Orihime gets another turn in the spotlight as the duel between Ichigo and Ishida continues. Also returning is the horror movie vibe as the teen’s high school is besieged by a Hollow with some very interesting powers. But a lot more than that happens in this packed episode that shows off most of Bleach’s strengths and none of its weaknesses.
In episode 12, Chad and Karin got their chance to shine as they teemed up to defeat a Hollow. In the process, we got a glimpse of the Mexican-Japanese boy’s past and motivations when they triggered supernatural powers in him. But he was not the only one Ishida hinted about having spiritual powers…
Picking up where the previous episode left off, broken windows get the attention of Orihime, Tatsuki, and Chizeru at the high school. Ever conscientious, the redhead rushes over to clean up the mess while her friends fight. Or more accurately, while Tatsuki defends her friend’s honor against the advances of the annoying stereotype girl.
That does not matter to the gentle girl, for she senses something evil is lurking on the rooftops and wants her friends to leave – now. Realizing that Orihime can see it, the Hollow confronts the now very frightened girl about this ability. Chizeru is hit by a strange projectile from the monster and starts losing control of her body. To her horror, she is being made to attack the object of her crush.
While that after school special gone terribly wrong continues, Rukia is trying to figure out where everyone is and Ichigo is still cutting a swath through the numerous Hollows. But it is Ishida’s thoughts that are the most interesting. A flashback to when he was a small child learning to use his Quincy powers from his mentor reveals much. This is where we find out his real motivation for precipitating this crisis and a hint that he is not the villain he appears to be.
Back at the high school, the situation takes a George Romero like turn when the Hollow enslaves all the students and sends them after Orihime. It is a dark and creepy sequence, filled with odd camera angles making it effective. But in typical shounen style Tatsuki reappears to save the day and give us a very well choreographed fight.
For all her heroics and bravado, she is destined to fail against a foe she can barely sense. Hit by a “seed” from the Hollow, she is felled. Despite her iron will that allows her to resist the seed, multiple hits place her under the control of the creature.
Seeing her friend taken over and in misery triggers a flashback for Orihime that shows us how they first met. Having been badly bullied for having red hair, the sweet girl had her hair shorn by her classmates. It wasn’t until after meeting and becoming friends with Tatsuki that she regrew her trademark locks.
Angered by best friend’s suffering, the red haired beauty stands her ground and vows to protect the one who has protected her for so long. Her signature hairpins glow as her anger rises. An explosive whirlwind of spiritual energy forms around the girl and scatters the possessed high schoolers leaving a fierce looking Orihime at the center of six winged objects.
As is typical of a fighting show, the fight stops to allow introductions and conversation. Yet this manages to be even stranger than that usually is, because suddenly we are dealing with fairies. Very chatty ones at that.
Actually, they do not like being called fairies. Introducing themselves as the Shun Shun Rikka collectively and giving their individual names, they explain they are creations of her power due to being around Ichigo. All of this exposition overloads the girl’s mind.
Having sprung forth from her soul (and hairpins), they know how to handle the strange girl and quickly teach her their three abilities: forming a protective shield, a healing barrier, and a killing attack. Now empowered she takes the fight to the Hollow in convincing fashion before collapsing from the strain. Later she awakens to find herself in a strange place with a familiar face.
So ends Orhime’s fight, but what of the others? Ishida is tiring from the battle with both hands bleeding from the strain of firing his supernatural bow. While of this appears to be his fault, there are too many Hollows appearing compared to the size of the bait he used to summon them. Something strange is going on.
Rukia joins the fight only to find she is still too weak to do much. Weaker than she should be at this point in her recovery, in fact. Before she can dwell too much on that, Kon joins the fray by saving her in comic fashion.
Soon after, Ishida and Ichigo appear on the scene and once again the duel picks up in intensity. Secrets are revealed, more are hinted at, and an ominous sky warns of further trouble.
Thoughts
I liked this episode especially for the character development of Orihime. Rather than being the typical air headed beauty, she is a more complex person as previous episodes have shown. While not being a fighter in temperament, she is as much a protector as Ichigo Kurosaki in her way. Possessed of a gentler spirit, she is a welcome break from all the aggressive personalities in the cast.
Female characters are not often written well in shounen animes, but Bleach has some very good girls and women in the cast. Most show some depth and distinct personalities, with Chizeru being the exception. She is there for comic relief and nothing else. Orihime, Tatsuki, Rukia, and Karin are believable characters and quite likeable. Strong females are always a plus in my book.
The slow reveal of Ishida’s motivations is well executed and he is getting more interesting by the episode. Despite what they say, it looks like he and Ichigo are enjoying competing with each other way too much.
The fights are well done, but it is the characters that keep me coming back to watch this series. It is hard to believe I just watched the 451st episode last night!
Something I only noticed on this viewing was the theme of flower versus flower. The Hollow is very much a flower in design down to shooting seeds that take over bodies by growing through the body and there are Orihime’s flower hairpins. Even the Shun Shun Rika are flower based in appearance.
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