Bleach Recaps: Ep 182, Amagai's True Strength, Zanpakuto Is Released!

So here are again.  Another "Bleach" episode.  This week is probably the most difficult kind of week to recap.  Things happened, the plot moved... but nothing awesome happened.  There was nothing truly horrible and disgusting, and there was nothing all that awesome either.  I mean, yeah, Amagai's Shikai was pretty cool, but is that all we got?  Well, I guess when your TV show has 182 episodes - more than "Ranma 1/2", more than "Seinfeld", and more than "The Flintstones", every single episode can't be a winner.  I guess the only ones who really suffer are us, the audience.  Really this episode wasn't boring, but it wasn't fun either, so what do I say about it?

We open with Ichigo, Rukia, and Prince Shoe hiding out in the Soul Society sewers, a nice trick Ichigo learned several seasons ago thanks to out old buddy, Hanataro.  Hanataro was a Squad Four healer dude with a crush on Rukia - I use the past tense since I think this show completely forgot about him, just like Ganju.  Its been eighty episodes since we've heard hide nor hair or either of those characters.  Well, the point is that even after the numerous invasions of the Soul Society, the Soul Reapers still do not know how to police their sewers.  Same thing happens in New York City, I imagine, explaining why the Teenage Mutant NINJAR Turtles are never found by the authorities.

Nothing happens for awhile, then we find our old buddy, the Evil Monkey Who Lives in My Closet, Kumoi.  Kumoi has a lovely plot-revealing flashback that explains what has happened to Princess Lampshade-hat.  Turns out that the Princess we saw entering the compound was just a fake, the real one came two minutes later and was immediately kidnapped.  (So that means that my theory that the Princess was always a doppelganger fake from the start no longer holds any water - lame.)  Kumoi is also pissed that the Soul Society has been incredibly incompetent up until now, but then again, the Soul Society has always been incompetent.  These are the same people who almost got beaten by the Bounts, for God's sake.

Now we finally find out what's happened to the Princess.  This is part is actually funny:

"I Thought I Taw a Puddy Tat!!"

So while the Princess is stuck up in the birdcage, in walks Kibune who says "yo, I'm like... keeping you prisoner, so... yeah".  Then the Princess says "I did!  I did tat a Puddy Tat!"  Kibune just replies "yeah, well, I'm like... gonna kill Ichigo, so there's that stuff... you know."  He's a bad ol' Puddy Tat.  The Princess then decides "You're scared of something!"  Then begins a long battle of wits consisting mostly of "Uh-ha" and "Na-na!"

On Kibune's way back from doing whatever he was trying to do with the Princess (you never do learn why he wanted to show his face to her), he runs into a drunker member of Squad 3.  The drunk guy says "Hey Granz!  I mean, err, hey Kibune!  I'm drunk, don't tell anybody or I'll tell everybody that your evil and working with the Evil Old Guy."  Kibune mutters "Suffering Succotash" and proceeds to murder the other guy.  This doesn't seem to work very well, since Kira and Captain Amagai immediately notice that a member of the squad is missing and so is Kibune.  So... I guess the cat's out of the bag.  There probably was a better way to handle this situation, since murder didn't quite work.  I think Kibune should have tried a nice adult conversation.  Well, now Kira is after Kibune, so I assume there will be a fight eventually with those two.

Now we cut to Captain Gorgeous, Byakuya, and Renji who are discussing the entire kidnapping situation.  Byakuya has decided that being pretty is such a difficult task that he must lead the capture of his sister, Rukia and his not-sister, Ichigo up to Renji.  "Excuse me, I have to stare at my reflection and be lovely for the next ten hours, Renji, just do whatever.  And totally don't not do anything, I'm not implying that at all."  I actually liked this scene's subtlety.  If you aren't paying attention you might think that Byakuya is back to being evil, but actually since he passed command over to Renji, the one guy who definitely won't fight Ichigo or Rukia, he's being more of a good guy.  Or maybe Byakuya just needs the rest of the season in relax at the spa and share beauty tips with the gals.  He's definitely due for a pedicure.

However, this does mean that Renji and Byakuya will probably not be fighting this season like the opening credits have been promising.  Darn it.

It seems that Captain Amagai has been watching the show along with us, since he moves his troops down into the sewers and traps Ichigo's group as soon as they get above ground.  Ichigo tries to explain what's going on, but that works about as well as it has since the start.  Amagai, wisely tells the various no-name Soul Reapers to step back, since he is the only person who ever could have a chance against Ichigo.  For no reason at all Rukia doesn't try to help out, maybe the production team forgot about her for a minute.  Thanks to that, its now Ichigo vs. Amagai.  One on One!  EPICNESS!

One of these guys has got to feeling pretty inadequate right now.

Amagai, despite being considerably "lacking in a certain area", still manages to hold his own well enough.  His sword is firm and unbending, ready to keep on going until the job is done.  Never pull out, keep on thrusting that thing!  THRUST IT!  THRUST IT!  Its not the size of the Swartz, its how you handle it!  Right, ladies?

.....Didn't think so.

Anyway, Amagai unleashes his Shikai, proving that size really doesn't matter when you can set bitches on fire:

"BURN, BABY!"

Amagai's sword is now some hook thing with a trumpet for a hilt.  The trumpet shoots out fire - thought thanks to the magic of anime, this does not set the user's arm and shoulders completely ablaze.  Instead it heats up the sword so much that Amagai can actually cut right through one of Ichigo's full-powered energy blasts.  Considering that those things usually leave cuts in the ground the size of football fields, that isn't bad.  I don't know what he does with the hook though... maybe he fishes with it during off-time.  

This fight is actually really good so far... which is why it has to end.  God help us if this episode actually was interesting!  Shoe interrupts and instead of a great battle we get a reasonable intelligent discussion in which Amagai realizes that he Ichigo is actually the good guy.  Friggin' Shoe, saving the day again.  Why does this kid have to be so protective of Lampshade-hat?  I mean, he's still technically married to that assassin who was dressed as her.  Can't he find a way to love that ninja instead?

DAMN IT!  I WANT FIGHTING!  Somebody swing a sword!  That whole fight was only like a minute long!  This sucks!  Well, I'm just going to consider this all to be a rain check - Amagai still hasn't revealed his Bankai (or whatever the deal with his Lightsaber sword is).  So if by the end of the season Ichigo and Amagai haven't fought until one of them is spitting up blood*, then I'm gonna go out and say it:  "the Amagai Arc sucks".

Luckily I am a very patient person, so I will sit around until the end.  We only got like seven episodes left anyway.

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* Which is actually an oddly common occurrence in this show.  Will you really spit up blood if you get cut in the shoulder?  I mean, really?