A glimmer of hope.
Creative Staff:
Story/Art: Tite Kubo
What They Say:
Ichigo Kurosaki never asked for the ability to see ghost – he was born with the gift. When his family is attacked by a Hollow- a malevolent lost soul – Ichigo becomes a Soul Reaper, dedicating his life to protecting the innocent and helping tortured spirits themselves find peace.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Bleach spent its time working through some of its problematic stuff in regards to those who can see the future and how Ishida was really just not getting it to some degree. Since Haschwalth had pretty much known from the start, within the limits of his power, it was all about just waiting for it to happen so things could play out as seen. As much as I like Ishida, he’d been acting in a way that was just grating simply because it was working towards all the right things in the wrong, so much so that even Ichigo could see he was being stupid. And if Ichigo thinks you’re being stupid, you probably are.
This chapter largely works in two different ways. The first part has Ishida moving into position to really go against Haschwalth now that he’s sent Ichigo and the others on to the Sun Gate. The understanding of the connect that Haschwalth has with his kind makes things a little clearer and Haschwalth even gives a touch away with what he says so that we understand that the future can be changed. That gives Ishida all the hope he needs, though Haschwalth is certainly a strong enough opponent all on his own. The setup is decent with this fight as both are definitely at the top of their game at this moment and it also works to put things right between Ishida and Ichigo before it all happens. They’ve fought for so long and against so many that there really does have to be this kind of quick understanding at times.
This chapter also follows Ichigo as he heads off with Chad and Orihime towards their goal, which is going to run into its own problems. Orihime is doing her best to keep up after everything and we get that nod here as Ichigo does register it, and that works well to remind the long connection that this trio really has. What we do get that’s slightly annoying, at least so far, is that as they make their progress up the obviously numerous steps, there’s going to be fodder opponents to fight. These come in the form of large statues that lets Chad have some time to hold them off so the others can go on. I’m all for Chad fight scenes as I really do like his character, but it’s a potential storyline slowdown here. Particularly even more so as Ganju seemingly pops out of thin air, having just caught up to them, and is joining in the fight.
Too many fights at once even in a weekly book is just problematic.
In Summary:
Bleach essentially does a lot of setup for the fights to come while nudging things forward just a touch. It’s not a bad chapter but it’s also not one that really advances much of anything. Kubo’s artwork continues to be good in the action sense with some good layouts and overall movement, but I’m still frustrated by the overall simplicity of the backgrounds and how that keeps it from really feeling like it has some proper weight behind it. Again, not a bad chapter, but it’s one where you can see things taking some unwelcome turns ahead.
Grade: C
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media via Weekly Shonen Jump’s ComiXology Release
Release Date: February 9th, 2016
MSRP: $0.99
