Bleach Recaps: Ep. 185, Ice and Flame! Fierce Fight of Amagai vs. Hitsugaya

Welcome back!  Last week's "Bleach" was a surprise re-run because of Christmas.  Unfortunately, Adult Swim never does advertise when its anime will be new episodes or old ones - God knows why.  So we all tuned in at midnight only to see that the Purple-Haired Ninja was suddenly back to life.  Last night's episode, however, was a new one.  "Fierce Fight of Amagai vs. Hitsugaya", that sounds good doesn't it?

Good one.  The title for this episode is nothing but a lie.  Amagai fights Toshiro for a total running time of thirty seconds, no more.  Its pure evil that they'd mislead the audience into thinking that Amagai and Toshiro would actually fight to any conclusion.  Maybe next episode, not here.  And the fight isn't particularly fierce either for a "Bleach" battle.  Instead we have the conclusion of the Kira and Kibune fight, which actually does become fierce.  So I'm going to let you guys decide which character wins.  Come on:  good-guy emo teen, Kira or bad-guy pompous homosexual, Kibune?  Or put it this way:  the character who has been around since Season 2 or the dude who just appeared suddenly in what is essentially a gaiden arc?  Shouldn't be too hard to guess, right?  Of course, I'm happy to see this battle end and one of these boring characters die, thus saving me from their mediocrity forever.

The episode starts again recapping Kibune's wacky speech at the end of the last episode.  Clearly they spent so much time animating Kibune's bizarre Grinch-face they might as well use it twice, right?  That was properly hilarious.  So once again we get to learn that Kibune considers Kira to be "a worthless toad".  Yeah, a toad.  Then we replay the cliffhanger the last episode ended with:  Kibune is just about to slice Kira in half with his boomerang-sword.  Can anything save him?  Turns out, yes.  Kira can save himself.  Well done, you goofy-haired Lieutenant, you.

They keep on fighting back and forth for awhile until suddenly they both decide to talk for awhile.  Kira wants to know why Kibune joined Squad 3 at all.  Kibune answers "I'm going to kill all of Squad 3, then all the Soul Reapers!"  ....Right, Kibune, you'll definitely be able to beat Kenny, Yoirichi, Komamura, Yamamoto, Ichigo, and Soifon.  I don't think Kibune could even beat little Hanataro.  Kibune goes on to claim that he's never once had any friends, which doesn't surprise me at all.  He's all around awful.  Well, Kira doesn't like this, and goes White Super Saiyan:

"The stage-hands off camera threw some dry ice 

under me to make me seem more badass."

At this point Kira gives the whole "friends make the worlds go round" speech you might have heard in every anime ever made.  Kibune doesn't respond with "you sound like a chapter from a self-help book!", or even better, "that is the stupidest crap I've ever heard.", no he just gets mad.  Because basically all anime power revolves around friendship and Kira has more friends I guess, so he wins.  Now its just waiting for the inevitable.  The battle turns quickly and Kibune can't figure it out, not noticing that his arm has been eaten by tentacles.  Then things get worse for Kibune, Kira breaks the little white decals on Kibune's boomerang-sword.  This means that Kibune's Bankotto, who's power curiously seems only to be made for blocking Kira's special Shikai effect, no longer works.  The sword now falls with all 536,870,912 times (I lost count but I think Kira hit the sword twenty-nine times) its original weight.

Meanwhile those nameless three Squad 3 guys from last week wake up on the steps.  I was wondering where they went last episode, I assume they had run away.  They don't do anything, only watch.  So they're just as pointless as ever.

So Kibune gets really angry and goes full out berserker!  The tentacles shove themselves another foot up his ass, and his power goes all the up to eleven!  Also his face lights up and fire pours out of his face.  And he's even able to lift the sword again.

"GRRRRR!!!"

Well, I am impressed with Kibune's new strength in being able to lift a sword that weighs roughly 536,870,912X more than usual, but it seems a dumb plan since its so heavy he can't actually swing it or move that well at all.  So Kira goes for the killing blow:

Indian food, am I right?

So that's the end of Kibune, forever.  And also the end of the most interesting part of this episode.  Meanwhile, Soifon is visited by her ex-girlfriend, Yoirichi.  Yoirichi spends the rest of the episode visiting people with some new information.  What is it?  I guess that's a mystery for next week.  I do like how Soifon gets turned-on just by Yoirichi's presence.  Unfortunately the ultra-hot lesbian sex scene is not included in this episode.  I hate how this is a kid's show.

While that's happening, Ichigo and Amagai finally catch up to the NINJARS they started chasing last week.  It doesn't go well for one ninja, who Ichigo destroys, but things are worse for the one holding the Princess.  He is now stuck between Amagai and Ichigo.  So he needs a plan, fast.  Unfortunately, what he does isn't exactly the plan he needed.  He throws the Princess in the air, and dives at Amagai.  So Ichigo is able to rescue her, and Amagai is able to cut the stupid ninja in half.  Well done.  If you joined the ninja team to die in an embarrassing fashion while giving up your hostage, you've succeeded.  But then again, it turns out the Princess's acting has gotten a bit more wooden than usual:

"My name is Talky Tina and I'm going to kill you."

But then Ichigo and Amagai get word that Kira has killed Kibune.  So they run back over there to find him, and then Renji comes along as well.  Amagai is going to attack, but that doesn't happen.  Instead Renji is sent to deliver the late Kibune's Bankotto to Head-Captain Yamamoto.  Ichigo and Amagai decide that the real Princess must be at the KasaIfightfortheusersoji Clan mansion.  They guess she's there because that would be the last place they'd look.  Actually the last place they'd look would be Hueco Mundo, but who's keeping score?  Since there are only about four episodes left, I assume they were right.

As for Renji's mission to visit Yamamoto, it doesn't go well at first.  Yamamoto, quite literally being that angry old man who lived up the block from you when you were a kid and would never let you get your baseball if you accidentally hit it into his backyard,, refuses to see anybody for a while during a major emergency in the Soul Society.  So while his army is at war, he locks himself in his room?  To do what - write an angry letter to the editor about how Obama is nothing like Reagan?  That's some crack-pot leadership right there.  I thought my characterization of him was supposed to be a silly exaggeration and Yamamoto was actually just a hard-ass wise kung fu master type, but he actually is the mean old man who never gave out candy on Halloween.  All arc this guy has been as much a problem as the Evil Old Guy and the NINJARS, in fact a bigger one.  Anyway, Renji pushes his way through and shows Yamamoto the Bankotto.  Suddenly, on a dime, Yamamoto flips sides and orders the Kasadoabarrelrolloji Clan to be invaded immediately.  So I guess the removes my theory that he's actually evil.  He's just cantankerous.

But who cares about that?  What in God's Holy Name has happened to Renji's fingers??

QUALITY

Ichigo and Amagai arrive at the Clan house before Yamamoto's order reaches out.  Blocking their way is Japan's heartthrob Toshiro and everybody favorite pair of tits, Rangiku.  So Amagai takes Toshiro for a second, while Rukia (remember her?) takes Rangiku.  This would have been an awesome pair of battles... if only for the fact we have two minutes left in this episode.  And if we did see this stuff, this might have actually been a good episode.  You don't see anything of Rukia vs. Rangiku and the Amagai vs. Toshiro fight ends too quickly.  They both go Shikai but Amagai seemst to win thanks to his fire-Zanpakuto elemental advantage over ice.  Still, the fight is far from over, its just one strike.  Sadly I doubt we'll actually see the conclusion here.

And that's that.  Here's to next week, where Ichigo will finally reach the Evil Old Guy.  Can Kumoi's monkey-fu defeat Ichigo's ridiculous hero powers?  Does anybody care anymore?