Bleach: Episode 08

With the quick pacing of the episodes in the recent weeks, I was afraid that the writers might shorten the flashbacks on Ichigo’s mom. And thank goodness, they opted to leave it alone as it is.

We first learn about Ichigo’s mother through Tatsuki’s memories. She remembers a young Ichigo as a cheerful, goofy, but somewhat weak kid who openly shows his emotions to anyone. Yet overnight, his world turned upside down. The narration then switches from Tatsuki to Ichigo. After a heated argument with Rukia, Ichigo relived that tragic day when he killed his mom. His intention of saving another individual led to his mom’s sacrifice. As expected, he blames himself for this incident.

I’d say, the flashbacks were very well done and quite effective too. Unfortunately, the B plot diminishes the effect because of the forced humor. A death god was sent from the Soul Society to retrieve Rukia from the human world. But instead of working on his mission, the dude seems to be trying out for stand-up comedy. His attempts at lame gags is probably to balance out the drama, but for some reason, it didn’t mesh well together. Or it is probably just me…

His pathetic jokes aside, I’m intrigued by this infusion of other shinigamis at this early stage. Is it safe to assume that more of them are coming in town before the bigwigs arrive? Since we’re threading toward the meatier portion of the series, I’m getting excited with the future episodes. BTW, how many episodes were ordered for this title? I think we’re already covering volume three and this only ep08. Hmmm…as long as we have a talented group of writers, we’ll probably be okay.