Opinions on Bleach Ending Compilation Part 2

Written by Shiggins

I bet that Naruto ending is looking pretty good right now, huh?

Seriously, the people who thought Naruto's ending was "the worst ever" clearly have never read another manga in their life. From Gantz to Negima, manga have suffered with it's endings and today, we're here to talk about yet another victim in the line of pain that is... endings! Thanks to Pomelote already doing a summary, I'm just going to skip right ahead to the pros and cons of this final chapter of Bleach.

For Pomelote's thoughts on this ending, click here.

None of us can deny that the art of Bleach got fantastic by the end of it though. Much better than weird frog-frown here.

Let's start with the thing that pisses me off the most because I want to express some rage; All the missing characters! And trust me when I say, there's a lot! Now, let's be reasonable here and agree that not every character could make it to the finale because Bleach has absolutely tons of weirdos and freaks, and even a 50 page chapter wouldn't be enough to highlight them all. So of course, compromises have to be made.

I know she's a horribly underrated badass, but how did Soi Fon make it to the final chapter but Urahara didn't? Also, is it Soi Fon or Sui Feng? I prefer Soi Fon. It's cuter. More fun.

However, let me make you realise how badly these characters have been handled by pointing out the last time we saw Urahara, Yoruichi and Grimmjow. Three of Bleach's coolest characters and we haven't seen them since they collapsed from Askin's attack and were about to be saved by Nel in Chapter 666. We don't know if they survived, what they went on to do in the future or even if anybody gives a damn!

I got bad news for you, kitty cat. This is LITERALLY your final panels. This is indeed the end of you.

The amount of characters that either didn't end their story or were anti-climatically removed from the plot is staggering and quite frankly, too large for me to ignore. Giselle was killed off-screen with Liltotto, both of which I didn't even realise were fully dead until this chapter was released because it was so sudden and unexplained. Harribel was shown held captive by the Quincies, but that was never even mentioned again.

Since this manga has left so many characters left in the air, I will just have to make up my own storylines! Harribel, you marry Grimmjow. Lucky you!

I could go on and on and on about characters that are missing and when we last saw them, but we'd be here all night (and it turns out Pomelote already did that...). Let's just say that far too many of them don't get a proper ending, and that annoys me more than anything else within these pages.

Next, let's talk about the kids because surprisingly, I don't actually hate them too much. They're well-designed and adorable, while also not being complete copies of their own parents. That's rare for a manga to do. The downside is that they shouldn't exist in the first place. When you read Naruto, having kids at the end made complete sense because the entire series has always been about both the past and future generations of ninjas. Bleach on the other hand, never mentioned anything about the future. Ever. It just focused on bland Ichigo and his amazing pals, but that's not a bad thing. It does makes these kids seem completely hammered in however, and they take up space that could have been used for other characters... like Ura-fucking-hara!

And before you ask, no. We never learn why Kazui was there or what he was doing, at all. Just add it to the list of unexplained phenomenons this chapter is clearly giving us.

Yhwach died and honestly, what a waste of time he was overall. All those bullshit speeches and predictions of the future and going on about how great he is and what he can do and the way he defeated characters... All pointless in the end. Yhwach is on our Antagonists list and I'm honestly thinking about redoing it just to fix that issue. He has gone from one of the most intriguing villains of this series to the most pathetic, not leaving any sort of impact from his death and instead making me wish Aizen had never let some half-assed Hitler wannabee take his place. A wannabee that had the goal of taking over the world only because... fuck you. That's why.

Oh my god, I couldn't care less about you than I do right now. Your final words are as generic as dry wheat and as pointless as the fact that your facial hair somehow grew during this arc.

Whether or not you disagree with me on that subject, I think one thing we can agree on at least is the Soul King and how "important" he was. Chapter after chapter about this Soul King, who literally had zero lines of dialogue, and what his death would mean for the Soul Society, the Human Realm and Hueco Mundo. People kept saying how everything would fall apart if he died, and then he did die and Yhwach absorbed his power to prevent that happening... but then Yhwach died and nothing seems to have happened. So in the end, was the Soul King ever even a real factor, or just a false plot device with zero consequence?

Wait.... Did she come out of Yhwach's reiatsu? Was she in there?! Or is that a different black hole in Kazui's room than the one earlier in this chapter? Am I seriously meant to be aware of what's going on in this chapter when several black holes are shown to me?!

While the lack of punishment from Soul King's death does bother me, the really big tragedy is that we have no idea what happened between him and his son Yhwach. There was a hasty line thrown in about how they were father and son, but it was never talked about again. Why did Yhwach want to kill his father? Why was his father a boring mannequin while Yhwach was Mustachio Furioso? Is this why Yamamoto was unable to kill Yhwach 1000 years ago, or was that completely unrelated?

You might as well have called him your "fancy spaghetti boy" for all the influence this had on the series.

In fact, did Yhwach truly die? As awfully half-assed and forced as his defeat was, we still saw evidence he survived in some form with that black reiatsu at the end... that Ichigo's son then smacked away... That is literally the most confusing thing in this series. Was Yhwach alive? Was he about to return? Why was Kazui able to destroy it, and why did it even show up to him in the first place? Could this be the most awkward and unusual event to happen in a final chapter of a manga?!

Aizen... I just don't get him anymore. Is he still bad? Has he turned good now? Why are they making him sound like some sort of wise mentor all of a sudden and delivering some narration when he's Aizen, the biggest baddest sexiest motherfucker from the Soul Society? It feels out-of-place, but that's probably more of a nitpick. I'm just glad we at least got confirmation that he was alive.

Hmm... I wonder which handsome blonde yellow-and-green hat-wearing shop owner would have been better suited to say these words?

Ichigo and Orihime ended up together, as did Rukia and Renji! No surprise there really. In fact, when I see the angry comments about how Ichigo didn't end up with Rukia, I feel nothing for them because they honestly brought it on themselves. A friend of mine kept saying "Ichigo will end up with Rukia" but I just pointed out that there was only one legitimate romantic scene involving Ichigo and that's when Orihime says she loved him, while he was asleep. There was never any sign of Ichigo x Rukia, and when I asked for evidence, I got laughed at as if I was being crazy.

Hmmm... Manga might not be the best place to pick up tips about love.

In all honesty... Ichigo and Rukia are way too good as friends to make them a relationship! I don't want that being ruined with sudden marriage! It's such an enjoyable aspect of the series that I was honestly rooting for the duo to stay friends because I love them together so much! And besides... We should all be more upset that Hitsugaya didn't end up with Momo.

Don't even get me started on what a waste of time this turned out to be...

Bankai, Bankai, Bankai. Oh, how Bleach loves Bankai. And how much did Bleach disappoint us there. Aizen, Shinji, Ukitake and more didn't even show us how badass/overpowered their Bankais are! Hell, Hisagi literally comments about his own lack of Bankai screentime in what I think might be a 4th Wall Break from Tite Kubo himself...

I sense passive-aggressiveness in you, Kubo-san.

Before we finish this depressingly sad review (seriously, I'm as upset as you guys are that this is so negative), let's look at some of the highlights of this arc. The war between the Shinigami and the Quincies started off so well that I refuse to ignore it ever had greatness to begin with. So... here are my favourite moments of this arc:

The First Invasion - A truly terrifying moment that featured powerful villains with interesting personalities, characters being broken down, Bankai being stolen, and more.

Yamamoto's Death - A shocking defeat that made Yhwach seem like a true threat and genius, while providing some much beloved overkill.

Kenpachi and Unohana - A surprisingly emotional backstory revealed in a terrifying bloodbath, resulting in a tragic death that truly defined their relationship.

Everything but the Rain - A fun flashback involving Ichigo's mother and father, providing Masaki with tons of personality and making her a refreshing delight in an arc of weirdness and misery.

Mayuri Kurotsuchi - Just... everything. Everything involving this character was brilliant. Zombie Arrancar, shining outfits and even Nemu. It's all great.

Renji vs Mask de Masculine - A fun but intimidating presence, finally defeated when Renji gets a victory that he was well due for after being treated like he was mediocre before this.

Rukia vs As Nodt - Rukia finally comes into her own as she achieves Bankai and defeats the terrifying Quincy As Nodt in a fascinating battle to the death.

Yoruichi, Urahara and Grimmjow vs Askin - The last truly great battle of Bleach, featuring plenty of laughs, trickery, motivation and even a bit of fanservice. Askin, the only interesting Quincy of Yhwach's final circle, will be missed almost as much as the heroes he faced.

Manga Rating: 1/5

Character of the Chapter: Rukia, for being the only truly amazing character that bothered to show up for the final chapter.

Best Part: The kids are cute, I guess.

Worst Part: All those open plotlines and missing characters.



Coming Soon - Part 3?

Shiggins:[Admin]
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Born under the stars of the Dark Gods, Shiggins owns the power of the Great Eye and is utterly magnificent in his omniscience. If you dare to discover more about someone as great as him, then go ahead. And to all my friends and family members, YOU are wrong and I should be disappointed! Not the other way round!,. You can find out about him or ask him stuff on ask.fm/shigginsishere or go to his tumblr page http://otakugajeel.tumblr.com/