Defeating the Same Foe Together 1
Poor NaNaNa. Although the feat is an achievement in of itself in the context of the series, he was only able to immobilize Aizen for five minutes with "The Underbelly". It just goes to show what a monster Aizen is, since he recovered so quickly from an ability specifically designed to go after the weak spots in an individual's reiatsu - and that was when Aizen's reiatsu was restrained.
While it is nice to see Shinigami and Quincy work together after all that has happened between the two races (though I mainly care about Bazz-B out of the three), Aizen is the one who put it best - they are not protecting Soul Society together, but simply going after the same enemy. We'll see this placed into perspective later, but the interesting thing is that Aizen begins to lament on how Ichigo set foot into the Soul King Palace before him, and states that he is very difficult to forgive.
Despite the fact that Aizen's manipulation of Yhwach's senses ended up saving Ichigo in the first invasion, it is clear that Aizen still has not forgiven Ichigo for his previous defeat. This could lead to some very interesting exchanges between the two in the future, but any of Aizen's musings were over-shadowed by something else that took place in later chapters...
Trying Too Hard at Humor?
I can only say this: in the current situation, Kubo might be trying too hard to insert humor into a rather dark situation. While we do get to see how Ichigo and Co survived their fall - Inoue used her Santen Kesshun to catch everyone, and Yoruichi had pulled them up to one of the Squad Zero Palaces - the arguably misplaced humor comes when we see Kon pop up out of Ichigo's Shihakusho (been wondering where he was), causing Ichigo to knock the back of his head against Inoue's head, knocking him out cold.
I'll get into why I have particular gripes about this later, but I have to condense ten chapters into one review.
After the bout of comedy, Ichigo and Co begin discussing how they will counter-attack the Quincy. While Ichigo does state he can make reiatsu footholds to make it on his own while everyone else can use Inoue's Santen Kesshun, they'd be wide open targets if they were attacked on the way up.
But for this, Yoruichi has a plan, and it is related to a stake we saw placed on the ground in chapter 624. She then tells someone to come out, and a Garganta opens in the Soul King Palace.
Espada, Xcutioners and Screams 1
"IT'S GRIMMJOW FREAKIN' JAEGERJAQUEZ!!"
That is a brief summarization of a good portion of the fandom's reaction to the ending of chapter 624. People have been waiting YEARS for confirmation on his fate and his return to the manga - I recall people going crazy in chapters 500 and 518, when all we saw were his Zanpakuto and his arm. After all, he was one of the most popular characters in Bleach by a long-shot.
It was nice to see that Grimmjow did not change at all, and he still seems quite determined to settle the score with Ichigo (how he'd beat the current Ichigo would be something requiring Segunda Etapa, but even that might not be enough). But as we quickly saw, Grimmjow did not come alone, because Neliel came with him.
ADULT Neliel, not the child Nel. So strikes the divine thunderbolt of science once more, as Neliel explains that she is now able to change between adult and child form at will because of a special bracelet that Urahara made for her.
Anyone recall what I said about science in Bleach? My opinion still stands on there, since spiritual physics is not something anyone in the fandom would be an expert on. The bracelet likely has to do with stabilizing Neliel's spiritual power, since it leaking out of her broken mask is what caused her to revert to child form in the first place. I read that a lot of people were disappointed that she reverted back to child form before finishing off Nnoitra the first time around, so this will satisfy many readers (and many of her fanboys) since we now get to see adult Neliel fight again.
Jealousy Lingers
Also, I have to comment on this, because it'll stick in my mind until I say it: Inoue was jealous, plain and simple. I'm not buying into Sado's guess that Inoue was thinking that Urahara made something unnecessary again (case in point, Inoue's outfit), because Neliel was once the Third Espada. I don't know what kind of training Inoue and Sado did in Hueco Mundo, but Urahara sending two former Espada to Ichigo's aid says to me that Urahara knows that Ichigo needs much more help than those two.
As to why Inoue would be jealous, let me count the ways - Neliel is an adult, well-developed woman who is not shy about being affectionate with Ichigo, and there is precedent for Inoue being jealous of Neliel before:
Yes, I know that I'll be getting a lot of responses to linking these particular pages, and a lot of people will protest my choices. But here is the deal - in both of those scenes, Inoue was wanting to heal Ichigo's wounds, but Ichigo's attention in both cases was focused on Nel. In the first case, Ichigo was in awe of Neliel's power against Nnoitra, to the point where he did not even hear Inoue's words. After that, you have Inoue's rather sad face as she looks in Neliel's direction. That on its own would be confusing.
The next scene, however, could set it in context. Ichigo is even more wounded than before, and Inoue is once again about to heal Ichigo's wounds, but Ichigo tells her to heal Nel first, resulted in a shaded panel with a focus on Inoue's reaction. Why? Why would Inoue react like that to Ichigo's request? I won't go into it any further because I don't want to step on any more, but I'll just link Inoue's reaction to adult Neliel in chapter 625:
HOW IS THAT NOT THE FACE OF JEALOUSY? Her panicked and clearly flustered reaction to Sado's words practically sells it.
Okay, moving on.
Espada, Xcutioners, and Screams 2
Of course, Grimmjow does not take to being interrupted by Neliel glomping Ichigo, and the two exchange words about their respective positions as Espada briefly, and Grimmjow seems intent on proving he is the stronger one because their numbers under Aizen do not matter anymore. However, he is interrupted by a person that I was not thinking I would see again.
In the Garganta, there was a big black box, and inside that box was Riruka. The last time we saw Riruka, her send-off seemed permanent - she left Karakura Town and wanted Ichigo and Co to forget about her at the end of the Lost Agent Arc, but now she is here alongside Yukio (one of the Fullbringers I wanted to see come back), and Yukio tells everyone to get inside the box.
In more ways than one, Ichigo is not only the main character, but also the audience surrogate in the story, because he reacts the exact same way as all us readers did when demanding Yoruichi to explain what the heck was going on in full detail. I'm fully on Ichigo's side here, as Yoruichi's demeanour to Ichigo's demands to know what is going on is too cat-like (pun intended, apologies to my own cats). And yes, Ichigo, you were in the dark as much as we were.
Then Kubo went and made the Valley of Screams canon. He made "Memories of Nobody" canon. This is further backed up in a later chapter where Ichigo admits that he has been to the Valley of Screams once before, despite the event never happening in the manga, only in the movie. Are the events of Ichigo going to the Valley of the Screams the exact same as in the movie? Who knows? Is this still a big deal? YES.
Either way, the in-manga explanation is that there are multiple Valley of Screams, both big and small, and they are able to remain stable and sustain themselves in the normally unstable Garganta for reasons unknown, likely due to the very structure of their reishi being different. Urahara wanted to exploit, so he sought out the two Fullbringers who abilities were ideally suited for his purposes - Yukio being able to create pocket dimensions with his "Invaders Must Die", and Riruka's "Dollhouse" to encapsulate a small Valley of Screams inside a box. When that was combined with Yukio's Fullbring, it was turned into a room with rails. How it managed to get up to the Soul King Palace is because of that stake that Yoruichi had planted, and she planted a similar one next to the Soul King (his chrysalis, at least), which will allow them to sneak into the Soul King Palace and launch their surprise attack.
Yoruichi, do you believe you are in the Bleach-verse, or Fairy Tail? It's only in Fairy Tail where surprise attacks on a vastly superior enemy work even when they have already humiliated you. Pernida straight up mutilated your arm and Yhwach wiped the floor with Ichibei. No matter who Urahara sends you as back-up, or how many people, you aren't closing that gap, especially since the gap has become even wider.
Shopkeeper's Mask
But before we get into that, I need to make a comment on Urahara. As is clear from his reactions to the Soul King's death with the Gotei 13 in contrast to his plan involving the Fullbringers, Urahara is not showing anyone his full hand - not the Shinigami, not the readers, and not Ichigo. The man would not have planned to send Grimmjow and Neliel up to the Soul King Palace to assist Ichigo (showing that the Soul King Palace is not blocked from access via the Garganta) if he did not expect Ichigo to initially fail to defeat Yhwach and protect the Soul King.
The entire scenario is suspect, when you think about. Ichibei sent them to Yhwach without giving them any prior warning about his abilities, and we readers saw that Ichibei knew that Ichigo and Co could not defeat Yhwach. Who is to say that Urahara is not wearing a similar mask?
As we saw in recent chapters, Shunsui spoke of deciding upon a new Soul King after they defeat Yhwach, which I will get into more later. Given Ichigo's unique nature, Kirinji's words about the Soul King "falling for Ichigo", and Shunsui's comment about Ichigo not being able to come back to the Living World, it seems all the signs are pointing towards the Shinigami wanting to make Ichigo the new Soul King.
The horrifying part is that this may be what Urahara meant when he said that Ichigo's future would be taken away from him if he regains his Shinigami powers - it will inevitably lead to Ichigo being made to take the Soul King's place, as he may be the only individual qualified, given his nature. Isshin knew about the Auswahlen - something that caught the Squad Zero off-guard when Yhwach used it to revive the Schutzstaffel - so Urahara likely knew that Yhwach was coming back. It really puts things in a depressing light, now that I think about it - could the whole series have been Urahara grooming Ichigo to become the Soul King's successor? It does have symmetry with Uryu being declared Yhwach's successor, but that was by the man himself. As of now, Ichigo is not aware of the possible fate that awaits him. What can it be called when the villains are more honest with their intents and end-goals than the "protagonists"?
If I recall correctly, Kubo only said that the Vandenreich were the enemies, not the antagonists.
The New God
Even if Yhwach is making a very strong case for himself.
Yhwach succeeded in doing what he set out to do, and has completely absorbed the Soul King into himself. The end result of said absorption is...less than Human:
Given he's a character drawn on paper by a mangaka, it is technically correct to call Yhwach the son of an ink blot. From an in-story context, Yhwach is claiming to be the son of what I can only call an eldritch being. That is the only thing I can call the former Soul King (which no longer exists), ever since we first saw Mimihagi. Not only was Mimihagi the Right Arm of the Soul King, but it was also independent of the original Soul King, and it might have three more siblings out there in the form of the Soul King's missing left arm and legs.
The image above is the end result of Yhwach absorbing all that excess power into himself. It's so vast that it seems to have physically changed Yhwach. He might be still adapting to the power (I suspect a good clash with Ichigo might cause it to stabilize), since it seems like a covering of black over his eyes and not an actually physical change, since the eyes seem to shift around his body.
Either way, it is still unnerving, even to his own subordinates sans Haschwalth, but the power brought about by Yhwach absorbing his "father" (still don't understand how that works) is monumental, as he casually peels apart the Vandenreich and reassembles it in the Soul King Palace.
Wahrwelt
Wahrwelt - such is the name of the new palace that Yhwach created over the Soul King's rotten tombstone. The fact that Yhwach was able to do this so easily and in the space of a few seconds speaks volumes of the power he now possesses due to absorbing the Soul King. It took Ichigo half a day to cross the distance between the Soul King Palace and the Seireitei at full-speed Shunpo; Yhwach's Soul King-fuelled feats keep on crossing that distance in seconds.
It is at the time that Yhwach is doing this that Ichigo and Co arrive at Yoruichi's marker, and the Shinigami finally complete the Gate to reach the Soul King Palace...except it is not there anymore, as Yhwach completely renovated the place soon after absorbing all of the Soul King's power. Yhwach even changed the nature and density of the reishi in the atmosphere to make it so the Shinigami cannot make footholds with their reiatsu, as Yuushiro and Ichigo learnt the hard way.
Yoruichi, Ichigo and Co, and the Gotei 13. Are you all absolutely certain that you think you can still defeat Yhwach after this? Yhwach has absorbed the Soul King and re-built the Vandenreich as the Wahrwelt over the Soul King Palace, the Schutzstaffel that were empowered by Auswahlen crushed Squad Zero. You are essentially going up against six Quincy on the level of Yamamoto and Aizen, while Yhwach is pushing Deicide-levels of power now that he's absorbed the Soul King.
The clock will run down on the current battle, and this arc in-universe will go on to the ninth day that Yhwach's "Kaiser Gesang" mentioned at minimum. You are not winning this one. Sorry about that.
Regardless, the Schutzstaffel are set to defend the Wahrwelt, and they and Uryu have been sent to the five points of Wahrwelt to stand guard against intruders. The first to come into combat was Askin, and Grimmjow wasted no time in trying to get his claws into him, and probably falling for Askin's trap in the process.
Meanwhile, Mayuri is off doing his own thing separate from the Gotei 13, only he has the unwanted company of Zaraki Kenpachi, Ikkaku, Yumichika, and Hanataro, who were left behind when the others went through the door.
Defeating the Same Foe Together 2
Remember what I said about the Shinigami and Quincy "working together"? It is clear that is not the case, since Bazz-B and Co took the express route up to the newly-named Wahrwelt through the Gate of the Sun, which definitely seems like a teleportation device usable by only the Quincy, since Bazz-B and the others used it to get right to the top of Wahrwelt, where they intend to dispose of both Yhwach and Haschwalth on their own.
Normally, it would be suicidal (even with a plan it would be suicidal) but we do see that Bazz-B has a plan behind his actions, and it all centers around Jugram, Grandmaster of the Stern Ritter and the one who wears the "Mask of the Ruler" while Yhwach sleeps. When night falls and Yhwach sleeps to store his power, his power will switch with Haschwalth's power. That is when Bazz-B intends to kill Haschwalth and Yhwach's power with him, because night is about to fall.
Night is about to fall...
NIGHT IS ABOUT TO FALL!!
I'm sorry, but I must puzzle through this.
It was the morning when Ichigo arrived in the Seireitei from the Soul King Palace, as the Vandenreich superseded the Seireitei at about 5 PM (a clock tower indicated as such), and Ichigo left for the Seireitei three hours after the Vandenreich began its attack. At the most, based on Ichigo's own estimates, he should have arrived at around 8 AM the next day in the morning hours.
Immediately after Ichigo's arrival, when there was still a hole in the Soul King Palace's defenses for 6000 seconds, Yhwach and Co took the opportunity to head up to the Soul King Palace. Ichigo and Co followed after them in a pseudo-Tenchuren made by Mayuri based on the Shiba Cannon's design.
In the mean-time, the Shinigami began to build the Gate to connect the Seireitei to the Soul King Palace via the Tenshiheiso, and Urahara explicitly stated that they only have this opportunity because Ichigo broke through the barrier surrounding the Soul King Palace.
The events of chapter 612 to 623 came in rapid succession of one another, with no place present for a skip in time in between those events. It should have still been the morning of the second day, based on that.
But in chapter 630, Bazz-B tells Jugo to look outside, because night is about to fall soon.
Now, I don't know if the connection made with the Tenshiheiso to the Soul King Palace only required the barriers to be open for a short period of time and did not require the barriers to remain open after that (it is a gate through Space-Time, after all), because to go from morning to just about night is a space of time much longer than 6000 seconds.
So, Kubo, are you trying to tell me that it took half a day for Yhwach to completely absorb the Soul King, and for the Gotei 13 to complete the Gate? Was Ichigo knocked out for that long as well?
That's it. That's all I'll say. Moving on.
Friends
To get back on track, as Bazz-B and Haschwalth continue their fight, we are given flash-backs to when Bazz-B and Haschwalth first met - one thousand years ago. I'll admit that this was a bit surprising, because most of us likely expected Quincy to have the life-spans of normal Humans. Perhaps this longevity is a result of the Schrifts that Yhwach gave all his Stern Ritter, but this likely makes the Schutzstaffel, along with Haschwalth and Bazz-B, older than most of the Shinigami cast, ironically enough. In hind-sight, it does explain Askin's familiarity with how the Vandenreich came to be.
At any rate, Bazz-B and Haschwalth both met each other when they were just children in ye old Middle Ages Europe. In fact, they both met each other when Haschwalth was out hunting for a rabbit and Bazz-B wanted to show off his skills as a Quincy "prodigy". While Bazz-B lived in a "small castle", as he calls it (some I know mistook it for a town in the initial flash-back panel that opened this mini-arc), Haschwalth apparently lived in the woods with a...very abusive uncle, to put it lightly. Because Bazz-B took pity on Haschwalth, he took him under his wing, and he told him that they would become the strongest Quincy.
What firmly set this flash-back one thousand years ago is the fact that Yhwach showed up half a year later and burnt the entire area down - castle and forest alike, killing Bazz-B's family and Haschwalth's uncle.
The Mysteries of the Man Named God, and the World That Was
As much as the flashback is about Haschwalth and Bazz-B, it is in equal parts about unveiling more about the nature of Yhwach. In this flashback, it was established that Yhwach was two hundred years old at this point, which makes him much younger than I had originally imagined the "Father of the Quincy" being, which is something that people also called Yhwach back then.
But Bazz-B doesn't care about that, as he's hell-bent on killing Yhwach, and he brings Haschwalth along with him, probably assuming they are both equally invested in seeking revenge for the deaths of their family members (though I doubt either miss Haschwalth's abusive uncle that much). While the two of them trained for five years, Yhwach most likely continued conquering until there was nothing left in the Lichtreich ("Empire of Light/Light Realm") to conquer, at which point he turned his sights upon the Soul Society and the creation of the Stern Ritter.
Now, we need to have a bit more clarification on this, I think. We heard that Yhwach ruled over the northern territories of where Bazz-B and Jugo lived, and Zeidritz mentioned that Yhwach had conquered everything in the Lichtreich. Does this mean that Yhwach was the ruler of his own country in the Living World, or did he successfully conquer the entire world, and called it the Lichtreich as a result?
Since the Quincy are spread out across the world, based on the names of various Stern Ritter, it would not surprise me if Yhwach actually did conquer the world at some point with his power. If Yhwach did indeed conquer the whole world, that could give new meaning to what he meant by "reclaiming the world in nine days" - he was not referring to the Soul Society, but the Living World. Conquering Soul Society was just a stepping stone towards that final conquest, where Yhwach brings both the Living World and the Soul Society under his rule in the "true world".
But if that is the case, then we know that the Shinigami-Quincy War of a thousand years ago is what led to the collapse of the Lichtreich.
The question is why no history in the Living World has any record of that time period.
The Mysteries of the Man Named God, and the Aberrant Quincy
While Bazz-B and Haschwalth were training, Bazz-B kept on growing stronger while Haschwalth has displayed no abilities of the Quincy whatsoever - he could not gather spirit particles, and he could not even form a bow. While that is not true now, since Haschwalth did display the ability to gather spirit particles when confronted with Nanao's barrier, it seemed to be true back then.
From this, we hear from Bazz-B that there was a folktale about Quincy born incapable of gathering reishi every few decades, and that those Quincy were considered incomplete/disabled/aberrant and culled while still young. In a way, Haschwalth is probably fortunate his uncle kept him around despite his abusive nature - had he ended up with anyone, he'd have been culled.
According to Bazz-B, such an event had not happened for centuries, meaning Haschwalth was the first Quincy in a long time to be born like that. Despite that, he could not abandon him.
After five years, Algora and Hubert came to the town near Bazz-B and Haschwalth were training, and they announced to the local townsfolk that Yhwach was establishing a new army - the Stern Ritter - and were looking for recruits from the local town. Algora announces that the Stern Ritter would lead the invasion of the Soul Society, claiming that Yhwach feels that Soul Society would become a threat if left to their own devices, and states that anyone who wants to fight for the survival of the Quincy should step forward.
Technically speaking, Algora is correct on both accounts, given our hindsight. The newly formed Gotei 13 virtually exterminated the Quincy in the Shinigami-Quincy War of a thousand years ago, most likely erased the Lichtreich from not only the history books but also from all Human memories, as well as all memory of the Quincy. After all, Algora seems to be addressing an entire village of Quincy (normal Humans can't feel spiritual pressure), so there were once much more wide-spread than they would be in the current setting.
Bazz-B sees the Stern Ritter as a chance for him and Haschwalth to get close to Yhwach, and Bazz-B drags Haschwalth along with him to confront Algora about joining the Stern Ritter. When Algora rejects Bazz-B's request, Bazz-B pushes the issue with Algora and the two almost come to blows.
Cue Yhwach arriving and knocking everyone in the village (and Bazz-B) down with his reiatsu. While Algora apologizes to Yhwach for being provoked into a fight with Bazz-B, Yhwach pays it little heed, as he came to the village to pick up the one who will be his right-hand man - Haschwalth Jugram.
The Quincy Who Give and Share Power
Bazz-B doesn't take it well, to say the least. After he spent five years of his life training for the purpose of getting close to Yhwach and killing him, he is passed over in favour of the one who "has no talent". Even if Bazz-B and Jugo did share the same wish, Bazz-B had always assumed he'd be the one to do it, if one of them was unable to. Even Haschwalth says that he thinks Bazz-B is more suited to be Yhwach's Right-Hand Man. Algora does not like the fact that Haschwalth is questioning Yhwach, but His Majesty interrupts to explain his reasoning.
We clearly see at this point that Yhwach does have "The Almighty" (contrary to a theory I once made on their connection when chapter 632 initially came out), and that he had seen Haschwalth's confusion already. He then explains why Haschwalth was not only the only Quincy standing when Yhwach reiatsu-crushed everyone else, but also why he has been unable to collect reishi and form Heilig Bogen, and why he is choosing him to be his Right-Hand Man.
Haschwalth is just like Yhwach, a Quincy with the ability to share power.
It looks like you omitted something from your explanation to Uryu, Haschwalth. Even so, it remains to be seen if Haschwalth's power works in the exact same way as Yhwach's own.
Yhwach has been searching for a Quincy like Haschwalth for a long time, since not one Quincy had been born in the past two hundred years with the same abilities as Yhwach. That is when it clicked in Bazz-B's mind - the true nature of those "incomplete" Quincy from folklore - and a number of possibilities clicked in my own mind.
In a sense, it is tragic. Apparently, Quincy like Haschwalth and Yhwach were born every few decades, but they were all culled at a young age and unable to realize their potential because the Quincy race as a whole did not understand what their power actually was. On the other hand, Yhwach was the last one of these produced, but it seems he hit the jackpot even among such Quincy because of the specific nature of his ability "to share power".
While Yhwach can share power, grow it and take it back (as explained back in chapter 565 in detail), he is certain that Haschwalth probably cannot do the same. It would make sense, if the abilities of such Quincy are as varied as those of normal Quincy and all the other races.
Now, given Yhwach can see the future, do not tell me that he did not pick his following words with the intent of driving a rift between Haschwalth and Bazz-B - Yhwach out-right states to Bazz-B that he must have felt his power increasing daily during all the time he spent with Haschwalth, and belittles him for thinking that it was the result of his own efforts and power.
According to Yhwach, it is because Haschwalth was unconsciously sharing power with Bazz-B that he became so strong in the first place; that he became a "genius". In short, Yhwach broke Bazz-B down completely, tore down his perception of himself, and made him realize his place. He then finishes by telling Haschwalth to come with him, and that he needs him by his side.
While we all know Yhwach's true nature, and Haschwalth may have come to regret his decision, based on his words to Uryu in 565, it is hard to not feel the sad joy in Haschwalth's eyes. For once, he is not being told that he needs someone else to take care of him, and that there is someone who says they need him. Yhwach gave Haschwalth what he desired most - to feel genuinely wanted by someone - and tore away everything Bazz-B had.
Fallen Friendship
Bazz-B dropped all pretense of subtlety in his following rage and fires a Heilig Pfiel straight at Yhwach, only for Haschwalth to catch it before it can strike Yhwach.
That look in Haschwalth's eye as he catches the arrow terrifies me. Bazz-B's devastated and wounded expression to the act makes me want to hug him. That right there almost feels like the entire turning point in their respective personalities, and the point where their friendship was irreparably damaged.
Bazz-B simply looks broken in the above panel. Yhwach has completely deconstructed all his efforts in the last five years of his life by telling him how he owes it all to Haschwalth, and he also turned former friends against one another by giving Haschwalth the one thing he could never refused and must have craved for his entire life - someone who cares about and needs him, and someone who gave his life purpose by revealing what he truly was.
After losing his home and family, revenge on Yhwach, his friendship with Haschwalth, and his pride were all that Bazz-B had left. Yhwach crushed Bazz-B's pride with the truth about Haschwalth's nature, and the above scene is when both Haschwalth and his quest for vengeance were both taken from him, a moment paralleled in the present time of the story where Haschwalth caught Bazz-B's Heilig Pfiel in a similar manner, and struck him down.
--------------------------------------------------
Is this the end of the flash-back? Absolutely not. From the current point in the flashbacks, we do not know when or how Bazz-B got into the Stern Ritter, or what changed his perception of Yhwach so drastically and change him into a loyal Stern Ritter of Yhwach. It took getting hit by the Auswahlen for Bazz-B to get back on track for revenge in the modern day, even if it means bringing down his former friend with Yhwach. What changed this is still something we need to see, so Bazz-B is not dead yet.
Opened Doors of the Mind
I mentioned possibilities that clicked in my own mind before, and I suppose it is time to elaborate on what I meant.
Here's the brief version from my initial reaction to the chapter:
Damn, that is some very heavy stuff.
So Haschwalth is a Quincy that is the same as Yhwach - one born every two hundred years with the ability of giving and...sharing his...powers...
*thinks back to Ginjo*
Oh my God...
*remembers Urahara's explanation for Inoue and Sado awakening their powers*
Oh my God!
Now for my explanation in full.
I have always felt that Ginjo may have been the Shinigami Representative going back two hundred years ago, and his being like Ichigo and the Cross he wears has made me think that Ginjo is also the child of a Quincy and a Shinigami, much like Ichigo.
The recent revelation about Haschwalth bears significance for both Ginjo and Ichigo, but I'll get to Ginjo first. It never crossed my mind before because it was believed that Yhwach was the only Quincy with "the power to share power", but this flashback has shown that not only is Haschwalth the same as Yhwach, but that such Quincy have always been born from every few decades to at least two centuries.
Back in the "Lost Agent Arc", Ginjo was able to use his Badge Fullbring to steal Ichigo's Fullbring from him, and he also displayed the ability to share that Fullbring with the Xcutioners, and it was established that Shinigami Representatives and Fullbringers could share their powers with one another, according to Yukio. I had assumed once that it was due to how they were opposites - Fullbringers as Humans with power derived from Hollow reiryoku, and Ginjo and Ichigo being the children of Shinigami and Quincy.
While that still stands, it could also be connected to both Ginjo and Ichigo being born as Quincy with "the power to share power", with Ichigo born 200 years after Ginjo, just as Haschwalth was born 200 years after Yhwach.
In Ichigo's case, it ties back into Urahara's initial explanation for Inoue and Sado awakening their spiritual powers. He explained it as Ichigo's uncontrolled spiritual power affecting the spirits of those around him, but it could very well just be a half-truth - it is a result of being close to Ichigo, but the catalyst was not simply his reiatsu. Rather, Ichigo was the same as Haschwalth - he unconsciously "shared powers" with those nearby when he was in his Shinigami form and fighting Hollows.
As the Hogyoku is also a factor, alongside the remnants of Hollow reiryoku left over in their bodies from Hollow attacks, we have a train of logic to work with - the Hogyoku makes manifest the heart's desire so long as the target possesses the power necessary to beget their desire. If Ichigo does have "the power to share power", then the power he unknowingly shared with Inoue and Sado is what gave Inoue and Sado "the power necessary to beget their desires", with the remnants of Hollow reiryoku being what the Hogyoku's influence acted upon to cause them to manifest their powers as Fullbring.
Post-Script: In the "Lost Agent Arc", it was established that Ichigo had no power or reiatsu whatsoever until a few days prior to chapter 425, when Inoue and Uryu started sensing reiatsu from him. It might be unrelated, given Ginjo's later explanation (while under "Book of the End", however), but Ichigo first came across Ginjo in chapter 424. Who is to say that Ichigo's reiatsu didn't start coming back initially because Ginjo had "shared power" with Ichigo, and that is why Ichigo's Fullbring developed so quickly, akin to how Bazz-B developed his powers at a rapid rate due to being near Haschwalth?
No comments:
Post a Comment