Barbelith Underground > Film, TV & Theatre

I have now banned myself from playing with the Rukia fashion page. It is unhealthy. However, it is worth noting that whoever designed it has got it rather wrong, in that it is canon that Rukia doesn't like tight fitting outfits.

I adored Dordonii, and I was heartened to see Ichigo actually win a fight decisively for once. It was clear even before Dordonii said it that Ichigo could have beaten him even without his Vaizard powers, so hopefully we'll be able to see our guy win a couple before he suffers another humiliating beatdown. Also interested in the multiple-bodies dude that's on Ichigo's tail. Where does he fall in the Arrancar hierarchy? Is he a standard Arrancar (an Espada I just missed out on?), or something else entirely? It seems like Szayel Aporro (what's his story?) unleashed him on Ichigo in some way, so maybe he's some sort of artificial construct.

Dordonii was indeed interesting, and it's a shame that he seems to have kicked the bucket so soon. Again we have a character who is fighting for pride, in this case a pride that's been wounded when he was unceremoniously dumped by Aizen. He wants Ichigo to fight at his peak because he wants to be treated like the Espada that he used to be. What's interesting is that Aporro seems have used the fight to hit the jackpot, at least in terms of what I'm guessing is his research agenda. I reckon he's wanting data on Vaizard, for which Ichigo obligingly provided ample – albeit brief – demonstration. The Exequias seemed to be involved in that data gathering mission in some way, but if I'm understanding things correctly their primary role is killing any survivors. Aizen isn't happy that they have been used, which seems further evidence that he's more interested in Ichigo alive than dead.

Consider Ulquiorra's diagnosis of Ichigo as 'not a threat' despite recognising that Ichigo's reiatsu had a fluctuation ebb higher than his own could be considered purely a persuasion measure to make the Arrancar believe he's not worth bothering with. I'm convinced that Ulquiorra is First amongst the Espada and so it would sound best coming from him. Tousen stops Grimmjow right at the moment at which he's beaten Strawberry, and Grimmjow is only allowed to go after him again once he's made contact with the Vaizard and has a chance of being able to survive the attack. What with the narrative concentrating on Orihime it's easy to forget that Aizen was originally interested in Ichigo. Indeed, his plan could not only be seen as a psychological trap to isolate Inoue, it's also effectively isolated Ichigo from Soul Society and got him right where Aizen wants him. the one thing that Aizen knows for certain about Ichigo is that he's willing to go against impossible odds, armed with very little information, for the purposes of rescuing a friend. Note that Aizen was surprised that Urahara hadn't told Ichigo anything about what was actually going on… Kubo made sure to clearly establish that our villain knew our hero's underinformed motivations.

The most obvious reason that Aizen might want Ichigo alive is research into his favourite theme, ie: the breakdown of the barriers between Hollows and Shinigami. Having Ichigo in Hueco Mundo also leaves Karakura Town more vulnerable to attack (one of Aizen's presumed objectives). It could also function as a lure to get the other Vaizard into Hueco Mundo, as they may well assist one of their own. Whatever Aizen's plan is Orihime seems to be only a small part of it. One would presume that he would have an interest in researching the Vaizard were it not for the fact that Aporro seems to be conducting the research by clandestine methods, if indeed that is what Aporro is researching. However, he's a proven manipulator and the pink haired one is probably also unwittingly working in his service.

Of course all of this is just speculation, and it's equally possible that Aizen simply doesn't feel under threat and that the source of his and Gin's apparent joy at events is that they like having genuinely unanticipated elements in the mix. The LULZ argument: "This is fun, let's see where it goes." Ichigo and Orihime are certainly both unknown quantities that our villains are writing into their plans. Exactly how much about them is unknown is interesting source for speculation in itself, especially when you consider that one use of Phenomenon Rejection and Soul Society's Memory Modifiers could be to hide members of the Royal Family in plain sight, regressing them in age and altering their remembered histories. They may even be the King and Queen themselves, although my money is on them being siblings.

Anywho, things in Hueco Mundo have become a little hectic, eh? I'm a little upset that Ishida and (especially) Chad's battles have been given short shrift here, but with the quality of the Ichigo and Rukia scenes, it's hard to complain with any real oomph.

I'm sure we'll get that soon. The anime may be changing the order of events but they've not skipped anything yet, and the next episode preview shows that we'll be returning to Ishida at least.

Meanwhile, episode 155. It's so good to see Rukia having the kind of showcase fight that most of the other characters have already had at least once. I have a feeling that it's being padded for the anime (unconfirmed at this stage), and I'm actually very glad for that. I always love how Kubo only ever uses a sparse amount of kidou in the mix, leaving it absent for long stretches until the audience has forgotten about it, . It's left as the domain of the most crafty, resourceful and intelligent, which is why it's always funny to see Renji doing his best to cast spells and being utterly incapable. However, my enjoyment of Rukia's fight is marred by being almost certain that I saw an image of her shackled to a wall in the otherwise very beautifully rendered new closing credits… I'd rather that she wasn't imprisoned again unless it's an opportunity to put her and Orihime together again.

One last speculation… I've mentioned before that Rukia's range of expression quite stunning in all areas, from design to animation and voice acting. As much as I get a kick out of seeing how broad and three-dimensional she is I can't help but have fun wondering whether her new knitted brow wounded pride fury is as a result of hanging round with a certain ginger fellow for too long.

Bleach