Bleach – Teach Me To Control My Inner Hollow!

- Punishment, Time To Reflect and The Desire To Grow Stronger

After last weeks amazing episode I was expecting to be disappointed, especially from what I saw in the preview. This time I was proved utterly wrong, two great episodes of Bleach in a row, imagine that!  The standard of the artwork was inevitably worse, but still above average for Bleach. What surprised me the most was that this episode was entirely different from 121 but still managed to be every bit as good.

This was a reflective episode. Everybody on team Ichigo,including the Shinigami, realised that they needed to be substantially stronger to cope with and even survive the growing threat of the Arrancar. You normally get this in Shounen Anime, the eventual I must get stronger and resulting training phase, but this episode masked it very well and managed to progress the story at the same time.  Now I am just hoping that the next few episodes can keep the depth of the show at this level and not fall in the the trap of becoming dull, badly animated and bland.

Regarding the Vizards, I don’t really know to much about them and so far I haven’t really cared about them. Besides liking Hiyori’s character design. However this episode made me care about them a little more, even though they look like a circus act. I have read than Shinji is quite powerful so I am looking forward to seeing him be a bit more sinister rather than the easy going care free attitude he has displayed so far. Hiyori’s Hollow (release?) was quite cool was well, she’s got a spunky attitude so I am looking forward to see how she develops. The dynamic should get quite interesting now with more groups being involved in this power struggle.

On the Arrancar side, I couldn’t help but feel frustrated for Grimmjow. Yes he broke the rules and paid the price, but he is an amazingly cool character and I hope he is not pushed aside for good. Oh yes, Gin returned! My favourite character made a rather subtle but very characteristic entrance to Hueco Mundo. Displaying his usual vague and sly charm he questions Aizen on his motives with Grimmjows punishment, good stuff.

Keigo’s sister Mizuho made a return, showering her attention and affection on the uncharacteristically quiet Ikkaku. It’s good to see some genuinely funny moments returning to bleach, it makes me rather nostalgic. Aside from this, Ichigo’s family and Matsumoto also managed to get a few laughs.

Back with Ichigo’s gang, Inoue went to school (excitement), Ishida tried to stay alive and Chad begged Urahara for his assistance with training. When written like this the content doesn’t seem incredible, but it was the atmosphere of this episode that made it superb. Ichigo was serious and brooding, his attitude was much more appealing than in previous episodes. The inner hollow slowly creeping up on him is driving him to make moves that he otherwise wouldn’t have. I personally can’t wait to see more of Hollow Ichigo and hopefully Zangetsu. The show felt decisively more desperate and sinister, the sense of foreboding really caught me.

I was a huge Bleach fan, but like many the fillers drove me away, here’s hoping i’m back to stay. If you’re a Bleach fan, or were, go watch this now!

Next episode – Ichigo gets hit, with a table.