User blog comment:Fallowstar24/The Good and Bad of Filler Arcs/@comment-893506-20110124085739

I actually feel neutral about Filler arcs overall. Like manga plot, the arc's outcome depends entirely on the writers behind them. Unfortunately, Bleach seems to be weak in this department. After watching each arc at least once, they all have some strong and weak points.

Bount arc 01. An actual timeline setting. It’s clear that some time passes between the end of the Soul Society arc and the beginning of the Arrancar arc, so for something to happen between those times isn’t too far of a stretch. 02. The fact that the Bounts are something spawned from the Soul Society does make the arc a bit interesting, as it is a problem that they themselves created, even if it was before any of the current Gotei 13 members saw action. Additionally, despite what the Central 46 believed, the Bounts did become a threat to the Soul Society that threatened the Seireitei. 03. Towards the end of the arc, Kariya’s threat to blow up the Seireitei forces the entire Gotei 13 into action to seal off the threat with Kido, so most of the Gotei 13 is busy trying to minimize the threat while Ichigo defeats Kariya before he can follow through on his plan to destroy everything. So, it’s not that Ichigo is the only one capable of killing Kariya, but he’s the only one available who is capable of killing him.
 * Pros

01. Urahara’s little game with the Mod Souls was tedious. I understand him testing them, but the Mod Souls’ scheme wasn’t thought out very well. And just a bit more unusual, exactly how did Kurodo know what Orihime was dreaming about before he arrived at her doorstep, impersonating Sora? 02. Ichigo could not go Bankai during the first half of the arc. It is not explained why his Bankai was disabled, and it took Kariya stabbing him with Zangetsu for him to bring it back. 03. While the Quincy Bangle stopped him from being a complete bodybag in the arc, Uryu was practically useless with it, and it only became useful within the last couple of minutes with his fight with Yoshi, and he was only able to use it without any trouble at all during the last fight he was able to use it in. 04. The strength of each of the Bounts was inconsistent, and some of their powers were ridiculous. Yoshino and her Doll, Goethe are beating Ichigo, and Go Koga is able to beat them easily. Next, Go Koga drinks the elixir produced by the Bitto, which supposedly increases his power, but he and his Doll are able to beat Ichigo close to just as easily as Yoshino did. Additionally, Utagawa being able to materialize snakes just by imagining it, Kariya able to paralyze his opponents with his fingertip, and Goethe being Getsuga’d but being able to reassemble were just bad. Dalk (Go Koga’s Doll) may have had that same ability, but given that Hollow Ichigo was able to defeat her and force her to withdraw made it possible to defeat her. 05. Exactly why was Renji replacing Rukia as Karakura Town’s Shinigami? Zennosuke was already deployed while Ichigo, Chad, Uryu, and Orihime were in the Soul Society trying to save Rukia. Rukia speculates that she and Renji being deployed was a response to the Bounts, but despite Aizen’s betrayal, it seems very unlikely that Renji and later Rukia would be deployed without so much as a word as to why they’re going (or, in Renji’s position, being misinformed of why he was sent). 06. Maybe just a minor rant on my part, but how is a Bount similar to a vampire? Bounts don’t suck blood, don’t turn into bats, and do not turn Humans into their obedient servants (except for Mabashi through his Doll, but he’s really the only exception, and his Doll has to burrow inside an individual). The only thing the Bounts do have in common with vampires is that they both have eternal youth. 07. One episode in particular was the worst-case scenario for filler. The Mod Souls built traps in Ichigo’s house and spent the entire episode trying to convince Ichigo and Rukia that such traps were necessary. None of the main characters made progress, and nothing of the Bounts was shown in that episode either.
 * Cons

The New Captain Shusuke Amagai arc 01. The arc illustrates the functions of a military’s system. The Gotei 13 was trying to replace the empty captain spots left by Aizen, Ichimaru, and Tosen’s betrayal, which Yamamoto saw as a necessity. 02. Izuru is one of the central characters in this arc. I was initially not a big fan of Izuru, and I’m not saying this arc turned me into one, but it’s nice to switch focus off of Ichigo, Chad, Uryu, Orihime, Rukia, and Renji once in awhile. And despite Izuru’s shortcomings, as well as self-punishment regarding Ichimaru’s betrayal, he proves in this arc that he is able to hold up as the 3rd Division’s lieutenant, as well as a fierce fighter and strong character. 03. Kumoi’s actions with the clan’s resources show how far corruption in high power can go. Politics is something not often explored in Bleach, Kumoi was able to take advantage of the Kasumioji Clan’s resources and the Soul Society’s laws to manufacture Bakkotos and work behind the scenes to usurp power in the Kasumioji Clan. 04. Chad and Uryu fought some of the stronger enemies in the arc. Their respective opponents were close to both of them in overall strength and fighting ability, so neither one of them was knocked out easily, nor did they kill their opponents without breaking a sweat. 05. Despite some people comparing him to Aizen, Amagai’s revelation as the true mastermind in the arc was still one of the strongest points in all of the anime-exclusive material in Bleach so far. Amagai showed no ill-intent and virtually no clues that he could be behind something sinister. We did find out that Kibune was affiliated with the Kasumioji Clan; however, even when Izuru notes that Amagai found out about his involvement, Kibune, while he did reveal to him many significant details about his past and ambitions, gave him absolutely zero information on Amagai’s involvement with the clan. 06. Amagai’s betrayal is a result of the Soul Society’s politics and the flaws of its government. Yamamoto let Shin’etsu infiltrate the Kasumioji Clan, but because the Central 46 ruled against any investigation on the clan, he had to cover up his death. I do wonder if it ever occurred to Yamamoto to inform Shin’etsu’s family (like how Ukitake informed Kukaku the circumstances of Kaien’s death), but it wouldn’t matter at this point.
 * Pros

01. Some of the plotlines during the episodes weren’t thought through completely. The 3rd Division’s lack of military activity and forced-deployment for many menial tasks was hard for me to deal with. I know Amagai wanted to help the 3rd Division build its reputation back up, but come on. 02. Rurichiyo’s side-story was… annoying. She was essential, but the plotlines with things like Yuzu’s cooking, and that last tea party with her friend were just a waste of time, even on a filler arc.
 * Cons

Zanpakuto Unknown Tales arc 01. Unlike the Amagai and Bount arcs, the build-up to the main aspects of the arc immediately gets into the nitty gritty. Muramasa has already started his influence before his introduction and is able to throw the entire Seireitei into chaos within the first episode of the arc. 02. The Shinigami receive a large amount of attention, especially given that many of them can only get their Zanpakuto back by forcing them into submission themselves instead of relying on someone else to do it for them. 03. Muramasa is able to keep his true goal under wraps, which says a lot about his character. He actually uses a staged Zanpakuto Rebellion in order to find ways to achieve his true goal, all while keeping his own “allies” in the dark about it. With the Rebellion, he is able to observe the various strengths of each of the Shinigami before determining that Ichigo himself would have the power he required to achieve his goal. 04. Byakuya functioned similarly to Muramasa, keeping his true goals hidden until the time was right. He and Senbonzakura were able to keep the Gotei 13 fooled while waiting to fulfill the oath he made to his grandfather. And this is just my personal opinion, but the Byakuya vs. Koga fight was the best fight in the entire arc. While Ichigo remains one of my favorite characters, it was nice to see that one of the most interesting fights in the arc went to someone besides him.
 * Pros

01. My most noted con, which ruined the arc for me, Ichigo’s power is completely misrepresented. I mean, he’s supposed to be a captain-level fighter, and yet, we see him going Bankai every 5 seconds. Don’t get me wrong, it was made clear that both Muramasa and Koga were strong, even rivaling captains, and Ichigo does have trouble controlling his own power; but going Bankai on non-captain Zanpakuto Spirits like Sode no Shirayuki and Kazeshini was just ridiculous. And then he uses his Hollowfication against Senbonzakura, despite the fact that in his prime back in the Soul Society arc, he could fight evenly with Byakuya, even after he used Senkei. 02. Muramasa’s power was also somewhat misrepresented. Because of his connection with Koga, his strength level rivaled that of a captain’s, and he could fight evenly with Ichigo in Bankai. However, when he lures Ichigo towards Yamamoto, not only does he trick him into using his most powerful attack (Bankai + Hollowfication + full-powered Getsuga Tensho) to destroy Yamamoto’s barrier, but he himself is able to deflect the attack without sustaining any injury to himself, despite the fact that his strength can only have him contending with Ichigo at Bankai alone. 03. Chad, Uryu, and Orihime are largely ignored throughout almost the entire arc, and even when they do come in, they’re pretty much on the sidelines most of the time. Chad is taken out within seconds (seriously, does everyone writing Bleach have something against Chad?), and Uryu is kept distracted by Senbonzakura. Uryu does win their little scuffle, but everything following after that… Chad, Uryu, and Orihime are just forced to the sidelines, not even helping to exterminate the Menos, while the Shinigami and their Zanpakuto Spirits are doing all of the work. 04. Many characters did not recognize their own Zanpakuto Spirits. You would think they would, but many characters that spoke with their respective Zanpakuto Spirits spoke to them with dialogue that questioned who they were, which was either answered by telling them “I’m your Zanpakuto, duh”, or with an attack that the Zanpakuto Spirit in question uses in front of its owner. Very few characters recognized their own Zanpakuto upon their encounter with them (Izuru being the first one I can think of). It was well established at the beginning of the series that a character who has achieved Shikai had to converse with their Zanpakuto Spirit in their inner world in order to achieve Shikai. 05. For some reason, certain Zanpakuto Spirits were given some questionable abilities. Tenken could breathe fire, and yet, Komamura’s Tenken could not use any sort of flame attacks, both in Shikai and in Bankai. Also, Gonryomaru had lightning-based abilities, but Sasakibe using Gonryomaru did not. Some people would attribute this to his lack of involvement in the arc, but in an omake that was connected with the Zanpakuto arc, Sasakibe uses his Shikai, but still does not use lightning-based abilities. 06. Not much of a con, but still… Zabimaru’s Human shape is still a huge mystery. People suspect the omake of Mayuri advertising his Zanpakuto modification services, but Renji’s dialogue with Zabimaru confirmed that it had absolutely nothing to do with Zabimaru’s radical redesign. 07. Muramasa’s disruption of the Shinigami/Zanpakuto relationship affected most of the Shinigami in the Seireitei. Despite this, Muramasa’s group only consisted of the captains’, the lieutenants’, and the recurring officer characters’ Zanpakutos. Furthermore, despite Isane being the first one to comment that her Zanpakuto hasn’t responded to her, Itegumo is nowhere to be found. I can understand if Kubo didn’t want to reveal her Zanpakuto power at this time, but they probably could have done something different. Maybe make a different character comment on it or something…
 * Cons

Beast Swords arc 01. It shows the aftermath of Muramasa’s actions and the fates of the other Zanpakutos he freed aside from the main characters’. 02. While they are included in the arc, Ichigo and his group aren’t the main focus in the story, and it actually focuses on some of the other characters, both the Shinigami and their Zanpakuto spirits.
 * Pros

01. The fact that the Toju exist now makes you wonder where they were during the Zanpakuto Unknown Tales arc. Despite the captain-level, lieutenant-level, and officer-level Zanpakuto being Muramasa’s main attack strength, these guys could have been used to at least distract the Shinigami if Muramasa wanted something done. 02. While there was a campaign to eliminate the Toju, it pretty much just went nowhere. It was just the Shinigami running around and killing random stray Zanpakuto spirits. 03. Despite the other Zanpakuto knowing who Kirkaze was, nobody knew his owner. I would understand this a bit more if his owner was at least mentioned in either this or the Zanpakuto Unknown Tales arc, but he was just some random faceless guy who was killed during Muramasa’s rebellion.
 * Cons

This is probably the longest blog response I’m ever going to post on any blog. I may have missed a detail here and there, especially for the Bount arc, since the only time I actually saw it was when Adult Swim broadcasted it, but I think got a lot of the strong points and weak points out in the open. And I intentionally left out the info presented in the Bount arc on Zaraki’s predecessor because at that time, Kubo had not even hinted anything about Kiganjo, so there was really nothing they could have done about that. And I’m not going to dive into the timeline inconsistencies either as both the Amagai and Zanpakuto arcs were alternate stories, which could not be avoided due to the timing each arc was introduced (the Arrancar arc was still happening in the manga when both arcs ran). The Beast Swords arc was harder to make points on for both sides, due to how short it was, but it was still my least favorite of the arcs.

Each anime arc has its own interesting qualities, but overall, as I stated before, a filler arc in any series is entirely dependent on the writers behind them. They can have some interesting concepts, but the plot for them needs to be written out well; otherwise, the arc may not be very well received. I can’t blame Godisme for losing interest in the anime, as the filler arcs have a story to follow through on, whereas these current episodes go nowhere and have no arc connection.

Overall, despite their flaws, I thought the Amagai and Zanpakuto arcs were okay, but the Bount and Beast Sword arcs needed a lot of work. I know I listed a lot of flaws for each of them, but each issue comes up a different amount of times for each arc. I can see the reason for filler arcs, and if the plot is written well enough, I can find myself enjoying them from time to time. Still, we each have our own opinion about these things, but I can understand why some people wouldn't want anything to do with them.