Bleach 571 Review – “A Devilish Perspective”

Bleach 571 Review – “A Devilish Perspective”

Written by: ClayDragon

I’ve been doing these for a year now! Oh god, I’ve been doing these for a year now.

Immediately after Guenael vanishes, Isane runs over to Yachiru to ask why her nose is bleeding. Replying to Isane asking if she hit something, Yachiru states that she doesn’t know. Appearing behind them, Guenael says that it’s normal for Yachiru not to know, and introduces himself again due to him being erased from their memories. He then goes on to say that they are unable to see, feel or remember his existence, as he begins to fade away again.

Holy crap, he's like a garden gnome!

However, he doesn’t disappear fast enough, and Yachiru lands another punch before he disappears, much to her confusion. Guenael then kindly embarks on an inner monologue for our benefit, and explains that his power has three versions. When using the first version, his ‘shape’ vanishes – i.e. he becomes invisible. When using the second version, his ‘existence’ vanishes, which I think means that he becomes completely intangible. When Yachiru hit him, she actually only hit the after-image of his shape after he had phased out of existence.

I have a feeling this is going to be a recurring thing.

He then goes from version two back to version one, and manifests long enough to stab Yachiru in the shoulder. Explaining that he can attack his opponent whilst remaining invisible, he smashes Yachiru into a nearby crate, and then explains that he can change versions in an instant, meaning that by the time you attack him, he’s already gone.

Clearly, our ideas of 'fun' differ slightly.

Comparing the fight to a game, Guenael states that it’s fun, only for Yachiru’s fist to come within an inch of breaking his nose. Jumping back, he notes that she’s getting fast, and activates version three of his power. When using version three, his existence vanishes not only from the world, but also everyone’s minds, causing them to forget all about him. He then appears before Isane and Yachiru, and once again introduces himself.

Come on, you have one eye focused on the fight, how come you didn't see that coming?

However, before he can even finish his sentence, Yachiru throws another punch, which he only manages to avoid by activating version two. As he wonders how she knew reflexively attacked him despite having never seen him before, Isane asks Yachiru why she attacked him without even knowing if he’s an enemy. To this, Yachiru replies that she got the impression that he was an enemy, and that she was just attacking on instinct.  

In all fairness, you really don't look like a good guy.

As Yachiru reaches into a nearby box, Guenael begins to get a bit worked up, and decides to kill her before her instincts can do any more damage. Pulling her Zanpakuto out from the box, Yachiru explains that she knew he was an enemy because she felt a ‘rustle’ – which she defines to be a cold, hot and happy feeling, and that whenever Kenpachi found someone who caused him to feel like that, he started to fight them.

Why not? That's what I do.

She then goes on to say that because Kenpachi isn’t there, he won’t get annoyed at her stealing his kill. As Guenael moves to stab Yachiru in the back, she turns around and slashes the air where he was a moment ago. Moving away, he says that it’s impossible for her to hit him no matter how many times she tries – only to realise that he now has a deep cut on his nose. Manifesting fully once again, he claims that he definitely dodged her blade.

Oh well, at least the glasses are still intact.

Yachiru then replies that her sword hits him anyway, regardless of whether he dodges or not. Apparently, her sword is a copycat, and there’s a kid before and behind the sword imitating it. As a result, even if you think you dodge it, it’s reached further than you would imagine. With this somewhat hand-waving explanation, Yachiru activates her Shikai – Sanpo Kenjuu. Once it’s activated, two creatures appear behind her, and both are wielding big swords. As Guenael asks what the hell it is, Yachiru and the two creatures all slash at him at once.

Cool, a Hollow puppet and a small fat Wookie.

Whilst I enjoyed finding out how Guenael’s power worked, it did seem a little over-complicated. Why does he even need the invisibility version if he can fade out of existence? And if he can remove himself from anyone’s memory, why does he even need version two? I get that it creates a sort of ‘layer’ effect, where he’s removing himself from reality step-by-step, but it seems that the first two versions are mostly unnecessary.

Seriously? You look like that and you're calling her a monkey?

Another confusing aspect of this week’s chapter was Yachiru’s Shikai. Given that the explanation of how it worked was extremely airy-fairy, I’m still not a hundred percent sure of the details, but I think it works in one of two ways. The first way is that it works by belief (as evidenced when Yachiru said that there’s a kid imitating it), and so the sword will hit its target as long as the wielder believes that it can. The other option is that the three swords specifically hit targets that are: a) invisible, b) intangible, and c) completely removed from existence. If the latter explanation is true, I’m going to be very annoyed, because then Yachiru’s Shikai will be completely tailor-made just to defeat Guenael.

Hax! I call hax!

Finally, on a somewhat different note, most of you are probably aware that Shōnen Jump is going to release a fighting game to celebrate 45 years of serialisation, called J-Stars Victory VS. Essentially, it’s a love-letter to pretty much every series ever published in the magazine, and contains characters from lots of different series, like Dragonball Z, Naruto, Bleach, Gintama, and so on and so forth. The only problem is, the makers haven’t said that the game is coming to the western world, and so, in the grand tradition of the internet, a petition has been created to rectify this. Feel free to sign it – at the time of writing this, only another 3,400 signatures are needed. Here’s the link: http://www.change.org/petitions/namco-bandai-to-bring-j-stars-victory-vs-to-north-america-and-europe

Sweet Jesus my body is ready.

Good Things:      An explanation as to how Guenael’s powers work.

                            Yachiru is finally going to fight.

                            We finally get to see what Yachiru’s Shikai is like.

Bad Things:        Isane appears to be going out of focus again.

                            No proper explanation of how Yachiru’s Shikai actually works.

                                    

Manga Rating:   3/5

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. This world is ours. We have ruled it since the wheel and the fire. We have no need of weapons.