Shooting Down Heaven DENIED!
Aizen has made good on his word of destroying the shroud with his reiatsu, as the Vice-Captain and Ikkaku look on in fear of Aizen about to attempt this monumental feat.
The only one among who tries to act to prevent Aizen from doing so is Rukia, but she is grabbed by the shoulder by Kyoraku. To me, it is clear why Rukia is the one who tried to stop Aizen from shooting down the Soul King Palace. Ichigo and Co are still up in the Soul King Palace (as far as they all know), and Aizen shooting it down would endanger them as well.
But Kyoraku had good reason for stopping Rukia - Aizen didn't need to be stopped as all, since all the reiatsu he was gathering for the technique that was going to shoot down the Soul King Palace (can I assume that thing would have been Hado #99 or something like that?) suddenly dispersed, surprising even Aizen.
As Kyoraku explained, Aizen's restraints are designed to restrain his reiatsu around his body, meaning it was futile for Aizen to try to shoot down the Soul King Palace, and calls the restraints the pinnacle of Soul Society's technology, the proud controller of that technology being Kurotsuchi Mayuri.
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Now, people have complained a lot about the inventions that people like Urahara and Mayuri have created in the past (exempla gratia, the Reiatsu Amplifier), but I do not have such complaints. After all, look at the technologies that humankind has pioneered in the last century alone. Modern medicine, automotive vehicles, nuclear energy, computer technologies, the Large Hadron Collider, the space station, the Lunar landing, cloning, anti-matter, et cetera are all examples of how much humankind has accomplished with science.
Hell, we've even gone and done the once-impossible by achieving Negative Kelvin temperatures and learning they're hotter than infinitely hot temperatures.
As a result, the various inventions of the Bleach scientists - including Mayuri - do not surprise me, especially considering that some of them mimic the abilities of certain characters anyway. I'll be truly impressed if Mayuri decides to go full-on mad scientist and creates a spiritual nuclear bomb, or anti-reishi.
The Immortal Sinners of Muken
As to why the restraints exist, here we have Mayuri drop a very fascinating piece of information about the prisoners of Muken - all of them are immortal.
Mayuri tells us that, as long as a Shinigami's heart keeps beating, their body will produce reiatsu. The reason why such restraints are needed for the Muken prisoners is that they cannot killed, and because no one in Soul Society could stop their hearts. That is why Soul Society's technological prowess was focused towards creating something capable of restraining their reiatsu along with their body. Mayuri can control the extent of this restraint, which explains why he could use Kurohitsugi - Mayuri loosened the restraints enough for him to use it, and completely shut him down when he tried to shoot down the Soul King Palace.
While it does act as a means of not showing us the full scope of Aizen's power just yet, it does bring to light a very interesting plot point that I wish Kubo will address in the future. I really want to know exactly who the prisoners in Muken are, how they cannot be killed, and what did they all try to do that got them locked up down there in the first place.
But what is more is what it entails: not even Yamamoto could kill these prisoners with all his power, even Zanka no Tachi. The Sokyoku could not kill them either, and that thing has enough concentrated power to destroy Soul Society, if it was ever used for that purpose. In other words, we seem to have a group of truly immortal characters inside the Muken.
While we don't know who they are, we do have a number to them - six prisoners in Muken, counting Aizen (that's all I will say on the matter). From the old "Spirits Are Forever With You" novels, Azashiro Kenpachi was among those other five prisoners. I can imagine some people will not be happy if Azashiro is made canon.
Either way, there is a lot of potential to be had with the other four prisoners, and I hope that Kubo will take the time to make use of them.
Attack of the Remnants
Although Aizen is interested in testing whether or not his reiatsu can break the restraints, he is stopped from doing so by an interrupting NaNaNa, who unveils his ability and we finally learn the name of his Schrift - Stern Ritter "U - The Underbelly". NaNaNa, by observing the opponent's reiatsu, can establish a grid pattern on the enemy by which he can target the holes in the target's reiatsu, and paralyze them by attacking those points - which he does so against Aizen, who is not even made unconscious by the attack.
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It seems we now know why NaNaNa was so confident in taking down Renji, having observed him for so long, but it also shows how circumstantial his power is. If the enemy does not give NaNaNa enough time to analyze their reiatsu (e.g. against Byakuya), his ability cannot be used. But still, to have an effect on Aizen as he is now shows how dangerous the ability is.
In addition to that, we now have one of the remaining three Letters revealed to us. That only leaves "N" and "K" as unrevealed, which makes me think that Kubo still has something planned for their holders. I have a feeling that Robert is not going to stay dead, if my idea that his letter means "The Never-ending" comes true.
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Accompanying him are Liltotto, Giselle, and Bazz-B, and NaNaNa states that the Quincy have issues with Aizen shooting down the Soul King Palace.
As Kyoraku said, their timing couldn't be worse, and he asks for a progress report on the gate. As we saw last chapter, they lost all the reiatsu they built up for the Gate, meaning they now have to start from scratch, and Kyoraku decides to buy time for the Shinigami by taking on all the Stern Ritter by himself.
"The Priorites of "B", "G" and "Z" do not Match with "U"
More of Giselle's zombies show up, and Mayuri states that he's actually surprised by that turn of events, guessing that Giselle must be a zombie herself/himself, to which Giselle just makes the silliest face of mockery at Mayuri imaginable.
Kyoraku then asks if NaNaNa having the same problem with Aizen shooting down the Soul King Palace means the Quincy have come to join forces with the Shinigami, to which NaNaNa answers in the negative, stating that Yhwach is up in the Soul King Palace.
This goes to show the different views the Stern Ritter all have of Yhwach. While Liltotto and Bazz-B were visibly upset at Yhwach targeting them for the Auswahlen, but NaNaNa still remains loyal to him despite being one of the Auswahlen's targets. It is possible that NaNaNa is one of the older Stern Ritter, and that his views of Yhwach are different from Robert's own.
While NaNaNa is confident he can paralyze all the Shinigami with his Morphing Pattern (what Mangahelpers calls it), Bazz-B fires a beam of heat clean through NaNaNa, putting him down for the count. Does this mean that NaNaNa is dead? No, I do not think so. No one has been killed by the Burner Finger yet. NaNaNa might be different because he's weakened from the Auswahlen, but it'd be a shame if he was killed off just like that.
Bazz-B then states that the Quincy will help the Shinigami, because the Vandenreich exists in the Seireitei's shadows, and the fall of the Soul King Palace would mean Seireitei's destruction as well, which is bad for the Quincy too. While Mayuri clearly does not trust Bazz-B's words, Bazz-B does point out the condition on which their help will be received: in exchange for the Quincy helping them to rebuild the Gate, they want to go up to the Soul King Palace with the Shinigami to kill Yhwach for forsaking them.
I still do not know what the Gotei 13 group or the Quincy think they can do against the Schutzstaffel and Yhwach - the same individuals who defeated the Royal Guard - but I suppose that is not a concern with the end of the world potentially approaching. This will undoubtedly be a shaky offer for many of the Shinigami to accept, so I hope that certain Shinigami (i.e. Rukia, Renji, Kyoraku) will help along the alliance.
The Power Taken
Now, onto the fact that the Stern Ritter still have their powers. Given the nature of Auswahlen, it was likely assumed by all of us that the Stern Ritter had their powers completely taken from them, and some of them their lives. Since Meninas and Candice are not in this group, I will assume that they were the other two who had their life-force taken alongside Robert to revive the killed Schutzstaffel (I don't think Askin was killed by Nimaiya, just incapacitated).
As to why they still have their abilities, I assume that what Yhwach took from the Stern Ritter was the Schrift. Remember, the Schrift did not "give" the Stern Ritters their abilities - the Schrift is a means of imparting a more powerful part of Yhwach's soul onto an individual's soul. The Quincy, like all races in Bleach, possess their own, natural-born abilities.
Because of this, I believe that the Schrifts are also the source of the Quincy's Vollstandig. When the Auswahlen came down, one of the things that we saw happen was the wings of Liltotto's Vollstandig disappear. As a result, I believe that the Vollstandig takes advantage of the power of the Schrift bestowed upon the Quincy to activate the form. It also fits with the Auswahlen's concept of "Power Redistribution": Yhwach took the Schrift he had distributed to the Stern Ritter and redistributed the power they accumulated to the Schutzstaffel.
In other words, while the Quincy still have their natural abilities, they no longer have the ability to access the Vollstandig.
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While the Shinigami are back to square one in creating the Gate, they now have the Quincy assisting them in their endeavour to reach the Soul King Palace, which promises for interesting interactions in the future. Furthermore, Mayuri's explanation about Aizen's restraints also revealed that the prisoners of Muken are immortals that no one in the Soul Society could kill.
Saturday, 18 April 2015
Thursday, 2 April 2015
Bleach 622 Review
The Face of the Devil Even when everyone seems to despise him, Aizen never misses an opportunity to be formal with anyone so long as he has the upper hand. He's so formal that you'd almost think that Aizen never had that breakdown that he did in "Deicide" (unless he faked it because he knew that someone would release him to deal with Yhwach). He even congratulates Rukia on becoming a Vice-Captain, and amicably states that it's great that her achievements against the Arrancar were recognized.
On the other hand, Rukia has the reaction that I knew was likely to be coming since last week: she angrily asks why Aizen is there, to which Aizen responds that he had been let out. When asked by Rukia, Kyoraku presents himself and reveals he is the one who set Aizen free.
Pride Cannot Save the World
Kyoraku knows all the Shinigami well, so he knows what is best to say in the situation he's in. He starts by answering everyone's first question: he states that he decided that the Gotei 13 need Aizen's power.
It might just be me, but Rukia seems more distraught at Kyoraku's actions whereas everyone else is angrily biting at him. Hisagi and Renji demand to know what Kyoraku is saying and if it really is okay; Ikkaku and Yumichika state they can't understand why they'd need Aizen's power and that they cannot give their consent to all this; Soi Fon finishes the protests by calling Kyoraku shameless.
This is when Kyoraku shuts everyone down: "You're talking about pride. Let's talk about Gotei. Pride won't save the world. I don't think it's a bad thing to use evil to throw evil over." He shuts down everyone's complaints so completely that even Aizen comments on the argument being over.
In this situation, Kyoraku is absolutely correct. I'll explain by addressing the three above points:
Yes, Kyoraku knows full well what he is saying and, although it is a dangerous choice, Kyoraku choosing to release Aizen is the best chose they have right now.
Kyoraku was not asking for anyone's consent to the matter, just their acceptance. As the leader of the Gotei 13 now, he has to make all the hard choices, and this is one of them. As for needing Aizen's power, the situation in the Soul King Palace (which they know nothing about) answers in the affirmative. To have any chance of survival against a Soul King-empowered Yhwach and the Auswahlen-empowered Schultzstaffel, they need to have Aizen backing them up.
The current situation is the Godzilla Threshold of the Bleach universe - the point where releasing Aizen from Muken could not possibly make the situation any worse; the point where he's the only viable response left to Yhwach's victory.
Soi Fon might call Kyoraku shameless, but Kyoraku's concern is not about pride or any foolishness like that. Kyoraku summed up his own personality quite well after his killing of Starrk - once you step out onto the battlefield, both sides are evil. Only a rookie can afford to get caught up in things such as manners, style, or even pride.
To reference something Ukitake once said, there are two kinds of battles: the battle to protect your life, and the battle to protect your pride. The current situation is not a battle for the latter, but the former - a battle to protect the lives of everyone around them. Kyoraku knows at least this much, and that is why he is stating that it is not bad to use evil to overthrow another evil - life is what will save the world, not pride. They need to fight in order to live, not to fight in order to protect their pride.
The Devil Bares his Fangs
With the argument over, Kyoraku and Aizen once again enter into their verbal banter as Aizen asks for the restraints on his arms to be removed. However, Kyoraku reminds him that he could only use three keys, and he already used them for Aizen's left eye, mouth and ankles, and that he lacks the jurisdiction to undo any other seals.
The reason this is a game is because Aizen had already undone the rest of his seals by the time Kyoraku unsealed his mouth. As a result, Kyoraku is playing by the book just to play verbal jousting with Aizen. After all, it is but a game to Aizen, and Kyoraku is also a man who likes to play games.
Aizen asks Kyoraku how he expects him to clean up the Gotei 13's mess while bound to the chair, with Kyoraku responding that Aizen should not have any troubles even when bound to the chair, calling it a "minor nuisance" at best, showing that Kyoraku is not underestimating Aizen in the slightest, even though Aizen states (with a hint of sarcasm I believe) that he doesn't have that kind of power right now.
Kyoraku informs Aizen that it is not about whether or not he has the power to do so, as he knows that Aizen won't let the Mini-Mimihagi chew away at him, as Aizen blocks a torrent of Mini-Mimihagi from descending upon him and Kyoraku, to which Aizen comments that Kyoraku is a difficult man. Kyoraku accepts the compliment...right as he realizes just what Aizen is about to do. Kyoraku immediately orders everyone back into the laboratory as Aizen fires off a chantless Kurohitsugi that begins to envelop the area.
Once they are down below, Byakuya finally gives his say on the matter - he states that Kyoraku releasing Aizen is an insult to all of them, a sentiment that Kyoraku knows to be true, and he states that he will allow the others to kick him as much as they want for it after the Seireitei is saved.
I have to admit, it must be hard for the Shinigami to not think about this with Kyoraku's words to them after Yamamoto's death. He reminded everyone back then that it is their job to protect the Seireitei, and now he's pulled Aizen out of Muken to fight against the Quincy, something with all the Gotei Shinigami must find insulting to them as individuals. With Kyoraku saying they need Aizen's power, it's like him saying that the Gotei 13 do not have the means to protect the Seireitei or to defeat the Quincy.
Sadly, as we are about to see, Kyoraku is correct either way...
Breach the Firmament and Shoot Down God's Throne
When Kurohitsugi dissipates, there is virtually nothing left in the area it encompassed. No Mini-Mimihagi, none of the rubble, not even any remaining structures are left standing aside from a few pieces of wall remaining stuck on the foundation. The Kurohitsugi annihilated virtually everything in the immediate area - reduced it down to nothing.
Even Urahara himself comments on it, stating in no uncertain terms that, for Aizen to have cast a chantless Kurohitsugi with that much power behind it, he had to be even stronger than when he fought Ichigo. This understandably shocks Renji (he is the guy whose goal was to get strong enough to fight Aizen, after all), who calls Aizen a monster.
Meanwhile, Aizen casually comments on the chair's durability being the same as his restraints, leaving Renji to comment that the reason why he used Kurohitsugi was to attempt to release himself. Given he already undid the majority of his restraints beforehand, Aizen is probably just playing a part at the moment. After all, there's no way the Shinigami would tolerate it if he was actually out of the chair.
As Soi Fon tries to aim Jakuho Raikoben to destroy the dome again, Aizen tells here there is no need for that because his Kurohitsugi's gravity already put cracks in the dome, and that all he needs to do is exert his power to cause the dome to self-destruct. As he begins to do so, all the power he is putting out begins to disrupt the Gate the Shinigami have spent the last nine chapters storing up reiatsu to open, causing the gathered reiatsu to gather, and Rukia pleads with Aizen to stop before that happens.
I said it before, and I'll say it again: Urahara said they'd need the combined power of all the Captain class Shinigami to open the Tenshiheiso Gate to the Soul King Palace. They need that much reiatsu, combined with the energy gathered from the distortions, to bridge the hundreds of thousands of kilometres (perhaps millions of kilometres) of distance between the Seireitei and the Soul King Palace with the Gate. The reason why it hasn't been activated yet is because they lacked the manpower to power up the gate fully, even with the number of powerful Shinigami there and Mayuri's Reiatsu Amplifier.
However, Aizen's not concerned with the Tenshiheiso Gate, and drops this line at the end of the chapter:
"There is a hole in the barrier of the Soul King Palace, right? Now, since you have business to tend to in the Soul King Palace, I'll shoot it down."
In other words, Aizen has so much power at this point that he intends to shoot down the Soul King Palace from a distance comparable to Snake Way's length at minimum. Keep in mind that he is going to do this in restraints that confine his reiatsu around his body. He cast the Kurohitsugi in that state, he's going to destroy the dome in that state, and he's going to shoot down the Soul King Palace in that state.
This is probably the reason why the Soul King Palace has 72 barriers surrounding it in the first place - to keep guys as powerful as Aizen from performing god-level sniping on the Soul King Palace. They certainly did their job, because Aizen had planned to create and use an Ouken to get up to the Soul King Palace before.
And people were joking about Aizen not going to the Soul King Palace when Sado, Inoue and Ganju all went up to the Soul King Palace. Aizen's not "going" to the Soul King Palace because he's going to shoot it down and bring it to him. Given the distance involved, I can only assume that Aizen has some means of yanking it down to the Soul Society within minutes.
This definitely shows the differences between Aizen and Urahara's methods: whereas Urahara utilizes scientific solutions to problems, Aizen will choose to use force when he can do so.
It also shows just how much power Aizen still possesses: it was going to take the combined reiatsu of all the Captains of the Gotei 13 to power the Tenshiheiso Gate; Aizen just decides to shoot down the Soul King Palace with his power alone.
If the Special War Potentials are all individuals with the potential to reach this level of power, then who could the remaining two possibly be?
On the other hand, Rukia has the reaction that I knew was likely to be coming since last week: she angrily asks why Aizen is there, to which Aizen responds that he had been let out. When asked by Rukia, Kyoraku presents himself and reveals he is the one who set Aizen free.
Pride Cannot Save the World
Kyoraku knows all the Shinigami well, so he knows what is best to say in the situation he's in. He starts by answering everyone's first question: he states that he decided that the Gotei 13 need Aizen's power.
It might just be me, but Rukia seems more distraught at Kyoraku's actions whereas everyone else is angrily biting at him. Hisagi and Renji demand to know what Kyoraku is saying and if it really is okay; Ikkaku and Yumichika state they can't understand why they'd need Aizen's power and that they cannot give their consent to all this; Soi Fon finishes the protests by calling Kyoraku shameless.
This is when Kyoraku shuts everyone down: "You're talking about pride. Let's talk about Gotei. Pride won't save the world. I don't think it's a bad thing to use evil to throw evil over." He shuts down everyone's complaints so completely that even Aizen comments on the argument being over.
In this situation, Kyoraku is absolutely correct. I'll explain by addressing the three above points:
Yes, Kyoraku knows full well what he is saying and, although it is a dangerous choice, Kyoraku choosing to release Aizen is the best chose they have right now.
Kyoraku was not asking for anyone's consent to the matter, just their acceptance. As the leader of the Gotei 13 now, he has to make all the hard choices, and this is one of them. As for needing Aizen's power, the situation in the Soul King Palace (which they know nothing about) answers in the affirmative. To have any chance of survival against a Soul King-empowered Yhwach and the Auswahlen-empowered Schultzstaffel, they need to have Aizen backing them up.
The current situation is the Godzilla Threshold of the Bleach universe - the point where releasing Aizen from Muken could not possibly make the situation any worse; the point where he's the only viable response left to Yhwach's victory.
Soi Fon might call Kyoraku shameless, but Kyoraku's concern is not about pride or any foolishness like that. Kyoraku summed up his own personality quite well after his killing of Starrk - once you step out onto the battlefield, both sides are evil. Only a rookie can afford to get caught up in things such as manners, style, or even pride.
To reference something Ukitake once said, there are two kinds of battles: the battle to protect your life, and the battle to protect your pride. The current situation is not a battle for the latter, but the former - a battle to protect the lives of everyone around them. Kyoraku knows at least this much, and that is why he is stating that it is not bad to use evil to overthrow another evil - life is what will save the world, not pride. They need to fight in order to live, not to fight in order to protect their pride.
The Devil Bares his Fangs
With the argument over, Kyoraku and Aizen once again enter into their verbal banter as Aizen asks for the restraints on his arms to be removed. However, Kyoraku reminds him that he could only use three keys, and he already used them for Aizen's left eye, mouth and ankles, and that he lacks the jurisdiction to undo any other seals.
The reason this is a game is because Aizen had already undone the rest of his seals by the time Kyoraku unsealed his mouth. As a result, Kyoraku is playing by the book just to play verbal jousting with Aizen. After all, it is but a game to Aizen, and Kyoraku is also a man who likes to play games.
Aizen asks Kyoraku how he expects him to clean up the Gotei 13's mess while bound to the chair, with Kyoraku responding that Aizen should not have any troubles even when bound to the chair, calling it a "minor nuisance" at best, showing that Kyoraku is not underestimating Aizen in the slightest, even though Aizen states (with a hint of sarcasm I believe) that he doesn't have that kind of power right now.
Kyoraku informs Aizen that it is not about whether or not he has the power to do so, as he knows that Aizen won't let the Mini-Mimihagi chew away at him, as Aizen blocks a torrent of Mini-Mimihagi from descending upon him and Kyoraku, to which Aizen comments that Kyoraku is a difficult man. Kyoraku accepts the compliment...right as he realizes just what Aizen is about to do. Kyoraku immediately orders everyone back into the laboratory as Aizen fires off a chantless Kurohitsugi that begins to envelop the area.
Once they are down below, Byakuya finally gives his say on the matter - he states that Kyoraku releasing Aizen is an insult to all of them, a sentiment that Kyoraku knows to be true, and he states that he will allow the others to kick him as much as they want for it after the Seireitei is saved.
I have to admit, it must be hard for the Shinigami to not think about this with Kyoraku's words to them after Yamamoto's death. He reminded everyone back then that it is their job to protect the Seireitei, and now he's pulled Aizen out of Muken to fight against the Quincy, something with all the Gotei Shinigami must find insulting to them as individuals. With Kyoraku saying they need Aizen's power, it's like him saying that the Gotei 13 do not have the means to protect the Seireitei or to defeat the Quincy.
Sadly, as we are about to see, Kyoraku is correct either way...
Breach the Firmament and Shoot Down God's Throne
When Kurohitsugi dissipates, there is virtually nothing left in the area it encompassed. No Mini-Mimihagi, none of the rubble, not even any remaining structures are left standing aside from a few pieces of wall remaining stuck on the foundation. The Kurohitsugi annihilated virtually everything in the immediate area - reduced it down to nothing.
Even Urahara himself comments on it, stating in no uncertain terms that, for Aizen to have cast a chantless Kurohitsugi with that much power behind it, he had to be even stronger than when he fought Ichigo. This understandably shocks Renji (he is the guy whose goal was to get strong enough to fight Aizen, after all), who calls Aizen a monster.
Meanwhile, Aizen casually comments on the chair's durability being the same as his restraints, leaving Renji to comment that the reason why he used Kurohitsugi was to attempt to release himself. Given he already undid the majority of his restraints beforehand, Aizen is probably just playing a part at the moment. After all, there's no way the Shinigami would tolerate it if he was actually out of the chair.
As Soi Fon tries to aim Jakuho Raikoben to destroy the dome again, Aizen tells here there is no need for that because his Kurohitsugi's gravity already put cracks in the dome, and that all he needs to do is exert his power to cause the dome to self-destruct. As he begins to do so, all the power he is putting out begins to disrupt the Gate the Shinigami have spent the last nine chapters storing up reiatsu to open, causing the gathered reiatsu to gather, and Rukia pleads with Aizen to stop before that happens.
I said it before, and I'll say it again: Urahara said they'd need the combined power of all the Captain class Shinigami to open the Tenshiheiso Gate to the Soul King Palace. They need that much reiatsu, combined with the energy gathered from the distortions, to bridge the hundreds of thousands of kilometres (perhaps millions of kilometres) of distance between the Seireitei and the Soul King Palace with the Gate. The reason why it hasn't been activated yet is because they lacked the manpower to power up the gate fully, even with the number of powerful Shinigami there and Mayuri's Reiatsu Amplifier.
However, Aizen's not concerned with the Tenshiheiso Gate, and drops this line at the end of the chapter:
"There is a hole in the barrier of the Soul King Palace, right? Now, since you have business to tend to in the Soul King Palace, I'll shoot it down."
In other words, Aizen has so much power at this point that he intends to shoot down the Soul King Palace from a distance comparable to Snake Way's length at minimum. Keep in mind that he is going to do this in restraints that confine his reiatsu around his body. He cast the Kurohitsugi in that state, he's going to destroy the dome in that state, and he's going to shoot down the Soul King Palace in that state.
This is probably the reason why the Soul King Palace has 72 barriers surrounding it in the first place - to keep guys as powerful as Aizen from performing god-level sniping on the Soul King Palace. They certainly did their job, because Aizen had planned to create and use an Ouken to get up to the Soul King Palace before.
And people were joking about Aizen not going to the Soul King Palace when Sado, Inoue and Ganju all went up to the Soul King Palace. Aizen's not "going" to the Soul King Palace because he's going to shoot it down and bring it to him. Given the distance involved, I can only assume that Aizen has some means of yanking it down to the Soul Society within minutes.
This definitely shows the differences between Aizen and Urahara's methods: whereas Urahara utilizes scientific solutions to problems, Aizen will choose to use force when he can do so.
It also shows just how much power Aizen still possesses: it was going to take the combined reiatsu of all the Captains of the Gotei 13 to power the Tenshiheiso Gate; Aizen just decides to shoot down the Soul King Palace with his power alone.
If the Special War Potentials are all individuals with the potential to reach this level of power, then who could the remaining two possibly be?
Bleach 621 Review
Beyond Their Sights
As I was wondering about last week, Yhwach absorbing Mimihagi did indeed have an effect down below, as we see Ukitake collapse and Mimihagi flow out of him completely. Immediately afterwards, as Urahara comments it seems to be being absorbed, the black arrow that Yhwach fired down last week from the Soul King Palace reaches the Seireitei and encompasses it in a dome.
Here's where both Mangastream and Mangapanda messed up last week - better translations (including Viz Manga) have Yhwach say he "will put a lid on the Seireitei", thus ensuring that no one gets in his way as he absorbs the Soul King. So he wasn't "leaving Seireitei be", but ensuring that no one could come from there to interfere. This leaves the Gotei 13 with a big problem, as the Tenshiheiso seems to need a direct path between one location and another in order for the Gate to connect the two places. Otherwise, as it was with the King's Barriers, it will not work.
Unless Urahara is putting up an act and he actually knows what is going on, this shows that even Urahara is possibly out of his depth in dealing with the current situation, which relates to the title of this section of my review.
From what I have observed, one of the keys behind Yhwach's success as a villain is how little the protagonists know about him. Yamamoto believed that he knew all there was to Yhwach's power, and even Squad Zero's intelligence on Yhwach came from Yamamoto's fights with Yhwach. All those signs point towards Yhwach not using "The Almighty", the Auswahlen, or the wider range of his abilities one thousand years ago during the Shinigami-Quincy War. This makes it quite a glaring detail when Isshin expressed knowledge of the Auswahlen whereas the Squad Zero had no knowledge of it (adding further to Urahara likely putting on an act).
On the other hand, not only does Yhwach knows his enemies well, but he knows how to manipulate them, and he is able to use his true ability to full effect in battle as a result of his enemy's lack of knowledge of his power. Even now, when he's effectively won the war, we still don't know the true extent of his plans, and he has yet to utilize Zanka no Tachi for anything, having done all this under his own power and not the power he stole from Yamamoto.
This is not the same as Aizen was in the Arrancar Saga, where we all knew what Aizen's ability was (even if he never bothered to use Bankai in the entire arc), and we all knew what his main plan was. What we still don't know, however, was Aizen's true reason behind wanting to kill the Soul King, as his dialogue at the end of "Deicide" points towards new territory.
With Yhwach, we've only learnt about the nature of all his abilities recently, and we don't know what is going to happen in the following 7 of the "Final Nine Days". Given he's killed the Soul King and is in the process of absorbing his power, there's very little left for Yhwach to do (unless there something to do with Hell in the future of this arc).
Speaking of the Soul King...
The Horror of God
Back in the Soul King Palace, Yhwach has staggered in the process of absorbing the Soul King. As Lille Barro tries to ask Yhwach if he is alright, these things begin pouring out from Yhwach's body:
In case anyone is wondering, I put together the above image.
As the Mini-Mimihagi begin to swarm out from Yhwach's body, Haschwalth steps in to explain to Lille what they are: a torrent of the Soul King's power that has been at last released from the seals placed upon it by the Shinigami. Because the enormity of the power is such that Soul King/Yhwach (depending on current translations) cannot contain it within their body. As such, they have little choice but to escape in powerful streams.
He also states that they are of no danger to the Stern Ritter, "for the Soul King's enemies are now/only the Shinigami", as the Mini-Mimihagi flow down the black arrow and proceed straight for Seireitei.
Again, it depends on translations and interpretations, but the end result has the same impact. The visuals alone are enough of an indicator for some dark implications regarding the Soul King's true nature.
Looking back on "Deicide", Aizen was speaking nothing but the truth when he called the Soul King "that thing", and I do believe he may also turn out to be right in regards to his rage at Urahara for allowing himself to be controlled by the Soul King. The fact that the Soul King's power alone is flowing out in the form of these small shadow abominations not only demonstrates the vast power possessed by the Soul King, but also its inhuman nature.
Given the appearance of Mimihagi, and the existence of these Mini-Mimihagi, I would not be surprised if the "Human" appearance we have seen the Soul King take on thus far is actually just a shell, and the Soul King's true appearance is as some kind of shadowy abomination of unfathomable power. That would explain the missing limbs and why the Soul King is sealed in a chrysalis - the Chrysalis seals the King's power and contains him within a Human form, and the missing limbs are a further precaution to separate and divide the Soul King's power.
But whoever did all this to the Soul King did so a very long time ago, to such an extent that the Soul King's Right Arm became a folklore figure in the Rukongai, and it is entirely possible that none but the Squad Zero (and Haschwalth) might be aware of the Soul King's true nature.
The fact that Haschwalth knows this much in the first place further demonstrates his unique character and position in the Vandenreich. He knows things that no other Stern Ritter is aware of, and in ways he's more like Yhwach's other half than a separate individual.
But that is enough speculation on my part regarding the Soul King for now...
The Assault of Shadows
Back down in the Seireitei, we see Hisagi asking what is going on, while Soi Fon tells him that it has to be the work of the Quincy, stating that the Shakonmaku has a piece missing, which the Right Arm used to make its way towards the Soul King Palace, and asserts that the gap will become a convenient target for the Quincy.
While she's right about the shroud being the work of the Quincy - Yhwach's work, to be precise - I do believe she's wrong about the gap in the Shakonmaku being a convenient target for the Quincy. Firstly, there are no active Stern Ritter left in the Seireitei (that we know of) who could try to take advantage of it. Secondly, she does not know why the shroud came down (Yhwach wants to keep the Shinigami in the Seireitei).
To punctuate her words, she exits out of the lab and activates her Bankai in order to destroy the shroud. If there's one thing I know about Soi Fon from reading Bleach, is that she has a lot of confidence in herself. She does not know what the shroud is - only that the Quincy are behind it - yet she's confident that she can blow apart that shroud with her Bankai. Given that Yhwach made that shroud with the power of the Soul King's Right Arm, it's going to take a lot more than a giant missile to destroy the shroud.
But she doesn't get the chance to test whether or not she could destroy the shroud, as the Mini-Mimihagi finished their descent and immediately began swarming Soi Fon, who was about to be completely engulfed in the swarm if not for Omaeda's assistance, who she promptly chastise for his concern and hits him for "taking so long". Look Soi Fon, we all know Omaeda's not perfect, but at least show some appreciation for his efforts instead of playing Tsundere to the hilt.
Following immediately behind are Hisagi, Ikkaku and Yumichika. While Ikkaku already has Houzukimaru released, we see Hisagi and Yumichika release their Shikai without needing to utter the release command, which likely indicates that the both of them do indeed have Bankai.
However, they too are quickly swamped by the tide of the Soul King's power, and even Byakuya's Senbonzakura was only able to push back one swarm of them which was only replaced by another.
NOTE: If this is just the normal Senbonzakura, then Byakuya's Shikai received a massive power-up in proportion to Byakuya's own increase in power, since I can only recall him using so many petals before when he was in Bankai.
Given that the Shinigami do not know what these things are, it is likely their attacks are not working because the Mini-Mimihagi are not physical entities, but personifications of the Soul King's vast power. As such, the swarm will continue going for as long as Yhwach continues absorbing the Soul King's power. They might stop when he's completely finished absorbing the Soul King's power, but that's not an immediate solution that the Shinigami can wait around for.
Fortunately for them (sort of), they have help from their worst nightmare...
The Man Who Became God
As it seems like the Shinigami will be overwhelmed, the Mini-Mimihagi are suddenly crushed under an incredible power, as a familiar voice mocks the Shinigami for using their Zanpakuto against the Mini-Mimihagi, when they could simply use their reiatsu to crush them in one fell swoop.
Enter Aizen, sitting on a chair, still in the restraints that keep his reiatsu confined around his body (which doesn't seem to be an issue for Aizen's reiatsu-crushing the Mini-Mimihagi).
You got to hate his smug personalities. He states things like they are something that can obviously be done, but knows there is a distinct difference between himself and his enemies (or allies). It's like he's mocking the Shinigami for needing to bring him out of Muken to help against Yhwach.
We already know that Rukia's shocked at Aizen's return, so that leaves the reactions of everyone else unaccounted for. Doubtless the Visoreds will be very mad to see him again - especially the hot-headed Hiyori. As such, I can only imagine how people will react to learning that Kyoraku is the one who released him from Muken. The Gotei is not going to be happy with its Captain-Commander...
As I was wondering about last week, Yhwach absorbing Mimihagi did indeed have an effect down below, as we see Ukitake collapse and Mimihagi flow out of him completely. Immediately afterwards, as Urahara comments it seems to be being absorbed, the black arrow that Yhwach fired down last week from the Soul King Palace reaches the Seireitei and encompasses it in a dome.
Here's where both Mangastream and Mangapanda messed up last week - better translations (including Viz Manga) have Yhwach say he "will put a lid on the Seireitei", thus ensuring that no one gets in his way as he absorbs the Soul King. So he wasn't "leaving Seireitei be", but ensuring that no one could come from there to interfere. This leaves the Gotei 13 with a big problem, as the Tenshiheiso seems to need a direct path between one location and another in order for the Gate to connect the two places. Otherwise, as it was with the King's Barriers, it will not work.
Unless Urahara is putting up an act and he actually knows what is going on, this shows that even Urahara is possibly out of his depth in dealing with the current situation, which relates to the title of this section of my review.
From what I have observed, one of the keys behind Yhwach's success as a villain is how little the protagonists know about him. Yamamoto believed that he knew all there was to Yhwach's power, and even Squad Zero's intelligence on Yhwach came from Yamamoto's fights with Yhwach. All those signs point towards Yhwach not using "The Almighty", the Auswahlen, or the wider range of his abilities one thousand years ago during the Shinigami-Quincy War. This makes it quite a glaring detail when Isshin expressed knowledge of the Auswahlen whereas the Squad Zero had no knowledge of it (adding further to Urahara likely putting on an act).
On the other hand, not only does Yhwach knows his enemies well, but he knows how to manipulate them, and he is able to use his true ability to full effect in battle as a result of his enemy's lack of knowledge of his power. Even now, when he's effectively won the war, we still don't know the true extent of his plans, and he has yet to utilize Zanka no Tachi for anything, having done all this under his own power and not the power he stole from Yamamoto.
This is not the same as Aizen was in the Arrancar Saga, where we all knew what Aizen's ability was (even if he never bothered to use Bankai in the entire arc), and we all knew what his main plan was. What we still don't know, however, was Aizen's true reason behind wanting to kill the Soul King, as his dialogue at the end of "Deicide" points towards new territory.
With Yhwach, we've only learnt about the nature of all his abilities recently, and we don't know what is going to happen in the following 7 of the "Final Nine Days". Given he's killed the Soul King and is in the process of absorbing his power, there's very little left for Yhwach to do (unless there something to do with Hell in the future of this arc).
Speaking of the Soul King...
The Horror of God
Back in the Soul King Palace, Yhwach has staggered in the process of absorbing the Soul King. As Lille Barro tries to ask Yhwach if he is alright, these things begin pouring out from Yhwach's body:
In case anyone is wondering, I put together the above image.
As the Mini-Mimihagi begin to swarm out from Yhwach's body, Haschwalth steps in to explain to Lille what they are: a torrent of the Soul King's power that has been at last released from the seals placed upon it by the Shinigami. Because the enormity of the power is such that Soul King/Yhwach (depending on current translations) cannot contain it within their body. As such, they have little choice but to escape in powerful streams.
He also states that they are of no danger to the Stern Ritter, "for the Soul King's enemies are now/only the Shinigami", as the Mini-Mimihagi flow down the black arrow and proceed straight for Seireitei.
Again, it depends on translations and interpretations, but the end result has the same impact. The visuals alone are enough of an indicator for some dark implications regarding the Soul King's true nature.
Looking back on "Deicide", Aizen was speaking nothing but the truth when he called the Soul King "that thing", and I do believe he may also turn out to be right in regards to his rage at Urahara for allowing himself to be controlled by the Soul King. The fact that the Soul King's power alone is flowing out in the form of these small shadow abominations not only demonstrates the vast power possessed by the Soul King, but also its inhuman nature.
Given the appearance of Mimihagi, and the existence of these Mini-Mimihagi, I would not be surprised if the "Human" appearance we have seen the Soul King take on thus far is actually just a shell, and the Soul King's true appearance is as some kind of shadowy abomination of unfathomable power. That would explain the missing limbs and why the Soul King is sealed in a chrysalis - the Chrysalis seals the King's power and contains him within a Human form, and the missing limbs are a further precaution to separate and divide the Soul King's power.
But whoever did all this to the Soul King did so a very long time ago, to such an extent that the Soul King's Right Arm became a folklore figure in the Rukongai, and it is entirely possible that none but the Squad Zero (and Haschwalth) might be aware of the Soul King's true nature.
The fact that Haschwalth knows this much in the first place further demonstrates his unique character and position in the Vandenreich. He knows things that no other Stern Ritter is aware of, and in ways he's more like Yhwach's other half than a separate individual.
But that is enough speculation on my part regarding the Soul King for now...
The Assault of Shadows
Back down in the Seireitei, we see Hisagi asking what is going on, while Soi Fon tells him that it has to be the work of the Quincy, stating that the Shakonmaku has a piece missing, which the Right Arm used to make its way towards the Soul King Palace, and asserts that the gap will become a convenient target for the Quincy.
While she's right about the shroud being the work of the Quincy - Yhwach's work, to be precise - I do believe she's wrong about the gap in the Shakonmaku being a convenient target for the Quincy. Firstly, there are no active Stern Ritter left in the Seireitei (that we know of) who could try to take advantage of it. Secondly, she does not know why the shroud came down (Yhwach wants to keep the Shinigami in the Seireitei).
To punctuate her words, she exits out of the lab and activates her Bankai in order to destroy the shroud. If there's one thing I know about Soi Fon from reading Bleach, is that she has a lot of confidence in herself. She does not know what the shroud is - only that the Quincy are behind it - yet she's confident that she can blow apart that shroud with her Bankai. Given that Yhwach made that shroud with the power of the Soul King's Right Arm, it's going to take a lot more than a giant missile to destroy the shroud.
But she doesn't get the chance to test whether or not she could destroy the shroud, as the Mini-Mimihagi finished their descent and immediately began swarming Soi Fon, who was about to be completely engulfed in the swarm if not for Omaeda's assistance, who she promptly chastise for his concern and hits him for "taking so long". Look Soi Fon, we all know Omaeda's not perfect, but at least show some appreciation for his efforts instead of playing Tsundere to the hilt.
Following immediately behind are Hisagi, Ikkaku and Yumichika. While Ikkaku already has Houzukimaru released, we see Hisagi and Yumichika release their Shikai without needing to utter the release command, which likely indicates that the both of them do indeed have Bankai.
However, they too are quickly swamped by the tide of the Soul King's power, and even Byakuya's Senbonzakura was only able to push back one swarm of them which was only replaced by another.
NOTE: If this is just the normal Senbonzakura, then Byakuya's Shikai received a massive power-up in proportion to Byakuya's own increase in power, since I can only recall him using so many petals before when he was in Bankai.
Given that the Shinigami do not know what these things are, it is likely their attacks are not working because the Mini-Mimihagi are not physical entities, but personifications of the Soul King's vast power. As such, the swarm will continue going for as long as Yhwach continues absorbing the Soul King's power. They might stop when he's completely finished absorbing the Soul King's power, but that's not an immediate solution that the Shinigami can wait around for.
Fortunately for them (sort of), they have help from their worst nightmare...
The Man Who Became God
As it seems like the Shinigami will be overwhelmed, the Mini-Mimihagi are suddenly crushed under an incredible power, as a familiar voice mocks the Shinigami for using their Zanpakuto against the Mini-Mimihagi, when they could simply use their reiatsu to crush them in one fell swoop.
Enter Aizen, sitting on a chair, still in the restraints that keep his reiatsu confined around his body (which doesn't seem to be an issue for Aizen's reiatsu-crushing the Mini-Mimihagi).
You got to hate his smug personalities. He states things like they are something that can obviously be done, but knows there is a distinct difference between himself and his enemies (or allies). It's like he's mocking the Shinigami for needing to bring him out of Muken to help against Yhwach.
We already know that Rukia's shocked at Aizen's return, so that leaves the reactions of everyone else unaccounted for. Doubtless the Visoreds will be very mad to see him again - especially the hot-headed Hiyori. As such, I can only imagine how people will react to learning that Kyoraku is the one who released him from Muken. The Gotei is not going to be happy with its Captain-Commander...
Saturday, 21 March 2015
Bleach Chapter 613-620, Volume 68 Review
This review will be encompassing all of the events pertaining to the past eight chapters of Bleach, so I'll be talking about the events as a whole and not chapter-by-chapter.
The Meaning of "Peace"
The words that seem to define what is occurring right now were uttered by Ichibei right after he sent Ichigo and Co against Yhwach: "I'm very sorry, poor Humans. You have no chance of defeating Yhwach...but worry not. This is the nature of all peace. Isn't that right, Yhwach?"
It is a dark interpretation of the nature of "peace", and it seems to hint at Ichibei and Yhwach sharing the same views on what "peace" is. In one of the omake for the manga volumes of this arc, the word "Peace" was splattered by blood, and Yhwach often spoke of "peace" while waging war for the sake of that "peace".
If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that Ichibei is defining "peace" as such - "Peace" comes when you cannot be challenged or defeated by any other power. "Peace" comes when you have defeated all the opposition to your cause.
But that is more troubling is that we do not know for what reason Ichibei is saying this. He said so himself that the Living World, Hueco Mundo and Soul Society will collapse if the Soul King is killed, so why does he seem so...unconcerned?
Given the Soul King can see the future, is there something that is going to come about if Yhwach reunites all the "limbs" of the Soul King, and that is the outcome that Ichibei and the Soul King wants?
The Gate to Heaven, the Sacrifice to God
While the events of the Soul King's death, and Ichigo and Co's foreseen failure to defeat Yhwach unfolded, the remainder of the Gotei 13 has been called together by Urahara to use the Tenshinheiso in order to create a gateway to the Soul King Palace to assist Ichigo and Co. However, while it requires the collective reiatsu of all the Captains to work, the Shinigami are quite short on the manpower.
Kensei and Rose are dead and in storage, a fact that Mayuri has not revealed, and Byakuya has not disclosed for some reason (likely the indignation and anger of the Shinigami - especially the Visoreds - towards Mayuri for this); Toshiro and Matsumoto are unaccounted for, which leads me to believe that Mayuri used a different drug on them that he did on Kensei and Rose; Komamura has lost his Shinigami powers, and he and Iba will not be meeting up with the other Captains, and Kyoraku is busy...elsewhere.
Moreover, when the Soul Society started to collapse as a result of the Soul King's death, Ukitake chose to release the Kamikake he had prepared earlier, which was revealed to be the missing Right Arm of the Soul King to everyone's surprise - even Urahara's - to temporarily take the Soul King's place and stabilize the Soul Society. Because he was incapacitated in such a manner, a significant amount of the reiatsu needed to power the gate was lost, and could only be made up by Hiyori and Co joining, and Mayuri amplifying everyone's reiatsu with his Reiatsu Amplifier Device.
People complained about the last of these earlier, but considering the fact that they are still in the Seireitei and the gate has not been fully made, even that was not enough to fully complete the gate. Given Ichigo and Co took the express ride up in what has been a futile effort, I think the Gotei 13 can be forgiven for their efforts to make a wormhole gate bridging two dimensions across millions of kilometres taking so long.
But even with all the efforts they have made to create the Gate, and the sacrifice Ukitake made by invoking the Kamikake, they could not have anticipated the events occurring up above...
The Almighty's Blood, The Created God, The Right Hand, The Schutzstaffel, and The Successor
Because up above, the Soul King was killed, and Ichigo and Co were unable to save him...
To be more specific, Yhwach's connection to all who share his blood is so absolute that, when Ichigo tries to pull out Yhwach's sword from the Soul King's body, Yhwach bestowed the reiatsu in his Spirit Weapon to Ichigo and it called out to his Quincy blood - to Zangetsu - and Ichigo was forced to cut down the Soul King by his own hands.
With the Soul King dead, all Ichigo could do was attack the Yhwach in retaliation, who explained the Soul King's function of regulating the flow of souls into and out of Soul Society - a flow he was created to stabilize, because the Soul Society was unstable before his existence.
With the Soul King now dead by Ichigo's hand, that flow of souls has destabilized once more and the worlds are on the verge of collapse, and Yhwach says it is all because of Ichigo. As he said this, Yoruichi "traps" Yhwach within a field of razor wires, and tells Inoue to use her power to revive the Soul King.
Now, I won't say that "not even Inoue could revive the Soul King", because I fully expected it to happen. As Yhwach stated - something he likely knows because "The Almighty" allows him to "know" any power he sees - Inoue's Shun Shun Rikka are a Human power, whereas the Soul King is an entity that exists on another plane entirely. While the idea that Inoue has "god-like" powers because of how Aizen described them, I felt that to be false ever since the events of "Deicide", where the concept of "Transcendence" was revealed.
But to get back to events, the intervention of the Kamikake does reveal something interesting to all of us - there is at least one thing that Yhwach cannot "see" with his eyes: the Soul King himself. While Yhwach has been shown to see the future in every circumstance up to that point, the Soul King is a variable in the future that he could not "see". Because of this, it makes one wonder if there is anyone else whom Yhwach cannot "see".
With the Kamikake in place, Ichigo hinders Yhwach's initial effort to destroy, and Yoruichi leaps into action to set up a barrier around Kamikake to protect it and make it the new Soul King - unaware that Mimihagi is only temporary. Meanwhile, Yhwach begins interrogating Ichigo on his motives for stopping him, citing that Ichigo was the one who cut down the Soul King because his blood cannot forgive the Soul King, so he should be standing in Yhwach's way.
The last time Aizen played these mind-games with Ichigo (no reason to fight him because all his friends are safe), Ichigo was completely shaken, and that was on top of the events that happened with Ulquiorra. On the other hand, Ichigo has an answer for Yhwach - to stop him, and protect the Living World, Hueco Mundo and Soul Society. While Yhwach calls arrogant and asks if he thinks he is the only one who can do it, Ichigo once again rebukes him - even if someone else could defeat Yhwach, that wouldn't mean Ichigo could just run away and do nothing.
(See, Sado? Even if it wasn't a question you didn't mean, of course Ichigo would make the decision to fight to protect everyone).
With Ichigo punctuating his response by a black Getsuga in Shikai that blows the roof off of the Soul King's house, he states that he heard that Yhwach's blood flows in his veins, but he says, and I quote: "So what? That won't make me do whatever you want".
(Rukia would be so proud
)
However, Yhwach has his own rebuttal - he claims Ichigo's will is connected to his own, so he never once fought of doing whatever he wanted with Ichigo. To Yhwach, all of Ichigo's actions - from his gaining his Shinigami powers and elevating them to a level to defeat Aizen, and regaining his powers - were all for his benefit, a point he pushed when claiming Ichigo regained his power for the purpose of killing the Soul King.
While Yoruichi tells Ichigo that Yhwach is speaking nonsense...is it really?
If Aizen had succeeded in killing the Soul King in his own campaign, Yhwach would have had him to deal with instead of the Squad Zero and the Soul King, and the level of power that Aizen possessed likely would have been big trouble for Yhwach. After all, we did see just recently that Yhwach sought to take the Soul King's power for his own, something that he would not have been able to do had Aizen gotten his way.
But with Aizen's defeat by Ichigo, not only was that one issue dealt with, but it also meant that Aizen was weakened to a level that Yhwach considered manageable - enough to ask him to join the Vandenreich as a Special War Potential.
Furthermore, whose presence in Hueco Mundo prompted Yhwach to invade Soul Society early? Ichigo's presence. Whose arrival in Seireitei from the Royal Realm gave Yhwach the opening he needed to invade the Soul King Palace? Ichigo's arrival.
His speech is actually the opposite of Aizen. Whereas Aizen was asking Ichigo whether or not he thought that all his encounters throughout the series were "fate", Yhwach is saying the opposite - because Ichigo has the blood of a Quincy flowing through him, all his actions were for Yhwach's benefit because, in the end, Ichigo would kill the Soul King because of his blood.
Aizen admitted to having manipulated events so that Ichigo would reach the point where he developed the power of a Transcendent Being; Yhwach stated he didn't need to do anything (at least in Mangapanda) because all of Ichigo's actions would be for Yhwach's benefit, because they would lead to Ichigo being the one to kill the Soul King.
It shows the two villains are opposite of one another - whereas Aizen was the manipulator of Ichigo, Yhwach is the one who considers it "fate" that Ichigo would kill the Soul King because they share the same blood.
One's power is the ability to deceive everyone who sees his Zanpakuto release with perfect illusions; the other's power is the ability to see the future itself. One makes other people see what is not real; the other sees what will happen. It's the contrast between a manipulator and deceiver, and one who believes in "fate".
(Yes, I did copy and paste part of my post from the last chapter thread)
Ichigo re-iterates that the Quincy blood doesn't matter and that he will still stop Yhwach. Then Yhwach deals the armour-piercing question: "Why do you speak of "stopping" me? What am I to you? Am I not your mortal enemy? Can you not even use the word "kill" to the man who killed your mother?" Right here, Yhwach went right towards the hidden heart of the matter - he is the one who killed Masaki. The last time Ichigo went into a fighting wanting to "kill", things did not turn out so well for him (Tsukishima and Ginjo), and Yhwach is really direct in his mind-games with Ichigo, compared to Aizen.
But before things can go any further, Uryu arrives.
And everything starts to fall apart for Ichigo and Co (by which I mean Yoruichi).
Uryu fires an arrow off at Yoruichi and hits her in the shoulder, an injury and distraction that causes the barrier she set up around Mimihagi to shatter, and allowed Yhwach to slip by Ichigo and force-push him away with a blast of reishi to reach Mimihagi. Although Yoruichi tries to stop Yhwach with a two-hit kill technique, Pernida intervenes and uses "The Compulsory" to twist and contort Yoruichi's arm into a bloody mess, punctuated by Yhwach force-pushing Yoruichi straight out of the palace.
Yhwach laid a hand directly on Mimihagi, and Ichigo is stopped from attacking Yhwach by Uryu's arrow. Then Yhwach rips Mimihagi off of the Soul King, which causes part of the Palace to collapse, as Ichigo is now forced to confront the issue with Uryu siding with Yhwach.
Beforehand, Ichigo and Co must have had a reason for joining with the Vandenreich, as he would not be with them lightly. But given everyone's shocked reactions, I doubt they ever thought Ishida would go so far as to actually attack them. This is not like what happened with Tsukishima and "Book of the End" (since Kubo tends to draw parallels between his arcs), where Inoue and Sado believed Tsukishima was the "most important person" in their lives and that Ichigo had gone mad - and Ichigo knew they had been made to believe as such; this is Uryu making the active choice to assist Yhwach in his efforts and attack Ichigo and Co.
This is why Ichigo is so angry at Ishida. He "knows" that Yhwach's actions will result in all the worlds being destroyed, and he knows that Ichigo and Co are there to stop him, and Ichigo does not understand why Uryu is helping him regardless. The answer he gives, I feel, echoes back to their parting words at the beginning of the arc: "It's because I am a Quincy".
At the beginning of the story arc, Uryu stated he could not go with Ichigo and Co for Hueco Mundo, and Ichigo had assumed that it was because the Quincy destroy Hollows. Now Uryu is stating that his reason for siding with Yhwach is because he himself is a Quincy. Now, we know that is not the true reason, but I'll get to that later.
Immediately after he says that, all the Schutzstaffel (Gerard carrying Pernida, who had previously fallen from the Soul King Palace, under his arm) arrive and surround the Nakama. They are not impressed in the slightest, with Gerard even calling them small fries.
(Why did anyone think that Inoue and Sado would be able to fight against the Schutzstaffel, again?)
Before actual combat could commence, Uryu states their interference was not needed, and shoots out the ground from under Ichigo and Co's feet, causing them all to fall from the Soul King Palace. To punctuate his point, Uryu fires off another arrow at Ichigo as he is falling before Lille Barro can fire the "X-Axis".
Uryu then explains to the suspicious Lille Barro his reasoning for his actions: he knew what Lille was thinking - the Nakama likely wouldn't survive the fall from the Soul King Palace, and they would have no means of coming back up there even if they did, but killing them before they fell would mean they wouldn't have to worry about them at all.
At least this way, Ichigo and Co have a chance of survival (Lille would have killed them all). Nevertheless, Gerard applauds Uryu for his actions, and states that Uryu has gained his approval, to which Uryu replies with a solemn smile. We know that Uryu is likely doing all this just to earn their trust so he can do what he came to the Vandenreich for, but it is saddening all the same.
Uryu has hardly ever been praised by anyone for his efforts, but now the Schutzstaffel are praising him. His father talked down to him, Ichigo ignored him in their fight with Ginjo, and he's been the outsider in general among the Nakama. He must be conflicted by this (receiving praise from Gerard), as he's receiving praise from the very people who are the enemies of his friends.
Now that Ichigo and Co are out of the Soul King Palace, Yhwach appears to be moving forward with his true intentions.
The Mask They All Wear
If there is any commonality throughout Bleach, is that people tend to wear masks to hide their true intentions, motives, and personality. Aizen wore a "mask" in front of the whole Gotei 13 for over a century while he plotted the Soul Society's downfall; Ginjo had Tsukishima make him into the "mask" in order to get close to Ichigo and steal his Fullbring power once it was completed; Ichibei wore the "mask" of a benevolent Monk in front of Ichigo and sent him to confront Yhwach, knowing full well that Ichigo would fail in his efforts.
Now, it seems that Yhwach's true motives are being unveiled. No longer does Yhwach have on the "mask" of the man who seeks the destruction of all the worlds; while he does blow apart Mimihagi, he does not destroy it outright, as he claimed before - he takes Mimihagi's power for himself, and decides to absorb the entirety of the Soul King. While he's only just begun, it can be assumed that he will become the new Soul King once he is finished, leaving him as the linchpin holding the worlds together.
However, I believe this is only part of the puzzle. The Kaiser Gesang stated that Yhwach will reclaim the world in nine days. So far, we are only on Day Two of those "Final Nine Days", yet all of this has already happened. There is still more that Yhwach intends to do. What is it and where is something we still do not know.
In addition, there is also the "mask" that Urahara wears. Back in the "Lost Agent Arc", Urahara told Isshin that Ichigo getting his powers back "would take away his future", and I can't help but think that this may have been what Urahara's words meant. While he surmised in front of everyone that Ichigo likely "didn't make it in time", I would not be surprised if Urahara knew full well that Ichigo had dealt the final blow to the Soul King.
Even as Urahara interacts with everyone around him, he is always hiding the deepest truths from everyone around him. I can't even be sure if he was genuinely unaware of what Mimihagi actually was.
There's too much to Urahara that we cannot know for certain, as he's always playing another field while everyone else can only see one.
Speaking of those with hidden intentions...
Return of the God
You all knew this was coming. There's no way I could make the review complete without talking about Aizen's official return to Bleach.
Just about everyone called this dance when Kyoraku went to speak to Central 46. This is a move that Kyoraku is executing behind everyone's backs. I certainly believe that no one would have agreed to this particular course of action if Kyoraku had put it to a vote - not even Urahara. Both Kyoraku and Ukitake were well aware of the possibility - nay, the inevitability - of the Soul King being killed by Yhwach, and they have planned accordingly.
For Ukitake, it was to buy time with the Kamikake; for Kyoraku, it was letting the Devil out of the pitch-black prison into which he was cast.
Simply put, while Ichigo was unable to stand up to Yhwach after the latter had awakened "The Almighty", Aizen may very well be the only one who can currently stand against Yhwach on even ground - especially after Yhwach absorbed Mimihagi. Despite the fact he was sealed away, and despite the fact that he supposedly lost all his power, we saw clearly that Aizen still possessed a level of power like what he possessed in "Deicide", since the guard who tried to add a restraint to Aizen had his fingers disintegrated just by getting close to the reiatsu around his body.
We also know that Aizen possesses the powers of Kyoka Suigetsu still, as he used them to mess with Yhwach's perception of time in the brief time they spoke with each other.
Kyoraku said that his and Aizen's interests were about to align, which could mean that Kyoraku predicted that Yhwach will become the new Soul King by absorbing all of the old Soul King's power. In other words, Kyoraku's interest is to defeat Yhwach, and Aizen's is to kill the Soul King - this makes it a two-in-one deal.
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With the Soul King having been killed and Yhwach taking his power for his own, the future of the story has been left uncertain, especially with the revelations regarding the Soul King's missing "limbs" and the return of Aizen to the fold.
I am intrigued by the direction things are going in the story, and I do look forward to seeing what will come next.
The Meaning of "Peace"
The words that seem to define what is occurring right now were uttered by Ichibei right after he sent Ichigo and Co against Yhwach: "I'm very sorry, poor Humans. You have no chance of defeating Yhwach...but worry not. This is the nature of all peace. Isn't that right, Yhwach?"
It is a dark interpretation of the nature of "peace", and it seems to hint at Ichibei and Yhwach sharing the same views on what "peace" is. In one of the omake for the manga volumes of this arc, the word "Peace" was splattered by blood, and Yhwach often spoke of "peace" while waging war for the sake of that "peace".
If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that Ichibei is defining "peace" as such - "Peace" comes when you cannot be challenged or defeated by any other power. "Peace" comes when you have defeated all the opposition to your cause.
But that is more troubling is that we do not know for what reason Ichibei is saying this. He said so himself that the Living World, Hueco Mundo and Soul Society will collapse if the Soul King is killed, so why does he seem so...unconcerned?
Given the Soul King can see the future, is there something that is going to come about if Yhwach reunites all the "limbs" of the Soul King, and that is the outcome that Ichibei and the Soul King wants?
The Gate to Heaven, the Sacrifice to God
While the events of the Soul King's death, and Ichigo and Co's foreseen failure to defeat Yhwach unfolded, the remainder of the Gotei 13 has been called together by Urahara to use the Tenshinheiso in order to create a gateway to the Soul King Palace to assist Ichigo and Co. However, while it requires the collective reiatsu of all the Captains to work, the Shinigami are quite short on the manpower.
Kensei and Rose are dead and in storage, a fact that Mayuri has not revealed, and Byakuya has not disclosed for some reason (likely the indignation and anger of the Shinigami - especially the Visoreds - towards Mayuri for this); Toshiro and Matsumoto are unaccounted for, which leads me to believe that Mayuri used a different drug on them that he did on Kensei and Rose; Komamura has lost his Shinigami powers, and he and Iba will not be meeting up with the other Captains, and Kyoraku is busy...elsewhere.
Moreover, when the Soul Society started to collapse as a result of the Soul King's death, Ukitake chose to release the Kamikake he had prepared earlier, which was revealed to be the missing Right Arm of the Soul King to everyone's surprise - even Urahara's - to temporarily take the Soul King's place and stabilize the Soul Society. Because he was incapacitated in such a manner, a significant amount of the reiatsu needed to power the gate was lost, and could only be made up by Hiyori and Co joining, and Mayuri amplifying everyone's reiatsu with his Reiatsu Amplifier Device.
People complained about the last of these earlier, but considering the fact that they are still in the Seireitei and the gate has not been fully made, even that was not enough to fully complete the gate. Given Ichigo and Co took the express ride up in what has been a futile effort, I think the Gotei 13 can be forgiven for their efforts to make a wormhole gate bridging two dimensions across millions of kilometres taking so long.
But even with all the efforts they have made to create the Gate, and the sacrifice Ukitake made by invoking the Kamikake, they could not have anticipated the events occurring up above...
The Almighty's Blood, The Created God, The Right Hand, The Schutzstaffel, and The Successor
Because up above, the Soul King was killed, and Ichigo and Co were unable to save him...
To be more specific, Yhwach's connection to all who share his blood is so absolute that, when Ichigo tries to pull out Yhwach's sword from the Soul King's body, Yhwach bestowed the reiatsu in his Spirit Weapon to Ichigo and it called out to his Quincy blood - to Zangetsu - and Ichigo was forced to cut down the Soul King by his own hands.
With the Soul King dead, all Ichigo could do was attack the Yhwach in retaliation, who explained the Soul King's function of regulating the flow of souls into and out of Soul Society - a flow he was created to stabilize, because the Soul Society was unstable before his existence.
With the Soul King now dead by Ichigo's hand, that flow of souls has destabilized once more and the worlds are on the verge of collapse, and Yhwach says it is all because of Ichigo. As he said this, Yoruichi "traps" Yhwach within a field of razor wires, and tells Inoue to use her power to revive the Soul King.
Now, I won't say that "not even Inoue could revive the Soul King", because I fully expected it to happen. As Yhwach stated - something he likely knows because "The Almighty" allows him to "know" any power he sees - Inoue's Shun Shun Rikka are a Human power, whereas the Soul King is an entity that exists on another plane entirely. While the idea that Inoue has "god-like" powers because of how Aizen described them, I felt that to be false ever since the events of "Deicide", where the concept of "Transcendence" was revealed.
But to get back to events, the intervention of the Kamikake does reveal something interesting to all of us - there is at least one thing that Yhwach cannot "see" with his eyes: the Soul King himself. While Yhwach has been shown to see the future in every circumstance up to that point, the Soul King is a variable in the future that he could not "see". Because of this, it makes one wonder if there is anyone else whom Yhwach cannot "see".
With the Kamikake in place, Ichigo hinders Yhwach's initial effort to destroy, and Yoruichi leaps into action to set up a barrier around Kamikake to protect it and make it the new Soul King - unaware that Mimihagi is only temporary. Meanwhile, Yhwach begins interrogating Ichigo on his motives for stopping him, citing that Ichigo was the one who cut down the Soul King because his blood cannot forgive the Soul King, so he should be standing in Yhwach's way.
The last time Aizen played these mind-games with Ichigo (no reason to fight him because all his friends are safe), Ichigo was completely shaken, and that was on top of the events that happened with Ulquiorra. On the other hand, Ichigo has an answer for Yhwach - to stop him, and protect the Living World, Hueco Mundo and Soul Society. While Yhwach calls arrogant and asks if he thinks he is the only one who can do it, Ichigo once again rebukes him - even if someone else could defeat Yhwach, that wouldn't mean Ichigo could just run away and do nothing.
(See, Sado? Even if it wasn't a question you didn't mean, of course Ichigo would make the decision to fight to protect everyone).
With Ichigo punctuating his response by a black Getsuga in Shikai that blows the roof off of the Soul King's house, he states that he heard that Yhwach's blood flows in his veins, but he says, and I quote: "So what? That won't make me do whatever you want".
(Rukia would be so proud
)However, Yhwach has his own rebuttal - he claims Ichigo's will is connected to his own, so he never once fought of doing whatever he wanted with Ichigo. To Yhwach, all of Ichigo's actions - from his gaining his Shinigami powers and elevating them to a level to defeat Aizen, and regaining his powers - were all for his benefit, a point he pushed when claiming Ichigo regained his power for the purpose of killing the Soul King.
While Yoruichi tells Ichigo that Yhwach is speaking nonsense...is it really?
If Aizen had succeeded in killing the Soul King in his own campaign, Yhwach would have had him to deal with instead of the Squad Zero and the Soul King, and the level of power that Aizen possessed likely would have been big trouble for Yhwach. After all, we did see just recently that Yhwach sought to take the Soul King's power for his own, something that he would not have been able to do had Aizen gotten his way.
But with Aizen's defeat by Ichigo, not only was that one issue dealt with, but it also meant that Aizen was weakened to a level that Yhwach considered manageable - enough to ask him to join the Vandenreich as a Special War Potential.
Furthermore, whose presence in Hueco Mundo prompted Yhwach to invade Soul Society early? Ichigo's presence. Whose arrival in Seireitei from the Royal Realm gave Yhwach the opening he needed to invade the Soul King Palace? Ichigo's arrival.
His speech is actually the opposite of Aizen. Whereas Aizen was asking Ichigo whether or not he thought that all his encounters throughout the series were "fate", Yhwach is saying the opposite - because Ichigo has the blood of a Quincy flowing through him, all his actions were for Yhwach's benefit because, in the end, Ichigo would kill the Soul King because of his blood.
Aizen admitted to having manipulated events so that Ichigo would reach the point where he developed the power of a Transcendent Being; Yhwach stated he didn't need to do anything (at least in Mangapanda) because all of Ichigo's actions would be for Yhwach's benefit, because they would lead to Ichigo being the one to kill the Soul King.
It shows the two villains are opposite of one another - whereas Aizen was the manipulator of Ichigo, Yhwach is the one who considers it "fate" that Ichigo would kill the Soul King because they share the same blood.
One's power is the ability to deceive everyone who sees his Zanpakuto release with perfect illusions; the other's power is the ability to see the future itself. One makes other people see what is not real; the other sees what will happen. It's the contrast between a manipulator and deceiver, and one who believes in "fate".
(Yes, I did copy and paste part of my post from the last chapter thread)
Ichigo re-iterates that the Quincy blood doesn't matter and that he will still stop Yhwach. Then Yhwach deals the armour-piercing question: "Why do you speak of "stopping" me? What am I to you? Am I not your mortal enemy? Can you not even use the word "kill" to the man who killed your mother?" Right here, Yhwach went right towards the hidden heart of the matter - he is the one who killed Masaki. The last time Ichigo went into a fighting wanting to "kill", things did not turn out so well for him (Tsukishima and Ginjo), and Yhwach is really direct in his mind-games with Ichigo, compared to Aizen.
But before things can go any further, Uryu arrives.
And everything starts to fall apart for Ichigo and Co (by which I mean Yoruichi).
Uryu fires an arrow off at Yoruichi and hits her in the shoulder, an injury and distraction that causes the barrier she set up around Mimihagi to shatter, and allowed Yhwach to slip by Ichigo and force-push him away with a blast of reishi to reach Mimihagi. Although Yoruichi tries to stop Yhwach with a two-hit kill technique, Pernida intervenes and uses "The Compulsory" to twist and contort Yoruichi's arm into a bloody mess, punctuated by Yhwach force-pushing Yoruichi straight out of the palace.
Yhwach laid a hand directly on Mimihagi, and Ichigo is stopped from attacking Yhwach by Uryu's arrow. Then Yhwach rips Mimihagi off of the Soul King, which causes part of the Palace to collapse, as Ichigo is now forced to confront the issue with Uryu siding with Yhwach.
Beforehand, Ichigo and Co must have had a reason for joining with the Vandenreich, as he would not be with them lightly. But given everyone's shocked reactions, I doubt they ever thought Ishida would go so far as to actually attack them. This is not like what happened with Tsukishima and "Book of the End" (since Kubo tends to draw parallels between his arcs), where Inoue and Sado believed Tsukishima was the "most important person" in their lives and that Ichigo had gone mad - and Ichigo knew they had been made to believe as such; this is Uryu making the active choice to assist Yhwach in his efforts and attack Ichigo and Co.
This is why Ichigo is so angry at Ishida. He "knows" that Yhwach's actions will result in all the worlds being destroyed, and he knows that Ichigo and Co are there to stop him, and Ichigo does not understand why Uryu is helping him regardless. The answer he gives, I feel, echoes back to their parting words at the beginning of the arc: "It's because I am a Quincy".
At the beginning of the story arc, Uryu stated he could not go with Ichigo and Co for Hueco Mundo, and Ichigo had assumed that it was because the Quincy destroy Hollows. Now Uryu is stating that his reason for siding with Yhwach is because he himself is a Quincy. Now, we know that is not the true reason, but I'll get to that later.
Immediately after he says that, all the Schutzstaffel (Gerard carrying Pernida, who had previously fallen from the Soul King Palace, under his arm) arrive and surround the Nakama. They are not impressed in the slightest, with Gerard even calling them small fries.
(Why did anyone think that Inoue and Sado would be able to fight against the Schutzstaffel, again?)
Before actual combat could commence, Uryu states their interference was not needed, and shoots out the ground from under Ichigo and Co's feet, causing them all to fall from the Soul King Palace. To punctuate his point, Uryu fires off another arrow at Ichigo as he is falling before Lille Barro can fire the "X-Axis".
Uryu then explains to the suspicious Lille Barro his reasoning for his actions: he knew what Lille was thinking - the Nakama likely wouldn't survive the fall from the Soul King Palace, and they would have no means of coming back up there even if they did, but killing them before they fell would mean they wouldn't have to worry about them at all.
At least this way, Ichigo and Co have a chance of survival (Lille would have killed them all). Nevertheless, Gerard applauds Uryu for his actions, and states that Uryu has gained his approval, to which Uryu replies with a solemn smile. We know that Uryu is likely doing all this just to earn their trust so he can do what he came to the Vandenreich for, but it is saddening all the same.
Uryu has hardly ever been praised by anyone for his efforts, but now the Schutzstaffel are praising him. His father talked down to him, Ichigo ignored him in their fight with Ginjo, and he's been the outsider in general among the Nakama. He must be conflicted by this (receiving praise from Gerard), as he's receiving praise from the very people who are the enemies of his friends.
Now that Ichigo and Co are out of the Soul King Palace, Yhwach appears to be moving forward with his true intentions.
The Mask They All Wear
If there is any commonality throughout Bleach, is that people tend to wear masks to hide their true intentions, motives, and personality. Aizen wore a "mask" in front of the whole Gotei 13 for over a century while he plotted the Soul Society's downfall; Ginjo had Tsukishima make him into the "mask" in order to get close to Ichigo and steal his Fullbring power once it was completed; Ichibei wore the "mask" of a benevolent Monk in front of Ichigo and sent him to confront Yhwach, knowing full well that Ichigo would fail in his efforts.
Now, it seems that Yhwach's true motives are being unveiled. No longer does Yhwach have on the "mask" of the man who seeks the destruction of all the worlds; while he does blow apart Mimihagi, he does not destroy it outright, as he claimed before - he takes Mimihagi's power for himself, and decides to absorb the entirety of the Soul King. While he's only just begun, it can be assumed that he will become the new Soul King once he is finished, leaving him as the linchpin holding the worlds together.
However, I believe this is only part of the puzzle. The Kaiser Gesang stated that Yhwach will reclaim the world in nine days. So far, we are only on Day Two of those "Final Nine Days", yet all of this has already happened. There is still more that Yhwach intends to do. What is it and where is something we still do not know.
In addition, there is also the "mask" that Urahara wears. Back in the "Lost Agent Arc", Urahara told Isshin that Ichigo getting his powers back "would take away his future", and I can't help but think that this may have been what Urahara's words meant. While he surmised in front of everyone that Ichigo likely "didn't make it in time", I would not be surprised if Urahara knew full well that Ichigo had dealt the final blow to the Soul King.
Even as Urahara interacts with everyone around him, he is always hiding the deepest truths from everyone around him. I can't even be sure if he was genuinely unaware of what Mimihagi actually was.
There's too much to Urahara that we cannot know for certain, as he's always playing another field while everyone else can only see one.
Speaking of those with hidden intentions...
Return of the God
You all knew this was coming. There's no way I could make the review complete without talking about Aizen's official return to Bleach.
Just about everyone called this dance when Kyoraku went to speak to Central 46. This is a move that Kyoraku is executing behind everyone's backs. I certainly believe that no one would have agreed to this particular course of action if Kyoraku had put it to a vote - not even Urahara. Both Kyoraku and Ukitake were well aware of the possibility - nay, the inevitability - of the Soul King being killed by Yhwach, and they have planned accordingly.
For Ukitake, it was to buy time with the Kamikake; for Kyoraku, it was letting the Devil out of the pitch-black prison into which he was cast.
Simply put, while Ichigo was unable to stand up to Yhwach after the latter had awakened "The Almighty", Aizen may very well be the only one who can currently stand against Yhwach on even ground - especially after Yhwach absorbed Mimihagi. Despite the fact he was sealed away, and despite the fact that he supposedly lost all his power, we saw clearly that Aizen still possessed a level of power like what he possessed in "Deicide", since the guard who tried to add a restraint to Aizen had his fingers disintegrated just by getting close to the reiatsu around his body.
We also know that Aizen possesses the powers of Kyoka Suigetsu still, as he used them to mess with Yhwach's perception of time in the brief time they spoke with each other.
Kyoraku said that his and Aizen's interests were about to align, which could mean that Kyoraku predicted that Yhwach will become the new Soul King by absorbing all of the old Soul King's power. In other words, Kyoraku's interest is to defeat Yhwach, and Aizen's is to kill the Soul King - this makes it a two-in-one deal.
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With the Soul King having been killed and Yhwach taking his power for his own, the future of the story has been left uncertain, especially with the revelations regarding the Soul King's missing "limbs" and the return of Aizen to the fold.
I am intrigued by the direction things are going in the story, and I do look forward to seeing what will come next.
Thursday, 22 January 2015
Bleach Chapter 612 Review
It is a common technique of Kubo's to open a chapter with an expansion of sorts to the prior chapter's ending, which is what he does right now by showing us the moments preceding Yhwach stabbing the Soul King. Having killed "its" attendants, Yhwach then goes on to call the Soul King an "imperfect" God who cannot even run away as his end draws near. Yhwach then declares that he will "end this long, never-ending disgrace", and states that the Soul King may have already seen this day coming, as the scene at the end of the prior chapter repeats itself.
One thing that interests me about this scene is that Yhwach refers to the Soul King as a "God" - an "imperfect God" in Yhwach's words, but a "God" nonetheless. I find it to be an interesting contrast to Hachigen and Barragan's fight, since Barragan declared himself to be the "God of Hueco Mundo", but Hachigen is the one who said there are no beings in Soul Society who bear the title "God" outside of the Shinigami themselves.
I also recollect Shutara stating that Aizen's goal was to "become God" by killing the Soul King. So while Hachigen states there no being in Soul Society with the title "God" other than Shinigami, it seems that the Soul King is seen by a number of people as a "God". Given how Ichibei described the Soul King, it is not surprising how he would be seen as "God", since he seems to be the one who maintains the existence of all the worlds. The question is whether or not this is truth, since Yhwach seems to have no issues with killing the Soul King...Unless he intends to take the place of the Soul King as "God" of the world.
Another thing that has been clarified from the last chapter is that the Soul King does indeed possess the power to see the future, just as his son does. It makes one wonder if his ability to see into the future could relate to whatever interest he was stated to have in Ichigo.
The Chrysalis of the Soul King
One thing I must bring up is the Soul King's chrysalis. While the chrysalis has a dull colouring through which you can see the Soul King's figure in this chapter, I recall that the chrysalis looked like this in chapter 519:
Spoiler!
In chapter 519, you could only make out the silhouette of the Soul King and it seemed to be glowing white, and there were starburst shapes around the Soul King's when we got the close-up of his eyes. In that chapter, we saw one of his retainers ask if he had awakened, so it is entirely possible that the chrysalis looked like that because the Soul King was awake, while it has a dull colouring now because he is asleep.
All that said, this scene also shows clearly why the Soul King needs a Royal Guard - perhaps, while he is maintaining the existence of all the worlds, the Soul King is entirely powerless to defend himself. As Yhwach stated, he cannot even move from his chrysalis, so he needs a group of powerful individuals to defend himself from any possible intruders.
I do not think that the Soul King's death is certain at this point, because there are a number a things we do not yet know: 1) what made Aizen want to kill him; 2) his interest in Ichigo; 3) his relationship with Yhwach.
I guess we will just have to see what goes on in the next chapter.
Reunion of Comrades
For now, we cut back down to the Seireitei as we see Rukia and Renji meeting up with Shinji at the place where the 12th Division (and Urahara) is currently sequestered. As Renji comments on Shinji's wounds and the latter brushes them off, Omaeda interrupts them, and goes on a brief rant at Renji and Rukia about how "they" (which means Shinji) were able to fend off Bazz-B's attack with "their" (Shinji's) Zanpakuto power.
It is clear from Omaeda's behaviour during this rant that he's heaping all praise on Shinji for saving his lovely little body from becoming lava-cooked pork and bacon. It is also clear that it was Shinji who saved them all because the drawing effect in the flash-back panels is similar to such an effect seen on Shinji when he used Sakanade against Bambietta, which likely means Bazz-B was under the effects of Sakanade when he attacked but didn't know it.
While Renji takes Omaeda's behaviour in stride, he asks why Omaeda brought his little sister along. At this Omaeda starts off on another angry response, only to be interrupted by Sui Feng, who explains that Mareyo and her wounds have only now just healed thanks to Hinamori, who greets both Rukia and Renji happily, and states they couldn't just leave Mareyo unattended in the midst of the battle. Renji seems quite surprised at how nice Sui Feng seems to be acting, while Rukia retorts that Sui Feng was kind to begin with.
Sui Feng then states it is time for them to go inside as Renji asks Shinji if everyone has arrived yet. Shinji does not know, although the order was for all Captains and Vice-Captains to assemble immediately, even if it means abandoning their current battles in order to do so, so he assumes everyone will be coming over shortly.
Status Update
Sui Feng then opens up the door to the 12th Division HQ, but the only people present there are Urahara and Yuushiro, and Byakuya and Nanao. No clue where Ookikiba is if he's not with Nanao - (AIZEN!!!
) - but we do see that Urahara and Yuushiro have set something up.
Yuushiro then jumps down to greet everybody and Sui-Feng is practically gushing (seriously, tears are welling up in her love-stricken eyes and she's blushing like crazy) at the sight of HIM (finally got confirmation of his gender) , with Urahara telling Yuushiro to not abandon her post, Sui-Feng giving Yuushiro pocket change, while Omaeda looks on with a very annoyed face at the scene. It looks like Omaeda just got dumped for Yoruichi's baby brother.
While this is going on, Shinji inquires as to where everybody else is, to which Urahara gives us a much-needed rundown on where everybody is. Urahara explains that the 7th Division will not be joining them at this point in time because they have their own matters to attend to due to Komamura's injuries (LIES!! HE'S A FREAKIN' WOLF NOW!
). Curiously, however, their request for a medical team dispatch was denied, and we see an image of Komamura and Iba facing off with the Soldat.
This just makes the Soldat as a whole more and more suspicious by the minute. Yhwach uses Auswahlen on the Stern Ritter, the elite fighting force of the Vandenreich, but the Soldat have been left completely intact - a number of Soldat even accompanied Yhwach to the Royal Realm. What does this mean for the Soldat? Did they know what would happen to the Stern Ritter not chosen by Yhwach? Who are they? It feels like one big mystery to me. I'm almost certain at this point that these guys are all "Clones" made by a still-unseen Stern Ritter.
Urahara further explains that Kensei and Rose will be moving alongside the 12th Division, and that they will likely be coming with Mayuri eventually, since Urahara states it'd be a problem for Mayuri as well if Soul Society were to disappear. Just "a problem", Urahara?
It seems that Shinji is suspicious of what Urahara just said, since it is clear that mention of their deaths and zombification would undoubtedly make Shinji very angry. In the panel showing what Mayuri is doing, I take it those would be the containers which Mayuri is storing Kensei and Rose in. What an ignoble fate.
We are also updated on the status of Zaraki, Ikkaku, Yumichika and Hisagi. All four of them are in intensive care, but it is Zaraki who is in critical condition. Good to see that Gremmy lived up to his reputation and power, since virtually all of Zaraki's major injuries were caused by Gremmy's final onslaught - particularly the ruptured internal organ. Urahara goes on to state that Kyoraku is engaged with the Central 46, but he mentions that there has been no word on Toshiro or Matsumoto.
The explicit mention of their absence means that something is going on with Toshiro and Matsumoto, and I'm now certain that Mayuri tested a different drug on Toshiro and Matsumoto than he did on Kensei and Rose. While Kensei and Rose are now under Mayuri's control, it is clear now that Mayuri did...something else to Toshiro and Matsumoto. Whatever it is, I can only imagine that it is possibly even more irredeemable than what he did to Rose and Kensei. I'm almost certain we're getting a set-up for his demise. It is only a matter of time...
It is interesting to note that Ukitake has not been mentioned yet. This either means that Kyoraku and Ukitake are hiding something, or the lack of mention simply means that Ukitake complied and is already on his way.
The Tenshiheiso, Bestowed Upon The Shihouin Clan by the Gods
With the explanations on the status of everyone out of the way (all except Isane, Yachiru and Mashiro, that is), Urahara then explains why he called them all together: they are going to break into the Soul King Palace, which shocks everyone present. As Shinji asks how that is even possible, he explains that it is possible because of the Tenshiheisou that Yuushiro brought with him, which has been set up on top of Mayuri's pedestal. While not out-right stated, the implication is still there: when all of the Captains' spiritual power is amassed together, it power up the Tenshiheisou enough to allow all the Captains to head to the Royal Realm.
It is nice to see that all the prominent Shinigami (especially Rukia and Renji) will be going up to the Royal Realm shortly as well. I was wondering why they didn't go up with Ichigo and Co earlier (aside from the fact they were in the middle of a fight with Bazz-B), but I am glad to see they will be reuniting with the Nakama as well.
But it does make me wonder what Urahara is expecting to accomplish by sending all the Captains up there. Out of all them, the only ones with even a chance at standing up to the Elite Guard are Zaraki, Kyoraku and Ukitake, Rukia and Renji, and Urahara - and even then that is only a small chance, considering the Elite Stern Ritter took out Squad Zero.
I am also wondering if Ginjo and Co and the Arrancar will be showing up as well.
But I am also thinking that things may not go according to plan...
The Mask of the Monk Slips...?
The chapter ends back in the Royal Realm, with Ichibei saying: "Sorry...Sorry...Humans. Forgive me...But you cannot win against Yhwach."
This is going off the Mangastream scan at this point in time, but it is strange that Ichibei would say this right after entrusting the protection of the Soul King to Ichigo. Given the look on his face as he says this, perhaps Yhwach really did take the Soul King's place, and now the Royal Guard will be forced to serve Yhwach as they once did the Soul King, possibly because the Ouken also binds them to the King.
That is a possibility, but I am also wondering if it has nothing to do with Ichibei's allegiances now shifting to the new "Soul King", but Ichibei's "mask" coming off. In my last review, I talked about how Ichibei's behaviour towards Ichigo was odd when compared to his behaviour when fighting Yhwach, and his statement at the end of the chapter only makes it seem much odder. We know the Soul King has an interest in Ichigo, and we know what Ichigo's true potential can be via the events of "Deicide", so it is making me ponder what Ichibei meant by his words at the end:
1) The idea that the Royal Guard are now bound to serve Yhwach, the new "Soul King". I am not entirely sure about this idea (it kind of reminds me of Tsukishima's "Book of the End"), but it is possible enough for a number of people to have already suggested it.
2) Yhwach took the Soul King's power, and that is why Ichibei said they cannot beat him. If Yhwach did do this, it means that all the power the Soul King turned towards maintaining the world's existence is now in Yhwach's possession, and a force powerful enough to maintain all of creation in Yhwach's hands would make him unbeatable. Of course, this is assuming that Ichibei was able to perceive that Yhwach did take the Soul King's power.
3) Ichibei's "mask" has slipped off, and he is "apologizing" for sending Ichigo into a trap. In regards to keeping the Soul King safe, sending Ichigo down with the Ouken's Clothing, which the Royal Guard knows will leave the barriers open for 6000 seconds, was a bad idea. While the Royal Guard did have a plan in place for trapping Yhwach and Co, we saw that didn't exactly turn out so well at the end of the day.
Then there is Ichigo. We know that the Soul King is interested in him, and one of the things we have yet to figure out right now is how Ichigo is different in regards to why he was taken up to the Royal Realm. While the Soul King is interested in Ichigo, we must also consider just how powerful Ichigo can become. With a perfect balance of "souls" inside him (Shinigami and Quincy, Hollow and Human), Ichigo became powerful enough in "Deicide" to have his power become imperceptible to someone who was already in a higher plane of power than what the Shinigami are capable of sensing.
Now, wouldn't someone like that be seen as a threat to the Soul King's existence? We know the Gotei 13 saw Ginjo as a threat, and had originally intended to use the second Shinigami Representative to lure him out, and then kill both of them. While we know that the Gotei 13 changed from what it once was and gave Ichigo the chance to prove himself, who is to say the Royal Guard is being just as kind? Even if Ichigo cannot beat Yhwach at this point in time, who is to say that they are not using the opportunity to get rid of Ichigo?
But even if this might be one of the less likely of reasons why Ichibei said what he did, I can imagine it coming up eventually if it doesn't come up. After all, the Soul King has a particular interest in Ichigo - perhaps he might want Ichigo to be his successor - so who is to say the gauntlet won't come down when Ichigo refuses to be the Soul King's successor, or if he's deemed to have become too powerful?
But at the end of the day, who knows for certain what Ichibei's final words in this chapter meant. All we know right now is that this will not be the final fight of the arc, since Ichibei's words pretty much spelt it out that Ichigo is going to be defeated at this point in time.
You really have to appreciate how Kubo is able to set up major reveals or plot-twists with just one line of dialogue, and really set a person's speculation ablaze.
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This chapter not only helped us to catch up on the status of all the characters down in the Seireitei and gave us a little more information about the Soul King, but it also sets up the Shinigami of the Gotei 13 arriving in the Royal Realm to help Ichigo and Co out, and the final line by Ichibei either sets up a major reveal or a plot-twist.
One thing that interests me about this scene is that Yhwach refers to the Soul King as a "God" - an "imperfect God" in Yhwach's words, but a "God" nonetheless. I find it to be an interesting contrast to Hachigen and Barragan's fight, since Barragan declared himself to be the "God of Hueco Mundo", but Hachigen is the one who said there are no beings in Soul Society who bear the title "God" outside of the Shinigami themselves.
I also recollect Shutara stating that Aizen's goal was to "become God" by killing the Soul King. So while Hachigen states there no being in Soul Society with the title "God" other than Shinigami, it seems that the Soul King is seen by a number of people as a "God". Given how Ichibei described the Soul King, it is not surprising how he would be seen as "God", since he seems to be the one who maintains the existence of all the worlds. The question is whether or not this is truth, since Yhwach seems to have no issues with killing the Soul King...Unless he intends to take the place of the Soul King as "God" of the world.
Another thing that has been clarified from the last chapter is that the Soul King does indeed possess the power to see the future, just as his son does. It makes one wonder if his ability to see into the future could relate to whatever interest he was stated to have in Ichigo.
The Chrysalis of the Soul King
One thing I must bring up is the Soul King's chrysalis. While the chrysalis has a dull colouring through which you can see the Soul King's figure in this chapter, I recall that the chrysalis looked like this in chapter 519:
In chapter 519, you could only make out the silhouette of the Soul King and it seemed to be glowing white, and there were starburst shapes around the Soul King's when we got the close-up of his eyes. In that chapter, we saw one of his retainers ask if he had awakened, so it is entirely possible that the chrysalis looked like that because the Soul King was awake, while it has a dull colouring now because he is asleep.
All that said, this scene also shows clearly why the Soul King needs a Royal Guard - perhaps, while he is maintaining the existence of all the worlds, the Soul King is entirely powerless to defend himself. As Yhwach stated, he cannot even move from his chrysalis, so he needs a group of powerful individuals to defend himself from any possible intruders.
I do not think that the Soul King's death is certain at this point, because there are a number a things we do not yet know: 1) what made Aizen want to kill him; 2) his interest in Ichigo; 3) his relationship with Yhwach.
I guess we will just have to see what goes on in the next chapter.
Reunion of Comrades
For now, we cut back down to the Seireitei as we see Rukia and Renji meeting up with Shinji at the place where the 12th Division (and Urahara) is currently sequestered. As Renji comments on Shinji's wounds and the latter brushes them off, Omaeda interrupts them, and goes on a brief rant at Renji and Rukia about how "they" (which means Shinji) were able to fend off Bazz-B's attack with "their" (Shinji's) Zanpakuto power.
It is clear from Omaeda's behaviour during this rant that he's heaping all praise on Shinji for saving his lovely little body from becoming lava-cooked pork and bacon. It is also clear that it was Shinji who saved them all because the drawing effect in the flash-back panels is similar to such an effect seen on Shinji when he used Sakanade against Bambietta, which likely means Bazz-B was under the effects of Sakanade when he attacked but didn't know it.
While Renji takes Omaeda's behaviour in stride, he asks why Omaeda brought his little sister along. At this Omaeda starts off on another angry response, only to be interrupted by Sui Feng, who explains that Mareyo and her wounds have only now just healed thanks to Hinamori, who greets both Rukia and Renji happily, and states they couldn't just leave Mareyo unattended in the midst of the battle. Renji seems quite surprised at how nice Sui Feng seems to be acting, while Rukia retorts that Sui Feng was kind to begin with.
Sui Feng then states it is time for them to go inside as Renji asks Shinji if everyone has arrived yet. Shinji does not know, although the order was for all Captains and Vice-Captains to assemble immediately, even if it means abandoning their current battles in order to do so, so he assumes everyone will be coming over shortly.
Status Update
Sui Feng then opens up the door to the 12th Division HQ, but the only people present there are Urahara and Yuushiro, and Byakuya and Nanao. No clue where Ookikiba is if he's not with Nanao - (AIZEN!!!
) - but we do see that Urahara and Yuushiro have set something up. Yuushiro then jumps down to greet everybody and Sui-Feng is practically gushing (seriously, tears are welling up in her love-stricken eyes and she's blushing like crazy) at the sight of HIM (finally got confirmation of his gender) , with Urahara telling Yuushiro to not abandon her post, Sui-Feng giving Yuushiro pocket change, while Omaeda looks on with a very annoyed face at the scene. It looks like Omaeda just got dumped for Yoruichi's baby brother
. While this is going on, Shinji inquires as to where everybody else is, to which Urahara gives us a much-needed rundown on where everybody is. Urahara explains that the 7th Division will not be joining them at this point in time because they have their own matters to attend to due to Komamura's injuries (LIES!! HE'S A FREAKIN' WOLF NOW!
). Curiously, however, their request for a medical team dispatch was denied, and we see an image of Komamura and Iba facing off with the Soldat.This just makes the Soldat as a whole more and more suspicious by the minute. Yhwach uses Auswahlen on the Stern Ritter, the elite fighting force of the Vandenreich, but the Soldat have been left completely intact - a number of Soldat even accompanied Yhwach to the Royal Realm. What does this mean for the Soldat? Did they know what would happen to the Stern Ritter not chosen by Yhwach? Who are they? It feels like one big mystery to me. I'm almost certain at this point that these guys are all "Clones" made by a still-unseen Stern Ritter.
Urahara further explains that Kensei and Rose will be moving alongside the 12th Division, and that they will likely be coming with Mayuri eventually, since Urahara states it'd be a problem for Mayuri as well if Soul Society were to disappear. Just "a problem", Urahara?
It seems that Shinji is suspicious of what Urahara just said, since it is clear that mention of their deaths and zombification would undoubtedly make Shinji very angry. In the panel showing what Mayuri is doing, I take it those would be the containers which Mayuri is storing Kensei and Rose in. What an ignoble fate.We are also updated on the status of Zaraki, Ikkaku, Yumichika and Hisagi. All four of them are in intensive care, but it is Zaraki who is in critical condition. Good to see that Gremmy lived up to his reputation and power, since virtually all of Zaraki's major injuries were caused by Gremmy's final onslaught - particularly the ruptured internal organ. Urahara goes on to state that Kyoraku is engaged with the Central 46, but he mentions that there has been no word on Toshiro or Matsumoto.
The explicit mention of their absence means that something is going on with Toshiro and Matsumoto, and I'm now certain that Mayuri tested a different drug on Toshiro and Matsumoto than he did on Kensei and Rose. While Kensei and Rose are now under Mayuri's control, it is clear now that Mayuri did...something else to Toshiro and Matsumoto. Whatever it is, I can only imagine that it is possibly even more irredeemable than what he did to Rose and Kensei. I'm almost certain we're getting a set-up for his demise. It is only a matter of time...
It is interesting to note that Ukitake has not been mentioned yet. This either means that Kyoraku and Ukitake are hiding something, or the lack of mention simply means that Ukitake complied and is already on his way.
The Tenshiheiso, Bestowed Upon The Shihouin Clan by the Gods
With the explanations on the status of everyone out of the way (all except Isane, Yachiru and Mashiro, that is), Urahara then explains why he called them all together: they are going to break into the Soul King Palace, which shocks everyone present. As Shinji asks how that is even possible, he explains that it is possible because of the Tenshiheisou that Yuushiro brought with him, which has been set up on top of Mayuri's pedestal. While not out-right stated, the implication is still there: when all of the Captains' spiritual power is amassed together, it power up the Tenshiheisou enough to allow all the Captains to head to the Royal Realm.
It is nice to see that all the prominent Shinigami (especially Rukia and Renji) will be going up to the Royal Realm shortly as well. I was wondering why they didn't go up with Ichigo and Co earlier (aside from the fact they were in the middle of a fight with Bazz-B), but I am glad to see they will be reuniting with the Nakama as well.
But it does make me wonder what Urahara is expecting to accomplish by sending all the Captains up there. Out of all them, the only ones with even a chance at standing up to the Elite Guard are Zaraki, Kyoraku and Ukitake, Rukia and Renji, and Urahara - and even then that is only a small chance, considering the Elite Stern Ritter took out Squad Zero.
I am also wondering if Ginjo and Co and the Arrancar will be showing up as well.
But I am also thinking that things may not go according to plan...
The Mask of the Monk Slips...?
The chapter ends back in the Royal Realm, with Ichibei saying: "Sorry...Sorry...Humans. Forgive me...But you cannot win against Yhwach."
This is going off the Mangastream scan at this point in time, but it is strange that Ichibei would say this right after entrusting the protection of the Soul King to Ichigo. Given the look on his face as he says this, perhaps Yhwach really did take the Soul King's place, and now the Royal Guard will be forced to serve Yhwach as they once did the Soul King, possibly because the Ouken also binds them to the King.
That is a possibility, but I am also wondering if it has nothing to do with Ichibei's allegiances now shifting to the new "Soul King", but Ichibei's "mask" coming off. In my last review, I talked about how Ichibei's behaviour towards Ichigo was odd when compared to his behaviour when fighting Yhwach, and his statement at the end of the chapter only makes it seem much odder. We know the Soul King has an interest in Ichigo, and we know what Ichigo's true potential can be via the events of "Deicide", so it is making me ponder what Ichibei meant by his words at the end:
1) The idea that the Royal Guard are now bound to serve Yhwach, the new "Soul King". I am not entirely sure about this idea (it kind of reminds me of Tsukishima's "Book of the End"), but it is possible enough for a number of people to have already suggested it.
2) Yhwach took the Soul King's power, and that is why Ichibei said they cannot beat him. If Yhwach did do this, it means that all the power the Soul King turned towards maintaining the world's existence is now in Yhwach's possession, and a force powerful enough to maintain all of creation in Yhwach's hands would make him unbeatable. Of course, this is assuming that Ichibei was able to perceive that Yhwach did take the Soul King's power.
3) Ichibei's "mask" has slipped off, and he is "apologizing" for sending Ichigo into a trap. In regards to keeping the Soul King safe, sending Ichigo down with the Ouken's Clothing, which the Royal Guard knows will leave the barriers open for 6000 seconds, was a bad idea. While the Royal Guard did have a plan in place for trapping Yhwach and Co, we saw that didn't exactly turn out so well at the end of the day.
Then there is Ichigo. We know that the Soul King is interested in him, and one of the things we have yet to figure out right now is how Ichigo is different in regards to why he was taken up to the Royal Realm. While the Soul King is interested in Ichigo, we must also consider just how powerful Ichigo can become. With a perfect balance of "souls" inside him (Shinigami and Quincy, Hollow and Human), Ichigo became powerful enough in "Deicide" to have his power become imperceptible to someone who was already in a higher plane of power than what the Shinigami are capable of sensing.
Now, wouldn't someone like that be seen as a threat to the Soul King's existence? We know the Gotei 13 saw Ginjo as a threat, and had originally intended to use the second Shinigami Representative to lure him out, and then kill both of them. While we know that the Gotei 13 changed from what it once was and gave Ichigo the chance to prove himself, who is to say the Royal Guard is being just as kind? Even if Ichigo cannot beat Yhwach at this point in time, who is to say that they are not using the opportunity to get rid of Ichigo?
But even if this might be one of the less likely of reasons why Ichibei said what he did, I can imagine it coming up eventually if it doesn't come up. After all, the Soul King has a particular interest in Ichigo - perhaps he might want Ichigo to be his successor - so who is to say the gauntlet won't come down when Ichigo refuses to be the Soul King's successor, or if he's deemed to have become too powerful?
But at the end of the day, who knows for certain what Ichibei's final words in this chapter meant. All we know right now is that this will not be the final fight of the arc, since Ichibei's words pretty much spelt it out that Ichigo is going to be defeated at this point in time.
You really have to appreciate how Kubo is able to set up major reveals or plot-twists with just one line of dialogue, and really set a person's speculation ablaze.
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This chapter not only helped us to catch up on the status of all the characters down in the Seireitei and gave us a little more information about the Soul King, but it also sets up the Shinigami of the Gotei 13 arriving in the Royal Realm to help Ichigo and Co out, and the final line by Ichibei either sets up a major reveal or a plot-twist.
Sunday, 18 January 2015
The "Miracles" of the Hogyoku
As it stands, one of the biggest mysteries in the story of Bleach is the nature of the Hogyoku. Even though Hogyoku were created by Urahara and Aizen, we still do not know what the Hogyoku is or how it was made. What we know of the Hogyoku is that it is a substance "that reacts beyond the conventional physics of Soul Society" (Aizen Sousuke, chapter 175), that it possesses a will of its own and its true power is "to manifest into reality the heart's desire" (Chapter 401). In Aizen's description of the Hogyoku's power in chapter 401, he makes an interesting assertion that could explain a number of things behind the events it influenced: Aizen stated that the events "materialized" by the Hogyoku should be called "miracles".
By definition, "miracles" are either events not explicable by natural or scientific laws, or are events that are statistically unlikely yet not contrary to the laws of nature.
While he did state the Hogyoku is more like "a power that guides in the direction of desire", because the Hogyoku cannot manifest the heart's desire if the target essentially lacks the power necessary to beget their desire, it does not take away from his description of the events affecting those around the Hogyoku as miracles.
To start off, let us look at the Visoreds. We know from "Everything But the Rain" that Hollowfication generally results in two things: the Hollowfication turning the Hollow-Shinigami hybrid into a monster without reason, and "Soul Suicide" from the destabilization of the soul and the shattering of the boundary between the soul and the external world. The former was a process that could not be controlled, as it was beyond the technologies that Soul Society possessed when they first undertook the experiments. However, the Hogyoku could not only stabilize and make complete the Hollowfication of the Visoreds, who were already undergoing a virulent form of Hollowfication, but it was also able to make Tousen into a perfect Hollow-Shinigami hybrid capable of using Resurreccion.
In other words, Soul Society's technologies were incapable of perfecting and stabilizing the process of Hollowfication, but the Hogyoku's power was able to both perfect and stabilize the process, even if Hollowfication is already occurring in the target. This was one of the first and most prominent of the Hogyoku's "miracles".
What the Hogyoku could not do, however, was prevent "soul suicide", because the targets in both cases inherently lacked what was necessary to do so - Quincy arrows of light and Human souls to balance out the Shinigami and Hollow side. Urahara had to create the vaccine himself and apply it to the Visoreds to restore balance to their souls.
The second situation Aizen cites is Rukia's giving all her power to Ichigo. Ordinarily, it seems a Shinigami should only be able to give half of their Shinigami power to a Human, but the Hogyoku caused all of Rukia's Shinigami power to be transferred to Ichigo instead of the half she originally intended because she was still carrying the guilt of killing Kaien. More importantly, Rukia said the process was supposed to be "temporary", but Ichigo retained the Shinigami power that Rukia gave him long after that night.
In other words, a process that was only meant to give Ichigo half of Rukia's power of the Shinigami temporarily ended up giving him all of Rukia's power of the Shingiami permanently. This is another "miracle" brought about by the Hogyoku's power.
The third event Aizen described was the awakening of Inoue and Sado's powers. There is much debate over this, as the "Lost Agent Arc" formally introduced the power of Fullbring, and people jumped to separate conclusions for both characters. In Sado's case, he's the only one out of the two considered to be a Fullbringer "because he was the only one who was stated as being one", even though visual evidence, and what we know of Fullbring as a whole, also indicates Inoue is a Fullbringer. While many people prefer to think that we do not know "what" Inoue's power actually is, they are perfectly okay with assuming that Sado's mother was attacked by a Hollow before he was born to explain his power being a Fullbring.
After all, we were told in that same arc that Fullbringers are people whose mothers were attacked by Hollows before they were born, resulting in the remnants of Hollow reiryoku in the mothers being passed onto their children, who developed a power derived from Hollows - Fullbring. We now know this to be possible because Humans are opposite of Hollow, as stated by Urahara in "Everything But the Rain", and the two balance each other out.
However, we cannot forget that Aizen grouped Inoue and Sado's awakening of their unique abilities together with all the other events/"miracles" materialized by the Hogyoku's power, which implies that their awakening unique abilities would not have been an event that occurred naturally without the Hogyoku's involvement.
To explain this, let us look at what we know of both their powers, how they awakened, and how they both relate to the Hogyoku:
1) Urahara stated that Inoue and Sado awakened powers because of Ichigo's reiatsu. At best, this is likely a half-truth, because we know that Keigo developed spiritual awareness after being in close proximity to Ichigo and Uryu's fight with the Menos (where Rukia also was with the Hogyoku) but he has not developed any unique abilities like Inoue and Sado. The same goes for Tatsuki who, although she was attacked by Acidwire and began developing spiritual awareness like Inoue, has not awakened any special abilities.
Urahara's statement likely ties into the effects of powerful reiatsu on Human souls. First off, we know that all Vice-Captain and Captain-level Shinigami have 80% of their power sealed away when they travel to the Human World. This is done in order to avoid having their reiatsu unduly affect the souls of Humans in the living world. As a result, this is likely done because exposure to reiatsu at the level of a Vice-Captain or Captain i.e. around 5x greater than Ichigo's reiatsu at the beginning of the series at minimum, would cause a Human soul to develop spiritual awareness.
In other words, while Ichigo's reiatsu was responsible for them developing spiritual awareness, it was not responsible for them manifesting their unique abilities. After all, how would have Sado developed a power closer to that of Hollow's if the source of his powers awakening was a Shinigami's reiatsu?
This brings us to...
2) Both Inoue and Sado were attacked and severely injured by Hollows. We know that there were heavy traces of reiatsu in Sado's wounds when he was initially attacked by Shrieker, meaning that traces of Shrieker's reiatsu would have remained in Sado's body after those wounds healed. We also know that not only did Inoue have a Hollow bite mark on her leg, but she was also bitten by Acidwire when her soul was outside of her body. That's more than enough exposure to a Hollow to result in remnants of the power remaining in her physical body (and soul). As we know from the "Lost Agent arc", remnants of Hollow reiryoku in a Human body is what begets Fullbring.
"But Humans only have Fullbring if their mothers were attacked by Hollows", some will inevitably say, but I do not think that rule would be written in stone with a power like the Hogyoku involved.
I believe it would be a situation like the Arrancar. While there were "natural Arrancar" in Aizen's army, we know that most of the "natural Arrancar" in the Espada were replaced by Arrancar created via the Hogyoku, or Arrancar whose power was "perfected" by the Hogyoku. The Hogyoku-created Arrancar were "perfect Arrancar", and their power eclipsed that of the Arrancar that came before them - the ones that were referred to as "mock-Arrancar" by various characters.
The situation with Inoue and Sado can arguably be said to be the same: while we know the means by which "natural Fullbringers" are born, Inoue and Sado are Fullbringers whose power was brought about by the Hogyoku. We can even say this is why their respective powers have traits the other Fullbringers do not - Sado's Fullbring being the "skin" of his body rather than an item like his Abuelo's coin, or Inoue's Rikka manifesting as fairies able to communicate with her.
In other words, Inoue and Sado's powers could be said to be Fullbring that were "perfected" by the Hogyoku.
Up and coming is the third point...
3) Both of them have had their powers compared to those related to Hollows. We know that Sado came to the conclusion that his powers were more like those of a Hollow in his fight with Gantenbainne, as his power became unsettled in Hueco Mundo and only settled down as a result of the fight with Gantenbainne.
In Inoue's case, it was not a direct comparison to a Hollow's power but a Visored's Kidou (which in part has led to all the debate surrounding "what" her power is). We know that Hachigen developed his unique Kidou after he attained his Hollow power, meaning that Kidou incorporated Hollow reiryoku into its structure and creation. I believe it is this common Hollow element that is why Hachigen said Inoue's Shun Shun Rikka are similar to his own Kidou - both utilize barrier techniques derived from Hollow reiryoku.
As both Inoue and Sado were attacked by Hollows, it makes sense that the Hogyoku would have used the remnants of Hollow reiryoku in them as a base for them to develop their unique abilities.
To bring this section of the post to a conclusion, I believe that the Hogyoku not only allowed for Inoue, Sado, Tatuski and Keigo to develop spiritual awareness as a result of Ichigo's reiatsu, but also for Inoue and Sado to manifest Fullbring abilities as a result of the Hollow reiryoku left over from when they were attacked. Normally, neither event would have happened - it requires exposure to Captain-level reiatsu for a Human to develop spiritual awareness, and Fullbringers are normally born to mothers who survived Hollow attacks in the past - but the Hogyoku's involvement not only allowed them to awaken spiritual awareness and manifest Fullbring, but the Hogyoku could also have been responsible for their Fullbring being "perfected" in comparison to normal Fullbringers.
That is the third "miracle" created by the Hogyoku, as cited by Aizen.
The reason why I believe the circumstances under which Inoue and Sado manifested Fullbring are possible is because of Aizen's Transcendence.
We know for a fact that Aizen, while immensely powerful, was still a normal Shinigami. By the time of Fake Karakura Town, he had fused his soul with that of the Hogyoku's, and he was in the process of helping along the development of Ichigo's power until he reached a certain point - the point where Ichigo's attained a power "even greater than Hollowfication". As Aizen was explaining this, recall what he was doing - he was examining Ichigo's reiatsu which was left behind in a wound caused by a Masked Ichigo's Getsuga.
Ichigo had commented on his new Mask feeling different when compared to his normal Mask, on top of the pattern of the Hollow Mask being drastically different from what it was before. That was the point where Ichigo's power had evolved into "the power of a Transcendent Being". Aizen sought to attain that power, and Ichigo was the perfect subject to use in that effort because of his heritage and circumstances of birth - the child of a Hollowfied Quincy (Masaki) and a Human-Shinigami (Isshin). In other words, Ichigo was born with a perfect balance of all four soul types comprising his soul, an entirely different entity from the Visoreds who required a Vaccine to balance out their Shinigami and Hollow sides.
In other words, the Getsuga wound now caused traces of Ichigo's Transcendent reiatsu to reside in Aizen's body. Once Aizen was pushed to his limits as a Shinigami, the Hogyoku was able to use the traces of Ichigo's reiatsu in Aizen's body to bring about Aizen's evolution into a Transcendent Being. It is not that different from the concept of Hollowfication - pouring a Hollow soul into a Shinigami soul to sublimate the soul to a higher order - or the birth of a Fullbringer - Hollow reiryoku mixing with a Human soul - but it is on a different level entirely.
With little doubt, no process or technology possessed by the Soul Society (or any faction for that matter) would have been able to replicate those results. In other words, the Hogyoku's "desire materialization" was the only way for Aizen to be able to use Ichigo's reiatsu to attain the power of a Transcendent Being, just as the Hogyoku used the Hollow reiryoku leftover in Inoue and Sado's bodies as a base for them to develop Fullbring.
In other words, Aizen being able to become a Transcendent Being (and the immortality granted to him via fusing with the Hogyoku) is another of the "miracles" brought about by the Hogyoku.
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In conclusion, the Hogyoku's power allows it to materialize events that would otherwise be impossible, so long as the "potential" exists for it to occur. The stabilization of Hollowfication was originally impossible for Soul Society, but the Hogyoku was able to stabilize both the Visoreds and Tousen's Hollowfication (even if it couldn't prevent "Soul Suicide"); Rukia had only intended to give Ichigo half her Shinigami powers temporarily, but the Hogyoku caused all of Rukia's Shinigami power to be transferred to Ichigo permanently (at least until Byakuya took that power away); while Fullbringers are normally born to mothers who were attacked by Hollows in the past, the Hogyoku allowed Inoue and Sado to manifest Fullbring by using the Hollow reiryoku in their bodies as a base, just as Aizen used Ichigo's reiatsu as a base for his Transcendence.
Because all of these occurrence were either events that were normally impossible, all of these can be defined as "miracles" brought about by the Hogyoku.
By definition, "miracles" are either events not explicable by natural or scientific laws, or are events that are statistically unlikely yet not contrary to the laws of nature.
While he did state the Hogyoku is more like "a power that guides in the direction of desire", because the Hogyoku cannot manifest the heart's desire if the target essentially lacks the power necessary to beget their desire, it does not take away from his description of the events affecting those around the Hogyoku as miracles.
To start off, let us look at the Visoreds. We know from "Everything But the Rain" that Hollowfication generally results in two things: the Hollowfication turning the Hollow-Shinigami hybrid into a monster without reason, and "Soul Suicide" from the destabilization of the soul and the shattering of the boundary between the soul and the external world. The former was a process that could not be controlled, as it was beyond the technologies that Soul Society possessed when they first undertook the experiments. However, the Hogyoku could not only stabilize and make complete the Hollowfication of the Visoreds, who were already undergoing a virulent form of Hollowfication, but it was also able to make Tousen into a perfect Hollow-Shinigami hybrid capable of using Resurreccion.
In other words, Soul Society's technologies were incapable of perfecting and stabilizing the process of Hollowfication, but the Hogyoku's power was able to both perfect and stabilize the process, even if Hollowfication is already occurring in the target. This was one of the first and most prominent of the Hogyoku's "miracles".
What the Hogyoku could not do, however, was prevent "soul suicide", because the targets in both cases inherently lacked what was necessary to do so - Quincy arrows of light and Human souls to balance out the Shinigami and Hollow side. Urahara had to create the vaccine himself and apply it to the Visoreds to restore balance to their souls.
The second situation Aizen cites is Rukia's giving all her power to Ichigo. Ordinarily, it seems a Shinigami should only be able to give half of their Shinigami power to a Human, but the Hogyoku caused all of Rukia's Shinigami power to be transferred to Ichigo instead of the half she originally intended because she was still carrying the guilt of killing Kaien. More importantly, Rukia said the process was supposed to be "temporary", but Ichigo retained the Shinigami power that Rukia gave him long after that night.
In other words, a process that was only meant to give Ichigo half of Rukia's power of the Shinigami temporarily ended up giving him all of Rukia's power of the Shingiami permanently. This is another "miracle" brought about by the Hogyoku's power.
The third event Aizen described was the awakening of Inoue and Sado's powers. There is much debate over this, as the "Lost Agent Arc" formally introduced the power of Fullbring, and people jumped to separate conclusions for both characters. In Sado's case, he's the only one out of the two considered to be a Fullbringer "because he was the only one who was stated as being one", even though visual evidence, and what we know of Fullbring as a whole, also indicates Inoue is a Fullbringer. While many people prefer to think that we do not know "what" Inoue's power actually is, they are perfectly okay with assuming that Sado's mother was attacked by a Hollow before he was born to explain his power being a Fullbring.
After all, we were told in that same arc that Fullbringers are people whose mothers were attacked by Hollows before they were born, resulting in the remnants of Hollow reiryoku in the mothers being passed onto their children, who developed a power derived from Hollows - Fullbring. We now know this to be possible because Humans are opposite of Hollow, as stated by Urahara in "Everything But the Rain", and the two balance each other out.
However, we cannot forget that Aizen grouped Inoue and Sado's awakening of their unique abilities together with all the other events/"miracles" materialized by the Hogyoku's power, which implies that their awakening unique abilities would not have been an event that occurred naturally without the Hogyoku's involvement.
To explain this, let us look at what we know of both their powers, how they awakened, and how they both relate to the Hogyoku:
1) Urahara stated that Inoue and Sado awakened powers because of Ichigo's reiatsu. At best, this is likely a half-truth, because we know that Keigo developed spiritual awareness after being in close proximity to Ichigo and Uryu's fight with the Menos (where Rukia also was with the Hogyoku) but he has not developed any unique abilities like Inoue and Sado. The same goes for Tatsuki who, although she was attacked by Acidwire and began developing spiritual awareness like Inoue, has not awakened any special abilities.
Urahara's statement likely ties into the effects of powerful reiatsu on Human souls. First off, we know that all Vice-Captain and Captain-level Shinigami have 80% of their power sealed away when they travel to the Human World. This is done in order to avoid having their reiatsu unduly affect the souls of Humans in the living world. As a result, this is likely done because exposure to reiatsu at the level of a Vice-Captain or Captain i.e. around 5x greater than Ichigo's reiatsu at the beginning of the series at minimum, would cause a Human soul to develop spiritual awareness.
In other words, while Ichigo's reiatsu was responsible for them developing spiritual awareness, it was not responsible for them manifesting their unique abilities. After all, how would have Sado developed a power closer to that of Hollow's if the source of his powers awakening was a Shinigami's reiatsu?
This brings us to...
2) Both Inoue and Sado were attacked and severely injured by Hollows. We know that there were heavy traces of reiatsu in Sado's wounds when he was initially attacked by Shrieker, meaning that traces of Shrieker's reiatsu would have remained in Sado's body after those wounds healed. We also know that not only did Inoue have a Hollow bite mark on her leg, but she was also bitten by Acidwire when her soul was outside of her body. That's more than enough exposure to a Hollow to result in remnants of the power remaining in her physical body (and soul). As we know from the "Lost Agent arc", remnants of Hollow reiryoku in a Human body is what begets Fullbring.
"But Humans only have Fullbring if their mothers were attacked by Hollows", some will inevitably say, but I do not think that rule would be written in stone with a power like the Hogyoku involved.
I believe it would be a situation like the Arrancar. While there were "natural Arrancar" in Aizen's army, we know that most of the "natural Arrancar" in the Espada were replaced by Arrancar created via the Hogyoku, or Arrancar whose power was "perfected" by the Hogyoku. The Hogyoku-created Arrancar were "perfect Arrancar", and their power eclipsed that of the Arrancar that came before them - the ones that were referred to as "mock-Arrancar" by various characters.
The situation with Inoue and Sado can arguably be said to be the same: while we know the means by which "natural Fullbringers" are born, Inoue and Sado are Fullbringers whose power was brought about by the Hogyoku. We can even say this is why their respective powers have traits the other Fullbringers do not - Sado's Fullbring being the "skin" of his body rather than an item like his Abuelo's coin, or Inoue's Rikka manifesting as fairies able to communicate with her.
In other words, Inoue and Sado's powers could be said to be Fullbring that were "perfected" by the Hogyoku.
Up and coming is the third point...
3) Both of them have had their powers compared to those related to Hollows. We know that Sado came to the conclusion that his powers were more like those of a Hollow in his fight with Gantenbainne, as his power became unsettled in Hueco Mundo and only settled down as a result of the fight with Gantenbainne.
In Inoue's case, it was not a direct comparison to a Hollow's power but a Visored's Kidou (which in part has led to all the debate surrounding "what" her power is). We know that Hachigen developed his unique Kidou after he attained his Hollow power, meaning that Kidou incorporated Hollow reiryoku into its structure and creation. I believe it is this common Hollow element that is why Hachigen said Inoue's Shun Shun Rikka are similar to his own Kidou - both utilize barrier techniques derived from Hollow reiryoku.
As both Inoue and Sado were attacked by Hollows, it makes sense that the Hogyoku would have used the remnants of Hollow reiryoku in them as a base for them to develop their unique abilities.
To bring this section of the post to a conclusion, I believe that the Hogyoku not only allowed for Inoue, Sado, Tatuski and Keigo to develop spiritual awareness as a result of Ichigo's reiatsu, but also for Inoue and Sado to manifest Fullbring abilities as a result of the Hollow reiryoku left over from when they were attacked. Normally, neither event would have happened - it requires exposure to Captain-level reiatsu for a Human to develop spiritual awareness, and Fullbringers are normally born to mothers who survived Hollow attacks in the past - but the Hogyoku's involvement not only allowed them to awaken spiritual awareness and manifest Fullbring, but the Hogyoku could also have been responsible for their Fullbring being "perfected" in comparison to normal Fullbringers.
That is the third "miracle" created by the Hogyoku, as cited by Aizen.
The reason why I believe the circumstances under which Inoue and Sado manifested Fullbring are possible is because of Aizen's Transcendence.
We know for a fact that Aizen, while immensely powerful, was still a normal Shinigami. By the time of Fake Karakura Town, he had fused his soul with that of the Hogyoku's, and he was in the process of helping along the development of Ichigo's power until he reached a certain point - the point where Ichigo's attained a power "even greater than Hollowfication". As Aizen was explaining this, recall what he was doing - he was examining Ichigo's reiatsu which was left behind in a wound caused by a Masked Ichigo's Getsuga.
Ichigo had commented on his new Mask feeling different when compared to his normal Mask, on top of the pattern of the Hollow Mask being drastically different from what it was before. That was the point where Ichigo's power had evolved into "the power of a Transcendent Being". Aizen sought to attain that power, and Ichigo was the perfect subject to use in that effort because of his heritage and circumstances of birth - the child of a Hollowfied Quincy (Masaki) and a Human-Shinigami (Isshin). In other words, Ichigo was born with a perfect balance of all four soul types comprising his soul, an entirely different entity from the Visoreds who required a Vaccine to balance out their Shinigami and Hollow sides.
In other words, the Getsuga wound now caused traces of Ichigo's Transcendent reiatsu to reside in Aizen's body. Once Aizen was pushed to his limits as a Shinigami, the Hogyoku was able to use the traces of Ichigo's reiatsu in Aizen's body to bring about Aizen's evolution into a Transcendent Being. It is not that different from the concept of Hollowfication - pouring a Hollow soul into a Shinigami soul to sublimate the soul to a higher order - or the birth of a Fullbringer - Hollow reiryoku mixing with a Human soul - but it is on a different level entirely.
With little doubt, no process or technology possessed by the Soul Society (or any faction for that matter) would have been able to replicate those results. In other words, the Hogyoku's "desire materialization" was the only way for Aizen to be able to use Ichigo's reiatsu to attain the power of a Transcendent Being, just as the Hogyoku used the Hollow reiryoku leftover in Inoue and Sado's bodies as a base for them to develop Fullbring.
In other words, Aizen being able to become a Transcendent Being (and the immortality granted to him via fusing with the Hogyoku) is another of the "miracles" brought about by the Hogyoku.
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In conclusion, the Hogyoku's power allows it to materialize events that would otherwise be impossible, so long as the "potential" exists for it to occur. The stabilization of Hollowfication was originally impossible for Soul Society, but the Hogyoku was able to stabilize both the Visoreds and Tousen's Hollowfication (even if it couldn't prevent "Soul Suicide"); Rukia had only intended to give Ichigo half her Shinigami powers temporarily, but the Hogyoku caused all of Rukia's Shinigami power to be transferred to Ichigo permanently (at least until Byakuya took that power away); while Fullbringers are normally born to mothers who were attacked by Hollows in the past, the Hogyoku allowed Inoue and Sado to manifest Fullbring by using the Hollow reiryoku in their bodies as a base, just as Aizen used Ichigo's reiatsu as a base for his Transcendence.
Because all of these occurrence were either events that were normally impossible, all of these can be defined as "miracles" brought about by the Hogyoku.
Friday, 26 December 2014
Bleach Chapter 611 Review
Three Paces Less, Five Captains Less, One King Left
With Ichibei now in pieces, Yhwach reiterates what he said in the beginning of the chapter - that he'd have Ichibei dead in three paces less, and that appears to be exactly what happened. He then waltzes past Ichibei's body parts, and with one movement destroys the "Seal" Ichibei made, comments on how Squad Zero has fallen, cutting back to the defeated members of Squad Zero, and states that the Soul King is next in line.
I know that a lot of people are complaining about how the rest of the Squad Zero was effectively taken out off-screen while we had Yhwach dealing with Ichibei, but I only have this to say upon reflection - what were you expecting? The last time we saw them, Lille Barro had not only put a hole clean through Nimaiya's chest with "The X-Axis", but he shot through the Zanpakuto of two other Squad Zero members as a side-effect. With Lille Barro being powered-up that much, the same would hold true for the other three Elite Guard. With odds like that, it'd make sense for the battle to not get focus while their boss was dealing with Ichibei - the outcome was decided, as Lille said, the moment Yhwach stepped into the Soul King Palace.
Now, I may be looking into the panel too much, but it seems like Yhwach is bearing his teeth in anger in the page where the chapter number is shown. It does not look like his usual smile, so Yhwach definitely has some personal grudge against the Soul King.
Late As Usual
It is only after he's already left for the Soul King that Ichigo and Co finally arrive in the cannon, with a moment of comedy to spare for Ganju collapsing out of the cannon due to not being caught by the Santen Kesshun. Given the current situation, forgive me for saying if I felt that moment was out-of-place.
At any rate, Ichigo and Co exit the cannon, and we have Sado stating the obvious: "It's too quiet...what's going on here? Has the battle already ended?" This is what being late to the party gets you, Sado - a big void of silence. Be thankful you and Inoue were not hear when the battle was still going, because you'd just end up as casualties, given that the Elite Guard dealt with Squad Zero so easily.
Bring Me to Life - Call My Name, And Save Me from the Dark
They see just how late they are by sighting the blown apart corpse of Ichibei (cue horrified Inoue expression), and Ichigo explains to Sado just who that was: the monk who trained him and Rukia. Inoue says that she is going to try to fix Ichibei up, and Ganju pretty much mirrored my thoughts: it's crazy talk because he's in piece and his head is without his body.
Thank God that Ichibei had other plans, as the Monk is able to call to Ichigo despite his predicament, and tell him to call his name. Ichigo does so, and Ichibei promptly revives and restores his body, explaining to the flummoxed Ichigo the mechanics behind how it was possible despite him actually being dead - as "Power" resides in the "Name", having Ichigo call his "Name" allowed him to take some of Ichigo's power and use it to restore his power, with Ichigo acting as audience surrogate based on his reaction.
Just what did the Soul King do to give Ichibei this "Power of Names"? I suppose it explains why speaking his name caused Yhwach to lose his voice - every time he did so meant Ichibei stole some "Power" from him - but essentially self-resurrecting himself just by having Ichigo call his "Name" is definitely not an ability he would have had naturally. It seems that the Soul King did more than just bestow the Squad Zero members with the Ouken - he also gave them "Powers" that correspond to their title, if Ichibei is any indication.
The Monk's Mask, the World of Contradictions
Now that Ichibei explained his revival, he then asks Ichigo to stop Yhwach. With the Squad Zero defeated and Ichibei yet to recover his power, he states that there is no one else who can stop Yhwach. He then says that he isn't telling Ichigo to kill, but just to stop him. Ichibei then echoes what Urahara said about the Soul King at the end of "Deicide", but the wording is distinctly different. While Urahara only talks about Soul Society "becoming divided", and how the Soul King is the "linchpin" that binds them together, Ichibei calls the Soul King "the "linchpin" of the world", and that Hueco Mundo, Soul Society, the Living World, and everything would disappear. He then apologizes to Ichigo for burdening him with such a task, and asks him to protect the Soul King as Ichigo and Co runs towards the Soul King Palace.
I find it odd how this is all coming from the guy who, just a few chapters ago, was revelling in his power over "blackness" and seemed delighted at the prospect of killing Yhwach, even going so far as to try to remove Yhwach from the cycle of reincarnation entirely in the process of killing him - not to mention how he renamed Yhwach into an "ant" and tried to kill him just like he would an ant. Ichibei may have acted like the Monk we knew before this fight, but that seems to be a "mask" to hide the monster that lurks beneath it.
Which brings me to the differences between Ichibei's words and Urahara's words. While Ichibei states that the existence of all the worlds hinges on the Soul King's life, Urahara's words were more about the Soul Society becoming "divided" because the Soul King is the "linchpin" that binds everyone together in the Soul Society, and that "without such a bond, we crumble easily". So here is the question: if the Soul King is vital to maintaining the existence of the world, why are there two different men (Aizen and Yhwach) who seek his destruction?
In Aizen's case, he was incensed at Urahara for following "that thing" and not taking action, like he did. Something Aizen learnt when he saw the Soul King drove him to the lengths he did to try to kill the Soul King. While Shutara (and the UNMASKED databook) claims he sought to become God and take the Soul King's place, there is likely something really wrong with the Soul King to make Aizen go to such extremes.
As for Yhwach...
Blood War's Origin
He has seemingly succeeded in killing the Soul King, as the next page shows the Soul King run through by Yhwach's blade. As the chapter ends, Yhwach bids the Soul King farewell and makes the entire origin of the war clear with one line of dialogue: "For I have seen the future, MY FATHER."
Before we get into the wham line delivered at the end of this chapter, let us look at the Soul King himself. He is...not what I expected. The idea he has eyes similar to Yhwach may have been disproven (they even have a different shape from before yet still echo Aizen's eyes in his third Hogyoku evolution), but what was unexpected is how inhuman he actually looks. For starters, he has no arms or legs. He's literally just a head and torso with no discernible lower half to speak of. I can see where Aizen gets the perception that the Soul King is a "thing", and why Urahara could not disagree with him - "it" cannot be called a Human through any means.
Another thing is how "powerless" the Soul King seems to be. "It" made no attempts to resist Yhwach as "it" was stabbed, and that barrier around "it" did nothing to protect "it" from Yhwach. It could explain the reason why the Soul King needs Squad Zero to protect it at all - perhaps many people were right in claiming that the Soul King cannot protect "itself". Pity this may also disprove the notion of a Royal Family...Almost.
Yet we know this "thing" has taken an interest in Ichigo, and we know "it" is what bestowed the Ouken onto the Squad Zero, so we know it is intelligent and alive. "It" just does not seem like the thing that could have been born to any Human, and I'm starting to get the impression I may have to revisit an age-old theory I once made, and tweak it a bit to take our knowledge of what the Soul King is into account.
Either way, a lot of questions raised about the Soul King - what is "it", how/when did it come to be, it is truly the creator of the world, was Ichibei telling the truth when he said all of reality would collapse/disappear with "it's" death? These are just the tip of the iceberg, but the immediate revelation takes precedence:
The Soul King is the father of Yhwach. Now we know for certain what "The Thousand Year Blood War" is all about, and we can see that the history between Quincy and Shinigami goes far deeper than what the original feud was. This is not a war between Shinigami and Quincy - it is a war between father and son, between the Soul King and Yhwach.
This in itself raises new questions - none of the Shinigami, not even Ichibei, seem aware that Yhwach is the son of the Soul King, so for what reason did the Soul King never inform anyone of this? Haschwalth certainly seemed aware of it, given that he gave Yhwach his condolences upon their arrival in the Soul King Palace, so why are the Shinigami all in the dark?
How did the feud come about in the first place? Since the Shinigami-Quincy War of 1000 years indicates that the Quincy existed for a considerable amount of time before that war occurred, so Yhwach and the Soul King may not have always been at odds with one another. There needed to be an event in the past that sparked the conflict.
What future did Yhwach see? Since Yhwach can see the future, he should know better than anyone that the Soul King's death would result in the end of all the worlds...That is, if Ichibei was telling the truth. Perhaps Yhwach's ability to see the world's future after the Soul King's death is possible proof that the Soul King is not the "linchpin" to all of reality's existence as Ichibei claims. It is also entirely possible that Yhwach is taking his father's power, and therefore taking his place as the world's "linchpin", but we cannot be entirely certain until the next chapter clarifies things.
Either way, this revelation definitely explains exactly where Yhwach's power comes from. Imparting pieces of his soul unto others; 'creating' the Quincy; the Auswahlen; being able to restore power lost back to himself; "The Almighty" - all of these powers come from his being the Soul King's son, effectively making him a Demi-God, if not a full-blown God, by right of his parentage.
Which makes me wonder what the Soul King is, and how the concept of Transcendent Beings fit into the world of Bleach. My theory that Yhwach is a Transcendent Being definitely feels like reality now that his being the son of the Soul King has been revealed, but there is also the question of what the Soul King is. Because of an old theory I made a long time ago (you can find it in my blog under the November month), I'm starting to think that the Soul King may be similar to the Kikoo and Koutotsu - not as a "soul" like a Shinigami or others, but as a "Being of Reason".
With Ichibei now in pieces, Yhwach reiterates what he said in the beginning of the chapter - that he'd have Ichibei dead in three paces less, and that appears to be exactly what happened. He then waltzes past Ichibei's body parts, and with one movement destroys the "Seal" Ichibei made, comments on how Squad Zero has fallen, cutting back to the defeated members of Squad Zero, and states that the Soul King is next in line.
I know that a lot of people are complaining about how the rest of the Squad Zero was effectively taken out off-screen while we had Yhwach dealing with Ichibei, but I only have this to say upon reflection - what were you expecting? The last time we saw them, Lille Barro had not only put a hole clean through Nimaiya's chest with "The X-Axis", but he shot through the Zanpakuto of two other Squad Zero members as a side-effect. With Lille Barro being powered-up that much, the same would hold true for the other three Elite Guard. With odds like that, it'd make sense for the battle to not get focus while their boss was dealing with Ichibei - the outcome was decided, as Lille said, the moment Yhwach stepped into the Soul King Palace.
Now, I may be looking into the panel too much, but it seems like Yhwach is bearing his teeth in anger in the page where the chapter number is shown. It does not look like his usual smile, so Yhwach definitely has some personal grudge against the Soul King.
Late As Usual
It is only after he's already left for the Soul King that Ichigo and Co finally arrive in the cannon, with a moment of comedy to spare for Ganju collapsing out of the cannon due to not being caught by the Santen Kesshun. Given the current situation, forgive me for saying if I felt that moment was out-of-place.
At any rate, Ichigo and Co exit the cannon, and we have Sado stating the obvious: "It's too quiet...what's going on here? Has the battle already ended?" This is what being late to the party gets you, Sado - a big void of silence. Be thankful you and Inoue were not hear when the battle was still going, because you'd just end up as casualties, given that the Elite Guard dealt with Squad Zero so easily.
Bring Me to Life - Call My Name, And Save Me from the Dark
They see just how late they are by sighting the blown apart corpse of Ichibei (cue horrified Inoue expression), and Ichigo explains to Sado just who that was: the monk who trained him and Rukia. Inoue says that she is going to try to fix Ichibei up, and Ganju pretty much mirrored my thoughts: it's crazy talk because he's in piece and his head is without his body.
Thank God that Ichibei had other plans, as the Monk is able to call to Ichigo despite his predicament, and tell him to call his name. Ichigo does so, and Ichibei promptly revives and restores his body, explaining to the flummoxed Ichigo the mechanics behind how it was possible despite him actually being dead - as "Power" resides in the "Name", having Ichigo call his "Name" allowed him to take some of Ichigo's power and use it to restore his power, with Ichigo acting as audience surrogate based on his reaction.
Just what did the Soul King do to give Ichibei this "Power of Names"? I suppose it explains why speaking his name caused Yhwach to lose his voice - every time he did so meant Ichibei stole some "Power" from him - but essentially self-resurrecting himself just by having Ichigo call his "Name" is definitely not an ability he would have had naturally. It seems that the Soul King did more than just bestow the Squad Zero members with the Ouken - he also gave them "Powers" that correspond to their title, if Ichibei is any indication.
The Monk's Mask, the World of Contradictions
Now that Ichibei explained his revival, he then asks Ichigo to stop Yhwach. With the Squad Zero defeated and Ichibei yet to recover his power, he states that there is no one else who can stop Yhwach. He then says that he isn't telling Ichigo to kill, but just to stop him. Ichibei then echoes what Urahara said about the Soul King at the end of "Deicide", but the wording is distinctly different. While Urahara only talks about Soul Society "becoming divided", and how the Soul King is the "linchpin" that binds them together, Ichibei calls the Soul King "the "linchpin" of the world", and that Hueco Mundo, Soul Society, the Living World, and everything would disappear. He then apologizes to Ichigo for burdening him with such a task, and asks him to protect the Soul King as Ichigo and Co runs towards the Soul King Palace.
I find it odd how this is all coming from the guy who, just a few chapters ago, was revelling in his power over "blackness" and seemed delighted at the prospect of killing Yhwach, even going so far as to try to remove Yhwach from the cycle of reincarnation entirely in the process of killing him - not to mention how he renamed Yhwach into an "ant" and tried to kill him just like he would an ant. Ichibei may have acted like the Monk we knew before this fight, but that seems to be a "mask" to hide the monster that lurks beneath it.
Which brings me to the differences between Ichibei's words and Urahara's words. While Ichibei states that the existence of all the worlds hinges on the Soul King's life, Urahara's words were more about the Soul Society becoming "divided" because the Soul King is the "linchpin" that binds everyone together in the Soul Society, and that "without such a bond, we crumble easily". So here is the question: if the Soul King is vital to maintaining the existence of the world, why are there two different men (Aizen and Yhwach) who seek his destruction?
In Aizen's case, he was incensed at Urahara for following "that thing" and not taking action, like he did. Something Aizen learnt when he saw the Soul King drove him to the lengths he did to try to kill the Soul King. While Shutara (and the UNMASKED databook) claims he sought to become God and take the Soul King's place, there is likely something really wrong with the Soul King to make Aizen go to such extremes.
As for Yhwach...
Blood War's Origin
He has seemingly succeeded in killing the Soul King, as the next page shows the Soul King run through by Yhwach's blade. As the chapter ends, Yhwach bids the Soul King farewell and makes the entire origin of the war clear with one line of dialogue: "For I have seen the future, MY FATHER."
Before we get into the wham line delivered at the end of this chapter, let us look at the Soul King himself. He is...not what I expected. The idea he has eyes similar to Yhwach may have been disproven (they even have a different shape from before yet still echo Aizen's eyes in his third Hogyoku evolution), but what was unexpected is how inhuman he actually looks. For starters, he has no arms or legs. He's literally just a head and torso with no discernible lower half to speak of. I can see where Aizen gets the perception that the Soul King is a "thing", and why Urahara could not disagree with him - "it" cannot be called a Human through any means.
Another thing is how "powerless" the Soul King seems to be. "It" made no attempts to resist Yhwach as "it" was stabbed, and that barrier around "it" did nothing to protect "it" from Yhwach. It could explain the reason why the Soul King needs Squad Zero to protect it at all - perhaps many people were right in claiming that the Soul King cannot protect "itself". Pity this may also disprove the notion of a Royal Family...Almost.
Yet we know this "thing" has taken an interest in Ichigo, and we know "it" is what bestowed the Ouken onto the Squad Zero, so we know it is intelligent and alive. "It" just does not seem like the thing that could have been born to any Human, and I'm starting to get the impression I may have to revisit an age-old theory I once made, and tweak it a bit to take our knowledge of what the Soul King is into account.
Either way, a lot of questions raised about the Soul King - what is "it", how/when did it come to be, it is truly the creator of the world, was Ichibei telling the truth when he said all of reality would collapse/disappear with "it's" death? These are just the tip of the iceberg, but the immediate revelation takes precedence:
The Soul King is the father of Yhwach. Now we know for certain what "The Thousand Year Blood War" is all about, and we can see that the history between Quincy and Shinigami goes far deeper than what the original feud was. This is not a war between Shinigami and Quincy - it is a war between father and son, between the Soul King and Yhwach.
This in itself raises new questions - none of the Shinigami, not even Ichibei, seem aware that Yhwach is the son of the Soul King, so for what reason did the Soul King never inform anyone of this? Haschwalth certainly seemed aware of it, given that he gave Yhwach his condolences upon their arrival in the Soul King Palace, so why are the Shinigami all in the dark?
How did the feud come about in the first place? Since the Shinigami-Quincy War of 1000 years indicates that the Quincy existed for a considerable amount of time before that war occurred, so Yhwach and the Soul King may not have always been at odds with one another. There needed to be an event in the past that sparked the conflict.
What future did Yhwach see? Since Yhwach can see the future, he should know better than anyone that the Soul King's death would result in the end of all the worlds...That is, if Ichibei was telling the truth. Perhaps Yhwach's ability to see the world's future after the Soul King's death is possible proof that the Soul King is not the "linchpin" to all of reality's existence as Ichibei claims. It is also entirely possible that Yhwach is taking his father's power, and therefore taking his place as the world's "linchpin", but we cannot be entirely certain until the next chapter clarifies things.
Either way, this revelation definitely explains exactly where Yhwach's power comes from. Imparting pieces of his soul unto others; 'creating' the Quincy; the Auswahlen; being able to restore power lost back to himself; "The Almighty" - all of these powers come from his being the Soul King's son, effectively making him a Demi-God, if not a full-blown God, by right of his parentage.
Which makes me wonder what the Soul King is, and how the concept of Transcendent Beings fit into the world of Bleach. My theory that Yhwach is a Transcendent Being definitely feels like reality now that his being the son of the Soul King has been revealed, but there is also the question of what the Soul King is. Because of an old theory I made a long time ago (you can find it in my blog under the November month), I'm starting to think that the Soul King may be similar to the Kikoo and Koutotsu - not as a "soul" like a Shinigami or others, but as a "Being of Reason".
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