BLEACH: TATTOO ON THE SKY (MANGA VOLUME 10)
September 2nd 2010 20:03
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
Someone close to you, someone who you owe a considerable debt to is about to be executed for a capital crime, you know the sentence is unjust. You also know that this someone is trapped in a tower in a vast sprawling city complex that is surrounded by an impenetrable wall guarded night and day by fierce and potent guardians. So how do you get into the complex? How do you get over that wall? You do the whole human cannonball thing – that’s the one trick that no one will ever thing of, no way is anyone going to expect that. More rational people would be thinking that has got to be the most insane solution to the problem at hand. But in this volume of Bleach it’s precisely the solution that Ichigo and his friends have to embark up if they are to have any chance of saving Rukia Kuchiki.
But how does being a fireworks expert help with saving Rukia? Well let’s just say that Kukaku is a rather unorthodox character who has an equally outside the box approach to the problem at hand along with just the right devices to employ in perpetrating her scheme. This involves a giant cannon, and we’re talking a humongous cannon here, not some tiddly little piece of field artillery and human cannonballs so to speak. Hang on a minute I hear you say how the heck does that work? Glad you asked as this particular scheme is rather unusual in that it requires the participants to form the actual cannonball that surrounds them and shields them so that they can be fired off into the wide blue yonder...
This is where things get really tough. Being shot through the sky in a cannonball made from spirit energy and steered via the medium of a mystic chant is nothing in comparison to what awaits the fearless crew when they finally arrive at their destination. It’s bad enough that they’re going to be up against Soul Reapers galore but they have no real idea of the lay of the land, perhaps someone should have packed a Gregory’s or GPS? And if that wasn’t problem enough the penetration of the mystical shield doesn’t go as smoothly as it should; resulting in the group being split up. This though could be advantageous as it means that the Thirteen Court Guard squads will not be able to concentrate their efforts – though they might not need to.
The Seireitei looks like its one huge palace complex with a citadel at its very heart that serves as the focus for the leaders of this place. Kind of like Tokyo in its initial days when the Shogun’s castle was the centre of the developing city and the surrounding area was essentially the grounds in which were quartered his minions and their vassals along with the commoners who provided the necessities of life; food, goods, drink, services etc. Although even though it might reflect an earlier period of history the Seireitei still has the touches of the modern about it, courtesy of the Bureau of Research & Development but more about that later. The sprawling nature of the place makes it a literal maze with all manner of nooks and crannies in which intruders can hide; it also means that the defenders of such a place if they know it well also have lots of spots from which to spring ambushes.
And if the layout of the land wasn’t bad enough there is the added worry of the fact that roaming around in this palace like city are seated officers and captains as well as the average run of the mill soul reapers. As ancient maps used to say “Here be Dragons” and this is the case with the streets and byways of the Seireitei, you never know if the person in front of you is just a low ranked soul reaper, an officer or a captain. Still this doesn’t seem to faze our fearless protagonists, after all if they let themselves fall into paroxysms of fear over who might or might not be trying to track them down they would achieve little to nothing. Their quest would be over before it even really started and Rukia would end up meeting the ultimate punishment regardless. There is also one other thing that plays into the favour of the so called ‘ryoka’ as they attempt to rescue their friend and that is Ichigo himself. He radiates off enough spirit energy that he is bound to be the honey that draws the flies seeking to put an end to the turmoil of a ‘ryoka’ incursion.
Once again Tite Kubo, the creator of this series has demonstrated his skill and expertise as a storyteller. This volume just takes the tension and drama that was built up in Fourteen Days for Conspiracy and raises it up a notch...especially as Ichigo and friends find themselves confronted by the big guns of the Seireitei. This manga has all the right qualities that make it so entertaining and enjoyable – humour, action, courage, daring do and full on no holds barred combat. I love it...to borrow a line from Kenpachi Zaraki...and if you’re like me and enjoy this kind of manga then get yourself to your nearest comic store and get your hands on this volume. As an additional extra there is the Karakura Superheroes omake at the end, although throughout the various chapters of the main story there has been little snippets building up to this tale.
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