Nozomi’s starting to fit in with everyone, but still seems out of place overall because of her meek nature.
What They Say:
The Soul Reapers in the World of the Living have lost contact with the captains in the Soul Society. Meanwhile, the revelation of Nozomi being a Mod Soul surprises Ichigo and his friends. Kon is particularly shocked, and is now unsure of how to interact with Nozomi.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The two very different natures of the stories going on here, intertwined as they may be, can be off-putting in a lot of ways. While we have the big, epic fights and moments going on in the Soul Society with revelations about what it is that Kagezora is after and how far his abilities extend, events in the World of the Living are proceeding at a snails pace. So leisurely that it spends time showing some of the secondary characters returning from a food and supplies run while Ichigo’s father goes on about expanding his daughter-harem with Nozomi now being a part of it. It’s cute and fun, but it provides an odd balance with the scale of events unfolding elsewhere. It doesn’t drain the energy, exactly, but it gives the whole thing an odd feeling overall.
There are some nice moments to be had here as Nozomi becomes more a member of the group, and there’s even a really interesting and almost sad scene where she’s with Kon, though it’s more sad in how he’s just sitting on the bed upright and looking almost a little despondent. But after all that happened in the previous episode and the quick return of Ichigo to the World of the Living after dealing with Kagezora, spending the first half of the episode focused on the time at Ichigo’s house with just a little more effort made to make her feel a part of things comes across as unusual to say the least. I do like the more human oriented moments as they cope with fallout from events, but when you have the captain’s running around the Soul Society and dealing with Kagezora, this has an odd flow to it.
Those of the Soul Society that are on Earth are trying to come together with a plan though, and we start to see more of it towards the end of this episode. They’re being rightly cautious after what happened to Ichigo as well the lack of contact from the others who have gone back to the Soul Society. They’re not captains that are left here, but they’re being prudent in not doing anything foolish and even Ichigo is being smart that way. They’re a little too loose with some of their statements of fact though, which Nozomi does overhear, and her position is still a tenuous one when it comes to how she feels about being a part of all of this rather than facing it all alone as she originally intended. It’s the only real decent moment to the episode since it shows some look at what’s to come and what those who are left behind have to start thinking about.
In Summary:
Bleach has a curious episode in how much down time it spends considering the events that are ongoing in this arc, but it does have its moments to be sure. I like the continuing use of a more serious Ichigo that we see at times where he’s being a bit more methodical and looking at the bigger picture before rushing off as he might have a couple hundred episodes ago. We also see Nozomi unlock her powers for a brief instant and see what she’s capable of, but it’s a very small part of the episode overall. Most of it is given over to an almost slice of life feeling with those that are on the World of the Living, and it has its moments, but it feels like too much of it here. It’s not filler per se, but it’s the kind of drawn out moment that doesn’t help move things forward. There are pieces to like here though, depending on the characters you like, and the final couple of minutes makes it worthwhile overall.
Grade: B-
Simulcast By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
