Bleach (Manga)

[Itoukaiji01]

If Kubo had been smart he would have used to Fullbring arc to parallel Ichigo and Ishida. They both took short cuts to attain an incomplete form of their full power. Ishida broke the glove he only had one wing, just like Ichigo only had one gauntlet when he fought Aizen. Further, both forms had their weapons fused to them and the price of using these techniques was the loss of their powers. That way when we get to this arc Kubo could again be paralleling their training to once again attain these powers but in their complete stable forms.

The first thing is if Kubo had laid this groundwork it would have lead to development for both characters and he could have used it build a more interesting relationship between the two of them. More importantly doing it that way it would see like less of an ass pull when they both get these upgrades later in the arc, because one way or another it's going to happen that way. Instead, despite all his rage Ichigo is just a rat in a cage and Ishida is nowhere to be found. Neither one is doing anything constructive right now. But no, Kubo doesn't know what to do with Ichigo so he leaves him in a emoing at his cage for thirty chapters while he plays with his other characters until eventually he gets bored with that and brings Ichigo back in too weak to be effective in this fight without a massive asspull of a power up.

Not to mention that this time could also be used to straighten out the mess he made of Ichigo's inner world. Those parts of the story could have been fairly interesting if they'd actually had a point. Instead by the end of Aizen it had become so thematically muddled that Kubo seems to have just abandoned that aspect of the story. He could probably actually do something to break the circle Ichigo was going in with first Zangetsu and then his inner hollow. Ichigo got stuck in this rut of repeating the same pattern over and over again with diminishing returns, until he finally lost his power. Now of course we all know this wasn't intentional but more of Kubo's shitty writing, but he could actually take that mess and make something of it if he kind of made that a part of the story. Ichigo could realize that he's been fighting the same battle within himself over and over again, and to attain his full power he would have to erase his doubts to break the cycle. This internalized struggle could have some interesting psychological components that actually says something about Ichigo.

Buuut I'm probably just rambling because I'm sleepy and I'm probably over thinking it as well. Ah well, what could have been.

[BrainBlow]

Originally Posted by Remedy

I'm in awe that there's still that much material after there's so much out already.
I may have to start watching it soon before it's too late to catch up. D:

I suggest you read it first.
That'll be faster.
And yeah, One Piece is probably about halfway through the story.

Also, Itoukaiji01 should write more while sleepy.

[TheZippo]

Originally Posted by BrainBlow

I'm wondering if the impending ending of Bleach has the guys at Shonen Jump sweating a bit.
Bleach has been declining in quality and sales rapidly, and is now ending.
It previously was a flagship manga which is now making its exit.
Naruto is now edging closer to its own ending too which apparently is on the horizon(albeit not as imminent as Bleach's)
One Piece will probably continue for at least another decade and will probably keep on having good sales too, but going from having all three most popular mangas in the world to just one is a troubling prospect. Sure, Jump has other good series too but none of the same caliber, and it has already been many years since Bleach, Naruto and One Piece started.
Troubling prospect. The bigger they are the harder they fall.

Isn't fairy tail a replacement for bleach as the top 3 flagship manga? (is fairy tail shounen jump?) The question is; what will replace naruto when it ends... I fear that they're trying to put Toriko there

[LinkSword]

No, Fairy Tail is from Shonen Magazine.

As for Toriko, I think it already replaced Bleach.

[Raven]

I believe there's one word that Kubo doesn't understand (and this goes for series who repeat its downfall as well), that word is balance. Just have one or two characters be the "be all, end all" and let everyone else be fodder (until I want to have some fun with the story).

I'm happy it is ending. SJ should......dare I say....find decent or better manga (and by that I don't mean power-ups, I mean quality writing and characterization).

[Thrawn]

Oh god... since it was a new week, I was thinking the mantra "It's Monday, it's Monday..." to prevent my Mondays from getting royally fucked by another Bleach update change.

[Panta]

Originally Posted by Raven

I believe there's one word that Kubo doesn't understand (and this goes for series who repeat its downfall as well), that word is balance. Just have one or two characters be the "be all, end all" and let everyone else be fodder (until I want to have some fun with the story).

I'm happy it is ending. SJ should......dare I say....find decent or better manga (and by that I don't mean power-ups, I mean quality writing and characterization).

The best kind of writing doesn't allow for even the main character to be invincible. Ichigo, as far as I know, has never suffered a debilitating failure. He's always learned something and come back stronger from it. Hell, his loss of Shinigami powers wasn't even a loss because he got them back so easily. Which is weird because why would the Captains of Soul Society give one guy his powers back?

[Thrawn]

They figured out that Ichigo was the tits and he was always there to dish out a righteous ass kicking so why not bring back the guy who could defeat Kenpachi into the fold?

[Fargo]

Originally Posted by Panta

Which is weird because why would the Captains of Soul Society give one guy his powers back?

The bigger question is why did they wait 17 months to do it if it was a unanimous decision from the start?

[Thrawn]

They didn't have any fighting to do and when they found out he was getting his ass kicked, they decided to intervene and keep their puppet alive.