Having regained her Shikai, Nozomi tries to join Ichigo and the others to fight the Reigai captains, but the other Soul Reapers tell her not to interfere. In the midst of the battle, Hisagi and Izuru are brought down by the Reigai of Hitsugaya, who prepares to finish off the two lieutenants.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The arrival of Nozomi on the scene certainly is a moment that sets the stage well for what’s to come as she brings out her powers, though Kenpachi’s Reigai at first is simply amused by her presence as he sees her just offering herself to be captured. When she cuts loose though, it’s a whole different thing as there’s a lot of power behind her with the weapon she has and what she’s now capable of. But no matter her ability, there’s a lot of people on both sides that won’t back down in the slightest since it’s not in their personalities or positions. Thankfully, most everyone has gotten past that whole fighting against friends problem that creeped into it in a natural way at the start, so what we get across the board is juts serious fighting amongst the main crew and their duplicates, or rather, duplicates of their friends since few face off against themselves now.
This episode spends a lot of time on the fights as it’s at that point in the overall arc, and it works out pretty well since there have been some strong moments so far, particularly with Ikkaku getting taken down by the Kenpachi Reigai and others wanting to put him in his place for it. Hitsugaya’s Reigai is getting up there in personality similar to Kenpachi as well with a really outgoing and strong bloodlust approach that’s causing quite a few of the Captain’s and others to get taken down and hard. And in the middle of it all, you have Ichigo and Nozomi trying to figure out what can actually be done and trying to push back at the same time. Nozomi came out hard at first with what she did, but it still remains to be seen if it’s something she can maintain, especially as she has no real combat skills prior to this.
What does help the episode a bit is that since it is largely based on the World of the Living, we get some of the human supporting cast showing up and trying to help as well. Though there are plenty of Captain’s and other Soul Society members here, fleshing it out with those that have different skills to bring to the table gives it a bit more variety. Unfortunately, though they’re able to make some headway with things in the nick of time to save a few people from a particular attack or two, they’re not able to really change the course of events. It’s again all coming down to the need of having both Nozomi and Ichigo get center stage for events. So many people and they’re all being organized to just circle the wagons so to speak, so that those two can do what needs to be done.
In Summary:
When it comes to the action side, what we get here is definitely decent and serviceable as it pushes the story forward. Well, not the story so much but a portion of it so that we’re closer to having cleaned out certain parts of it so it can get “serious” now. Having Nozomi join things at long last definitely helps, though she’s still the weak link while at the same time potentially being the most powerful member because of the combination of her and her weapon. Everything here nudges us just a little bit closer to the next event part of the series, but like most shows of this nature, and Bleach especially, we just have to get through more of the lengthy fights and numerous characters involved aspect. This is decent, but it’s just a small stepping stone for the larger story.
Grade: B-
Simulcast 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.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The arrival of Nozomi on the scene certainly is a moment that sets the stage well for what’s to come as she brings out her powers, though Kenpachi’s Reigai at first is simply amused by her presence as he sees her just offering herself to be captured. When she cuts loose though, it’s a whole different thing as there’s a lot of power behind her with the weapon she has and what she’s now capable of. But no matter her ability, there’s a lot of people on both sides that won’t back down in the slightest since it’s not in their personalities or positions. Thankfully, most everyone has gotten past that whole fighting against friends problem that creeped into it in a natural way at the start, so what we get across the board is juts serious fighting amongst the main crew and their duplicates, or rather, duplicates of their friends since few face off against themselves now.
This episode spends a lot of time on the fights as it’s at that point in the overall arc, and it works out pretty well since there have been some strong moments so far, particularly with Ikkaku getting taken down by the Kenpachi Reigai and others wanting to put him in his place for it. Hitsugaya’s Reigai is getting up there in personality similar to Kenpachi as well with a really outgoing and strong bloodlust approach that’s causing quite a few of the Captain’s and others to get taken down and hard. And in the middle of it all, you have Ichigo and Nozomi trying to figure out what can actually be done and trying to push back at the same time. Nozomi came out hard at first with what she did, but it still remains to be seen if it’s something she can maintain, especially as she has no real combat skills prior to this.
What does help the episode a bit is that since it is largely based on the World of the Living, we get some of the human supporting cast showing up and trying to help as well. Though there are plenty of Captain’s and other Soul Society members here, fleshing it out with those that have different skills to bring to the table gives it a bit more variety. Unfortunately, though they’re able to make some headway with things in the nick of time to save a few people from a particular attack or two, they’re not able to really change the course of events. It’s again all coming down to the need of having both Nozomi and Ichigo get center stage for events. So many people and they’re all being organized to just circle the wagons so to speak, so that those two can do what needs to be done.
When it comes to the action side, what we get here is definitely decent and serviceable as it pushes the story forward. Well, not the story so much but a portion of it so that we’re closer to having cleaned out certain parts of it so it can get “serious” now. Having Nozomi join things at long last definitely helps, though she’s still the weak link while at the same time potentially being the most powerful member because of the combination of her and her weapon. Everything here nudges us just a little bit closer to the next event part of the series, but like most shows of this nature, and Bleach especially, we just have to get through more of the lengthy fights and numerous characters involved aspect. This is decent, but it’s just a small stepping stone for the larger story.
Grade: B-
Simulcast 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.
