User blog:Xilinoc/Ch. 576 - THE KILLERS HIGH 2

Song to listen to while reading this chapter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z8h9hsWpHQ&index=81&list=PLFB4B8FACC881FB7E

Well holy hell.

So first off, we've got Gremmy looking very creepy on another color page. A bit demonic, even. Then, we've got Gremmy taking a moment to note that he not only wants to kill Kenpachi, but that he feels really good right now. (I'll avoid making any puberty jokes here.) Then more imagination stuff happening, with a barrier and then what I PRESUME is the hand of Kubo smashing Kenpachi into the ground...and then getting cut in half by Kenpachi, who starts tearing Gremmy to shreds in quite a pragmatic way. It's a good thing he's evil, otherwise it'd be a little hard to watch a kid getting cut like that.

Then we get to an interesting bit, and one that had been theorized by quite a few of you: Gremmy almost dies by imagining his own death. Quite a weakness, that, especially since it seems to be triggered by despair of being overwhelmed or something. And then Kenpachi points this out, presumably so he doesn't win the fight so soon, and Gremmy's nice enough to thank him. What a guy. Then he clones himself and...oh my, he now has DOUBLED imagination. (Try and beat that, Spongebob!) And then the Gremmys summon a huge meteorite to obliterate everything...and (this is my favorite moment of the last few chapters) Kenpachi responds by happily noting he hasn't cut a meteorite yet and telling his Zanpakutō - oh, its name is Nozarashi, by the way - that this is great.

Okay, I love this chapter. It's the only one in Kenpachi vs. Gremmy so far that's been entirely focused on the battle, and it's shaping up to be a great fight so far. Plus, Gremmy cloning himself and then summoning a meteorite to blow everything up is, well, goddamn cool, and of course, we now know the name of Kenpachi's sword. I talked with Salubri about it a bit, and it seems Nozarashi means either "exposed in a field", which is a motif of skulls, bones, and/or skeletons; or "Weather-exposed skeleton". We won't know for sure until the raw comes out, but either way it seems fitting, especially considering the appearance of this Shikai.

Overall, I really enjoyed this chapter. It feels like the pacing's right again, and we've got even more escalation going on. Still kinda hoping that we get a surprise Bankai attack from Rose, since that would be something never done before in Bleach, but hey, who knows, really?