Anime Pilgrimage RTT

Bleach – episode 56

November 2, 2005 on 11:26 pm | In Bleach | Comments Off

Better. Warmer. More focused. Still in a million places.

In this episode Captain Yamamoto sets hearts ablaze but does not start fighting for real yet. We then get a shot of Shiba Kuukaku making her first appearance in more than thirty episodes for reasons as yet unknown. Many of the now irrelevant fights are glossed over and at their conclusion.
The rest of this episode is mercifully taken up by the fight waged between Soi Fong and Yoruichi.

It’s uncharitable to say this, but I was amazed that the episode managed to focus on Soi Fong and Yoruichi for as long as it did. It started the battle in this episode and didn’t dance around it. Soi Fong is such a delightfully unlikable character. I doubt that the next episode will actually feature more of the battle, as Bleach no longer plays any of this “linear storytelling” that used to be all the rage.

The thing is that the Yamamoto and Byakuya fights have been deferred to the point that it would be rude to not follow them up in the next episode. So while I want this Yoruichi fight to be resolved, I want those other fights to even get a look-in. I’m just not cut out for this stuff, but I’ve got to keep watching. I must!

I should mention that, while I’ve always found Bleach rather unappealing visually, I’ve just recently noticed the whole “manga shading” thing they’ve got going on. It makes every character look like they’re growing beards due to the lousy line work involved. On the women, particularly, it is a distraction.

Don’t get me wrong: Bleach doesn’t anger me; It just tests my patience.