(no subject)
Bleach chapter 410....
*yeah, doing actual shot-by-shot reviews 'cos [character]'s in it~*
--That "AAUUUGH" from Ichigo reminds me of when Chad and Orihime were trying to manifest their powers by yelling really loudly. XD
--Tensa Z isn't even bothering to hold his sword with both hands. Meh, he says. XD
--Okay, so Ichigo finally asks for his zanpakutou's perspective on all they've gone through. It's a pretty statement, too: "I thought you were lending your strength for my sake; was that my misunderstanding? All this time, what was your reason?" It nearly sounds like a reasonable, grown-up question. TZ's closes his eyes; maybe he's deciding how to answer -- and then Ichigo ruins it by yelling, and calling him just plain Zangetsu again. Bam, TZ's eye snaps open and ONCE AGAIN it's no more Mr. Nice Blade. Ichigo just never learns.
--And here comes TZ's motivation -- at the top of his voice. It's too bad the original seiyuu probably won't be voicing this. All that angst has not only drowned the sideways city ("Your world! Clustered with hope-filled skyscrapers that pierced the heavens!") but shrunk it as well, and Ichigo's zanpakutou is done watching his shinigami wither away from within.
--"All of it, Ichigo, is because you despaired and ceased to walk forward." Which harks right back to what Zangetsu said the first time Ichigo learned his name. "Face forward; advance; don't give an inch: retreat and you will age; fear and you will die!" Continuity, we has it! \o/ *looks forward to comparing the other translation*
--"Ichigo. I won't let you remain this way." This, right here, is clearly why Zangetsu in any of his incarnations appears so very seldom in canon. He'd just slice right to the heart (lol see what I did there) of all of Ichigo's problems and the rest of the story would be extremely short. B)
--So, yeah, anyone who wasn't taking TZ seriously because he's shorter than Ichigo now? Um.~
--(Interesting, though, that Ichigo is too confounded to even try to fight him off. He looked like the bit about the sideways city was getting through to him, but is he really starting to understand, or just having a brainbreak moment?)
--R-R-RRRRIIIII-I-I-IP~. I wonder if a zanpakutou could do something like this remotely, or if TZ'd had to wait until Ichigo bothered to visit his inner world? The latter would explain how far the damage has been allowed to go.
--..ow. Whatever horror had knitted its way into Ichigo, TZ just tosses it away behind him without even looking at it. He doesn't need to look at it. I'm pretty sure he knows exactly what it is (and, incidentally, has no personal fear of it at all).
--OH HAI SHIROSAKI! WHAT LONG CLAWS YOU HAVE NOW.
Intense chapter, that. Oh wait, there was more? In Real Karakura? With Tatsuki and Keigo and blah blah Aizen blah blah etc? Well, I don't think Tats is going to die -- that's probably one of the popular suspects (Ryuushin, Orihime and Ishida, or Don Kanonji) showing up at the end to help hold Aizen off. So this time it's about despair, and the Hollow is the source of it all? Makes sense, given the "eyes of the victor" page with Ichigo underwater just after he'd regained control from the rampaging monster. Also significant is that Ichigo's inner world has shrunken into exactly what he's spent the last 9000 chapters trying to protect: Karakura Town. Hallo, tunnel vision. The important thing is that Tensa Z has now forced Ichigo to physically confront his demon. Will they fight it off together, or will the zanpakutou have to stand and wait while Ichigo struggles with his dark side? And most importantly, will they get rid of all that water, or will that have to wait for another time?
(I vote waiting. Rome doesn't heal in a day and that'd provide both an additional inner-world visit and possibly Ichigo making use of the insights he's gained during this one. Rule one: ask for advice as well as assistance, and don't call your sword "that zanpakutou guy".)
Still unexplained are Isshin's lines about zanpakutous not wanting to teach advanced techniques -- especially his belief that what Ichigo would face with Zangetsu was just like his own confrontations with Engetsu. Tensa Zangetsu's focus here is on fixing his shinigami; he's revealed nothing about what might come after. Unless Isshin used to have a massive nihilistic streak, his quarrels with Engetsu would have been of a different sort. (Speaking of which, he must have gotten a shock when TZ's rough surgery made itself known in the outer world. Serves him right for going all expositiony when he knew full well his son couldn't hear him.)
..I'd personally been rooting for Tensa Z to get fed up with talking, knock Ichigo out, haul him out of the water and find a stable spot to rebuild from, like so:
yay, drawing water and it actually worked! o_O
Of course, in the grand tradition of shonen manga and particularly of Bleach, Kubo was never going to draw that. Manually ripping all the angst out of your shinigami's chest and then making him fight it with a big sword is so much more direct.~
In re Friday's translation:
--"Reunited with Tensa Zangetsu"? This seems to verify that Z and TZ are different incarnations of the same entity. As a longtime Whovian, I can definitely live with that.
--"I thought you would lend me your strength... was I wrong?" Hmmmm. Darned inability to read all this in the original Japanese.... Still, TZ snapping only after being called "Zangetsu" again seems to be confirmed.
--"Your world was once full of hope, clusters of tall buildings piercing the sky!" "..Because you despaired and stopped walking...." "I cannot leave you like this..." Same note. Word choice is so crucial, both in writing the character and in guessing his motives -- especially silent ones like Zangetsu, but also shouty ones like TZ.
*yeah, doing actual shot-by-shot reviews 'cos [character]'s in it~*
--That "AAUUUGH" from Ichigo reminds me of when Chad and Orihime were trying to manifest their powers by yelling really loudly. XD
--Tensa Z isn't even bothering to hold his sword with both hands. Meh, he says. XD
--Okay, so Ichigo finally asks for his zanpakutou's perspective on all they've gone through. It's a pretty statement, too: "I thought you were lending your strength for my sake; was that my misunderstanding? All this time, what was your reason?" It nearly sounds like a reasonable, grown-up question. TZ's closes his eyes; maybe he's deciding how to answer -- and then Ichigo ruins it by yelling, and calling him just plain Zangetsu again. Bam, TZ's eye snaps open and ONCE AGAIN it's no more Mr. Nice Blade. Ichigo just never learns.
--And here comes TZ's motivation -- at the top of his voice. It's too bad the original seiyuu probably won't be voicing this. All that angst has not only drowned the sideways city ("Your world! Clustered with hope-filled skyscrapers that pierced the heavens!") but shrunk it as well, and Ichigo's zanpakutou is done watching his shinigami wither away from within.
--"All of it, Ichigo, is because you despaired and ceased to walk forward." Which harks right back to what Zangetsu said the first time Ichigo learned his name. "Face forward; advance; don't give an inch: retreat and you will age; fear and you will die!" Continuity, we has it! \o/ *looks forward to comparing the other translation*
--"Ichigo. I won't let you remain this way." This, right here, is clearly why Zangetsu in any of his incarnations appears so very seldom in canon. He'd just slice right to the heart (lol see what I did there) of all of Ichigo's problems and the rest of the story would be extremely short. B)
--So, yeah, anyone who wasn't taking TZ seriously because he's shorter than Ichigo now? Um.~
--(Interesting, though, that Ichigo is too confounded to even try to fight him off. He looked like the bit about the sideways city was getting through to him, but is he really starting to understand, or just having a brainbreak moment?)
--R-R-RRRRIIIII-I-I-IP~. I wonder if a zanpakutou could do something like this remotely, or if TZ'd had to wait until Ichigo bothered to visit his inner world? The latter would explain how far the damage has been allowed to go.
--..ow. Whatever horror had knitted its way into Ichigo, TZ just tosses it away behind him without even looking at it. He doesn't need to look at it. I'm pretty sure he knows exactly what it is (and, incidentally, has no personal fear of it at all).
--OH HAI SHIROSAKI! WHAT LONG CLAWS YOU HAVE NOW.
Intense chapter, that. Oh wait, there was more? In Real Karakura? With Tatsuki and Keigo and blah blah Aizen blah blah etc? Well, I don't think Tats is going to die -- that's probably one of the popular suspects (Ryuushin, Orihime and Ishida, or Don Kanonji) showing up at the end to help hold Aizen off. So this time it's about despair, and the Hollow is the source of it all? Makes sense, given the "eyes of the victor" page with Ichigo underwater just after he'd regained control from the rampaging monster. Also significant is that Ichigo's inner world has shrunken into exactly what he's spent the last 9000 chapters trying to protect: Karakura Town. Hallo, tunnel vision. The important thing is that Tensa Z has now forced Ichigo to physically confront his demon. Will they fight it off together, or will the zanpakutou have to stand and wait while Ichigo struggles with his dark side? And most importantly, will they get rid of all that water, or will that have to wait for another time?
(I vote waiting. Rome doesn't heal in a day and that'd provide both an additional inner-world visit and possibly Ichigo making use of the insights he's gained during this one. Rule one: ask for advice as well as assistance, and don't call your sword "that zanpakutou guy".)
Still unexplained are Isshin's lines about zanpakutous not wanting to teach advanced techniques -- especially his belief that what Ichigo would face with Zangetsu was just like his own confrontations with Engetsu. Tensa Zangetsu's focus here is on fixing his shinigami; he's revealed nothing about what might come after. Unless Isshin used to have a massive nihilistic streak, his quarrels with Engetsu would have been of a different sort. (Speaking of which, he must have gotten a shock when TZ's rough surgery made itself known in the outer world. Serves him right for going all expositiony when he knew full well his son couldn't hear him.)
..I'd personally been rooting for Tensa Z to get fed up with talking, knock Ichigo out, haul him out of the water and find a stable spot to rebuild from, like so:
yay, drawing water and it actually worked! o_O
Of course, in the grand tradition of shonen manga and particularly of Bleach, Kubo was never going to draw that. Manually ripping all the angst out of your shinigami's chest and then making him fight it with a big sword is so much more direct.~
In re Friday's translation:
--"Reunited with Tensa Zangetsu"? This seems to verify that Z and TZ are different incarnations of the same entity. As a longtime Whovian, I can definitely live with that.
--"I thought you would lend me your strength... was I wrong?" Hmmmm. Darned inability to read all this in the original Japanese.... Still, TZ snapping only after being called "Zangetsu" again seems to be confirmed.
--"Your world was once full of hope, clusters of tall buildings piercing the sky!" "..Because you despaired and stopped walking...." "I cannot leave you like this..." Same note. Word choice is so crucial, both in writing the character and in guessing his motives -- especially silent ones like Zangetsu, but also shouty ones like TZ.