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If we look at this battle from Mask de Masculine’s point of view, he’s actually facing quite the difficult odds, with 2 captains and 5 vice-captains against him one after the other. In addition, it might be difficult to consider Rukia and Renji to be on vice-captain level now after they have received significant power-spikes through the Soul Palace training. Despite how obnoxious and ridiculous Mask looks, he’s actually done very well for the sake of his fan James (the same way Ichigo wins all his battles). His next challenge however, may prove insurmountable for him, as Renji counters all of his abilities with ease. Whatever steroid he received from the Zero Squad, it’s proving to be incredibly effective and able to stop attacks that were able to one-shot captain-level vizards (keeping in mind the attacks that defeated Rose were actually several orders of magnitude weaker). While Mask is busy pounding away with his star punches, Renji even manages to butcher James with a few strikes, who had survived after being sliced in half. That was quite brutal, but he did what he had to do, and in a way, Renji is more bad-ass as a stone-cold killer and spitting out some sweet dialogue, as opposed to explaining his abilities while fighting. It’s amusing seeing the roles reversed, with Mask seeing himself as the hero and the shinigami as villains, but we should keep in mind that neither side are exactly angels in this war. Although Rukia didn’t get to fight, I have a feeling she’s going to be a monster now too, with bankai achieved too hopefully. Although Mask is getting destroyed at the moment, he may still be able to launch a counterattack with another secret power and maybe force Renji to release his bankai, which should also be a lot stronger now. Seeing them now however I have to wonder just how crazily strong Byakuya and Ichigo are going to be once they get back to Soul Society; with every strike, they will be destroying cities.
I apologize for the late post; I’ve been travelling for the past week. Hope everyone has a great Christmas.
Yes, my underlings. Overthrow the Vandenreich, and along with them, the Soul King.
*sigh* I’m glad zombie powder wasn’t finished, so it would not have the same fate that Bleach has been served…
I read this just to see Rukia finally get Bankai.
Btw, has the mask de masculine release his quincy powers or he’s already in his released form?
What a nice gift, Prooof!
I imagine Renji is being restrained in his attacks because:
• His power buff is temporary (from that reiatsu food)
• He knows any reiatsu he leaks will be used against him by his enemy
Yay for learning.
Insert… insert anything, it’s still better than this.
*Insert into your hole.* *Leaves a creamy liquid in your hole*
Renji was a cannon folder, he’s never going to be stronger than Aizen-sama’s sword.
Disappointed to see Kensei go out like that. He and Shinji are two of my favorite characters. You’d think that they’d do better against the Quincy’s since they have Hollow powers.
Also, seeing Renji completely toy with the guy that just beat 2 Vizards.. even by Bleach standards is ridiculous. Actually, Bleach and standards almost shouldn’t go in the same sentence anymore haha
Bleh like any of this matters. Whatever super powers Renji has gained will be forgotten and he will be one shotted by whatever faceless time-wasting villain he fights next so someone else can rescue him. Who even cares? This is all just filler to keep the manga going and has no real importance to the plot.
I watched 5 hours of Bleach today xD
Mask de Masculine gets stronger by his fans cheering for him right? James cheered for him while his ear drums were destroyed right? He couldn’t actually “hear” James cheer for him right? So does that mean anyone could cheer for him from miles away since he doesn’t have to actually hear people cheer- Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!
I think it’s more like he needs to acknowledge that he’s receiving cheers. Even if his ears cannot hear the cheers, so long as he’s aware that he’s being cheered for (and is, in fact being cheered for), he receives the boost.
just let it go man
no sense going on in this dojo
Renji needs to be in more battles and with tougher enemy that isn’t a comic relief (even though Mask de Masculine is very strong and took out Captain lvls)
His value of his character was forgotten after ss arc and if you read the old Bleach it makes you miss how Renji was portrayed.
Renji is pretty strong now, don’t you think? The Mask was using punches 10x stronger than the ones that destroyed the other 5 captain-lvl opponents (Hisagi, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Kensei, Rose). This quincy is easily one of the strongest we’ve seen so far, and he’s not exactly comic relief either, unless you want to compare him to Don Kanonji or Kon. If you think about it, Renji is finally fighting an opponent without either losing or being humiliated (e.g., Szayel). He is fighting someone who could body all of the Espada in an instant, and seemingly beating him just by tanking all his hits with no damage. Due to how predictable most fights go, Renji should easily win after using bankai, considering he took the Mask’s strongest attacks (stronger than the ones that wiped out the other captains) without much effort.
I think that the only mistake that Kubo made was to keep Byakuya alive, as current Renji easily surpasses the old Byakuya. To keep the rivalry alive, current Byakuya will most likely rival Kenpachi, probably keeping Renji in the Vice Captain position. Strength-wise, however, he should be above Shikai Shunsui and Ukitake. If Renji is no-selling all of Mask’s attacks, think about what he could do to all of the Stern Ritter who are weaker than Mask.
With that said, I really do see Renji approaching Aizen’s level of power. I expect all of the current junior captains and perhaps Lieutenants to surpass all of the older captains in power at the end of the series.
I’m tired of Mask already, watch James be still alive too… Here’s to hope we see Rukia do something epic soon. She should face the one who (almost) killed Byakuya!
Wow, Mask really reminds me of a certain someone from the Despicable Me 2 film, a very disturbing Lucha Libre is starting to become my worst nightmare.
I guess Ichigo is already past this level – when fighting Aizen he destroyed whole mountain by parrying.
If people think Rukia may have a Bankai, prepare to be trolled by Kubo. You know that’s how he rolls by treating Rukia badly in his story.
You know, if it takes this long to defeat fodder, I’d hate to see how long it would take for them to beat an important Quincy.
That arc is probably going to take 200 chapters.
But Mask de Masculine is fucking awesome. He’s probably one of the most entertaining characters that Kubo has created in a while.
@drifters: See that is the trick of it isn’t it? I half think its really Shonen Jump telling Kubo to go super slow while they try to find the next big fighting manga to replace it.
SUPERSTAR!!!
Chapter 563 is already out: http://readms.com/r/bleach/563/2197/1
*reads* So next week’s chapter is basically this week’s chapter and ends exactly the same way? Exciting.
Kubo gave us all coal this year.