Manga : Bleach Ch.246

You have to love this chapter. For a brief moment, I thought that Kurosaki Ichigo, Ishida, Sado and the cute little Arrancars are going to be perished in the sands of Los Noches. Of course, that is before the water thing came in. I love the way Tite-sensei brought in the entrance of Ichigo's saviors. And the shock-cum-hope-cum-realization look on Ichigo's face was priceless. Who else could release the snow-type zanpakutou shikai ’次の舞：白連’ ?

When I saw the last page of the chapter, I was only thinking, "Kubo Tite-sensei, you rock."


Scan courtesy of BleachBuzz

I did not expect Rukia nor Renji to make an entrance in Hueco Muendo at all. Not after when Kuchiki Byakuya and Zaraki Kenpachi were close to using force to bring the shinigamis back to Soul Society from the real world. That they appear at such a critical point with Rukia releasing her second shikai was... fantastic. And the way their entrance was drawn is damn kakkoi.

Another aspect of this chapter which I enjoyed is the return of Bleach-humor. The previous few chapters had been quite serious and depressing, but the humor brought about by the funny and weird chibi Arrancars were pretty hilarious (especially Neil. He is so cute!!). On top of that Ishida was pretty funny when he delivered the deadpan - むりだね - at such a critical moment.

Now I'm practically withering waiting for the next chapter release.

～みはる～

Anime : Bleach 79

Okay, I used to complain about the poor entertainment quality of the current filler arc. With this episode, I take them back. This episode has got some good humor and action. The first half showing Ichigo and co. having breakfast and chatting was great. I love the light-heartedness and the closeness amongst the characters rendered by this scene. The character development given to Claude was quite surprising (the part where Claude & Nova were chatting & observing Ichigo and co.), but pleasant. I find it funny when Renji asked Rukia if she drank coffee before and she proudly told him she "cleared" the drink. XD And for the first time, the action involving Bound was exciting. I especially enjoyed the part where Yoshino fused with her doll, Geitei, to fight Kariya. I hadn't seen that coming. And Kariya, though evil, looked kinda cool when they showed his doll (which was embedded on his body). Bleach love to have really evil dudes looking super cool - first Aizen, now Kariya. But I kinda missed watching Rukia. She's my favourite character and her screen time this week is terribly short. Hopefully, there's more of her scenes next week. The scenes involving Ichigo's fighting however, left more to be desired. With his poor focus, Ichinose could have kicked his arse easily, but then again, Ichinose did not. Oh well, maybe we'll see more of Ichigo's Zangetsu-brandishing next episode.