Bleach ep.18

February 9, 2005 | 11 Comments

With this episode, I have officially given up trying to hope for a better stylistic approach. It seems to me that the animators are hell-bent on maintaining that washed out look during the fight scenes. Thankfully, the entire Hollow/Shinigami sub-plot from this episode is interesting enough to hold my attention, or rather, it makes my brain works a little bit to the point that I managed to ignore the washed-out look. In fact, I personally think that this sub-plot is actually far more interesting and engaging than the main premise of saving Rukia from Soul Society. This main plot always bothers me a lot mostly because the story suddenly turns Rukia from a normally headstrong and resourceful character into a damsel in distress waiting to be saved by Ichigo.

Anyway, this episode itself begins with Ichigo coming to his school only to find out that his classmates do not remember Rukia anymore. Later on that day, Keigo suggests to his friends that they go to the ocean for the summer holiday. However, he's completely devastated when all of his friends tell him that unfortunately they can't make it. Ichigo, is especially not in the mood to do any kind of summer holiday mostly because he feels weird that no one remembers Rukia. While he walks home, however, Orihime catches up to him and asks him why does everyone else act as if they don't remember Rukia. The two ends up talking about how Orihime remembers everything ever since the incident at her house. Thanks to the conversation he has with Orihime, Ichigo also finally makes up his mind to save Rukia from Soul Society.

Meanwhile at Ichigo's house, Yuzu laments the fact that Ichigo has gone for 'Summer Holiday' so Daddy Isshin suggests that they have dinner with him. Unfortunately for him, Karin is not so keen on the idea and decides to stuff newspaper on her father's mouth instead. Kids these days are so rude. Meanwhile at the Soul Society, Renji is seen parading in what looks like a woman's kimono, showing off his silky smooth waxed legs. Meanwhile a low level Shinigami is seen trying to catch a black butterfly. When he fails to do so, he tries to attract the butterfly with a paper butterfly but his attempt is ruined by evil Renji who kicks the poor guy. Apparently Renji is supposed to have a day off but he's there to visit Rukia. Upon seeing Renji, Rukia can't help but teasing the guy by calling him 'Sir vice-commander' and making fun of his eyebrows.

After a while, however, Rukia becomes serious and asks Renji if she's going to be executed. Renji tries to annoy her as well by telling her that she will certainly be executed but he immediately stops joking around when Rukia looks sad. Renji then tells Rukia that her brother is probably trying to make an appeal against her execution right now. Rukia, however, tells Renji that he's wrong because she knows that her brother never really looked/cared about her in the forty years after she became a part of the Kuchiki family. Meanwhile, Ichigo is seen spending his 'Summer Holiday' training with Urahara inside a huge underground cave located underneath his store. Urahara begins by knocking Ichigo's soul out of his body, surprisingly revealing that Soul-Ichigo is not any different from the ghost of other dead humans.

Urahara tells Ichigo that since he has lost his power sources, he must now regain them back. In order to do that, he first has to fight Ururu, the seemingly harmless little girl who works for Urahara. Ichigo at first hesitant to fight a little girl but soon realises that she's quite a challenge to beat. Never the less, he manages to pass this test and proceeds to the second one where Tessa chops off his chain of fate. At the same time, Orihime, Chad, and Yoruichi are trying to persuade Ishida to join them to help Ichigo saving Rukia. Much to their disappointment, however, Ishida refuses. Back to Ichigo, Urahara tells him that his chain is now experiencing corrosion and this means he'll become a Hollow soon. The only way to prevent this is to become a Shinigami. Urahara then drops Ichigo into a hole called 'Shattered shaft' with his hands tied to his back. Now Ichigo only has 72 hours to stop the corrosion or else he'll turn into a Hollow.

Impression:

While the training session shown in this episode is quite boring, the implication and meaning behind this training itself is very interesting. The series has shown in the past that a soul that got seperated away from its body and has its chain severed will not be able to come back to the body. Overtime, that person will probably become a Hollow. This brings the question what is a Hollow? Why does a human soul can turn into a Hollow when it is disconnected from its body? Judging from previous ghosts, it appears that not everyone turns into a Hollow. So what causes a particular soul's chain to corrode? Despair? Lack of connection to reality? Most importantly, why does turning into a Shinigami stops one from becoming a Hollow? This suggests to me that there is a direct connection between Shinigami and Hollow. The idea reminds me a bit of how Lucifer originally started out as an Angel but eventually becomes a devil. It's the ever-changing nature of good and evil duality that exist in every being.

© memento 2003