Bleach 527 Review - "Eliminate From Heaven"

Bleach 527 Review - "Eliminate From Heaven"

                                                                 Written by: ClayDragon

And so, the play is over.

The latest Bleach chapter sees an end to the Kenpachi vs. Unohana training session that’s being going on for the past few weeks. With Unohana (seemingly) dying in Zaraki’s arms, she bequeaths the title of Kenpachi to him as he begs for her not to die. Just as Unohana thinks to herself that she’s happy with dying, a voice calls out to Kenpachi, which turns out to be coming from none other than his Zanpakuto. Does this mean that we’re finally going to learn more about Kenpachi’s sword?

Sadly, no.

So near, and yet so far.

Just as the Zanpakuto is about to reveal his/her/its name, Tite Kubo once again veers away from any significant reveal, and we move on to seeing how Ichigo and Renji are doing. In a reveal that perhaps subverted many reader’s expectations, Renji passed the test whilst Ichigo failed, resulting in Ichigo getting sent ‘back home’ in order to learn about his roots. Whilst it’s good to see that Renji (who has only won one canon fight on his own) can still hold his own against powerful enemies, I was a little disappointed that we aren’t going to see Ichigo meet the Spirit King for a while. On the other hand, he’s obviously not going to become a boring invincible hero anytime soon, which can only be a good thing.

Well, this was unexpected.

One of the best parts of Bleach has always been its massive cast, but in this arc it seems as if there are a number of characters and plot threads that should be getting at least some screentime, but aren’t. For example, we haven’t seen much of Urahara’s team for a while now, and Uryu has been out of focus since the beginning of the arc. And don’t get me started on the Visoreds, whose plot thread has been left hanging for 46 chapters – almost a year in real-life time.

Of course, the main question I was asking after finishing this chapter wasn’t “What are Ichigo’s roots?”, or even “What will Kenpachi’s Bankai be like?”. It was “If Unohana is really dead, then who’ll be the new Squad Four captain?”.

I’m putting my money on Hanataro.

Manga rating: 3.5/5