Two things I fell asleep watching: To Be Hero X, and this episode. This was boring. It was basically just Kibune and Izuru Kira going at it all episode. Since Kira is a very boring character, the episode turns out boring, plain and simple. Not much left to say.
Could Bleach have picked any other character to be the “star” of the arc (aside from Rurichiyo)? I mean, there aren’t much worse picks than Kira. Maybe Sasukibe or Iba, if you remember who those characters are. Anyway, why Kira got a starring role despite being boring as heck is beyond me.
Quick, tell me what happened the last time we were in the Soul Society? Oh yeah, that’s right, we had the Soul Society arc where all the Captains and Lieutenants turned on each other. And guess what? They did it again. It’s Renji vs. Useless Iba, it’s Ikkaku vs. Shuhei Hisagi, and it’s Old Man Yama telling everyone to send the house against Ichigo & Rukia. Everyone’s turned on each other once again, and utter chaos has broken out in the Soul Society.
Izuru Kira goes out on the hunt for Kibune, while Captain Amagai continues to help Ichigo & Rukia. While they’re off on those tasks, seemingly every Squad turns on each other and starts a scene of absolute insanity in the Seireitei. You know, I wonder… if they had all turned on each other when the Quincies came to town, do you think we still would have ended up with a bunch of dead Captains? Maybe they could have turned the Quincies on each other, and…
You know what, no. They’re just acting like morons.
Best girl of the episode: Rurichiyo (4) (she got some brief time trying to escape from her birdcage)
Ichigo and Rukia hide in the sewers along with the boy who was supposed to marry Rurichiyo in one of those EVIL arranged marriages. After a while, they come on up out of the sewers to meet Captain Amagai. Cue the one-on-one battle: Ichigo vs. Amagai.
Soi Fon got a small role in this episode, and sadly that was probably the extent that we’ll see her until a later arc. Karen Strassman is the BOMB. Her voice acting for Soi Fon is some of the best in any anime, and it’s a shame it gets somewhat unnoticed after all these years.
I believe the original title I had for this episode was “Soi Fon kicks Ichigo’s butt,” but I thought it needed more emphasis. This is a Reggie Fils-Aime amount of ass-kicking going on here by Soi Fon. She completely embarrasses Ichigo while taking him to school in a battle that should have been stopped because Ichigo was clearly down for the count. If not for Rukia, Soi Fon may have completely destroyed Ichigo.
And why was she doing this? Well, she and her Squad 2 were working for Kumoi because, out of naivete, she thought that she was helping the Kasumioji clan. Meanwhile, Ichigo’s trying to break up this arranged marriage, because, as I always say, arranged marriages are EVIL!!1! And it appears that Rurichiyo herself has been possessed, meaning that the person he said the big spiel to about rescuing may not have ever even heard it.
Hey, this is fun stuff. I’d go for a spinoff of Bleach where it’s just Soi Fon kicking ass. She deserves the spotlight more. Her character is so unique because she is always angry all the time and she is 100% invested in anything she’s told to do. She tells Old Man Yama that she’s going to capture “Kurosaki and Kuchiki,” while Squad 3 Captain Shusuke Amagai volunteers to jump head over feet into this situation. Izuru tells him that Kibune’s acting weird; Amagai pretty much laughs it off. Uh oh. This is headed somewhere that isn’t good for Izuru.
Best girl of the episode: Soi Fon (10) (the fifth member of the double-digits club! Can you name the other four?)
Tommy A. Phillips 