Bleach 305 and End of the Year Fic Recs

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

There's a Basement Scans 305 out over at Mangahelpers here.

I love you Kubo Tite! (yeah, so what else is new?)

The artwork was gorgeous and the pacing, as has been the case for recent chapters, was efficient and cinematic. In this chapter particularly Kubo enlivened a bunch of expositionary text (oh mad scientists, you guys sure can talk!) but unlike with Aizen's speeches at the end of SS, Kubo gave Mayuri and Szayel's soliloquies very dramatic visuals. The Christ imagery, which has already been fairly controversial on Bleach forums ( one forum flat out stopped any threads that brought the subject of sacrilege) in the West, probably doesn't make Eastern audiences bat an eye, but I'd be interested in hearing from some of my friends if that's true. There are Christians in Japan too--I just don't know how sensitive they are.

As far as I see it,  some resurrection stories were alluded to, period, and an inversion/desecration/Kubo flip of the resurrected diety was personified in Szayel who is duly crucified in this chapter. I expect to see him back for Easter, though. He's been put on temporary hold, I suspect. Like Ulquiorra, he was hogging the all the glory and fangirls. Now the long-awaited Ken and Nnoi battle and after that who knows how this HM arc is going to turn? Are we nearing resolution? Will Ulqui capture Hime again? Maybe team Hitsugaya and Matsumoto need to make an appearance (ah! Some GinRan interaction might service the plot as well as the fans?)

AND NOW FOR FIC RECS!

laurie_bunter  is a wonderful, smart and funny writer who doesn't post her stuff around that much so here I am to pimp her latest. Twas I who prompted her to write it, and I am thrilled I did so because the Bleach fandom needs more Shunsui/Nanao:

Boxing Day, T/M, by laurie_bunter

Oh, and in case you don't know, jaina  finished her wildly entertaining IchiRuki not long ago and you can find complete links here:

Setting Sun, Rising Moon, PG by jaina


jaina also just made a super-list of 2007 Bleach "Must Read" fics and there were a few lovely fics on her list I'd missed! I considered making my own fic rec list  for the end of the year, but I'm lazy and depressed just now, so I'm going to rec her list instead---not just because three stories of mine are on it (I think she's got very good taste XD and I thank her for reminding me I can write actual stories without any smut by listing them) but because all the stories are this list are WORTHWHILE READS:

Jaina's (mostly Bleach fanfic) 2007 Must Read List

If someone's got some spectacular Bleach fic enjoyed in the past year to rec, please link the fic in a comment to this thread. It was a fairly stellar year--the fandom exploded in size and writers got busy. Just for a quick pimp--a stroll through the archives of   bleach_flashfic   will turn up lots of gems.

Comments

[andrew-jp.livejournal.com]

Whether or not Szayel comes back to life, the mad scientist battle was really interesting. It's certainly gotten me anticipating the inevitable Urahara/Kurotsuchi fight more than before.