The eighth volume of the “Bleach” omnibus showcases the battle between the Soul Reapers vs. the Arrancars! Exciting, action-packed from beginning to end, “Bleach 3-in-1: Volumes 22-24” is highly recommended!
Image courtesy of © Tite Kubo. All Rights Reserved.
MANGA TITLE: Bleach 3-in-1: Volumes 22-24 – Omnibus Edition
STORY AND ART BY: Tite Kubo (ä¹…ä¿ å®£ç« )
FIRST PUBLISHED IN JAPAN: SHUEISHA, Inc.
PUBLISHED IN USA BY: VIZ Media, LLC/Shonen Jump Manga
RATED: T for Older Teen
RELEASE DATE: May 6, 2014
Ichigo and his friends have returned home from the battle in the Seireitei, but everything is far from back to normal. Ichigo’s inner Hollow is getting more powerful and can’t wait to devour him, and having to deal with the sinister new transfer student isn’t helping matters. Plus, a deadly new enemy is poised to attack Karakura Town!
Ichigo’s father is a soul reaper? Is Ichigo a Visored?
And the battle with the Arrancar begins!
All this is another action-packed volume of Tite Kubo’s “Bleach 3-in-1: Volumes 22-24” omnibus!
What is “Bleach”?
“Bleach†has a strong fan following and since its run began back in 2001, series creator, writer and illustrator Noriaki “Tite†Kubo has been hard at work, continuing to crank chapter after chapter for Weekly Shonen Jump in Japan and with the success of the series extending out to films, OVA’s, feature films and video games and other merchandise.
Because of its airing on the Cartoon Network and it being featured on Shonen Jump magazine, “Bleach†has gone on to become a fan favorite in America but also fans all over the world.
BUT… what if you are a person who came into “Bleach” just recently. You feel that there are too many manga, anime and video games to read and watch that there is surely no way for you to start from the very beginning.
A brief spoiler-less summary what “Bleach†is about
“Bleach†is a story about a guy named Ichigo Kurasaki who has a gift in which he can see spirits. One day, he saw a Soul Reaper (one who can govern the flow of souls between the human world and the afterlife) named Rukia Kukichiki who has come to find a Hollow (a lost soul). She ends up being wounded in battle when she tried to defend Ichigo and so she illegally transfers her reiatsu (spiritual pressure) to him, so that he can defeat the Hollow. But during the process, he nearly takes all of her energy and becomes a Soul Reaper himself and defeats the Hollow quite easily.
So, the first storyline arc features Rukia now powerless stranded in the human world until she has the time to recover her true powers, while Ichigo fills in and battles Hollows in her place. And with each fight, Rukia starts to notice something special about Ichigo’s abilities.
Meanwhile, we get to see how friends of Ichigo also have some ties with the supernatural. From his classmate Orihime Inoue , to his tall friend with immense strength, Chad Sado and the mod known as Kon, we also get to meet friends that help Ichigo and Rukia take on the various hollows that are attacking humans and souls.
We are then introduced to classmate of Ichigo’s named Uryu Ishida who reveals himself to be a Quincy, a long lost group that hunted down hollows but unlike soul reapers that send the hollows to the Soul Society, Quincy’s believe in the destruction of hollows. And because the Quincy were eliminated by the Soul Reapers hundreds of years ago and he is the last one left, he has a hatred towards Soul Reapers. We also learn that Chad and Orihime have latent powers and other friends and family of Ichigo are able to see spiritual pressure.
In volume 22, Ichigo’s father is revealed to be a Soul Reaper and both he and Urihara are trying to find out what the Visored’s, especially Aizen are up to. Meanwhile, Shinji of the Visoreds is intent of getting Ichigo to join them. Meanwhile, will Urihara recover his power if he promises his father that he will not mess around with any Soul Reapers? And the first encounter between Ichigo vs. Ulquiorra.
In volume 23, as the Arrancar plan to make their attack on Karakura Town, a few of the Soul Reapers go to the town to stay with a few of the humans in order to protect them. The Arrancars unleash their attack as Ikku Madarame and Yumichika Ayasegawa takes on Arrancar No. 13 (Edorade Leones), Ichigo and Rukia takes on Arancar No. 6 (Grimmjow Jeagerjaques), Toshiro Hitsugaya takes on a powerful Arrancar no. 11 (Shawlong) and Renji takes on an Arrancar.
In volume 24, the continuation of the battle vs. the Arrancarrs.
The main characters of “Bleach†are:
- Ichigo Kurosaki – The main protagonist. A teenager who becomes a substitute soul reaper after absorbing Rukia’s powers. Accepting his new powers and wanting to protect everyone around him. Ichiro manages to grow in power with every battle he gets involved in.
- Rukia Kuchiki – A Soul Reaper who transferred her spiritual power to Ichigo.
- Orihime Inoue – A longtime classmate of Ichigo who is very caring and manages to develop her spiritual awareness and after her brother is killed by a hollow, she has managed to grow in power which is tied to a hairpin that her brother had given her.
- Yasutora “Chad†Sado – A friend of Ichigo and very quiet. Developed a sense of seeing hollows and eventually gaining a power of strength and a right arm that is literally a weapon to fight against hollows.
- Uryu Ishida – A classmate of Ichigo and a descendant of a priest group that hunted hollows known as Quincy. Earlier on, Uryu was a rival of Ichigo due to his hatred towards the Soul Reapers and eventually becomes friends with him.
- Kon – A modsoul who’s life soul is put into a stuffed lion. When Ichigo is a Soul Reaper, Kon takes over Ichigo’s body, so no one including Ichigo’s family knows that Ichiro is actually not there. Mostly a comedy-driven character known for his perverseness and always complaining about something.
- Kisuke Urahara – Owner of the Urahara shop and a former captain of the 12th Division in the Soul Society. He caught Aizen converting Soul Reapers to Visoreds but before he can save them, Aizen framed him for the crimes and Urahara fled to the real world.
- Yoruichi Shihoin – An old friend of Kisuke Urahara who can turn into a black cat. She is the former captain of the 2nd Division and former Commander in Chief of the Secret Mobile Corps.
- Renji Abarai – Liutenant of the 6th Division in the Gotei 13 under Captain Byakuya Kuchiki. Cares deeply for Rukia Kuchiki and is recruited by Kisuke Urahara to help train Yasutora Sado.
- Toshiro Hitsugaya – Captain of the 10th Division and the youngest captain in the history of the Soul Society. Because of his young age and height, on Earth he is mistaken to be a grade schooler.
- Rangiku Matsumoto – Lieutenant of the 10th Division, the well-endowed, carefree lieutenant who loves shopping and drinking.
- Ikkaku Madarame – The 3rd Seat of the 11th Division who loves to battle and known for his bald head.
- Yumichika Ayasegawa – The 5th Seat of the 11th Division. He can’t stand things that are “uglyâ€.
And the Soul Reaper vs. Arrancar battles have now begun!
With the eighth “Bleach 3-in-1” Omnibus, this features vol. 22-24 which begins the war vs. the Arrancars and a battle that will last for the next 20+ graphic novel volumes.
But the significance of graphic novel volumes 22-24 in “Bleach” is the fact that we learn more about Ichigo’s father (which will become a major part of the storyline years later), that inner hollow that exists within him and has haunted him in the past but for the most part, Aizen’s plan has now been executed and the Soul Reapers must take on the Arrancars most powerful.
While the pages of these volumes are primarily all about battles, because the war is in Karakura Town, the storyline also deals with other characters such as Orihime’s jealousy towards Rukia, Sado wanting to become more powerful and even a few friends and family finally discovering that something is going on with Ichigo and Karakura Town.
But for those wanting a deep storyline, you won’t get so much of that but you will get to know the abilities and the fight strategies of various Soul Reapers and Arrancars..
As for the release of the omnibus, what you are getting are three volumes for the price of one manga. Yes, you don’t get the individual cover art but for the savings of one of the omnibus versus purchasing three books individually, it really depends on the reader, as you do get all pages, including Tite Kubo’s page comments.
Overall, this eighth volume of “Bleach 3-in-1: Volumes 22-24” is all about intense action. Not only does these volumes establish Ichigo as a visored, his father as a Soul Reaper but most importantly, this will set up one of the longest battles in “Bleach” and that is the war fight against the Arrancars.
As always, Tite Kubo’s artwork is fantastic. I love how he is able to capture humor and action in his pages.  And for this volume, the sheer number of battles is rather exciting.
Once again, another exciting, action-packed manga omnibus from beginning to end, “Bleach 3-in-1: Volumes 22-24 – Omnibus Edition” is highly recommended!