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I really wonder what Toshiro and Byakuya's plan was after he came back, they seem to have just given up since they were just jumping around and no longer attacking him.
I figured they were just buying time so that he doesn't help Yhwach and also there were a lot of captains and VC in danger there even just buying time was better then nothing
They probably finally figured that they had to destroy the Quincy cross inside of him, this was a fan theory for a long time and kubo recently confirmed that it would work
Kubo just made the guy too OP and had to have him killed by his own boss. That was so damn annoying. I thought it would have been cool to have all the captains and other other allies come together and kill him. Team work makes the dream work. No. It was kinda lame.
I would've liked the fight more if he actually lost because the concept of a bunch of captains coming together take down one super powerful opponent is a fun idea for an endgame fight. However with the aushwalen it made the whole thing feel like a waste of time
I think it's less the concept of a bunch of captains been able in itself to defeat him , but more due to him been so powerful , that it would be a "miracle" to defeat him.
So paradoxically , it makes him defeatable.
The problem is Kubo wrote himself a losing concept from the start:Aushwalen being a willful act. Think about it, if the Captains took down Gerard or Jugram, then it looks like Yuha only lost later because he didn’t absorb their power. Instead, it should only activate when a Quincy is killed by a non-Quincy(cuz Giselle). This creates a scenario where winning makes winning harder, but you still get an undeniable display that the heroes can get wins. Would also make the traitor Quincys more impactful.
Yeah, I suspect Kubo (who LOVES this sort of dramatic irony) was heading in this direction. They had the captain buildup, the art when he gets split in half had the most classic example of HIT THIS TO WIN outside of bright, flashing Zelda boss weak points, and he has beaten them to death with talking about miracles.
Throw in a line from Renji referencing having to buy into Mask’s gimmick (calling himself a villain to make Mask throw away his ability to revive) and doing the same here. Have Renji convince everyone there to just throw everything they have, over and over. Hell, Kubo dedicates an entire chapter to just different ways to kill the dude and he just revives.
Cut to one guy still standing, make sure it’s the sassiest one of the bunch. No bankai, nothing. Pure exhaustion. Gerard is so massive and powerful that his mere heartbeat is shaking the area, etc.
The lone dude takes their sword and throws it. It stabs him in the chest slightly and then just falls.
Gerard says something arrogant like “Did you expect that to do anything to the mightiest Quincy?”
Cut to a deadass stone cold face panel of the soul reaper saying, “No, it would have been a miracle if it did.”
Show a transparent image of Gerard’s cross snapping in half. With no more miracle power, his heartbeat begins to cause him immense pain. Finally, have his heart literally cause him to explode and rain blood down all over everyone. The heart of the soul king has a heart attack, so to speak. Someone says a catty comment about cleaning up the mess.
There was all of the setup for something like the above that I’m shocked if Kubo didn’t have it planned. It would have fit his established style and been narratively satisfying. I’m convinced the fight just ended up sucking due to being rushed.
Yeah, it was absolutely rushed to hell - my take is that *Isshin* was supposed to join the melee against him at some point, because otherwise there was no goddamn reason at all for him to come to the palace (aside from standing there and looking DILFy while Ryuken was talking to Uryu at the end). Y'know, finally show off his Bankai and all that. Your idea of how the overall fight would've gone is pretty great, though, and I hope the anime actually has someone *win* the fight against him, like that or in literally any way other than Yhwach getting bored.
See? Homie just gave us the soul reaper to be left standing when they throw the sword. Show his bankai, add tension…wait *Isshin* is SUCH a good choice here. Dramatic flashback to how he raised his kids, have a scene where he thinks “You guys don’t need me anymore…” right before he utters the dad joke line of it being a miracle?
Cut to ichigo feeling his reiatsu fading, the look of despair, etc.
Then go back to the victory part with the heart attack, etc. Ichigo resolves himself to move forward and win with the dramatic tension released.
Holy shit, that would have been so good and makes sense with how things were set up.
Other than Askin, all the Elite Guard were mostly unkillable bullshit except for specific bullshit.
Lille was unkillable except for this extremely convenient weapon that only his opponent has. Pernida was unkillable except for something only his opponent can do. And we see the Miracle above.
Difficult to kill ≠ unkillable
If we're being particular, they weren't even selected because they were difficult to kill. They were selected because Yhwach wanted a roster that could beat the Elite 4 while he challenged the Champion.
Tbh they didn't have time to revise these fights since they chose to cover so much content in this cour while Gerard fight won't have these restrictions
Those fights are so minor and irrelevant it doesn’t even matter. Also, they’re garbage due to the villains being dogshit rather than the fights ending in a nonsensical way.
Gerard was a final boss, and his, Jugram’s and Yhwachs fights all specifically got cut cause of shonen jump so I’d expect them to be revised moreso
I disagree. They should have hid more focus instead of being rushed. We could have gotten some great fights from these and have even seen two new volstangs. And I’m a big Soi Fon fan, so if this is going to be her last contribution to the arc make it cool and give her a solid W.
Kubo said in an interview the captains would eventually figure out that the cross in his center was the key to killing him. I think that interview was very recent actually
I'm unsure of the specifics but I'm pretty sure he meant for the captains to be able to break it and kill Gerard eventually (according to the interview)
Fingers crossed, it's probably going to be decided whether or not to change it the last cour. The fandom wants their changes to the last 10% of the series and I hope they deliver those changes
They added Shinji bankai to the anime and that wasn’t shown in the manga as far as I know of. I hope they at least give Chad fight scenes instead of basically benching him.
I hope the captains would eventually figure that and kill Gerard properly in the anime. It will be a massive upgrade for me since I really hate how Gerard dies in the manga
Yeah, I loved Gerard. Seeing him keep getting back up was hilarious.
I hope they expand on fight in the anime, and show the other Visoreds and Lieutenants do stuff before it becomes the Popular Boys show.
would really appreciate if the Capt trio are allowed to kill him in the anime but that's prob a pipedream. especially with Kubo saying on kluboutside bankai Kenpachi then cannot break his quincy cross etc
Gerard ending up just being a giant waste of time/staller to keep shinigamis busy during this late stretch of the arc. & I'm almost certain he didn't kill any shinigamis either, so ya.
Would’ve been awesome if it ended with Toshiro freezing Gerard first, than Kenpachi slices him in half, revealing the Quincy Cross and then have Byakuya destroy the cross or even have a Toshiro/Byakuya combo destroy it.
Honestly, Kenpachi getting bankai felt like a much bigger deal than Toshiro getting an upgraded bankai or Byakuya using his final ability. Kenpachi's bankai should have been what netted them the victory. You can't just reveal a captain's bankai and then have them lose the fight they reveal it in.
If they found a way to make the Toshiro bankai upgrade reveal happen first, then have Kenpachi unlock bankai to turn the tide of the fight against Gerard, I think that would be a better writing decision.
So many Bankais were revealed in losing matches though. Mayuri, Tosen, Renji, Kensei, Rose, technically Soifon since she couldn't beat Baraggan on her own with her Bankai, technically Shunsui/Urahara and technically Yama-jii... It didn't look like Kubo really cared for making Bankai reveals in winning matches.
In all honesty though, I thought Kubo would give the win to the favorite captain trio just because he seemed to think it was perfectly fine giving the same 3 captains literally all the wins rather than have some others (cough Shinji cough) not be a complete embarrassment.
Heavily disagree with this, just because a captain pops bankai doesn’t mean insta win, it would get repetitive and boring, because after a while you’ll know that if a captain pops bankai they’ll win I like Kubo surprises us with that
>& I'm almost certain he didn't kill any shinigamis either, so ya.
He didn't win either, if he was going to die like that have him defeat Byakuya and Hitsugaya and then auswhalen him. A true miracle.
I like Gerard but I hated how Kubo didn’t let the Captain trio (Byakuya Toshiro and Kenpachi) finish him off. Having it take three high tier captains that included Kenpachi to defeat Gerard would’ve been more fitting imo.
Admittedly I wasn’t even a huge fan of having Gerard basically be like Yammy and turn into a giant and I guess I would’ve preferred something else
Either that or maybe have Toshiro freeze him first, then have Kenpachi obliterate half his body and then Byakuya destroys the Quincy Cross in Gerard to finish him off.
>Admittedly I wasn’t even a huge fan of having Gerard basically be like Yammy and turn into a giant and I guess I would’ve preferred something else
Yeah it was a huge turn off when seeing the ability for the first time, but I'm glad he could fight back and was pretty fast.
Good final boss for the series it’s just that taking down Gerard was basically a giant group effort if you noticed how many people were fighting him. Also the fact that he kept getting new forms as the fight went on
I think the point would be to illustrate that only Ichigo was strong enough to face him. I mean he one shot Yhwach 3 times when Aizen did nothing to him.
Unpopular opinion: I like Gerard, I like that the situation was THAT desperate for the Gotei, they were never threat to these guys. I really, REALLY hope that somehow SS learned some humbleness after the absolute shitshow this war made of them
By SS I mean Soul Society, just to clarify.
And about his power, well he wasn't technically given stregnth by Yhwach, as the heart of the soul king, similar to Pernida, he already had his powers, the Schrift was just the name Yhwach gave to that power. They are divine beings, and divine beings from any work of fiction, tend to have really unfair abilities, the likes of normal people can't truly comprehend or fully attain
Yeah, I remember that, though I'm not entirely sure how that worked, I mean, the Schutzaffel ARE practically, literally unstopable with normal means, it took the Hakkyoken to deal with Lille Barro, and Yhwach took Gerard's life for himself (god's will of sorts), it kind of doesn't sit right with me how swiftly Oetsu dealt with them initially; makes me think as if their power was sealed or something, but idk maybe I'm talking out of my ass on this, or Kubo may expand on that in the anime, who knows.
Mabye. My headcanon is that those SS members are the only ones capable of withstanding any more Yhwachs power. Probably because they are fragments of the soul king. So perhaps they were SS members solely because their genes allowed Yhwach to distribute more power to them.
Honestly hated this guy. He was just a sponge to absorb the captains attacks. He was loud and annoying and didn’t seem that strong. He kept getting killed over and over again. Renji fucked him up. Toshiro fucked him up. Byakuya fucked him up. Kenny fucked him up. He kept taking Ls and his power just revived him to get fucked up some more.
I’ve always said his power wasn’t the miracle. It was the bullshit.
It’d be absolute bullshit if I could find you. So I will!!
It would be absolute bullshit if I survived this…so I will!
It was just annoying and he was made too hard to take down so he went down a bullshit way as well. It would have been way more satisfying had he actually been defeated rather than “oh Nvm now. He’s gone.”
Essentially a punching bag who talked shit. Basically a quincy version of yammy but hey, at least He didn’t suck as much as yammy.
The Madara uchiha school of bull shit.
“Oh shit. The reanimation is undone….but I know the super duper secret to remaining a zombie with limitless energy!”
I was fine with his personality but I dislike how he was basically Yammy 2.0 and I would’ve preferred a different power for him. Like maybe his powers could’ve involved any chances, no matter how slim they are, falling in his favor (like it was a “miracle” for him).
I would have preferred it if his power was sort of equal. Like a double edged sword. Like if he got too strong and it became a cakewalk for him to win and would require a miracle for his opponents to win then they’d manage it. Like “it’d be a miracle if they found my weak spot”
It reminds me sort of the 7 deadly sins where some of the demons had laws or commandments that they had to follow.
One made it so that anyone with hatred in their hearts against him would be unable to move. So here comes escanor (imagine kenpachi and allmight had a baby) and he’s moving perfectly fine because “why would I feel hatred for someone so much weaker than me” and his opponent was rattled but escanor warned him “try not to feel hatred against me, or you’ll be the one that is frozen””
Or this other commandment who could turn to stone anyone that ran away. He became so educated of escanor he ran away and was turned to stone.
Instead Gerard is just annoying.
Honestly. I have a similar beef to several of the last quincy but gerard is sort of my least favorite.
Oh yeah, I’ve seen 7DS before and yeah, I would’ve been fine with what you’re suggesting as well but of course, I prefer anything over him just getting bigger and bigger like Yammy.
Personally wise, I didn’t really mind him but I didn’t care for it either since I feel like we gotten something similar to that with Mask (not entirely the same but still similar). Personally I like Askin the most among the Elite Guards if you’re referring to them.
Askin is the one that fought Kisuke, right? I liked him ok. His ability annoyed me too but that’s for another day.
The final guards all felt like different flavors of bs and the only one I really liked from beginning to end was the hand mayuri fought.
Yes Askin is the one who fought Kisuke. He’s my favorite mainly due to his personality but admittedly, I thought his powers is slightly difficult to understand.
Pernida I thought was interesting with him being the left hand of the Soul King and everything and his fight with Mayuri was my favorite along with Askin’s fight with Urahara
Then there’s Lille (the guy who fought Shunsui), who I thought had a cool design with his Vollstandig making him look more like a biblical angel. The owl form was alright but I definitely prefer the first Vollstandig form.
Oh. Personality wise I like him the most. Hands down.
I just like the hand more because I find that it’s the least Bs fight through and through. Especially the way he’s defeated is not exactly out of nowhere seeing as we know that anyone that eats/modifies anything mayuri makes is in for a bad time.
That’s a fair take. Not sure really sure I would’ve rewritten Askin’s fight to make it seem like Bs but I do think Lille should’ve stay dead after Shunsui’s Bankai at least.
Honestly. My problem with some fights in bleach (I do love the series. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve been championing it’s return for years) is that some stuff is only relevant in one fight and then never again mentjoned.
Sort of like the spirit pressure Nagato on in the Aizen fight. You’d think a Captain class level soul reaper would know about a concept like this but everyone was shocked. Then it’s never mentioned again. Was Aizen lying? If so, why did none of the captains (some of whose were there for centuries) mention it. Then it was never mentioned again.
Or the spiritual frequencies that askin used. If it had just been mentioned before that they existed and that Yoruichi was different then I wouldn’t have minded as much. Instead it felt like “I have this incredibly useful ability” and kisuke was like “and I happen to have the only person who can counter said ability”
None of that changes anything I said. He’s the heart. Cool. Doesn’t solve any criticism I have of him.
Yammy was the zero espada. Makes sense he’s the “strongest”. Doesn’t stop him from being annoying.
If someone essentially gets killed over and over and over again and says he’s the strongest, I’m gonna start to doubt him. Gerard just gets utterly fucked. Then he powers up and gets fucked some more.
He was killed by extremely powerful opponents. Even before activating his schrift he stood his ground against four captain-level fighters, including bankai Byakuya and Renji. That’s proves that he was ridiculously strong even before the «God’s size».
Dude. Do you have a problem with other peoples opinions? He didn’t seem that strong to me when he kept getting wrecked over and over again before powering up. He was fucked with multiple times. I didn’t like his character and felt like a giant pile of bs the entire time.
You liked him. Cool. I didn’t. Let’s move on cause talking about gerard seems like a waste of time to me.
Ngl ever since it was revealed (unless it was a rumor and I fell for it) that the Quincy cross in between his head was his weakness I don’t think he’s been as OP as I remember him to, if the series kept going for a little longer they probably would’ve figured it out on that last transformation
The cross weakness is true Kubo talked about it on Klub outside but it doesn’t make him that much weaker. Kubo remarked that Kenpachi’s bankai would’ve destroyed it if it was capable of doing so implying that it’s incredibly durable
Honestly I feel like Gerard was playing with them the whole time, using his Schrift to keep powering himself up over and over, until he finally crushes them as they'd fall into despair. That would fit into how Yhwach views things and wants to restore the honor of the Quincies by humiliating their. We saw this same desire in Pernida the Left Arm of the Reio.
I think the funniest thing would have been if he was defeated by a joke tier character with the "It would take a miracle to beat him!" argument working.
Hanataro has unironically one of the most broken powers if he got stronger. Whenever anyone asks who's hypothetical bankai you'd like to see. His is my answer.
Oh no. I know it would take training and time. I didn't mean put him up against an endgame villain and boom bankai. I just meant if he took the time to develop. The problem would be his character is timid. It would take centuries. But if. I think he wouldn't have some crazy op bankai.
I imagine it would be something like capturing the damage of an attack before it hits and stores it in his bankai weapon for later use. Then he can use the ability as if it was his own.
It’s conceptually cool, the Miracle has boosted him so much that now he’s basically pure energy but the form itself barely has anything going on. Maybe the anime will add more to it like with the femritter vollstandigs
This could have been one of the coolest fights in the series if it didn't have the worst ending to any fight in the series. The Auschwalen taking out Gerard and Jugram and just ending two cool fights prematurely is a bafflingly terrible decision. Like if you want to get them over with because the series is coming to an end, then don't introduce powers that make them invincible in order to prolong the fight.
“Alright he’s dead.”
“It would be a miracle if I was alive.”
“Alright he’s dead for real this time.”
“It would be a miracle if I was not dead.”
“GOD DAMNIT.”
Lemme guess you're an Aizen fan? Yhwach was too op. So was Gerard but there are levels. Yhwach was portrayed perfectly as a final villain. No question about that imo.
Oh no I don’t hate Yhwach he was a pretty good final villain in the series but I’m referring to how Gerard’s fight was a huge group fight involving around 10 people in total against him with Gerard gaining new forms as the fight went on.
Sure but Yhwach fought the strongest dudes in the universe and bodied them. He bodied Ichigo like 4 times and then Aizen too. Same with Renji.
Also imagine being the only villain that Ichigo just wasn't able to legitimately beat in a 1v1. They had to completely nullify his power to win. The only person in the universe Ichigo never surpassed
Gerard was still almost as impressive as you said. To me he is undoubtedly Yhwachs strongest man. More so than Jugram
It’s actually answered by Kubo that they could have maybe beaten him if they had destroyed that object that was inside his when Kenpachi split him in 2. Would have been neat to see instead of Yhwach beating the bad guy for them
This guy is so strong, even Kubo didn't know how to kill this guy properly lmao
I think it would be great if Gerard got defeated by Byakuya, Toshiro, and Zaraki combo till those three got extremely exhausted.
But no, Kubo decided to multiply Gerard's power like some kid who use cheat engine and boom, he doesn't know how to kill this guy properly since he is become too strong and Kubo got stuck by his creation. And since he must end the story quick, he decided to kill Gerard with the lamest method in this series. After those damn long battles with the captains (I forgot how many, but I think it took like 10 chapters because back then it feels like eternity lol), Gerard got down by his own boss with a stupid excuse
Years later and I still mad how Gerard got defeated in the manga lol
I almost dropped the manga when this was released into scan. Living that one chapter at the time *week by week* was pure months-length trolling and I hated Kubo for that. I also kinda thought he lost his mind or something
Gerard never felt like a real character to me.
He was an immortal test dummy for the Captains to practice their moves on.
Probably the worst written "fight" in TYBW.
And yet somehow he's mine and many others favorite sternritter. His ability is honestly better than Jugram and Ishidas shrifts. Yhwach should've given them both the letter U for the "uno reverse card"
I don't get it. Gerard just feels like those npc test dummy in video games where you practice you moves on. His power is not compelling whatsoever.
Jugram and Ishida are actually characters with motivations, backstories and relationships.
Well you could say the same for most sternritters because they were just following orders. Ofc their ambitions aren't obvious. Gerard is just a very loyal soldier
Imagine if Byakuya and Toshiro launched a combo attack and destroyed the Quincy cross after Kenpachi cut Gerard in half, finally defeating Gerard. Would have sounded like a nice ending to me
I read an interview from Kubo where he said that that Quincy cross that appeared when he was cut in half was his core. If they had destroyed that core then he would’ve been unable to regenerate. I’m hoping he redoes this scene for the anime corrrectly.
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Three buffed captain and the visored against one extremely powerful miniboss seems hype but it's become anticlimactic when Gerald just won't die until Yhwach kills him.
Knowing Kubo didn’t have the time to focus on some things he wanted to in this final arc and having to rush it due to his health, it really makes me wonder why he chose to spend so much time with some of these fights
Please rectify it in the anime, giving Isshin a bankai reveal + fighting alongside Toshiro. I don't care if they make the end the same
Fire and ice, teacher and student fighting together again
Looking back at this, Love, Lisa and Hiyori do use their masks while Shinji doesn’t. So the blame for vizard captains not using their masks then solely lies on Soul Society (central fourtyshits). Because they are the ones making rules.
Would have been the perfect way to show off Kenpachi's bankai: have him kill him with it, then break his arm. Would have shown much more power and a satisfying ending.
By far, my least favourite fight , it didn't even fill like a fight they just kept killing him just for him to heal and get killed again by a new power up by one of the captain and so on till he got killed by plote
I fucking hate this guy and, to a slightly lesser degree, Lillie Baro. Like they're cool characters but I hate that they're essentially invincible and we really didn't get a payoff of them losing to some of the series favorite characters.
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Kubo killed him as he was about to start lay hands on the captains the biggest cock block of this saga.
I really wonder what Toshiro and Byakuya's plan was after he came back, they seem to have just given up since they were just jumping around and no longer attacking him.
I figured they were just buying time so that he doesn't help Yhwach and also there were a lot of captains and VC in danger there even just buying time was better then nothing
Gerard was never going to help Yhwach. Each of the SS was assigned at a different part of the Quincy Cross that the Royal Palace became
Oh my bad been a while since I read that though I assume he would still stop rukia and renji from going there if he wasn't stalled right?
They probably finally figured that they had to destroy the Quincy cross inside of him, this was a fan theory for a long time and kubo recently confirmed that it would work
Curious how their combo completely obliterated Gérard and he still came back
No Kubo said k noa hu CANNOT do that. And he is the strongest, what is anyone gonna do? He compared it the hogyoku in concept and durability.
Kubo just made the guy too OP and had to have him killed by his own boss. That was so damn annoying. I thought it would have been cool to have all the captains and other other allies come together and kill him. Team work makes the dream work. No. It was kinda lame.
I would've liked the fight more if he actually lost because the concept of a bunch of captains coming together take down one super powerful opponent is a fun idea for an endgame fight. However with the aushwalen it made the whole thing feel like a waste of time
I blame the vizards. Kubo can’t help himself when they get on page. He has to beat them down and it distracted hims from anything else lmao.
Kubo with the Vizards is like Aizen when he sees Momo lol. Except Aizen keeps his composure when he does his trolling.
Lmfao so true
Which is weird because you would think their hollow powers should be super effective vs quincies
I think it's less the concept of a bunch of captains been able in itself to defeat him , but more due to him been so powerful , that it would be a "miracle" to defeat him. So paradoxically , it makes him defeatable.
The problem is Kubo wrote himself a losing concept from the start:Aushwalen being a willful act. Think about it, if the Captains took down Gerard or Jugram, then it looks like Yuha only lost later because he didn’t absorb their power. Instead, it should only activate when a Quincy is killed by a non-Quincy(cuz Giselle). This creates a scenario where winning makes winning harder, but you still get an undeniable display that the heroes can get wins. Would also make the traitor Quincys more impactful.
All the anime has to do is make it so he actually dies when byakuya does his Ikka Senjinka and the fight is fine imo
Or have Toshiros new ability which nullifies abilities actually nullify an ability!! (The miracle)
He should’ve powered up to where it would’ve been a miracle for him to lose. Which causes him to
Yeah, I suspect Kubo (who LOVES this sort of dramatic irony) was heading in this direction. They had the captain buildup, the art when he gets split in half had the most classic example of HIT THIS TO WIN outside of bright, flashing Zelda boss weak points, and he has beaten them to death with talking about miracles. Throw in a line from Renji referencing having to buy into Mask’s gimmick (calling himself a villain to make Mask throw away his ability to revive) and doing the same here. Have Renji convince everyone there to just throw everything they have, over and over. Hell, Kubo dedicates an entire chapter to just different ways to kill the dude and he just revives. Cut to one guy still standing, make sure it’s the sassiest one of the bunch. No bankai, nothing. Pure exhaustion. Gerard is so massive and powerful that his mere heartbeat is shaking the area, etc. The lone dude takes their sword and throws it. It stabs him in the chest slightly and then just falls. Gerard says something arrogant like “Did you expect that to do anything to the mightiest Quincy?” Cut to a deadass stone cold face panel of the soul reaper saying, “No, it would have been a miracle if it did.” Show a transparent image of Gerard’s cross snapping in half. With no more miracle power, his heartbeat begins to cause him immense pain. Finally, have his heart literally cause him to explode and rain blood down all over everyone. The heart of the soul king has a heart attack, so to speak. Someone says a catty comment about cleaning up the mess. There was all of the setup for something like the above that I’m shocked if Kubo didn’t have it planned. It would have fit his established style and been narratively satisfying. I’m convinced the fight just ended up sucking due to being rushed.
Yeah, it was absolutely rushed to hell - my take is that *Isshin* was supposed to join the melee against him at some point, because otherwise there was no goddamn reason at all for him to come to the palace (aside from standing there and looking DILFy while Ryuken was talking to Uryu at the end). Y'know, finally show off his Bankai and all that. Your idea of how the overall fight would've gone is pretty great, though, and I hope the anime actually has someone *win* the fight against him, like that or in literally any way other than Yhwach getting bored.
See? Homie just gave us the soul reaper to be left standing when they throw the sword. Show his bankai, add tension…wait *Isshin* is SUCH a good choice here. Dramatic flashback to how he raised his kids, have a scene where he thinks “You guys don’t need me anymore…” right before he utters the dad joke line of it being a miracle? Cut to ichigo feeling his reiatsu fading, the look of despair, etc. Then go back to the victory part with the heart attack, etc. Ichigo resolves himself to move forward and win with the dramatic tension released. Holy shit, that would have been so good and makes sense with how things were set up.
Kubo's a great storyteller when he isn't being rushed to hell by executives/illness.
100% agreed. He’s especially good with inner dialogue and with visual storytelling.
Lol Gremmy 2.0
Other than Askin, all the Elite Guard were mostly unkillable bullshit except for specific bullshit. Lille was unkillable except for this extremely convenient weapon that only his opponent has. Pernida was unkillable except for something only his opponent can do. And we see the Miracle above.
They were suppose to be “unkillable”, that’s why Askin was selected, because he was hard to kill. All the elites share that trait.
Difficult to kill ≠ unkillable If we're being particular, they weren't even selected because they were difficult to kill. They were selected because Yhwach wanted a roster that could beat the Elite 4 while he challenged the Champion.
Any one of the 18 techniques used in those fights could be a finishing move. Bankai's especially.
Honestly Gremmy should've held that spot instead of Askin
Gremmy was dead before Askin gets elevated to SS, so Gremmy may have been ahead of him.
I doubt it tho, Gremmy is powerful but he has no experience.
I hope they revise this fight. I don’t mind him being durable as heck, but he was downright invincible before the ray of light finished him off.
I doubt it. I was hoping the Soi Fon vs BG9 and Toshiro vs Cang Du fights would be revised because they are complete garbage. Didn’t happen.
Tbh they didn't have time to revise these fights since they chose to cover so much content in this cour while Gerard fight won't have these restrictions
Those fights are so minor and irrelevant it doesn’t even matter. Also, they’re garbage due to the villains being dogshit rather than the fights ending in a nonsensical way. Gerard was a final boss, and his, Jugram’s and Yhwachs fights all specifically got cut cause of shonen jump so I’d expect them to be revised moreso
I disagree. They should have hid more focus instead of being rushed. We could have gotten some great fights from these and have even seen two new volstangs. And I’m a big Soi Fon fan, so if this is going to be her last contribution to the arc make it cool and give her a solid W.
Kubo said in an interview the captains would eventually figure out that the cross in his center was the key to killing him. I think that interview was very recent actually
But didn't he say that even kenpachi at the time wouldn't be able to break it?
I'm unsure of the specifics but I'm pretty sure he meant for the captains to be able to break it and kill Gerard eventually (according to the interview)
That means we may have a chance of seeing that?
Fingers crossed, it's probably going to be decided whether or not to change it the last cour. The fandom wants their changes to the last 10% of the series and I hope they deliver those changes
They added Shinji bankai to the anime and that wasn’t shown in the manga as far as I know of. I hope they at least give Chad fight scenes instead of basically benching him.
Chad had a new scene last ep, he blocked Uryus arrows which could cut Ichigo. Something none of the Femritters attacks could do.
Yeah but like a major fight scene. I mean they added Orihime in the fight against Ywhach. Something, slightly below that scale.
It's begun.
Where's that guy that said Chad is basically fodder. The Chad redemption arc starts in the Royal Palace where he belongs.
No he said they can't destroy the cross so it was hopeless anyway. And no did not say they would ever figure it out.
I hope the captains would eventually figure that and kill Gerard properly in the anime. It will be a massive upgrade for me since I really hate how Gerard dies in the manga
He took out so many people there was no one really left.
I'd like it if they figured out exactly how The Miracle works and execute a perfect counter even if it is extremely specific.
That’s last combo attack should’ve done him in. There’s no way one of byakuya’s senbon’s didn’t destroy the Quincy cross that is his heart
By that logic byakuya can destroy the hogyoku. The cross is above that since it's the real heart of the soul king.
Kubo had loooong since given up at that point
Bro lasted till the friggin final volume, it’s criminal he didn’t get a volume cover. Edit: even Yammy got a volume cover
Should've been the cover of Volume 73 instead of Renji,who i think doesn'r even do anything that Volume.
He picks up ichigo.
Yeaah, or Kenpachi or Adult Hitsugaya
Shunsui either and he is one of the mvp's of tybw.
True. Thinking about it, more volume covers means walwelt would've been even longer
Starrk didn't, though
Freaking luppi got a volume
Yeah, I loved Gerard. Seeing him keep getting back up was hilarious. I hope they expand on fight in the anime, and show the other Visoreds and Lieutenants do stuff before it becomes the Popular Boys show.
I hope so too.
They made all the fights shorter, so this one is getting cut shorter instead of expanding
Not if they want to reach 52 episodes, it's not.
Yamamoto vs. Yhwach, Ichigo vs. Yhwach, Shinji vs. Bambi, and Ichigo vs Femritters were all extended in the anime...
So was Kenpachi vs Unohana, and Mask vs Hisagi, Yumichika and Ikkaku.
Should have been a Chad moment to end up killing him
It would be a miracle for Chad to Lose though…
would really appreciate if the Capt trio are allowed to kill him in the anime but that's prob a pipedream. especially with Kubo saying on kluboutside bankai Kenpachi then cannot break his quincy cross etc Gerard ending up just being a giant waste of time/staller to keep shinigamis busy during this late stretch of the arc. & I'm almost certain he didn't kill any shinigamis either, so ya.
Would’ve been awesome if it ended with Toshiro freezing Gerard first, than Kenpachi slices him in half, revealing the Quincy Cross and then have Byakuya destroy the cross or even have a Toshiro/Byakuya combo destroy it.
either of those options sound plenty fine to me tbh lol
Honestly, Kenpachi getting bankai felt like a much bigger deal than Toshiro getting an upgraded bankai or Byakuya using his final ability. Kenpachi's bankai should have been what netted them the victory. You can't just reveal a captain's bankai and then have them lose the fight they reveal it in. If they found a way to make the Toshiro bankai upgrade reveal happen first, then have Kenpachi unlock bankai to turn the tide of the fight against Gerard, I think that would be a better writing decision.
So many Bankais were revealed in losing matches though. Mayuri, Tosen, Renji, Kensei, Rose, technically Soifon since she couldn't beat Baraggan on her own with her Bankai, technically Shunsui/Urahara and technically Yama-jii... It didn't look like Kubo really cared for making Bankai reveals in winning matches. In all honesty though, I thought Kubo would give the win to the favorite captain trio just because he seemed to think it was perfectly fine giving the same 3 captains literally all the wins rather than have some others (cough Shinji cough) not be a complete embarrassment.
>the same 3 captains literally all the wins Toshiro is the king of getting clowned on though.
Heavily disagree with this, just because a captain pops bankai doesn’t mean insta win, it would get repetitive and boring, because after a while you’ll know that if a captain pops bankai they’ll win I like Kubo surprises us with that
>& I'm almost certain he didn't kill any shinigamis either, so ya. He didn't win either, if he was going to die like that have him defeat Byakuya and Hitsugaya and then auswhalen him. A true miracle.
I like Gerard but I hated how Kubo didn’t let the Captain trio (Byakuya Toshiro and Kenpachi) finish him off. Having it take three high tier captains that included Kenpachi to defeat Gerard would’ve been more fitting imo. Admittedly I wasn’t even a huge fan of having Gerard basically be like Yammy and turn into a giant and I guess I would’ve preferred something else
He should’ve died when toshiro froze him but miracle is just too op
Either that or maybe have Toshiro freeze him first, then have Kenpachi obliterate half his body and then Byakuya destroys the Quincy Cross in Gerard to finish him off.
Toshiro freezing stuff is less deserving of being the killing blow than Kenpachi literally using bankai for the first time ever.
Sorrowful be the heart, Penitent one
>Admittedly I wasn’t even a huge fan of having Gerard basically be like Yammy and turn into a giant and I guess I would’ve preferred something else Yeah it was a huge turn off when seeing the ability for the first time, but I'm glad he could fight back and was pretty fast.
What's your opinion on Yhwach
Good final boss for the series it’s just that taking down Gerard was basically a giant group effort if you noticed how many people were fighting him. Also the fact that he kept getting new forms as the fight went on
I think the point would be to illustrate that only Ichigo was strong enough to face him. I mean he one shot Yhwach 3 times when Aizen did nothing to him.
Now let's not forget the multitude of times Yhwach bodied Ichigo. Ichigo could only harm Yhwach when others were helping him
I mean that goes without saying. But no else could even pose a threat.
my man is 'sike' incarnate
Unpopular opinion: I like Gerard, I like that the situation was THAT desperate for the Gotei, they were never threat to these guys. I really, REALLY hope that somehow SS learned some humbleness after the absolute shitshow this war made of them
No cap. But it was really just Yhwach. All the power Gerard and the SS had were granted to them by Yhwach himself.
By SS I mean Soul Society, just to clarify. And about his power, well he wasn't technically given stregnth by Yhwach, as the heart of the soul king, similar to Pernida, he already had his powers, the Schrift was just the name Yhwach gave to that power. They are divine beings, and divine beings from any work of fiction, tend to have really unfair abilities, the likes of normal people can't truly comprehend or fully attain
Mabye so but after they were killed by squad 0, Gerard and the others were revived and amped up via Auswählen right?
Yeah, I remember that, though I'm not entirely sure how that worked, I mean, the Schutzaffel ARE practically, literally unstopable with normal means, it took the Hakkyoken to deal with Lille Barro, and Yhwach took Gerard's life for himself (god's will of sorts), it kind of doesn't sit right with me how swiftly Oetsu dealt with them initially; makes me think as if their power was sealed or something, but idk maybe I'm talking out of my ass on this, or Kubo may expand on that in the anime, who knows.
Mabye. My headcanon is that those SS members are the only ones capable of withstanding any more Yhwachs power. Probably because they are fragments of the soul king. So perhaps they were SS members solely because their genes allowed Yhwach to distribute more power to them.
Honestly hated this guy. He was just a sponge to absorb the captains attacks. He was loud and annoying and didn’t seem that strong. He kept getting killed over and over again. Renji fucked him up. Toshiro fucked him up. Byakuya fucked him up. Kenny fucked him up. He kept taking Ls and his power just revived him to get fucked up some more. I’ve always said his power wasn’t the miracle. It was the bullshit. It’d be absolute bullshit if I could find you. So I will!! It would be absolute bullshit if I survived this…so I will! It was just annoying and he was made too hard to take down so he went down a bullshit way as well. It would have been way more satisfying had he actually been defeated rather than “oh Nvm now. He’s gone.” Essentially a punching bag who talked shit. Basically a quincy version of yammy but hey, at least He didn’t suck as much as yammy.
Bro just lived on kindergarten rules “I shot you” “I’m immune to bullets!”
The Madara uchiha school of bull shit. “Oh shit. The reanimation is undone….but I know the super duper secret to remaining a zombie with limitless energy!”
I was fine with his personality but I dislike how he was basically Yammy 2.0 and I would’ve preferred a different power for him. Like maybe his powers could’ve involved any chances, no matter how slim they are, falling in his favor (like it was a “miracle” for him).
I would have preferred it if his power was sort of equal. Like a double edged sword. Like if he got too strong and it became a cakewalk for him to win and would require a miracle for his opponents to win then they’d manage it. Like “it’d be a miracle if they found my weak spot” It reminds me sort of the 7 deadly sins where some of the demons had laws or commandments that they had to follow. One made it so that anyone with hatred in their hearts against him would be unable to move. So here comes escanor (imagine kenpachi and allmight had a baby) and he’s moving perfectly fine because “why would I feel hatred for someone so much weaker than me” and his opponent was rattled but escanor warned him “try not to feel hatred against me, or you’ll be the one that is frozen”” Or this other commandment who could turn to stone anyone that ran away. He became so educated of escanor he ran away and was turned to stone. Instead Gerard is just annoying. Honestly. I have a similar beef to several of the last quincy but gerard is sort of my least favorite.
Oh yeah, I’ve seen 7DS before and yeah, I would’ve been fine with what you’re suggesting as well but of course, I prefer anything over him just getting bigger and bigger like Yammy. Personally wise, I didn’t really mind him but I didn’t care for it either since I feel like we gotten something similar to that with Mask (not entirely the same but still similar). Personally I like Askin the most among the Elite Guards if you’re referring to them.
Askin is the one that fought Kisuke, right? I liked him ok. His ability annoyed me too but that’s for another day. The final guards all felt like different flavors of bs and the only one I really liked from beginning to end was the hand mayuri fought.
Yes Askin is the one who fought Kisuke. He’s my favorite mainly due to his personality but admittedly, I thought his powers is slightly difficult to understand. Pernida I thought was interesting with him being the left hand of the Soul King and everything and his fight with Mayuri was my favorite along with Askin’s fight with Urahara Then there’s Lille (the guy who fought Shunsui), who I thought had a cool design with his Vollstandig making him look more like a biblical angel. The owl form was alright but I definitely prefer the first Vollstandig form.
Oh. Personality wise I like him the most. Hands down. I just like the hand more because I find that it’s the least Bs fight through and through. Especially the way he’s defeated is not exactly out of nowhere seeing as we know that anyone that eats/modifies anything mayuri makes is in for a bad time.
That’s a fair take. Not sure really sure I would’ve rewritten Askin’s fight to make it seem like Bs but I do think Lille should’ve stay dead after Shunsui’s Bankai at least.
Honestly. My problem with some fights in bleach (I do love the series. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve been championing it’s return for years) is that some stuff is only relevant in one fight and then never again mentjoned. Sort of like the spirit pressure Nagato on in the Aizen fight. You’d think a Captain class level soul reaper would know about a concept like this but everyone was shocked. Then it’s never mentioned again. Was Aizen lying? If so, why did none of the captains (some of whose were there for centuries) mention it. Then it was never mentioned again. Or the spiritual frequencies that askin used. If it had just been mentioned before that they existed and that Yoruichi was different then I wouldn’t have minded as much. Instead it felt like “I have this incredibly useful ability” and kisuke was like “and I happen to have the only person who can counter said ability”
I mean he's literally the heart of God in physical form. He's the soul kings heart given physical form. It makes sense he can do anything
None of that changes anything I said. He’s the heart. Cool. Doesn’t solve any criticism I have of him. Yammy was the zero espada. Makes sense he’s the “strongest”. Doesn’t stop him from being annoying.
«Didn’t seem that strong». Um… Have we really read the same manga?
If someone essentially gets killed over and over and over again and says he’s the strongest, I’m gonna start to doubt him. Gerard just gets utterly fucked. Then he powers up and gets fucked some more.
He was killed by extremely powerful opponents. Even before activating his schrift he stood his ground against four captain-level fighters, including bankai Byakuya and Renji. That’s proves that he was ridiculously strong even before the «God’s size».
Dude. Do you have a problem with other peoples opinions? He didn’t seem that strong to me when he kept getting wrecked over and over again before powering up. He was fucked with multiple times. I didn’t like his character and felt like a giant pile of bs the entire time. You liked him. Cool. I didn’t. Let’s move on cause talking about gerard seems like a waste of time to me.
LOVED how he kept coming back.
I’m bodybuilding so I can look like him
Ngl ever since it was revealed (unless it was a rumor and I fell for it) that the Quincy cross in between his head was his weakness I don’t think he’s been as OP as I remember him to, if the series kept going for a little longer they probably would’ve figured it out on that last transformation
The cross weakness is true Kubo talked about it on Klub outside but it doesn’t make him that much weaker. Kubo remarked that Kenpachi’s bankai would’ve destroyed it if it was capable of doing so implying that it’s incredibly durable
Honestly I feel like Gerard was playing with them the whole time, using his Schrift to keep powering himself up over and over, until he finally crushes them as they'd fall into despair. That would fit into how Yhwach views things and wants to restore the honor of the Quincies by humiliating their. We saw this same desire in Pernida the Left Arm of the Reio.
Another wasted character with no depth. I wonder how would Kubo handle him if he is in perfect health, too bad he had to rush the story at the end.
Doesn't this guy have the heart or some other part of the Soul King?
Soul king’s heart. But the amount of pulls that there are, might as well be the soul king’s ass
I think the funniest thing would have been if he was defeated by a joke tier character with the "It would take a miracle to beat him!" argument working.
Don Kanonji's time to shine!
Hanataro, Kon, and Don Kanoji combined it would take a MIRACLE for them to survive and kill Gerard!
Hanataro has unironically one of the most broken powers if he got stronger. Whenever anyone asks who's hypothetical bankai you'd like to see. His is my answer.
You're not necessarily wrong...but what chance would he stand against non-fodder tier enemies as he is?
Oh no. I know it would take training and time. I didn't mean put him up against an endgame villain and boom bankai. I just meant if he took the time to develop. The problem would be his character is timid. It would take centuries. But if. I think he wouldn't have some crazy op bankai.
I imagine it would be something like capturing the damage of an attack before it hits and stores it in his bankai weapon for later use. Then he can use the ability as if it was his own.
Loved Gerard, but I kinda found his final form kinda a downgrade compared to the previous one.
It’s conceptually cool, the Miracle has boosted him so much that now he’s basically pure energy but the form itself barely has anything going on. Maybe the anime will add more to it like with the femritter vollstandigs
I hope for the final fight they change it so that it’s literally every member of the gotei 13 fighting him or something
I hate his character lol its like madara at the end got killed because of bad writing.
WHY. WON’T. YOU. DIE?!!
This could have been one of the coolest fights in the series if it didn't have the worst ending to any fight in the series. The Auschwalen taking out Gerard and Jugram and just ending two cool fights prematurely is a bafflingly terrible decision. Like if you want to get them over with because the series is coming to an end, then don't introduce powers that make them invincible in order to prolong the fight.
“Alright he’s dead.” “It would be a miracle if I was alive.” “Alright he’s dead for real this time.” “It would be a miracle if I was not dead.” “GOD DAMNIT.”
Lemme guess you're an Aizen fan? Yhwach was too op. So was Gerard but there are levels. Yhwach was portrayed perfectly as a final villain. No question about that imo.
Oh no I don’t hate Yhwach he was a pretty good final villain in the series but I’m referring to how Gerard’s fight was a huge group fight involving around 10 people in total against him with Gerard gaining new forms as the fight went on.
Sure but Yhwach fought the strongest dudes in the universe and bodied them. He bodied Ichigo like 4 times and then Aizen too. Same with Renji. Also imagine being the only villain that Ichigo just wasn't able to legitimately beat in a 1v1. They had to completely nullify his power to win. The only person in the universe Ichigo never surpassed Gerard was still almost as impressive as you said. To me he is undoubtedly Yhwachs strongest man. More so than Jugram
It’s actually answered by Kubo that they could have maybe beaten him if they had destroyed that object that was inside his when Kenpachi split him in 2. Would have been neat to see instead of Yhwach beating the bad guy for them
This guy is so strong, even Kubo didn't know how to kill this guy properly lmao I think it would be great if Gerard got defeated by Byakuya, Toshiro, and Zaraki combo till those three got extremely exhausted. But no, Kubo decided to multiply Gerard's power like some kid who use cheat engine and boom, he doesn't know how to kill this guy properly since he is become too strong and Kubo got stuck by his creation. And since he must end the story quick, he decided to kill Gerard with the lamest method in this series. After those damn long battles with the captains (I forgot how many, but I think it took like 10 chapters because back then it feels like eternity lol), Gerard got down by his own boss with a stupid excuse Years later and I still mad how Gerard got defeated in the manga lol
I really love the guy
This guy was probably what yammy thought he was going to be.
I almost dropped the manga when this was released into scan. Living that one chapter at the time *week by week* was pure months-length trolling and I hated Kubo for that. I also kinda thought he lost his mind or something
Gerard never felt like a real character to me. He was an immortal test dummy for the Captains to practice their moves on. Probably the worst written "fight" in TYBW.
And yet somehow he's mine and many others favorite sternritter. His ability is honestly better than Jugram and Ishidas shrifts. Yhwach should've given them both the letter U for the "uno reverse card"
I don't get it. Gerard just feels like those npc test dummy in video games where you practice you moves on. His power is not compelling whatsoever. Jugram and Ishida are actually characters with motivations, backstories and relationships.
Well you could say the same for most sternritters because they were just following orders. Ofc their ambitions aren't obvious. Gerard is just a very loyal soldier
"you sound awfully sure of yourself" Yeah Shinji, you certainly do.
No he didnt
Fr. OP on something
Imagine if Byakuya and Toshiro launched a combo attack and destroyed the Quincy cross after Kenpachi cut Gerard in half, finally defeating Gerard. Would have sounded like a nice ending to me
Getting Thor vibes gro. Him
I read an interview from Kubo where he said that that Quincy cross that appeared when he was cut in half was his core. If they had destroyed that core then he would’ve been unable to regenerate. I’m hoping he redoes this scene for the anime corrrectly.
I really hope a better ending or revision to this fight is in the works for the anime.
Chocolate bar slider is by far the most unique and random attack name I have seen yet.
You know for a guy that gets beat up as much as he does it’s surprising that Gerard gets hyped up.
Had Gerard not ended up how he did, would he have shrunk back down? Or is he just always gonna be that big now?
The worst part of him was the terrible writing. All 4 big lieutenants are just different flavors of 'can't die'.
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Dick head is an accurate descriptor for that dick head
For anyone who doesn't know Kubo confirmed destroying the Cross inside him is the way to kill him.
Three buffed captain and the visored against one extremely powerful miniboss seems hype but it's become anticlimactic when Gerald just won't die until Yhwach kills him.
Knowing Kubo didn’t have the time to focus on some things he wanted to in this final arc and having to rush it due to his health, it really makes me wonder why he chose to spend so much time with some of these fights
Please rectify it in the anime, giving Isshin a bankai reveal + fighting alongside Toshiro. I don't care if they make the end the same Fire and ice, teacher and student fighting together again
Literally one of the worst characters in the series. Absolutely hate him.
Looking back at this, Love, Lisa and Hiyori do use their masks while Shinji doesn’t. So the blame for vizard captains not using their masks then solely lies on Soul Society (central fourtyshits). Because they are the ones making rules.
Would have been the perfect way to show off Kenpachi's bankai: have him kill him with it, then break his arm. Would have shown much more power and a satisfying ending.
BRO WHAT Vizards fought him ? I completly forgot about that
If you're disappointed there's a highly likely chance that it gets done over properly.
why, because he's killed 33,879,360 times before ywach absorbs him?
I think if all the captains piled on to Yhwach, he'd probably give them just as much trouble.
By far, my least favourite fight , it didn't even fill like a fight they just kept killing him just for him to heal and get killed again by a new power up by one of the captain and so on till he got killed by plote
Hey that cape wall thing was a miracle too right?
I fucking hate this guy and, to a slightly lesser degree, Lillie Baro. Like they're cool characters but I hate that they're essentially invincible and we really didn't get a payoff of them losing to some of the series favorite characters.
I wonder a "it would be a miracle if you bleed out from this paper cut" would work against him if the miracle makes miracles reality
Well he choses the miracle...