Tite Kubo

Find out what happened in the Soul Society one hundred years ago. Kisuke Urahara is the new captain of twelfth company—now if only he could get along with his assistant captain. And Soul Reaper captain Shinji Hirako suspects something sinister is going on with his second in command, Aizen. -- VIZ Media

Turn Back the Pendulum

Bleach, Vol. 36

Geoffrey Froggatt

Prequel and flashback stories are often hit or miss with me, but this volume’s flashback to 110 years before the main story was intriguing from start to finish. I loved seeing how all the Visoreds fit into the Soul Society before their Hollowification, and seeing their established relationships to the characters we already know was very interesting. This volume also fleshed out the Visoreds as characters and made them much more three dimensional. I loved seeing Kisuke and Yoruichi as Captains. I especially liked the scenes between Kisuke and Mayuri, as well as Yoruichi’s interactions with a young Byakuya. We also get mentions of the Royal Guard (or Zero Division) which is something we won’t get to learn about in detail until much later. I loved seeing a young Hisagi and learning about where the inspiration for his “69” tattoo came from. I liked seeing Kaien being offered to be an assistant Captain and I liked the mention of Hitsugaya rising the ranks at the academy. I liked seeing how a young Nanao models herself after Lisa, while also seeing the curious relationship Shunsui has with the girls in his company. I liked seeing Aizen, Gin and Tōsen in the flashbacks and seeing how their grand betrayal began over a hundred years before the events of the main series. I’m surprised this flashback story ended on a cliffhanger but I’m excited to see how it wraps up in the next volume.

Bleach, Vol. 36 Turn Back the Pendulum

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