A rather dull episode despite a lot of action. Ichigo & pals get flung to the forest floor, where now they’ve got to find a way back up. Rukia goes missing and gets attacked by a mysterious Soul Reaper. And Nel & pals make a whole lot of noise.
This is one of those “small fries” episodes. The characters Ichigo & pals are fighting against are “small fries.” We aren’t anywhere close to the enemies that matter. So, these battles feel pointless, because you just know that Ichigo (if he wanted to) could take these guys out with one swift stroke. Rukia? Maybe not. But it just feels like a waste of time.
Best girl of the episode: Rukia (29) (time to pad your advantage)
The greatest place in the United States that you’ve never visited is the desert. I can’t recommend it enough. My travel from North Texas to New Mexico to Arizona to Southeast California was one of the most satisfying experiences of my life. I gained a new appreciation for exactly how beautiful the desert is. Seriously, you’ve got to go there some time.
Here in the Hueco Mundo desert, though, we have Ichigo, Uryu, and Chad playing games with Nel and her two “brothers” and their pet. It’s all tomfoolery that gets us nowhere closer to finding Orihime. Then an Arrancar shows up to turn the ground into quicksand and swallow up everyone. It almost works, but at the last moment, someone SAVES Ichigo & pals with an ice attack. (Why are ice attacks so popular in anime?)
It’s Rukia, who along with Renji goes and punches Ichigo in the face, with a high-five in between that had me having the RenRuki feels. The two of them were allowed to go to Hueco Mundo by Byakuya, who covered his butt by using a technicality in his orders. Basically, he was told to bring them back, but he was never told to stop them from going. In other words, Byakuya wanted to save Orihime!
So now we’ve got a gang of five traveling off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Las Noches. And Nel and pals are along for the ride. We’ve got a full house now, so let’s see how we can somehow keep everyone together on the way toward Aizen’s residence.
Best girl of the episode: Rukia (28) (and back she goes into first place)
Let me make it clear: Grimmjow is not overrated as a fighter. He deserves all his flowers as a fighter and as an enemy to Ichigo; he’s powerful and strong. But he is overrated as a character – very overrated. Grimmjow provides nothing to the table (pun intended) than an irrational desire to fight Ichigo.
You may say, well, doesn’t Kenpachi Zaraki also have an obsession with fighting Ichigo? Yes, that’s true, but that’s not all there is to Zaraki’s character. He’s got so much more to him than just wanting to fight Ichigo. And he doesn’t only fight Ichigo; he fights others as well. Granted, Grimmjow fought (and beat) Luppi, but that wasn’t a true battle. Grimmjow’s got such an obsession with Ichigo that there’s nothing else about his character other than that.
Is he better than Ulquiorra? You bet your britches he is! (I have no idea where that quote came from.) But there’s no reason for Bleach fans to be so enthralled with him as a character. Sorry for you if I’m calling you out, but Grimmjow doesn’t deserve the love he gets, and that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Best girl of the episode: Harribel (for a brief scene with her at the Espada tea table – yes, I’m grasping at straws for my pick yet again)
Uryu, Chad, and the other guy enter Hueco Mundo, where they immediately face booby traps and weak Arrancar. I say it like that because this episode does its best to make the other guy – Ichigo – to be a complete idiot and pretty much useless. Instead, Uryu and Chad do all the cool things and get to fight the fights. Okay, sure, that’s nice that they actually get to do… something. But isn’t Ichigo important too? Oh well, got to spread the love around, I guess.
Oh, who cares. This episode did not include any female characters save for the short recap where Orihime got a couple lines. Thus, she ends up tying Rukia’s total despite having appeared in the episode for less than 15 seconds. Way to go, Bleach.
Best girl of the episode: Orihime (27) (by default)
Tommy A. Phillips 