Bleach Ups and Down of the 2012.

[Marche]

Vote the moments or the fight of the 2012 for Bleach.
You can vote everything that happened between chapters 479 and 522.

The things that you can vote are these:
• Character of the year;
• Best new character;
• Best fight of the year;
• Funniest moment of the year
• Worst character
• Worst new character;
• Worst fight of the year;

• Best Moment of the Year
• Revelation of the Year
• Worst Moment of the Year
• Worst Revelation of the Year
• Most Boring Moment of the Year

I cut in this thread the "Pairing of this year" because at least for me there was not any pairing in this year. But anyways if someone want to vote for it can do as He/She wants.

[Hakuteiken]

Character of the Year: Shigekuni Yamamoto

The way he mourned over Sasakibe's death, the way he went killing off Driscoll, the way he went Bankai and the way he died. He was the man of the year by far.

Best New Character: Haschwald

We got to see little from any of the newly introduced characters, so, this is my personal preference. I hope he makes a good development in the new year.

Best Fight of the Year: Shigekuni Yamamoto vs Royd Lloyd

Enough reason to think so, since it included the character of the year.

Funniest Moment of the Year: Kirinji holding Renji like a red turnip.

The moment speaks itself.

Worst Character of the Year: Neliel tu Oderschvank

I don't have anything against her, but she should have showed up in her grown up form.

Worst New Character of the Year: Soul King

Looks like Chrysalis Aizen, which is hardly something that can be called cool.

Worst Fight of the Year: Kurosaki Ichigo vs Kirge Opie

A pretty dull fight, to be honest.

Best Moment of the Year: Captain-Commander killing Driscoll

It was also the best death of the year, so, Driscoll should be honored.

Revelation of the Year: Quincy stealing Bankai, not sealing it

It ended up being Byakuya's undoing against As Nodt.

Worst Moment of the Year: Choujiro Sasakibe's death

Clearly, it's not literally the worst moment. But it was depressing. I save the one that has a completely negative meaning to the most boring moment.

Worst Revelation of the Year: Kurosaki Ichigo's Bankai cannot be stolen

Really? What else to follow? Ichigo being immune to death?

Most Boring Moment of the Year: Royal Guards' arrival

They are so uncool.

[Cyber34]

Character of the Year: Juha Bach

Best New Character: Juha Bach

Best fight of the year: Yamaji vs Juha Bach

Funniest moment of the year: Royal Guards appearence.

Worst New Character: NaNaNa NajahKoop

Worst fight of the year: Kenpachi vs Imposter

Best Moment of the Year: Juha Bach's speech to Yamaji as he lay dead and the obliteration of his corpse.

Worst Revelation of the Year: Juha Bach hinting at a blood relation between him and Ichigo, as well as Ichigo being part Quincy. Him shooting arrows just wouldn't look right, and I'm tired of seeing him gain different types of power when he has not even mastered the one he started out with.

[Duniak]

Worst Revelation of the Year: Kurosaki Ichigo's Bankai cannot be stolen

Really? What else to follow? Ichigo being immune to death?

Well... Ichigo is part Quincy. It's understandable, that medallion wouldn't work... -.- If it could steal Quincies' power it wouldn't be beneficial, would it? I thought it was explained when Ichigo got out of Kirge's Jail. That's why Arrancar Quincy went after Ichigo. And, as we saw, that "stealing" wasn't the same as other's. There was whole ritual, not just taking out medallion and stealing it.

@Topic:

Character of the year: Shigekuni Yamamoto

Needless to say, he has to be there.

Best new character: Juha Bach

New villain, hate towards him is slowly being built-up.

Best fight of the year: Juha vs Yamaji

Funniest moment of the year: Kirinji in hot springs

Worst character: Kirge

He was just sooo boring. And, as we saw, pretty weak for Ichigo.

Worst new character: Kirge, as above.

Worst fight of the year: Kirge vs Ichigo

Boooring, hax abilities like Sklaravei destroyed in seconds...

Best Moment of the Year: Ichigo's comeback

Revelation of the Year: Revelation of Ichigo lineage. At least about Masaki.

Worst Moment of the Year: Sasakibe's death

[Hakuteiken]

Well... Ichigo is part Quincy. It's understandable, that medallion wouldn't work... -.- If it could steal Quincies' power it wouldn't be beneficial, would it? I thought it was explained when Ichigo got out of Kirge's Jail. That's why Arrancar Quincy went after Ichigo. And, as we saw, that "stealing" wasn't the same as other's. There was whole ritual, not just taking out medallion and stealing it.

I know. It made sense in a way. I just found it a bit of a dull development to glitch Ichigo's character more. Tensa Zangetsu is by far the most overused Bankai in the story, and it would be good to see it taking a short break.

[Exodi]

Has this arc really lasted a year already? WOW.

Character of the year: Yamamoto.

Best new character: Bach, I guess. We still know hardly anything about him, and he easily killed one of the strongest shinigami ever.

Best fight of the year: Yamamoto vs. Fake Bach (Royd), because Yamamoto's bankai is the most amazing thing ever.

Funniest moment of the year: Not too many of these since it's mostly been war. I guess Hikifune's transformation was good. Ichigo, Renji, and Kon's reaction to it were really what was funny.

Worst character: Rukia. She's my favorite character actually, but she shouldn't have lost focus when Byakuya was losing his battle. It's a war, child. I'm not cutting her any slack.

Worst new character: Quilge. I actually liked his fight with Ichigo, but Quilge's personality is annoying. If the anime were airing, I'd imagine him with a shrill, high-pitched voice.

Worst fight of the year: For me, the "worst" fights are the fights that one side won way too quickly or came as a complete shock. So, Kira vs. Buzzbee, and Sasakibe vs. Driscoll.

Best moment of the year: The entire Out of Bloom volume is the year's best moment. Everything from Byakuya being defeated by his bankai (Rukia's zombie face, anyone?) to Yamamoto obliterating Driscoll and fighting Roydbach.

Revelation of the year: Ichigo maybe being a Quincy and Unohana being the first Kenpachi.

Worst moment of the year: In terms of sadness, I say Yamamoto's death. And Kubo poured salt into the wound by having Bach slice off Yama's sword hand and step on his head. How disgraceful and perfectly depressing.

Worst Revelation of the year: I agree with Hakuteiken. Until we get a clear explanation as to why Ichigo's bankai can't be stolen, it's pretty lame.

[Firebird0ne]

Character of the Year: Yamamoto and his awesome bankai.

Best New Character: Shutara Senjumaru (We haven't seen much of her (him?) but WOW! Cool, sneaky and scary!)

Best Fight of the Year: The fight where Yamamoto released his bankai (strangely, also one of the worst fights because of the Loyd Royd troll...)

Funniest moment of the year: When Byakuya's head popped up in the hot spring, followed shortly after by Rukia's peachy butt! Ichigo freaking out was cute.

Worst Character: The returned Giriko Kutsuzawa. The guy hasn't even done anything and he still annoys me because he has no regard for people's lives. The guy killed his wife to test his power. Why would I want to see him again?

Worst New Character: Loyd Royd (He was too obvious a plot device. We all knew that Yamamoto had to fall to spell the end of Soul Society, but there had to be a more creative, or at least more subtle way...)

Worst Fight: Yamamoto vs. Juha Bach (the real one). I think that even after releasing bankai and being surprised with the stealing of his bankai, he would not have stood there and done nothing while Bach cut him in half. It made killing him look too easy for a guy who led the Gotei 13 for all of those years.

Byakuya's battle with As Nodt was problematic for me for much the same reason, but redeemed itself with a few moments so chilling it raised the hairs on the back of my neck!)

Best Moment of the Year: Kirinji flinging nearly dead Byakuya (Nobody flings the Kuchiki clan leader, NOBODY!...except this guy. lol)

Best Revelation of the Year: The reveal of Yamamoto's awesome bankai!

Worst Moment of the Year: Byakuya's dead...no, he's not...no, yes he is! No, he's not, but he will be except for divine intervention. He's only mostly dead...I think. (Can someone please make up his mind?)

Worst Revelation: Yamamoto wasn't fighting the real Juha Bach...for reasons mentioned above

Most Boring Moment: Ichigo trying to get out of the #$%@! cage!

My Own Add-ons

Scariest Moment: As Nodt's 'fear' attack (Zombie Rukia and creepy bugs on poor Byakuya. EEEEEEEEEK!)

Most Irksome Loose End: Is Kira dead??? There was a tiny hint he isn't, but it was never explained. Maybe it will be at some point, but it's a loooong wait.

Overall, a great year for Bleach. A bit painful for Yamamoto, Byakuya and Kenpachi, but still epic on the whole.

[0Xellos]

Firebird0ne: The Most Irksome Loose End for me is more of a long-term one, and goes to Is.Gin.Alive?

[Firebird0ne]

Firebird0ne: The Most Irksome Loose End for me is more of a long-term one, and goes to Is.Gin.Alive?

Oh, I should have included that! He is one of my longtime fave characters!

[Hakuteiken]

Firebird0ne: The Most Irksome Loose End for me is more of a long-term one, and goes to Is.Gin.Alive?

Let's start a campaign to bring back Ichimaru Gin, the proud creator of this smiley
Kubo shall never confirm him dead in his interviews. Never! At least, let him live in our dreams.

[0Xellos]

At least, let him live in our dreams.

Better yet, in fanfic too! (Not like I'm going to create any, probably )

[Torran]

Character of the year;

1- Bach. Mainly because he's so ruthless. He's not afraid of taking action and for him killing and death has lost all value but acknowledges its consequences. That part where he killed Yamamoto just like that is awesome because he simply brushes it aside, as if it never happened, "You, whom I have wanted to kill for a thousand years! I'm going to kill you! You are dead! Time to move on". Also, as a character he's been giving many clues about his past, like his face upon Yamamoto's arrival which displays a mixture of murdering intent and ecstasy, which is also one of the best pages of the arc and Bleach in general. But also how he behaved (or Royd did, but the Lloyds could copy somebody to the very essence, so it was actually Bach in a sense) when faced with his old subordinates, which combined with his other actions, suggest that at some point he cared about others but something horrible happened to him (most likely the war) which changed him forever. His appearance is also great, and very effective. I think his design is based off Vlad the Impaler but it actually manages to be more imposing and dangerous with that unkempt appearance and his sheer size (even bigger than Kenpachi), and how his face shows age and displays so much emotion even with such a thick mustache, it's all great. Bach is like a perfect representation of Soul Society's fuck up from a thousand years ago biting back and everything about his appearance and personality show it.

Worth mentioning:

Kirinji, because he does what he wants. It's like he knows he's in a position do so and never misses a chance to screw with people. It takes balls to annoy Unohana. He's also hilarious.
Yamamoto. His character is not the most complex or fascinating but the idea he represents and the story behind him are. Everything about him go to show he's a battle hardened veteran who will never stop until achieving his goals (or at least he was before softening up). Even as a decaying old man he did a last comeback to show why he's so feared and respected, and also gave us a lot of information about the past and himself.
Quilgue. Mostly because he's very devoted to following orders but at the same time making the most out of it. He's pompous and loud, but gets the job done and loves every second of it. He is also very good at representing the Quincy, with their cold personalities during battle and their sense of superiority.

Best new character;

Bach, see above.

Worth mentioning:

Kirinji, Quilgue. See above.
Äs Nödt. Somehow manages to be creepier than Mayuri, and his eyes are not what have to do with it. It's probably how the toys with pure fear what makes him so unsettling, a terror in plain daylight.

Best fight of the year;

There were only 3 fights: Ichigo against Ivan, Ichigo against Quilgue and Yamamoto against Royd. Everything else was just a small panel of somebody getting cut or attacking. But what truly represents the hopelessness of the war was not a battle, it was this page, all of it. That page is just great storytelling, the imagery, the details, the meaning, everything really. Kenpachi's lifeless (he's not but you get the point) body hung in the air by the neck with such ease. Kubo knew it had to be Kenpachi, who is often associated with strength, or with fighting prowess, who is also imposingly tall, beaten just like that. Had it been any other character or even captain nobody would have cared, but it was the captain with probably the biggest fanbase, grabbed by the neck by an even bigger character, bleeding everywhere and with no eyepatch, utterly defeated. This page singlehandedly represents how fucked the Shinigami were, and even somebody who hasn't read this arc would understand just by looking at this page.

Funniest moment of the year

Anything with Kirinji, really. The hot spring and the "Flaming Blood Pool of Hell". This page is also funny in a bad way because of how he manages to rub thousands of deaths on Unohana's faces with such carelessness.

Worst character

That guy with the Luchador mask that beat up Renji. Quincy are meant to be imposing yet this guy looks and behaves pathetically compared to the rest of the Stern Ritter. Even silly looking characters like Nanana manage to leave an impression because of how straight forward they talk.

Worst new character;

Luchador guy again.

Worst fight of the year;

Kenpachi vs "The Yourself". That character was the definition of disposable, and I don't even know what her power was.

Worth mentioning:

Yamamoto vs Nödt, Buzzbee and Nanana. At least one of them is confirmed alive and As Nödt is most likely alive too, but when that chapter came out I felt as if their characters had been wasted for the sake of reminding the readers that Yamamoto is strong.


Best Moment of the Year

The Closing Chapter. In a single chapter the Stern Ritter turned the Gotei 13 upside down.

Revelation of the Year

The Royal Guards being the foundation of Soul Society.

Worst Moment of the Year

There are two moments where the story blatantly pauses for the sake of reminding the readers about the Quincy, add nothing to the story and take about half a chapter each. It's just terrible to wait a week only to get a chapter full of exposition for those that don't remember some things from previous arcs.

Worst Revelation of the Year

Same as above. Half a chapter explaining that the Quincy are back and nothing else of value.

Most Boring Moment of the Year

The same as above again.

[dex]

• Character of the year;
Juha Bach wins it for me

• Best new character;
squad 0 as a whole would be the most epic thing here...but ill vouch for Kirinji and Oetsu guy (epic characters)

• Best fight of the year;
not many fight were there but ...errmmm fake bach vs yamaji ??? nah byakuya vs Ass Nodt for me (idk it was something we hardly see in bleach...good guy getting owned to this level)

• Funniest moment of the year
"puts you in the mood for peaches" ; "turnip head renji"; byakuya getting tossed around; banana pose ; similar nature of Kon and Oetsu (you feel the same way about my house), ichigo renji tossed from one royal guard city to other...many more

• Worst character
soi fong (my all time opinion) , kirinji trashing her was pure EPIC

• Worst new character;
Kirge ; annoying ,gay quincy release, blabber mouth etc etc.

• Worst fight of the year;
byakuya vs Ass Nodt , coz i felt really bad for byakuya getting beaten this way... (its my fav and worst fight...idk so many mood swings while reading it )

•Best Moment of the Year
SOooooooooo many of them are there.... anything but the rain...byakuyas request to ichigo (that whole chapter was amazing) ...yamaji tanking sasakibe bankai to feel his reiatsu for last time...Driscoll getting burned to bones with ryujin jakka after that...yamaji sasakibe yamaji-shunsui flashbacks...yamaji releasing bankai...Juha Bach personality expressions and attitude...aizen trolling JB... squad 0 entry...Soi fong getting owned by Kirinji...Kon... many more

•Revelation of the Year
Unohana taicho- The First Kenpachi , nothing can beat it also Yamaji's Bankai (full of awesomeness)

•Worst Moment of the Year
Byakuya's loss and his helplessness after that

•Worst Revelation of the Year
i accept everything after Kubo has done such a great job...no complaints

•Most Boring Moment of the Year
None that i can recall...

[exacta]

• Character of the year;
Yamamoto Shigekuni Genryusai.

• Best new character;
Juha Bach. The Vandenreich are a great group of antagonists, and so far he's the one leading them. Plus the sense of danger around him is crazy. And he's ruthless the way he treats his subordinates and the way he killed Yamamoto. His speech afterwards was amazing, and it's very intriguing how he speaks about peace yet is so freaking violent. I wonder how this guys mind works exactly. And he has a backstory with Yamamoto. Great villain so far, he's one of the reasons Bleach has had such a turn around with this arc.

• Best fight of the year;
Yamamoto vs Juha Bach/ Royd Lloyd - the ending was brutal, and Yamamoto got trolled a little, but Kubo completely delivered on Yamamoto's Bankai, and it was just a really freaking cool fight.

• Funniest moment of the year
Nel flying down from the sky out of nowhere tackling Ichigo. What an entrance....I literally screamed out loud when I turned the page and saw her. Scared the hell out of my quadmates. It's about damn time Nel returned. Pessche's dialogue after reappearing right after Nel was funny too, and the Royal Guard has also been pretty amusing.

• Worst character
Chad for still being completely useless.

• Worst new character;
Kaojumaru. He looked EXACTLY like Aizen. At least Haschwald cut his face in half really quickly.

• Worst fight of the year;
Despite how amazing this arc was been, too many fights with the Stern Ritter were off-screened. I mean we don't even know what half of the captains were even doing during the invasion, apparently they got into fights though since they have injuries. I suspect that this was done on purpose to give the anime more things to cover so it can come back sooner without Kubo having to worry about it catching up as much. Maybe I'm just being overly optimistic. I'll give it to NaNaNa vs Rose though, since it seemed like Kubo was actually going to show us that fight and give Rose a moment to shine but instead he off-screened it. I was tempted to give it to Kenpach vs Juha, but even though I would've loved to see their fight it really didn't bother me, since it made Juha look even more dangerous and Yamamoto appeared right behind him on the next page anyway.

Best Moment of the Year
Yamamoto getting angry and burning Driscoll to ash.

Revelation of the Year
That there's a secret army of Angel-Nazi Quincy enslaving Arrancar and stealing Bankais. I knew Kubo would bring Quincy back one day in some way, but I didn't think that would be his first move after the Xcution arc and it was a damn good idea.

Worst Moment of the Year
Byakuya surviving. Byakuya's a great character, but his death would have had such an impact, plus the way Kubo handled that scene was perfect, it would've been one of the best character deaths I've read. He probably pussied out because of all the Byakuya fans threatening him on Twitter. Guess I can't blame him too much though when he's trying to restore Bleach back to it's prior place in the rankings.

Worst Revelation of the Year
That Yamamoto's Bankai really could be stolen. Kinda made him look like a dumbass, although his initial theory made so much sense....at least now we'll have a more interesting reason for Ichigo's not being able to be stolen, I guess.

Most Boring Moment of the Year
The first chapter of the arc. I liked it and thought it was a good way to start off with a clean slate, but yeah that would be the most boring moment of the year.

[Firebird0ne]

Exacta...not meaning any disrespect, but Byakuya's survival was not due to fans griping. First of all, Kubo said in an interview that he has had the events of this arc planned out since the Arrancar arc several years ago. Secondly, he foreshadowed Byakuya's survival in Chapter 503 when he placed Byakuya's pic right next to the pic of Ichigo saying "I won't let you die." Ichigo specifically made promises to Byakuya, Rukia and Renji. And finally, In Chapters 512-13, when Ichigo doesn't answer Byakuya's final request, he is doing something that because I have studied psychology, I recognize as refusal to recognize what Byakuya is saying as a last request. Instead, he is pursuing Juha Bach because the man is responsible for trashing Soul Society and hurting his friends. He still doesn't accept Byakuya is going to die. If he accepted it, he would have said something to comfort him in some way. He wouldn't have remained silent.

I am very pleased that Byakuya is still alive and has a role to play in upcoming events. To see his character come full circle after the way he started out in the beginning of the manga will help to make this last arc both entertaining and fulfilling. So, I hope to see lots of development there, especially between Byakuya, Rukia and Renji.