’s deductions are really weak, they’re based on mere assumptions and sandals statistics , though in the end he was right. On the other hand Ichigo is almost sleepwalking, he is absent and incapable of understanding what's goin’on around him as we can see from the surprised look on his face when he realizes his German fellows are actually quincies, what other evidence did he need to get that? Kirge’s speech was going nowhere, what’s the point with the brutal interruption? Let him finish the phrase, he won’t tell anything special except repeating he is a Quincy for the hundredth time. I’m really sorry for old man yama, no wait, I'm really disappointed, he is totally losing his cool: he once was a badass but now he is miserable, just a scared old man facing the consequences of his mistakes while he can’t even face Mayuri. One last thing: Mayuri, is just my opinion but you should reconsider a new look, this one is not as good as the old ones

ahahah,yours is too funny! a silly clarification: you should have said something about the art,although you may go through a compromise which tells us the art was too good to complain

[Mrlazsa]

that's what i meant in the first line: chapter is so damn good i kinda don't know what to hate.
anyway i think i can do something about the art, just gimme a minute

[alphabeta]

MUHAHAHA, laz, vaga, laughed my ass off at UR parts

Whatever, I updated the OP, will do the proofreading later. And I added predictions.

Only otaku's parts left.

---------- Post added at 11:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:39 PM ----------

O.K. mattia, I proofread your parts. You know that after a comma, you use a space to make space (use space to make space? ), don't you?

LOL,we're gonna go,down on,friday --------> WRONG

LOL, we're gonna go, down on, friday --------> CORRECT