The Arrancar Arc motors on, which is funny as in terms of as-it-aired this was the story arc finally resuming after a long and uneventful filler arc. Instead the only difference felt between this and the previous batch of episodes I covered in the switch to 16:9 full-screen rather than 4:3, which was old hat even at the time. This batch has a lot of memorable moments and fights in it, but doesn’t actually move the story along that much… Let’s take a look!

These episodes are the last before the first big break in the Arrancar Arc adaptation (not that you’ll notice as we cover the arc on this blog!) and are also the last ones in 4:3 aspect ratio. Thankfully they “go out with a bang” as they adapt the third and final fight between Ichigo and Grimmjow, and adapt it well too! … Unlike a lot of the other stuff, sadly. Let’s take a look!

Although we have a whole ten episodes here, there isn’t going to be a lot to talk about! These episodes feature our main cast split off and facing down some lesser enemies in order to show off some skill before the bigger battles begin, with the exception of Rukia’s battle anyway, as that actually has significance. It this bad though? Does anyone really watch Bleach for the plot? Let’s find out! (well, let’s find out if I like these ten episodes, not if someone out there watches Bleach for the plot. I … I can’t find that out for you.)

A smaller chunk of episodes this time, and one that actually has several episodes of filler in it despite my claim to cut all filler out of these reviews, but the filler in here has a special wrinkle in it. You see the filler here was actually in Tite Kubo’s original outline but he cut it due to pacing concerns… and those concerns were absolutely correct for the record, but I still felt like including it in this rundown. So, with all that out of the way, let’s take a look at the first chunk of episodes set in Hueco Mundo… The first of many!

Feels really weird to put two batches of episodes in the title, but such is the way when you want to specifically cut out filler stories and don’t want to just review five or six episodes at a time… These episodes wrap up the opening salvo of the Arrancar Arc and point us towards our next destination of Hueco Mundo, plus has some rare emotional character development! Let’s take a look…

It’s time to have a look at the anime version of Bleach’s Arrancar arc, a story arc that took many years to complete in the original manga so ended up shredded into chunks in the anime. This will actually be my first time watching just the Arrancar episodes in a row, intentionally skipping over as many filler episodes and arcs as I can, rather than watching just a chunk here and there like I have in the past. Will it hold up as a long-viewing experience, or is it all just too jumbled to work? Let’s find out! … Over the next couple of months…