Manga – The Other White Meat

With our fearless leader here at Omnicomic traipsing around France those of us left stateside are doing our best to keep you, our faithful reader, up to date with news, releases and original stories for your viewing and reading pleasure. In keeping with that spirit this week we will review last week AND this week's chapters of Naruto and Bleach. I know!?! Exciting.

When we last left Naruto in Chapter 493 we were about to learn from Motoi about Killer Bee and the Hachibi within him. There is a dark and bloody past that seems in stark contrast to the self-confident and powerful person we see before us now. Meanwhile in Bleach Aizen is continuing his transformation into something not human, hollow or shinigami. At this point his power seems limitless as he shrugs off attack after attack, but as with all things there must be a limit…right? Read on for the recaps of the last two weeks.

BLEACH

Chapters 403 and 404 continue the fight between Aizen and all the good forces of the universe. Since we got a comment about DBZ not to long ago, think about the battle with Cell where everyone starts off fighting and pretty much gets torn apart until Gohan goes SSJ2. For now at least, it looks like the only one with surprise power-ups are the bad guys, although the fights are entertaining if for no other reason then we are seeing new attacks for once.

If you remember, last chapter ended with Urahara essentially dissolving Aizen in an explosion. Urahara opens by informing everyone that Aizen will be back shortly. The big mystery to me is, if you know attacks aren’t going to work, why use them? This seems to happen a lot in Manga. Are you only 99% sure they won’t work so you try and waste your energy in case that 1% chance prevails? Why not save your strength for an attack you are confident in. Aizen reappears in a new form that we’ve never really seem before. He actually looks almost like a classic alien from an older outer space movie. Aizen talks for a while and Urahara and Isshin both attack at the same time from the front and back and are summarily tossed back. They are really trying to tie him down so another fan favorite, Urahara’s good friend Yoruichi, can attack from above. She does devastating hand to hand damage by focusing her reiatsu into her fists and feet.

Yoruichi hesitates to talk trash for a split-second and Aizen almost takes away her leg in payment as she narrowly retreats. From there in chapter 404 there is an awful lot of talk with very little fight. Aizen talks about destroying the hope of Isshin, Urahara and Yoruichi one by one while Ichigo stands by and watches. Aizen makes his move to attack and as the requisite manga explosion of power happens the remainder of the chapter is of Gin offering to just hang out with Ichigo to watch the end of the world since no one has a chance anyways. Eventually Gin does attack and Ichigo escapes only by using his new and improved hollow form that he gained in his last fight. While one other subplot is developing I’ll leave that for next week as it will require a little backstory explanation and this double feature is getting long enough as it is!

NARUTO

Let’s see, chapter 494 revolved around the history of the Hachibi and its Jinchuuriki, of which Bee became the successful host. The village had to subdue the 8-tails demon many times as its hosts lost control, and during one of these sessions Motoi’s father was killed. Eventually Motoi’s anger shifted from the 8-tailed demon Hachibi to Bee as the host. Even though Motoi and Bee were best friends, this hatred eventually led him to make an attempt on Bee’s life. Bee naturally deflected the attack and even held no grudge against Motoi which changed his life. In many ways Bee’s childhood was the same as Naruto’s. Bee was hated and feared in his village for the demon inside of him, but much like Naruto his personality and determination won over the village.

After hearing the story Naruto goes to meditate on it and the giant squid that attacked the boat they arrived on attacks again. This time Motoi is caught and almost killed until Bee shows up, enters the form of the Hachibi, and beats down the squid again saving everyone. Motoi finally admits to Bee that it was him that attempted to kill him those years ago and something happens to Naruto as he realizes what that compassion means to him and for the first time in a while, he smiles.

Chapter 495 opens with some rapping banter between Naruto and Bee and with Bee finally stating that he will help Naruto train. They go back to the Falls of Truth where Naruto faces off against his evil inner self. This time, instead of fighting his other half he accepts and embraces it. Thanking it for helping him to succeed this far, and stating that it isn’t faith in the village that drives him, but faith in himself. This causes the evil to be vanquished and allows Naruto to take the next step towards subduing the nine-tailed fox demon Kyuubi. This is the most powerful of the tailed demons, and up until now has played a role since chapter one as a malevolent force. Whenever Naruto has drawn too much of the power of the fox he loses himself and turns into a monster. Subduing that power and being able to use it safely will make him a beast.

The training ground is set as Bee leads Naruto through the Falls of Truth to a massive cave that is set up as a battleground for the subduing to come. Captain Yamato joins them just in case Naruto needs to be restrained while Motoi goes back to his duties. With Sasuke accepting his brother's eyes to complete his Mangekyou Sharingan technique and Naruto harnessing all the power of the strongest tailed beast, a crazy fight is sure to ensue. I’m looking forward to it. Have a nice weekend reader and we’ll see you next week.