Retsgip’s Anime Blog

Darkshaunz is filling you in

Score: 7.5/10 (not bad for filler)

Wow, let me breathe for a second here. Firstly, I’ll begin by saying that I am “kind of” excited to see where these fillers are going. I know, don’t worry, the world is not ending nor is the messiah coming to claim your heathen souls. But Bleach has proven itself one thing in this episode - That when Bleach doesn’t take itself seriously and has sporadic moments of action, it becomes the best kind of Bleach. This is the only time you will see a Captain get tanked in front of his division, not even Kyoraku does that. I also found the new OP to be rockin’ the future seven, it is absolutely sexy, visuals and song. Also thanks to my old friend, Lupus over at that anime blog for referencing my shipping post. I want to have Lupilicious dreams about you tonight, mmm.

Visual representation of the word “Sexy”

This OP is like Vin Diesel, it is going to kick your ass and make you apple strudel

The song for this OP is “CHU-BARA” by Kelun. Things kick off immediately, there’s no build up tempo for the song, it’s just vocals on ignition. There’s no time for the buildup, it cuts through the bullshit and takes you into a hot-blooded jock rock riff before you can even say, “It’s a goddamn kickin’ song”. So in other terms, it is working as intended in Bleach terms. Then the character appearances and visuals. Absolutely terrific, I was taken back to the first OP, when Bleach OPs were very cool and groovy. Everyone makes an appearance here. Rukia is in a hot swimsuit thing and her hair is tied back (Holy fuck yes, it’s sexy!). Orihime, Chad, Ishida and Ichigo all get the casual beach-bleach outfit treatment and they look like people we can actually relate to! No more crazy black robes, victorian archer gowns or giant ugly power arms! Tatsuki and the other girls are also in, as are the new characters for the filler arc. Good job overall, the latest OP is fluid fanservice. I do appreciate it, kind sirs.

Who the hell are those guys at the back?

Ishida dresses the same, even when going to the beach

Spectre Inductee

Ever since Aizen, Captain can’t-see-shit and Smiley ditched Soul Society for a mode abode in Hueco Tacos, Old man Yamamoto has been having a bit of a headache. Three squads are without captains, according to the wrinkly old nick, this is a no-go and can cause major problems. So in an attempt to fill the spot, he notices that a patrol squad on long-term deployment has returned from Earth with zero casualties. An achievement he deemed worthy of choosing a Captain candidate for the leaderless Squad Three. Matsumoto second guesses that it is Kira, seeing as he is squad vice, but Captain Shota assures his big-boobed assistant that Kira was not chosen for the position. The atmosphere was similarly tense in the third squad headquarters, with men quite upset that some faceless random was chosen to fill Smiley’s position. Kira, being the nice chum that he is, decides to concede the fact with nigh a gentlemanly smile and a hesitant voice. Understandably, this new captain has big shoes to fill, and an especially larger grin to fill.

“I farted”

That’s one hell of a fringe, dude

Let’s all welcome the new guy….okay, let’s not.

As a new captain is announced, it is customary to have all the other captains assemble so they can get to know their new buddy-ol-pal better. It seems like a nice thing to do, but the current captains are very close-knit and are perfectly capable of gauging each others’ powers. The man announced is Shuusuke Amagai, a gruff looking man and messy hair. He doesn’t look like a suave candidate for a captain at all, moreso like a truck driver who had a few too many drinks the night before. The best part of this scene to me is mostly the reactions (or lack of) from the other captains. The only people who seemed to give a shit were Captain Teddybear and Captain Tuberculosis. With the former commenting on the new captain’s zanpaktou and with the latter offering up the usual Ukitake gentlemanly charm of hospitality and kindness. Byakuya takes a sparing look at the new captain, slept throughout the introduction and then proceeds to go write poetry and pose for the latest issue of “Soul Society Fangirl Weekly”. Mayuri gave the usual, “I wonder if he squirms when I shove my probes down his throat” look, Zaraki looked eternally bored, Kyoraku was too busy fantasizing about Nanao-chan, Captain Shota misses his paperwork and Soi Fon just didn’t give a shit. She did, however remark that Captain Amagai would have to prove himself to the “Cool Kids” before they gave a damn. Tough crowd.

His name’s Earl, he drives trucks and shoots rabbits

I seriously think Byakuya naps during these meetings

Meeting the troops

Captain Amagai then proceeds to meet his newly assigned division. He accustoms himself with Kira, and introduced Kifune Makoto as the new 3rd Seat for the the squad. Kifune looks like the reincarnation of Syazel Apporo or Pinkspada as we affectionately know him in these parts. According to Captain Amagai, he is quite strong, so it will be interesting to see him action (which we do). After a corny and cliche’d announcement that the Captain was going to protect everyone his division, no matter what, Kira seeks Matsumoto for advice on how to break the ice with the immense tension building up within the division. She suggests a mid-afternoon party involving snacks and sake (to nobody’s surprise). Kira contemplates the suggestion and actually accepts it as a possible fix. He sets the party up and invites the captain to partake in the festivities. This party resembled more like a funeral than a celebration, my first thought was, “So…who died?”. Kira takes evasive manouevers and urges the new captain to toast his division. He does so after hesitantly drinking a very big serving of sake. After doing so, he gets drunk almost immediately, and passes out during his own welcoming party. Needless to say, I am expecting great things from this gruff new captain, he takes his liquor knowing he is going to get shitfaced, but does it for the division - Good job.

He really is excited isn’t he? Rei Ayanami looks lively compared to this guy

Toshirou looked like Gohan after cell stepped on 16’s head

Captain Amagai dies from sexual exhaustion, filler arc is over

Action Stations!

As things start to slow down in Bleach, it can only mean one thing - a sudden hollow attack! However, we don’t just get treated to a normal hollow attack, no, it is an attack of THIRTY menos grande. I mean shit, not one or two, but thirty, they don’t mess around. It’s okay though, because we Bleach anime viewers are used to seeing menos grande get grande-ly spammed and overused anyway. Apparently one division should be able to handle thirty of these lumbering giants, when at the start of the series, it was noted that a menos grande was pretty powerful even for an experienced squad. I see the anime studio is beefing up Soul Society’s power levels just a teensy bit here. Kira and his squad, along with the new thrid seat are then deployed to the action immediately. It was nice seeing Kira in action again, and the normal shinigamis fight, it was kind of nice having the “Ordinary soldiers point of view” for once, seeing how these guys do their everyday jobs, unsung heroes as such. Also of note is Kifune Makoto, who singlehandedly deflected a Cero using his unreleased blade. These fillers had one thing in mind: Over the top power levels, which is a pretty zany double edged sword, as they are treading a fine line between ridiculousness and awesomeness.

Seizing Night Fever

These guys are giving it their all for their 5 second air-time. Good for them!

The skirmish looks to be going well, when until, the seizing currents start to activate. Imagine when Moses was parting the red sea, well the sea isn’t going to collapse back into the path, but instead, there’s a huge fucking train speeding down the path about to slam Moses and his followers to the big upstairs. I am sure Kira wasn’t quite picturing himself as Moses then, but what I am sure he was praying to somebody. Put up your hands if you knew this was the captain would come to save them all and then instantly earn their respect and eternal gratitude? Yeah, we all saw that coming from ten thousand miles away. This is the oldest, most overused trust-gaining, friendship-infusing trick in the anime plot book. It’s forgivable I guess, because it works, but gosh are we tired of seeing the same old shit get regurgitated in this manner all the goddamn time. However, this captain does mix things up by saying the corny, “I told you I will protect you all” spiel and then proceed to pass out from being too drunk. I found that kind of unique, and I think his character saves the Bleach filler arc from a slight overtone of mediocrity (at least the animation was good right?)

Hey Kira, your sword is looking kinda limp there.

His dessert fork can stop trains. Goddamn.

All in all, I rather enjoyed that episode. If not, just to see the new OP and ED bundled with the package. I know this side-stepping from the main storyline will anger a lot of people, understandably enough. However, this is required so that the manga can get a bit more of a headstart. I think this is also a great chance to develop some non-canon aspects of Bleach characters. It gives the animation studio an artistic license to do what they want, stretch their legs a little bit and get those creative juices flowing nice and easy. The Bounto arc was a slab of shit, something every Bleach fan agrees to, but before we pass the almighty hammer of judgment +10 on this filler arc, I say we put on monocles, drink some earl grey, bake some scones and enjoy the upcoming episodes. So when we do realize that the filler arc is a steaming pile of reiatsu, we’ll look jolly good styling.

My Sexbox 360. Thanks to gouranga1 for making the render, and to skinit for making awesome decals.

Cheers,

Darkshaunz

PS: Mashiro is awesome in the latest manga chapter. Tantrum shikai predicted.