THAT Animeblog

Exams is finally over so I’m back on track. Sorry for skipping two weeks, but I’m going to make up for it by making this week’s post really awesome*.

Bleach 281

After seeing Ichigo’s Vaizard form, Orihime is a little shaken. Ichigo apologises to her, and reassures her that he will immediately take care of the problem. Seeing Ichigo’s mask, Grimmjaw roars in laughter, saying that he had waited a long time for this moment of revenge. He releases his Zanpaktou, and lets out a terrifying roar that shocks Ichigo. Finally, the fight between Ichigo and Grimmjaw begins.

Thoughts
Transitional chapter. The only really notable thing is that Grimmjaw looks retarded in his release form. 1) What’s with the tights and 2) What’s with the long hair? It’s like an unmanly version of SSJ3 Goku, which is really disappointing. The whole slender form-factor doesn’t help either. I know he’s supposed to look like a leopard or something, but the eye shadow, the long hair and the skinny body and legs just make him look like some furry fag. I hope there’ll never be any Ichigo x Grimmjaw furry doujin… just thinking about it makes me want to puke.

Apart from that little complaint, this chapter is a pretty solid one. How Orihime will ultimately react to Vaizard Ichigo could be interesting, but it could also just be a predictable “I’m not scared and I’ll still love you forever and ever” thing, which would be disappointing. The fight is in the usual Kubo style, lots of close ups then zoom out showing the wider action, nothing particularly exciting yet. Hopefully that will change with the upcoming chapter. There hasn’t been a decent fight since Soul Society, and the last good sword fight was against Zaraki Kenpachi - everything after that were more like magicians throwing fireball at each other than anything else.

Naruto 360

Sasuke’s fight against Deidara heats up as Deidara busts out his ultimate bomb, the C4. A giant Deidara appears, but simply pops like a balloon, which Sasuke initially thinks is a dud. However, when Deidara sets off the bomb, the animals within the vicinity all fall apart into little pieces. Sasuke also falls apart. Tobi explains that the C4 is in fact a lot of super tiny microscopic bombs, which are spread throughout the area when the giant Deidara explodes. Any animal that breaths it in will be filled with the little bombs, and when they’re set off they’ll destroy the body from the inside at a cellular level.

Deidara uncovers his left eye, thanks Itachi, and screams out that it is his victory, and the victory of his art. However, he feels the Sharingan behind him, and turns around to find Sasuke in level 2 seal, who hits him with Chidori. Sasuke explains that, even though the naked eye cannot see the microscopic bombs, the Sharingan could see the chakra within them, and to him the bombs looked like a mist spreading out. He could also see that where Deidara was standing was just outside the range of the bomb, and so he could easily dodge it, and that the dying Sasuke Deidara saw was simply Sasuke’s genjutsu. Deidara however, once again thanks Itachi, and bursts out of the clay bird he was riding on. He explains that, since fighting with Itachi, he had trained up his left eye to resist genjutsu and was able to break out of Sasuke’s genjutsu immediately. “Now it’s really over!” he screams, “Have a taste of my C4!”

Thoughts
The C4 is, in the words of Tobi, a ‘terrible jutsu’. It is essentially a biological weapon, a gas bomb that you breath in, and as such is impossible to avoid. Even more terrible is that it can’t be seen with the naked eye, so unless you’re like Sasuke you can’t tell when you’re safe from it. One thing though - wouldn’t it be much smarter to covertly release the gas? I guess the problem here would be breathing it in yourself.

This chapter is a return to form for Kishimoto, that, in my opinion, rivals the level of the fights found at the height of Naruto, which I consider to be the ‘We’re-a-team-but-let’s-split-up-and-fight-1-on-1′ arc. Which brings up a question that I always ask - If anyone other than Sasuke was to fight Deidara, would they have any chance? It’s the same in the Sasuke pursuit arc - if the match ups were anything other than what was, the Konoha ninjas would probably have been wiped out quicker than you can say “Shounen Jump”.

Interesting to note that the wing that got cut off previously on Sasuke has been replaced by snakes. WHY ARE THERE MOTHERFUCKING SNAKES ON MY MOTHERFUCKING BACK?

One Piece 461

After Oz fell down, the Straw Hat Pirates are split into two groups - Luffy, Chopper and Robin heads towards the freezing room where Oz was stored and where Moria is napping, while Sanji and Usopp fell down to the bottom level, where they join Zorro and Franky. On the way to where Moria is, Luffy and co. runs into Hogback and Cindry, who tries to stop them. Chopper declares his disappointment in Hogback, and urges Luffy to go find Moria, saying he would defeat Hogback himself. Robin stays with Chopper, stopping Cindry from following Luffy. Hogback laughs when he realises that the deer is Chopper, and asks him to give up his shadow… or be killed and turned into the body of a zombie, as Sanji’s and Zoro’s zombies appear.

Meanwhilst, the other half of the Straw Hat’s crew stands in awe of Oz, who doesn’t notice them and walks off. The bridge that they originally intended to cross was destroyed by Oz’s fall, but Franky quickly rebuilds another one. Crossing the bridge, they walk into Perona’s room, and are quickly taken out by her Ghosts Ghost Fruit, all except for Usopp, who’s immune to its powers because he’s already depressive. Elsewhere, in the Thriller Bark’s church, Absalom is seconds away from stealing Nami’s sweet lips.

Thoughts
Pretty much just set up for the upcoming battles - Luffy vs Moria, Chopper and Robin vs Sanji’s and Zoro’s zombies, and Usopp vs Perona. Not much to note other than that… some really funny moments again, especially when Usopp loudly declares that he is already a depressive.

I’m going to get my wisdom teeth removed tomorrow (4th of July), so next week’s entry might come a little later, depending on how drugged up I am, or if there’s any complication with the operation. Wish me luck!

*A lie.