hmm regarding the last story arc, it isn't so much about pacing and flow. One Piece sometimes has horrible pacing (skypiea). But it boils down to substance, and the last arc has very little substance. Probably even less than some of the Bleach filler as far as I concern.

Ok, so I am glad the old man is dead. I never really liked him.
I don't think it's gonna be Ichigo just yet...but I can't really think of anyone else either.

well somehow seeing the way the old man died and seeing the captains' reaction made the chapter actually fun. At the end, it's definitely Ichigo. He's been out of the spotlight for too long.

bleeeech!!
i will pull trough and finish bleach to the bitter end, but hell
whats wrong with the mangaka? its like he dont care anymore.

How the F could he messed up his own story and power levels so bad?
Its like Goku tunred SSJ 4 first time use 1 attack and after that dies,
and after that mess lvl 2 Vegeta comes and saves the day?

i like power animes, i like numbers and rankings. it gives me the feeling
to have oversight and be surprised if someone levels up.
But Bleach is, oh hey he defeated this guy, but now he dies against weak guy x.
hey this attack is the best ever but he gets killed by power "nobodycaresnewguymimic" that is
like pocket-magic. 😢 makes me sad, bleach started so great and waiting for new bankais
and shikai reveals was amazing, now it feels like "yeah...just show us...will be next hyper ultra overpwoered shit, but in the end you die"

last and least: they fight the evil guys but most of the top captains dont go bankai because its "too dangerous"? what the eff?

Facebook: Kilano Kiseragi

Quote from Benares

bleeeech!!

But Bleach is, oh hey** he defeated this guy, but now he dies against weak guy x.**
hey this attack is the best ever but he gets killed by power "nobodycaresnewguymimic" that is
like pocket-magic. 😢

hmm, he defeated the fake (weak) and got overpowered (well, more like old man ran out of juice) by the real one.

Well I did say it's pacing was it's shining point, didn't say much for it's plot, lol. In terms of plot the series was at it's best during the beginning, everything kind of fell apart towards Hueco Mundo.

As for the overall chapter I agree with Benares, it's always so inconsistent with the way the fights are handled. It seems as if none of the other characters have progressed aside from Ichigo. when looking at other manga most of the characters improve themselves along the way to cover up and back up with contingency skills. But all the captains got handicapped and beaten like it was nothing because their Bankai disappeared.

[img]http://www.nodiatis.com/pub/19.jpg[/img]

It would be kinda cool if yama-jii comes back to life like a phoenix. I mean, his element is flame so it is feasible. For some reason I have a feeling that he died too easily, yea his bankai got stolen so what? He stood his ground against 2 captains in shikai alone. Granted he didn't do squat against Aizen, but he did manage to damage him a bit with that sword attack. To be sliced in half is just too pathetic, by a mere human no less(granted, we are talking about super powered quincy, be still human).

As for who showed up in the last page, it looks like Ichigo's standard charging silhouette.

Quote from movingstone

hmm regarding the last story arc, it isn't so much about pacing and flow. One Piece sometimes has horrible pacing (skypiea). But it boils down to substance, and the last arc has very little substance. Probably even less than some of the Bleach filler as far as I concern.

Pfft, nope. Fishman Island is an example of bad pacing. With awkward exploration of the land and flashbacks within flashbacks? On top of repeatedly trying to shoehorn in the racism instead of creating actual characters first.

Skypeia had excellent pacing. It was gradual and creative world building, rather than rushing through something at 100 mph or trying to constantly one up itself with cliffhangers. It took its time and is all the better for it. It perfectly captures the spirit of One Piece - the fun of adventure. New and interesting peoples are waiting to be explored. The world is much bigger than the strawhats and the reason they're out there on the ocean is to experience those things. The only reason people complain is because it was the largest arc up to that point in the story and now it's become completely dwarfed.

But back to Bleach... super underwhelmed by Yamamoto's death. Netero, Whitebeard, and even Jiraiya all went out pretty well. Yamamoto didn't even seem like that great a person to begin with. Not batting an eye for Rukia's execution and even condoning Mayuri's mass murder of what, 30k SS citizens? Wouldn't shed any tears over this old codger. But meh, you don't even really have to a nice guy to be interesting. Yamamoto just got too little characterization, too late and too clumsily.