Bleach Chapter 480 – The Thousand Year Blood War - Review / Thoughts

So with this chapter begins the final arc of Bleach. From the recent interviews a lot of possibilities were opened up for storylines, and it appears the main overall plot will be a war between Soul Society and the Quincy. But getting back to here and now, how did the arc start quality wise with chapter 480?

Well the chapter itself wasn’t that great unfortunately, though this only being the beginning of what will probably be a very long arc, I had pretty much expected as much. It started off very well with some lovely colour pages showing Mayuri and the correction squad in a panic over the amount of Hollows in Karakura town, who were being completely wiped out on a massive scale by something other than Shinigami, who Mayuri only referred to as “Them”. While not 100% confirmed, it’s pretty safe to say that Them is almost certainly the Quincy, though that would be very interesting considering the only two remaining Quincy readers are currently aware of are Ishida and his father Ryuuken.

After we see that in the colour pages is when things take a bit of a downturn, we see a couple of new characters in this chapter who are being sent to Karakura town to help with the control of Hollows, as Soul Society does not want to place too much work on Ichigo, and the other Shinigami who was helping to guard the town had left that position. There are a few funny moments between the two new characters – Yuki and Shino. Later we see Shino and Yuki searching for Hollows in the town, but when Yuki finds one and is hoping for some help from Shino, he finds she has been attacked and defeated already by a Hollow, laid out by a single blow. Yuki panics and wonders if the same fate awaits him, but as the hollow approaches, he is saved by the sudden appearance of Ichigo who cuts down the Hollow with ease.

That was pretty much it for the chapter this week, Mayuri at the start was awesome and Ichigo’s appearance at the end was pretty damn badass and a nice way to end the chapter, but overall it just felt a little flat. No doubt over time things will pick up and we will find out a lot more about everything, so hopefully the pace can still quicken up even if only a little for the upcoming chapters.

Bleach Chapter 492 - Balancer's Justice - Review / Thoughts

Bleach has been on really good form throughout this arc, and for the most part chapter 492 continues that. However, it's still not perfect, as unfortunately it also got a little bogged down unnecessarily.

I am of course referring to Shino and Yuki, the two new characters who were introduced in this arc. Aside from being pretty dislikeable in the first place, interjecting them in to what was otherwise a strong chapter is hardly going to win them many fans, especially as the role they played was pointless for anyone who has been reading or watching Bleach all these years.

Ayon was (pardon the phrase) a beast. He just went on a huge fecking rampage and pulverised Kirge in to the ground. Seriously, he just really went to work on him, punching and smashing him literally in to the ground. It was so intense that Orihime was visibly shocked and acted like it was so gruesome she couldn't believe her eyes, and even Chad commented on how what Ayon was doing was just overkill.

What's really impressive is the fact Kirge somehow managed to not only survive the incredible beating he took (heck, Apacci comments on how amazing it is that he even remained in one piece), but also stabbed Appaci right through the chest. He then got up and shrugged it off like it was nothing, and that was as impressive as heck. It was always likely he was going to win that particular battle, but damn, if that kind of beating doesn't stop him, I really don't know what will.

The battle between Kirge and Ayon was brilliant, and if the whole chapter had been that, then I would have been commmenting on how good it was. Unfortnately though, as I said earlier, it was bogged down by the unnecessary appearance of Shino and Yuki, whose only purpose in this chapter was to give us a recap of why the Quincy and Shinigami are constantly fighting each other. We saw all of this years ago back when we were finding out more about Ishida, so to throw this crap in amongst an awesome fight was nothing more than a waste of everyone's time.

Overall I will still say it's a good chapter purely based on the Kirge vs Ayon stuff, but there is no denying that the Shino and Yuki part was pointless and awful. My advice is to skip their parts as it will tell you nothing you didn't already know, and if you focus purely on the fight, this is a brilliant chapter.