God, I fucking hate Ichigo Kurosaki. If you would’ve told me that I would read a major shonen protagonist who made me miss the comparative quaint subtlety of Monkey D. Shitfairy, I would have most certainly not believed you but Ichigo is just that guy.
First off, Ichigod blocking a blow from the Sokyoku which is 1 million Zanpaku To?
Second, Ichigod vs Byakuya. This fight was all of the shit I hated about Ichigo but cranked up to 11. First off, Ichigod’s Bankai is just completely lame. Why in these types of series do all the secondary characters have these crazy fantastical abilities, like Renji’s giant snake Bankai, Byakuya’s cool flower pedal spam, Yamamoto’s Flame Shikai, Dog Captain’s giant samurai, etc…and then when the protagonist gets a powerup it’s just “now I can move faster and hit harder!” Like, what the fuck dude. All the imagination and creativity around Bankai out the window in favor of Zoom Zoom Ichigod who somehow looks less cool than he even looked in base. And then we get a mid fight powerup where Ichigod randomly becomes a Hollow and heals from all injuries while Byakuya stands around scratching his nuts and stockpiling damage. So, so shit.
To add insult to injury, the fight choreography of Ichigod vs Byakuya was trash. I don’t think there were any cool/memorable panels at all. Byakuya vs Renji utterly shits on Ichigod in terms of choreography, imaginative powers, brainpower involved to understand the fight, etc…and then when Byakuya’s ultimate reason for letting RUkia die was revealed, it was just “I am the law” which…I could’ve told you the second I laid eyes on him. I was expecting a big character reveal or a deeper look into Byakuya’s character but no, literally I was able to guess Byakuya’s exact motivation and character from the very first panel I saw of him. Such a pathetic “finale” to an otherwise really cool Captain.
Ichigod vs Byakuya verdict?
Alright let’s move onto better things because the Soul Society Arc really did increase in quality post Uryu vs Captain 12.
I mentioned it a few posts back but Renji vs Byakuya was great. Renji’s introduction to Bankai was really cool, and I like how Byakuya just dealt with him easily with his own Bankai. It really hyped Byakuya as a veteran Bankai user vs Renji who was a noob before Titty would later go on to flush Byakuya down the toilet in his lame ass fight with Ichigod. For a solid 30 chapters at least, I thought Byakuya was awesome.
Kenpachi vs Black Captain was hilarious. Hand to god, I swear I predicted exactly how Kenpachi was able to beat Black Captain. I was like “he’s going to wait until he gets sliced and gauge Black Captain’s location from where he gets wounded” which is exactly what happened. Not to diss the fight, shit was hilarious and I can see why Kenpachi is a fan favorite. He is a character well beyond Titty’s writing ability.
The emotional buildup to Rukia’s execution was actually pretty solid I thought, even though I never cared much about RUkia. Even if the climax of Ichigod blocking the Sokyoku made me vomit profusely, at least the buildup was nice.
Ya know, why do I feel like Ichimaru is actually a secret good guy who just likes trolling all the idiots who think he’s evil? I mean I know Aizen is the ultimate villain here but Ichimaru is someone I’ve never seen talked about.
I feel like Yamato vs Kyoraku and White Hair Cough Cough is going to be great. Even though Kyoraku and Cough Cough’s Shikai are lame as hell.
I wish we could’ve gotten an actual fight between dog Captain and Kenpachi. I mean I feel like Kenpachi beating two captains is excessive but also I feel like Yoruichi vs Captain 4 could’ve just been cut for another Kenpachi fight and no one would’ve complained lol.
Anyway. Gotta get the taste of Ichigod vs Byakuya out of my mouth. Poor poor Byakuya man.