BA chapter 351 spoiler thread in a nutshell:

[khyata]

- Ichigo is a plotkai ape and Kubo is clearly hopped up on hallucinogens for making him defeat Ulquiorra.

- Ulquiorra's character has been fucked six ways to Sunday, therefore Bleach is trash and Kubo is the epitome of evil.

- Kubo is trash for not making the fight drag on for the better part of our adult lives, therefore everything is plotkai and

Comments

[adam_epp]

Meh, Ichigo's been stronger than Ulquiorra since Chapter 194 or somewhere around there (while Ichigo's power is fluctuating, Ulquiorra clearly mentions that Ichigo is sometimes stronger than he is). The sudden power-ups have been in Bleach since the very first chapter (seriously, he turns into a Shinigami and is immediately stronger than Rukia? Wut? Although, Kubo later retcons this and makes it implausible that Rukia even had trouble with that hollow in the first chapter).

Bleach is so noted for using inexplicable power-ups. Whyo suddenly complains when Ichigo powers up in Chapter 351? I guess it's different for Ulquiorra fans when he does it to Ulquiorra (yey, double standards).

Anyway, my problem with this sudden power-up is that it was nowhere near sudden enough. It could have happened any number of times in the last 150 chapters since Ichigo has lost around five or six fights in that time (to like three characters). If he had powered up sooner, this godawful arc could have moved a lot faster. Did Ichigo seriously need to fight Grimmjow three or four times? Honestly, there's a reason shounen heroes usually lose only once to an enemy before coming back to defeat them, as opposed to losing three or four times before a comeback. It's so the story doesn't drag so much.

Oh well. Bleach is a lot more entertaining at the moment, I think.

[khyata]

He pretty much has been. And it also irks me that people think this..thing/glorified Allon type beast is somehow a power up for Ichigo. I guess it makes him more ruthless, but at what cost? At the cost of utterly losing his humanity? And it also begs the question as to the hero/villain dynamics that has been going on in this fight, yes? How can we truly reconcile ourselves to an Ichibeast without a shred of humanity, without a shred of his niceness and nobility and accept him as the 'hero'? Ulquiorra seems to appear more and more human (in direct contrast to Ichibeast), for all his bloviating about true despair or otherwise. So really, these chapters for me have opened up a lot of questions about the nature of the hollow/human dynamics and kudos to Kubo's brilliance for that.

Bleach is so noted for using inexplicable power-ups. Whyo suddenly complains when Ichigo powers up in Chapter 351? I guess it's different for Ulquiorra fans when he does it to Ulquiorra (yey, double standards).

Word. Much as I love Ulquiorra (I really really do), this fight had to end sometime? And judging by that last spoiler pic with the two-toned cero, I don't think Ulq's out. I think he managed to obstruct Ichibeast's point blank cero at the last minute with his own black one, but we'll just have to wait and see on that.

And I also agree 100% with you on Ichigo being kicked around several times by several espada, before he FINALLY achieved some sort of quasi 'powerup', and even that moment is mired in irony. Heh, Bleach is immensely entertaining at the moment. :D

[laurie_bunter]

I can't say it any better than you, so I won't. XD