Throughout the years

Throughout the years
"DON'T LOSE YOUR WAY!"

5/30/2014

The FINAL Bleach Fantasy Round ~ Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Cloud Strife (The K!ck--@$$ $world-wielding 8@D@$$E$)

VS.

This is it ladies and gentlemen ~ The Ultimate Confrontation between Bleach & FF has been a long, rough, and fun ride. There was so much drama, controversy, and butting heads when it came to deciding who'd win in a fight between these two franchises. With any great beginning, there's always an end and...it's that time folks. The penultimate BF post was between the 2 Ultimate Evils and NOW ~ our FINAL BF post is the 2 Ultimate K!ck-@$$ $world-wielding 8@D@$$E$ ~ Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach and Cloud Strife from FF VII. As mentioned before, MechG is the one that'll decide who takes the cake between these ~ Bleach or Final Fantasy. Who had the better characters, powers/abilities, potential, as well as having an interesting storyline behind them? Without further ado, let us end with a Bang (BBT reference) and get this show the road. Stated before ~ My portions are in Blue, MechG's in Purple, and the titles in Yellow. The following will be the deciding points ~ Backstory/Role in Story, Powers/Abilities, & Verdict. As of earlier today, Bleach leads 8-7 against FF. After this BF post, Fight Night posts will be hiatus until July. 

Backstory/Role in Story (Ichigo Kurosaki)
Ichigo's character constantly is revolved around his history. He had a loving Quincy mother who died trying to protect her son from a hollow attack, a father who is a member of the Shiba Clan & former 10th division Captain, and two twin sisters who are spiritually aware of Spirits & Hollows. Ichigo was once a happy little boy up until her mother's demise and since then, he constantly is reminded of that day. His father still mourns over her loss, but knows that there's more work to be done in the Kurosaki household. Ichigo is childhood friends with Tatsuki and later makes a promise with Chad to protect him if he does the same for him. Ichigo is a renowned fighter growing up and to this day, is still challenged by various delinquents because of both his strength and his trademark orange hair. Since enrolling in school, Ichigo has made many friends - Keigo, Mizuiro, and the love interest herself, Orihime Inoue. 

In order to protect his family from danger, Ichigo made a pact with Rukia and became the 2nd Substitute Soul Reaper. Rukia's involvement in Karakura had a big influence on Ichigo's life - going from a regular teenager to a Shinigami fighting off Hollows and eventually ~ other Shinigami (Byakuya & Kenpachi), Bounts (filler), Arrancar (Grimmjow & Ulquiorra), Manifested Zanpaktou (filler), Reigai (filler), Fullbringers (Ginjo & Tsukishima), and, currently, Quincy (led by Yhwach). Ichigo, at first, was tasked in fighting off Hollows in Karakura Town, but soon Rukia is taken away and Ichigo has to save her before her execution. Later, it would be explained that Rukia's Gigai body holds the Hogyoku, capable of breaking the boundaries of Shinigami & Hollow. It wouldn't be long before Ichigo meets the Visored, who inform him of the Hollow within him. After conquering his Hollow powers & getting stronger, Ichigo's primary enemy became Aizen up until he defeated him after the Hogyoku rejected him. After Aizen's defeat, Ichigo lost all his Shinigami and Hollow powers and was now back to being a regular human. However, the battle wasn't over as Ichigo met a newfound enemy - The Fullbringers. Ichigo was thought to have lost after receiving his fullbringer powers, but Rukia comes back and saves Ichigo by giving him Shinigami powers. Ichigo would soon come to learn of the history behind his mother's death, who is father is, and who the Gotei 13 are currently facing - The Wandenreich. Ichigo's hidden Shinigami powers have resurfaced and it's up to him to once again save the day before the Human World & the Soul Society collapse. He has twin Zangetsu(s) and is now back in the Soul Society (after training and getting stronger in the Royal Palace) fighting the TGPZ Sisters while also protecting Kenpachi from harm.

Backstory/Role in Story (Cloud Strife)
Born in Nibelheim, Cloud’s father died when he was still young, leaving his mother to raise him until he grew up. He was Tifa’s next door neighbor, but the two were complete polar opposites; Cloud was more antisocial, putting all exclusivity onto himself because to him there was a pecking order with him and the other children and in Cloud’s view, he was on top of everyone else while Tifa went out and made friends, hence why they were not really close. Regardless, Cloud actually fell in love with her, but still hated the friends she made. One day, Tifa was making her way to Mt. Nibel, believing she could see her dead mother again, but when the bridge collapse, Cloud attempted to spring into action to save her from harm’s way, though he was unsuccessful to play hero, leading Tifa’s father to forbid Cloud from seeing her after she sustained injuries. As a teenager, Cloud wanted to join the ranks of SOLDIER for two reasons: 1. To be like Sephiroth (who was still a war hero at that time) 2. To win Tifa’s heart. The two met at the local water tower one last time with Cloud making a promise to save Tifa whenever she’s in trouble. However, in Crisis Core, he only turned out to be a lowly infantryman for Shinra and in his return to Nibelheim, he would hide from her to avoid embarrassment. While in Modeoheim, he meets 1st class SOLDIER, Zack Fair and the two became like brothers from another mother because they had common interests. Cloud eventually sees his world turned upside down when he sees Sephiroth burn down Nibelheim, being taken away by Hojo and being injected with Mako, and seeing Zack get shot to death by an ambush as they made their way to Midgar (Bad Luck Cloud).

In FF7, after a sequence of unfortunate events, Cloud becomes manifested with a different personality, taking up Zack’s memories/persona and shutting out his own. While in Midgar, Tifa eventually recognizes him and takes him in along with AVALANCHE lead by Barret. After a successful raid in the Sector 1 reactor, Cloud’s reclamation of his memories were put to the test early on as Tifa told him about the promise he made to her. That convinces Cloud not to leave AVALANCHE and wander off. In another mission to attack the Sector 5 reactor, Cloud falls down into the Sector 5 church, meeting Aeris and like what she asked Zack, she asked Cloud to be her bodyguard in exchange for one date, in which Cloud reluctantly agrees to do. The two discover Tifa entering a dating service to infiltrate Don Corneo’s mansion in order to question him about Shinra’s plans. In order for Cloud to fit in, Aeris cross dresses him as a girl. After interrogating Corneo, the three would be too late as Shinra weakens the pillars holding the Sector 7 plate and Shinra kills three AVALANCHE members and in the process, kidnapping Aeris. Cloud, Tifa, and Barret embark on infiltrating Shinra HQ to rescue Aeris. They meet Red XIII inside Hojo’s lab see remains of Jenova, and rescue Aeris, but they were imprisoned by Hojo. While sleeping in the prison area, Sephiroth stealthily sneaks in and kills every Shinra soldier including president Shinra himself, freeing Cloud and his party. Cloud battles the new president, Rufus on top of the HQ and manages to escape Midgar with the rest of the party. While in Kalm, Cloud was recalling the Nibelheim Incident, but he was putting himself in Zack’s shoes, convincing Tifa even more that his memory’s screwed up. For the majority, Cloud and company have been tracing Sephy’s whereabouts, hiding from Shinra, and meeting Tseng and the Turks along the way. While venturing in the Temple of the Ancients to retrieve the Black Materia, Cloud, due to the Jenova cells injected in him during Hojo’s experiment came under the control of Sephiroth in an attempt to kill Aeris. He finds Aeris underground in the Forgotten Capital, but Cloud doesn’t kill her, but Sephiroth does as he impales Aeris from behind after she activated Holy to prevent the Meteor attack on the Planet. After Aeris’ death, two pivotal moments came when Cloud makes his way to North Crater: when Hojo tells him about his Jenova Reunion Theory and how he was a test subject and when he fell into the Lifestream. Falling into the Lifestream the 1st time caused Cloud to overdose from Mako poisoning, leaving him paralyzed. The 2nd time Cloud fell, Tifa fell with him and enters his subconscious mind to restore memories of his true self. Tifa is successful and Cloud’s true memories are brought back. Cloud and the party managed to bring Shinra down during the Raid on Midgar and stopped Hojo to give Sephiroth a boost of energy through the Sister Ray Mako Cannon and they make their way down to the Planet’s core. They defeat Sephiroth and his true forms physically and Cloud delivered the final blow against him mentally while Holy pushes the Meteor back, saving the Planet from total destruction. I won’t emphasize Cloud’s role in Advent Children too much, but let’s just say Cloud undergoes depression while trying to prevent the Geostigma plague. He battles Sephiroth and his child manifestations: Loz, Kadaj, and Yazoo once more and defeats him again. While seeing visions of Zack and Aeris in the Sector 7 church, he finds that he is not alone anymore and the ending of AC pretty much asks what’s next for Cloud? Cloud plays a small role in Dirge of Cerberus helping Vincent and the World Regenesis Organization in the battle against Omega.

Powers/Abilities (Ichigo Kurosaki)
Ichigo, being a Shinigami/Quincy hybrid, is easily one of the strongest characters in Bleach and is considered a special war potential to the Quincy. As a Shinigami, he was capable of both Shikai & Bankai, Shunpo, and being an expert swordsman. However, he also is capable of Hollowification ~ amplifying his power to that of a great or equal extent to a Captain-level Shinigami. Probably the most famous of Ichigo's techniques is Getsuga Tensho, a black wave of condensed spirit energy. After defeating Aizen, he temporarily lost his Shinigami powers and completely lost his Hollow powers, later to learn about Fullbring ~ only later to have it taken from him by Ginjo Kugo. Rukia and various other Shinigami gave Ichigo another opportunity, but Ichigo soon would come to realize that his actual Shinigami power was actually his true Quincy power. He had to find his Asauchi and soon, he has a newfound form of his Zangetsu & his newfound Quincy powers (capable of using Blut Vene). At the heart of it all, Ichigo is a Shinigami/Quincy hybird, the son of Shinigami Isshin & Quincy Masaki.

Powers/Abilities (Cloud Strife)
The iconic FF male protagonist out of all the FF male protagonists (arguable), no denying that Cloud is one of the GOAT (greatest of all time). Cloud wields the timeless massive Buster Sword as his weapon, first it was used by Angeal, then Angeal passed the sword down to Zack, and finally Zack passed the sword down to Cloud. In terms of abilities, Cloud has excellent balanced stats in Strength and Magic, but his Speed stat is weak. As the main protagonist, Cloud’s Limit Breaks deal the most damage to an opponent. His Limit Break order is as follows: 1) Braver, jumping downward slash and Cross Slash, performing three slashes, 2) Blade Beam, strikes down on the ground, unleashing a wave of energy and Climhazzard, stabbing an enemy and slashing upwards in the air 3) Meteorain, unleashing six meteors on and Finishing Touch, unleashing a tornado, 4) Omnislash, slicing the opponent 14 times and dealing the 15th blow absorbing a great wave of energy and dealing one big slash downward (defeated Sephiroth with this limit). In Advent Children, Cloud wields the Fusion Swords, six separate swords that he can use separately and can assemble into one (when the Fusion Swords combine, they resemble the likeness of that of the Buster Sword that Cloud wielded in FF7). When Cloud performs the Limit Break, Omnislash Version 5 with the Fusion Swords, they disassemble and surround the target, Cloud takes one of the swords and slices the opponent with, and repeats the process four times. In the finish to the limit, Cloud flies above, takes that main blade and strikes the target, causing a shockwave.

Verdict (By MechG)
And the winner is of the FINAL BF post and of BF Month is...
I know many of you Bleach/FF fans have expected this last showdown before it was brought up because in all reality, these two spiked up, giant sword wielding, @$$ kicking bad@$$es are the s#!t in both of their respective franchises. Man this was a really hard verdict to judge; if one wins, the showdown ends in a draw, if another wins, it caps off one of the biggest comebacks so far in all of Bleach’s Fight Night posts. Both had horrible pasts, both care about their love interest (and the funny thing is Ichihime is Stillmattic’s all-time favorite Bleach pairing and Cloti is my all-time favorite FF pairing), but one thing is certain, a hero’s journey has come to an end (arguable, depending if Square Enix wants to milk FF7’s story even more) and another hero still has a lot left of story left to stat pad his legacy and so my final BF victory goes to one Ichigo Kurosaki. This was also a battle of proven vs. potential and I see that Ichigo has tremendous upside to have his character grow as long as Bleach’s current story arc is still interesting and does not grow stale (right Stillmattic?). Potential’s good right? Cloud has only dealt with one legit threat, even though it’s arguable that he faced countless threats, but most of those threats revolved around Sephiroth alone, while Ichigo, he’s challenged and won/loss against Hollows, Arrancars, The Espada, some of the Captains of the Gotei 13, Aizen, and now he’s currently dealing with the Father of the Quincy, Yhwach in the manga. In terms of powers/abilities, throw in the towel because Ichigo’s powers/abilities would mop Cloud’s abilities any day of the weak. Cloud’s Omnislash would not do absolute squat against Ichigo’s Getsuga Tensho. FF fans, yeah it’s disappointing that your franchise is a victim of one of the biggest meltdowns in a Fight Night Tournament, but be glad that the characters I single-handedly picked from as much installments as I can fit in, pushed Bleach on the brink, but Bleach had the stronger assets down the stretch. So for a final time, Ichigo is the victor and his victory powers Bleach over Final Fantasy.

So who do you think won this final confrontation of epic proportions ~ Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach or Cloud Strife from FF VII? Comment below and let us know. Thank you so much for following MechG & I's collaborative Bleach Fantasy Month (April-May). It was a long bumpy ride, but I'm glad you all pulled through. As of now, Bleach won against FF 9-7 ~ a comeback that'll go down as one of the greatest comebacks in Fight Night History here on Memoirs of Bleach Zealot. And here is MechG's conclusion on his experience working on the Bleach Fantasy Fight Night posts.

Anyway, thanks to Stillmattic for bringing me in for this special Fight Night tournament. I promise you, we still have a lot of Fight Night collaborations coming along the way. Don’t forget if you guys are into sports, into the NFL and the NBA, into the Oakland Raiders and the Los Angeles Lakers; be sure to check out my blog: http://trueraiderlaker.blogspot.com where I cover Raider and Laker games/topics as well as the Super Bowl and the NBA Finals. The NBA Finals is just around the corner, so be sure to check out my blog for my preview and coverage between the Miami Heat and whoever wins the San Antonio/OKC matchup.

As always here on Memoirs of Bleach Zealot ~ You all stay classy! 

Bleach vs. Final Fantasy ~ 9-7 (Bleach Victory)

Fight Nights posts will return in July!!! 

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