Bleach Recaps: Ep. 177 The Reversal of Rukia, the Rampaging Blade

And so I am proven exactly 100% correct about everything.  Of course, predicting the events of a "Bleach" episode is about as difficult as predicting whether or not there's going to be another wave while standing on the beach, I'm not psychic.  But even when this show it at its most predictable, I can dig it, because just like last week, this was another good episode.  Good fights, good action, not the best, but whatever.  The fights still have too much talking and the animation isn't as good as I'd like, but this is as good as you can ask for.  If you have problems with episodes like this, then you probably don't like "Bleach", pure and simple.

So this week is just a continuation of the fights from last week, and their conclusions.  Then finally we end with the beginning of the Ichigo vs Purple-Hair fight.  But that doesn't altogether add up to twenty-one minutes or whatever the length of a "Bleach" episode actually is, so the intro is excruciatingly long, recapping the entirety of the last episode with way too much detail.  I know for a fact that its too much detail because Episode 176 and 177 originally aired* as two-parter in Japan, so what they're doing is here is recapping stuff that their intended audience just saw five minutes ago.  This was a common issue back when Adult Swim aired two "Bleach" episodes a night, but I'm glad to see the Japanese suffer along side us Americans.

Unfortunately nothing about this episode is at all appropriate to Halloween in any way.  I think I'll compensate by just yelling BOOOOOOOOOO!!! every so often.

Rukia vs. The Crypt Keeper - Round 2

Rukia continues to have some trouble with the Crypt Keeper guys thanks to his awesome and hilarious method of combat: eating his sword and spitting out the chunks from his back.  Rukia gets tired of fighting stupidly so she knocks the guy's sword down and slices him directly.  But then the Crypt Keeper takes on more power from his Bankkoto and suddenly his entire body is covered in little crustacean spikes.  Dry Itchy Skin?  Try Curel Ultra Healing Lotion!  Now he can summon like fifty-eight miniswords on his back from every delicious bite.  The Crypt Keeper even manages to knock her out for a second time and then goes after Princess Lampshade-hat and her guardians - again.  Kenryu throws some flowers, having no effect, and Enryu decides that that his back would look much better if it had a giant gaping sword wound in it.

Rukia comes and starts using her magic spells to subdue the Crypt Keeper so that she can finish him off with her Shikai.  Crypt Keeper's reaction is to spin like Sonic the Hedgehog, throwing little swords everywhere, but failing to hit anything.  Rukia restrains him and uses her Finishing Move.  So I guess its over now.  But then... Crypt Keeper is still alive!  But not for long.  His Bankotto sets him on fire, ending the fight.

BOOO!!

How do you say "Holy fucking shit" in NINJAR?

Then some minor unnamed NINJARs steal back the Bankkoto. Rukia lets them do this for... no reason. I think she's supposed to be surprised or something, but there's really no reason she couldn't have stopped them. But anyway, that's one down. WINNER:  Rukia!

Uryu vs. Goofy Hair - Round 2

There isn't all that much to say here.  Uryu proves to actually be smarter than me by figuring out how Goofy Hair is able to avoid all of his attacks and still be on the offensive in the mist.  I thought it was just that circle of illusion clones attack that appears by law in just about every anime ever, but actually its a bit cooler than that.  Goofy Hair's Bankotto turned him into the mist.  He is the mist.  I did not see that one.   How do you cut a guy that can selectively turn from solid to a gas?  Uryu now throws out his Seele Schinder blade to better blocking, and prepares a plan.  Goofy Hair is screwed now.

BOOO!!!

But just then Uryu is cut in the leg, and can no longer escape thanks to the wound.  I call bullshit here.  Uryu has a special Quincy power in which he can use magic to create little threads and move his limbs, even when paralyzed.  So no matter how much damage Uryu takes, he can keep on moving until his body falls away to dust.  Of course, the last time he used that skill was more than 100 episodes ago against Captain Insano, Mayuri.  I'll admit that this is an easy thing to forget - I only remember it because I'm rewatching the Soul Society arc right now.  But considering that this show has how many people working on it, can it get away with this?  There's even a Bleach Wiki, use that, writers!

Uryu uses the same pentagon explosion attack that he used against Espada #9, Granz.  With a few Seele Schinders in fight points and some magic potion, the entire area explodes, with the Goofy-Haired ninja caught right in the middle.  He dies in a horrifying ordeal, while Uryu just gets burned a bit (he couldn't get out of the blast zone because of his leg wound, even though that shouldn't be a problem).  Uryu collapses but in "Bleach" terms having a character collapse is about as life-threatening as getting a paper cut.  He'll be fine.  WINNER:  Uryu!!

Chad vs. Burka Guy - Round 2

BOO!!

Last week this was the best part of the episode, this week, its still a good fight.  All these fights have been pretty decent, even thougt the Ninja haven't had a chance in Hell of winning.  The Burka Guy's latest strategy is to create a calcium wall around Chad, creating some kind of crazy funhouse effect where the Burka Guy can attack from all directions at once.  Chad is pretty confused by this, until he realizes that Burka has actually fused with the wall or something.  So Chad is like "screw this, I'm outta here, enough of this wall crap", but he can't break through the wall because Burka is constantly attacking.  Why not just jump over the wall or something?  Can Chad fly?  Luckily Chad has an even better plan - grab the Burka Guy's sword when he attacks with his bare hand.  That's pretty awesome right there.  So Chad breaks the wall and then prepares his final attack.

Both the Burka guy and Chad are pretty tired of the fighting.  BOO!!  So they both power up their ultimate energy blasts.  Chad decides to throw out his Brazo Del Diablo (that attack I mentioned last week which he strangely wasn't using) and finishes the fight pretty decisively.  Orihime, in her only scene, runs in asking "aren't I like a central character?  Can't I get an opponent?"  She finds nothing left of the Burka Guy except for a very large hole in the ground:

Happy Halloween!

Somehow I doubt the people of Karakura Town are going to miss this.  They usually don't notice the massive damage their town takes from Ichigo's battles, but I think a crater might get their interest.  There's a 100 foot skull-shaped hole just outside the city limits.  This skull hole will probably become a great hangout sight for emo teenagers and alien nuts.  In fact, this probably become a great tourist attraction.  "Come to Karakura Town, Home of the Skull Crater".  It will appear on postcards and mugs and all sorts of crappy merchandise.  The appearance of this thing is international news.  Scientists will spend decades trying to uncover how this happened.  People from around the world will come to see it and ponder the great mystery of the Skull Crater.  I know I'd go see it.  Anyway:  WINNER:  Chad!!!

Ichigo vs. Purple-Hair (BOO!!!)

Now that Purple-Hair's backup dancers are all dead, the guy has no choice but to fight himself.  Can he beat Ichigo?  Of course not.  But we'll play along with the show for a bit.

So here we are, the great fight.  Ichigo vs. the Purple-Haired Ninja.  I think this entire arc has been building towards this.  And yet, it feels so hollow.  I mean, I could buy that a couple of NINJARs could possibly thanks to the power of some cursed swords manage to be a threat to Chad, Rukia, and Uryu (they couldn't win, but they could make a good match), but Ichigo is a step above.  In order for poor Hanza here to possibly be good enough to fight Ichigo fairly, he has to be stronger than insane blood knight Kenpachi Zaraki, cold-badass Byakuya Kuchiki, Aizen-knockoff Jin Kariya, and the unstoppable Grimmjow Jeagerjaques**.  I don't buy any of that.  Plus Purple-Hair has the lamest attack of any NINJAR yet:  that silly "trap you in the Psycho Zone" move he used three episodes ago.

So after a very brief clash of a swords, a small moment where I think this fight might actually have action in it, Purple-Hair uses his stupid magic trick.  Ichigo isn't having it, so breaks Purple-Hair's mirror:

Seven years bad luck

But unfortunately the shards of the mirror apparently work just as well as the mirror itself.  That seems like cheating to me.  So Ichigo is sucked right into the Psycho Zone and I immediately groan because this means that next week's episode is going to suck.  I was hoping for a fight, not some stupid lightshow and other nonsense.  Next week Ichigo is going to escape the second he uses Hollowfication, and overcomes whatever specter he sees inside there so whatever.  It doesn't matter what weird stuff he sees, because it can't possibly be "Neon Genesis Evangelion"-levels of crazy freakout, so I don't care.  Maybe afterwards we'll have a real fight.  Probably not.  See you then... (sigh).

BOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

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* When was that original airdate?  June 2008.  We in the English-speaking world have been two years behind the anime since the beginning.

** No, I don't know how to pronounce Grimmjow's last name either.  This show has some weird ass names.