I am definetely diggin Bleach now-a-days. Much better storyline since the new arc started. I hope it keeps getting better.
Slick
I agree with you, Slick. This arc has been so interesting to me from the beginning. Looks like we are gonna get to see some of our favorite characters in action. I am interested to see next week what Aizen has been up to since we last saw him.
Really entertaining pair of episodes. As per our previous conversations it is certainly more in keeping with the Bleach tradition that made us enjoy this series in the past. 
I loved the two moments when the Soul Society gang was marching into school, getting strange looks from the students… and the other one was when they came into Ichigo’s room through the roof.
So now apparently we have antagonists as strong or stronger than even the Soul Society Captains… this should be interesting.
Don’t these count as spoilers?
Geez, There is only one other impornt piece of information from the episode.
Makes me wonder how many Visors there are.
There is always the potential for another Army/Allies.
Recap of last Saturday
Episode 114:
“Reunion, Ichigo and Rukia!”
spoiler
Ichigo apologises to Orihime for being late and Orihime apologies for not being stronger. Ichigo then tells her that she does not need to apologise and goes Bankai! Orihime is amazed at this since this her first time seeing it up close but comments that his Reiatsu is different from before in Soul Society, that it is rough and smothering her and that it almost doesn’t seem like Ichigo at all.
Ichigo warns her to back away, then proceeds to fight Yammy after a little banter between Yammy and Ulquiorra after they confirm that Ichigo is the target that Aizen sent them for.
Yammy then suddenly punches Ichigo, but he blocks it with the blunt side of his zanpakuto. Yammy looks shocked at this and then Ichigo asks whether Yammy was the one that damaged Chad’s right arm. Yammy’s reply is “What about it?” Ichigo jumps over Yammy and land’s on the other side of him, cutting his right arm off in the process. Yammy stsrts screaming in pain.
Meanwhile Ulquiorra is observing from the side commenting on Yammy’s stupidity and Ichigo’s power, commenting that “At this (Ichigo’s) level, I don’t think he represents much of a threat to Aizen”
Ichigo then comments on Yammy’s toughness, Ulquiorra then offers to intervene, but Yammy tells him to shut up and grasps the handle of his own zanpakuto to which Ulquiorra quips “Are you going to use your zanpakuto on a runt like this?” Yammy shouts at Ulquiorra again telling him to shut up, but Ichigo is shocked that Yammy has a zanpakuto and comments that he felt a strange reaitsu before even coming to the park where Yammy and Ulquiorra were and wonders if they are related to Shinji.
Ichigo’s hollow side tells him to switch with him and that he (the hollow side of Ichigo) can defeat them easily if Ichigo switches with him. Ichigo tells his other self to go away, but seems paralyzed by this internal conflict. Yammy knocks him back with his remaining arm and Orihime runs in to help Ichigo. Ichigo shouts at her to stay away but she gets hit by Yammy anyway and is knocked unconscious.
Ichigo is then pounded on by Yammy and we learn that Ichigo can’t move his body due to his hollow side preventing him from moving. Yammy grabs Ichigo by the head and lifts him up whilst Ulquiorra observes that Ichigo’s Reiatsu has started fluctuating wildly peaking at a strength above his own! As Ulquiorra wonders what is going on Yammy slams Ichigo into the ground commenting that its over.
Yammy lets rip a devastating punch that sends clouds of dust flying everywhere obscuring our view of Ichigo. As some of the dust clears, we see that Yammy’s fist has contacted with a blood red shield of some sort, as Yammy pulls back it is revealed that the shield is Urahara’s Blood-Mist shield and that he and Yoruichi have come to save them, with Uruhara commenting that he’s sorry that he is so late.
Yammy comments that people just keep on getting in the way and tries to punch (Urahara I presume) at which Yoruichi grabs his arm mid-punch and flips him, sending Yammy crashing to the ground. Yourichi then asks Urahara if she should take care of him to which he replies sure thing. Urahara hands Yoriochi a small bag, and she then proceeds to start beating down Yammy in a few seconds. Yoruichi then goes to Orihime and feeds her a tablet that will make her better, and Orihime worries about how Ichigo is. Yammy then gets up and fires a Cero (Soul Flash) towards Orihime and Yoruichi and a huge explosion ensues.
Laughing, Yammy comments there is no way that they could have dodged at that distance but, as the smoke clears, we see Urahara standing with his zanpakuto pointing at an astonished Yammy. Yammy demands to know who he is and how he did that to to his Cero. Urahara replies that it would have been dangerous for him to simply repel the cero so he negated it with a attack of similar strength. As Yammy doesn’t believe Urahara, so with the words “Sing, Benihime!” he sends a ground shattering attack at Yammy!
The attack, however, is deflected effortlessly by Ulquiorra who dashed in front of Yammy to Uruhara’s chagrin. Ulquiorra then smashes Yammy in the stomach and comments that Yammy wouldn’t be able to defeat them, and that his opponents are Urahara Kisuke and Shihouin Yoruichi. Ulquiorra then opens a rip in the fabric of the dimension (presumably to Hueco Mundo) and comments that its obvious who has the advantage whilst Urahara and Yoruichi have to protect “those pieces of trash” and that he was going to report to Aizen that Ichigo is trash and is not even worth killing.
Back at the Urahara store, Urahara enters bringing juice inquiring after Yoruichi’s health, we cut to Yoruichi who is eating bowl upon bowl of food served to her by Lirin & Noba, whilst having her left arm and leg wrapped in bandages. (This goes on for about a minute or so) Urahara comments that it looks like her arm is back to normal but Yoruichi says only when not fighting and it was her mistake for not encasing her limbs in Shunkou. She then goes on to note that the very least the Arrancar are way more powerful than either of them expected.
At Ichigo’s house, Ichigo is lying in bed in bandages with Kon on his chest. Kon jumps up telling Ichigo to shut up and that he’s unpleasant to be around and that he’s going to find women and then jumps out through the closed window smashing a hole through it, leaving multiple shards embedded in him. Ichigo meanwhile is doing nothing, not responding at all to Kon’s shouting from the ground below, but Kon shuts up and pretends to be inert when Yuzu comes outside to find out what the noise was. She finds “Bostafu” outside and wonders what he is doing there.
Meanwhile, Ichigo is angsting over his hollow side in his room. We then observe Orihime and Chad in the Urahara store recovering with Orihime commenting that she can’t get depressed as it will do no one any good.
Back at school Chizuru is upset about Orihime’s injuries, but she brushes them off as just falling down the stairs. Ichigo comes in with a concerned look on his face and calls out Orihime’s name and then comments that it was nothing after all that he had to say. Orihime then runs out to the bathroom and Ichigo is left looking gloomy whilst leaning against his desk and thinks back to when he apologized to Orihime at the Urahara store and how she told him not to apologizes because it was her own fault for not staying out of the way. Ichigo berates himself saying its all because he isn’t strong enough.
An unlikely group of individuals is walking down the halls of Ichigo’s school in uniform. We are treated to part views of each character all of which leave no doubt to who each is. As they banter back and forth they finally reach room 1-3 (Ichigo’s room) and one comments “Here we are, this is the room” As they open the door Ichigo’s face looks shocked as “Renji, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Rangiku and Toshiro!” are standing there (Hitsugaya’s response is amusing: “It’s Captain Hitsugaya to you!”). After inquiring after why they were at his school they reveal that they were sent to help the Shinigami substitute to fight the Arrancar. Ichigo hasn’t a clue what the Arrancar are to Renji’s surprise who asks whether Ichigo was fighting without knowing who his enemies were. Ichigo’s response is “Fighting?”
We hear a familiar voice say “Idiot! The guys that tore you up the other day!” Rukia’s silhouette is in the window! As Ichigo realizes who it is she says “It’s been a while hasn’t it Ichigo”
Episode 115:
“Mission! The Shinigami Who Came!”
spoiler
At a loss for words, Ichigo can only stare blindly as Rukia stands at the window. She makes the first move, or rather the first kick, by kicking him in the face and slapping him around before dragging him out into his Shinigami form and out the window. The remaining shinigami from Soul Society have to deal with the idiocies of the students from the shock of seeing Ichigo’s human body slump over.
Rukia leads Ichigo to a Hollow that’s suddenly appeared in town, but Ichigo can’t find it within himself to fight with full force. The constant berating from Rukia doesn’t help as Ichigo remembers the earlier fight with Ulquiorra and Yammy. When Ichigo tries drawing out his zanpakotu, he feels his Inner Hollow trying to overcome him. Rukia finally asks Ichigo what is he afraid of? Not being able to protect his friends, defeat, or that someday, he’ll become a Hollow himself.
If he’s afraid that he can’t protect his friends, he should swear that he’ll get stronger until he can protect them. If it’s defeat, then he needs to get stronger. If it’s the Hollow, then he needs overcome that. Whatever the issue, Rukia asserts that the Ichigo she knows would never back away in fear like he is now. As a result, Ichigo’s confidence returns and he prepares to take out the Hollow.
Once that situation is over, Rukia drags Ichigo back to school where they run into Orihime. Ichigo’s apology isn’t fast enough, so Rukia does it for him until he comes forward and vows that he’ll certainly protect her the next time they’re in danger.
At the Kurosaki residence, Kon tries to greet Rukia with a hug, but like other times, this one is met with a kick to the face. Outside the door, Karin finds her father and Yuzu listening in on Ichigo, but Ichigo, who overhears them, chases them off.
Ichigo demands to know from Rukia about the Arrancar, but that’s the cue for Ikkaku, Yumichika, Renji, Matsumoto, and Hitsugaya (all who have been hiding in a ceiling light) to pop in.
Renji (with the help of Rukia’s poor artwork) explains that Arrancar are Hollows who removed their masks and gained Shinigami powers. There were only a few, but Aizen’s Hougyoku has made them complete. The original plan was that Soul Society would just watch and wait for Aizen to make his move. They were still recovering from the loss of three captains AND then the Bount incident, but the Arrancar were a bit earlier than expected.
So Yamamoto chose Renji and Rukia to come along, and Renji asked Ikkaku, which then led to Yumichika, Matsumoto, and Hitsugaya tagging along for what Renji calls a ‘vacation or something’. The point, as Hitsugaya explains, is that Aizen has been watching Ichigo for sometime. Hollows removing their masks isn’t that big of a problem, but the ones stronger than Menos are.
Hitsugaya then begins to explain:
"Anyone who was serious about declaring war on the Soul Society would need something big - something strong. Menos level and above. To be specific, there are three difference classes of beings under the name of Menos:
"The first is Gilian, the lowest class within the Manos, and there are many of them. Their main characteristic is that they all look exactly the same. The Menos that you (Ichigo) banished from this world soon after you gained the power of the Soul Reaper was of this kind. I guess you could call it a ‘foot soldier’. They’re big, but they’re slow; and their intelligence is only slightly higher than a wild animal - it’s hardly any trouble at all for a captain to subdue and kill one of them.
"The problem is the next level: This class is called the adjuchas. They’re somewhat smaller than the gillians and there are fewer of them, but they are highly intelligent and much better fighters - and they control the large numbers of gillians.
"And finally, there are the Vasto Lorde, the highest class within the Menos. They are equal to humans in size and there are very few of them within Hueco Mundo, but I have to give it to you straight. The grim truth is that these Vasto Lordes are believed to be even more powerful than the Soul Reaper Captains are.
“Exactly how much power the Menos have gained by turning into arrancars is still unknown, but now three of our Captains have defected to lead the Menos, there is one thing we can be sure of. If Aizen now has more than ten of those Vasto Lordes under his control… then the Soul Society is doomed.”
At the same time that this is being explained, Ulquiorra and Yammy return to a darkened room in Hueco Mundo to present their report. There are many figures in the background.
Yammy kneels on one knee.
Ulquiorra: “We have returned, Lord Aizen.”
A spotlight comes on lighting up a large throne-like chair where Aizen sits lording over all.
Aizen: “Welcome Ulquiorra and Yammy. So tell me what you have accomplished here in front of your twenty brethren.”
Some paragraph structuring from: http://epguides.com/Bleach/
Really enjoyed these pair of episodes with the comedy, story, some action, girl on girl action… what’s there not to like?
Scene stealers of these episodes were the ones with Rangiku for sure, for the obvious one… but I also enjoyed the scenes with her and Toshiro as well.
Recap of last Saturday (May 16)
Episode 116
“The Evil Eye, Aizen Returns!”
spoiler
Lord Aizen (who has apparently has Lasix surgery and a new hair stylist) wants a report from Ulquiorra & Yammy, so Ulquiorra removes his left eyeball and crushes it into powder and releases it into the air so the others can see what happened and why he didn’t kill Ichigo.
One of the other Arrancar at the meeting, Grimmjow, objects, saying he would have killed them all with his first strike, whether Ichigo was worthy or not. Grimmjoy then says to look at Yammy, he’s a mess! How can you say that Ichigo isn’t worth killing? Yammy then says that a guy wearing clogs and a ‘dark-skinned’ girl beat him up. Grimmjoy calls Yammy pathetic, that a ‘guy wearing wooden shoes and a female’ could beat him.
Ulquiorra says Ichigo is no danger - yet. Lord Aizen isn’t worried about his current abilities are, it’s his growth rate, he has tremendous potential, but his powers are unstable, if he doesn’t self-destruct, he might be useful and that’s why he let him live.
Grimmjow asks what if Ulquiorra is wrong, what if he becomes stronger than Ulquiorra predicts and turns against them (arrancar).
Ulquiorra says he will simply get rid of him.
Lord Aizen: “Yes, I’ll leave it in your hands, do whatever you deem best, Ulquiorra.”
Ulquiorra: “Thank you very much, sir.” he bows.
Grimmjow fumes in silence.
Back at Ichigo’s, Renji and Rangiku are playing around with Kon’s soul candy when Ichigo asks when they are leaving. Renji says they aren’t leaving until the fight with the arrancar is over. Ichigo freaks and says that they all can’t stay with him in his room. Rangiku pouts and says, “Me, too?”
Ichigo turns red, “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Rangiku undoes a button and then lifts her skirt, but Ichigo covers his eyes and says that he’ll not give in to temptation. Rukia asks why he’s looking through his fingers.
Outside, Rangiku decides to go stay with Orihime. Kon gets excited to think about the two girls together, but Rangiku decks him. She then invites Hitsugaya to go with her, he says no, but goes with her anyway.
Yumichika and Ikkaku go off on their own to find their own place to stay. Renji decides to go and visit Urahara. After a moment, Rukia runs back inside Ichigo’s house, followed by Ichigo yelling that she can’t stay there because his family has already seen her.
As they’re walking along, Yumichika smells a hollow, but Ikkaku tells him to leave to the local Soul Reaper. Ymichika thinks to himself that it smells strange.
Over at Tatsuki’s house, she’s thinking about when she saw Ichigo in his Soul Reaper form and questions why she keeps worrying about it; then feels stupid about it.
Orihime is kneeled before a picture of her brother (she’s still bandaged with her arm in a cast) and telling him about how fast Ichigo has recovered and the fact that she’s jealous of Rukia.
Chad is at his house, lying on a mat, recovering.
At Ichigo’s house, Rukia is telling his family a big sob story that she has no place to go and she has no money, so they feel sorry for her. His dad and sister, Yuzu, burst into tears and tell her to stay with them.
Keigo is walking home with Mizuiro, and he sees a ‘monster’ in the sky.
A piece of sky tears open and Grimmjow appears.
Rangiku arrives at Orihime’s and invites herself in to stay - and for a bath. She also tries to invite Hitsugaya again, he’s on the roof, he declines. Next, Rangiku is in the bath, Orihime is outside the door, Rangiku asks her what’s wrong, why is she so down? First, Orihime tries to deny anything is wrong, but then she begins to tell her that Rukia was able to get Ichigo out of his funk. Orihime really wanted Ichigo to cheer up and when Rukia came back and cheered him up, she should have been happy, but she was jealous. She likes Rukia a lot. She doesn’t feel like this at school, but when she’s home and alone, she falls apart.
Rangiku comes out of the bathroom, stark naked and hugs Orihime, then begins to tickle her. Soon, Orihime is lying on her back with Rangiku hovering over her. Rangiku then tells her that Ichigo needs both her and Rukia, and that there’s nothing wrong with being jealous. There’s a lot of emotions in her head right now and she’s just trying to deal with all of them. Then she pulls Orihime into a big hug and lets her cry. “My bosom’s your pillow.”
There is another tear in the sky and five more arrancar arrive. They detect more spiritual pressures than Ulquiorra reported. They concentrate and decide that the Soul Society sent reinforcements. These arrancar are: Grimmjow, D-Roy, Shawlong Qufang, Edorad Leones, Ilforte Grantz, and Nakim. Grimmjow gives the order that if anyone has spiritual pressure, they must kill them!
Back at Ichigo’s, Rukia is disturbed to find that she has been assigned a real room instead of Ichigo’s closet, since she had brought things to ‘brighten up that dirty, little closet’ - a light, bell, massager and a window.
At Urahara’s, Renji is being served a drink by Ururu, then she tells him his face looks weird.
On a random building, Yumichika and Ikkaku are having an enlightening conversation about where packaged rice balls come from.
Back at Orihime’s, she and Rangiku are eating, and Rangiku actually likes Orihime’s cooking! Hitsugaya is still on the roof.
The six arrancar take off to kill anyone with a glimmer of spiritual pressure.[/details]
Episode 117
“Rukia’s Battle Commences! The Freezing White Blade!”
[details=spoiler]Rukia’s ‘beeper’ goes off telling her that there are 6 arrancar in Karakura Town. All of the Soul Reapers have sensed their presence; and they all emerge from their gigais and prepare to fight.
Hitsugaya and Rangiku meet on the roof of Orihime’s, after telling her captain that her gigai is watching Orihime, they get set and then they meet their enemies - the two arrancar, Shawlong & Nakim. Shawlong introduces himself as the 11th Arrancar, and Hitsugaya introduces himself as the Captain of Squad 10.
Shawlong: “Well, the Captain of Squad 10, you say. Impressive. That must mean I’ve hit the jackpot.”
Hitsugaya: “No. In fact, you’ve already lost as you’re about to discover.”
Ikkaku and Yumichika meet Edorad, on the street.
Renji comes upon Ilforte.
Chad is still recovering in his house with two of Orihime’s fairies healing him. He senses danger and tells them to return to Orihime and heal her. He then runs outside with his armored arm. As he rounds the corner, he sees D-Roy. D-Roy says, “You’re not a Soul Reaper!” and leaps at him. In the nick of time, Ichigo grabs D-Roy’s arm, saving Chad. Chad then realizes that he would have been killed if Ichigo hadn’t shown up. A small spot of blood blossoms up where the tip of D-Roy’s finger brushed against Chad’s chest.
Ichigo tells Chad to ‘step back’. As Chad runs away, he thinks that Ichigo doesn’t trust him to watch his back anymore and wonders if he ever will again. Rukia sees Chad running and calls to him, but he keeps on running.
Rukia catches up to Ichigo and asks why Chad is so upset, Ichigo tells her that he told him to stay back and let him handle the fight. Rukia then tells Ichigo to ‘step back’. Ichigo makes a shocked face and says, “What!” She says to step back and leave the arrancar to her. She then pops a soul candy and emerges from her gigai. Rukia thinks that Ichigo is too eager for the battle and could get killer. Ichigo is surprised because he didn’t know her powers had returned.
Rukia explains that the gigai that Urahara had her using before wasn’t going to work and if she wanted her spirit energy back she had to return to the Soul Society for spirit energy. She was supposed to recuperate, but the Bounts threw a monkey wrench into her plans. The Bounts went to Karakura Town and the Seiretei had to send people who were familiar with Ichigo to the World of the Living.
[about this time I’m thinking to myself that the arrancar is being really patient ;)]
Suddenly, Rukis’s gigai leaps forward onto Ichigo and tells him in ‘baby talk’ to step back. Ichigo asks what’s happening. Rukia explains that it’s the most popular soul candy amongst female Soul Reapers, it’s called ‘Chappie’, and it’s what she wanted originally when she got Kon instead. Ichigo is horrified to learn that his body could have had this ‘thing’ inside it.
Rukia going on to explain that Orihime had treated her wounds and that her spirit energy was almost completely restored.
Suddenly, the arrancar attacks Rukia, who blocks the attack with her zanpakuto. He introduces himself as D-Roy, Arrancar #16, as Rukia springs back to attack him. He blocks her zanpakuto with his arm. Rukia starts to introduce herself, but he stops her by saying “…if I had to listen to the names and titles of everyone I was about to kill, I’d never get anything done.”
Rukia then does a back flip and then says that he should at least learn the name of her zanpakuto, “Dance, Sodeno Shirayuki!” Ice begins to form under his feet and starts to crawl up his body. He suddenly leaps into the air breaking free. Laughing, he looks down at Rukia and the circle of ice and tells her that the sky is where he is the strongest and that a sword that can only freeze the ground isn’t worth much. She smiles a little at him and the ice quickly becomes a pillar and surrounds him, freezing him instantly. She says that she never said that her zanpakuto could only freeze the ground, everything inside the circle, ground & sky is in Sodeno Shirayuki’s domain. The ice cracks and D-Roy is no more.
Meanwhile, Chappie/Rukia is harassing Ichigo, she has him pinned to the ground, arm behind his back, high-pitched voice taunting him. Rukia comes over to see what is happening. Ichigo asks what happened to the arrancar, did she defeat him? Then he sees her zanpakuto.
Chappie/Rukia calls her zanpakuto the Snow & Ice zanpakuto, the most beautiful one in the Soul Society. She also says that Rukia is now strong enough to become a ranked officer, but if she was assigned a seat, the risk level of her missions would be much more dangerous then those of a regular guardsman. A certain ‘someone’ didn’t want her to be exposed to those dangers so he pulled some strings, approached the captains and asked that her name be removed from the list of officer candidates. Ichigo thinks. Byakuya?
Suddenly they feel a tremor… “What the hell happened here? D-Roy’s been killed? Oh well, in that case, it looks like I’ll just have to kill the both of you. Let me introduce myself, I’m Arrancar #6, you can call me Grimmjow.” Rukia & Ichigo both look on in shock & awe.
Shawlong & Nakim “Hmmmm.” Ilforte & Edorad “Hmmmm.”
Shawlong muses that D-Roy is dead.
Ilforte is disgusted because D-Roy pestered them to come along and ‘this’ is what happens. Renji wants to give Ilforte the same treatment D-Roy got. “Roar, Zabimaru!” Ilforte knocks Zabimaru away with his hand. Renji is shocked beyond belief. Ilforte says that D-Roy wasn’t much of a warrior.
Edorad tells Ikkaku and Yumichika that whoever fought D-Roy was fortunate because he was incompetent, a failure. However, they get to fight him. Edorad likes to play around until his prey is exhausted and then he destroys them. Explosion!
Keigo is walking nearby to get juice for his sister and hears the explosion and the maniacal laugh that follows. He muses on the fact that he’s seen a lot of ghost-like figures lately - he doesn’t believe in ghosts though. After he gets the juice from the machine, he sees Ikkaku (in Soul Reaper form), burst through the fence, bleeding and recognizes him from school. Ikkaku turns to look at him and Edorad decks him sending him flying back toward Keigo.
Ikkaku turns to Keigo and says he has a proposition for him. Keigo asks if it involves blood. Ikkaku says they’ll (him & Yumichika) protect him from the arrancar if Keigo lets them stay at his house. Keigo freaks out and says yes.
Then Ikkaku gets up and gets in battle position, he asks the arrancar what his name is. The arrancar says he’s Arrancar #13, but won’t give his name “Waste of time, no point in giving out my name to somebody I’m about to kill.” Ikkaku introduces himself and prepares to attack.
Looks like the poop is going to hit the fan this week. I liked the fact that we could see what Rukia could do at full power, finally. I figured she’d kick some booty and expect her to get even stronger.
Slick
Overall I haven’t really been enjoying this series very much (probably because I started it episode 60 or so) but last nights episodes were actually rather enjoyable.
Ya, Rukia’s a power house, and it’s a shame the anime watches had to set through an extra arc to finally see her in full power.
Spoiler, maybe, it’s really just a question that I tried to word as ambiguously as possible without revealing the plot. I can see someone crying about it, but it mentions nothing specific. I’ve not written more to explain my question than I have talking about Bleach.
Have they explained why she’s so much stronger than her rank implies?
You mean this?
spoiler
Chappie/Rukia calls her zanpakuto the Snow & Ice zanpakuto, the most beautiful one in the Soul Society. She also says that Rukia is now strong enough to become a ranked officer, but if she was assigned a seat, the risk level of her missions would be much more dangerous then those of a regular guardsman. A certain ‘someone’ didn’t want her to be exposed to those dangers so he pulled some strings, approached the captains and asked that her name be removed from the list of officer candidates. Ichigo thinks. Byakuya?
Remember a few months ago I posed to you a remark that I thought you’d enjoy this and Naruto more if you saw the earlier episodes? Not only for the sake of context… but the earlier episodes really were better, much like these recent string of good Bleach episodes. Though certainly, context helps enjoyment, at least I think so. 
Yes Slowhand, has that been revealed yet?
Context would certainly help in this anime, it would at least let you understand the characters better and their current plights.
Yes, it’s in my last recap.
I thought that this week’s set of episodes were interesting, but I found last week’s episodes far more interesting. I guess I just love to hear the backstory of the characters that I become invested in. That’s why last week’s episodes, which contained Ikkaku’s backstory were really good to me.
This week offered some good information, though. I didn’t know that (or missed the fact that) when Soul Reapers come to the world of the living, they are barred from using full strength. The fighting scenes were pretty good, but they began to bore me because it seemed like everyone was losing. I’m glad things turned around, but it was predictable because you kind of know that everyone can’t lose.
The series is moving along, and I continue to enjoy this arc more than the Bount arc, which unfortunately, isn’t saying much.
So far I’m liking this new season or arc or whatever you want to call it. Great animation, music, fight scenes, and story lines oh my! Those wacky arancars, what will they do next?
Make a hot goat.
Adult Swim to also keep running two new weekly Bleach episodes through September
posted on 2009-06-19 13:43 EDT
Here are some numbers I found for Bleach:
Episode 118 - 445,000 - Ikkaku’s battle with Edrad and revealing of his awesome Bankai!
Episode 119 - 470,000 - Ikkaku’s backstory with Kenpachi and the conclusion of the Edrad battle.
Episode 120 - 413,000 - The Soul Reapers get their butts kicked by the Arrancars, until the seal on their complete power is broken!
Episode 121 - 452,000 - The tables turn, and only Grimmjow escapes alive, and it is revealed that he is the 6th Espada.
Episode 122 - 510,000 - Grimmjow receives punishment from Tosen, a bunch of crazy stuff happens with Ikkaku and Ichigo’s sister and Rangiku, and Ichigo seeks to control his inner Hollow.
Episode 123 - 508,000 - Ichigo is driven nearly to complete Hollowfication by the Visoreds.
These numbers are actually better than I thought that they would be. For some reason, I didn’t think that thy would be that high. Maybe this is good enough for CN for the moment, since they are continuing to show the show AND continuing the 2 episodes per week format.