Makai Senki Disgaea – 05 – An Interesting Anime for Children

by psgels, posted in Makai Senki Disgaea



Yes, this show is meant for children. And thus, it suffers from the flaws most of the children-shows suffer from. Laharl just wanders around aimlessly and runs into random things for no apparent reason. At least, the bad guy (girl in this case) is the only one who knows this reason, as she’s apparently been waiting for him. The fights are also extremely simple. One slash or one blow and it’s over. Ah well, at least it beats Bleach’s fights. The characters also like to sing and act at random times (look back to episode three, and this episode had Laharl imitating an old Japanese-theatre). Characters also don’t need reasons, and when they do, they usually are based out of boredom (still, in Laharl’s case, they do give him a character). It also works with lots of reused-scenes. Especially the ones reused 20 times can get a bit on my nerves.

Still, the fact that it’s a children’s show also has a few good signs. To begin with, the repetition really works at times. Just take a look at Mid-Boss’ ramblings, Sardia’s continious use of the word ‘maybe’, and Etna’s struggles to not being found out by Laharl. I also notice that persons are incredibly dependant on each other. It offers a nice variation when compared to all the other anime, which try to make their characters as independant as possible. I especially love Etna in this issue. She wants the king dead, but still she clings to him for protection. It’s so cute to see. It’s also a good thing that this show knows that it’s horribly predictable, as it makes use of this at times. I’m referring to the dinner-scene. The scene’s so obvious, and Etna indeed makes indeed a comment about this, and how he’s the easiest to poison in the entire demon-world. This is quite funny, as she was the one who poisoned him in the first place.

Also, because we’re dealing with a children’s show, the art of the backgrounds has become a little brighter. Combine that with the fact that this show’s supposed to play in hell, and you get an interesting concept, which really shows. A dark forest is suddenly vibrant with colors, the desert has been more yellow than it ever was, giving it a very warm feeling, and a small lake really contrasts well with its blue water against the green grass. I found myself enjoying these backgrounds whenever a scene was taking place outside.

Makai Senki Disgaea is indeed not the best anime out there, but I love the characters somehow. They’re all like a couple of little children, with each of them trying to be something. In Laharl’s case, he wants to be cool. In Etna’s case, she wants to be with Laharl, though she tries to deny it completely. In Flonna’s case, she wants Laharl to learn about the beauties of life, even though she doesn’t understand these herself yet. These characters are each so adorable to watch, even though the show itself might be totally ridiculous.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – 05

by psgels, posted in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni



Now that I found out about the premisse of the show, a lot of questions are suddenly answered. What we have here, is a story, that keeps repeating over the same timeline, though each time, the characters take different actions, which lead to different results, and in the end, different people getting killed.

While the last arc was focused on Keiichi and Rena, it seems that this arc will be focused on Keiichi and Mion. It also seems that Rika, the blue-haired girl, will play some kind of role, as we see her killing herself in the preview of this arc. I’m not too happy about the creators showing this. It spoils a bit too much, in my opinion, and it takes away a bit of the power of the scene.

I’m wondering if there’ll also be arcs at which Keiichi won’t be the one to play the role of main-character. It’d give some interesting perspective, but then again, I think that each of the other characters has her own mystery, so that idea also has some backfires.

Anyway, this episode, we are introduced to another character: Shion, Mion’s younger twin sister. This also explains the two mions next to each other in the still amazing OP. Both of them have total different personalities, and it seems that in this arc, both of them have fallen in love with Keiichi. I had a good time watching Keiichi, who originally believed that Mion and Shion were the same person, suddenly became aware that there were two of them.

I also had to get used to the fact that Rena’ll probably play a small role in this arc, so there’ll be no paranoia attacks from her for a while, in huge contrast to the previous arcs. We also get our first small part of information about Rika: she may look cute, but in fact, she’s really strong. Keiichi may not like this in future episodes.

This episode was, with ease, the quietest one of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni yet, though I think that each beginning of an arc will be like this. I wonder what the Watanagashi will bring us this time. (Interesting note the only total similarity with the previous arc so far was Rika abandoning the club-meeting to practice for her role at that time).

Tsubasa Chronicle – 28

by psgels, posted in Tsubasa Chronicle



Hmm, for some reason, the creators like to put Syaoran in the middle of explosions right before the cliffhanger. That’s the second time in two episodes he’s doing that.

Anyway, either Shougo or Nokoru is the culprit, or the both of them are involved, that can also be. The other contestants don’t have any introduction whatsoever, and I don’t see Ryuuoh being any form of bad guy, after what happened this episode. Tomoyo’s probably also involved, though I do believe that she’s still on the good side. She probably used the feather as prize to lure out a couple of criminals, because of the moment she said that certain people took the bait. Still, I wonder who this bad guy might be, who keeps pulling all of these traps.

This arc was very cleverly built up. Last time, we saw a number of people finishing the preliminaries, and qualifying for the race, but apart from Syaoran, Sakura, Kyrogane and Fye, we didn’t learn anything yet about their personalities, and who was important and who wasn’t. The introductions of the three most important contestants only followed this episode. Another interesting thing is, that even though the other contestants haven’t been introduced, you know about their personalities a bit, from the previous arcs. This way, they don’t fall like random goons, so you do feel that our protagonists are racing against other human beings. A very clever trick from the creators.

About the race: for some reason, the musicians managed to create the perfect background music to accompany it. It sounded awesome, just like last episode, and when you combine it with the other events, ranging from Kurogane getting angry because the announcer keeps calling him Kuro-tan and him and Fye finding out about how the first checkpoint works to Syaoran trying to accompany Sakura, who hasn’t mastered the flying cars yet and Shougo being the first one, along with a random contestant to clear the second checkpoint. I love it how the side-characters all get to play a very subtle role in this race, instead of being fated to go under. You also see that the best one range among the best, and the lesser ones are also the first to fall (the best example for this is the wizard from the second arc in the first season).

So far, this series hasn’t been disappointing. It shows huge premisse, both for the next episode as for the show in general. I’ve got a small issue with some coincidences which seem a bit too coincidental, though it was to be expected, as the first series suffered from this as well.

xxxHolic – 05

by psgels, posted in xxxHolic



This episode wasn’t as serious as the previous ones, it was a bit more relaxed. here weren’t any serious problems like in the previous episodes, and it basically consisted of telling the story of two supernatural foxes, a lucky arrow and Shiritori.

We start out with Watanuki and Himawari attending one of Domeki’s arrow-shooting tournaments. Domeki wins, and he gives Watanuki the end of his winning arrow, as a memento. Watanuki, of course, doesn’t like this. When he walks to Yuuko’s place in order to make her some food, he runs into a strange food-stand, and two badly drawn human-like foxes. One old, and one just a child.

He eats a bit from their stand, and gives the small fox Domeki’s arrow, which appears to be a strong fortune-bringer, keeping away evil spirits (this is logical, as it comes from Domeki, after all). The food appears to taste delicious. Watanuki then remembers that Yuuko’s still waiting for him to make her food, so he leaves. The foxes give him a little meal as thanks for the arrow.

Yuuko, of course, has run into the foxes before, as she’s totally excited when Watanuki brings their food. This has to be, of course, celebrated, involving lots of sake. We also see a couple of screens of a nearly full-moon, meaning that the next night’ll probably feature a full one.

The next day, Yuuko requests Watanuki to go back to the foxes and deliver a package (remember her policies? ^^). Though, as it will be full moon, such as hinted, in combination with friday the thirteenth, and Watanuki’s little problem, he has to be very careful. Therefore, she gives him a little backpack with wings. I don’t know where I’ve seen this, but I got a serious deja-vue with this item.

Anyway, Watanuki heads out, and indeed, he runs into evil spirits, cleverly disguised as poorly-placed shadows. The backpack seemed to contain Mokona, who starts playing Shiritori. Shiritori works like this: you start with a japanese word, and the person next to you has to say another word, beginning with the same letter the first one ended with. This seems to repel all of the evil spirits, though Mokona can’t resist to make Watanuki’s job hard by ending all of his (her? what kind of gender is Mokona actually?) words with “Ri”. We also see Mokona for the first time serious, well, at least semi-serious. I have to say that I liked this play of Shiritori, while running away from the evil spirits.

They arrive at the fox, and then it became clear that Shiritori originated from people who had to walk through evil forest-like surroundings. The Shiritori would keep away all of the evil spirits and danger. Yuuko’s package appeared to be two rare shadow-birds, who only seem to appear in the light of the full moon. The old fox seems to be quite fond of them.

For a laid-back episode like this, I liked it. xxxHolic seems to be following the same pattern Jigoku Shoujo and Mushishi did, only with a lot more emphasis on the main characters, so laid-back episodes seem to be perfect to have been included once in a while.

Saiunkoku Monogatari – 05

by psgels, posted in Saiunkoku Monogatari



I managed to see the first fansub of the series, and a couple of more things became clear. Mostly about the backgrounds of the story and people, and what position’s they’re at.

Shiurei’s family has a very important status, though despite the status, they’re incredibly poor. This is mostly because her father spent almost all of his money to good deeds. She’s not only asked to be the emperor’s concubine, she even gets to become his wife, which explains the awe everyone suddenly has for her.

Shiurei’s father is the castle’s librarian. He doesn’t make much money, though he’s a well respected man.

Ran Shiuei and Koyu are both assigned to keep an eye on the emperor. They’re both very talented commanders in the royal army, though especially Koyu isn’t too happy with his new function. They also spend most of the time idle, as the emperor keeps wandering off without a trace.

The emperor, who’s apparently named Ryuuki, is the youngest brother of five. Or six. I have no idea which is the right number, though different sources state different facts. Anyway, three, or four of his brothers died while vying for the throne. His only older brother left when he was young, so he’s been assigned to take up the throne, mostly to keep up the name of the royal family. The fight between his brothers explains why he always came so heavily beaten up to Shiurei’s father. He was the only one to comfort him.

When Shiurei got assigned as Ryuuki’s wife, Seiran, for some reason, got assigned as a captain of a certain squad (forgot its name, unfortunately). I still have no idea why, but it does explain why he keeps popping up in the castle, and not to mention why he got to participate in last week’s tournament.

Another interesting fact about the story itself: Long ago, there used to be demons roaming around the country. Then one legendary warrior came and defeated them, along with his eight supervisors: the eight sages. These eight sages continued to watch over the land, even after the death of the warrior. This’ll probably useful info for later in the series.

Anyway, about the episode, it was incredibly fun. We get to see the introduction of another side-character: Ran Ryuurei. Yes, indeed. He’s Ran Shiuei’s brother, and a very peculiar character as well.

We begin with Shiurei and her two servants holding a random conversation. We then switch back to a very hilarious scene, at which Ran Shiuei and Ryuuki talk for a bit, and Shiurei overhears them. She only hears a part of the conversation, and now she thinks that Ryuuki also has a relationship with Ran as well.

She then comes across Ran Ryuurei. He’s dressed rather odd, and when he tastes one of Shiurei’s dango, he utters some weird critizism. At least, in Shiurei’s eyes. He then randomly begins playing a flute, though it’s horribly off-key. Ran Shiuei then arrives, and recognizes his brother. He has no idea what he’s doing at the palace (heck, I still don’t know that as well), and tries to make him go back, to wherever he came from. Ryuurei just doesn’t want to, so he has to stay for a while.

Ryuurei then randomly disappears, to the great displeasurement of Shiuei, and ends up playing a card-game with the three old men. This was the first time I saw a comedical moment of theirs, and it worked pretty well. They were very angry that Ryuurei beat them all at once, and they won’t let him go until they defeated him. (Interesting note: this could be a sign for future episodes. This might show that they always act like this whenever defeated. If it does, then they’re going to play a huge and probably magnificent role).

With Koyu joining them, Shiuei and Shiurei finally get Ryuurei away from the old men. This was quite hilarious to see, especially Koyu apologizing while running away at the end. Shiurei then figures that it might be nice for the three of them to show Ryuurei a bit around the palace, but he only ends up taking a little nap at something that looks like the emperor’s throne.

When it appears that Ryuurei’ll be staying the night over at the palace, a place for him to sleep needs to get decided. Of course, Koyu gets to be the fortunate one to sacrifice himself. Needless to say that he’ll be waking up quite pissed the next morning. ^^;

Anyway, while Koyu’s getting the worst night of his life, the emperor’s heading to Shiurei’s bedroom, with a smile on his face which instantly screams that he’s been looking forward to that moment for the entire day. Then one of the three old men comes, and tells him something. The two have a serious discussion, though I have no idea about what that might’ve been. When Ryuuki reaches Shiurei’s place, she tells him how she’s studying very hard. She has probably very good reasons for this, though I have no idea what they are.

The next morning, after a little rant on Koyu’s side (^^;), Shiurei finally manages to calm Ryuurei down, to the surprisement of Shiuei and Koyu. Afterwards, the two have a bit of tea, which Kourin brought them. Ryuurei mentions a couple of things, and Kourin falls down because of these things. She’s being saved by the other servant, though this shows that there’s something on Kourin’s mind. Though I don’t know what. I guess we’ll have to find that out later.

Then Ryuuki sees the two of them walking, and asks who Ryuurei might be. When he asks for Shiurei to come with him, Ryuurei invites her to come along with him to the town, as he still has to pay her back from the dango from earlier. Shiurei agrees and Ryuuki feels a bit worried. he tells Seiran about this. I thought that he also ordered Seiran to follow them, but we never see Seiran again this episode, so they must’ve been talking about something else.

In town, we get to see that Ryuurei’s the total opposite of Ginko when it comes to playing the merchant: he sees a bag of beans, and buys it. He then trades the beans for a couple of eggs, the eggs for selery, the selery for firewood, the firewood for flowers, the flowers for a fish and the fish for pack of straw. He finally gives the straw to a lonely child, who just spilled hers all over the ground, making it useless. He ends up with only one piece of straw left, at which he keeps staring for a couple of seconds. Even though the meaning of this remains oblivious, I somehow found this very enjoyable, seeing Ryuurei just trade random, useless things for even more useless things. The face he kept when doing all of this was priceless.

Now that I think a bit about it, it appears to be that the two of them were looking for some kind of food, as Shiurei suddenly seems to be all giddly over a fish. But then again, she probably never ate any fish, so it she must be very curious about trying one. Still, it’s nice to remember this. It might come back.

Anyway, we turn to dinner, at which the two of them begin to get a bit closer, and finally, Ryuurei starts to fall for Shiurei as well. I was really reminded of the harem-shows at this time, though almost all of them had something that Saiunkoku Monogatari doesn’t have: an impulsive young male lead. Because of this tiny difference, I managed to enjoy this.

We then have some final discussion between Shiurei, Shiuei, Ryuurei and Shiurei’s father (these names look a lot like each other, don’t they?), and Ryuurei leaves. I don’t know what happened in this discussion, though it left a great impact on Shiuei. We end the episode with Ryuuki trying to make up with Shiurei, by buying her what looks like the most horrible and useless stuff ever. And in large quantities as well. Shiurei, of course, doesn’t like this. ^_^;;

Like I said before, I really liked this episode. Each of the characters is unique, and funny in his or her own kind of way. And even though the show contains healty amounts of comedy, it knows when to be serious, and leave the jokes aside. I really like the way this anime is going.

Good Witch of the West – Astraea Testament – 02

by psgels, posted in Good Witch of the West - Astraea Testament



This episode was a bit confusing and hard to understand, though if I’m not wrong, the following things became clear:

– Firiel is Adale’s sister, I guess this would be a half-sister, as her father isn’t the same as Adale’s.
– Roux is the easiest way for the enemy to find out about Ephemeris, as Firiel’s father’s now nowhere to be found and the books regarding the Ephemeris are burned.
– Roux really hates all kinds of nobles.
– Whoever’s blood can react with the queen’s stone, has the right to become queen.
– Somehow, the queen can also be called the Good Witch of the West, though I have no idea why.

Apart from that, we have a very deep storyline going on, though I don’t understand any of it yet. I think we get more info on that in the next couple of episodes, because after all, this only has been the second episode. A scene that caught my eye was where Roux got tortured. This was probably the first time ever I’ve seen a mere child get this treatment.

This was clearly an intermezzo-episode. It wasn’t as good as the first one, but still I enjoyed watching it. The characters, for one, were very interesting, apart from perhaps Adale. I don’t know why, but she’s a bit too friendly with Firiel.

Ergo proxy – 08

by psgels, posted in Ergo Proxy



No Real! Blasphemy! Anyway, this episode was focused one half on Vincent, while the other half was focused other side-characters. A bit of new info about the Proxys is aquired, and Vincent gets to have his mental breakdown.

Vincent, while hungry seemed to have learned his lesson on his journey, as he acknowledges Pino’s existance at the beginning of the episode. They, they stumble upon other life-forms. Not Moskou, which I guessed, but a lonely army base ho’s been fighting off infected auto-raves. The members are suspiciously hospital, though it soon appears that they’ll make him fight in order to pay it back.

Then, a third Proxy appears. First, we only get to see its bandage-like hairs, killing, though it’s obvious what its owner is, mostly because of Vincent’s reaction. Anyway, because of the killing, Vincent is put in some kind of cell, right next to a crazy woman who keeps on muttering random sentences. Then Vincent begins to fall down, and mutter random sentences himself.

The autoraves, meanwhile, attack the base once more. This time, they’ve got help from the third Proxy, who kills off the commander of the base. She then crashes a helicopter right into the crazy woman, who managed to escape. Then, the second Proxy appears, beating the third one, taking off its mask, only to reveal the face of a woman. Then it absorbs the third, killing it.

We then see the dead body of the crazy woman, surrounded by cards. A strange man arrives, and picks up the joker-card, and he smiles. Who the heck is this guy? And why does he pick up the joker-card? Actually, why were those cards there in the first place?

Bluewacky also brings up an interesting issue. The face of the third Proxy bears suspiciosly close resemblances to that of the crazy woman. They also both die at the same time. Could they be linked somehow? If that’s the case, could Vincent be linked to Ergo Proxy (That’s how Bluewacky calls the second Proxy, I have no idea why, but it does explain the show’s name, as well as the fact that this will be an important character, I’m somehow reminded of Noein)? And who was linked to Monad Proxy?

This episode also explains why Monad Proxy was killed off. It was just being caught by Ergo Proxy and absorbed. And that crazy woman, right before the helicopter crashed on her, she made the infamous infected-autorave-pose. What the heck does that pose mean?

.Hack//Roots – 05

by psgels, posted in .Hack//Roots



The conflict between Haseo and Sakisaka extents further, and now Tabby and Shino also become involved with it. This is awefully fast, though it does mean that it’ll be solved relatively quickly in the range of the anime. What will happen once this is solved?

Haseo was great once more. Even though he doesn’t show it, he is worried about the PK-ing, and goes to investigate, and again visits a number of people. It’s a good thing that, even though he’s part of the Twillight Brigade, he does visit other people, unlike other members. Unfortunately, Tawaraya is one of the people he visits, which doesn’t really create good rumors. I find him rather uncertain and nonchalant at the outside, though I thing that he probably knows what he’s talking about, though he’s just doesn’t want to make any false statements. I like the way he talks, though. It’s so much better than all those impulsive main characteer. I also loved him after his conversation with Ender.

I was finding Tabby in the beginning just plain annoying, though now I see that she also has a couple of good sides. I just can’t stand her character design, especially the look she has when idle. Can’t she just not smile? Though the way she stirred up the conflict in this episode was brilliant, not to mention her annoying behavior towards Haseo, who wants to just be left alone and do his own things.

Ovan was a bit boring in this episode, though I think he’ll begin to shine at the last part of the show. He’s really not meant to show himself at the beginning of the series. I’m also wondering what he meant “So this is all of them”. I guess he meant that he just caught the last of the virus cores that was to be appearing at that time and place, though the moment I saw it, I really think that that was the last of the virus cores to ever appear.

Shino’s a bit boring. At least, when she’s not giving her attention to Haseo. When she’s not with him, she tries to be a bit advicing or serious, but it doesn’t work. When Haseo’s around, though, she finally acts a bit more natural, kindof like a motherly type. These moments are very enjoyable, both when the two of them agree with each other, and when the two of them are on different tracks, like the end of the episode.

Another person I love is Sakisaka. Although it won’t seem that he’ll ever be able to escape the miseries of being a side-character, he plays his part very well. He too, begins to question Ovan and the Twillight Brigade. Tawaraya only makes this worse, and he’ll probably explode in one of the following episodes. Two things can happen afterwards, he can either calm down, and stay with the guild, or he’ll leave the guild just like Goad and B-Set. So far, I haven’t seen any true motivation from him to be remaining on the Twillight Brigade, so I think it’ll be the second. I also loved the way he tried to hide the things he knew.

Goad also came in as a surprise. When I first saw him, I believed he was only to return for a couple of more episodes, though it does seem that he’s going to play an active role in the story. It was also great to see some character development from his side. His pride, is of course being hurt, so he will take revenge against Ender. But how?

I’m a bit worried about the leader of TaN. He just seems so much like the standard I-sit-in-my-chair-while-all-my-subordinates-carry-out-my-evil-plans-muaha-evil-villain. I hope that there’ll be a change in this pattern, as he’s probably the member of the cast who so far has experienced the least character-development of all (a fancy way of saying that he’s had no character development at all). Will he really make for a great bad guy?

B-Set also shows a lot of potential for the rest of the show. I’m somehow reminded of a weaker version of B. T., a member of the .Hack//Sign cast. She was once member of the Twillight Brigade, but she left. But still she can’t forget it, and Haseo doesn’t make it better. The previous episode showed that she has quite some character, so she’s probably going to have a couple of moments in which she’ll shine.

Tawaraya is, unlike the leader of TaN, a good example of a villain. He’s more of a merchant, so he doesn’t go into fights, as opposed to Ender, so the two of them make a good combination. It also seems that this won’t be a contest to see who can collect the most virus-cores, as he doesn’t just gloat when he enounters one. Still, I love it how he loves to stirr a bit of conflicts in the Twillight Brigade. I only don’t like him when near his superior.

The little furry animal (what’s his name again?) is fairly unique to anime. He’s a character you can just talk to, and he’ll give you some interesting and very useful advices. He says he plays the game to kill time, though I think he actually enjoys listening to those people, and giving his opinion.

Ender seems to be a villain which will last till about episode 10. I don’t think she’ll play a big role afterwards, but the role she has right now is pretty entertaining. I have no idea why she randomly PK’s people when they don’t have the answers she needs, though I think it’s to intimidate the opponent.

In case you haven’t noticed yet, this was my first attempt at an in-depth character-analysis. I got the inspiration from Willuknight, and his post about the characters from Air. I dont think I’ll be doing this very often, as it takes one hell of a job to write. Still, I’m quite pleased with it, although it could benefit from a number of improvements.

Noein – 21

by psgels, posted in Noein



After the eventfullness of episode 20, we get to see another intermezzo. This’ll either be the last one of them, or episode 23 will be the last intermezzo. In this episode, all the pieces are moved to be ready for the grande finale. There are so many different parties, and they all feel like they still have something to do in this show. And that with only three episode left. I tried to make a quick list off all the parties, as at the end of the episode:
– Haruka
– Yuu and Karasu
– Noein
– Ai, Isami, Miho and Atori
– Kosgai, Uchida, Kooriyama and Tobi
– Haruka’s father and mother
– The idiot who plans to excecute the magic-circle project
I think this won’t be too much altered. Anyway, about the episode. The person I absolutely loved was Atori, again. At the beginning of the episode, it becomes clear that he has yet to fully returned to his old self. He’s extremely grumpy, but he does keep his nice self. Then, at one moment, he loses control and goes berserk, and Miho really manages to stop him. I so love this, for the biggest part, he’s back to his old self again, but his love for Miho remains, and I doubt that that will ever go away.

This episode was overall a good episode for the different couples in the show. Not only for Miho and Atori, but Isami and Ai also have a nice and intimate scene at the end of the episode, and furthermore, Haruka’s father and mother meet up with each other again.

We also get the information we’ve all been waiting for: why the La’Cryma-Haruka died. She sacrificed herself in order to become part of the La’Cryma main computer, in order to protect the timespace. This brings up an interesting issue. Remember the phone in episode 14? Could it be that that call was made by the Haruka, whilst in the La’Cryma computer? I also still want to know who that old man with the hat might be. I’m going to laugh if it turns out to be another version of Yuu, but still, he has to have some kind of connection.

Overall, I really enjoyed this episode. Especially when Atori or Haruka’s dad came into the picture. The latter really seems determined to undo his past mistakes, which only promises some great scenes for in the future.

Bleach – 78

by psgels, posted in Bleach



Thank goodness, we finally have an enjoyable episode of Bleach again. I was beginning to worry. The problem with Bleach is that it’s too much focused on big, powerful guys which throw a couple of flashes at each other and take whole episodes in doing so. The fights that matter are so incredibly boring, I can’t believe people actually enjoy those.

The mock-fights in Bleach, however, are great. Especially when Ganju is involved. He’s the only one of the Bleach-cast who uses strategies in battle, with some great results. I just love how he totally owned Ichigo this episode. It was awesome, especially his entrance on the wild boar.

For some reason, the story also took a turn for the better. For what seems like the first time after the episode involving Ichigo’s deceased mother, we finally see some genuine dialogue, which really works. The cliffhanger actually was powerful this episode, instead of the usual annoying ones.