Ban-KAI! Bleach 665

Bleach 665 is out (as is SnK 79, though I’ll probably review that separately.) So, go read it…. I’ll be here when you’re done.

SPOILERS

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Okay, so, what did you think of Benihime’s bankai?

I’m feeling weirdly underwhelmed, even though I liked what we got.

I think this lingering sense of disappointment has nothing to do with Benihime’s superpowers per se (being able to reconstruct anything is pretty fitting for Urahara, particularly since he is clever enough to use that power outside of the box,) but more that I was spoiled by Katen Kyokotsu’s five act play.

I really wanted to see Benihime in action more.

Given that the chapter ends with Grimmjow’s fist crushing Askin’s heart, I’m… THINKING… MAYBE… this fight is over? (It’s so hard to be sure with Kubo.)

Hi, there, handsome.  You made it just in time for chapter 666…

Other things about this chapter that made me happy?

I’m glad that Urahara doesn’t have to join the eye-patch club. The members are pretty cool: Kyouraku and Kenpachi. And his name could have fit the alliterative needs: Kisuke, but you know, he’s more handsome with both of his baby grays, IMHO.

I also really enjoyed the whole exchange in which Askin tried to get Urahara to tell him how his bankai worked, and Urahara actually REFUSED.

Really, dude.  I don’t know you well enough yet to spill ALL my deepest secrets.  Anyway, even though Urahara does kind of tell us how it all works, I appreciate that Kubo-sensei is willing to acknowledge that MAYBE ALWAYS TELLING YOUR ENEMY HOW SH*T WORKS ISN’T SUCH A SMART IDEA.

The stitches were a neat effect.  They reminded me of Mayuri, who is always sewing himself back together on the battlefield, and of course, Benihime’s hands look a lot like Shutara’s (as does Benihime herself):

So, it’ll be interesting if there ends up being a connection between the three of them: Shutara, Mayuri, and Urahara.

How about you? What were your thoughts on it all?

Edited to add one more thought about Grimmjow vs. Askin: as you know, I’ve been lamenting Grimmjow’s under-utilization because I remembered Urahara’s whole thing with the Hollowfied bankai and saying that Hollows were poison to Quincy.  But as soon as I start thinking about that I remember that this whole thing started because Ywach’s army invaded Hueco Mundo, the home of the Arrancar/Hollows, which was clearly NOT poisonous to them, in fact the Quincy kind of wiped the floor with Hallibel and her army.

My friend and I came up with the theory that maybe how it works is that Hollows are poisonous if they’re ingested by the Quincy somehow.  It worked with the bankai, because the Quincy had absorbed the bankai and were using those powers as their own.

I bring this up, because I have to wonder if a fist through the chest is enough “inside” to count.  I would sort of love the irony of Mr. Constant-‘Gift’-Pun to end up poisoned by the one thing he can’t counteract…. Arrancar.

Fingers crossed.