Bleach babble!

So, I watched a lot of Bleach this week. As in, 69 episodes of Bleach. A sane person would have spread this out over the entire week, but my brother and I are not so much among the sane- we watched up to episode 34 between Monday and Thursday...and then spent all of Friday watching the remaining 35 episodes. We stopped for food a few times, and Kev took a nap and I baked some banana bread, but otherwise? Nothing but Bleach.

...guh. Too much anime. But! I must share this with you: Jump Festa 2005. Zaraki in a biker jacket! Byakuya dressed like a pimp! Soi Fong in a frilly, frilly dress! And Aizen. Guhbzuh.

Also, 50 Sentences Chad/Ichigo. Very much in tune with the "OMG stupid boys" factor. XD I love Chad so, so much. So much.

Thoughts on Bleach the anime vs Bleach the manga- I liked it. There were all of three episodes of filler in the first sixty episodes. That alone makes this an awesome anime- it moves fast. I thought it was interesting that they included the Renji-Kira-Hinamori Academy filler episode but cut out the Rukia-Kaien backstory. That particular flashback was one of the more important ones (unlike Renji's- don't get me wrong, I love the guy, but he's just not that interesting), since it goes a long way towards explaining why Rukia is such a fucking useless doormat for the entire plot arc. >_< I also thought it was interesting that they gave Kuukaku an arm- I suppose it's less traumatizing to see her with a prosthetic than a stump, but it just seems odd regardless.

I take back much of what I've said in the past about Kubo Tite's plotting ability- the end of Soul Society does read a little like a Scooby Doo episode, but the hints are there if you know what to look for. That whole "release the limit" thing that happened in the recent chapters is mentioned earlier on- it doesn't come out of nowhere, though it feels a little like it does. Ikkaku's ban kai, on the other hand, does come out of nowhere, though I suppose it isn't unprecedented for officers of the Eleventh to hide things from their superiors.

(I do prefer Ikkaku/Yumichika, but I now understand where the Hisagi/Yumichika is coming from. What I don't understand is why Hisagi always tops in that pairing- it's pretty clear he's the one who gets bent over in that fight. Hells, even my brother saw it. (His actual response- "Dude, that guy looks like he needs a cigarette." XD) Yumichika's zanpakutou ability is surprise buttsex!)

The anime only affirms my love for Chad, the Eleventh Division, Ukitake and Kyouraku, Urahara's hat, Tousen's hair, Hanatarou (so cute! so useless!), Unohana and Isane, and Zangetsu. It has also created in me an intense and sudden love for Soi Fong and Yoruichi (anyone have any lesbian ninja recs for me?), Keigo (aka Spazzy Spazzspazz McSpasticpants III), and Kuukaku, who totally needs to smack some people around with her prosthetic arm. However, I still hate Byakuya, because he's a prissy bitch with a pink ban kai and very few redeeming qualities whatsoever.

(And next up on Death God Death Match! On the right, our returning champion, Kuchiki "Pretty in Pink" Byakuya with Senbonzakura! And in the challenger's corner, Kurosaki "Size Doesn't Matter" Ichigo with Zangetsu! This is the fight of a lifetime, folks- we're finally going to find the answer to those unanswerable questions! Is Ichigo really compensating for something? Can Byakuya really make pink cherry petals look badass? Tune in to find out!)

The most recent episodes are all adorable, adorable filler- there are dancing plushes, and I'll probably make seven million icons of Nova and Chad being stoic, silent, and adorable, while Lilin and Claude are spastic. It'll be interesting to see how they pick up the manga plot again now that Renji and Rukia are back in the living world. I suppose I'll keep downloading it to satisfy my urge to collect whole sets of things, but I'm not sure I'll watch it with any fervor.

Bleach the anime gets a gold star from me, at any rate. It's shiny, occasionally adorable, occasionally creepy, and remarkably true to the manga.

I have a incredibly porny cliche Chad/Ichigo fic bouncing around in my head that wants to be written; I don't know if it'll happen because it's actually just porn, but there will probably be more Bleach related things kicking around here in the future. At the very least, there'll be cosplay musings- though the Shinigami uniform would be a pain in the ass to sew. I'm thinking I could pull off either Yachiru or Ulquiorra. (Urquiolla? Mistah Emobags?) It would be very, very easy to make my hair do the Rukia flippy thing, but I refuse to cosplay her.