User blog:Lemursrule/BLEACH 358 Review: Japanese Horror Story

Well so much for my combined sub and dub reviews, adult swim will air 240 Saturday night and no new episodes were added. Oh well, it was great while it lasted. Anyway I am back with my normal review format, so let's begin!

Amazing episode!!! Really that's all I have to say, but that's not really review, it would be a complete waste of your time, so I will waste your time with more detailed analysis. This episode is pretty much the start of the climax of the lost agent arc, and I figured "This should be decent, Pierrot does insanity scenes pretty well (Minus the Riruka fluke last week)." I was wrong, it didn't turn out good...it turned out great!The overall animation and character designs this week were flawless, I honestly think that there wasn't a bad frame in the entire episode.

The additional scenes were excellent and made perfect sense, and helped establish and intensify certain plot point and plot holes (although Uryū is just randomly released from the hospital and no one knows about it...well can't blame Pierrot for trying). The additional scene that I believe the episode and overall anime adaptation of this arc benefitted from the most was the confrontation between Ginjo and Xcution. Although a similar senario happens in chapter 454, the scene helps Ginjo in the plot department. My having this scene happen, it convinces the audience that Ginjo was "betrayed" and makes him really look like the hero, and when the reveal happens, it will be more shocking to the audience. I really love how Pierrot established throughout the entire episode that Kugo is the good guy, and honestly throughout a lot of the episode, I really felt that Kugo was good, despite the fact that I know he's not. It did not feel fake or forced and Kugo really was trying to help Ichigo and wanted to have his fullbring powers gone for good. I think both the combination of Ginjo's animation and his seiyu made this really work.

The overall standout out moment for me in this episode was Ichigo's complete mental breakdown. First, Bravo Mazakazu Morita! I stated a couple of weeks ago, that I felt Mazakazu's screaming and acting were a little bit off, however the Morita we all know and love is back with a vegence. This honestly one of his best peformances of Ichigo in a very long time. I truely belived that "holy crap, Ichigo has finally lost it, and not because of his inner hollow or other spiritual bullcrap, NO, THIS WAS THE REAL DEAL!" Both Morita's perfromace and the animation really made the episode work and made it memorable.

PLUS THANK YOU YUSUKE FOR FINALLY USING Incantation (Part C_Opus1) IN A GOOD LENGTH AND PROPER MOMENT! Again, would have prefered to hear this when Aizen transformed and having the series of tracks in Hell Chapter that use this theme, instead of hearing Stand Up, Be Strong FOR THE ONE BILLIONTH TIME, but this kinda makes up for it. The overall music selection for this episode was excelent, and the tracks were appropriate for scenes they were featured in.

The only real complaint I had for the episode was the omake, which was not remotly funny, I just didn't get it.

Overall excelent episode, and I can't wait for next week.

Final Rundown

 * Story 9/10
 * Art/Animation 10/10
 * Sound Effects 10/10
 * Music 10/10
 * Acting 10/10
 * Omake 5/10

I give Bleach 358 a 9 out of 10. Join me next week when I review episode 359, and I will give more details about episode 241 dubbed airdate. Also be sure to check Shonen Jump Alpha out, it just launched today and this week's issue starts with chapter 476 and SJA comes out every Tuesday I believe.

Until Next Time!

--Lemursrule (talk) 16:41, January 31, 2012 (UTC)