Bleach 96 Discussion

[Animeniax]

Yep, seeing Hitsugaya go bankai against the Old Man's whale doll will kick some ass.

I seriously hope Ichinose won't use some cheap doll when fighting Zaraki Kenpachi. I want to see an all out slice and dice between these two.

Kraco: remember, even a non-bankai Ichigo beat Zaraki during the SS arc, and that was when Zaraki had removed his patch. Unless Zaraki has gotten a lot stronger since then, I think Ichinose can challenge him. I don't see him winning, but it would still be entertaining to see him get wailed on by Zaraki.

[DarthEnderX]

What I hate about this arc (and fillers in general) is the way the supporting cast is reduced to nothing roles. Characters like Chado and Inoue are basically dumbed down

I hate to tell you this, but this was pretty much done already in the last non-filler arc. I mean, in the entire Soul Society arc, Chado was in one fight where he got his ass handed to him pretty much instantly. And Inoue didn't do a damn thing for the ENTIRE ARC except maybe heal somebody once.

So no, I don't feel bad that those two are being trivialized in this arc because that already happend last arc.

[Kraco]

Kraco: remember, even a non-bankai Ichigo beat Zaraki during the SS arc, and that was when Zaraki had removed his patch. Unless Zaraki has gotten a lot stronger since then, I think Ichinose can challenge him. I don't see him winning, but it would still be entertaining to see him get wailed on by Zaraki.

That was basically a battle of who can release more reiatsu at once. I doubt Ichinose would have a chance in such a battle, because both Ichigo and Zaraki are supposed to be pretty unique in that respect: They have enormous amounts of reiatsu at their disposal.

However, Kenpachi is only interested in good fights, not really defending the SS or anything trivial like that. So in theory he might give Ichinose a chance willingly, to make the fight more interesting.

[Animeniax]

I hate to tell you this, but this was pretty much done already in the last non-filler arc. I mean, in the entire Soul Society arc, Chado was in one fight where he got his ass handed to him pretty much instantly. And Inoue didn't do a damn thing for the ENTIRE ARC except maybe heal somebody once.

So no, I don't feel bad that those two are being trivialized in this arc because that already happend last arc.

For some reason it feels different, or maybe I'm just rationalizing it. In the SS arc, Chado and Inoue didn't do much, but when they were on screen, they had a purpose or contributed somehow. In the Bounto arc, they are on screen, but don't seem to add anything. Maybe it's just harder to see them behind the 20 other supporting characters they've added in the filler. It makes sense, since they don't want to develop core characters during filler time, so they add characters like Ririn and Claude, and develop those characters instead. It's just annoying is all, since we care about Chado and Inoue, and could care less about these others.

[dragonrage]

@ kraco & Animenaix :

Yep that was a battle of fighting spirit and reiatsu, as Kraco said. Also I believe that Ichigo's power is directly linked to his resolve. The stronger his resolve the more powerful he is, in this arc his mind seem to be scattered and unfocused. Also I would like to mention that so far all we have seen from Ichinose was the illusion technique, which can go either way he can be stronger or that all he has. But I would like to remind you that, that doesn't really work on Zaraki, remember his fight with the two captains.

He is driven by the adrenaline (can't think of a better word at the moment). The more dangerous the situation becomes the more he loves it and is driven by it. Also he is alot more powerful than you might think, last time he was actually fighting against his sword rather than with it.

And back to the fight between Ichigo and Zaraki, Ichigo wasn't exactly alone. He had a stronge resolve to save his friends: especially Rukia, Zangetsu was guiding him and also that demon inside of him was present too. Lets not forget the ending of that battle. What did the reiatsu take the form off?

I am not putting Ichinose down or anything, but my money is on Zaraki. It is foolish to think that a person that wants to fight stronge enemies wouldn't get stronger when he knows he can and that there are stronger people out there. But we have to remember that this is a filler and he can't get any stronger than he has, so who knows.

@ Krcao alone: Zaraki killed Ichinose's mentor, captain and ambitions when he took the seat of the 11th captain and he does feel responsible for him leaving so I don't think he would do something like that. He is a blood thirsty manic, but he does have his honor and pride. I don't think he would do something like that.

[Animeniax]

That was basically a battle of who can release more reiatsu at once. I doubt Ichinose would have a chance in such a battle, because both Ichigo and Zaraki are supposed to be pretty unique in that respect: They have enormous amounts of reiatsu at their disposal.

However, Kenpachi is only interested in good fights, not really defending the SS or anything trivial like that. So in theory he might give Ichinose a chance willingly, to make the fight more interesting.

I'm not so sure about the basis of their first battle simply being who could release more spirit power, but in the end what you're saying is that spirit power translates to how much fighting ability they have (I think?). So if Ichinose can't keep up with Zaraki's reiatsu, does that mean he's not as skilled a fighter? Is reiatsu like chakra? Ninjas in Naruto can be skilled fighters regardless of their abilities with chakra. Can Shinigami be skilled fighters regardless of their amount of reiatsu?

[Mizuchi]

Zaraki will win 99%.

1. Zaraki can't die in a filler
2. Ichinose must either die or leave SS before the filler ends.

Although there is still a smal 1% that ichinose might beat zaraki and right before the final blow, they spend an entire ep on how ichinose cried because his mentor died, but then will either forgive zaraki and turn on the bounto or kariya will just no longer need a shinigami and will take down ichinose himself. Then ichigo will make a big deal on how he turned on his allies, will make a resolve... again... and the final battle will begin. The funny thing is, is that I just made that story up as I was typing, and now that I think of it, it might actually have a good chance of happening imo.

[Kraco]

Hardly anybody died even during the SS arc, so Zaraki dying no matter what happens is pretty much out of question even theoretically. He could lose a fight without dying. But if he loses a fight against Ichinose, I will sacrifice dragonrage's left hand to the Great Old Ones.

[Animeniax]

Hardly anybody died even during the SS arc, so Zaraki dying no matter what happens is pretty much out of question even theoretically. He could lose a fight without dying. But if he loses a fight against Ichinose, I will sacrifice dragonrage's left hand to the Great Old Ones.

That's a major disappointment for me about Bleach, the lack of people dying. People get cut to shreds and bleed buckets, but not even minor characters have died (except in flashbacks like with Kaien and his wife). Did Hinamori really have to be saved? She's pretty useless as is.

What did Yachiru mean when she said that Kenpachi can't lose back in the SS arc? It was either that, or that he couldn't die. Is she delusional?

[dragonrage]

Hardly anybody died even during the SS arc, so Zaraki dying no matter what happens is pretty much out of question even theoretically. He could lose a fight without dying. But if he loses a fight against Ichinose, I will sacrifice dragonrage's left hand to the Great Old Ones.

lol, I will be eagerly awaiting the outcome then. Him dying during a filler is rediculious and insane if something like that happens I will stop watching bleach cause those morons (writers) would be purely fucking stupid and not worth my time to watch any further. Also he is one of my favorite characters and him dying in that way is to idotic to imagine, in a filler, laughable.

Kraco if he dies you will be missing a left nut.

[Canadian]

Do the three modified souls only appear in this filler arc?

Anyways, these fillers are damn entertaining compared to the Naruto ones, :-D Hoping to see a nice uninterupted (or atleast for a while) fight.

[DarthEnderX]

What did Yachiru mean when she said that Kenpachi can't lose back in the SS arc? It was either that, or that he couldn't die. Is she delusional?

That's back when he was one of the badguys of the arc. It's shounen anime. That means the badguy is always unbeatable...right up until the main character beats them. And until that happens, everyone around them assumes they're unbeatable.

That's a major disappointment for me about Bleach, the lack of people dying. People get cut to shreds and bleed buckets, but not even minor characters have died

Also, because it's shounen anime. I mean, nobody every dies in One Piece. Okay, people died all the time in DBZ, but it doesn't count because everyone comes back to life just as fast. Naruto is like the only one I can think of where characters actually die.

[dragonrage]

that is not really true about one piece. nami's mother was killed right infront her eyes. the other 49 ships of captain kreg fleet was killed by hawkeye. The octopus was killed by zoro. the priests were killed as well in the skypiea arc. Arlong is supposedly dead. The crew that sanji was with when he was a child is dead.
Also the pirate whats his name was also killed by the guy with the springy legs this was before the skypiea arc.

But i do get what you're saying. But Bleach is a little complicated since it has the whole soul society thing and all. But there have been deaths, if you count the hollow and if you count the people that turned into hollow; example orihime's brother. Also what about ichigo's mom, that is a big part of his character (it is what basically what changed his childhood). Zaraki killed ichinose's master. And Ishida's master and grandfather was also killed. Also what about all those souls that were absorbed by the bounto, do they not count as being dead....

In fact all the anime has death but just to different degree.

[Kraco]

I'd say historical deaths that are basically just parts of the backgrounds of the characters can't really be counted as those deaths DE was talking about. But yeah, there are some lone deaths in One Piece. I can't immediately think of any in Bleach (manga based)... Hollows are abnormal beings and, according to the shinigami propaganda, are more like freed by the shinigami than killed.

I also wish people would die in Bleach. It was just the kind of series that would have been even better if those seemingly killed people of the SS arc would have stayed dead.

[dragonrage]

What about the Bounto Lady that looks like Ren Tao and vice versa. Doesn't she count as dead?

But yeah I get what you're saying. And it would be an improvement in some cases. But think about it they can't really break into a wide spread market (kids) with alot of killing can they? I think that is just one of the factors that are taken into consideration. But then again who knows.

But in the historical background part you can find alot od death. heck even in the SS arc all those people that passed judgement were killed. And the man that Rukia had a crush on as well.

I think this is why it is on adult swim. Anymore blood/killing and the series would be too "gorry" for the censorship bureau, possiblely. But then again things like these are laughable, but this is how the world is.

[Kraco]

The bounto lady indeed seemed to die, and all those random people whose souls got sucked out by the super size mosquitos like was said earlier. That's why I added that manga based in parenthesis. But it's somewhat interesting that in the filler portion they were killing people, the lady and for example the headphone's apprentice.

I have sometimes wondered if the Japanese kids can understand dying better than their Western counterparts. Or even if there's no difference, if the parents in the West want to protect their kids from any scenes of death more. Dunno. But somehow I think the intended audience for a series like Bleach where people are cut and skewered all the time, should be able to understand death. Especially when half the cast are something called death gods...

[dragonrage]

Good point. But shinigami is equivelent to the grim reaper in the cultural aspect. And there is Halloween or the day of the death in spanish cultures.

There are figures in all cultures that death is associated with and is accepted as part of life. I guess that is why they opted for the english translation of shinigami to be "soul reaper" because "death god" is not culturally known to the american or english speaking community (kids mostly).

[DarthEnderX]

Yes, of course there are people that actually die in every show, the point is all Shounen anime is full of characters that should be dead, but, inexcplicably, don't.

I mean, Pell. That's all you really gotta say.

[Animeniax]

All of your points about death in Bleach are valid, and I take it back, honestly this is just a gripe, not a major disappointment about the series. I just wish for one time that someone gets run through with a sword and stays dead (I'm looking at you, Hinamori).