#wind bind

[sterling-silvers]

BURN THE WITCH, LIMITED SERIES: CHAPTER 2 - Then Along Came Bruno!!!!

Burn Witch – Chapter 2: Ghillie Suit, improved upon that last chapter by providing consistent story progression, strong promise and execution of forward momentum, and distinct yet welcomed world building; for that it has garnered an 8 out of 10.

Narrative-wise, Kubo did a smart thing of having two storylines seemingly converge and operate at the same time. Even if it still seems like he’s still using the training wheels of Bleach by essentially retooling the “Rescue Rukia” arc at least he’s having that past narrative happen concurrently with this new one between Ninny and her ex- bandmate Macy Baljure. 

In addition, it seems like Macy might have been more than just a bandmate to Ninny; time will tell if the feelings were mutually requited. 

Moreover, Bruno Bangnyfe seems like he’s going to be a welcomed addition to the story (he’s basically an amalgam of Renji Abarai and Bazz B); I just hope he doesn’t get shafted like Renji and Bazz B. Nonetheless, he knows how to make a bombastic entrance and captivate the scenery. Don’t let me down Kubo; give him some good character development and a decent win-loss ratio - you OWE me that!

In terms of the realm, I like the fact that Kubo is still building the world that is Reverse London. At first, I was under the impression that the citizens of Reverse London were completely forbidden with interacting with dragons of any kind but, this chapter refutes and cleans up that sentiment rather nicely. If anything, it seems as if dragons, “humans”, and witches/wizards share a symbiotic relationship with one another; the depiction of this was like the Flinstones except replace dinosaurs with dragons. 

I like the fact that they going into detail between light dragons and dark dragons. I also would be remiss if I didn’t mention the fact that Macy – a human (at least so far, that’s what we know her as) – is able to control a dragon; I don’t recall a human being able to control hollows in Bleach so, there’s another distinction to give to the West Branch.

Moreover, there has been a new hard rule introduced to the world; any damage that happens in Reverse London will be reflected and felt in Front London. This actually works both in story and in the meta-sense as I was a bit perplexed why Reverse London and Front London looked so similar. Likewise, this is a staunch differentiation from the Soul Society as it was clear when we were in the material world and when we happened upon Soul Society based on the fact that one domain was modern looking and the other looked more rural/feudal Japan in terms of architecture and aesthetic. Here, the Londons look the same because they are more connected and there are grave consequences if one gets detrimentally damaged.

What I’m hoping they’ll dive more into is how exactly the ranking system of the Wind Bind works. As stated in the chapter, the Pipers are in charge of rearing and conversing the dragons and as so illegal rearing falls into their jurisdiction and responsibilities as well; hence why Ninny, Noel, and Balgo were on that particular mission. However, from the one shot it seemed as if the Pipers were below the Sabres; yet, Billy Banx Jr. was/is the commanding officer of Noel and Ninny and last chapter established that there are at least eight divisions, with a man named Tronbone Takkinen being the overall head of the Pipers. Based on that, my best guess would be that Billy is basically the lieutenant of the Pipers but, still based on the promotion there still some speculation as to the actual inner workings.

Nonetheless, the narrative momentum, emergence of appealing story threads and defining distinctions, along with a and gripping cliffhanger is why this week’s Burn the Witch earned an 8 out of 10.

[miyomiikonran]

Burn the Witch Personal Review

I know how this sounds, especially I never did smth like that, so just pls treat it more like bunch of thoughts and opinions on this new title from long-term fan of Bleach rather than some professionally done review. I watched all three episodes and for now I didn't have much time to read the manga (I have a lot of stuff to read for my studies so ;;") so I just went through stuff written on fan wiki. So beware! Spoilers ahead!

So anyway, new title from Tite Kubo. I could not know who's the author and I still would've guessed who it is. It has such a familiar vibe for me, it's a lot like Bleach for me in terms of humor, dialogues, character interactions and so on. Backgrounds also have this kind of similar vibe but I can't tell what's exactly causing it cus I'm no artist. Kubo in his glory days always had great backgrounds so that's all I'm able to say. I think he catched some breath after Bleach's ending and came back with new energy, so his skills are back too.

About characters. I'm glad he did two main female characters this time, even though both Noel and Ninny annoyed me through most of these ~60 minutes. I'm gonna say that's how it usually is before you get to know these characters better. Balgo annoyed me the most because he's typical perverted guy (which I'm really tired of) but with sweet dumny appearance (I'm here for it) so we'll see where will this character go further. Ninny's idol type, so I wasn't really excited at first, but I really liked her interactions with Macy, so I see chances for future development. Kinda the same with Noel and Balgo, they have some chances to get better through their influence on each other. Noel is kinda boring on her own most of the time, but her drive for money is sooo relatable for me right now.

My absolute favourite for now is Osushi, which kinda amused me, cus it's complete opposite compared with how I reacted to Kon at first, who also was sort of mascot in Bleach. I think Kubo has a thing for "seems cute but can kill you" type of mascot...

Let's adress the elefant in the room now. It's the same damn universe as Bleach. It blew my mind completely since I read about this series. It's the same universe (12 years after the war) and it has witches and dragons! Don't get me wrong, tbh I think it could work, it makes sense in it's own twisted kind of way. I just wish we were given any clues about existence of other "reverse worlds"/Soul Societies before this title came out. Cus it makes sense when you think about it. For me it looks like each country/culture (cus idk if each country wouldn't be too much) could have it's own kind of reverse world coexisting with human world, with it's magic, creatures and rules rooted in it's history, culture and beliefs. That's why suddenly we have these european-looking dragons and completely different approach to them- rather than kill them, humans are using them for their own gain, which for me makes sense for country that started industrial age and was first capitalistic-kind of system in the world. Obviously they would be like "ey, it's kinda a waste to kill them, maybe we could use them to make our life easier?". In Bleach it was all more about restoring and keeping balance between worlds, moral duty, honor and strict rules which makes sense (at least for me) in japanese society. Same with Shinigami and their powers. Other stuff like Quincy and Arrancars kinda throw off this kind of logic but well, I'm just trying to find some sense in this madness.

How's the plot then going, in such weird curricumstances? For me it could easily defend itself as independent idea and separate universe. If someone didn't knew Bleach and watched this I'm pretty sure it would be viewed almost the same for now. Will it have more connections to stuff we know from Bleach? Idk, I hope so, cus if not then it's just kinda using the nostalgia left by previous series. This world is surely builded the same, we have two coexisting worlds, one with common humans and the other with people being able to see and fight supernatural beings that endanger both of these worlds. We have the same kind of structure of power as well, at least for me. Wind Bind is new Gotei 13, this time with symbolism based on zodiak signs. Cool, it would probably suggest 12 divisions, but for now we know about only 8 but once again, we'll see.

Each division has it's own field of work, responsibilities and leader. They all look just as weird and eccentric as Gotei 13 when we first met them, so hello darkness my old friend, especially one lady looks like nazi-wannabe again (Quincy I'm looking at you!). For now we only saw Bruno in action who's division is a fighting type, tasked with extermination of dangerous dragons. He's got very cool design and I adore style of magic he uses because I never saw anyone use spray paint for drawing magical symbols before. Very modern-looking guy and I'm here for it, especially he looks like Grimmjow's younger bro. In general this universe is on our typical technology level with smartphones and stuff everywhere, which is suprising to see having in mind whole traditionally japanese looking enviroment from original Soul Society. About the rest we barely know anything so well. We'll see, once again.

Do I see any clear villain in sight? Nah, not for now. For now we only know about 8 dangerous legendary dragons based on common fairy tales. Interesting concept, but I would like to see some classic villian too. However, we already got the same kind of lesson that Bleach served us- authorities cannot be easily trusted either, as their judgement also can be too strict, cruel and subcjetive without many possibilities to oppose them by avarage person. I smell more future drama in this topic. Especially we once again got elderly boss who looks similar to Yamamoto from Bleach.

One thing that kinda dissapointed me was music. Bleach made me used to very climatic, often dramatic soundtracks, kinda dark-sounding most of the time. Openings were mostly very good too, while here I barely noticed any music at all. Animation didn't really leave me in awe either, only fights seemed interesting and magic was nicely animated. But it's kinda boring compared to very dynamic animation in Bleach. First two episodes made me think of first two arcs of Bleach but it's been over 15 years! ;-;"

In the end, will I watch more? Yeah, for sure. I got very excited to see something new from Kubo, I'm rooting for him and his new series to be less damaging for his health and mental state so this time he'll have means to develop and finish it properly, ideally without more conflicts with Shounen Jump. If he'll play it right with connections to Bleach it might get every good and bring back old fanbase, maybe even make people forgive him completely for Bleach's rushed ending. I see he already got some lessons from that experience, as now he decided to publish chapters in small batches rather than weekly. For me it's good solution that may help him keep his sanity intact. I'm willing to wait if it means he'll get back to his fomer skills and glory because I loved Bleach with my whole heart. If only anime production will be okay with such work dynamic then sure, great. I hope music and animation will get better overtime, maybe with more people getting interested they'll be able to spend more time and effort on it. I'm waiting for more characters to appear for more screentime as well, despite what I said about weird looking leaders of Wind Bind. Kubo proved he can make interesting and unique looking characters before, as well as create engaging villians and fights that fans are waiting for for months or years even. Maybe he even learnt a thing or two from plot holes that happend before. We'll see, I'm hopefull and willing to see where this series will be going c: