Manga - The Other White Meat

So last week we were left with one cliffhanger and one battle starting up. In this week’s chapters we get continuations of both of those stories with no real new information. Naruto seems to be meeting up with the Sage’s prophecy regarding training to control the Jinchuuriki’s chakra without also transforming into the demon by inheriting its soul. He's learned of a method to separate the immense power of the chakra from the demon inside of him without losing his own consciousness. However to actually accomplish this he will need training. Who is the best person to give that to him? Read on in the recap to find out.

Meanwhile, in Bleach the fights between Gin and Ichigo are heating up while we get some cryptic dialogue between Isshin and Aizen with no real developments in their fight. Gin is getting a little bit scarier as we go along in his fight, which is great because I was a little disappointed in his abilities before. It turns out he is a perfect matchup for Ichigo in my opinion. Onwards to the recaps!

BLEACH

In Chapter 400 I was really hoping that some crazy epic development would happen. When people talk about long running TV shows and series it is easy to forget how long they’ve been around. Thinking of 400 chapters of Bleach in manga at one a week with a host of weeks off mixed in, that is a LONG time. Considering I started following this series from essentially the very beginning I had no idea it had been that many years. Oh…sorry…you wanted to know about the chapter? Let’s talk about that.

Basically Gin and Ichigo fight for a while. He dodges several attacks but Gin comes at him straight on with a flurry of blows that Ichigo seems barely able to keep up with. It is reminiscent of Gin’s brief fight with Captain Hitsugaya back in the last story arc. Ichigo realizes as he is fighting that he can’t follow the contraction and expansion of Gin’s sword. This is incredibly surprising because Ichigo’s powers are almost entirely based on speed at their base level.

After Ichigo mentions that Gin is based on speed, Gin states how creepy Ichigo really has become and how long this fight may end up taking. Gin then states that his Bankai and power is the fastest in soul society period. Ichigo has never faced anyone who could match his speed and this battle will be intriguing. At some point I’m sure Gin will push Ichigo to take his hollow form and then we’ll see what Gin’s next level consists of. I’m positive there are lots of tricks up his sleeve as Gin tends to be a sneaky dirty fighter.

Meanwhile Isshin and Aizen are facing off. The last chapter seemed to end with a massive explosion between them but that is never really addressed in this chapter. They are battling when Isshin asks if something is wrong because Aizen is getting slow. Aizen’s response is that he has reached the limit of his shinigami self. When Isshin asks what the heck that could possibly mean, we are left with a chapter ending cliffhanger of Aizen saying that his soul has finally begun to understand the will of the Hougyoku and is reconstructing itself. Who knows what godlike power Aizen will obtain from this new development.

NARUTO

Chapter 491 begins back on Myouboku Mountain. Naruto has to have a frog stored inside of him to assist in controlling the Kyuubi, the nine-tailed demon fox sealed away inside of Naruto. After some amusing frames of that process the Great Frog Sage tells Naruto that he must travel to a remote paradise to train with an octopus in order to learn to control the kyuubi and become a more powerful Jinchuuriki.

After this brief pause Naruto is sent back to the village and for the first time in the history of the series, the villagers are excited to see him and ask him for autographs. For this entire series the villagers have thought of Naruto as almost a curse because of the Demon inside of him. Finally, after essentially saving the village at home twice and abroad numerous times, people are approaching him as a hero. It is quite the shift.

Meanwhile, with Tsunade representing Konoha after her recovery last chapter, the meeting of the Kages to plan battle strategy begins. They make some decisions to combine their intelligence divisions together and babble some other plans, but after that the big decision occurs. Despite Tsunade’s objections as to their usefulness in battle, the Hachibi (Killer Bee, Raikage’s brother) and Jinchuuriki (Naruto) will be hidden rather than exposing them to war in order to keep their powers away from Akatsuki in the coming war. They are sent to an island which turns out to NOT be the paradise Naruto was hoping for (more amusing frames here).

After being attacked by a giant squid Killer Bee shows up to chase it away, and Naruto is convinced that this is the octopus that he is destined to train with due to it having eight tails. The last two remaining tailed demons not in Akatsuki’s possession have met, and I have a feeling them training together will be hilarious given their personalities. My only real wonder is whether Killer Bee brought his stolen sword Sammehada with him containing the Akatsuki member Kisame inside. If he did, the war may start on this island instead of where the ninja villages want it to.

Until next week!