Bleach, vols. 10-20 (Tite Kubo)

[chomiji]

With the help of the semi-crazed, ultra-buxom rocketry expert Kukaku Shiba, teenaged novice Soul Reaper Ichigo Kurosaki and his motley crew arrive not-very-subtly in the Soul Reaper city on their quest to rescue Rukia Kuchiki, the Soul Reaper who inadvertently lost all her own powers to Ichigo in the first volume of the series. As you may recall, Rukia's actions in the living world have resulted in her being sentenced to death, and so the story becomes a race against the clock to rescue her.

The party is split up before they hit the ground, and these 11 volumes trace their assorted paths through the city as they attempt to find each other and rescue the young woman who became their friend during her sojourn in our world. Along the way, they win the grudging approval or dire enmity of various members of the Soul Reaper guard companies, and we learn more of the backstories of both the original party and their new acquaintances, as well as a lot about Soul Reaper society, training, and politics. Something is very rotten near the core of the Soul Society, and Rukia's situation is just one move of a sinister power game that some of its members are playing. Volume 20 wraps up the story arc with a dramatic showdown that involves just about all of the most interesting characters we've met thus far in the series.

Bleach, vols. 10-20 (review)

Holy crap, does Kubo bombard us with new characters in these volumes! There are 13 guard companies, each with a captain and assistant captain, and we meet all of them, plus various lesser luminaries - some of whom are extremely vivid personalities to say the least (I think "vivid" barely begins to describe the joyfully narcissistic peacock Yumichika Ayasegawa, for example).

The main frame of the story arc is a series of confrontations in which Ichigo is forced to become stronger - both in combat with Soul Society officers and in training with Yoruichi, who, it turns out, is not actually the kittycat we met in the earlier volumes. But similar story threads follow the development of Soul Reaper Renji Abarai, who showed up to menace Rukia and Ichigo at the end of the previous set of volumes and who turns out to be carrying a torch for Rukia from their earliest days; Ichigo's schoolmate Uryu Ishida, who has a terrifying confrontation with the self-made monstrous head of the Research and Development arm of the Soul Society that leaves Uryu apparently stripped of his Quincy powers; and even mousy Hanataro, a middling member of the utilitarian Fourth Company, who are charged with all the uninteresting, unchallenging Soul Reaper duties, such as healing and supplies - as well as Ichigo's friends Chad and Orihime.

All of this is terrifically entertaining and pitched at breakneck speeds: the flashbacks to the various characters' histories provide the only breaks in the action (and even some of the flashbacks are pretty action-filled!). Some of the aspects of the Soul Society don't make a lot of sense (the noble Soul Reapers are born in this alternative world, an idea which boggles the mind on a metaphysical level ... ), but the momentum of the plot carried me along willy-nilly anyway. I personally would like to know more about some of these characters' histories, but either Kubo will tell us more in the future, or - well, that's why the good Lord let us invent fanfic.

I have to speak specifically about Volume 20, which was amazingly apocalyptic. The discovery that Aizen was alive all along - and Momo's fate at his hands - were a devastating one-two punch. Toshiro's apparent destruction thereafter hardly registered. I was rather gratified by Unohana's confrontation of Aizen and Gin, even though it didn't do much but delay the inevitable - but I guess that was valuable, because it gave Ichigo a chance to arrive. I was also glad that Rangiku was able to stop Gin, at least until outside forces interfered, and was deeply pleased when Byakuya arrived to help save Rukia at the end.

There are plenty of wonderful characters in these 11 volumes ... among my favorites: Yumichika and Ikkaku, Kenpachi and Yachiru, Yoruichi, Renji, Hanataro, Shunsui, Jushiro, Toshiro, Rangiku, and Ganju. I am a little ticked off by the handling of most of the female characters: it seems odd to have women as Assistant Captains and then treat them as frail little things. I love Shunsui Koryaku, but Nanao is basically just his secretary, and he treats her as such. Momo, likewise, is supposed to be basically a powerful sorceress - everyone keeps mentioning her force and skill at Kido - but she's a sweet, delicate, emotionally vulnerable little creature. Rangiku, at least, despite her amazing boobage, seems to be a genuinely tough cookie. But I understand that this is a shonen manga, and I guess that's the way it's going to be.

I really had to do this, because I may be able to get hold of volume 21 this weekend, and I desperately wanted to be blogged up to date on at least one more series!

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yup, that's why I love their relationship.

and that I love seeing non-romantic parent/child and brother/sister relationships in manga.

And this is why a very large part of me hates the bulk of the anime/manga community(ok, not really "hates" on a person-to-person level, but...)

It seems you can't have any such relationship without people trying to sexualize it...Yachiro/Kenpachi, Yukimura/Sasuke, Sanzo/Goku, Roy Mustang/Edward Elric(FMA) and Tsume/Toboe(Wolf's Rain) are the ones that immediately come to mind, though there are others...those are just the ones I come across the most frequently. It's like the mass fandom goes "Oh, a relationship where an older character is protective of and cares about a younger character...THEY MUST BE LUVAHS!"

I did manage to pick up other manga that traumatized me in other ways. Some of which I shall scan and share when the box gets here, because I MUST SHARE THE PAIN.

Like a large amount of what comes from your fingers, the idea of this both fascinates and terrifies me...out of curiosity, what fandoms?

[telophase.livejournal.com]

rachelmanija and I were dismayed at the WALL of Roy/Ed doujinshi. WALL. Keeping in mind that most of the doujinshi are 64 pages or less, and that the WALL was about 4 bookcases that were over 6 foot high, and about 3 feet wide, with 6 or 7 shelves in each. Packed solid with Roy/Ed.

And we know that, because the doujinshi were organized by pairing.

The fandoms I bought were mostly Death Note and Bleach. Partly because the ones I'm interested in other than those don't have a lot of dj out right now (either too old or too obscure, or lack serious pairing crack, or the dj are so popular that they don't get sold back to the store- we were looking at used djs), and partly because I knew I could easily sell off the ones I didn't want to keep from those series, and partly because the organization in the store was insane and most things could only be found by asking an employee. We bought some other stuff for people who'd requested it - Saiyuki (I don't remember if I kept any or not), HunterxHunter - and Rachel bought some Lord of the Rings dj because the idea horrified her. And she got a couple of Mushishi dj, and I didn't get any because she bought the best ones. :D

We bought some Naruto for octopedingenue, and looking through the Wall o'Naruto Doujinshi was pretty scary. The worst of the covers was one that looked like the inside would be heavy Kakashi/Sasuke bloodplay, which squicked the hell out of both of us.

The one that traumatized me the most, however, I shall scan the scary bits and post. It's an anthology of Bleach stories that contains one with Kenpachi in it.

Wearing a school uniform.

A girl's school uniform.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Roy/Ed just scars me, period. Probably because it's so massive. Though it is a pairing where imagining the characters' reactions to learning about it makes it ever so much better...it'd be like ep 13 of the anime(if you've seen it) on a massive scale.

Rachel bought some Lord of the Rings dj because the idea horrified her.

It horrified me when I read about it on resprctive LJs, as well.

The worst of the covers was one that looked like the inside would be heavy Kakashi/Sasuke bloodplay, which squicked the hell out of both of us.

*shudders*

It's an anthology of Bleach stories that contains one with Kenpachi in it.

Wearing a school uniform.

A girl's school uniform.

You realize, don't you, that just THINKING about this has scarred me for life?

[chomiji]

(Man-o-Manischewitz, you guys are having a great time here! I branch off to read a fanfic or two and come back to 11 new messages .... my eyes are falling out of my head, so I'm going to bed ... enjoy!)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Well, you just have lots of fun reading to look forward to reading properly in the morning.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

You realize, don't you, that just THINKING about this has scarred me for life?

And I came upon it, all unknowing! I think this one scarred me far worse than the Komamura/Iba one we mailed to mscongeniality, because she said she'd dare it (and will soon be reviewing and posting scans XD). That one featured the characters drawn as if they were in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, school uniform and all, and ... well, let's say that the proportions would not be out of place in Japanese shunga art. :)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I'm almost too scared to ask(partly because it's likely a property I'm familiar with and I've just forgotten the names...) but who are Komamura/Iba?

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Bleach. Komamura's the captain with the head that's somewhere between a fox and a wolf, and Iba's his lieutenant.

I was looking for doujinshi that had Komamura in it, and completely missed the discreet "For adult only" note on the cover. :)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

sww, I TOLD you I'd know them...and love them...I have serious name retention problems.

I wonder if I'd ever be brave enough to wander into a doujinshi section of a bookstore....probably not...

[chomiji]

I'm pondering what all of this does to my theory that most slash-ups have a lot to do with the character with whom the author most identifies and the character whom they find most attractive ... or sometimes just the character whom they find most attractive and the character within the manga/anime who seems most likely to end up in the sack with the attractive character ... .

I don't know if I want to try to think of what the Kenpachi-in-schoolgirl-rig means ... .

(Heh, I like Shigure as the icon for this .,.. I bet he'd have theories on this subject too ... .)

BTW, did you see in Neil Gaiman's blog about his experience with a Maid Cafe in Japan, and the letters he got about his blog post - including someone who was very offended that Gaiman wasn't offended by such pedophiliac activities, and a more informed and tolerant poster who explained a lot about Maid/Butler cafes, and the concept of moe? Hmmm ... I can't seem to link to the exact date, so the journal is here and the post with the sensible explanations is on Sept. 26, and the other 2 are earlier ... of course.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I don't know. I've seen too many cracked slash pairings to even find a pattern. (Someone pointed me to a Renji/Hanatarou fic that actually managed to work, because the writer kept them both in character - or in Hanatarou's case, a character that could reasonably be extrapolated from the bits of the manga he's in - and kept a sense of humor about it.)

I love Komamura, but ... he's nine feet tall! Just the mechanisms of attempting to draw him in the sack with anyone and keep them in proper proportion is completely beyond me. And I've even seen the manga! XD

I happen to know what the Kenpachi-in-schoolgirl-rig means, and I'm not telling anyone, because the readers need to be traumatized in EXACTLY THE WAY I WAS. XD

Yes, I read all of that in his blog. XD

[chomiji]

Um ... I can hardly wait!

(Yeah, I'm still digging through this ... !)

I wonder if they try to accommodate the actual issues with Komamura's size, or just have him automagically become large human size. (Yes, I know I shouldn't wonder, but I do ... I'm the child of a microbiologist and an engineer, and the wondering just happens sometimes ... .)

[chomiji]

I wouldn't get too freaked ... I think that the dream of partner who knows exactly how we feel can lead to that. My sister and her college boyfriend were surely not the only young couple in the world to try to dress and look more or less alike ... .

[chomiji]

I check out that fic ... I don't know if I buy it, but that may be because I still have telophase's gorgeous Renji/Rukia pic burned into my brain.

(BTW, meganbmoore has decided that Goku is really Sanzo's dog ... .)

[chomiji]

Well, now, be fair - for some of us, some of the friendships strike us as being exactly what we think we'd like in a romantic relationship - hence my own fascination for Gojyo/Hakkai, for example. (And I was creating couples like that from my RPG characters and book characters decades before I discovered manga.)

But of course I know what you're saying, and I've had enough male-female "just friendships" that I also find this stuff excessive at times - even on the part of the mangaka, upon occasion. (The tendency to try to match everyone up in Fruits Basket is pretty tedious.)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

See, while Hakkai/Gojyo isn't my thing, I can at least see where it could be drawn logically from canon. Plus, except for the occassional writer who seems to think the dead girlfriend must be demonized, fanfic writers don't seem to feel a need to butcher other characters for the fic.

And (unlike all the ones I listed) they're both ADULTS(ok, Goku is centuries older than most of the rest of the Saiyuki cast, but he's still...what...14-15 in practice?)

And I know what you mean about FB and the pairings...I mean, if it's even half indicated in canon and I like both characters, I tend to automatically ship (a weakness...) and FB tends to be way too much for me...but then, the only ones I really care about consistently are Kyo/Tohru and Haru/Rin (and Ayame and Hatori's pairings, when they're around-I don't think about them much unless they're in front of me or mentioned) I feel that, at some point, she should have stopped...

[chomiji]

Well, I don't get into the "ax the competition" theory of slashing-up anyway. It's sometimes fun to imagine Onime-no-Kyo with other people, but I don't see that it's necessary to kill of Yuya to do it, for example.

There's only one canon pairing that fills me with the urge to do that, but it's much later in SDK, so I'm not going to spoil it for telophase. (Besides, I think you've heard me on it before.)

Goku is said to be 18 - by Minekura. The thing that bothers me most about most Goku set ups is that he simply doesn't seem interested. His reaction to Gojyo's womanizing is just, "Man, how boring - he has a one-track mind." The whole Sanzo fixation seems purely comfort-based: Sanzo = security and peace of mind. What sensuality he has is still firmly rooted in food and in his own physicality - and his fascination with Gat's physique works right into that. Intriguingly, at the end of Reload 7, he talls Gojyo that he thinks the bossy young youkai girl who's got them running her fruit stand is "good looking," which represents - to my knowledge - the first time Goku has shown any such interest.

So any Goku/anyone fics always seem wildly OOC to me.

There may have been pressure from the publishers regarding the pair-ups in Furuba.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't get into the "ax the competition" theory of slashing-up anyway. It's sometimes fun to imagine Onime-no-Kyo with other people, but I don't see that it's necessary to kill of Yuya to do it, for example.

Yes, I am very, very careful about the slash-friendly people I friend. If I try, I can understand the appeal of pairing someone who's already paired in canon with someone else, but not the character butchering that often goes with it.

*cannot picture Kyo with anyone else outside of brief and amazingly insane crackfics-and he's too fond of girl parts to imagine him w/ 90% of the cast*

There's only one canon pairing that fills me with the urge to do that, but it's much later in SDK, so I'm not going to spoil it for telophase. (Besides, I think you've heard me on it before.)

I believe it involves the one I jokingly call sane at times(and not Kyoshiro) and a character I haven't been impressed with in the brief appearances I've seen. Based on what I've seen and the later bits I managed to read, I think I'd rather he justr kept pining over someone else for the rest of his life.

Goku is said to be 18 - by Minekura. The thing that bothers me most about most Goku set ups is that he simply doesn't seem interested. His reaction to Gojyo's womanizing is just, "Man, how boring - he has a one-track mind." The whole Sanzo fixation seems purely comfort-based: Sanzo = security and peace of mind.

Ah, he just looks and acts a bit younger(it's the size and energy.) And yeah, Goku is blissfully unaware of the female half of the species. I think Goku fixates the feelings for virtually every positive, comforting relationship a person has-father, mother, sibling, friend- on Sanzo, resulting in a near-obsessive devotion.

Intriguingly, at the end of Reload 7, he talls Gojyo that he thinks the bossy young youkai girl who's got them running her fruit stand is "good looking," which represents - to my knowledge - the first time Goku has shown any such interest.

I actually kinda wonder if he just never looked before because he was so busy fixating on Sanzo. He clings to Sanzo with an almost puppylike devotion(understandably) and like some utterly loyal pets, doesn't notice others as much if "his" people are there.

Makes sense about Furuba. Especially when it comes to Yuki.

[chomiji]

Yes, I think you've got it ... the funny thing is, Kamijyo can't seem to make him happy about it either! It's still essentially all one-sided, as far as I can tell, even in the little "afterward" comic.

And I know you always say that about Kyo, but I still think he'd try almost anything ... especially if it was situationally convenient.

Wow, what a good point you just made about Goku: this is really the first time he's been away from Sanzo for more than a day or two. Maybe now that the sun isn't shining so brightly into his eyes, he can notice others .... .

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I wonder if Kamijyo added that in to compensate for his not getting Yuya-Benitora gets to be shogun later on and has (if he wants) Mahiro(though I'm not sure I see him ever going there) but Akira just kinda loses out otherwise. I have a feeling it would have come across a lot better as a new version of Kyo and Akira himself, rather than as a potential romance.

As far as Goku goes...I often tend to look at the "cute and lovable kid-like but not so bright" characters in terms of dogs and cats, whether I want to or not, and when you do that, it tends to help simplify what might be going on in their heads. The funny thing is, while separating Goku from Sanzo may be the cruelest thing you could do to Goku(I don't see either staying sane very long while not knowing whether or not the other is ok) it should let him grow up some.

[chomiji]

Hmmm ... I don't feel any real spark with Mahiro and and Benitora, but they like each other a lot ... .

Goku can tell when Sanzo is in trouble, you know. Remember when he and Hakkai were "inside" Kingaku's magic gourd, and outside, Sanzo had been knocked off the cliff?

But yeah, Sanzo will start to feel it. Goku's also trying to hide his feelings more - he realizes that he's making Hakkai and Gojyo worry. Yes, he's doing some growing. (LOL, he should end up with Lirin when she grows up ... she'd keep him busy ... .)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yup, no real spark, but she's obviously a bit smitten with him, and he seems genuinely fond of her. If Kamijyo announces that they got together a few years later, it'd seem pretty natural to me, but by the same token, it's no loss to me if they don't.

I most definately recall that scene. Goku tends to be scary aware of Sanzo's safety at times.

I have often had the same though about Goku and Lirin...can you imagine Kougaiji and Sanzo's reactions?

[chomiji]

No, I agree that the thing with Gat was completely non-sexual: Goku's main idea of accomplishments (for anyone but Sanzo) all have to do with strength and prowess in combat, so I think you've tagged that exactly right.

I find myself wondering - now that the idea has been kick-started by megan's observation above - whether that's one of the main points of this story arc: to have Goku grow up a little by being forced apart from Sanzo.