Bleach episode 361 review

Al Michaels may be calling his final Christmas game tonight, and in honor of that, well, I don’t really have anything else to offer besides the post title. Anyway, there’s more of the same with Ichigo finding out that all his friends have been infected, that Jinto really was a bad guy after all, and that he’s pretty much doomed.

And then… they show up. Rukia, Renji, Byakuya, Toshiro, Kenpachi. Even Ikkaku for some reason. They show up to save the day and rescue Ichigo by giving him back his Soul Reaper powers. And now Tsukishima and Jinto are in a real world of hurt. This ought to be good. For once, I’m feeling good about this arc.

Best girl of the episode: Rukia (67)

Episode rating: 8/10

Bleach episode 360 review

If it wasn’t enough for Tsukishima to have turned all of Ichigo’s friends and all of Jinto’s friends against him, now he might have a hold on Uryu. Proving that Uryu being a traitor was old hat by the time TYBW rolled around. The Quincy Uryu may not be the bad guy, though! That person might be none other than… Jinto!

So, if Jinto is really the bad guy, that means he faked being a good guy, then faked being a good guy faking to be a bad guy, and now faked being a good guy again. Please tell me how this makes any sense. In any case, Ichigo’s in a boatload of trouble.

Best girl of the episode: Orihime (57)

Episode rating: 6/10

Bleach episode 359 review

What’s the point of this episode if all it is is just a repeat of the last 5 minutes of the last episode? In the last 5 minutes of last episode, we saw Karin, Yuzu, Tatsuki, Keigo, and the other guy all acting like Tsukishima’s so great, and Ichigo’s crazed reactions to them. Now, in this episode, we just have more of the same, only now we have Orihime healing Tsukishima and Chad claiming that Tsukishima was with them in Hueco Mundo and during the Aizen fight. It’s kind of like that Star Trek episode (I think DS9) where O’Brien gets his memory replaced with one in which he spent 10 years in prison or something like that. Ichigo is going mad.

The problem with this episode is that it already happened yesterday. Why rehash the same storyline again? Why do we have to burn time before the finish line? It’s not all that far away. In any case, only a week of this to go.

Best girl of the episode: Orihime (56) (even if she was under mind control)

Episode rating: 6/10

Bleach episode 358 review

Ichigo is finally free from his training, and all he has to do is come up with a name for his new ability, presumably to shout the name as he launches his attack like all anime heroes do. But when he arrives home, he sees Tsukishima there, along with his sisters. They tell him that Tsukishima is their long-lost cousin. Before Ichigo can do anything, Tatsuki, Keigo, and the other guy show up and say that Tsukishima called them over for a party. Obviously at this point Ichigo is bewildered, because everyone is under Tsukishima’s spell.

When he runs away from all that, he finds Ginjo, who lets him know that all of the other Fullbringers have too fallen under Tsukishima’s hypnosis. And now these two are the only two left who are sane, or are they? Orihime and Chad seem to have been put under it, but we’re not sure about the Quincy Uryu. Obviously this means that it’s going to be up to Ichigo to clean up this mess.

If Ichigo doesn’t want to say there are five lights when there are clearly four, then he’s going to just have to beat it out of Tsukishima, the InuYasha way. Speaking of InuYasha, I have some plans for that show in the distant future.

Best girl of the episode: Tatsuki (9) (even though she’s under Tsukishima’s spell)

Episode rating: 7/10