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.
It is really worth trying to hang on… there is some great stuff coming up if you can make it that far.
That’s excellent to hear! I can definitely make it if I know it’ll get better.
Glad to hear I’m not the only one who was confused by some of the fight scenes in this volume. Usually I think Kubo’s action sequences are fast-paced and well-constructed but I was scratching my head in several spots.
Exactly! I don’t recall having any problems of this nature with previous volumes. I eventually just had to go, “Well, I have no idea what happened, but now he’s hurt worse than before so let’s just go from there.”