Bleach ep.6

November 10, 2004 | 7 Comments

Yay! They didn't botch this episode after all. In fact, this is probably the one episode apart from the 3rd episode that have really impressed me. I actually noticed a few things here that I didn't notice before when I was reading the manga, such as the shot of Rukia's trembling hand at the start of the show. Maybe I'm reading too much into it but I think this is Kubo Tite inserting hints of the upcoming 'Soul Society' arc into the current storyline. Speaking of Kubo, that man does a good job as a voice actor as he does as a manga artist. Kon sounds as cool and funny as I expected him to be. Having said that, I wonder why they decide to make Kon a bit more violent and powerful here. Edited to add: sorry guys, the voice of Kon/temporary Ichigo in this one is not Kubo. See comment for explanation.

Moving on straight into the story, the episode begins with Rukia sitting alone looking at her cellphone and then her trembling hand while commenting how she hasn't got enough of either one. The next day, Ichigo brings some Onigiri to his room for Rukia but is surprised when he finds out that she is not inside his closet. It turns out Rukia makes a visit to a neighboorhood store that is run by its owner, Urahara, and his three assistants, Tessai, Jinta, and Urara. Rukia then proceeds to buy a couple of things, among those a 'fixer' which will allow her soul to synchronise better with her human body because lately she finds it hard to move the body. Urahara, however, warns her that prolong use of the fixer may cause her some pain if one day she has to get out of that body. In addition to this, Rukia also purchases a special item which Ururu has to get from the back room.

When she arrives at the school, Rukia knocks Ichigo out cold then drags his body out of the class to give him the item she just purchased. She explains that the item, Gikongan, is a pill that forcibly pulls one's spirit out of its body. Rukia purposedly bought the item so that Ichigo can become a Shinigami even if she's not around to knock his soul out of his body. Upon looking at the item, Ichigo makes fun of the packaging which looks like one of those kids candy popper. But after a few well-placed kicks from Rukia, he reluctantly pops in a green pill into his mouth and as expected, his soul is separated from his body. But, there's an additional bonus. Now no one will think that Ichigo is dead while he's doing his Shinigami duty because there's another soul working inside his body. That soul, who I will refer to as 'Kon' right away to make my life easier, seems like a perfectly nice guy despite Ichigo's protestation that the guy doesn't sound like him. Before Ichigo can protest further, however, Rukia already drags him away to fight another Hollow.

Meanwhile, at Urahara's shops, the guys realise that Ururu has just given Rukia a defective item. Urahara thinks that they better do something soon since this is the first time Kon gained a human body and there's no telling what he may do. True enough, back at the school, Kon demonstrates his strength by destroying a wall with his kick. At the same time in Ichigo's class, Orihime and Tatsuki are on a lunch break so Orihime demonstrate how excited she is by doing her 'lunch break pose'. Her eagerness in chomping a bread, however, excites her classmates, Chizuru. She, however, doesn't make a lewd comment about how she wants to 'eat' Orihime in this version though. Anyway, the girls are soon startled when they see Ichigo suddenly appear from a window in the class. 'Ichigo', however, is more interested with the girls, especially with Orihime's large boobs. But he pretends to be a gentleman and decides to kiss her hand instead. I'm going to admit that I'm an Ichigo/Orihime fan so I'm also going to pretend that it's Ichigo who gives Orihime a kiss here. :P

Anyway, things quickly get out of hand until Ichigo and Rukia return to confront Kon. To his surprise, however, Ichigo finds himself being beaten by Kon's super strength. Kon then runs away from the class by jumping out of the window. Meanwhile, Ichigo gets an explanation from Rukia that Kon is the result of Soul Society's experiment called 'Spearhead'. The plan was to insert a soul that is created for combat on a dead body. But the plan was then scrapped and the souls were to be destroyed. Some, however, managed to escape like Kon. Upon hearing this, Ichigo is appalled at the way Soul Society creates these souls and then destroys them like a discarded item. But Rukia insists that Soul Society created them to protect human souls. Meanwhile, Kon is seen happily jumping around in the city until he stumbles upon a bunch of boys playing a gameboy. When he hears their conversation about destroying useless artificial life, he becomes angry and tries to strike them. The episode ends with Ichigo stopping Kon from harming the kids.

Impression:

I really like this episode. While I don't like the way they make Kon more violent here, the attempt actually ends up giving him a much darker backGrand than I ever thought possible. What I also like about this storyline is that it begins to show the darker side of 'Soul Society' that we never get to know before. In this episode, however, it is revealed that the people who run the place are ruthless enough to do some unethical experiments regardless of the consequences. This episode also introduces the viewers to Urahara and his staffs, who in the future, will also become integral players to the story. In the end, I'm happy with the way this arc turns out after all. The humor is spot on, the drama and the revelation are as dark as they should be, and Kon sounds as smooth and funny as his manga version. Anyway, next week seems to be the conclusion to this story so I hope the week after that will be the 'Grand Fisher' arc.

© memento 2003