BLEACH Ch. 579 & 580 Review

BLEACH Ch. 579 Review

I never imagined the fight would end like this.

All the mysteries behind Gremmy are finally revealed, but Yachiru has gone missing in and new enemies have appeared before Kenpachi.

The Good

I have to say that I really didn't see this end coming...on several levels. In this final arc, these battles have gone on to end on an epic scale. That would have been hard to manage with Kenpachi vs. Gremmy. This fight has been crazy from the very start. It was shocking that this match pretty much ended as Gremmy defeated himself by trying to mirror his opponent. If you needed proof to show what a bad-ass Kenpachi is, you don't have to look any further.

Just as the tension begins to rise with Yachiru missing, Kenpachi has now been approached by Bambietta's girl squad. Did they abduct her, or was this something that Gremmy did before his final moments? That's what I want to know.

The Bad

The outcome is a bit of a toss up for me. On one side, it feels a bit like the enemy tripping over his shoelaces and falling on his own sword. However, I can't hold it against the creator for having an outcome that I couldn't have predicted. So far, this arc has had hard earned wins, a double KO, and very few one-sided slaughters. Having an enemy self sabotage seems reasonable enough. I just hope Kubo has gotten that out of his system here, and we don't see a repeat performance.

Verdict 3/5

I would normally find this sort of conclusion incredibly frustrating, but let's be honest. Where was Kubo going to go after the insanity of this brawl and pulling the giant meteor card? The scale couldn't have been increased without Kenpachi using bankai, and that wouldn't have been even remotely appropriate so soon after using shikai.

BLEACH Ch. 580 Review

An example of machismo gets his ass kicked by a bunch of girls.

War isn't a boy's club. It's about survival of the fittest, and these ladies plan to make sure Kepnachi doesn't survive by striking while he's weakened.

The Good

Kubo doesn't hesitate in selling these lady Quincy has absolute evil in their tactics. They're the types that will kick an opponent when they're down. It sounds nasty, but it's a fair enough strategy. This is a war and not some tournament. You can just see that Kubo doesn't want the reader to feel any sympathy for these characters.

Looking at all these powers, it starts to make me wonder when the Quincy stopped using light arrows. There are probably some who thought this would have all been a war of swords versus arrows, but that could have gotten very dull, very fast. I'm much more satisfied with how things have been going. If I had to choose between these girls, I think it's Giselle's ability that grabs my interest the most. She doesn't need to fight. If you attack and get touched by her blood, she then controls you, ala Lelouch in CODE GEASS.

The Bad

If you weren't interested in these characters to begin with, you're not getting much out of this chapter. They are the primary focus throughout with little room for much else.

What I find most frustrating is the absence of the Yachiru sub-plot from last week's issue. The specter has been raised that something has happened to her, and this chapter doesn't touch on that in any way. I don't imagine that Kubo has forgotten it. I'm just now confused where he's going with that.

Verdict 3/5

This chapter pretty much exists for the primary purpose to formally introduce these Vandenreich ladies and their abilities. It's a frustrating but necessary step, and I'm much happier to get this out of the way from the start. It's a mark against the chapter, but Kubo has earned enough trust from me over these past weeks that I have faith in seeing where this goes next.

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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/