BLEACH :: [Spoilers up to Ch. 647]

Favorite SternRitter?

A: Yhwach	8.5%	[ 30 ]
E: Bambietta Basterbine	6.8%	[ 24 ]
F: Äs Nödt	4.8%	[ 17 ]
G: Liltotto Lamperd	4.5%	[ 16 ]
H: Bazz-B	12.5%	[ 44 ]
I: Cang Du	10.5%	[ 37 ]
J: Quilge Opie	2.3%	[ 8 ]
K: BG9	1.7%	[ 6 ]
Z: Giselle Gewelle	9.3%	[ 33 ]
Other	39.1%	[ 138 ]
Total Votes:			[ 353 ]

[NEEDS MOAR GYOZAS]

Oetsu Nimaiya -- god of the Zanpakuto and bringer of retcons.

I don't feel like digging through the beginning but I always assumed that new Shinigami just wake up with their Zanpakuto next to them like Ichigo. Apparently they're just handed out asauchi and all of a sudden, it's Pokemon or Soul Eater now? OH KUBO. I guess this is his way of backpedaling and explaining how Ichigo really is that different.

[doc olden]

Artiistic

Lol I think Ichigo will be coming back.. He had business with the soul king, didn't he?
And I also agree it's kinda cool that Renji finally gets the spotlight :B May not be for long, but still..

Definitely not for long rofl


When you look at it, Kubo never really gave an explanation on the formation of zanpakuto. We really were left to our own devices. Truth be told, this is not much of a retcon so much as a bringing together of shadows of how the zanpakuto were to be made:

1. We all knew that there are far more weak shinigami out there with no power in their zanpakuto to speak of wielding the asauchi, the shallow hit zanpakuto. What was really distinguishing them from those shinigami who knew their swords' name?

2. We knew the shinigami had gotten basic swords to practice with in the academy, yet the reality of it was that a zanpakuto was a personal weapon based on one's soul, and how could one be given a soul-based weapon unless it was up to them to develop it?

[Simply Rolla]

The way I always saw it, Shinigami who didn't have a Zanpakuto spirit just used the Asauchi since it was a weapon that could purify Hollows in case they ever needed to fight them. When they finally did get their Zanpakuto spirit, their sword just sort of... materialized beside them and they returned the Asauchi. That's how I always imagined it until Oetsu explained what Asauchi really are.

[PotionsPet]

NEEDS MOAR GYOZAS

Oetsu Nimaiya -- god of the Zanpakuto and bringer of retcons.

I don't feel like digging through the beginning but I always assumed that new Shinigami just wake up with their Zanpakuto next to them like Ichigo. Apparently they're just handed out asauchi and all of a sudden, it's Pokemon or Soul Eater now? OH KUBO. I guess this is his way of backpedaling and explaining how Ichigo really is that different.

That's kinda what I thought then when the academy was introduced, I thought along with what Rolla said: a borrowed practice sword til they manifested their own (like Seshoumaru, bring his out from within himself).. this way: imprinting on a sword... seems kinda weird and a lil unnatural compared. It's like the asuachi is pulling part of their soul out for them to wield...

They start being contacted by their spirit without any help from this asauchi, using some of their abilities without it, instinctively.. then once they have it.. they have to start getting close to their zanpakutou again? I don't think that it was anything like that originally.. otherwise they wouldn't have to build this relationship with a part of their soul then go back later and fight it to make it teach them techniques. Going on Ichigo/Zangetsu (of course each pair/group is different) the spirit didn't want to fight at all, just wanted to chill out with Ichigo and keep him safe.

I'm thinking before this, it was built-in to a point (the abilities) and once the shinigami decided they needed to fight, they made it into a weapon.

I'm not sure about the asuachi themselves. If they are thinking (like Ouetsu made them out to be), imagine them being given out to people, only to be overwritten by someone else's personality. I'm not really seeing what this fight was doing.. He talked about how pissed they were and asked how they were seen as.. then just boiled it down to a fight?

I wonder if the asuachi have anything to do with hollows.

[doc olden]

Good points PP. I feel the same way on the fights with the asauchi, as well. However, the discrepancy between your and Rolla's original thoughts on zanpakuto manifestation and the imprinting of a shinigami's soul thereon could be explained by the concept known as jinzen, which, you may recall, is the act of attempting to talk to one's zanpakuto spirit through meditation. Perhaps it was through jinzen - constantly trying to call out to one's spirit - that the zanpakuto takes on a nature of its own in the form of the zanpakuto.

Think of it as introspection, which is nothing more than one acting as an outside observer. So in a sense, there's now two of you.

[PotionsPet]

doc olden

Good points PP. I feel the same way on the fights with the asauchi, as well. However, the discrepancy between your and Rolla's original thoughts on zanpakuto manifestation and the imprinting of a shinigami's soul thereon could be explained by the concept known as jinzen, which, you may recall, is the act of attempting to talk to one's zanpakuto spirit through meditation. Perhaps it was through jinzen - constantly trying to call out to one's spirit - that the zanpakuto takes on a nature of its own in the form of the zanpakuto.

Think of it as introspection, which is nothing more than one acting as an outside observer. So in a sense, there's now two of you.

Yeah.. it just seems like they should have been able to do that without the asauchi. Toushirou (as one example) was freezing people out before he even knew what was what. And heard Hyourinmaru before he had access to the sword to imprint him on.

I remember the references to jinzen, and those parts in canon where they actually showed them sitting down properly to talk to their zanpakutou spirits, like when Toushirou, Ikkaku, Yumichika and I think Rangiku started, then the last two started arguing with them. rofl

I dunno, maybe before, they shared the one body and demonstrated the abilities themselves to an extent, but with the asauchi it opened a path out for the zanpakutou spirit and with it being closer to the outer world, made their combined abilities stronger/better manifested?
--

Thinking back on the lines of Soul Society conspiracy theories: maybe Ouetsu sent Ichigo away to keep him away from the Spirit King.

[The Man in the Gimp Suit]

For once I'm not actually upset with this BS twist, although given the pacing of the Zaraki issue, I still assume it was in fact a last minute decision and not preplanned. There's no reason they'd refer to Zaraki learning to use his zanpakutou as something as obtuse as "The Art of Killing." It seems pretty clear Kubo changed course midway into that fight. However, I like that the way he has it set up now, both Ichigo and Zaraki will be learning about the nature of the zanpakutou at the same time, so the narrative should flow smoothly and maybe even cleverly or artfully between the two storylines as we learn more about the zanpakutou, with both mini arcs cming to a climax and payoff around the same time. If Kubo does this right anyhow. For all the BS involved, I can forgive it if he pulls off the thematic elements of this subplot well.

[DOROHEDOROBRO]

A flashback miniarc in this series too? LOLWAT.

I suppose this was the only direction the series would go: the backstory behind Ichigo's parents.

[PotionsPet]

xp Of course, we were due for a flash back.

That last page makes it look like he's getting a view. cat_xd

[The Man in the Gimp Suit]

About time, even though most people had gotten around to guessing most of the basic plot points of it, we've been waiting for this background story on Isshin for forever.

[Yui Min]

smile

[Zauriel Targaryen]

The Man in the Gimp Suit

For once I'm not actually upset with this BS twist, although given the pacing of the Zaraki issue, I still assume it was in fact a last minute decision and not preplanned. There's no reason they'd refer to Zaraki learning to use his zanpakutou as something as obtuse as "The Art of Killing." It seems pretty clear Kubo changed course midway into that fight. However, I like that the way he has it set up now, both Ichigo and Zaraki will be learning about the nature of the zanpakutou at the same time, so the narrative should flow smoothly and maybe even cleverly or artfully between the two storylines as we learn more about the zanpakutou, with both mini arcs cming to a climax and payoff around the same time. If Kubo does this right anyhow. For all the BS involved, I can forgive it if he pulls off the thematic elements of this subplot well.

What if Zaraki went through all that to be the new Captain commander

[Simply Rolla]

Well, that was a waste of a chapter, all that build up for something that most of us already knew a few months ago. I mean, if he was trying to be suspenseful, he shouldn't have had Ichigo using a ******** Quincy technique out of his a** and then having Juha Bach talk about Ichigo's mother right afterwords. Well, at least Unagiya is more than just a throw away character, even if Ichigo had no reason to go and see her.

Oh, and this is rich, one of the staff members on Mangastream responded to the comments on their Facebook post about the newest Bleach chapter being uploaded and said that "most of the people that read it are between 12-14 and have no idea what a good story or writing is". Yeah, a lot of the people may be reading it for action, but there wasn't much of a reason for him to flat-out state that Masaki was a Quincy when Juha Bach all but ******** said those exact words a few months ago.

[Simply Rolla]

Zauriel Masters

The Man in the Gimp Suit

For once I'm not actually upset with this BS twist, although given the pacing of the Zaraki issue, I still assume it was in fact a last minute decision and not preplanned. There's no reason they'd refer to Zaraki learning to use his zanpakutou as something as obtuse as "The Art of Killing." It seems pretty clear Kubo changed course midway into that fight. However, I like that the way he has it set up now, both Ichigo and Zaraki will be learning about the nature of the zanpakutou at the same time, so the narrative should flow smoothly and maybe even cleverly or artfully between the two storylines as we learn more about the zanpakutou, with both mini arcs cming to a climax and payoff around the same time. If Kubo does this right anyhow. For all the BS involved, I can forgive it if he pulls off the thematic elements of this subplot well.

What if Zaraki went through all that to be the new Captain commander

Raw power doesn't mean s**t when it comes to being the Captain-Commander. The only three that were fitting for the job were Unohana, Ukitake and Shunsui. They had the most experience, they have the most amount of skill with combat and kido, and they command the most respect and authority. Kenpachi would make the worst Captain-Commander simply because he'd tell everyone to piss off and let him take on any enemy that attacks Soul Society on his own.

[PotionsPet]

Simply Rolla

Kenpachi would make the worst Captain-Commander simply because he'd tell everyone to piss off and let him take on any enemy that attacks Soul Society on his own.

That just made me think of him or Yachiru doing any administrative work at all and it doesn't seem right. Training, discipline yeah.. but paperwork? shift schedules? xd