There's a lot of characters in Bleach. I mean a lot. It's pretty difficult to keep track of them all. But here's how the picture stands right now:
First, let's break the Bleach characters down into categories:
Ichigo & Pals.
Fullbringers.
Aizen's Forces/Espada
Visored
Sternritter
Royal Guard
Gotei 13
Ichigo & Pals:
Urahara Kisuke is passed out from Askin's poison. Yoruichi and her little brother is with him, equally passed out.
Ganju and Sado are fighting an army of magical golems in Ywach's castle.
Ishida Uryuu is with Ichigo, having shot a special silver arrowhead through Ywach.
Ichigo is confronting Ywach, having followed him through a portal. Orihime has inscrutably chosen to stay behind and do nothing because apparently Ichigo doesn't mean all that much to her after all.
Ichigo's dad and Ishida's dad have warped into the Wahrwelt, ready for action. But they've chosen to simply deliver an arrowhead that might work against Ywach and leave again. That makes sense. Not.
Kisuke's store partners are still having a ball on Earth completely unconcerned. The same is true of Ichigo's normal classmates.
Fullbringers:
Ginjo, Giriko and Tsukushima died, went to the afterlife, and helped train Ganju in Seireitei. Subsequently, Yukio, Tsukishima and Ginjo appeared to help heal Ichigo's broken bankai after Ywach left Ichigo sad and laying on the ground. Apparently they have no interest in fighting in this war themselves though.
Jackie and Shishigawara are living peaceful lives in the human world.
Riruka is waiting for Ichigo's return at a safe place.
Aizen's Forces/Espada:
Dondochokka and Pesche are still in Hueco Mundo, presumably living a peaceful life. The same for Menoly, Loli, Apache, Sun-sung, and Millia (the Arrancar girls who were all spared in the Fake Karakura war). Tier Harribel is in Vandenreich HQ, presumably still the captive of the Quincies.
Nel is fixing to save Grimmjow, Yoruichi and Urahara from Askin's poison ball jail. Grimmjow killed Askin, but is passed out from his poison.
Aizen Sousuke has finally broken out of his infernal chair and is fighting Ywach.
Kaname Tousen is dead.
The remainder of the Espada are all dead.
Visored:
Love Aikawa, Hiyori, Hachigen, and Lisa engaged Gerard and lost instantly.
Sternritter:
Gerard has been drained of his powers so probably isn't doing very well right now. Jugram has been drained of power but still seems to be plotting something towards Ishida. Lille has fallen to a lower level of the Wahrwelt, turned into an enormous number of storks, and is currently battling Kira.
Pernida is dead.
Askin is dead.
Ywach has walked through a portal to Aizen Sousuke's location in Soul Society.
Meninas seems to be passed out somewhere in Seireitei.
The majority of the Sternritter are dead.
Royal Guard:
Ichibe Hyosube is sitting around at the Soul Palace. He's out of energy so he'll be out of the fight for the rest of the show.
Tenjiro, Kirio, Oetsu and Senjumaru are all lying around seemingly unconscious, either wounded or dead. It is unknown what their ultimate fates will be.
Gotei 13:
1st division commander Genryusai is dead. His vice-captain, Chojiro, is also dead.
2nd division commander Sui-Feng and her vice-captain, Omaeda are in the Wahrwelt with the other captains. They both seem injured but still functional.
3rd division commander Gin Ichimaru is dead. The new 3rd division Commander, Rojuro Otoribashi is a zombie under 12th division commander Mayuri's control. Whether he'll eventually be dead, an eternal zombie, or healed back to normal is still unknown. Kira, the vice-captain, still has a giant hole in him, but is fighting Lille with seemingly no difficulties all the same at the bottom of the Wahrwelt.
4th division commander Unohana is dead. Her vice-captain, Isane Kotetsu, is still fine, and is in the Wahrwelt with the other captains.
5th division commander Shinji Hirako is in the Wahrwelt with the other captains. He seems injured but still functional. His vice-captain, Momo Hinamori, is with him. Hopefully now that Gerard has been drained of his power they can make quick work of him.
6th division commander Byakuya Kuchiki is in the Wahrwelt with the other captains. His vice-captain, Renji Abarai, is at Ichigo's side, yet again facing off against Ywach. Hopefully now that Gerard has been drained of his power Byakuya can make quick work of him..
7th division commander Komamura has turned into a dog. His vice-captain, Tetsuzaemon Iba is with him and as yet has never fought in a single battle in the entire series. Though they claim to be planning to join the fight somehow, they don't seem to be doing it very well.
8th division commander Shunsui Kyoraku, recently promoted to first division commander, is in the Wahrwelt isolated from the other captains. His vice captain, Nanao Ise, is with him. He's currently too injured or exhausted to take any further action.
9th division commander Kensei is currently a zombie under 12th division commander Mayuri's control. It is unknown whether he'll eventually die, stay a zombie, or heal to full from here. His vice-captain, Shuhei Hisagi, has been shot and is lying on the ground in the Wahrwelt. Mashiro, who helped train Hisagi between Quincy invasions, is now completely MIA.
10th division commander Hitsugaya has healed up from his previous zombiehood and is now battling Gerard in a new, grown-up form. Hopefully now that Gerard has been drained of his power he can make quick work of him. He's exhausted, though. His vice-captain, Rangiku, is presumably nearby.
11th division commander Kenpachi is currently lying on the ground, having been defeated by Gerard. His vice-captain, Yachiru, has returned to his side. She's apparently the spirit manifestation of his sword? Hopefully more details will be explained in the future. Madarame and Ayasegawa are mainly healed and presumably nearby Hitsugaya.
12th division commander Mayuri is in the Wahrwelt, lying around in a healing capsule after suffering injuries fighting Pernida. His vice-captain, Nemu, is currently just a brain stuck alongside Mayuri in his healing capsule, but may end up fully restored, who knows. It could also be that Nemu is already fully restored and is lying nude in the capsule plastered against Mayuri as we speak, if the artist meant that to be literal and not just a metaphorical symbolic image. You just never know with Mayuri.
13th division commander Captain Ukitake has had his godhood absorbed, returning to his normal form, seemingly unconscious as a result. His vice-captain, Rukia, has randomly decided to stay behind the portal door and let just Renji and Ichigo handle Ywach from here. The two third seat flunkies have apparently gotten lost because no one's seen them anywhere in ages.
In summation, out of all 13 captains:
Dead: 2
Dog: 1
Badly Injured: 3
Zombie: 2
Slightly Injured: 5
Out of all 14 vice-captains:
Dead: 1
Walking a Dog: 1
Sword: 1
Missing: 1
Slightly Injured: 4
Badly Injured: 3
Fine: 3
* * *
There, that's everyone in Bleach present and accounted for. However, as you can see, even if we know where they are, it's difficult to know what they are doing, how healthy they are, or when we'll see them again. It feels like a sub-narrative is going on in millions of different places simultaneously, and the author only focuses on each of these sub-narratives for limited flashes of time before he's off narrating something else again. As a result, all of the sub-narratives are equally unfinished and we're left unsatisfied with all of them as they currently stand. This is why Bleach shouldn't be remotely close to finished yet. I doubt even fifty more chapters could cover all of the still missing material that has yet to be explained. Nevertheless, the manga has promised to end within the next four chapters or so, so I guess a lot of these dangling plot threads will simply never be addressed.
Because of all the burning questions that have yet to be answered, Bleach is the most exciting chapter coming out on a weekly basis. Every chapter leaves you hoping one of the many mysteries in the series might be solved this week. When it isn't solved, it just leaves you anticipating next week's chapter even more. This is a great formula, so long as all the mysteries are solved eventually before the series ends. If, like Negima, it just makes a total mess of things and refuses to answer any of the questions it created, Bleach will have severely let down its fans and the quality of its earlier arcs. Whether this series is headed for greatness or colossal failure is still totally up in the air, just like all of the sub-narratives it's created.
1 comment:
So helpful.
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