Thoughts on Bleach, then

[petronia]

I have noticed that if I don't give my entries a representative title people will ignore them. XD Like, if I write a MoB summary I have to put "Mirage of Blaze summary of Book #[foo]", and if I write fic I have to put "Here is fic for series [bar]!" Of course this makes it easier for me to find the relevant entry later as well. But it's difficult because my first urge is always to put something like "Random babble" or "What is schaffel anyway?" as the title.

So I have up to 161 in scanlations, 135-155 or so in raws, then 161 and up in raws. Of course I wouldn't have been able to read it nearly as fast if I were squinting my way through fuzzy Japanese scans, but I felt like I was missing out on the vital "my attack kanji are cooler than your attack kanji!" aspect.** Also, whoo boy the names. Onyomi practice what.

Eventually I realised that the most efficient way to make sense of the plot is to read it with the assumption that it was written by CLAMP. XD Byakuya is a CLAMP character. No, not because of the sakura. It's the way his personal value system is completely predicated around an abstract ideal most would consider a bit insane. By WJ standards you'd expect him to have Angst, but at one point I realised he doesn't; nothing that he himself would conceive of as such, that is. I don't think I have to explain why Aizen is a CLAMP character. XD Given the known members of the conspiracy its ultimate goal is probably CLAMPesque as well, like destroying Soul Society because it is institutionally unjust. Like I was saying to worldserpent just now, the Bleach vision of the afterlife is more like the Egyptian one than any other: after you die you just... continue living in the next, with the same vicissitudes (worse, in fact, because quality of life in Soul Society seems to be stuck in the Tokugawa era), and if you're smart you'll bring some tools and weapons with you, because it's a long and dangerous journey.

Meanwhile to everything, I love how Zaraki (and apparently the rest of the 11th Division by extension) just sort of... fails to care. Executions, conspiracies, miscarriages of justice, orders, chain of command, roight, whatever - so where's the fight at?

(I'm curious as to whether he'll ever find out his sword's name, but logically that would just sort of make him invincible. o_o)

I totally missed the Hisana thing, Charmian had to explain it to me. XD I thought it really was a picture of Rukia.

But okay, so either Rukia is coincidentally the physical double of someone who is/was related to Byakuya, or... she's related to Byakuya after all, right? They look too alike, and KT is not one of those mangaka where all the characters basically resemble each other except for their hair. There has to be a reason why they adopted her, anyway, nothing in the series indicates that she was powerful enough to warrant it for that alone. >_>

Speaking of which I kind of take issue with how KT creates a strong, pro-active female character like Rukia, then literally locks her in a tower awaiting rescue for, like, half the series. Now she can't even talk without either Ichigo or Renji telling her to just shut up and let them handle things. >_> Orihime doesn't get to do much of anything either.

Although another way of viewing this (oft stated in the text) is that the more fights you can avoid, the smarter you are. XD;;; Witness all the people beating each other into pulp on and around the execution mound while a rare few used their heads and went for the judiciary who handed down the orders in the first place.

Actually, it's also CLAMPesque in the sense that for all the fighting, relationships are the key to everything. After Aizen got "offed" it basically turned into a mystery novel wherein A was schoolmates with B and B used to be in the same division as C who used to work for D who was rescued in earliest childhood by E who did it in the parlor with the candlestick while the butler's back was turned. Anyhow I get the impression KT's not writing it for the pure joy of battle, either, at one point he just started eliding fights halfway through when either 1) it's kind of irrelevant to the plot and no one cares or 2) it's kind of irrelevant to the plot and would take 30,000 chapters to write out properly.

** When Byakuya came out with the third form of his ban kai I totally expected Ichigo to say, "Okay, fine, YOU WIN AT KANJI. OKAY?"

Comments

[worldserpent.livejournal.com]

It is annoying how Rukia totally isn't allowed to do anything by the storyline, although it is explained that her powers have been drained. Although, I keep hoping that pretty soon Rukia will have the epiphany and somehow "turn against" Byakuya and reject her previous acceptance of her execution. I guess the way that I would feel if I were Ichigo and Renji is that why listen to Rukia until she comes to her senses? So I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Aizen got "offed" it basically turned into a mystery novel wherein A was schoolmates with B and B used to be in the same division as C who used to work for D who was rescued in earliest childhood by E who did it in the parlor with the candlestick while the butler's back was turned.

XD XD You know, I had always been thinking of it as "first Kubo Tite was drawing a shoujo gakuenmono story and then WTF, he turns it into your usual WJ fightfest," but then it seems that the fight fest is *really* a relationship soap/opera melodrama in disguise!

[petronia.livejournal.com]

I don't think Byakuya per se is the problem, though. Rukia has deep-seated self-esteem issues to which Byakuya contributed, but which date to way previous to her capture and near-execution. Easy to make her want to live again, not so easy to convince her she's worth the effort of rescuing. :/

I think if it weren't forced to follow the WJ battle format (somewhat at the detriment of overall flow) it'd end up something like PMK. XD

[flowright.livejournal.com]

** When Byakuya came out with the third form of his ban kai I totally expected Ichigo to say, "Okay, fine, YOU WIN AT KANJI. OKAY?"

best summary ever XD XD

Aizen is a CLAMP character. XD Given the known members of the conspiracy its ultimate goal is probably CLAMPesque as well, like destroying Soul Society because it is institutionally unjust

The very CLAMP thins he could pull out would be the contrary.
It would seem like he wanted to destroy the Soul society while in fact he LIKES it and he's acting on his own to save everybody by killing them. Of course all of this is once again a smoke scren because his real selfish sekreet reason would be to get laid by *clamp doom machine of crack : mode on* kon who is the reincarnation of his dead brother soul.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

It would seem like he wanted to destroy the Soul society while in fact he LIKES it and he's acting on his own to save everybody by killing them. Of course all of this is once again a smoke scren because his real selfish sekreet reason would be to get laid by *clamp doom machine of crack : mode on* kon who is the reincarnation of his dead brother soul.

Haha, yeah, that's exactly what I mean. XD It's all about Luuuuurrv.

[halcyonjazz.livejournal.com]

I'm just gonna comment on a couple of things~ XD

I'm curious as to whether he'll ever find out his sword's name, but logically that would just sort of make him invincible. o_o

It's kind of implied that Zaraki DOES know his swords name, I think? After his battle with Ichigo he trumps in against 2 captains saying it won't NEARLY be enough. Of course maybe I'm reading that wrong.


As for Rukia, I think KT is getting somewhere. I don't think he's doing it to upstage her, I think he's very intentionally avoiding giving out ANY hints about where she stands as a shinigami. i.e.: her family name is an ADOPTED name and her FIRST name is in katakana, she loses her powers from chapter 1, she's unable to use demon arts efficiently, she;s locked up in a tower with her powers supposedly destroyed, her flashbacks are centered around other characters and not herself so we get no inside info, aaaand when she joined the 13th division she wasn't seated but we have no idea if she went up the ranks since then (because then why was Rukia allowed to go with her captain and vice-captain...?). It's been driving me crazy, yes, but it's like KT is building the entire series around finding out about Rukia, which has me convinced that she's actually the TRUE main character (she even appears first in the manga!).

Also, word @ KT's author-ship.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Zaraki never thinks anything is enough. He's like the Black Knight outta Monty Python. You're right, though, he could know it already after the fight with Ichigo, but from this point on practically speaking it doesn't matter whether in the middle of a battle he 1) had a sudden paradigm shift and figures out how to talk to his sword or 2) reveals that he already figured it out omg! and then there's a flashback showing how. XD The reader'll only find out when it happens.

I hope you're right about Rukia. :D

[motorbike.livejournal.com]

Ahha, thanks for this. I'm kinda bouncing between Bleach and Tsubasa as new chapters come out, and I too am thinking Kubotite's pulling some CLAMPish tricks here. Aizen. I mean, come on.

I keep wanting to write KT off as a Shouneny Shounen Mangaka Who Writes Shounen, but then as you said there are the relationships driving the plot, the profoundly enjoyable CLAMP-like plot twists, and a few female characters that are worth their boobs tight pants salt. And OK some of them don't even have huge racks! The battles do at points become unbearable enough for me to do some scrolling to the part where someone wins, but perhaps KT's had his fill of them after 100-some chapters of OMG NONSTOP AXN.

As for Rukia, I'm hoping she gets her own tsuyoku naritai thing going, powers or no, and that she doesn't merely fade away into damselity. I hate seeing her let lchigo tell her to shut her mouth.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I saw your post and was like, "You're not lame! I'm going to be writing an even longer speculation post!" But then I sort of live for Weekly Jump speculation, in perpetual lamearsery as it were. :D

The battles are more a function of the genre than of the mangaka. I get the impression KT likes to set them up (yay swords yay outfits yay kanji!) more than he likes to go through with them, actually...

[motorbike.livejournal.com]

I wrote up my blurb mainly for personal therapy, it didn't contain much besides what chirachira had already postulated, but CH175 was giving me aneurysms and if I didn't speak I'd explode.

Note to self in future: Do not attempt to read 70+ Bleach chapters in one night, it'll short-circuit your head. I'd be carrying on normal conversations with people over coffee and suddenly say something like "Make mine a Venti with extra Bleach. UH MILK. I meant milk."

Ehheh, I guess people did read that post. I'm glad you did, and that it encouraged postage on your part, because your postage actually contains, you know, thoughts that haven't already been thunk by everyone else at soul_society.