Bleach: Arrancar vs. Shinigami

Season 10: The Arrancar 3: Arrancar vs Shinigami arc (2008-2009)

Ichigo has met his match in Espada #5, the redoutable Nnoitra (Nobutoshi Canna/Michael Sinterniklaas.) The substitute Soul Reaper is down and out for the count, while the horrified Orihime can do nothing but watch helplessly. But just when it looks as if all is over for Ichigo, help comes from an unexpected source. Little Nel reveals her original form – and a very attractive form it is too – by reverting to her adult former Espada self, Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, to try to rescue Ichigo. (I would call this a spoiler, but the cover of the box-set gives it away, as does the blurb on the back, so…) Elsewhere, the battle between the invincible Espada Szayelaporro and hapless Renji and Uryuu ends with both down and pretty much out of things too. A comical intervention from Nel’s ‘brothers’ Pesche and Dondochakka seems about to turn the tables on Szayelaporro (Kousuke Toriumi/Benjamin Diskin) – but Szayelaporro is not so easily tricked or defeated.

And then the Seventh Cavalry arrives – just in the nick of time. Well, it’s four of the captains from the Soul Society and their lieutenants. And if you’re a fan of Kenpachi and the faithful – yet diminutive – Yachiru, then you’re in for a treat as the most formidable fighter of all the captains takes on Nnoitra. The encounter between Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi (another genuinely creepy performance from Terence Stone) and fellow scientist Szayelaporro is fascinating, as both have a great deal in common in the way they mercilessly use others as their test subjects. Things don’t look so good for the elite of the Soul Society as even the bloodthirsty Kenpachi seems to have met his match when Nnoitra tells him jubilantly, “You can’t cut me.”

Forgotten what happened at the end of Bleach Season 8? Well, don’t worry! Good shounen show that it is, Bleach spends the whole of Episode 190 reminding you in one massive recap. Ok, we’ve had the Captain Amagai arc in between – but a whole episode? It’s not as if it was difficult to forget Ichigo’s epic battle with Grimmjow. Admittedly, it’s no penance to watch the blue-haired bad boy in action again but the way the recap material is tediously drawn out is teeth-grindingly dull.

Another word of warning to those of sensitive dispositions; there’s quite a high gross-out factor, with a lot of puking and blood-spewing, especially after Szayelaporro has been enjoying tormenting his victims. There’s also some cheeky innuendo which sits a little strangely alongside the life-or-death combat. In fact, it’s worth mentioning here that the only options offered by this release: original Japanese dub with English subtitles or English dub, with the kanji not translated, is a little frustrating. If you watch the original Japanese version, it’s all fine – but you’ll be missing out on some amusing ‘reversioning’ in the English dub, especially where Renji and Uryuu, hors de combat, witness a number of incidents that are easily misinterpreted, especially when Captain Kurotsuchi revives Nemu in an unexpected and novel way…

A new season brings a feisty new Opening “Velonica” by Aqua Timez and a new Closing, “Hitohira no Hanabi” by Stereopony, which has just the catchy kind of riff that stays with you for hours afterwards.

In Summary
Everything is on offer that you’d expect from Bleach: long-drawn-out fights with impressively weird and tenacious opponents, seasoned with a little nudge-nudge humour and a couple of genuinely heart-stopping moments. Does the plot advance any? Not really. But hey, that’s Bleach! And you’ll come away singing that catchy Closing theme…