User blog:Lemursrule/BLEACH Weekly Sub and Dub reviews first edition

Hey Bleach fans its Tuesday and its time for Bleach. Since both new sub and dub releases are being released almost simultaneously, I have made the decision to make one giant review instead of separate reviews for the time being. It just makes more sense, and I will let you guys know if anything changes.

First up, new episode from Japan.

This week's episode was mostly filler and honestly, I don't know what to really think about it. I think it may be perhaps that there will be a new arc in the manga coming up, and the Lost Agent Arc did not have the same amount of significant events happening towards the finale as the Soul Society or Arrancar arcs did, so maybe I don't have the same excitement for big animated moments. The filler material itself is decent, but I am not sure whether it really contradicts canon or not. I thought the added moments of insanity between Chad and Orihime were good, but now I am wondering when the fight with Ichigo happens, will it lose some of it's impact? Also I liked the fight between Chad and Orihime against Tsukishima, but now I am stuck between is it good that Pierrot gave Chad and Orihime more participation in this arc or did they make Tsukishima too weak? I thought the moments between Tsukishima and Riruka were interesting, but again in the manga it was never stated if Riruka was under control of Book of the End before she was introduced (ala Ginjo) or not. To me as a viewer, it makes me wonder if Riruka was aware of what Tsukishima was really doing or not, so honestly I can't make the different-ion between fixing a plot-hole or a plot-contradiction. One thing I have to note is that the overall animation and art of Riruka was weird, especially the facial expressions. Orihime at times did look odd, but Riruka had the most awkward facial expressions and her eyes kept bugging out. I know this is anime, but come on! Usually Pierrot can do the "terror stare" very well, but with Riruka it was just Bizare. I mean everyone else's facial expressions looked normal, so I don't know what that was about, but it was really distracting and made it hard for me to take Riruka seriously, which is a shame because Megumi did really good this week.

Overall it was an ok episode, and the animation looks great for next week.

Final Rundown

 * Story 7.5/10
 * Art/Animation 8.5/10
 * Sound Effects 8/10
 * Music 10/10
 * Acting 10/10
 * Omake 7/10

I give Bleach 357 a 8.5 out of 10.

Now on with this week's dub review.

For what it is, the voice acting has been great overall for this arc. Although the casting for some parts is questionable, for a filler arc its still pretty good. Vic did ok for Senbonzakura, and honestly his acting is decent, but honestly I think he was miscast. In my opinion Vic should have been casted as Wabisuke, it fits his vocal range much better. Senbonzakura should have been voiced by a tenor or someone with a deeper vocal range, like Troy Baker. On a positive note the sound mixing has improved SO MUCH over the last couple of months. The vocal and audio tracks are all leveled and nothing seems out of place.

Overall an ok episode and I can't wait for episode 241.

Final Rundown

 * Story 8/10
 * Art/Animation 10/10
 * Sound Effects 10/10
 * Script adaptation 9/10
 * Music 9/10
 * Acting 9/10

I give Bleach episode 240 a 9.2 out of 10.

Join me next Tuesday when I review Bleach 358 sub and Bleach 241 dubbed.

Until Next Time! --Lemursrule (talk) 16:59, January 24, 2012 (UTC)