Akaihane

Just when I’m ready to give up on Bleach again, they produce an episode like #160. Not only are we given some animation that demonstrates how weekly, continuous shows don’t have to be marred by the sheer amount of production work they require, they also hit us with characterisation and emotion that has been somewhat lacking lately. The flashback scenes brought me back to the good ol’ days of the Soul Society arch where we had constant stories revealing the past of those involved, episodes that always captured me as I feel one of the greatest things ‘Bleach’ has to offer is the depth and uniqueness of its characterisations.

I was already really pleased by how things were beginning to pick up in #158 and #159 after episode after episode which failed to hold my attention (I’m sorry to say I’ve actually been falling asleep during the show lately), so I do pray it continues. But, although I’m only at the forth volume of the manga myself, I know that we aren’t massively far from the most recent chapters published in the Japanese release of Shounen Jump. So without some form of filler starting in the next few months, the anime will run out of manga material before long. Unless they decide to go ahead and write an ending that will differ from the manga, which probably wouldn’t be the best decision for fans of the manga. We’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed that we are given better filler material than the Bounto/Bount arch, or some of the filler we’ve already seen in this arch.

I’m not a big fan of the genre, so I really don’t think I’d be able to get through another period of low quality episodes. So, please ‘Bleach’, keep it up! I hate dropping things, especially after the amount of time I’ve devoted so far.