![]() ![]() It's unfortunate, because it feels very HxH, YYH esque in execution up front, but eventually loses itself. Felt like a lot of the climax in general was undercooked to rush to the end. Makes the ending feel more generic and is clearly not what Kubo was setting up to. Then there's the abrupt shift in direction and writing around the time the Shinigami arrive. What is Karin hiding? What is Urahara setting up with Isshin? What is Rukia talking about when Ichigo overhears her? There's also the underlying mysteries to account for to add to the intrigue. Chad and Orihime got a lot of shine here too. They almost feel like JJBA stand abilities. The Fullbring powers have also always been some of my favorites in the series because they're so unique. The new characters are diverse and interesting and not just one note. The suspense of who Ichigo can and can't trust, as well as how that perspective shifts throughout the arc. I finally bought Box Set 3 of the manga, so I'm finally doing a reread of Lost Agent Arc. I think this is MUCH better than the entire Arrancar arc, down to the conclusion. Maybe I forgot a couple but despite all this, I think the arc is still a solid 7/10 and the “lol Bleach is so bad” stuff is way overblown and feels like a meme. The way they end up using tons of different people’s abilities to counter it was cool but it was simply too strong a power to make for an interesting villain. It’s incredibly stupid and it was impossible to create a good fight around it. The Almighty has got to be the most bullshit, nonsensical ability in manga. It’s impossible to know what actually happened with Kazui and that little bit of Yhwach spiritual pressure. And the epilogue literally makes zero sense. Ichigo and Yhwach’s fight is super disappointing, with Yhwach just throwing a bunch of darkness at Ichigo. The ending is obviously the most rushed aspect of the arc. I guess this one isn’t exactly rushed but it’s very uninspired. The fight basically ends after the cool Hitsugaya and Byakuya combo attack as he doesn’t actually do anything when he revives himself but it was still such an obnoxious slog of a fight. Kubo gave him an incredibly boring power and wrote himself into a corner. That whole fight is the worst in the arc. Urahara uses his Bankai but he hardly did anything with it besides heal himself, hit Askin really hard and lead Grimmjow to them or something? I actually would’ve liked to see his Bankai more cleverly counter Askin’s ability. The fight against Askin has a pretty disappointing end too. I already mentioned how the conclusion to that fight wasn’t satisfying either. Cool that we get to see Kyoraku’s Bankai but it’s such a “win button” Bankai that it was honestly not very exciting. After that, Kubo seems to rush the remaining fights. The last great fight imo was Mayuri vs Pernida, the hand guy. Ginjo and the other Fullbringer are teased to be training and none of them do anything except for Tsukishima. Kira fights a weakened owl man off-screen and presumably defeats him. Hisagi shows up at one point and says “I defeated my guy totally off-screen.” Kubo just straight up chose not to show Hisagi’s fight or Bankai. ![]() Squad 0 jobbing was partly as lame as it was because we hardly got to see what they were capable of. There are plenty of characters that get very rushed fights or just have their fights omitted entirely. Not to mention cramming Nanao’s backstory last minute like that. Bleach isn’t a stranger to giving characters abilities that conveniently counter their opponent’s, but I think this one was the worst case of it. Another moment was Nanao’s zanpakuto conveniently perfectly countering the owl Sternritter. ![]() He gets mad at them because they basically lost a round even though they were pretty much about to kill them. But Yhwach killing the robot dude and Cang Du AFTER they turn the tables on Soi Fon and Hitsugaya was just….what. It gave them a bit of personality and made them come across as really ruthless. I actually liked some of the infighting they had midway through the arc. One is Yhwach conveniently killing Sternritters for no reason. But there are other moments I’m less forgiving towards. Lloyd/Royd is silly as fuck but it is what it is. Some of these fights were a lot better than I remember because I didn’t have to wait a week to barely advance the fight. I think binging it really helped with the pacing. I still think it’s at its best at the start but it never really gets as bad as people say. I’ve let my reread of TYBW sink in for over a week now and I’ve concluded that it’s not that bad at all. ![]()
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