Bleach Vol. #29: The Slashing Opera
|
January 24, 2010
by: Adam Beck
It’s time to do battle, but will our heroes emerge victorious?
Manga Description: The Slashing Opera
Ichigo “Strawberry” Kurosaki never asked for the ability to see ghosts – he was born with the gift. When his family is attacked by a Hollow – a malevolent lost soul – Ichigo becomes a Soul Reaper, dedicating his life to protecting the innocent and helping the tortured spirits themselves find peace. Find out why Tite Kubo’s Bleach has become an international manga smash-hit!
Ichigo and his friends knew invading Hueco Mundo wouldn't be easy, but even the lesser Arrancars are pushing them to their limits! Can Ichigo, Uryû and Chad find the inner strength to overcome the first line of attack, or will Orihime be stuck in Hueco Mundo forever?!
Manga Review
Content: (This section may contain spoilers)
With nearly six years on the market in North America, Bleach has reached its 29th volume, and it doesn’t look the series has any intention of stopping. The theme of the 29th volume is fight, fight and fight; three short battles which focus on Ichigo, Uryū and Chad. A nice change of pace considering we really haven’t had consecutive battles since the Soul Society saga. Not only that, but it looks as if there will be even more to come as only two of the five fights have a definite conclusion. I suppose, yes, this is an action shounen title, but in the past, many chapters have been all talk with a bit of action here and there – a good balance of things. With this little change, how will the 29th volume stand in the series and in the shounen market?
The first fight continues from the last volume as Ichigo takes on a quick and powerful privaron espada matador. The fight itself is fairly short as Ichigo takes a beating and turns things around (as he always does). What I did find interesting is that Nel actually has some use. The little girl is a complete mystery yet we get a hint of her powers as she is able to redirect a cero in an instant. Maybe she does it in a more comical fashion, but a deadly one all the same. After this though, Ichigo sobers up, removing his head from his ass and fighting as he should when in a dire situation. The overall outcome of this fight is fairly well done, even though it ends quite suddenly with one swing of the sword and no ceremony.
The second portion of the book moves to Uryū where he is in the middle of a showdown with a young and sadistic woman named Cirucci Sanderwicci – the woman on the front cover. I rather enjoy her playful nature as she continues to mock Uryū and Pesche through the fight, but she also has a short fuse and when the two get on her bad side, she unleashes fury. Cirucci fashions some gothic clothing, but because this world seems to have a fancy for the color white, you won’t see much black on her. She also has two teardrop tattoos dropping from both eyes. This is a bit suitable for the character as teardrop tattoos usually represent that the person has committed the crime of murder, but everyone in this jail has no doubt done the same. For all we know it symbolizes that she is a pedophile (which teardrops represent in Australia), but we won’t know for sure as it is implied she dies afterwards. In any case, I found this fight a little more comical as Pesche enters the ring with Uryū only to show off his goofy techniques. The fight is one of the better ones so far as Uryū displays some of his newly formed abilities and proves that he isn’t someone who should be taken lightly. I do think the constant bickering of both characters does slow down the pace, but at least there are some interesting chats.
The final fight moves over to everyone’s favorite Spanish street fighter, Chad. A very suitable opponent of Gantenbainne Mosqueda (these privaron espada sure have such strange names) enters the ring, and similar to Chad, is basically a hand-to-hand fighter. Gantenbainne, like Dordoni, is a man who hates when people hold back, but he doesn’t carry the fun-loving side of Dordoni. Instead, he is a relaxed and loose character, but he is not immune to fear. This act only plays out for two chapters where Chad displays his new found powers. The man obtains both an offensive and defensive tool, making use of the very arms he was born with. In the end, Chad’s fight with Gantenbainne is just a peek at things to come. We still have two other characters that have yet to fight, not to mention Chad finishing up his brawl. What this volume does perfectly is displaying the newly obtained abilities of Uryū and Chad, and the explosive power of Ichigo.
Artwork: Ever since Ichigo and friends have entered Hueco Mundo, the visual style of Bleach has taken a nosedive. As I mentioned before, because this world seems to love the color white, that’s mostly what you’re going to see. The environments in this volume are close to nonexistent. There will be some objects such as a chair and sometimes walls and pillars, but there are very few, and again, plain white. This volume is all about the characters and their accessories. Almost every scene is just a character or two placed on a white background or a panel filled with black lines (which represents movement). Thankfully each character has good variety, even though all of the enemies are painted white from head to toe. Overall, you won’t have a hard time following the artwork, but the lack of variety in style does limit the enjoyment.
Translation: The English-translation, like any Viz title, is way too hard to grade. All of the Japanese text has been removed – including the sound effects – and an English-translation has been left in its place. There are no apparent spelling or grammar errors to be found making this a clean translation. Dialogue is well done and resembles each character perfectly (even with some Spanish in there, as well). Unfortunately you get what you pay for as there are no extras other than a one image preview into next volume and a little bit of information about the author, Tite Kubo.
The Bottom Line: This installment of Bleach will mainly apply more towards the fans who are looking for pure action. This is a nonstop action-fest with only a couple comedic cracks here and there. You definitely won’t get much story here, just some decent fights – sadly, only one is noteworthy. The worst part is that the artwork is just too bland; it will feel like you’ve gone blind with eighty percent of the novel being white. Maybe that is a bit harsh, but artistically, it won’t do the series any justice. In the end, if you can put up with pure action and pure white, then this should be fine with you.
|
|
|
|
Content |
A nonstop action ride that is a bit shallow, falling short of greatness. |
7.0 |
|
|
Art |
Characters are well drawn, but backgrounds will feel way too bland and unappealing. |
7.0 |
|
|
Translation |
A perfectly done English-translation with a nice price point. |
10.0 |
|
|
Verdict
Bleach is a fantastic series that will have you wanting more. Even though there are no breaks in the action, the fighting itself feels a bit shallow and usually short-lived. Through one or two attacks, the hero will come out victorious; I suppose these aren’t significant fights, but if the two fighters would stop chatting, maybe this would be a quicker paced volume. In the end though, this is a solid addition that is setting things up for a promising future.
|
|
7.0
[not an average]
+ Uryū’s fight is splendid.
+ Characters are well drawn…
- … Too bad there are incredibly bland backgrounds.
- Short-lived battles.
|
|
|
Title Media 
Return to Homepage
Discuss this in the Forums
|
