Customer Reviews

Bleach, Vol. 24

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After an arc-and-a-half of questions and mysteries about the Bounts, answers are finally revealed in "Bleach, Vol. 24" -- in fact, most of the stuff we want to know is finally laid out on the table. The rest of these four episodes is essentially devoted to a big flashy fight between Zaraki and Ichinose, and the beginnings of the epic clash between the Bounts and Soul Reapers -- think big wooden war machines, flower-foxes, and an eyepatch.

Byakuya and Ichigo's battle with Kariya is unexpectedly interrupted -- by a strange Soul Reaper named Ran'Tao, the creator of the Bount race. While she treats Ichigo's wounds, she reveals quite a few facts about the Bounts' origins, the Soul Reapers' attitude about them, and why they have been forbidden a place in the Soul Society. Well, there aren't too many new revelations, but it does tell SOME new stuff. In the meantime, the Soul Reapers learn that Kariya's gang of thugs is building something in the forest.

Then the treacherous Maki Ichinose confronts Ichigo and his buddies, intending to stop them from confronting Kariya's little army. But he's distracted by the arrival of the Soul Reaper that he hates the most -- Kenpachi Zaraki -- and immediately launches into a hate-fueled duel with his mortal enemy. And at the same time, the Seireitei is breached and invaded by Kariya and the few remaining Bounts -- and now they're stronger than ever.

The entire first episode of "Bleach Volume 24" is pretty much taken up by the end of the fight with Kariya, and a long flashback that fills in various gaps about the Bounts... although I'm still unsure why the older Soul Reapers like Yamamoto don't really seem to remember anything about the Bounts. If you can ignore that particular plot hole, then these episodes are a fun buildup to what is presumably the ending of the second Bount Arc.

But the centerpiece of these episodes is a half-hour-long battle between Maki Ichinose and Zaraki, with giant balls of deadly, rainbow swords, and Zaraki deflecting Ichinose's best efforts without breaking a sweat. There are some moments of mild humor sprinkled through the story ("AAAAAAAAAA... an exploding egg!"), but the episodes are mostly devoted to flashy zanpakuto-fueled action scenes, and unravelling the last secrets of the Bounts. Well, such as they are.

This volume also introduces Ran'Tao, who turns out to be a massive grumpypants who lives in an underground cave and sometimes passes out while you talk to her. And Ichinose turns out to be even more of a loser than anyone thought, launching himself into an embarrassing attack on Zaraki while Zaraki explains at length why he sucks. And since our spiky-haired captain is a pragmatist fighting a corrupt idealist, he strips bare all the hatred and hypocrisy that Ichinose spouts. I knew there was a reason I liked that guy.

"Bleach Volume 24" starts revving up for the final Bount/Soul Reaper conflict, and actually starts it with a big fun fight, Bount history, and a grouchy old lady in a lab coat. And then... it ends right before the real fun starts.