What They Say:
Episode 356
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After the New Years episode that threw off a lot of people, especially since they took a week off and then did it late, Bleach is getting itself back on track this week with the main storyline once again by trying to nudge things forward more. And it does it with a very good tease at the first by bringing in people we haven’t seen for awhile, particularly with Rukia, as the visual of a Soul Society outfit feels like something we haven’t seen in an age in the proper storyline. Getting a good dose of them the week before in the more comedy oriented episode was definitely welcome, but seeing Rukia apparently in the World of the Living here at the start gives hope of things picking up a bit more with the bigger picture soon.
Some of the things that have gone on prior to the special are dealt with here as Orihime has made it into the training area where Ginjo is working Ichigo over pretty hard. It’s good timing since it lets her heal him, but it also shows something more for him. While he’s been working hard, she makes it clear that she and Chad haven’t just been sitting around as they’ve been working hard themselves so as to not be a burden to him. Reinforcing that it’s been seventeen months since he lost his power, it helps to push him in the right direction mentally to deal with Ginjo. It’s not that it makes him more aggressive, it’s the shove he needed from her to remind him that he has to hold his own as well and do what needs to be done. He may have kept his skills to some degree and gained some new motivation with the Fullbring side, but he needed that extra shove in order to really start reaching for that next level.
The majority of the episode is given over to the fight between Ginjo and Ichigo which has some good moments. It doesn’t quite achieve a huge cinematic appeal when you get down to it simply because even as intense as the fight gets, it doesn’t really rise up to that level overall. As a method of trying to Ichigo to move on to that next level, Ginjo is an ideal opponent since he’s older, doesn’t hold back and says what he thinks to try and goad him along even while understanding that things have changed mid fight. The fight itself is decent but it really lacks that added bit needed to make it something more. There is of course a bit of additional incentive thrown into things as it goes along and Orihime has her moment as well as she realizes just how caught up in Xcution’s style and games she is, but it’s a small piece of things overall.
In Summary:
Bleach is really straddling the line of what it needs to do at this point when it comes to Ichigo. His training and growth has been solid since he joined up with Ginjo to unleash his Fullbring powers, but it’s been an arduous journey for the viewer with the pacing. It worked for a good part of it, but with the last few episodes it’s reached that stage where it needs to start doing more with it. And it’s just starting to hint at it now here which is definitely a positive, but it’s still moving at a pace that some will consider too slow. The results are solid and it gives hope for things picking up even more as everything goes on, especially with the teasing appearance of Rukia at the start of the episode. It’s not a bad arc or a bad episode, but it’s starting to beg for more meat to it now.
Grade: B
Readers Rating: [ratings]
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
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