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Old 2010-11-24, 04:30   Link #27
sayde
Senior Member
 
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
1.) Soul Society arc: For me, this is where the series started getting interesting. In fact, all throughout the first arc of the show, the only thing that urged me to continue on with the series was the brief clip shown in the anime's very first OP that featured Ichigo taking on other shinigami. Because it foreshadowed the likely possibility that the series would move on from random hollow slaying adventures to a more interesting premise later on.

So once the series got to this point and we were shown the very first 13 court guard squad meeting, I was officially hooked. After hyping up the strength of all the VC and Captain level shinigami, I was pretty psyched to learn more about these characters as the plot unfolded. The battles were epic, a lot of the captains were just plain badasses, and then there's Aizen. Holy crap, this guy defined Bleach for me. Never before had I seen such a competent bad guy portrayed in animated medium prior to the SS arc. I fell in love. And his leading role in one of the coolest plot twists I had ever witnessed in a shounen didn't hurt his image either.

2.) Deicide: I've developed a strong love and hate relationship with this arc. On one hand, this arc contained everything I had waited to see since the SS arc--that being an action packed arc that centered around Aizen. It was the first time in a long time that I felt such a sense of restlessness week after week to find out what would happen next. I enjoyed seeing the guy pwn Isshin, Urahara, & Yoruichi (3 of the most hyped fighters in this series) while cheating death through some of the most stupidest asspulls I've ever seen to date. I even enjoyed most of the various transformations Aizen had undergone due mostly in part to the mullet.

On the other hand, it's hard for me to completely ignore the massive amount of fail this arc contains, and it's even more difficult for me to figure out where to even begin. So I won't bother. All I will say is that this in-and-of-itself is worthy of it's own separate topic. *sighs*

My only saving grace with this arc is that Aizen wasn't killed off. Because it gives me a slight glimmer of hope that Kubo will eventually have Aizen return to the plot in order to give him the epic final battle he deserves where our protagonist can overcome him and his abilities in perfectly legit and plausible ways for a change. Seriously, the ending of the arc felt so rushed and unbelievable that I'm still having trouble taking it seriously as a definitive conclusion to a main antagonist that's been around now for years.

It's hard for me to rank the rest in any particular order. They all have their moments. But these 2 arcs with without a doubt were the only ones that kept me hooked all the way through from beginning to end (even if I wasn't completely satisfied with the outcome).
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