BLEACH: FLOWER ON THE PRECIPICE (MANGA VOLUME 12)
September 20th 2010 23:59
Category: Manga
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC
Story & Art by: Tite Kubo
English Adaptation: Lance Caselman
Translation: Joe Yamazaki
Touch up Art & Lettering: Andy Ristaino
Design: Sean Lee
Cost: AU$12.95/US$7.95
Ichigo Kurosaki has managed to soundly beat assistant captain Renji Abarai in hand to hand combat; or as Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya remarks – Renji has been beaten five times to Sunday. This result has two significant aspects for Ichigo and his efforts to rescue Rukia Kuchiki; 1) his comrades Ganju and Hanataro see his capabilities and wonder who or what he is and 2) it makes the Thirteen Court Guard Companies up the ante and realise that this is not just some ordinary run of the mill ryoka incursion. This is a serious assault on the sanctity of the Seireitei and requires a suitable response, namely the waging of all out war against these ryoka. Pivotal moments in the story as the Seireitei and its inhabitants shift to what is effectively a wartime footing.
The Seireitei is very much like an afterlife image of Tokugawa Japan with its architecture and clothing styles, people here look like they’ve walked straight out of some samurai drama. And this carries on into the very structure of the soul reapers themselves; the captain-general Shigekuni Genryusai Yamamoto is akin to the shogun and the 13 Court Guard companies are similar to the noble houses or vassal lords who have pledged fealty to the shogun. In some cases the analogy becomes even more apt when certain of the companies, the sixth in particular, are commanded by the scions of one of the four great noble houses of the Soul Society, in this case the Kuchiki family head is usually the commander of the sixth company.
It is due to Central 46 handing down the sentence on Rukia Kuchiki that she seems destined to be executed on the Sokyoko Hill, facing the highest penalty that can be handed down to an offender. And in his heart of hearts Renji knows that Rukia does not deserve this fate, yet he has been struggling against his loyalty to a friend and his duty as a soul reaper as well as wondering whether he has what it takes to save her. Which is why when he goes by himself to face Ichigo, without wearing his assistant captains badge it is to test not only himself but Ichigo as well. He knows in defeat that this young man could possibly be the one to save Rukia. He has an untapped potential that could give him an edge even against some of the strongest captains in the Seireitei.
But as I mentioned earlier there are other things afoot, other things that bode ill for the Seireitei. Momo Hinamori is a friend of Renji from their days back in the Soul Reaper academy; she is distraught when she learns that he has been soundly trounced by the ryoka. So much so that she is almost about to take Captain Byakuya Kuchiki to task when he regards his subordinates battered and beaten form with disdain and orders him tossed in a cell. Only the efforts of Izuru Kira, another friend from her academy days, prevent her from falling into hot water with the captain of Sixth Company. On the surface Momo would appear to be one of those female characters who looks so cute and sweet and you initially think she’s purely there as decoration, as a bit of harmless humorous fluff. Nothing could be further from the truth.
A scene where Momo discovers her captain, Sousuke Aizen dead and hanging from the East Holy Wall swiftly reveals that she is a lot stronger than she looks. The image of her as a sweet young thing that looks out of place as an assistant captain is swiftly dispelled as she moves to confront the one she believes is responsible for her captain’s sudden and brutal demise – Gin Ichimaru, Third Company captain. Drawing her blade against Gin prompts an immediate response from Izuru who is Gin’s assistant and a Third Company member. The artwork here is truly superb as we see both Izuru and Momo go toe to toe with both assistant captains unleashing the shikai forms of their respective Zanpakuto. Not only is the fighting spectacular but we seen a significant change in the two soul reapers themselves, Izuru going from a seemingly disinterested, almost apathetic young man to the devotedly loyal subordinate willing to lay down his life for his captain and Momo morphing from sweet innocent girl into a firebrand who seeks to inflict some righteous justice on the one she perceives as her captain’s murder.
And frankly it just keeps on getting better and better, this volume is full of fantastic little vignettes that to my way of thinking seem to emphasise the superiority of the manga over standard comics. For my point of view the artists and writers of such works seem to be able to do so much more with black and white than western artists do with glossy pages, full colour and often minimalist stories. Couple this with more bang for your buck and frankly you can see why I have a marked bias towards the manga arena. Of course not all manga are bound to be fantastic, and not all of them great value but when it comes to Bleach its one hundred per cent pure high octane value. My advice, get on the bandwagon no before it leaves the station and get your hands on some Bleach...
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