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Bleach! Thoughts on a downhill slope
Until very, very recently, Bleach was amazing and I was excited with every new development. "Holy shit Aizen totally owned the shinigami just now!" "Oh man we're going to get some Gin/Rangiku soon--" "Eeee awesome Urahara and Yoruichiiii" etc.
But very, very recently... -- directly after Gin turned on him -- Aizen started to go downhill very fast. And that was bad.
This is a character that KT set up as being literally so unstoppable that I half-believed he was going to win, and our heroes would have to find a way to live in his world or to take him down. He had been planning this rebellion for over a century. He had masterminded everything that happened in the series with completely flawless foresight. He was outmasterminding one of our other masterminds, Urahara, that whole time. His enemies were so impressed by his fearless certainty that they decided to serve him.
But in these last few chapters, he's suddenly turned into a complete failure. He doesn't have any idea what's going on around him, and covers for it by shouting a lot. He makes these arrogant claims and it feels less like he masterminded things than that he's covering his ass. He makes villain monologues and isn't given even a gasp to indicate some form of suspense before being made to look like a fool -- like, three times now.
It feels very much like, in order to justify Ichigo's victory, KT had to dumb Aizen' down. There's a difference between "Aizen is so powerful now he doesn't feel the need to plan out his strategy" and "Aizen has his head so far up his ass that he reacts to things he wanted to happen with all the grace of Frankenstein's monster."
It also feels like KT has decided he's ready to end Bleach -- even if that means skimping on plot points, characterization, etc.
I didn't want to believe it, and for a long while, I didn't. When other people were complaining about Tousen's quick, almost anticlimactic death, I was putting the positive spin on it. It was a good sign that KT was doing shorter, more impactful fights. I felt like Tousen's death was genuinely sad and tragic, but even I couldn't believe that it was simply over, that fast. After something like Szayel Aporro, who was actively fighting and still a threat for easily dozens of chapters, Tousen was out in three...? Was this really a sign that he was getting better at pacing fights again?
But there have been signs of it for some time now. I partially blame the Hueco Mundo arc: it went on forever and it was boring to read so it must've been boring to draw! The same villains, going on and on and on, and then neglecting some of the main characters, to say nothing of the minor characters that KT loves... It tired him out. And he's been doing this for years and years with almost no time off; he's incredibly diligent. He must be getting tired of it.
It happens to me too. When I run back and forth for eight hours leveling in a dungeon, I come away feeling like "FUCK THIS GAME", even though I did it voluntarily. I still feel resentment for a game I had previously enjoyed, and stop playing it. And I get bored of fics when they take a long time to get out there. When it happens to me, I say, "I'll half-ass it and rush things along. We don't really need this plot point. I could go into this in depth, or just gloss it over." Although no one pays me, so usually when I'm bored of a fic, I say these things, but what I do is just -- stop writing it.
That's not an option for KT, so instead it seems like he says, "I heavily implied that Urahara was questionable, and the Vizard were questionable, but it's going to take ages to go into their actions and their consequences. But I only implied it -- I'll just make it all Aizen's fault and say they're innocent snowflakes." And "I could show Tousen's battle to the full extent I'd had planned, but I could also finish this fight in under a month." And when Aizen killed Halibel, I feel like I can now literally hear KT in his expressed sentiment of, "Let's get this over with."
Here's a question. If Aizen hasn't been dumbed down, then I'd like to hear the explanation for this: Gin betrays Aizen. Aizen says he knew Gin would do that. Aizen says "But you told me all about your zanpakutou and now I'm prepared!" Then Gin says "Haha, but I lied! But you also told me all about your zanpakutou and I'm prepared!"
Aizen -- our incredibly insightful, incredibly foresightful, incredibly cunning mastermind who planned for a hundred years for this -- told his weaknesses to Gin, someone he claims he didn't ever trust and was always waiting to betray him? He didn't think to, I don't know, lie? Or are we painting this as a character flaw Aizen has had all along out of the clear blue sky with no build-up whatsoever? This is essentially saying that when the Arrancar bowed to him, they couldn't tell the difference between "fearless" and "supremely overconfident".
This is symptomatic of the problem I'm seeing in recent chapters, and the reason why I'm not really enjoying Bleach right now. It's being dumbed down. It's being rushed. Plot points are being abandoned. Characters are being completely undermined. At this point I won't even feel goodwhen if Ichigo and Orihime end up together, because people will be able to say "It took the manga going downhill and sabotaging everyone to do it, it doesn't count!" Because they won't be wrong.
I'm still reading, and I'll still wait to see if it can be improved, but right now -- these are my reservations.
But very, very recently... -- directly after Gin turned on him -- Aizen started to go downhill very fast. And that was bad.
This is a character that KT set up as being literally so unstoppable that I half-believed he was going to win, and our heroes would have to find a way to live in his world or to take him down. He had been planning this rebellion for over a century. He had masterminded everything that happened in the series with completely flawless foresight. He was outmasterminding one of our other masterminds, Urahara, that whole time. His enemies were so impressed by his fearless certainty that they decided to serve him.
But in these last few chapters, he's suddenly turned into a complete failure. He doesn't have any idea what's going on around him, and covers for it by shouting a lot. He makes these arrogant claims and it feels less like he masterminded things than that he's covering his ass. He makes villain monologues and isn't given even a gasp to indicate some form of suspense before being made to look like a fool -- like, three times now.
It feels very much like, in order to justify Ichigo's victory, KT had to dumb Aizen' down. There's a difference between "Aizen is so powerful now he doesn't feel the need to plan out his strategy" and "Aizen has his head so far up his ass that he reacts to things he wanted to happen with all the grace of Frankenstein's monster."
It also feels like KT has decided he's ready to end Bleach -- even if that means skimping on plot points, characterization, etc.
I didn't want to believe it, and for a long while, I didn't. When other people were complaining about Tousen's quick, almost anticlimactic death, I was putting the positive spin on it. It was a good sign that KT was doing shorter, more impactful fights. I felt like Tousen's death was genuinely sad and tragic, but even I couldn't believe that it was simply over, that fast. After something like Szayel Aporro, who was actively fighting and still a threat for easily dozens of chapters, Tousen was out in three...? Was this really a sign that he was getting better at pacing fights again?
But there have been signs of it for some time now. I partially blame the Hueco Mundo arc: it went on forever and it was boring to read so it must've been boring to draw! The same villains, going on and on and on, and then neglecting some of the main characters, to say nothing of the minor characters that KT loves... It tired him out. And he's been doing this for years and years with almost no time off; he's incredibly diligent. He must be getting tired of it.
It happens to me too. When I run back and forth for eight hours leveling in a dungeon, I come away feeling like "FUCK THIS GAME", even though I did it voluntarily. I still feel resentment for a game I had previously enjoyed, and stop playing it. And I get bored of fics when they take a long time to get out there. When it happens to me, I say, "I'll half-ass it and rush things along. We don't really need this plot point. I could go into this in depth, or just gloss it over." Although no one pays me, so usually when I'm bored of a fic, I say these things, but what I do is just -- stop writing it.
That's not an option for KT, so instead it seems like he says, "I heavily implied that Urahara was questionable, and the Vizard were questionable, but it's going to take ages to go into their actions and their consequences. But I only implied it -- I'll just make it all Aizen's fault and say they're innocent snowflakes." And "I could show Tousen's battle to the full extent I'd had planned, but I could also finish this fight in under a month." And when Aizen killed Halibel, I feel like I can now literally hear KT in his expressed sentiment of, "Let's get this over with."
Here's a question. If Aizen hasn't been dumbed down, then I'd like to hear the explanation for this: Gin betrays Aizen. Aizen says he knew Gin would do that. Aizen says "But you told me all about your zanpakutou and now I'm prepared!" Then Gin says "Haha, but I lied! But you also told me all about your zanpakutou and I'm prepared!"
Aizen -- our incredibly insightful, incredibly foresightful, incredibly cunning mastermind who planned for a hundred years for this -- told his weaknesses to Gin, someone he claims he didn't ever trust and was always waiting to betray him? He didn't think to, I don't know, lie? Or are we painting this as a character flaw Aizen has had all along out of the clear blue sky with no build-up whatsoever? This is essentially saying that when the Arrancar bowed to him, they couldn't tell the difference between "fearless" and "supremely overconfident".
This is symptomatic of the problem I'm seeing in recent chapters, and the reason why I'm not really enjoying Bleach right now. It's being dumbed down. It's being rushed. Plot points are being abandoned. Characters are being completely undermined. At this point I won't even feel good
I'm still reading, and I'll still wait to see if it can be improved, but right now -- these are my reservations.
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