#bleach hell chapter

[berrymascarpone]

The real reason Ichigo calls Urahara Hat’n Clogs is finally revealed:

[troius]

As I hope you're aware, I've really enjoyed reading your thoughts on BLEACH during your reread! I was thinking today though: do you have a personal top 10 chapters or a favorite chapter [so far]? Totally okay if you don't want want to answer this, I was just curious.

No, thank you, that's a very good question! And an interesting one, since I don't tend to think of Bleach in terms of chapters. Unlike in anime, where the episodes have clear dividing lines with the openings and endings, manga chapters just sort of blend into one another when I'm reading them. Even during this reread, where the plan is to do roughly one chapter per day, I'm actually just posting my thoughts on interesting pages, so some chapters get more or less time depending on how much stuff catches the eye.

But I think it'd be an interesting exercise to see what chapters I do really like as isolated works of art! And if it encourages anybody to reread these chapters, or read them for the first time, so much the better! Troius's Top Ten Bleach Chapters (limited to those I've covered in this reread) under the cut.

34. Quincy Archer Hates You. A funny thing about looking at individual Bleach chapters is that they are clearly designed to run together, to keep the reader interested in what's going on so that they buy next week's copy of Weekly Shonen Jump. So they often are part of an ongoing storyline, and include several scenes, some of which are characterization and some of which advance the plot. This chapter, IMO, is the first one that does all of that and still feels "complete". Yes, it ends on the cliffhanger of Uryu's introduction, but that's the natural culmination of all the scenes in the chapter, including a really good one about low-stakes discrimination to set us up for the Quincy. Excellent stuff.

98. A Star and a Stray Dog. For once, Kubo uses one chapter to tell one story, end to end, and it's a tour de force. Granted, it's in the larger context of the Ichigo/Renji fight, and the Soul Society arc as a whole, but the entire Renji + Rukia relationship flashback is in this chapter, and it's magnificent. Renji starts the chapter as the closest thing Ichigo has to a rival, and by the end, Ichigo is the closest thing he has to an ally.

124. Crying Little People. This chapter title kinda sucks, and the title page is a pretty boring illustration of Ichigo, who doesn't even appear in the chapter proper. But as an Uryu stan I could not in good conscience leave off the moment where he sacrifices his powers and his childish aspirations for moral principle. The fathers-and-sons dynamics here are impeccable, and the Quincy worldbuilding flawless. I can't recommend it enough.

159. Long Way to Say Goodbye. It turns out that while single chapters often don't tell a complete story in Bleach, they do frequently tell one complete story, and that's the patented Bleach Characterization Flashback, where Kubo cuts away from the end of the fight to give you the backstory of whoever's fighting. In this chapter we get Soi Fon and Yoruichi's history, and it's incredibly effective once again in turning an antagonist into a sympathetic character.

168. Behind Me, Behind You. A complete change of gears -- the Byakuya/Ichigo fight wraps up in the previous chapter-- this is a complete information dump that nonetheless Extremely Works in getting the reader invested in the Hitsugaya/Matsumoto Spirit Detective plotline. Those two, Kira, Momo, Gin...none of these are the main characters of Bleach, but even if you didn't have strong emotions about them coming in you will once the chapter's over.

169. End of Hypnosis. This is just a run of killer chapters, and this one features both the start of the Matsumoto/Kira fight, as well as, uh, Aizen revealing himself. Now, obviously the latter is probably one of the more notable moments in all of Bleach (and maybe shonen manga in general), but what actually makes the chapter work is the taste of violence introduced in the opening, which is then tied to the Gin/Momo/Aizen stuff with just the briefest flashback-- one page! But it's essential to making the story cohesive, and to putting the appropriate focus on Gin, who would otherwise be overshadowed, I think.

171. End of Hypnosis3 (the Blue Fog). Okay, I promise I'll stop in a second. But I just cannot get over the pacing of this thing, starting with Unohana walking in on Aizen right as he finishes gutting Hitsugaya, and the tense standoff where Aizen reveals how he pulled it all off. And of course, that exposition is interwoven beautifully with the inevitable reveal that Tosen was in on the plot all along. When the chapter finally closes with the reminder that "oh yeah, Rukia was the target of all of Aizen's schemes" . . . it's magnificent. I don't know if anybody's ever paced anything better.

221. Eat the Worlds End. This chapter is just excellent when it comes to working with the existing concepts and characters to develop Ichigo’s character further-- and not in a good way! It’s basically Bleach’s version of inception, with Ichigo’s inner hollow letting Ichigo get the “victory” over him, while at the same time using the image and likeness of Kenpachi Zaraki to get Ichigo to embrace his “killer instict”. Really well done.

268. You Are Forbidden to Die. It’s another end-of-fight flashback chapter! This one might be the best though, as Rukia’s journey back into her memories to honor the Kaien she knew contains the thesis statement of the series as a whole, and makes for a very satisfying last couple of pages where she stabs Aaroniero in the face.

283. You don’t hurt anymore. The Grimmjow/Ichigo fight has so many layers to it, but what makes this chapter stand out is that it works independently of all that. You don’t have to know that Orihime’s concerns about Ichigo are extremely well grounded, or that Ichigo’s been fighting a massive battle about how much he should lean in to his dark side, or that Grimmjow is fighting in part because he’s scared about what he’ll feel if he doesn’t fight. The story the chapter tells in isolation-- of our hero being given the strength he needs to fight by the person he’s rescuing-- works well enough on its own.

[groovydude21]

Adult Ichigo Kurosaki

[minazzuki]

Rukia and Shunsui

Bleach is back.

[azulawriting]

The Fullbring arc, oh boy

Recently, I watched a video essay detailing how the fullbring arc was, in fact, the best arc in Bleach. The reasons given were somewhat compelling before I read the arc. I mean, I don’t think I could’ve enjoyed the Soul Society arc as much as I did if it wasn’t for the Substitute Shinigami arc, which still is, to me, the main reason why I got hooked on this show/manga. I daresay that the first arc of Bleach is even more enjoyable in manga format. There’s a bunch of cut content that makes it all the more addicting to me, even now.

When it comes to my impressions of the Fullbring arc in the anime, I was surprised to know it wasn’t yet another filler arc. I think that, like many others back then, ending Bleach after Aizen’s defeat was a good decision. It was the culmination of the story, and I really wasn’t sure where the story would even go after it. The Fullbring Arc was interesting as a time skip and how Ichigo would deal with being a completely normal human being while all his friends were not, but I would not have “dragged it” for an entire arc, however brief it could be.

My feelings towards this arc have somewhat changed with the manga, but not that much. I think that, in hindsight, it is a necessary arc for TYBW and it introduces a “power-up” for characters like Orihime and Chad, which will become useful for the upcoming arc. I think Ichigo’s introspection about where he would go with no powers is rather powerful, and it gets to shine a little bit more in the manga, but it is not part of my favourite arcs in this manga. Again, I don’t think the magic of the Substitute Shinigami arc will ever be reached again, though I will admit the Fullbring Arc gets very close.

I will give the manga credit where it’s due in that it made the stakes about Ichigo’s character and how poorly he could handle ever coming back to being a nobody, basically. I think it’s something not a lot of shonen manga have tackled something as heavy as “what would happen if MC lost his powers but the threats didn’t stop?”. His dependence on Ginjo and Execution built a good betrayal plotline but, and I do feel bad to say this, I don’t find any of the new characters all that enjoyable. And that’s my main issue with it. The first arc introduced a varied and interesting cast of side characters, but there’s not much of that in this arc. Tsukishima is somewhat interesting as a villain due to his power, but not much else. The same goes for the rest of Execution, who, at least to me, don’t stray too far from being tropes.

It’s a shame, really. I appreciated the flashbacks for Ginjo and Tsukishima in particular, but man do I wish we had more. Then again, that would have perhaps played against the mystery/betrayal plotline that was decently built over the span of the arc.

I don’t think I’ll continue reading the manga from this point on. I hated the Quincy arc for how rushed and outright bad it was. The anime is airing right now and I’m honestly more interested in revisiting the arc by watching the adaptation. From what I’ve heard, Kubo has the reins and will add some anime-original content to improve the arc. So far, I like the anime and I hope a certain captain does not miraculously come back to the battlefield. If he does, for any reason at all, I’ll have to wonder if the rest of the arc will be improved or just rehash the mistakes from the manga. I don’t want it to come to that.

Before I finish this post, I wanted to add one last thing. Since I mentioned Kazui in my first post ever about bleach in this blog, I do plan on making an even longer rant on the Hell chapter and my problems with it, as well as speculate as to where it could go, assuming it ever gets another chapter. I might do this old blog justice again and write something short for the Hell arc, but I doubt I will even get the time for it. We’ll see.

[reineyday]

"how laughable that the head of the soul reapers would awaken the dead" ok wait but. theyre already dead? i thought the whole point of soul society/hueco mundo was that dead souls go there, and yet ur telling me dead souls can get even deader and yet still remain alive enough to be "awakened". is that what ur saying.

[eman-non]

[kazashiniwielder]

Ok, so Bleach and New Breath’s from Hell...for those of you who haven’t read it or heard about it yet it’s a 70 page chapter for Bleach that may or may not be the start of a new arc.

So 12 years after the war against the Quincy, and two years after the epilogue, we have this little chapter. Some very interesting highlights are.

1. Kazui likes to sneak out to help souls and can apparently open portals to the Soul Society

2. Ichigo’s old ‘15′ marker on his door has been replaced with a Kon plaque with the words ‘Kazui Kon-chan’ on it. Also the Quincy cross on the back of Kon’s head is gone

3. Apparently the Captain level officers have a mason district in the Seiretei

4. Ikkaku has a martial arts school and Ichika is a student there.

5. Keigo has opened a ramen shop called ‘Spirit Ramen’ but it’s not very popular and only Ichigo’s friend group goes to it

6. 12 Years after a Captain dies, they hold a ‘Soul Funeral Festival’ and now that they did it for Yamamoto and Unohana, it’s Jushiro’s turn

7. Mayuri and Urahara are still having their dick measuring contest and Mayuri has put surveillance bugs all over the Seiretei. Urahara has also introduced TV’s to the Soul Society and they now have soul pagers with video chats

8. The seventh Division has a new Lieutenant, a young man who has an affinity with animals named Rindo Atau. Atau is not able to talk and communicates with sign language.

9. Lisa now has a new lieutenant as well. A very eccentric young woman named Yayahara Yuyu who is a huge fan of Ichigo

10. Ichigo has a Line account (a communication app) that is passed around. He also works as a translator now

11. While all the lieutenants fight in this chapter, we only really get to see the two new lieutenants and Akon.

12. Izuru helps the fight wearing a mask and Akon remarks he has a hobby patrolling random areas. Izuru says it suits him, along with being late to things.

13. Szyleapporo escapes from Hell and is disappointed to see only Renji there, asking where Uryu and Mayuri are. Ichigo also admits that he has no freaking clue who the hell Szyle is (since Szyle would only know the three mentioned)

14. All the officers discover that this ritual that they were doing, which was supposed to lay the soul of a Captain to rest, actually was banishing the soul of the deceased captain to Hell, proven a few seconds later by Jushiro Ukitake himself dragging Szyleapporo back through the gates of Hell.

So yeah, it was interesting.

[float-me-now]

Manifesting a Nnoitra-Tesla-Ulquiorra-Starrk cameo in the next chapters

[bleachedoracle-a]

Ah. Yes. My favorite ship dynamic. 

...................I’m still not over this.

[pastanebula]

So was Yamamoto so distressed over chojiros death cause he knew he ended up in hell???

Cause I'm p sure it was mentioned that he attempted to make him a captain more than a few times but he kept declining so

[that-dog-steve]

NEW ARC NEW ARC NEW ARC

[creative-type]

I cannot believe we are getting new Bleach content in the year of our Lord 2021

[rafs13]

If Szayelaporro is in hell because he died does that mean other espada who are dead will be in hell too?

ARE YOU THINKING WHAT I AM THINKING!

IS ULQUIORRA IN HELL TOO!?

YOOOO.....

Will we see a hell version/form of Ulquiorra!

[chiapetirl]

Chapter 44 of Bleach: Re(Vers)ed

Choking on the dust floating in the air, Ichigo righted himself, pointing the longer counterpart of Zangetsu upward. He watched as the crazed captain stared him down, eyes bugged out and shimmering with tears. Is he… crying? Ichigo thought, flabbergasted. "What are you going on about?!" he called out, Zangetsu's chain rattling. "You aren't making any sense!"

"YOU ASKED FOR AN EXPLANATION, KUROSAKI!" Extending his hands outward, Amagai screamed, dust clinging to the rivers of tears. His eyes were red, irritated by the sand and debris. "THERE IS MUCH TO TELL!"

A streak of black and red shot through the air, nearly toppling the crazed captain from his place on the Kushanāda's shoulder. Amagai could see the rage and disgust in Ichigo's eyes, practically relishing in this stew of emotion. "Why… should I know?!" Ichigo said through gritted teeth. "It doesn't even… matter!" The physical force building between their blades began to build, Ichigo's hands beginning to shake. "All that… I'm here to do… is bring my friends and family out of… this place!" The blades gave out, both opponents' bodies rolling to the left.

Before Ichigo could react, Amagai lashed out, his foot hitting Ichigo in the chest, knocking him off his perch. Of course, Ichigo caught himself midway down, pushing off the motionless Kushanāda's chest and came to a resting stop midair.

"Foolish boy," Amagai spat, his eyes sparking with rage. "This affects you more than you could ever understand. Now listen closely…"

Read more here

[realfuurikuuri]

BLEACH: NO BREATHS FROM HELL CHAPTER REVIEW

We got any Bleach fans in this house? 👀