Bleach episode 176 review

One-on-one battles. This is the part of Bleach that gets me. Ichigo gets matched up with the top opponent, then everyone on down gets drafted like in the NFL Draft to find out which opponent they will be taking on one-on-one. Almost never do we see two-on-one or two-on-two battles. It gets old and repetitive after a while. Even One Piece doesn’t always follow this pattern.

But that’s what we’ve got here today, one-on-one battles, which all consisted of the same substance: our heroes get the first blow in, then the opponents reveal their true power, then they exchange names, then they give away what their powers are, then they go all out at it. There’s nothing different amongst Rukia, Uryu, and Chad’s fights. They’re all almost exactly the same.

There wasn’t even any time for comedy in this episode. As much as I hated the Pesche comedy show in Hueco Mundo, I kind of miss having some brief comedic moments to lighten the mood. Just an overall dull episode.

Best girl of the episode: Rukia (37)

Episode rating: 5/10

Bleach episode 175 review

The villain of this arc checks in on the boy who is in an “EVIL” arraigned marriage with Rurichiyo and makes sure he’s nice and bored. He then checks in on his subordinates, giving them extra power so they can go back and fight Ichigo again.

Meanwhile, Kenryu and Enryu keep going over the top trying to shield Rurichiyo from her peril, but finally it comes down to Ichigo having to fight off the bad guys, and lesser villains taking on Rukia, Uryu, and Chad, that way they can feel useful. Sad that even Rukia’s been reduced to the “lesser villain” role. But at least she’s fighting, which is something Rurichiyo can’t say as she continues to be the Princess Peach (non-movie version) of this arc.

There’s also a moment with that super-sappy song that is a direct rip-off of “Sadness and Sorrow” of Naruto fame. That Bleach song irks me because of its incredible sappiness, yet it continues to get played in almost every episode. “Sadness and Sorrow,” on the other hand, is excellent, except when played over the reasons for the difficulty of the written test at the Chunin exam, when it was in fact too sappy.

By the way, the “Peach” in the Super Mario Bros. movie was actually Daisy. For marketing purposes, they changed Peach’s personality to be like Daisy’s instead. It may have worked at the box office, but to a Mario purist, it felt weird.

Best girl of the episode: Rukia (36)

Episode rating: 6/10

Bleach episode 174 review

This episode is rather straightforward, and not in a good way. We get boring battles between Ichigo and these bad guys trying to capture Rurichiyo, and we get this coup d’etat being run by the one bad guy over in the Soul Society. He picks the boy who Rurichiyo is being forced to marry (again, as always, arranged marriages have to be portrayed as EVIL!), and he takes over the clan while Rurichiyo is off being a spoiled brat to Ichigo.

Some of the fighting is nice, but it’s just hard to take seriously when Ichigo’s having trouble with this random purple-haired guy, when he could take down Grimmjow. I guess it’s not supposed to make sense. Yoruichi had to step in to help SAVE Ichigo. But hey, nice battle scenes!

Best girl of the episode: Yoruichi (7)

Episode rating: 6/10

Bleach episode 173 review

Rurichiyo escaped into the Soul Society, right into danger (it’s danger danger!). She goes to a tea party, at which point she gets attacked. Meanwhile, the bumbling idiots Kenryu and Enryu fall into a predictable trap and get knocked out of contention, but Ichigo shows up in time to SAVE Rurichiyo. After Ichigo SAVES her, she needs SAVING again, and this time Kenpachi SAVES her. But Kenpachi has no interest in the situation and simply leaves.

This episode was notable for its wooden dialogue and voice acting, particularly with Rurichiyo. I complained about the lack of the royal “we,” but this goes beyond that. She is talking like a robot. Did her voice actress record all her lines without direction? I’m not trying to criticize a VA or a director, but man, does she sound wooden and robotic.

Also, this episode includes another classic case of “Arranged marriages are evil,” which I find annoying. If you had given me the opportunity of an arranged marriage, I would have jumped at it the first second I could. I’d love to have an arranged marriage. They’re not evil. They’re not a bad thing. The fact that this shows up from time to time in different media is really annoying and almost laughable.

The episode kept my attention, particularly with Yachiru’s humor, so I have to give it a good score.

Best girl of the episode: Yachiru (13)

Episode rating: 7/10