So I finished the Arrancar Saga in Bleach. (Ch. 182-423)

This arc was the follow up arc to the Soul Society and I can say that contrary to some people’s belief, not only is it on the same level of quality of the Soul Society, one can argue it’s even better.

First of all ~ I was aware of the Espada and them as a villain group for awhile now, but I wasn’t prepared. Each of the Espada has a unique character design, and they offer as excellent parallels to the original Gotei 13. Grimmjow and Ulquorria being my favorite Espada members.

I wish I could go into an analysis on every Espada member, but sadly I don’t have the time.

So in place, I’m gonna do a slight in-depth review of Ulquorria since I saw a lot of people complaining that he was too one-dimensional and “boring” as an antagonist; surprisingly.

𝖀𝖑𝖖𝖚𝖔𝖗𝖗𝖎𝖆 𝕾𝖍𝖎𝖋𝖊𝖗

From what I can see, it’s very easy to confuse Ulquorria as one-dimensional since he is practically expressionless. I almost believed this too, but once he mentioned his philosophy surrounding the “heart”, I was able to tell he’s a nihilist.

(someone who believes life is meaningless + is against societal principles.)

Backtracking, Ulquorria has an ability that allows him to see anything. In his backstory, it’s revealed he was an outcast as a hollow and alone, the only thing he could do was see out his mask.

As a testament to Kubo’s great writing, Ulquorria says that anything he can not see is false. The “heart” is but a mere illusion to him. Hopes, dreams, aspirations, all those concepts don’t exist to him. Now adding in the fact he has an all-seeing eye, you can see the connection.

Back to the arc review ~

Ichigo’s father being a shinigami? I was not expecting that whatsoever. I can tell this was a exposition dump of information but I would’ve liked it if more hints towards this was previously shown.

I like that when Ichigo fought Grimmjow, he hadn’t yet mastered his hollowification and was scared that any slip ups might result in that form coming out, so he was super paranoid of himself; and opted to only use it for a minimum amount of time.

Orihime being captured? Kind of similar to the last arc but I’m not complaining since those are two different circumstances. The fact she has a conceptual phenomenon that can impress even Aizen, says something about her value.

One small thing I want to mention is that I really like the Espada’s numerical ranking system.

0-10 (ranked from the strongest-weakest in reiatsu)
11-99 (subordinates of the Espada ; ranked oldest-youngest)
101-107 (the Espada of the past)

Good job Kubo.

Aizen this entire arc blew me away with how well-thought out he was. Seeing how he was mind-screwing the captains with Kyōka Suigetsu was incredibly entertaining. Which again proves why they needed Ichigo to best Aizen because he’s the only one who can’t fall under his hypnosis.

A surprise of mine was learning that Aizen had planned Ichigo’s entire life up until now. I knew that Aizen was cunning and did not care for others, but it’s almost like he built Ichigo to be the ultimate challenge for him ; to truly see if he is God.

Aizen vs. Ichigo was EASILY the highlight of this arc for me. Seeing Aizen in his peak form only to get manhandled by Ichigo after 1 hour of training was extremely intriguing. The foreshadowing for this was done well-

-when Grimmjow asked Aizen “What if he gets stronger than you thought and you can’t handle him?”

Another aspect I want to bring up is the usage of the captains from the Soul Society. I thought this was executed brilliantly by Kubo as everyone of the Espada had a pairing match against the Captains, and they eached paralleled each other in terms of strength and character.

An underrated factor of the Arrancar Saga is how much more refined and improved the artwork is from the Soul Society. The paneling is starting to be used more effectively, screen tones starting to be used better, and awesome cross-hatching techniques.

Another thing most of you might’ve not noticed is that Uryu and Ichigo both gained their powers by being struck by their opponent.

Uryu regained his Quincy powers by getting struck with the bow by his father.

Ichigo got the Final Getsuga Tenshou by being struck by Zangetsu.

Here below are my ratings.

Arrancar Saga ~ 9/10

-Human Realm ~ 8.4/10
-Hueco Mundo ~ 9/10
-Fake Karakura Town ~ 9.5/10