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Tite Kubo’s Bleach 601: violence comix

October 23rd, 2014 by | Tags:

tite kubo - bleach 601

Look at that chapter page. Bleach, chapter 601. Tite Kubo on the wheels of steel.

This is Oh-etsu Nimaiya, originator of the magic soul swords Soul Reapers use in Bleach:

tite kubo - bleach 601 - 01

tite kubo - bleach 601 - 02

tite kubo - bleach 601 - 03

I like animation-like action storytelling the best, where you can chart every move as the character progresses from one to the next. Fluid continuity, maybe. Akira Toriyama does it well. But this stuff is great too, this sorta Jim Lee and Jack Kirby approach to storytelling moments, where it’s the pose and pause that matter more than the flow. Action scenes that still make sense, but function differently than giving you every slice of information.

Here, Kubo’s playing with chanbara blood spray, held poses, and the illusion of speed. Nimaiya’s blade appears in another character’s head before his partner even notices. By the time the partner notices, the blade is out and sliding across his throat. The speed lines help the sense of motion some, particularly the payoff of the zoom on the hooded figure’s face on the next page, but these images generally feel “static.” They’re discrete moments in time.

It’s all in the staging here. That long shot of Nimaiya walking away after taking a man’s arm from him, already so far away after having swung his sword. Nimaiya with his foot on the hooded figure’s chest, ready to pull the sword out (it’s hilt-deep!) and swing simultaneously brings to mind iaido, though it’s a little different. But every panel here builds Nimaiya up as a threat, as a murder machine.

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2 comments to “Tite Kubo’s Bleach 601: violence comix”

  1. […] so we can remember why we like this, David Brothers picks out a great example of Tite Kubo’s storytelling from chapter 601 of […]


  2. Great composition work.