Bleach 533 Review – “The Gravitation”

Bleach 533 Review – “The Gravitation”

Written by: ClayDragon

Farewell Vasto Lorde, we hardly knew ye.

After Masaki’s apparent sacrifice to destroy the Arrancar, we get to see a nice reaction shot of Isshin, Aizen, Kaname and Gin as they realise just what happened. Of particular note is Aizen’s face, which sports a look that isn’t seen very often. The Vasto Lorde’s mask begins to crack, and its body becomes the epicentre of a massive explosion. Isshin jumps in front of Masaki to protect her, and now we see the scene that was shown back in chapter 528. Somehow, Masaki not only seems to be able to remain conscious after being gored by the Arrancar, but she’s also able to run over to Isshin’s side and heal him, regardless of her injuries.

"Oh crap."

After a slight internal struggle, she reveals to Isshin that she’s a Quincy, despite the fact that he most likely already knew that, given that she used a Reishi bow to distract the Vasto Lorde last chapter. Despite the beating he took, Isshin still remains upbeat as he thanks Masaki for saving him. However, they’re watched over by Ryuuken and his maid, Katagiri. They both appear to wearing some kind of armour, but they depart before we get a proper chance to see it.

Back at the Soul Society, Aizen and Kaname have a discussion about whether or not the prototype Arrancar was a success, whilst Isshin reports back to Yamamoto and the rest of the Captains. Because Isshin was able to cope with the situation (for the most part) and prevent any deaths (for the most part), Yamamoto decides to overlook Isshin’s breach of the rules. It appears that Isshin decided not to tell the rest of the Captains about Masaki, and he leaves the meeting.

Hard to believe that an explosion that size kept the number of deaths to a minimum.

In the world of the living, Masaki is in school, and starts to wonder about Isshin, thinking that she should have asked him his name. Meanwhile, in the Soul Society, Isshin is thinking the exact same things about Masaki and wonders if it would be possible to meet her again. Just as Masaki leaves school with her friends, she bumps into someone – our favourite eccentric mentor, Urahara! He seems to think nothing of this, until one of Masaki’s friends calls her by her name, at which point he turns around to stare after her.

Whilst this chapter finished the fight against the Vasto Lorde and answered one or two questions, the fact that we didn’t get to see Isshin’s Bankai or the Reishi Armour was kind of disappointing. On the other hand, they could have been set up as plot points to be resolved later, so we’ll need to wait and see. Aizen’s discussion with Kaname seems a little strange, as they discuss the Vasto Lorde being created in order to Hollowfy Soul Reapers....except they already managed to Hollowfy the Visoreds without using it. Either there’s a slight continuity error, or there’s even more going on here than meets the eye.

You do not want to see this face on someone hanging around outside your school.

With all that said, the main surprise in this chapter was seeing Urahara pop up, and finding out that he has at least some knowledge of Masaki. Although, given that he seems to know absolutely everything (to a frankly disconcerting degree), that should maybe have been expected.

I’m looking forward to seeing how this flashback progresses, especially now that Urahara’s going to be involved in some degree. As long as it doesn’t turn into some sort of romantic comedy now, that’s fine by me.

Manga Rating: 4/5

ClayDragon:









ClayDragon is currently studying Physics at university, and is constantly bewildered by it. The main method of contacting him is his Gmail account at kyleroulston1993@gmail.com. The alternative is his Skype account at kyleroulston1993. When not playing games or reading, he can be found with his head in his hands whilst trying in vain to understand quantum physics.