Bleach Vol. 20: End of Hypnosis

Bleach #20

by Tite Kubo

Komandan Aizen yang harusnya sudah tewas masih hidup! Namun tak lama setelah kabar bahagia itu, pedang Aizen yang kejam menembus tubuh Hinamori!! Apakah kebenaran yang tersembunyi di balik rencana Aizen dan eksekusi terhadap Rukia?!

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Comics, Graphic Novels, Shonen, Fiction, Action

192 pages, Paperback

First published December 2, 2005

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

[Lauren Lanz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aizen being insane was NOT what I thought would unite the opposing soul reapers, Ichigo the “ryoka” and everyone in between, but here we are.

I also didn’t expect the abrupt Byakuya redemption arc, but I welcome it. I’m hoping he makes it through so we can see him and Rukia reconcile his earlier decisions…

[Sana⁷ · Rating 5 out of 5]

"No one ever stood atop the heavens before. Not you, or I, or the gods. But the unbearable vacancy of heaven's throne ends now. From now on I will stand at the top."

If I never ever had any contact with the story of Bleach, the events of Volume 20 would shocked me to the core. You can say what you want about Bleach, but the utter betrayal that had happened, was something no one could predict, and something that writes itself down in one of the most shocking events in the anime ever. And say what you want about Bleach, but you cannot deny the brilliance of its antagonist.

*SIRI, PLAY "TREACHERY" BY SAGISU SHIRO*

(If you never watched Bleach, it means that you don't know Sagisu Shiro's works. Please, if you love listening to great soundtracks, give his music a chance. You might find a real gem. Thank you.)

The antagonist (I'm purposely not saying his name to avoid spoilers for those who don't know the story) is not only incredibly intelligent and clever, he's also incredibly strong. He had put down both Ichigo and Renji in an laughably easy way - and Ichigo was the one who fought (and won) both Byakuya and Zaraki like they were equals. I feel like every captain could go against him and none of them would succeed. It would've been a real bloodbath. I have creeps while thinking about it.

"It's difficult to step on ants without crushing them."

With the antagonist finally present, we got the reveal of the culprit behind the Central 46 massacre and, let's be honest, behind everything that had happened until now. After causing chaos in the Soul Society, the villain gracefully leaves while the protagonist and every other character can't do anything to stop it. All they can do is helplessly stand and watch it happen.

And wait for the antagonist's next move.

Anyways, with Volume 20 it's the end of the Soul Society saga. I can't believe that it's already the end. It went by so quickly! It's like I blinked and there was the last page. But I'm not sad at all - the end of the Soul Society saga means that the Vizards will show up soon! I'm so excited to see them all! ✨☺️✨


Some things I need to talk about:

~ "Hey. When is your birthday, Rangiku?"
"I don't know. Things like that had no meaning for me before I met you."
"Then... The day we met is your birthday. All right? What do you say, Rangiku?" - this Matsumoto/Gin flashback scene broke my heart, especially because I know what will happen in the future (I know, but I'm not ready) 😭
~ Hinamori is one of the most foolish anime characters that ever existed. I am not sorry for her at all 😩 The person I am actually sorry for is Hitsugaya. He didn't deserve what had happened to him.
~ Some shots of the antagonist in this volume look straight up diabolic, damn 😨
~ Renji was super brave of not letting go of Rukia and running away. He had basically looked death in the eyes and said "NO." (it was useless, but I still admire the guy for giving his all for his friend)
~ The Ichigo/Renji/Rukia bickering scene was everything 😂
~ The Ichigo/Renji first team up! Yay!
~ The first mention of the Hollowfication!
~ The image of the Komamura arrival looked SICK!
~ Byakuya finally behaved like a man (and a brother) should and we love to see it!
~ WHERE DID THE THREE KEEPERS OF THE GATES CAME FROM?! THEY CERTAINLY DIDN'T SHOW UP IN THE ANIME! It finally makes sense why Jidanbou and Kukaku had shown up! It didn't make sense in the anime at all!
~ Once again the Menos Grande images looked terrifying 😨
~ "I wouldn't have minded being your prisoner a while longer. Goodbye, Rangiku. I'm sorry." - NOOOOO 😭
~ "I told you, Komamura. I follow the path least soaked in blood. Justice is there always. The path I walk is justice." - how can one man say so many lies with a straight face is beyond me 😒

[Jeremiah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a good volume!! Captain Aizen was behind everything this whole time! He planned everything up until the end, and the inner conflict within the Gotei 13 was because of him. His power was on another level compared to the Captains we seen him fight…if you can call what happen a fight. All of that just so he could get the Hogyuko and escape with the Menos. I don’t know what happens next, but I have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of Aizen.

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is where Bleach first starts to really drop the ball. The sudden twist was all very well - could have been great - but his powers are bullshit.

[I'Mdoggo · Rating 5 out of 5]

The battles are incredible!.

[James DeSantis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy shit a twisty twist volume with everything coming undone.

This is pretty great to be honest. With the reveal of the true bad guy we get a non-stop chase of everyone trying to stop him. All the fighting comes to a halt once the villain shows their true face and when he does, he proves to be stronger than almost anyone around. With brutal "fights", if I can call getting owned in two seconds a fight, plus some amazing twist that help elevate multiple characters, this is easily the best volume yet.

I'ma bout to go into unknown territory with Bleach soon but this is some of the best shit around in this series. Well worth the build up. A 4.5 out of 5.

[thi · Rating 5 out of 5]

“No one ever stood atop the heavens before. Not you or I or the gods. But the unbearable vacancy of heavens’s throne ends now. From now on, I will stand on top.”

.. I’m sorry but that is THE villain speech and it goes so hard

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unexpected things happened.

[Elijah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great ending to the Rukia Rescue arc! Can't wait to start the next one which I think will be the Arrancar arc!

[William Bainbridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aizen has fully revealed himself now and that volume in its entirety was great. Ichigo was helpless to stop anything which we needed as he has had too many wins lately now it's back to being the smaller fish. All of the captain's had some awesome moments and Aizen just is a great villain.

[Anastasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good arc finale.

[Ronald · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot happens in this volume. We go from a nice little birthday party to the death of a character beloved by other Soul Reapers. The villain is discovered and he then monologues his evil plan in front of everyone. Then there is a bit of fighting but the villain escapes in the dumbest way possible.

I love how the Hollows show up and someone goes "Menos Grande!" a super Hollow that is hard to defeat in battle. Yet in just a few chapters hoards of Menos Grande will be cut down like cordwood by practically every character. The bad guys escape with the slowest elevator ride ever while gloating about their evil. I mean it is as bad that "hypnosis" worked to essentially turn the Soul Society into an even bigger bunch of idiots than they already were.

This volume is both one of the best parts of the story and the most eye rolling.

[Subham · Rating 4 out of 5]

LITERALLY EVERYTHING IS REVEALED! The big secrets that Aizen is carrying and how he fakes his death to the things that transpired with Rukia and Ichigo and all, it was all down to his calculation and he did it all so as to get something that Urahara had sealed inside Rukia's soul: Hougyoku. Its a thing that allows for Shinigami-Hollow hybrids and that was his plan all along and when confronted with all captains- he, gin and tousen escape because of Menos grande. This volume was wow, so much revelations tying all the stories till now and AIZEN is so good, easily one of the best villains, his demeanor may indicate he is just a good normal human but after this you see hs masterplan and what his real motivations are and the way he defeats others is just too good. Amazing revelations and art and everything was so good in this!!

[Vendea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Všechno bylo součástí jeho plánu. Hehehehe.

[Kati · Rating 4 out of 5]

We finally found out what was going on, what Kuchiki's death sentence was all about. And Kuchiki's brother finally did something good, huzzah for him!

[Angela Auten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just got to the end of season 2 basically. Can't wait to read the next volume! I skipped last weeks volume. So I get to read the next one!

[Alexis · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Redacted] reveal is so good

[Ben Truong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bleach, Vol. 20 continues where the previous tankōbon left off and contains the next ten chapters (169–178) of the on-going manga series with a bonus chapter: "Blooming Under a Cold Moon".

Finding the members of the Central 46 Chambers all dead, Tōshirō Hitsugaya pursues Izuru Kira who reveals that Momo Hinamori had also entered the Central 46 Chambers. Guided by Gin Ichimaru, Momo learns that Sōsuke Aizen is alive before her captain impales her with his zanpakuto. When Hitsugaya arrives, informed by Aizen that Gin was actually his co-conspirator, Hitsugaya unleashes his bankai to avenge Momo. However, Aizen defeats Hitsugaya and almost kills him before Squad Four Captain Retsu Unohana appears, denouncing Aizen's treachery. Aizen then informs her that every Soul Reaper in the Soul Society has been under the hypnosis of his zanpakutō, with the exception of the blind Kaname Tōsen who is revealed to be Aizen's other accomplice.

As Retsu Unohana's lieutenant Isane Kotetsu relays the revelation to all high-ranking Thirteen Court Guard Squad members, Aizen arrives to Tōsen's location after he brought Rukia Kuchiki and Renji Abarai. After Ichigo Kurosaki, Renji, and Sajin Komamura were all defeated, Aizen explains the entire execution was arranged so he can obtain the Hōgyoku, an orb that would allow him to gain hollow powers that was hidden in Rukia's gigai by Kisuke Urahara. After extracting the Hōgyoku from her body, with the Thirteen Court Guard Squads surrounding them, Aizen and his accomplices use several hollows to escape into a portal leading to the hollows' world Hueco Mundo.

This tankōbon is written and illustrated by Tite Kubo. This tankōbon finally explains everything that was going on with the arrest and execution of Rukia Kuchiki and the rescue mission into Soul Society by Ichigo Kurosaki and his group. It was a plan to retrieve an artifact that was hidden in Ruki Kuchiki done by the seemingly dead Sōsuke Aizen and his cohorts Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tōsen – his plans however remains a mystery as he escapes.

All in all, Bleach, Vol. 20 is a wonderful continuation to a series that seems intriguing and I cannot wait to read more.

[Paulo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Descansaré un poco lol

Acabé el primer gran arco de Bleach, la verdad lo disfruté mucho. Está repleto de personajes excéntricos, y la historia, aunque ya conocía el twist, no dejó de ser interesante. Ichigo me agrada como protagonista, siempre me gustará el trope del delincuente con corazón de oro.

Mi cosa favorita hasta ahorita probablemente sea el estilo. El estilo de Kubo tiene mucha personalidad, me gusta cómo incorpora su conocimiento de moda en cómo visten los personajes, y cómo hacía set pieces con los personajes en distintos estilos posando para portadas de capítulos. El diseño de los shinigamis es limpio y cool. Tiene muy buen panneling, y compone viñetas que solo puedo describir como "cool".

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes you need to procrastinate from life by reading the books you were obsessed with in junior high.

What I loved about this series, and still think of as the greatest part, is its humour and the relationships between the characters! It was only when everything in the later volumes became wrapped up in ridiculously extensive battles that I completely gave up (same with Naruto and every other Shonen manga under the sun).

At this point, everything from plot to character development is so intense that you can’t help but get addicted, and I get why 13 year old me spent too much of her day dreaming about Tite Kubo’s world.

[Lashaan Balasingam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an incredible story arc that raises the curtain on all the mysteries that have been frustrating many of the characters, including Tōshirō Hitsugaya who witnesses it all firsthand. As we find out who is behind the gruesome murders within the Soul Society, a devastating battle of frustration and devastation unfolds and highlights the abysmal gap in power between the new faces of evil and the allies of Soul Society.

I won't lie that the James Bond villain exposition was cranked up to the max here but I will also say that it made for an entertaining plot twist that simply sets things up for the next arc in this fantastic franchise.

Yours truly,

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

[Denny B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Penso, senza timore di essere smentito, di aver appena letto uno dei volumi più importanti di Bleach.
Me lo sarei goduto novanta volte di più se solo non me lo fossi spoilerato come un idiota anni fa, però è stata comunque una lettura avvincente con ben due colpi di scena: Aizen ha tramato contro la Soul Society per ergersi sui cieli come una sorta di divinità suprema e si scopre che dentro Rukia è stato nascosto - da Kisuke Urahara) l’Hogyoku, la gemma della distruzione, che è in grado di eliminare in un colpo solo la linea di confine tra Shinigami e Hollow).

Si prosegue a spada dritta con la lettura di uno degli shonen più belli che abbia mai letto.

[Kris Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally, the truth of what is happening has come out. Aizen isn't dead after all, he faked it. there are three Captains that have been the head of the conspiracy. The story is rolling along.

[Blue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Edge of the seat amazing

[Katerina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hate him , if you know , you know

[shirley ♡]

And just like that Aizen became one of my fave characters and villains…

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

Twists and turns finish out this epic arc beautifully. Can’t wait to see what happens next!

[Lucien · Rating 5 out of 5]

this volume was mind blowing! holy sereitei!

[Omar Villafane · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an intelligent Villian. Grandmaster Aizen ♟️

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

I mean truly the end of this arc was insane!!!! Insane frrrrr