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.

Events pick up where the previous episode left off, with Rukia having run away from the Kurosaki residence and being tracked by two mysterious men. It turns out they have some very sophisticated technology, which is strange given the supernatural bent of the Soul Reapers. Unaware she is being followed, Rukia flashes back to events from earlier episodes, especially the friendships she has made. There is even a hint that her feelings for Ichigo might be more than friendship, but that is about as far as this series is willing to go.

Lurking in the night air is a thuggish Shinigami with red hair and prominent facial tattoos. Once again the moon theme is seen as he jumps down to violently confront the runaway girl. She immediately recognizes him and the anger he displays is deeply personal as he lectures her on her wrong doings. Not an ounce of humor can be found in this scene, only stark fear and anger.

One of his accusations is that she has become human and forgotten where she came from, both the Rukon District and the Kuchiki family. Already stunned by the hostility and violence against her, the sudden appearance of Captain Buyakuya Kuchiki only adds to her woes. Her family has come to retrieve and then execute her for her crimes.

But it is their demands about the identity of the human she lost her powers to that have Rukia worried the most. Lying through her teeth, she is determined to protect Ichigo despite being wounded. But who will protect her? Cue entry stage right.

Time for someone else to emerge from the shadows, this time following a brilliant blast of blue energy. How Uryu manages to make an entrance that is simultaneously cool and dorky is unexplainable, for it has to be seen to be believed. What a great character.

Since this is a shounen anime, this means it is time for a fight, which is just fine with Renji Abarai. He can’t wait to kill somebody. Apparently, he really enjoys his line of work.

So where is our main hero during all this? Let us just say that he finds Kon in compromising position and later has to use his brain to figure out a note left behind by Rukia. Which means a considerable amount of  pain is felt between the ears of the carrot top.

Mr. Mysterious aka Urahara appears in the window to facilitate getting the main hero to the action, where he shows up out of nowhere. Yes, if there is a theme to this episode, it is that of the surprise entrance. Let us count them:

1. Renji surprises Rukia.
2. Buyakuya suprises Rukia.
3. Uryu surprises Renji.
4. Kon surprises Ichigo.
5. Urahara surprises Ichigo and Kon.
6. Ichigo surprises Uryu, Rukia, Renji, and Buyakuya.

The battle is joined in earnest, heroes fall, and a cliffhanger leaves the futures of Rukia and Ichigo in dire peril.

Thoughts

The season long main plot finally begins to pay off. Yet more questions are raised than answered and the mystery around Rukia grows murkier. I felt the comedy did not work very well, except for Ishida’s moment explaining his appearance. Still, episode 16 is an important entry in the series because it is a turning point episode for Bleach and the beginning of a rollercoaster ride that ends in the third season. Also, we finally begin to learn more about the soul reapers.

This is a dark episode and not just in story content. All of the action takes place at night with the art being very subdued in tones with a bluish cast to the lighting. The outdoor scenes also seem to have had some kind of blur filter applied – check out the difference in the screen captures.

BEWARE! HERE BE SPOILERS!!!

 

 

 

The fight between Ichigo and Renji is pure shounen material. What does that mean? It means trash talking, frenetic fighting, more trash talking, more frenetic fighting, rinse and repeat. But two moments made it fun. The first was when Ichigo manages to finally land a blow during a monologue of his opponents and the second was when Captain Kuchiki chided Renji for it.

I had to smirk when Renji schools Ichigo on zanpakutos and transforms his blade by invoking its name, Zabimaru. After mocking how big the substitute shinigami’s sword was, his is even bigger once unleashed. No issues there, right?

Having only encountered one soul reaper other than Rukia before this, Ichigo finds himself way out of his depth. It turns out he knows nothing and may just get himself killed because of his ignorance.