Bleach episode 206 review

Time to go back in time! This arc brings us back I think a century in the past. Some Captains are still there. Others are Lieutenants, such as Sosuke Aizen. Still others are Visoreds, who I still hate even now. And some of them are people we know well, such as Squad 2’s Yoruichi and soon-to-be Captain of Squad 2, Kisuke Urahara.

This episode pretty much just sets things up. Most of the Captains are introduced, with only a couple left as mysteries. Then comes a very humorous scene where Soi Fon steals the show. She goes around spying on Urahara all day long, writing down his every move, because she wants to prove to Yoruichi that he doesn’t deserve to be Captain. Yoruichi laughs her off and tells her that she’s hopelessly in love with Urahara. This is what makes the Yoruichi-Urahara-Soi Fon “love triangle” the best one in all of Bleach.

Aizen is plotting something. You just know it from looking at him. But what? Oh, and one of the characters is said to have gone to Squad Zero. Which is relevant since I’m rewatching TYBW where they went to Squad Zero. Of course, TYBW just retcons a bunch of stuff, so I’m not sure if this is consistent. In any case, Soi Fon’s spying and Yoruichi’s accusation of her love for Urahara make this episode a good start to this ultimate of flashbacks.

Best girl of the episode: Soi Fon (12) (man, I could just listen to Karen Strassman’s voice the rest of my life)

Episode rating: 8/10

Bleach episode 205 review

… you’re running for your life, you’re a shooting staaaaaar…

It’s Rurichiyo vs. Kenryu in the ultimate showdown of Kemari, a sport that Rukia badly explains via her poor drawings and thus confuses everyone even further. I have no idea who’s on what team. Well, who is on first, of course, but I don’t know what’s on second. Or is he on third?

Anyway, as you’d figure, this Kemari game goes haywire, with Kon taking the ball way out of bounds, Yoruichi going naked, and a normal Hollow showing up which Ichigo feels the need to go all out with his Gensuga Tensho attack. And the result? Both Rurichiyo and Kenryu give in and choose to compromise. And that leads to a sappy ending, which anyone could have seen coming. But Rurichiyo still sounds wooden and awkward since they refused to let her speak the way she did in the subtitles.

If there’s a problem with this episode, it’s that the game is very poorly explained and that we have no idea what the objective of the game is, plus we’re only shown the two teams for a few brief seconds so it’s hard to figure out who’s playing for who. But it is highly entertaining, especially when Yoruichi just got naked (Survivor All-Stars is officially on), and she kicks the ball so hard it disintegrates (but Orihime rejects it back to its original form). So, despite the fact that it’s pure filler, I actually thought this was an awfully good episode.

Best girl of the episode: Yoruichi (11) (moving into a tie for fifth with none other than Soi Fon!)

Episode rating: 8/10

Bleach episode 204 review

Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz…

Rurichiyo’s back! Why? Because this is filler, filler night, and no one’s gonna save you from the crap about to strike. In this episode, Rurichiyo and Kenryu have a fight to the death over a game of kemari. I’m being literal here. When Kenryu loses his argument with Rurichiyo, he threatens suicide. Like that’s going to help. Aside from this being stupid, it’s also irresponsible for the millions of people watching this episode worldwide. Remember, suicide is a permanent solution for a temporary problem. And making light of it like in this episode is a big no-no with me.

But that’s just me going on my soapbox. Eventually things get resolved, then immediately unresolved, and then the two of them stake their lives on a game of kemari. As much as I want to put this down, I specifically remember the episode with the game being especially memorable. We’ll see how that goes down tomorrow.

Best girl of the episode: Rurichiyo (6) (reluctantly to the brat)

Episode rating: 5/10

Bleach episode 203 review

Nnoitra is officially dead, maybe. In any case, Aizen decides that he’s not going to use Orihime to fix the Oken anymore. Now he’s just going to go to Karakura Town and get the Oken that way. Very smart. By sealing away all the Soul Reapers who were in Hueco Mundo, Aizen eliminates untouchables like Ichigo, Kenpachi, and Byakuya, and goes instead up against some not-so-smart guys like Old Man Yama.

Of course, it does beg the question: what was the point of capturing Orihime, again? Sounds to me like it got retconned. Pretty much everything about the Oken gets retconned even further in TYBW. Anyway, Aizen’s off to Karakura, or at least “fake” Karakura Town, and Orihime is back in captivity.

Rangiku wins this episode’s award thanks to a hilarious post-credits scene where she tries teaching other girls how to be sexy. Sorry, none of them have the goods like Rangiku does.

Best girl of the episode: Rangiku (24)

Episode rating: 7/10