Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War episode 3 review

That above pic might be the single-best screenshot I’ve ever seen in Bleach. There’s Orihime, who was tortured by the two people sitting a yard to the left of her – and she’s healing them. Even Loly, who did some really nasty things to her. That pretty sums up Orihime as a human being. If you don’t like Orihime, then may I suggest you give up anime and go watch reruns of King of the Hill?

Anyway, Ichigo is fighting the Quincy guy, while back at home in the world of the living (see, I still remember the Bleach terminology well) Uryu goes to work on trying to find why the hell there are all these Quincys. Remember, when Uryu was first introduced, he was billed as the “last Quincy.” Then his father came along, so now there’s two “last Quincys.” Now, there’s an entire army of Quincys attacking the Soul Society. That’s right, an entire army.

How could Uryu and his father be so catastrophically wrong about this? The answer is in one of the millions of books at the Texas School Book Depository. And Uryu realizes that the answer is on the sixth floor, I mean, a desk of his father’s. Now he’s going to figure out how the single biggest retcons in anime history manages to make sense.

Ichigo had a pretty epic fight, while a few of those other Arrancars fight and get beaten by the Quincy. By episode four, I should know his name, but I won’t make any promises.

Best girl of the episode: Orihime (2)

Episode rating: 8/10

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War episode 2 review

If you know anything about me… okay, I just used that in the prior review. But it’s true: if you know me from my Bleach-loving/hating days, you’d know that I absolutely love Loly Aivirrne. Why? She was such a good villain for being so minor a character. She was the kind of character you love to hate. Except I stopped hating her at some point. You’d think that I’d hate a character who hurt poor Orihime, but keep in mind that Orihime healed Loly, only making her angrier. That’s what I like to see in a villain! They get a chance at redemption and they turn it down, only to be redeemed against their own will.

And that’s what happens here. A Quincy guy is going around Hueco Mundo killing Arrancar, and he’s about to kill a whole lineup of them, when suddenly two of them burst out and attack them. And it’s none other than Loly and Menoly! They even announce their names, which is odd for characters who end up getting one-shotted. That’s right, one-shot defeats for both of them.

Luckily for them, Orihime came along with Ichigo, Chad, and Kisuke Urahara. We’ll get to what happens with them later, but for now, Ichigo has come to Hueco Mundo to save the Arrancar. Yes, seriously. A character even points out how ridiculous this sounds. But hey, if he saves Loly and Menoly, then he’s made my day!

The episode had so much to like, even beyond Loly’s appearance. We get the re-appearance of Nel, which of course is bizarre in itself, since Nel’s disappearance was a plot hole in the original series. We also get the re-appearance of that guy who looks like a coyote or a jackal or something. I totally forgot he existed, and I can’t find his name via a quick Google search. Ichigo is about to take on this powerful Quincy as time runs out on episode 2.

Best girl of the episode: Loly!!!

Episode rating: 9/10