Bleach Ep. 16: Encounter, Renji Abarai!

As the first season draws closer to its end, Ichigo finds himself crossing blades with another Soul Reaper. Why?  Because Rukia’s past has finally caught up with her. While the daft humor is still present in places, the situation is becoming much darker for Ichigo and friends.

For the entire season, there has been a brooding undercurrent of fear radiating from Rukia even as she has tutored Ichigo in the art of Hollow battling. With this episode, we find out why she was afraid and it turns out the diminutive Soul Reaper had good cause to be. Kiss those light hearted school days goodbye as the story descends into darkness.

Bleach Ep. 15: Kon’s Great Plan

The first season takes a breather and slows down in this comedy centric episode starring Kon, the stuffed lion. When Kon can no longer take being treated like a toy, he runs away from home to find a better place. But there is a moody parallel story as Rukia finds herself becoming too attached to others in the mortal world. So what does a mysterious black cat appearing mean for our heroes?

Bleach’s comedy is not for everyone and is often over the top. This is one of those episodes, but is leavened by a growing melancholy that quickly becomes foreboding. There are no fights, but plot development is carefully advanced as the next big storyline is setup.

The duality of the episode is introduced early on with a brooding Rukia in bed and a crying Kon dealing with having been put in a ridiculous dress by Ichigo’s sister, Yuzu. Both are suffering for very different reasons and each handles their problems quite differently. At least on the face of it…

Squid Girl Episode 9

UPDATE September 4, 2018

More DMCA take downs have hit the blog despite screen captures long being considered fair use. Due to my not being able to afford a lawyer, I have no choice but to remove them or have the blog suspended. Only the words will be left.

TVTokyo is proving to be foolishly draconian in targeting posts meant to get people interested in seeing the Squid Girl anime and perhaps even purchasing it on DVD or Blu-ray. Being anti-piracy myself this is infuriating that they are targeting posts I wrote hoping to encourage people to try out a delightful show.

In the space of one episode, the show goes from sweetly silly to lunacy. Squid Girl discovers makeup, the dangers of doorbell ditching, and that being fought over is not as much fun as it sounds. But things are not all bad as she makes a friend.

The misadventures of Ika Musume aka Squid Girl are at their best when they mix a dash of sentimentality into the antics. Since most of the stories have a basis in every day events, there is ample opportunity to do so. It is the first story that uses this recipe to best effect and I judge it the most memorable in the episode.

Want to Ring and Jet?

I knew other kids who doorbell ditched when I was younger, but I never found it amusing. Usually the targets were old folks who would become very confused and flustered, which irked me. So when the episode opened with Takeru and his friend doing it, I was prepared to be annoyed. Especially when Squid Girl is taunted into playing “ring and run.”

Seen ringing the doorbell by Chizuru, the hapless girl freezes. Luckily for her, the woman answering the door provides her an out by assuming she a friend of her daughter’s. Bluffing her way out of it, it almost works – until the girl shows up.

Panicked, Ika yanks the girl to a neighboring park and begs for her help in covering up the lie. Kiyomi turns out to be a bright and sweet girl, not to mention forgiving. Her solution to Squid Girl’s dilemma is clever, very clever indeed.

Having made her first friend around her own age, Ika gets carried away and invites Kiyomi to her house the next day. Just one little problem: she never asked for permission from Chizuru, the one person capable of annihilating her. Guilt ridden and paranoid, the big question is whether or not Squid Girl will survive long enough to be friends with Kiyomi.

Do Mollusks Wear Makeup?

The discovery of a tube of lipstick belonging to Eiko awakens the girly side of Squid Girl who cannot wait to experiment with her new look. Delighted that makeup can attract more attention, she finds that it draws even more unwanted advances from the ever annoying Sannae. There is power to be found in style though.

But what style should she go for? Looking around the Lemon Beach House, Ika and Eiko find a wide menagerie of styles. Some are amusing riffs based on other animes, but others are horrific examples from reality. Overhearing a pair of girls talk about how they wrap men around their fingers piques the fish out of water’s interest.

But just how far will Squid Girl take things in her quest for power? And who else in the cast will receive a dramatic makeover?

Aren’t You Armed with a Secret Weapon?

The sudden appearance of Cindy the alien researcher on a sweltering hot day unnerves the staff of the restaurant. Her persistent efforts to haul Ika Musame off to be studied draws the attention of the tentacle haired girl’s main stalker. Yes, Sannae has shown up and will brook no competition. Soon a fight is brewing, complicated by jealousy of Eiko’s spending time with Squid Girl.

As if that was not insane enough, the three idiots from MIT show up in beach wear. Of course, for them that also means lab coats so that the nerds can carry their experiments with them. A very dangerous, if seductive, offer is made to Ika and things escalate out of control quickly.

What horrific events could lead to the above screen captures? What could enrage Chizuru so? It is time for the cast to find out just how deadly the mild mannered young woman can be…

Thoughts

Episode 9 is one of the better entries in the series, mainly due to the first segment that introduces Kiyomi to the ever growing cast of characters. The friendship that starts there becomes a source of some of the sweeter stories later on. One has to like Kiyomi, since she is a refreshingly nice girl without any odd quirks. Her assumption that Eiko and Chizuru are Ika’s sisters is never refuted and the sense that they are family has grown quite strong by this point.

The makeup focused story is great fun too. It serves as a chance to make fun of extreme styles, while also showing Ika becoming a little more normal. But only a little, as the ending shows. I really enjoyed Goro’s lines and the odd relationship he has with his fellow protector of the sea.

Sheer insanity dominates the final story and the ridiculous spectacle of Sannae and Cindy competing over Squid Girl is mad enough, but then the mad scientists drive sanity right over the cliff. But the real star of this segment is Chizuru.

This review is brought to you by Chizuru’s death glare. You really do not want to upset her enough for her to open her eyes.

Squid Girl Episode 8

UPDATE September 4, 2018

More DMCA take downs have hit the blog despite screen captures long being considered fair use. Due to my not being able to afford a lawyer, I have no choice but to remove them or have the blog suspended. Only the words will be left.

TVTokyo is proving to be foolishly draconian in targeting posts meant to get people interested in seeing the Squid Girl anime and perhaps even purchasing it on DVD or Blu-ray. Being anti-piracy myself this is infuriating that they are targeting posts I wrote hoping to encourage people to try out a delightful show.

Squid Girl faces a serious illness, discovers a new ability, and discovers the wonders of umbrellas in an uneven entry in the comedy series. While first two segments are a mixed bag, the third story redeems the episode with one of the more charming stories of the series.

Who’s a Sick Cephalopod?

Having tentacles would be very handy in my opinion, especially if they were as capable as Squid Girl’s. However, I could see them getting hurt in all sorts of accidental ways. But having one get caught in an ice shaving machine was not one I could imagine.

When a dazed and muted Ika Musame starts shaving one of her tentacle tips off and doesn’t notice, Eiko becomes concerned. Looking flushed, everybody’s favorite inkvader appears to have come down with something. Funny, I was expecting her to look green around the gills, not flushed.

Finding all the  suggested ideas from the Aizawa family to be less than helpful, Squid Girl reveals that her illness is something potentially much more serious than thought. Bed ridden, delirious, and desperate her condition spirals downward.

Desperate times require desperate measures as Eiko does her best to help Ika. Help from an unlikely source is forthcoming, but is the cure worse than the illness?

Is That a New Agilllity?

Squid Girl demonstrates a new ability, that of being an art critic when it concerns sand castles. Not impressed with her critique or effort at making a better one, Takeru’s friend mocks her back and points out she has weird things on the sides of her hat. Yep, we have arrived at third grade humor here.

Only just realizing she has fins on her head makes the anthropomorphic squid wonder what they are for – especially once they start twitching. Calling in outside experts to help her figure it out, i.e. her immediate friends, is once again not very helpful.

But there are bigger fish to fry when the dad of Takeru’s friend shows up to do battle over sandcastle building. Inexplicable power ups, cheating, and more art critiques follow.

Shouldn’t You Jet an Umbrella?

Another rainy day and a need for supplies introduces Squid Girl to the wonders of umbrellas. Fascinated like a little kid, Ika marvels over the mechanisms and different kinds she sees. Smitten with the cheap vinyl umbrella given to her by Eiko, the younger girl cannot resist playing with it.

Left to her own devices while Eiko shops, Ika drifts off into a world of fantasy and fun with her umbrella, Squid Unit 01. Yes, she even names it and decides it is her most useful tool for invasion. As she daydreams about their adventures together, Squid Girl keeps adding names to it such as MK II in spoofs of mecha and other animes. Playing around in the rain never looked like so much fun.

But all good things come to an end…

Thoughts

The first two stories are mildly amusing here and there. I suspect children would find them more amusing. Fans of Sannae will be pleased as she gets a lot of time in both and masochistic slapstick abounds. It is hard to peg anything in a slice of life comedy as filler, but both stories have that aura about them – though they are adapted from the manga.

It is the last story that lingers in the memory and salvages a very uneven episode. Perhaps it is because I can remember how amazing the first umbrella I saw was and how much fun the first retractable one encountered was to play with. In this episode, a pure example of childhood innocence and fun can be found.

That awful crushing sadness of breaking something you love is also beautifully presented. Often it is the first encounter with heartbreak for a young soul and I loved how it was handled. It simply rang true, as did Eiko’s older sister method of dealing with the situation. The growing sense of family relationships between Ika and the Aizawa’s adds much to the show, elevating it to more than just a comedy. That last scene of the two was gently sweet in its humor and rang just the right note.

Bleach Ep. 13: Flower and Hollow

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.

Bleach Ep. 12: A Gentle Right Arm

While featuring the duel between Ishida and Ichigo, the real stars of this episode are Chad and Karin when a plague of Hollows attack Karakura Town.

After revealing himself to be a Quincy, an extinct race of supernaturally gifted humans, Uryu Ishida challenged Ichigo to a duel at the end of the previous episode. Insulting the carrot topped team worked like a charm and with his temper rising, he agreed. If there is one thing Kurosaki can be counted on to do, it has to be rushing headlong into things without thinking.

Condescending and acid tongued like a proper villain should be, Ishida explains the rules of the duel. The one who kills the most Hollows in 24 hours is the winner and proves his superiority. Quickly he initiates the summoning of the monsters and makes some pointed remarks about Hollows being drawn to humans with spiritual abilities that set Ichigo off running. But not is all it seems, as Kurosaki has misunderstood what the Quincy was hinting at.

Determined to protect his sisters at any cost, the substitute Soul Reaper has failed to notice that his closest friends have all begun to spiritually awaken too. For instance, poor Tatsuki now sees ghosts the way Ichigo did in the beginning and it is annoying her to distraction. But the boy is clueless to all this going on around him.

It is Karin that Ichigo is most worried about and sure enough she can sense something is wrong while playing soccer with a group of boys. Though it is more accurate to say she is intimidating them more than playing with them. It is clear she will be playing a big part in the episode, which is a welcome thing. Karin is one of the better characters in the series and isn’t seen nearly enough.

Her older brother slaughters Hollows on the way to her regular hangouts. One of the better Hollow battles to this point is a highlight of this episode, with Ichigo taking on three at once in a very fluid piece of choreography. While he is occupied slashing his way through Karakura Town, Rukia is still trying to get more information out of Urahara at his store. But her cellphone/Hollow detector won’t stop going off and its display is starting to look like an old video game…

With methodical precision, Ishida destroys Hollow after Hollow for a count far beyond his rival’s. There is more to his story and it appears that will be revealed soon. While scores of monsters rain down upon the town, Chad finds himself seeing something in the sky. This idling in the street irritates his starving musician companions for a comic break in the action.

But that rift in the sky is all he can focus on and when a Hollow drops from the sky his priorities change. Just one little problem – he cannot fully see the monster! Showing discretion, the large teen leads the creature away from the crowded shopping district.

That would have been brilliant, except he leads the Hollow straight to the playground where Karin is! Surprisingly, the two work well as a team when he tries to protect her, but a mere human can’t expect to take on a Hollow. Even a human as impossibly tough as Chad.

Another glimpse into the half-Mexican’s childhood shows how much he took his grandfather’s lessons to heart and in true shonen style it fuels his resolve to protect his friend’s little sister. A punch, a flash of light, and an explosion of energy follow as the gentle giant finds his own supernatural power. When the smoke clears, his right arm has undertaken a mysterious metamorphosis.

The battle continues and Chad shows how cool he is, though not everyone is positive about him being cool. It is a highly amusing moment and shows why Karin gets some of the best lines in the series.

But the danger continues for Ichigo’s family and friends as the Hollows continue to rampage.

Thoughts

This episode is a deft blend of comedy and action while throwing in some character development for Chad, Karin, and Ishida. Finally all the images from the opening sequence are explained and one would guess that all the main characters have been introduced. That person would be in error.

Things are only just beginning to get rolling, I am pleased to say.

A Gentle Right Arm is a good example of Bleach’s ability to blend action, drama, mystery, and comedy into a satisfying whole.

Squid Girl Episode 5, Season 1

UPDATE September 4, 2018

More DMCA take downs have hit the blog despite screen captures long being considered fair use. Due to my not being able to afford a lawyer, I have no choice but to remove them or have the blog suspended. Only the words will be left.

TVTokyo is proving to be foolishly draconian in targeting posts meant to get people interested in seeing the Squid Girl anime and perhaps even purchasing it on DVD or Blu-ray. Being anti-piracy myself this is infuriating that they are targeting posts I wrote hoping to encourage people to try out a delightful show.

Another identity crisis due to mistaken identity, the perils of inkvading high school, and a surprising final segment start off the second disc of set one. The usual laughs and insane situations are there, but don’t be surprised if you come away with a tear in your eye rather than a smile after watching this episode.

Are You from Planet Calamari?

Proving that the previous episode’s mild fan service was no fluke, the first third starts off when an impossibly proportioned blond in a bikini enters the Lemon Beach House. We can tell she is a great beauty because all sorts of sparkles emanate from her hair as it waves in slow motion in the sea breeze. Well, that and the male customers completely lose their cool at the sight of her.

Immediately sizing her up as a foreigner, Eiko panics. Once again showing her sadistic streak, Chizuru forces the teen to wait on the newcomer. It soon turns out that Eiko’s command of the English language leaves much to be desired.

Luckily for her, the blond is fluent in Japanese and is here for a very specific reason. It seems there are rumors of an alien having been sighted at this location. Now who could that be?

And so Cindy Campbell, M.I.T. graduate and alien hunter extraordinaire joins the cast of loonies. Squid Girl is understandably rather upset with being called an alien and even more so with Cindy’s nearly Sanae like desire to haul her off to a laboratory. Not only does the American look good in swimwear, she is a true mad scientist – and mad scientists don’t take no for answer.

Is our tentacled protagonist really a Squiddian invader from outer space?  Can Squid Girl find her way back to normalcy? And just what is normalcy for her anyway?

Want to Join a New School of Fish?

One of my favorite things about Squid Girl is how everyday events become  epic adventures for our blue tressed heroine. If you were wondering if her adoptive family had lives outside the beach, wonder no more. Summer vacation is over and Eiko proudly dresses in her school uniform. After some confusion over cosplay, Squid Girl demands to come along. Rebuffed, she sneaks into school anyway to do some reconnaissance like a proper inkvader.

Exploring all the empty rooms she can get into, it becomes clear to Ika that this is a military training facility. Why they even have a place to take care of the wounded. It is a perfect base to stage her takeover of the surface world from! Or at least that is how she sees things.

Violence, hostage taking, and PA announcements lead to a potentially deadly situation. Can this be peaceably resolved or will the inkvasion finally begin in earnest?

Who’d Like a Pet Squid?

The final segment is a big change of pace and is original to the anime. I do not want to give too much away, but the nearly dialogue free story shows a deft touch while tugging at the audience’s heartstrings. It all begins with Eiko finding a mini Squid Girl in a jar on the beach one rainy day.

What follows will be familiar to anyone who has raised a pet, especially if they have wooed a feral kitten.

This story shows what heights the animators are capable of rising to as what should be a simple overdose of cute becomes something deeply touching instead. It was so popular that two shorts were done starring Mini Squid Girl for the Blu-ray release in Japan along with figurines.

Thoughts

Squid Girl is a light hearted series that occasionally will surprise with sharp insights or genuinely sweet moments. It is the latter that you will remember from this episode. It is something of a sucker punch and all the more effective for it.

I have to praise the English language voice cast again. They have done a bang up job and I also have to give the dub writers a hand for how they rewrote the scene between Eiko and Cindy. It was cleverly handled.

This and Episode Six are the only episodes on disc 2 and for some reason the same extras from the first disc were repeated. I have hopes that the second set coming out later this month will have the Mini Ika Musame shorts on them as they are very cute.

Bleach Ep. 11: The Legendary Quincy

After an episode of nonstop comedy, an air of menace slowly comes back into the series when a mysterious stalker with an axe to grind appears. But comedy is still the main focus at this point.

Bleach can be very predictable at times, but only within its own strange rules. New viewers will find themselves surprised often in the early going before it settles into its normal pattern of weirdness, especially in the “canon” storyline. That is to say, the non-filler main storyline.  Filler is the dreaded way of keeping an anime adaptation of a manga going while waiting for the original author to produce new content.

While the previous installment of Bleach introduced what seemed to be a filler character, Don Kanonji, it turns out there is fallout from the epically silly events. Very silly fallout, of course.

Teenagers fear being summoned to the principle’s office and the entire group finds themselves there.  Being lectured to by the gym teacher who appears to be in a steroid induced rage, they are in it deep. You see, due to Ichigo and Rukia being seen on national TV causing trouble the school has been embarrassed.

Showing there are limits to friendship, everyone correctly dumps the blame on Ichigo. Attempts to get out of being lumped into the punishment are played strictly for laughs with Rukia being particularly amusing. Her ploy works all too well and there is an impression she has done this kind of thing before.

What would Bleach be without random Hollow problems? When the latest alert goes off, the group take notice of Rukia and Ichigo running off. Orihime is watching very closely and speculates about their relationship to the ire of the boys. But someone else is watching too as the sinister music plays…

There are a lot of good character moments in episode 11 and Rukia gets the best ones. From being bad cop/bad cop all by herself (wait, shouldn’t good cop be in there?) to her rant against her cellphone, the diminutive Soul Reaper is a bundle of annoyed energy. Those bits and the fake sob story she employed earlier are great fun.

I do believe I wrote that an air of menace is to be found and so it arrives. Though our hero’s do not know it, they have been followed all episode by a strange figure wearing a long jacket and glasses. Finally catching Ichigo and Rukia by themselves, he emerges from the night to reveal himself.

He is Uryu Ishida and has supernatural powers himself. They are nearly as impressive as his acid dripping condescension which is most impressive. His mockery culminates in a statement of hatred towards the substitute Soul Reaper. Just like that, Ichigo has a new menace to deal with and it turns out to be a classmate – though he doesn’t remember him. And just what is a Quincy – what Ishida calls himself?

For once, Ichigo decides to check things out before going into conflict. Just one little problem: he has already forgotten Ishida’s name. Fortunately for him, Orihime knows Ishida, since they are in the same handcrafts club. Handcrafts club?! I am not sure if that is more or less menacing to know.

The scene that follows is a hilarious spoof of fighting animes, when we are shown Ishida’s fearsome sewing skills. Like every other character in the series, there is something off kilter about the boy. But you have to admit, he is good with a needle and thread.

After school, Ichigo and Rukia split up to pursue different leads on the new threat because we all know it is better to divide your forces when confronting an enemy. Ichigo counter stalks Ishida and Rukia heads to Uruhara’s for intel. Veering off into slapstick comedy to break the mood, we are presented with Jinto bullying Ururu again. It isn’t very funny, in my opinion.

This short sequence is, however. But then again, I like utterly random silliness when it is played straight. That is probably a result of watching too many Pink Panther movies growing up.

As the mystery of the Quincies begins to unfold, it looks like Ichigo and Rukia will have their hands full…

Thoughts

The Legendary Quincy is a classic setup episode without any real action in it. That said, it is still a lot of fun as the sense of mystery is back after the previous story. Here is where Bleach’s universe begins to open up more with hints of being more complicated than previously shown.

Ishida is an interesting character, a calm and collected nerd who is incredibly arrogant. His powers are an interesting contrast to that of the Soul Reapers and he is positioned to be Ichigo’s perfect foe.

The voice work on the English dub rings wrong once again, with Ishida’s voice sounding too old and too monotone. Despite his air of maturity, the character is still young and the Japanese voice actor nails that perfectly. I will concede he is a complex character and difficult to portray.