Chapter 489: March of the StarCross

[goke]

Chapter 488 is out. Yama-jii has declared war in earnest. Please sound off your predictions on the next riveting Bleach chapter.

[MarcoPR1]

That final page is the most interesting... part of me believes Mayuri... the other part of me doubts that Quincy could get that strong in 1) get that strong in 200 years after death... and 2) not bear any showing of hollowfication whatsoever... there's something missing here if they are simply dead human Quincy out for revenge...

These guys are overrunning Espada, let alone VL's like cake walks... I simply cant bring myself to believe that they are simply Quincy, not after the ease their demise seemed to be 200 years ago... especially after the growth the hogyoku seemed to give Halibel and the others...

TK really has some explainin to do...

[Tekken-Hakuda]

I accept them as Quincies, just as much as I accept Arrancars as Hollows. Quincies are not a seperate species from Human, it's more like a occupation and a higher level of human. I believe any human with high enough spirit energy can become a quincy. The individual just need to know how to materialize a spiritial bowl, learn the art of Quincy-ism and bam, a Quincy is born. As to why a few of them seem to be overpowered...my guess is they prepared themselves well for the past 200 years by training and experimenting or figured a way to utilize the Final Quincy Form. As a novice Quincy, Uryu was able to severely injured and defeat a low tier Captain. These guys seem to be a lot more powerful than Uryu. Ryuken is more skilled than Uryu and he consider his own son weak. The guy wields a bow like it's 9mm pistol.

As for my prediction for chapter 489, Kirbe and Ichigo will have a little skirmish, the winner of this can go either way. I honestly see Ichigo losing the 1st round, just like he did with Yammy, Grimmjow, Ulquiorra, and even had difficulty against Dordonni in shikia. Kubo is probably setting up this Kirbe fellow as one of the main rival powerhouses(think back to Grimmjow and Ulquiorra) that Ichigo has to defeat before he faces the head huncho(Buckbeard). Kirbe will have the upperhand and will head back to the base(Ice Castle) with his troops who are still alive and captives and tell the King what happened and give the king some information on shinigami.

[goke]

Originally Posted by MarcoPR1

That final page is the most interesting... part of me believes Mayuri... the other part of me doubts that Quincy could get that strong in 1) get that strong in 200 years after death... and 2) not bear any showing of hollowfication whatsoever... there's something missing here if they are simply dead human Quincy out for revenge...

TK really has some explainin to do...

Obviously they were not all killed, the Quincy. We have two surviving generations.. Ryuuken and Uryuu. I'm not sure about the exact number of years... but I do remember Tessai saying he hadn't heard the word in 200 years, which may not have anything to do with Mayuri's knowledge, which is more recent since Uryuu met the last Quincy Mayuri experimented on.

The blatant mention of Quincy makes the Ishida pair more pertinent to the arc. Moreso Ryuuken, who I believe should have a more significant role.

More imminent, however is the fight which will happen in 489. Captain Kirge and Ichigo. I thought he used throwing daggers at first, judging by the range with which he attacked. He also has a sword. (a Zanpakuto maybe...)

 Spoiler: click to show

488 confirmed it was a bow, however. Should be great fun. So..

In the white corner:Versed in projectiles and melee weapons, awesome at oneshotting Fraccion, Leader of the Iacto Arme of the VandenReich: Captain Kirge Opie!!

In the black corner: Capable of winning even when the opponent is significantly stronger, possessor of great stamina and guts, having swam the 6 seas of The Lust, crossed the 23 rivers of Deicide, trudged up the mountains of despair and Nihilism, Substitue Shinigami of the Gotei 13, Kurosaki Ichigo!!

[The Lost Shinigami]

Originally Posted by goke

488 confirmed it was a bow, however. Should be great fun. So..

In the white corner:Versed in projectiles and melee weapons, awesome at oneshotting Fraccion, Leader of the Iacto Arme of the VandenReich: Captain Kirge Opie!!

In the black corner: Capable of winning even when the opponent is significantly stronger, possessor of great stamina and guts, having swam the 6 seas of The Lust, crossed the 23 rivers of Deicide, trudged up the mountains of despair and Nihilism, Substitue Shinigami of the Gotei 13, Kurosaki Ichigo!!

hahaha now this defines amusing. I think what were actually going to see is Ichigo go full out since his newly found/given powers...then again i would love to see him drop Opie with a flick of the bird

[Emperor_Kon]

I hope this captain dude turns out to be so powerful that Ichigo can't beat him on his own and Urahara will have to interfere. That would be awesome.

[Nnoitra 5]

good chapter, hopefully the last time we see the annoying fraccion, but why didn't they release ayon!?!

part with nel was kind of funny

can't wait to see ichigo fight Kirge

[FujoshiFTW]

Well; at least this chapter cleared my doubt of the opponents being a mixed race of Quincy, Shinigami and Hollow. The weird thing is that I do not get how the Quincy race have become so large and powerful. Didn't the Quincy lay "extinct" for the last 200 years? Also, aren't Quincy humans with a high spiritual level? I doubt that the Quincy Soul Society are up against got "mass-produced" in the last 20 or so years. I am looking forward to the battle between the captain and Ichigo though; since then I would have some idea of their battle techniques and if they're similar to Uryu's.

Also, the possibility of Uryu being a spy is levelling higher a notch since he isn't participating in this "battle" at the moment. And it also seems like Ryuken will get a bigger role to play in this arc. Ahh~ The anticipation~

[MarcoPR1]

Goke, I realize that they weren't all exterminated... which would make his knowledge of Shinigami ability that much harder to know if he were a Quincy... and Isshida was trained by his grandfather, who was a Quincy as well, so the Shinigami weren't thorough in their termination...

My point about what Mayuri said is that the quality of the evidence seems caustic...not completely inaccurate, but plausibly tainted by what they want him to think... certainly there are Quincy involved because Ivan was a Quincy... but he was also a hollow...or very hollow-ish... the mask gave him away...

My point is, the king has no mask at all... no hole at all...which means quite a bit... they're also incorporating hollows who are not Quincy into their battle with the Shinigami whether they want to or not... which goes against the very creation of the Quincy in the first place... there's no reason to use the hollows at all, let alone hold Halibel... Quincy kill Hollows...plain and simple...

To me, TK is saying something subtlely... like he did with Ichigo and his shinigami reiatsu depth... all that reiatsu showed itself at the end... after all the beatings and smack downs and how much did shinigami reiatsu did he really have? More than the Hogyoku could supplant in Aizen...

My point is, this final arc, this "king", these people are more than what they seem... sure some of them are Quincy... but for the most part, to me, this issue, this war, is personal... that goes farther back than some termination of Quincy...

I think the King, is exactly that... his knowledge is far too much for a Quincy... how does he know about Ichigo? How does he know about the individuality of bankai? How does he know who to send against whom? He's doing this... He sent Ivan against Ichigo, knowing he would fail, then terminated him without even a second thought... he also terminated the guy who gave the threat to Yama-ji simply because he considered himself higher than Ivan... after taking off his arm with a thought and then putting him out of his misery for being a jerk... with thoughts...

This Buckbeard's ability goes beyond Quincy ability... they require weaponry this guy does not require at all... he can negate spiritual life with a thought... a thought... show me a Quincy who can do this...

At any rate, I'm looking forward to Isshin's connection to all of this... from what I understand, Isshin's backstory is supposed to be involved in this final arc... I'm hoping we find his relevance for him using the Final Getsuga Tenshou and his opinion on Vizards...

[goke]

Originally Posted by MarcoPR1

..

This Buckbeard's ability goes beyond Quincy ability... they require weaponry this guy does not require at all... he can negate spiritual life with a thought... a thought... show me a Quincy who can do this...

.

I don't agree with you. Quincy can manipulate reishi without weapons. If you remamber the platform Ishida used to climb to the top of Las Noches. That was mere manipulation, Buckbeard is apparently older, stronger than that so he should be able to do what he did with mere manipulation.
For example, against Mayuri, Ishida had the added power of reishi from the surroundings which he was able to use to put a hole through Mayuri. HuecoMundo has way more reishi (it's even in the air) and Buckbeard's abilities are apparently greater so it is highly plausible
He didn't use thought, it just appears that way (for Ludgers). Remember he pointed at Ivan when he killed him.

 Spoiler: click to show

 Spoiler: click to show