Bleach 23
Posted: September 18, 2008 Filed under: Bleach 3 Comments »It’s not a good sign when you’re reading a series and it makes you want to trash the volume every time you read it. Rangiku. RANGIKU. The first part of the book is filled with jokes about her breasts. Not even the kind you can just roll your eyes at and ignore. There are entire scenes involving Rangiku’s breasts. And Orihime. The scene that made me most angry had Orihime pouring her heart out about being jealous of Rukia, and then Rangiku popped naked out of the shower and harassed her a bit before saying the right thing and harassing her again. It was too much fanservice. Too much. I like Orihime a lot, so I may have just been angrier because a scene I had been anticipating for a long time was ruined with fanservice.
The one thing I can say in Bleach’s favor at this point is that there are some awesome weapon designs. I feel like the series has become a long line of battles where the characters top each other in battle after battle with better and more flashy sword techniques. The sword designs don’t even make that much sense anymore, but they are cool-looking. We see Rukia fight for the first time. I forgot she even could. I would say that’s a bit of a spoiler, but I was even a bit surprised when all the characters made a big deal about her coming back as a fighter since I just assumed she would, seeing as how the series goes on for so much longer. I was surprised again, though, when I realized we hadn’t seen her fight in about 20 volumes. It just feels right.
After the preliminary joking around and more of making a big deal about the characters from Soul Society appearing in the real world, we get another round of pseudo-hollow battles that looks like it’s just getting started. That’s fine, because it seems like the pseudo-hollow characters are mostly expendable, and if we stick with the core Soul Society people here with few or no new introductions, I won’t have problems remembering minor characters like I did during the Soul Society arc. I still don’t really know some of the Soul Society characters that are here (like the bald guy who was the focus of the latter half of the volume, for instance), but if they stick around, I’ll get to know them and it won’t be a problem.
One of the pseudo-hollows was Grimmjow Jeagerjaques. It’d be fine if he stuck around, because I’m not likely to forget his name anytime soon.
I agree 125% about that scene with Rangiku and Orihime. I might add that not only was Rangiku harassing Orihime, she was straddling her, with her pendulous bosoms in Orihime’s face.
I’m kind of wondering if I’m going to drop this series soon. If I do, it’ll be the farthest I’ve ever gotten in a manga series and then lost interest. Probably if I had been buying these all along I’d have more reservations about simply dropping it.
I have v24 out from the library now, so I guess we’ll see how I feel after reading that one.
Bald Guy, Ikkaku, was the first Soul Reaper Ichigo fought in Soul Society. I didn’t realize he’d be important at first either.
Sometimes I feel Bleach needs ‘remember this character’ signs :) The first time I read through Soul Society stuff I didn’t realize most of the captains would be more than just background. Or that Hat & Clogs had major importance. Some characters get big introductions like Kenpachi and Grimmjow, but some sneak up on the reader.
ZeroSD: I think Bleach would definitely benefit from more detailed character descriptions in the front of the volume. I would love profiles for the Soul Society characters instead of the usual ones for Ichigo & Orihime et al. Almost all the characters in Soul Society save for people like Renji and Byakuya were lost on me, but Kisuke stuck in my memory because I liked him so much. I’m still hoping he gets a little better role.
Jun: It’s pressing my buttons, but I probably won’t give it up unless I decide to cut back on my manga consumption in general. I just can’t bring myself to give up on anything, even something I hate as much as Pastel.