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The last volume of Bleach saw the series revert to an all-out
action fest, with fighting from start to finish, and this one is no different! |
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The last volume was pretty action packed as Ichigo and his companions battled for their lives against tough enemies, and this one is no exception. The power of the Espada is a definite step up from the Privaron Espada they faced when the first entered Las Noches, and with Chad easily defeated by Nnoitora and Rukia on the verge of defeat to Aaroniero the stakes couldn't be higher this time round. However, the action this time is largely focused around Renji, Uryu and Ichigo and in particular their confrontations with Szayel Aporro and Grimmjow respectively. The action comes thick and fast and there's a good pace to the story, with more revealed about how Hollows become Gillians, Adjuchas and Vasto Lordes and what |
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drives their evolution. To be fair the volume is largely just a series of big fights intercut with flashbacks and asides which serve to move the plot forward, but as is often the case with these kinds of action series it keeps you hooked from start to finish. Often when a series focuses pretty much entirely on
fighting like this one does there's not generally a great deal of time
for character development, but Bleach actually does quite well in
this department. Whilst Szayel Aporro or Ulquiorra remain quite
enigmatic at this stage we do learn an awful lot about Grimmjow and his
past, which does help to fill in some of the background about the Hollow
world of Hueco Mundo. We also find out a little about the other
Arrancar, and see some brand new powers and abilities that haven't been
shown as yet. I'm really hoping we find out more about Szayel
Aporro in future volumes though, his calculating demeanour slips a few
times in his battle with Renji and Uryu and hints that there are hidden
depths to his character which have yet to be explored. There's
also plenty of tension and drama as Rukia's battle with Aaroniero
reaches its conclusion and Orihime faces the possibility of attack by
jealous Arrancars, but as with the last volume action takes precedence. |
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Once again the downsides in this volume are Pesche and Dodonchakka. I really don't know why Bleach feels it necessary to include a parade of pointless comedy sidekicks throughout its run, from Kon to the Mod Souls and now Pesche none of them have added anything to the series as a whole and to make it worse they're just not funny. I just find it infuriating when we get five minutes of Pesche talking about comedy routines in the middle of a life-or-death battle, it derails the flow of the action and diffuses all of the tension, and it's something that this volume is particularly guilty of. However, the main annoyance remains the narrated 'story so far' summary that each episode starts with. Many long running series |
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like this have brief summaries of important plot points at the start of each episode, this is for the benefit of a TV audience who are only watching an episode a week and may have forgotten some things that happened a few weeks back. However, in Bleach the length of these summaries is beyond a joke, they often show several minutes of footage from the previous episode which leads to considerable overlap and a reduction of new content. It seems like an attempt to stretch the story and save money, and in fact the final 'next episode' preview on the disc basically states that there are production issues and that there will be a filler arc starting in the next volume. Yay. Bleach Series 8 Part 2 carries on the pace and action of the last volume and ups the ante by putting the main characters in even tougher position this time round. The new enemies introduced are quite interesting, particularly the scheming Szayel Aporro, and it's great to see some of Espada go all out. Not a great deal is resolved in this volume which makes it odd to learn that a new storyline is starting next time round, and I wonder how the story will explain interrupting the current plot and shifting the characters away from Las Noches. It's disappointing that there are only eight episodes in this volume, especially when so much time is wasted with story summaries. I don't know why Bleach has shorter series than similar action series like Naruto, but the fact is you're getting a a third less content in this volume than on the latest volume of similarly priced series like Naruto or Fairy Tail. What annoys me about it all is that this volume is pretty good. There's plenty of action, some good characters, some unexpected twists and some great story development, it's not going to win many medals for intelligence but it's entertaining and there's plenty going on to keep you interested. However, the value for money isn't what you would expect and the lower episode count means several of the characters are still embroiled in battle as the volume ends. It's a shame, as what's here is good, there's just not enough of it. Extras The usual stuff, trailers, production art galleries and clean title sequences. There’s also a series of short segments after the credits on each episode which summarise some of the characters or abilities seen through the previous few episodes. Not bad. Ratings Feature:
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