Bleach Ep. 10: Assault on Trip at Sacred Ground

After the somber events of the prior episodes, Bleach takes a breather and veers into a nearly pure comedy episode. A new character that may be the most despised in the series makes his entrance. But is he an idiot or an awesome idiot?

In some circles, there is no way more impressive to make in an entrance than parachuting into the scene. Fortunately, I do not belong to such circles. But Don Kanonji surely does.

He also dresses so flashily that pimps from the 1970’s would consider him garish. The idea of someone like him hurtling out of the sky toward me is enough to cause nightmares, but the audience assembled adore him. So who is this mysterious mustachioed man and what is he doing filming a show in Karakura Town?

Well, Don Kanonji is the most popular exorcist on television in Japan, watched and beloved by millions. That includes Ichigo’s friends and family, much to his horror. Poor Orihime initially fails to score points with the boy by repeating the exorcist’s catch phrase, “Bohahaha” – this due to some trauma involving spirits in his past.

But that does not prevent him from being dragged along with his family to the open set filming at an abandoned hospital. Which leads to my wondering just how the title of the episode fits. Is it a mistranslation or am I missing an aspect of Japanese culture?

Anyway, it is an abandoned hospital and all of Ichigo’s friends are there, including an especially annoying Rukia attempting to blend in with the humans. Annoying to Ichigo that is and quite amusing to the rest of us. But it would not be Bleach without something going wrong of a spiritual nature.

There is a ghastly howl coming from the hospital that Ichigo and Rukia can hear.  So can Chad, Karin, Tatsuki, and Orihime. Yet nobody else in the crowd can hear it. Hmm.

A further education on how Hollows come into being is given by Rukia, complete with full illustrations. One of the better running gags in the series, in my opinion, is her artwork. At this point, Rukia was slowly becoming one of my favorite fictional characters and part of it was due to the glimpses of her child like side from time to time.

So with the lengthy exposition out of the way, it is time for epic level idiocy on the part of our new hero, Don Kanonji! Yes, with the aid of his cane he sets very bad things in motion to the cheers of the assembled crowd.

Oh did I mention he really can see spirits and has some power for a lowly human? Either that or his fabulous get up conveys special abilities to him. Make your own jokes here; there are too many possibilities.

Comedy gold follows as Ichigo’s attempt to intervene goes poorly. If it was not for the unexpected appearance by Urahara, the substitute Soul Reaper would be on the sidelines for the rest of the episode. Kanonji isn’t the only one with a magic cane as “Hat and Clogs” demonstrates in a clever bit.

Freed to remind the viewers he is the hero of the show, Ichigo hauls the TV star into the hospital to do battle with the spirit unleashed. Filled to overflowing in confidence and bravado, Don Kanonji keeps trying to get Ichigo to leave. Yes, the man is a complete idiot. But he does have a compelling and unexpected motivation which involves the 25% of the country who watches him.

25%?! Okay, I should not blink, given reality TV’s hold on American audiences…

The battle is joined and if you ever wondered if Ichigo’s oversized sword could be a liability in battle, you will get your answer in a most satisfying way. We also find out Kanonji is not just an idiot, but a genuinely brave idiot. Lessons are learned, sort of, a new friendship is made, sort of, and the episode provides some needed information, sort of.

So is Don Kanonji an idiot? The answer is a resounding yes. Is he an awesome idiot? That is up to the individual viewer to decide, but I like the vainglorious fool. Oddly enough, he is one of my favorite characters in the series and even gets a major moment in the big plot many years later.

That said (or typed as may be), this is not one of the better episodes of the series. It is not a bad episode, merely fluff without any real substance. People may complain about filler arcs, but this straight from the source material is true filler. At least it is amusing.