Tsukishima endured the worst image of all: the death blow of his dearly beloved Ginjou by the hands of Ichigo. With so much tense emotion, did Kubo make the chapter, and Tsukishima’s likely last moment of importance, interesting? Read on.

——

Tsukishima was beat down, defeated and conflicted with emotions. Unable to get revenge for the death of Ginjou, he was faced to wonder alone thinking of Ginjou. Chapter 477 had an image that gave us a view of Ginjou meeting and possibly serving as a friendly figure for Tsukishima.  Ginjou has apparently been a part of Tsukishima’s life for so long, that it seemed to Tsukishima that he had lost a parent. It was rather depressing and sad, and made me question why Ichigo had to go and kill Ginjou.

Kubo attempted to resolve the arc in both a positive and happy manner.  I believe he was only partially successful.  To readers, it was a happy moment due to the power of being omniscient. To the characters in the manga, they only had limited knowledge of what had happened and were thus left with sad tears. For example, Jackie was glad to see Yukio, while Riruka was in tears when Inoue mentioned that the other fullbringers couldn’t be found. Oddly, Inoue had not mentioned Tsukishima as well. 

The chapter was a lovely closing to the arc. With Riruka as the only fullbringer who was with the other cast members, we have to wonder if she will join the crew. I pray that she won’t because she is rather uninteresting. Perhaps she will vanish from the cast like Kon has this arc?  Regardless, I hope the next arc is a bit longer. Based on the timing, it seems this arc lasted a little more than 52 chapters, or a bit of a year?  The Arrancar Saga felt like it lasted many years. Bleach was rather satisfying when the arc was long. It had deep characters and development, and had fights that spanned upwards of ten chapters. 

GO Rating: 3.5/5

[Mangastream]