English Dub Review: Bleach Episode 358

After the week off, let’s see if Bleach is back with a vengeance.

Spoilers!

The end game has finally begun for Bleach, and it’s going slower than molasses so far. After 357 episodes, you would think that Kubo would be able to speed up a story to it’s conclusion, but it’s just build up after build up. Thankfully, that build up seems to be stopping, and we can get to some real plot and action. Something tells me that there will be some disappointment, though. This is Bleach, after all, the land of disappointment and wasted potential.

What has my hopes up is the last half of Episode 358. The first half played out as a mix between training, and Uryu doing his worst Yu Yu Hakusho impression. Uryu was trying to be a detective, trying to find Ichigo. As for the second half, Ichigo finally mastered his Fullbring, as seen in the gif above. Still no name on it, as of yet. However, Ichigo goes home, and that’s when the shit hits the fan. Ichigo’s family gets a visit from Tsukishima, and they fall under his Fullbring. Then, Tsukishima has more of his friends come in, and they’re all under his powers. This drives Ichigo nuts, and runs. He almost gets run over by Ikumi, who takes him to her place. Tsukishima shows up, like a survival horror boss, which drives Ichigo to run again. As he’s running, Kugo finds him, and tells him that Xcution turned on him, and attacked him because of Tsukishima’s ability.

The ending of 358 was really well done. Ichigo is shown as being in a really bad place, even with his new powers. Tsukishima is showing that he is a really big player in a short time. He took control of everyone close to Ichigo, and Ichigo is dangerously close to a mental breakdown. If Kugo didn’t catch him, I am sure he was snapping. I am not sure, but I don’t think that this ending could have been done any better. I really enjoyed it, and was the first time I have felt a bit of a payoff since we started covering this show. And Johnny Yong Bosch finally showed some emotion! Through Knights of Sidonia, and up to episode 357, this is the most emotion I have seen come from a character Bosch has voiced. I guess a character having a breakdown will do that.

There is a lot to build on going forward. Ichigo still has to manage with Tsukishima screwing with his friends’s minds. Kugo also has to figure out what’s going on with his friends in Xcution, and he needs to fix it fast. And then there’s Uryu. This kid is such a mess, he doesn’t even know how to find Ichigo. I think Uryu has been rather useless, and he could have been done without. Hopefully, Uryu will actually do something going forward, because there is a big battle coming. I am still waiting for the Soul Society to show up and do something. They had this cool segment with Rukia coming back, and then disappeared again.

For me, Bleach has had a penchant for disappointment. It was touted as this great show, and couldn’t hold my interest. Actually, it was downright boring. I think this may be the first arc, even though it’s only 22 episodes, that feels like something was accomplished. Also, Ichigo looks badass with his Fullbring. I think this was one of the best episodes yet.