Bleach ch400

Insert boob joke here

「 400 – Deicide 2 」Ichigo is successfully matching Gin blow for blow and it seems like the effects of his bankai have been negated after Ichigo discovers the limitations to Gin’s attacks. Will this be it for Gin or does he still have some more secrets left untold?

Bleach「 ブリーチ 」

Compensating much?

Chapter 400 – Deicide 2
Read Online @ MANGASTREAM

Summary: Gin realizes that Ichigo has effectively matched his attacks perfectly, even successfully slipping in a counter of his own. In the blink of an eye though, his sword had suddenly reverted into a small dagger, which shocked Ichigo as he hadn’t noticed Gin contracting his sword beforehand. As he had been fully focused on the sword alone, he was pretty sure that he would not have missed such an important moment. Now that Gin realizes that normal tricks won’t work on Ichigo, he attempts to keep things simple and in true back to basics form, he attacks Ichigo in a close-quarter combat.

In the midst of them exchanging blows, Ichigo starts to hypothesize about Gin’s bankai. Out of nowhere though, as soon as he is able to make some space for himself to operate, Gin’s zanpaktou suddenly extends itself in order to attack Ichigo, which he barely dodges in time. He counters it swiftly which caused Gin to fall back for the moment. Ichigo soon reveals that he has discovered more about his bankai, revealing that the length of the sword is more of a distraction to the true fact that it extends and contracts at breakneck speeds. The only reason Gin revealed the length of the sword was to distract Ichigo from it’s speed but he has successfully seen through it now. Gin is surprised that Ichigo discovered so much that quickly and then goes on to reveal that the sword can reach speeds 500 times faster than what he had shown Ichigo prior to this. Stating that even by knowing that, Ichigo’s chances of winning the battle were still very slim.

Elsewhere, it seems like Isshin is getting the better of Aizen in battle, as he remarks that Aizen’s movements are getting slower and sluggish. He asks if he is already at the limits of his power. To our surprise, Aizen doesn’t disagree with the fact, as he reveals that he has indeed reached his limit, at least in his shinigami form. Shockingly, he adds that his soul will reconstruct and his body is now finally in tune with the hougyoku on his chest, leading to a possible change in the next chapter.

My Thoughts: Thank god there’s more tricks to Gin’s bankai, since that whole length thing was just trivial. The addition of speed to the formula makes things that much more interesting, and infinitely harder to block and counter for Ichigo. Then again, he’s doing a great job so far in keeping his limbs in tact but since Gin is starting to get more serious, who knows what might happen. At least Gin didn’t need to revert to cheap tricks like Tousen’s hollowfication or some Super Saiyan variation. If he can still speed it up 500 times what he has shown, I’m pretty sure sooner or later Ichigo will crumble seeing that he is only just keeping in touch with Gin in it’s current speed.

But yea, Ichigo keeping a cool head seems to be the norm lately but it’s a great change for his character. He seems to be in control of this battle actually and even after that big revelation, he doesn’t seem to be phased out. It’s funny though how his normal bankai is able to keep on par with Gin’s insanely fast bankai. I wonder if he will hold out any further if Gin increases the speed any further. He may need to transform at some point, leading to some interesting remarks from Gin, Aizen as well as his dad. In addtion to all this though, I love the fact that Gin isn’t revealing all his secrets from the get-go, only releasing certain facts about it at certain times. It makes you think whether he is lying or not, which plays directly into Aizen’s earlier narration about how people choose to believe facts they heard or deem appropriate as the truth. With Gin possibly lying as well about his sword’s length, speed, or even the fact that this is indeed his bankai means that Ichigo will be hypothesizing about everything he says in his head, inevitably leaving a large opening for an attack.

As for the Aizen battle, it seems like shit is finally getting down. It may seem cheap that only now he is able to fully understand the hougyoku, but a battle manga will always stray into the same pitfalls. I’m loving the fact that Isshin is dominating the battle but with this little development, I’m not too sure how long that will last. It seems like this chapter has acted as the pivotal moment where the momentum shifts from the heroes and onto the villains, as both Gin and Aizen seem to be revealing key aspects of themselves to gear up for a more serious battle. Maybe this will lead to a monstrous transformation on Aizen’s part but I hope not, since his whole look is already iconic in the manga world that it would just be dumb to change him into another Tousen reject. Maybe this is where we will finally see Yoruichi and Urahara make their return. Maybe not in the next chapter, but definitely in the near future if Ishhin and Ichigo are in trouble.

Btw, congrats to Bleach and Kubo on reaching 400! Even though I think he’s coasted through it a bit I still think it’s a big milestone for the series. I’m surprised the coloured pages weren’t saved for this chapter huh?

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