Manga - The Other White Meat

Well folks, in light of my absence last week we’ll see if we can’t get a two week synopsis out for both Bleach and Naruto. Not a whole lot has happened so I’ll just get you all up to speed and we can take it from there. So…without further ado, let's get on to the summaries shall we? NARUTO We open with Naruto basically chastising Sakura for professing her love for him. I tend to agree with Naruto that it is just a ploy to get him to stop chasing after his friend, and that they aren’t her true feelings. Sakura tries to explain that only she knows her own feelings but Naruto isn’t buying it. Apparently she wants Naruto to come home for his own safety, since as a Jinchuriki Akatsuki is after him as well to take the Kyuubi out of him (enough fun words there?). Naruto explains that he understands why Sasuke is seeking revenge for his clan, but before he can talk about their encounter with Uchiha Madara his sensei Kakashi stops him. This is not information that needs to be publicly known yet without any verification of what he said. With that Sakura, Kiba, Lee, and Sai decide to go home leaving Naruto, Kakashi, and Yamato to pursue Sasuke on their own. Sakura then asks Kiba to help her pursue Sasuke and we race to the Kage who are on their way to pursue the remaining tailed beasts to combat Madara’s plan to rule over everyone. It appears that the Kage are legitimately going to work together to make this happen, and with that, we return to the fight between Killer Bee, host of the 8-tailed demon, and Kisame, a monstrous member of Akatsuki. Kisame is more then he appears and meets Killer Bee's attack head on while his sword, Samehada, absorbs all of Killer Bee's energy from the attack and grows with it. Killer Bee completely transforms as they fight, as does Kisame. There isn’t anything fancy going on and it's just brute force against brute force and I’m not sure who is going to win. In the meantime, the ninja trapped trying to pursue Danzo has come up with a plan to escape the trap, which targets his special eye ability, Byakugen. If he removes his own eye it will force the owner to switch places back with him just before he dies, killing the maker of the trap instead of the trapped. If he does it too soon, however, he will just find himself without one of his best weapons and the owner will dodge it and finish him. It’s like a fancy magic trick. The issue ends with Kisame looking almost defeated, ribcage split open, sword shattered, until he reveals his greatest strength, one that makes him nearly invincible. He can regenerate with the chakra that his sword Samehada absorbs from his opponents. As his opponents use all their energy to fight and get weaker, he will just get stronger. After healing, Kisame releases a huge water bubble on his opponents, and merges with his sword to form a shark-like creature. The battle rages on in Episode 472 no doubt. I’m curious to see if Killer Bee can survive or if help will arrive in time to save him. BLEACH Whew…that double review had more action then I thought for two quick issues of manga. Thankfully Bleach has become neither as complicated nor as interesting so this should wrap up a little quicker! So, we left off with Ichigo returning to the real world and Byakuya and Kenpachi fighting Yammy the giant and powerful Espada. Ichigo really pisses off Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi by comparing him to Urahara Kisuke, the former captain of the squad. Before Mayuri can attack Ichigo, him and Captain Unohana jump into the portal back to the real world. Unohana describes to Ichigo why he is the only chance that Soul Society has, because he hasn’t seen Aizen’s sword release. Aizen can hypnotize anyone who has seen the sword release, and everyone except him has seen it. Back in the fight Yammy is trying to harm Zaraki, who just cuts off his fingers with the hand he is punching him with. Zaraki then jumps onto his arm to get close enough to attack Yammy’s face, and slices him. Captain Byakuya is still just watching the fight but asks Mayuri why he stayed instead of going to the real world to study what’s going on there. Mayuri states that he is simply staying where the most interesting corpses are currently located. The episode ends with Unohana ominously saying that no matter what, Ichigo must not see Shikai. Back in Hueco Mundo, Byakuya is surprised that Mayuri seems to believe that sending Ichigo back will end the war, and Byakuya seems to agree. Just a lot of dialogue leading to nothing… In Issue 382 we open with Unohana taking the lead to widen the path back to the real world with her spiritual pressure. I think it is more about her control then it is her power. Ichigo then explains something: he only has his right sleeve of his bankai form (which he has been in for a LONG time). Apparently, when his cloak reforms he will be back at full power. Right now he only has a fraction of his strength, which shocks Unohana as she already thought he was at captain level. She decides to follow him to help him heal and recover his reiatsu recover faster and heal his injuries. Ichigo is a Saiyan after all, and they get stronger each time they get the crap kicked out of them or something. Unohana will restore his reiatsu while following him so that he can be the trump card. In the meantime we go back to Yammy fighting Captains Zaraki and Byakuya. It’s just a brute force battle. The captains have some light banter which is interrupted by Yammy. They both get fed up and decide that Yammy is in the way. Byakuya uses his Bankai release and Zaraki prepares to attack him. They both say Yammy is in the way and just obliterate him when he sticks his face in the way. I have a feeling that’s that for this fight. See you next time, when hopefully something fun will happen when Ichigo returns to the real world. I have a feeling he had better relearn how to use his hollow release form in a hurry.

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