Anime Review: Bleach 131 & 132

Ep. 131 – "Rangiku's Tears, the Sorrowful Parting of Brother and Sister"

Review
If there has been anything that these four filler episodes of Bleach have shown us is that this anime does not need Ichigo and his gang to be the primary focus in order to give a good episode. If there is one thing that Bleach has more than other animes, and shows in general, is a deep secondary cast that is just as interesting as the primary cast.

It was good to see Rangiku's character being explored more than just a fan service character. While Rangiku has had some moments were we have seen the big sister/motherly side of her character this arc did a nice job reinforcing that. Also I enjoy seeing her zanpakuto is different from the average zanpakuto that transforms into a different form of a sword or weapon which makes it so a bit more unpredictable.

As for Shota's character for an anime exclusive character I think four episodes was enough for him not to become annoying like certain other anime exclusive characters. He had a nice character arc through these four episodes that felt like it had a nice ending with him rejoining his sister in the Soul Society.

Also this filler arc did a good job showing why Hitsugaya is one of the most popular characters on the show. He had an impressive showing with how strong he is by used his Bankai and spiritual pressure without having the limiter that captains and lieutenants have released. The fight between him and the scorpion Arrancar was good for a filler fight.

Overall this was a nice filler arc that helped give some face time to the secondary cast of this show.
Episode Rating – 7.5/10

Ep. 132 – "Hitsugaya, Karin, and Soccer Ball"

Review
In another filler episode we got an episode that was a Karin-centric. It was a bit weird seeing Karin get her own episode without having her twin sister or Don Kanonji involved. But I guess with her revealing to Ichigo that she has known for a while that he was a Soul Reaper that the anime creative team wanted to give her character more face time to develop her character.

And for what it was this was an average episode involving her trying to beat some middle school at soccer kids with her friends. It was interesting seeing how the creative team had Hitsugaya become involved in the story. With the interaction between Karin and Hitsugaya, and later with Rangiku, I wonder were her character will go from here as she looks to get some spiritual powers of her own.

Also I found the comedy of this episode worked pretty well. I guess what made the comedy of this episode work was that it did not involve Kon, who has been used as the main source of comedy for the show, and showed that he isn't needed to get some comedy into the show.

Overall this was an okay for filler episode. Though it looks like we are going to get more filler episodes next week with an Ikkaku centered episode next.
Episode Rating – 6.9/10