Score: A

Bleach has hit a point where it is simply bringing one great episode after another. I won’t say this war has peaked since I’m sure there are so many great moments coming up. But this episode did a great job following up on the hype from Rukia’s episode. No complaints about dropping Kenpachi into things and just letting him be purely awesome. The show had to ease the audience into it a bit with the nice little conflict in the first quarter. But once Zaraki got going things just continued to get more and more hyped.

The positives of getting drawn in by Zaraki’s charisma

I kind of love how that almost plays into the story of the episode itself. Gremmy himself being affected by the hype machine that is Zaraki Kenpachi. That guy has such an intense battle charisma that if someone has any lust for battle then he’s going to drag it out of him. This guy was so casual early on, but it didn’t take long for Zaraki’s thoughts and personality to shake Gremmy to his core. Steadily he pulled this guy into the battle and in some ways, I think that helped secure the win. The more he got into it the more he saw Zaraki as an overwhelming monster. But the big thing was that he pushed himself to try and win the fight in a way that wouldn’t work for him.

But you could say that is for the best. It certainly felt as if Gremmy had a boring time until this point. His power of imagination was so overwhelming that he never felt a real drive to push himself or fight others for the pure enjoyment of measuring himself against them. For most he could win as easily as he did against Yachiru. He may have died here, but he certainly got to live it up for the duration of this fight. It let Gremmy pull out any number of crazy strategies he’d never have a reason to employ otherwise. A sad moment for him at the end, but I think he had a level of satisfaction with it that others that will have died here didn’t get.

That works!

Credit to Yachiru for what she did manage during the very early portion. Sure, she was basically fighting a Quincy created by Gremmy, but she still put up a great fight. Gotta love her instinctive way of fighting and how she put that poor guy through the ringer. Even with his ability to erase his presence and memories, it just didn’t matter. He set off her instincts and so she struck. Plus, I find the idea that she should hesitate since they didn’t know if the guy was friend or foe hilarious. Is he dressed like a Quincy? Probably an enemy then! Thankfully Yachiru has been taught to trust her gut. The copycat sword was fun and honestly, I wouldn’t have minded even more fighting from Yachiru. But once Gremmy took the stage it was tough for her to manage.

That small vs against Gremmy was somewhat the stuff of nightmares. Having someone’s bones turned to freaking cookies is just disturbing. Taken far enough you might just die from that alone. Credit to her for at least not outwardly freaking out. But it wasn’t as if she could keep fighting in that condition either. A very well-timed rescue by Kenpachi there! Maybe it shows his growth that he could tell that Yachiru’s spiritual pressure was unstable. But I’m glad he got there and protected her before things got any worse.

The face of a man going up against a meteor!

This episode had to be an utter blast for Zaraki. I’m sure some elements didn’t work for him in that the fight ended with Gremmy effectively self-destructing. But look at all the crazy stuff he got to do! Kenpachi went and chopped up a meteor! How many opportunities is he going to get to do something that utterly ridiculous? There was so much happening in this fight. He got momentarily trapped by water and had to face a guy that can toughen up his body like that. Heck, the man even got tossed into space and still cut his way out of that!

A great excuse for Zaraki to do something utterly insane…like using his shikai! He really is a true monster in that just releasing his sword one stage led to the fight becoming utterly ridiculous. At that point there was just nothing Gremmy could throw at him that would stop him. Unlikely that we’ll see him achieve Bankai in this arc, but one can only imagine what madness would be unleashed if he did! Anyways, I loved the design for his shikai. It’s nice and simple which fits Zaraki. A huge cleaver that can just cut through basically anything that gets in his way. Welcome to the show Nozarashi! It took a long time, but Zaraki finally got to hear that name.

Even space could only slow him down!

In a way there isn’t much more to say about this episode. It was just a fantastic ride. Isane got a bit of closure with the confirmation that Unohana is dead. And we might have lost two more captains, but maybe Gremmy’s imagination didn’t let their deaths stick. Would be awkward for them to go out the way they did and just get killed while getting healed. But this episode was mostly for Kenpachi with a bit of focus there for Yachiru. Slowly the Soul Reapers are turning things around. Obviously, there is the problem of Yhwach getting stronger. But that’s not something we can deal with right this moment. So, for now I’m just excited to see what Bleach throws at us next. I can’t see the show slowing down at this point!