We get the real story of why Rukia “killed” Kaien. All she was doing was ending his suffering after his body had been taken over by a Hollow. Chances are, had she spelled this out to Ganju, there wouldn’t have been a problem. But Rukia technically “killed” Kaien, if you can even call it that.
This episode is almost entirely a flashback devoted to the purpose of explaining that story and maybe giving a little development time to Rukia and Ukitake. Not exactly my favorite, but I’ll take it if it serves up on a platter the episodes to come.
Toshiro & Gin go at it, as Toshiro wonders how much of that letter by Aizen was forged. It’s a great battle, and it ends with Rangiku coming out of nowhere to save Momo’s life. The confusion within the Soul Society is at an all-time high, but it’s going to get even higher soon. It’s just what Aizen wanted.
Meanwhile, Renji shows up at Yoruichi’s training grounds and says, “Yeah, I’m training with Ichigo!” So now the two of them train, while the message comes in that Rukia’s execution has been moved up to tomorrow. This is a reflection on how bad the leadership is coming from Old Man Yamamoto. This situation coupled with his flat-out stupidity in TYBW makes me think that the Soul Society could not have possibly picked a worse Head Captain. Even Shunsui could do a better job.
Some of the best episodes in all of Bleach are coming up this week. Buckle up.
This episode serves as a way of describing to us just how arrogant Sosuke Aizen was in his plan. First, he writes a letter where he tells exactly why the Sokyoku is so important, why Rukia’s death is just a means to an end, why all these things are happening the way they are… basically all his plans, truthfully told. Then he goes ahead and blames it on Toshiro Hitsugaya of all people. Who Momo probably should trust… but doesn’t.
And now we have a situation where everything has been laid out there for everyone to see, yet not only do the characters not see it, but I as a viewer never saw it. It’s a brilliant way of telling the audience the truth while keeping it hidden in plain sight. Of course, the reason why all the characters can’t see it is because of Aizen’s zanpakuto. But let’s ignore that for a second.
It makes absolutely no sense for Aizen to blame this on Toshiro, if he knew he had everyone under his spell already. He could have blamed it on Chizuru back in Orihime’s class and his plan still would have worked. So why the need to try to blame Hitsugaya? The answer, I think, is just plain arrogance. He figures, hey, it doesn’t matter what happens, I’m still going to win anyway. Might as well turn Momo on Toshiro. Just have some fun with it.
Rangiku gets some screen time early in this episode, enough to make me think she maybe would have some sort of real role in it. Nope! She showed up and then was escorted aside by the plot. So, my “best girl” pick has to be…
Momo gets a flashback to her younger years, when she went to school with Izuru and Renji, and Toshiro ate watermelon with her. I’m not exactly sure what the *purpose* was of this flashback, other than to maybe show that Momo isn’t a weakling? Oh, and that Aizen and Gin could easily take down Hollows. But there’s no sign of either of them doing anything evil here.
It does establish the Toshiro x Momo ship, and it reinforces RenRuki. So that’s positive stuff to take away from this episode, which on the whole felt a little superfluous. I did appreciate that episode *46* was about the guy who killed all of Central 46, even if we have no idea what that is yet.
Tommy A. Phillips 