What was your initial reaction?
>>147184720
>Oh, nice, we got new jobbers.
>the job team so that other job team could pretend to win, but job instead.
>>147184771
>>147184823
This until I realized Aizen would have dissected them too.
Absolute homosexuality and The Almighty are actually two of the stupidest fucking powers to ever grace a supernatural series.
>>147184720
what even happened to them? bald guy died and glasses was swords but i have no memory of the rest
I was excited at first because they looked like an interesting bunch and it had been years since I've read Bleach. I thought "hey, maybe we'll start getting answers regarding SK" but then Kubo did nothing with them like everyone else.
>>147184931
>bald guy died
And then Kubo revived him then proceed to do nothing with him again.
>>147184992
Tousen?
>>147184931
The same thing that happened to most of the characters in Bleach: they were forgotten because there's just way too many characters and not enough factions to put them in.
One Piece can handle so many of its characters because they all have things to do within the story.
Bleach arcs all revolve around stopping the single Big Bad and his 5 or 6 henchmen, and that's it. There's no overall goal or anything happening in Bleach's story outside of the current arc, so 90% of the cast just gets jobbed or has some convenient excuse for not being able to do anything. Oh, and the main villain has some really overpowered ability that prevents everybody from just ganging up on him and kicking his ass.
>>147184931
Faded into bolovian
My initial reaction was something like "That guy with the rosary is going to be ludicrously overpowered." And I was right! And I loved it. Ichibei is my second favorite Bleach character now, behind Gin.
>>147185040
I think it's clear from very early on that One Piece just has a better world-setting because answers to 'problems' are actually given.
They have a way of communicating etc etc.
Though One Pieces cast hasn't really been relevant in the longest, sadly
>job job job job
Wait, are there seriously people who are still reading bleach, and still wondering about who will defeat the final boss? That Ichigo will win anyway, and therefore no other fight matters?
Ichigo vs Yhwach was a shit fight. Yhwach vs Black Monk was 100 time better. Same for Yamamoto. By now, Ichigo is not even a character, he is a plot device.
>>147184771
>>147184823
>People didn't get the concept of the zero squad and think about powerlevels
Old man genocide was the strongest shinigami.
Every single one from the zero squad had created something extraordinarily unique and that's all.
>>147185397
I would say that Ichibei is stronger than Yamamoto. Maybe not in reiatsu, but the fact that he can literally remove names/powers from existence is kind of a game-changer. That, and his other powers, which were all great. And, unlike Yamamoto, he can revive from the dead.
I think Ichibei just made Bleach fun again, if only for a short while.
>>147184720
KUBO YOU PIECE OF SHIT STOP ADDING MORE CHARACTERS!!!!11
>>147185397
Ichibei would buttfuck literally everyone in SS with ease. Kubo had to literally give Ywach "no you don't xD" to beat him.
>>147184720
>oh man, these guys are probably so strong they could take ywach on their own, but they're gonna have ichigo clean up the mess, sort of like a beerus goku relationship. No jobbing here.
>>147185397
It literally says in the OP that they are stronger than the 13 squads though
>>147184720
I was hyped but kubo turned all of them into jobbers in the end with the exception of ichibei.
>>147186977
Definitely not stronger than Yamamoto
Ichibei's fucking chants take forever
Yamamoto can just go ZANKA NO TACHI and atom smash his shit in
>>147184720
A new waifu ! (left one)
>>147184720
Ichibei is the strongest shinigami ever.
>>147185040
Are you seriously saying the one piece is better than Bleach?
>>147189224
that one piece*
What the fuck happened with shark tits?
>Oh my! If the fodders are powerful than the entire gotei then just how strong is the Soul king??11?
>hahahhahha
>>147189417
Still in the Quincy rape dungeon that Ichigo and Co. never reached. Now that I think about it, why the fuck did Grimmjow and Nel go help out Ichigo instead of rescuing Halibel?
>>147184720
Pretty hyped, but Ichibei was the only one who really delivered in the end.
>>147189452
I lost track of bleach a while ago. Did they ever explain who this guy was before he became soul King?
>>147189749
Kubo didn't explain a damn thing.
>>147184720
"Oh shit, one of them is the former captain of Squad 12, right?"
>>147189452
To be fair, it wasn't logical to expect SK to be a fighter since he needed guards.
>>147189749
Apparently, he was like that from the moment he was created by Soul Society.
>>147190099
So a king should be left all alone if he's strong? Flawless logic.
>>147184720
>"I can't wait to see their bankais!"
If I ever meet kubo in person I am spitting on him
>>147184720
>Great, more overhyped character who will do nothing in the end
>>147190173
That was pretty much Aizen's philosophy in a nutshell. But he was strong, and SK wasn't.
>>147190212
No, it wasn't. His ideal was to not rely on guards, not to have any at all, and he had no issue with building an army of arrancars to guard his shit.
>>147190265
He didn't build an army of Arrancars to guard him, you silly goose.
>>147190310
What would he have done with them after becoming the soul king, you dumb donkey?
>>147189493
>jobb to aizen
>get healed by 4th division
>sullen shark tits and rangiku now double team the shit out hitsugaya and make his life a living hell.
Kubo really is a hack.
>Fuck yeah we're finally gonna touch on the Soul King!
And the soul king aspect turned out to be my biggest disappointment.
I can even accept Mayuri's pointless reiatsu amplification deus ex machina and I don't mind not seeing everyone's bankai.
>>147190099
What the fuck? Most final bosses in any type of series have guards or meat shields.
Did Nel managed to save everyone, /a/?
>>147192190
I don't see why she wouldn't.
>>147192190
No, she's the one who needs saving, and IIRC only her lesbian harem of losers was really trying.
>>147192391
Nel =! Harribel
I was expecting the Royal Guard to be too 'cool' but I'm glad they ended up being a group of old weirdos. The fact that their bones are Royal Keys, and that they each represent a piece of Soul Society's history, was a nice touch that gave a bit of depth to the Shinigami tradition. I was more disappointed that we never saw Nimaiya's Sword Five fight than the fact that most of them jobbed to Shultzstaffel off-screen.
I honestly don't even remember the second from the right. Who was she again?
>>147192814
Shuutara, the lady with no arms of her own, but amazing sewing skills. Had something in the past with Mayuri, but was never explored.
>>147192814
Senjumaru Shuutara, the Weaver Guard, we only saw her fight a little but it was implied she has a high-tier spatial ability and illusions on par with KS. Also she's credited with the Shuutara scale which measures the Balance of Souls, and may be responsible for weaving the Captain's haori.
>>147184931
offscreened while the monk was fighting yhwach
>>147192943
weird, how did i never notice senjumaru never using his own hands?
>>147194391
>his
>>147194241
What a bunch of fucking losers.
>>147194241
Man, when I think about it, a bunch of fights in Bleach got offscreened
>>147194466
literally a boy's name
>>147194241
I like how Kubot almost never bothered to draw Bach's eyes wider so you could see the extra pupils because fuck you.
>>147184720
Kubo is running out of ideas
>>147194507
Almost every fight where a poster character wasn't involved in was offscreened
>>147194591
Isn't Ichigo a girl's name?
>>147194650
>Royal Guard mentioned at least twice before the end of the first half of the manga
>running out of ideas
Why do you people even post here?
>>147184720
>Oh damn this is pretty cool, Thier Shikai and Bankai must all be rediculously broken and I can't wait to see what each one does.
>Welp
>>147194479
To be honest family, they lost the advantage once Yhwach revealed he could revive his Schultzstaffel with even more power by taking it from his other soldiers. At which point the outcome would come down to Yhwach vs Monk.
>>147194777
>character can only be considered strong if they break reality
Man, Yamamoto really set a high standard for Bankai, I'm almost glad we didn't get to see all of them or else we'd just get more complaining about it.
>>147194842
I think that with a team composed of members who are supposed to be many times stronger than any SS Captian it makes sense to believe that each member would at least have a sword of Kyoka Suigetsu level broken.
>>147194943
Technically the quote was that the Royal Guard as a whole was stronger than the Gotei 13 combined; that doesn't necessarily mean that each individual member is that much stronger than the average Captain, especially since Monk blows practically anyone who isn't Yamamoto or Yhwach out of the water.
Also, Aizen himself is considerably overpowered and would have likely given the RG trouble even without the Hougyoku; Kubo making the RG a squad of five Aizens would have easily been his worst decision yet, or else it would have made the entire Aizen conflict completely pointless.
>>147194669
No. It's not exactly strictly masculine like names ending in -suke(助:assistant, used exclusively in male names), -rou(郎:son), or -maru(丸*), but there's nothing feminine about it. I don't get why that's a thing a bunch of retarded weebs seem to keep assuming that. A feminine name with the same pronunciation "ichigo" would be written differently;
苺実:Strawberry truth
苺花:Strawberry flower
苺:strawberry
莓:wild strawberry
一期:one time
一恋:one love
Kurosaki's is written as 一護:one protect, which is strictly speaking not really a name. Either way it's not explicitly a girl's name the way a name ending in something like -ko(子:child but as a diminutive used explicitly for girls), -ka(香:[good] scent), -ka(花:flower), or -mi(美:beauty)
Senjuumaru's given name is written 千手丸:Thosuand Hand "maru" and *the -maru suffix is used as a marker rather than for literal meaning. You either use it to name a boat, name a sword or armour, or a name for people or pets always by taking a fairly literal phrase or word and adding it as a suffix, and always in masculine use. i.e. Sesshomaru, Orochimaru, Konohamaru, Akamaru, Totomaru, Hyourinmaru, Zabimaru, Houzukimaru, etc... The few times it's used for girls is with tomboys, the joke universally being that when reading or hearing the name everyone assumes it's a boy, which their visual appearance may or may not corroborate depending on how long the punchline is being dragged out, then "surprise" it's a girl. When it's used on a character who appears feminine that damn near invariably indicates it's a trap.
>>147195076
I didn't say they had to be Aizen, I said their sword had to be on par with how broken KS was and since the one of the five Zan abilities that got revealed WAS KS level broken, it's a fair assessment.
Also the RG themselves pretty much go over with why they don't handle shit like Aizen, simply put it wasn't their job. The moment he stepped foot into their territory is the moment he would've been gang banged.
Not revealing Shikai or Bankai of various character was multiple violations of chekhov's gun and is already one of, if not the worst thing Kubo has done to his series.
>>147195330
to make things a little clearer, Japanese names basically fall into a few gendered categories:
1) explicitly gendered: literal meaning of name indicates gender and practical use corroborates this
2) implicitly gendered: literal meaning doesn't associate with a gender but all practical uses are exclusively gendered.
3) unisex: there might be a prevailing trend toward one gender but there's nothing explicitly tying it down to one or the other and it gets used by both in practice but generally in varying frequency
Ichigo is type 3. Senjumaru is type 2. Yuushirou was type 1.
>>147194777
It still irks me that we got Kirinji's shikai but no actual ability. The others not even being shown doesn't bother me half as much as that. Also I'm still super mad that Ohetsu never came out swinging his entire harem like some kind of mix of Killerbee from Naruto and Mifune from Soul Eater. He was perfectly set up for it as his gimmick too.
>>147195587
>>147195620
...directly into a scene cut, never to be seen or heard from again. Fucking Kubo.
>>147195330
I guess its possible but its not like Giselle or Yuushiro where it was played for a joke, not that I really care but I'd hardly take anons word for it.
>>147195587
I thought he manipulated hot spring water?
>tfw Aizen was right in the end, and just goes back to his chair.
Fuck, Kubo.
>>147195389
>Not revealing Shikai or Bankai of various character was multiple violations of chekhov's gun
That's not how Chekov's Gun works, anon. Sure, multiple characters are implied to have Bankai and not all show it, but the ones who specifically say they have Bankai but can't use it for whatever reason (Kisuke, Shunsui, ect.) all end up releasing it later on. It's a ludicrous proposition to think that we were going to see every Bankai, especially since half the cast doesn't even master theirs until after the final timeskip.
>>147195697
he did but that wasn't his shikai, that was just him
>>147195863
Why do you say that? We never see him manipulate the water directly until after he releases his Shikai, no? That's like saying Hitsugaya's ice powers are him and not his sword; although technically true, the sword is what focuses those powers into attacks.
>>147195858
Shunsui not using his with a crowd around doesn't even really make sense. Maybe for the first two "scenes", but they were both over in about 5 panels each. What was the big deal, aside from the super depression aura that everyone felt?
>>147184720
At first, I thought they were going to be villains.
Then I wished they were going to be villains because fuck, I hate the blacksmith guy. I was cheering the Quincies the entire time they were fighting him.
They're so clownish and ridiculous they look like villains from one piece.
No matter how strong they are, or what they do, you can only laugh at them.
>>147195914
no we saw him manipulate the water only before his shikai. after his shikai we cut away to zombie fights, then cut back to see him swinging his spear at yhwach. then senjuumaru stepped in and we never saw kirinji do anything again. Besides his shikai's name is Kinpika(金毘迦
), as in "Golden Assist", which has zero ties whatsoever to his hotspring gimmick. Also it was made clear that his hotsprings were his invention that got him into the royal guard, and the basis of the healing techniques he taught Unohana, so they can't be exclusive to his shikai even if we hadn't already seen him use them without it.
>>147195919
>What was the big deal, aside from the super depression aura that everyone felt?
First and foremost, he considers his Bankai 'shameful' for very Japanese reasons, it represents his shame and his relationship with his brother's wife.
Secondly he might not be able to control the 'wound sharing' from the first act which is inevitably a death sentence; for instance if he used it under the effects of KS he'd end up killing his allies.
>>147195919
well everyone felt it, even at a distance. presumably using it with people around would've just made everyone suicidal. Because he used it in a one-on-one situation, it's not even clear if he could really aim it or if he just shared the damage indiscriminately with anyone in range.
>>147196153
I guess I see you're point but there's no reason to think his healing powers and his Shikai can't be related. Perhaps he can only use the Blood Transfusion when his Shikai is active like he did with Nimaiya.
Also what are the chances that each RG has a Shin-uichi release instead of a Bankai? It would certainly explain the looser feel of their specialties.
>>147196147
>Rape Monk
>clownish and ridiculous
Oh look, a non-reader.
>>147189027
>Definitely not stronger than Yamamoto
>nope its name is ant now
lol
>>147189224
Anything is better than Bleach.
>>147196423
Not who you're replying to but it's hard to tell if Monk's ink would work on Yama when his sun armor was active.
I like to think of it as a balance of power, where the strongest warrior Shinigami leads the Gotei and Monk, who's given everything in Soul Society it's name, leads the Royal Guard.
>>147196153
if anything his shikai is more a play on his name, Kirinji(麒麟寺
:Kirin Temple) What with the Kirin being associated with the color yellow
>>147184720
I do believe if Kubo was given more time like 20-30 more chapters we would've seen their bankai like the elite sterns pushing them to their limits and their bankai work together like clockwork but to no avail.
>>147196553
Didn't the Ritters do the same thing? Kubo was a really terrible and predictable writer after Aizen lost.
>>147197591
It's just cherrypicking, anon.
>>147196156
>and his relationship with his brother's wife
That relationship was nothing but wholesome. Shunsui wore her hairpins at one point, and pink kimono like hers until today. He's not hiding it. Or rather, he uses that as distraction to hide something else--her heirloom sword.
Come to think of it, the old Central 46 would've sentenced Kyouraku if they knew he was the one who kept it.
>>147197591
Not at all. The Quincy actually curbstomped the Soul Reapers in the first 4 volumes.
That never happened before Aizen. It was more of a back and forth until the Soul Reapers won.
>>147184720
FINALLY! We get to see the characters who have been hinted at and were a mysterious entity since volume 36! Thanks for actually covering these guys.
>>147189452
The soul King was said to be a Lynchpin. The dude is the Bleach equivalent of the Tesseract from the MCU. Both are powerful and alive, but they are only given meaning through others using them.
>>147197591
Most Ritters didn't lose to shinigami, they were killed by Yhwach or their own comrade.
>>147197678
>Come to think of it, the old Central 46 would've sentenced Kyouraku if they knew he was the one who kept it.
Hence the 'shame' he's brought to his position. It's also the reason why his Zanpakuto became two swords.
>>147197748
Not that guy but:
>As Nodt beaten by Rukia
>Mask beaten by Renji
>Gigi beaten by Mayuri
>Bambietta beaten by Komamura
>Cang Du beaten by Toshiro
>Candice Catnip beaten by Byakuya
>Askin beaten by Urahara and Grimmjow
>Pernida beaten by Nemu
>Juha Bach beaten by Ichigo, Aizen and Uryu
>BG9 beaten by Soi Fon
>Lille beaten by Nanao and Shunsui
That is only the tip of the iceberg
>>147197836
His Zanpakuto was always two swords in Shikai though
>>147197856
>Gremmy beaten by Zaraki
>Quilge beaten by Ichigo and Grimmjow
>PePe beaten by Mayuri
Not mentioning the three jobbers offscreened by Zaraki, or Shaz Domino v Ichigo.
>>147197929
No Zanpakuto begins as two swords, anon. Besides, Shunsui confirmed it himself.
>>147198203
Not that guy, but Shunsui used his second sword to hide the actual sword of Nanao. He had 2 zanpakutou, but he used one of them to hide Nanao's sword.
>>147195587
>Also I'm still super mad that Ohetsu never came out swinging his entire harem like some kind of mix of Killerbee from Naruto and Mifune from Soul Eater.
Yeah Oetsu only busting out one sword with an incredibly boring gimmick before jobbing like the rest was such a waste. Considering his status as head blacksmith and how much even the other royal guard hyped him up to Ichigo/Renji, I was expecting him to be insane. He should have fought in a more discard and draw style, just pulling and endless supply of zanpakuto out of his ass with various abilities and gimmicks, would have been a great chance for Kubo to flex his design muscles a little bit by giving him an excuse to draw a fuck ton of zan. Instead we just get "lol i cut thru everything" before he got death dealed.
Biggest waste out of the entire RG.
>>147198337
Nanao says 'I always knew Katen Kyokotsu was two swords' and Shunsui corrects her. Ohana created the second sword in order to hide the Mirror sword.
>>147198474
But that's what I said. He used the second sword to hide Nanao's sword. His original sword created a second sword to hide hers. Shunsui is not using Nanao's sword.
>>147198348
Imagine how much time Kubo would have wasted showing off his entire harem, it would slow down the progression even more.
Sayafushi technically wasn't even a Zanpakuto, it was just an incredibly sharp blade. Honestly it was his best chance at beating pre-Almighty Yhwach as quickly as possible. Unfortunately gun that can shoot through everything > sword that can cut through anything.
>>147184720
Jobbers unite
>>147184720
They were based as fuck until changed to pointless fodder.
Was the best character intros Kubo ever did.
>>147198544
Then we are in agreement, my bad.
>>147198627
They were training arc staff.
Why did Kubo jerk his audience around like this? Did he genuinely not give a shit anymore?
>>147199548
It wasn't complete yet. Hisagi didn't complete his Bankai for another ten years, hence why Lisa and Tetsuzaemon beat him to the Captain's position.
If Nanao is Shunsui's brother's daughter, why is her surname Ise, not Kyouraku? I get that Nee-san returned to her family but isn't the common practice for noble families to keep the male line child?
>>147199673
Same reason why Naruto's name is Uzumaki. To hid their identity.
>>147199732
This, it's a common literary trope even outside of manga.
>>147199548
Showing Shuuhei's bankai has no effect to the story at all. Shuuhei's never meant to be anything but a background character, it's just that somehow he got popular. So if Kubo changed his mind about showing his bankai, for whatever reason, I don't see it as a big flaw.
Unlike other things like
- Soul King and the balance between worlds
- fate of Urahara, Yoruichi and Grimmjow in the poison ball
- what happened with Kyouraku's prediction for Ichigo and the ticket
>Oh boy, more new characters that won't do anything or be fleshed out!
Same thing I did for the last 40+ characters kubo introduced
>>147199889
>fate of Urahara, Yoruichi and Grimmjow in the poison ball
Isn't the fact that they survived obvious? Kisuke left an escape route open and Nel was already on her way to save them. It's not like Ichigo and co. were mourning their graves like Shunsui was for Ukitake. Anyone who honestly thinks they're dead is just memeing.
>>147199732
Why do they need to hide her identity when Central 46 presumably already know of her birth? She's a legitimate child of the first son of a high noble house and a member of another noble house so there's gotta be records of that.
Moreover, wouldn't naming her Kyouraku save her from the curse?
IS THIS INCEST?
I really need a final databook.
>>147200076
>I really need a final databook.;_;
>>147200076
Perving on the daughter of your brother sounds incestuous to me. I guess they see it differently in Japan, though.
>>147198603
he could've just reused the same harem he'd had and barreled through a bunch of arbitrary powers in like a chapter or two and it wouldn't have taken him long. If anything the benefit of the harem would be that he wouldn't have to give any of them much individual attention and could still get away with it. Having less characters would only demand more attention for each, with a big nameless crowd "the crowd" itself is the character not the individuals making it up. And technically Sayafushi was more than likely a zanpakutou, as everything Ohetsu made was, but we certainly didn't get any adequate details on it.