User blog:TVthePunisher/407 - Decide 9 (TV's Liking the Chapter)

I've been a little let down lately...ya know, kind of sitting there wondering why Ichigo is staring at everything in bewilderment. Gin repeats his words...Aizen keeps showing that no matter what SHOULD happen, it won't (and thus he wins). To be honest, I was leaning towards a chapter featuring the injured characters...Kubo really surprised me with this move.

He did what he should have, I'll commend him for that. He focused it on the central characters right now (but a little Rangiku wouldn't have hurt, her running like others have said is becoming more and more pointless with every passing chapter) and the fact that it didn't start out showing us things that had already happened in the previous chapter gave me jitterbugs! (Okay not really)

So where to start? ISSHIN KICKING ICHIGO'S BUTT! Not a literal asskicking but a wakeup call to an otherwise braindead character for the past few chapters! Okay, he wasn't braindead...he was thinking, he was thinking about how he couldn't do anything and it was just kind of getting irritating. Ichigo is the main character and who better than his badass father to whip some sense into him (don't say Orihime, I'm tired of her whiney antics getting Ichigo's attention...that bubbly face during the Grimmjow fight still makes me gag). Well anyways, the whole pointing out that Ichigo seemed like he was about to cry and shoving it in his face really worked...as we see Ichigo finally pick up the Heroic side of his personality and he's ready to fight!

Then there's Aizenfly saving Ichigo for snackies later and of course Gin (by which some girls think he is VERY om-nommable). What a way to pwn a vaccum cleaner, amirite?! It definately makes things interesting...if I remember correctly, Captain Amagai in the filler arc stopped one of these before as well...but Aizen just kind of said "No U" and demolished it while Gin wasn't too happy about it. I'm not completely positive on the relationship between these two, but it seems that Aizen is tolerate enough of Gin to speak on level terms with him and Gin isn't completely afraid to speak his mind (at least we don't see the fear). However, I don't trust Aizen enough to keep Gin around if things progress the way they are in their relationship...it seems like there's a lot of awkard moments between the two that could otherwise result in Gin's death T_T.

Then there's Keigo-

Oh what about the Final Getsuga folks?! I'm hoping it's not a Backlash Wave =O or the blade changes color for some reason...(Getsuga Tenshou reminds me of the Wind Scar so much...you can state your own arguements and opinions on if they're similar...and let's not go based on the laws set by the two shows, as they have two different ideas for their energies). Do I hope it's the size of a gigantic Kamehameha Wave like Gohan used in the Cell Games at the last act? Yes, I hope the thing puts an expression of shock on Aizen's face whenever it's used...and maybe finally end his life. Let's not forget that we'll finally get an answer to that question for a few chapters back...how does Isshin know Getsuga Tenshou, is it a family related ability and is his Zanpakuto a form of Zangetsu (possibly an original model?).

So this opens up a few possibilities for the remaining chapters of this arc. Crack Theories aside, we'll just go with what we've got and try to extend the current chapter with a prediction = I have faith that Kubo will avoid showing anybody back in Fakey Karakura World and keep it probably strictly on Isshin and Ichigo this time. For those expecting a lot of development, look more towards the development of the move...or at least Aizen showing up in town and killing a few folks. I don't see a whole lot of change in the next chapter, no battles (except maybe some "fighting" from Keigo but you can bet money on that if you want...I'm not) and maybe a few deaths from non-important nameless humans.

I want to end this on a final note: I absolutely love the way Kubo drew Karakura again, the way Aizen and Gin arrive make you feel like there's a cool relazing breeze going by, like a walk in the park where they arrive. A nice little walk sounds good Aizen, I want to join!

I give this chapter 4 OM NOMs out of 5. It didn't dissapoint me and it moved the story along without revisiting tried teqhniques (like showing a heal session). It focused on central characters and ended in a way that makes you feel like Keigo's in trouble...yay!