The Lost Agent arc is a controversial one as it strips the show back down to its original premise: it’s all set in Karakura Town, there’s lot of Ichigo’s school life on display and the plot comes slow and steady. This upset a lot of people, both when the manga chapters came out and the anime episodes, especially those who loved the series because of the Shinigami cast. I personally find it a fun “break” between two much longer and action-heavy arcs, so I don’t mind. Want to know more? Let’s take a look at the first half!
The Review:
As mentioned the first few episodes really drag out the regular life of the now powerless Ichigo Kurosaki. We see his school life, like how due to still having a well-trained body he has amazing physical skills so all the different sports clubs are desperate to have him on their team, we see his part-time job working at an odd job agency called Unagiya Shop where the owner Ikumi is more and more like a mother to Ichigo… a rather angry mother, but the idea is still there. Likewise Orihime and Uryu are back to their normal school selves, even if the latter now runs off to deal with Hollows like Ichigo used to do. It’s all very plain and pleasant, but soon enough a mysterious man called Ginjo starts stalking out lead protagonist and seemingly has his own Substitute Shinigami badge, then bad things start to happen around Ichigo’s friends, including Uryu being cut down by a foe that’s neither Shinigami nor Arrancar.
It’s the classic Tite Kubo “Here are the new group of characters for this Arc” shot!
As more and more things happen Ichigo begins to feel really down about not being able to help, so when Ginjo reveals his business card for his group “Xcution” Ichigo calls and meets up with him on a whim and finds out that Ginjo and his fellow Xcution members wish to restore his Shinigami powers. He also finds out they all possess a power called “Fullbring” which allows them to manipulate the “souls” of inanimate objects and bend them to their will, allowing them to spring off of the floor high into the air, cause liquid to leap out of a glass and into their mouths, and if a particular object has significant meaning to them then they gain a straight up power. Ginjo can turn his necklace into a massive sword; pink-haired Riruka can place people and objects she likes into other objects she likes, including people into teddy bears and such; one-eyed bartender Giriko can put “timers” on things that grant them power but also limiting rules that if broken will kill who or whatever has a timer on it; sassy woman Jackie gets more powerful the dirtier her boots get; and Yukio can pull people into his PSP and allow them to follow whatever rules of the game he applies. Oh and Chad is also a member of Xcution, his already established power being retroactively attributed to being a Fullbring, I guess pride in his skin allowed him to turn it into powerful weapons?
Well, anyway, it’s a fun cast, and so is the lead villain of the piece: Shukuro Tsukishima. Much like Aizen his power is about messing people up mentally but instead of hypnosis he can literally plant himself in people’s memories, making them 100% believe that he’s their favourite cousin who they’ve seen all the time since they were children, so long as he stabs them first. He’s got that laidback arrogant vibe that’s always fun in the lead villain. As the the other “Fullbringers”, Ginjo is leans in heavily on the “bad-ass” vibe, with his slicked back hair, leather jacket and massive sword while Riruka’s the heart of the team, being a bit bratty but also falling for Ichigo. The rest are rather one-note, but hey-ho…
Ichigo does some training is an extremely confusing scene if you don’t know about Riruka’s power…
That’s the set up of this first half, anyway. Ichigo begins training inside Riruka’s dollhouse in order to achieve his own Fullbring, which will get him one step closer to getting his powers back. Things aren’t quite right though, Ichigo hears Rukia’s voice coming out of his substitute Shinigami badge (which ends up being the object he “Fullbrings with” the most) and Ginjo claims they want his Shinigami powers so he can use them to remove their “cursed powers”, which ,you know, even when I first read the manga it raised an eyebrow, no way all those people would want to lose their powers, right? Apparently you get Fullbring powers when your mother is attacked by a Hollow while pregnant with you, so it doesn’t sound very fun for the mother, but I don’t know… seems pretty handy to me…
Overall Thoughts:
Ichigo and Tsukashima clash! … I mean, it’s sort of a spoiler, but whatever… I only took four pictures back when I watched this (in time to meet my “before the Thousand Year Blood War arc begins airing” deadline but I haven’t had the time/motivation to actually write it until now…) and the fourth picture is way more spoilery…
The “Lost Agent” arc’s first half has a slow start but soon starts piling on the mystery with a fresh cast of apparent anti-heroes and a great central villain, plus a fun fight in the last few episodes. As I remembered, it’s a lot better than most give it credit for…
The only big thing to mention here is that Ichigo begins to master his Fullbring to the point where it looks like his Shinigami uniform, Chad remarking how his Bankai was also a “power your wore” (which is a nice touch, actually), and then Tsukashima, who had already sliced his way into the past of Orihime, arrives on the scene, leading to Ginjo, Ichigo and Chad fighting him on the rooftops. Eventually he escapes but manages to insert himself into Chad’s past on the way out, not that anyone is aware of his power on the hero side just yet.
Told you it was more spoilery… and more confusing if you don’t know about Tsukashima’s powers. A common trait amongst Fullbringers, I guess!
Episode 354 ends with Ichigo and Ginjo training / fighting each other in Yukio’s “Gamespace”, complete with Orihime acting as a “healing item”, plus a great tease in Urahara and Isshin standing in front of a mysterious glowing vat, soon flanked by Rukia…
Hogan Reviews 