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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.
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. =] Labels: Bleach, Manga
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.
Labels:
Manga,
Naruto
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.
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. Labels: Bleach, Manga
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. Labels: Manga, Naruto
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.
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.
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 >.< Labels: Manga, Naruto
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 =].
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
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.
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.
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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 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.
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.
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.
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. Labels: Anime, Bleach
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 >_>.
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
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.
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 -> 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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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?
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