Bleach Recaps: Ep. 187, Ichigo Rages! The Assassin's Secret

In tonight's episode, Amagai confronts Yamamoto and repeatedly tries to start a fight with him.  Sadly it never happens.  Instead we get to learn why Amagai has turned to evil, and what his evil plan was this entire arc.  Honestly, and I do hate to admit it, this episode actually ties the entire arc together, giving even Purple-Hair a purpose in the storyline.  Unfortunately it doesn't quite make the tea party episode relevant, but what could?  Amagai's motivations are pretty generic, and his plan isn't that clever, but they showrunners are trying and that's what counts.  I like to see a show give any explanation for what I've seen.  It even almost explains why Yamamoto has been so cranky all season - almost.  So for that at least, I liked this episode too.

Even so, if I had to choose, I'd definitely watch "Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood", the anime that's on an hour after "Bleach" on Adult Swim, over this show.  "Fullmetal Alchemist" is better animated, has a plot that's actually going somewhere, and more importantly, is better animated - that needs to count twice.  Luckily I don't have to choose.  Even so, watch "Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood", trust me on that.

So this week opens where last week cut off, with Ichigo and Rukia wondering where Amagai went.  Turns out he teleported using some kind of advanced magic meaning they can't track him (only that they can, as we see later).  Yamamoto, all alone doing Old Man things like writing angry letters to the Weekly Standard about how Obama is a communist foreigner spawn of Hitler-Satan, is then confronted by Amagai.  The old man wants to know why his crazed conservative ramblings were interrupted, and so Amagai responds with "I'm gonna kill you, because I'm evil."

Yamamoto vs. Amagai actually is a pretty good fight idea.  If you want your villain to have street cred, there are few better hurdles for him to overcome than :Yamamoto, who is the oldest and possibly strongest Soul Reaper out there.  I make fun of the guy a lot, but even I have to admit I wouldn't screw with him.  He was able to reduce Lieutenant Nanoa* to tears just by scowling at her.  And he... well, I'd have more combat information, but that's actually the entirety of Yamamoto's data.  He did take on Captains Shunsui and Jushiro at once, but that whole fight was off-camera so I don't know how it ended.  If Amagai can even fight this guy without his head exploding, I'd be impressed.  The battle almost begins... and then those two morons Kenryu and Enryu interrupt it.

Turns out that Kenryu's previously useless Zanpuakuto has suddenly learned a new move out of nowhere:  it can shoot down lasers from the sky.  Also Enryu can summon big hands to hug his enemy to death:

Patty-cake... of DEATH

 By the way, we finally get to hear Enryu's voice.  Turns out the big guy actually talks in ridiculous falsetto.  He actually sounds a lot like Elmo from "Seseme Street".  That joke actually was funny.... but it isn't enough to keep Amagai down.  Thank God too, it would have been totally lame for him to have been defeated by those two bozos.  They just spend the rest of the episode standing around with the Princess, doing nothing in particular.  I suspect they'll spend the rest of the season like that.

Amagai then unleashes his Bakotto.  Turns out that lightsaber thing he's been carrying around all season is actually the ultimate Bakotto, which has the power to eat the eyes of other Bakottos.  All season Amagai has been orchestrating the other villains to attack Ichigo and company in order for their lifeforces to be drained, which he then eats to gain more power.  So yeah, Purple-Hair and Kibune did have a point - they existed to make the real villain stronger.  I'll take it.

So Yamamoto goes full maverick, blasting fire everywhere with immense God-like force.  Considering that Nanao was broken just by looking at his Shikai, I'm surprised that the Princess hasn't had her skin melt off.  Amagai's Bakotto power is to block the power of all Zanpakutos.  ALL OF THEM.  So Yamamoto is left with nothing but a sword, no fire at all.  Amagai seems pretty proud:

"Oh yeah!  This fist:  going up your ass, old man.  HAHA!"

Then Amagai unleashes his Bankai.  That requires a picture too:

I see Amagai is no longer feeling inadequate...

I like how Amagai's Bankotto squeezes his right nipple.  Must be some kind of bizarre fashion thing amongst NINJARS.  Anyway, it looks like Amagai is seriously going to dominate right now, with no less than two weapons and one that makes all Zanpakutos useless.  That means he could probably even defeat Aizen, right?  This guy is utterly and insanely overpowered, I don't see how anybody could ever stand up to him.  Well, except for Ichigo, who just so happens to be the one guy around with Hollow powers.  Luckily for Yamamoto, the scene ends once Amagai reveals his motivation:  "My name is Shuske Amagai, you kill my father, prepare to die!"

But despite all his power and whatever, Amagai still just doesn't "do it" for me as a villain.  His voice actor is too nice.  If anything he sounds like your cool Junior Year science teacher in high school - the guy who would basically give you the answers in all the exams and wastes entire periods playing "Super Mario Kart Wii" with the class.  And his character design reminds me more of a "Godzilla" human character:  he'd be the slightly nerdy slacker scientist who eventually falls in love with the horse-faced psychic girl with huge ears.  Neither are particularly scary.

Meanwhile at a Captain's meeting someplace off in the distance we find out Amagai's entire evil scheme.  Turns out that Yoirichi did know that Amagai was the Final Boss, but just didn't tell anybody until now.  The Captains extrapolate that Amagai was orchestrating this entire chaos in order to attack Yamamoto, and don't actually do anything to stop it.  Instead they just serve as Exposition Fairies for us in the audience.  Here we learn that Kibune was supposed to kill a lot of people to thin the enemy numbers, but failed because he's a failure and failures like to fail.  Also Kumoi didn't create the Bakottos, Amagai gave him the idea after discovering it himself.  None of this is particularly important, so we'll move on.

Ichigo and Rukia arrive in time to hear Amagai continue to expose.  Despite Amagai's teleport spell being "untrackable", Kenryu and Enryu were able to follow him... somehow.  And they were able to tell Rukia and Ichigo where Amagai was.  I guess during this whole time Ichigo and Rukia have been taking a short coffee break.  Being a hero is hard work, gotta have your coffee.  Amagai reveals that Yamamoto killed his papa some 1000 years ago or something, and he's been training his entire life to take down the Old Guy out of revenge.  Pretty generic anime stuff.  Also this whole time Yamamoto has been super corrupt, having been giving the Kasamarepublicanpartyofamericaoji Clan special treatment because... I think they gave him his job, somehow.  It isn't well explained, but I guess this means that Yamamoto is totally evil.

Yamamoto's response to all this new info is as follows:

"ZZZZZZZZZZ"

So Amagai is about to kill Yamamoto but Ichigo jumps in the way.  Ichigo is like "I'm the hero and you're the villain so we need to fight...  I just need a reason why.  Oh yeah, Princess!  I gotta protect her."  Amagai says "No, I have to kill her for some unclear reason or else I won't be evil enough!"  So now Ichigo is going to fight Amagai - NEXT WEEK.

Here's to that.

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* Who has yet to appear even once during this season, so I assume she's vacationing in Palau.  I've decided that every character who hasn't shown up is in Palau right now, including Hanataro and Ganju.  They must be having one heck of a party.