Bleach 634: Friend 4

Zach Goodier

http://www.mangapanda.com/bleach/634

Jugo and Bazz continue their clash, but Jugo argues that there is no point to it, that their fight does nothing to affect Juha Bach. However, Bazz continues his fight, and we get another flashback to the past, 3 years after Jugo joins the Sternritter, to when Bazz enlists as well, to find Jugo already a captain. Bazz tries to fight Jugo then, just to be ignored, since internal fights were punishable by death. Bazz continued to try to goad Jugo into a fight, to no avail. Back in the present, Jugo finally succeeds to making Jugo fight him, only to find Jugo easily outmatches him in every way. However, Jugo isn't surprised at this, merely wanting to settle the score one way or the other, Jugo walks away, leaving Bazz-B, actually named Buzzard Black, to bleed out on the ground.

Bleach 633: Friend 3

Zach Goodier

http://www.mangapanda.com/bleach/633

The flashback concludes, as Juha Bach reveals that Jugo's power is the ability to "share," like Juha Bach himself. He also reveals that it was this ability that allowed Bazz to increase his power the way he did, not his own prowess. Bazz resents this realization, and tries to kill Juha Bach, only to be stopped by Jugo himself. Back in the present, Jugo easily stops Bazz's arrow, and uses his blade to land a potentially fatal blow on Bazz. Is this the end of their friendship, or is there still hope for Bazz?

Bleach 631: Friend

Zach Goodier

http://www.mangapanda.com/bleach/631/?ref=email

Bazz-B and his old friend Jugo face off, and ass they start to fight, we are shown glimpses of the past, when Jugo Hashwald was an inept quincy, and Bazz was a skilled hunter who vows vengeance against Juha Bach when he conquers their village, killing everyone in his way. However, Jugo doesn't bear any real animosity towards Juha Bach, but follows Bazz's plan anyways. They decide to get close to Juha Bach, in order to get close to him so they can wait for the chance to undermine him. The story also shows when Juha Bach had successfully conquered the human world, and decided to set his sights on the Soul Society.

I saw this coming last week, with a lot of backstory for characters most of us have little, if any, investment in. On the positive side, they focused on the story, rather than quickly tagging 3 or 4 different groups, meaning we see them, but with only a couple pages each, they can hardly get anything done. So the pacing felt much improved this chapter, but I hardly feel any deeper connection between these two, just the added knowledge that there are other quincy who seem intent on fighting Juha Bach.

Bleach 543: Letters

Zach Goodier

Link to Chapter: http://www.mangapanda.com/bleach/543/1

This week we are seeing some developments on the Quincy front, with Juha Bach announcing that Uryuu Ishida will be his successor, and being granted powers similar to Juha Bach himself.  However, not all the Vandenreich are content with this decision, since Uryuu is unknown to most of them.  This risks some upheaval amongst the Sternritter, who are not agreed on how to handle the news.  The main focus in this chapter is the issue of succession, and while it may lack some of the action and story developments we've been hoping for, I think seeing all this tension amongst the Quincy is setting us up for events down the road.  Uryuu sweeping in and getting claim to the throne is obviously going to have consequences for everyone, especially since he now is getting a power boost, as well as dividing up the loyalties of the Sternritter.  Furthermore, why did Juha Bach make Uryuu his successor all of a sudden, especially given his history with Ichigo and the Soul Society.  Does he actually not know? Or could he have some other plan in the works, and Uryuu is a part of all of it?  Only time, and the next chapters, can tell; so stay tuned next week for another chapter of Bleach.

Stay Nerdy my Friends.