護廷十三隊侵軍篇 前半

Just started today (ep.317) and got only half way through so far (ep.332), but I have an urge to do a proper rant (not the abridged few lines I threw at Neko-tan, who's almost 300 episodes behind me on Bleach).

Let me praise the good points first. This filler arc creates an environment and circumstance to pit the shinigami against each other and their own selves. Thanks to this arc being made after the arrancar saga, there are more known skills and techniques to liven the battles. As a result, the first half was filled with some pretty good fights in Soul Society.

I have no complaints about the seiyuu for the new characters, especially Furukawa Toshio. Furukawa is probably most well known for his roles in Urusai Yatsura, Dragon Ball series (Piccolo!), and Fist of the North Star. Unfortunately, I've never watched any of those. I only know him as Kai Shiden from the UC Gundam series. But I did attend his panel at AX this year. XD

Now the rant.

I previously said "in Soul Society" when praising about the first half, because most of the scenes taking place in the Real World are lacklustre and often contradicting the principle settings of Bleach. They're supposed to apply area locks to minimize damage to the Real World when there are battles involving high spirit levels. The strengths of Vice Captain class and above are restricted by default in the Real World. And Ichigo shouldn't be doing bankai so casually here and there in the Real World, especially considering that he's supposed to be a lot weaker now.

But my biggest annoyance is the original main character. Nozomi feels too much like Senna, and this whole 'Ichigo & co. doing everything to protect the seemingly helpless girl (but holds the key and victimizes herself trying to either kill herself or shoulder the weight of the whole world) from the bad guys' thing also brings back the experience from MEMORIES OF NOBODY. While the extent isn't as bad as in MEMORIES OF NOBODY, it's still painful to watch.

She's given the shinigami treatment and a zanpakutou, despite her nature of existence. Her zanpakutou reminds me of the blazing sword in Voltron, and its ability is essentially the combination of Hisagomaru/Ryuumonhoozukimaru and Sogyo no Kotowari. The process of getting her shikai back also goes beyond common sense settings. There's simply no way for a zanpakutou in its pre-shikai state to withstand Ichigo's Getsuga Tensho in bankai form.

I think ep.332 is a good spot to break up the arc and I'll pick up again next weekend. I'm trying to adhere to schedule and finish the summer series so I can start on the fall series next week. Hopefully I won't be as annoyed by the further settings and development next weekend.

What? How come I'm only starting the arc today when I already watched ep.342? Because I couldn't wait to see Ichigo x RukiaYou're not supposed to notice... *casts Nifuramu* Be gone!