"I'll Fight Too" Chad gift art

[http://users.livejournal.com/_debbiechan_/]

So I dreamed one morning an hour before spoilers that Chad was playing soccer and was groggily disappointed when Ohana didn't make my dreams come true. That was a couple weeks ago when I was mightily frustrated with Bleach and fandom and then the car broke down and I had sewer pipe troubles and the plumber was late and every now and then I'd open email from a Russian spambot or some crazed shipper telling me to eat worms and die in so many misspellings. But then many of my enormously talented friends rallied me into fighting for my own sanity and one of those was skilly_n_duff :



"I'll Fight Too" A gift art for me by skilly_n_duff  I just wanted to show it off to you. :)





So how about that last Bleach chapter eh? It was awesome. I nearly cried to look at the Bleach rankings in WSJ and see that Bleach was in the bottom five. I know that there are issues with the Lost Agent arc but in my view, the arc doesn't deserve this snubbing. Like a couple of friends of mine I went back and read the whole thing this week and it moves, it plays, the art is great (Sensei's so wonderful w/expressions), it puns and yes it lingers on doorknobs and donuts but in retrospect some of those Kubo teases work. The whole niggling and annoying "what oh what has Tsukishima done to Orihime?" that seemed like a plot point that would eventually focus on her alone became the sudden "OMG LOOK WHAT TSUKISHIMA HAS DONE TO THE WHOLE TOWN OF KARAKURA AND ALL ICHIGO'S BELOVED FRIENDS AND FAMILY!" in one fell swoop. This past chapter would not have worked so well without the excrutiating build-up of those tiny hints of Bookman's "friend power."

We've had other hints now too that may soon come to fruition--everyone's suspected Ginjou playing Ichigo like a fiddle since forever. I haven't forgotten the violin symbol on Ichigo's cardigan and now Ginjou shows up just when Ichigo most needs someone sane to trust. Tsukishima could've easily killed Ichigo or brainwashed him with one blow back at the Kurosaki house but instead drove him right into Ginjou's arms. Yeah, Ramen Guy and Bookman are lovers partners all right. And no, I haven't forgotten all the brocken spotlight/distortion of Ichigo's perception of Isshin and Urahara. Whatever Ichigo's daddy and mentor are up to should come into play soon, but given Ichigo's current state of mind and increasing paranoia, I expect more crazy and confusion.

Psycho Killer
Qu'est-ce que c'est
fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa far better
Run run run run run run run away

I hope I haven't jinxed it but I expect Bleach to be so awesome now that the we've reached the apex of crazy. Ishida should appear soon and Rukia soon after? There's probably going to be a colorspread for Obon/Ichigo's birthday (not this coming week but the week after) and Bleach's 10 anniversary comes in August so yeah, things should be all fireworks for that. Please Sensei, I want to believe in you. Enough teasing. It's time to deliver--bring out the cake with big sparklers for candles.

Comments

[strawberries-85.livejournal.com]

Awww, I love the fanart. :D

The chapter was awesome, but I still feel mind fucked and I'm still worried that Kubo will be inconsistent (aka deliver more crap chapters) and I'm so sad to hear about the low ratings and argfdjgfndyt! ;___; I'm not *too* happy with the arc (something feels a little off, especially when Kubo tries to inject humour into the chapters), but bottom five? Damn. :(

I too, really want to believe in Kubo. Honestly even with all my complaining, I do want Bleach to be a great story, to reach its potential.

P.S. I like the Kate Miller-Heidke version of Psycho Killer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TL8wHn0QHIc

[jpblack.livejournal.com]

Speaking of the tenth verse, I really want one of those 10th anniversary books One Piece and Naruto both received. I don't know where Bleach stands with one of those, considering how recent Unmasked is.

[incandescens]

Now I'm wondering if Tsukishima can also falsify existing memories as well as adding new ones.

That is, so far one can cover his power by "adds new false memories", as he has so far, stating that "X has always/already been a friend/cousin/etc". That doesn't necessarily involve changing existing memories - it's "add new memory of cousin" rather than "substitute me as cousin for existing cousin".

I would guess that he can't actually change pre-existing memories and do an edit job on them, or it'd be too easy for him to "cut out" the memories he didn't want and put in the new ones in their place. But I could be wrong.

[arcadiasilver.livejournal.com]

I always figured that the memories were simply created by the victim to cover the gaps created by his technique. But now I think he does just insert memories and alter current ones - no way that so many people would create the same cover story and have it all match so consistently.

[aquat1cf1sh.livejournal.com]

Wait, the bottom five ranking was for last week's chapter, right? I wonder what the new chapter's ranking will be...

Very nice fanart by the way. :D

[qwirky.livejournal.com]

No, the ranking was for chapter 445, so we won't find out the new chapter's ranking for quite some time (and has been pointed out, by then the shinigami may have returned, so rankings might be artificially bumped up by WSJ's editors anyway).

[jpblack.livejournal.com]

The ranking this week was actually for 446 - The Dark Beat 2. It's really sad; I thought that was a nice, action-packed chapter, and it ended with our first glimpse of Invaders Must Die...

Bleach is too big to fail; so I think even if its rankings slip, it will never be canceled. It's got far too many merchandise tie-ins, is in the top 10 best-selling manga series today and has been for a few years, and is most likely the next Jump series to sell 100 million copies. The others in that list are Dragon Ball, One Piece, KochiKame, Slam Dunk, and Naruto. Last I checked, which was a few months ago, Bleach had sold 68 million copies total, and that may have not been up to date.

However, at the same time, it wouldn't shock me for the Jump editorial department to be losing their shit. I bet the editor-in-chief(he has a twitter and tweets in English, I can never remember it though) is reaming Kubo's editor's asshole.

[escarboucle.livejournal.com]

No, it's 8 weeks ago so it's ch445.

[jpblack.livejournal.com]

No, you have to include the current chapter. 453 - 7 = 446. This chapter is the "eighth week" if you subtract eight from it, you're getting nine weeks.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_debbiechan_/]

nope, you're wrong. We've been following these for a while now in the BA rankings thread. Zangetsu explained it all and if you look at eight wks previous the dips and spikes in ratings are easily correlated--the biggest highs being the conclusion chapter "Bleach my Soul" and the chapter when Rukia appeared on Valentine's Day and Ichigo summoned his FB power for the first time.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_debbiechan_/]

The chapter rankings are for some chapters going back--the bottom five ranking (lowest for Bleach ever and ... just shameful for a manga of Bleach's history and reputation... series about to get cancelled get that low but no, Bleach won't get cancelled--it still sells too well and makes too much money).

The low ranking for was 455--when it was revealed that Ichigo's transformation wasn't into a Shinigami after all. It was a pretty action-packed chapter in my view, not bad, not good but maybe readers were disappointed that Shinigami!Ichigo wasn't back. Tsukishima showed up and was his charming self and Ichigo rushed him when he found out that the guy was responsible for attacking his friends, but then Ichigo seemed stupidly suicidal about wanting to fight Tsukishima alone and LOTS of people didn't like that in Ichigo.

The next chapter, the fight btwn Ginjou and Tsukishima was really fun for me--maybe it will rank higher. The editor also has the final say in how the chapters rank. The votes sent in by readers are just part of the rankings.

[peca-06.livejournal.com]

Bleach has had ups and downs and less than popular chapters lately, but (it can't be perfect all the time) ... Yeah, to be on the bottom five is a bit extreme and it is unfair IMO. My heart ached and I was really sad when I read that, specially with this new epic chapter. I want to believe in Kubo again T___T.

Tsukishima and Ginjou are totally together on this or they have a lover's quarrel and they are competing on who to be the most despicable villain and play with Ichigo like is a ping pong ball from one to the other and see who can fuck him up as much as they can, for their twisted make up sex foreplay XDDDDDDDD.
I don't know man, but these two are such bad news. I get why some love Tsukishima and think he is sexy, but I can't stand his cold, dead, shark, beady eyes XD. They give me the willies. Ginjou is hotter, but too sadistic for my taste. They seem perfect for each other ^__^ fu.

I'm so looking forward Ishida showing up and of course RUKIAAAAAAAA!
It is all coming together now, this is about to climax *bites nails* (at Kubo pace of course lol )

Great fanart ^___^. Typical Sado hand signal XD hehe.

[skilly-n-duff.livejournal.com]

http://www.manga-access.com/manga/B/Bleach/chapter/40/11

I want this Chad back! If he's been stabbin' mah Chad that Tsukishima better watch his back--cuz that's where I'll attack.


(Pretty sure if I went from the front I'd be overwhelmed by his bishie beauty)

[aryastarkx.livejournal.com]

I appreciate those Talking Heads lyrics. Great band.

The bottom five thing gives me a bit of sick pleasure in my Rukia-fan heart. I'M NOT PROUD. I just miss her, is all, and I sort of hope that the sorta-kinda rankings crisis will speed up her return...although it probably won't. Bah.
And maybe the ranking thing will push Kubo into trying a little harder to make Bleach enjoyable and exciting again.

"I hope I haven't jinxed it but I expect Bleach to be so awesome now that the we've reached the apex of crazy. Ishida should appear soon and Rukia soon after?"
YES PLEASE, ESP THE RUKIA PART. Also I really like the crazy. Crazy is always good.

I hope it really is Rukia working with Isshin and Urahara. Could you imagine the fanfic that this shit would spawn? I'm getting excited just thinking about all of the crack. I'd eat it up.

[karenai.livejournal.com]

I personally think this is one of your best fanarts yet, Deb. It looks and *feels* just like him.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_debbiechan_/]

Kyyyyyyyyyyyy, it's not mine. XD It's by a real artist TO me. It's awesome, isn't it? I'm drawing Rukias today though. I miss her hard suddenly. If any turn out okay, I'll post.

[karenai.livejournal.com]

Ohhh lord, my bad. I read it a little too fast there -_- my brain is overcooked, I think...

[gruskek.livejournal.com]

He's a very realistic looking footballer in that one. You have lots of nice and talented friends.

As to the ranking, of course Bleach won't get cancelled (money, merchandising, years of international popularity), only good things can come out of it. Kubo and his editor can only benefit from knowing exactly what sort of stuff is not liked.

Plus it is harsh, but that's probably because the expectations from Bleach are so much higher than from several smaller tiles. So when it fails to deliver people are very disappointed. In a paradoxical way that shows their love for Bleach - they see that it is far from reaching it's full potential, so they react.