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Bleach 285: Thank you Gin!

Bleach episode 285 review

With one swing, Gin Ichimaru does what the writers of Bleach had not been able to do – shut up Hiyori. I was so pumped when I saw the blood flying from her body. I thought Aizen had done it to her, but instead it was Gin. So, thank you so much Gin, for completely incapacitating Hiyori and ending her run of annoyingness. I just wish you had finished the job and completely killed her. Instead, you left her alive with Shinji, who now cries out for Ichigo instead of Orihime, the one who can actually heal her.

Ichigo leaves Orihime and Uryu, which means that even if Ichigo shows up, Hiyori’s not going to get healed. You kind of sort of need a healing character for that. But whatevs. Rukia, Renji, and Chad get curbstomped fighting Yammy, so it’s going to be up to Ichigo to stop him. Good. Hopefully he and more importantly Orihime get delayed long enough that Hiyori dies before she gets there.

I’m not even giving Hiyori best girl for even one episode. She will go down in Bleach history as my most hated character.

Best girl of the episode: Mashiro (1) (even though I don’t like her either)

Episode rating: 7/10

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Bleach 284: Flashback Freaky Friday

Bleach episode 284 review

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We’ve got to get through these battles so we can get to the big ones. Here, it’s just Aizen choosing to kill Harribel because she was too weak, when in reality she’s actually the strongest Espada left in the World of the Living. Why would Aizen kill the one person who is actually doing her job? Yeah, I get it, he’s pure evil, blah blah blah. Still not buying it. Even if he’s evil, he needs to have some sort of intelligence.

In any case, Harribel has a big long depressing flashback, and then she gets beaten by Aizen. A lot of good that flashback did. I never liked these flashbacks at the end of characters’ lives, because they live for about 10 seconds after the flashback finishes. This is like Survivor: Gabon’s Kenny: virtually useless in this challenge, or rather, in this flashback.

Best girl of the episode: Harribel (3)

Episode rating: 6/10

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Bleach 283: Defensive indifference

Bleach episode 283 review

The Dodgers will be playing for the National League pennant again.

And in other news, Starrk dies. We never get to see Lilynette die, but it’s clear that at some point, Shunsui killed her and she stopped talking. Then Starrk starts talking about being alone and not being alone and not not being alone. Sad flashback ensues, of course 10 seconds before the character dies. But hey, at least Shunsui got to kill him and not one of those stupid Visoreds.

This episode was so unsatisfying. We never get closure with Lilynette, and when Starrk dies, we’re made to feel so bad for him that we wonder how he was even a bad guy to begin with. Then Aizen just kills Harribel out of nowhere, with the excuse that her “performance” wasn’t good enough. Let’s drop the ranks for a moment and put aside the fact that Aizen is pure evil and the ultimate villain. How was her performance not good enough when she is literally one of only two Espada still standing?! Because she’s only holding her own against three people at once, that’s not good enough?! I know, I know, Aizen is bad, but this explanation doesn’t make any sense at all.

Best girl of the episode: Lilynette (3)

Episode rating: 5/10

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Bleach 282: Jar Jar Hiyori

Bleach episode 282 review

It is painfully clear at this point that Hiyori is practically the Jar Jar Binks of Bleach. I hate comparing Jar Jar to her, because I don’t think there’s any character from somewhere else that could compare with Hiyori’s annoyingness. She’s like nails on a chalkboard. Every time she speaks, I want to smash my computer screen and burn my headphones. And what, now they’re trying to ship her with Toshiro? I’d rather drink bleach than watch Bleach if they got together.

Meanwhile, Starrk fights two Visoreds whom I don’t care about and don’t know their names. I am actively rooting for one or both of them to die. Starrk actually is a real character, I can root for him and Lilynette Gingerbuck. I can’t root for these annoying Visoreds who just showed up and turned into the heroes out of the blue. Oh, by the way, where are any of the other Soul Reapers? It’s as if they all packed things up and went back to the Soul Society. You don’t see any of them besides Toshiro in this episode. What a weird turn of events. No, I’m not liking this.

Best girl of the episode: Lisa (4) (slightly, with the only competitor being Lilynette’s voice)

Episode rating: 5/10