Bleach 593 Review – “Marching Out the ZOMBIES 4”

Bleach 593 Review – “Marching Out the ZOMBIES 4”

Written by: ClayDragon

Hooray for science! Magical, magical science!

Kurotsuchi begins by telling Zombie Hitsugaya that he has a number of drugs that he wishes to test out on him, and that it’s all for the good of the Soul Society. In response, Zombie Hitsugaya attempts to cut Kurotsuchi down, only for Kurotsuchi to shoot some kind of forcefield out of his wrists. Zombie Hitsugaya then moves in for another attack, but it’s easily deflected by Kurotsuchi.

"Actually, I think I should feel apprehensive at this point..."

It turns out that he had a sensor installed in his Zanpakuto that means it will automatically parry any incoming blade within a two-foot radius. Zombie Hitsugaya then changes tactic and attempts to knee Kurotsuchi in the face, but before his attack can connect Kurotsuchi places a bomb on his leg, blowing off everything below the knee. Undeterred, Zombie Hitsugaya creates a leg made out of ice, and continues to attack before activating his Bankai.

"Crap! I needed that!"

Upon unleashing his Bankai, Zombie Hitsugaya aims an attack at Kurotsuchi and forces him to retreat. As he prepares to fire another forcefield, Kurotsuchi is cut down the middle by Zombie Hitsugaya. He manages to start talking…

"This will in no way end badly!"

Before repeating the speech he made at the start of the chapter. Zombie Hitsugaya is back to where he was standing earlier, Kurotsuchi is in one piece, and Daiguren Hyorinmaru has not been activated. Understandably confused, Zombie Hitsugaya lunges towards Kurotsuchi, who reiterates the fact that he placed a sensor in his Zanpakuto. Zombie Hitsugaya replies that he’s heard it before, and asks what’s going on. Kurotsuchi notes that the conversation is quite fluid, before Zombie Hitsugaya once again activates his Bankai and freezes Kurotsuchi solid. He begins to crumble away…

"Didn't we just have this exact same conversa- OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?"

Before repeating the speech he made at the start of the chapter. Zombie Hitsugaya is back to where he was standing earlier, Kurotsuchi is in one piece, and Daiguren Hyorinmaru has not been activated. At this point, Zombie Hitsugaya has fully realised that something’s wrong, and Kurotsuchi explains that he already managed to inject Zombie Hitsugaya with one of his drugs. Specifically, this drug causes the subject to be able to see back into the past.

"...I'm in Hell."

Whenever Zombie Hitsugaya reaches a certain point in the battle, his consciousness is, for all intents and purposes, sent back in time to the beginning of the battle. If he kills Kurotsuchi, he’s trapped in a permanent Groundhog Day loop. If he doesn’t kill Kurotsuchi, then Kurotsuchi will simply kill him. The only problem with the drug is that it works on a specific part of the brain, and getting sent back over ten times will result in the subject completely losing their balance for 30 seconds, which would be lethal in a battle. Kurotsuchi then asks Zombie Hitsugaya to guess when the drug was administered to him, and tells him that he’ll find his answer in the past. With that, he stabs Zombie Hitsugaya.

"Dammit, this ended badly!"

To be honest, I don’t really know how to feel about this chapter. On one hand, we waited two weeks for a new chapter, and this was sort of underwhelming. On the other hand, the idea of a drug that traps you in a time loop is an interesting idea, if a tad unoriginal (cough *Izanami* cough), and it will be interesting to see how Zombie Hitsugaya gets out of it, if at all.

It also seems similar to one of the methods of time travel used in Steins;Gate.

On a related note, I’m not really sure when Kurotsuchi administered the drug to Zombie Hitsugaya. It couldn’t have happened in this chapter, as it kept sending Zombie Hitsugaya to the events that started on the first page, so it would have to have happened at some point in the past. However, Kurotsuchi and Zombie Hitsugaya didn’t interact with each other until Kurotsuchi created the forcefield to protect Charlotte, so I doubt the drug was administered then.

"Whee! I'm Spiderman!"

The only other explanation I can think of is that it was given to Hitsugaya (along with probably every other Captain) some time ago, as a means for Kurotsuchi to ensure that he wouldn’t be killed by them. Given how crazily prepared he’s been in the past (and especially during his fight with Szayelaporro), I wouldn’t put it past him to do this.

There's an app for everything nowadays.

Finally, I was surprised that Zombie Hitsugaya was able to use his Bankai. After all, it was hollowfied during his fight with Cang Du, so shouldn’t it be immune to Giselle’s powers? I know the hollowfication wasn’t permanent, so it could have run out, but presumably Urahara would have made the process last long enough for the Soul Reapers to defeat the Quincies. It’s possible that the Zanpakuto isn’t affected by Giselle’s blood, but in that case why is it still working with Zombie Hitsugaya?

"Since when were you under the impression that I hadn't already drugged you?"

Good Things:      Kurotsuchi and his science shenanigans.

                             The battle has taken an interesting turn.

Bad Things:         Not a lot actually happened.

                             No appearance from Giselle.

                                    

Manga Rating:   2.5/5

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, but he doesn’t use it that much. When not playing games or reading, he can be found with his head in his hands whilst trying in vain to understand quantum physics. It's taken a year, but he's finally playing The Last of Us.