Tuesday 2 October 2012

A Sad Farewell

It has come to my attention that during the latest chapter of Bleach, there occured something which most likely will lead to the tragic death of a well known and well-loved character. Doing something like this ususaly results in a wave of fan backlash, so Kubo has clearly grown a pair the size of the protagonists of Pom Poko in order to go through with this. This is, after all, the second death of a long standing character in a short while, and the ratings being what they are right now, this appears to be Kubo's ultimate gamble, not to mention a cripling blow to the 1st Division.


Wait, you think I'm talking about Yamamoto, the Captain Commander of the Gotei 13 ? Of course not, such an obscure character getting offed barely leaves an impact, not the levels of the Reishi Investigation team's Rikuu, Gori or Katakura or even

Sleep well, sweet prince.


I know I'm still traumatised.

No fair reader, this is a eulogy for our beloved Okkiba.

To commemorate this sad ocasion, I have put together a montage of all the various important moments of his time in the manga for us to reminescence over. Put on some sappy music people, this is gonna leave you in tears.

First off, we have the moment when the captain Commander told him he is leaving and he silently acknowledged that fact.


Then there was that time he confirmed the fact he has nothing to add to this by saying:


And then there was the time when Yamamoto witnesed the very possible sight of his death.



And then there was the time his wife left him for Yourichi, and he took it falling to his knees, showing the fleshed-out humanity of his character.


And then there was the time when he was asked to become a blood donour by his superior in order to raise morale and willingness for participation between divisions. And of course he answered:



 And who could forget about the time when he had to "borrow" five bucks from the Captain Commander's desk because his paycheck wasn't due till next week.



I could go on and on like this, but that would aggitate this still fresh wound. So, farewell Okkiba, and in your next time, please learn to stay out of the danger of the scope of the plot as well as you did up till now !

7 comments:

  1. You forgot to mention that precious moment Okikiba stood at attention and said nothing in particular

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    1. Great Scott, you're right ! But everything's already edited and it would totaly ruin the narrative flow if I surgicaly inserted something into the text now !

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    2. That's nothing to fret over, you can simply pull a Kubo style retcon and make believe you did

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    3. Or I could go back and insert it but that wouldn't be nearly as inane and obtuse enough (as Noriaki-kun).

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  2. I was especially emotionally affected by the time he lost his contact lenses but the Captain-Commander was too busy to help him search for them.

    And who could forget the heart-wrenching scene when it was revealed that he was continuing to perform his duties despite crippling lower-back problems that prevented him from standing upright.

    But we should remember the good times too. I always get a chuckle when I remember the catastrophic events of the First Division Bake-Off; Yamamoto's humorously exasperated cry of "Okikibaaa!" became a household meme overnight!

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  3. (Sigh) I understand what Mr. Tite is trying to do, bring about a sudden death of character who is important to Yamamoto or someone he knew. BUT THE PROBLEM IS WE KNEW NOTHING ABOUT THE GUY OR HIS IMPORTANCE TO YAMAMOTO. This is one of my problems with this arc so far, Kubo trying to introduce new charaters just to kill them even in the same chapter they were introduced. Or hell killing off established charaters in unceremonious and downright mean-spirited way just for cheap shock value( Izuru Kira and Byakuya Kuchiki, yes I know their fates currently unknown but you might as well.)

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    1. Seeing how this is most likely Bleach's final arc, it wouldn't hurt to thin out the cast a little. It's not like Kubo created far too many characters to handle or anything...

      But dear Lord, not Okikiba Oo ! Thank God I stopped after Aizen's defeat. That way, he'll always be that Shinigami with a heart of gold that is always lurking just outside the panels, being kind enough to leave the spotlight for the others.

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