Bleach, Vol. 23

Tite Kubo, Bleach: Mala Suerte! (ViZ, 2001) Now that the arrancars have taken the measure of the Soul Reaper presence in Karakura (or so they think), Aizen dispatches six of them, headed by Grimmjaw, to take care of his former comrades. The battle's on! With everyone still hurting from their trip to the Soul Society, is this going to be a lopsided battle? This storyline doesn't seem to be flowing as well as the Soul Society storyline did, but it's still a lot of fun. *** ½

I honestly really enjoyed this volume. I always thought Ikkaku to be more than meets the eye and this volume really bolstered that image. I was suprised when these events unfolded in the anime, which I viewed before reading this volume. Some good fight scenes and character development too! You get to see a side to Orhime that you might not have picked up on earlier in the series. Kind of a surprise too, coming from a character who has been cheerful, upbeat, and goofy up until this point. So you get character development on TWO characters in this volume. Which is enough to warrant five stars from this happy bleach fan!

Volume 23 of Bleach is strong continuation of the Arrancar arc. It starts off with Ichigo recovering from the beating him and his friends received at the hands of the arrancar, Ulquiorra (a personal favorite character) and Yammy. Everyone is looking inside themselves trying to figure out how they are going to deal with the coming threat. Rukia arrives, and in her own "special" way manages to cheer up and refocus Ichigo. Her return also has an effect on Orihime. We get to spend some more time with the Ichigo's friends and associates in school and around town. And begin to notice that alot more people are becoming spiritually aware. This is gaining the arrancar's attention. The arrancar are Hollows who have removed their masks for more power, Soul Reaper power. Though the difference in strength before has been minimal, with Aizen's help and the orb's properties, these new arrancar are strong enough to battle Soul Reaper captains. The arrancar are no longer an anomaly, they are a force. This fact is made abundantly clear during this volume as the reinforcements from Soul Society, Renji, Rukia and others are almost immediately matched against a force of arrancar led by Grimmjow, a very powerful opponent. The volume finishes with this match up. Its a good classic example of Bleach's action, Hollow vs Soul Reaper,with their unique abilities and ideals showcased. One the highlights is seeing Rukia in action (finally!) & she does not disappoint. Overall, this volume is a good mix of the comedy and character development that start the volume and the vicious hardcore battles that finish it. I recommend it as a good continuation of a very strong series.

Volume 23 opens with Ichigo stilling dealing with the reinforcements sent by the Soul Society. We see some new developments for a lot the characters, particularly the sweet-natured Orihime. Immediately following that, a new batch of arrancars start attacking Karakura town, targetting anyone they can find with a trace of spiritual power, which means all of Ichigo's friends. It concludes with a former SS arc enemy of Ichigo (now an ally), Ikkaku revealing a big hidden power. Overall another pretty strong volume, with some good twists (some fans are divided about the one by Orihime, but I like it). Recommended. Note on editing: the graphic novel undoes most of the changes made when Viz ran these chapters in its version of Shonen Jump magazine, restoring the "near" nudity of some characters in some scenes. However, it left one of a character giving the middle finger on one of the chapter title pages. It's a minor change (they did a similar change back in volume 5 of Naruto), but I wanted to point it out. Whether this desuades anyone from purchasing this volume or not is a personal decision.