Bleach Novel: The Death Save the Strawberry

[Buzz Killington]

This one seems like its gonna cause a lot less havoc than the prior one, Spirits Are Forever With You. It really seems like its going to do a better job of filling us in on all the things we wanted to see much better as well. There's also a rumor Kubo's more involved in this one than the last, so that may be part of it

Anyway, here's some art from the Novel by Kubo

 Spoiler: click to show

^She's some character thats supposed to be Rukia's servant I believe

^Rukia getting her hair cut

^Shinji talking to Momo

^Orihime eating, lol

^Rukia

^Matsumoto and Hitsugaya

^Urahara, Soi Fon & Yoruichi (My favorite pic so far)

^We all know what happened there

^King & Queen Card

What to expect from it

 Spoiler: click to show

藍染捕縛から一護が死神に戻るまでの間におきた、刀にまつわるお話です。
This story will be from the time of Aizen's arrest to when Ichigo returns to being shinigami and will be about the sword.

ほとんどのキャラクターを出しましたので、どのキャラのファンの方にも手にとっていただけたら うれしいです 。
Because most all of the characters will appear, (I?) hope that the way that they're written is acceptable to the fans of those characters.

それにしても、久保先生からいただいたこのタイトルよ‥‥！　
Also, I received the title from Kubo-sensei...!

ＢＬＥＡＣＨの中でも特に重要な意味を持つこのタイトルとリンクしていただけて感無量でありま すッ！　
This title and link is has a particularly important meaning in BLEACH, and upon receiving this title, gave me a deep and indescribable emotion!

担当さんから、「タイトル決まりました！」ってメールもらった時、ちょっと涙出ましたからね。

From Tantou(editor?)-san's email, 'The title is settled!', the tears came out easily didn't they?

Couple more summaries of events:

Shinji and Momo

 Spoiler: click to show

Shinji met with Hinamori in the 4th division's infirmary. They introduced each other and get to know each other through their dealings with Aizen. Hinamori said she is useless and how everyone is forgetting her but Shinji retorted back by saying everyone cared for her, that's why she is resting and they're working outside there. Hinamori still referred Aizen as 'Aizen-taichou' during the conversation and Shinji noticed this. She is hopeless so he wanted to try his best to snap her out of it. He then asked her to be his subordinate, much to Hinamori's surprise, he said they should work together to bring prosper to the 5th division. Days went by, Hinamori made an excellent recovery and she worked hard as Shinji's newest vice-captain. The way she worked though, reminded Shinji of Aizen. Hinamori felt emotional with that statement. They guessed, perhaps, there was sincerity in Aizen than they would have thought. They thought it was partly their mistake not to know Aizen for who he is. Long story short, at the end of their story, Hinamori finally uttered the phrase, 'Yes, Captain Hirako' and finally replaced 'Yes, Captain Aizen' as they walked out of the scene. That page ended with a simple phrase yet the impact is huge as my friend said. He said the impact would be bigger if you read it in Japanese.

Hisagi and Kensei

 Spoiler: click to show

As many would have thought, Hisagi is very happy. He never smiled this much during his time as a vice-captain. They talked and their chemistry together is high earning jealousy from Mashiro. Kensei did notice his tattoo silently. He also isn't bothered with the Seireitei News so Hisagi still remained as the head editor of that organisation. 9th division still leads the editorial in Seireitei. At the ending though, as Hisagi watched his new captain from his back, he silently reminded himself: "Those who do not fear their own strength, can never hold their weapons". His story ended with him visiting Tousen's grave or to be precise, Tousen's friend's grave where Suzumushi is placed.

Kira and Rose

 Spoiler: click to show

Kira was reluctant at first with this newly appointed captain. Rose corrected him that he simply gained his former position in the Gotei 13. Kira had a monologue how the Captain-commander has changed. He is glad. They had a good talk and Kira was surprised, to see a hidden spot in the captain's office where Rose had hidden his violin. He said that his former vice-captain, Iba Chikane, hated his music so he had to hide his musical instrument. He smiled sadly and wondered where she is right now. She is the one that gave him the push to go on being the captain for the 3rd division back then. He took his hidden violin and melody chimed from his violin. Rose said that, even though he might be a new face to Kira and most of his subordinates, he will try his best to be their captain. Kira then asked Rose, will he join the 3rd division's inner festival where they gather the persimmons to make dried persimmons from a single persimmon tree at the backyard and he said yes. Kira is delighted, for he and the 3rd division's only memory of Gin is of that single persimmon tree. He thanked Rose for that. Rose can only smile in the end and concluded Kira is his new muse.

Bits about Urahara, The other Vizards, Central 46/Yama etc

 Spoiler: click to show

This novel ties in how the Fullbring Arc is about Chad. Now he's attending boxing class just to protect Ichigo and the town. In a sense since he knows he's not worth to protect him with that kind of strength he had.

Urahara, Yoruichi, and Tessai's ban has been lifted along with the Vizards. They're now accepted back into their homeland. Most of the characters rejoiced except Hiyori who is always hot-tempered.

Yamamoto has the word/power within the new C46 because in between finding new members to replace the dead and old corrupted ones, Yamamoto held the authority over the whole of Soul Society for a while since it took some time to find the suitable members. He was the one that gave the word to lift the Exiled including the Vizards' bans. He said it was Aizen's doings that made them guilty.

Urahara felt emotional, seriously emotional when Yamamoto recognised him when he came bringing the Spirit Sword He also said something along the lines of finally being able to breath after forgetting it for so long he has been drowned within the word 'exiled'.

Hacchi stayed in Karakura to control or 'cleaning' the huge residual barrier left after FKT battle.

Lisa and Mashiro often went in and out of Soul Society. Mashiro became Soul Society's prominent reporter after rejecting her position as the vice-captain from Hisagi. Hisagi is a try-hard to impress his idol. It was noted by Mashiro.

Love simply couldn't careless about going back to Soul Society but mostly it was because he couldn't read JUMP anymore in that dusty old place.

Lisa has a house in Rukongai after her business selling porn magazine boomed. It was called 'Palace of Porn' or something. But she rarely stays in it and opt to live in the Living World.

Hiyori didn't want to go back simply because she hates Shinigami.

The novel was released on the 4th in Japan

Thoughts?

[Senbontenshou]

The first piece of art with Uryu....looks like he finally saw a naked girl!

On a more serious note, I think its very down to earth and conveys the built up relationships well. It shows us how the Vaizard captains were connected to their VC's and its good to be able to look at things like that and understand why Rose was so upset about Kira.

I would definitely buy it if it got released here

[RakuRai]

This is a quite promising novell, I'd even consider to read it. Thanks for the info.

[shockzz123]

Wait, what role would Uryu have in this (a novel about the shinigami) as a quincy? Or is that just art that Kubo drew to promote the novel? If not, then maybe stuff with Uryu will tie in to whats going on now in the manga. Or it's just a simple drawing and i'm over analyzing it
Also...Lisa...porn magazines... XD I mean, we know she likes to read those kinda things, but who would've thought she'd make her own magazine....
Nice info, thanks! As RakuRai said, it looks interesting and i would definitely read it......if i could understand Japanese Still, sounds better then the Kenpachi novel (and he's my fav captain as well ).

[Odysseas]

[quote=Buzz Killington;3109966]It really seems like its going to do a better job of filling us in on all the things we wanted to see much better as well.[quote]
First of all thanks for summarizing the info from the novel.
I've searched other forums but the info were all scattered good job

Moving on, i have one important question.Why the &^%$ Kubo chose not to include all these characters' interactions in the manga? (in the form of a flashback)
He made a big mistake imo, since most many people who only read the manga won't get to know about all these and he would also please many angry fans.

There's also a rumor Kubo's more involved in this one than the last, so that may be part of it

If he's involved directly then that's probably the reason this novel seems realistic.
The author though did a good job and seems to have read/watched Bleach carefully since no one seems to act out of character.

Thoughts?

This novel is definitely better than the last one(plot-wise) and actually makes sense.
I wish we could get a full translation though! What about Hisagi and his motorcycle? Is there a clue one how he got it in SS?

The only things i found a bit random were the reasons Love and Hiyori and Lisa chose to stay in Karakura.\
Although now that i think about Love, even i sometimes can't relax if more than 2 weeks pass and i don't get any Bleach chapter.

[Senbontenshou]

Originally Posted by Odysseas

This novel is definitely better than the last one(plot-wise) and actually makes sense.
I wish we could get a full translation though! What about Hisagi and his motorcycle? Is there a clue one how he got it in SS?

The only things i found a bit random were the reasons Love and Hiyori and Lisa chose to stay in Karakura.\
Although now that i think about Love, even i sometimes can't relax if more than 2 weeks pass and i don't get any Bleach chapter.

I've always been curious about Hisagi's motorcycle too....man it would have been cool if he used it to fight Driscoll now that I think about it! Maybe his bankai could be a bike with scythes on it?

Ah yeah, Hiyori is stubborn so its not too surprising but as for Love...he probably isn't fighting the Vandenreich because he's too busy waiting for Bleach to come so he can read it

[RakuRai]

Originally Posted by Senbontenshou

Ah yeah, Hiyori is stubborn so its not too surprising but as for Love...he probably isn't fighting the Vandenreich because he's too busy waiting for Bleach to come so he can read it

So the whole Bleach thing may be an alternative plot Love just imagined to make himself a character of this universe while reading JUMP. Who the hell didn't imagine himself as a part of it? =)

[Senbontenshou]

Originally Posted by RakuRai

So the whole Bleach thing may be an alternative plot Love just imagined to make himself a character of this universe while reading JUMP. Who the hell didn't imagine himself as a part of it? =)

Haha exactly, I now imagine the last chapter of Bleach will end having its big dramatic panel of closure and then it'll zoom out to reveal that panel was in fact inside an issue of JUMP Love was reading and he'll be laying down in his sweats and just be like 'damn that was cool' as he scratches himself!

[Shabbyjazz]

This is exactly what I wanted. Either in the manga or novel form. If this is considered canon, I'll be very pleased.

Seeing how the captains of old go together with their new vice-captains was intriguing to me, so I'm looking forward to reading this.

[aizenbankai]

This novel promises not to cause such a huge ragestorm as the Novelpachi one.

I approve.