Bleach: Hueco Mundo Arc
Hueco Mundo ............. Complete. Finally. (End of chapter 315)
*gurgle*
Um ... Nel is cool?
I had been told, repeatedly, that I would not enjoy this arc and I didn't. There were lots of fights, it was boring and everyone hated it so obviously I - who hadn't really been enjoying Bleach a whole bunch already - wouldn't much care for it.
Alright. Um ...... first the positives. I was very pleased to see some people actually *die*, and Nel was cute. Ok ... done with that.
I guess the only thing to talk about this arc is the Arrancar that got spanked. Let's list them, shall we:
Nnoitra. One thing I'll give him credit for is he has very creepy character design. Other than that he was pretty missable and frankly I thought that finding out he had a hole in his head was rather fitting. His drive to be better, stronger, etc and to not tolerate weakness, and so on could have been more interesting on a better developed character, as it was a was just very happy to see Kenpachi just kick his ass.
Grimmjow. I understand a lot of people want him to be alive but he did get his 'death retrospective' so that does seem unlikely. This was probably my favorite fight. I didn't expect it but I have come to like him a little more. His struggle to become the best hollow of each type by consuming others and becoming the King of All Beasts was actually a compelling bit of backstory for him. He's probably currently holding my title of 'favorite Arrancar' which admittedly isn't saying too much because I'm not a fan of them in general, but he does hold that title handily.
Luppi. Died like a punk. I was surprised that he didn't have more development but enh ... not a huge fan.
Zommari: This guy was a little creepy and actually had the unexpected effect of causing me to actually like Byakuya for a full 10 chapters, maybe. He was boooring though, especially since he got pwned pretty easily once Byakuya stopped fiddle-fucking around. Byakuya was unexpectedly badass and surprise!Hana helped out a lot.
Szayel: The fight that never ends! God. This fight was so boring. Uryuu had gotten a little credit with me for rocking some in Soul Society but he was just so hideously boring and him and Renji not being able to finish this guy off or even make a dent really made them seem like team scrub (right ahead of Chad who got pwned like a pussy again despite just getting another power evolution which is a rant for a different section). Mayuri is creepy as fuck though. He was probably the only good part of this arc.
Aaroniero: This was probably my second favorite (maybe third?) fight this arc. Seeing Rukia actually face up to her history with Kaien - which was a major emo!point for her back in the Soul Society arc, and seemed to be one of the reasons she was willing to die - was very good. The guy himself was kind of creepy but I feel like he wasn't really used up to his full potential which is expected but still disappointing.
While introducing these guys and then letting them linger forgotten is clearly unacceptable, introducing these guys and then killing them without us giving a rats ass is also not the right way to do it either. I felt neither empathy with them (except in the case of Grimmy) nor gladness at their defeat other than the fact that it meant the slaughterfest was finally over and the plot could actually start up again. The 'death-flashback' is a cheap - and ineffective - way of building character. It was especially ineffective in the case of the Privarons who didn't even get a flashback and instead just a little bit of 'oh I don't want to give up!'
It leaves little sense of accomplishment really. The only characters who I really wanted to see trounced were Grimmy and Ulquarria, (and I didn't even get to see Ulquarria bite it!) and that was because there was much more personal investment in their characters, in their struggles with Ichigo, etc. I suppose the death flashback keeps you from getting 'leather pants' like I understand Roxas and Axel (of KH2) are occasionally subject to, but I need to care some. Trying to pull on my heartstrings or something after the fact is completely unnecessary and ineffective.
Taking a 80 chapter hiatus from telling a story in order to start up on the murder-and-blood porn was just boring. I know this is Shonen manga, but saying that expecting some plot from it would be 'doing it wrong' does a disservice to the genre as a whole. I accept there's going to be fighting and bankai waving and power levels over 9000 but that's no excuse to not slide a sliver of plot in there. Really.
The only thing that even vaguely resembled plot was the 2-3 chapters that were dedicated to Orihime's *brilliant plan* (sarcasm intended) to unmake the Hougyoku. Also, this is a stupid plan. I understand that this plan has not yet been proven to be stupid in canon yet, but that doesn't change the fact that when the Evul Overlord sidles you up to his sekret weapon and says 'oh you totally have the ability to deny events, here is my secret weapon' it is either a painfully obvious set up or a painfully obvious plot hole. *linefaces.* She's supposed to be really smart.
Nel was cute, at least. It's hard for me to get super enthusiastic about her, though, because she was literally one of the only treasures among the trash. She was cute, seeing a good/neutral Arrancar was a nice change but I was left a little confused why she was serving Aizen. She just doesn't seem to fit among the 'my wang is bigger let's smash it to the ground' crowd that everyone else belonged to. I'm told it's probably just due to the Arrancarization saving the Hollows from possibly reverting but... meh. I think it needs to be expanded on especially given how radically different Nel is from the rest of the pack.
Also, one last thing: Chad. pikabot likes him a lot. I'm kinda ambivalent about him, but I like him enough to feel completely gyped by how Worfed he got. He got to beat one of the 100s but he just ... sucked it hard. Really hard. I'm glad Ichigo brought his friends and all, but if they're just going to suck it hard and need rescuing over and over again, why are they here?! I'm told that One Piece does the whole 'Nakama' thing much better, but wow I'm just not impressed with the way the whole 'friends stick together' thing is played out in Bleach. It mostly seems to boil down to: you get in trouble and then Ichigo spends 80-100 chapters trying to save you.
The short version: Katie hated Hueco Mundo, Katie is now going to read the Pendulum Arc and hope it is one third as awesome as everyone keeps promising and is going to put this hideous part of her life behind her.
*gurgle*
Um ... Nel is cool?
I had been told, repeatedly, that I would not enjoy this arc and I didn't. There were lots of fights, it was boring and everyone hated it so obviously I - who hadn't really been enjoying Bleach a whole bunch already - wouldn't much care for it.
Alright. Um ...... first the positives. I was very pleased to see some people actually *die*, and Nel was cute. Ok ... done with that.
I guess the only thing to talk about this arc is the Arrancar that got spanked. Let's list them, shall we:
Nnoitra. One thing I'll give him credit for is he has very creepy character design. Other than that he was pretty missable and frankly I thought that finding out he had a hole in his head was rather fitting. His drive to be better, stronger, etc and to not tolerate weakness, and so on could have been more interesting on a better developed character, as it was a was just very happy to see Kenpachi just kick his ass.
Grimmjow. I understand a lot of people want him to be alive but he did get his 'death retrospective' so that does seem unlikely. This was probably my favorite fight. I didn't expect it but I have come to like him a little more. His struggle to become the best hollow of each type by consuming others and becoming the King of All Beasts was actually a compelling bit of backstory for him. He's probably currently holding my title of 'favorite Arrancar' which admittedly isn't saying too much because I'm not a fan of them in general, but he does hold that title handily.
Luppi. Died like a punk. I was surprised that he didn't have more development but enh ... not a huge fan.
Zommari: This guy was a little creepy and actually had the unexpected effect of causing me to actually like Byakuya for a full 10 chapters, maybe. He was boooring though, especially since he got pwned pretty easily once Byakuya stopped fiddle-fucking around. Byakuya was unexpectedly badass and surprise!Hana helped out a lot.
Szayel: The fight that never ends! God. This fight was so boring. Uryuu had gotten a little credit with me for rocking some in Soul Society but he was just so hideously boring and him and Renji not being able to finish this guy off or even make a dent really made them seem like team scrub (right ahead of Chad who got pwned like a pussy again despite just getting another power evolution which is a rant for a different section). Mayuri is creepy as fuck though. He was probably the only good part of this arc.
Aaroniero: This was probably my second favorite (maybe third?) fight this arc. Seeing Rukia actually face up to her history with Kaien - which was a major emo!point for her back in the Soul Society arc, and seemed to be one of the reasons she was willing to die - was very good. The guy himself was kind of creepy but I feel like he wasn't really used up to his full potential which is expected but still disappointing.
While introducing these guys and then letting them linger forgotten is clearly unacceptable, introducing these guys and then killing them without us giving a rats ass is also not the right way to do it either. I felt neither empathy with them (except in the case of Grimmy) nor gladness at their defeat other than the fact that it meant the slaughterfest was finally over and the plot could actually start up again. The 'death-flashback' is a cheap - and ineffective - way of building character. It was especially ineffective in the case of the Privarons who didn't even get a flashback and instead just a little bit of 'oh I don't want to give up!'
It leaves little sense of accomplishment really. The only characters who I really wanted to see trounced were Grimmy and Ulquarria, (and I didn't even get to see Ulquarria bite it!) and that was because there was much more personal investment in their characters, in their struggles with Ichigo, etc. I suppose the death flashback keeps you from getting 'leather pants' like I understand Roxas and Axel (of KH2) are occasionally subject to, but I need to care some. Trying to pull on my heartstrings or something after the fact is completely unnecessary and ineffective.
Taking a 80 chapter hiatus from telling a story in order to start up on the murder-and-blood porn was just boring. I know this is Shonen manga, but saying that expecting some plot from it would be 'doing it wrong' does a disservice to the genre as a whole. I accept there's going to be fighting and bankai waving and power levels over 9000 but that's no excuse to not slide a sliver of plot in there. Really.
The only thing that even vaguely resembled plot was the 2-3 chapters that were dedicated to Orihime's *brilliant plan* (sarcasm intended) to unmake the Hougyoku. Also, this is a stupid plan. I understand that this plan has not yet been proven to be stupid in canon yet, but that doesn't change the fact that when the Evul Overlord sidles you up to his sekret weapon and says 'oh you totally have the ability to deny events, here is my secret weapon' it is either a painfully obvious set up or a painfully obvious plot hole. *linefaces.* She's supposed to be really smart.
Nel was cute, at least. It's hard for me to get super enthusiastic about her, though, because she was literally one of the only treasures among the trash. She was cute, seeing a good/neutral Arrancar was a nice change but I was left a little confused why she was serving Aizen. She just doesn't seem to fit among the 'my wang is bigger let's smash it to the ground' crowd that everyone else belonged to. I'm told it's probably just due to the Arrancarization saving the Hollows from possibly reverting but... meh. I think it needs to be expanded on especially given how radically different Nel is from the rest of the pack.
Also, one last thing: Chad. pikabot likes him a lot. I'm kinda ambivalent about him, but I like him enough to feel completely gyped by how Worfed he got. He got to beat one of the 100s but he just ... sucked it hard. Really hard. I'm glad Ichigo brought his friends and all, but if they're just going to suck it hard and need rescuing over and over again, why are they here?! I'm told that One Piece does the whole 'Nakama' thing much better, but wow I'm just not impressed with the way the whole 'friends stick together' thing is played out in Bleach. It mostly seems to boil down to: you get in trouble and then Ichigo spends 80-100 chapters trying to save you.
The short version: Katie hated Hueco Mundo, Katie is now going to read the Pendulum Arc and hope it is one third as awesome as everyone keeps promising and is going to put this hideous part of her life behind her.