User blog:Lemursrule/BLEACH 325 Review: Flower Power

Hello Everyone it's that time of the week again! Let's Begin! This episode was ok, but it was not as good as the last two or three episodes. It wasn't bad or anything, but it wasn't anything fantastic either. It was just a pretty standard Bleach episode (that includes both canon and filler). This episode was pretty much what I would call a "foundation" episode, which will set up the events for the next several episodes. As many others have pointed out many of the Regai are being defeated quite easily, and their threat factor is rapidly decreasing. This makes Inaba a lot less menacing and makes him seem very incompetent at times. This arc is pretty good so far, but Inaba's lack of a seemingly unstoppable army is becoming a problem. In my opinion Kariya was more of a credible threat than Inaba at this point in time. Inaba is becoming an "Aizen-wannabe," and I really do not want him going in that direction. At least with Aizen and the Arrancar, you felt at times that some characters might actually die. Since this is an anime-only arc, the story team has to deal with the problem that the audience that reads the manga and watches the anime know that they will not kill characters off. However, they need to put in the same feeling as the manga that characters could actually die (although in all likely hood you know they won't die).

The fight between Byakuya and Toshirō was standard Bleach filler fight, popular characters use all of their special tactics in a single episode, and the fight was quite boring. The only fight that has been even remotely appealing in this arc has been Yamamoto VS Regai Ukitake, Shunsui, and now Regai Unohana. These Regai are replicas of the oldest captains in the Gotei 13, so you have a bit of a threat factor going on.

On the positive side, Nozomi is starting to open up a little bit which I think was much needed development beyond "go away stupid" style dialogue. Both Regai and real Unohana's show of Kidō was pretty cool as well. However my favorite part of the episode was the omake. The omake was not attached to the Crunchyroll feed, because it was to promote the new Bleach Rock Musical (In the past Studio Pierrot has had an alternative omake in place of the promotion omakes, which are the ones that appear on DVD). This animators had to be tripping on acid when they came up with it. It is just...bizare! If you want to watch the omake, here is a link to a chinese fansub of the episode. Embrace the WTH-ness!

Overall it was a pretty decent episode, and I can't to see what happens next week!

Final Rundown

 * Story 6/10
 * Art/Animation 9/10
 * Sound Effects 10/10
 * Music 10/10
 * Acting 8/10
 * Omake 10/10

I give Bleach episode 325 a 8.8 out of 10. Remember to join me next Tuesday when I review Bleach episode 326, and join me on this Saturday when I review Bleach 208 dubbed.

Until next time I leave you a link of the musical stylings of Novi Bosch ! --Lemursrule (talk) 04:31, June 8, 2011 (UTC)