Noblesse Oblige.

Naruto vs Sasuke v2

2012-01-02T06:36:00.002-05:00

Both Naruto and Sasuke have grown and their eventual clash getting closer and closer. This is a update to my original post about Naruto versus Sasuke.

Naruto
Stage 1 (normal)
-Kage bushin
-Rasengan
-Summoning justu

Stage 2 (Sage Mode)
-Physical enhancement
-Chakra sensing
-Replenishable nature energy
-Frog-kata
-Rasengan variations
-Long range Rasenshuriken

Stage 3 (Kyuubi Cloak)
-Negative emotion and intent sensing
-Enormous chakra pool
-Chakra cloak physical enhancement
-Chakra cloak manipulation
-Body Flicker Jutsu
-Rasengan variations
-Rasenshuriken manipulation
-Tailed Beast Bomb

Stage 3a (Full Tailed Beast Form)?
-Naruto is befriending Kurama, so this form is imminent
-Tailed Beast body
-Tailed Beast Bomb manipulation and spamming
-Partial transformation (utilize tails)

Stage 3b (Hybrid Sage/Kyuubi)?
-Naruto has transcended to this stage once before against Nagato
-Extremely strong resistance (shown to disrupt Rinnegan's power)
-Fuse of Sage and Kyuubi abilities

Sasuke
Stage 1 (normal)
-Genius intellect
-Intense taijutsu training
-Kenjutsu (sword proficiency)
-Summoning jutsu (animals & weapons)
-Hebi-jutsu
-Katon-jutsu variations
-Chidori
-Lightning manipulation
-Kirin

Stage 2 (Orochimaru) expired
-Inherited jutsu (regeneration)
-Curse seal lvl 1 (chakra boost, physical enhancement)
-Curse seal lvl 2 (additional chakra boost, physical enhancement/transformation)
-Partial transformation

Stage 3.1 (Sharingan)
-Amazing reflex/perception
-Jutsu copying/analysis
-Chakra sensing (solely visual)
-Genjutsu

Stage 3.2 (Mangekyo Sharingan)
-Tsukiyomi
-Amaterasu
-Susano'o
-Black flame manipulation

Stage 3.3 (Eternal Mangekyo)
-Night vision
-Eternal Susano'o and Amaterasu spamming
-Awakening of new abilities?

THOUGHTS
Stage 1 Sasuke should beat Stage 1 Naruto.
-Naruto's trump card is Rasengan and Sasuke easily cancels that out with Chidori
-Only reason Naruto won't lose immediately is because he has massive chakra reserve so he can keep spamming clones and the same jutsus over and over again
-Sasuke has a lot of skills but limited in chakra

Stage 3.1 Sasuke hands down annihilates Stage 1 Naruto.
-Sasuke's weakness in the previous matchup is addressed with Sharingan, which conserves chakra and give him new abilities and enhancements

Stage 2 Naruto will have a good fight with Stage 3.1 Sasuke.
-Both have amazing chakra sensing, peak physical prowess, and plethora of jutsus
-Sasuke conserves chakra with Sharingan, while Sage Naruto uses natural energy
-Frog kata is a match for Sasuke's taijutsu and kenjutsu
-Rasengan variations can match lightning manipulations
-Rasenshuriken and Kirin both are aces

Stage 3 Naruto annihilates Stage 3.1 Sasuke.
-Too much boost in power, speed, and abilities

Stage 3.2 Sasuke can match up to Stage 3 Naruto but Sasuke will eventually lose.
-Naruto's speed can be great for offense and defense, though not as much Sasuke's Susano'o
-Naruto has enough abilities to counter everything Sasuke throws at him
-Naruto's ace is tailed beast bomb, while Sasuke has Amaterasu and Susano'o
-Naruto just need to outlast Sasuke because Sasuke has smaller chakra reserve and Mangekyo deteriorates his eyesight

Stage 3.3 Sasuke is superior to Stage 3 Naruto.
-Naruto can hold out against Sasuke, but Sasuke will quickly have all his abilities figured out and use his skill to beat Naruto before his chakra runs out
-Naruto's likely counter would be Stage 3a or Stage 3b...both are only speculatory

Looks like Kishimoto set it up nicely so that it will be a good fight. =]

Who do you think will win?

Bleach 403-405 Karakura Heroes

2010-05-27T16:09:00.004-04:00

As expected, Aizen merged from the smoke unharmed. It also seems he has completed his transformation: the whole body of Aizen is covered by a white Hougyoku armor. Aizen instantly shunpos in between Urahara and Isshin and says Urahara's powerful attack combo was not enough to defeat his new Hougyoku conquered self. Aizen proceeds to rip out the reiatsu seals from his wrists and mocks Urahara's attempt. Both Urahara and Isshin rush at Aizen but Aizen displays a surprisingly dextrous combination of movement that repels both attackers with ease. However, Urahara and Isshin had hid chains in their attack and now release the trap which binds Aizens limbs. Aizen calls this a mockery but is suddenly smacked into the ground with an attack from above. The attacker turns out to be Yoroichi; it seems she has finally decided to appear. Yoroichi is wearing armor-like equipment on her arms and legs. It is revealed that the equipment is anti-hierro weapon designed by Urahara. Yoroichi does not stop after one attack and punches the prone Aizen again, which had enough power to blow up the surrounding. Yoroichi relaxes but Urahara warns her to get out of the way. Suddenly a huge attack emerges from below and Yoroichi attempts to dodge. She is quick enough to escape without injury, but the equipment attached to her right leg got destroyed. Aizen emerges from the smoke created by his attack saying he will crush them into tiny remnants one by one. Aizen's chest is cracked deeply from Yoroichi's attack but he is unphased.

As the Hougyoku start to healing Aizen's injury, Aizen tells our heroes of Karakura town that their combined effort towards defeating him symbolizes their hope and spirit. Aizen intends to smash their spirit by proving nothing they do will work and then proceed to kill them. When he finishes talking, Aizen shunpos to Yoroichi and deals a damaging attack which blows up the area around them. As they resume their fighting, Ichigo watches on. Gin catches Ichigo's attention by suggesting they both sit down and enjoy the fight from the sidelines. Gin admits he didn't know of Aizen's plan to merge with the Hougyoku and that he did it while Gin wasn't looking. Nevertheless, now that Aizen has merged, Gin claims that Urahara and them are all going to die. Ichigo responds by questioning how Gin can be sure of his own safety from Aizen. Gin says he didn't expect a response like this because it makes like sound like Ichigo has already accepted defeat. Gin rebukes Ichigo for being weak and suddenly begins to attack him. Ichigo dodges the first attack but Gin immediately follows with an even stronger attack. In order to block it Ichigo is forced to finally don his Hollow mask. Gin's attack slices through the town, destroying all the buildings on the way. The commotion wakes up Kira and he notices that Matsumoto is gone. She is seen from afar running towards the battle to where Gin is.

Kira tries to chase after her but he collapses from fatigue. Apparently Kira managed to close up Matsumoto's severe wound above her hip to keep her from dying but Matsumoto is still in critical condition. The scene switches back to Ichigo and Gin and it appears Ichigo has already been defeated. Gin derides him for having such a brittle mask and no Hollowfication power. Gin tells Ichigo to run. Meanwhile, the smoke clears from Aizen's attack and it is revealed Yoroichi managed to escape without injury once again but at the cost of the equipment on her right arm being destroyed. Urahara and Yoroichi banter some more and Aizen says this is all a ploy to distract him. He recognizes Urahara's intellect as the only one in Soul Society that is higher than his own. But despite this, it doesn't matter anymore because Aizen holds power many times greater than them meaning he cannot be defeated. Urahara responds by sending a Hadou flying at Aizen's face. This is meant as a distraction so Yoroichi can get in close and land another hit. However, Aizen saw through this immediately and effortlessly blocks Yoroichi's attack. Yoroichi sends another punch powered with Senkou and the attack smashes through Aizen's defense and proceeds to crack his outer shell again. Yoroichi tries to followup with another attack but Aizen blocks her while reiterating how they cannot defeat him. Urahara comes from behind and ensnares Aizen with his zanpakutou Behime's ability. Aizen states he cannot be binder with such a skill and Urahara stabs his zanpakutou into the web his ability created. This lights a fuse which engulfs Aizen in a enormous fiery explosion. Aizen emerges barely wounded and he calls their efforts comical. Before he can finish speaking, Isshin appears behind him and deals a point blank Getsuga Tenshou reminiscent of Ichigo's attack on Aizen a while ago.

Thoughts:
1. Why is Ichigo so weak? I don't even know how to explain this anymore.

2. Isshin was able to do Getsuga Tenshou, which means his zanpakutou is Tensa Zangetsu? I don't know how two people can have the same zanpakutou because in the Bleach movie Diamond Dust Rebellion, Hitsugaya's friend was persecuted for also having Hyourinmaru. I guess this can be explained by saying either the movie is non canon (independent of manga) or by the fact Isshin isn't part of Soul Society so he isn't under their jurisdiction. I guess another explanation would be that Ichigo got his zanpakutou way after Isshin did so in Soul Society's eyes there was no overlap. Either way, I wasn't happy with this revelation at first because Tensa Zangetsu is a pretty boring zanpakutou. But then I realized maybe Ichigo just sucks and Isshin can show us how it is really used. Also, Isshin actually has control over Zangetsu as he is shown to be able to keep it in it's sealed form. Not only that, he managed to release a Getsuga Tenshou without releasing his zanpakutou.

3. Finally, I really enjoy the Karakura heroes' attack combos because they are actually smart and well thought out. I haven't seen strategy in a long time probably because Ichigo doesn't have a concept of what it is. All we see is strong people pwning weak people until the weak people get a power up and become the strong person thus proceeding to pwn the strong person that is now deemed as weak. Here, Urahara and them are clearly the underdogs, yet they are using strategy to fight on par with Aizen.

*this whole post was typed with an iPad =p

Naruto 492-495 Jinchuuriki Bros Dattebayo!

2010-05-23T14:37:00.002-04:00

The island that Naruto and company (Yamato, Gai, and another Jounin) arrived at is protected by a barrier that will alert them if enemies approach. Furthermore, the physical characteristics of the island is repelling as it is composed of humongous spikes. Finally, the inhabitants of the island are enormous beasts like the squid, gorillas, or pandas. Needless to say, Kirabi has tamed them all or became their friends - fist pump the gorilla. The dimwitted Naruto didn't realize that Kirabi was the Hachibi until Motoi told him so - I mean what else could be an oxtopus (ox + octopus =p). After learning of this, Naruto immediately goes to Kirabi to learn about how to control his inner Bijuu. However, Kirabi is only interested in rap rhymes and fist pumps, and he ended up shrugging Naruto off after Naruto tried to tempt him with Harem no Jutsu. Naruto goes to Motoi for help and Motoi brings him to the Waterfall of Truth. When Naruto meditates in the Waterfall of Truth, his true inner self appears before him. It turns out his inner self is liked by the Kyubi because he embodies all the hidden hatred within Naruto's heart. Dark Naruto attacks Naruto but they are evenly matched in skill and technique. Due to a stalemate, Naruto exits his inner world and converses with Yamato and Motoi about what happened. Motoi says Naruto will not be able to control the Kyubi if he doesn't defeat his inner self. Naruto asks him to tell about how Kirabi managed to conquer his inner self because that might give him some hints on how to defeat Dark Naruto. Motoi explains that Kirabi was treated the same way as Naruto was treated for being a Jinchuuriki, but it never got him depressed or anything because he was trying to be a good host for his brother, the current Raikage. Motoi states that Kirabi is pretty much a village hero and he holds tremendous respect towards Kirabi. Because of this, Yamato and Naruto ask Motoi to appeal to Kirabi in their place to help with the training, but Motoi reveals that he can't do that because he had previously tried to assassinate Kirabi.

Motoi flashback to a time when the Hachibi did not have a compatible host, causing the village to constantly try to keep it under their control. Due to the previous Raikage's and Kirabi's brother's power they were able to do so, but always at the cost of many casualties. The wild Hachibi killed many villagers in its rampages and one of them was Motoi's father. Thus, Motoi developed a grudge towards the Hachibi. The Jinchuuriki at the time who lost control and killed Motoi's father died when the Kumogakure extracted the Bijuu from him. As a result, Motoi now had nowhere to displace his anger. However, when his close friend Kirabi willingly accepted the role as the next Jinchuuriki, Motoi attempted to kill him because he thought Kirabi would not be able to control the Hachibi as well. Not only did Motoi fail the assassination, but Kirabi also proved him wrong by besting the Hachibi. Thus, Motoi became too ashamed to speak to Kirabi again. Yamato asks why did he tell them all this and Motoi admitted he was trying to apologize by telling this to another Jinchuuriki because he couldn't say it to Kirabi's face. Naruto got upset that he was being used so he left to go ponder on a spike overlooking the sea. He thinks back to his own difficult childhood and also Gaara's and empathizes with what Kirabi went through. It turns out Yamato and Motoi ran after Naruto but got delayed because they were attacked by the giant squid. The squid appears before Naruto with Motoi in its grasp and Naruto immediately confuses it with the Hachibi again. Yamato set him straight and they both begin to attack the squid. However, Kirabi appears in Hachibi form and knocks the squid unconscious in one punch. Motoi asks him why did he save him and Kirabi turns a blind eye to their past and offers him a fist pump.

Now that their one-sided conflict has been resolved, Kirabi accepts Naruto because he tried to save his friend. Naruto reciprocates with many lines of rap yo dattebayo. Kirabi fist pumps him and tells Naruto he is ready for the Waterfall of Truth again. Thus, Naruto enters his inner world and confronts Dark Naruto again. Dark Naruto tells Naruto he has suffered because of the villagers yet now Naruto is accepting their change of heart due to Naruto saving the village. However, Naruto says he must have faith in himself because other people believe in him, and also Kirabi never let any of this affect him. This starts to weaken the Dark Naruto and makes him attack Naruto, while asking what's the reason of his existence. Naruto says they are actually one and thanks him for everything. Naruto intercepts Dark Naruto's attack with a hug and tells him it's going to be alright. Letting go of his own anger at their past, Dark Naruto's eyes lighten and disappears into Naruto. Naruto emerge from the inner world with a smile and Kirabi tells him they are ready for the next step. They both walk through the waterfall - with Yamato following - and steps into a humongous room where Naruto will fight the Kyubi.

On another note, eff OneManga. It's being slow with releases and suspended a bunch of other mangas I am following.

Bleach 399-402 The Fox and the Scientist

2010-05-08T18:07:00.001-04:00

As Isshin continues to fight Aizen, Ichigo and Gin exchange words. Gin says its being a while since they fought, but Ichigo says he doesn't remember it. He explains that everyone who he has fought with conveyed their minds through the battle; however, Gin was different in that he didn't even look at him despite the fact they were fighting. Ichigo wonders what he was looking at instead and Gin responds he is a creepy kid. Gin next raises his reiatsu and asks Ichigo if he knew how long Shinsou can stretch - 100 sword lengths (approx 100 meters). Next he tells Ichigo to guess how long his Bankai is. Ichigo says he doesn't care, but Gin surprises him by revealing the sword can stretch 13km. Gin claims its hard to grasp how long that distance is, so he intends to show Ichigo by releasing his Bankai, Kamishini no Yari. The release of his sword immediately cuts down every building in sight horizontally and Gin follows through by swinging the sword at Ichigo. The attack pushes Ichigo back tremendously but he manages to block it and stop the momentum. Gin seemed surprised but Ichigo says its not uncommon for one Bankai to block another. Since Gin's sword is halted, Ichigo immediately unleashes a Getsuga at Gin. This attack made contact but Gin emerges with only a light wound. Gin responds that Ichigo is a creepy kid to have stopped his Bankai and he will fight Ichigo the old fashioned way to take care of him. Gin retracts his Bankai and Ichigo notices how fast he did it. Gin uses Shunpo and his unreleased sword to attack Ichigo relentlessly, while Ichigo tries to make sense of Gin's sword. Ichigo realized Gin's sword's power and that he's done for if Gin manages to point the tip of his sword at Ichigo. Just at the moment of this revelation, Gin Shunpos away and shoots out his Bankai, which instantly pierces Ichigo's shoulder. Gin follows with a vertical slash to which Ichigo manages to evade. The missed attack impacts with the ground and destroys the whole section where Ichigo was standing. While the debris was still flying in midair, Ichigo rushes Gin to close the distance. However, Gin had retracted his sword to counter Ichigo's assault and then distances himself again. Ichigo tells Gin he figured out Gin's sword's ability - it's not in the length, but rather how fast Gin can stretch his sword. The whole spiel making Ichigo guess the length of the sword was an attempt to distract him from its true power. Gin ascertains him and further demonstrates that his Bankai can contract at 500x the speed of sound. Considering its maximum distance of 13km, Gin can technically hit anything in a 13km radius in less than 80ms [(13 000 m) / (speed of sound x 500) = 76.4054189 milliseconds]. Gin says he told Ichigo this because Ichigo doesn't stand a chance in hell.

Meanwhile, Isshin is overtaking Aizen in their fight and he says that Aizen is at his limits. Aizen agrees that he is at his limit, but only for his shinigami self. Aizen claims that the Hougyoku has its own will and that will is now finally accepting Aizen's will (meaning they are merging). Isshin remains in the dark so Aizen explains that the Hougyoku's power is not the blurring of the line between Shinigami and Hollows. Instead, its true power is to read the minds of those around it and make manifest what it finds there. Aizen explains the reason why Urahara misidentified the Hougyoku's power as manipulating the boundary between Hollow and Shinigami is because that was his wish as its creator; the reason that Rukia transferred all her spiritual power to Ichigo and then lost her powers as a Shinigami was because she hadn't been given any relief from the pain of killing Kaien; the reason Sado and Inoue had their unique powers brought forth was because they detested their own powerlessness. Furthermore, Aizen elaborates that the Hougyoku doesn't completely work unless the subjects inherently possess the power to fulfill their desire. Their conversation is interrupted by Gin's attack sending Ichigo flying past them into a building. Gin apologizes for the interruption but Aizen says they are finishing up. As he said this, the Hougyoku envelopes more of his body, which indicates the speeding up of the transformation. Suddenly, Aizen gets shot through his shoulder: Urahara finally makes his appearance. Urahara notes the progress of the transformation, and Aizen says that he is mastering the Hougyoku that Urahara couldn't himself. Aizen Shunpos to Urahara and stabs him but Urahara's "body" pops. It turns out this was the inflatable substitute Gigai Urahara used on Yammy. Urahara appears behind Aizen and binds him with Bakudou 61 Six Rods Light Prison, Bakudou 63 Sajyou Sabaku, and Bakudou 73 Kuyou Shibari. Urahara finishes the combo with Hadou 91 Thousand Hands Bright Sky Cannon. Even though Aizen notes the danger of the level 91 Kidou, he does not dodge. Aizen emerges from the smoke unharmed and surprise attacks Urahara from behind; Urahara escapes with a shoulder injury. Urahara says Aizen's carelessness isn't like his old self anymore and Aizen explains this is because he is so strong he doesn't need to be. Urahara clarifies his statements meaning that the old Aizen would not let him try attacks one after another. As he says this, Aizen's hands become bound with reiatsu handcuffs. Urahara explains it is a seal that seals the flow of reiatsu out of one's palms so the victim would be blasted by his own reiatsu. Aizen proceeds to be enveloped by an explosion of light.

Thoughts on~

Gin: The revelation of Gin's abilities did not disappoint but did not impress. Considering Gin's Bankai, it is not very creative as it is just an extension of his Shikai (faster speed and longer length). However, it is very strong. Essentially, the speed and distance of his attacks make him the perfect sniper. If you are standing 13km away, you will have less than 80ms to dodge one of Gin's attacks. The problem here is whether Gin himself can even see his targets this far away (and his eyes being closed all the time doesn't help =P). Nevertheless, I was very satisfied with the spur of some great action pictures and poses for Gin form these chapters.

Aizen: I am very displeased with how Aizen is turning out. First considering his appearance, he is ugly and boring as hell. Aizen looks like a cross between Rudobon (leader of Exequias) and Tosen's Hollowfication form. Hopefully Aizen was right in saying mid-transformation is always ugly and what we see now is not a good representation of his final form. Next, considering his strength, Aizen became weak like a noob. Not more than a few chapters ago, Gin exclaimed on Aizen's insane strength and Aizen proved it by pwning all the captains with little effort and breaking their most powerful combined attacks and Bankais (and this was only with his Shikai). But ever since his bout with Yamamoto, Aizen has fallen from his pedestal of seemingly invincibility. For 390 chapters, Aizen never had more than a scratch on him. Even Yamamoto, who is the strongest Shinigami in 1000 years, only managed to burn his clothing and dirty his face with a self sacrificial high leveled Kidou. Then out of nowhere, Ichigo comes and somehow wounds Aizen with an unmasked Getsuga (remember even Ulquiorra could block this barehandedly). Then immediately after this, some minor comic relief character we haven't seen much of (no offense Isshin) comes in and start beating the crap out of Aizen with just his Zanpakutou - no release or Kidou. I demand the back story on Isshin soon or else I will stop believing in anything logical anymore. Either way, assuming Isshin was more powerful than all the Gotei 13 and Visoreds combined (seeing how all them barely injured Aizen), why doesn't Aizen reveal his true power and release his Bankai. Instead, he relies on the merged Hougyoku to heal him while he tells the enemy all about his plans. Urahara did the right thing and took this opportunity to wail on Aizen with high level attacks. Anyways my point is Aizen seems to have gotten weaker, which might be explained by the fact he is in mid-transformation and his abilities are limited. I don't buy any of this, hopefully we will get our explanations soon.

Urahara:
One word: epic.

Naruto 489-491 A New Contender

2010-04-15T21:28:00.001-04:00

The sages at Myouboku Mountain decides that it is time to pass on the key to the Kyuubi's power to Naruto himself. They reverse summon Naruto to Myouboku and brings him before the Great Toad Sage. The Elder tells him he will meet an octopus and then battle a young man with great power in his eyes. Naruto was stumped by the octopus prophecy but knew immediately the Elder was referring to Sasuke. Naruto says he knows this and is prepared for everything that's going to happen. The Elder continues that he foresaw the transfer of the key to the Fourth's seal to Naruto as well. Thus, Gamatora opens himself up so Naruto can take possession of the key.

Meanwhile at Madara's hideout, he is confronted by Kabuto. Madara saw him as a traitor to Akatsuki and jumps to engage him in combat. However, Kabuto does Kuchiyose Edo Tensei (Impure World Ressurection) to summon Nagato, Kakuzu, Deidara, Sasori, and Itachi and that halted Madara in his tracks. Kabuto claims he has surpassed even Orochimaru and the Second Hokage, who were the other users of this jutsu. He explains that he did not meet to fight, but rather join forces with Madara. Madara remains skeptical and asks him what he wants. Kabuto says he wants Sasuke, so he can learn the pure, unaltered truth about ninjutsu. Madara attempts to refuse but Kabuto summons one more casket, whose inhabitant was blocked from view. However, it seems whoever this is was surprising or strong enough to evoke a concerned response from Madara. After this demonstration Madara agrees to Kabuto's terms with the condition that he will only hand over Sasuke after the war.

Back at Myouboku, the sages tell Naruto that the Kyuubi within him has two components: the mind and the chakra. The chakra is the enormous reservoir of chakra hidden beneath Naruto's own chakra while the mind is the thing that makes Naruto go out of control and transform gradually into the Kyuubi. Every time Naruto wishes to draw upon the Kyuubi chakra, he can't help but draw some of the mind out with it. Naruto's goal in attaining more power is to draw out the Kyuubi chakra while filtering out the Kyuubi's mind filled with hate. The key would enable him to unlock the full potential; however, if the Kyuubi's mind overcomes Naruto's then it will get released from the seal and take over Naruto.

It is now up to Naruto to decide if he wants to take the key. Naruto thinks back to his prior decision to not use the Kyubi's power anymore because every time it has hurt his friends in the process. However, he realizes that to beat Sasuke, he will need the Kyubi's chakra. It turns out the octopus prophecy is tied to Naruto gaining control over the Kyubi, so Naruto leaves to find the octopus.

Meanwhile, Kumogakure is spearheading the military plans and attack tactics. Unfortunately, Kisame has infiltrated their confidential meetings because everyone thinks he is Kirabi's new weapon. While Kisame's mission is to capture Kirabi, he convenient also acts as a super spy in this circumstance for Akatsuki. Raikage calls a meeting with the other Kages. At the meeting, they first agreed to set up a sharing of intelligence system. Next, the issue of the Jinchuuriki was brought up. Everyone except Tsunade and Raikage opted to have the Hachibi and Kyubi hidden, instead of using them to complement the military attack strength. Tsunade concede to the majority and Raikage offers a secret island of Kumogakure where he and Kirabi train. This is bad because Kisame has infiltrated them and will be on the island with Naruto and Kirabi.

It turns out the Kages didn't have to hide Naruto on the island; he was already on his way to the island due to the octopus prophecy. Naruto is accompanied by Yamato, who can help keep him under control if he loses it. Their ship is attacked by a giant squid, and they are saved by Kirabi in his Hachibi form. Naruto is excited to have finally met the octopus.

Bleach 394-398 Unexpected Surprise

2010-04-05T17:59:00.002-04:00

For the ability to counter the strongest Zanpakutou, Wonderweiss lost language, knowledge, memory, and even reason. Thus with this advantage Wonderweiss charges at Yamamoto. However, he failed to realize Yamamoto is not reliant on his Zanpakutou, as he is physically powerful as well. With one punch, Yamamoto sends Wonderweiss flying and he tells Aizen he is the strongest shinigami in the last 1000 years. He shunpos to Aizen and attempts to uppercut him, but Wonderweiss intercepts. It turns out that one punch isn't enough to defeat Wonderweiss, so Yamamoto prepares to deal some serious damage. Wonderweiss makes many attempts to attack Yamamoto, but to avail. Yamamoto breaks off all his limbs and ends it with a double punch. Yamamoto tells Aizen it was cruel to strip away Wonderweiss's feelings, and Aizen responds that Yamamoto has taken his words too lightly, which caused him to overlook something. Wonderweiss's ability allowed him to seal Ryujin Jakka's flames, but those flames must be stored somewhere. It turns out they were stored in Wonderweiss's body, and now that his body has been shattered from Yamamoto's attack, all of Yamamoto's flames that were released earlier will explode at the same time. Yamamoto quickly realizes and runs to contain the explosion. Yamamoto succeeds in limiting the magnitude of the explosion so that only things in the barrier were blown up. However, this was at the cost of his body and stamina. Aizen steps in for the kill but Yamamoto has one last trick up his sleeve. He does Ittou Kasou, which is a self sacrificial Hadou that blows up the user's own body. Aizen realizes this attempt to finish him off and manages to dodge with minor injury. As he exits the smoke from the explosion he collides into a full powered Getsuga Tenshou from a Hollowfied Ichigo.

The attack damaged Aizen severely and Ichigo tries another to finish him off. But since Aizen is no longer caught off guard, he dodges the attack and smacks it away with his bare hands. Aizen tells Ichigo he missed his chance to kill him and then shows him the wound, which is rapidly being reconstructed. Aizen reveals he is unharmed because he has merged with the Hougyoku, and then proceeds to acclaim how Ichigo's reiatsu was well developed .. just like he planned. Ichigo remains shocked as Aizen tells him that everything from his meeting with Rukia to his battle with Ulquiorra was played in the palm of his hand. Ichigo refuses to believe him and Aizen manages to convince him. Ichigo asks why Aizen chose him and Aizen says that he has been aware of Ichigo since he was born, because Ichigo is half human - half shinigami.

Just at that moment, Ichigo's father Isshin appears between them. Ichigo is surprised and Isshin takes this time to headbutt him. He then grabs Ichigo and shunpos to a great distance away from Aizen and puts up a reiatsu masking barrier. While they are safe Isshin tells Ichigo he will explain everything, but Ichigo says he doesn't need to know - not until he finds out why his dad has hid this from him. However, for the time being, he does not want to trample on Isshin's feelings, and tells him he is fine not knowing anything. Back on Aizen's side, he notes that Gin has been watching and not fighting for a long time. Gin explains there was no need for him to intervene as Aizen is strong enough by himself. Just as he finished speaking, Ichigo strikes at him from behind. Gin blocks and tells Ichigo it has been a long time since they fought and he will go all out by finally releasing his Bankai. At the same time, Isshin cuts the building they were standing on in half, to separate Gin and Aizen, and begins attacking Aizen. At the flick of his finger, he manages to send Aizen flying through couple buildings.

Thoughts: I have two concerns with what happened. The first thing I want to say is that Yamamoto is dead ... without ever revealing his Bankai. >_< Usually when characters power up they tend to get healed, or their current woulds are negligible because they are stronger. Yamamoto had already defeated Wonderweiss so now there was nothing to counter his fire-based Bankai. Maybe I am just not fully grasping the gravity of the explosion and Yamamoto was already on the verge of death to shield it. The second thing that caught my attention was Isshin's strength. Yamamoto has just stated he was the strongest shinigami in 1000 years, but now Isshin is pretty much kicking Aizen's ass (by appearance, but there's a good chance he has never seen Aizen's Shikai either.) whereas Yamamoto died in the process. He looks around Kyoraku's age, but we haven't seen him in the flashback chapters so I guess maybe he is the generation before. Hopefully all will come to be explained soon.

Naruto 483-488 Prelude to a Showdown

2010-03-31T21:36:00.002-04:00

After being approached by Sakura, Sasuke tells her his goal is to destroy Konoha. Sakura says she still wants to follow him despite this, so Sasuke tells her she can join him if she kills Karin. Sakura walks past Sasuke to Karin and ponders about how Sasuke has changed and whether she should kill him. Meanwhile Sasuke conjures up a Chidori and is about to strike Sakura while her back is turned. Karin, who is facing this direction, tells Sasuke to stop, which bring the backstabbing attempt to Sakura's attention. Sakura is surprised and won't be able to dodge the attack, but Kakashi arrives just in time to deflect Sasuke's attack. After a short exchange of blows, Sasuke and Kakashi distance themselves from one another and begins to talk. Kakashi remark on how Sasuke have fallen and tells Sakura not to take the burden of killing Sasuke on to herself. Sasuke says that he has been dying to kill Kakashi and prepares to fight. Kakashi tells Sakura to back down and heal Karin, and that he's now taking the burden of killing Sasuke. Sasuke opens with an ethereal arrow from his Susanoo and Kakashi counters this with his Mangekyo Sharingan. Sasuke remarks at his ability to use the Mangekyo and Kakashi tells him to search something other than hatred in his heart. Sasuke remains stubborn and yells that no one knows anything about Itachi. His rage powers up his Susanoo to another level, and even Kakashi notes that this is getting very dangerous. But before Sasuke can attack, the Susanoo warrior dissipates back down to almost nothing; it seems his vision is giving out from the extensive use of the Mangekyo. Sakura takes this chance to try to stab Sasuke from the back, but she couldn't bring herself to it in the very last second. Sasuke realizes this attempt and grabs her by the neck. He takes her kunai and is about to strike her down, but Naruto arrives in time to save her. Finally Naruto and Sasuke meet again!

Naruto tells Sasuke he knows the truth about Itachi, and he understands Sasuke's plans for revenge. Sasuke claims Naruto doesn't know anything about having parents or siblings, and that his first taste for revenge when he killed Danzo felt exhilarating. He continues to say that the Uchiha has always been repudiated, and that when he kills everyone in Konoha he will finally sever the tainted bond. Naruto prepares for battle, but Kakashi says he will fight. Naruto disregards this and runs at Sasuke with a Rasengan. Sasuke attacks him with a Chidori. Their attacks collide and explodes. Both are sent flying; Kakashi grabs Naruto and at the same time white-Zetsu cushions Sasuke's fall. Zetsu explains he has been following Sasuke for a while now and it was on Madara's orders. Zetsu goes back with one of his clones and alerts Madara that Sasuke is in trouble. Madara is seen getting his arm replaced while stating he should go collect the Rinnegan. After hearing Zetsu's info, he teleports back to Sasuke and tells him they are leaving. Zetsu takes the initiative to capture Naruto and immediately summons half a dozen clones. However, Madara cuts him short by saying the Kyubi is too much for a non-warrior like himself. Instead, he has Zetsu go check up on Kisame and meet with his black half. Madara is about to leave with Sasuke but Naruto says he's got something to say. Sasuke tells Madara to wait and obliges to listen. Naruto recalls that back at the Final Valley, Sasuke said that a first class ninja can read his opponent's heart just by trading blows with him once. Now that they are both first class ninjas, the blow they exchanged earlier let them to read each other's hearts. Naruto's conclusion was that they will eventually kill each other. Naruto urges that instead of attacking Konoha, Sasuke should redirect his hatred toward him because he can shoulder all of it. Sasuke asks why he cares, and Naruto responds that the reason is friendship. So pretty much Naruto is still trying to save Sasuke, but no longer by verbal persuasion but rather exchange of blows. When they kill each other they will no longer be Kyubi and Uchiha, so they can finally understand each other normally in the next world. Sasuke remains stubborn replies that he doesn't want to change and he doesn't plan on dying either because he will kill Naruto. Kakashi tells Naruto he will fight Sasuke and Naruto should pursue his dream of becoming Hokage. But Naruto responds how can he become Hokage if he can't even save one friend. Naruto's final decision is to fight Sasuke, and Sasuke agrees to fight him before attacking Konoha (so at least Naruto speech was somewhat useful). Sakura realized her role is to just have faith in both of them. Kakashi agrees with Naruto's plan but decides to fight Madara. However, Madara tells him that his Mangekyo won't work on him and teleports everyone away. Once they have left, Sasuke tells Madara he wants Itachi's eyes. Madara realizes Sasuke is going blind from overuse of Susanoo. Sasuke explains he wants to do this so he can utterly destroy Naruto. At the same time, Kakashi grabs Karin and they are heading back to Konoha.

Raikage and Kirabi are seen returning to their village. Bee explains to his mates that the new sword on his back is spoils of war from his battle with one of the seven ninja swordsmen of the mist. White-Zetsu meets up with black-Zetsu and black-Zetsu says he recorded the Hachibi vs Kisame fight and that Kirabi has taken Samehada. Based on white-Zetsu's response, this was according to plan. It seems black-Zetsu can create chakra-matching clones of anyone he touches (though much weaker with little combat ability). His clone switched places with Kisame under water and Kisame merged with Samehada so that he could infiltrate the village. Now that Kirabi carried Samehada back into the village, Kisame's mission is going well. Kabuto is always seen merging more with what's left of Orochimaru and becoming more snake-like.

The Daimyos of each country have a teleconference on the prospect of another war and the alliance of the ninja villages against Madara. After some chatter they agree and this decision is relayed to all the ninja villages and their Kages. Kakashi and them meets up with Lee, Kiba, and Sai. Karin is seen getting along well with them and she realized Naruto is the opposite of Sasuke. She states that Naruto's chakra is warm and bright, then notices the dark Kyubi chakra beneath it all. The group is approached by Anbu nin from Root, and Sai tells them they are no longer under Danzo's curse now that Danzo's dead. The future of their group lies in the hands of the next Hokage, Kakashi. Kakashi tells the remaining Elders that Danzo has been killed, and then elect him for Hokage so that Konoha can go through with the alliance. However, just as he is about to get initiated, Tsunade wakes up from her coma. The focus switches back to Sasuke, and it seems he has merged his eyes with Itachi's Sharingan but Madara says it will take a little longer to get readjusted. Sasuke exclaims he can already feel Itachi's power.

Bleach 392/393 The Captains Drop One by One

2010-02-25T13:51:00.001-05:00

The captains' combined attack allowed Hitsugaya to pierce his Zanpakutou through Aizen's chest. The vice captains are joyous and they disregard that the critically injured Hinamori just got up and started walking away. They think the fight is over, but Ichigo snaps some sense into them. Apparently, this whole time Aizen had switched himself with Hinamori using Kyoka Suigetsu and thus the captains attacks were all inflicted on Hinamori. I feel really bad for Hinamori because she was already wounded and now Kyoraku and Hitsugaya stabs her through the chest. I'm actually quite surprised she's not dead; after all the captains thought this level of attack was enough to finish Aizen. I guess no one in Bleach ever dies, not even minor characters. The question I have is why didn't Ichigo tell them sooner, like before the captains wasted their energy inflicting friendly fire. He just stood there like an idiot being confused at what everyone was doing. Anyways, Aizen takes this chance to drop the vice captains. Hitsugaya is mad pissed and rushes at Aizen. Everyone tells him to wait, but Aizen just slices down all of them at the same time. Hitsugaya lost an arm and a leg from this strike, and I'm pretty sure this time it's not a clone. I think Kubo just likes drawing broken shards of ice or something because this is like the 5th time Hitsugaya has been owned, and he falls again with such elegance. There is suddenly an explosion of fire and it seems Yamamoto is ready to join the fray. Aizen tells him its too late and he stands no chance, but Yamamoto does not falter. He lets Aizen stab him and then grabs Aizen's arm to make sure he's not being affected by Kyoka Suigetsu. Yamamoto initiates the Flames of Hell technique which will envelope everyone with flame including the wounded captains and destroy them all at once. As he is explaining his resolve to die and the way of the Gotei 13, Wonderweiss appears behind him. Yamamoto slashes at him but Wonderweiss manages to block the attack because all the flames were extinguished. Aizen explains Wonderweiss is a modified Arrancar whose sole purpose is to extinguish Ryujin Jakka's flames in his Resurreccion form, Extinguir. Thus, when Aizen might lose to Yamamoto in a fair fight because Ryujin Jakka is the strongest Zanpakutou, he turned the tide of the battle with Wonderweiss as the perfect counter.

I am very confused at Yamamoto's actions and intentions. He said the entire battle was leading to the point where he activated Flames of Hell and apparently this technique incinerates everything, even himself. Also, the other captains are prepared to die for this technique to finish Aizen. If the captains were prepared to die and this technique was so strong, how come Yamamoto didn't activate it at the beginning and just kill everyone at once. That way, the captains can defend against counters like Wonderweiss at their full strength during the time it takes for Flames of Hell to blow up. Instead, Yamamoto activates it now when they are at a disadvantage because everyone is almost dead anyways, so effectively its just him and Ichigo vs Aizen, Ichimaru, and Wonderweiss (I guess Wonderweiss defeated Kensei).

Finally. just a list of who defeated all the good guys:
1st squad Yamamoto - in progress vs Aizen and Wonderweiss
1st squad Sasakibe - unknown
2nd squad Soifon - defeated by Aizen
2nd squad Omaeda - unknown
3rd squad Kira - defeated by Aizen
5th squad Hinamori - defeated by Hitsugaya through Aizen
7th squad Komamura - defeated by Aizen
7th squad Iba - defeated by Aizen
8th squad Kyoraku - defeated by Aizen
9th squad Hisagi - defeated by Aizen
10th squad Hitsugaya - defeated by Aizen
10th squad Matsumoto - defeated by Allon
13th squad Ukitake - defeated by Wonderweiss
Shinji - defeated by Aizen
Hiyori - defeated by Aizen
Love - defeated by Aizen
Rose - defeated by Aizen
Kensei - defeated by Wonderweiss (inferred)
Mashiro - defeated by Wonderweiss
Hachi - still alive healing
Lisa - - defeated by Aizen

Naruto 482 Sakura fails

2010-02-11T23:29:00.002-05:00

While Sasuke was out fighting Kage level opponents, Naruto was unconscious the whole time because he hyperventilated upon learning Sasuke has been marked for death. Now that he finally woke up, he escapes Yamato to pursue after Sakura. Whether he is doing this for Sakura or Sasuke's sake I don't know, but at this point, I honestly don't care =P.

As for Karin, she has been really useful ... in keeping Sasuke under the spotlight. Every time Sasuke finishes a big battle she just heals him so that he can keep on fighting. I can't believe Sasuke is so coldhearted/douchey that he overlooks this and her affection for him to just stab her without hesitation. Nevertheless, Karin is still alive from the fatal wound (which in anime means they will be healed), but the fact she had a flashback of when she met Sasuke during the Chuunin Exam doesn't help her case. Flashbacks foreshadow death, unless you are a main character. Then it tends to give you a power up.

Finally, Sakura ditched her group and approached Sasuke with intent of joining him right before Sasuke was about to deal the killing blow to Karin. This is complete BS. She definitely has a ulterior motive. If somehow this happened to be her speaking the truth, then I completely lost faith in all three of the main characters: Naruto is a useless hyperventilating noob; Sasuke is an overpowered, basically immortal douchebag (because no one can kill him); and Sakura now is a traitor who broke a man's ideals (Naruto) in return for unrequited love from the latter douchebag.

It also seems after the continuous fighting Sasuke's eyes are giving out. This means he will probably learn some new jutsu soon or get an eye upgrade, or even better, succumb to the darkness. That would make things interesting =D. In any case I have been bored with Sasuke, because we know all his skills already: Chidori, Sharingan, Katon no jutsu, Kirin, Amaterasu, Tsukiyomi, and Susanoo. Yay.

Instead, I would like to learn more of Madara's secrets and abilities. Why does he want Shisui's eye, in addition to all the other Sharingans he has collected as seen in the picture below. Also, I'm quite sure that the Sharingan focused upon in the top right panel is that of Itachi's.

Bleach 389/390/391 There is no Bankai in Teamwork

2010-02-07T15:49:00.003-05:00

I was curious how the captains and Visoreds intended to fight Aizen, and my question was answered: lamely. They started off by charging at Aizen head on with simple sword slashes and Shikai melee attacks. Only Kyoraku showed promise as he attacked Aizen from behind while Aizen was lecturing Hitsugaya. Of course, none of these attacks worked against Aizen. They should have known from what happened back in Soul Society that Aizen is strong enough to be invulnerable to straight up basic attacks. Hitsugaya and Komamura quickly realize the futility of their attacks and goes Bankai; however, this does not phase Aizen one bit. Aizen dodges all of Hitsugaya's ice attacks and defends against a combined attack from Love and Komamura. He then shows his overwhelming power by completing raping Komamura - again. Love and Rose now make a combined attack, but Aizen swiftly cuts down Rose. He proceeds to use Rose's whip to immobilize Love and then cuts him down as well. Ichigo watches in awe as Aizen just took down three captains in a couple of seconds. Lisa Hollowfies and attempts to decapitate Aizen from behind, but Aizen easily dodges and slashes her down while noting that the Visoreds are nothing more than Arrancars to him.
The captains finally decide to pull out some strategy and techniques: Soifon does shadow clones and rushes all of them at Aizen. With her real self she tries to stab Aizen twice in the same location with her stinger Shikai. Aizen first attempts to counter with a sword slash but Hitsugaya freezes his sword hand with an ice pillar. Aizen still manages to catch Soifon's weapon with his other thus preventing her from piercing him. However, since both Aizen's hands are occupied, Kyoraku manages to pierce Aizen through the chest from behind by suddenly teleporting there with his shadow technique. Hitsugaya says its over to Aizen and lunges towards him. Aizen breaks out of the ice to counter, but is disorientated by Shinji's Shikai inversion technique. Since he could not readjust fast enough to the change, Hitsugaya also manages to pierce Aizen through the chest.
It is confirmed that Unohana came back and will heal Hiyori, also Gin has been viewing the battle from the sidelines. Finally, let us not forget Kensei and Wonderweiss are facing off elsewhere while all this is happening.
Aizen's rapeage:

Thoughts: Other than Hitsugaya and Komamura, nobody else went Bankai to fight Aizen - who we know is tremendously strong. I was not surprised that Aizen could emerge victorious over them when all they did was run at him with simple Shikai releases. However, I was surprised at the ease of which Aizen cut them down. Komamura, a captain of "equal" level to Aizen's old position in Soul Society, was demolished by Aizen with a simple sword slash while he was in full Bankai mode. If we recall, he had fought on par with a Hollowfied Tousen a couple chapters earlier with the exact same Bankai. So either Tousen greatly weakened him in their bout, or Aizen had the ability to destroy Tousen anytime on whim this whole time. This also brings the question of how strong Gin is on the power scale. Now we basically know that Aizen can take down captain level individuals with even more ease than these captain level individuals taking down Menos.

Naruto 479/480/481 Izanagi fails

2010-02-07T14:47:00.003-05:00

Izanagi has the capability to make anything an illusion and make any illusion real. It blurs the line between reality and illusion, thus making it the most powerful genjutsu ever. The after effect of using Izanagi is that the user's eyes will never open again. Danzo circumvents this by having 11 different Sharingans embedded within himself. Thus if needed, he can use this technique 11 times. Since Izanagi can hypothetically make some insanely powerful offensive illusion real, it is very dangerous to the opponent. As a result, Sasuke pulls out all his techniques to force Danzo to use his Izanagi defensively. In addition, it seems that the Sharingans on Danzo's arm does not give him any nerve response or visual feedback, so he does not know when one of them has been closed. Consequently, Danzo has to keep checking how many Sharingans he has left to use, and Sasuke took advantage of this by casting a genjutsu on Danzo to make him think he had one more Sharingan than he actually did. When Sasuke and Danzo lunged at each other with their swords Danzo tried to activate Izanagi with his non existant Sharingan. Since it didn't work, he got critically injured from Sasuke's sword. Both Madara and Sasuke comments how a real holder of Sharingan is stronger than someone who borrowed the eyes. Karin quickly heals Sasuke, but Danzo gets up once more after severing his out-of-control Shodai cells. He reveals Shisui's Sharingan to Sasuke. It seems there's something special about Shisui's Sharingan which stops Danzo from throwing it away as a defensive Izanagi. He hinted that it might be a powerful genjutsu, but I don't know what could be more powerful than Tsukiyomi and Izanagi, which manipulates time and space respectively with illusion. Danzo wasn't sure whether to use the Sharingan on Sasuke or Madara, so he takes Karin hostage to buy time. However, Sasuke is merciless as he stabs through Karin with a Chidori blade to pierce Danzo's heart. Karin dies immediately but Danzo as a last attempts activates a sealing jutsu that tries to seal all those around him to his dying body. However, Madara recognized it and both he and Sasuke are able to avoid the jutsu. Moments before Danzo's death, we learn from a flashback that the reason for everything Danzo has done is to measure himself against the Third. Prior to Danzo's activation of his final jutsu, Madara said he was going to take Shisui's eye; however, now that Danzo has sealed his body it is not clear whether Madara can still do so. On another note, Sakura and her group is closing in on Sasuke while Kakashi is close behind in his attempt to stop the encounter.

Bleach 387/388 Shinji's awesome, Ichigo sucks

2010-01-16T19:54:00.000-05:00

Shinji finally releases the true form of his zanpakutou and it is cool as hell =]. However, the scanlators called this form a Bankai, even though I am pretty sure it's his Shikai. Sakanade has an interesting ability of instigating Opposite Day. Basically everything is flipped: front is back, left is right, etc. Dynamically, the direction in which one looks and the direction of an attack is inverted as well. Shinji manages to land a hit on Aizen, but Aizen quickly accustomizes and reciprocates Shinji with a slash of his own. We should note that this is the first time anyone has drawn blood from Aizen. The only other notable attack is when Urahara sliced off his armband. Right after Aizen saw through Shinji's ability, Ichigo crashes through the Gargantua and attempts to end Aizen in one blow from his blind spot. However, Aizen planned safeguards against this and Ichigo's attack was futile. Ichigo now no longer had the element of surprise, and Aizen challenges Ichigo to attack him head on in Hollow form. Ichigo abides and shoots a Getsuga Tenshou at Aizen. Aizen effortlessly flashsteps behind Ichigo and starts taunting him. Komamura intervenes Aizen's provocation and tells Ichigo that he and the other captains will protect him from Aizen's zanpakutou release so that Ichigo can find a way to defeat him.

Naruto 477/478 Sasuke vs Danzo

2010-01-15T22:57:00.000-05:00

With Karin analyzing Sasuke's fight against Danzo we find out that Danzo used neither a kage bunshin or genjutsu to evade Sasuke's attack. To find out Danzo's powers, Sasuke continues to probe at him with all out attacks such as Susanoo, Amaterasu, and Tsukiyomi. However after seemingly being destroyed by each of the jutsus, Danzo reappears unharmed shortly after. Karin continues to ascertain that what Danzo is doing is not genjustu - or at least one that she can detect. Danzo manages to catch Sasuke with a binding curse, but his taunting of Sasuke and Itachi pissed Sasuke off. Sasuke proceeds to upgrade his Susanoo through his anger, and it now has a ethereal bow and arrow. With this intensified assault, Danzo is forced to reveal another one of his secrets - that he collaborated with Orochimaru to have the Shodaime's genes implanted into his arm. Since Danzo has both Senju blood and Uchiha Sharingans, Madara notes he will have enormous control over Tailed Beasts, specifically the Kyuubi. This means Danzo is also after Naruto. Finally after Sasuke's relentless blows, Madara recognizes Danzo's jutsu as the forbidden Uchiha jutsu Izanagi.

Considering Karin's constant observation of the fight, I thought she would be the one to figure out Danzo's secret. Instead, she gets kicked aside by Danzo with no effort and Madara ends up explaining he knows the jutsu, which makes me ask why didn't he recognize or speak up about it right away. In addition, other than Danzo's sporadic plummets in chakra levels, we didn't need Karin's comments to see that the closing of the Sharingans is crucial to his jutsu.

As for abilities, Sasuke revealed that he made a new contract with a hawk for his Kuchiyose no Jutsu. His Kuchiyose tends to mirror the name of his group: Hebi - snakes, Taka - hawk. Danzo showed that not only can he utilize Futon jutsu, but also Mokuton from Senju blood and Kekkei Genkai Sharingan from Uchiha eyes. Finally to reiterate the obvious, Izanagi involves the closing of the Sharingan eyes, drops in chakra level, and the "illusion" that the user dies from an attack but instead escaping unharmed. We still can't be positive the order in which this happens, because in manga there is no concept of time gaps. As a result, the closing of the Sharingans could be an initiator of the jutsu, or an after effect of using the ability. Similarly, the changes in chakra might indicate that using the skill drops the chakra and closing the Sharingan restores the chakra. Finally, it should be noted that after an eye has been closed, Danzo has yet to reopen them.

Bleach 386

2009-12-19T19:50:00.000-05:00

Tousen pretty much just failed going the Hollow route. He got weaker, weirder, uglier, and then dies from an injured vice captain. His Resurrecion did not grant him any abilities other than the ability to see. However, this was the cause of this death. The sudden input of too much optical sensory information distracted his other senses. Hisagi used this break to pierce Tousen in the head. Actually, I felt weird saying that last sentence because Tousen changed completely. "Tousen" is associated with Shinigami, justice, and composed. Yet what Hisagi killed was a crazy delusional Hollow who lost his sense of justice. Anyways now that Tousen is out of the way, hopefully we get to see some Shinji or Gin action. =]

Naruto 476

2009-12-18T01:41:00.002-05:00

Danzo got grasped and interrogated by Sasuke. However, at the end it turns out Danzo either casted genjutsu or did a substitution jutsu which made Sasuke's attack null. Naruto starts hyperventilation from the realization that most of his friends gave up on Sasuke. I noticed Sasuke has two reoccurring themes. First, whatever new skill he obtains, he has incredible proficiency over it as he is able to partial transform and shape manipulate. This includes Chidori, Amaterasu, Curse Seal, and Susanoo. Second, since he got handwings from his Curse Seal transformation, he has gotten a replacement after loosing it from Deidara's explosion. He used Snake summoning jutsu to act as a replacement appendage, and now his Susanoo warrior's hands looks exactly the same as the curse Seal wings.

Bleach 385 - Why do I like Shinji so much? =D

2009-12-10T21:40:00.001-05:00

Komamura's Bankai isn't as weak as it looks, although it has the set back of reflecting whatever damage done on it onto Komamura as well. Tousen gets a slash on Komamura's arm in exchange for getting his arm mangled. Nevertheless, Hollowfication grants him high speed regeneration so he is healed immediately. Tousen realizes that they are pretty much even matched so he ups the ante by revealing his Resurrecion, which spews out darkness similar to his Bankai. Nearby, Shinji and Aizen begin their showdown with Shinji finally releasing his Zanpakutou. Shinji notes that his Zanpakutou also manipulates senses.

Thoughts:
Tousen's Resurrecion was definitely an eye opener, and it brings up the question whether the Visoreds or the other traitor captains can do it as well. I also wonder if they can release their swords while in their Resurrection form - that would be a new level of strength we've never seen before.
Now for Shinji, whenever he does anything it makes me smile. =D Now we find out that his Zanpakutou stand a chance again Aizen and he still can bring out Bankai and Hollowfy. I'm so excited yay. =]

Naruto 475 - Danzo is one messed up person

2009-12-10T13:08:00.002-05:00

Naruto was really good this week.

There's a nice combat between Madara and Fu + Torune. We learn that Fu is from Ino's clan and Torune is from Shino's clan. Their skills appropriately match those from the Yamanaka and Aburame clans. At the cost of his arm from Torune's attack (don't know if this is permanent), Madara manages to get rid of both challengers from the combat zone. Next, he bring from back Sasuke and Karin from another dimension/place using the same jutsu. Now that Sasuke and Danzo are about to showdown, Danzo reveals that his right arm is implanted full of Sharingans. I have no idea not eyeballs in his arm can help in anyway to improve his combat abilities, but we shall see. Anyways, I gotta say is that Danzo is one effed up individual.

Bleach 384

2009-12-03T10:18:00.002-05:00

Tousen indeed Hollowfies and he uses this power to overwhelm both Hisagi and Komamura. Hisagi comes back with a counter attack but Tousen stabs him and kicks him off the edge of a building. Komamura responds by going Bankai. Not much happens, we just gotta see Tousen's mask.

Naruto 474

2009-12-03T10:13:00.002-05:00

It turns how the thing Sakura couldn't tell Naruto was that she is going to Sasuke herself. As they learn of this Gaara's team arrives to tell them what happened at the summit. At the same time, Madara appears before Danzo. Danzo prepares to fight and tells his guards to cover him while he unseals his right arm.

Bleach 383

2009-11-27T00:53:00.008-05:00

Yammy's resurreccion ability reflects his embodiment of death. Basically, the more angry he gets, the bigger and stronger? he will get. In response to Byakuya and Kenpachi's attack, Yammy transforms again to a new form, which is bigger and seemed to heal all his injuries. Before the fighting resumes, it switches back to Karakura town. Shinji's sadness over Hiyori is very touching, and it seems he's serious enough now to face Aizen head on presumably at full power. Aizen and Shinji exchange some dialogue about trust and god and it seems shit is about to go down between them. I was excited to see some Shinji Bankainess, but the focus quickly switches to Tousen vs Komamura and Hisagi. Tousen notes that since Aizen himself is fighting, he should get serious too. Tousen says he's ready for Tousen's Bankai, but Tousen disregards it by saying he's got something even more power. As he says this, he puts his hand in front of his face similar to when Ichigo and the Visoreds hollowfy. =o

Thoughts: OMG I personally did not see this coming. Now that the former captains have Hollowfication on top of their Bankai's, they just gained another power boost. This means they won't be killed off anytime soon and the Visoreds no longer have an advantage.

Naruto 473

2009-11-27T00:53:00.005-05:00

It seems instead of trying to escape, Kirabi was looking for the pencil he threw earlier. He manages to injure Kisame by throwing the Raiton charged pencil because Kisame did not expect him to on the offensive. Kisame disregards the injury and goes in again to slash off Kirabi's legs but this time the sword was broken by a Raiton charged shuriken thrown from Raikage and his guards. This gives enough time for Samehada to recharge Kirabi to a stronger level, and both Raikage (Raiton-charged) and Kirabi (Hachibi-charged) goes in and double clothelined Kisame. This combined attack had so much force that it decapitates Kisame.

Next, we find Suigetsu and Juugo discovered by the samurai. In addition, Mizukage and Chojiro saves Ao from decapitation and then dispells Fu's jutsu. Lastly, Sai approaches Naruto to tell the truth that Sakura could not tell him.

I found this comic from deviantart which was pretty funny.

Naruto 472

2009-11-19T10:24:00.006-05:00

The Kirabi vs fish form Kisame fight mainly consisted of Kirabi running away because he was more concerned for the safety of Sabuchan and Ponta. Initially, Kirabi dragged his friends to try to escape the water dome but Kisame can move it at his will to keep them tracked. Kirabi changes directions from Sabuchan and Ponta because he is who Kisame is after, but Kisame keeps going for Sabuchan and Ponta. Kirabi rushes back to save them and Kisame tackles him. Kisame revealed that his going after Sabuchan and Ponta was a feint to catch Kirabi. While in contact with Kirabi, Kisame's body which is infused with Samehada immediately begins absorbing the Hachibi chakra. Kirabi disregards this and grabs Kisame with tentacles from his partial transformation (like Sasuke's Curse Seal level 2), which let Sabuchan and Ponta escape. Nevertheless, Kisame has the advantage in the water dome because he has gills and Kirabi is now running out of oxygen. Kirabi becomes unconscious and Kisame dispells his jutsu as well as his transformation. To make sure Kirabi can't escape, Kisame tries to cut off his legs with Samehada; however, due to absorbing so much of Kirabi's chakra, Samehada changed its loyalty to Kirabi because it likes his better. As a result, Samehada slashes Kisame and begins replenishing Kirabi with chakra like it had done with Kisame previously. Kisame quickly hinders this by kicking away Samehada but Kirabi is now conscious. Kirabi attempts to escape but Kisame grabs Kirabi's own sword to cut of his legs.

Bleach 382

2009-11-12T16:18:00.004-05:00

This week's chapter of Bleach was really good! =]
I noticed recently that Bleach is incorporating a lot more humor, which I greatly enjoy. I particularly like the part where Unohana is following Ichigo on his reiatsu path and his path is so shitty that it breaks in front of her. Unohana's like ... how about letting me do it ...
Another thing we learn this week is that Ichigo's Bankai shihakusho reflects his reiatsu. The more complete his shihakusho is, the closer to full power he is at. Unohana is awed that despite his shihakusho only covering Ichigo's right arm, his reiatsu is comparable to that of a captain.
Finally, we have some fun interactions between two of my favorite captains, Byakuya and Kenpachi. Basically they are just having a chat and Yammy can't do anything to them in the background. Byakuya's pride and Kenpachi's fighting spirit clash and they compete to the point of fighting each other despite being in battle with the enemy. However, we can hardly call Yammy's attempts fighting. His ceros do nothing and are reciprocated with more of his limbs being cut off. Kenpachi had some trouble fighting Nnoitra, but now he's halfheartedly and effortlessly raping the "strongest" Espada.
Thoughts: Concerning what we learned about the shihakusho, this means Ichigo previously has always been fighting at full power with no depletion in reiatsu, granted he gets injuries. This has a lot of implications. If he has so much reiatsu that multiple Getsuga Tenshous do not make a dent on his reiatsu reserve, he could gain or learn a new ability that is super strong by tapping into his hidden?/unused power. Something to note about his shihakusho: when he was fighting the released Ulquiorra and was getting overwhelmed, he had to keep mending his broken mask. We saw visible deterioration in his shihakusho, which at the time I took to be injuries. But now it can be interpreted that Ichigo kept drawing reiatsu for continuous reHollowfication to stay alive against Ulquiorra. However, a majority of his shirt got dissipated after Ulquiorra hit him with Cero Oscuras. This doesn't go well with me because as Ichigo has previously shown, him getting critically injured does not dissipate his shihakusho/reiatsu. Unless Cero Oscuras massively drains reiatsu, or Ulquiorra is just so much stronger than Grimmjow and Aizen's slash, I fail to make sense of this.

Naruto 471

2009-11-12T11:59:00.002-05:00

This week in Naruto we learn that Kirabi has complete control over his Hachibi powers. He attacks Kisame with 7 tails with full consciousness and then proceeds to critically damage Kisame with 8 tailed level 2 form of the Hachibi cloak. Despite this, Kisame reveals that he is called the Tailed Beast without a tail because he can transmute the absorbed chakra from Samehada to heal himself. This, coupled with his massive chakra reserve and unyielding stamina makes him practically invincible. Ponta deduces that Kisame's strength lies within his sword and tells Kirabi to disarm Kisame. However, just as he says that, Kisame fuses with Samehada into a monster that is pretty much a shark-human hybrid. He engulfs a kilometer radius area with a Suiton Jutsu which acts as a miniature lake for his fish form to swim in.
The other thing that happened this chapter was Ao vs Fu. Fu's puppet trap enables him to switch his consciousness with the enemy who touches the puppet, which Ao did. Now that Ao is helpless in the puppet trap, Fu attempts to stab out the Byakugan eye because its property of Konoha. However, Kirigakure set a seal that protects the eye when its in danger. Fu improvises by trying to decapitate Ao's body and planning to switch out his consciousness right before the decapitation. Ao warns him that if he pulls out too early Ao will block the blade and then kill Fu.

Thoughts:
Kirabi's tries with several different chakra forms against Kisame helped him deduce that Samehada maxes out at absorbing six tails' equivalent of chakra at a time (which is disgustingly unbalanced). Even when attacking Kisame with 8 tails in level 2 form, Samehada managed to bring him back down to 8 tails level 1 form. This says a lot about Samehada and Bijou chakra.Concerning Kisame's sword, Samehada, it gets bigger and bigger every time it absorbs more chakra. But its size probably normalizes after the fights because when Kisame fought the 4-Tails Jinchuuriki, his sword was normal when we saw him post-battle. Also, the reason why Kisame is so overpowered against Bijou hosts is because Jinchuuriki utilize pure chakra in overwhelming amounts, which unfortunates makes Samehada super happy. I wonder how Samehada does against ninjutsu though - would it absorb the chakra-based ninjutsu like Pain's Hungry Ghost Realm or have little effect because ninjutsu is chakra transmuted by hand seals and genetics (Kekkei Genkai)? The only previous fight we can refer to is Kisame vs Gai, but Gai doesn't use chakra. We do know now taijutsu and high speed works well against Kisame.
As for Bijou chakra levels and forms, I have always thought tails 1-3 is the translucent chakra cloak that bubbles (resembling water); 4-5 is the dense, black/red chakra cloak (resembling blood); 6-7 is the previous form with exoskeletal armor (resembling bone); 8 is the previous form with ligaments and muscle (resembling muscle); and hypothetically 9 tails fully revives the Kyuubi. However, Kirabi revealed this week that he can go up at least to 7 tails with the translucent chakra cloak (which he calls level 1) and 8 tails with the dense chakra cloak (which he calls level 2). This either indicates that the chakra forms differ among hosts or its not as clearly defined as I thought it to be. In addition, Samehada reverted Kirabi from 8 tails level 2 form to 8 tails level 1 form. This shows that the difference between level 1 and 2 chakra form is roughly 6 Bjiou tails' worth of chakra.
Finally, my thoughts on Kisame's new shark form is very negative. Judging by its appearance, Kisame now looks really weak. First, his webbed hands make it hard to form hand seals aka do ninjutsu. Second, the lack of a sword means his range is decreased. And third, he looks ugly as hell. We all know that in anime, attractiveness/coolness is directly proportional to strength and power. Kisame pretty much just sealed his own fate >.<

Bleach 381

2009-11-05T12:45:00.002-05:00

Mayuri explains to Ichigo about the Garganta, but Ichigo managed to piss him off by saying he is very much like Urahara. Before Mayuri can react, Ichigo and Unohana jumps in the Garganta. Inside the Garganta pathway, Unohana asks Ichigo when he fought Aizen did Aizen use his Shikai or Bankai. Ichigo admits that he was overwhelmed to the point that Aizen did not even need to release his sword. Unohana, however, explains that this is great news because none of the Captains, former Captains, Visoreds, or Espada can stand up to Aizen because they have all seen at least his Shikai. Ichigo is the only one left with recognizable power that can face Aizen. She warns Ichigo that he must under no circumstance see Aizen's release, because everyone is counting on him. This assertion is confirmed back in Hueco Mundo, as Byakuya and Mayuri implicitly reveals that the reason they did not back to Karakura Town as well is because they both believe in Ichigo.

Thoughts: Everything in this chapter we saw coming. The main character has an advantage that permits only him to face off the final boss. As to how Ichigo think he can defeat Aizen remains a mystery to me. His Bankai proved to be insignificant in speed and power back on Sokyoku as Aizen was able to foresee his attack through Renji's distraction and block it with his bare hands. Even when I try to sum up Ichigo's growth, circumstantial strength, and Getsuga Tenshou, it still does not change much (Ichigo has fought many more battles since then which increase his experience, abilities, and strength; Ichigo was injured from Byakuya fight when he "fought" Aizen; Ichigo did not get the chance to use Getsuga Tenshou because he was taken out immediately). As for Hollowfication, Ichigo can't even bring out the mask now. But for some reason, I keep foreseeing that when he brings out the mask, Aizen would just shatter it in an instant. I have more to say about this, but I'll save the rant for later.

Next, I would like to comment on Yammy, the "strongest" Espada ... he is so insignificant that everyone is just talking and chilling while Kenpachi is raping him in the background. Sigh ... Yammy disappoints me like no other, whyyy did they made him the Cero Espada =[. Finally, there was some good poses and pictures of Byakuya in this chapter =].

Naruto 470

2009-11-05T10:33:00.002-05:00

Ok, so I really don't like the crap Sakura is saying so I'm going skip it. The main thing is both are hiding a secret from each other and its causing confusion and agitation. Nevertheless, while Sakura is leaving, we see a clone of Sai hiding in the corner. I wonder what that is about. Next, there's a quick scene revealing how Gaara managed to change the stubborn Tsuchikage, a power that Naruto repeatedly has. Finally, we get to the Kirabi vs Kisame fight. Kisame shows that he can throw around Samehada like a flail. Also, it seems Kirabi's Raiton chakra not only powers his weapons' damage but also sharpness like Fuuton does. After an exchange of moves, Kirabi finally brings out the Hachibi chakra, however that chakra is quickly eaten by Samehada. The chakra excites Samehada to its full form, which now has a mouth and is broader than before.

Naruto 469

2009-10-29T19:52:00.018-04:00

This week's Naruto was a bit disappointing to me. After all, Kishimoto took a week off to gather material, so I was expecting some immersive fighting between Kisame and Kirabi. However, it quickly switches to Ao and Danzo's team. One of Danzo's body guards, Fu, springs a trap on Ao, but it backfires because of Ao's superior jutsu.
Back at the summit, they reached the consensus for Raikage to be the leader of the Shinobi Alliance. Raikage immediately asks Tsuchikage for his aid because he has experience against Madara (suggesting Tsuchikage's age and power).
Switching now to Naruto and the Konoha ninjas we find out that Sakura has confessed to Naruto. She tells him she no longer wants Sasuke because he is going down the path of evil and finally sees Naruto's worth after protecting everyone from Pain. Sakura urges him to stop chasing Sasuke...
Naruto doesn't buy the bullcrap, here's a rant about this that I completely agree with:

hell effing no, sakura

Bleach 380

2009-10-23T09:48:00.004-04:00

After the captains save Ichigo, Kenpachi proceeded to engage Yammy in combat after remarking how weak Ichigo is. While they are fighting, Byakuya urges Ichigo to head back to Karakura Town, but Ichigo offers his help in fighting Yammy. Byakuya also remarked on how weak Ichigo is by noting that his power does not add significance to any of the captains in Gotei 13. Furthermore, as the representative Shinigami of Karakura Town, it is also his duty to be there. This argument got Ichigo sold.
Now how will Ichigo get back? It seems Mayuri experimented on the defeated Syazel Poro and now can activate Garganta. Unohana is going to accompany Ichigo back to Karakura Town.

Thoughts:
Unohana going back means that all the critically injured people back in human world will get healed, such as Ukitake, Matsumoto, Hinamori, and Machiro. Also, the writers are having Ichigo evade the Yammy fight to get him back to Earth just so he can respond to Shinji's call for him.

Next, I didn't like how Kenpachi and Byakuya talked down on Ichigo. If they forgot, Ichigo managed to beat Kenpachi in his Shikai and Byakuya with his premature Hollowfication. I guess this can be attributed to Ichigo surprising with his main character hack. In both cases, Ichigo was defeated (unconscious on the ground from Kenpachi and immobilized and about to get sliced by Byakuya) get he managed to get a power boost in the last second. In Kenpachi's fight, he learned his Zangetsu's name which allowed him to tap into more of Zangetsu's power because now they are better in sync. In Byakuya's case, Hollow Ichigo finally appears and catches Byakuya off guard. Nevertheless, despite these explanations, Ichigo is still much stronger than he was back in Soul Society with his controllable Hollowfication. I guess it can be justified that neither Byakuya or Kenpachi has seen Ichigo Hollowfied (post Soul Society) so they don't know how much stronger he is.

Bleach 379

2009-10-22T13:00:00.002-04:00

It turns out Ichigo is unaware that his Hollow mask changed, which makes sense because he can't see it while wearing it. The single Hollowfication Getsuga Tenshou was not enough to take down Yammy, it seems they really are trying to make Yammy the strongest Espada. In any case Ichigo decides to fight Yammy seriously because he called his comrades trash. As Ichigo tried to Hollowfy, the heavy feeling from when he Hollowfied moments ago returned and hindered his transformation. Yammy grabbed him to finish him off, but Byakuya and Kenpachi reappears to engage in combat. Byakuya blasted Yammy in the face and at the same time Kenpachi slices off one of Yammy's legs.

Email Blog Post feed

2009-10-18T21:05:00.000-04:00

Hey guys,
If you follow my blog and would like email notifications when I make a new blog post, respond in the comments with your email address. =]

Just so you know, when I find that Naruto and Bleach manga are released and subbed, I first post a pre-post to notify its release. Then I update it with actual material later on when I have time.

Naruto Fillers Blacklist

2009-10-18T15:48:00.006-04:00

Naruto is even worse than Bleach for fillers. Bleach had roughly 3 arcs/seasons of fillers, but Naruto unfortunately has a lot more. Innocent non-manga-reading Naruto watchers are misled into thinking they are watching canon material because the producers try so hard to transition between actual plot and filler plots. Despite this, it is my goal to save watchers from non-canon material by listing the filler episodes that can skipped without missing any vital plot.

Quick run down of filler episodes:

~Naruto~

Land of Tea miniarc - episodes 101 - 106

Random Shit - episodes 136 - 219

~Shippuuden~

Sora arc - episodes 57 - 71

Three Tails Bijou arc - episodes 91 - 112

Skip these episodes and watch all canon material! Naruto will be a lot more enjoyable =P.
Because the producers transitions between canon plot and filler plot, there are some important developments at the end of filler arcs. Similarly, there are unimportant filler developments at the end of canon arcs. The suggested advice would be to watch the last few minutes of last episode of filler arcs xP.

Unlike Bleach, I did not watch most of these Naruto filler arcs because they are so ridiculously stupid. Thus, I will just list some reasons why I did NOT watch them haha and a short summary of them based on my limited knowledge.

Land of Tea miniarc (101 - 106)
Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke find out their newest mission will be to protect Idate from attacks by the enemy clan, during a race. Very underwhelming arc, don't watch it please.

Random Shit (136 - 219)
Yes you read it right - 83 episodes of fillers...
DO NOT WATCH THESE EPISODES!! =[[. This span of almost FOUR SEASONS are nothing but craps fillers!! It is a mix of pointless miniarcs and random shit like bug catching. Please save your time and do not watch these! I fell trap to about 1 season of this shit before I realized I'm basically watching nothing.

Sora arc (Shippuuden 57 - 71)
Sora's dad infused some excess Kyuubi chakra into him so he is a pseudo-Jinchuuriki (only interesting thing about him). As a result, he is alienated by villagers and becomes another Gaara to Naruto. This whole arc is a ploy by the producers to give Kyuubi Naruto (and Asuma) more screen time. However, this effort generates a lot of powerconfusion and anticlimax to when Naruto first became 4-tailed Kyuubi. It should be noted that Naruto decided to never rely on the Kyuubi's power again because it hurt Sakura, yet here we have him transforming like no other in a filler. I personally only watched 2 or 3 episodes of this filler when it was nearing the end, but I wouldn't recommend anyone else to watch it. Nevertheless, I should note that I did hear some people say that this is the only decent Naruto filler arc. If you decide to skip it, make sure you watch the end of episode 71, because it introduces some new Akatsuki members and another Jinchuuriki.

Three Tails Bijou arc (Shippuuden 91 - 112)
So basically what happened in about half a chapter in the manga, took them a whole season to animate. This is the point when I gave up Shippuuden >_>. Instead of Deidara and Tobi coming in to capture the Sanbi, the producers made up a whole array new crap characters with new jutsu (Crystal style...) that try to capture the Sanbi or something. After 20 odd episode, they fail in capturing the Sanbi, AND THEN Deidara and Tobi comes in and captures it for Akatsuki. This basically means the whole filler arc was pointless =P. So take my advice and don't watch it. If you took my advice, make sure to watch the latter half of episode 112 because that's when Deidara and Tobi comes in and make the whole filler season void. Furthermore, Gurren is a filler character that works for Orochimaru, and she was inserted in episodes 89 and 90 to make her look legit. Disregard her existence please =P.

Bleach 378

2009-10-16T16:05:00.003-04:00

The setting switches back to Heuco Mundo. We see that Yammy indeed got stronger, as he took out everyone except Rukia. He was about to finish off Rukia but she was saved by none other than Ichigo. Ichigo plays arounds with Yammy in his Bankai and lures him away from his injured friends. Once in the clear, Ichigo unleashes his full Hollowfication power and slashes Yammy to the ground.

Thoughts
Oh my god the artwork this week was incredible! Ichigo looks so awesome with his war-torn Bankai clothing. The way he effortlessly deflect Yammys attacks is visually appealing as well.

Next thing I want to mention is Ichigo's new mask - it has evolved. It now has the recent Hollow form's markings, but maintained the same shape as his old Hollow mask. I definitely like this version better.
I speculate that the reason his mask changed was sort of like the first time he obtained the mask. The Visoreds forcibly made him transform into a Hollow which greatly increased his power, but at the cost of his mentality. Thus, that was the point of Ichigo's internal battle with his inner Hollow self, so that he can control both his mind and his new Hollow powers if he emerged victorious.
Similarly, in his battle with Ulquiorra, Ichigo was pushed to his limits, and had to transform fully into a Hollow to escape imminent death. From his training and combats under Hollowfication, his Hollow form matured and powered up as well. So now he is fully transformed as a Hollow again without control of his mentality, and only his unconscious prevented from also killing his friends. Ironically, Ulquiorra brought him back by making his own Cero blow up in his face. Because Ichigo survived the power up again this time, he has grown even more powerful than ever.

Naruto 468

2009-10-15T22:39:00.003-04:00

Now that Madara has declared war, the Kages formed a Shinobi Alliance to combat Madara, Akatsuki, and his 7 Bijous. Tsuchikage also urged to use the Hachibi and Kyuubi in this war, but Kazekage warns that it might be a trap to lure them out. Since Danzo fled from Sasuke's attack, Gaara promised to relay what has happened to Kakashi. On Raikage's end, he will send Samui's team to search out Kirabi now that they know he is still alive. Chojiro adds that everyone should be careful of Kisame, who possess tremendous strength that rivals that of a Bijou.

It switches to Naruto who is practicing Sage Mode in the snow, and Sakura just arrived to talk to him. We also find out that Kirabi is in some forest rap-battling with a random person. However, their session is soon disturbing by non-other than Kisame. Get ready for another fight! =D

Now considering the two sides of the war,
Madara's side:
Madara
Akatsuki (Kisame, Zetsu)
Taka(Sasuke, Suigetsu, Karin, Juugo)
Bijous (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

Five Great Ninja Nations' side:
Raikage (Samui's team and others)
Tsuchikage (Jounins)
Mizukage (Chojiro and others)
Kazekage (Temari, Kankuro, and others)
Konoha (Kakashi, Yamamoto, and others)
Jinchuurikis (Kirabi, Naruto)
Samurais

Just looking at it, they set it up so that Naruto is the only one capable of effectively opposing the Mangekyo Sharingan. He's got Sage Mode and Jinchuuriki chakra going for him.

Bleach Fillers Blacklist

2009-10-15T00:21:00.006-04:00

Innocent non-manga-reading Bleach watchers tend to give up the series after Soul Society arc, because "the Bounts are boring and it gets bad." However, I want to save them from non-canon material by listing the filler episodes that they can skip without missing vital plot.
Here's a quick run down of filler episodes:

Bounts arc - episodes 64 - 109

Random - episodes 132 - 137

Forest of Menos miniarc - episodes 147 - 150

Amagai arc - episodes 168 - 189

Random - episodes 204 - 205, 213 - 214, 227 - 229

Zanpakutou arc - episodes 230 - present

Skip these episodes and watch all canon material! Bleach will be a lot more enjoyable =].
Note that I compiled these filler lists from episode titles, so maybe skim the first and the last episode of each filler. This is because the producer wants people to think its the actual thing, so they transition into and out of the fillers. Sometimes, these translations could include cool cliffhangers and such, so just in case watch the ends of these filler arcs.

For those fans who aren't sure if they want to miss out on anime-original plot and character interactions, I will do my best to give a summary of each filler arc and a rating for its watchability.

Bount arc (64 - 109)- Introduces a new class called Bounts, who are humans that consume human souls to extend their lives. Because of this, they have lived for centuries. After taking the souls of living humans, Bounts are empowered to command Dolls, which are unique to the owners. We learned they finally emerged for revenge against Soul Society.
- Personally, I would recommend skipping this entire arc. Not only does its mediocrity span two season, but it also generates a lot of power level inconsistency. The Bounts race is interesting for a few episodes, but definitely not worth wasting 40 episodes of your time on. I rate it 3/10 for watchability for dragging on too long.

Forest of Menos arc (147 - 150) - After Ichigo and company's infiltration of Heuco Mundo, they fall under the desert, which is revealed to house a whole quartz forest. This place is packed with Hollows of all power levels, and we learn that Aizen was not the first Shinigami to come to Heuco Mundo. Ashido Kanou, a Shinigami, was stranded here during an assault on some Hollows which had invaded the Soul Society.
- This is not a full filler arc, as it only spans 4 episodes. The producers did a good job transitioning into and out of it. Unless you want pure canon-Bleach, you won't even notice that this was a filler. Watchability rating of 5/10 because there's nothing good and nothing bad.

Amagai arc (168 - 189) - Introduces the new Shinigami captain of the 3rd squad, Shuusuke Amagai. Also, dives into the mystery surrounding the Kasumiouji Clan, a noble family of Soul Society.
- I highly recommend skipping this arc. Not only did they do a bad job of transitioning Ichigo from Heuco Mundo pointlessly back to Soul Society, but it is also filled with crappy new characters with bad character designs. I give a watchability rating of 2/10.

Zanpakutou arc (230 - present) - The Shinigamis' Zanpakutou souls obtained "free will" from a villain called Muramasa and are rebelling against their owners. The Shinigami must defeat them in a battle to free them from Muramasa's grasp.
- This arc is still ongoing, and its looking favorable at the moment. To view my previously posted thoughts, click on the picture below. I rate this filler arc 7/10 for watchability.

Random (132 - 137, 204 - 205, 213 - 214, 227 - 229) - These are random fillers episodes that have no over arching plot, but do provide comedy and fan service. Some are commendable (beach episode) and others are meh. I place the watchability of these filler episodes at 5/10. Watch them if you are bored, or want more of your favorite character's screen time.

Naruto 467

2009-10-10T01:38:00.003-04:00

We find out that Madara's phasing ability is even faster than Raikage's Raiton Jutsu as he was able to dodge Raikage's surprise assault effortlessly (also note that Sasuke was untouched, so this jutsu affects anyone he touches). In addition, Madara reveals that he can warp people near him into another dimension. He warped Karin and Sasuke out of danger and ordered Karin to heal Sasuke. The Kages are pissed that Sasuke managed to escape but Madara makes them listen to his demands: he wants to become one with everything because his duel with Shodai Hokage severely stunted his powers. How does he intend to do so?

Madara explains that the Rikudo Sage is famous because he defeated the legendary Juubi (Ten-Tails). The beast was so strong that Rikudo Sage had to seal it into his own body. However as he neared his end his seal became unstable. Rikudo Sage was forced to dilute the Juubi's power by separating him to the nine Bjious that we know today. Madara reveals that his goal is to collect the nine Bijous and revive the Juubi. Then he aims to take the Juubi's legendary power to actvivate the Mugen Tsukiyomi, which can project the Sharingan onto the moon then influence the whole world with his illusion. This is the so called Moon's Eye Plan.

Madara proceeds to ask the Kages to hand over Naruto and Kirabi, but they refuse. As a reseult, Madara declares the onset of the 4th Ninja War.

I really liked this chapter, because it pulls everything together. Also, we haven't seen this thing called "plot" in a long time between Naruto and Bleach. This development caught me off guard =P. But I look forward to what is going to happen!

By the way, I do not care whatsoever what Sakura wants to say to Naruto >_>.

Bleach 377

2009-10-09T16:24:00.004-04:00

Ok, finally.
The Visoreds has been revealed for a long time now and this week we finally get to see a former Captain's Bankai. The candidate was Kensei and his Bankai, Tekken Tachikaze, tranformed his switch blade Shikai into two iron-knuckles with blades. His arms also gets wrapped in bandages and forms an arch behind his back. Not only does it augment his strength, but it also acts as an armor. I has a bit disappointed with this Bankai. Hopefully, it has some cool skills to make up for its lackluster design.

After Kensei engages Wonderweiss, we switch back to Aizen. Shinji tells everyone to stay calm, but Aizen manages to provoke Hiyori. Hiyori rushes ahead reckless and then gets sliced in half by Gin! LOL Gin is so fricken cool. =D
I am a bit confused tho: Bleach never kills off nonvillaneous characters, yet here we have Hiyori cut cleanly in two. Somehow in the back of my mind, I feel like Hiyori is not going to die. But hopefully she does, and causes Shinji to go berserk - aka Bankai + Hollowfication =D =D

Naruto 466

2009-10-08T21:38:00.006-04:00

A lot of stuff happened in Naruto chapter 466, so I couldn't blog about it while studying for my three midterms that were all on the same day >_>
Anyways now I'm done so there are my thoughts.

1. Chojiro's sword is called Hiramekarei. It is a double-handled sword with two holes in the upper end of the blade that shoot out chakra. The chakra can be shape manipulated into weapons such as a hammer. The part that bothers me is that it no longer is a sword.

2. I wasn't wrong about Mizukage's kekkei genkai being fire and earth; however, I wasn't right either because she can utilize water, fire, and earth to combine them into two different kekkei genkais! One is Lava Release (fire+earth) which does what it sounds. The other is Boil Release (fire+water), which fills with atmosphere with a corrosive mist that burns away even the Susanoo - granted it was the premature version and Sasuke was low on chakra.

3. So Zetsu wasn't dead lol. Instead the whole time he was prepping his Hoshi no Jutsu, which latches onto enemies and then propagates by leeching their chakra. Then he can replenish the stolen chakra to anyone he likes, and for our purposes he chose the about-to-get-pwned Sasuke.

4. We discovered that Akatsuchi can summon a giant golem from his mouth. The golem proceeds to rip apart Zetsu's jutsu and start eating it.

5. Tsuchikage's Jinton Genkai Hakuri no Jutsu materializes a cube, which upon impact with anything, instantly atomizes it. Ok, this jutsu is so cheap, if Madara hadn't stepped in Sasuke would have been a goner. Its only shortcoming seem to be its short range. But once Tsuchikage gets close to you, you will be off to another world. Also, note that he can just fly around haha. =P

6. Madara is very talkative lately. It seems he can't resist telling his opponents all about his plan and history. Anywho it doesn't matter, I really want to find out what the Moon's Eye Plan entails. I think there's a high possibility that it has to do with the Sharingan. After all, why does he need Sasuke and also it has the word "eye" in the name.

Test Your Anime Knowledge 2

2009-10-06T15:19:00.002-04:00

I was going through wallpapers again and found this collage of all the popular girls from anime series. Take a look and test your otaku-ness by seeing how many different anime dames you distinguish from this collage.

I recognize 29 different girls =P.
Try and beat me lol!

Anime Wallpaper Update:
As of today, there exists 4500 wallpapers on my Dropbox =P. Check them out! =D

Bleach 376

2009-10-03T01:31:00.001-04:00

Bleach -> disappointment =[

So ya we know Halibel's dead, there was no point of seeing more of her this week other than potentially seeing her past. But instead, she tries to attack Aizen and gets pwned a second time.

Machiro vs Wonderweiss was just exchange of nonfatal hits that gets us nowhere. Machiro's mask ran out and it no longer was an even fight. However, Kensei steps in to save her. That was probably the coolest picture of the chapter, next to fake Aizen getting stabbed.

Anime Update o.o

2009-09-29T23:13:00.010-04:00

Hey guys, just putting out there where I'm with anime, since I don't talk about them much.

There are a bunch of anime coming out for the fall season. See list here.

I think I will definitely check out Kampfer, To Aru Kagaku no Railgun, Seitokai no Ichizon, InuYasha -Kanketsu-hen- (The Final Act), and Kobato. These will give me a good mix of shounen and romance anime series.
The two series that I am the most interested in are Darker than BLACK: Ryuusei no Gemini and Fairy Tail. I was a fan of the first season of Darker than BLACK so I have high hopes for this sequel. As for Fairy Tail, I am an avid follower of its manga, so I am definitely excited to see it animated and voiced. I don't know how well they will produce Fairy Tail, but I think I will follow it no matter what quality.

Aside from those oncoming series, I am currently following Bakemonogatari, Bleach, Dragonball Kai, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Naruto Shippuuden.

Bleach is currently in the Zanpakutou filler arc, where the Shinigamis' Zanpakutou souls obtained "free will" from a villain called Muramasa and are rebelling against their owners. The Shinigami must defeat them in a battle to free them from Muramasa's grasp. I liked it initially because of the interesting character designs but now that I am used to them, the only thing keeping me going at the moment is its above Bleach-average animation quality. This is partly because they have to get through all the vice captains first before they move onto the cool captain stuff. I just watched the latest episode and it was Hitsugaya vs Hyourinmaru. I have to say it was perfectly executed: the flashback was not annoying/slow, the combat was intense and good quality, and the conclusion was interesting.

Naruto Shippuuden just spent two episodes covering Jiraiya's past and his adventure with Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato. And of course, to cover one full hour they needed to fill it with extra material. BUT WAIT, the filler material is time is not nonsense! For those of us who have read the manga, the producers included Jiraiya's encounters with Pein's bodies because they died. In addition, they did Jiraiya and Minato's interactions. Lastly, it was cool seeing Naruto's mom and the Yahiko trio animated.

Bakemonogatari (GhoStory) centers on Koyomi Araragi, a third year high school student who has recently survived a vampire attack, and finds himself mixed up with all kinds of apparitions; gods, ghosts, mythological beasts, and spirits of which he call oddities. I just simply love the style and animation quality of this anime. It also has a tremendous amount of humor that is dialogue based. So for non-cultured watchers like me, and bit hard to understand sometimes. And just throwing it out there, Senjougahara has awesome fashion sense and Sengoku is cute as hell. =D

Dragonball Kai is a remaster of Dragonball Z. I watched Dragonball Z from the Ginyu Force vs Goku onwards and then lost free cable around Cell Games. The rest of the storyline I learned from eclectic sources: DBZ Legacy of Goku and Buu's Fury GBA games, couple volumes of DBZ manga that covered Super Buu to the ending, and various downloaded episodes of Vegeto vs Super Buu. I think this is a good chance to find some continuity in this series that I was deprived of when I was young. =P

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is a remake of FMA that differs from the first season. Brotherhood follows the ongoing manga closely, unlike the first season, where they created an alternate storyline for the sake of ending the series somewhere. Only this summer have I caught up fully with FMA manga. I have never watched the first season of FMA, so Brotherhood allows me to see my favorite characters animated and voiced. The thing I love most is its animation quality.

Alongside with all these series, I am watching finished series like Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and starting To Aru Majutsu no Index and Fate/Stay Night.

Espada Combat Profiles

2009-09-26T02:29:00.006-04:00

Primero Espada - Coyote Starrk
Fought Kyoraku, Ukitake, Rose, and Love; killed by Shunsui Kyoraku
Notable fight: Took on 2 elder captains with their Shikai and 2 Visored former captains with their Shikai

Segunda Espada - Barragan Luisenbarn
Fought Soifon, Omaeda, and Hachi; killed by Hachigen Ushoda
Notable fight: Took on 1 captain with her Bankai, 1 negligible vice captain, and 1 Visored former Kido Corps vice captain

Espada Tres - Tia Halibel
Fought Hitsugaya, Lisa, and Hiyori; killed by Sousuke Aizen
Notable fight: Took on 1 captain with his Bankai, 2 Visored vice captains with their Shikai

Espada Cuatro - Ulquiorra Cifer
Fought Ichigo, Ishida, Grimmjow, and Urahara; killed by Hollow Kurosaki Ichigo
Notable fight: Took on 1 Quincy and Visored Ichigo with his Bankai in his new Hollow form

Quinto Espada - Nnoitra Jiruga
Fought Ichigo, Nell, Kenpachi, and Chad; killed by Kenpachi Zaraki
Notable fight: Took on Visored Ichigo with his Bankai, 1 former Espada Tres in her resurreccion form, and 1 captain with unnaturally strong reiatsu and killing instinct

Sexta Espada - Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez
Fought Ichigo, Rukia, Shinji, Ulquiorra, Luppi, Tousen; defeated by Hollow Kurosaki Ichigo and critically injured by Nnoitra Jiruga
Notable fight: Took on Visored Ichigo with his Bankai, 1 vice captain level Shinigami with her Shikai, and 1 Visored former captain

Septima Espada - Zommari Leroux
Fought Byakuya; killed by Kuchiki Byakura
Notable fight: Took on 1 captain with his Bankai

Octava Espada - Szayel Aporro Grantz
Fought Renji, Ishida, Pesche, Donochakka, Nemo, and Mayuri; killed by Mayuri Kurotsuchi
Notable fight: Took on 1 vice captain with his Bankai, 1 Quincy, 2 former Fraccion, 1 vice captain, and 1 captain with his Bankai

Noveno Espada - Aaroniero Arruruerie
Fought Rukia; killed by Kuchiki Rukia
Notable fight: Took on 1 vice captain level Shinigami with her Shikai

Decimo Espada - Yammy Rialgo
Fought Ichigo, Urahara, Yoruichi, Chad, Orihime, Hitsugaya, Renji, Ishida, Rukia, Loly; defeated many times in sealed form, but his resurreccion supposedly makes him the Cero Espada
Notable fight: 1 vice captain level Shinigami, 1 human with Hollow powers, 1 vice captain with his Shikai

Bleach 375

2009-09-25T16:36:00.004-04:00

Ok, so instead of a power boost, Starrk's flashback signified his death. Wow ... the Primera Espada failed to impress me. I'm not saying he is weak, for he took on four different captains in their Shikai forms (and Hollowfication). But the fact he didn't get a single one to Bankai disappointed me.

Next we move to Halibel, she is still fighting Lisa, Hiyori, and Hitsugaya. We get to see two more Shikai releases this week: Lisa's Haguro Tonbo and Hiyori's Kubikiri Orochi. Both sword forms are humongous; Lisa's is a gigantic spear with fanned out blade and Hiyori's is a large cleaver with a saw-like blade.

Despite their's and Hitsugaya's combined attack, Halibel escapes unscathed. Apparently this is not enough for Aizen, who deemed her unfit to serve him and puts her down in one slash.

I was also a bit confused as to why Gin is fighting Shinji. Last time I checked, Tousen took a swipe at Shinji, but was distracted by Komamura and Hisagi. Anywho, I love seeing Gin in action.

Finally, Aizen is sick of waiting and says "Gin. Kaname. Let's go." As to where he is going, I have no idea. I hope not back to Hueco Mundo, because there is still a dozen captains and visoreds that he just ignored.

Things to note:
Aizen totally forgot about Wonderweiss.
We never got to see Tousen vs Komamura + Hisagi. Actually for this, I'm glad beacuse they have nothing new to offer.

Naruto 465

2009-09-25T15:46:00.006-04:00

Sasuke only used his Susano'o to escape Kazekage and Raikage. However, the activation of it caused him to become more heartless and cold than he already was. The destruction of the pillars put his own teammates in danger, yet he only "saved" Karin so that she could lead him to Danzo. Once Sasuke arrives at the meeting, the Land of Iron mediator dude engages him. This gave Danzo the chance to escape. Ao goes after him, and Sasuke tries to as well, but Mizukage blocks him off.

Thoughts:
Sasuke's Susano'o was pretty useless; didn't do harm anyone except his own teammates and the samurai.
His heartlessness greatly contrasted with the first time he used Mangekyo Sharingan against Kirabi. Back then he was touched when his teammates saved him and to repay them he activated Amaterasu. Here, he totally disregards the welfare of his team and his Susano'o even did some friendly fire.
The fact that Ao went after Danzo alone makes me think he'll die; he has been generally annoying to Danzo.
Mizukage's ability that stopped Sasuke was a kekkei genkai, Yoton no Jutsu. It is probably a mix of fire element and earth, as the name implies Lava Release.

In any case, Sasuke is about to face off with Mizukage, and I think we will get to fully see her skills next week.

Things to note:
Sasuke was going to kill all the Kages, yet...
he got trashed by Raikage, but managed to burn off one of his arms in the process (-1); he blocked Gaara's attack, but Gaara blocked his falling pillars (+0); his goal was Danzo, but Danzo got away (-5); Mizukage made this happen (-1); Tsuchikage is just gonna chill and watch the fight (+0).
Basically Sasuke fails to accomplish any of his goals. It think if he focused on one thing, he could have actually achieved something, but he is trying to do too much at the same time, which puts him in the negative.

Bleach 374 - Katen Kyokotsu abilities

2009-09-20T01:10:00.011-04:00

We found out the the perpetrator who stabbed Starrk is Kyoraku Taichou. This week's chapter is the second showdown between Kyoraku and Starrk, except now Kyoraku's Katen Kyokotsu has gotten in the mood (similar to Ikakku's Bankai I guess). The following clash reveals some very interesting abilities of Katen Kyokotsu.

One of its skills is Kageoni, which allows Kyoraku to create a separate dimension in shadows which he can control. I basically picture the shadow as a portal; if he sticks anything in the shadow portal it will come out in some part of the shadow (seen above); similarly if he sends his whole body through the shadow he can instantly transport anywhere that the shadow falls upon (seen below).

Another skill is Takaoni which Kyoraku attempted on Starrk back in chapter 362. Starrk managed to parry the attack with his Cero gun before Kyoraku could pull it off though. Now we learn that whoever has higher elevation gains an advantage in attack power.

The last skill of Katen Kyokotsu that we discovered is Irooni. This power is confusing, please correct me if I understood it wrong. Kyoraku states that when you declare a color, you can only cut that and nothing else. At the same time, this color affects the declarer as well. The trick here is that if you have more risk to yourself from choosing a color (aka wear a lot of the color chosen, meaning you are easier to be hit), you will also inflict more damage to the opponent.

The part that confused me was the declaration of your color, like when you choose a color does it overwrite your opponent's color choice? At the moment I think each individual can choose their own color. This works with the higher risk-higher damage effect because if you were to plan ahead and wear all red to maximize damage by choosing red your opponent can counter by choosing red as well, which will allow him to cut you anywhere. When Starrk chose white and Kyoraku was wearing his white captain robe, Starrk dealt some serious damage to his back. However, Kyoraku took off his white haori and now he's wearing full black, which means Starrk has no where to cut and Kyoraku goes in for the kill at maximum attack power. Here comes the part that my theory doesn't work: in the picture, Kyoraku slashed Starrk across the chest, but Starrk isn't wearing any/much black in that location other than the shirt lining and his hollow hole (which is black from the shadow). So either I completely understood this ability wrong, or Kyoraku managed to cut Starrk in those tiny possibly-existent black locations because he's a pro swordsman like that. Finally, the last thing I don't understand about Katen Kyokotsu is that does it only work with swords? What if Starrk chose black and shot Kyoraku, would that do amplified damage from Irooni's effect?

Two things to note about Starrk:
1. His past was interesting, how he doesn't like being strong because it makes him lonely. But we should know that now we saw this flashback it means Starrk will either gain a power boost or is going to be defeated soon.

2. When Kyoraku attacks with Irooni, Starrk switches to an energy/Cero sword and no longer holds his dual guns. I was wondering what happened to the guns, because isn't that where Lilynette's soul is?

Naruto 464

2009-09-17T10:44:00.004-04:00

So I was wrong last week, Sasuke did not shape manipulate his Amaterasu into a cage shield, rather he set his premature Susano'o on fire. When Raikage went in for his Guillotine Drop finishing move, Sasuke counters with his right eye, which morphed (and can extinguish) Amaterasu flames on his Susano'o into spikes that Raikage will land on. Gaara saves Raikage from further damage and also Sasuke at the same time. Gaara fails to turn Sasuke back to the good side, and the Sand team and Darui goes in for the kill. Sasuke reveals his hidden jutsu: full fledged Susano'o with darkness that Shii and Karin both note at.

Things to remember: Sasuke's Mangekyo Sharingan abilities~
-left eye: Amaterasu
-right eye: Tsukuyomi, Amaterasu manipulation/extinction
-left+right eyes: Susano'o

All these abilities save the manipulation we have seen before in Itachi. However, the thing to note here is the embodiment of Sasuke's Susano'o. It is different in appearance than Itachi's. Now we know that, like the Mangekyo Sharingan, the Susano'io is also unique to the individual. Sasuke's has a gigantic claw and a dark aura instead of the light aura that Itachi had.

Here's comparison:

Test Your Anime Knowledge

2009-09-14T00:41:00.001-04:00

Lucky Star is known for its anime references and Konata's sugoi otaku-ness. Today I found a wonderful picture of Konata-chan maxxed out in otaku-ness x].

Try and test your own otaku-ness and see how many different anime are represented by Konata in this picture.
Personally, I can distinguish 16 different series =P.
Comment and tell me what you can get!

Anime Wallpaper Update:
As of today, I have uploaded 4110+ wallpapers to Dropbox. The biggest additions were under Chobits, Fate/Stay Night, and Touhou, so check those out! =D

Bleach 373

2009-09-11T02:06:00.000-04:00

We get to see Rose's sword release which is Kinshara. It is a whip with with a metal spike ball at the tail. His special sonata attack is an AOE that covers a big area. They both are ambush by additional wolfs, which exploded upon contact. Starrk doesn't give them any time to cover and assaults them again once they escape the smoke. This time the blow was severe because their masks have come off from the previous blow. Love and Rose aren't ready to give up yet, but Starrk thinks he's got them defeated. While going in for the final blow, Starrk gets stabbed from behind by a mysterious blade.

Thoughts: Although Starrk's wolf-ceros infused with his and Lilynette's souls are strong, they are the type of attack that won't ever kill anyone in shounen anime. If the attack creates a huge cloud of smoke, the target is bound to survive with unfatal injuries and parts of clothing missing. Anyways, the interesting part of this weeks chapter was the mysterious blade that stabbed Starrk. This must be a from a high level individual because, if we remember, when Kyoraku sneaked attacked Starrk from behind he easily dodged it. At the moment, i can't think of who this blade belongs to. Its dark and sinister shape along with the unBleachesque backstabbing assault leads me clueless to who this might have came from. Possibly one of his own allies that he trusted?

Naruto 463

2009-09-11T01:09:00.000-04:00

The epic showdown between Sasuke and Raikage was really good! At the beginning, I thought it was humorous because in anime characters always call out the moves they use. So in this case, Sasuke was like "Chidori!" and Raikage was like "Elbow!" lol because all he was doing was a simple elbow. Sasuke avoids the elbow with his Sharingan but nevertheless, his Gaara's-ultimate-shield-piercing-Chidori only managed to leave a scratch on Raikage because of his raiton armor. Raikage counters with Raiger Bomb however Sasuke survives this deadly taijutsu with Susano'o after activating his Mangekyo Sharingan. Raikage activates Raigyaku Suihei, which basically looks like Super Saiyan form to me, and is now fast enough to dodge even Sasuke's Amaterasu. However, Sasuke counters by surrounding himself in Amaterasu flames so even though he cannot hit Raikage, if Raikage wanted to hit him he would get burned. Raikage responds with a "fuck you" by doing just that. This seems to break Sasuke's Susano'o shield and sends him flying. The chapter ends with Raikage going in for the kill while his left arm is burning.

Things I did not get:
How did Suigetsu get a sword stuck in him, and is it Darui's or his own.
Amaterasu works by igniting whatever Sasuke is looking at, so how can he surround himself in the flames, even though he can shape manipulate.

Things of note:
Sasuke's Susano'o was really noob compared to Itachi's. It was smaller, amorphous, and couldn't change to attack mode.

Anime Wallpapers (^_^)/

2009-09-06T20:38:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, if you didn't know already, I am an avid anime wallpaper collector. I just love a full screen of wonderful artwork from your favorite anime series brightening your laptop background. I have collected over 2000 in a year and some of my friends agree that they are pretty cool and enjoyed looking at them. Thus, I made a Dropbox account full of all my anime wallpapers so that everyone else can enjoy them too. I've stopped updating since May, but after watching a handful of new anime during summer I started collecting wallpapers again.

Currently, I have 3600+ of some of the best, nongeneric wallpapers for popular series including Naruto, Bleach, Death Note, Code Geass, Eureka Seven, D. Gray-man, Gurren Lagann, Suzumiya Haruhi, K-On, Katekyo Hitman Reborn, Air Gear, and many more. Of course not all of them are from anime series, some are just fan-fiction and others romanticized artwork of games and such.

To check out the collection for yourself, click on "Anime Wallpapers" under my header, or click this:

To save a wallpaper for yourself just click the picture you like and hit "save" under it. =]

Now here's some sample/eyecandy ~~~

Bleach 372

2009-09-04T22:48:00.000-04:00

This week's fight in Bleach features Love Aikawa and Starrk.
Love's zanpakutou's true form was revealed to be Tengumaru, a metal cudgel with spikes. We can't ignored that it is also twice the size of Love himself. I'm pretty sure this is the largest initial release we have seen yet.

Anyways, fitting its appearance and wielder, Tengumaru has a lot of brute power. It could dissipate/deflect several of Starrk's cero bullets. Not only does it have physical prowess, Tengumaru is also a fire-based zanpakutou, as Love shot a humongous fire blast at Starrk.
Aside from this new Shikai we got to see, the fight itself wasn't much. It mainly consisted of Love showing off all his techniques, while Starrk dodges them/gets hit but isn't hurt. Starrk reflects on Barragan's death and summons an army of wolfs - it seems he has finally gotten serious.

There's a rule, I call it rule of plurality, in anime that follows: as the number of homogeneous characters go up, their strengths exponentially decreases
This is my view on the wolf army...

Now for my opinion on Starrk:
Although I still think he is cool as sh*t, he has dramatically fallen in my personal Bleach coolness ranking. I feel like, as Primero Espada, he should have some quality that makes him the best, the strongest, the one that Aizen trusts. For example, Ulquiorra's got loyalty beyond any other Espada, Barragan's got the arrogance because he's the king of Hueco Mundo, and Halibel's got the hotness (another rule in anime: the more attractive the character, the stronger that individual will be).
Initially, Starrk's laziness could have meant he is so incredibly strong that he's just bored with life (the reason I thought he was badass). During his fight with Kyoraku, he pulled off a pose-less cero that perfectly matched his lazy personality. To me, this implied if he had tried, the cero might have been as strong as the Gran Rey Cero or Ulquiorra's Cero Oscuras. Now that Starrk have decided to try by releasing his true form, he should technically be overwhelmingly strong according to my hypothesis, right? Nah, the fight was still even against Shunsui and Ukitake with only their Shikais and now Love with his Shikai. Starrk could hardly gain what you would call an advantage, for he only left negligible scratches and burns on Shunsui that will definitely disappear once he Bankais (if he will even get to).
My point is, although Starrk is definitely strong, being able to fight against three captains Shikais consecutively, he fails to be menacing at the very least. I was hoping for something similar to Wonderweiss's instant pwnage of Ukitake or Halibel's
uber slash that cut Hitsugaya in half (albeit it was fake - stupid popular fanbase character hack, the next cheapest thing to the main character hack). Anyways enough ranting about my unfulfilled expectations on Starrk, hopefully he pulls out some trick that we'll remember for the ages. As for the wolf army, again, I don't expect much due to the rule of plurality. But hey, maybe they will surprise me. =]

Naruto 462

2009-09-04T20:53:00.000-04:00

The fight this week between Komugakure and Hawk wasn't that interesting.
Suigetsu vs Darui, broken sword vs meat cleaver
Juugo vs Raikage, Raikage raped, Juugo is not a match but managed to stall time
Sasuke vs Shii, Shii got pwned from genjutsu
Karin vs nothing, she does nothing

Only things to noted from this combat were:
1. Sasuke's eyesight is deteriorating from extensive use of regular Sharingan and Mangekyo Sharingan.
2. Raikage's Raiton chakra heightens his senses and speed tremendously to the point that a regular Sharingan should not be able to keep up (but remember Sasuke's Sharingan managed to even overcome Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan). It also offers boosted damage and defense, as it was able to nullify Sasuke's lightning-channeled sword slash.

The most interesting aspect of this week's chapter was Madara's explanation of the curse of hatred. It seems the Rikudo Sage of the Six Paths who founded the ninja world passed on his skills to two siblings. The elder was given the sage eyes, which granted powerful chakra and spiritual energy. The younger was given the sage body, which gifts him with nature's life force and a powerful physical energy. However, only one could succeed Rikudo Sage when his time came, and he chose the younger brother to carry on the will and way of the ninja. The elder brother could disapproved of this and attacked in rage. From here on out, a curse of hatred between the descendants of those with sage eyes and those with sage body was born. Uchiha is the descendant of the elder brother, and Senju is the descendant of the younger brother, and they been fated to fight against each other forever. This curse is now passed onto Naruto and Sasuke, thus it seems a second grant showdown between them is inevitable.

Thought? Well I have a lot, but here's just some. First, Naruto is going to break this curse of hatred, after all, what did he learn from Pain (also he has the main character hack). Second, why didn't Rikudo Sage pass on all of his skills to just one person, thus leaving no room for strife. Next, why did he die in the first place if he's got sage eyes and body - Madara managed to stay immortal with just his eyes. Last, how come the Uchiha name has been preserved for centuries while the Senju name is lost (where do you get Uzumaki from Senju, or even Namikaze, his father).

Naruto Shippuuden Update

2009-09-03T19:58:00.000-04:00

Like me, I bet many of you have given up on Naruto anime because of copious fillers and slow pacing (further exacerbated by the fillers >_>). However, the anime has finally gotten back on track in the past couple weeks, and I have begun to watch it again.

They did a decent job animating Kakashi Gaiden, the tale of how Kakashi got his Sharingan, in episodes 119-120. In the following weeks, we witnessed the showdown between Sasuke and Deidara, which was animated in above Naruto-average quality, yet still not as impressive as when Naruto and Sasuke fought couple hundred episodes ago. The latest episode (125) this week, titled Disappearance, the anime covered the aftermath of Sasuke vs Deidara fight including the converging paths between Konoha, Hebi, and Akatsuki as well as the introduction of Pain, Konan, and Madara. I was excited to finally hear their voices and their colored anime appearance. Madara did not disappoint, he was cool as hell with his cloak and non-Tobi-comical voice. Pain sounded decent, but he looked too pale and angular. Konan looked great, but sounded like a middle-aged woman, maybe this is what they intended but I'm not a big fan.

The point of this post is not to commend Naruto anime, because it has fallen far too below standard, but rather to show those of you who lost faith that it's trying... =P
Personally, I am excited for what is coming in the following months. I foresee after a week or two of transition material, Shippuuden will head into some great landmarks in the manga such as Jiraiya vs Pain, and Sasuke vs Itachi. BUT, this is assuming they won't drag out the transition or going into another filler. Oh my god if they do the latter, I just won't know anymore...
=D

Bleach 371

2009-09-01T03:33:00.000-04:00

Similar to Grimmjow's defeat and Nnoitra's death, we see some of Barragan's history before his final breath. This was very interesting, because it revealed how Aizen took over Hueco Mundo: by dethroning its current king and making him his underling. Of course, someone with as much pride as the king of Hueco Mundo cannot swallow this, and Barragan's final act thus was an appropriate attempt to take Aizen's life.

Seeing Aizen and Gin back in captain clothing was nostalgic and pleasing. Also, we saw more of Kyoka Suigetsu in action. This part sort of confused me though. I was under the impression that Kyoka Suigetsu's Shikai creates a powerful illusion on all who witness its release. However, when Aizen muttered "Break, Kyoka Suigetsu," he managed to wipe out all of Barragan's army. Was this just an illusion to get Barragan to obey him or does Kyoka Suigetsu have a side ability of raping everything in sight on Aizen's whim?

Several things I want to note:
The captains and Visoreds were unphased at Barragan's betrayal against Aizen.
Aizen's coolness caused the axe to disentigrate. =P
Barragan's power is inconsistent: rots away buildings but fail to rot his crown; rot leaves the bone like in Soifon's arm's case, yet it rotted away all of Barragan's own body, which is a skeleton.
Someone thought Barragan's release form seems weaker than his normal form and I agree. Barragan managed to break a captain's arm in an instance in normal form, yet couldn't hurt a vice-captain with his most powerful ability in released form.

Naruto 461

2009-09-01T02:59:00.000-04:00

Sasuke attacks Raikage head on with a swift sword slash, but Darui wards him off with a soaking/electrocuting combo. Shii casts genjutsu so that Raikage and Darui could approach Sasuke for a finishing blow, but Sasuke's Sharingan sees through this, which allows Juugo and Suigetsu to make it in time to defend against the Kumogakure team's assault.

Here, we get our first glimpse at Raikage's combative strength as he was able to break Suigetsu's demon sword with pure strength. Furthermore, the torque from his impact was so great that it convulsed Suigetsu's arms into slush. Juugo decides to take things into his hands by fully transforming into killer-mode. Since he no longer is doing partial transformation, his personality changes to that of bloodlust again.

More banter that I have little interest in among the remaining Kages ...

This week's chapter made me realize that all the newly introduced guardians to the Kages are not cannonfodder for the main characters like Sasuke. They are all qualified Jounin that are on the same level as Kakashi and Yamamoto. This is also unfortunate because it means we'll have to sit through all of the guardians' fights before we see some legit Kage action. (I doubt the Tsuchikage is gonna do much more than whine about his hip, but hopefully he can redeem himself through some interesting and unique jutsu)

Lasty, Juugo's killer-mode doesn't seem very intimidating. Judging from his appearance, it seems this transformation is more centered on speed than lifetaking capabilities. Anyways, the jetpacks on his back are cool, but I wish they did more with his hands/arms.

Bijou and Jinchuuriki

2009-08-23T22:43:00.001-04:00

Look what I found today! =D
All nine Jinchuuriki with their Bijou's true forms! =o

Bleach 370

2009-08-21T14:29:00.000-04:00

This week, the Barragan fight finally comes to an end with his demise.

Soifon's direct hit with her Jakuho Raikoben managed to damage Barragan, but he still lives. Barragan brags that he is the god of Hueco Mundo, but Hachi puts him in place by killing him with his own power. However, Hachi sacrificed his right arm in the process.

The fight itself wasn't too exciting. Barragan was strong, but lacked creatively and variety. All he did the entire time was rot breath. I thought his axe was so frickin cool, but he used it once and it didn't matter much. Nevertheless, we get to conclude from this fight that Hachi's combat skills involves the formation and piecing together of prismic shapes. Like LEGOs, but it kills you =P. Also, I won't ever complain about Soifon getting screen time, because she's so cool =]. We got to see her ballah Bankai.

I also want to point out a trend Kubo's been addicted too recently, which is robbing our beloved characters of their arms.
Casualties to date (reverse chronological):
Hachi - Soifon - Hitsugaya (clone)- Ishida - Ulquiorra - Halibel's Fraccion (Allon)- Nnoitora - Grimmjow - Jidanbou - Kukaku (didn't have one to begin with)

Naruto 460

2009-08-21T12:39:00.000-04:00

Zetsu crashes the meeting and alerts everyone of Sasuke's presence, and due to Hawk's response to this they didn't plan on Zetsu revealing himself. I was confused on what happened next. From what I read it seems that the Raikage killed Zetsu in the course of couple panels. Here, Zetsu lies dead on the floor, ignored by everyone: I was surprised how easily he was killed considering that he is Akatsuki. But then again I'm almost positive that he's not dead, either because he can meld into the ground or can survive with only one half. I was disappointed though because all Akatsuki members so far has had something interesting to reveal, yet Zetsu just got pwned without much of a struggle.

Tobi pays Naruto a visit to talk about Sasuke, and at the same time Sasuke and Jugo annihilates the samurai guards. What's interesting here is when Karen looks at Sasuke with her chakra sense and notice how Sasuke's aura is even more evil than that of the curse seal. Maybe it's just me, but the aura looks kind of like Naruto's 4-tails Kyuubi transformation. At the moment, we don't know the importance of this aura. Finally, the Raikage shows up and the clash between Sasuke and Raikage begins!

Bleach 369

2009-08-07T15:48:00.000-04:00

The Hachi vs Barragon combat consisted of naming a bunch of kido - ryubi no jumon, koko no jomon, kigai no jomon, hoyoku no jomon, shiju no saimon - which has no meaning to me whatsoever.(none of these has a number assigned to it, so they probably aren't a part of the Shinigami kido-learning curriculum either)

Anywho, here's the fight in laymen's terms:
Hachi trapped Barragon with kido, Barragon rots.
Barragon rots, Hachi blocks with the prism kido shield.
Barragon rots some more, Hachi strengthens his shield defense by enchanting and adding more layers and making it bigger.
Barragon says Hachi is stalling but does nothing more.
Hachi creates more shields and circles out of similar type kido that confines Barragon.
Barragon says Hachi is stalling but still does nothing.
Hachi has Soi Fon insert her Bankai into the chasm and shoot. Giggidy.
*note that all Barragon did was breath, talk, and stand x]

This chapter of Bleach reminded me of France's Maginal Line during WWII. I feel like Barragon could have just walked around the big shield and everything Hachi did would be for naught.
Also I don't know what Soi Fon has against Urahara, it makes it seem as if Urahara had experimented on her before without her consent because when she talks about it she avoids eye contact.

Naruto 459

2009-08-07T12:30:00.000-04:00

I thought Ao and his discovery on Danzo was the coolest thing about this week's chapter. I really like how they tied in storyline from pre-Naruto timeline, like Itachi's bestfriend Shisui and the Hyuga Byakugan secret. Also Zetsu's appearance hopefully means there will be some combat and Sasuke action next week!

Now, the story back in Konoha is annoying me. I don't know why Sakura and Ino loves Sasuke so much. Their affection is completely trivial - based just on his looks and genius skills. They have little inkling about Sasuke's personal life like Naruto does. Sasuke's personality is just horrible too, he doesn't care about his friend and the consequences of his actions. I think their emotions were overplayed. In my opinion, surprise and reluctance would have been a more appropriate response to the Sasuke-kill order than tremendous sadness.

Zanpakuto Arc

2009-07-29T17:06:00.000-04:00

So basically the new Bleach filler arc is about the Shinigami's Zanpakutos. This new villain named Muramusa appears and decides that the Zanpakutos should rule over the Shinigami. He sets everyone free from their owners, and the Zanpakutos appear in Soul Society in personified forms. For now, we don't know his motive; which could be defeating all the Shinigami, or turning them into swords, or taking over their bodies (like in Ichigo's case). Anyways, Muramusa is pretty cool minus the super emo-ness. He has makeup, super long nails, and sheds tears as a form of attack.

Regarding the plot of this arc, I know Ichigo will have to jump in to save the day because he is the main character, but what we don't know is if Zangetsu will defect or not. At the beginning of the episode, he was relieved that Ichigo can still hear his voice (unlike Hitsugaya when he tried to speak to Hyourinmaru), but he mentioned that the voice was not his. So this remains to be seen. Also, people have speculated that Muramusa is Kenpachi's Zanpakuto because it fits its personality and can explain motive for revenge. I don't think they can make up something as important as this until the animators are collaborating with Kubo. Furthermore, in Japanese literature and anime, Muramusa tends to be a demon sword or a sword maker (which can explain his power over the Zanpakutos), so I think Muramusa is not under possession by someone from Soul Society. The plot can either become super cool or super predictable. It also runs into the risk of revealing something major (captain's Bankai or Kenpachi's Zanpakuto name) that has not yet happened in the manga. To make a better judgment we'll need to wait and see =]

With that aside, the fact that they managed to do all this with a filler is simply amazing. Usually, with fillers you expect shitty new characters with horrible design that appears out of nowhere or have existing characters do stuff they would never do (like baking cakes...). However, this new filler arc manages to debunk the negative connotations of fillers with awesome character design and relevant plot.

Speaking of character design, that is my favorite aspect of this arc. All the personified forms of Zanpakutos are really cool. For those of you who are interested or confused, here's what we have so far:

Kyoraku's Katen Kyokotsu

Unohana's Minazuki

Ukitake's Sogyo no Kotowari

Komamura's Tenken

Byakuya's Senbonzakura

Hitsugaya's Hyourinmaru

Mayuri's Ashisogi Jizo

Matsumoto's Haineko

Soifon's Suzumebachi, Hinamori's Tobiume, Sasakibe's (1st squad vice captain), Yumechika's, Kira's Wabisuke, and Rukia's Sode no Shirayuki (L to R)

Renji's Zabimaru - 2 people, Ikakku' Hozukimaru, Omaeda's, and Hisagi's Kazeshini (R to L)

Of these, my favorites are Katen Kyokotsu, Hyourinmaru, Kazeshini, and Sode no Shirayuki =]

Naruto 457

2009-07-24T12:16:00.000-04:00

So after this chapter, everyone is now at the summit. Sasuke and his group snuck in and are spying on the meeting. Naruto and his sempais are somewhere near them after Naruto failed at pleading the Raikage to give mercy to Sasuke. Sai sent some message to Danzo that might be important (or else why did they include that) and he also needs to speak to Sakura. It seems they are finally having Sai do more stuff now, because he hasn't done anything important since he was a spy for Root on Naruto.

As for Naruto's new ideal on stopping the vengeance's perpetual spiral into despair, ... I'm not a big fan of it. It calls for lots of noob-Naruto preaching and lack of fighting D: I say send all you got at Sasuke, and have him burn everything to dust with Amaretsu! Muhaha =D.

Bleach 367

2009-07-24T09:57:00.000-04:00

So it ended being Tousen who intercepts Shinji's attack. Oh, and did I mention everyone except Mashiro's mask broke because time ran out? Ya, it seems everyone can only hold it for 3 minutes, while Mashiro can do it for couple hours. Now if we remember back to Ichigo vs Grimmjow fight. Ichigo must have had held his mask for at least 5 minutes, and he kept re-creating it. So I don't know ... the Visoreds had their masks for a century and can hold it for 3 minutes, yet Ichigo had it for like half a year and suddenly can hold it for longer just because he has the main character hack.
Anywho, everyone jumps to battle and greet their opponents.

The match ups are:
Tousen vs Komamura and Hisagi
Halibel vs Hiyori and Lisa (Espada chick vs Visored chicks)
Stark vs Love and Rose
Barragan vs Hachi

Of course Aizen is just chilling again. Wonderweiss is absent-minded all of a sudden. I also think Hitsugaya might face off Ichimaru.
Soifon, Kyoraku, and Yamamoto are still up for combat for Soul Society.
Kensei and Shinji are the Visoreds that can still fight.
We can't neglect the chance that Urahara, Yoruichi, and Tessai will show up to help, since this seem to be one big family reunion.

It appears 4 Arrancars and 3 ex-Captains (assuming Aizen might do something) will be facing off with 8 Visoreds, 5 Captains (assuming Ukitake is down), and several Vice-Captains. No matter how you look at it this is not a even fight. I forsee Aizen's side getting a shounen boost or more reinforcements in the near future.

Bleach 366

2009-07-16T10:06:00.000-04:00

Yayyyy Bleach and Naruto are out early this week!
The Bleach chapter this week is so visually stunning =D
Look at this sick picture of the Visoreds drawing their swords.

Hiyori kicks it off by cutting a Menos and then blowing it to bits with her Cero. Although all of Kensei's attacks are physical, it seems he always manages to conjure an explosion at the point of impact. Maybe this is his ability, anyways he's cool with his short sword. Mashiro has not revealed a sword yet, so she just Mashiro-kick down all the Menos. Hachi's assualt was by far the coolest: he summoned dimension box around the Menos heads ... and the rips them off. Lisa slices the Menos to shreds. Rose has some sort of telekinetic power that levitates his sword and sheath as well as squish the Menos. Love rips a Menos cleanly in half with his barehands. All that's left is Shinji, he shunpos to Aizen and deals a deadly strike! This is the first time in a long time (since Soul Society arc) that someone has taken an attempt at Aizen's life. I'm excited to see what will happen! Hopefully, they won't have Gin or Kaname intervene, because I really want to see Aizen do something other than sitting or walking.

With the shear awesomeness of this chapter aside, there were some unnecessary elements in this chapter. First, even though they drew their swords, only half of them actually used it. The others just drew their swords to look badass, but then kills the Menos with their bare hands. Also, Shinji put on his mask, but when he confronted Aizen he took it off. I guess the main point of this chapter is to showcase their basic skills and styles and what they look like, which I have no problem with because it was sugoi! =]

Naruto 456

2009-07-16T09:50:00.000-04:00

Ok, so not only does Danzo still have his right eye, it seems he also has his right arm, which he used to form hand seals. He viciously defeated the assassins, which are revealed to be from the Hanya clan. I disliked how they just made up a random new clan in order to show Danzo's abilities.

Naruto, Kakashi, and Yamamoto are tracking and following Samui's squad to the meeting of the 5 Kages. Root no longer trusts Sai, because he now has emotions and bonds.

It appears that the female Mizukage is a new one, who replaced the nightmarish 4th Mizukage who made their village be called Bloodmist village. This explains how Chojiro is working for them.

The meeting place for the Kages is at a neutral country called the Land of Iron. Instead of ninjas, they employ samurais. Sasuke's group has arrived and this is the obstacle they face. I don't know if I like this whole samurai development because judging from their appearance, they seem to be physical brutes with armor and swords. In short, they are not very interesting, and are probably meant to be killed by cooler, more important people (Sasuke).

Finally, Gaara is the first to arrive!

Bleach 365

2009-07-10T10:14:00.001-04:00

Not much happened in this week's chapter. We already knew that the Visoreds were here to get revenge on Aizen, and of course they aren't stupid enough to attack the captains. The colossus puked out a bunch of Menos Gillian and the Visoreds decide to show what they're made of by hollowizing. This was the most interesting part of this chapter because we got to see Lisa's, Love's, Hachi's, and Rose's mask =D. Hachi looks pretty creepy and Rose's beak is weird. But Lisa's mask looks potentially awesome.

I personally liked the interaction between the current captains and the Visored former captains, because the older captains like Yamamoto and Kyoraku recognize them, but newbies like Hitsugaya and Soifon were like wtf? haha.

Naruto 455

2009-07-10T10:13:00.001-04:00

Ok, Naruto got the crap beaten out of him, I think he looks worse from this chick than from Pain. When I saw this picture, I definitely thought he was in sage mode, but its just a black eye. Another thing that I noticed was how they made Naruto look like Danzo, with bandages covering the right side of his face.
Furthermore, the fad these days seems to be Sharingans. Apparently everyone can get them... I don't know if I like this development or not =/

Naruto 454

2009-07-03T10:12:00.000-04:00

Wow this chapter just reveal a bunch of new characters, and a scenic view of new villages. But now we know the meeting guest list sort of looks like this:

Tsuchikage - Kurozuchi, Akazuchi
Mizukage - Chojiro, Ao
Raikage - Shii, Darui
Kazekage Gaara - Temari, Kankuro
Hokage Danzo - Sai??

Of course, we can also expect Hawk and Samui's team to crash the party too.

As of now, I don't see anything interesting with the Tsuchikage and his company. We know that he used to be a legend and was a fearsome leader. However, old age has finally caught up with him. He suffers from bad hips and is a midget. Kurozuchi is the chick and Akazuchi is the big dude.

Mizukage is revealed to be a beautiful woman, and she is bringing along Chojiro and Ao. Chojiro greatly interests me because he is another Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist (finally). This will surely cheer Suigetsu up, because Chojiro holds one of the 7 swords. Actually his sword seems to be 2 wide swords, connected at the end. One thing that confuses me is that so far all the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist have been Missing-nins yet Chojiro is loyal to Kirigakure.

Raikage is explosive as always, he jumped out of his window haha. He's bringing along Shii and Darui.

We saw last week that Gaara is coming with Temari and Kankuro. Gaara looks cool as hell. Kankuro's got new make-up again, which probably also means he has some new puppets.

As for Danzo, I have to admit he looks pretty cool with the Hokage hat. It also appears that he is trying to get back his right eye and arm, by using with Orochimaru's experiments. Only Kabuto knows where the data is, so he is trying to track down Kabuto before Anko does.

Anime Update

2009-07-02T10:37:00.000-04:00

Bleach latest: Episode 226
I love it when Bleach decides to use up its animation budget for important fights, because the result is so fluid and awesome. Recent awesomeness: Grimmjow released fight vs Visored Ichigo and Hisagi vs Vegga.
This week's Bleach 226 amazed me because it had some great animation. I wasn't expecting this because the anime is going into fillers next week to let the manga get some distance. However, Yamamoto's and Hitsugaya's fight was well done and Ichigo vs Ulquiorra was perfect! From what they did this episode, I have very high expectations for the Ichigo vs Ulquiorra fight - hopefully the animators won't disappoint.

Naruto latest: Shippuuden 116
Shippuuden managed to piss me off with its full season of fillers (during its fillers I managed to begin and finish Eden of the East and K-On!). I had almost stopped checking it, but finally in the past few weeks the anime has gone back to canon material. Since its Sasuke's turn to shine, I have begun keeping up with it again. Suigetsu ftw =D

Clannad After Story Completed
Thoughts: Please go watch this now if you're into slice-of-life and love and that kind of stuff. At times it was so moving that I teared up T_T. Also I would suggest watching the first season for the full experience. You can develop an attachment to the characters, and the when you witness the events they are put through you can't help but be moved.

Nodame Cantabile Completed
As a musician myself, this series was a great watch. The music selection was great and there was a lot of comedy. Chiaki's character was great, probably my favorite. After a while you notice that the character never tend to fail at anything. I guess this anime is meant for you to feel inspired and happy haha.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Completed
This show was awesome as well. It's got great animation and fight scenes, but the best part about this anime is how there seems to be no bounds to what the characters can achieve. The shounen-ness of powerups after powerups gets more and more preposterous, but makes the show a lot more exciting.

Bleach 364

2009-07-01T14:20:00.000-04:00

Ok wow, so last week I speculated that the role of Wonderweiss and the colossus is either to feed the idle fighters or turn the tide of the battle. After this latest chapter, I can definitely say it's the latter.

In a split second, Wonderweiss managed to pierce Ukitake with his hand. Amidst the confusion, Stark also blasted Kyoraku point blank while he was trying to save Ukitake. Wonderweiss proceeded to shatter Hitsugaya's ice pillar on Halibel and the smoke from Barragan with soundwaves. As for the colossus, Komamura recognizes it as the enormous eye eclipsing the Menos as Aizen first ascended to Heuco Mundo. The colossus blew away the fire prison, freeing Aizen and the others. Now the wounded captains have to deal with not only the top three Espadas, but also Aizen's and Wonderweiss's company as well. When all seemed hopeless, Kira got a bit emo here, the Visoreds arrive to save the day!

The one thing I got from this chapter is that Wonderweiss is ridiculously strong. We already know he was Espada class because Soul Society classified him as such during the Grimmjow invasion. In addition, he could fight on par with Urahara's shikai. We should keep in mind that Ukitake is one of the oldest and probably stronger captains (ignoring his health condition) and he had released his shikai. Despite this, Wonderweiss managed to down him barehanded. Furthermore, his yell negated one of Hitsugaya's strongest techniques. Wonderweiss also appeared alongside the colossus, which suggest he might have some kind of control over it. Stark even said that if [Wonderweiss] is here, it means Aizen has gotten tired of waiting. I cannot help but think that Wonderweiss might be a Vasto Lorde. After all, he was one of the last Arrancars that Aizen created, so Aizen probably got the technique down. Also, he maintained a human form, which means he very strong.

Aside from the kid, I'm so happy the Visoreds are here!! Shinjishinjishinji =D

Hell Rings of KHReborn Updated

2009-06-30T10:21:00.001-04:00

The Arcobaleno Pacifiers, Mare Rings, and Vongola Rings together form the Tri-ni-set of unfathomable power. However, aside from these 3 sets of rings, the set of Hell Rings also hold immense power that is possibly formidable to the Tri-ni-set.

The cursed Hell Rings are Mist rings that were created before the discovery of Dying Will Flames. Their power comes at a price, for the user's soul and personality slowly deteriorates.

Out of the 6 Hell Rings left in existence, 5 have been shown under several users.
Eye shaped ring - Mukuro Rokudo
Vine covered orb shaped ring - Mukuro Rokudo
Ossa Impressione Hell Ring - Genkishi
666 ring - Fran
Snake shaped ring - Kiwahira
Horn shaped ring - unknown

Mukuro's Hell Rings
Mukuro revealed his possession of these two Hell Ring before his face off with Byakuran. I was so excited to see this showdown, but they cut to Tsuna's side and all we get to see if Mukuro's defeat =[. In the end, we didn't get to see the Hell Rings' power or Byakuran's powers.

Genkishi's Hell Ring
This Hell Ring changes Genkishi into a skeleton knight wearing heavy armor.
Genkishi used his Hell Ring against Tsuna but couldn't fight him at full power due to Tsuna determined and sympathetic eyes that reminded him of Uni. Later when he fights Yamamoto, he unleashes his full power which allowed him to replicate himself ten-folds. I personally dislike Genkishi's use of the Hell Ring because it makes him less of a swordsman (4 swords to 1) and more into a crazy illusionist (clear minded to insane and angry). =/

Fran's Hell Ring
Fran revealed his Hell Ring in the fight against Raziel and his butler; however, Fran could not activate it because he deemed it necessary to pose before doing anything cool or powerful. The hat that Varia forced him to wear to distinguish as an illusionist is way too big and hinders his ability to make a cool pose. (Fran is awesome) =P

Kiwahira's Hell Ring
In chapter 259 of KHR, the mysterious shop owner is revealed to be future I-Pin's patron, Uncle Kiwahira. Kiwahira used his Hell Ring to create a street full of illusionary civilians to try to throw off Zakuro, who was in pursuit of Tsuna and his companions. Kiwahira is so pro, I don't want to spoil anymore. =P

Naruto vs Sasuke

2009-06-26T11:14:00.000-04:00

In the latest Naruto chapter, it was mentioned that Naruto is stronger than Sasuke. WTH no effing way D:
Let's compare.

Naruto:
Shadow Clones
Rasengan
Summoning Jutsu
Rasenshuriken
Kyubi
Sage Mode

Sasuke:
Taijutsu
Sword proficiency
Hebi-jutsu
Katon-jutsu
Chidori
Lightning shape manipulation (Chidori blade, needles, current)
Sharingan
Genjutsu
Summoning Jutsu
Kirin
Mangekyo Sharingan
Dimension manipulation
Amaterasu

Curse Seal (Gone after Orochimaru's death)
Orochimaru regeneration jutsu (Gone after Orochimaru's death)

Intelligence-wise, Naruto is getting calmer thus thinks more clearly; however, he still fails to Sasuke's genius.
Naruto's Shadow Clones mean nothing to the Sharingan.
Sasuke can burn away mass Shadow Clone with his Katon jutsu.
Rasengan is evenly matched with Chidori.
Naruto can summon Gamabunta which puts Sasuke at a disadvantage since Sasuke killed Mandato to save himself. Of course, Sasuke can always beat Gamabunta by himself with either Genjutsu (worked on Manda), Kirin, or Amaterasu.
Rasenshuriken is avoidable with Sasuke's Sharingan, and he can probably see through any tricks Naruto might pull.
Kyubi will become a problem for Sasuke if Naruto manages to go past 4 tails. However, we have seen Sasuke halt Naruto's transformation with his Sharingan before it gets out of control.
So the only thing that Sasuke will have trouble with is Naruto's Sage mode, especially since he doesn't know about it.

Naruto's Sage Mode grants him a wider range of abilities, such as improved taijutsu, stamina, and variations of Rasengan. His Shadow Clones are less useful, because they are needed to maintain and gather natural energy back in Myobokuzan. Sasuke can probably hold his own against Sage Mode with his Sharingan, but some of his abilities will be rendered useless. It seems Sage Mode has a resistance against Genjutsu, and Naruto's enhance strength and agility will be a match for Sasuke's taijutsu. Kirin isn't dodgeable, but Naruto can prevent Sasuke from casting it. I think it'll come down to a showdown between Sage Mode and Mangekyo Sharingan, unless either individual learns some new technique before they meet.

Naruto 453

2009-06-26T10:16:00.000-04:00

With this chapter, we see which direction the manga is heading after Pain's invasion. Naruto is going to help the Cloud ninjas find Killerbee. Sasuke is going to head to the meeting of the 5 Kages. Tobi/Akatsuki is launching Moon's Eye Plan.

Since Naruto is heading for Killerbee and Sasuke is no longer aiming for Killerbee, those two probably won't meet anytime soon. I'm not that excited about this, except maybe learning Bee's disciple's skills.

Sasuke's end is getting a lot more interesting; I guess they have to make up for Sasuke's screentime after Naruto took like 30 chapters to fight Pain. Sasuke has switched Hawk's goal from annihilating Konoha to killing all 5 Kages. I have no idea why he needs to kill all the Kages, because he should only have a grudge against the Hokage. Anyways, it is a potential matchup between Hawk and Gaara's team.

I'm also excited on the gathering of the 5 Kages. Right now we know that Danzo is the Hokage, Gaara - Kazekage, Killerbee's brother - Raikage. It is still unclear who the Tsuchikage and Mizukage are, but we'll probably find out soon. In addition, Kisame referred to Madara as the Mizukage (but it isn't stated when he was) so there is a possibility that Madara might arrive at the meeting. However, I think Madara has better things to do than attend a meeting that Sasuke is going to crash. Unless Madara is going to help Sasuke out ... speculations ... o.O

It seems Sasuke has a new skill, he stated he wanted to test something out with Amaterasu. Also, Madara stated a possibility of a future power boost for Sasuke by syncing him with Gedo Mazo.

Furthermore, several interesting things were mentioned from Madara and Zetsu's conversation. First, Madara said Pain was supposed to save his resurrection ability for him, which caused me to think for a moment that this is how Madara has managed to stay alive for so long. Then I thought and Madara was wayyyy before Nagato's time, so his immortality probably still has to do with his hybrid Mangekyo Sharingan.

Next, he said he plans on syncing Sasuke with Gedo Mazo so Sasuke would either be getting some of the tailed-beasts' powers or would take over Pain's role of leading the ritual.

Finally, Madara said Naruto is currently stronger than Sasuke. Wow ... speechless.

Bleach 363

2009-06-26T09:47:00.001-04:00

Omgomgomg, Bleach finally did something unexpected, by bringing out Wonderweiss and a new menace - superchunky from hell?? The question is whether they'll just give the people sitting idle something to do (like Yami, I doubt he's the strongest Espada) or actually turn the tide of the battle to the Arrancar side.

Ukitake's sogyo no kotowari was pretty predictable, but the more interesting thing is Ukitake thinks Kyoraku shouldn't release his Bankai where anyone can see it. So that suggests Shunsui's Bankai is either insanely gruesome or violent. This makes me even more excited to see him release =o.

I looked again at the new colossus and I would guess he's a new form of Hollow. Judging from his appearance, I would say with an analogy - Hollows : Menos :: Menos : superchunky. In addition, since his fingernails are Menos masks, it suggests that he is the biggest villian we have seen yet because 1 Menos is about the size of Po's whale release.

Possible match-ups against Wonderweiss and superchunky:
Komamura - likely
Vice Captains - likely
Hitsugaya/Soifon - unlikely
Yamamoto - highly unlikely
Urahara/Yoruichi - highly unlikely
Visoreds - highly unlikely

Useful sources

2009-06-24T00:41:00.000-04:00

As you all know it's getting harder to find places to watch anime because they're always being removed for licensing. I used YouTube, Crunchyroll, Anime6.org, and Veoh in the past, but now I can rarely find an episode of some anime I want to watch on there.

Currently, I use ZOMGAnime and Animesquish to watch new season episodes and old completed seasons respectively. However, they frequently link their videos to Megavideo, which you might know has an annoying 72min limit. Recently I found this Firefox extension called Illimitux that claims it can bypass the limitations on Megavideo and Veoh. Use it as you see appropriate.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/11037

On the other hand, reading manga hasn't caused me any problems at all.
Most people, including me, use Onemanga which has a list of over 800 mangas, but you can also try out Bleachexile, which has a formidable list as well. Onemanga is great for reading through multiple chapters because it automatically links the last page of the chapter you are on to the first page of the following chapter. I used to use Bleachexile because it had better quality images than Onemanga, but I stopped once I found out Onemanga uploads new releases a lot earlier.

Finally, you can always use the oh so reliable Google search if all else fails.
Just search "watch _____" anime haha

Soul Eater, Tamashii no Kyoumei!

2009-06-23T19:47:00.000-04:00

Turn back the pendulum ... to when I just finished the Soul Eater series

Wow what a great series!
I began watching the anime because one of my friends told me it had wonderful animation and art style. And I have to say - it did not disappoint.

Soul Eater has a tremendous of humor that is simply amazing, and the fact that I watched it without knowing this just made it so much more enjoyable. Its humor at the beginning was so funny that it actually made me laugh out loud (which I don't tend to do). Soul Eater was worth watching just for the awesome humor but several other things made me persist as well.

One of the best parts of this anime was its character designs. I have to admit that I began this series with its manga, and actually stopped reading because its art style was a little too *special* for me. However, I approached the Soul Eater anime completely unbaised because I wanted to check out its praised animation (which manga could not do). I was immediately drawn in by the OP and Maka's first fight. Furthermore, like Haruhi and Clannad, the Soul Eater anime art was actually better and more refined than its original manga counterpart, which is not the case for other animes... *cough Naruto cough*.

Now on to the character design - I absolutely love Death the Kid.

His appearance, personality, combat, and abilities were definitely for the win. In addition, I thought Soul's voice actor was great and Black Star's arrogance was surprisingly likeable. There were just so many characters and personalities that I enjoyed in Soul Eater, including Patty, Mifune, and Blair.

Finally, one thing you can always expect from Japanese anime is its share of ecchi aka perverted material. It tends to be used for either fanservice or humor, and in Soul Eater's case it is more of the latter.

After roughly episode 35, the Soul Eater anime deviates from the manga with a bunch of non-canon material. The anime certainly became less cool from there on forward, but it was still pretty interesting.

Now I'm going to list the differences I noticed between the anime and manga so there will be spoilers ahead.

**** Spoilers ****

(there are sooooo many, but here's just some):

Brew
Anime: The heralded Brew that Arachnaphobia sought throughout the series turned out to be pretty much a wishgranter, and it granted Shinigami sama's wish of turning Shibusen into an enormous robot. I hate robots...
Manga: The Brew grants the user a temporary, yet extraordinary boost in energy and power level. It made Death the Kid soooo frickin cool =D

Eibon
Anime: Eibon turned out to be a key that unlocks the Brew.
Manga: Eibon's true form is revealed as Noah. It's not certain if he is actually the original, but in the time being he has taken ahold of the name because he possesses the Book of Eibon. His goal to collect everything in the world that interests him into his book.

Antagonists:
Anime: 1. Arachne, Giriko, Mosquito, Kishin Asura
2. Medusa, Stein for a while
Manga: 1. Arachne, Mosquito
2. Medusa, Crona(?)
3. Noah, Justin Law, Giriko
4. Kishin Asura

Powerups:
Maka anime: Maka obtained the Demon Hunter pretty early on in the anime to defeat Mosquito and later Medusa, but it was useless against the Kishin. In the end it was revealed that Maka was also a weapon, and she turned her whole body into scythes to defeat the Kishin.
Maka manga: Maka chain-resonanced with BlackStar and Kid to defeat Mosquito, and then obtained the Demon Hunter to destroy Arachne. Since now she defeated a witch, she can finally turn Soul into a Deathscythe.

BlackStar anime: BlackStar somehow defeats Mifune in one attack because his heart is now resolute on following his own path of neither a warrior or demon.
BlackStar manga: BlackStar obtains a new form after conquering the zebra/demon/deer thing within Tsubaki's soul. All of Tsubaki's weapon transformation has a new form - ShadowStar. Sugoi =]

Death the Kid anime: In order to hold off the Kishin, Kid connected all three of his Sanzu lines, with transformed Liz and Patty into two mounted cannons. Despite this power boost, it still couldn't defeat the Kishin.
Death the Kid manga: Kid used the Brew to boost his powers during his fight against Mosquito. One of his Sanzu lines managed to connect, upping Liz and Patty's caliber from .38 to .42.

The magnitude of the deviation of the anime from the manga practically makes it another series with just the same characters. I strongly recommend reading the Soul Eater manga after finishing the anime. Overall, I like the manga more because it has more plot and more mysteries to be revealed.

**** Spoilers ****

In the heat of the moment

2009-06-23T18:58:00.000-04:00

Turn back the pendulum ... to the beginning of summer

Woot! finally done with my first year of college, but since Penn ends so early I'm back here in Brookfield with nothing to do and no friends to see. =[

It'll still be a few weeks before my job begins so I took that downtime to catch up on some manga and anime. And by "catch up" I mean watch new series religiously haha :P

By the time my job started I had finished Soul Eater anime and manga, Mushishi anime, YuGiOh abridged youtube series, and had started on History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi manga and Gurren Lagann anime. Haha now you think I'm crazy ...