bleachness

Ah, more priceless expressions. I was just waiting for Hime's reaction.

( Ichigo's gay )

Meanwhile, everyone's predicting something BIG for 300 and I'm a little cynical. As far as I can tell, this 292 chapter seems like more padding (unless there are more yummy details like the one above) and essentially, nothing is happening. I still have faith in Kubo's overall grand scheme but the pacing is TERRIBLE....

And I like fights. I just can't take this Szayel battle, for all the love that is Szayel and the wonderful comedy duo that is Pesh and Ishida, FOR ONE MORE MINUTE. Seriously, end it now. KILL RENJI AND ISHIDA IF YOU HAVE TO BUT JUST END IT, KUBO.

So, will Rukia be back for chapter 300? Will Chad go Hollow? Will Szayel reveal his QUINCY origins? Will Orihime and Ichigo be betrothed by Nel and will their holy union be blessed by Nnoitra?

Let's just look over Kubo's other landmark chapters here.
Chapter #50 Ichigo defeats the Menos Grande (Wasn't reading the manga when this appeared for the first time but it was such a satisfying chapter when I did read it--Ichigo and Ishida were making me laugh and wibble and squee)
Chapter #100 AIZEN surprise (I fell over--just fell over...I actually screamed at the monitor and scared the husband)
Chapter #150 Ichigo shows up JUST IN THE NICK OF TIME to save Rukia (I swooned, really I did--my heart stopped)
Chapter #200 Grimmjow's Ambush on Earth (I remember thinking woo boy, filler, another excuse for fights with the now-useless Shinigami favorites)
Chapter #250 Nel catches up with Ichigo and Doldoni, who Kubo obviously intended to be an important theme-introducing character (how many Westerners are now using the phrase "losing your chocolate?"), appears. (I yawned).....

Long story short, I'm pissed off at Kubo now. Going over the HM arc and finding all the things that I loved about it (and I still love it), the pace is excruciatingly slow compared to SS--and there are just as many subplots and characters. The larger plot circles could've easily been twirled between the manga-ka's fingers CHAPTERS ago and streamlined for efficiency, but noooo, we're left hanging. The Daddies, dead Rukia, the whole love quadrangles that were a pitch in SS (remember Orihime saying Rukia was more than a friend to Ichigo? And Ishida's going "O.O. Inoue-san?" And then her little happy smile "She is the person who changed his life"??? THAT WAS YEARS AGO!)

I'm not in a good mood. The art is glorious and getting better--the SS arc looks childish in comparision, but Kubo, darling, your plot, your plot. Are the Jump editors making you pad? Are you mad at your audience and the several hundred or whatever WE HATE ORIHIME threads at 2chan that you're just fucking around? Is Szayel your biggest ever joke on yaoi fangurls and were you and Kishimoto up late and giggling when he got the idea for the Sasuke-Sai shounen ai moment and you got the idea for Szayel?

I'm not in a good mood (witness what I did to Ishida again and WORSE THAN EVER in my last story) and I think that by the time some of the pressing questions are answered in Bleach, I'll be too pissed to care. I went through this "the story ends with a whimper and not a bang" feeling with X-files and I don't want to be kicked around again by a brilliant writer the way I was by Chris Carter.

And the anime? Forget it. I saw what they did to Renji in screencaps. I can't take this sort of deformity. I heard that Orihime pays a little visit to Tatsuki now before she weeps all over Ichigo so now people can't say "hey, what's with this selfish chick?" (and I believe that was a point there in the manga--Orihime forgetting everyone else.... and later thanking only Ichigo while Rukia and Renji and Chad and Ishida are bleeding buckets to rescue her). I didn't even tune in for Shinji's great moment in the long rider's coat and the eyelock o' intensity between stabbed!Ichigo and Rukia.

*crosses arms*

Last week's chapter was so great and for one moment I had hopes....This is like having a romance with some bipolar charmer who tells you a new story about his past every week. I can't take it anymore.