Bleach ep.11-12

December 22, 2004 | 3 Comments

I'm impressed. These two episodes actually manage to make me interested in the anime again. Maybe it's the humour or maybe it's the current arc but either way, I like these two episodes. Speaking of arc, the anime has now reached the 'Quincy Archer' arc, one of the best arc after the 'Grand Fisher' one. It is here that all of the hints and events that happened in the past finally come to fruition. If you're a casual watcher, I think it's a good idea to give these two episodes a go just to see how some elements from previous episodes finally play out here. A new character is also introduced here and Naruto watchers will probably recognise his voice as that of Uchiha Sasuke's VA, Sugiyama Noriaki. Amusingly enough, there are several similarities between the two characters so in a way, this is a rather nifty casting on Pierrot studio part.

The episode begins with Ichigo and his friends being scolded by their teachers for showing up on television behaving improperly. So of course everyone tries to weasel their way out of it and blames it all on Ichigo. Rukia even puts on her "I'm a fragile doe" act to convince the teachers. Having said that, thanks to her, everyone manages to escape from possible punishment. While walking together back to their class, Rukia gets a Hollow phone call so she asks Ichigo to come with her. This causes Orihime to wonder if the two are involved in ways that I don't even want to imagine. Poor Orihime. Hey, wait a minute! Was this scene even in the manga? Meanwhile, Ichigo and Rukia are surprised when they arrive at their destination and find a normal ghost instead of a Hollow. They wonder if they got a dud signal from the cellphone.

The next day, the students find out the result of their term. It turns out Ichigo, Orihime, and Chad are in 23rd, 3rd, and 11th position amongst other students. This causes Ichigo's 2 male friends to feel miserable because they suck at school. Anyway, while on duty, Ichigo and Rukia encounter a mysterious new guy who manages to slay a Hollow quickly using some kind of mystical arrow. The two are shocked and realise that this guy is the one who has been slaying the Hollows before Rukia and Ichigo manage to get to them. Thanks to Orihime, Ichigo eventually finds out that the guy's name is actually Ishida Uryuu and he's their classmate. At the same time, Rukia finds out from Urahara about the Quincy, a group of magical hunters who specialised in war against Hollows before their clan got wiped out 200 years ago.

In a way, the Quincy are similar to Shinigami. However, there is one basic difference between the two professions. Shinigami believe in purifying the soul of a Hollow so they can go peacefully to Soul Society. The Quincy, however, refuse to believe that someone who has committed murder like a Hollow deserves peace and therefore, their main aim is simply to kill Hollows. Elsewhere, Ichigo decides to stalk Ishida but unfortunately he got busted. Ishida then calmly challanges Ichigo to a fight. Being the hot-headed person that he is, Ichigo falls for the bait, hook, line, sinker. Because of this, episode 12 begins with Ishida producing a Hollow bait and scatters it to the ground. He then informs Ichigo that within minutes, Hollows will populate the city so the two can slay them.

Ishida then proposes that the one who can kill the most Hollow will win the fight. Ichigo, however, becomes angry at Ishida upon hearing this. He thinks that Ishida is jeopardising the lives of people in the city. Ishida, however, doesn't give a rat's ass and proceeds to leave to do his slaying. In the end Ichigo has no choice but to cover as many grounds as possible before an innocent bystanders got hurt. Meanwhile, Tatsuki is seen in the school ground observing something. She complains about how something is being loud and reveals that the thing is none other than two ghosts in love. Tatsuki then recounts how she begins to be able to see ghosts ever since the night she came to Orihime's house. She remember thinking that she was dreaming of seeing Rukia but Orihime claims that she also saw the same dream.

After the incident, Tatsuki becomes capable of seeing ghosts, and so can Orihime. Back to the present, while the two friends are talking to one another, a loud noise is heard on top of the school and all of a sudden some parts of the buildings are destroyed. At the same time, Rukia receives a phone call alerting her that a Hollow is nearby. But then her phone becomes quiet again, suggesting that the Hollow is dead. However, she then receives no less than 5 warnings alerting her to the presence of multiple Hollows. She's horrified and realises that something unusual is happening in the city. Back to Ichigo, he's seen being confronted by 3 gigantic Hollows but manages to kill them without much trouble. Elsewhere, Chad also begins to sense that something happens in the city. He then realises that a Hollow has arrived at the city center so he tries to bait it away from innocent bystanders.

Chad ends up reaching a park where Ichigo's sister, Karin, is playing with other kids. Thankfully, unlike Chad, who can only see the Hollow's shape, Karin can see the full-fledged Hollow in front of her eyes. So Karin and Chad eventually team up to evade the Hollow. Chad then remembers how he promised to use his power to protect those around him. So he then wakes up and attempts to fight the Hollow using his power. Much to Karin's surprise, Chad's right arm suddenly grows to an unusual size and shape. Chad then easily makes a mincemeat out of the Hollow easily using his super hand. He, however, passed out from exhaustion after Karin thanks him for protecting her. Back at the school, Orihime feels as if something is approaching her and her friends and is horrified when she sees a humongous Hollow at the school's rooftop.

Impression:

Yes, this is more like it! The combination of the comedy and the action was quite good here. I especially love the "Ishida Ametatsu" joke that they have here. What's funny about this? Well, the kanji for Ishida Uryuu is like this: 石田雨竜. Now, if you read 雨竜 together, you get the correct first name, Uryuu. However, if you read the two character separately you'll get 雨 - Ame (Rain) and 竜 - Tatsu/Ryuu (Dragon), which is how Ichigo first pronounced the name, "Ishida Ametatsu". It's funny for me because it's a mistake that I and other Japanese language students often make from time to time. Anyway, I've been waiting for this arc to be animated and this certainly doesn't disappoint. It's a pleasure to see Ichigo's friend starting to be able to see ghosts and Hollow. Some of them even start to develop power of their own like Chad. I hope next week's episode will be as good because Orihime will have a major role there.

© memento 2003