Fear is in the light. Fear is in the dark. It's nameless, unreasoning, and an unjustified terror which paralyzes us. Fear is everywhere you look and at the same time nowhere. How will Rukia overcome her fear when it can even find her behind her own closed eyes?
The Good
Well, I shouldn't be surprised by this outcome, and truthfully I'm not. Part of having "fear" used as a power makes for great drama, because it allows us to see into the vulnerabilities of our protagonists. Are you reading for story or to watch this go 'kaboom'? If you want the latter, go watch a Michael Bay film. I personally actually want a mixture of the two, and I feel Kubo is striking a tentative balance, so far.
It's not as impressive to lack any fear or weakness. It's far more interesting in seeing how a character can overcome it. That's one of the various things that draws me more toward manga and away from traditional comics, where the heroes are constantly unyielding Übermensch all the time. Rukia may be on the ropes so far, but that doesn't mean she's going to stay there.
The Bad
For as disappointingly predictable and cliche as Byakuya appearing to rescue Rukia can be. I also can't find myself being too overly critical of it. The Quincy Voll Stern Dich is their equivalent of the bankai. It stands to reason you'd need a character with that power to counter them. I would have loved to see Rukia pull that off, but I also understand that you start to diminish the unique quality of that ability if everyone starts using one suddenly.
Verdict 3/5
Hey, I was the bloke that wanted to see this battle go on for a bit longer. Sort of a strange contrast when all I want the current NARUTOarc to do is end finally, huh? It would be silly to start getting overly critical just because the hero has the tables turned a bit. The thing that bothers me the most is that for two chapters Rukia was being so uncharacteristically bad-ass, and she goes right back into being the damsel in distress. However, this battle isn't over yet. BLEACH has had some entertaining battles to date. Kubo has earned some faith that this will turn out fine.
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About the Author
 | Kristoffer Remmell (FoxxFireArt) is a freelance graphic artist, writer, and over all mystery geek. Follow for news updates: @AnimeVicers / @FoxxFireArt / http://kristofferremmell.tumblr.com/ |
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