Review: Bleach Episode 363

The fights finally begin, and they were rather lackluster.

I called it last week, somewhat. The “Bleach Dread” was proven right to some extent. There were some really cool things to pull from this week’s episode. But keep in mind, the “Bleach Dread” is still there, and it’s laughing at all Bleach fans who think that this would end well.

This week, I was so excited to watch the fights start, I stayed up to watch the episode. There was little to be seen from Ichigo and Kugo, probably setting up for the huge fight to finish out the series. With recaps over, Kenpachi walks away like a boss, so that’s good. Hitsugaya is trying to find Yuiko, and eventually does, and traps him in ice. Tsukishima seems like he’s relegated to commonfolk with Shishiguwara as he is just talking a bunch of nothing to Byakuya, who is also talking a whole lot of nothing.

The fights of the night go to Moe and Ikkaku, and Renji and Jackie. I loved the change Jackie had to her Fullbring, with the motorcycle exhaust in her chest. Ikkaku is just taking every single punch Moe takes, and just looks like a badass. Same with Renji. They make Fullbring, something that was supposed to be this big fucking thing, and reduces it to nothing. I thought the be all end all in powers, even more so when combined with whatever was in Ichigo. And yet, nothing any of them does anything. Even Yukio, the master of this domain everyone is in, is rendered completely incompetent against Hitsugaya.

The utter dominance that the 13 Court Squad showed is just silly. The only one who showed any form of competency was Moe when he shattered Ikkaku’s Hōzukimaru and break Ikkaku’s shoulder. The one with the smallest spotlight did the most work. Riruka did absolutely nothing except be in a world where Rukia is given plushie dolls. Is this what Bleach has come to?  Tite Kubo waited until this point in the series to show how dominant the Soul Society can be? At this rate, Ichigo can sneeze, and it would blow Kugo’s face off his skull.

The final episodes of any series are supposed to lead up to a penultimate climax. I don’t see this happening, because nothing has been shown to me saying Kugo or Tsukishima have the power to win against Ichigo or Byakuya. Bright spots aside, episode 363 is a bunch of bullshit. I can’t see many people past the hardcore fans enjoying this. Even then, most probably wouldn’t either. There was little action, and nothing showing that Xcution can put up a fight. This is total disappointment.