Anime Bleach

[Gavin]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]Decent eps this week and last week, Byakuya beating (actually schooling might be a more apt term) Hitsugaya was very welcome altogether. I'd assumed Hitsu's plot-shield would be in full effect but it seems even he bows before the lord of Bleach bishies. Byakuya vs Byakuya next week looks pretty awesome, really wish they'd just left the line as "There can be only one" for the Highlander shout-out but oh well.

Lord though I was in fits of laughter watching Hitsugaya getting schooled yet again by Hinamori of all people, yes, yes childhood friends and PTSD are a horrible combination in a fight but to be able to be wounded by a VC and then almost finished off was hilarious. Somewhere Aizen is smiling and if Yama ever hears about this he's going to get shorty to hand in his haori.

Yama vs the Trio needed to be longer, even with one hand the old man is still awesome to watch in action, I can't even imagine how badly he'd f*** them all up if he had both arms back. Kenpachi vs Soi-Fon squad was a bit dull, you'd think special ops soldiers would notice their captain's eyes are suddenly glowing purple. Komamura reappearing and apparently breaking Soi-Fon's finger was awesome too, I'd love to see a proper fight between him and Kenpachi at some point with neither of them jobbing.

One thing I can't understand though is why they keep using the Senkaimon instead of Gargantas to cross over. We know from the SS Rescue arc that Garganta can pierce into Soul Society and Urahara can create them, it'd be a much easier way to get around Kagerosa's control. Heck they had both Urahara and Mayuri so there was really no excuse not to have them work together.[/size][/font]

[Magus]

Byakuya vs Hitsugaya was better than I thought, but at the same time I gotta say I wasn't expecting him (Hitsugaya) to be able to land any shots on Byakuya. Guess they gotta do something to make him look good enough to hold his own against Byakuya. If it were the real Hitsugaya though, I definately don't think he would've been able to land a shot on him.

Hitsugaya nearly losing to 2 Hinamori's only tells me that he is even more pathetic. Sure, you have the emotional rollercoaster he went through when Aizen faked him out, but still, he should be able to handle her of all people.

Kenpachi vs Soifon, I can't help but to laugh at this one considering that I'm pretty sure if Kenpachi didn't fight himself this fight wouldn't have even been considered.

Byakuya vs Byakuya is my anticipated fight. I don't really care about any other fight because of this one. Byakuya seems to be the only tactician out of Soul Society and I'm curious how he'll go about fighting himself.

[Gavin]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]Dat Komamura, nay BROmamura. Every crappy scene in this filler so far (by which I mean every scene Nozomi or Orihime are in) has been made up for with that fight. Lord knows why we can't get animation of that calibre in the main series.[/size][/font]

[Magus]

Agreed. I'm not a fan of Komamura or Soifon (I don't think they're bad either. Just not a fan) but this was possibly the best episode of this arc by far. Thinking about it now, ever since Soifon's battle with Vegacat guy, I really don't like her shikai, or rather, I find her shikai to be the most useless of all. I get that her speed makes her so deadly, and that shikai goes nicely with it, but I'd rather she just go for a fatal blow to begin with instead. Now with that being said I gotta say fake Soifon used her shikai stupidly. Shunko + Shikai = WIN. Why go through trying to wear him down when that fight could've ended during that flurry of punches (The arm was right there)

Man, I know it's illegal, but sometimes I wish whenever we get into filler that studios come up with a bankai or something for people whose bankai haven't been revealed. It gets tiring seeing the same old attacks used over and over. I'm talking about Ukitake at this point. I'm hoping he has something other than just launching your attacks back at you.

Next week episode looks interesting. Gotta say though, Soul Society needs to start doing background checks before letting people into their squads. How do you let 2 rogue guys with cheap abilities get by you? In the episode preview this guy is fighting all the captains... By himself.... Seriously, Central 46/Soul Society get your act together. Edited June 22, 2011 by Magus

[Gavin]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]I know what you mean man, I suppose they might've countered it with Koma being able to use his reiatsu sort of hierro-style (which the tough mofo does pretty often anyway) to maybe block the effects of her shikai like Aizen was able to. Honestly Soifon is probably the worst Captain for Koma to be matched up against given his style versus her style so it says huge amounts for him not only to be able to beat a more aggressive version of her but also to be able to tank her bankai (and remember what that did to Hachi's shields) and only faint afterwards with no hugely visible damage. Dude must be made of iron, hopefully we'll get to see him take on and beat his Reigai afterwards.

Regarding seeing unrevealed bankai, yeah it would be nice to maybe get a sneak preview or heck even have Yama yell "Bankai!" at the end and cut to credits just to let us know he's at least willing to use something beyond his shikai when so badly outnumbered. I imagine Kubo is probably dead-set against it though given bankai reveals are usually used as important plot points to revealing one of the big four's is very unlikely. The fact he hasn't killed off Aizen or revealed his bankai makes me believe we'll probably see the uber-troll again in a future arc but the same could be said for all the Vizards too.

Heh as for background checks, I imagine Aizen did a "You don't need to see my identification" *handwave* and Kagerosa is 12th squad so probably found some way to hide it. [/size][/font]

[Magus]

Ok I take that back. This was the best episode of this arc. Hell I'd probably go one step further and say this is the best episode of Bleach bar none. The animation was top notch and then the fight itself was awesome. When Byakuya and everyone else showed up it went into epic territory and then Mayuri = I have no words. Yeah, it's messed up when your best episode comes from filler.

[Gavin]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]Story-wise the episode was pretty lame up until Mayuri's epic troll but yeah, the animation really is top-notch in this arc. I have to say my favourite aspect of the art is that they've given every character distinctive faces as opposed to Kubo's homogenisation as his style as evolved and improved.

You just know inside his head Mayuri was thinking "**** you Urahara, I can troll villains like a boss when I want to too."[/size][/font]

[Magus]

Bleach's story hasn't been great since Aizen's betrayal.

[Gavin]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]I think you mean to say Bleach has been repeating the same two stories since the Soul Society Arc. I hope I'm wrong but TBH I think the Fullbringers were a huge backward step (along with the end of Deicide) for Bleach, aside from Ginjo and Tsuki there's nothing even remotely interesting about them. I'd actually nearly have rathered there only be the pair of them as opposed to the whole group.

[b][Edit][/b] What this arc needs to be truly epic: Reig[b]Aizen[/b]

"Kurosaki Ichigo, since when were you under the impression I would not show up again in filler".[/size][/font] Edited June 29, 2011 by Gavin

[Magus]

[quote name='Gavin' timestamp='1309339202' post='708205']
[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]I think you mean to say Bleach has been repeating the same two stories since the Soul Society Arc. I hope I'm wrong but TBH I think the Fullbringers were a huge backward step (along with the end of Deicide) for Bleach, aside from Ginjo and Tsuki there's nothing even remotely interesting about them. I'd actually nearly have rathered there only be the pair of them as opposed to the whole group.

[b][Edit][/b] What this arc needs to be truly epic: Reig[b]Aizen[/b]

"Kurosaki Ichigo, since when were you under the impression I would not show up again in filler".[/size][/font]
[/quote]
Fair enough.

ReigAizen... That would be pretty epic but at the same time would Kageroza be able to control him? (There's no ReigYama-ji)

[Gavin]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]Of course not, we'd get to see ReigAizen overthrow Kageroza (who's merely a lamer version of Aizen) and create a much more interesting situation (freeing RealAizen maybe). Arc ends with Ichigo once again having to use Mugetsu and losing his powers while bringing us nicely back into canon.[/size][/font]

[Magus]

Sigh, this is the 3rd time I've seen filler from Bleach dragged out because of sheer stupidity. The first time I've seen it was because of Ishida and that Ren Tao (I think that's her name). I didn't watch the 2nd filler. The 3rd filler was because of Orihime and now in this one it's because of Mayuri. Kageroza could've/should've been dealt with right there and wouldn't you know it, Mayuri take time to boast. Is that close to his character, perhaps, but moments like these are what really keep me away from filler. I've never liked Mayuri to begin with, but this episode just made me hate him even more now.

It's a good thing this episode ended with action because it was a step backwards for me.

[Gavin]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]Personally I found the whole "lulz I can swallow a soul-pill and force myself out of my own body to counteract your poison" to be a bit O_o As far as I remember Reigai, or at least the idea which preceded them was conceived of by Urahara in order to compensate for souls who lost spiritual cohension, effectively acting as a shell. For me that would suggest that regular souls and shinigami shouldn't be able to use them without effectively trapping themselves inside. Even souls recovering from power drains, like Rukia was in the Soul Society Arc didn't need them and regular people going through those soul gates had to be converted into reishi first. It's all a bit strange but then I'd suspect all members of the 12th Squad do weird **** like that on a regular basis.

The Reigai only using a fraction of their real power was lame as well, way to obliterate any meaning behind the struggles in the previous fight guys (though if I see Hinamori x2 kick Hitsugaya's ass again I may alleviate my opinion somewhat). Still say we need Reigin, Reigaizen and Kanarei Tousen (yeah, lame joke) back for more fun.

From a story point of view, utterly predictable plot twist is utterly predictable. Obviously we're going to see that individual Kageroza keeps visiting (Nozumi's "father"?) brought back in the next while but really all that can be said is we've slammed right back into boring filler territory after a sadly very interesting looking premise became a not-quite as interesting story and is now thoroughly uninteresting. [/size][/font]

[Magus]

Didn't like the latest episode at all. After being exposed to all the wonderful fights this down time, while I understand it's needed, I just wish it was for something better. I don't want to see the main characters partying, and lounging around especially when you have a possible war on your hands to deal with. I'd much rather see some strategizing and, perhaps folks trying to do what they can to prepare. Another thing I didn't need was more Kon.

[Gavin]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]Lame, predictable episode was lame and predictable. Seriously, a mod-soul with Shinigami powers ? ZOMG never been done before except for you know Nemu who's been floating around since forever. Hopefully things will pick up soon.

Omake was funny as hell though, poor Yama.[/size][/font]

[Gavin]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]Just happened to notice this rewatching episode 327 but damn if that doesn't look like one of Gainax's mecha poses. Makes this appropriate.

[img]http://i55.tinypic.com/33uvl2c.png[/img][/size][/font]

[Magus]

Trying to find a website that shows anime at a decent quality sucks. Anyway, I finally managed to get caught up. From episodes 334-339 I have some mixed feelings over. The quality of the animation from earlier episodes of this arc just seemed to have vanished. With the return of the captains and whatnot you'd think they would go all out again with the animation, but it just looks meh. On the upside of that though, the episodes still kept me entertained.... Well, everyone except Kon.

Man, I feel nothing for Kon whatsoever, and to have this arc based around him sucks, but the actual content of the arc made it worthwhile (There's a positive note for everything I guess). I think it was 338 where Nemu clobbered Kon. I enjoyed that.

Seeing Urahara duke it out with himself was probably the highlight of the last 3 episodes.

Now for some what-if stuff. Where was Kageroza at during Aizen's reign? While I don't think he would've made a difference at all, but I would like to see how he'd react to seeing Kyoka Suigetsu. Battle between who can be more smugged....

Edit:

Episode 240 was a step up from the others in terms of entertainment value, however, I still have to say that Kon irritates the hell outta me. I do hate the fact that the Urahara vs Urahara battle was done off-screen. Seriously, off-screen finishes needs to stop. I don't know why they even exist to begin with. Nobody liked it when Wonderweiss did Kensei in off-screen then and nobody will like that garbage here.

I gotta say nobody can do the friendship theme like Oda. He alone made me have a different opinion about the friendship theme because it's done nicely in One Piece (too bad I'm not feeling anything else in the series). I guess part of the reason I don't care about it here is because I don't care about the main cast of characters outside of Ichigo.

Other than that it was still good. Edited September 21, 2011 by Magus