I nearly forgot about this one. A little earlier this time, just managed to download an watch the episodes. So, this week, it’s the frustratingly long-winded Bleach Episode 104, as well as the frequently vunder-bah Death Note Episode 8.

Bleach 104

This episode covers the penultimate battle with the Bounto (Thank God). Koga against Hitsugaya. Pretty much the entire episode is taken up by this, which, overall seems to a be a pretty poor attempt. Whilst it is probably obvious that, being a captain, Hitsugaya would have the upper hand on Koga, you would think the confrontation would be a little more even, rather than the one-sided affair that I just witnessed. This is the second time in the series we have seen Hitsugaya’s Bankai, and I still don’t know what it is does. First time round, Aizen snaps him like a twig, and this time we don’t get much more of a glimpse before his finishes Koga. However, I do like the twist after it appears that Daruka dies, with the whole giant ‘Astaroth-from-Soul-Calibur’ axe forming, unfortunately, in a style typical of this arc, just when a good bit starts, it finishes before gaining any momentum.

The animation is absolutely DIRE in this episode. Half the time the only things moving are the mouths of the characters, and they just go ‘yap,yap,yap,yap’. I mean, when Matsumoto was barking orders at her Shinigami minions, she had botox in her face. No expression. And when something finally does appear, the person or object appears to swell and bulge. Unless some sort of anomaly in the spirit world is causing everything that moves to become unstable and pulsate, I would suggest that the animators get their act together and actually put some effort into the remaining episodes before the season ends.

On the plus side, there’s only one Bounto left!

Rating: 3/10

Death Note 8

Another fantastic episode. I was wondering at the beginning when L would narrow down his search onto Light Yagami, with the whole ‘installation of cameras in Light’s room’ scene. Well today was my lucky day.

Having read through the manga only once, it’s exhilarating to experience the deductive powers of L and Light that made it so absorbing all over again, except this time with sound and motion. With the camera’s installed, you see how Light attempts to outwit his opposition into thinking his just a normal, highly intelligent and hard-working student. Yet, ironically, it is this aspect that makes Light stand out to L, as L can appreciate that Light may have the motive and capabilities to outsmart him. Being both of a similar age, empathy probably comes into this, as well as a mingle of bravado and jealously on the part of L to push the line this far.

Another part of this episode I like was the sort of tongue-in-cheek attitude that added an element of humour to the episode. Withdrawal from apples seems to be a problem for a certain Shinigami called Ryuk, Light’s father now thinks his son is a perv, and the moment when Light opens his packet of crisps to reveal the tiny TV inside is sheer over-the-top brilliance. I just noticed how fitting and well done the music is in this series, the composer needs a serious pat on the back.

Another week, and another great episode.

Rating: 7/10

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 26th, 2006 at 6:00 pm and is filed under Anime. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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