Review: BLEACH: CAN'T FEAR YOUR OWN WORLD Volume 2 Is Pure BLEACH for Better and Worse

At the end of last year, VIZ Media released the English version of Bleach: Can’t Fear Your Own World Volume 2. They were kind enough to give me a copy, and I finally got through my backlog of books to finish it. This second part of the trilogy goes full Bleach for better and for worse. The story comes from Bleach’s creator Tite Kubo and is written by Ryohgo Narita. There are also occasional illustrations provided by Kubo. I will do my best to not spoil too much of the story.

Hikone Ubuginu’s mysterious origin story, and the secrets behind the very existence of the Soul Reapers and all their allies and adversaries, could be revealed to incite an all-out battle royal. Meanwhile, Urahara and Hisagi face down formidable enemies in Karakura Town as Tokinada Tsunayashiro’s fiendish plan unfolds!

One thing that Volume 2 has going for it is that it brings back more of the action. We get a few fights thrown into this volume that I’d love to see actually drawn out and animated. Hisagi and Urahara end up in a squabble, Yoruichi and Soi Fon get some fun, and there’s a big brawl involving Quincies, Arrancar, and Fullbringers. Honestly, things like this make me a little sad that this trilogy is composed of light novels as opposed to manga.

I also enjoy the different perspectives we get to see. Like the last book, we don’t follow Ichigo at all, so we get to see other characters more and that means seeing how they work. The most notable ones include Shunsui Kyōraku and Shūhei Hisagi.

Unfortunately, this volume had a lot of things that bothered me. For starters, it keeps jumping from character to character to tell the story. While this is a device that can work well, I don’t feel it’s utilized well in this book. In a single chapter, you’ll experience various stories from various points of view. Some of these experiences last a decent length and really help you feel satisfied while others last a page and just feel like they were put in that spot to create the feel of jumping between characters and scenes.

In addition, Kubo can’t help but work in a ton of power creep. The Soul Reapers barely stood up against some of the Quincy and that was with the help of our overpowered Deus ex protagonist, Ichigo. This time, they don’t have Ichigo and the enemy is supposed to be a lot more powerful. It’s only been six months and they’re supposed to be able to deal with this new threat? Throw in the fact that the villain is also one of these semi-omniscient villains that Kubo loves, and it’s a head-scratcher as to how the villain is supposed to be defeated.

Next, let’s talk about something. Hisagi is possibly my favorite character in all of Bleach. I was drawn to You Can’t Fear Your Own World because he was supposed to be at the center of it. It feels like Hisagi does so little in this book though. Hisagi’s big thing in this volume is that he’s interviewing Urahara who is being his normal cryptic self. Every now and then he gives Hisagi something and I did enjoy this. The mind game of chess that happens in these moments is delightful and works incredibly well for the light novel format. However, that and his fight with Aura are more or less the only things that he does in this volume. In the end, he decides to go after Urahara and he has a growing moment with Tessai, but that’s it. It’s just frustrating to have so much of the book not be about him doing things.

This brings me back to the power creep being ridiculous to the point that it feels like Hisagi can’t do anything. I think this would’ve been more interesting if the villains were more manageable and it was something that Hisagi could deal with as he tries to unravel some of the mysteries that he’s exploring as a journalist. We spend so much time with Shunsui, Mayuri’s slaves, and Tokinada to build up a threat that’s just ridiculous, and then even fringe characters like Ryunosuke and Shino who do literally nothing except being scared and failing at their jobs take up some time in the book for no apparent reason.

I struggled with this volume. The first one was a lot of fun because it brought me back to the world of Bleach. This second volume just reminded me of all the things I hate about the series. There’s too much power creep, they like to jump around between moments too much, and they like to build up a story and then abandon it for a while before returning to it. Maybe I’m wrong and it’s really a brilliantly written piece, but I just got so frustrated with it that I would sometimes lose track of who some characters were.