BLEACH Ch. 609 Review

He could answer Goser's question without lying.

There is power in the name of Yhwach. One that Ichibe can not strip away so easily.

The Good

The origin of Bankai.

Ichibe has put on a pretty good show for us, but it looks as if this battle has come to the inevitable conclusion. No one can claim that he didn't put on one hell of a spectacle. No more so than in this chapter. I especially enjoyed the insight to the origins of Bankai. I'm fairly crestfallen to see the Zero Squad leader going out in this way. Part of me was wondering if Yhwach would somehow turn the Zero Squad against our incoming heroes.

Some may wonder why the "name" of things is suddenly so important. However, if you take a minute, you'd realize a moniker has been at the heart of the BLEACH series for a very long time. You need to know the name of a zanpakuto to reveal its power, and Kido has more punch when you use the incantations. This is nothing new. More recent events have just done more to make that clearer to the reader.

The Bad

Okay, here's the problem I'm having. If any power Yhwach sees can't harm him, then how is it that Ichibe has been slapping him around? Yhwach has been visibly shocked and confused during this fight. There's some talk about his eyes being shut, but I've seen them open. If this was his power, how was he ever defeated by anyone ever?

I almost have to wonder if Kubo is making some form of meta-commentary with Yhwach's skill set. Nearly all battle-shonen series concludes on the hero overcoming a god-tier villain or its equivalent. Kubo just comes right out and calls this guy, "The Almighty". There's also the shonen staple of explaining abilities to the enemy. Well, Yhwach doesn't need to hear your exposition. He just needs to see it coming. Currently, this comes across as an astonishingly cheap twist of nearly Shyamalan proportions. I can only figure that there's something left to be explained.

Verdict 3/5

I'm not at all bothered by this outcome. We all knew it was coming. To date, I'm just more disappointed in the reasoning for it. Calling Yhwach the "Almighty". You might as well just call him God, at this point. I just can't let the outcome of this chapter taint the enjoyment I've had with this battle over the past month. Maybe there's a twist coming or at least a better explanation. If anything, he's certainly justified himself as an end series antagonist with this level of power.

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About the Author

Kristoffer Remmell (FoxxFireArt) is a freelance graphic artist, writer, and over all mystery geek. Follow for news updates:@AnimeVicers /@FoxxFireArt / http://ift.tt/1hmMpg1

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