Random Curiosity

Bleach – 280 »« Bleach – 278

Bleach – 279

Summary:
101 years before the current events, Yamamoto picked Shinji, Love, Rose, Hachigen and Lisa to investigate the vanishing souls incidents. It is then revealed that Aizen, with Gin and Tosen as his subordinates, performed hollowfication experiments on the shinigami, including the eight who later become the Vizard. Shinji confronts Aizen but is overcome by the hollowfication. Urahara and Tessai arrive to save them, but Aizen easily blocks their attacks. The Central 41 then banishes Urahara and Tessai from Soul Society for performing illegal experiments and orders the victims of the hollowfication to be dealt with as hollows, but Urahara and Yourichi manage to bring them to the real world.

Back in the present time, Lisa speaks with Shunsui, telling him to get off the ground; Shinji goes to Yamamoto, stating that while does not consider the Vizard allies with the Gotei 13, they (the vizard) are here to fight against Aizen and his minions. Fura, the large hollow with Wonderweiss, then spits out a large hoard of Menos Grande, and the Vizard make short work of them. Shinji then attacks Aizen, though he is intercepted by Tosen, who then is in turn blocked by Komamura and attacked by Hisagi. Lisa blocks Harribel from attacking Toshiro, and Hachigen joins Soifon and Omaeda against Barragan. Love and Rose also face off against Starrk, and Mashiro destroys Fura in one kick.

 

ED24 Sequence

ED24: 「echoes」 by universe
Watch the 24th ED!: Download, Streaming ▼

I’m digging the new ED sequence, especially the first part of the song. It’s heavily synthed, but I still like the sound; it’s fairly different from what we’ve heard so far. The animation was nice in the front and end– the grungy look is okay but I don’t really know what the green bars scrolling across the screen were for.

Preview

Impressions:
I noticed that the Turn Back the Pendulum arc is mixed into the Vizard vs. Arrancar fights. While I don’t have a problem understanding what’s going on, it’s possible that anime-only viewers will be confused watching the disjointed revelations. I personally would prefer if arc wasn’t interrupted, but this order also seems fine as it makes each episode more exciting with more information being revealed.

With a large amount of characters suddenly joining in the fight, I found myself losing track of who was who. This episode spent a large portion of time showcasing some of the vizards abilities. With so many former captains and lieutenants, there is bound to be a plentiful parade of powers to be shown in upcoming episodes, and this is made even more interesting by the fact they all have hollow masks. With Harribel and Barragan completely unscathed, hopefully we’ll be right back to all-out battle. A three-way battle between Aizen’s crew, the Gotei 13 and Vizards would be epic, but strategically speaking it’s better to gang up on one common enemy first. Afterward however, I wish they would go right some of their past grievances with Soul Society.

Comments on Vizard:
Shinji: He shouldn’t have taken off his mask against Aizen; probably could have avoided that cut.
Hiyori: Her voice got a tad bit annoying after a while, but I like her fang.
Love: Their masks only last three minutes? looks like Ichigo surpassed them there…
Lisa: First thing I saw was her clothing (luckily no panty shots); kudos to her for waking up that lazy bastard Shunsui who was just sleeping on ground after Starrk’s cero.
Rose: His “symphony of death” is pretty cool but its kill speed is way too slow for stronger opponents.
Mashiro: Fura got completely smashed in one kick, which surprised me as I thought he would last longer than that; guess the thing’s size is just for show.

Pardon the late posts this week; I’ve just gotten settled down from some hectic traveling.

July 17, 2010 at 12:35 am
45 comments »
  • July 17, 2010 at 12:44 amimerik

    Hmm they finally got this far… and still so far to go in this long long battle. I guess I’ll check out this episode and the next few.

  • July 17, 2010 at 12:46 ammeow

    I like Hiyori’s fang too ^_^b

  • July 17, 2010 at 12:58 amahelo

    lisa is nopan?!!?!?

    • July 17, 2010 at 1:57 amrofl

      i lold so hard, i love how that is one of peoples first thoughts

  • July 17, 2010 at 1:38 amAnimeniac

    i maybe late but.

    to aru majutsu no index season 2 has been greenlit

    • July 17, 2010 at 3:47 amviral

      So what? Is this an Index post, or what?

      • July 17, 2010 at 8:34 amda5id

        Wait, are you telling me it ISN’T?!

      • July 17, 2010 at 7:43 pmAnimeniac

        and what do you want to say? i’m an idiot for posting something like this? dont slam to my face your “F”ing anti-index ego because what am i doing is just plain sharing info. SHARING got it? or maybe your egoistic mind cant undestand it. so wanna see it in 50 different languages then?

    • July 17, 2010 at 9:43 amShinjiro

      Thanks for the news thou. As a Biribiri fan, I just can’t wait.
      Viral, you got to bear with it (even if the post was a bit random lol), this blog is not set as a forum (like animesuki) so no one can make threads about things/news/updates.
      Divine, I’m just curious now…Have you ever thought of turning RC into a forum? I do see some positive buzz from that but I also see the dynamic and the graphic impact drastically changing.

      • July 17, 2010 at 1:20 pmmako

        If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it, randomc is great the way it is, if you turn this into a forum, it would be the same as superpowers, with a great power comes a great responsability and with responsability I mean SPAM

        And speaking of Bleach this battle sure is long (about a year if you read the manga at a weekly basis)but at the same time is enjoyable (some times, when it isn’t just blah blah)

      • July 17, 2010 at 4:53 pmDivine

        The thought had crossed my mind, but I don’t want to moderate a forum.

      • July 17, 2010 at 8:04 pmShinjiro

        Mako, RC is fine as it is. I was merely curious to see if the idea had crossed Divine’s mind. Main reason I’ve pointed the forum avenue was for the release of news updates or interesting interviews and articles concerning the anime world. But as Divine pointed out, it’s a lot of work (even for a moderating team).

  • July 17, 2010 at 1:54 amEliteF22

    Yea, I was also disappointed with Fura. Too many throw away bad eyes in Bleach mixed with seemingly immortal good guys makes for boring action.

  • July 17, 2010 at 2:19 amM

    seems like Hachi is missing from that list of vaizards. haha

    • July 17, 2010 at 9:34 amShinjiro

      So is Kensei but Prooof just got back so giving him some slack :P

    • July 17, 2010 at 1:48 pmProoof

      I only mentioned the ones I had more thoughts on.

  • July 17, 2010 at 3:21 amGrant

    Kyoraku really seems to like literary girls with glasses. As for the fighting, if memory serves we never get to see their bankai. Which is kinda a tease.

  • July 17, 2010 at 4:35 amLion of Genesis

    We do see Kensei’s bankai, but we never do see what ability it has.

    • July 17, 2010 at 9:39 amShinjiro

      I don’t remember the manga mentioning anything about it either. Not sure if it will be showcased at a later point there either.
      Prooof, are you working on your post for the manga side or waiting to do a post about a double release?

    • July 18, 2010 at 6:52 amIzu

      the manga didnt really get to him using it yet, he didnt really get to … i think he got to smash stuff with it before Azien left but no real abilities of it shown. most of the vizards “bankai” feel quick powers that shouldnt qualify over shikai …. the full extent of shinji’s bankai is it reverses the way you read directions? (aziens shikai does more then that, hell kenpachi would pwn it)

  • July 17, 2010 at 7:09 amcaramel_cod

    Out of all of them, Hachi definitely has the most interesting mask (the most colorful too, which is fairly unique in hollows).

    I’m pretty disappointed that Fura was so abysmally weak; its a shame Aizen didn’t send it to Seretei, which has to be pretty defenseless right now, so it could unleash those gillians on weaker targets. I also don’t get why Shinji put his mask on, then promptly took it off to attack, but whatever.

  • July 17, 2010 at 7:26 amAecen

    In reguards to the 3 minute talk by love, im pretty sure that was a reference to a japanese comic hero. I don’t think he is limited to 3 mins. That came up when it was released in the manga.

  • July 17, 2010 at 8:09 amNecromas

    No mention of Mashiro’s rider kick? Not even a screenshot of it? Well I’ll make one.

    http://img686.imageshack.us/img686/207/mashirokick.png

  • July 17, 2010 at 8:28 amda5id

    Still haven’t heard anyone say its name was Fura…

    • July 17, 2010 at 1:26 pmProoof

      I didn’t know either; had to look up the name.

    • July 17, 2010 at 1:36 pmSol Fury

      The name should be dropped next episode. Fura never gets the dignity of a name until after it is defeated and Gin makes a comment “well that was disappointing, Fura went down so easily” or something like that.

      It is disappointing that it died so easily actually. With all that build up to it finally showing up I was left feeling “is that it?”

      • July 18, 2010 at 7:00 amIzu

        im not really surprised, despite being Wonderwise’s fraccon (i think? ) he was just a large low-level hollow who could cary/create large Gillian hollows ….. and its appearance could just be a way to show how strong the fighters are that id go down in one hit (like a gillian hollow)

  • July 17, 2010 at 9:31 amShinjiro

    The Gillians were just there to showcase the Vizards’ strength and nothing real important to the storyline per se. Fighting the Espadas would really be more interesting. Fura was a waste of space imo. At the very least, battle action should defintely pick up for a bit.

  • July 17, 2010 at 9:47 amstarss

    Wow. Quick enough?

  • July 17, 2010 at 11:25 amKarmafan

    For those that read the manga… Show Spoiler ▼

    • July 17, 2010 at 1:27 pmmako

      As far as I remember NO, they just know each other… they could be family, friends, enemies, master and student, pop idol and fan.

      And relationships between soul society citizens aren’t that important, well they form families at almost random, like the chibi shirou kami captain, hinamori and the miss old granma

  • July 17, 2010 at 11:56 amHiHi

    love the new ending both song and art.

  • July 17, 2010 at 4:02 pmGuardian

    I liked the fighting this episode but wish they’d skipped the Pendulum shit. This isn’t ‘new revelations’ or anything like that, they already played the arc in its entirety during one of the filler arcs or another. Granted for those who skip the filler seasons and may have missed Turn Back the Pendulum it might be helpful, but it’s a whole lotta time spent on animation we’ve already seen. Cheaper to produce so that’s why they do it so much, I guess.

    The Vizards were so much better animated … the manga was so choppy it was hard to really appreciate the awesomeness of their shredding the wave of Gillians. The only think I think coulda been done better was Love’s tearing the one in half, but ah well.

    Also, not all the Vizards are restricted to three minutes. Mashiro’s still Hollowfied after all (and will brag that she can stay so for hours). Mashiro’s astoundingly strong, pity she never uses her Zanpakuto, just her Kamen Rider kikku ;) Will be hoping for less flashback next episode … I think Hachi’s Kido clinic should be next ep :D

  • July 17, 2010 at 4:06 pmGuardian

    Also love the new ED! The last one was fun, but this one is definately way more epic and fitting for the Espada battles. Uryu looked badass and at first I thought they’d drawn him with his hand severed like in the manga, but nope, still censored :P

  • July 17, 2010 at 4:54 pmgoukison

    uh!!! HOW COME AM THE ONLY PERSON WONDERING WTF IS YAMAMOTO DOING?????
    UH? DUDE COULD U STOP DREAMING AND HURT SOMEONE!
    SHINJI IS 10 EPISODE LATE, BUT HE’S ALREADY ON AIZENS FACE…!

    • July 17, 2010 at 5:38 pmSake

      But Yamamoto fighting would totally destroy what’s left to the imagination. Also, Yamamoto fighting would be overkill, he’d wipe out all the arrancar, and we’d be left with Aizen. Don’t you know, this is bleach? Kubo likes to drag things out as long as possible.

      • July 18, 2010 at 3:07 amgoukison

        ohhhh… i see now, good point Sake!
        i take back my complaint
        Yamamoto,
        plz keep floating around and u should even let the arrancars kill some good guys
        Spice it up!

        i vote for hitsugaya to die, he just doesn’t have the personality and skills for high-level battle.

  • July 17, 2010 at 5:56 pmSkins Thunderbomb

    I could’ve sworn the Turn back the Pendulum arc had already been animated. :S Maybe that was my imagination playing tricks on me.

    • July 17, 2010 at 8:27 pmAizen

      No, it’s Kyoka Suigetsu playing tricks on you.

      • July 18, 2010 at 7:01 amIzu

        but i got the same feeling .. and i havnt even seen it …. *gasp* is that your bankai?!?!?!?!?!? *cowers in fear*

  • July 17, 2010 at 8:30 pmItsME

    Out of all of them remember that Mashiro can keep her Hollow mask for 15hrs.

  • July 18, 2010 at 1:10 amDate Masamune

    Is it just me, or does the ending song and video remind and resemble those found in Gundam type animes?

    • July 18, 2010 at 7:09 amIzu

      it just made me think that the graphics took up a chunk of the animation budget so they needed to put in a chunk of the “turn back” arc to keep the episode length normal :P just look at the shading and the beginning part of the broken city looked like it was from a different show given the attention to detail ect in the background … unlike anything ive seen from this anime, to bad every episode cant look like that :/ (water?)

  • July 18, 2010 at 3:31 amAuroraFlame

    It’s all about that fang.

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