Recap episode. Along with the ending of the ending of Soul Society arc.
"Bleach!"
"Celebration! Rukia rescue!"
"Shine Away! The ten fights of the Shinigami!"
"We will show you your favourite Shinigami!"
"Special!"
"On top of that, we’ll show you new developments!"
That’s the caption of this episode. I don’t know, but it seems a bit desperate. Especially the latest sentence. Are the creators that scared of losing people in a recap episode? I’m a bit sceptic about this. Another thing that I find strange is that they keep talking about the ten fights. Eventually, we just get to see seven of them. Did the creators have something special in mind, or are they just trying to save some budget?
Anyway, the recap itself consisted of almost all of the long fights that had happened in the series, put in just twenty-five minutes. The creators obviously tried to give the fight-loving viewers a little extra, by repeating the "good things" all over again. I, however, hated it.
Then we get Ichigo&co saying goodbye to everyone, and Rukia deciding to stay. That one’s an interesting development, but a tiny voice inside of me keeps yelling that they’ll eventually end up together again. My intuition says that that’ll happen within two episodes.
The thing I enjoyed about this episode was the comedy that finally returned to the series. From Ichigo’s arguing, to Kon’s blabbering and Inoue’s naiveness to Kenpachi’s enthusiasm.
About the next arc: I’m getting a bit worried. The fights at the soul society were already incredibly long. I have a feeling that the creators are trying to surpass themselves, with even longer fights. As for Ichigo, I would so love it if he became the bad guy in his Hollow-form. That would be so awesome. But then again… looking at some of the signs of low-budget in this episode, that probably won’t be happening.
