From the back cover:
Ichigo’s recent battles with the Arrancars have proven that if he wants to protect his friends he must get stronger, and the only way to do that is to control his inner Hollow. Ichigo turns to the Visoreds*, ex-Soul Reapers who have been Hollowfied, to teach him. But before his training begins, Ichigo must do battle against his Hollow self—winner takes his soul!

* Referred to as “Vizards” in previous volumes.

Review:
This was essentially a training volume, in which Ichigo must first prove his worthiness to the Visoreds (spelling changed, I think, because of the newly-revealed connection between their Hollow masks and their power) in order to be taught how to “Hollowfy,” and then fight an internal battle to control the Hollow within.

The fights with the Visoreds are not very interesting, but the battle with the Inner Hollow is pretty good, if occasionally confusing. Even though I suppose it’s silly that the Inner Hollow’s sword and garment are white where Ichigo’s are black, it still looks neat and allows for some symbolic representations of who is exerting dominance over whom. The Inner Hollow gives a lot of advice about how Ichigo needs a killer instinct to be “the king,” and then there’s a section where Ichigo thinks about instinct and battle and fighting and then suddenly he’s winning. I don’t really understand what went on there internally, but at least the outcome is clear.

Unfortunately, some of the pivotal moments in the battle felt a little unsatisfying because the chapters were so short. You’d get, like, 2 truly cool pages in each one and the rest would be talking or things crumbling. There was a lot of crumbling in this volume.

Very little is seen of other characters in this volume, which could be a blessing since Rangiku’s boobs are not referenced once, but at the very end, details on Aizen’s latest objective are revealed. It involves a hitherto-unmentioned royal family of the Soul Society, which is a shade retconny, but whatever. It sounds like it could be a reason for bringing the gang together again and going on a group quest, which is when this series is at its best. I’m looking forward to it.

From the back cover:
Ichigo and the Soul Reapers wage a furious battle against the Arrancars who are attacking Karakura Town. But this enemy is unlike anything they have ever fought before, and these aren’t even the strongest of the Arrancars! If Ichigo and his friends can barely face them, how can they hope to fight off the elite Arrancar warriors, the dreaded Espada?

Review:
Despite leaving me confused in several places, this volume was an improvement over the previous one.

When last we left off, several of the Soul Reapers were fighting Arrancars, and most of this volume dealt with the conclusions of those battles. The fight scenes were not as clear as usual, and there were several times that I couldn’t quite understand what was going on, aside from someone getting wounded somehow. There were also seemingly too many Rukias running around. I assume that would make sense if I remembered more of what happened in the previous volume.

Things only became somewhat cool to me when more of the Arrancar hierarchy was revealed. Yes, it’s silly that the top ten of them are numbered in terms of descending power rank (and have the numbers on their bodies), but at least it provides some idea of structure for the foes to vanquish. I’m still pretty unclear on all the Arrancar and Vizard stuff, but guys with numbers on them I can understand. Speaking of Vizards, another potentially cool thing is that Ichigo seemed to be on the verge of asking them for help in controlling his inner Hollow.

Random note: I am amused when combatants are miraculously able to hold in all the blood from their unseen wounds until their opponent has fallen, at which point they suddenly go “SPLAKK!” and spurt from dozens of places.

I was prepared to drop this series if I disliked this volume as much as the last, but it was decent enough to buy a little more time.

From the back cover:
The Arrancars, Hollows that have attained Soul Reaper-like powers, have descended on Karakura Town. Led by Grimmjow Jeagerjaques, they plan to eliminate anyone who poses a threat to them. And their deadly hunt doesn’t stop with Ichigo and the Soul Reapers—the Arrancars are after anyone with even a trace of spiritual powers!

Review:
Pardon me a moment while I indulge in a snicker over the name Grimmjow Jeagerjaques.

Ahem. Okay, moving on. I don’t know whether it’s the wait between volumes or that the story has really gotten majorly worse, but I found this to be thoroughly dull. Some Hollows with stupid names arrived and began fights with various Soul Reapers. Yawn. I don’t even fully understand this Arrancar business to begin with, so it all just seemed utterly pointless.

Still more pointless was some fanboy fodder involving Rangiku and her boobs (again). She just had to take a bath at Orihime’s house and then pounce and straddle the other girl while administering love advice in the nude. It was utterly retarded and served absolutely no narrative purpose whatsoever. I suppose that’s the definition of fanservice, but this is the first time I’ve seen an extended sequence like this in Bleach and I am annoyed by its appearance.

I’m glad I’m just reading this series from the library. I’ll probably give it a couple more volumes to regain my interest, but at the moment I’m not feeling too optimistic about it.

From the back cover:
The noose is tightening around Ichigo. His inner Hollow can’t wait to consume him, the sinister transfer student has him tapped for a mysterious job, and now powerful new enemies have landed in his hometown to destroy him.

Review:
So far, this new arc is not off to an auspicious start. Some new villains are introduced, but only the latter pair—they’re Arrancar, meaning Hollows with Soul Reaper skills—are at all menacing. The first pair, including the “sinister transfer student,” fall victim to a lame attempt at comedy that effectively zaps any bit of coolness they’d possessed.

Speaking of lame comedy, once the Soul Society gets wind of the Arrancars visiting the human world, they send a team of familiar faces down to help Ichigo and friends combat the new threat. I probably would’ve thought this was a cheesy development no matter what, but the fact that all of their scenes devolve into buffoonery—chiefly triggered by Rangiku’s boobs—sure doesn’t help matters.

There are a few good things about the volume, though. I really like Ichigo’s fear of and struggle against the Hollow within him. Also, the two-page spread where Ichigo sees that Rukia has returned as part of the Soul Society team is really neat.

The last few pages show some promise, since the top level of Hollow already outclasses a Soul Reaper Captain before it goes through the process to become an Arrancar. This arc still could become cool, but so far, it elicits a resounding meh.