Bleach Ep. 8: Memories in the Rain

The action anime shows it is capable of being something much deeper in this classic episode from the first season. As the tragedy that shaped Ichigo Kurosaki is fully revealed, an old danger threatens his family and a new one threatens Rukia.

Bleach can be an exasperating show simply because it occasionally reaches emotional heights it has no right to. Because of that, it can be frustrating wading through the lesser material while waiting to see it do something amazing again. Somehow I think P.T. Barnum would approve of how the original author and animators string along the audience that way. Memories in the Rain is one of those stories that keeps fans coming back.

The ending of the previous episode is an integral part of the story continued here and this serves as the middle act with the next episode completing it. So it is difficult to review it as a single episode.

Things begin with a glimpse of the ghastly netherworld of shadows shown sparingly earlier in the series. The voice of the mysterious mastermind Hollow is heard as he decides to go to the mortal world himself rather than dispatch minions. I have to say the theatrical voice employed for the character fits perfectly.

While that is going on, we see Karin and Yuzu hiking up a steep street with their brother and father trailing behind. Isshin plays the family idiot as usual but this time it is Karin who takes him down with a single kick. But the comedy is short lived as the walk to the cemetery is interrupted by a sudden appearance of Rukia.

The diminutive Soul Reaper wants to know if a Hollow killed Ichigo’s mother. It is a tension filled scene as Ichigo’s emotions boil over and he claims that he was the one who killed her. A shocked Rukia lets the teen leave as she tries to process what she has been told.

Following up on the moody scene in Episode 7, Orihime wants to know more about her crush and Tatsuki fills in some of the blanks of Ichigo’s past. When they were little, she used to beat up Orihime’s “super hero” at the dojo they studied at. Back then, the orange haired boy was a happy smiling kid who wasn’t the least bit tough. But everything changed when his mother died.

It is a lovely character building scene between the two girls talking and the flashback.

Rukia is upset with herself for prying to deeply into Ichigo’s pain and I particularly liked the visuals used to convey this. Her body language says more than her voiced over thoughts. Yet it is her past that is catching up to her, not Ichigo’s when the Soul Reaper seen at the very end of the last episode shows up to confront her.

But it is Ichigo’s tormented memories that make this one of the greatest episodes of Bleach. Here we find out why rain is associated so much with his soul, as he relives the fateful day his mother was murdered. And yes, he is responsible for her death. Back when he was nine, he couldn’t tell the difference between the living and spirits, so when a little girl jumped in the river…

With the death of his mother, the heart of the Kurosaki family was ripped out and everything changed for them all. Damage was done to each and the repercussions still show in the family.

Rukia’s past is starting to be revealed as well by the strange Soul Reaper who fancies himself something of a comedian. It turns out the he attended the same academy as she did in Soul Society. Sadly for him, she doesn’t have a clue who he is. So much for being the funny one in school!

So Rukia turns out to be from a noble family, but adopted in. This appears to make her an outsider at the Soul Reaper Academy. It looks like more is to come on her.

Here things begin to go bad as it is made clear Rukia has broken a very serious law of Soul Society by giving Ichigo her powers. This is compounded when the boy shows up to rescue her and the battle begins with an opponent out of his league.  However this is the least of their worries.

Ichigo’s past has caught up to him.

Thoughts

One thing going for Bleach is the interesting and well written characters. There can be no substitution for character development in my opinion and this show has it in spades.

Memories in the Rain also manages to convey serious drama amidst the action and comedy in a very effective way. I remember watching this and being floored by how emotional it was. As a result, I committed to watching this series.

Interestingly, this story was used as the “pilot” for the series and was shown as a stand alone video in Japan at a convention. It is also a pretty episode, with the art conveying the past really standing out.

Bleach Ep. 7: Greetings from a Stuffed Lion

Ichigo continues to battle the mod soul in his real body, a stuffed animal toy joins the cast, and a tragedy from the past starts to be revealed. The themes of free will, the right to live, and rain are the high points of this increasingly moody episode.

Instead of directly continuing from the cliffhanger of the previous episode, we are presented with another look at the denizens of the black market shop, The Urahara Store. Kisuke Urahara, the shady owner and wearer of hat and clogs, comforts a distraught Ururu over her mistake that caused the mod soul to be sold. Maybe his isn’t such a bad guy after all. Preparations are made to retrieve the “defective merchandise” and it looks like they are well armed.

Back at the fight, Ichigo saves the three kids from the wrath of his stolen body, only for the artificial soul to make his escape when an emergency call comes in. Duty comes before retrieving one’s body, apparently.

While Ichigo and Rukia search for the monster, it turns out the mod soul can sense it – and sense that it is endangering the kids he was about to beat up. A tortured decision leads him to return to protect the children, but he is clearly outclassed despite his incredible leg strength.

Fortunately for him, this is a heroic show about heroes, so the main hero comes in to save the day. Unfortunately for him, Ichigo is very angry about the damage his body has taken. When the Hollow decides to butt into the argument, it is the last mistake of his existence.

An interesting heart to heart conversation between a somewhat sympathetic Ichigo and the mod soul follows. The idea of everyone having a right to live is discussed and the idea of free will being important is touched upon as they watch a trail of ants marching. One thing the creator of Bleach, Kubo Tite, has going for him is the ability to create characters with fully formed personalities and that is on display here.

Alas, the interesting conversation ends when Urahara shows up to take the mod soul away to a mandatory death penalty. An intervention by Rukia leaves the now pill bound mod soul in the possession of Ichigo. For someone who insists on following the rules, she does a lot of rule breaking. She tries to be the Sheriff of Nottingham but keeps behaving like Robin Hood instead.

Still angry about the damage to his body, Ichigo wants to castigate the mod soul further but can’t since he’s just a pill again. This less than noble motivation leads to a mad scientist experiment using a thrown away stuffed lion. To their surprise, Rukia and Ichigo witness the toy animal come to life. For the mod soul, it is more like sheer horror. After all, how will he get the girls when he is made of fabric and stuffing?

So now the stuffed lion in the opening credits makes sense (relatively speaking) and we have a new cast member. Named Kon to his great annoyance, the mod soul refuses to give up his perverted tendencies despite his utter impotence and this becomes a running gag in the series. But at least he gets to host the joke sequences after the end credits to bolster his oversized ego.

Needed downtime from all the action begins, but why is Ichigo staring at his watch? Tatsuki knows and reveals the secret to Orihime, but not before we get another example of how the redhead’s mind works. That, uh… unique piece of art she drew of how she sees her future self makes me think she is in need of counseling, ASAP. Mecha-Orihime?! Disturbing but funny.

Another face from the opening credits makes his appearance and he seems to be watching Ichigo and Orihime closely. The bespectacled boy also likes to do needlepoint. Sinister, don’t you think? The needlepoint, I mean.

Watching Isshin conduct the Kurosaki family meeting is inspiring. The way he suckers Karin in with a political move is hilarious and reminds me of how real politics works, sadly. But it is so effective.

Bleach occasionally reaches emotional levels that belie its aimed at demographic of young teens and preteens. As Ichigo’s secret is revealed, the theme of falling rain is used in a very poetic series of scenes that make for a very moody moment in the series. Sweet concern from Orihime about the object of her crush leads to one of the more memorable passages in Bleach:

If I were the rain… could I ever merge with somebody’s heart, like the way rain merges Sky and Earth, never meant to connect…

But things are afoot in Soul Society too, which looks a great deal like ancient Japan in our first glimpse of the place.

Thoughts

For an action show, Bleach doesn’t shy away from drama or slower moments of introspection. The recipe of action, manic comedy, and serious emotion is very present in the seventh episode. This is also the beginning of rain being associated with Ichigo’s heart and is a theme throughout the rest of the series.

Bleach Episode 6: Fight to the Death! Ichigo vs. Ichigo

Comedy ensues when Ichigo is introduced to a strange item from Soul Society and consequently finds his reputation at school endangered because of it. There is no greater conflict than a man at war with himself. Or something like that…

A disquieting tone is set in the beginning with Rukia having problems with her artificial body, or gigai. That quickly evaporates as we have yet another scene of domestic bliss violence at the Kurosaki home.  Rukia isn’t there and that has Ichigo concerned while acting strangely to cover up she lives in his closet. This in turn causes Suzu and Karin to worry over the change of behavior in their older brother and their father starts rhapsodizing on adolescence being the cause. Fortunately for all of us, the afore mentioned violence cuts him short.

Nice to see that the family isn’t written as being oblivious to that something is going on with Ichigo. That’s a trope I despise.

Meanwhile, Rukia shows up at a run down shop where two kids are fighting with each other while doing chores. A glimpse of her big sister tendencies in reaction to bullying by the boy is something that won’t be touched on again for a long time. But the biggest thing to note here is the introduction of the shady owner of the shop. Lazy and unkempt, he appears wearing a hat and traditional wooden shoes.

Rukia knows him and is there to pick up fuel for her gigai.  Their conversation hints at much bigger problems for the wounded Soul Reaper.  A black market shop for items from Soul Society is an intriguing concept and makes Soul Society all the more mysterious. The visit concludes when a special item is retrieved by the bullied little girl for Rukia.

All of this is setup for Rukia introducing Ichigo to “soul candy” at the high school later on. Sounds like drugs, doesn’t it?

So what is soul candy? It is an artificial soul to put in an empty gigai when a Soul Reaper departs it to fight Hollows. This way Ichigo’s body will be occupied and cover for him while he is outside of it. The fact that it is a pill that comes in a disturbingly cutesy PEZ dispenser should be a warning that things won’t work out well.

It seems Rukia has a soft spot for all things cute bunny and the duck is not to her satisfaction, but hey it is black market goods after all. A Hollow attack summons the duo to another fight, leaving the substitute in Ichigo’s body to cover for him. Yeah, that look on his face doesn’t bode well.

Instead of keeping Ichigo out of trouble, the artificial soul starts getting into mischief of all kinds. But it is his discovery of pretty girls, especially busty ones, that causes the biggest trouble. He dares to go where the hero refuses to and macks on Orihime and Tatsuki to the horror of the girls in Ichigo’s class. Pure manic comedy follows.

And so we finally get to the events of the title for the episode. It is an amusing fight because we get to see it from the class’ point of view. All they see is Ichigo’s body kicking empty air and it is played to great effect. But there is a moment at the end of the skirmish that turned it slightly serious as the fear on the kids faces showed when an invisible Ichigo is kicked through the desks to the wall.

A stunned Rukia figures out what is going on and reveals a scandal from Soul Society’s research into creating artificial warriors called “mod souls.” Somehow, one had survived being destroyed and now has control of Ichigo’s body. But more worrying for Ichigo is how his carefully cultivated image has been destroyed. I’m with Rukia in how she reacts to that particular tidbit.

The mod soul is on the loose, happy to be free, and has very, very dangerous anger issues.

Thoughts

Episode 6 of Bleach has a lot going on, but it all feels like setup for more to come. From the introduction of the strange shop owner and his employees to Orihime somehow knowing it wasn’t Ichigo who kissed her, hints about the future storylines are being dropped all over the place. Normally that clutters up a television series episode, but here it works because most of it is played for laughs.

Again I have issues with the English dub. The shop keeper comes off as playful but sinister in the original Japanese performance, but is played as a surfer dude in the dub. It just doesn’t convey the character the same way at all.

Bleach Episode 5: Beat the Invisible Enemy!

Mix a possessed parakeet and ridiculous feats of strength with a vicious monster and you should get your standard fun action episode, right?  But this spotlight on Chad and Rukia turns into something a little more poignant before it ends.

After a quick recap that condenses Rukia’s fight with the Hollow…

I should warn that Bleach suffers from recaps at the beginning of most episodes and eventually became notorious for eating up minutes of time on them. At this point in the series it isn’t a big problem, but be warned. Fortunately, DVD players have fast forward buttons!

Err, back to the episode itself. Rukia is still fighting the Hollow pursuing the parakeet that houses the soul of a little boy, Shibata. Hoping that her Soul Reaper powers have recovered enough turns out to be a mistake. Luckily for her, Ichigo’s overgrown friend, Chad, is around to punch the monster out. Unluckily, he can’t see or hear the Hollow and is punching air more than anything solid.

Meanwhile, Ichigo is racing back to the scene after taking his sister Karin back home. He’s deeply rattled by her crying over the parakeet because she hasn’t done that since their mother died. It is clear the wounds from that death are still very deep. The focus on the Kurosaki family lends surprising depth to what should be just a hack and slash fighting cartoon.

Last episode, Chad showed superhuman strength and an ability to take insane damage when a steel girder fell on him. That was no fluke as he rips out a telephone pole to swat the now flying Hollow!  Just what is he?

The Hollow is just as surprised, exclaiming, “T-this is crazy!” It is an amusing moment in a fight that is darkly comedic before turning very dark indeed.

Moments later, we see a nod to the X-Men as Chad stands in for Colossus throwing a “fastball special” with Rukia subbing for Wolverine. I don’t know if this was a deliberate homage, but it is suspicious given some comments in an upcoming episode.

The heroes don’t fare too well and it takes Ichigo to save the day which is pretty much standard anime fare. The substitute Soul Reaper is acting oddly though. Instead of killing the sadistic Hollow, he angrily interrogates him at sword point demanding to know if he killed the boy’s mother.

The answers given take Bleach into much darker territory than it has explored previously. It also raises questions about the afterlife in this fictional universe and Ichigo shows signs of being a much more complicated young man than we thought. Both brutality and compassion follow, leading to another bittersweet ending.

Thoughts

Watching these older episodes has caused me to notice how young the characters look. Three hundred plus episodes later they look older, which isn’t a bad thing at all. It gives a sense that time does pass and in real life I can’t believe how fast kids grow, especially the teenagers.

One thing Kubo Tite, the creator of Bleach, doesn’t get credit for is how well he weaves themes through the story arcs. While he’s on record saying he makes it all up as he goes, I’m beginning to think he’s dissembling. Too many plot developments have hints or setups dropped in that don’t pay off until much farther down the road.

A strong sense of justice and compassion pervades these early episodes. The characters all have very human moments amidst all the violence and comedy. Consequently, I found myself expecting character development to come whenever a new one popped up.

The theme of Ichigo being good with kids and a natural big brother to them is reinforced in this episode.

Technical

Since this is the first episode on Disc 2 of the first box set, I’ll go into the differences from the first disc. Other than the episodes and title screen, there aren’t any. Even the extras are the same.

The English dub is even more annoying compared to the subtitled Japanese than I’d realized. Chibata, the parakeet, suffers the most from the change in voice actors. I’m also noticing the dialogue changes are bigger than I’d like.

While I’d hoped to be able to review two episodes at a time, it isn’t working out due to how elements of the plot are carried over week to week. Back to one episode at a time.

BEWARE! HERE BE SPOILERS!

 

 

 

Ichigo’s reaction to finding out that the Hollow was the murderer of the little boy’s mother is more than normal outrage. He’s as sadistic in brutalizing the monster as the former serial killer was to his victims. Knowing what happens in the next few episodes, this parakeet two-parter was really about Ichigo and his family. A lot of clues are being dropped about the tragedy that shaped the teen.

Previously, we’d been shown that Hollows aren’t necessarily truly evil and that slicing their mask will purify them so they can go to Soul Society. Here we find out that isn’t the case for those who were evil in mortality. They are taken violently and painfully through the Gates to the Underworld, or Hell. This idea won’t be revisited until the fourth Bleach movie.

Chibata’s departure to Soul Society is a touching scene, with him behaving like a little child would. Both Chad and Ichigo score big brother points in handling the traumatized boy. Each makes a promise to him that helps him move on, but Ichigo’s is unknowingly a lie. We’ll see Chibata again.