Raiyuu

[quote name='Magus']With Lillinet being the only fraccion left, I'm glad that there's only one now[/quote]Bzzt. Wrong. Oh so sorry. Apache, Mila Rose and Sun-Sun may be nearly 'armless (LULZ) but they're still alive and presumably have Resurreccion-form abilities to show us. [quote name='Gavin']...at the expense of say Stark/Kyouraku and Ichigo/Ulquiorra.[/quote]Who-chigo? I thought Hisagi was the main character. :catgirl:

Then why the heck are you reading Bleach? It's been going long enough that you know it's always going to take a while to get to the main event. Personally I like the drawn-out detail. It's a chance for KT to show off his visual and martial imagination. But if you're not a fan of that kind of thing how on earth have you kept reading this long?

The new chapter is out! Prediction: Naruto will solve his natural energy problem the same way he solves every problem. He couldn't do Rasengan because it involved doing two things at once, so he made a clone to rotate his chakra. He solved the problem of adding elemental power to Rasengan with another clone. This one can be solved with clones as well: because they all share chakra, he can have a clone hiding in a corner standing perfectly still, gathering natural energy and sharing it with his real body, which is then free to move around. 'Twill be so, mark my words.

On the final page, Robot Pain has a flashback of Jedi Pain throwing the nail and thinks 'So he used his powers for that, too'. Kakashi Mangekyou-warped the nail into Dimension X and that's why warping the missile as well is taking him into the Negative Chakra Death Zone.

Just because the scanlators translate it as 'he' don't make it so, heh. I haven't seen the JP script so I can't theorise with any authority but it's very rare to actually use a gender-specific pronoun in Japanese, especially in a fight situation where it's likely to be all 'omae' and 'kisama' and 'ano yarou' (all pronouns carrying varying degrees of embedded insult but none of which specify the subject's gender). I thought Soi Fon was cool - until she had to be bailed out by the wide load versus a Fraccion. Get on with it, Soi Fon - you've got a no-wins record thus far and we've never seen what it actually looks like when that lethal second strike lands. Turn on the Flash Step and the Flash Release and stab those butterflies so I can respect you again.

[quote name='Phenom']Take it back further, Kira lost to Matsumoto. Yumichika beats Hisagi. How do you rank something as tipsy as that?[/quote]My absolute favourite thing about Bleach is the fact that you can't simplistically rank the characters in order of strength. Yumichika beat Hisagi because Hisagi didn't see his power-leech coming. Matsumoto beat Kira because he got cocky about Wabisuke's abilities and didn't count on her being able to negate them in one easy move. How you rank them is you don't. Kira's and Hisagi's Fraccion opponents were vulnerable to their unique abilities; their Reaper opponents back in Soul Society weren't. It's a question of context, and it's a hell of a lot more subtle - and therefore, in my book, a more interesting and unpredictable read - than easily numbered power rankings. [quote name='Gavin']Plus really that kill was both pure luck on Rukia's side and pure stupidity on Aaroniero's, he knew all her zanpakutou abilities from Kaien and yet went close enough so she could reform her sword between his eyes.[/quote]I'm pretty sure it's implied that Shirafune is a dance Rukia's acquired since Kaien's death, hence why Aaroniero couldn't see it coming. He was still really, really dumb, but again, this is what makes Bleach cool: just because Rukia is around maybe 7th seat and Aaroniero is the tenth strongest Arrancar in Aizen's whole army doesn't mean she can't take him down with the right move executed at the right moment. The fights don't all come down to a contest of brute strength, which is why strength rankings are meaningless. [quote name='Gavin']...some relatively nameless Fraccion should be as fast as Soifon...[/quote]Soi Fon wasn't trying. She had her opponent pinned and didn't bother Flash Stepping to give her the old double-Suzumebachi-prod. Ggio says as much ("you should have Flash Stepped in to finish me off"). Not using her full speed was undoubtedly complacent on Soi Fon's part, but in all probability Ggio is not faster than her. To end on something we can hopefully all agree on: thank goodness Oomaeda only got half a chapter to nobble the Elephant Man. I'm sure everyone's somebody's favourite character but the amount of page space Oomaeda gets is inversely proportional to the amount that I'm bothered.

Actually there is a new chapter out ... only One Piece is taking a break. Bleach and Naruto are business as usual. Naruto's having happy fun times chopping the tops off mountains - that should make a mess of Pain, mehopes.

I'll be happy as long as Barragan isn't #1, but if Halibel can cut Hitsugaya in half for me that'd be a nice bonus as well. To be honest what I'm most looking forward to is seeing how Haineko, Sougyo no Kotowari, Katen Kyokotsu, Gegetsuburi and Gonryuumaru actually work. (Five points available for anyone that can match the swords to the wielders!) Matsumoto's released twice now, and the others have released once each, and no one has a clue what any of their shikai do!

*sigh* I tried to stay away ... look how long that lasted. [quote name='Rurouni922']Yes, I'm just wondering what Naruto's practicing while the frog-toad, whatever the hell he is, sleeps. Don't know if you guys missed that. My guess is it's some cheap Rasengan upgrade.[/quote]Has no one else sussed this out yet? I though Kishi was telegraphing it pretty clearly. Tsunade and Kakashi have forbidden Naruto from using his RasenShuriken because it causes massive nerve damage in his arm. Sage mode provides rapid healing and incredible resistance to damage. Therefore with Sage mode, he can use the RasenShuriken - which, let's not forget, was powerful enough to counteract Kakuzu's multiple [strike]hax[/strike] hearts - without making his own arms fall off. Check out page 10 of the latest chapter. The mountain/tree/thingy in front of Naruto is split in half and there's a big cloud of debris hovering over it. Which means he's learned to throw the RasenShuriken, as well, making it a genuinely useful upgrade to the Rasengan - a long-range attack, something his arsenal's been missing.

Honestly, the very last thing [i]Naruto[/i] needs at this point is [b]more[/b] two-dimensional antagonists. It already has such an enormous cast, and so much focus on Kishimoto's favourites, that we have to wait literally months before seeing [b]our[/b] favourites (i.e. Shikamaru, the series' main saving grace) in action. This manga could do very comfortably without Raikage coming between Konoha and Hawkatsuki, the only clash the fans remain remotely interested or invested in. What we want to see: Shikamaru; Kakashi; Konoha's heroes all-out versus Hawkatsuki What we'll get: Sasuke being constantly bailed out by his implausibly loyal and self-sacrificing followers in the name of a stupid revenge plot even he doesn't really understand; flashback after flashback of Raikage and Killerbee having brotherly spats, because Raikage wants to protect Killerbee and the village while Killerbee just wants to rap all the time; years and years of training and pointless meandering subplots while Kishimoto pads for time, trying desperately to salvage his hopelessly trainwrecked plot. Bye, [i]Naruto[/i]. You're just not worth the two minutes a week it takes to read any more.

My first theory was that the numbers must correspond to entries in the bingo book, and that Jiraiya was telling his friends who Pain's six bodies were ... but since Kishi seems to be playing up the fact that only Naruto / the people who knew Big J best can crack the code, I'm obviously way off base there.

[quote name='Gavin']Who's the captain providing Aizen's alibi ? Is this just coincidence or something more ?[/quote]It's Shunsui, surely. KT made a point of showing him encountering 'Aizen' while everything was going down. The scary thing this arc has shown is that literally every high-ranking Shinigami in SS has been Absolute Hypnotism'd, where before, in the End of Hypnosis arc, it was inferred that he'd perhaps only done the lieutenants. Also, one of the crusty Central 46ers looked a bit like Barragan. Conspiracy theories ahoy!

Well, -105 answers the question of how Hiyori ended up Lieutenant of Research and Development - it wasn't Research and Development at the time, Kisuke and Mayuri made it that way. Maybe this explains why she went Vizard, too. If Kisuke left and Mayuri became my new Captain, I'd want to get as far away from him as possible, and give myself a massive power boost so I could hold him off if he ever came a-knockin'... Also, is it just me, or was Yoruichi [i]flirting[/i] with mini-Byakuya?

Oh, I didn't mean Soul Society was just using the 'balancer' thing as an excuse (though looking back at my last post that is how it came out...). I'm sure they're acting with the best of intentions, and genuinely believe what they're doing is vital work without which the universe will collapse. (And I'm not saying it isn't or it wouldn't, either.) But look at it from the Arrancar point of view - these sinister guys in black just rock up in your private dimension to slaughter you 'for the greater good'. They didn't help you when you were a plus, just left you to turn into this monster that wantonly slaughters your living family and friends. You pulled yourself out of that, going through a long and arduous process of hybridisation to regain your reason, restraint and emotional range and now here they are finally; now you're a rival to them in terms of power, [i]now[/i] they've got the time to come deal with you, except it's the pointy end of the sword they're using this time. You're absolutely right that neither of us can really prove or disprove anything without a direct line to KT, but it's fun to debate anyway.

[quote name='Gavin'][SIZE="1"]...I think the Shinigami position against the Hollow is realistic. After all, if we assume that all souls in the world are "blanked" and recycled between the two worlds, then in effect, the Hollow do actually upset that balance. God knows how many souls one Hollow consumes over it's lifetime, but it's certainly a great number. Taking that into account, if Hollow were simply allowed to go about their merry way, it would come to a point where Hollows would have consumed so many souls, recycling would be impossible and both worlds would effectively die, killing the Hollow in the process. Like all wild animals, their populations have to be controlled, making the Shinigami "balancers" for three worlds effectively, including Hueco Mundo.[/SIZE][/QUOTE]Going back to a point I made a few posts ago, where I said the Shinigami aren't really doing their job very well: think how many souls there must be in Hueco Mundo right now. Think how many souls are contained in the ten Espada alone! Take Aaroniero - as the only Gillian in the Espada, we can safely assume he contained the fewest souls out of all of them, and he contained around [i]thirty-three and a half thousand[/i] (can't remember the exact figure off hand). So every member of the Espada contains at least that. So the absolute smallest number of souls contained in the Espada is three hundred and thirty-five thousand, and in reality it's many more. That's in the ten most powerful Arrancar alone. Then take into account all the free Menos wandering about. What do we reckon - ballpark figures, shall we say Gillian = around 10,000, Adjuchas = around 100,000, Vasto Lorde = 1,000,000 souls each? If we take that magic number ten as the number of Vasto Lordes in Hueco Mundo, we're looking at [i]ten million[/i] souls contained in those individuals alone. Assume there's one in the Espada and their figures go up dramatically. Add it all together with the random roaming Hollows and all those unhybridised Menos, and all the Numeros and Privaron Espada Arrancar (all of whom are Gillian and above), and the number of souls in Hueco Mundo supposedly 'upsetting the balance' is starting to look like a sizeable fraction of the population of Earth. I just feel like, if Hueco Mundo is that well populated - and a good portion of its population contains thousands or tens of thousands of souls - then the balance really should have started shifting by now. But what effects have we seen in the real world? In Soul Society? Nothing, zip, nada. It makes me wonder whether that 'cosmic balancer' schtick is just an excuse to go a-hunting things they don't like - like Hollows and Quincy.

Bleach just turned into Minority Report! I'm knee-deep in essays for my finals and it is seriously weird how this chapter relates to the themes I'm covering. The assignment is all about how minorities don't even need to be actively oppressed, they just get that way through a twisted sort of natural process where they don't conform to society's values, so they're automatically viewed as outsiders and aren't afforded the privileges of the conformist classes. And now Bleach throws in the Maggots' Nest, where the 13 Squads throw anyone that doesn't conform to their values. Plus, Kisuke's clearly against this practice; however inadvisable that may turn out to be in the context of the storyline (certain people would have been saved an awful lot of trouble if Mayuri had stayed in his cell), I feel like we're getting some strong antiestablishment vibes from KT right now. Come to think of it, Soul Society and the 13 Squads in particular have always been cast as this cold, unsympathetic establishment organisation. General Yamamoto was ready to burn Rukia at the stake without ever bothering to find out the real reason; despite her past actions as a powerful ally, they cut all ties with Orihime at the first whiff of her defection; they continue to use Ichigo and friends as disposable pawns, never quite accepting any of them as 'part of the team' but feeling free to order them about anyway. In a way, it's this that makes them predictable enough for Aizen to manipulate. He knew very few people would question orders from Central 46, so his plot to vaporise Rukia very nearly worked. He knew that, whether or not they saw her as a defector, they would want Orihime's powers for themselves, or at least wouldn't want him to have them, and through that he managed to trap four Captains in Hueco Mundo. Then there's Zommari's parting shot about the Shinigami assuming a God-given right to hunt Hollows, who he believes are equally legitimate spiritual entities. Soul Society has labelled Hollows 'evil', minoritised them, marginalised them, and thus decided they're worthy only to be exterminated. I mean, Hollows are essentially wild and dangerous beasts who eat human souls, so from our point of view that seems fair enough. But who decided that a living human soul is worth more than a Hollow? Hollows are just human souls that didn't get Konsou administered soon enough, so their existence is actually the result of the Shinigami not doing their job. And it gets even more complicated when you start thinking about Arrancar, who have consciously cast off that bestial nature and worked hard to regain their reason - their humanity. Phew, if I keep thinking like this I'm going to start thinking of Soul Society as the antagonists in this story. I suppose they are, sort of - we're positioned on Ichigo's side, and he's only partially affiliated with Soul Society and is frequently at odds with them (invading Soul Society, disobeying their orders to enter Hueco Mundo). Most of the 'main' characters are positioned outside that establishment; the Rockin' Future Seven are all living humans, Kisuke and Yoruichi are exiled, and so are the Vizards (though we don't quite know their loyalties yet). We like the Captains as individuals (see Kenpachi fighting Nnoitra) but not when they start acting as instruments of the 13 Squads as a governing entity (see Kenpachi ordering Ichigo to go back and guard his little town). Yikes! I'm an Aizen sympathiser! Don't tell Yama-jii or I might be exiled or executed or something!

You're right! I saw that they were in numerical order but didn't think about the arrangement of odds and evens. And I'd completely skipped over Shunsui's comment about the 10th being dead - I think I must have skimmed the text and assumed he was talking about the previous 11th Captain that Zaraki killed.

Urahara didn't necessarily leapfrog Soi Fon - in the flashback way back when Soi Fon was in the Onmitsu Kidou, not the Gotei 13, though obviously things may have changed between then and the current flashback. It hasn't been explicitly stated who Yoruichi's Lieutenant is at the current point. Although this confirms that Yoruichi must have a Bankai-capable zanpakuto she hasn't even shown off yet. To be honest, I'm just happy with all the screen-time Hiyori's getting in these flashbacks ... I can't wait for her to meet up with Urahara again in the present timeline and see how their relationship has matured (or otherwise). As for the old guy, take a closer look at the Lieutenant standing behind him - extra evidence for the 'old man Kuchiki' argument? .:EDIT:. Looking more closely at the Captains spread myself: The positions they're standing in suggest that the old guy is definitely 6th squad Captain (and clearly a Kuchiki as well - I hadn't noticed the scarf until you mentioned it, Gavin), and Kensei is either 9th or 10th. Whichever one Kensei isn't, is not present. I'm taking a stab in the dark and saying he's probably 10th, and when he leaves with the rest of the Vizards, Aizen pulls strings to get Hitsugaya bumped (we know he does so, and Kensei leaving would open up the spot).

Just had to post this - it's an April Fool drawn by some French guy, masquerading as the title page for the next chapter. It's quite an obvious fake - the masks look more like something out of D.Gray-man than something KT would draw - but that doesn't mean it isn't very nicely drawn, and a lot of effort to go to for a prank. [center][img]http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/8182/1207084432454cy2.jpg[/img][/center]

Yeah, like I said about Hiyori. Research and Development? Who'd a thunk it? (There is a boxout in the chapter that explicitly states she's 12th Division Lieutenant, but for some reason Binktopia blacked it out in their scanlation - it's in the panel after Love's boxout, where she's telling him he shouldn't slap other people's Lieutenants.) To answer Memphis' question, Hiyori's Captain was an unknown called Hikifune, who was promoted to the Royal Guard and replaced with Urahara. So whose side are the Vizards on now? One was Urahara's subordinate; another was Aizen's superior. I'm hoping Shinji feels responsible for Aizen's defection and general evil-ness and is leading his team to atone for that by rubbing Aizen out.

Aizen's shikai release already handles all five senses, hearing and smell included. His bankai is anyone's guess. I'm interested to know where Isshin, Urahara, Ryuuken, Keigo, Mizuiro, Tatsuki and the Vizards actually are right now. The citizens of real Karakura are asleep on the outskirts of Rukongai, and the fake Karakura now in the real world is meant to be empty of everyone but the Gotei 13. I assume anyone of sufficient spirit power can probably wake up. Someone mentioned the possibility that the Vizards are in Aizen's employ - what if they are, and have been transplanted smack dab into Soul Society? Oops. Or, alternatively, what if Aizen sends some troops to the real Karakura in SS, expecting to find 10,000 obligingly slumbering souls ready for sacrifice, only to be faced with *drumroll* Tatsuki and co, who KT is assuming we've all forgotten about? .:EDIT:. SQUEE VIZARD FLASHBACK. So Aizen was Shinji's Lieutenant, and Hiyori was Urahara's ... who the heck thought it was a good plan to put Hiyori in Research and Development? Maybe her job is to test new inventions to destruction?

[quote name='Gavin']Poor Zommari, if not for his absolutely crap released form, I think he might have been one of my favourite Espada.[/quote]Can you believe I had that guy tipped as Espada #1? Man, he was disappointing. Go go Senbonzakura. Side note: I'm not Stu, I'm Matt. :animeswea

There's no way Soul Society would accept Grimmjow as an ally. Any Hollow influence is an automatic red card - remember the Vizard are exiled for precisely that reason? We won't see him joining a squad, but I can definitely see him helping out as part of Ichigo's ever-growing ryoka gang. I was dead against the idea of a Grimmjow defection when I first saw it on the horizon (when Ichigo first protected him from Nnoitra, very similarly to how he healed Ikkaku after their first fight). I didn't think it fit at all with KT's concept of Hollows as feral, instinctual, and the natural enemy of the Shinigami. But since then we've had some really interesting philosophy from (ugh) Zommari, about how unfair it is for Shinigami to just slap Hollows with the 'evil' label and hunt them down without mercy, and from (yay) Neriel, about how the reason for removing their masks and accepting hybridisation was to gain exactly the kind of higher reasoning that would allow Grimmjow to switch sides. On a completely different note, I was thinking the other day that the Shinigami aren't actually very good at their jobs. Their purpose is to cleanse Hollows in order to maintain the balance between Soul Society and the Material World, right? But there are millions on billions of Hollows in Hueco Mundo. Aaroniero was 33,000 Hollows all by himself, and I have to assume since he was a Gillian and all the other Espada are Adjuchas or above, that each one of them contains even more Hollows than he did. Then take the Vasto Lordes, which must be a million or so Hollows each. Soul Society's looking increasingly lazy!

The more I think about it, the more I think Aizen could succeed in destroying Karakura and creating the Royal Key. I mean, the important characters would probably all evacuate in the nick of time (convenient Urahara Garganta portals?), but I doubt KT would have introduced the concept of the Royal Family, and their hidden realm within Soul Society, if he didn't intend to take us there at some point. I mean, Aizen's just demonstrated, once again, his ability to think circles around everyone else in the series (perhaps bar Urahara). He's obviously confident he can deal with the Captains he's facing. The only things that might throw off his plan are the remaining members of the Rockin' Future Seven, and maybe Isshin. There's no way he doesn't know about the Vizard, he definitely knows about Urahara and Yoruichi (if only from Ulquiorra's eye-cam); if Grand Fisher was an experiment in Arrancar strength, it's a safe bet he was monitoring him, and that he knows about Isshin too. I can't believe that Keigo, Mizuiro and Tatsuki, the only fighters Aizen may not have considered, are strong enough to tip the balance. At most they'll be ones to keep his eye on, like Ichigo after Soul Society. Of course, it could be a different story if Grimmjow defects and opens our Hueco Mundo squad some portals into Karakura. He's presumably been lying there unconscious all through Ichigo vs Nnoitra and Kenpachi vs Nnoitra, and presumably heard Aizen's Tenteikuura tell everyone who's listening that he and the other Espada were a mere distraction, a decoy. Plus, who knows what'll happen when Ulquiorra pops back into reality? Everything's in Aizen's favour, but there are just enough unknown elements to make me uncertain and excited about what comes next. Yay for KT curveballs.

No, not that kind of pirates. The real kind of pirates. The kind that zoom about in speedboats, board commercial tankers / freighters/ what-have-you and point guns at people until you give them the oil / livestock / iPods or whatever it is the ship's carrying. And who then sell it on the the mafia or some crazy general planning a coup in some tiny tropical country.