Chapter 516, while very interesting, is also horribly, disturbingly disappointing.
As it was said in the previous chapter, Ichigo goes to Kurotsuchi to get his Zanpakuto fixed only for the scientist to tell him it's impossible because, while it's easy to fix a Zanpakuto in Shikai, a broken Bankai stays that way forever. There are two things that come to mind with this revelation. 1: TRANING MONTAGE FEATURING ICHIGO REGAINING HIS BANKAI. 2: That really doesn't make sense. He explains that there are some exceptions like Komamura whose Bankai heals when the user is healed (Just like the Bankai is hurt when the user is hurt) and notes a few difference in Bankai like when Renji's Bankai got partially destroyed by Byakuya, the blades (Those pieces of bamboo, I guess) never returned...
That makes no sense. How about the time Szayel Aporro LITTERALLY BLEW THE FREAKIN' carp OUT OF HIS BANKAI INTO TINY PIECES OF SHREDS?! Or heck, how about the time when Uryuu shot a giant arrow through your own Bankai, blowing it in half and piercing a huge hole in you too, Mayuri?! Or what, are you another exception? This lil' fact is, I believe, introduced way too late into the manga, so late in fact that Tite Kubo apparently didn't think all the details through. But hey, we all know Ichigo will get his Zanpakuto back, right? Or some sort of super-power, anyway. Also, we finally, FINALLY learn of what happened to Kon. Apparently, he followed Rukia, favoring her instead of our orange-haired protagonist, and got a lil' beefed up off-screen. However, he doesn't stick around for too long as we learn SQUAD 0 just got here. The real disappointing comes next. Ichigo and Mayuri go to some place to welcome the arrival of the famed Squad, whom we learn has no soldiers, only five captains and travels through giant white columns that emerge from the ground...
And they look totally lame.
Dear God, do they look lame... The only one that looks passable is the fourth one from the left, but, other than that... Holy shiet to they look bad Oo However, I'm guessing Kubo is borrowing a bit from the Fairy Tail book of story-telling: In that manga, the elders or the old people from a previous generation of wizards all look like carp as well but they're mighty powerful, they've just gotten so old that they don't care about being physically intimidating and badass... But Fairy Tail is a totally different story! It works in Fairy Tail because the mood of that manga is generally calm and, while the story itself is epic, the menace never really reaches any sort of dread. Bleach, right now, is a story in which a well-organized, large empire of quite powerful Quincies has not only decided to invade the Soul Society but has also proven that they are absolutely able to do it... and our Deus Ex Machina for this situation are those five uninspired, unoriginal, unintimidating and overall really boring-looking characters...
Tite Kubo just keeps shooting himself in the foot, doesn't he...
As it was said in the previous chapter, Ichigo goes to Kurotsuchi to get his Zanpakuto fixed only for the scientist to tell him it's impossible because, while it's easy to fix a Zanpakuto in Shikai, a broken Bankai stays that way forever. There are two things that come to mind with this revelation. 1: TRANING MONTAGE FEATURING ICHIGO REGAINING HIS BANKAI. 2: That really doesn't make sense. He explains that there are some exceptions like Komamura whose Bankai heals when the user is healed (Just like the Bankai is hurt when the user is hurt) and notes a few difference in Bankai like when Renji's Bankai got partially destroyed by Byakuya, the blades (Those pieces of bamboo, I guess) never returned...
That makes no sense. How about the time Szayel Aporro LITTERALLY BLEW THE FREAKIN' carp OUT OF HIS BANKAI INTO TINY PIECES OF SHREDS?! Or heck, how about the time when Uryuu shot a giant arrow through your own Bankai, blowing it in half and piercing a huge hole in you too, Mayuri?! Or what, are you another exception? This lil' fact is, I believe, introduced way too late into the manga, so late in fact that Tite Kubo apparently didn't think all the details through. But hey, we all know Ichigo will get his Zanpakuto back, right? Or some sort of super-power, anyway. Also, we finally, FINALLY learn of what happened to Kon. Apparently, he followed Rukia, favoring her instead of our orange-haired protagonist, and got a lil' beefed up off-screen. However, he doesn't stick around for too long as we learn SQUAD 0 just got here. The real disappointing comes next. Ichigo and Mayuri go to some place to welcome the arrival of the famed Squad, whom we learn has no soldiers, only five captains and travels through giant white columns that emerge from the ground...
And they look totally lame.
Dear God, do they look lame... The only one that looks passable is the fourth one from the left, but, other than that... Holy shiet to they look bad Oo However, I'm guessing Kubo is borrowing a bit from the Fairy Tail book of story-telling: In that manga, the elders or the old people from a previous generation of wizards all look like carp as well but they're mighty powerful, they've just gotten so old that they don't care about being physically intimidating and badass... But Fairy Tail is a totally different story! It works in Fairy Tail because the mood of that manga is generally calm and, while the story itself is epic, the menace never really reaches any sort of dread. Bleach, right now, is a story in which a well-organized, large empire of quite powerful Quincies has not only decided to invade the Soul Society but has also proven that they are absolutely able to do it... and our Deus Ex Machina for this situation are those five uninspired, unoriginal, unintimidating and overall really boring-looking characters...
Tite Kubo just keeps shooting himself in the foot, doesn't he...