Bleach: Episode 22

Ichimaru appears before Ichigo and company. He intends to stop the intruders to infiltrate the shinigami’s lair and succeeds. So the outsiders need to find an alternative route.

What I would give to watch a full blown fight between Ichigo and Ichimaru. Ichimaru’s technique using that zanpakutou of his must be played in slow motion with clear frame by frame illustration Alas, we only have a blurry version.

Manga spoilers ahead.

I’m not sure if I like Ichimaru’s character designs in the anime. In the manga, his illustration suggests that he plays only as the devil’s advocate but in the anime he’s like the devil personified. I’m talking about physically here since Ichimaru *really* has shady dealings behind close doors (in the manga, anyway). /end spoiler

Now, I’m getting convinced that this series might extend more than twenty-six eps. Unless the producers intends to omit and/or compress the major fight scenes. To any enlightened individual, can someone share the official number. My kanji extends only to numbers and a handful of words so the official site has no use for me (except for the pretty pictures). T_T