Bleach / First Impressions

Summary:

Ichigo is out patrolling when an injured Rukia suddenly emerges from a gate from Soul Society. Moments later, another gate appears and out of it comes the human form of Rukia’s zanpakutou, Sode no Shirayuki. She attacks Ichigo and tries to get him to hand over Rukia, and he’s is surprised to see her use Rukia’s signature techniques. He’s able to counter it though, and his opponent decides to back off for now. Ichigo then takes Rukia to Urahara’s place for treatment from Inoue, and once Rukia is well enough to talk again, she tells everyone about what happened in Soul Society. After Muramasa had revealed that he had sealed away Yamamoto, fighting had broken out between the Shinigami and the Zanpakutou. Rukia was saved by her brother, but he was then locked in battle with his own Zanpakutou, and she ended up back in the real world after fighting hers. Yoruichi, who had earlier gone to Soul Society to check things out, now returns to report that the Shinigami have regrouped and the Zanpakutou have disappeared for the time being. However, Byakuya is still missing, and Rukia worries about him despite Ichigo’s reassurances that her brother wouldn’t die. When Ichigo finds out later that Rukia has gone back to Soul Society on her own, he decides to go after her.

Preview

You might remember that last week I said “maybe they can get through it without Ichigo needing to come save the day.” So much for that idea. In fact, I was amused that, as if to drive home the point of who this series will always revolve around, they even played the song Number One in the background as Ichigo was preparing to leave. I still think keeping Ichigo out of this and giving more focus to the captains/vice-captains and their respective Zanpakutou would have been better, but at the very least having Ichigo around means that we’ll likely get to see a lot more of Zangetsu. Plus there’s Yoruichi whose Zanpakutou we know very little about, and this would be a good chance for them perhaps to reveal something about it.

Having said all that, I have to note that I actually liked the episode overall because it had some pretty nice action scenes with all that fighting going on. There’s a certain freshness factor still to seeing each Zanpakutou use techniques that we would otherwise very familiar with, and watching the captains and vice-captains having to adapt is interesting as well. I suspect they’ll be making heavy use of kidou spells for a while to compensate.

63 Comments

  8. Ichigo won’t lose to Shirayuki.

    By saying that Ichigo might lose, you’re implying that Shirayuki > Ichigo and by extension, Rukia > Ichigo.

    That is laughable.

    Don’t compare that fail to the likes of Ichigo. Hell, he’d rape Rukia bare handed for Rukia is mere VC-level.

    Kyon
    Reply

  10. Kyon is an effing crackhead for insulting both Rukia and her very pretty zanpakutou when he has no right to. I could lose several reasons why that comment is a failure in itself but I have other things I still need to do at the moment.

    b3tamax
    Reply

  11. well if they decide to end this quick and get on other anime filler I don’t mind yeah haha. but so next week with Ichigo I doubt there’s more kido anyway…

    hmm not a good episode to anticipate this week…

    kaineng
    Reply

  12. Its so predictable.All the captains we haven’t seen go bankai are left out.Especially old man yama.And get this, Ichigo goes to soul society to “save” rukia.Hmm where have I heard about this plot line before…seriously….what is going on here.

    On the bright side,rukia’s zanpaktou is hot.Everything about her screams bondage queen.

    God~Knows~
    Reply

  14. I wanna see more Hyourinmaru and hear what he sounds liiiiiiiiiiiike ; △ ;

    Anyways…

    Oh yeah, Ichigo TOTALLY has to go and save the day, like always, doesn’t he?!

    Makes me wish that Rukia didn’t make it out of that Senkaimon… ﹁ _ ﹁

    Oh well, no one can get everything they want. As long as I can hear what Hyourinmaru sounds like, even if it’s just maybe for a simple sentence or even just a word, and see a little more or him for my obvious enjoyment, I’ll be happy and content because Hyourinmaru = HOT and SEXY and everything relating and in between.

    In other words…

    Byakuya’s zanpaktou is awkward, and it was something I never would have assumed for it to look like. The first thing I thought of when the first episode of this arc was; “So are we gonna see a dancing tree or a really hot chick that’s just covered in leaves and petals, or some stuck up noble-woman?” But no, it just had to be the last thing I would think of; a masked warrior that really has nothing to do with the name Senbonzakura other than having the zanpaktou. Well, at least he looks awesome, right? Better than Izuru’s Wabisuke, I can tell you that… > ︿ >…

    And really, Kyon? You just HAD to put it that way? Yes, Ichigo is strong, but what if Rukia had become a seated officer like she was supposed to be and had trained more? She would probably be at Ichigo’s level. Just because Rukia is not as strong as Ichigo, doesn’t mean that he could rape her bare-handed. Sode no Shirayuki looks fairly powerful, given the amount of damage her attack can seem to give and the amount of power that can be given into each and ever of her attacks. She seems like a fairly respectable female zanpaktou.

    Sorry to all who find that I’m blabbing uselessly, but I have a bad habit of speaking out my mind more than I should… I actually had to stop myself, because I have a lot more to say with Kyouraku’s and Renji’s zanpaktou and some other things… But anyways, Sorry a ton for probably spamming the page. ; △ ;

    Sayu
    Reply

  16. they just had to send Zaraki away aye’.

    He can still more or less take on the Zanpaktou’s with ease without relying on Bankai/Shikai which every other characters seems to rely so much on.

    M
    Reply

  17. This isn’t a part of canon as far as I know so odds are good Yoruichi’s zanpakuto won’t show up. That said it’s basically shaping to be what I guessed. You’ve got some kind of ancient conspiracy, the shinigami are useless, Ichigo has to save someone, and any human who isn’t named Ichigo will have zero character development. Same as every arc and at least one movie.

    Grant
    Reply

  22. Yea, it’d be interesting to see what they do with Zaraki’s sword, considering he doesn’t even know its name.

    This whole zanpakutou rebellion business sounds like it’s setting up for a fight where Ichigo shows off how immune he is to Muramasa’s abilities because of his hollow powers. I hope the arc doesn’t have such a fight, considering they already did that in the last major filler arc.

    KyonSmith
    Reply

  23. The animation this week was a step down from last week, as expected, but only by very minor details- i.e. Ichigo’s face looked very weird in certain shots again. The episode itself wasn’t as exciting either, as it was basically a build-up for Ichigo’s time to battle… but of course, it only means it will get better.

    starss
    Reply

  26. Anyone think Yoruichi’s zanpakuto is the hairband/rope that she puts up her ponytail with? While Kisuke keeps his zanpakuto in the form of a cane, and old man Yama’s in the form of a walking stick, maybe the reason we don’t see Yoruichi’s zanpakuto is that its been on her head the whole time! Like Orihime’s hairpins! I remember the old episode of the flashback to when Yoruichi and Kisuke were kids, and she had a short sword (no ponytail), and she used the hairband during Ichigo’s 2-day bankai training.

    samu
    Reply

  27. Since Ichigos hollow is part of Zangetsu as he have stated himself I wonder if we will see him rebel. I think it could be awesome if we see more Hichigo but theres probaly little change.

    DarkReign
    Reply

  28. Of course everyone knows that Kenpachi will end up saving the day, but one thing I know he probabley wont show up too soon. i wonder how Zangetsu will be invovled during this arc. There is always a chance he could join up with the other zans, thus leaving ichigo zan severely handicapped.

    Deathdakid
    Reply

  35. I am quite interested to see where they go with Muramasa. Muramasa so far seems to live up to the fearsome legend of the Muramasa sword – somehow he has been unleashed, and he’s causing a lot of bloodshed with more to come before he is finally sheathed.

    I kind of hope we get to see him later on as one of a group of “legendary swords given human form”, although that would be overcrowding the story a bit, unless this is going to run and run and run.

    But hey, two episodes in and at the very least it is a lot better than the Amagai / “I’m -so-annoying-and-stuck-up” princess arc, and it’s off to a better start than the whole thing with the Bount. For a couple of episodes of scene setting and build up, it’s not bad.

    Did anyone else think that Uharuha was going to suggest Kon use the Karukura Riser suit in the next episode preview when he was talking about the threats Kon would face? Seems like a wasted chance to throw in a shout-out to that pair of fun episodes.

    Sol Fury
    Reply

  36. I wonder why all the Zanpaktou Spirits turned on their Shinigami partners when Muramusa freed them? Muramusa must be really strong if he managed to defeat Yamamato and separated all the Zanpaktou Spirits from their partners. And what could have happened to Zangetsu’s Spirit? He was acting even more strangly than he normally does. Something is definitely wrong here.

    Matt Gross
    Reply

  37. So Yamamoto’s Zanpaktou, Ryūjin Jakka was the only zanpaktou that resisted Muramasa’s spell? And the Zanpaktou in the real world, Zangetsu and Benihime are not affected at all? This is getting weirder every episode.

    Matt Gross
    Reply

  38. Kenpachi MIA and not all Zanpakutou rebelled. There’s plot holes everywhere. I’m expecting the non rebellious Zanpakutous to physically materialize and fight the other Zanpakutous.

    panaghoy88
    Reply

  39. So if Muramasa can give zanpakutous physical form and Ichigo’s zanpaktou and inner hollow share the same body what happens to Ichigo’s inner hollow if Muramasa uses his power on Zangetsu?

    lf6ud
    Reply

  44. hm… looks really good now… although it’s just started, we’ll have to wait a few more weeks to determine whether or not this is a good or crappy filler XP anyways… I didn’t expect Senbonzakura to be… a shogun, I sorta expected… something feminine, oh well Sode no Shirayuki looks nice

    Rise-N Seraphim
    Reply

  47. Does Yoruichi even have a zenpakuto? I thought suzumebachi was originally hers and was passed down to Shifon (sp?).

    It’s interesting how once we’re now back to filler zone, we see the modified souls again. Not that I mind hearing Nova’s “mondainai” again x]

    yukino
    Reply

  48. Well it makes sense for them to exclude Kenpachi from this whole arc. His presence would totally screw up the whole story. It’d end up being him fighting and beating every single zanpakutou (though that wouldn’t actually be a bad idea lol).

    Though it obviously wouldn’t happen, it’d be funny if Muramasa was Kenpachis zanpakutou. And hes jus mad/jealous that his owner doesn’t want to know his name, hence turning all other zanpakutou into physical beings and demonstrating to Kenpachi what hes missing out on lol. YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST!

    pong
    Reply

  51. Ichigo will be able to sort these things out, As he possesses Hollow powers, he doesn’t heavily rely on their Zanpakutou to fight.

    Ryujin Jakka too loyal with Yamamoto? ruse.

    knight of one
    Reply

  52. @sayu

    how do u make that triangle its sick…..and also i think senbonzakuras guy suits byakuya because he looks just as proud and noble as him lol and also wabisuke suits kira very well too because his ability is to make different objects weigh more and he holds that giant ball to symbolize it. wabisuke is also the zanpaktou that has the most detailed thought out design in my opinon as well

    sean
    Reply

  53. IMO, a shinigami who already attained bankai should have no problems controlling their zanpakutou. I mean, it kind of contradicts the story; you have to fight your zanpakutou in order to attain bankai.

    Anonymouse
    Reply

  55. Man, another filler arc. Atleast they’re not as annoying as Naruto’s stupid fillers though – and not nearly as long. (100 eps lol?) Also, Bleach seems to still have reference to those fillers, where Naruto Shippuden doesn’t have any reference to Naruto’s fillers.

    I also can’t wait for the Bleach English Dubbed version catches upto the Subbed. Iunno why, but I’ve gotten to really like the dub of Bleach. Especially Vic mignogna playing Ikkaku. It’s voicecandy. <3

    verilix
    Reply

  56. haven’t really been following the series. but won’t kenpachi still own since he never knew his zanpakutou’s name anyway? i don’t know if he died in the last arch cause i didn’t watch it.

    w00tsauce
    Reply

  59. This is an awesome filler. I want to see how the Death Gods fight their own zanpakutou. Byakuya’s zanpakutou is really cool. espically his true form. I know Byakuya is safe and he is planning somthing. can’t wait!

    Zitsu
    Reply

  60. “Yoruichi’s Zanpatou? doubt it. Even the mangaka haven’t thought that far ahead (nor does he have the time to, looking at how he’s handling the manga)”

    Exactly. How the heck could they even reveal anything about it? Keep your pants on, Omni. But it’d be fun if they’d reveal something about Zaraki’s Zanpakuto. 😛 I mean, the fact that he doesn’t know it’s name doesn’t mean that it couldn’t have some awesome powers!

    Btw, look! There’s Ganondorf at 8:20! [seems like I can’t put a link to a screenshot but see for yourself]

    Artsi
    Reply

  61. If there is one lesson we should have learned from the last filler arc(Amagai), it’s that the anime fillers will NEVER, for ANY reason whatsoever, regardless of how cool it’d be, exclude Ichigo.
    Which sucks.
    Will comment again once I’ve seen the ep

    Kensei
    Reply

  62. i wish they were not so annoying and put in all the captains and showed all the “human” forms of their zanpacto i mean put in zaraki, yamato, yourichi urahara and thier zancpactos i mean 232 episodes in with the anime and 369 chapter with the manga and the author still has not shown us all the forms for the zanpactos of each character. also THEY SO WEAKENED ICHIGO for that episode i mean he could easily shrug off those attacks, which he would not even have to do with his speed in bankai i mean why sit there and take it when you can easily just dodge all the attacks? i hate how they made the zancpacto look soo strong also for next episode against his own zancpacto just go vizard and kick its ass, and all the other zancpactos ass’ lol wow i typed alot xDDDDDD

    JAMAL
    Reply

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