Bleach Chapter 481 – The Tearing - Review / Thoughts

Now as those of you who read my review of last week’s chapter know, I was disappointed by the slow pace and lack of worthwhile happenings. Initially it looked as though this week would be the same, but then things became interesting at the end.
 
Well usually I go in to descriptions of what happened, but I won’t bother as not an awful lot did take place this week, but I will of course cover the points of interest.

Firstly, it was nice to see some of the Visored again. The opening panel with Hiyori and Lisa was welcome, and they even mentioned other members like Hachi too which is a good sign Kubo hasn’t forgot about them. We also got to see that both Shino and Yuki are ok after the previous hollow attack, because (as you can see from the above picture) they were saved by Ichigo, Chad, Ishida and Orihime. I love the panel showing the four of them standing there facing the hollows, it was one of the highlights of the chapter.

A bit later in the chapter Ikkaku is seen in a rush running somewhere, and when asked confirms he has some news. We don’t find out what that news is in this chapter, but we will know soon enough with any luck. The best and most interesting part of the chapter was right at the end, as Ichigo and friends were sat sorting out the food Orihime had brought over to share, suddenly a man appears on the nearby bed and introduces himself as Ivan Azgiaro. Ichigo turns round and sternly just responds by telling him to get off the bed, and then the chapter ends.

Now of course Azgiaro is a new character, and very much appears to be some kind of Arrancar. Kubo hinted in the recent interview about some members of the Arrancar making a return, and it wouldn’t surprise me if this was his way of reintroducing them. From the impression I got Azgiaro doesn’t seem like an enemy or a threat, and is most likely just some sort of messenger for someone else. With this new character’s sudden appearance and Ikkaku’s unknown news there were certainly a few interesting things thrown up in the latest chapter, and overall it was these two things that stood out and saved what otherwise would have been an extremely plain outing for Bleach.

I am looking forward to seeing what is to come next week, and if you plan on reading the next chapter then reading this one is pretty much essential too.