Double Shot Anime Reviews: Bleach 122 & 123

Ep. 122 - "Visored! The Power of the Awakened"

Review
The episode started very strong with Grimmjow being reprimanded by Aizen. It was a very interesting conversation and brought me to question how strong Tosen is as he was able to easily cut off Grimmjow's arm but was defeated by Kenpachi during the Soul Society arc. Another interesting thing about the conversation was how calm Aizen was through the whole thing and makes me wonder how far he is with his plan.

After all the crazy fighting it looks like all Soul Reapers were humbled by how hard they had to fight against the Arrancars, Toshiro more so than the others because he is a Captain. Since the Arrancars they fought were only Numeros it looks like it wont just be Ichigo and his friends that have to go through some training. This makes things much more interesting for when Toshiro and the other Soul Reapers have to actually fight against the Espadas as the Numeros power level is not even on par with the Espadas.

Even though these next couple episodes will be based on Ichigo, Uryu, and Chad going through some intense training I feel confident that these episodes will be very entertaining. From what Uryu is going through to get his powers back I would like to see more of the training he is going through with his father. And with what little we have seen of Uryu's dad I already think he is one of the best characters in the show.

Also I am enjoying the relationship between Ichigo and the Vizards. From the look of all of the Vizards each one has their own distinct look with each Vizards dress style is reminiscent of a lot of different styles from Japanese culture. My favorite is Shinji's style which is reminiscent of Lupin the Third. I am looking forward to seeing how each one fights and if Ichigo can get along with all of the Vizards.

Episode Rating - 7.7/10

Ep. 123 - "Ichigo, Complete Hollowification!?"

Review
This episode starts of were the last episode left off and Ichigo continues his battle with Hiyori. It was an interesting fight as Ichigo tried to figure out how Hiyori controlled her inner hollow. It made the moment were Ichigo's inner hollow took control and shows that Ichigo can become even more powerful as when his inner hollow took control he easily almost killed Hiyori.

While the comedy that was happening with the rest of the characters wasn't very interesting I really enjoyed all the comedy with Ichigo and the Vizards. I liked seeing what all of the Vizards acted with one another. I liked seeing how Ichigo, Hiyori, and Shinji got along like bickering siblings. How Hiyori beat up Ichigo and used Shinji was very funny. My favorite was seeing Love reading his Shonen Jump and reminded me that I am behind with reading the manga.

Also I liked that we finally got to see Ichigo and his inner hollow face off. It was a great opening to the fight that will be happening within Ichigo's mind. I like how Ichigo's inner hollow is basically the opposite of Ichigo in almost every way. I find their relationship to be very fun and his inner hollow reminds me of how the Joker acted in the 90s Batman cartoon. Also it was interesting to learn Ichigo's inner hollow and Zangetsu are one and the same.

Overall this was a very good start to this training arc and hopefully we will see more of the training all the others in Ichigo's gang are going through.

Episode Rating - 8/10