Bleach 63: Höre, Fürchte, Hier

Bleach #63

by Tite Kubo, Daniel Büchner (Translator)

Die Kommandanten kämpfen mutig gegen die Eindringlinge des Vandenreichs. Doch die Sternenritter verfügen auch ohne die geraubten Bankais über enorme Macht. Wird sich das Blatt wenden, wenn Rukia und Renji endlich in den Kampf eingreifen können? Uryu Ishida erfährt indes, woher die Stärke Yhwachs in Wahrheit rührt...

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Shonen, Young Adult, Graphic Novels, Action, Comics

192 pages, Paperback

First published May 2, 2014

About the author

Noriaki Kubo, known professionally as Tite Kubo ( 久保帯人), is a Japanese manga artist and character designer. His manga series Bleach (2001–2016) had over 130 million copies in circulation as of 2022.

Reviews

[Sana⁷ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Renji's performance and Bankai - 5/5
Rukia's performance and Bankai - 5/5
Rose's performance and Bankai - 5/5
Kensei's performance and Bankai - 5/5

Masculine de Mask - LAME 1/5
Gwenael "The Vanishing Point" - 0/5
As Nödt - BURN IN HELL! 0/5


If it wasn't for all the creepy and horror-like images, I would give this volume a much higher rating. There were plenty of amazing moments that I absolutely adore (like Renji's cool performance and Rukia's Bankai reveal) and once again some interesting facts got revealed (like the Ichibe one).

If it wasn't for all the appearance of the characters that I love and appreciate with everything in me - that make BLEACH well, BLEACH (Ichigo wasn't there, I cried my eyes out because of that, but maybe it was for the best), I would have been genuinely under conviction that I was reading a horror story. And if I hadn't previously seen the anime version of it, I would have been absolutely NOT mentally prepared for all the creepy images that I found on the pages of Volume 63.

BLEACH never felt scary. Not terrifyingly scary. But the appearance of As Nödt and Gwenael "The Vanishing Point" changed that, for this volume, at least.

I like to cry out of happiness. I don't like to cry out of sadness and pain. But I hate, I HATE to cry out of fear. I thought that I will be fine (kind of, at least), because I already got through it once. But I found myself silently crying and shaking up (and also fighting with nausea, because YUCK!) and I had a hard time to pull myself together. I am avoiding horror-like stories and movies and shows like a plague. I end up being terrified and having nightmares, so I think it's understandable.

I am an easily spooked person, but I did watch shows like Attack on Titan. But nothing in that show scared me off as much as As Nödt's final form did.

I NEVER EVER saw anything as scary as that form, honestly. I fought both fear and nausea, because it was both terrifying and disgusting. Like a monster taken straight up out of the worst nightmare. And it wasn't just one image - it kept on going on and on and on and every one being more horrible than the other. It's a shame that all I could feel were only negative emotions and I couldn't focus on other stuff. Rukia, Renji, Rose, Kensei and Byakuya all made such amazing performances that tears are coming up to my eyes when I think about the fact that I couldn't appreciate them as much as they deserve to be.

And the one called "The Vanishing Point"? She has to truly have some outstanding vanishing abilities, because I did not remember her at all from the time when I watched the anime. You can only imagine my reaction when she did appear. It was so sudden that it totally caught me out of guard. But I wouldn't have been spooked as much if it wasn't for her looks. She wasn't as gruesome as As Nödt was, but it still startled me (and I wasn't in the right mind back then, because I read the chapters back to back and terrified af). She could easily play a role of a witch of kids' greatest nightmares, she could've fit right in. Where did Yhwach took these monsters from? Honestly, where did they crawl from, a pit of hell or what? (Quilge also startled me in his chapters at the beginning of TYBW, but he was nothing in comparison to As Nödt).


Anyways, to give this volume proper justice here you've got a couple of my favorite quotes/moments:

~ "Turning aside my Star Flash... Who are you?!"
"A villain." - RENJI

~ "Those captains cowardly opted to fight two against one! Villains are cowardly to begin with, so you can go right ahead and use as much cowardly means as you want!"
"Thanks. I guess I'll cowardly beat you then." - RENJI

~ "You coward!!"
"What? Didn't you know? Villains are cowardly after all." - RENJI

~ "This is the real Sode no Shirayuki." - RUKIA

~ "This is my Shikai. Merely Senbonzakura." - BYAKUYA

~ "You've become strong. Rukia." - BYAKUYA

~ "It is not I who will defeat you." - BYAKUYA

~ "Let's go. Rukia. Let's go protect the Soul Society." - BYAKUYA

[Holly Letson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume was *hit-and-miss* for me. I loved that it was more action-packed than the last couple volumes, since that was what made me love *Bleach* originally. But, I also felt that some of the battles were pointless, and didn't really add much to the story.

Contrary to what people would think, I enjoyed Rukia's part in this volume. I don't really like her, but that could possibly change in the future.
-----------------
I want to thank Viz for giving me the chance to read and review this volume. All opinions expressed here are my own.

[Lashaan Balasingam · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was ridiculous. Nothing made sense. The two battles featuring the brand-new-and-evolved versions of Renji and Rukia are introduced with little care for the story behind their bankai.

What really annoyed me was Mask De Masculine who doesn't fit the Bleach universe at all. He could've been a villain in One Punch Man, if you ask me!

If this overstretched story arc is the path mangaka Tite Kubo is going for the end of this series, I can see why fans were disappointed.

Yours truly,

Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/

[Blake the Book Eater · Rating 5 out of 5]

RUKIA AND BYAKUYA BODIED THIS

[William Bainbridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Byakuya Kuchiki is easily one of the best written characters in any manga or anime ever made. The type of character progression you usually only see in books. Aes Nodt really shoulda gone for the head.
God damn that was amazing. Im ngl its getting harder and harder to honestly say that Urahara is above Byakuya. At the very least I'll say their tied as my second favourite character in bleach. Byakuya just stole the show once again in this volume. Special shoutout to Mask de masculine though, a really cool character with a genuinely unique and awesome ability. Also interesting to see some backstory for such a powerful guy like Yhwach.
Also both Renji and Rukias improved forms were equally awesome. One of the biggest power couples in anime?
Byakuya Kuchiki, what a goat. The bounce back is always better than the original. Bro came back and embarrassed his opponent with just shikai 🤣🤣🤣.
'Know that nothing can be protected by a sword swung in exchange for ones life.' - Byakuya Kuchiki.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good volume and its mostly the fight between that mask guy and Renji and that has some good moments and like he defeats him with ease unleashing his real bankai and all. The next is Rukia vs As Nodt and its such a great one where she learns the meaning of fear and surpasses it and gains her super ice powers and has that amazing powers when she transforms into ice and looked majestic. This fight is feeling a bit extended and suffers from absence of Ichigo heavily.

[Deli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not expect to see Rukia being such a badass, but it seems this manga can still surprise me

[Addison · Rating 3 out of 5]

The one in which Ishida realizes he's made a huge mistake. When will this plot line pay off? Who the fuck knows.

Oh no, violin captain guy and vizard punch captain are dead. Probably. Also medic braid captain. Maybe one day a character whose name I can remember will die and I'll have a emotional response beyond, "huh."

Renji's still got that horrible tiger stripe cloak that fills me with rage. The world is truly full of atrocities.

Byakuya got his insides splattered across 8 blocks but he's already back because death is for secondary characters.

[Cristhian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rukiamal fin es top tier

[Liliana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewed on Lili Lost in a Book

This volume was absolutely amazing! It was actually very horrifying, very graphic, and quite brutal and violent... I was not expecting that, but I absolutely loved it!

I love Renji and he is back bitches! And he is as cool as ever! 😉 Well, I mean, except for that tiger print, cause yikes! 😂

😂

Anyway, I missed Renji so I was very happy to have quite a bit of him in this one. I always appreciate having more Renji in my life 🥰 We find out there’s more to his Zanpakuto than we originally thought, and it was pretty cool. Anyway, in this volume Renji fights a Quincy called Mask de Masculine who is basically a luchador and he is annoying AF... Right up there with the Ginyu Force 😂



But then Renji basically slices Mask de Masculine in half and it was AWESOME!!



Rukia and Byakuya also fight a Quincy, As Nodt the Quincy of fear or something, and he is an absolute creeper! Like, it was absolutely horrifying! I can’t even... here are some pictures and notes I left myself upon seeing this guy reveal his true self...

So this guy can see your deepest fears and basically uses that against you, but we all know how cool and collected Byakuya is, so it was a very interesting fight. So interesting, in fact, that the Quincy skinned himself alive! 😫😱🤢



😬



Yeah, it turns out that him on the cover of the manga wasn’t even his final form 😬 This is what he was hiding under that mask!



Yuuuck! He is so gross I wanna cry! 😫 And I know it sounds like I’m complaining, but I swear I’m not. I love this sort of stuff! I was just surprised to get it out of a Bleach manga 😅 I am VERY excited to see this part adapted in the anime! I hope it’s as gross and gory as it was here! 😉 Anyway, this guy is a total creeper, but the brother/sister tag team against the guy was incredible! Their entire interaction I really loved. It was very sweet 🥰



And on the topic of the siblings, with Rukia’s new training she actually got some cool new abilities... no pun intended 😏 It was incredibly awesome though! She was incredibly awesome!



And Rukia’s new Bankai was so pretty!



I absolutely loved this volume! I was not expecting the horror element with that one Quincy, but I loved it! I loved seeing Renji again and the interactions between Rukia and Byakuya. We also got a bit of backstory into Yhwach, which kinda didn’t make sense there at the beginning, but I’m intrigued nonetheless. At the end of this volume we are left with Yachiru and Isane coming across a Quincy with an interesting ability that makes me kinda nervous. We’ll see how things go for them in the next volume.

[Nao ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

stress reading random bleach volumes instead of going to sleep has never been so good ♡ picked this one bc i love as nodt (he lived he served cunt and thennnnnn ....well let'sjust leave it at that) ! hes a new fav and im obsessed w this cover+ the whole hear, fear, here ♡ tht being said i was pleasantly surprised to see the king cunt renji ♡ im not totally caught up w the tybw arc so some of this went over my head but it was a fun ride, bleach always is ♡ rukia really has come a long way though and its chilling (heh see what i did there) to see her now :') i think i might start tybw from the beginning ! anime starts up again soon and honestly its been nearly 10yrs w this series, its abt time i finished it 😭

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listen I’m only giving 5 stars bc I love Renji and he was so awesome in this chapter. Also so was Rukia, we finally seeing her be a badass. Also the thing in this one was SCARY wth

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rose… you monologued too much 😭
Renji I am asking you to marry me, funky eyebrow man.
RUKIAS BANKAI SCREAMING FOREVER ITS SO PRETTYYYYY
There’s something so thematically beautiful about byakuya almost dying to äs nödt and facing his biggest fear (rukia dying) and then rukia fighting äs nödt and byakuya opening up to her, telling her he’s proud of her and being the catalyst for her bankai and defeating the enemy. the growth! he’s finally looking at her. she finally is seen as good enough!!! ahhhh. I’m so glad that he didn’t die I don’t think it would have been at all as satisfying for the storyline at all!
i love äs nödt’s character design.
isane and yachiru!!!!!!

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

Bleach 63 is an excellent volume - not only do we get more Renji sass, but finally Yhwach's powers and background are explained. Icing on the cake was to see both Renji AND Rukia's new, fully powered up bankais. Ukitake's bankai is revealed and Kuchiki Byakuya discovers a new version of his zanpakutou. In all, there was a lot of great action as the tide of battles ebbs and turns. And hey, Renji gets to make fun of the Quincies!

Story: Renji and Rukia arrive in Soul Society just as Ukitake and Kensei are taken out by Mask De Masculine. They split up - Renji continuing the battle with Masculine while Rukia encounters As Nodt and his ability of fear. Meanwhile, Vice Captains Kotetsu and Yachiru are ambushed by Gwenael, "The Visionary".

In this volume, Ishida learns the terrible truth about how Ywach has risen to power and how that influences Ishida himself. We already knew that all the Sternritter are assigned letters, A to Z, by Ywach, to describe their abilities (e.g., As Nodt is F for Fear). Ishida has a the letter 'A' - it will be interesting to see what word that will translate into in future volumes. But a lot of Ywach's actions now make a lot of sense with the explanation by "B" grandmaster Jugram Haschwalth. I am now very curious what 'power' was bestowed upon Ishida as a result.

Bringing Renji back brought some much needed fun back. Renji learned a lot more about his sword and how to use it better. As well, Rukia has a beautiful but devastating bankai - we can now see why it is considered the most beautiful of the ice swords.

The big surprise in this volume is Ukitake's bankai. Not what could be expected but at the same time, it's all over pretty quick in the battle.

This is definitely a 'must have' volume for the reveals and the full cover bankai pages. But also for the explanation of Yhwach.

Reviewed from an ARC.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my last review I said that as a whole, the Sternritters are forgettable, and while I stand by that, I will say that there are a couple of exceptions. Äs Nödt being one of them.

This volume starts with the seemingly neverending fight with Mask de Masculine--that's another problem with the Sternritter, they over stay their welcome by being cartoonishly overpowered. It's rather tedious, but the bright spots are Rose and the arrival of Renji in all of his glory. However, the volume picks up when it switches to the fight between Rukia and Äs Nödt. Äs Nödt is just an unsettling character, and while he's powerful, he doesn't seem as comically overpowered as some of the others where it just seems like they exist to drag the fight out; he comes off as an actual threat, and I can't help but wonder how this arc would have been if the other Sternritter had been more like him. Given that Äs Nödt was the one who almost killed Byakuya, the fact that Rukia is the one to face off against him is perfect. Adding to the perfection is the fact that we get to see Rukia's bankai and it's amazing. With Byakuya complimenting her bankai at the end of the fight, it really shows just how far these two have come since the start of the series.

[M.L.S. Weech · Rating 5 out of 5]

This arc was much more interesting than the Fullbring arc. We saw more from characters I care about more, and the deeper history of Soul Society was more interesting. I was disappointed in Uryu's limited role (greatly). I still think the Aizen arc was the way it should have ended, but this at least answered a few more critical questions and gave readers the ending they were really looking for, which might have been the point of these arcs to begin with.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I needed a break from the repetition and escalation - but now I'm back and drinking it all in again!

[Ela · Rating 5 out of 5]

not me crying for the kuchiki siblings

[Alexis · Rating 4 out of 5]

As Nodt really is the worst nightmare fuel

[thi · Rating 3 out of 5]

kubo , I think rukia can finish something on her own just once please 🤦🏻‍♀️ (+1 star for the cover alone bc it goes hard)

[Harry Robertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally a Rukia W

[Angel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actual Rating: 4.5

BANKAI. HAKKA NO TOGAME. ❄😭

[L. J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

TBA

[M.D. Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Given that Manga, and especially Shonen is split up into bigger arcs as composed to volumes I will be analyzing and reviewing this by Arc. I also reread this manga over the span of 2 months, some days reading as much as 100 chapters a day. It would be quite tedious for me to review each 7-8 chapter volume. So this will be copy and pasted throughout all of the 74 manga volumes. That being said, if you're looking at this without having viewed the series...spoiler warning. I don't recap anything, but I also mention things that happen. If you want me to answer the question "Should I pick this up?" Yes. Even if you stop at the end of the Soul Society Arc. It's worth it.

Karakura Town Arc - Chapters 1-56 - Rating: 7/10
(The official page lumps this in with the Soul Society Arc however I feel as if they are two very separate arcs with two very separate themes)
- A fun introduction.
-An interesting premise on the idea of ghosts and demons (Hollows)
-Does a good job of introducing the characters and I especially enjoyed the love for characters like Chad, Orihime and Uryu as these characters would later lose more and more spotlight as the series went on.
-It is a bit of a monster of the week. When it works, like with Chad's introduction story. It works. But Characters like Don Kanonji felt superficial and very gimmicky. Which, fair. I didn't enjoy them as much.

Soul Society Arc - Chapters 57-182 - Rating: 10/10
-The height of Bleach
-Establishes an afterlife seemingly perfectly. Later on revealed to be full of plot holes and never fleshed out but hey! That's not an issue in THIS arc. The fights are top tier, the themes of Ichigo owing a life debt to Rukia and his passion and determination to rise above literally God's army is inspiring and to this day is why I love Ichigo so much. He doesn't have some grandiose plan. He doesn't have a major goal to accomplish. He is a protector by heart, losing his mother has made him sour to failing to protect those he cares about and he'll do anything in his power never to feel that helpless again. Very powerful stuff.
-The twist near the end of this arc is revolutionary and would make waves for the next 200 chapters onward. A perfect ending and set up for the forthcoming arc.
-The only issues I have for this arc would be Ichigo's lightning speed progression. The guy goes from being able to barely defeat a third seat to besting multiple captains in roughly 100 or less chapters. I get that that is the point and him defeating captains was more of a struck of luck, but progression and pacing wise it feels very unearned and a factor of "for the plot he needed to be this strong" It only seems as fast as it is because Ichigo's progression slows drastically down for the rest of the story moving foreword so it's only now that I make that criticism.
-Also, and this will be an issue in most Shonen. There are 13 Captains with 13 Vice Captains and seats that branch all the way to 10 I believe? Regardless, there's a fudge ton of characters that are introduced here and it can get a little jarring at times. Luckily, Kubo does a great job at making their designs and characters unique despite such a large cast.

Hueco Mundo Arc - Chapters 183-423 - Rating 7/10
-This is another arc where personally I would split it up into two separate arcs. But for the sake of this review I will simply refer to the first half of the arc and the later half of the arc. First Half 9/10. Second Half. 5/10.
-The first half of this arc is a great continuation of the last. Ichigo now struggles with his inner demons and it affects his ability to protect the ones he loves. We are also introduced to a deadly unknown new villains. The Arrancars/Espada to this day remain one of my favorite villain factions in all of manga enemies.
-Just so you're aware I would say the first half of this arc ends right around the point of Ichigo vs Grimmjow. Grimmjow is one of the first Arrancar that Ichigo faces. And he's also one of two Espada that he faces three times. The conclusion of that fight shows Ichigo conquering his inner demons. Where Grimmjow is very much fighting to establish himself. Grimmjow has to fight Ichigo to prove to his fallen comrades that he is as good as he says he is. He doesn't care about Aizen, he doesn't care about the rest of the Espada. It is very personal for him. For Ichigo, Orohime is within his grasp of saving and he views this as his "final" battle. It's my favorite fight in all of Bleach.
-However, this is where things start to take a bit of dip in quality in my opinion. We had a goal and we were striving towards that goal. Each character of the original cast coming to repay the debt they made to their friend who had risked her life to save them in the Soul society arc. But somewhere along the way it seems we just had a fighter fest. Captains would face enemies with no themes or character revelations. The Espadas got a little light but nothing that made their fights compelling. You almost just feel bad for the Espada as they were monsters turned into a military force by an unstoppable tyrant. But even that wasn't enough to make half of the fights interesting. Now, that's with knowing the outcome. These fights played little importance in the larger scheme of things. Where at least in the Hueco Mundo fights each match up had the protagonists striving for a goal. Rukia to defeat Aaroneiro to free her former superiors soul. Byakuya to defend Rukia. Renji and Uryu teamwork. Nel to protect Ichigo and get revenge on Nnoitra. Whereas Stark fought Kyoraku.....cause.....and Hitsugaya fought Halibel because Water vs Ice would be cool.
-This leaves me to the end. I won't say it wasn't satisfying that Ichigo was able to defeat Aizen. And yes, I do feel like his new power was earned. 3 months of training. But this was clearly a last minute decision to save Aizen for a later date and the show must go on. I do feel like it wasn't as satisfying as 200+ chapter buildup needed to be.

The Fullbring Arc - Chapters 424-479 - Rating: 8/10
-A very underrated arc. And yes, I acknowledge that rating wise I think the Fullbring arc is superior to the Hueco Mundo arc. That is mostly true. Though I like the first half of the Hueco Mundo Arc more than the Fullbring arc. The end of the HM arc really brought it down for me. The Fullbring Arc is much more concise and is actually the shortest arc in the series and works as a glorified Ichigo getting his powers back arc. But that doesn't mean its bad.
-When I read it originally back when it was coming out in 2010. (Cause I'm Old) It wasn't phenomenal. In fact, I hated it. But wouldn't you? It took just short of a year to get to the point that we were at. But upon rereading it, it gave much deserved love to the characters who hadn't been shown love in quite some time. The original cast. It was a very character focused arc. Ichigo never seemed more human. And despite me hating it before for taking so long, reading weekly can sometimes hurt these mystery based arcs. The twist is heavily foreshadowed and I really appreciated it.
-That being said, the end was super rushed. This was a big bummer for me. The villains this time around were humans. And the ones who had the most exposure and relations with these characters were the original cast who again....were humans. So to have the soul reapers, who have no connection to the fullbringers show up and basically no diff most of the fullbringers felt very forced and fanservicey to me. This very well could have not been Kubo's call. As the community was very vocal about their dislike for this arc as it was going on. But I appreciate it now much more as I appreciate character and story over big sword fights. Lol.

The Thousand Year Blood War Arc - Chapters 424-689 - Rating: 5/10
-And we're finally here. The final and largest arc within the Bleach story. And man...does it not stick the landing.
-That being said, this arc has phenomenal moments. Kenpachi's Shikai and Bankai. Ichigo's double swords. Renji's true Bankai. Rukia's Bankai. And many more. However, they are put together against the most break neck speed arc that I have ever read. Kubo was very ambitious when he introduced 26 new villains. However, most of them got barely any screen time and a lot of them even got off screened by higher level captains. This was unlike the Espada who each got a full double page spread for their Resurrections.
-Yhwach himself was a phenomenal villain but was dealt with swiftly and imo dirty. They did him dirty.
-There was just something off. The mood changed and it was very apparent. The villains had random powers instead of the powers reflecting their personalities or needs. The finale felt so underwhelming.
-Ichigo gets to be the strongest he's ever been....but he doesn't defeat a single person besides the main villain despite being in several fights.
-It isn't a good arc. In fact, I would say it's the worst. Hopefully the anime does a better job with this already mammoth of a story. 260 chapters is no joke.

This gives the story of Bleach an Overall rating of 7.4/10. Which to me is above average. It has it's ups and downs. It's not perfect. But when it's high, it's peak shonen. But when it's low, it's very forgettable.

[Hafeez · Rating 5 out of 5]

VOLUME 63: CHAPTER 561-570
Arc 11: The Thousand Year Blood War

Kensei was defeated. Rōjūrō used the opening to kill the little man, James. He then used Bankai: Kinshara Butoudan that can manipulate music to create a trick. Masculine destroyed his eardrum and then shoot a starbeam on his forehead. The beam hit Rōjūrō body. Both of them were defeated. Suddenly Renji appears. James can regenerated back and he cheered for Masculine. With the cheers, Masculine can heal his wounds. They fight and Renji easily deflected Masculine's attacks. Masculine powered up and shoot a repeating star punches. Back to the Royal Palace before, Renji went to see Hyōsube. Hyōsube is the one who named everything. Hyōsube tells the real name of Renji's Bankai: Souou Zabimaru. Renji managed to kill Masculine by reducing him to ashes. James also died after Masculine died.

Long ago, a baby was born and he cannot see, hear, speak and move. But he have the power to heal and give knowledge to other people as they touch him. But, the people will die eventually; a few days, a few months or a few years. The gifts that other people get from the baby will come back to the baby after they die. The baby gradually gain an ability to see, hear, speak and move. The people decided to call him Yhwach and the baby used the name as his real name, Yhwach the Almighty. Yhwach have the power to distribute his soul to other people. He also can carved an initial to someone soul. During the battle of Seireitei, Yhwach's soul was already distributed through out the Seireitei either by Sternritter or by Shinigami. The souls of the deaf will come back to Yhwach and he will become stronger than ever.

Before coming to Seireitei, Renji and Rukia planned to separate, fight some Sternritter and regroup at certain point. Rukia confronted Äs Nödt. Äs Nödt can instilled fear to anybody as long as they are live. Rukia can kill his body by freezing so fear doesn't work on her. She decreased her body to absolute zero. She then completely froze Äs Nödt. Äs Nödt managed to escape from the ice. His fear is not the fear doesn't work to anyone but his fear is getting scolded by Yhwach. He used Vollständig: Tatar Foras. Äs Nödt can instilled fear through the nerves. He managed to caught Rukia in a deep fear. Suddenly, Byakuya appears and cut through the fear. He knows the true nature of his Senbonzakura so he managed to beat up Äs Nödt. Rukia used her Bankai: Hakka no Togame to kill Äs Nödt.

Kusajishi meet Isane. Suddenly, they were attacked by mysterious creatures.

[Gabriel S · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’d give the manga Bleach Vol. 63 by Tite Kubo a four out of five stars. I enjoyed the irony and the change in characters. For example, when during a fight the character Äs Nödt,who is known for his ability to situate fear into others . “I’m scared. I’m scared of agony. I’m scared of pain” ( Kubo 173”). The irony shown is that even though his fear and the ability to put fear into others is what makes him so special, in the end of his life he himself was scared. A second thing I like about Bleach that makes it so high rated is the dynamic characters. For instance, Byakuya Kuchiki, had been known to be a lot more stern and rude to his little sister, Rukia Kuchiki. “You’ve become strong, Rukia.”. (Kubo 159). The change shows the difference from before when he was very ignorant and rude to his sister, to starting to acknowledge and compliment the progression she has made. Another example of irony is the main antagonist Yhwach, has the ability to rewrite fates, but due to the unpredictability of the main protagonist, Ichigo Kurosaki, he cannot tell what will happen “ Nobody can take anything away from me” (Kubo 97). The irony is that even if Yhwach’s power is amazing, it is not absolute, which had led to his downfall due to that weakness. A third instance of irony is when a side antagonist, James, who considers himself a hero, fights a side character, Renji Abarai, "A star cannot be killed by a villian" (Kubo 44). The irony shown is that even though James considers himself a star that cannot be killed by a villain, he ends up losing his life to a "villain". The last part of irony shown is that the same side antagonist, James, believes that he is the hero and the star. "This is the sign of a star chosen to defeat evil" (Kubo 35). The irony that is said is the fact that even though James is historically known to be on the bad side since he is with the antagonist, he still considers himself a hero and a star of his own story.

[Ben Truong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bleach, Vol. 63 continues where the previous tankōbon left off and contains the next ten chapters (561–570) of the on-going manga series.

Mask De Masculine manages to overwhelm both Kensei Muguruma and Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi and before he could deal a final blow, Renji Abarai arrives to take over the fight while Rukia Kuchiki gets the captains to safety. Though overpowered by Mask's attacks, revealing his fan James to be an extension of his Quincy power, Renji reveals the true form of his Bankai: "Sōō Zabimaru". With his new power, Renji quickly defeats Mask.

Meanwhile, as Jugram Haschwalth explains to Uryū Ishida that all Quincies have a fragment of Yhwach's soul in them that return to him upon death, Rukia confronts Äs Nodt as morning comes. Though immune to his fear inducement powers at first as she uses the full powers of her Shikai, Nodt activates Vollständig to use his Tatarforas to induce fear through sight. Fortunately, Byakuya Kuchiki arrives and gives Rukia the confidence to finish the fight by using her new Bankai "Hakka no Togame".

Elsewhere, Isane Kotetsu attempts to heal Kensei and Rose, as Yachiru Kusajishi returns with supplies she managed to scavenge. However, they are found by proclaimed Sternritter "V" Guenael Lee, who has the ability to erase his presence from his opponents' senses and memories.

This tankōbon is written and illustrated by Tite Kubo. The tankōbon continues the second invasion of the Seireitei by the Sternritter. Battles are being fought and the Shinigami are slowly turning the tide, while the story with Uryū Ishida, the history of the Sternritter, and Yhwach are further explored.

All in all, Bleach, Vol. 63 is a wonderful continuation to a series that seems intriguing and I cannot wait to read more.

[Julie Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

The faux luchado is playing havoc with the Soul Reapers. It’s time for a hero, eh? Or maybe even a villain? Enter Renji! He tells Rukia to go on, he can handle this by himself. The Quincy, whose name is Mask de Masculine, has a sidekick, an ardent fan named James. But maybe James serves a different purpose, something necessary to the Mask’s success. And maybe Renji has learned a thing or two during the time of his own training.

Uryu goes to see Yhwach but His Majesty is asleep, according to his aide. It’s obvious he has no liking for Ishida, probably jealous that he has been appointed successor. Even so, he decides to tell Uryu a couple of things he should know about Yhwach and the Quincies, including the engraving ritual, which has already been performed with Uryu.

Rukia runs across As Nodt, the Quincy who stole Byakuya’s bankai. He asks her, “Will he come here if I kill you?” and she replies, “He may”. He attempts to instill fear into her but Rukia turns the tables on him, in a way he hadn’t anticipated. And of course Byakuya arrives in the nick of time.

Yachiru is having a good time, despite Kenpachi’s absence, stealing from the Quincies, to Isane’s amazement. But that fun may have just come to an end…

Don’t underestimate anyone, even the luchado. He has more going on than he appears to with his little superfan James. Even more interesting is the way Renji has grown and developed his skills. Pretty damn cool! Still watching and waiting for Uryu to make his move. It was nice to see Yachiru after so long. I hope Kenny comes back to her soon. And I hope she and Isane will be okay. Gotta wait for the next volume!

[Maryam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ugh, I'm torn. While its amazing that we get more lore about Ywach as an intertextual Jesus Christ figure of sorts, half of the volume is not paced well at all. And while I'm glad Renji finally gets that W he deserves, I'm unimpressed that he had to fight one of the most annoying, if not THE MOST annoying character in the HISTORY of Bleach. It completely removes the hype for me and made me want to skip further along, which is sad considering that Renji's one of my favourite characters. He deserves a better opponent! Also what exactly is his new Bankai? Ironically, for once I would have preferred an explanation. His older one just looked so much cooler!

And despite all the exposition during battle explaining each other's move set, at least Rukia's fight was a blast and so rewarding. As Nodt is an interesting figure. His character design and powers are very cool. Not only does the fight flesh out Rukia's bankai but it also provides further character development between Rukia and Byakuya. My heart melted when he held her frozen hand in her bankai state and told her to take her time so she wouldn't break. Btw, Renji, Rukia and Byakuya look totally dripped out! Senjumaru knows her stuff.

Also, it's pretty neat that most of the Sternritter powers are all related to metaphysical aspects of reality (as given by Ywach, acting as God). I like how Kubo makes most of the Bleach villains from different manifestations of things (i.e., the Espada being aspects related to death).

[Brandon · Rating 2 out of 5]

As this arc rages on it's clear why this is the final Bleach arc. Tite Kubo knows it's the end and he's throwing out his ideas one after the other. They don't really matter, they're not particularly novel, and while they could easily become great plot points Kubo does what he always does and brushes them away with some big super powerful move and then the theme never comes up again. There are three main things that happen in this volume: Renji gets to show off how cool he is now, Rukia gets to show off how cool she is now, and Yhwach gets to have parts of his backstory told. Renji looks cool but he used to have one of the most visually interesting swords and now it's just generic super move stuff. Rukia's looks great but the story of her, Byakuya, and As Nodt isn't compelling. The Yhwach story is mostly interesting, one of Kubo's better ideas I think with how Yhwach gains power. It fits in well with the rest of Bleach and makes sense as to how he can be such a big threat.

Also Mask de Masculine is gag manga stuff that could have been interesting but ruins the tension the rest of this arc has been building. It's like anime filler made waiting for the manga to get ahead but it isn't filler it's a whole big unsatisfying fight.