Bleach 560 Review – “Rages at Ringside”

Bleach 560 Review – “Rages at Ringside”
Written by: ClayDragon

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!"

Apparently, wrestling moves are now more than a match for swords.

As Rukia and Renji fall towards the battlefield, Mask De Masculine watches them and asks himself if he should go over and investigate what’s happening. He then asks for James’ opinion, to which his follower/groupie/mole person says he can get lots of attention for investigating the falling objects. Mask agrees, and just as he begins to run away his foot is caught by the chains on Kazeshini. As he bends down to take off the chains, Shuhei asks Mask if he thinks he’s won.

"Crap crap crap crap crap crap crap crap crap crap."

Pulling on the chain, Mask drags Shuhei towards him and clotheslines him, instantly knocking him to the ground. Just as he’s about to stamp on his head, his foot is blocked by Kensei, who insults Shuhei by saying that he was defeated without even getting to show the results of his training. When Mask asks if he knows the three Soul Reapers lying on the ground, Kensei introduces himself as the Captain of the 9^th Division.

I'm afraid I have to agree with him on this, Shuhei.

Despite being happy to meet a Captain, Mask asks him to move out of the way, as he intends to investigate the object that fell from the sky. Just as he says he intends to get attention, Rose appears behind him, saying that fighting two Captains is the best way to get attention. Before the fight even properly starts, Kensei activates his Bankai, and Mask states that he’ll beat Kensei in ten counts, and drop kicks Kensei. 

....Well, at least he's polite about it.

Of course, all this does is destroy the surrounding buildings, as Kensei managed to block the attack with one of his Zanpakuto blades/knuckle duster things. Whilst holding Mask in position, Kensei punches him right in the stomach, causing him to double over in pain. Kensei then lifts him up, and explains what his Bankai does. In Shikai mode, Tachikaze can make anything that it cuts burst out, and when in Bankai, the power is transferred to Kensei’s fist, meaning that the same bursting power constantly hits whatever his fist is in contact with.

He speaks the truth.

He then punches his opponent so hard that Mask flies into the air and smashes into a nearby building. Believing the fight to be over, Rose comments that he wasn’t needed after all, whilst James sits there crying for Mask not to lose. Feeling somewhat guilty, Kensei notes that the enemy is so pathetic that they make the Soul Reapers look like bad guys. At this point, Shuhei wakes up, and warns Kensei that they need to defeat James first.

On one hand, that isn't very masculine. On the other hand, his expression is hilarious.

At that moment, James cries for Mask to get up, and in the rubble the icon on Mask’s mask glows. As Kensei and Rose think about Shuhei’s warning, Mask appears behind them and knocks them away with a single sweep of his arm. He then proclaims that his letter, S, stands for ‘the Superstar’, and that the cheers of his audience make him even stronger.

"Looks like I'm blasting off again!"

Although I’m beginning to like Mask De Masculine a bit more, I’m still annoyed that he was able to beat three Lieutenant-class Soul Reapers (two of which had Bankai) that easily. I understand that it’s meant to represent just how strong he is, but at the same time it makes the Soul Reapers look like complete weaklings, and we never even got a chance to see Shuhei’s Bankai. Hopefully he’ll recover in time to enter the fight, but that will probably take a while.

Finally, he speaks some sense.

I’m glad we finally got an explanation as to what Kensei’s Bankai does, as we never got a full description last time we saw it during his fight with Wonderweiss. However, I’m more interested in Rose’s Bankai at the moment, considering we’ve never seen his before. Whether or not he’ll get to use it in this fight is another matter altogether though.

WHY ARE YOU HOW YOU ARE.

Finally, I have reached a previously-undiscovered level of hatred for a manga character. James is now my least favourite character in Bleach, a decision not helped by the fact that I keep reading his lines and imagining him with a whiny, high-pitched, nasally voice. On the other hand, I keep imagining Mask De Masculine with a deep, booming English accent, like Benedict Cumberbatch crossed with Matt Berry. To be honest, this is probably just because he has an amazing moustache.

Look at it! It's so bushy and British!

Good Things:         The reappearance of Kensei and Rose.

                                Finally finding out what Kensei’s Bankai does.

                                Decent fight sequence.

Bad Things:            Looks like Shuhei, Yumichika and Ikkaku are out of this fight already.

                                James. Everything about James.

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. 70% of his life is now spent on Tickld.