Mount Coronet

Wow, it's like how I feel about Once Upon a Time.

I remember when people were telling me Bleach was getting decent in the new arc.

 

2013 was a more innocent time. It was...hey, it was exactly 3 years ago.

That still just baffles me.  3 years ago the chapter opened with a splash of text saying "The final arc begins!"

 

"Final"

 

3 years ago

 

BLEEEEACH

 

But honestly I wasn't even on board with this arc then.  Dropping an entire army of Quincies in out of nowhere when we were originally told they were all but extinct was a lame move, and it's pretty much only gotten worse since then.

 

At least I've been able to move on from Naruto.  Hopefully that day will come for Bleach too.

To be fair, it had potential considering we've seen people be locked away before, or hide themselves, like the entirety of Ichigo training for Aizen.

 

It was right after, when everything just fell apart, that things got much worse. =/

 

Though, dual wielding Ichigo sounded cool, though from what you've been saying it doesn't sound like that went anywhere well. >>

The Quincies' reappearance still stands out to me.  When the race was first introduced, we were told that they were wiped out, and while the explanation of them hiding using their ability to manipulate the spirit world makes some sense, I feel like there should have been some indication that there was a secret army hiding in plain sight.  Granted I'm only relying on my recollection of reading the chapters several years ago, but I don't remember any hints at all. (And given Uryu was actually in Soul Society--and tearing apart buildings using his unleashed power at one point--it wouldn't have been too hard to slip in one scene with him noticing something.)

 

Ichigo hasn't really had a whole lot of screen time since he got Dual Zangetsu, so I think it's still too soon to say.  All we've really seen is a Double Getsuga Tenshou (which was sorta cool) and a few swings in this current battle.  Given recent revelations about the Inner Hollow (which I'm not cool with but whatever), its reappearance probably means we're about to start really getting into what the new Zangetsu does.  That I'm actually more optimistic about.

Yeah, that lack of foreshadowing is the biggest reason I feel the twist wasn't planned out that well, admittedly ^^' Though, I guess there kinda was a hint to it in that Uryu and his father were both left untouched, so the Shinigami had obviously missed one... but yeah, overall, not planned well =/

 

Also, oooh, that's interesting. =O And yeah, I've heard about some of the revelations, if they're related to when he got Dual Zangetsu... I'm iffy on that one myself, but it does make some semblances of sense in a way... just not really that well totally, if that makes sense?

The new origin of Hollow Ichigo does make some sense, and one good thing about it is that it better justifies Ichigo's ability to use Fullbring. (Not that that lasted.) Still, what we all assumed to be the origin of the Inner Hollow worked, so replacing it wasn't really necessary...aside from rounding out the backstory so that Ichigo can have literally every power in the series.  But that is a much larger issue!

Yeeeaaah, that part of it was the iffiest in my opinion; I mean, it's neat, but it feels it was only done because it's done after this.

 

that said, if he actually -uses- half the stuff that gives him, I'll be surprised... he barely uses half his Shinigami powers, and he used Hollow powers for like... one arc. xD

Yep.  At least now the villain is saying "Hey Ichigo I see you've gotten your true power now!", so maybe he's about to actually make use of all those Shinigami, Hollow, and Quincy powers. (And maybe they'll bring Fullbring back for the heck of it, who knows.) As long as they stick with this fight we might not have to wait too long to see!

To be honest, I don't see Ichigo pulling out the full potential of all of those powers. xD If only because that'd mean Kido, the arrows generated by the focus point he doesn't have, and so on. He might use Blut more, though... And I'd so welcome Fullbring back, because I actually liked that one. =/

True, he's never had much talent with those kind of focused abilities.  Kind of a wasted opportunity there.  I guess the moral is "who needs focus when you have RAW POWER AND SLASH WAVES!!!"

 

Fullbring was pretty interesting.  My only real complaint was that I wanted Ichigo's to look more like his previous Hollow mask/form since it was a Hollow-related power, but I admit that's a nitpick.

True that. =P Though, I do like the Getsuga Tenshou; just because it's kinda a sort of compromise. Though him spamming it can get pretty old. =P

 

Yeah... I feel that was kinda a missed opportunity now that you mention it. =/ In general, the actual end result wasn't as cool as the earlier one where he basically was using his badge as a weapon itself, sadly. ;-;