Bleach 575 Review – “The Killers High”

Bleach 575 Review – “The Killers High”

Written by: ClayDragon

Finally, some effort is being put into the fight.

Despite Guremi blocking Kenpachi’s attack with a steel pole, Kenpachi cuts through it like it was nothing, and a large section of the battleground crumbles away. This is being watched from a distance by Askin, who’s impressed that Kenpachi is on an equal footing with Guremi. He then ponders why Yhwach would choose to send Guremi out to fight; a sentiment shared by a figure behind him.

Snazzy binoculars, a picnic basket....the man's got it made.

This figure, called ‘Pepe’ by Askin, says that it would have been better to keep Guremi locked up forever, and doesn’t deny Askin’s statement that he’s also a monster. It’s worth noting that Pepe is the Sternritter who spied on Askin’s conversation with Haschwalth in chapter 543, and is also possibly the one who caused Jidanbo to attack the Squad 12 headquarters during the first invasion. At this point, Askin gets up, and explains that he’s leaving in order to avoid getting dragged into Guremi’s fight.

Is that an actual eye on his staff?

After another few words from Askin, the focus shifts back to Kenpachi and Guremi, as Yachiru asks to be let down. Kenpachi notes that he can sense Isane’s presence on the ground, and tells Yachiru to go and see her so she can get her arm healed. Guremi is impressed that Kenpachi actually noticed that he had stopped focusing on Yachiru, and Kenpachi replies that there’s no way he’d let Guremi continue to hurt her.

...You really need to start choosing your words more carefully.

Kenpachi then asks if Guremi is specifically looking for a fight, and says that if he is the strongest Sternritter, then he should want to destroy the strongest opponents he can find. With that, Kenpachi begins to enjoy the fight a lot more. As Guremi blocks a number of Kenpachi’s attacks, he ponders the words of his opponent, and realises that he’s never thought about fighting strong opponents due to everyone’s fear of him.

He's back!

Because everyone felt that Guremi was the strongest, he never felt that he needed to justify himself by killing strong opponents, and so he never felt the urge to destroy an opponent. Of course, now that Kenpachi is proving himself to be a more than worthy foe, Guremi begins to feel the bloodlust, and declares that he wants nothing more than to kill Kenpachi.

He's just so humble, isn't he?

With this revelation, he summons a lot (and I mean a lot) of guns around him, and fires a massive hail of bullets at Kenpachi, before throwing a few missiles at him for good measure. However, before one of the missiles reaches its target, it’s chopped cleanly in half, and prematurely explodes. As Kenpachi emerges from the smoke, he notes that Guremi’s finally taken his hands out of his pockets, and that he’s also beginning to enjoy the fight.

Is it just me that notices how some of Kenpachi's fights have sexual undertones? I mean, there was the entire fight with Unohana, and I'm betting some dark corner of the internet already has Kenpachi x Guremi fanfiction.

It’s good that this week’s chapter didn’t focus entirely on the fight between Kenpachi and Guremi, and it was interesting seeing what Askin was up to (and we got introduced to another Sternritter as well). Although, it does raise the question of what the other Sternritters are actually doing. I’d have thought that they’d have orders to wipe out all the Soul Reapers or something, but so far I haven’t seen anything to support that. I mean, Bazz-B could have killed Hitsugaya when he was weakened, but he left him alone. And Askin apparently has enough free time to pack a picnic basket, for crying out loud.

"Can you let me down now? I'm starting to get dizzy."

I’m happy that Kenpachi’s started to enjoy the fight, as I was worried that he was going to be a lot more serious after Unohana’s death, but it looks as if my fear isn’t going to be realised any time soon. An interesting thing to note is that Kenpachi hasn’t even removed his eyepatch, which raises the question of if he’s even going to use his Bankai in this fight. I mean, if he’s evenly balanced against Guremi at the moment, then when he takes his eyepatch off he’s going to be even more powerful. Sure, Guremi has yet to activate his Vollständig, but given how powerful Kenpachi is, will he even need to activate his Bankai to win?  

Finally, we now have a nice new addition to the Bleach Wall of Creepy Smiles:

If the mouth is open and teeth are showing, technically it's a smile.

Good Things:     A bit of focus on some other Sternritters.

                           Kenpachi’s old personality is resurfacing.

                           Guremi and Kenpachi are finally fighting all-out.

Bad Things:       Not much actually happened.

                           Still no sight of Kenpachi’s Bankai.

        

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. And the award for Worst Ending of a TV Show goes to...How I Met Your Mother. Congratulations on undoing 9 awesome years, guys.