Holy Crap Kubo is Here! Well that's exactly how Anime News Network put (from here)



For those of you who aren't at Kubo-con, here, some fic recs, all PR0N:

A Yukata Fetish by syneiam      Based on recent WSJ Obon cover. IchiRuki. NC17 with "guest" appearance by Renji. Hilarious.

A Friend in Need by nehalenia       Ichigo x Chad x Ishida. Yaoi OBVIOUSLY. NC17. Adorable and Yuuuuum.

Madonna by fishingforboots   Grimmjow/Ichigo. NC17 Rawr.

Oh and Read Kaya's latest entry of Oh Bleach Me! (re chapter 318)

Read the scan by Sleepy Fans at OneManga

( oh happy little chapter )

The San Diego Comic Con was setting up yesterday and Viz has a wall where people can leave messages to the great Kubo Tite. My friend's comment on the Kubo Wailing Wall:

I left a dumb comment like: Thank you and please don't kill Ulquiorra... Funny thing was, I did a mental tally on requests... Everyone was posting, Please let Ichigo and Rukia be together.

( Notes from Kubo Con )


All of you who are there, keep us posted on the goings-on!

Oh, and don't miss the discussion still going on after the 3 part essay Feminism in Bleach. I was so happy when it was posted here but when I linked it at BA, it didn't go over well--the PATRIARCHY came down on it in the first comment! LOL! Avenge me, Soi Fong!

I have a confession to make. I saw the first Bleach movie and I haven't seen any since. Why? I can't stand anime movies. The timeline disruptions hurt me. For some reason I can't see them as video-fanfic--not even to appreciate the quality animation. I try.... But I was traumatized once upon a time. In one of the later DBZ movies Chibis Goten and Trunks fought a resurrected Hitler  Although years after first viewing the dubbed version, I could appreciate that movie on another level of yuck-yucks, I never really got over the shock.

First thought when I heard there was going to be a Hitsugaya movie was yey, orin  is going to love it (and possibly draw more Hitsugaya!) but I'LL PASS.  First thought when I heard of the Rukia movie was damn, my Annie got her wish. When Rukia finished 2nd in the popularity polls, she demanded a Rukia movie. So far, that's what it looks like--Rukia's the poster girl. We have very little else except this official website and the confirmation that Kubo Tite himself gave the movie its title and subtitle: Fade to Black: Calling Out Your Name (In the one sound clip we have, Morita hams it up calling RuKiaaAAAAaaaaaAAAAGH the way only Morita can).

One of my friends will probably force me to watch this movie (I'm currently being persuaded to watch the Hitsu movie for the Kubo Tite extra interview it will sell with) but the fuss about it is more fandom fun for me. Thanks again to Mezzo who found another comic on a Japanese fansite.


-----
Does everyone in Japan draw really well or what? It's like the place is exploding with awesome fanartists and doujinshi artists.

Thank you, Kubo-sensei.

chapter here

Volume 34 came out with a release date of July 4. Some Bleach fans speculate that has something to do with Kubo's little drawing over his usual flap cover comment.



Ok, change of pace.
Take a useless poll. Why not. It's the weekend. You may check as many boxes as you like for each question.

Poll #1218139 Useless Poll About Whatdaya Think About Bleach Lately?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Old Man Yama

Next Cover Spread

Primera Espada

Hirako and Hiyori

Ichigo and Orihime

Who will show up first in the upcoming manga chapters?

Tanabata

Thank you for participating in a perfectly useless poll. If you have more time to kill, tell me in the comments section what you believe will happen to Hanatarou in Hueco Mundo.

The prediction game is hellafun. Just looking at some recent ones played here on bleachness   and no one guessed Shinji was you know what.

Spectacular Crystal Ball Contest 3

(no one guessed nothing)

Ulquiorra Schiffer Can Regenerate

(I'm not holding out much for this one but hey, a girl can dream)

It may be an H cover but it's still ART, dammit! :yell

Whatever shall I do... no spoilers to look forward to this week. I thought about doing a gaiden retrospective and presenting for you close-up panels of all the baby characters presented and calling it BLEACH THE WONDER YEARS but I decided to make a less lame entry and show you some pix you MAY have not seen before.

I recently purchased one of pheleon's unique and amazing plushies for a friend's birthday and pheleon took a pic of Renji and Ichigo saying goodbye to said plushie:




You guys have seen the latest volume cover from Kubo-sensei right? This one is going to sell.



There was an IchiRuki festival in Tokyo recently, the second this year, at which doujinshi groups sold their books and fans met to cosplay.  I always crave doujinshi but there were all these other stuffs I wanted from there too.




Mezzo found another comic based on Kubo's already infamous color spread with the turkey leg and innuendo. A little IshiHime perviness this time. I'm so happy Japan hasn't forgotten my favorite pairing.



Oh, and people always ask me how I survive reading all fanforums I do. Simple mantra: "All people are valuable; all opinions are not valid."
I injured some internal organs laughing this week. It's going to be a fun summer for the fandom. I hope all of you at Comic Con this July 26 will take good pix and good notes because I'll be in a day-long boring training session to be a voting commissioner for my city's next elections. Blow kisses at Kubo-sensei for me.

Cheers!

Chapter 316 from Sleepyfans and OneManga here


( I figured out Orihime's volume poem! ) Okay, and now that Spacey and Annie have explained it to me, I understand that there will be NO Bleach chapter in the Shounen Jump issue that comes out for the week of Tanabata. Here I was waiting all YEAR for Kubo's Tanabata chapter and the man, who never takes a week off, decides to take a week off. You clever dog, Kubo-sensei. (Space thinks this is all a coincidence; Annie thinks otherwise.... heh)

My son's copy hasn't arrived in the mail yet but thank you to Rain of Bleach Asylum for this brief excerpt that made me and other fans go apoplectic with speculation.



Read more fan responses in the BA KT interview thread here

ETA:  syneiam , bless her ability to encapsulate Captain Obvious into digestable pill form for everyone, finally noted, after much furious IMing amongst me and my cronies, that the main problem here is that people have been observing for months that the HM arc is "all over the place" and Kubo used those very words in interview to describe part of his writing process, even if he made no connection whatsoever to any particular storyline. Kubo.... oh Kubo.....

Get the goods right here folks from Sleepy Fans


Looks like there's going to be more gaiden. One more chapter at least--10 chapters should fill up a tankuboun and be a nice place to end the flashbacks, and I hear there's a color spread coming next week.  But it seems that there's so much more story left to be told?

My friend jaina is a lucky lucky girl--not because of the goofy pic I drew for her but because of the reason I drew it.

Press Pass Rukia

She's got a one on one interview lined up with Kubo Tite!  Kewlness. It 's confirmed now so I can tell.  ^__^

Kubo is Coming

The rumors are being lit like little deliberate candles of homage on a the garden path to the Big Party Under the Rented Tent.

Can't wait.

No manga chapters for the next two weeks. Golden Week is so hard. In Japan, people celebrate. The rest of the world.... doesn't.

I'm jonesing already for more chibi!shinigami or backstory glimpses of favorite characters. Kubo's already given me two faves, Shinji and Gin, so maybe he'll grant another wish and show  baby Rukia and have Urahara explain why he put the hougyoku in her!

Rukia sure is a mystery.  syneiam  posted an entry in her private LJ today that contained some interesting observations about Kubo's character chapter covers and how Rukia was singled out from a pattern of those covers.  She gave me permission to re-post some of it here. Clicky on thumbnails to enlarge.


Black and white, yin and yang--the word "bleach" has never seemed a better title for the manga somedays. The current chapters seem to be stirring up all sorts of disturbing moral gray, but something tells me that Urahara is still the good guy and Aizen is still the baddie and Kubo is still the sadistic teasing manga-ka he's always been.

*headdesk*  Why is Rukia's name in her chapter cover in black and white font? Is it just because of Sode no Shirayuki and Kubo thought it would look cool to have the white lettering? Ever since Kubo drew the title of "To Close Your World" chapter in the shape of a key, I've been paying extra attention to his lettering.  He wants us to play along, so I play along.

I told someone that it's just like Kubo to surprise people with the EXPECTED. xD

Thank you to Spacey, who is always forthright and true, for the spoilers.



Keep up with the latest on the chapter thread at Bleach Asylum. They've switched back already from their HardGay April 1 format but the skin is still available as an option for those of you (like me) who loved it.

Meanwhile, a Bleach coloring book has been released. And Ichigo is wearing Rukia's pants!

Manga-ka do this all the time. My Kubo needed a break. But instead of taking me to the Riviera, he's going to write character backstories. Yes, the rumor has been around for a while that Kubo was taking a two month break, and I was one of those who believed the rumor if only for the reason that Kubo NEEDED a damn break. But now I'm uncertain as to whether or not this break is going to start NOW (leaving us with 315 as a terrible cliffhanger) or whether it starts a little later. For more about this madness see the thread on Bleach Asylum, in particular yesterday's post which threw me into fangirl anxiety and despair.

eta: from nidaime:

今週で虚圏篇は一旦終了。次週からは「ある人達」の過去の物語が始まります。

That means: The HM saga has Finished and the flashbacks beging next week

I need certainty; if nothing else, I need certainty about my uncertainties.  (and now I have them *weeps*)


 ETA #2 (YES, I continue to be hysterical).  I just realized that the regular storyline will return in June! ZING! I called it! I called it! I said Ichigo would fight Ulquiorra for Tanabata!  Last year Ichigo fought Grimmjow for the exact weeks of Tanabata July through August.

Kubo does this thing. He wants it to be rainy when you read his "Memories in the Rain" chapters. He throws around little happenings on character birthdays. He had Orihime slap Ulquiorra on Valentine's day.

Oh, hit us over the head, will you Kubo? Five lifetimes, the fifth tower that Hime is trapped in. ARGH! There needs to be some resolution here. I expect shippers will be pulling out their hair, but I myself will be settled deep into my Lazy Boy with popcorn. It's been a long time coming, Kubo-sensei. You better have my girl Hime step up to the plate this Tanabata!

HaNa has my undying affection. Here, the rest of my skittles too.

Cruising along LJ today I saw a couple people wondering what the title of Kubo's latest chapter could possibly refer to.

Oooh, ooh! *raises hand* I know this one.

When I first read the title, I thought I know this song, isn't it HEAVY METAL?  Nope, "Satan From Orbit" tunes didn't start spinning in this old head--and I know my 80s rock like I know my English lit sooooo it was Milton who I thought of next, because in Paradise Lost, Satan is the hero in a journey from Heaven to Hell. As a character Satan spends some time literally orbiting the planets and being snakey, a la Nnoitra (I know everyone's predicting a snake release from our dear Spoony but I honestly hope the guy's dead. If not, like I was telling a friend, his release could be anything from an egg-timer to a SOUP LADLE. No telling with Kubo these days).

I mention Milton not just because I'm on a literary nerd buzz since the call for fandom papers from Transformative Works and Cultures but because Kubo-sensei really is playing hardball with the religious imagery.  Paradise Lost is a satirical work full of religious motifs and Satan is its sympathetic protagonist. Yeah, Satan.....

Kenpachi? Nnoitra? Now which one could be Satan? Milton's Satan is the literary forerunner of the Byronic hero--the original "mad, bad, and dangerous to know" type. His story frames the issues of free will, predestination, and what's WRONG with the universe.

I dunno. I was reminded of Aizen's complaint that the throne in heaven had been empty for too long. Milton's Heaven, like Kubo's Soul Society, is a strict hierarchal government, while Hell, not unlike Hueco Mundo, is a place where rebels rule.

As it happens, my husband is on a Milton kick at the moment (he's teaching Hobbes--Milton's Paradise Lost is supposed to be critique of Hobbes' Leviathan). Honest to G-D, there was a print-out  article in the house recently called "Satan From Orbit" that I remembered seeing next to Max's motorcycle magazines.  After I realized that Bleach was long past the Grimmjow fight and I didn't need to be looking up old glam-rock lyrics anymore, I just HAD to have this essay. It wasn't around. I googled for it and when I asked the husband for his log-in identification to the Milton Quarterly, he said, "don't tell me.... this has something to do with Bleach?"

Yeah.

Maybe I need a vacation more than Kubo does.

There's a treat in chapter 307--no, not the top 10 spread or the omake where Kon goes "Hinamori! What are you doing here! Go home and get some rest!" (still chuckling over that one.... and Ulquiorra's little green scarf in that drawing.... see photo in yesterday's post). In chapter 307 we're treated to a Kubo Tite interview and some shots of his work station. Kubo has very pretty hands, although I question his taste in rings.




Ooops, no that's not really what he's written there.  Here's another picture and a translation by melody_mix of part of the interview. Thank you Mel!



SPOILER FOR 307 below:

Guess what? I love Ishida! But I alone didn't put him in fifth place in the pop poll (yes, I was ONE of those crazy people who sent in a whole box of postcards to Japan--I know at least of one other nut who's confessed to ballot-stuffing (asam/manfan/whatever it goes by these days) and my son sent in a box for Hitsugaya, but who else sent a box? CONFESS! Kon addressed us personally--he called us "creepy people" here --and yes, in Kon's world, creepy means something! He was in the Bounto arc!)

I'm not taking any credit for the Hitsugaya/Momo/Kira votes, though. Hats off to their Japanese fans and their special brand of crazy.

I'm still shuddering from the icy glare Hitsugaya gives us loser fans in that poll spread. Ice, ice, baby.

( MY Ishida poll results, meta-crazy, and what's up for Valentine's? )

Keep those graphics and icons from the pop poll spread coming, folks. I'm hoping against hope that Kubo-sensei draws Ulquiorra in that little green scarf in a larger, more proper spread.  And please, people, write some good Valentine's and White Day fic.

Syn and Justine, you can make fun of me all you want but I am still celebrating the fact that Renji has eyebrows and that Primera Espada on BA discovered confirmation of them in the All Colour but the Black artbook. I just love that my Kubo pays attention to details like that--he draws the red eyebrows first and then colors over them in black. There's even evidence he does the real eyebrows in a fuzz pattern in the black and white pages.

So I drew this. Renji eyebrow diagram gratis of NakeBeniHime.

( Kubo Tite is My Boyfriend (work safe) )

Now I said I was going to drag out my yaoi scholarship and look up what it means when a samurai has shaved temples like Renji does. LB7 reminded me that Renji's hairstyle was Edo period but I seem to remember the hair-style signifying something about sexual availability. Does anyone know?