I wasn’t particularly impressed by Bleach. Gin’s bankai seems a bit…lacking…if all it does is increase his sword’s length. I suspect he has a few other tricks up his sleeves though; perhaps his sword can bend like a snake or something. Then again, maybe Kubo is just trying to push him to use his hollow powers. Also, did Gin actually open one of his eyes? That brings up the count to three(?) throughout the entire manga. It looks like Aizen is starting to feel the heat now too, finally.

As for Naruto… There’s a few developments that I’m interested in. The first one is seeing how Naruto will develop now that he has full use of the Kyuubi’s chakra. He should be able to handle it now after all the things that have happened (fights with Orochimaru and Pain, etc.), but we’ll see. Secondly, what is Kabuto up to? If I had to guess, he’s trying to experiment with another forbidden jutsu. Right now he’s easily the biggest threat in the manga in my opinion, since Sasuke is still recovering and Madara is fleshing out his plan. Thirdly, what did Kabuto summon that had Madara so alarmed? My prediction: Madara’s brother looking for revenge. I can’t really think of much else that would seriously surprise him at this point.

On a related note, the Bleach anime wrapped up its Sword Fiend arc with the last episode. As I expected, it didn’t live up to the standards set by the preceding Muramasa arc. It just felt too much like a set of monster-of-the-day episodes without much of an overarching storyline. Meh.

Links:

• MangaStream
• One Manga

Anyway, I really like how Gajeel is desperately looking for a cat. He must have gotten pwned pretty badly with all those scratches on his face. Something tells me there’s more to them than meets the eye; the conversation between Charle and Happy raises a few bells.

We see Mystogan reveal some of his history with Wendy as well. I’m pretty sure this is the first time he’s done so in the series. It kind of reduces the impact of Gildarts’ arrival in the previous chapter though.

Speaking of Gildarts, I find it interesting to see that he has Ivan Deyar listed under “dislikes” on his guild card at the beginning of the chapter. There must have been some interesting things going on between them during their time together at Fairy Tail.

It looks like we’re in for a new plot arc as well, although it seems kind of sudden. What’s with this “Anima” that Mystogan was talking about and how can it destroy Magnolia before everyone can escape? Eh, we’ll see…

Did Kisame actually just get wtfpwned by Bee and his brother? That combo attack definitely looked like a room full of hurt. Bee’s pencil-throwing skills are pretty awesome too.

Not much to say on that chapter, except that it definitely seemed like deus ex machina at work (with Raikage et. al. saving the day). I suppose they did have a logical explanation since Kisame’s ability was so not stealthy. …and what’s this, Sai speaking up for Sakura?

Kenpachi’s and Byakuya’s fight with Yammy in Bleach just got more interesting. It would have been boring if the latter died without doing anything. He probably still doesn’t have a chance though, with three captains (none of them using anywhere near their full strength) watching him. I wouldn’t be surprised if Yammy blew up like a bomb as a result of anger (think Deidara in Naruto).

Looks like Tōsen and Gin may have gotten hollow powers as well. The shinigami in the fake Karakura Town are so screwed.

I was hoping for a slightly prolonged fight between Bee and Kisame, but this was certainly an interesting turn of events. I suppose Samehada really is the source of Kisame’s power, if even he can’t fully control it.

Now, I wonder what would happen if Bee fuses with Samehada… Come to think of it, wasn’t separating Kisame and Samehada part of Bee/Hachibi’s plan?