Fullbringer Arc
"I'm in a distinct minority of being one of those who thoroughly enjoyed the arc–I believe Kubo-sensei's story-telling skills improved, but he wasn't telling the story people wanted him to tell and he was neglecting the characters people wanted to see."
! "Fans nevertook to the Fullbringers, and even though Sensei's pacing and clues and story-elements were all carefully placed as far as I can tell (on three re-readings), the strengths of the arc could never overcome its weaknesses:
a) in a chapter like "Spotlight Brocken" where Kubo makes doorknobs and phases of the moon and shadows of figures in alleyways allude to passages of time and a creepy distortion of perspective that occurs during the brocken spectre.
b) the elaborate poetry got befuddled with the dissonance readers felt when Ichigo's character suddenly distrusted his longtime mentor Urahara and his own dad–when that was exactly the point of the chapter. Some people were frustrated with an Ichigo this dumb."
"Characterization–Kubo's famous strength–was clearly in evidence in the lyrical parables of the Fullbringer backstories--each of which, even Ginriko's, could have stood alone as a short story. "
! "Kubo's propensity for teasing was taken to great lengths with the whole MYSTERYGAMI tease. Fandom blew a gasket. Rukia-starved, they obsessed over this clue rather than caring about any of Ginjou's doublespeak or Ichigo's matches."
"I don't get Kubo's teasing sometimes–it's too hardcore."
! "Some people like being tickled, but enough is enough. At some point it becomes more about the tease then furthering the plot. I'll spare you many examples of Sensei's ship teasing, but Kubo doesn't only ship-tease–he teases regarding character weapons.
! Ever since Kenpachi referred to his zan as "him" in his fight with Nnoitra only to pull out the kendo instead of the reveal that Ken-chan had finally learned to communicate with his sword, I've come to understand Sensei's sense of humor a little more.
! He teases re character development --Orihime swears she'll heal it all; she gives a lovely speech about how how she and Chad trained to fight by Ichigo's side then BAM, the two friends are knocked out for the remainder of the arc."
"Thank you, Sensei. You gave us more Chad this arc."
"At this month's Jump Festa stage, Sensei thanked readers for sticking with the Lost Agent arc (aka "the Lost Readers" arc according to 2ch) even though it was "dark." I thought it was odd that Sensei called the arc dark."
"It was characterized by over-the-top snot and donut and hot dog humor from beginning to end."
This sign made me smile. I'll always love Kubo's humor.
!
"And yes, I loved Riruka from the start. She had Fullbringer star quality and was lavished with Kubo attention and color pages."
"We got lots of Orihime"
! We thought Orihime would get to show her stuff. Call me naive but I think she did show a hint–-and in Kubo time, she will eventually fight for her nakama like she promised. Kubo's teased for years--YEARS. But the pay-off will be tremendous.
"Tsukishima? Oh man, don't get me started. I fell in love with him when he first showed up, even though I thought he hurt my Ishida."
! Yes, I know Kubo can be annoying with his close-ups of mouths and teacups and I agree he's been overusing the BIG PANEL lately but his eye for graphic design and the artsy stuff was so on track here. I remember audiences being excited when the chapter debuted simply because of the appearance of Isshin and Urahara and there being a lot of excited talk about the ending–it seemed to me that even if you weren't looking for the poetic allusions, the creepy effect worked. It was a disquieting, beautiful chapter.
! I think everyone I know started to get interested in Bleach again when it started to read like a horror manga and Tsukishima's Book of the End effects started to take over Karakura. The scary ppl were SCARY.
! "Kubo does horror-humor SO WELL. "
! The pacing was nifty and cinematic in these chapters. Ichigo's breakdown was chilling to watch; whereas before the psychological drama had been lowkey and up for IN-TER-PRE-TA-TION--now it was as plain as all those @@ eyes the boy kept making as his friends came at him like zombies.
"The highest point in the arc was Ichigo's lowest point. Seriously, when have we ever, even in that dark dark arc that was the Arrancar arc where Ichigo was drawn drowning in a cover page and in which he stabbed a nakama, sent another bouncing on her face, killed a surrendered opponent and screamed THIS ISN'T HOW I WANTED TO WIN!!! have we EVER seen such an angsty angsty boy?
I mean, Ichigo dropped to his knees and wept."
"Nii-sama's fight was actually GLORIOUS. It was fun in terms of strategy and character-GROWTH and all that good stuff. Who would've ever guess Byakuya would learn from Kenpachi?"
"Ichigo made his choice: he chose to say goodbye to his normal life of safety and his childish oblivion. He chose the blade and the uniform, along with the possibility of having to kill a human life, because he wants to protect. He'll have to take full responsibility of his own choice, and IMO, not shielding him from taking it is true respect, not the other way around.
I've wanted to join in the convo for a while, but this basically sums up what I want to say. This arc was a coming-of-age for Ichigo. He grew up and accepted his mantle and responsibility as a shinigami. There are moral grays in the story; there are sympathetic villains and changes of heart among the villains as always; Ichigo emerges as a hero, with a clear purpose and no more identity crisis–at least not of the kind that was wearing and tearing on audiences' nerves for the entirety of the Arrancar arc."