Noblesse Oblige.

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.

Labels: Bleach, Manga

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.

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.

Labels: Manga, Naruto

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.

Labels: Bleach, Manga

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 >.<

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 =].

Labels: Bleach, Manga

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.

Labels: Manga, Naruto