Bleach 540 Review – “The Sword Five”

Bleach 540 Review – “The Sword Five”

Written by: ClayDragon

Someone should really check Tite Kubo’s house for drugs.

We start with Ouetsu being his typical self as he begins to reforge Ichigo’s Zanpakuto. First, he summons five people who randomly attack him. Ichigo’s Asauchi begins to disintegrate, and lands next to Ouetsu as a beam of light. One of the people – possibly Mera, it’s hard to tell – creates a massive fire, whilst another – called ‘Tokie’ – fills a trough with water.

Then things get weird(er).

"Okay, what the hell is going on?"

Another girl extends her ponytails and catches... something, whilst another person pulls out one of their teeth, which turns into a hammer. The hammer is then handed to Ouetsu, who takes off his sunglasses and gets ready to start the reforging. He smashes the hammer down on the Asauchi (now in the shape of a sword) as Ichigo stands back and watches. Apparently the colour of the flames is important, as Ouetsu explains that’s why he removed his sunglasses. As he continues to use the hammer, Ichigo asks why the Asauchi looks like his inner Hollow. Apparently, the Asauchi took the shape of Ichigo’s Zanpakuto, which means that Zangetsu isn’t actually Ichigo’s Zanpakuto.

She really should see a dentist about that.

His real Zanpakuto is his inner Hollow, which came about as a result of Masaki being attacked by the Proto-Arrancar. Her inner Hollow which Isshin protected her from was passed down into Ichigo, and fused with his Soul Reaper powers to become his Zanpakuto. It transpires that the personification of Zangetsu is actually the personification of Yhwach from 1000 years ago.

In hindsight, I really should have foreseen this. They look exactly the same.

Out of all the recent plot twists, this one has arguably raised the most questions. Is Old Man Zangetsu evil? Is he some sort of inner Quincy? Why is he from 1000 years ago? Is Hollow Ichigo still going to be as psychotic? This chapter has pretty much taken everything we knew about Zangetsu and turned it on its head.

Aside from that, the first half of this chapter feels as though it was made on drugs. Five random people appear, somehow make a forge, and then disappear from the story. Their entire purpose could easily have been replaced with a furnace, anvil and hammer and the story would have progressed much faster.

It's like a good, slightly less twisted version of the Ginyu Squad.

The second half was much more enjoyable, as Ichigo comes to the realization of what exactly is going on with Zangetsu. In hindsight, the fact that Hollow Ichigo kept on saying that he is Zangetsu makes a lot more sense.

I usually pride myself on being able to make sense of Bleach’s plot twists, and figure out what's going to happen next, but this one completely threw me.

My thoughts exactly.

Good things:                      Hollow Ichigo will most likely return.

            

                                         Return of Old Man Zangetsu.

                                         A properly shocking plot twist.

Bad things:                        First half seems pointless.

                                        The random Sword Five.

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.