User blog:Xilinoc/Ch. 540 - The Sword Five

Well oh. my. god.

So we finally get to see how Nimaiya forges his Zanpakutō - using what appears to be 5 other Zanpakutō spirits, he uses their various weapons and a fire to forge a sword. Not exactly the Darksiders 2 method I was hoping for, but oh well. Also, Nimaiya without his glasses just looks odd.

So we get some exposition on what Ichigo's old Zanpakutō really is. Apparently, it's actually Hollow Ichigo or osmething like that, which is why the Asauchi took that form. It's some good clarification for what the hell Hichigo actually is, thankfully.

And then we get to the part everyone's gonna be excited about - what Zangetsu actually represents. For a minute there I thought Nimaiya was gonna say he was a Hollow, but the reality is far more "oh damn son" - he's Yhwach from a thousand years ago. First of all, this gives us an approximation of Yhwach's intended voice; secondly, oh my god. If Ichigo really needed more mindfuckery, this is it. The one who has been mentoring him for so long is actually Yhwach. Some people had speculated on how they looked similar, but hot damn, I didn't think Kubo would actually go through with it. It is true how they look similar, though, I'll give him that - it's not just shoehorned in for fan service. But yeah, geezus, I haven't been this surprised and impressed in a while.

Overall, a good, well-done chapter. We know how Nimaiya forges his Zanpakutō, we know what the Asauzhi represents, and we know what the connection between Zangetsu and Yhwach is. Hot damn indeed.

Also, there was no fanart before the chapter this time. My god, it's like they're translating old chapters of Bleach all over again!