The Underscore's Bleach review 503: Wrath as a Lightning

[The Underscore]

503: Wrath as a Lightning

Madness, tension, double cliffhanger. Four words to describe everything that happened in this chapter, without doing it any justice at all. Better get another NNNN words into it then! Thanks to Mangastream for their scanlation!

A Kenpachi carol

On the first day of invasion, Kenpachi gave to me: Three dead Stern Ritter, two possible targets, and one big smile to go~~.

Kenpachi gets to do his intro once more, carrying all but THREE Stern Ritter skewered on his blade. Sure, I only noticed two when I wrote the previous review, but given Kenpachi's explanation on the three victims, it's an easy mistake to make. Besides, the most important thing to note is simply: Kenpachi's here! Gus (Buckbeard's right hand man) seems to think that's the most important thing to notice. That is, until Kenpachi gives Gus and Buck a special present.

Stern Ritter Y, R, and Q have fallen victim to Kenpachi's boredom. Stern Ritter R, The Roar, was the first one to fall. This knight had the ability to transform into a gorilla in order to fire off sound bullets with his roars. This makes me wonder, what is Jerome Guizbatt? There's no sign of a Hollow Mask, as far as I can tell from these couple of images showing him, meaning he didn't use a Resurreccion to change his appearance. Does this mean that Quincy have the ability to transform themselves? Or could it be that 'R' was a Fullbringer that could activate his own body in the same way Chad uses his skin to create his arms? So many questions, so little time that Kenpachi cared about any of them. The Roar couldn't refrain from roaring at Kenpachi, so Kenpachi couldn't refrain from cutting him in half.

Inadvertedly, Kenpachi actually managed to kill his target at the exact right time. As explained by Urahara a couple of chapters ago, the Stern Ritter have their Blut ability to strengthen either their offensive or defensive abilities. Obviously, The Roar was busy applying it to the offense, leaving his defensive ability on 'normal levels' (whatever those levels might be). Kenpachi thus managed to cut The Roar at the exact right time. Though we could attribute this to Kenpachi's battle experience, I'd like to see this as nothing more than sheer luck .

Rumor has it

Correction: Kenpachi IS a monster

After cutting The Roar in "two perfect halves", Kenpachi was confronted by The Question. Bernice Gabrielli took the time to explain to Kenpachi how Kenpachi was supposed to meet his end. Considering the title 'The Question', my guess is that The Question uses questions to kill her victims. Too bad for Bernice that Kenpachi wouldn't even listen to her, even if he wasn't deafened by Guizbatt's Roar. He did hear some whispers from her lengthy rant, so he came to the conclusion that she had to shut up. But Kenpachi isn't one to hit a woman, so he cut her throat instead.

In this case, it would seem that The Question couldn't raise her guard on time, because she was on the offense. Guess the rant was part of the attack. Perhaps her ability works in a similar manner to Äs Nödt (Stern Ritter 'F', The Fear). A psychological attack, most likely revolving around questions in the same way Äs Nödt's attack works around fear. Perhaps the questions she would ask causes the target to forget anything related to that question. For example, if she were to ask: Do you even know how to wield a sword?, the target would completely forget how to use a sword. Whatever the case, she's dead .

This leaves us with Y, The Yourself. Loyd Lloyd (seriously Kubo?) most likely uses his third eye to see into his target in order to copy it. Whatever the case, The Yourself was the only target worth remembering as he turned himself into Kenpachi! This apparently gave Kenpachi some trouble, but considering Kenpachi only had to surpass himself it ended up easy enough.

Gus is impressed enough, to the point where he prepares to fight Kenpachi. But Kenpachi only wants to fight Buck. In an instant, Kenpachi slashes at Buck, who quickly blocks the attack using his arm. Guess he isn't into catching swords with his upper body like Kenpachi. Though the comedy is about to unfold in Soul Society, there's a tragedy still taking place in the Garganta.

Tension

Next up, the Getsuga Tenshion

Still trapped in his jail, Ichigo contemplates on all that's happening while he is locked away. Somehow, Ichigo knows that there's something going on with Byakuya, Renji, and Rukia, even though the connection to his phone was already cut off. Whatever the case, Ichigo knows he needs to get to Soul Society as soon as possible.

Firing off a series of Getsuga Tenshou, the ricochets of the blasts hit Ichigo. As he vows to protect all his friends, things are happening to Ichigo. Though it almost seems like Ichigo's face is covered with the blood caused due to his attempts to break free, the slivers of Reiatsu in the frames leading up to the one shown above, make me think the pattern on Ichigo's left side could be part of something old made new.

Perhaps Ichigo will no longer have a Hollow Mask if he wants to power up beyond Bankai. The downside about Hollowfication has always been that all of Ichigo's expressions had to be done using his eyes. Sure, Kubo has the skills to pull this off, but there's a limit to how much you can express in a manga using only a character's eyes . My guess is that the stripe forming on Ichigo's left side is the same pattern as the final form his mask had. The fact that it appears on his left side probably has to do with the pattern his mask had at first, which also (solely) formed on the left side of the mask. Perhaps this is the time for Shirosaki to make his appearance again, even though he was supposed to have been suppressed 17 months ago...

Overkill

There is a limit to how much you can look like Yammy

Hisagi gets blown into one of the buildings, even though he's using his Shikai. The Overkill, Driscoll Berci, can't help but pity his victim. Even though Hisagi is a Vice-Captain, he can't even hold a candle to Driscoll. Hisagi even admits (to himself) that The Overkill is too much for him to handle. He can't even call it a match.

Driscoll explains to Hisagi that the difference in power is only natural. Buck gave Driscoll the letter 'O' for Overkill, due to his ability. The more he kills, the stronger he gets. It doesn't even matter what he kills. Hopefully this guy didn't drive through Southern Europe this past summer, with all the mosquitoes he'd kill along the way...

But Driscoll doesn't remember all the mosquitoes he's killed in his life. What he does remember is the amount of Shinigami he's killed in the past couple of days. 200, including a certain Vice-Captain got killed by him. The way he did this was with the giant lance he makes as his weapon. Hisagi is about to experience the same death that Sasakibe had. The Overkill charges his lance and throws it, adding another kill to his power-up. But Overkill is about to learn that Karma can be quite the grumpy old man...

Karma

This guy's here to claim his letter

Hisagi gets saved by the man amongst men. Sure, we can enjoy Kenpachi going apes against apes. But when Genryuusai Yamamoto boils with anger, you know things will heat up more than Kenpachi could even hope to achieve. For some peculiar reason, Driscoll is actually happy to see Genryuusai. He somehow got the notion in his head that Genryuusai will die at his hands, only because he holds Sasakibe's Bankai. Something tells me that The Overkill is underestimating Genryuusai just a little bit...

So, will the strongest Shinigami alive be able to hold off a Quincy who grows stronger with every kill? Genryuusai will have to face a Bankai without being able to use his own. Then again, Genryuusai's skill with the Zanpakutou is enough to instill fear in Kenpachi, and Kenpachi already killed off three Stern Ritter. Besides that, Genryuusai's got a score to settle...

KuboTitle

Wrath as a Lightning can refer to quite a few people we've seen in this chapter. For one, it could refer to Kenpachi. Sure, he didn't display as much wrath as he displayed utter joy, but his attack on Buck struck like lightning, and then some. Then there's Ichigo. There was quite some thundering going on in that jail of his as he released his frustrations.

The most obvious reference would have to be Genryuusai, who was lightning fast as he stopped the person who murdered Sasakibe from committing another murder. Though there's a fourth candidate. The Zanpakutou arc in the Anime revealed that Sasakibe's Zanpakutou had lightning attributes. So perhaps Gonryomaru's the one the title is referring to. Especially now that Gonryomaru's Bankai is going to be revealed in the upcoming chapter.

This chapter could've used a couple of extra pages in order to show us a bit more than what we've seen here. But at least it entertained us enough. The chapter started with the revelation of how Kenpachi's madness resulted in the death of three Stern Ritter to his attack on Buck. Oddly, he doesn't even get rid of Gus before going after Buck... then again, Kenpachi uses a single, and surprisingly effective, strategy in all his fights: cut down anyone whose worth fighting.

From Kenpachi finally arriving at his Nirvana, the chapter went to Ichigo in his personal hell. Ichigo keeps thinking about how he needs to get to Soul Society, once more thinking of those who have already fallen victim to the Vandenreich's invasion. Needing to get out of his prison, Ichigo realizes that he needs to draw out all his strength. I wonder where Kubo intends to go with this new development in Ichigo's powers. Perhaps Kubo will come with an explanation as to why Zangetsu took on a new form as well.

Finally, the chapter ended with Sasakibe's murderer revealing himself. With quite the extravagant power of increasing one's strength with every single kill, he would be trouble for most Shinigami who would have to face him. Hisagi didn't even stand a chance. But with Genryuusai arriving on the scene, The Overkill will have a challenge to say the least. But Driscoll seems to enjoy tormenting his targets. The way he intends to torment Genryuusai is simple: Use his former Vice-Captain's Bankai against Genryuusai.

All in all a more than entertaining chapter in my opinion. Sure, this is another one of those set-up chapters, preparing us for a result in the confrontation between Kenpachi and Buck, a new power-up for Ichigo in the near future, and of course, Genryuusai getting his revenge. But this doesn't change the fact that it looked awesome and that some of these developments might be key to the future developments in this arc. So I'm quite pleased with what Kubo achieved here.

Though the Vandenreich seems to consist of more than Quincy, the Stern Ritter seem to consist of solely Quincy. All the Stern Ritter seem to have unique abilities, a lot of which don't seem to fall in line with the absorption and manipulation of Reiatsu in the same way we've seen Uryuu and Ryuuken do. Also, when Opie and Ichigo were fighting, Opie revealed that Ishida should be a lot stronger than Ichigo accredited to Ishida. So: Is it possible that Ishida has an ability unique to him that has yet to be revealed?

The fight between Kenpachi and Buck won't go so well. Let's face it, though Kenpachi deserves to kill Buck, I don't think he'll be able to hold his own against someone who survived a confrontation with Genryuusai 1000 years ago. Not to say Kenpachi will die at Buck's hands, because Kenpachi has too much 'Luck' to just up and die there. Then again, Kenpachi's death would be interesting on some level...

Ichigo's power-up might leave him in a state similar to when he was fighting Ulquiorra. Though in a more controlled state. Either that, or Ichigo will just get a great boost in power, which comes at some price, allowing Ichigo to fight the Vandenreicht to the point where he can hold them back for a bit.

As for the fight between Genryuusai and Driscoll. I'm expecting Genryuusai to waltz right over Driscoll. He'll take an attack or two from the stolen Bankai, but Genryuusai's wrath will burn away Driscoll and the smug look on his face. Perhaps next week's chapter will be named: Wrath as a Flame!

That’s it for this week’s review. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Be sure to let me know what your thoughts are on this week’s chapter and/or review, give any theories that you may have and to vote in this week’s poll. Don’t forget to rate this week’s chapter! I’ll see you guys again next week!

Rate this week's chapter by clicking on the picture above!

[mattiaildivino]

great review my dutch friend! (I went there on holiday ) . btw, the chapter was great,although there were some troubles because mangareader hasn't uploaded the page where O reveal it's sasakibe's bankai yet. on a side note,kenpachi will be annihilated by buckbeard with a single strike,imo. he will survive,but will think he lost because of the eyepatch,instead of acknowledging the quincy is no match for him. however,BB will witness the SR's blonde leader fighting kenpachi.

[kanamechidori]

I know why the prisons still active.

I'm going to bet that it was designed to absorb the prisoners attacks

Ichigo was taunted with shinigami calling out to him to drive him into a corner and make him desperate to use getsuga tensho again and again strengthening the barrier each time

It probably wasn't to hold him forever, just to make him use the majority of his energy in a blind rage

I have a feeling the only way for him to get out is to go back to human and wait until the prison weakens

That would be much harder and make for a better scene than just firing a new more powerful getsuga.

[mattiaildivino]

I know why the prisons still active.

I'm going to bet that it was designed to absorb the prisoners attacks

Ichigo was taunted with shinigami calling out to him to drive him into a corner and make him desperate to use getsuga tensho again and again strengthening the barrier each time

It probably wasn't to hold him forever, just to make him use the majority of his energy in a blind rage

I have a feeling the only way for him to get out is to go back to human and wait until the prison weakens

That would be much harder and make for a better scene than just firing a new more powerful getsuga.

who knows,that would last too much,according to the lot of attacks he's been shooting. I'd prefer a definitive attack which breaks it,or maybe and help from the outside,such as urahara or the new entry's attack.

[kanamechidori]

Meh I like the idea of Ichigo having to think his way out of a trap

[mattiaildivino]

instead I can't bear it! ichigo should better escape from that cage,and urahara and the other one must help him quickly.

[Sanadan]

I liked this chapter and I like that Ichigo isn't instantly coming to save the day. So many things are going on at once and the suspense is super high, their really doing a number on my head with this arc and I love it, but I will friggin boycott this manga for like a day or 2 if Toshiro and Byakuya gets killed.

Nice review, you have my thanks.

[Darjaille]

I'm really looking forward to seeing if the theory about the line appearing on Ichi's face is an actual pattern of the mask, or just blood. We've been there a lot, assuming something and then being wrong, but I don't really doubt Ichigo's despair would trigger him into a new mode. I will just assume that the prison doesn't disappear when the caster is dead (if he already is) and is really, really really strong. Opie is a Sternritter whose speciality is exactly that, so I don't see why it shouldn't be strong. And idk, but I don't think Ichigo is to go to SS just yet, so it would be interesting to see just how much power will Ichigo have to exert to get out, if the jail will keep even hollowified Ichigo in.

I expect to see the exact same thing on both Commanders' fronts, BB waltzing over Kenpachi and Yamamoto doing the same thing to The O. I like parallels
But I don't believe Kenpachi will die though. It seems to be like Kubo is trying to make him one of the more important characters.

[The Underscore]

Wait a sec... there's something called a 'New Reply' button here... I remember using that in a very distant past....

great review my dutch friend! (I went there on holiday ) . btw, the chapter was great,although there were some troubles because mangareader hasn't uploaded the page where O reveal it's sasakibe's bankai yet. on a side note,kenpachi will be annihilated by buckbeard with a single strike,imo. he will survive,but will think he lost because of the eyepatch,instead of acknowledging the quincy is no match for him. however,BB will witness the SR's blonde leader fighting kenpachi.

Why thank you. Such a shame you didn't send a PM before you set off to Amsterdam. For all we know we could've bumped into each other (not to say I live in Amsterdam, but with The Netherlands being relatively small and all ).

I wonder whether Kenpachi's pride will allow him to fight 'Gus' after being blown away by Buck. Something tells me it would only motivate Kenpachi even more to fight until he actually dies...

I know why the prisons still active.

I'm going to bet that it was designed to absorb the prisoners attacks

Ichigo was taunted with shinigami calling out to him to drive him into a corner and make him desperate to use getsuga tensho again and again strengthening the barrier each time

It probably wasn't to hold him forever, just to make him use the majority of his energy in a blind rage

I have a feeling the only way for him to get out is to go back to human and wait until the prison weakens

That would be much harder and make for a better scene than just firing a new more powerful getsuga.

Admittedly, I didn't consider this to be an option. It would make sense, though. I guess it didn't cross my mind because there's such a great amount of the Getsuga's reiatsu that escapes whenever Ichigo tries to blast his way out. But I wonder to which extend Ichigo can revert to his 'human' form. In theory, his body is still in Karakura town. Though the previous arc never explained whether Ichigo leaves his body, or his experience with Fullbring allows him to use his Shinigami powers without having to drop dead... I wouldn't mind Ichigo having to wait things out while having a nice conversation with Zangetsu .

who knows,that would last too much,according to the lot of attacks he's been shooting. I'd prefer a definitive attack which breaks it,or maybe and help from the outside,such as urahara or the new entry's attack.

I wouldn't be too surprised to see Ichigo pulling an overpowered Getsuga Tenshou that allows him to escape. It's something I can see Kubo use. Though I wouldn't mind seeing a new attack besides the Getsuga Tenshou in order to achieve this. The mysterious figure, however, is a good second option. Perhaps that mysterious figure will free Ichigo and demand that he can come along to face the Vandenreich...

Meh I like the idea of Ichigo having to think his way out of a trap

It would be quite the change of pace. Thinking before acting isn't necessarily a Kurosaki trait .

instead I can't bear it! ichigo should better escape from that cage,and urahara and the other one must help him quickly.

I don't mind Kubo taking the time to let Ichigo escape. Heck, he can take 20 chapters to achieve this for all I care... so long as he releases one chapter a day

I liked this chapter and I like that Ichigo isn't instantly coming to save the day. So many things are going on at once and the suspense is super high, their really doing a number on my head with this arc and I love it, but I will friggin boycott this manga for like a day or 2 if Toshiro and Byakuya gets killed.

Nice review, you have my thanks.

You're welcome, glad you liked the review.

It almost looked like Ichigo would instantly come to save the day, but then Kubo actually pulled a fast one on him. It does help to build the suspense in this arc. Especially considering how Kubo has now decided he will allow (some) main characters to die. But I'm afraid that Byakuya can be considered to be as good as dead. Though the fact that we saw him in this chapter makes it seem like he only lost his Zanpakutou and he might just be unconscious at this time...

I'm really looking forward to seeing if the theory about the line appearing on Ichi's face is an actual pattern of the mask, or just blood. We've been there a lot, assuming something and then being wrong, but I don't really doubt Ichigo's despair would trigger him into a new mode. I will just assume that the prison doesn't disappear when the caster is dead (if he already is) and is really, really really strong. Opie is a Sternritter whose speciality is exactly that, so I don't see why it shouldn't be strong. And idk, but I don't think Ichigo is to go to SS just yet, so it would be interesting to see just how much power will Ichigo have to exert to get out, if the jail will keep even hollowified Ichigo in.

I expect to see the exact same thing on both Commanders' fronts, BB waltzing over Kenpachi and Yamamoto doing the same thing to The O. I like parallels
But I don't believe Kenpachi will die though. It seems to be like Kubo is trying to make him one of the more important characters.

At first I thought it actually was a trail of blood. But when I looked a bit closer (to compensate for all the details I've missed over the past couple of months ) I could see the actual pattern marked a bit clearer than the drops of blood. Though it could just be wishful thinking from my part . But with the jail's actual workings still being an unknown factor in the whole, we won't know what will maintain or destroy the jail. But a power-up tends to do the trick .

As for the parallel on the two battles here. I'm actually expecting to see just that. Who knows whether Kenpachi will survive, but I'm more than certain that The Overkill will be changing his nickname to Overcooked soon enough .

[mattiaildivino]

Wait a sec... there's something called a 'New Reply' button here... I remember using that in a very distant past....


Why thank you. Such a shame you didn't send a PM before you set off to Amsterdam. For all we know we could've bumped into each other (not to say I live in Amsterdam, but with The Netherlands being relatively small and all ).

you are damn right! I stayed only 6 days,with some friends. yet,we did enjoy the city nonetheless . also,congrats to the Dutch: they behaved really amicably!

I wonder whether Kenpachi's pride will allow him to fight 'Gus' after being blown away by Buck. Something tells me it would only motivate Kenpachi even more to fight until he actually dies...

why do you call him Gus?was his name revealed? btw,he won't fight the leader because of his loss,he will try to "get revenge" against BB,but the former will stop him and deal with him. that's a kinda compromise,to let kenpachi be forced to fight "Gus"

I wouldn't be too surprised to see Ichigo pulling an overpowered Getsuga Tenshou that allows him to escape. It's something I can see Kubo use. Though I wouldn't mind seeing a new attack besides the Getsuga Tenshou in order to achieve this. The mysterious figure, however, is a good second option. Perhaps that mysterious figure will free Ichigo and demand that he can come along to face the Vandenreich...

I don't mind Kubo taking the time to let Ichigo escape. Heck, he can take 20 chapters to achieve this for all I care... so long as he releases one chapter a day

yeah,right now,rather than having him saving the day,I prefer to see yamamoto and the others fighting! the only reason I want to see HM again is because of the new entry.