Spoiler free summary: In Volume 63 of Bleach by Tite Kubo, Several captains are struggling against a single foe, but Renji enters the contest with an intent to change it all.
Character: I don’t honestly remember much about this volume. So it’s sort of unfair to judge. My lack of remembrance is good in that it wasn’t so bad that I remember it. However, it can’t have been that great because I don’t remember anything about it. I put this here because usually when I fail to remember something, it’s because the characters didn’t do much. I remember the captains being the victims of the, “we need these bad guys to be scary” syndrome, which is common in manga, but that’s about it.
Exposition: Another example of what happens when a book isn’t memorable is that however MEH it may be, it didn’t drag on with exposition. I’m inferring that the bulk of this volume was fighting, and I usually do a good job of remembering matches. This means that most of the volume was fight scene that, while possibly entertaining, wasn’t memorable.
Worldbuilding: One thing I do remember is the hint regarding the Quincy king’s power. This sort of revealed a few key pieces. That tidbit was actually pretty nice foreshadowing. We get a tidbit here, and then as the reveal plays out, we come to understand how this arc truly connects all the way back to the beginning.
Dialogue: This was likely typical boasting.
Description: This is probably the most negative part. You see, if I can’t remember any part of it, it means there wasn’t a single panel that stood out in my mind. That’s not great if you’re a manga.
Overall: I’ve been wracking my brain trying to remember any portion of this. I didn’t have the energy to go back and review it just to refresh my mind. Maybe if I saw a panel or two, I’d remember where this was in the sequence of events, but as it stands, I’m pretty much at a loss until Squad 0 shows up. This volume sort of exemplifies what I’m getting at with some stories. At a certain point, everything blends together. The enemy can only get “so” strong. The “clever turnaround” can only happen so many times. Once the pattern gets too repetitive, the individual fights lose their unique standing. It’s weird because Naruto went more than 70 volumes, and I can still remember pretty much every fight. But part of that is because the cast had more weight. Here, aside from Rukia and her brother, the other characters don’t get much. There was the character from the last arc, and that was cool, but this manga just didn’t have much.
Thanks for reading,
Matt
M.L.S. Weech 