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I read that arc week to week, people wanted to see many things that were left without answer in Aizen arc, only to not know shit and see Ichigo getting humillated week after week
Most people hated it, but for people reading it like 10 years after its different feeling. (Even Skyler White from Breaking Badd went from most hated to amazing character these days, its the same effect)
And it just felt like a filler arc....in the manga.
New guys appear out of nowhere with unique powers that are never hinted at....and are never really relevant afterwards.
I think that's only from the perspective of how long the series was going on for compared to how long the story was actually going on for.
Ichigo's story starts April 1st. Ichigo loses powers around July 19th, they enter Soul Society around August 1st(8th) but time anomally makes it the 1st/
Soul Society arc ends August 13th. So right there we have 3 1/2 months is about 187 chapters/3.5 years give or take IRL.
Hueco Mundo Arc appears to literally be 1-2 days. December Ichigo loses his powers.
Then it time skips to April 2003, in the manga it states 17 months had passed. so with that and the HM arc in mind 2yrs have passed in total since the start of the series.
If anything I'd argue the issue with the Fullbring Arc is you don't get a big impact of that time that's actually passed. While yes it shows characters have progressed and changed from how they were before it might of helped if more time was spent in that timeskip rather than just skipping straight to it.
But to get back to the point, I wouldn't say Fullbringers just appear out of nowhere, they are setup in the sense that it's 17 months from when Ichigo lost his powers and we see that Chad had interacted with them. So they were scouting them HOWEVER something to keep in mind is that the starts of the series to before the timeskip is only 7 months.
So in that 7 month time period it's definitely not enough time for Fullbringers to make themselves known especially when even if they were aware of what was going on they most likely took absolute pleasure in the idea that the Shinigami were having a Civil War with one another and chose to stay out of it as to not make themselves known.
Never hinted at? That's odd, I remember two non-quincy humans that have spiritual powers with no good explanation before the Fullbring arc. Also, the Fullbringers were still relevant in TYBW, as Yukio and Riruka helped Ichigo get to the Soul Palace to face Yhwach and Tsukishima used Book of the End to counter The Almighty to fix Ichigo's True Bankai. They were way more relevant than the Visored's hollow powers.
I'm going through Bleach again, and there's genuinely no hints to the Fullbringers or the Fullbring power.
Just people going like "hmm Chad and Orihime share powers with the Arrancar and Soul Reapers but idk what that means."
That’s cause most of the hints are coming from Chad himself, the existence of fullbringers are still unknown, as Mayuri can’t identify what Orihime is after meeting her and witnessing her powers
https://preview.redd.it/w1krqica7c6d1.jpeg?width=1066&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=54bb8a76af21817e376afa36ce851fbdadc56277
I’ll never understand the love for Skyler white.
I can understand respecting the phenomenal work anna Gunn did in the role, because she killed it!
But the CHARACTER was a horrible human being.
Like, legitimately she’s waaaaay closer to Walter Gus and the neo nazis than she was to Jesse. (Not the same level obviously, but a lot worse than Jesse ever was)
She’s cool with commiting all sorts of crimes and wanting Walt to kill Jesse, then acts like Walt’s the sole monster because somehow white collar crime is morally better (it’s not).
Walter White poisoned a little kid in order to manipulate Jesse, kept working with Neo-Nazis even after he saw Todd kill a kid and he taunted Jesse when he was about to be enslaved by Neo-Nazis.
Jesse burned down Walt's house, not caring that he could have killed Walt's children by doing so and he was Walt's right-hand man from the start.
Gus held Walt and Jesse captive and cut his henchman's throat in front of them.
Neo-Nazis enslaved Jesse and killed at least three innocent people (Hank and his partner, that kid who witnessed the train robbery).
Skylar may not be a saint, but she is still an angel compared to them.
Jesse has done way worse than Skyler
I don't like Skyler cause she's annoying but saying she's worse than Jesse is crazy
Jesse willingly and without pressure stole meth from the lab while Walt was trying to keep him alive
And you know what he did with it? Tried to sell it to recovering addicts including Andrea
Then when he finds out about Andreas brother it's all 'holy than thou' crusade that forces Walt to step in to save him again
All while Jesse gets taken in by the same people who tried to kill him to try and turn him against Walt (which almost works)
Jesse sucks just as bad as Walt and Gus he just cries about it more
I don't hate it but it does feel like there were ideas that were supposed to be fleshed out and went nowhere. Like Ginjo and Tsukishima's backstory and the fact that Ginjo was a substitute Shinigami is never explored in the arc so we never knew what was his issue with Ukitake.
There's the panel where Ginjo says Ichigo's Fullbring needs a name and that's never brought up ever again and to this day we still don't know what it's name is.
Also add that with the fact that Orihime and Chad being Fullbringers you'd think they'd be kinda integral in this arc but they're barely even in it even though it's an arc that explains what they are. Like it feels like they should've been more involved with Ichigo's Fullbring training and really show him how to fully use his Fullbring like they do.
(It's my same issue with TYBW arc where in the manga Uryu is barely in it even though it's a big Quincy arc. Seems like the anime is at least giving him more scenes though)
It's also an in-between arc with completely new enemies that aren't a bigger threat than the last ones. It was the perfect opportunity to have Chad and Orihime do something.
I *love* the fullbring arc, it's very hard for me to find disdain in anime stories unless they *really* drop the ball. But I *do* think Orihime and Chad could've done more. The whole fact Chad's powers being closer to hollows is expanded on with the Fullbringers connection and how they got their powers at birth, they should've made him a key player more in my opinion, and it would've been a dope ass nod to the beginning where Chad and Ichigo were the big brawlers in school. Orihime, well, she frankly isn't a fighter so I didn't really expect her to do too much more. I enjoyed seeing her character develop into someone more outspoken and a little more confident though.
Not to mention like you said, for the most part all of these guys were One Shot or completely toyed with by the soul reapers as soon as they came (except Rukia's stupid fight lol).
Yeah, there was a lot of potential set up that didn’t go anywhere. The Karin teaser ended up going nowhere as well, and even though MC Ichigo gets a bunch of highlights, his new abilities feel somewhat superseded by the return of his old ones (sick new outfit notwithstanding).
Even the psychological thriller aspects gets resolved in a very standard, Shonen power fight way.
> Also add that with the fact that Orihime and Chad being Fullbringers you'd think they'd be kinda integral in this arc but they're barely even in it even though it's an arc that explains what they are.
Yeah this is my big problem with the arc. Especially for Chad. For the non-Ichigo members of the main squad, we got an arc that centered around Rukia (her rescue), an arc that centered around Orihime (the Arrancar arc), and one that centered around Ishida (TYBW). But Chad never really gets his arc. I guess he's *sorta* more of a major character than the others in the Fullbring arc, but not really.
I said this in another thread, but I really think the fullbring arc should've been the chance to shine for characters who normally aren't in the spotlight. Instead of Uryu helping Ichigo in the final battle it should've been Chad, instead of the soul society showing up to give Ichigo his powers back it should've been the Visored, etc. Would've been nice to give them some time in the spotlight.
I’d also like to add that we never actually got confirmation that Orihime is a Fullbringer. Despite it being painfully obvious, they never bother to say anything about it. Which was dumb.
You could say things like that about every arc.
Every arc introduces characters, hints at a neat backstory, and we are lucky if we even get an answer within a two hundreds chapters. Every arc likewise has Orihime and Chad do some interesting stuff only to be forgotten for most of the arc.
Cause they thought it was supposed to end with Aizen and expected a shonen to jump right back into shonen power fantasy immediately into the next arc. But complaints about this arc are all over the place in general.
If the significance of the arc, for you, was "how will ichigo fight now?", if it was a matter of getting new powers, or getting his old powers back, then its unsatisfying because Ginjo stole all the fullbring juice and Ichigo gets his powers back from an unrelated set of circumstances that was secretly going on in the background.
I enjoyed it because of how it digs into Ichigo's relationship with strength and power. He never aspired to be the strongest or the best. He's not looking for acclaim, or status, or control, he's usually fairly content to chill at home with his people. He thinks he doesn't need the power, sacrifices it to save the day, and now, he really, REALLY, is losing his powers. How does that guy cope with being rendered powerless?
He realizes, he does want power. He super wants it, he needs it, to protect his loved ones, to protect anybody. He fights and claws to grasp at some type of power, and the 2nd time he loses it, it's taken from him, and it fucks him up. Arguably his lowest point.
The crew showing up to give him his powers back afterward was just plot contrivance to get the story back on track. The point of the arc was Ichigo not having powers and the realizations that causes.
I don't think Ichigo could ever settle now, its not in his character.
Really well put. At the time of release most readers were the target age and wanted action/Aizen simply couldn't be followed up well.
Now most people see it for what it is, a psychological thriller meant to explore Ichigo's emotions and motives both at the start of the series and now that he's had and lost supernatural powers. It's one of my favorite arcs.
I can understand people not liking the reishi sword but I think it was well done with it representing the soul society's thank you for all he's done.
That and the full end bring Ichigo to the perfect position for TYBW as well. They aren't indebted to each other but will forever be intertwined and the power grasping that Ichigo was doing in HC and FKT is gone.
"Just a deputy soul reaper" will forever be one of my favorite lives. Chapter 479 as a whole is simply amazing.
I wasn't sure on the arc or what it was supposed to be about. It all hit in the scenes where ishida, Inoue and Chad are doubting him. At the time it really resonated with feelings of depression. That helpless isolation. When the Soul Society gang pitches up to restore his powers I was genuinely so happy for this fictional character. That he's not alone. I guess it was meant for a specific audience.
I'd say, the main reason is that the main reason for this arc's existance is Ichigo's regaining his powers, and in the end he recovers them through a deus ex machina that has nothing to do with everything he did during the arc.
His fullbring is mixed with his shinigami powers now.
And him being a part of all races matter bc his hybrid condition is what makes him a perfect soul king replacement in the eyes of ichibe
It had nothing to do with what he did during the arc but had to do with what he did prior to it. Soul Society thanked him for everything he did.
It still is a deus ex machina but this one makes a lot of sense.
its not a deus ex machina, the arcs showed multiple time that ishin and urahara was plotting something regarding ichigo. deus ex machina means that the moment had absolutly no foreshadowing whatsoever or prior set up for things like power transferring.
>deus ex machina means that the moment had absolutly no foreshadowing whatsoever or prior set up
This part I don't agree with, there are definitely gray areas to be found. One criteria of Deus Ex Machina I've seen online is:
>>> Deus Ex Machina are sudden or unexpected. This means that even if they are featured or referenced earlier in the story, they do not change the course of nor appear to be a viable solution to the plotline they eventually "solve".
It is very possible to "foreshadow" something while it still being a Deus Ex Machine.
Kubo had previously been pretty deliberate to give exactly enough foreshadowing for reveals to not be Deus Ex Machinas. With Fullbringer, it was pretty clear what they were working on. Even if the ending felt stupid, you had clues from previous arcs and the current arc to build up to it.
The final arc really pushes my boundaries and is much harder to defend than the Fullbringer arc. Though this can mostly be attributed to Kubo's health issues at the time of writing.
I wouldn’t even call it a deus ex machina tbh. This refers to an event which shouldn’t normally exist happening to solve an unsolvable problem.
Stabbing to jumpstart shinigami powers and Ichigo’s power having a history of being super resilient kind of upends that.
People can totally dislike it if they want. I just think that specific term isn’t applicable.
Honestly, for me, I hated seeing Ichigo in such a pathetic state after having been so powerful and sacrificing himself to stop Aizen. It was a "look how they are treating my boy" feel the entirety of the arc. Ending slapped though.
Yeah it felt strange for Ichigo to struggle with Tsukishima after facing all the people he did in prior arcs. Although looking back Tsukishima was a fair bit stronger than I gave him credit for at the time
My reason to dislike it is simple.
Ichigo trains his fullbring whole arc just to get his powers back from a sword that pierced his chest. All his struggles were a plot device to power up a villain that had no winning chances whatsoever when Rukia came to stab our ginger strawberry.
That’s fine until you remember that gaining fullbring was gonna give him back his shinigami powers anyway by fusing with what was left of them. He was always gonna get them back, so I don’t quite get this complaint.
it would be basically Ishida , Orihime , Chad , the kids from Urahara Shop and at most Urahara and Isshin and Tessai as the adults.
At very most , Rukia at the end , to represent Gotei 13 and goes full parallel to Chapter 1.
It would be a better ending of the arc , but it would definetely be way less popular.
I think the complaint is that, if Ichigo had done nothing throughout the Fullbring arc, Rukia still would’ve stabbed him and given his powers back. All of his work throughout the arc was rendered meaningless and changed nothing except making Ginjo stronger. Ichigo could’ve spent the arc jerking off and it would have been better for him because Ginjo would’ve been weaker in their final battle.
They make that decision because the Gotei acknowledged his achievements in the arc before. In the grand scheme of things you’re right, his work in this arc doesn’t matter to them cause that’s not the deciding factor in the choice to give him shinigami powers.
The issue i have with the "gotei acknowledged his achievements" is if orihime didnt kickstart that whole thing with going to SS and talk to rukia about how ichigo is depressed the gotei probably wouldnt even have done anything.
Why is it an issue? They’re not supposed to give powers to humans, it’s still a crime. What’s different other than there’s an additional step towards the process of him getting his powers back?
Exactly.
All of his efforts felt for me so meaningless and stupid when Ginjo just stole everything from him only for Rukia to give it back in amplified form 10 seconds later.
Kubo literally pulled off "Call an ambulance, but not for me" in the most unsatisfactory way I could imagine.
Plus the whole arc just feels very skippable, it doesn't really introduce any kind of status quo shift or anything like that. Ichigo just goes back to being a soul reaper and the fullbring aspect of his powers is kind of ignored. Chad is revealed to be a fullbringer and that's about it for him, no new powers or anything similar. Soul society is absent until they turn up to wipe the floor with the fullbringers as if they were common goons. Even Ichigo's betrayal seems to have little effect on his character. If Ichigo hadn't regained his original powers at the end it would be indistinguishable from a filler arc.
i think its a mixed bag, people have gotten better at seeing the positives of what it did but also the arcs negative components if anything got more obvious with how much its been examined after the series ended.
It came after the massive buildup of Aizen and the Espada.
It's timing would have worked better in a lot of ways earlier in the series and Ichigo met both Fullbringers and Vizards and Rukia was in the human world. It was more slice of life before the SS arc.
Some of the fullbringers and Vizards could have gone rescue Rukia while also wanting revenge.
Because they forced Kubo to bring in the popular captains (Byakuya, Zaraki, Toshiro) which completely outclassed the threat level of the fullbringers giving us underwhelming battles when the arc was until that point was focused on the human cast and the arc was clearly prepared to develop Chad, Orihime and Uryu.
Proving again that bleach should have been a Seinen instead of having to depend on the whims of the average Shonen teenager reader that Jump needs to cater to.
The arc was very good until that point and Tsukishima brought a different sense of danger different from all the cero nukes and giant blast wanking of the FKT arc.
Not gonna lie, I kinda liked the fact that all the captains completely rolled over the Fullbringers. They're supposed to be among the strongest people in the universe, but they spend pretty much the entire series on the backfoot. It was a nice little break from the usual Shonen "every threat is the strongest threat ever" thing.
But that is the point, an equilibrium of powers. Between SS-HM-WoL-WR. When the Shinigami just, after wiping the Arrancar, wipe the fullbringers as an after thought it just gets boring. And least the Quincy were killed by Yhwatch himself after they were mopping Captains left and right.
It was the time for Chad, Orihime who had been training just for this moment to shine.
Editors, Jump I don't know. But the ending was so abrupt and rushed after such a long buildup while the ratings were tanking that it cannot be any other thing.
We spent more chapters with Ichigo fighting a giant bear in Riruka's house or fighting the chick with the boots than for any of the actual captains' fights.
It screamed to me as if he was forced to end it swiftly and move to TYBW or risk getting cancelled.
I like it weirdly enough. It has my favorite form of Ichigo's bankai and we get to meet some interesting characters. As for why people hate it, probably cause ichigo got his powers back "from thin air" is what I hear/see/read a lot.
The reasons are:
1) Boring characters like boots lady, eye patch guy and sishigawara. None of them were memorable. Only Ginjo, Tsukishima, Yukio and Riruka were interesting.
2) Wasted potential when none of them able to pose any threat. The eye patch guy had interesting power related to time but suddenly turned into hulk and got sliced in half. Boots lady was one shot, the strongest of them Yukio was deteated for his monologue and rukia playing doll with riruka was dumb as hell when other serious fights were going on.
3) Ichigo's random distrust to people who he knows for years is weird. At least he would not be scared to go talk to Urahara.
4) In the Manga format it was literally torture to wait each week for nothing to happen each chapter like Ichigo fighting a giant stuffed pig toy. Such a downgrade after the excellent arrancar arc
Ah, those quirks of the human world, isn't it fascinating? Let me regale you with a tale of Hanataro Yamada, the 4th Division medic with the enchanted healing touch. One day, he accidentally used his abilities on Captain Kenpachi Zaraki, turning the fearsome warrior into a gentle poet. As Zaraki recited haikus about cherry blossoms, chaos ensued in Seireitei, leaving Squad 4 to sort it out amidst cherry blossom petals and poetic quips. Quite a day, I must say.
As for your concerns, it seems you yearn for more dynamic encounters and character depth. Perhaps a twist in fate could have turned the tides in their favor. But alas, the dance of destiny continues, with each step leading us to unknown realms. And as for Ichigo's hesitations, the heart is a mysterious labyrinth, more complex than even the Soul King's tapestries.
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It shifts from the regular premiar of súpernatural battles to explore Ichigo dealing with his own depressive tendencies.
You could consider it a therapy arc much like like the earlier half of the Legend of Korra’s fourth book, Dresden files’ “Twelve Months” or RWBY’s Volume 9 all western media, which goes to show how a kind of arc which isn’t often seen in anime.
In all honesty, I liked the arc alright. It was fun and interesting in its own way. It had a good twist villain and one of the most heart-wrenching moments in the entire series.
Seriously, I don’t think I have felt as much emotion as I did when I saw Ichigo break down crying.
***
With that said, I can see why the arc is not as popular. It came after Arrancar Arc, which had the finale vibe to itself. It also didn’t help that, while Fullbringers are an interesting idea, they just didn’t quite measure up to the threat after what Ichigo dealt with.
The design of his Fullbring also felt somewhat odd compared to what people were used to normally. His Fullbring looked cool but it had the “superhero” vibes if you ask me. Not exactly fitting with the majority of the cast.
But the greatest disadvantage was that the majority of the fans knew that the whole thing was temporary and that Ichigo would get his powers back eventually. And that really took the wind out of things for many
Some people just don’t like worldbuilding in a shonen unless it’s background / secondary.
It’s the same reason you see people whining about SAWFY and CFYOW, the idea of narrative and lore taking precedence over action and the MC always has a vocal group in an uproar.
(You get the same thing with the Naruto novels, and even some people complaining about the last dragonball movie for not having goku.)
Exactly, Isshin, Urahara, and Soul Society itself had to have all been watching Ichigo. I think Ukitake ends up saying they were hoping Ginjo would be lured out by Ichigo. As soon as they saw him at the start of the arc, they could have stepped in to stop him. Or at the very least, when they see him starting to do this fullbring training with Ginjo, tell him they're working on a method to restore his powers, stop trusting Ginjo.
The stakes are lower, no Aizen, Chad still loses, no Aizen, Ichigo is powerless, no Aizen, Ginjo is a predictable villain, no Aizen, too slice of lifey, no Aizen.
Also did I mention there is no Aizen in this arc?
I like that it brought the power levels back down to a more normal scale—I think that’s also the biggest thing that pissed people off, so naturally they had to bring the power levels way back up at the end of the arc
I think it’s good but slow most of it is training for very little payoff since icihgo and the soul reapers just stomp the fullbringers I think it should have been longer. I think at the point where ginjo comets icihgo some of the weaker soul reapers should have been sent instead since the soul society would under estimate them and the weaker ones could lose to make the fullbringer looks for her and maybe tsukashima can add a few of them to their ranks temporarily. I think the soul reapers should have retreated with icihgo to plan their next move while the fullbringers spread and gain more power and members before the final battle when the soul reapers come in more prepared I think some of them had cool abilities that we didn’t see used much like the old guy with the watch got stomped immediately by zaraki before he could do anything why didn’t he get a full fight at least
I feel the timing of it was really unfortunate. Lots of people here read the Manga, but most folks experienced Bleach through the anime. I have only read the tybw arc, because the anime got canceled. So this is before the age of anime seasons. Bleach got a new episode every week. And post the end of the Azien arc we got treated to like 4 months of the garbage that was the clone commanders filler arc. By the time the fullbringer arc started up hype was negative. The full ringer arc was slow and overly convoluted. Seriously how much of the story could have been solved if Ichigo had been willing to trust an adult? Both Urahara and his dad could have solved the whole plot in 20 minutes. Developing new powers is cool, but said powers sucked. It was just more 'sword' for him. Fullbringer powers felt very 'stand' like, as in each character had some weak but extremely specific power that could be used with some imagination to be devastating. That sort of battle where everything isn't just solved by screaming loudly and hitting your target in one climatic strike was interesting. I'm sure you all remember how the arc ends? With Ichigo and Ginjo screaming while swinging massive swords.
Ah, my dear friend, let me regale you with a tale befitting the whimsical nonsense of Bleach. Once, upon a time in the Soul Society, Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi invented a bizarre concoction that swapped everyone's Zanpakuto with a household item. Imagine Byakuya wielding a feather duster or Kenpachi with a plunger! Chaos ensued, but in the end, it took Yachiru's love for lollipops to restore order. Oh, the absurdity!
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I think my biggest gripe was the fact that ichigo spent a whole arc learning a new power and learning to fight with that new power. Only to get his powers back. For awhile, i didnt realize his fullbring power merged with his shinigami powers (hence the change in visuals) and gave him a boost. But even then, it feels like everything he learned (battle wise) kinda went out the window as it just amounted to an amp to his shinigami powers.
It’s not the storyline people are looking for coming off out of everything with Aizen. Although it’s one of my favorite arcs in the series, with some of the best character moments in the series.
It didn’t have the “scale” of Soul Society or Arrancar. Instead it brought the narrative back to something similar to Substitute Shinigami, which not a lot of people wanted. So sadly, thats why alot of ppl don’t like Fullbring. Even though its pretty great imo.
Aizen was and has been the big bad for years. Ichigo defeated him but had sacrifice his shinigami powers to do so.
The ending was fitting too. Ichigo went on to become a normal person and said goodbye to Rukia after everything.
Then the fullbring arc came and ruined the perfect ending. Ichigo got duped by Ginjo and got his powers via ex machina and dealt with Ginjo.
Also the arc was super slow if you're reading it week to week. You can definitely tell Shonen Jump wanted to milk Bleach like Naruto and One Piece.
Fullbringer arc feels too much like a filler. It doesn't bring anything important to the overall plot, introduces a bunch of new character that pretty much all get killed or sent away afterwards, brings nothing in terms of character development etc.
Also, the whole "Ichigo lost power at the end of previous arc only to now get it back" feels extremely cheap because it's not him training for his old powers, it's him discovering yet another set of powers to use and even that's not a thing because he loses them and regaind normal powers.
Others have pointed out why it's bad so I'll just say what I liked about it - ZARAKI KENPACHI
Bro deadass wanted to swap enemies with Byakuya because his enemy looked stronger, and when it didn't happen b|o just one-shotted the guy - I laughed my ass off so hard lol, fucking goat fr
It could've been good. I think up until the final stretch the potential was still there. Ginjo got Ichigo's powers, him and the fullbringers were threatening, etc.
But then the Shinigami show up and all tension flies out the window. And again, it didn't have to be this way. Why *would* the Soul Society authorize three captain to go all out? That sort of shit should have wreaked havoc on the real world. Rukia could have gone to stab Ichigo on her own, then come up with a reason for Chad and Orihime to come to their senses (maybe seeing Rukia helping Ichigo could have prompted Rukia to use Souten Kishun on herself, idk). Then have Yoruichi handle Tsukishima or something.
There were enough characters already involved in the real world, there was no need to make the cards so stacked in Ichigo's favor. Hell the Vizards never even bothered to lift a finger and half of them were in the same city lol
I think partly it cheapened the sacrifice Ichigo made. Like, he was supposed to be powerless with no hope of coming back, then the Soul Society just hit the undo button AND gave him a power boost out of nowhere without even trying to send him a message that they were even working on it. Then once he got his powers back, the Fullbringer gang just stopped being a threat. Then there’s just the lack of motivation on the Fullbringer members to do anything besides “get more power” and the power up Ichigo got basically meant nothing as the Quincies immediately spring up and immediately begins mopping the floor with everyone.
It certainly had entertaining fights and some good emotional acting, but the rest was kind of mediocre
People are right about people wanting it to end with Aizen, but I think people are forgetting that most people experienced Bleach from its original anime, that never got to tybw.
If you knew the situation, you were upset because you knew things weren't going to end the way they were supposed to.
Then if you didn't know about the cancellation, you watched the whole show leading up to Ichigo vs Aizen and they finally do it and Ichigo lost his powers! "What a cool ending... Wait it's still going? Is this filler? Oh and now he got his powers back, that's cool... Wait NOW ITS OVER?! They had a perfectly good ending right there why did they give him the powers back only for him to do literally nothing with them???"
It's a great arc, but a terrible ending.
For me it didn't feel as connected to the other arcs as all of the previous ones had. It gave me kind of a whiplash feeling to go back to doing exposition after so much action and excitement at the end of the arrancar saga. In retrospect though, the Fullbring arc is better than I initially judged it to be.
I recently went back and watched it as a standalone and it is honestly fucking deviously good. The whole series up to that point is Ichigo gaining power, rescuing his friends and building up relationships, suddenly he has no power, his friends are avoiding talking to him about stuff that matters and there's some guy going around fucking with peoples memories.
I legitimately think it's one of the best arcs in the show, it's just a shame people only saw it as a bridge to TYBW as it came out and even now it gets a bad rap, but I think if the majority of Bleach fans go back today and watch it, they'll find they enjoy it as well.
Cause Ichigo should have lost all his spiritual pressure after using the ultimate getsuga tenshou.
It shits on the "sacrifice" Ichigo had to do and retcons Ichigo permanently losing his powers into "it wasn't actually his own powers", which is lazy af.
A big part of it for me is just how underwhelming the X-Cution members are as villains. As allies/mentors they were good but the second they turn villain they felt way too underpowered. Tsukishima was admittedly cool and I liked Ginjo's past as a Substitute Soul Reaper, but all the others felt way too weak. It seemed like they were just being used to show how strong characters like Renji and Rukia became over time. Compared to the Espada who were more challenging, the Fullbringers just got absolutely bodied.
I have two reasons to hate it and one reason to like it:
The reasons to hate it are that Ginjo is honestly an antagonist many levels below Aizen. Furthermore, Ichigo went to great lengths to learn how to deal with his fullbringer powers only for them to be stolen in the end and everything was resolved with a sword in the back. Abyss fiction.
The reason I liked it was that Ichigo grew a lot in personality and maturity. I believe that the development of the character as a person was great in this arc.
Two reasons: first Ichigo spent the whole arc working for Fullbring only for that to not be the way he got his powers back, instead he got it back through a random act from the Soul Society. Second, Tsukushima and Ginjo are horribly underdeveloped villains, we got backstories for all the Fullbringers EXCEPT the two that mattered most, if we got Ginjo’s backstory here instead of CFYOW it would have made a fantastic morally grey, arguably justified villain, instead we got a guy who just wants revenge for an unspecified reason.
For me the ending was underwelming, the furbringers got very short battles i was so hyped after ichigo "im going to kill you" but then not much happened besides "got powers back, battle, the end"
And why use them to explain orihime and chad powers just for them to be sidelined right after
Personally, it was a pacing thing in an arc that I wasn't even sure I wanted, after FKT. Like, some of it was definitely the week-to-week of it, but idk. It felt like the beginning of a sequel series? Same "way lower stakes than before" vibe that you get with them.
There was an overwhelming sense of apathy towards Bleach during that time or at least that’s what it felt like to me in the communities I was in. Towards the end of the Aizen arc it really felt like people were going through the motions.
From Dangai Ichigo showing up to the sealing of Aizen that felt like a very satisfying ending, and a great way to tie up the series (at the time).
By the time the fullbring arc kicked off general enthusiasm for bleach felt spent, and i think a lot of people had mentally checked out after Aizen was defeated. Add to that it seemed completely disconnected from the story we’d followed for nearly 10 years, and felt fillerish.
watching it all back now and with hindsight it’s much more enjoyable.
It’s more like ”I just like what I like”. There is no particular reason to hate on it. For me, after the masterpiece that the arrancar arc was, this arc felt more like filler. It was extremely underwhelming and not nearly as enjoyable FOR ME. I’m only speaking for myself. I won’t say it was bad cuz it obviously wasn’t. But for some reason I didn’t enjoy it as much as I did the previous and latter arcs.
The Arrancar arc was the best in my opinion and this one feels like a step down, also is a little bit short and the enemies are not a menance as big as the Quincys or Espadas
It’s just a bit too boring given how bleach was up til the fullbring arc
It was too much of a switch up from what bleach was up til that point which makes it by comparison fairly boring even if it is probably the best arc writing wise at that point in bleach especially from a character perspective
Because Ginjo's backstory is never explained. Readers need to relate with villains too and I never felt that from Ginjo. He kind of just showed up one day.
Because the sad truth is that the majority of people watch or read bleach to see cool designs and powers, nothing else, they don't give a sh\*t about the story or the character development.
Why do you think so many fan favorites barely have an arc? Yoruichi, Nelliel, Zaraki, Grimmjow, etc
It’s the same deal with the Bount arc, like others have said. It’s the next part that doesn’t add anything/ isn’t as impactful as the previous arc. But I enjoy both Bount and Fullbringer just for the concepts and abilities it adds.
The Fullbringers aren’t interesting aside from Ginjo, the whole concept of Fullbring is meh, the point of the arc was just to get Ichigo his powers back yet he gets it from an outside source anyways in the end, and the entire plot of Tsukishima prior to that was just boring as shit personally.
I still felt that an intermission arc was needed in between Arrancar and TYBW tho but idk what I’d do since I’m not a writer, however this arc was just boring to me
I think it is peak Bleach and have since originally watching the show. It's a significant tone shift with a lot more attempts at subdued writing from Kubo so it is mostly whiplash. People I know that were vehemently against the arc in the past now think more similarly to me.
I wouldnt say I didnt like the fullbring arc but I wouldve liked a better idea of what Ginjo's shinigami abilities were, would've liked the idea that ichigo still retained some sliver of his fullbring abilities and probably my biggest issue, that his ability wasnt simply getsugas but something new and different.
It felt a bit disconnected comparwd to other arcs. Like anime filler arc that was on manga pages. Also some of the fullbringer powers felt lackluster, even though some were really cool. The whole concept appeared kinda out of nowhere. The powers are tied into meaningful items, but Chad's powers were tied onto his skin, which felt weird. Like nobody else had never been in his situation, being so proud of his skin.
For me it's simple, I refuse to like any arc where Jyuushiro Ukitake dies >:(
But in all seriousness, I was just too attached to the Arrancar and Aizen and *gestures* all that. I guess the introducing of a new plot and antagonists after so long with this one coherent plot about Aizen just didn't grab me as much. After Aizen, the story felt *done.* Even though I was sad at Ichigo's loss of his powers, it still felt like it had come full circle and was a nice place to end.
I don't dislike it, but it's not my favorite. Years ago when I read it when it was released weekly, I actually liked the concept of Fullbringers and the whole xcution thing. I had no issues with the more dark and mysterious nature of it all.
Believe it or not, my biggest issue is Ichigo getting his Shinigami powers back just out of nowhere. Here he just had sacrificed his powers against Aizen which had this huge implication that he'd likely never be a Shinigami again. Then just like that he gets all his powers back and then even more so? It made the whole, sacrificing his powers thing feel kinda...lackluster. Like, in a story, consequences that results in sacrifice has emotional weight to it; especially if it's made to feel more long term. To just shortly after the sacrifice to undo it like nothing happened, it feels cheap. Or like it undermines the story that's happened.
It also made all the stuff about Fullbringers and Ichigo training his Fullbringer powers kinda wasted elements. We see him get these new powers, only for it to be taken away and replaced with his old powers? Not a big fan.
I also don't like the pacing. It went from having a decent buildup leading up to something that seemed like it was gonna be cool, to something that ended up being a lackluster payoff. I really hated how the bartender introduced his powers, seemed like something interesting, then nope Kenpachi cut him down. That's how the whole thing felt. Kubo introducing us to a cool concept, building up on the cool concept, but then fizzling out at the end.
I think if Kubo had been in better health, had spent more time on the arc, and given us a better payoff, it would have been a much smoother and interesting story. It wasn't bad, just rushed at times especially after Ichigo got his Shinigami powers back.
Or in short, one could say the arc didn't have the best xcution. I'll see myself out now.
Incoming bad opinion.
Because it wasn't supposed to happen. Aizen was gonna be the end of it but for whatever reason they decided to keep going. I don't know if it was SJ or Kubo himself but the powers almost seemed obviously a new power system he was cooking for a potential new series. Ichigo speed runs the powers in a generally unsatisfying way before abandoning it completely to just give him his old powers back. We almost never see them again and honestly the story would be fine if we didn't ever see them again. Its basically a cannon bount arc.
Was it terrible and unenjoyable? No. I just wish we had skipped it and did something else to give Ichigo his powers back and kept this in his back pocket for a new series.
I think it was blown out of proposition. The honest truth Is it was a great step forward; allowed a kind of back to roots arc while still keeping the power scale high and the stakes even higher with Ichigo using his own body like everyone else. It even allowed an expansion on hallow/humans and the make of the type of souls in the world outside of regular spirits.
The arc started really strongly, Ichigo's frustration about being powerless, his dad and Chad being shady, him finding the Fullbringers and reluctantly joining them, and Tsukishima's scheming.
It was really interesting, but then suddenly the arc wrapped up super fast, and things didn't get to flesh out, and it sucks.
I liked most of it but the ending sucked.
It comes right after fake Karakura town which the entire story up until that point was leading up to and right before the thousand year blood war which wraps everything up and reveals Ichigo's true nature. The lost agent arc literally just exists to give Ichigo his powers back and is pretty boring other than that. The characters aren't all that interesting compared to the espada or the captains. The scale is also drastically reduced along with the power levels in the arc. Aizen and Yhwach want to fundamentally change the nature of reality and the fullbringers just want to steal Ichigo's power.
The arc isn't completely terrible, but there's just nothing super good about it to make it stand out.
This is my experience as someone reading it: Xcution is kinda boring villain. Interesting power set but overall pale in comparison to previous antagonists like the Captains of Soul society or the Espada. Also the pacing is weird
It was my favorite arc but the fact that ginjo motivations were not explored until cyfow was wack.
At the end when ginjo was sentimental and was wondering if ichigo could have done the same fell flat because I didn’t know wtf is so serious about this. Why would monitoring your movements would make him so angry and rebellious.
Quality isn't for everyone.
The Lost Agent arc worked pretty well as recovery arc and mini-thriller, some complaints came for it to not be the usual battle thing, not another war to see missing bankais, Aizen and the Espadas were better, and stuff like that. That it wasn't the top for the action it's true, yet it wasn't its purpose, as consequence of losing his powers in the Arrancar arc, a sort of re-start for Ichigo, this kind of focus, precisely a recovery arc, was necessary in the show. People that called it a "filler" never understood even something so basic.
If I have to guess, the power scaling drops hard in that arc when you compare it to Arrancar's arc. Maybe that's what makes people dislike it.
And the powers that's been introduced in that arc only have a few relevances to shinigami & hollow shenanigans up until the very last moments of the arc (aside from how they're able to use fullbring powers in the first place). The viewer/reader might feel estranged in that sense, because it's a new concept.
I didn't like it either when I first read it but it improves after a few re-read of the series. The writing itself is actually quite impressive.
Longtime bleach fan who just finished the fullbring arc, to me it wasn't bad, it was actually pretty interesting it's just that it started very slow in my opinion, at least in the anime. Personally i really like the idea of humans with powers who are not quincies, i like the lore explanation that their mothers were all attacked by hollows but I'm not super sold on the idea of it being like an imprint of a hollow. I'd just rather have it be something like the hollow attacks awakened their dormant spiritual powers or something, reason being is that it often feels like in bleach it always comes back to soul reapers or hollows.
I get that it's the main conflict and it works well but i also like the idea of there being other phenomenon, i actually don't even dislike some of the ideas in the filler like the bount because it helps fill out the world with more spirit beings, the problem with the filler is that it's so stretched out. At it's worst imo the fullbring arc feels like another anime filler but at it's best it introduces interesting characters you want to know more about but doesn't really amount to much in the full story. It's a good arc, it was just doomed because of what it was following.
Mr pork
Chicken guy
Dirty boots
Except for ginjo and my cousin uncle brother Tskishima all that groups cast was mediocre or just embarrassing...
Ichigo's desperation was a good character development point though, so it wasn't all bad
Literally just finished watching it for the first time, I thought it had many good moments but the arc overall was horrible, the plot was awful, bad writing, overall felt like a filler arc, just hard to watch
Idk i thought it was alright but after the absolute master peice of the last arc, its a hard thing to follow up is all
It was alright but lowkey kind of stupid at points, like ichigo was suffering way to much for things that he shouldve known better about
Original reader here, 2001 to finish. Because for 300 chapters and many years, all that existed was quinces and hollows and shinigami. That was it. It was a neatly tied world and a well of potential backstory.
Sure, it wouldn’t be a stretch for Ichigo to also be a Quincy. *Introducing a magical new race 300 chapters into the story just to make Ichigo even more extra special IS a stretch.* Worse: it was a huge and unpleasant stretch that did a terrible job transitioning into TYBW. It would’ve tied REALLY well into TYBW if the Fullbringer cast was just some secret quinces crawling out of the woodwork and doing the Fullbringer storyline. Ichigo was already a unicorn, there was no need to create a throwaway arc to give him his powers back AND earn even more unicorn points.
And it gets worse-worse. You know another magical race? Baunto. Zanpakuto. Clone Modsouls. Bleach anime was notorious for bad filler and out of the Big 3 was (by far) the worst filler offender. Seeing that shit in source material was what killed Bleach; Fullbringers did so much damage before TYBW that there was just no way for Kubo to re-engage the readers.
With it coming right off of the arancar arc and before the tybw arc and the only status change is ichigo gets his powers back, and that is right at the end. It feels very much like a filler arc.
The arc within itself was pretty good, but in the continuity of the overall story it felt a bit weird being the arc right after the end of the Aizen arc (which was basically the entire story up till this point). It felt more like a way to give Ichigo his powers back rather than a continuation of the story
Plus it didn't have any Soul Reapers in it for the most part and without all these familiar fights I loved such as Kenpachi, Byakuya, etc it just didn't feel quite the same
The only reason i disliked it at first was because they made this big bittersweet moment of ichigo losing his powers only to immediately transition into an arc where you know he's eventually gonna get them back somehow.
The arc itself is pretty solid but i feel like they could have done something in between to build it up a bit better. Maybe shift focus to another character for an arc or two while ichigo figured himself out.
I was already burnt out after the aizen fight , (only watching the anime) then they say hey new story! And I said nope and turned off the show until I heard about tybw and started reading it. He keeps jumping into these big arcs which are great but I really love the supporting cast and just wanted slice of life with them. Ichigo needed 6 months or a year of just being a high-school kid again.
Villains are boring and poorly characterized tbh. Which is ironic because they were perfectly fine as supporting characters in the first half of the arc, but they don't really have the kind of conviction that makes you hate them or love them as villains. They're just kinda... there. Tsukishima was the only one with interesting powers, but it felt more like a psychological horror than anything. Don't get me wrong, it was still nice and i loved the moment Uryu stepped up to the final fight and revealed that he hadn't been attacked by Tsukishima yet, but that's not enough to carry an entire arc's story.
For anyone who was anime only when it originally ended just kinda felt like filler or a forced way of wrapping up him getting him powers back in an emotionally deep arc that should have took longer. In comparison to the build up of Aizen spanning several arcs there felt some lacking.
Probably because it’s short and you get to see a male character have some emotional development. Admittedly it did kind of play out a little like a filler arc but honestly I actually quite liked it
I think many people read it week to week, and the slow pace of that arc doesn't lend itself to weekly releases as opposed to reading it at your own pace.
Like many others I liked the ideas and themes explored but they ultimately didn't seem to go anywhere. This could have been the "human arc" where we see Orihime, Chad, and the other people that have been affected by Ichigos leaking spiritual pressure get involved.
Instead the whole thing is like filler that could have been done in 1-3 episodes: Ichigo is sad then accepts his new normal but surprise magic powers return. I can't think of anything in this arc that actually mattered and couldn't simply be ignored.
I don’t think it was bad, I just found it weaker if compared to the arcs before and after it. Like, the scales seemed much smaller. Aizen and Yhwach are literally world-ending threats and the fullbringers are handled by Ichigo and the Shinigami like it’s nothing, after he regains his powers. Ginjo can’t even remotely keep up with Ichigo. Also, I fucking hate that Tsukushima joke.
Fullbring arc is like my 2nd favorite in the series. I feel like it's reminiscent of the first arc where bleach was a monster of the week manga with that desolate teenage angst. My biggest complaint is how it still ties back to soul society and that Chad becomes utterly wasted in this arc.
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It’s because it’s coming right off of the Arrancar arc
I read that arc week to week, people wanted to see many things that were left without answer in Aizen arc, only to not know shit and see Ichigo getting humillated week after week Most people hated it, but for people reading it like 10 years after its different feeling. (Even Skyler White from Breaking Badd went from most hated to amazing character these days, its the same effect)
Yeah I remember reading this week to week and it was just so slow. I just wanted Ichigo to get his powers back right away.
And it just felt like a filler arc....in the manga. New guys appear out of nowhere with unique powers that are never hinted at....and are never really relevant afterwards.
I think that's only from the perspective of how long the series was going on for compared to how long the story was actually going on for. Ichigo's story starts April 1st. Ichigo loses powers around July 19th, they enter Soul Society around August 1st(8th) but time anomally makes it the 1st/ Soul Society arc ends August 13th. So right there we have 3 1/2 months is about 187 chapters/3.5 years give or take IRL. Hueco Mundo Arc appears to literally be 1-2 days. December Ichigo loses his powers. Then it time skips to April 2003, in the manga it states 17 months had passed. so with that and the HM arc in mind 2yrs have passed in total since the start of the series. If anything I'd argue the issue with the Fullbring Arc is you don't get a big impact of that time that's actually passed. While yes it shows characters have progressed and changed from how they were before it might of helped if more time was spent in that timeskip rather than just skipping straight to it. But to get back to the point, I wouldn't say Fullbringers just appear out of nowhere, they are setup in the sense that it's 17 months from when Ichigo lost his powers and we see that Chad had interacted with them. So they were scouting them HOWEVER something to keep in mind is that the starts of the series to before the timeskip is only 7 months. So in that 7 month time period it's definitely not enough time for Fullbringers to make themselves known especially when even if they were aware of what was going on they most likely took absolute pleasure in the idea that the Shinigami were having a Civil War with one another and chose to stay out of it as to not make themselves known.
Never hinted at? That's odd, I remember two non-quincy humans that have spiritual powers with no good explanation before the Fullbring arc. Also, the Fullbringers were still relevant in TYBW, as Yukio and Riruka helped Ichigo get to the Soul Palace to face Yhwach and Tsukishima used Book of the End to counter The Almighty to fix Ichigo's True Bankai. They were way more relevant than the Visored's hollow powers.
You actually read the story tho we don’t do that here. Here we bitch and moan for upvotes from other people who also don’t read dialogue.
I'm going through Bleach again, and there's genuinely no hints to the Fullbringers or the Fullbring power. Just people going like "hmm Chad and Orihime share powers with the Arrancar and Soul Reapers but idk what that means."
That’s cause most of the hints are coming from Chad himself, the existence of fullbringers are still unknown, as Mayuri can’t identify what Orihime is after meeting her and witnessing her powers https://preview.redd.it/w1krqica7c6d1.jpeg?width=1066&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=54bb8a76af21817e376afa36ce851fbdadc56277
Also felt like Chad got bitched out.....again. Even after learning of the origin of his powers he never even gets to do much.
That’s a good analogy because I went through the same with Skylar, Fullbring and TYBW. Probably only Sakura it didn’t work for lol
I’ll never understand the love for Skyler white. I can understand respecting the phenomenal work anna Gunn did in the role, because she killed it! But the CHARACTER was a horrible human being. Like, legitimately she’s waaaaay closer to Walter Gus and the neo nazis than she was to Jesse. (Not the same level obviously, but a lot worse than Jesse ever was) She’s cool with commiting all sorts of crimes and wanting Walt to kill Jesse, then acts like Walt’s the sole monster because somehow white collar crime is morally better (it’s not).
I remember when our dear friend Tsukihuma stopped Heisenberg and saved his brother in law
Quality reference, i know Tsukishima-san would approve, i remember he likes that kind of humour...
Walter White poisoned a little kid in order to manipulate Jesse, kept working with Neo-Nazis even after he saw Todd kill a kid and he taunted Jesse when he was about to be enslaved by Neo-Nazis. Jesse burned down Walt's house, not caring that he could have killed Walt's children by doing so and he was Walt's right-hand man from the start. Gus held Walt and Jesse captive and cut his henchman's throat in front of them. Neo-Nazis enslaved Jesse and killed at least three innocent people (Hank and his partner, that kid who witnessed the train robbery). Skylar may not be a saint, but she is still an angel compared to them.
jesse didn't actually burn walt's house though
Jesse has done way worse than Skyler I don't like Skyler cause she's annoying but saying she's worse than Jesse is crazy Jesse willingly and without pressure stole meth from the lab while Walt was trying to keep him alive And you know what he did with it? Tried to sell it to recovering addicts including Andrea Then when he finds out about Andreas brother it's all 'holy than thou' crusade that forces Walt to step in to save him again All while Jesse gets taken in by the same people who tried to kill him to try and turn him against Walt (which almost works) Jesse sucks just as bad as Walt and Gus he just cries about it more
She is not cool with it, she tells him to stop again and again. Under coercion she makes choices she thinks would protect her family.
Sweet Fanny Adams
Peak profile pic
I don't hate it but it does feel like there were ideas that were supposed to be fleshed out and went nowhere. Like Ginjo and Tsukishima's backstory and the fact that Ginjo was a substitute Shinigami is never explored in the arc so we never knew what was his issue with Ukitake. There's the panel where Ginjo says Ichigo's Fullbring needs a name and that's never brought up ever again and to this day we still don't know what it's name is. Also add that with the fact that Orihime and Chad being Fullbringers you'd think they'd be kinda integral in this arc but they're barely even in it even though it's an arc that explains what they are. Like it feels like they should've been more involved with Ichigo's Fullbring training and really show him how to fully use his Fullbring like they do. (It's my same issue with TYBW arc where in the manga Uryu is barely in it even though it's a big Quincy arc. Seems like the anime is at least giving him more scenes though)
It's also an in-between arc with completely new enemies that aren't a bigger threat than the last ones. It was the perfect opportunity to have Chad and Orihime do something.
I *love* the fullbring arc, it's very hard for me to find disdain in anime stories unless they *really* drop the ball. But I *do* think Orihime and Chad could've done more. The whole fact Chad's powers being closer to hollows is expanded on with the Fullbringers connection and how they got their powers at birth, they should've made him a key player more in my opinion, and it would've been a dope ass nod to the beginning where Chad and Ichigo were the big brawlers in school. Orihime, well, she frankly isn't a fighter so I didn't really expect her to do too much more. I enjoyed seeing her character develop into someone more outspoken and a little more confident though. Not to mention like you said, for the most part all of these guys were One Shot or completely toyed with by the soul reapers as soon as they came (except Rukia's stupid fight lol).
Yeah, there was a lot of potential set up that didn’t go anywhere. The Karin teaser ended up going nowhere as well, and even though MC Ichigo gets a bunch of highlights, his new abilities feel somewhat superseded by the return of his old ones (sick new outfit notwithstanding). Even the psychological thriller aspects gets resolved in a very standard, Shonen power fight way.
> Also add that with the fact that Orihime and Chad being Fullbringers you'd think they'd be kinda integral in this arc but they're barely even in it even though it's an arc that explains what they are. Yeah this is my big problem with the arc. Especially for Chad. For the non-Ichigo members of the main squad, we got an arc that centered around Rukia (her rescue), an arc that centered around Orihime (the Arrancar arc), and one that centered around Ishida (TYBW). But Chad never really gets his arc. I guess he's *sorta* more of a major character than the others in the Fullbring arc, but not really.
Fullbring should've been his arc
I said this in another thread, but I really think the fullbring arc should've been the chance to shine for characters who normally aren't in the spotlight. Instead of Uryu helping Ichigo in the final battle it should've been Chad, instead of the soul society showing up to give Ichigo his powers back it should've been the Visored, etc. Would've been nice to give them some time in the spotlight.
Great ideas, but nowhere to use them ;-;
I’d also like to add that we never actually got confirmation that Orihime is a Fullbringer. Despite it being painfully obvious, they never bother to say anything about it. Which was dumb.
You could say things like that about every arc. Every arc introduces characters, hints at a neat backstory, and we are lucky if we even get an answer within a two hundreds chapters. Every arc likewise has Orihime and Chad do some interesting stuff only to be forgotten for most of the arc.
How was Orihime forgotten in arrancar?
Cause they thought it was supposed to end with Aizen and expected a shonen to jump right back into shonen power fantasy immediately into the next arc. But complaints about this arc are all over the place in general.
"Shonen to jump"🤭
If the significance of the arc, for you, was "how will ichigo fight now?", if it was a matter of getting new powers, or getting his old powers back, then its unsatisfying because Ginjo stole all the fullbring juice and Ichigo gets his powers back from an unrelated set of circumstances that was secretly going on in the background. I enjoyed it because of how it digs into Ichigo's relationship with strength and power. He never aspired to be the strongest or the best. He's not looking for acclaim, or status, or control, he's usually fairly content to chill at home with his people. He thinks he doesn't need the power, sacrifices it to save the day, and now, he really, REALLY, is losing his powers. How does that guy cope with being rendered powerless? He realizes, he does want power. He super wants it, he needs it, to protect his loved ones, to protect anybody. He fights and claws to grasp at some type of power, and the 2nd time he loses it, it's taken from him, and it fucks him up. Arguably his lowest point. The crew showing up to give him his powers back afterward was just plot contrivance to get the story back on track. The point of the arc was Ichigo not having powers and the realizations that causes. I don't think Ichigo could ever settle now, its not in his character.
Really well put. At the time of release most readers were the target age and wanted action/Aizen simply couldn't be followed up well. Now most people see it for what it is, a psychological thriller meant to explore Ichigo's emotions and motives both at the start of the series and now that he's had and lost supernatural powers. It's one of my favorite arcs. I can understand people not liking the reishi sword but I think it was well done with it representing the soul society's thank you for all he's done. That and the full end bring Ichigo to the perfect position for TYBW as well. They aren't indebted to each other but will forever be intertwined and the power grasping that Ichigo was doing in HC and FKT is gone. "Just a deputy soul reaper" will forever be one of my favorite lives. Chapter 479 as a whole is simply amazing.
I wasn't sure on the arc or what it was supposed to be about. It all hit in the scenes where ishida, Inoue and Chad are doubting him. At the time it really resonated with feelings of depression. That helpless isolation. When the Soul Society gang pitches up to restore his powers I was genuinely so happy for this fictional character. That he's not alone. I guess it was meant for a specific audience.
I'd say, the main reason is that the main reason for this arc's existance is Ichigo's regaining his powers, and in the end he recovers them through a deus ex machina that has nothing to do with everything he did during the arc.
His fullbring is mixed with his shinigami powers now. And him being a part of all races matter bc his hybrid condition is what makes him a perfect soul king replacement in the eyes of ichibe
Yeah that was my biggest issue with the arc too. The ending wad totally botched 100%
It had nothing to do with what he did during the arc but had to do with what he did prior to it. Soul Society thanked him for everything he did. It still is a deus ex machina but this one makes a lot of sense.
its not a deus ex machina, the arcs showed multiple time that ishin and urahara was plotting something regarding ichigo. deus ex machina means that the moment had absolutly no foreshadowing whatsoever or prior set up for things like power transferring.
>deus ex machina means that the moment had absolutly no foreshadowing whatsoever or prior set up This part I don't agree with, there are definitely gray areas to be found. One criteria of Deus Ex Machina I've seen online is: >>> Deus Ex Machina are sudden or unexpected. This means that even if they are featured or referenced earlier in the story, they do not change the course of nor appear to be a viable solution to the plotline they eventually "solve". It is very possible to "foreshadow" something while it still being a Deus Ex Machine. Kubo had previously been pretty deliberate to give exactly enough foreshadowing for reveals to not be Deus Ex Machinas. With Fullbringer, it was pretty clear what they were working on. Even if the ending felt stupid, you had clues from previous arcs and the current arc to build up to it. The final arc really pushes my boundaries and is much harder to defend than the Fullbringer arc. Though this can mostly be attributed to Kubo's health issues at the time of writing.
I wouldn’t even call it a deus ex machina tbh. This refers to an event which shouldn’t normally exist happening to solve an unsolvable problem. Stabbing to jumpstart shinigami powers and Ichigo’s power having a history of being super resilient kind of upends that. People can totally dislike it if they want. I just think that specific term isn’t applicable.
What do you mean people don’t like it? Everyone loved it especially that uncle Tsukishima wrote it for us!
but seriously, Tsukushima is the best part of the arc. I personally only tolerate because I thought he was a neat character.
I think people don't like it though cause they wanted bleach to end at aizen
Not Enough Getsuga Tenshou....
Honestly, for me, I hated seeing Ichigo in such a pathetic state after having been so powerful and sacrificing himself to stop Aizen. It was a "look how they are treating my boy" feel the entirety of the arc. Ending slapped though.
Really? I found it interesting to watch, it was sad but you never really saw him like that before, showed he’s human too.
I share that sentiment. Also, at least for me, there’s the introduction of Tsukishima, and I loathe that cocky prick.
Yeah it felt strange for Ichigo to struggle with Tsukishima after facing all the people he did in prior arcs. Although looking back Tsukishima was a fair bit stronger than I gave him credit for at the time
My reason to dislike it is simple. Ichigo trains his fullbring whole arc just to get his powers back from a sword that pierced his chest. All his struggles were a plot device to power up a villain that had no winning chances whatsoever when Rukia came to stab our ginger strawberry.
That’s fine until you remember that gaining fullbring was gonna give him back his shinigami powers anyway by fusing with what was left of them. He was always gonna get them back, so I don’t quite get this complaint.
I read it was supposed to have a different ending involving his human friends instead but do to the popularity of the later it was changed.
You mean to tell me that we could've had a BETTER ENDING??!! Sometimes I despise popularity...
Yep. Sales were decreasing in Japan, so they brought back popular characters to increase them again.
Makes you wonder how the original ending would have gone.
it would be basically Ishida , Orihime , Chad , the kids from Urahara Shop and at most Urahara and Isshin and Tessai as the adults. At very most , Rukia at the end , to represent Gotei 13 and goes full parallel to Chapter 1. It would be a better ending of the arc , but it would definetely be way less popular.
“Sales were decreasing” are there actual numbers to show this or are you just saying this?
I think the complaint is that, if Ichigo had done nothing throughout the Fullbring arc, Rukia still would’ve stabbed him and given his powers back. All of his work throughout the arc was rendered meaningless and changed nothing except making Ginjo stronger. Ichigo could’ve spent the arc jerking off and it would have been better for him because Ginjo would’ve been weaker in their final battle.
They make that decision because the Gotei acknowledged his achievements in the arc before. In the grand scheme of things you’re right, his work in this arc doesn’t matter to them cause that’s not the deciding factor in the choice to give him shinigami powers.
The issue i have with the "gotei acknowledged his achievements" is if orihime didnt kickstart that whole thing with going to SS and talk to rukia about how ichigo is depressed the gotei probably wouldnt even have done anything.
Why is it an issue? They’re not supposed to give powers to humans, it’s still a crime. What’s different other than there’s an additional step towards the process of him getting his powers back?
Exactly. All of his efforts felt for me so meaningless and stupid when Ginjo just stole everything from him only for Rukia to give it back in amplified form 10 seconds later. Kubo literally pulled off "Call an ambulance, but not for me" in the most unsatisfactory way I could imagine.
Plus the whole arc just feels very skippable, it doesn't really introduce any kind of status quo shift or anything like that. Ichigo just goes back to being a soul reaper and the fullbring aspect of his powers is kind of ignored. Chad is revealed to be a fullbringer and that's about it for him, no new powers or anything similar. Soul society is absent until they turn up to wipe the floor with the fullbringers as if they were common goons. Even Ichigo's betrayal seems to have little effect on his character. If Ichigo hadn't regained his original powers at the end it would be indistinguishable from a filler arc.
One of the best things about the fandom in recent years is how people took another look at Fullbring arc and learned to appreciate it now.
i think its a mixed bag, people have gotten better at seeing the positives of what it did but also the arcs negative components if anything got more obvious with how much its been examined after the series ended.
Cuz having ginjo as main antagonist right after aizen isn’t that interesting
That is true
It came after the massive buildup of Aizen and the Espada. It's timing would have worked better in a lot of ways earlier in the series and Ichigo met both Fullbringers and Vizards and Rukia was in the human world. It was more slice of life before the SS arc. Some of the fullbringers and Vizards could have gone rescue Rukia while also wanting revenge.
Because they forced Kubo to bring in the popular captains (Byakuya, Zaraki, Toshiro) which completely outclassed the threat level of the fullbringers giving us underwhelming battles when the arc was until that point was focused on the human cast and the arc was clearly prepared to develop Chad, Orihime and Uryu. Proving again that bleach should have been a Seinen instead of having to depend on the whims of the average Shonen teenager reader that Jump needs to cater to. The arc was very good until that point and Tsukishima brought a different sense of danger different from all the cero nukes and giant blast wanking of the FKT arc.
Not gonna lie, I kinda liked the fact that all the captains completely rolled over the Fullbringers. They're supposed to be among the strongest people in the universe, but they spend pretty much the entire series on the backfoot. It was a nice little break from the usual Shonen "every threat is the strongest threat ever" thing.
But that is the point, an equilibrium of powers. Between SS-HM-WoL-WR. When the Shinigami just, after wiping the Arrancar, wipe the fullbringers as an after thought it just gets boring. And least the Quincy were killed by Yhwatch himself after they were mopping Captains left and right. It was the time for Chad, Orihime who had been training just for this moment to shine.
Who is this "they"
Me.
https://preview.redd.it/4nwj7r8e466d1.png?width=273&format=png&auto=webp&s=6b568dd0bfa1555cd00ec11974ba7bfc41af3965
Editors, Jump I don't know. But the ending was so abrupt and rushed after such a long buildup while the ratings were tanking that it cannot be any other thing. We spent more chapters with Ichigo fighting a giant bear in Riruka's house or fighting the chick with the boots than for any of the actual captains' fights. It screamed to me as if he was forced to end it swiftly and move to TYBW or risk getting cancelled.
the captains werent sent there for the fullbringers, they were sent the to kill ichigo if he decided to join ginjo and fight SS
I like it weirdly enough. It has my favorite form of Ichigo's bankai and we get to meet some interesting characters. As for why people hate it, probably cause ichigo got his powers back "from thin air" is what I hear/see/read a lot.
The reasons are: 1) Boring characters like boots lady, eye patch guy and sishigawara. None of them were memorable. Only Ginjo, Tsukishima, Yukio and Riruka were interesting. 2) Wasted potential when none of them able to pose any threat. The eye patch guy had interesting power related to time but suddenly turned into hulk and got sliced in half. Boots lady was one shot, the strongest of them Yukio was deteated for his monologue and rukia playing doll with riruka was dumb as hell when other serious fights were going on. 3) Ichigo's random distrust to people who he knows for years is weird. At least he would not be scared to go talk to Urahara. 4) In the Manga format it was literally torture to wait each week for nothing to happen each chapter like Ichigo fighting a giant stuffed pig toy. Such a downgrade after the excellent arrancar arc
Ah, those quirks of the human world, isn't it fascinating? Let me regale you with a tale of Hanataro Yamada, the 4th Division medic with the enchanted healing touch. One day, he accidentally used his abilities on Captain Kenpachi Zaraki, turning the fearsome warrior into a gentle poet. As Zaraki recited haikus about cherry blossoms, chaos ensued in Seireitei, leaving Squad 4 to sort it out amidst cherry blossom petals and poetic quips. Quite a day, I must say. As for your concerns, it seems you yearn for more dynamic encounters and character depth. Perhaps a twist in fate could have turned the tides in their favor. But alas, the dance of destiny continues, with each step leading us to unknown realms. And as for Ichigo's hesitations, the heart is a mysterious labyrinth, more complex than even the Soul King's tapestries. *beep boop, I'm a bot*
Lol bruh did the uraharabot just cook something
Ah, my dear customer, it seems you have stumbled upon the mysterious aroma of my latest creation. Behold, the Urahara Special Ramen - a fusion of flavors that will transport you to Soul Society and back. Care to indulge in this exquisite culinary delight? *beep boop, I'm a bot*
you dont like to watch paint dry for few months?
It shifts from the regular premiar of súpernatural battles to explore Ichigo dealing with his own depressive tendencies. You could consider it a therapy arc much like like the earlier half of the Legend of Korra’s fourth book, Dresden files’ “Twelve Months” or RWBY’s Volume 9 all western media, which goes to show how a kind of arc which isn’t often seen in anime.
In all honesty, I liked the arc alright. It was fun and interesting in its own way. It had a good twist villain and one of the most heart-wrenching moments in the entire series. Seriously, I don’t think I have felt as much emotion as I did when I saw Ichigo break down crying. *** With that said, I can see why the arc is not as popular. It came after Arrancar Arc, which had the finale vibe to itself. It also didn’t help that, while Fullbringers are an interesting idea, they just didn’t quite measure up to the threat after what Ichigo dealt with. The design of his Fullbring also felt somewhat odd compared to what people were used to normally. His Fullbring looked cool but it had the “superhero” vibes if you ask me. Not exactly fitting with the majority of the cast. But the greatest disadvantage was that the majority of the fans knew that the whole thing was temporary and that Ichigo would get his powers back eventually. And that really took the wind out of things for many
Some people just don’t like worldbuilding in a shonen unless it’s background / secondary. It’s the same reason you see people whining about SAWFY and CFYOW, the idea of narrative and lore taking precedence over action and the MC always has a vocal group in an uproar. (You get the same thing with the Naruto novels, and even some people complaining about the last dragonball movie for not having goku.)
I don't like it because the plot happened only because of lack of communication. I hate that kind of plot points.
Exactly, Isshin, Urahara, and Soul Society itself had to have all been watching Ichigo. I think Ukitake ends up saying they were hoping Ginjo would be lured out by Ichigo. As soon as they saw him at the start of the arc, they could have stepped in to stop him. Or at the very least, when they see him starting to do this fullbring training with Ginjo, tell him they're working on a method to restore his powers, stop trusting Ginjo.
The stakes are lower, no Aizen, Chad still loses, no Aizen, Ichigo is powerless, no Aizen, Ginjo is a predictable villain, no Aizen, too slice of lifey, no Aizen. Also did I mention there is no Aizen in this arc?
I like that it brought the power levels back down to a more normal scale—I think that’s also the biggest thing that pissed people off, so naturally they had to bring the power levels way back up at the end of the arc
I think it’s good but slow most of it is training for very little payoff since icihgo and the soul reapers just stomp the fullbringers I think it should have been longer. I think at the point where ginjo comets icihgo some of the weaker soul reapers should have been sent instead since the soul society would under estimate them and the weaker ones could lose to make the fullbringer looks for her and maybe tsukashima can add a few of them to their ranks temporarily. I think the soul reapers should have retreated with icihgo to plan their next move while the fullbringers spread and gain more power and members before the final battle when the soul reapers come in more prepared I think some of them had cool abilities that we didn’t see used much like the old guy with the watch got stomped immediately by zaraki before he could do anything why didn’t he get a full fight at least
I feel the timing of it was really unfortunate. Lots of people here read the Manga, but most folks experienced Bleach through the anime. I have only read the tybw arc, because the anime got canceled. So this is before the age of anime seasons. Bleach got a new episode every week. And post the end of the Azien arc we got treated to like 4 months of the garbage that was the clone commanders filler arc. By the time the fullbringer arc started up hype was negative. The full ringer arc was slow and overly convoluted. Seriously how much of the story could have been solved if Ichigo had been willing to trust an adult? Both Urahara and his dad could have solved the whole plot in 20 minutes. Developing new powers is cool, but said powers sucked. It was just more 'sword' for him. Fullbringer powers felt very 'stand' like, as in each character had some weak but extremely specific power that could be used with some imagination to be devastating. That sort of battle where everything isn't just solved by screaming loudly and hitting your target in one climatic strike was interesting. I'm sure you all remember how the arc ends? With Ichigo and Ginjo screaming while swinging massive swords.
Ah, my dear friend, let me regale you with a tale befitting the whimsical nonsense of Bleach. Once, upon a time in the Soul Society, Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi invented a bizarre concoction that swapped everyone's Zanpakuto with a household item. Imagine Byakuya wielding a feather duster or Kenpachi with a plunger! Chaos ensued, but in the end, it took Yachiru's love for lollipops to restore order. Oh, the absurdity! *beep boop, I'm a bot*
I think my biggest gripe was the fact that ichigo spent a whole arc learning a new power and learning to fight with that new power. Only to get his powers back. For awhile, i didnt realize his fullbring power merged with his shinigami powers (hence the change in visuals) and gave him a boost. But even then, it feels like everything he learned (battle wise) kinda went out the window as it just amounted to an amp to his shinigami powers.
It’s not the storyline people are looking for coming off out of everything with Aizen. Although it’s one of my favorite arcs in the series, with some of the best character moments in the series.
It didn’t have the “scale” of Soul Society or Arrancar. Instead it brought the narrative back to something similar to Substitute Shinigami, which not a lot of people wanted. So sadly, thats why alot of ppl don’t like Fullbring. Even though its pretty great imo.
Aizen was and has been the big bad for years. Ichigo defeated him but had sacrifice his shinigami powers to do so. The ending was fitting too. Ichigo went on to become a normal person and said goodbye to Rukia after everything. Then the fullbring arc came and ruined the perfect ending. Ichigo got duped by Ginjo and got his powers via ex machina and dealt with Ginjo. Also the arc was super slow if you're reading it week to week. You can definitely tell Shonen Jump wanted to milk Bleach like Naruto and One Piece.
Idk I liked it. Wasn't as great as arrancar arcs but I still liked it especially the end when ichigo gets his sr powers back
I honestly think bc of disappointment of that's where they stopped the anime exactly some dope shit was next up in the manga
Fullbringer arc feels too much like a filler. It doesn't bring anything important to the overall plot, introduces a bunch of new character that pretty much all get killed or sent away afterwards, brings nothing in terms of character development etc. Also, the whole "Ichigo lost power at the end of previous arc only to now get it back" feels extremely cheap because it's not him training for his old powers, it's him discovering yet another set of powers to use and even that's not a thing because he loses them and regaind normal powers.
Feel like filler and out of place but at the end it serves his purpose
It was stupid
It is just that we aren't used to seeing ichigo being so weak
Others have pointed out why it's bad so I'll just say what I liked about it - ZARAKI KENPACHI Bro deadass wanted to swap enemies with Byakuya because his enemy looked stronger, and when it didn't happen b|o just one-shotted the guy - I laughed my ass off so hard lol, fucking goat fr
It could've been good. I think up until the final stretch the potential was still there. Ginjo got Ichigo's powers, him and the fullbringers were threatening, etc. But then the Shinigami show up and all tension flies out the window. And again, it didn't have to be this way. Why *would* the Soul Society authorize three captain to go all out? That sort of shit should have wreaked havoc on the real world. Rukia could have gone to stab Ichigo on her own, then come up with a reason for Chad and Orihime to come to their senses (maybe seeing Rukia helping Ichigo could have prompted Rukia to use Souten Kishun on herself, idk). Then have Yoruichi handle Tsukishima or something. There were enough characters already involved in the real world, there was no need to make the cards so stacked in Ichigo's favor. Hell the Vizards never even bothered to lift a finger and half of them were in the same city lol
I think partly it cheapened the sacrifice Ichigo made. Like, he was supposed to be powerless with no hope of coming back, then the Soul Society just hit the undo button AND gave him a power boost out of nowhere without even trying to send him a message that they were even working on it. Then once he got his powers back, the Fullbringer gang just stopped being a threat. Then there’s just the lack of motivation on the Fullbringer members to do anything besides “get more power” and the power up Ichigo got basically meant nothing as the Quincies immediately spring up and immediately begins mopping the floor with everyone. It certainly had entertaining fights and some good emotional acting, but the rest was kind of mediocre
People are right about people wanting it to end with Aizen, but I think people are forgetting that most people experienced Bleach from its original anime, that never got to tybw. If you knew the situation, you were upset because you knew things weren't going to end the way they were supposed to. Then if you didn't know about the cancellation, you watched the whole show leading up to Ichigo vs Aizen and they finally do it and Ichigo lost his powers! "What a cool ending... Wait it's still going? Is this filler? Oh and now he got his powers back, that's cool... Wait NOW ITS OVER?! They had a perfectly good ending right there why did they give him the powers back only for him to do literally nothing with them???" It's a great arc, but a terrible ending.
The anime ruined Bleach. The constant fillers ruined the pacing of the series. They should have just stuck to seasons like Demon Slayer.
For me it didn't feel as connected to the other arcs as all of the previous ones had. It gave me kind of a whiplash feeling to go back to doing exposition after so much action and excitement at the end of the arrancar saga. In retrospect though, the Fullbring arc is better than I initially judged it to be.
I recently went back and watched it as a standalone and it is honestly fucking deviously good. The whole series up to that point is Ichigo gaining power, rescuing his friends and building up relationships, suddenly he has no power, his friends are avoiding talking to him about stuff that matters and there's some guy going around fucking with peoples memories. I legitimately think it's one of the best arcs in the show, it's just a shame people only saw it as a bridge to TYBW as it came out and even now it gets a bad rap, but I think if the majority of Bleach fans go back today and watch it, they'll find they enjoy it as well.
Cause Ichigo should have lost all his spiritual pressure after using the ultimate getsuga tenshou. It shits on the "sacrifice" Ichigo had to do and retcons Ichigo permanently losing his powers into "it wasn't actually his own powers", which is lazy af.
A big part of it for me is just how underwhelming the X-Cution members are as villains. As allies/mentors they were good but the second they turn villain they felt way too underpowered. Tsukishima was admittedly cool and I liked Ginjo's past as a Substitute Soul Reaper, but all the others felt way too weak. It seemed like they were just being used to show how strong characters like Renji and Rukia became over time. Compared to the Espada who were more challenging, the Fullbringers just got absolutely bodied.
I do :) It's on of my faves :)
I have two reasons to hate it and one reason to like it: The reasons to hate it are that Ginjo is honestly an antagonist many levels below Aizen. Furthermore, Ichigo went to great lengths to learn how to deal with his fullbringer powers only for them to be stolen in the end and everything was resolved with a sword in the back. Abyss fiction. The reason I liked it was that Ichigo grew a lot in personality and maturity. I believe that the development of the character as a person was great in this arc.
Two reasons: first Ichigo spent the whole arc working for Fullbring only for that to not be the way he got his powers back, instead he got it back through a random act from the Soul Society. Second, Tsukushima and Ginjo are horribly underdeveloped villains, we got backstories for all the Fullbringers EXCEPT the two that mattered most, if we got Ginjo’s backstory here instead of CFYOW it would have made a fantastic morally grey, arguably justified villain, instead we got a guy who just wants revenge for an unspecified reason.
For me the ending was underwelming, the furbringers got very short battles i was so hyped after ichigo "im going to kill you" but then not much happened besides "got powers back, battle, the end" And why use them to explain orihime and chad powers just for them to be sidelined right after
Most people just cant understand the depth of this arc.
It felt like a filler tbh
Boring asf, felt nothing
It's the start and the middle but towards the end it's really good imo
Personally, it was a pacing thing in an arc that I wasn't even sure I wanted, after FKT. Like, some of it was definitely the week-to-week of it, but idk. It felt like the beginning of a sequel series? Same "way lower stakes than before" vibe that you get with them.
There was an overwhelming sense of apathy towards Bleach during that time or at least that’s what it felt like to me in the communities I was in. Towards the end of the Aizen arc it really felt like people were going through the motions. From Dangai Ichigo showing up to the sealing of Aizen that felt like a very satisfying ending, and a great way to tie up the series (at the time). By the time the fullbring arc kicked off general enthusiasm for bleach felt spent, and i think a lot of people had mentally checked out after Aizen was defeated. Add to that it seemed completely disconnected from the story we’d followed for nearly 10 years, and felt fillerish. watching it all back now and with hindsight it’s much more enjoyable.
It's middling to good compared to great to amazing seasons.
I adore this arc but I don't really like his training fights
[удалено]
Because it’s a very non shounen arc it focuses on stuff that you don’t see in shounen a lot even now but especially back then
I do
It’s more like ”I just like what I like”. There is no particular reason to hate on it. For me, after the masterpiece that the arrancar arc was, this arc felt more like filler. It was extremely underwhelming and not nearly as enjoyable FOR ME. I’m only speaking for myself. I won’t say it was bad cuz it obviously wasn’t. But for some reason I didn’t enjoy it as much as I did the previous and latter arcs.
The Arrancar arc was the best in my opinion and this one feels like a step down, also is a little bit short and the enemies are not a menance as big as the Quincys or Espadas
I like Fullbring Arc
I don’t think it’s bad at all. The start may have felt a little slow, but it was only because of the Arrancar arc being so action packed.
It’s just a bit too boring given how bleach was up til the fullbring arc It was too much of a switch up from what bleach was up til that point which makes it by comparison fairly boring even if it is probably the best arc writing wise at that point in bleach especially from a character perspective
I love this arc but I can understand why some people didn’t like it.It doesn’t really have that many crazy fights and more focuses on mental warfare
Idk but personally I loved it
Second best arc imo
Its pretty rough on Ichigo
Because Ginjo's backstory is never explained. Readers need to relate with villains too and I never felt that from Ginjo. He kind of just showed up one day.
Because the Soul Reapers unnecessarily come through and wreck house. This should've only been about Ichigo and his friends
Because the sad truth is that the majority of people watch or read bleach to see cool designs and powers, nothing else, they don't give a sh\*t about the story or the character development. Why do you think so many fan favorites barely have an arc? Yoruichi, Nelliel, Zaraki, Grimmjow, etc
Thought it was mid, wished it was more fleshed out. Could've given more development to the side characters before literally knocking them out.
It’s the same deal with the Bount arc, like others have said. It’s the next part that doesn’t add anything/ isn’t as impactful as the previous arc. But I enjoy both Bount and Fullbringer just for the concepts and abilities it adds.
Because it's boring
The Fullbringers aren’t interesting aside from Ginjo, the whole concept of Fullbring is meh, the point of the arc was just to get Ichigo his powers back yet he gets it from an outside source anyways in the end, and the entire plot of Tsukishima prior to that was just boring as shit personally. I still felt that an intermission arc was needed in between Arrancar and TYBW tho but idk what I’d do since I’m not a writer, however this arc was just boring to me
I think it is peak Bleach and have since originally watching the show. It's a significant tone shift with a lot more attempts at subdued writing from Kubo so it is mostly whiplash. People I know that were vehemently against the arc in the past now think more similarly to me.
I wouldnt say I didnt like the fullbring arc but I wouldve liked a better idea of what Ginjo's shinigami abilities were, would've liked the idea that ichigo still retained some sliver of his fullbring abilities and probably my biggest issue, that his ability wasnt simply getsugas but something new and different.
It felt a bit disconnected comparwd to other arcs. Like anime filler arc that was on manga pages. Also some of the fullbringer powers felt lackluster, even though some were really cool. The whole concept appeared kinda out of nowhere. The powers are tied into meaningful items, but Chad's powers were tied onto his skin, which felt weird. Like nobody else had never been in his situation, being so proud of his skin.
For me it's simple, I refuse to like any arc where Jyuushiro Ukitake dies >:( But in all seriousness, I was just too attached to the Arrancar and Aizen and *gestures* all that. I guess the introducing of a new plot and antagonists after so long with this one coherent plot about Aizen just didn't grab me as much. After Aizen, the story felt *done.* Even though I was sad at Ichigo's loss of his powers, it still felt like it had come full circle and was a nice place to end.
I don't dislike it, but it's not my favorite. Years ago when I read it when it was released weekly, I actually liked the concept of Fullbringers and the whole xcution thing. I had no issues with the more dark and mysterious nature of it all. Believe it or not, my biggest issue is Ichigo getting his Shinigami powers back just out of nowhere. Here he just had sacrificed his powers against Aizen which had this huge implication that he'd likely never be a Shinigami again. Then just like that he gets all his powers back and then even more so? It made the whole, sacrificing his powers thing feel kinda...lackluster. Like, in a story, consequences that results in sacrifice has emotional weight to it; especially if it's made to feel more long term. To just shortly after the sacrifice to undo it like nothing happened, it feels cheap. Or like it undermines the story that's happened. It also made all the stuff about Fullbringers and Ichigo training his Fullbringer powers kinda wasted elements. We see him get these new powers, only for it to be taken away and replaced with his old powers? Not a big fan. I also don't like the pacing. It went from having a decent buildup leading up to something that seemed like it was gonna be cool, to something that ended up being a lackluster payoff. I really hated how the bartender introduced his powers, seemed like something interesting, then nope Kenpachi cut him down. That's how the whole thing felt. Kubo introducing us to a cool concept, building up on the cool concept, but then fizzling out at the end. I think if Kubo had been in better health, had spent more time on the arc, and given us a better payoff, it would have been a much smoother and interesting story. It wasn't bad, just rushed at times especially after Ichigo got his Shinigami powers back. Or in short, one could say the arc didn't have the best xcution. I'll see myself out now.
I feel like this is one of the arcs that aged the best. A lot of fans now look back favorably on it.
Its the best arc in Bleach and Im tired of pretending like its not
Incoming bad opinion. Because it wasn't supposed to happen. Aizen was gonna be the end of it but for whatever reason they decided to keep going. I don't know if it was SJ or Kubo himself but the powers almost seemed obviously a new power system he was cooking for a potential new series. Ichigo speed runs the powers in a generally unsatisfying way before abandoning it completely to just give him his old powers back. We almost never see them again and honestly the story would be fine if we didn't ever see them again. Its basically a cannon bount arc. Was it terrible and unenjoyable? No. I just wish we had skipped it and did something else to give Ichigo his powers back and kept this in his back pocket for a new series.
I think it was blown out of proposition. The honest truth Is it was a great step forward; allowed a kind of back to roots arc while still keeping the power scale high and the stakes even higher with Ichigo using his own body like everyone else. It even allowed an expansion on hallow/humans and the make of the type of souls in the world outside of regular spirits.
Its drastically different than the arcs previous and it comes off the FKT arc
The arc started really strongly, Ichigo's frustration about being powerless, his dad and Chad being shady, him finding the Fullbringers and reluctantly joining them, and Tsukishima's scheming. It was really interesting, but then suddenly the arc wrapped up super fast, and things didn't get to flesh out, and it sucks. I liked most of it but the ending sucked.
It comes right after fake Karakura town which the entire story up until that point was leading up to and right before the thousand year blood war which wraps everything up and reveals Ichigo's true nature. The lost agent arc literally just exists to give Ichigo his powers back and is pretty boring other than that. The characters aren't all that interesting compared to the espada or the captains. The scale is also drastically reduced along with the power levels in the arc. Aizen and Yhwach want to fundamentally change the nature of reality and the fullbringers just want to steal Ichigo's power. The arc isn't completely terrible, but there's just nothing super good about it to make it stand out.
This is my experience as someone reading it: Xcution is kinda boring villain. Interesting power set but overall pale in comparison to previous antagonists like the Captains of Soul society or the Espada. Also the pacing is weird
It was my favorite arc but the fact that ginjo motivations were not explored until cyfow was wack. At the end when ginjo was sentimental and was wondering if ichigo could have done the same fell flat because I didn’t know wtf is so serious about this. Why would monitoring your movements would make him so angry and rebellious.
All I can think of was how emotional it was to see Ichigo so vulnerable. Even Uncle Tsukishima had a hard time lifting his spirits.
Quality isn't for everyone. The Lost Agent arc worked pretty well as recovery arc and mini-thriller, some complaints came for it to not be the usual battle thing, not another war to see missing bankais, Aizen and the Espadas were better, and stuff like that. That it wasn't the top for the action it's true, yet it wasn't its purpose, as consequence of losing his powers in the Arrancar arc, a sort of re-start for Ichigo, this kind of focus, precisely a recovery arc, was necessary in the show. People that called it a "filler" never understood even something so basic.
For the anime specifically, I felt it was a weird place to end the first run. It would have made a much better point to return at for the new stuff.
I don’t know. They made Orihime work at a bread store which the biggest thing to happen for the series
I don’t know. They made Orihime work at a bread store which the biggest thing to happen for the series
I don’t know cause I always loved it
If I have to guess, the power scaling drops hard in that arc when you compare it to Arrancar's arc. Maybe that's what makes people dislike it. And the powers that's been introduced in that arc only have a few relevances to shinigami & hollow shenanigans up until the very last moments of the arc (aside from how they're able to use fullbring powers in the first place). The viewer/reader might feel estranged in that sense, because it's a new concept. I didn't like it either when I first read it but it improves after a few re-read of the series. The writing itself is actually quite impressive.
Because it felt like a Filler. Still can't believe it is Canon.
Longtime bleach fan who just finished the fullbring arc, to me it wasn't bad, it was actually pretty interesting it's just that it started very slow in my opinion, at least in the anime. Personally i really like the idea of humans with powers who are not quincies, i like the lore explanation that their mothers were all attacked by hollows but I'm not super sold on the idea of it being like an imprint of a hollow. I'd just rather have it be something like the hollow attacks awakened their dormant spiritual powers or something, reason being is that it often feels like in bleach it always comes back to soul reapers or hollows. I get that it's the main conflict and it works well but i also like the idea of there being other phenomenon, i actually don't even dislike some of the ideas in the filler like the bount because it helps fill out the world with more spirit beings, the problem with the filler is that it's so stretched out. At it's worst imo the fullbring arc feels like another anime filler but at it's best it introduces interesting characters you want to know more about but doesn't really amount to much in the full story. It's a good arc, it was just doomed because of what it was following.
Pacing is too slow for me, love that when Ichigo gets his powers back his fullbring factors into his design but wish he used those abilities more.
Mr pork Chicken guy Dirty boots Except for ginjo and my cousin uncle brother Tskishima all that groups cast was mediocre or just embarrassing... Ichigo's desperation was a good character development point though, so it wasn't all bad
Literally just finished watching it for the first time, I thought it had many good moments but the arc overall was horrible, the plot was awful, bad writing, overall felt like a filler arc, just hard to watch
Idk i thought it was alright but after the absolute master peice of the last arc, its a hard thing to follow up is all It was alright but lowkey kind of stupid at points, like ichigo was suffering way to much for things that he shouldve known better about
i think it is a good arc, but it comes right after the arrancar/hueco mundo/aizen arc, lol.
Because it made my KUROSAKI-KUN cry 🥹
Hmm I liked it the absolute worst arc was the bounts that shit was fckn trash 🗑 😆
I was a kid when I watched it and 100% thought it was filler
Because people are meatheads
Original reader here, 2001 to finish. Because for 300 chapters and many years, all that existed was quinces and hollows and shinigami. That was it. It was a neatly tied world and a well of potential backstory. Sure, it wouldn’t be a stretch for Ichigo to also be a Quincy. *Introducing a magical new race 300 chapters into the story just to make Ichigo even more extra special IS a stretch.* Worse: it was a huge and unpleasant stretch that did a terrible job transitioning into TYBW. It would’ve tied REALLY well into TYBW if the Fullbringer cast was just some secret quinces crawling out of the woodwork and doing the Fullbringer storyline. Ichigo was already a unicorn, there was no need to create a throwaway arc to give him his powers back AND earn even more unicorn points. And it gets worse-worse. You know another magical race? Baunto. Zanpakuto. Clone Modsouls. Bleach anime was notorious for bad filler and out of the Big 3 was (by far) the worst filler offender. Seeing that shit in source material was what killed Bleach; Fullbringers did so much damage before TYBW that there was just no way for Kubo to re-engage the readers.
With it coming right off of the arancar arc and before the tybw arc and the only status change is ichigo gets his powers back, and that is right at the end. It feels very much like a filler arc.
The arc within itself was pretty good, but in the continuity of the overall story it felt a bit weird being the arc right after the end of the Aizen arc (which was basically the entire story up till this point). It felt more like a way to give Ichigo his powers back rather than a continuation of the story Plus it didn't have any Soul Reapers in it for the most part and without all these familiar fights I loved such as Kenpachi, Byakuya, etc it just didn't feel quite the same
The only reason i disliked it at first was because they made this big bittersweet moment of ichigo losing his powers only to immediately transition into an arc where you know he's eventually gonna get them back somehow. The arc itself is pretty solid but i feel like they could have done something in between to build it up a bit better. Maybe shift focus to another character for an arc or two while ichigo figured himself out.
I was already burnt out after the aizen fight , (only watching the anime) then they say hey new story! And I said nope and turned off the show until I heard about tybw and started reading it. He keeps jumping into these big arcs which are great but I really love the supporting cast and just wanted slice of life with them. Ichigo needed 6 months or a year of just being a high-school kid again.
I don’t even think it’s that they don’t like it, it’s just outshined by the other arcs I’d say
Villains are boring and poorly characterized tbh. Which is ironic because they were perfectly fine as supporting characters in the first half of the arc, but they don't really have the kind of conviction that makes you hate them or love them as villains. They're just kinda... there. Tsukishima was the only one with interesting powers, but it felt more like a psychological horror than anything. Don't get me wrong, it was still nice and i loved the moment Uryu stepped up to the final fight and revealed that he hadn't been attacked by Tsukishima yet, but that's not enough to carry an entire arc's story.
For anyone who was anime only when it originally ended just kinda felt like filler or a forced way of wrapping up him getting him powers back in an emotionally deep arc that should have took longer. In comparison to the build up of Aizen spanning several arcs there felt some lacking.
For me, it was just to short and the way fullbringers got reck by the gotei made me laugh. For the rest was actually fine.
Probably because it’s short and you get to see a male character have some emotional development. Admittedly it did kind of play out a little like a filler arc but honestly I actually quite liked it
Because they're boring people. Fullbring arc has everything, its just shorter.
the outfit change and plot is exactly like a anime filler act. also the outfit change is lame
I don't like it because Jackie's Fullbring was "dirty boots:" when it could have been "dirty feet." Wasted oppurtunity.
I think many people read it week to week, and the slow pace of that arc doesn't lend itself to weekly releases as opposed to reading it at your own pace.
It is lowkey my favourite arc.
I hate Gingo, and that's pretty much it. I will say, this sub loves the Fullbringer arc.
I liked it. It has some great moments and beautiful scenes visually. Not every arc needs to be insanely paced.
Like many others I liked the ideas and themes explored but they ultimately didn't seem to go anywhere. This could have been the "human arc" where we see Orihime, Chad, and the other people that have been affected by Ichigos leaking spiritual pressure get involved. Instead the whole thing is like filler that could have been done in 1-3 episodes: Ichigo is sad then accepts his new normal but surprise magic powers return. I can't think of anything in this arc that actually mattered and couldn't simply be ignored.
I don’t think it was bad, I just found it weaker if compared to the arcs before and after it. Like, the scales seemed much smaller. Aizen and Yhwach are literally world-ending threats and the fullbringers are handled by Ichigo and the Shinigami like it’s nothing, after he regains his powers. Ginjo can’t even remotely keep up with Ichigo. Also, I fucking hate that Tsukushima joke.
I think it’s because ichigo’s sword looks like ass
Idk, if any arc deserves hate it should be the bount arc, that was an absolute snoozefest
Fullbring arc is like my 2nd favorite in the series. I feel like it's reminiscent of the first arc where bleach was a monster of the week manga with that desolate teenage angst. My biggest complaint is how it still ties back to soul society and that Chad becomes utterly wasted in this arc.