Oh, great, it’s the last attack of the filler!
This is the first time we see the Soul Society en masse since Ichigo lost his powers, and we get…this. I know Episode 355 was supposed to be a New Year’s special, but to cut away from the story like this is bad. Shuhei and Izuru are so insignificant, they weren’t even in the ending of the last episode. But somehow, they’re back here, ruining New Year’s for everyone with this unity spectacular.
This is one of the major problems I have with filler episodes. They either cut away from the story at hand, or they’re put in just to get the manga farther ahead. This is something different just to put in. It’s like the writers went, “So, we’re going to take all of these characters we haven’t used in two months, and do a special episode with them. Everyone will love it!” This guy didn’t.
The story boils down to Izuru doing everything for this celebration, and Shuhei not doing anything to help. Actually, Shuhei is partaking in the merriment. This puts a strain on the festivities, because Shuhei just starts screwing things up by enjoying his time. This is turning into more of a battle between the squads, and it was some of the most boring moments I have watched in quite a while.
The second half isn’t any better! Rukia is trying to learn a dance. Yes, the toughest, baddest bitch on this show is learning a dance, to perform for a guy. This is happening in Bleach. Yup, I think I lost my mind here. I couldn’t be more bored than watching this episode. That’s saying much, because I have never fallen asleep while watching an episode of Bleach, but I dozed off for about 5 minutes during Rukia’s dancing. The timing of Episode 355 makes no sense, and has nothing to do with the events that sandwich this episode.
That’s the problem with this episode. It does nothing at all to strengthen the arc it’s on, and is just there to take up space. I get that this episode aired in January 2012, and Toonami has to air it in place. But my gripe falls on the episode itself. Put simply, this episode is horse shit, and you should skip it.