Bleach: The Invading Army Part 1

Episodes 317-329

There’s never a dull moment for the Soul Society for substitute Soul Reaper Ichigo Kurosaki and his friends. No sooner have they defeated Aizen than a strange green-haired girl is found – unconscious – in Karakura Town. Then something goes adrift in the precipice world, which means that communications between the Soul Society and the world of the living are interrupted. Ichigo is all for plunging straight in to solve the mystery – but he has a problem: his spirit energy has been fatally depleted after his fight with Aizen and it might run out at any moment. Add into the mix Mod-Soul Kon (the one who discovers Nozomi unconscious in a car park) and the sinister Kageroza Inaba, a member of the Shinigami Research and Development Institute. Can Ichigo and co. protect Nozomi from Kageroza, who seems intent on dragging her back to the Soul Society for some dark and nefarious purpose? And why have all these Reigai, exact doubles of the senior Soul Reapers with crackling blue fire in their eyes, sprung up to attack their originals?

Another filler arc – but that’s not necessarily a bad thing in Bleach, as we’ve seen in the Zanpakuto episodes a little while back. This new story fairly zooms along so it’s a blessing to be spared the usual irritating recaps at the start of every episode. No problems with having to eke out sparse manga material here! The old doppelganger theme is dusted off and given a fresh new look with the main characters forced to fight ‘themselves’, and their doubles, the Reigai, proving formidable and sly opponents. Add to that the real and growing danger that Ichigo faces of losing his spirit energy altogether if he calls on his powers too often (and our hero was never one for holding back in a fight at the best of times) and you have a neatly written, taut and fast-moving tale with enough mysteries to hold the attention.

On the minus side, though, there is an increasingly irritating tendency to deliver info-dumps as ‘get out of jail’ cards. One especially cringe-making moment occurs when Reigai Izuru painstakingly explains his Zanpakuto’s special ability to Rangiku as they fight, something she surely knows already. This ‘As you already know, Professor’ lazy script-writing can’t be for the benefit of new viewers; surely no one is joining the show at this late stage (well, not without doing their Thirteen Court Guard Squads homework first). But this would be a forgivable fault when weighed against fast, intelligible story-telling and expert deployment of the vast host of characters, including several brand-new ones specially devised for this arc. However, there’s only a certain number of twists you can pull on the ‘fighting and being defeated by/overcoming your Reigai’ before it grows a little stale. With its endless variations, it must have seemed like a good idea – but as the main underlying plot (who is Nozomi and why does the sinister Kageroza want her so badly?) suffers from being dragged out at a snail’s pace (Orihime lays on a barbecue – seriously?) it begins to drag somewhat before the big revelations begin to kick in. Still, there’s something to be said for watching two Byakuyas battling it out to the death…

On the US voice acting front, the reliable Julie Ann Taylor does what she can with the wary Nozomi and Cam Clarke is suitably villainous as Kageroza but even though just about everyone in the regular cast gets a turn to fight their Reigai, the one who gets more screentime than usual is Kon (although mostly in stuffed toy lion form), allowing Quinton Flynn the chance to shine. Did I say shine? It’s really just more of the same Kon antics so far, with the little guy’s best intentions leading to constant kicks and buffets and accusations of being a pervert (by Nozomi). One small irritation is that on several occasions, Nozomi is pronounced Nozami by the US team (there obviously wasn’t time to go back and re-record) leading to some viewer confusion.

New Opening Theme “BLUE” by ViViD will see us through to Episode 342 and delivers a fittingly bold and grungy song to match dazzling visuals that act as an extended trailer for the new series. The new Ending Theme, “Aoi Tori” (“Blue Bird”) by fumika, is rather more passionately lyrical, showing us a montage of Uryuu’s view of all things Bleach.

In Summary

‘The Invading Army’ keeps the plot moving along, with plenty of duels and a crafty new villain set against the ticking clock of Ichigo’s rapidly dwindling spirit energy. But a significant revelation comes only just in time, as the Reigai plot is in serious danger of stagnating.