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Episode 93: Bounto Assault! Chaos in the Gotei 13 Divisions

Impressions:

First, if you don’t mind a bit of a spoiler, you should take a look at the updated episode listing at Anime News Network. Take a look at the upcoming episodes … especially episode 96. Anyway, episode 93 featured two very good things. One: a whole lot of action! Two: Byakuya got involved! The animation was pretty good as well. Looks like the fillers are shaping up. Hope it continues!

Apart from that, Bleach is starting to make things unrealistic. Not unrealistic in the sense that there are Shinigami and Hollows and people with eternal life. I mean the tiny parts of the episode that just are un-Bleachlike. What happened to the law of physics? At one point when Rukia was kicked, she sailed through the air horizontally, not even curving downward. She wasn’t even going that fast! Or when Rukia was coughing blood, had two huge slashes across her body and a stab to her thigh were a major artery would be, yet she was able to refrain from screaming out in pain and start writhing around on the floor. This same thing happened when Ichigo fought Kariya in episode 91. So many injuries yet he was still able to move. This is the type of ‘unrealistic’ I am talking about. In the pre-filler episodes, things like this didn’t happen. For example when Ichigo fought Byakuya. Byakuya’s power diminished greatly when he was slashed a couple of times, and he’s a captain. If there are characters who should have powers so great that they can withstand attacks like that, it would be a captain. This is like Dragon Ball Z where no matter how much damage a powerful guy takes, he goes on like nothing happened.

Aside from all that, this episode was absolutely fantastic! The action was awesome and Byakuya’s appearance at the end finished the episode off excellently. I only wish Yoshii had stuck around a bit longer to fight Byakuya, with her Doll acting as her armour. I’m sure she would’ve been much stronger that way. Again, about the issue as to when the Bleach fillers is going to finish … I would like to see more captain vs. Bounto fights, but if that were to happen, the fillers wouldn’t be able to stop by the end of this season. Judging by the next 3 episode titles, the only captains that will get involved are Toushiro and Byakuya. If the fillers end at episode 100, the final battle will have to be before then, not leaving enough time for any other battles. Sad, yes, but still, I’d rather the fillers end at 100. Final note: Ichigo better get MUCH stronger. I’m sick of seeing some weak, sickly Shinigami representive get his arse kicked by everyone all the time (okay, the sickly part was a bit too far, but he’s very weak compared to Kariya now).

Summary:

It’s Rukia vs. Yoshii this episode. I don’t really feel like describing a fight in detail and it’ll take far too long. Okay, maybe it won’t take that long, but reading about a fight is not as exciting as actually watching it, so I say just watch it! Anyway, Yoshii makes the first move, summoning her Doll and attacking the unarmed Rukia, who notices that the Bounto has gotten stronger. As the two eye each other for a few moments, Ririn comes running around a corner but immediately retreats behind it when she sees Rukia and Yoshii. The local residents all flee or withdraw into their houses, not wanting to get involved with the fight. Yoshii taunts Rukia by reminding her of the incident with Mabashi. Angry, Rukia looks around for a weapon. She spots a sword stuck in the wall and pulls it out. With this, the battle resumes. Yoshii is quite obviously faster and stronger, especially as she is in a world where everything is made of spirit particles. Rukia is deflected into a wall after an unsuccessful lunge. Yoshii belittles Rukia, who responds by gripping her sword and saying that she won’t allow the Bounto to underestimate her.

Witnessing Rukia get thrown into the wall yet still continue, Ririn becomes extremely anxious. She finally decides to intervene. She charges at Yoshii and uses illusions to disorientate her. Seeing the opportunity, Rukia uses her ‘blue fire – crash down’ kidou technique with an extended incantation, which intensifies the attack. I don’t understand why she didn’t use her sword – it would have been much easier. It’s true that bringing a blade down on another human isn’t easy, but the aim of the fighting is to eliminate the Bounto. But I guess it’s to make the event longer. We can’t have Rukia defeating a powered-up Bounto is the first 7 minutes of the show.

Anyway, Yoshii becomes severely burnt. She can barely move, but she still has enough strength left to raises her hand and absorbs the nearby spirit particles, restoring her power and healing all her wounds in a few seconds. Rukia realises that the spirit particles can heal the Bounto. Ririn yells for Rukia to run as they won’t be able to win. They make a break for it, but Rukia fails to avoid one of Yoshii’s shards that are cast out from her fan, which slashes her left arm. This slows her down and allows Yoshii to catch up to her, continuing the duel. Rukia’s sword gets forced out of her hand, which then allows Yoshii to kick her into one of the buildings nearby. The people in this building scuttle out as Yoshii enters it. It is dark inside so isn’t able to detect Rukia. That is, until, she knocks something over and exposes herself. She manages to escape again with the help of another one of Ririn’s illusions. This time though, Yoshii shifts her attention to Ririn as she is annoyed about the modified soul’s ability. Before Yoshii can attack Ririn, Rukia springs up from under some covers and uses the cloth to cover and blind the Bounto. As Yoshii is writhing around, Rukia casts her ‘white lighting’ technique to literally pierce the Bounto’s chest like a spear. Rukia collapses, having exhausted all her kidou. However, even though Yoshii is badly hurt, a quick spirit particle absorption regenerates her.

In the captain’s meeting room, 1st Squad Captain Yamamoto informs the rest that some of the Kuchiki clan’s old texts contained some valuable information about the Bounto and their origins. He explains about how long ago, a man named Ran’Tao led a group of scientist in their pursuit for eternal youth. However, an experiment gone wrong produced the immortal Bounto. Ran’Tao was exiled from Seireitei after that. Yamamoto also notifies the other captains about the arrival of Ichigo and his group. The meeting is interrupted by a messenger, who says that a Bounto’s presence has been identified, as well as Rukia’s reiatsu. Byakuya takes notice of this… The 13th Squad mobilises to assist Rukia. In another part of Soul Society, Inoue meets up with Ichigo and Cloud tells him that he can sense a Bounto.

The fight between Rukia and Yoshii continues … Rukia actually fares pretty well against her. If only she had a Zanpakuto and had used shikai … She does manage to bind Yoshii with a restraint kidou technique, and then follow it up with another ‘blue fire, crash down!’ At first, it seems to have worked, but when the dust clears, Rukia realises that her attack had no effect at all. Yoshii was shielded by her fan. She is also wearing some strange armour – her Doll’s true form perhaps? After the fan refolds itself, Yoshii breaks free of the bind. Rukia runs, leaping across the roofs with a bloodied arm. She hides in an empty house to rest and wrap up her cut arm. Outside, someone approaches unnoticed. While resting, Rukia notices that she has been found by Ririn. She has brought the sword Rukia used previously. As Rukia takes it in her hand, Ririn notices her wounded arm and asks why she wasn’t able to heal it better, as kidou is her specialty. When Rukia is unable to respond with a reasonable answer, Ririn concludes that she has used up all her kidou. There is no time for further chat though, as Rukia notices someone else’s presence. She opens the lid of some sort of storage area and finds a girl and a baby inside (no, they’re not corpses, they’re still alive). The girl is on the verge of tears with fright. Ririn notices the person outside and warns Rukia, who tells her to take the two children and run. Before she can do so though, Yoshii surprises Rukia from behind. Yoshii jabs her hand through the thin wall and grabs the girl by the head. Rukia gets flung outside by the force of Yoshii’s sword. She starts to cough out blood … nasty. Yoshii tells her to drop her weapon, or else she’ll kill the girl. Rukia does so, allowing Yoshii to approach her. She brings her sword to Rukia’s chest and is about to part her robe … whoa! … but Rukia recoils. In response to Rukia’s reaction, Yoshii squeezes the girl’s head, making her scream. After she tells Rukia that she gets excited just by thinking about how she’s going to kill her, she slashes Rukia across her body and tosses the child onto the ground. Yoshii slashes Rukia one more time then drives her sword through her thigh. Ririn tries to stop the Bounto but she is quickly removed from the fight by a kick from Yoshii. As she is lying on the ground, she notices a figure in the distance draw his sword. Unaware of his presence, Yoshii kicks Rukia into the air, leaps up with her and is about to finish things when … ‘Scatter, Senbonzakura!’ That’s right, Byakuya comes just in time, releases his shikai and owns Yoshii in a second. (It’s so fast it’s funny). He then uses shunpo to catch Rukia before she hits the ground. Ichigo and Inoue then arrive, followed by the 13th Squad. Ichigo runs to Ririn and Inoue checks the two children. All three are ok. Just as Rukia wakes up from her brief moments of unconsciousness, Yoshii appears at the top of the roof of some building with her weird armour. She seems okay… Yoshii leaps off the roof to escape and Ichigo is about to intercept, when everyone is halted by sudden explosions on Seireitei.

Preview:

To be continued…

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