English Dub Review: Bleach Episode 359

Ichigo is losing his mind! All thanks to Tsukishima and his Fullbring.

It took Bleach over 350 episodes, but it may have finally evolved into something besides “Dragon Ball Z with swords.” The last couple of episodes have turned Bleach into a decent psychological thriller, and it has taken me off guard. Ever since Tsukishima started making moves to break down Ichigo, Bleach has been rather…suspenseful.

A lot of Episode 359 was Ichigo and Kugo hurrying to get somewhere, whether it was a safehouse or Tsukishima’s mansion, just to wait and talk. This wouldn’t be terrible, but after the credits and the review for what happened last week, there was only 17:52 of actual new content if you watched it on adultswim.com. Just like I’ve said long before we started covering this show, the biggest problem with Bleach is pacing, and it shows here. You may feel ripped off like I have.

While the episode had just under 18 minutes of actual show, there was a lot going on. Ichigo managed to get with Kugo, and reassess what Tsukishima has been doing, and what his true powers are. Yukio manages to find Kugo and Ichigo, and talks them into going to Tsukishima’s place. Of course, once they go in, Ichigo is pushed to the brink due to all of his friends thinking that Tsukishima has always been around. Ichigo then goes to find Tsukishima, but runs into the other members of Xcution. A fight ensues between Ichigo and Tsukishima, and Ichigo gets a good wound in on him. Unfortunately Chad breaks up the fight, so Orihime can heal Tsukishima. Chad then tells Ichigo that Tsukishima has always been with them.

Listen, I’ll be straight up with you guys. If I were Ichigo, I’m thinking I am losing my mind. How on earth could this happen? Ichigo can barely wrap his head around his own Fullbring, and the power of Tsukishima seems to be above and beyond what anyone else can do. Hopefully, this trend continues on through the end of the series, which is now six episodes away. It may have been entirely way far into Bleach, but it has finally become interesting, and has come into its own. I wish the rest of the series could have been as different as it is now.

Next week should be pretty nuts, because Chad and Ichigo have it out. Also, Tsukishima is still there, and fully healed. Not to mention that the rest of Ichigo’s friends and family are still under the control of Tsukishima’s Fullbring, and there’s no real guarantee that they will be released if Tsukishima is defeated.  This week was definitely one of the better episodes of this arc, mainly because it has such a different feel.

You can check it out on adultswim.com.