Bleach 568: Here. Fear. Here 2

Zach Goodier

http://www.mangapanda.com/bleach/568/?ref=email

This week, as you might have expected, As Nodt survived Rukia's initial attack, and releases his full power.  As Rukia reaches the limits of her self-inflicted semi-hibernation, she finds that "The Fear" is not gone yet.  He quickly releases his power, saying that the only fear he knows is the anger of his king and the loss of his body.  As he releases his power Rukia quickly finds herself at a severe disadvantage, but some last minute backup may provide the help she needs, and allow an old score to be settled from the last battle.

Rukia's new power has been interesting, even if it hasn't been visually impressive next to others, like Renji.  However, I'm still holding out for Rukia to finally have attained a bankai, especially after her training.  She obviously doesn't have to have a bankai, but I feel like it would have been an appropriate time to have her gain one in the context of all that is happening and just how intense the training was for both her and Renji; plus is could really boost up on of Bleach's generally weaker characters, seeing as how Rukia hasn't been all that powerful next to her companions or enemies.  However, with a certain someone coming back into the fight at the very end of the chapter, we might get to see a satisfying end to one of the match-ups from the previous set of fights.

And through all of this, I'm still wondering what the endgame is for the Quincy.  So far, we have seen the origin of Juha Bach, as well as why they need to fight, but I wonder how exactly this is all going to end up for the Quincy, if they are successful in destroying the Soul Society.  I mean, what then? Presumably, the entire world will be thrown into turmoil, and its destruction seems more than likely, so how will this benefit the Quincy?  Unless there is more to the balance of the worlds, or the Quincy have some sort of plan to keep at least one of the worlds from being destroyed, I just don't see how plan to walk away from this war with any real victory in either case.  I suppose we'll understand more in the future chapters, so we'll just have to wait and see how everything unfolds.

Bleach 567: Dance with Snow White

Zach Goodier

http://www.mangapanda.com/bleach/567/?ref=email

The fight between Rukia and "the Fear" has begun in earnest, and the mystery quickly becomes, "how is Rukia immune to 'fear'?"  The answer quickly reveals itself, as we learn about the nature of fear, and just what its' limitations are.  Beyond that, we see Rukia's new power, and just how much it has grown.  Now, is the fight truly over?  I highly doubt it, but we'll just have to see in the next chapter.

I was interested to see how Rukia's power had grown in her training, but I had assumed that it would reveal itself in her bankai, that she hasn't ever had up until this point.  I still think she's achieved it, but she obviously hasn't had cause to use it at this point, as her opponent hasn't even been able to go all out to fight her.  However, I think Rukia has always been a fairly weak character in terms of fighting ability.  While her technique and discipline are there, she has never really developed her power to be much of a combatant.  However, I think that has mostly to do with her being mostly sheltered, and never challenged, since Byakuya keeps her out of harm's way for the most part.  

Now, I hope to see Rukia come into her own a bit more, and step out of her brother's shadow more.  That isn't to say she isn't independent for the most part, but she's never really stood out in terms of strength, and she has always been rather small and fragile compared to the rest of the characters.  Hopefully we can her come out of her shell some more in the coming chapters.

Bleach 566: What is Your Fear?

Zach Goodier

This week, we start up a new round of battles, this time with Rukia facing As Nodt, "The Fear."  Renji is also being pursued, but he hasn't been openly engaged yet.  The chapter opens with a flashback to just before Rukia and Renji arrived on the battlefield, discussing their plan to hide after finishing a battle so that they don't become surrounded by the enemy.  By using guerrilla tactics, they apparently hope to get the jump on some of the sternritter before arriving at their base for a final attack on the stronghold.  However, it appears that they might have a tough go of it before they even get the chance to regroup for their assault.  However, Rukia was able to get help for Rose and Kensei, who were badly wounded in their fight with "The Superstar."

After the last chapter, it's really interesting to see what happens, since even if Rukia and Renji go around dominating their battles, it seems like they would only be making Ywhach even stronger, or at least stopping his power from diminishing.  So it looks like even though the Soul Society appears to have some momentum built up, with Rukia and Renji arriving as backup, in the long-run it might be problematic if Yhwach becomes stronger due to the elimination of the Quincy army. It will be interesting to see how events continue to unfold, and when and how the other characters will become involved, such and Ginjo, Sado, Orihime, Urahara, and all the other returning/supporting characters that have yet to join the fray.