So, after Ichigo SAVES Orihime, who SAVED Chad, Kisuke & Yoruichi show up to SAVE Ichigo. And Ulquiorra and Yammy say “sorry, too early in the plot to have a real fight” and just walk away through a portal back to Hueco Mundo.
Then we get this utterly bizarre scene of Yoruichi eating and eating and eating. I’m not sure what the purpose was of that, but so be it. We also get some tomfoolery with Kon, which doesn’t really fit what the tone of the show has been. Then we have a ton of Soul Reapers joining Ichigo’s school, wearing uniforms, and Rangiku being as sensual as ever.
This was one bizarre episode. I’m not sure there’s any other way of describing it. It was kind of like Rick Warren on Steve TV.
When I first saw Yammy, I nicknamed him “Yanni” after the musician. But years later, after having listened to much of Yanni’s music, I don’t want to sully Yanni’s name by comparing him to Yammy. Yanni is an amazing musician who has put out a library of good music, and you ought to listen to him sometime.
Anyway, Yammy and Ulquiorra show up in Karakura Town, and if you weren’t already aware, I will make it plain and clear: Ulquiorra is my #1 least-favorite character in all of Bleach. I don’t like a single thing about him, for one point, but the fact that so many of the IchiRuki club shipped him with Orihime (and lost the shipping war, ha-ha!) made me hate him even more. You better believe I’m vindictive.
What was the episode about again? Oh, right, depressing stuff. Ichigo doesn’t want to talk with anyone. After Karin confronts him about being a Soul Reaper, then Karin doesn’t want to talk with anyone. It’s as if Ulquiorra’s appearance on Earth turned everybody into him. No one has any personalities anymore. No one, except Orihime.
Orihime shows up to SAVE Tatsuki and Chad from Yammy’s clutches, only to make the stupid decision to attack Yammy herself. (Almost wrote “Yanni” there!) That’s when Ichigo shows up to SAVE Orihime. Needless to say, Ichigo has a whole lot of problems to take care of. Not the least being the fact that he’s gone all emo when he needs to be counted on by others. Then again, if I were him, I wouldn’t blame him for feeling like he does. But come on, Ichigo, you’re protected by plot armor! You have nothing to worry about! I’m sure that, being the main character, you’ll survive to the end like in Oshi… no.
Isshin meets with Kisuke, they talk for a while, then Isshin goes away to make sure Ichigo doesn’t find out who he is. Some reveal that was. They’re going to keep secrets, but at least the viewer knows them now.
Then Shinji shows up at Ichigo’s school again, but this time with Orihime. Chizuru goes off on Shinji for touching her precious Orihime, and she’s actually quite hilarious in this episode. Eventually, Ichigo gets into it with Shinji, but there’s no progress made in their relationship.
So, Orihime and Chad hope to get some info out of Shinji, only to be interrupted by Shinji’s pal Hiyori. I can’t remember if I disliked her or if I hated her. In any case, she is standoffish as ever, and very little information is given here, too.
It seems like everyone wants to keep secrets and keep beating around the bush. Look out, guys, because my #1 least favorite character in all of Bleach is coming next episode, and it’s not Yammy!
Best girl of the episode: Chizuru! (She breaks through for her first win!)
No clue whether there will be a photo on this page when this post is up, but in case there isn’t, it’s supposed to be Kon in Ichigo’s body running away from poison gas Grand Fisher.
So yeah, Uryu’s father is a Quincy and Ichigo’s father is a Soul Reaper. I know it sounds like kind of basic stuff, but I guess it was groundbreaking at the time. In retrospect, it looks like one of those Disney Star Wars things where they somehow manage to make everyone part of the same family tree, and it’s rather dumb. We couldn’t just have Ichigo having special powers, we had to have his Dad have them too. We couldn’t just have Uryu gain back his Quincy powers, we had to have his Dad completely renege on everything he ever said negatively about Quincies.
Honestly, this was quite the boring episode. It was mainly just Isshin pontificating for much of the episode. Is this the part of Bleach where I stopped liking it? Maybe it was. In any case, a huge reveal, but not a huge bit of entertainment.
Best girl of the episode: Ririn (3) (she was really the only female character who got any noticeable screen time this episode)
Tommy A. Phillips 