Anime Pilgrimage RTT

Bleach – episode 60

December 12, 2005 on 11:18 pm | In Bleach | 2 Comments

Man, that was actually some good Bleach. I’m in love with these developments! If they can keep momentum, colour me impressed! Given the nature of Bleach and the time of night, forgive me if my thoughts are somewhat disjointed.

Intense spoilers follow!

Captain Aizen, who you may recall died some twenty or thirty episodes back, turns out to be alive and the evilest man in the land! That’s all there really is to say, as he doesn’t give motives or anything. But damn if he isn’t a great villain.

The obvious that must be stated is Hinamori. “Admiration defeats comprehension”, remarks Aizen; he couldn’t be more correct. Hinamori’s first instinct upon finding Aizen in a forbidden zone, surrounded by the 46 dead bodies of the High Council of Soul Society, was to be glad that Aizen was alive. She did not consider the context of the situation at all.
You can criticise Bleach all you like for its heavy reliance on reaction shots, but they certainly trained the animators well for this episode: Aizen’s switch from sanguine to pure malevolence was simply amazing. The moment that he kills Hinamori, his peaceful smile becomes smug bastardry, and I’m loving every second of it.

I’ve always said that Soul Society was the most poorly organised group of death gods ever, and at long last I can see where the cracks have formed. This is the kind of storytelling I’m talking about: for about thirty episodes Bleach has suffered under the weight of the characters having no motivation and labouring under a lousy bureaucracy. Now it all starts to make sense!

I’m resigned to the fact that we’re unlikely to see Yamamoto fight Ukitake and Kyouraku. Keep to this new storyline with the new revelations, and Bleach will make me happy. Now, if it’s actually going to do that, I can’t be certain: Bleach is too many shows in one. But damn if all of these “secrets and lies” haven’t got my blood pumping.