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With a face like that, how can you resist? Read on!
Sorry guys, I had planned to release Bleach comments earlier than this, but well, I was too lazy! Yup, that's my excuse. Not that I wasn't excited enough to do Bleach comments, but typing so much does take its toll on me sometimes. But hey, finally got around to it today. And I'm glad I waited, because this chapter was a little more complicated than usual. It sure felt like a full chapter! I could've done fifteen comments on this one if I wanted. Another nice thing about waiting, too - we certainly got a lot of nice Edited Mangas in the meanwhile! M7 did a great job this week, so I'm going to use their pages for the review. (Binktopia did too, but I'm not too crazy about their translation - it's way too liberal imo. No offense to Mankai, their translator. Thanks also to BleachBuzz for doing a bang-up MQ Edited Manga, keep it up!)
Thanks also to pocketmofo and Winterlion for submitting their translations for the chapter here at MH - and lastly but not least - AkiDotress, who filled in this week for another translator. Much appreciated! As for the guy she replaced for a while - Djudge, hope your wrist heals fully soon!
Feel free to comment as always and please enjoy!
* * * Gold Knight's Ten Comments on Bleach Chapter 246: The Desert Bros. * * * 
Batting practice!
1. Getting Off Easy? You know what, I can't really imagine Ichigo at this stage of his career as a "substitute shinigami," after all the Hollows he's had to deal with in the past, and having been trained by Rukia to always attack to cut the Hollow's head off - to have held back from completely annihilating a Hollow that was apparently chasing after a little kid in the desert.
Look at Zangetsu; it's not even out of its bandages. Chad and Ishida even got into the act, too, and after what they did to Iceringer and Demoura, really surprising that they didn't destroy any Hollows, either. I know it's another case of "Plot no Jutsu," where Tite Kubo intended for these guys to be a factor for the rest of the storyarc, but still... Dondochizzle, Pesshe, and Bawabawa lucked out BIG TIME here.
Be thankful they weren't, like, KILLED...?
2. The Bullies being Bullied? Gotta say I'm glad Tite Kubo didn't intend for this to be another Hollow fight but rather an introduction of new supporting characters (even if brief). It's a much more refreshing story twist.
So they were just playing "Endless Tag," huh. I can understand there being a sport like that in the middle of nowhere just to pass the time. Hueco Mundo reminds me a bit of the Shinigami's world in Death Note - where the reapers had nothing to do but play skulls and stones.
As for Nell's design, haha - well, okay, I'll get to that in the next comment.
They ought to join Don Kanonji's troupe...!
3. The Desert Bros..!? First off, Tite Kubo never ceases to amaze me with his character designs. During the Rescue Rukia arc, I was thinking that, wow, the Gotei 13 are all very interesting, but at the same time, that was probably going to be the end of Kubo's memorable cast in the series, right?
Boy, was I ever wrong. After the Gotei 13 came both the Visoreds and the Espadas. As if that wasn't enough, now we have the Desert Bros., each of them also quite distinctive in appearance and personality once again, especially Nell Tu.
Looks like Tite Kubo's got one pretty active imagination, huh - I wonder just how many more characters he's still got in store for us? One thing's for sure, though - he won't run out of people to put on his volume covers anytime soon!
Nell seems to be the type of character meant to be adorable and cutesy, kind of in the Yachiru mold, but still different. More like a street urchin dressed in barbarian clothes ( the skullcap was an especially nice touch, I'd say! ) and one who's managed to form a gang out in the middle of nowhere with just her personality. Or looks, I suppose.
I'm going to venture a guess and say that Nell is the type of Hollow that was originally an "earthbound spirit" or "obsessed spirit," and actually had no malice whatsoever in her former life (well, she was just a child, wasn't she?) And now, she's an Arrancar, but I wonder how she became one!
Wouldn't be surprised if Dondochizzle was originally a killer (since Chad noticed that he spoke like a yabuza member) but I'm sure there's been plenty of mafia members who weren't all that bad. We don't know much about Pesshe yet, but I like his "ant" design the most. Bawabawa, heh, seems quite tame for a Hollow beast...
And if you're wondering why I'm referring to Nell as a "she," please see the next comment.
As long as Nell's not Hollow food...!
4. What is Nell, indeed...? Well, about the Desert "Bros." - I know most translators believe that Nell Tu is a "boy" and refer to Nell as a "he," "him," and "brother," but I thought straight off after seeing her that Nell was going to be a girl. (Of course, wouldn't be the first time that I could be mistaken, but I digress...)
Winterlion has actually supported this with her own translation. Ichigo referred to the siblings as 兄妹, which means "big brother, little sister," not Not 兄弟, which means "big brother, little brother." Winterlion surmised that the chapter was titled "Desert Bros." just because "Desert Siblings" wouldn't sound quite so catchy in English.
Anyway, because of that, that's why I'm referring to Nell as a she.
Hero worship, anybody?
5. "The Good Guys." Should've figured that the perspective of the Hollow world would be decidedly different from that of the Shinigami and the Human world. The Espadas are apparently very well-respected to the denizens of the Hueco Mundo, if Nell's words are anything to be judged by here. And why not? Here, the Espadas are the best of the lot, and they're all working for the Hollows, basically. Though I think calling themselves "desert bugs" in comparison were kind of sad. But I'm reminded of how the rest of the Soul Society felt about themselves as opposed to the Shinigami.
And also of the Matrix movies, too, of how people "trapped within the Matrix" believe that the world around them is "right." Looks like Ichigo and company may have a tough time convincing Nell and company otherwise. Well, if they don't go feed on human souls - or will they? Or perhaps, Arrancar aren't so much Hollows at the core anymore, and they're a bit more shinigami-like. So far it's seemed that way... Kind of cool to see that the Arrancar aren't ALL so smart and deadly and so confident of themselves, though, and there are ones like Nell out there, too.
Trick or treat!
6. The Wrong Gang. Well, nobody will ever accuse Ichigo and his friends of being deceivers. Didn't even feel like they had to hide themselves while they were travelling through the enemy's homeland!
Heh... well, Nell and his friends' reactions weren't completely unexpected here, although I had thought that they'd be totally clueless to who the shinigami were all about. Guess not, though. Must've been educated pretty well. Maybe Aizen makes a point of going out into the wasteland and making speeches to the Hollows.
Hear me roar!!! (Or spit out sand...)
7. The Sand Guardian...! Just had to say that I really liked the design of this monster. And that I've never seen so many defense mechanisms in place for an archvillain's hideout before in any manga before.
I've always thought that villains such as Orochimaru, the Akatsuki, and Crocodile in other stories made it a bit too easy for people to reach them. But Aizen, on the other hand... it's going to be quite the journey to even reach the "Wizard of Oz," eh? Already, Ichigo and co. have had to fight through two near-Arrancar, and now a huge Hollow made of sand. And there's still the Espada to come. Pretty impressive.
This really feels a lot like the beginning of the Soul Society arc, too, when Ichigo had to fight his way through Jidanbou, the gigantic gate guardian. Since Aizen came from the Seireimon, though, it makes sense that he'd apply similar defenses.
Even though Ichigo may be able to break through them, for most people it'd be daunting enough that they'd be deterred from going any further. (Although Runaganga certainly seemed even more formidable than Jidanbou!)
You said you wanted a shave?
8. Surprise Attack! Well, Ichigo certainly didn't waste any time here trying to kill Runaganga
Although I can understand Ichigo relying on the Getsuga as it seems very quick and to the point, I hope this won't turn out to be like Naruto's Rasengan where he constantly uses it as his signature move. Let's see something a bit new, please.
Ichigo's ban kai is sort of a disappointment when you think about it more though - it is essentially just more speed and a superpowered Getsuga. Although maybe there'll be more to it later on. I suppose he did master it in only a short time, and Byakuya seemed to imply to Renji that their ban kai could improve with experience.
What a sucky move.
9. The Antlion's Trap...! Well, alright, that would be a pretty effective trap for any intruders. Gotta hand it to Runaganga, that's a better way of guarding the fortress than just to fight head on head. Wonder if he uses the same "quicksand" moves that Ganju did back there when he used to travel with the group, except to a larger extent.
Brain freeze!
10. Here's Some Water...! Heh, Ichigo asked Nell what his weakness was, and got "water" as an answer, all I could think of was, heh, water in the desert, what a lifesaver it can be, huh?
Guess who?
Well, looks like Rukia and Renji decided to tag along after all. I'm really happy to see that Rukia didn't abandon Ichigo, because she certainly owes him a lot. And we've still yet to see Rukia kick butt that much, especially as a Shinigami.
As for Renji, I can't say I'm all that happy to see him though. In my opinion, despite his ban kai probably still in its premature mode, we've seen enough from him. I'd have liked to see one of the other assistant Captains instead - Hisagi Shuuhei would have been good, because he clearly wanted to see Tousen again. Well, maybe later on for all that, I guess.
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars. This was one of these rare Shonen Jump chapters where I truly felt like it was a full chapter - it gave us a lot of story and action in one go. And lots of new developments. Very well done on Tite Kubo's part. If the rest of the storyarc were all like this chapter, we're in for an awfully good tale.
Predictions: Renji and Rukia talking to Ichigo and co., what else? I'll be interested in seeing how they react to Nell and his friends, as well.
Credits: Thanks to M7, and all our translators here.
Hope you enjoyed, and looking forward to seeing what you think!
Listen to Nell!
